The 'Dragon Defender'

It'll All Be Okay

"Gothi... where did you find these scales?"

Shoot, I arrived a bit too late to stop Gothi talking.

"Um, she says she found them."

Gobber's there, too?! Thor, this'll be harder than I thought...

Camo and I wait on the walkway up to Gothi's hut, listening in on what they're doing up there. Gothi didn't reveal that they were Asher's scales, at least. But why did she lie? She'd have no reason to protect Asher, right?

"What do we do?" Camo asks quietly. "I'm not sure," I reply. "I can pull Hiccup and Astrid away, I suppose. If we need to get Gobber too, so be it. I don't care anymore."

"We're good to go as long as you need us, Indigo."

"Thank you, Camo... I'll bring them down. You go fetch Citrine while I lead Hiccup and Astrid into the forest or something."

"On it."

I faintly hear Camo leave as I head up the platform, making myself known to the quartet. "Thank the gods I finally found you both," I sigh in false relief. Everyone looks to me in a mix of surprise and confusion.

"Artemis? You're here? Nevermind, check this out!" Hiccup shows me Asher's scales, grinning like a child opening their holiday stocking. "Morphwing scales! And look at the colour; we haven't seen this Morphwing before! There's even more of them! That's the third one!"

"This better not encourage another escapade of yours," I warn. "Especially after our little talk last time."

Hiccup's enthusiasm falters a moment, but he recovers quickly. "Me, go off on some crazy adventure because of a dragon? Pfft! No waaaay!" He jokes it off, making wild gesticulations as if swatting at the air is supposed to prove his 'point'.

"I'm serious."

"Okay, okay. No, I'll stay on Berk. I don't really have anywhere left to search, at the moment... unless... Gothi, where did you say you found these?"

Gobber watches over Gothi's shoulder as she starts drawing in the sand with her stick. "Um, she found them on the peach-" Gothi whacks Gobber on the head, causing him to yell in pain. "Ow! On the beach! She found them on the beach!"

Gothi meets my eye briefly. I nod gratefully to her. She smirks slightly and nods back. Interesting...

"So what brings you back, Artemis?" Astrid asks me. "I needed to speak to you and Hiccup, if that's okay," I reply. "It's kind of important."

"Yeah, no problem," Hiccup agrees. He pockets the scales from Gothi and he and Astrid start following me back down the walkway.

"So what's up?" Astrid asks curiously. "Can't talk here," I shake my head, looking to them both. "Private matters. Let's head to the forest. We should be okay to ta-"

"Oh, hello again."

We all look to Valka - the others in acknowledgement, myself in panic - when she heads up the walkway towards us. Shoot, whatever she says now could make or break this whole plan.

"Mum, are you okay?" Hiccup asks, noting how Valka is holding her head with one hand. "Yes, dear, I'm fine," she assures him. "I only felt a little strange, that's all. I wanted to check in with Gothi, just in case. I don't know what would have caused me to faint like that."

"You fainted? Are you sure you're okay?" Hiccup checks, moving past me to make sure his mother is alright. Now I'm stuck between Hiccup and Astrid. Shoot.

"Yes, yes, just a little out of sorts," Valka assures, chuckling a little to throw her son off. "Then why are you going to Gothi about it?" Hiccup argues. "Don't bother saying you're fine if you're not."

"Too smart for me, aren't you?" Valka chuckles. "And much too stubborn. I just don't want you to worry, is all."

Then, Valka looks to me. "Besides, your friend here helped me out. I'm afraid I never got your name."

...

... Ah...

There's a moment of silence as Hiccup and Astrid look between Valka and me in confusion. All I can think to do on the spur of the moment is to play along, to convince them I have no part in this long enough to have them both hypnotised. It won't matter if I can get them to the forest. I just need to get them to the forest. Then everything will be okay.

So for now I furrow my brows, sharing in the confusion. "I... Valka, are you sure you're as good as you say you are?"

"... Well, I don't feel as certain anymore..." Valka murmurs, taking in our expressions with a slither of mild concern reaching her face. "I... perhaps I've just been out too long. I'm sure after I speak to Gothi everything will be right as rain with me."

"I'll bring you up to her," Hiccup offers, glancing to me. "You don't mind waiting for me, do you?"

"It's admittedly a little urgent," I inform him, just trying to keep him away from Valka. "And you know I'd put her health first if it wasn't."

Hiccup frowns, so Valka pats his shoulder. "It's not far now, dear, I can make it. You three go have your talk, or whatever it is you're so fussed about. I'll be at home once I'm done."

"You'd best rest up after," I tell her again, hoping this time she'll take the hint. "Oh, I will," she agrees. "Well, I'll be on my way."

With that, Valka heads off obliviously. Hiccup and Astrid share a concerned look. "You okay, Indigo?" Astrid then asks me, much to my confusion. "Uh, yeah, why wouldn't I be?"

"Just, I know you two are close and all," she shakes her head. "And it was like she didn't even know you."

"Mm..." I hum. "I've known her to forget a few things before, but... never a living being... maybe she hit her head when she fainted?"

"Maybe..." Hiccup muses frowning. "I didn't see any cuts or scrapes on her. But maybe I'm just overthinking it. I don't know. I haven't really known her to be that forgetful. She usually has a better memory than I do; I always get kinda..."

Hiccup trails off after a moment, his eyes widening slightly, but then he catches himself and shakes his head. "Uh, sidetracked. I always get kinda sidetracked... um... Indigo, what was it that you needed to talk to us about?"

"We can't discuss it here," I shake my head. "I think Valka sneaking up on us unintentionally proves that we might be overheard. We should go somewhere more discrete."

Hiccup looks at me for a minute. His brows are furrowed, his expression stern and calculative. He's plotting. I don't like that. Because when Hiccup starts plotting, I start having to chase him around like an escaped toddler let loose across the archipelago.

Unless he's putting the pieces together, which is a much more immediate problem.

"Everything okay?" I ask him innocently. He slowly nods. "Yeah... yeah. Just... um... I just remembered I need to check up on Toothless... yeah, he, um, should be back at the, at the hut, so... so we could maybe go talk there?"

My one saving grace of sorts is that Hiccup is a horrible liar. He's worked it out, or at least he's suspicious enough to try and get Toothless involved. I can also see Astrid picking up on his behaviour, looking between him and me. He can easily win her over to his side at this point.

I need to salvage this. I'm so close. Just Hiccup and Astrid. Maybe I don't even need to get Gothi; she covered for Asher back there, for whatever reason. I'm willing to leave her memory intact as a thanks. Just Hiccup and Astrid. Just Hiccup and Astrid.

I need to salvage this by any means necessary.

"... Hiccup... I think we both know that won't be necessary anymore. Valka was right, you're just too smart... but I'm afraid you're still too stubborn to see the bigger picture. And I think we both know that neither of you can stop me now, so I'll be taking my leave."

I push past them and leave briskly, inevitably causing them to chase after me. If I can lead them into the forest, I'll be okay. It'll all be okay.