The 'Dragon Defender'

A Less-Than-Civil Debate

Plasma got away. Hiccup and Toothless are on the ground, Astrid and I between them. I'm holding the hilt of my sword, but I haven't yet drawn it. A warning if Hiccup tries anything like that again.

"Hiccup, you know we can't just go following wild dragons that clearly want to be left alone," Astrid starts the conversation. "We've done it before, haven't we?" Hiccup points out. "Yeah, when we had a reason to do it," Astrid counters, crossing her arms over her chest. "Not just because we want to see them."

"In all fairness, a little observation never hurts," Fishlegs pipes up, surprising me when he takes Hiccup's side. "Thank you, Fishlegs," Hiccup nods, clearly glad that he isn't alone on this matter.

"Neither of you understand the consequences of this," I sigh. "I would've thought the both of you would be smarter than this."

"You know what, Artemis? Maybe we just know a little bit more than you do about Morphwings," Hiccup states. "And you don't like that because you're supposed to be the 'Dragon Master'."

A few moments of silence pass. Everyone is shocked at Hiccup's words. Even he seems a little surprised by it, after a second or two of reflection.

"Artemis, I-"

Adriana bursts out laughing.

Everyone is even more shocked than before when I start chuckling as well. I can't believe, out of everything he could've said, it was that he knows more about Morphwings than I, a Morphwing, do. Brilliant, absolutely brilliant.

"Hiccup," I begin eventually, still smiling amusedly beneath my mask. "You have no idea what you're talking about. You may have trained a Night Fury - pretty unique accomplishment, I'll give you that - but I will always be just a little bit ahead of you when it comes to dragon knowledge. Trust me on this. And trust me when I say that tracking the Morphwings is the last thing you want to do."

Hiccup still seems a little confused. Then, slowly, his furrowed brows raise, stiffened jaw suddenly loosening as it opens slightly.

"You know more about Morphwings than you've told us. Don't you?"

Everyone looks to me for my response. I frown beneath my mask. Despite his obnoxious stubbornness, he's still disgustingly perceptive. He almost got the better of me. I have to be more careful.

"What exactly do you suppose I know? And to what benefit?"

This is where Hiccup falters slightly. He figured I was hiding something, but without giving me a reason or example, he can't prove anything. Besides, the only thing I don't keep secret is that I keep a lot of secrets. He can't be surprised.

"I don't know. But there's something you haven't told us about Morphwings. I'm sure of it. What are you hiding from us?"

"How much time do you have?" I snark dismissively, waving off his accusations. "Look, I'm not having a petty squabble with the Chief of Berk over whether or not we should respect dragons' privacy. This is your problem, not mine."

"You're the one who always makes it your problem!" Hiccup counters, clearly just wanting to be a complete pain in my side today. "Look, I know you must be worried for your brother and I'm sorry about him, but that doesn't give you the right to just show up here and start making all the rules! I'm the-!"

"Stop! Both of you!"

We all turn to Adriana, surprised at her interruption. Her expression, full of fear, causes a bit of my anger to dissipate into concern. "Addie?"

"The Morphwings need to be left alone," she orders decisively, leaving no room for arguments. "My p- uh, my home... we're just like the Morphwings; we're reclusive and we hide from the world to avoid a fight we don't think we can win. Hiccup, if you went to the Morphwing nest - I mean, if there even is one - what then? They're in hiding and they're scared of humanity. Do you expect them to just welcome you with open arms? I can tell you care a lot about them and that you mean well, but they don't know that. They'll see you as a threat and they'll get rid of you in whatever way they know how. Even if you only observe. It's not worth it to try. Not like this, anyway."

Everyone lets Adriana speak. Her voice loses her zeal as she goes on, but her message certainly isn't lost on anyone despite the brewing nerves at speaking out of turn in such a manner, especially against the chief.

"She's right, Hiccup," Astrid agrees gently, setting a hand on his shoulder. "You'll put yourself in unnecessary danger... again... and I can't let you do that. You have to let it go. Besides, I'm sure they'll stop by again."

Hiccup sighs, looking down. Finally, he seems to be coming to his senses. I nod to Adriana, very impressed. She offers me a tiny smile back, but returns her gaze to Hiccup and Astrid. She still seems upset. Is it about Asher? Or was she just scared about her pack getting caught?

"You're right," Hiccup states eventually. "You're right. This is- this is crazy. I just... the only surprises lately have been awful. I'm just waiting on the next good one. A new species, possibly one that nearly went extinct, just like Night Furies... it was exactly what I was waiting for."

"Unwilling dragons won't be interested in a 'nice surprise', Hiccup," I point out, though calmer now. "We need to respect their privacy. No following the Morphwings."

"Let's just all get to bed," Heather suggests, stepping in. "It's been a long night and we're all clearly tired. That's enough for now."

"You're right," Adriana agrees wholeheartedly, taking my arm to lead me away. "Come on. You need your rest after all this."

I'm tempted to make some sort of sarcastic remark about this, but I know that she's right. "Fine," I agree, following her out. I do look over my shoulder at Hiccup as we leave, though.

"If you dare sneak off to look for them, I'm not going to be happy."