"So you'll get to be staying with us! How great is that?" Dagur asked happily as Ash clung onto him as they rode out from the Edge with Heather and Ash's dragons.

"As much as I'd like to have stayed with the riders, I feel like I need to keep an eye on you when Heather can't." Ash said as she held on tightly to him.

"How's the leg?"

"Still hurts, but I assure you that I'll be feeling better soon."

"Well you know you can't walk around with an injured leg, we'll have our healer check the wound and give you a crutch so you won't hurt yourself."

Ash gave him a grateful smile and leaned her head onto his shoulder. "I'm really glad to have someone as caring as you." She whispered softly, earning a small blush from Dagur.

"So what was your answer going to be?" Heather asked, flying over to them on Windshear. "You never told us at the Edge!"

"I'm not telling you!" Dagur snapped and he heard Sleuther growl in annoyance. "Oh hush you, you're supposed to take my side!"

"It's still undecided." Ash said and rubbed the Triple Stryke's side gently to soothe him. "Anyways, what should I suspect to see when we reach your island?"

"Oh a whole lot of change." Dagur replied and grinned. "You're going to love it, and I'm sure the people are going to love you!"

As they flew, Dagur talked about what had been changed since he became a dragon rider and when he and Heather returned to their home. Heather told her how no one was really too thrilled about Dagur's change of behavior but they were glad to see her returned.

"Hiccup did say your dad used to be almost as bad as Dagur till he changed and became a bit more agreeable. They should at least be glad that they don't have to worry about having a chief who might cut their fingers off for smacking their food." Ash pointed out. "Not many people were too happy with having my mother as a queen, but it was way better than having one who was having sex with her own brother and blew up a sept with explosive fire!"

"Now that is better." Heather agreed. "What is your mom like?"

"She's pretty fair, willing to listen to the common folks problems and answers injustice with justice. When she wasn't busy she'd ride into the town and greet the people and try to get the place cleaned up." Ash said and smiled softly. "She and my father were one of those good rulers. In the North everyone loved my father and he loved his people. Everyone was quite happy to see him with my mother and produce seven children."

"Seven kids?! How old is your mother?" Dagur asked in alarm.

"Still somewhat young. I didn't come along until my parents were king and queen for almost a year." Ash responded. "I got six little brothers and sisters. Their names as Rickion, Lyanna, Eddard, Rhaella, Robert and Catherine. All with silver or dark hair and with violet, grey or brown eyes."

"Whoa, quite the bunch." Heather said sounding impressed.

"Oh it is," Ash laughed. "It most definitely is."

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

"So where will I stay?" Ash asked as they locked up their dragons. For some odd reason, the dragons would go crazy when they tried getting close to the village. Which meant that they had to walk all the way down.

"With us of course, we've got no guest rooms in our home so you can bunk with me." Dagur suggested.

"Oh no, she is sleeping in my room. Don't want any little Targaryen - Berserker babies running around this village." Heather said, giving her brother a scolding look. "And we definitely don't want a dragon bigger than a Red Death to come down and destroy this village for that."

"Uh...who said we would be doing any of that?" Dagur asked with a puzzled look as Ash pretended to be busy inspecting Sweet Song's wings. "Besides I was going to let her sleep in my bed and I'll take the floor."

"Ash will you at least decide where you want to sleep?" Heather asked.

"Well...I still get nightmares and crazy visions sometimes so....Dagur's room?" Ash answered sheepishly.

"You have my word as a fellow Berserker that I won't try anything on her." Dagur said to his sister, holding one hand up and making an X over his heart. "Now, shall we get going and help our guest settle down?"

"Uh... if anyone has forgotten, I can't walk." Ash pointed out as she tapped her leg. "My wound hurts when I walk too much."

"I have a solution to that." Dagur responded. With one swift motion, he scooped her up bridal style and started walking down the hill. "Problem solved."

"Where I came from there was a girl who had mules to carry people down a slope like this, I rode them a few times when I was little and it was scary." Ash said as they walked. "Then we just used my mother's dragons instead."

"Well I'm way sturdier than an old mule." Dagur bragged and Heather rolled her eyes.

"Well I know some old mules who keep their bragging to themselves." Ash chuckled. "Why did the dragons start acting so strange when we got close to the village?"

"No one knows, it's a little weird." Heather admitted as Smudge ran around her legs, occasionally stopping to pee on a bush or sniff Dagur's boots or a tree. "It's why we have the stables so far from the village."

"Well I guess I'll have to live all the way up there if I want to take care of Shattermaster." Ash said, glancing back to the stables.

"Shatty will be fine, he's a tough little guy." Dagur assured her. "For now Sleuther will be my dragon to ride until Shatty recovers from his injuries."

As the three walked to the village, they passed some Berserkers who were chopping down trees or fishing in some lakes. Ash noticed one man among the Berserkers who was definitely not one of them.

"Dagur why is Savage here?" She asked, fear creeping into her voice.

She never liked the way that man always looked at her, and it wasn't in that creepy way that older men had often given her. It was a look of hatred, as if she had wronged him unknowingly in some way and he just wanted to murder her for it. She had always kept out of his way, never dared to look at him in the eyes or even get close to him. Yet here they were, and he was glaring at her as she was being carried by Dagur.

"Oh we found him and decided to take him in, he works for us now." Dagur answered and gave the ex-Outcast a friendly smile. "Loyal as ever."

"Dagur, weeks ago he was after me and Hiccup when Viggo put a bounty on our heads." Ash said, shuddering at the time where she and the young dragon master were chased and stolen numerous times until some strange man had taken them both to Ryker, only to get a bag of rocks as payment.

"I know, and he apologized for it." Dagur replied and continued to walk. Smudge snarled at Savage and snapped at his boots. "Smudge leave him alone!"

"What's with the girl?" One Berserker asked, gesturing to Ash.

"She's a guest, and I expect all of you to respect her." Dagur replied and glared at his men. "She's a princess and a friend to the dragon riders, so I expect nothing but the uttermost respect for her that was given to my sister when she was returned home."

Some of the men looked at each other uncomfortably before nodding in agreement at the chief. Savage scowled but muttered a half-hearted 'yes' before the four riders continued their walk to the village.

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

"Leg feeling better?" Dagur asked Ash as she sat crossed legged on his bed.

"A bit, the crutch makes it easier to walk." The princess admitted. "Though I really wanted to go check on the dragons in the morning."

"I'll see if we can find you a mule to take you up the mountain to the dragons, we do have one that doesn't even fear the dragons."

"A mule that doesn't fear dragons...sounds like the cousin of my mare back in Westeros, she didn't balk at the sight of my mother's dragons." Ash said with a chuckle. "Her sire was a Dothraki stallion and her mother was one of those pretty Westeros mares meant for ladies to ride around for fun. She was a gift from my aunt Arya."

"Sounds pretty nice." Dagur said and sat down on his pile of furs. "Remember, if you need anything, I'm right here on the floor."

"Sleep well then." Ash said, slipping under the blankets and laid her head down on the pillow. "G'night."

"Night." Dagur murmured before laying his head down and closing his eyes.

"Should we have told her? The truth about us?" Ash asked Dagur. "It didn't seem fair not to tell her."

"She probably figured it was a lie." Dagur said. He heard the bed creak and a small pair of footsteps approach his makeshift bed before feeling something warm and small lay down next to him and felt a pair of arms wrap around his chest. "You know Heather said-"

"Oh screw what she said, I sleep better when I'm close to you." Ash said into his hair. "And I know you know it." She was right.

Ash had never slept badly when he was close to her with just a sword or axe between them when they were on the run from Viggo, and when there wasn't one they were careful not to roll onto each other and wake the other up.

"Then hopefully Heather doesn't wake up to find us like this." Dagur responded, turning over so he could hold her in the same embrace that she was holding him in.

"She won't, I can guarantee that." Ash promised and looked into his eyes.

"Now go to sleep before she wakes up to yell at us to shut up." Dagur said gently pushing her head down on the pillow. Ash chuckled softly before snuggling down under the furs and rested her head against his shoulder.

"Sleep well my non-deranged chief." She whispered and Dagur smiled.

"Same to you, my dragon princess."