Fly On Your Own

Chapter 13

5 Months Earlier

I pressed my daughters closer against my chest, only a couple of weeks old. This was the first time Hiccup and I were travelling with our babies, and admittedly, it was already pretty difficult. Feeding them on a moving dragon, in particular. proved to be a bit of a task. I wasn't ready to try and focus on flying and keeping our children from falling off, so I just rode on Toothless with Hiccup. It seemed like every five minutes, he would look back and try to check on the three of us. I knew he could tell I was nervous about where we were going, and not just because I was up all night pacing the room and drawing outside. I could've been I was worrying for nothing, but with my family, you never knew. They always seemed to stir up trouble wherever they went, inviting challenge from anyone who dared to listen. And as new parents, that was the last thing Hiccup and I needed.

Once the island came into view, he reached back and took my hand.

"Everything's going to be fine, Reign. We just have to stop by, say hello, let them be with the girls for a little while, and then we can leave." I sighed. "I thought you three were on good terms?"

"We are. That's not what I'm worried about." Toothless moved a little lower, hovering steadily over the water, which allowed Hiccup to turn around and face me. "My brother and sister are always getting into trouble. No matter what, some sort of danger seems to follow them. I know since we dealt with the Dragon Hunters, the world has quieted down, but they really have a special talent for drawing in all sorts of conflict. And if it's not that, they make a big deal out of things. I'm sure I'm gonna get questions about why we didn't visit sooner." Hiccup chuckled, grabbing my free hand as Toothless landed.

"You're blowing things out of proportion."

As he helped me off the dragon, two figures approached us, each clad in their own silver armor. Hiccup took Alith and Kerrigan from me, standing back slightly to let us have our family moment. They both bowed their heads to me, out of respect, and I did the same. We were all chiefs, after all.

The second formalities were over, my sister approached me, pulling me into a tight hug. The last time we had seen each other was my wedding-- far too long ago.

"Heather..." I muttered, smiling even though she couldn't see it. Though the people on Berk were like family to me, nothing could come close to the joy of being around your blood. Especially when you went so much of your life not knowing they existed.

"How are you feeling?" she asked, in reference to my new parental role.

"Tired, mostly. When they say a baby disrupts your sleep schedule, they really mean it." We both chuckled, and I looked back at Hiccup, who offered an affectionate smile. "But it's all worth it. I have two daughters I love more than anything."

Heather quickly stepped aside, allowing my brother to engulf me in an embrace. He practically lifted me off the ground, but for once, I didn't mind. Things had gotten off to a rough start with the two of us, but now, there wasn't anything I wouldn't do for him.

Well, there were a few hang-ups, but only because he still tended to be somewhat of a madman at times.

"Sister!" he cried. "Oh, it's so good to see you!"

"Good to see you, too, Dagur," I laughed. "How have things been faring here. You know, without any leadership from your wise and all-knowing sister." He laughed at my overdramatic tone, then gestured his hand out to the island.

"Everything's been great here. Very peaceful. I leave Heather in charge while I go to see Mala, sometimes she comes here, the usual business."

"I still don't understand how that marriage works... nor do I really want to try." Hiccup finished his greetings, then stepped up to stand beside me.

"Now, down to business! Where are my beautiful nieces? I've been looking forward to this all week."

I chuckled as I reached over to Hiccup, handing Alith to Dagur and Kerrigan to Heather. Although I felt a bit of weight lift off my chest, there was still the inevitable worry of giving my children to someone that was not myself or their father. Thankfully, that faded a few moments later, when I watched Heather and Dagur's expressions melt. They had fallen absolutely in love with their nieces, oogling over them and treating them like royalty the entire day. And, of course, they made sure to steer clear of the dragons. Hiccup and I were hesitant about that part, because we didn't know how a dragon would react with a human baby. Toothless had fared fine so far, but we'd never let him too close.

"How is it possible that they ended up with full heads of hair?" Heather marveled, gently ruffling some of her niece's locks. "And the color—that's the perfect mix of both of yours."

"Actually, Reign was born with a lot of hair," Dagur informed us. "It was this strawberry-blonde color, and for the first year, it just stuck straight up."

My eyes widened, cheeks flushing red with embarrassment as Hiccup laughed.

"You know what? I think it's a good thing we haven't been able to find any portraits from when I was a baby." I knew the real reason why there weren't any—so that my parents could keep up the lie that I was a boy, in order to keep Dagur from taking the throne at the time—but it wasn't so bad that they didn't exist.

"Oh, I think it's a tragedy," Hiccup joked. Upon seeing my soured expression, he wrapped an arm around my shoulders and kissed my cheek. "Actually, where'd the red hair come from?"

Dagur, Heather, and I all looked at each other, then shrugged at the same time. Dagur had told me both Mom and Dad had black hair and green eyes, meaning someone else in the family that we didn't know about must've been a redhead.

"It's not really a surprise the girls ended up with some red in their hair, though," Hiccup continued. "Most of my dad's side of the family had red hair, plus my mom has some red... it looks that way in the light."

"Highlights," I clarified. "She has red highlights. Although, they've become a lot more prominent as she's aged."

"Okay, I think that's enough about hair color," Heather groaned. "I don't understand how you can talk about something so boring for so long."

"It's the chiefing," I joked. "We've had to learn how to stay engaged during these terrible, mundanely boring conversations. But I digress."

"How're Toothless and Shriek with the babies?" Heather asked, switching the conversation away before it could continue even on that topic.

Hiccup and I quickly glanced at each other before he answered.

"We don't know, actually," he admitted. "Toothless is a pretty gentle dragon, but we've never really seen him around baby humans before... and he hasn't always been the greatest when it comes to baby dragons. He tends to get annoyed with them and try to throw them off. We haven't really introduced them yet, just to air on the side of caution."

"And Shriek can get pretty loud when she's excited. It's kind of hard to explain to her why she can't just start roaring when she's happy normally, let alone with two tiny babies."

"We'll introduce them when they're a little older," Hiccup finished. My brother and sister nodded, then immediately went back to ogling over their nieces.

The day was nearly drawing to a close, when I noticed Dagur's facial expression shift. He appeared confused, maybe even a little concerned. My protective instinct kicked in, and I sat up a little straighter.

"Uh, Reign... are her eyes supposed to look like that?"

Panicked, I made my way over to my brother and looked down. Alith had opened her eyes, but... there was something wrong. Her vibrant green irises had a strange haze over them, almost making them appear milky. I had never noticed that before...

With one glance at Hiccup, we quickly gathered up our things and made a mad scramble back to Berk.