The 'Dragon Defender'

The Questioning

Adriana rides with Astrid and Stormfly while I get Hiccup and Toothless. She's still nervous about riding a dragon, especially since I'm not with her, but she handles it well. I'll have to ask her later exactly what Astrid's deal is because she seemed just as eager as Heather was with me to get her alone.

We land promptly outside an unfamiliar hut that isn't too far from Hiccup's. "What's this place?" I ask. "Well, you've been coming around a lot since we last found you, so we figured we'd set up a guest hut for when you come over for the night," Hiccup explained, opening the door. "There's enough space for Adriana, too."

"You will never cease to amaze me, Hiccup," I say, shaking my head. He only grins and leads us inside, where Adriana is astounded by the appearance. It's relatively basic, it looks like Hiccup's hut, but with the personality removed.

"How do you like it?" Hiccup asks us. "It's incredible!" Adriana says enthusiastically. "She's never seen a hut like this, her village have a different style of housing. She's right, though. It's lovely. Thank you."

"No problem," Hiccup smiles, shutting the door behind us all. "It's not just for you to use, but we had you in mind when we built it. There's stable room, too, for whenever you bring a dragon."

I figured that it was better not to mention that this time I technically brought three.

"This is a million times better than home," Adriana whispers to me, though it's obvious that Hiccup and Astrid heard. I chuckle. "And this is only basic stuff," I tell her. "If you saw the Great Hall you'd scream."

"I'll hold you to that," she smirked.

"Right, let's get down to business," Astrid announces. I nod, liking her no-nonsense style. "I figured you'd have questions. Ask away."

"First lose the mask," she says, surprising all three of us. Hiccup and I were surprised by her forwardness, Adriana was surprised by the fact that they've seen beneath the mask.

I hold out a hand to stop Adriana from talking. "Yes, they've seen under the mask. And you might as well, too."

She gasps when I pull the mask down, taking in my face. "She hasn't seen your face yet?" Hiccup asks, shocked. "For her, this is the first time," I nod. "I just hope she doesn't break my-"

Adriana squeals excitedly at the sight of my mask down.

"-eardrums."

She stopped, looking slightly embarrassed. I just laughed. "Ash'll kill me for showing you while he wasn't around to see it," I joke. "Yeah," She nods, giggling, but I can see that it's forced at the reminder of Asher's condition. I smile slightly at her, doing my best to be reassuring. "He'll be fine, Addie, remember what I told you."

She sighs and nods. "I know, I just can't help but worry."

I wrap an arm around her, knowing this is tough for her. "It's fine to worry, it shows you care, but don't let it control you. I let fear control me and look what it did to me."

"Made you super cool?" She joked. "No, it made me too scared to leave the sanctuary unless it was for necessities. The longer I stay out, the more worried I get."

I lower my voice to a proper whisper. "This last month has bordered on traumatising. Believe me."

She lowers her eyes at that. I decide to get us back on track. "So what are your questions?" I ask Hiccup and Astrid.

"First off, why didn't you tell us you had a brother?" Hiccup asked, not judgmentally, just curious.

"I found him a few months ago," I answer. "Remember a month ago when I was ill and I told you to get my partners to go find Selene?" When they both nodded, I dropped the bombshell.

"She's my mother. I've been with her, Asher and my little sister this past month, not on a hunter ship like you thought. I've been recovering. They insisted I do so."

They were shocked by this information. "Wait, they thought you were on a hunter ship?" Adriana asks. I nod. "I'll explain later," I tell her, not wanting to get to the details about how I got there in the first place.

"So what about... Adriana, right?" Hiccup asked, to which Addie nodded. "Yeah, Adriana. How did you meet her?"

"She and Asher were already betrothed at the time," I say. "He introduced me to her. There's not much to that story, apart from that we got on well from the start."

Oh, little did they know.

"And where are they all from?" Astrid questioned. "You mentioned their village is different from Berk."

This is going to be a tough one to lie my way out of. I can hardly tell her that she lives in a dragon cave system.

"We call my home the Caverns of the Forgotten," Adriana steps in. "We live in an underground system, so it's mostly stone and rock. Nothing like all the wood around here. We stay underground to hide as sort of a defence to the outside world. That's why we're Forgotten."

They nod, looking amazed. "So Indigo's technically from there?" Hiccup asked, looking at me.

Silence fills the air, then Adriana slowly shakes her head. "Not exactly."

"I was born on an island not too far from Berk," I explain. "That wasn't the Caverns of the Forgotten. My family had to go into hiding there with some more distant relatives. That's when I was abandoned."

"Why... why did they do it?" Astrid, the Fearless Astrid Hofferson, was hesitant to ask the question.

"My family has some enemies," I lie smoothly, not having to fake my sadness. "They tried to kill us one night. I didn't wake up fast enough. My mother was grabbing Asher, but when my father ran over to grab me he... he was shot with an arrow. If his body wasn't in the way, I would've been seen and killed as well. I'm the reason he died. My mother had to take Asher and they were forced to leave me behind."

Again utter silence filled the room and this time it was Adriana's turn to comfort me.