16. Awkward Dinner

"Anyone hungry?" Moana asked as she placed a bowl of fruit in the middle of the group, along with another bowl filled with crispy brown meat and a basket of cooked fish.

"Starving!" Snotlout answered and grabbed a mango off the pile and bit into it. "Man this is so juicy and sweet!"

"This is good pork!" Tuffnut added as he popped another piece of the cooked meat into his mouth. He heard a grunt and turned to see Moana's pig Pua standing behind him and with an annoyed look on his face. "Oooh.....well this is awkward...." He muttered as he grabbed a fruit from the bowl instead.

Moana giggled as her pig snorted and walked off to go sit behind her. She felt her mother nudge her shoulder and turned to look at her.

"So, which one is it?" She whispered. Moana didn't even need to ask what her mother was even talking about.

"None of them mom. Hiccup is practically engaged to Astrid, Tuffnut is not even my type, Fishlegs has eyes for Ruffnut, Snotlout is gross and not even my type, and Eret is just a friend." The young chief whispered back and rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Seriously, do you and dad always have to suspect I am in love with whatever guy I meet and bring back to the island?"

"We just want to see you settled down soon, you're chief now and you know you need to find a suitable husband to have an heir." Tui added. "Having a spouse is not so bad, you just have to pick carefully."

"I think the one with the strange mark on his chest is the one." Sina chuckled and saw her daughter's cheeks turn pink.

Earlier before eating, the Vikings discarded their furs, leather and armor and traded them for the colorful clothes the villagers had been so kind to give to them to wear since it was a bit too hot. The boys (except for Tuffnut and Eret) were a bit too embarrassed to walk around without their shirts, especially Fishlegs, but the annoying heat was a bit too unbearable so they just discarded them and agreed to wear just the skirts they were given.

"Well he is not my boyfriend, nothing special going on between us!" Moana snapped and bit into her mango angrily. "And don't go asking him either, his response is just the same."

"So where do we sleep?" Fishlegs asked Moana, gratefully interrupting the conversation.

"We have some huts you can sleep in. Of if you feel uncomfortable sleeping in one of those, you can sleep outside with the dragons." Moana suggested. "There's not going to be any rain tonight so no need to worry about getting wet."

"This island is a rather great place to live." Ruffnut said as she wiped her mouth after drinking from a coconut. "The weather is nice and warm, plenty of food, nice neighbors, it's paradise!"

"Exactly!" Snotlout agreed. "Man why can't we travel to places like this more often?"

They continued to eat and talking, Maui shiftshaping into various dragons he'd seen on Berk and at one point even took the shape of Toothless and chased Hei Hei and Chicklet around like that (Tuffnut and Moana were not amused by this). At one point during the feast, Moana got up to move away from her parents and took a spot next to Eret to eat in peace.

"They think you're my boyfriend, but I keep telling them that you're just my friend." Moana said to the ex-trapper as she popped some pork into her mouth when she was sure Pua wasn't looking.

"Friend zoning me already? That's hurtful." Eret joked before giving her a worried look. "Do they really think we're a thing? Or are close to being one?"

"Yeah, but it's not even gonna happen." Moana assured him as Hei Hei walked close and started pecking at the blanket where they laid their food out. "I'm kind of getting bored of this feast, plus I need to check on my dragons."

"I'll come with you." Eret offered as he helped her get to her feet. "I need to clear my head."

Moana took a basket of uncooked fish and had Eret take another and led him down to the beach. Kai and Tide were waiting for them and screeched and splashed in excitement and started to swim in circles in the shallow water. Moana giggled at her dragon's antics and set down the basket of fish down on the sand before dumping it all out. Eret did likewise before stepping back onto the dry sand and sat down next to Moana to watch the dragon eat.

"It was around here that it happened." Moana said as she watched the waves rise and fall along the shore. "The ocean came to me as a little girl around here to give me the heart. I dropped it by mistake and always kept trying to go back to get it but my parents always tried to keep me away from the shores. For years I often wondered why I wanted to get close to the sea, and thirteen yeas later I finally understood why."

"I always liked sitting out near the ocean, something about the sound of the waves always calmed me." Eret said as Kai and Tide slapped away their basket towards the dry shore and plunged under the water. "My mother said that when I was a baby she'd take me out to our fishing boat and sit in it to let me listen to the water lap against the sides of it when I got fussy. Hence why I often go out sailing and why I took up being a fisherman when I made Berk my permanent home."

"Do you still miss it? Your island?" Moana asked. "You still have family there, right?"

"Yeah but...I got into a fight with my old man the night before I went to join Drago and I haven't heard from him or my mother since I left." Eret admitted admitted pulled one knee up to his chest. "Some days I thought about returning home but figured it wasn't worth it. For all I know, my father practically disowned me the moment I stepped foot off the island."

"Maybe after we find out why someone wants to harm me, we could go find your family." Moana suggested.

"Maybe. By the way, have you told your parents what you learned?"

"Not yet, I don't want to scare them so soon. I'm going to tell my father tomorrow and ask our counsel what to do."

"Hey love birds! Where are you at?" Their heads snapped up at the sound of Tuffnut's voice and instantly scrambled to their feet.

"Found them!" Snotlout announced cheerfully as the gang emerged from the foliage with Pua and their dragons. "What were you two doing?"

"Talking." Moana and Eret said in unison. "And that's all, nothing else." Moana added hastily.

"Suuuuuuure. By the way, your dad is looking for you and Eret." Ruffnut informed her. "Said something about a...union."

"Union?" Eret asked.

"Hiccup and Maui told him why you came back." Astrid explained. "I think he needs to hear what you wish to do."

"Possibly keep me away from the ocean for a while." Moana said with a groan. "Guess that means no exploring until this whole thing has blown over."

"Actually, I think it may be something else."

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

Anger. That's what Moana felt at the moment. She was mad at both her father and the two friends who didn't even wait for her to tell her him what she had learned. Eret was upset as her after what they learned and wasn't liking her father's plan of how to keep her safe from those people who wanted to sacrifice her for who knows what reason.

"A fake marriage?! Is your father mad?!" Eret ranted as he paced back and forth inside the hut the riders were going to be staying in. "How is this going to work?"

"Well he did say that maybe they wouldn't sacrifice Moana if she was married and already consummated the marriage." Astrid pointed out. "But I agree it's a rather crazy plan."

"Exactly! He even sent me off to get tattoos so I could blend in!" Eret added and winced at the pain on his chest where the tattoo artist tried to cover up his scar with a tattoo of a sun and was planning on throwing on a few others tomorrow. "Moana is definitely not happy about this, and knowing her she is not going to go through with this crazy plan!"

"Have you talked to her about this?" Hiccup asked as he was laying out the sleeping mats they were given to rest on.

"No, she refused to even look at me after her father announced this plan. I tried to talk to her but she ran off into the forest and I hadn't seen her since."

"Well you should at least go after her and take your dragon, or wait for her in the hut her parents need you two to sleep in now that you are 'married'."

With a groan, Eret exited the hut and walked over to the more smaller one that Moana claimed as hers when she had turned eighteen. Skullcrusher was asleep outside the hut while Pua was asleep in the corner with Hei Hei curled up on his back but Moana wasn't inside. Eret walked in, feeling the guilt twist inside him like he just swallowed a live eel. It didn't feel fair to put his friend through this, but was there any other way to keep her safe from a sacrifice?

Eret walked over to the blankets that were laid out on the floor and and sat down on one. He heard footsteps outside of the hut and felt a wave of relief wash over him when he saw it was Moana. She quietly walked over to him and sat down on the blankets.

"I'm sorry that you have to deal with all this." She muttered.

"It's not your fault, plus your father is trying to keep you safe." Eret assured her. "Besides, we just have to play the part."

"Does your chest hurt?"

"A little, but we have to at least cover it up."

Pua gave a grunt from his corner but didn't move from there. Moana grabbed one of the blankets on the floor and laid it out before motioning for Eret to lay down on it. He did as she asked and watched as she rolled up another blanket before laying it down between them and laid down on the other side.

"Sleep well." She murmured before turning her back to him.