when Astrid discovers Heather washed up on the beach after escaping an attack on her village, it leads to a revelation no one is anticipating, and paves the way for tons of adventures.
When you live on an island full of dragons, you kinda come to learn to expect the unexpected. And almost as fast, you learn to never think you've seen it all, 'cause right when you do, something even crazier will come along, every time.
Why did Stormfly insist on going for a flight now? Astrid had no idea. And yet, here they were in the middle of the night, on their way to Thor knew where. Astrid yawned and rubbed her eyes as they flew, trying to think of what could be so important that her nadder had to drag her out of bed. Presently, they came to the beach, and Stormfly suddenly landed. "Okay, girl," said Astrid getting down from her back. "You brought me all the way out here. Now, what was so important that it couldn't wait until..." She was interrupted by her dragon squawking, and running across the sand to an overturned boat. Astrid walked over, then bent down to get a look inside. All at once, it felt like she'd gone back in time a few months! Under the boat, a young black-haired girl lay face-down in the sand. For a second or two, Astrid thought this must be some bizarre dream. There was no way that girl whose parents they'd saved from Alvin the Treacherous had washed up on Berk again... right? Astrid did her best to collect her thoughts, then said the only thing that came to mind, "Heather?" The girl stirred, looked up, then gasped and scrambled back against the boat, curled up and shaking. No doubt now, it was her. Astrid had to keep her mouth from falling open. She slowly held out a hand. "It's okay," she said. "It's me, Astrid. You remember me, right?" Heather nodded, then slowly took her hand, and climbed out from under the boat. Once she was standing upright, Heather wrapped Astrid in a quite unexpected hug, clinging to her tightly. "Wo, hey!" said Astrid caught off guard. Heather didn't respond, but Astrid heard her whimpering softly a moment later. "Shhh..." she said gently, returning the hug. "It's okay. What happened?" No change, just more crying. Astrid rubbed her back. "Okay. Okay." She looked down, then smiled as Stormfly came over and nudged Heather. Heather looked up at her and smiled a little, putting a hand out to pet her. Astrid smiled, seeing the nadder lick her face. "She remembers you." She pet her dragon, the helped Heather on. A while later, Hiccup Haddock was awakened by the sound of his father taking downstairs. He opened his eyes and rolled over to find that his dragon, Toothless, was gone from his stone slab. "Toothless?" he said looking around the room to no answer. He rubbed his eyes, then got out of bed and slowly made his way downstairs. As he came down, he saw his father, Stoic, setting a bowl down on the dining table. "There you go now," he said in an unusually gentle voice. "Go on, eat up." Hiccup stopped on the last stair in shock as he saw Heather sitting at the table, Astrid next to her with a hand on her shoulder, and Toothless standing on the other side of her, letting her stroke his head. "It's okay, Heather," said Astrid. "Go on." The black-haired girl nodded, then slowly started eating. "Heather?!" said Hiccup coming over. "Wh-what are you doing here?" "Astrid found her out on the beach," said Stoic. "She seems pretty shaken up, the poor girl." "Well... what happened?" said Hiccup. "She won't talk," said Astrid. "We don't know." Heather looked down shaking, then relaxed a bit as Toothless nuzzled her.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Hiccup smiled. "That a boy, bud," he said petting his dragon. He looked at the girls. "Heather, whatever you need, we're here for you, all of us." She smiled, then gave a little giggle as Toothless licked her. Later that night, Hiccup and Toothless were awakened again, this time by a loud scream from upstairs! Both ran up to find Heather sitting up in Hiccup's bed, crying and shaking violently. "Hey. Hey, Heather... you alright?" said Hiccup coming over. "Y-you have a bad dream?" She nodded, then hugged him tightly, still crying. Hiccup sighed and returned the hug, rubbing her back. "It's okay, it... i-it was just a dream. Y-you're safe now. You're okay." He stayed on the bed holding her for a few minutes until she'd quieted, then got up to leave. Before he could walk away from the bed, however, Heather grabbed his hand. Hiccup looked back at her. "You want us to stay with you?" he asked. She nodded, eyes pleading. "Okay. Okay, we're right here. Right, bud?" Toothless smiled, then laid down on the floor beside the bed. "See?" said Hiccup sitting down and leaning against him. "Right here if you need us." Heather smiled lightly, then laid back in bed again, and closed her eyes. Hiccup grinned. "Good night, Heather," he said, then went back to sleep.
