Dagur awoke to the sound of someone pounding on his bedroom door and sat up slowly with a groan, taking care not to disturb Ash who was asleep besides him.

"What now?" He asked loudly as he climbed out of bed to grab at least a tunic to put on. He managed to find one and threw it on before walking over to the door and throwing it open. "Well?" He asked the guard who was standing uncomfortably in front of him.

"Th-there's someone here to see you chief. A very small man who claims he is the Hand of the queen and demands to see uh...your lady." The guard stammered and wrung his hands. "Oh and he also said that if you refuse to see him, he'll have his beast set fire to the whole island."

"Small man?" Dagur heard Ash ask from the bed and turned to see her propped up on her elbows and pushing some of her hair from her face. "Was he blonde and wore a golden pin on his shirt?"

"Y-yes. And overhead was a huge green and bronze dragon that looked bigger than a Red Death!" The guard answered hastily. Ash's eyes widened and she sprang from the bed and bolted out of the room, still in her nightgown.

"Looks like I have to go outside too, he did say he wished to speak with me." Dagur sighed as he walked out to follow Ash. "Wonder who he is. Ash seemed pretty terrified of him."

Dagur walked out of his home to find some of his people crowded in a circle around something. Standing nearby was a monstrous dragon, much bigger than any he had ever seen with scales the color of emeralds and lined with bronze scales. It's large head was bent down in the middle of the crowd and it was giving out loud purring sounds, ones he'd only heard Sleuther make when he scratched him in the right place. As he got closer, he saw Ash standing in the center of the circle with a blonde haired dwarf who wore a red and gold tunic with a small hand shaped pin on it. Ash was hugging the dragon's snout and stroking it gently while cooing to it in that strange language he often heard her cursed in.

"Oh how I've missed you big brother! You don't know how I yearned to be united with you and our brother's after I regained my memory!" Ash cooed and place a kiss on the beast's scaly snout. The dragon snorted and nuzzled her gently before catching sight of Dagur. It's bronze eyes narrowed in distrust but remained close to the silver haired girl.

"Oh look, your somewhat Dothraki boy has arrived." The dwarf said as the crowd parted for Dagur to walk through.

"Uncle, be polite!" Ash scolded as she gently pushed the dragon's head away and walked over to Dagur. "Before you can ask, I had no idea my uncle would come."

"After her father told us of her whereabouts, I figured it was high time I payed my beloved niece a visit." The dwarf said and gave a yawn. "I hadn't eaten yet, and no doubt you haven't either."

"Hold on a minute, who are you exactly?" Dagur asked. "And how dare you threaten to burn my whole village if I refused to speak with you?"

"Oh he'd never do that!" Ash said and gave the dwarf a scolding look. "Right uncle Tyrion?"

"Quite right, but as you know, Vikings have stubbornness issues." The dwarf, Tyrion chuckled and studied Dagur with his mismatched eyes. "Are you courting my niece?"

"I am, and I have been very respectful of her as well." Dagur answered. "I treat her as one should treat a princess and I make sure that everyone treats her politely."

"I heard that you had some dragons of your own." Tyrion said Turing to his niece and gave her a smile. "You've really become just like your mother. The trader who delivered us the news on your whereabouts told us what you've been doing, your mother is very pleased that you stayed behind to help dragons and wishes she could be at your side to help."

"But she and my father have a kingdom to run and six underage children to look after." Ash added with added nod. "How are my cousins doing? Margery, Catlin and Hugo?"

"Quite well really, Margery is a bit jealous that you get to skip out on your lady and princess duties and play around with dragons."

"Of course she hates her ladies duties, but she still does them despite her grumbling."

"I'd like to see these dragons of yours. It'd be nice to even introduce your older brother to them as well."

"So...breakfast anyone?" Dagur asked.

"Of course. Rhaegal, you can go hunting, but stay away from this island's boars and sheep and mules." Ash instructed the large dragon. "And do not roast the locals!"

"He won't, he's too tired to even hunt anyways." Tyrion assured her as Rhaegal walked away from them and laid himself down near the woods. "Now, what's for breakfast?"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The three had an awkward breakfast (in Dagur's opinion) where it was mostly Tyrion talking, Ash quietly answering or nodding or shaking her head in reply, and Dagur just sitting there awkwardly, listening to their conversation. He had no idea who were the people who were mentioned, but he figured they were either relatives or friends or of Ash's parents. Tyrion at one point asked Ash why she was wearing Dothraki clothes in the cold weather and Ash's response cracked Dagur up a bit.

"A dragon does not shiver from the cold, my boiling hate and anger towards the dragon hunters shall keep me toasty." Ash said as Dagur had to hold back a fit of laughter that was threatening to pop out of his mouth. Tyrion silenced him with a cold glare that could have frozen a blazing Monstrous Nightmare before sending his groaning niece off to get a cloak on or to change her attire.

"It's actually pretty warm today, she does have longer sleeved clothes." Dagur said to Tyrion when Ash left the room.

"She's usually not one to show off that much skin. Always wore long sleeved dresses despite the weather." Tyrion replied before taking another sip of mead from his mug. "Tell me, how well is your relationship with Asheaya?"

"Well, we were friends at first, and then we recently began courting each other a few months back." Dagur answered, wondering where this conversation was going. "Some say she acts like my wife sometimes because of how she handles me. She's good Viking queen material honestly, before I even knew she was of royal lineage I wanted to court her and ask her to be my wife."

"We've never had an alliance between the Vikings, our relationship with them the last time they stepped on our lands." Tyrion said squinting into his mug to see if he had anything left in it. "Ashaeya was never fond of them, her first and second encounter with them were not very pretty."

"She said she killed a few with a shovel used to scoop the horse poop."

"Bashed their head in with it, an amazing feat for a twelve year old girl who had been sword training since she was five. But we are all ever so grateful that she's been safe for those four years we thought she was dead."

"There! Happy?" Ash asked as she came down the stairs with a longer sleeved tunic. "I just remembered, I promised to meet up with a friend of mine today."

"But-"

"Thanks! See you two later!"

Ash bolted out of the house and ran to where Rhaegal was snoozing in the warm sunlight on his back and with one foot in the air that was twitching. tHe young wolf chuckled at the sight as she reached him and gently began to scratch his neck where he liked it best. The green gragon groaned as he stretched his back and opened up his bronze eyes to look at his baby sister.

"Ready for a little trip big brother? I have a friend who said she wanted to meet you." Ash said as Rhaegal rolled to his feet and lowered his neck down so that she could climb onto his head. Ash took her time getting on, taking care not to fall off and managed to find herself a good seat and held onto his frills. "Alright, upward Rhaegal!"

Rhaegal roared loudly, frightening several livestock in their pens and a few birds from the woods before pushing off the ground and pumped his large wings to get airborne. Soon, they were flying high in the clouds and flying away from the village.

Ash whooped in enthusiasm as she held onto her brother's frills as they sped through the clouds. Oh how she missed this feeling of being up in the air with one of her brothers! Drogon rarely ever let her ride him, Visirion was just arbors reluctant to let her climb onto his back but Rhaegal was the one who always let her climb on and take her for a spin.

After an hour or two of flying, Ash soon caught sight of the Defenders island. Rhaegal roared to announce their presence and she heard both Eruptodons roar back from below. From above, she could hear the faint cries of the people below and she grinned, already imaging their shocked faces when she landed. Ash tugged on her brother's frills to urge him to land on the beach, knowing there was no way for him to land in the village due to his size. Once he landed on the beach, Rhaegal lowered his head and stretched one wing out to let Ash slide off.

"Princess!" Ash slid off her brother to see Mala, Throk and several of their people coming over to her. Rhaegal growled at them but Ash held a hand up to silence him. The defenders of the wing queen stepped forward with a bow with a fist over her heart and Ash returned the gesture.

"What brings our to our island your majesty?" Throk asked when he bowed.

"I came to show the queen one of my older brothers. I did promise her that I'd let her meet them one day when the time was right." Ash responded and Rhaegal bowed his head at the humans.

"Is this the older one?" Mala asked, stepping forward and holding her palm out to Rhaegal to sniff.

"No, this is the second oldest, Rhaegal. He was named after my grandfather." Ash corrected her. "Drogon stays with my mother and only behaves with her. Rhaegal behaves more with me."

"He's beautiful." Mala said as the green dragon touched her palm with his snout. "Your mother must be quite proud to have raised him and his brothers."

"She is, though Drogon is the one she is most proud of." Ash agreed and ran her hand along her brother's neck. "He and his brothers had been around since I was a baby, always taking care of me and my siblings. He came along with my godfather but I left him on Berserker island to come here."

"You both must be exhausted, would you like anything to eat or drink?"

"Oh no, it's fine. Rhaegal can go hunting but according to my uncle he already ate."

"Then rest. Would you like to see how the Eruptodons are doing since you are here?"

"That would be perfect."

They led her to the village and over to where their dragons rested. The young Eruptodon who Ash hadn't seen since they brought him to the Edge for safety had grown quite a bit over the past few months. He wasn't as big as the older one, but he had just as big of an appetite. The younger one roared happily when he caught sight of Ash and lumbered over to greet her.

"Hello little one, how are you doing?" Ash cooed as the baby rubbed his rocky nose against her. "You've grown so big! Have you been helping your father protect the village from the nasty lava?"

"Indeed he has, princess." Throk stated proudly and patted the older dragon's snout in affection. "He eats more lava than the elder protector, but now that we have two the job gets done faster."

"That's good to hear, though I worry about the elder one." Ash said looking to the older Eruptodon. "What will happen when he can't help anymore?"

"He'll have to leave of course, though it won't be a bad thing. Every dragon who knows it's their time always leaves their island and goes to a far off place to die peacefully." Throk explained. "They live out their golden years there and die in peace."

"All the dragons? Won't they get scared to be near ones that eat other dragons?" Ash asked.

"No one knows, don't dragons like your brother go find somewhere peaceful to die?"

"No, our dragons have been known to live long and fruitful lives. If they die, it's in battle. My uncle told me that there was once a skull of the biggest dragon in Targaryen history that used to be kept under the castle, but his sister who was queen at the time destroyed it when she was testing a weapon that could kill dragons like my brother. They have a different weak spot and it's hard to get."

"That woman sounds like a monster."

"Oh she was. She blew up a sept to avoid having her trial and killed her son's wife and numerous other innocents. Her son was so grieved by his wife's death that he threw himself out a window. After that she became queen."

Throk's eyes narrowed in anger. "May your gods forbid any woman to do that ever again. I'm quite sure your own mother would never do that."

"She never would. She never intends to kill innocents." Ash assured him. "My mother is a just woman, nothing like her father who murdered my father's uncle and grandfather."

The older Eruptodon growled in displeasure and Ash rubbed his nose to soothe him.

"Don't worry, no one will ever hurt you or your child. I haven't left because there are still hunters out there."

"There are?" Throk asked in shock and Ash nodded. "Astrid sent me a letter telling me what happened when she and Hiccup went to Melody Island to look for Death Song amber. They found a young dragon who knew them all hurt and barely clinging to life. He's alright now but they're keeping him on the Edge for his safety."

"Your dragon must have been upset when she heard that." Throk said, recalling the odd looking Death Song that preferred fish and boar meat over dragon flesh.

"She was sad that he was hurt, but she's glad that he's alright. I think she fancies him."

"You mentioned earlier that you left your uncle with your betrothed, why is that?" Throk asked.

"Betrothed? Dagur and I are not betrothed!" Ash exclaimed and blushed. "We're just courting!"

"Well when one courts a chief, they usually are to be betrothed."

"We are not going to get married! We barely got over being friends!"

"Well our marrying rituals are possibly different than yours. If a man wants to marry a woman, he has to club her over the head and carry her off back to his island to be his devoted wife."

Ash's scrunched her nose up in disgust. "That's so...geez.... barbaric. But my father knew a clan of people who would do that, and the man had to prove that he was good enough for her by doing that. Once he steals her from her tent and takes her to his, they consummate it and she's his forever."

"And what people did this?" Throk asked, looking a bit startled.

"Before they made peace with our kingdom, they were known as wildlings but they call themselves Freefolk. They bowed to no one; they followed no kings and lived in the cold. My father stayed with them for a while before convincing them to come with him and fight at his side." Ash explained. "People mocked him for that because they all thought wildlings were bad, but they weren't. My best friend's mother was one and she's very sweet."

"So Dagur hasn't tried stealing you away to marry you?"

"No, I'm a guest in his home. I sleep in his bed while he takes the floor, but very rarely I let him lay with me but we don't do anything bad. I don't want to bring any bastards into this world."

"A smart idea, but we believe a man and woman should never share a bed like that unless they are married."

"A shame not everyone thinks like that. A lot of my friends who are common folk are bastards. My friend Kai's mother worked in a brothel but made her promise not to work there when she got her womans blood. Instead, she is a sailor and works sometimes pillages ships to give the money and supplies to the poor folk of Bravos."

They heard a loud screech from above and looked up to see Storm and Sleuther descending from above.

"Looks like we have company." Throk noted as the Eruptodons walked back to their feeding pit.

"Well that's an odd sight." Ash muttered when she caught sight of who was seated on Storm. Tyrion was gripping onto the Skrill's head spikes very tightly and looked quite pale. "Storm must have decided to give him a very wild ride by the looks of it."

"There you are! We've been looking all over for you!" Dagur shouted as she climbed off Sleuther and walked over to them. "We thought you were on Dragons Edge or Berk or any of the other island and we couldn't find you on a single one! What were you thinking?"

"You seriously came all the way out here to scold me?" Ash asked and rolled her eyes. "What, do you not trust me?"

"Oh I trust you well enough, it was him who got all paranoid and made us go everywhere to look for you!" Dagur snorted and pointed to Tyrion, who was having difficulty getting off of Storm.

"And with good reason! I don't know any of these islands, and I know you too well to know that when you claim to go somewhere, we find you someplace else!" Tyrion snapped as he managed to get off without falling on his face. "And with those hunters possibly still out there, you and Rhaegal could have gotten hurt! Your mother would have my head if anything happened to you while I was here!"

"I am twenty-one years old, I'm not a child anymore!" Ash snapped angrily and stormed over to where her uncle stood. "I hate it when you or my parents or anyone else treat me like I'm some delicate piece of glass!"

"And with good reason! And the last time you ran off from a safe place, you got kidnapped and wound up with no memory of anything and stranded on an island!" Tyrion retorted angrily. "Your parents worry about you for a good reason Ashaeya, your mother lost your baby brother when he was just a newborn and your father couldn't not even help protect his younger cousins when they were in danger. Ever since that time when a Viking clan invaded Winterfell and almost killed you and your siblings, they could not stop worrying about any of you! They were terrified of something bad happening to the seven of you when you were out of their sight! When you have your own children and they have a close brush with breath, then you'll understand."

"You know what is the reason why I came out here? Because I could not stand being in the same room as you and see you be rude to the man I am courting." Ash snapped. "Dagur is a good man, he'd never hurt me or do anything to harm me. When someone tried to take over the tribe, he tried to keep me and his sister and his people safe. I know what happened years ago only increased hatred for all the Vikings, but I've met many good and kind Vikings, especially ones who loved dragons. The tribe that took me in are Vikings, they gave me a home for all those years I was missing, they let me keep and raise my dragons to be able to protect their home. Even the man who took me in refused to let me leave with dragon hunters because he was worried for my safety.

"The defenders of the wing love and protect dragons and have been doing so for thousands of years. Berk had been at war with dragons for three hundred years, and that all stopped because of a young boy who saw that they weren't bad." Ash folded her arms and glared down at her uncle, who was looking back up at her and glaring back. "If being friends with Vikings makes me a traitor to my country, then I rather go back to being Sansa Stormrider instead of staying as Ashaeya Stark. I won't abandon or scorn my friends just because of what a stupid group of barbaric invaders did to me. I know the difference between a good Viking and a bad one. If my father were here, he'd understand what I have been through."

"Vikings are not freefolk." Tyrion said and sent a glare at Dagur. "But if you wish to remain here instead of returning home to your worried parents, be my guest. You might as well send a letter to your mother, ever since your father had returned from these lands she's been worried sick."

"You didn't have to get in a fight with your uncle like that." Dagur said as they were preparing for bed. "You could have just explained everything to him."

"He probably wouldn't have believed me. Possibly thought I was brainwashed or something." Ash muttered as she slipped her nightgown on and climbed into the bed with Dagur. "He knows I can handle myself, name a situation where I couldn't get myself out of and I'll tell you have managed to get out of it."

"You know, when you said he was your uncle, I could not see any similarities between you two." Dagur stated as he pulled the furs over them.

"He's not related to us by blood, but both my parents siblings are dead and my father only has cousins. He's technically my godfather, but he's insisted that we call him uncle." Ash explained and looked up at the ceiling. "He was the one who convinced my mother to let us go visit our family in the North, guess after what happened to me he blames everything on himself."

"You both were not to blame, no one knew you'd be ambushed." Dagur assured her and rolled over to place a gentle kiss on her forehead.

"I slipped a letter to my mother into hissatchel, asking her to come here with the rest of the family to see what I'veseen." Ash said with a yawn and snuggled closer to Dagur. "If she accepts,expect Rhaegal to arrive with two other dragons and a whole mess of people inthe middle of the village.">