Chapter 4

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Five years came and went.

Both Zyrah and Blueheart grew fast, becoming one and the same. Dragon and rider learned each other's strengths and weaknesses, both proving to be equally formidable in battle. And Blueheart had considerably grown, nearly doubling in size.

As an added benefit, the female Night Fury had found her place in Eðla and Halvar's house, ironically being the only dragon that could reasonably fit inside, even though the house was spacious for a family of seven.

One morning, Zyrah and her brother Rurik were at the family table eating breakfast; Eindride was out helping his father with some chores, leaving his younger sibling inside with their mother.

Eindride, Rurik, and Zyrah were the last of Eðla and Halvar's children to still live with them. The oldest of the five, Olsen, had been married for about five years now, with a small child of his own, and another due very soon.

The second oldest, Alvar, had also gotten married, he and his wife were expecting their first child together.

Meanwhile, Eindride had not expressed much interest in any romantic avenues. He preferred a more solitary life with an ever-increasing interest in knowledge about the world beyond the Barbaric Archipelago.

And then there were Rurik and Zyrah, the youngest. Both being 16 now, all they wanted was to enjoy their teenage years, do their own thing, and figure life out, as teenagers do. And given they were the same age, their fellow villagers would humorously call them 'twins'.

This one morning, Zyrah had been contemplating her future as a dragon rider, more so than usual anyway. She knew there was so much out there. And as if by chance, a knock came at the door. When Eðla opened the door, she was surprised to see one of the chief's advisors patiently waiting.

"Grimar? What're you doing here?" She exclaimed.

"I'm here to inform you that the chief has requested your daughter's presence." Eðla's first instinct was to interrogate Zyrah, knowing she was impulsive and had a knack for causing trouble, but Grimar spoke again, "She is not in trouble, in fact, this may be beneficial."

"In what way?"

"Just bring Blueheart and follow me." Zyrah shared confused and mildly worried expressions with her brother and mother.

"Uh... could Rurik and Konall come along?" She timidly asked. Grimar contemplated it for a moment and then gave her a nod, gesturing for the siblings to follow as they fetched Konall.

After receiving a similar response from Konall and his mother, the four made their way to Chief Kjarr's house, instead of the Great Hall. As the three 16-year-olds followed Grimar, Konall nudged Zyrah.

"So what'd you do?" He teased. She immediately glared at him.

"Geez, why assume I did something?"

"Shockingly, she's not in trouble," Rurik assured, "but Grimar said this'll be beneficial."

"Huh?"

"We're just as confused." As they approached the path up the hill to the chief's house, they were a tad surprised to see dragons they didn't recognize. A brilliant, fiery red Monstrous Nightmare, a blue and yellow Nadder, a brown Gronckle, a green Zippleback, and a white Night Fury-eqsue dragon with green feathers. With Blueheart trailing behind the teenagers, the five other dragon's shared an expression of disbelief and wonder, squawking and growling, which she ignored.

Zyrah didn't know what to make of the reactions of the stranger dragons, but she shrugged it off as they got to the front door where Grimar knocked and then opened it wide.

"After you." He said. He allowed the three teens and Blueheart to step inside as he closed the door behind them.

"Ah! Zyrah! We've been waiting for you!" A booming voice came from further down the house.

"We?" She replied, and then told the chief of her tagalongs, "uh, hope you don't mind chief, I brought my brother and Konall with me." She gestured for Blueheart to remind behind them until she could figure out what was going on.

"All good. The more the merrier." He replied, his heavy footsteps coming down the hall, followed by a group of other footsteps. Zyrah raised an eyebrow as the chief's hulking figure finally emerged into the main room. He was then followed by a lanky young man roughly about Alvar's age, with a mop of auburn hair, green eyes, and covered in freckles and a prosthetic leg. Next to him was a young woman of the same age, with blonde hair, in a half up-down hairstyle, and a kransen that adorned her head. Next was a rotund beefcake of a Viking, blonde as well, with a round face to match. Then a sturdy, shorter man with black hair like hers, with greenish-gray eyes, and the pathetic beginnings of a beard. A pair of twins, male and female, with the same long twisted and braided blonde hair. And then a young woman with curly dark brown hair, light brown eyes that glinted gold, and a blue-green feather hanging from her right ear.

The first young man approached her with his hand extended for a handshake.

"Chief Hiccup Haddock, nice to meet you."

"Uh, yeah, likewise I suppose. What's uh... what's all this for?" Zyrah answered, furrowing her eyebrows together, still unsure of what was happening.

"Honestly, I could still sort of ask the same." Hiccup told her. The two turned to Kjarr, who spied where Blueheart was and shifted his eyes in another direction, but Zyrah couldn't see where he was looking.

"Well, let's start this off by bringing your dragons forward." Kjarr began. Hiccup and Zyrah stared at each other, neither knowing the species of each other's dragons.

"Umm... okay? Blueheart? C'mere." Zyrah said, gesturing her forward, at the same time, Hiccup called his dragon forward, and the room fell dead quiet once everyone realized what was happening.

At the same time Blueheart emerged from behind Zyrah, Rurik, and Konall, Hiccup's own beloved Night Fury, Toothless, also emerged from the shadows of another hallway.

"Holy shit..." Konall whispered to himself. He already couldn't wait to see this go down.

The realization hit Hiccup and Zyrah instantaneously.

"YOU HAVE A NIGHT FURY?!" 

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