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It was a short trek down to the docks. Someone was pointing at things, allowing local Vikings who'd already flooded the ship to carry out the instructed crates. "And only those crates!" Tuffnut assumed this was the new trader. He was dressed differently than they were; in more bright-colored clothes, than he'd ever seen in a sunset.
Stoick's booming voice sounded out over it all, Tuffnut wouldn't doubt the other Riders could hear it back at the 'Edge. "So!" Everyone turned to look at him. "You're the new trader!"
The new guy slowly nodded, "That, I am, sir. You the great chief of this village?"
"If that's what these nice people have been saying about me!" Stoick joked, climbing up the dock plank, and extending a head in greeting. "Name's Stoick."
"Nadig," the trader introduced himself. He pronounced it Nah-deeg, heavy on the accent.
"And this here's my son, Hiccup." More hands shook, and hellos were exchanged.
"This is Tuffnut and Ska'i, a couple of Dragon Riders," Hiccup nodded in their direction.
"Just don't betray us, like the last one," Tuffnut warned.
This brought out a laugh from Nadig. "Yeah, I heard all about that. Retched business. It's like an unspoken rule amongst us traders. Let me be transparent with you about something; we don't get into this profession for any type of financial gain. No, we do it for the travel, for the stories, for the stuff! We are a neutral people, and he broke that," he ended, shaking his head.
"Well, good to hear you'll be an impartial participant in the trading business, then," Hiccup grinned an awkward smile.
The trader confirmed this silent promise with a strong head nod, then turned to Ska'i, an inquisitive look on his face. "Your name," he mused. "You're not from these islands, are you?"
Tuffnut could tell it was a forced smile when she answered. "No, I'm not."
Nadig didn't press, instead choosing to comment, "Somewhere tropical, I imagine. I've heard from other traders. Your local insects terrify me." he shuddered his confession.
"Wait, there were bugs on your island?"
Ska'i glanced at Tuffnut, seemingly hesitant to confess the truth.
"And they're terrifying?" He pressed.
She opened her mouth, stuttering a "yes."
Nadig was a great help, "I was told there's one shaped like a snake, with more legs than you can imagine, and by the time you've gotten to counting half of them, it's bitten you!"
"Awesome!" Tuffnut grinned.
Ska'i let out a little laugh, shaking her head.
Nadig addressed her again, "How have you been fairing with the colder weather?"
"Perfectly. It's like I still have my islands' warmth within me, I'm so warm!"
A curious look crossed Nadig's face, as he seemed to mull something over. Then he cast his eyes around his ship, ostensibly coming to a decision. "Alright, that's enough," he told the last few straggler Vikings still hauling crates off the ship.
Hiccup appeared to pick up the hint, and commanded, "We're going to talk."
So did his father. "Uh, yes! We aren't to be bothered."
The Vikings respectfully nodded, and Nadig waited until the last of them stepped off to gesture for them to follow him into his great cabin. At first, they all exchanged looks, but then curiosity won out, and they obeyed like ducklings to their mother. Tuffnut was second-to-last, leading Ska'i, and once he was in, it was obvious this was where Nadig coveted his most priced treasures. There was so much stuff, the space should have been messy, but it was well organized. A diamond as big as a skull was in an all-glass box, and speaking of skulls, a solid gold one was sitting on a red velvet pillow. He had an opened book with gold-embossed page edges. It was lying on such an intricate carved wooden podium, that Tuffnut was sure the dragons on it would pop right off and take flight. Even the curtains were made out of the purest kind of silk, they resembled the very water they were floating on.
He shot a glance over at Ska'i, but she wasn't phased by the flashy, priceless things surrounding her in the slightest. Instead, she chose to take in the dark corners and hiding spots.
The chief cast his eyes around, noting, "My, you sure do have some fancy stuff in here."
Hiccup wasn't having any of it, though, "So why are we in here, Nadig?"
He chose not to answer, instead taking his time by going around to his desk. Only after he spread his arms along its side to brace himself, did he speak, "Have you ever heard of something called 'The Fire Stone'?"
"No," Stoick curtly answered.
Tuffnut added, "No, but we had a type of Water Stone."
Hiccup shot Tuffnut a look, but it's already been said.
Nadig's eyes lit up, and he whispered, "So it's true! Where did you find it?"
"We - my people - found it when a dead . . . Scauldron," Ska'i remembered the name of the dragon before either of the boys could say it for her. "Washed up on our shore."
"Fascinating," Nadig murmured. He didn't say anything else, and it took Hiccup to ask a question to break the silence, "So what's the Fire Sone?"
"So there are more," Tuffnut added.
"More of what?" Stoick snapped, irritability showing in his voice.
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