Morgan Sigmund thought the award ceremony for the older Thawfest competitors was a waste of time and she wasn't afraid to sigh loudly and poke her mother in the hopes that she would allow the family to leave early. Morgan's mother, however, was a proper Viking and proper Vikings believe that their community is their extended family. For that reason, she wasn't too keen on being interrupted while cheering on members of her community.

"Pipe down." she snapped at the girl after a few seconds. "The other girls are sitting still, why aren't you?"

"I'm bored." Morgan whined. "I don't even know Rosabella." she added as she watched Hiccup present the older girl with the medal. "Please let me go home."

"None of the other girls are wiggling around like you." Morgan's mother chided. "Adrianna's a calm as can be. Now sit still."

"Perfect Adrianna." Morgan muttered darkly.

It was a funny thing about grown-ups, the fact that they really liked comparing their children to each other. Morgan hated being told to act like another child and she especially hated it when she overheard her parents talk proudly about a well behaved child. It was like she didn't even exist at all. At least until someone needed a good lecture. Then there was nowhere she could go to escape. Taryn was good company when she felt neglected but the girl had no backbone at all. It was better than being perfect all the time. Every other day, it seemed that some grown-up was telling her to be more mature, more quiet, more polite like the chief's daughter. And that is why Morgan Sigmund detested Adrianna Haddock with every fiber of her being.

Of course Adrianna didn't know this. It was fun to watch her struggle to fit in all the while knowing that she wouldn't succeed. It was even more fun to intentionally snub her and watch that brain, the one everyone praised for its intelligence, whir away inside her head and come up with nothing. Taryn, on the other hand, only went along with this because Morgan was quite popular with the other girls and no one wanted to be outside the popular group. Least of all someone who should have some amount of respect as part of the chief's clan. But Adrianna was so weird that it wasn't hard at all to exclude her. And Taryn was average in just about every way so she didn't bring the group down at all.

Morgan stared down a few rows at the girl in question, watching as she sighed deeply when Jacobi was awarded the Thawfest medal. Honestly, sometimes it seemed like she was a hundred miles away but now, she appeared to be quite focused. She had a silly looking blue flower in her hair today, different from her usual purple ones, and it was so exposed that Morgan considered snatching it and seeing how long it would take for the Haddock girl to notice. Probably not long. She was sitting next to the leather shop boy Erick. Morgan didn't know Erick very well but his association with the enemy in addition to the fact that he was almost as spacey as her made him almost as bad. And he wasn't the type of boy to snitch but he was the type to get all self righteous about right and wrong and demand the flower back. And then Morgan's mother would get involved and it meant another lecture. So stealing the flower was out of the question.

Now that she was eyeing Erick, she noticed something very strange. The boy wasn't at all focused on the ceremony. His eyes seemed to be constantly shifting to Adrianna, drinking in her appearance and even marveling at the way those blonde locks glistened in the sun. Erick, Morgan realized, was smitten with the girl. It wasn't unexpected, she had heard adults joke about planning their wedding quite often, but it was a bit out of the blue. How long had this lasted? And, more importantly, was there something she could do about it?

The ceremony suddenly ended. Morgan had been focused on Erick for so long, she hadn't noticed the time passing and it was her exasperated mother poking her in the back and telling her to get up that reminded her of her earlier impatience.

"Like I said, it was boring." she said as she waited to walk across the bridge.

"Well at least you were quiet for a time." Morgan's mother replied irritably. "And you will behave in the next ceremony or I will think about taking you out of Thawfest for good."

Oh no, Morgan thought with a smirk, she's thinking again. I'm trembling in my boots.

Morgan's mother talked about all kinds of punishments but never delivered on them. It was something Morgan liked quite a bit because it meant that she could get away with anything as long as she didn't mind sitting through the lectures, which could be quite lengthy.

A red haired girl finally caught up with her and grabbed her arm. Morgan jumped and turned to look at her. Dana looked annoyed about something but Morgan got the feeling that she wasn't about to find out.

"We have to talk." Dana said solemnly. "Now."

"All right already." Morgan followed her away from the crowd. "What's so important?"

"My mom's an idiot, that's what." Dana growled.

"What did she do?" Morgan asked, genuinely bewildered.

"She decided to move here." Dana sighed deeply before continuing. "She wants a fresh start after dad died. Or something like that. I don't know. Looks like I'll be stuck here."

"Well that's not so bad. You and I get along." Morgan reminded her.

Dana rolled her eyes. "I just... don't want to... why am I telling you? I don't even know you!"

Morgan shrugged. "You came to me."

As Dana stomped off, looking very upset, Morgan couldn't help but think that things were about to get better. Taryn was so very dull but a girl her age who was so much like her, if not a bit more fiery, would make a good ally. Or a friend. Whichever worked best.

Xxx

The morning of the first day of the Thawfest games, at least for Finn and Adrianna's age range, was a flurry of activity. The games would take place that afternoon but there was a lot of last minute training. Everyone was excited about that day. Everyone, that is, except for Adrianna. But she feigned it as she descended the staircase on the way to breakfast. As usual, she was up a bit later than the rest of the family, but this was partially because she put work into her appearance. She had braided her long blonde hair so that, when she turned her back, one might confuse her for a younger Astrid. Hiccup suddenly felt very nostalgic.

The girl's father and brother sat at the table while her mother stood in the kitchen. Quietly, she slid into her seat at the table and began to eat, her eyes focused on her food.

"I think I can beat the other boys at the events." Finn stood up from his seat. "I mean I've practiced and trained." he sat back down. "And I didn't think they were that hard. But then again, I guess I could slip up." once more, he raised to his feet. "But only if someone else tripped me, which would be against the rules." he returned to his seat. "And Thornado has experience flying with other dragons so the dragon events won't be much of a problem." the boy stood back up.

"I can tell you're excited, buddy." Hiccup dove his spoon into the bowl and looked up at his smiling son. "But if you don't eat your breakfast, you're going to run out of energy and then you won't win."

Finn sighed in exasperation and leaned over his bowl to eat, not bothering to sit back down. Hiccup breathed a laugh at his son's enthusiasm. The boy really was quite fun to watch when he was excited about something.

"Okay, champ, maybe you should stay seated." Hiccup stated, shaking his head in amusement as his son obeyed. He then turned to his daughter. "You're being quiet this morning. You okay?"

"Huh?" Adrianna dropped her spoon in the bowl with a clatter, spilling its contents on the place-mat. She grabbed a towel to clean it up, quite used to her and her father's clumsiness by now. "I'm fine. Just a little nervous. I don't know what events they've got planned this year."

"Shouldn't be too difficult. There's the archery, the log roll, and a new one I'm not allowed to tell you about. But it's a little dangerous so be sure to wear a helmet." Hiccup tapped the girl on the head. "You'll be just fine."

Adrianna wished she could be reassured but it was rather difficult when hundreds of eyes would be fixed on her in a matter of hours.

The last training session before the games was required so Adrianna and Lily walked to the arena as inconspicuously as they could (though with a Monstrous Nightmare, being inconspicuous wasn't easy). Adrianna sat down and shut her eyes, blocking out all noise.

And then it came over her again, just as it had last time. Quiet. Not silence exactly, but a warm, comfortable feeling of complete serenity. She'd found her weapon against the girls who mocked her and the trainer who periodically glared at her. Rather than fight, she could justrelax.

The one drawback to this was the fact that she heard absolutely none of the lesson. And it was most unfortunate for her that the information presented was life saving and thus vitally important. Then again, the glares and whispered insults were also ignored so there was a bright side to this, at least until the actual competition.

The girls competed first in the Thawfest games, followed by the boys. Finn felt incredibly antsy and disliked waiting for the girls to finish so he paced around the stands. Meanwhile, Hiccup watched as they rolled out the log and set it up. He didn't like the idea of his daughter attempting to stay on it but the ground had a few mats for those Vikings lucky enough to land on them. Safety on Berk was never much of a concern.

The first thing Adrianna thought as she stood atop the log waiting for it to start rolling was that she should have stayed in bed. There was no second thought because the moment the log began to roll, she lost her footing and was the first to be thrown off. This was no surprise to anyone since she was clumsy on the best of days but it was quite embarrassing nonetheless. Gobber checked to make sure she hadn't been knocked out and then steered her to the nearby benches so she could watch the rest of the girls. Feeling slightly dazed, Adrianna watched as Taryn fell, bringing Jillian down with her. Only Dana and Morgan remained so the Haddock girl quickly lost interest. In fact, she was so wrapped up in her inner world that she hadn't noticed when one of the girls finally fell off and the game had a winner. Nor did she even notice who it was that won.

The boys' competition was quite a bit more exciting. Finn and the other boys stayed atop the log for nearly a minute before two Outcast boys fell, soon followed by Cliff. It was Finn, Thorein, and a third Outcast boy, whose name Adrianna didn't know, who remained. The Outcast soon fell as well. Now it was Finn and Thorein.

"GO FINN!" called a person from the crowed whose voice neither Finn nor Adrianna recognized.

"YOU CAN DO IT, THOREIN!" called Thorein's fans.

There was a bit of an argument between the groups of people supporting each boy. Adrianna enjoyed watching the verbal tussle, shaking her head at the stupidity of it all. By the time she turned back to the log, only one boy remained. Thorein's fans cheered loudly as the log stopped rolling and Finn stumbled to the bench.

"I can still win this." he said confidently to anyone who would listen.

Setup for the next event was a lot quicker. Adrianna was good at archery and now that Tarry wasn't in charge, she was permitted to shoot left handed, which felt much more natural. The girls lined up and Adrianna had the enormous misfortune to end up between Dana and Jillian.

"You're doing it wrong." Jillian muttered to her.

"No I'm not." Adrianna smirked the tiniest bit. This was something she could win.

"Yes you are." Dana repeated just as they were given permission to shoot. "Can't you do anything right?"

Adrianna knew that Dana's words shouldn't pierce her the way they did. She knew that Dana didn't matter at all. But it's one thing to know things in your head and another thing entirely to know them in your heart. And Adrianna's heart began to pound with suppressed anger. Unfortunately for her, her anger also made her arms shake. And that is how Adrianna missed the target by a fraction of an inch. Morgan hit it dead center and smiled triumphantly as Hiccup declared her the winner.

Finn wasn't as good at archery as his sister but he was proficient and the other boys were terrible. The moment they heard the signal, six arrows pierced the air and only three even landed on their targets. Finn's arrow was closest to the center and Hiccup beamed as he declared his son the winner.

Only one more task remained. It took a long time to set up but since the ten-year-olds weren't allowed to leave the arena, it was a very boring twenty or thirty minutes. Loud roars punctuated their conversations and made them wonder what on earth they could be setting up.

"All right!" Gobber announced, standing in front of what appeared to be some sort of maze. "A hammer has been placed in the middle of the maze. Whoever finds it first wins. However, there are more than a few obstacles. Now you were taught all about how to deal with them in training this morning so I don't think they should be a problem." he looked pointedly at Adrianna when he said this, only increasing the girl's nervousness.

Fantastic, thought Adrianna as she positioned herself at the entrance, the one lesson I should have been listening to and I ignore it completely.

Gobber signaled for them to enter the maze and the six girls immediately did so.

Hiccup watched the spectacle from the highest seat in the arena next to Allie the Insincere. The woman looked almost bored with her chin on her hand and her eyes inspecting her nails instead of the competition. Hiccup felt a surge of frustration but quashed it. His little girl was about to make him proud. The obstacles, of course, were dragons. Crowds of wild Terrible Terrors, wild Nadders and Gronckles and one Monstrous Nightmare. The girls all knew exactly how to deal with all of them so he wasn't as worried as he might have been.

He should have been more worried.

He watched his daughter rush through, first running into the swarm of Terrors. Quick as a flash, his clever little girl distracted them with a shiny light and kept on going. He felt a surge of pride for the tiniest moment. She could win this!

Adrianna was the closest to the hammer in the center of the maze when a gigantic Gronckle suddenly got in her way. The yellow beast didn't look anywhere near as friendly as Meatlug so she suspected belly rubs would be out of the question. It snarled at her, its body ready to pounce. Hiccup tensed. Surely his daughter knew what to do. He had made certain that she and the other kids had been told what to do if they ran into a wild Gronckle.

The first thing you should do if you run across a wild Gronckle is to avert your eyes. Some dragons are more likely to trust you if you look them in the eye. The Changewing and the Gronckle are the two known exceptions. The second thing you should do is to move away from it very slowly. To train a Gronckle, you have to show that you're not a threat. Younger Gronckles tend to be more suspicious than older ones and this one was quite young. Hiccup knew Adrianna knew all this. She had been in training that morning. She was perfectly safe.

But then she did something that made his heart stop pounding entirely. Keeping eye contact, she inched forward and put out her hand. The snarling elevated in volume.

"Addie, no..." Hiccup muttered. It was almost like she was emulating her brother's actions with the Scauldron a few days previously. "Back away... back away..."

Most unfortunately for everyone, especially boys, girls cannot read minds. The Haddock girl had no idea her father was attempting to tell her not to do exactly what she was doing. And so Hiccup watched as she crept closer and closer. And then the Gronckle's hindquarters began to wiggle.

"Stop the games!" Hiccup called, standing up and frantically waving his arms.

It was too late. The Gronckle pounced in the direction of the only daughter of Hiccup and Astrid and very nearly flattened her. Fortunately, she had sensed its hostility and jumped back just in time. But it wasn't quite done with her yet. Firing lava blasts from its great mouth, it pursued the child, narrowly missing on several occasions and singing the girl's hair. Adrianna threw both her hands over her head and ran as fast as she could, her helmet flying off her head and landing behind her.

Hiccup ran at full speed toward the entrance to the arena. He knew he couldn't simply jump down, not with an injured leg. His heart pounded in his chest, his paternal instincts taking over his entire being. The only thing that mattered was saving the life of his child. Suddenly, an agonizing pain swept through his entire left leg and it shuddered horribly. Hiccup howled in anger as he fell sideways, now completely unable to support his weight. And if he couldn't support his weight, there was no way he could get to his little girl in time.

Unfortunately for his daughter, his genes won out over Astrid's. Instead of nimbly hopping over a stray axe handle that someone who had been setting up the maze had accidentally left behind, Adrianna's foot fell on it and she lost her balance when it rolled out from under her. The Gronckle leaped at her as her head hit the pavement with a sickening crack.