How to Train Your Dragon 1. The Blood of Dragons

Summary: After the funeral she ran away. She took everything that had meaning to her and left. When she lands on Berk mere days before the big Freeze she finds a home, one that seems to be ever changing. Mira always dreamt of long gallops and fierce storms, and she's about to get her every wish.

Disclaimer: I do not own HTTYD!

Chapter 1: The Blood of Dragons.

As soon as her parents had died, she had taken her siblings, their horse and cats, and fled the mainland with all the supplies she could sneak aboard. Without her parents and underage it would've only been a matter of time before the townspeople decided to make her into a ward and separate the siblings. Her brothers and sister would grow apart from each other, and in time forget their blood ties. As a ward she would be expected to work from dawn to dusk as her lord saw fit, a slave.

Mira knew how to survive in open water. On the ship her parents' had lovingly cared for two generations she felt as strong as a horse, galloping with all the strength of an avalanche. She couldn't gallop on board, but it was a necessary evil. They needed to stay together, as a family. The best way to do that was venture somewhere that Mira could be acknowledged as a working member of society. That meant Vikings, that meant Vikings who were at war, that meant Vikings who fought dragons.

So they sailed north, just ten year old Mira with four year old twin brothers and an infant sister. They, and this ship, were all she had in the world. She solemnly repeated her vow to guard them with her life as she climbed on deck. Trader Johann's ship was still well in sight, they were still heading towards the island he had mentioned, Berk.

He didn't often go this far north, but, he'd told her, he owed the chief his life after a dragon attack years ago so he always came up once a year. It was winter now in the north, although it was only the very beginning of November by her count. Well, it didn't matter. They had to hurry before the ice set in anyway. She only hoped the Vikings would welcome an extra set of hands and allow them to live on their island.

"Alright then, we'll be there by high noon if this tailwind keeps up!" Johann called to her. She waved her arm to show she'd heard, then hurried to her chores. Feeding and brushing Windstreak, who showed signs now of being with foal, then take in one of the nets and feed the smallest fish to the cats, the female of whom was most definitely pregnant.

After that she went back into the cabin and began preparing breakfast. Today was Fredag, so everyone would get a fruit with breakfast along with the last of the salt beef and a boiled egg. As one her brothers emerged from below deck, rubbing sleepy eyes and sitting at the table blankly as she doled out the food. She checked the fire carefully, being sure no stray ember would leap out and burn them down to the waterline, and spooned the warmed milk into a bottle. It was time to feed Betty.

"Joe, Jon, don't you two dare go near the railings or spook Windstreak." She warned them before climbing down the ladder. They gave her promises with pinkies extended, and she dropped into the hold.

Inside it was dark, but she knew her way around in the hold better than anywhere else. Besides, there really wasn't much down here. Most of the supplies she'd gotten had been eaten, except for the fish that would never run out, and they weren't a trading vessel to carry all manner of goods. Coils of rope, a few baskets of seed potatoes, one more bale of hay for Windstreak, and a barrel of ale she'd brought as a gift to the Viking chief to convince him to let them stay. She'd been at her wit's end keeping the boys out of it.

Betty was awake now, though she hadn't started crying yet. With deft hands Mira cleaned her, then nestled her in the crook of her arm to feed. That done and the baby burped, she grabbed the basket of mending, put Betty in her sling, and climbed back on deck.

The fresh sea breeze hit her just right as she stepped out of the hold. Mira could tell a lot by the way the sea smelled when she stepped out of the hold. For one thing, that tailwind earlier had faded but they were now in a current, for another it appeared that she would need to take in the sail soon because a storm might be approaching. With luck this current would be swift and carry them away before it struck. If luck abandoned them then with the furled sails at least they might not capsize.

"Betcha' can't!"

"Betcha' can!"

"Betcha' can't!" She groaned and dropped the basket on top of a crate by the cabin door. They were fighting about some kind of bet, that was never good when it came to small boys. And of course Mira no longer thought of herself as a small girl, for wasn't she all of ten now and a mother in all but birth?

"Here now, get down from there!" She ordered at once upon seeing what this new bet had been. The boys had climbed the rigging and were betting to see if they could jump into the water from this height. They cringed upon seeing her, knowing well they were doing what ought not to be done by small boys. She glared fiercely at them until they had climbed down, and quickly lassoed the two to the mast, making them slump and pout. Her parents would've kept them below deck for the whole trip, to avoid them falling overboard and drowning. She had to improvise by tying them to the mast with a leash.

She didn't have any maps of the seas this far north. They must've passed Point Hopeless some time ago though, and the air had grown increasingly crisp with every passing day. She was wearing her thickest dress, which was a boring and drag grey but had nice long sleeves and went down almost to her feet. The boys were as bundled as she could get them, they wore both of their normal outfits but had outgrown their usual winter gear. She needed to let out the seams on them, the boys were growing like weeds.

Betty didn't really need winter clothes, she was so small. She was perfectly happy to be kept in her sling, wrapped up in all the spare cloth that Mira had to offer her. Surprisingly, the cold bothered her least of all.

"Land ho'!" Johann cried with a joyous cheer. Mira grinned, climbing up the rigging and squinting, wanting to catch that first glimpse of dry land. Slowly the smudge grew darker, she could see mountains and sea stacks.

"Is dat Berk?" Joe called up to me. There was no difference between him and his brother. Same black hair, same stormy blue eyes, same dimple in each cheek. But this was Joe as surely as Jon was waiting in the wings by the rail.

"With any luck, it'll be home." I correct him, carefully climbing back down and never allowing myself to glimpse the floorboards below me.

Two Vikings, one wearing a bucket and with a long braided mustache and the other short and slightly rotund, helped me to dock. Johann had his own helpers, and the entire tribe of Hooligans seemed to have come down to greet him. I was a curiosity, but nothing more than that.

And then there was a man coming through the crowd. The word _man_ didn't seem to do him justice. He had the biggest, reddest beard of all the Vikings, and stood nearly a head taller than everyone else. Bear blood, her father would've said, if he'd ever seen a man of comparable stature. Mira thought he'd taken the bear and added a few dozen dragons for spice.

"Johann, who's this?" He boomed at the trader. For the first time Mira wondered if Johann could get in trouble for bringing them here. Would they turn away his business of her presence displeased them?

"This is Mira, with her brothers and sister." He answered easily. "The little tykes don't have parents anymore, and she ran away from being forced into slavery so for a small fee I escorted her to the _friendliest_ Vikings this side of Valhalla!"

Now the great behemoth turned his war-hardened gaze on her, inspecting her. She imagined that he was weighing the extra mouths to feed against the work he might get off of her in exchange. Were her arms and shoulders strong enough to meet his standards? She was big compared to girls in the south but when she looked twice at the crowd she could see plenty of women who appeared to have bear's blood in their veins. She felt very small.

"The Freeze will be here soon, do you know what you're getting in to? The dragons don't attack as often in the winter, but they come by often enough that we can't afford to help someone who's going to run out on us before planting season." He warned her sternly.

"We don't need help, just a place to dock." She assured him, never breaking his gaze.

"Ah, Stoick, don't be too rough on the lassie!" Another man boomed. Mira was startled to see that he wasn't more than an inch or so shorter than the first one, except he had a hook hand and his mustache was blonde and braided.

"Besides, looks as though she's brought some sort of pack animal." He gestured over to the shanty stall that Windstreak eyed them from.

"What is that?" Stoick asked, quieter now though not to the volume she was accustomed to. She wondered if Vikings knew what whispering was.

"She's a horse, her name's Windstreak." She gave an appraising look at the man, then at her shire. "She can draw heavy loads, carry a man farther over land than he could walk in a day." Well, a normal man anyway. Windstreak was a big horse, bigger than those dainty things nobles used, but she wasn't sure that her horse was ready for a man with _Dragon_ blood.

"And she's with foal, I'll rear the wee one for you and let you have him when he's grown." She swore. "I also brought ale, someone told me to bring a gift to the Chief so I brought it." She'd stolen it, but the Gods looked kindly on those in desperate times.

"What's your names?" He sighed then. She bit her lip to stop the mad giggle that wanted to break through. He looked resigned.

"I'm Mira, them two's Joe and Jon, and this wee thing is Betty." She answered. Things happened fast enough after that. All the Vikings in Berk came down to trade things with Johann. Mira couldn't tell which of the two was getting a better bargain. Dragon teeth and hide were popular trading, and she knew how valuable it was to those in the southern lands where dragons didn't tread as often, but the Vikings got good quality goods in return.

Stoick's friend, a man by the name of Gobber, came by with a barrow and helped her heave the barrel of ale up the steps. Mira drew in the sails, leaving Betty lying in a basket of cloth and the boys still tied to the mast and being careful not to lose her hold. Finally, at a couple hours till sundown the worst of the crowd left, happy with the deals they'd made, and the smaller Vikings were able to get through.

_Well, at least I'm not the smallest person on the island after all_. She thought as she saw a group of smaller Vikings approach the trader. It was difficult to tell since they varied so in size, but she thought they must be all near the same age almost. And that age appeared to be a year or two older than her. A blonde girl helped herself to a shiny axe, two blonde twins (She thought maybe one was a boy and the other a girl but she wasn't sure) fought over something in a bag, and there was a boy who definitely had dragon blood who gushed over some sort of book, and then there was a boy with some bear blood who found something shiny that he wanted.

There was one more member of this pack, and he was the littlest Viking of all. If someone asked what coloring his blood had, she would answer, _bird._ If there was ever a Viking that could be said to have _bird_ blood, there he was. Smaller and wry, he was all arms and legs with a reddish brown plume on his head. He wore a thick fur jacket, but he didn't look cold. She supposed it was meant to make himself seem larger, like when one of her cats puffed out their fur, but it only emphasized his wee stature.

He had to wait until the other small Vikings, if Vikings could be small, had left before he could get something from Johann. He got a few bottles that looked like they might have ink in them. He traded something for them and then left in a hurry, although the other small Vikings were long gone.

"Well Mira, what do you think of the people here?" Johann came over to ask once the last few people had left.

_Most of them could break me without half trying._ But she didn't say that. She told him that they hadn't been too upset about her coming to live here, and she'd given a whole barrel of good ale to the Chief.

"That's good." He nodded approvingly. "Stoick saved my life a few years back you know, so I always make the trip here for him, even though I usually stay away from areas with too many dragons." Johann couldn't stay though. The tide was going out, and he didn't want to stay lest a dragon raid came in the night and torched his ship. Mira and her family waved good bye and calls of luck as he vanished over the horizon.

The sun went down, they had dinner and she laid everyone down to sleep. She did the chores, mended a net, and then settled down beside her sister for a good long sleep. The gentle rocking waves against the hull lulled her to sleep, and morning came with a face full of cat fur.

Without opening her eyes she could tell it was Quickdash, the male. He purred in her ear and his fur tickled her nose. Mira carefully sat up, cradling him in her arms like he was a kitten. He settled back down on her pillow while she got up and dressed and brushed her hair. She wanted to make a good impression on the Vikings, so she'd taken it out of its plaits last night so she could brush it in the morning.

All braided it hung almost low enough to sit on. She'd never had to have her hair cut. It hung just as silky and black as it had the day she was born. With that done she fed and changed Betty, gave the boys their breakfast, and fed the animals. Today she dressed the boys warmly, but the upper layer was their town clothes, their third outfit. Today she wore the blue dress over her gray one. It was a spring dress, and had short sleeves and only came to her knees, but it was clean.

Windstreak was ecstatic to finally be let out of the stall. Mira saddled her with expert fingers, and then put both boys on before vaulting behind them, Betty slung on her back. It was quick, nauseating trip up the cliff to the village proper, and then she got her first true look at Berk.

The houses were very well-made, and there were huge torches that stood in key points around town. People had started getting up and doing the chores, but they all turned around to get a good look at the strangers. Mira tried her best to meet their eyes without flinching. Vikings seemed to have wolf blood in them too, but that didn't scare her. She was riding Windstreak, nothing could hurt her when she was riding Windstreak.

"Ah, good, you're already up." Stoick was coming down from a house on a hill. It was bigger than the other houses, the home of the Chief, and beyond it was a long flight of stone steps that led to a truly massive building.

"Hello, Chief sir." She greeted him.

"Your creature can draw loads?" She nodded at his question. He gestured over to some small barrels. They were water tight, probably had water inside them. Or ale. They stood in a two-wheeled wagon, all that was needed was something to hitch it to.

She did that, getting Windstreak settled in. The horse tossed her head, testing the weight she was being charged with. This wasn't a problem for the big shire horse. Mira took the lead rein and looked at Stoick, silently asking what he wanted her to do next.

"Take'em to the storage, down that way with the big doors." He pointed to the building. It was on the other side of the village, but there was a clear path from here to there. She nodded and went on her way. She took a quiet moment of satisfaction as some Vikings began "whispering". They hadn't expected one creature to be able to pull all those barrels, or for one small girl to command that creature.

After that she let the boys down and told them they could play but if they so much as _thought_ about going into the forest or too near the cliffs, then she'd have to tie them up to the mast for the rest of the winter. They were too small to remember that they'd probably be inside for most of the winter anyway, and swore up and down that they'd stay near the village.

Her first day on Berk is spent running errands and making deliveries. It was the same thing she used to do for coin, but now she did it for a test. The Vikings were taking her measure, and she desperately needed a passing grade. They weren't unkind. They'd give her a share of the firewood she hauled, or some bread for lunch, and in one case a young woman gave her a necklace made of dragon teeth because "a pretty girl should have something pretty to wear."

Mira wisely chose not to tell the woman of southern fashions, where wearing anything like teeth got one labeled as mad. She bit her lip and thanked the woman, tying the necklace around her throat, so that five little fangs glistened on her chest.

Finally they seemed satisfied that the horse at least, was useful, and she gratefully unhitched Windstreak. Now her horse could paw the ground and rear slightly, confident that her rider would not slide off. Indeed, Mira clung on with a fierce strength and a wild smile. The women back home would've called her mad, but Mira kicked her steed into a full gallop straight into the forest.

_Yes,_ this is where she belonged. On a valiant steed charging into battle, or racing to deliver a message for a king! She belonged at the helm of her ship in a storm, barking orders to a brave crew and raiding the shorelines for treasure. She wanted ocean spray, with the wind in her hair to whip her braid back behind her.

They leapt over fallen logs and outstretched roots, every clinging branch was one of those townsfolk who'd clucked their condolences, and as she broke free of the branches she broke free of _them._ She didn't ever want to stop running!

Windstreak was sweaty and shaky by the time they got back to Berk. She decided to walk beside the mare, keeping a leash on her brothers. She made sure the mare was between her and the long drop down as they walked down to the docks. She tended to her mount as she imagined she'd tend to her firstborn, with love and care.

Thus ended her first day on Berk.


	2. The Home of Kittens

Summary: After the funeral she ran away. She took everything that had meaning to her and left. When she lands on Berk mere days before the big Freeze she finds a home, one that seems to be ever changing. Mira always dreamt of long gallops and fierce storms, and she's about to get her every wish.

Disclaimer: I do not own HTTYD!

Chapter 2: The Home of Kittens.

The next day, she met the small Vikings. The first one was the bear's-blood boy, with dark hair and a curly horned helmet. He was walking on _her_ deck, inspecting _her_ horse as if he had every right. She took one look at him, grabbed an oar, and beamed him on the head. It was a kinder fate than allowing Windstreak to steal a few fingers.

"Ow! What was _that_ for?" He demanded, bringing all his weight down to bear on the younger girl.

"It was for ill-mannered boys who trespass on my ship!" She shot back accusingly, poking his chest with the oar.

"What business do you have here? Make it quick, I've got animals to feed and children to mind!" He seemed slightly daunted at the brisk scolding she had given him but she'd had plenty of practice with her brothers.

"I want to ride your _horse._" He pronounced the thing funny, more like _hoarse._ He didn't ask, he demanded.

"Windstreak only lets me and my brothers ride her, if you touch her she'll bite off some fingers." She warned him. The boy scoffed and reached out to pat the horse's mane. Like quicksilver the mare pounced, catching his arm and drawing a shriek of pain. The mare quickly spat him out though, she'd been rather kind actually, only drawing a _little_ blood.

"Told you she's picky of her riders. Now don't be bothering her no more, get out before I let her have her way with you!" She reached threateningly for the latch that kept the stall door closed.

"Fine, a _real_ man does his own work anyway!" He roared before stomping off. She watched him go, then she went to finish her chores.

She'd gone to the beach to set up lobster traps when she met the dragon's-blood boy. He seemed too skittish to approach her at first, although he made a strangled noise when she removed her workdress and stood in her under things. Her brothers watched and Betty lay in her basket on the shore as she waded in. The water stung, she dreaded the moment when she'd be immersed completely, but it would all be worth it if they had some lobster to eat soon.

"H-Hey, what are you doing?!" The boy called to her once she was chest deep. She was working up the courage to take the plunge when he finally spoke.

"The water's _freezing_ you know! You'll catch your death of cold!" But Mira grinned, and waved, and sank beneath the water. Once she was moving she could almost forget the cold. The slope of the beach had been gentle, there was no undertow to drag her away, and she'd tied the ropes to a rock anyway. It was short work to set the traps and come up again for air, which she only did when her lungs made clear the amount of pressure they were working under.

The air was even colder than she'd anticipated. Her eyes pricked with tears at the painful sting. She hadn't wanted to get in the water, now she hated to get out. It just wasn't fair. She clambered onto shore on limbs that suddenly felt much clumsier than before, and took off running. Her brothers laughed and cheered her on as she ducked and dived over the sand to warm her body. Soon she was breathing hard and sweating again, she felt she might survive if she put on a dry dress.

"Are you _insane?_" The boy demanded in a squeaky voice. "What if you'd gotten a cramp, or drowned?" He began listing other horrible afflictions that came of swimming in frigid waters, most of which culminated around the central point of freezing to death.

"Doesn't matter, need to set traps and that's the only way to do it." She shrugged. He was bigger, but he wasn't as overbearing as the first boy had been.

"Mira's the best swimmer of all!" Jon proclaimed proudly.

"Yeah, she can dive really deep too!" Joe added, as if it would make this great hulking stranger understand how amazing his sister was. Mira left them talking as she again ran up and down the beach, this time fully clothed. She was starting to feel human again.

"I'm Fishlegs, you know, if you were wondering." She hadn't been, but she didn't say so. She introduced her little family, changed Betty again, and they went back to the ship. This time the other three small Vikings were there, along with the first bear's-blood one.

"Yeah, you know, well I can ride this thing anytime I want." He was boasting. He leered at the blonde female without the helmet. "So Astrid, do you wanna—?"

"I'll pass." She cut him off, nodding in Mira's direction. The boy seemed to be frozen for a moment. She gave him a look that firmly communicated her opinion of his being.

"Ha, guess you aren't so tight with the stranger after all, huh Snotlout?" Laughed one of the twins. This one didn't have braided hair, and now that she was closer she could definitely tell that the other twin was a girl. The boys were excited, they'd never seen another set of twins before. They burst forward with a million and one questions, so Mira occupied herself by grabbing an oar and approaching the boy.

"I thought I made myself clear this morning, you was not to trespass on my ship again or I'd let Windstreak have her way!" She waved the oar threateningly.

"You idiot, we're basically breaking into her _house._" The girl, Astrid, heaved a punch that drew another cry of pain from the boy's, Snotlout's, lips. "I'm sorry about this."

"Did he touch Windstreak or my cats? If not, then no harm done." She nodded, satisfied that retribution had been wrought if not by her hand. Besides, this time she was carrying a baby and Snotlout appeared to be a violent boy.

"What are cats?" One of the twins, the girl this time, asked. Mira pointed straight up, where an orange feline had made himself comfortable and was watching the proceedings.

"_That_ is a cat. They catch mice and things, and I've got two of them, only Silverwhiskers is going to have babies soon." She answered.

"They catch mice?" She repeated.

"And eat them, but they also like fish too." Mira looked from the twins to the adoring eyes of her brothers. "I'm Mira, and these two are Joe and Jon, on my back's Betty."

"I'm Tuffnut, this is my lame sister, Ruffnut." The male twin introduced himself, getting much too close to be mannerly. He did a smile that he might've thought was dashing but made Mira wonder if he'd been eating rocks. Every tooth was crooked, and one in the back was missing entirely.

"Mira, Mira, they're _twins!_" Joe informed her, as if she hadn't eyes to see for herself.

"Like us!" Jon added. She nodded and made a thoughtful noise, to satisfy her brothers that she had indeed found the connection. Soon she bid good bye to the small Vikings, and was able to get Windstreak out to the village.

Joe and Jon went to see if they could find the twin blondes again, leaving Mira and Betty to do what work they could for the Berkians. There was a new couple who asked for help hauling more lumber to rebuild a burned house, and one very strange old lady who did not speak but merely gestured to a big pouch of fish and a house in the center of the village.

"Ah, Mira, how are you and the little ones settling in?" Gobber called from his smithy. She trotted over to him and vaulted off Windstreak's back.

"Not bad, the boys are around somewhere looking for those other twins." He looked vaguely uncomfortable at this information but did nothing more than jump a bit and pale slightly.

"Well, I'm sure they're fine." He shrugged, returning to hammering a sword into shape. Behind him the smallest Viking returned to work, having stopped to ogle the stranger as well. Gobber frowned, they couldn't have that now could they?

"Hiccup, I think we're good enough for today, we're just about ready for the beasties, why not get to know Mira here and show her around!" He suggested, catching the boy on his hook hand and thrusting him out the door, heedless of his protests.

"Gobber!" He gave one final breath of frustration before awkwardly turning around to face the only one on Berk shorter than he was. He didn't want to be anywhere near the monster that Snotlout swore had nearly taken his whole arm, but the girl with the baby refused to move away from it.

"Um, welcome to Berk." He said unnecessarily, clapping his hands and throwing his gaze around for some topic.

"I don't know if you've noticed or not, but we've got hiking, fishing, and a charming view of the sunsets." He shuffled uncomfortably close to the animal, darting away as soon as he could and taking a position on her left. There was probably something to be said about using a girl with a baby as a shield but as his father wasn't around to say it, he didn't think it was that important at the moment.

"I went for a ride yesterday, the forest is very nice, and I saw the sunset, but I haven't had a chance to do much fishing yet." She spoke back to him. She nearly stumbled when he came to an abrupt halt, staring at her as though she'd spoken another language. He looked as though he hadn't expected any sort of reply.

"Naagaaa!" Betty's squeal startled them both. Mira smiled and swung her around so now she was lying against her older sister's chest. She babbled some more in the way of small babies, falling asleep as they began walking again. Whatever had surprised Hiccup earlier seemed to have faded now, and he continued talking.

"There's only one big problem." He took in her questioning look and answered. "We've got these pests, see, they come around every once in a while."

"Pests? Like rats?" Mira asked.

"Dragons, actually." He corrected softly. Automatically he stiffened, awaiting a blow that would never come.

"I already knew about the dragons. I've never seen one before though." She chose not to mention his expression, which brought to mind of a fish on dry land.

"Killing a dragon is everything here." He told her as they walked by the center of the village. From there they could see the Great Hall, which was their final destination.

"It means you're one of _us._" They didn't say anything else until they got to the Hall, and then it was only for her to ask if he was sure it was alright for Windstreak to go inside. They got some food and settled down to eat, neither feeling much like talking.

"How old are you? I'm ten." She asked, having been unable to figure it out herself.

"Twelve. And you're only ten, but you're taking care of your brothers and sister all by yourself?" She nodded, her mouth full of the delicious mutton stew he had recommended.

"I'm used to it. I'd normally watch them while my parents focused on bringing in the catch." She informed him.

"Well, you didn't really come at the best of times. The big Freeze is almost here, and then we have Winter, then Devastating Winter, then Almost Spring, then we have two weeks of Spring before Summer starts." He said this all in his sarcastic nasal drawl. Mira wasn't sure what to make of this. She'd always known only the four seasons.

"Uh, so, is there anything you really want to see?" He asked in a way that implied he would much rather prefer her answer to be no.

"No, but thank you for the offer. It's around noon now, so I think I'll do some fishing before finding my brothers." She waved to him from atop her steed, kicking her into a canter. They'd start the real ride once they were out of town.

She caught twelve river fish within the next few hours, and after another hair raising ride returned to the village to find her brothers. They must still be with Ruffnut and Tuffnut, but everyone she asked seemed to go a bit pale and stocky before listing several places she could try. Eventually she found them by the forest line that came up to the smithy. Ruffnut and Tuffnut had been trying to start a fire.

"Hi Mira!" Her brothers clambered to greet her, darting between the mare's hooves. Windstreak stood with utmost patience in order to avoid stepping on the human foals.

"Hey Mira, we were just about to start a fire!" Tuffnut waved to her, his flapping arm resembled a sail in a fierce gale.

"You could join us if you want!" He pushed his sister down when she started making kissing noises behind him. Mira waited a moment, but it seemed they had forgotten about them in favor of wrestling with each other.

"They keep doing that." Joe told her, obviously confused.

"They _like_ it." Jon whispered back to her. They both looked positively awestruck, as if the notion had never occurred to them. Honestly, it had never really occurred to Mira either, but as always she played the part of the all-knowing older sister, and gathered her brothers to take them home.

The next day she scaled the fish, chopping up some guts and chunks for the cats and then cutting the meat into strips for smoking. She built a good fire on the beach and watched the smoke curl around the catch. Now she shrugged off her outer clothes again, and waded in to her waist so she could draw in the traps. She tested them, tugging them lightly to see if they had a catch. Three of them did, and she brought them up, leaving the other two where they lied on the ocean floor. Four lobsters looked up at her, reaching out with pincers to grab tender skin.

She probably wouldn't get many more lobsters with winter almost there. They'd be going into hibernation until spring, and spring was a long time coming here. It took many hours for the fish to be done smoking, and by that time she had nicely boiled two of the lobsters. One she shared with her family, and the other one she wrapped up to be eaten for dinner.

She continued on this way for a week before the ice set in. Now she bundled the boys in their new Viking-winter style clothes, and heated Betty's blankets by the fire every morning. She used some yak hair that she had traded some lobster for to make mittens, scarves and to line the inside of their boots. She didn't have enough for hats, but Ruff and Tuff's mother had given the boys her own twin's baby helmets, so the boys' ears were kept warm.

She was just sitting the boys down, trying to get them to eat their greens, when a knock sounded on the door. She put Betty in her basket and opened it up, shivering against the sudden icy blast as a gale suddenly rocked the ship on the water.

"Hello there lassie, I'm Mulch, this here's Bucket." The short rotund man from before and the man wearing the bucket on his head!

"We came here because we heard you got animals that catch mice and rats." Bucket said excitedly. He was almost bouncing up and down.

"Cats do catch mice and such things, um," She craned her neck to look at the room behind her. "Why don't you two come in and get warm, I know it's a bit of a walk from your farm isn't it?" They gratefully accepted her invitation and she got out two more plates for the last of the lobster.

"Oh yum, I never had this before!" Bucket smiled, digging in to his food right away.

"I'm not likely to get anymore lobsters for some time. They sleep all winter long, so I can't catch them." She had only caught three more since that first big catch.

"Well, listen here Mira." Mulch started, having finished half his food already. "We've been having problems lately, rats get into the grain bags that we use to feed the chickens. Now, we heard from Jorgenson who heard from Thorston who heard from their twins, that you've got a female getting ready to have her babies."

"If we could trade for one of the babies, that'd clear out our problem in no time!" He finished, digging back into the food, lest it grow cold.

"Baby cats are called kittens, you know they won't be able to leave their mama until they're four or five weeks old though, don't you?" She informed them. The kittens had already been born last night, they were down in the hold, nestled in some old cloths she had thrown away.

"Aw, is five weeks very long, Mulch?" Bucket pouted. "I want a baby cat!"

"Quiet down, Mulch, are you five years old?" His keeper scolded him. "You can't take the baby from its mother before it's ready." He turned back to the girl.

"Can we have a look at them though, just so Bucket here can decide which one he wants?" He asked.

"Alright, they're down in the hold right now." She told the boys that they could go and play with Ruffnut and Tuffnut now, since they'd eaten all their food, and then put Betty in her sling.

"Aww, look at their wee faces Mulch!" Bucket cooed when he saw the four little kittens. He picked up one that was nearly solid black except for a white crown on her forehead and hind feet. "This one Mulch, oh look at it!"

"That one's a girl, Bucket." Now he turned to Mira to begin negotiating. "One of our hens managed to hide a clutch of eggs from us, how about in exchange for the kitten when it's grown we give you the nine chicks."

That was how Mira learned that everyone on Berk owned some animals, not just those who lived on farms. The ones who worked the farms took care of the animals in exchange for some goods, and all the animals wore leather collars with small metal plates that had the mark of whoever owned the creature. Mira agreed to trade for the nine chicks, who would not be layers for a year, when the crowned kitten was old enough to leave her mother.

What followed was more Vikings, eager to stave off the lesser pests with her small animals. A woman who introduced herself as Phlegma was revealed to be Astrid's mother, and traded some boar's meat for an orange tabby kitten. Mira began putting little rope collars on the kittens to show other Vikings if it had been claimed yet or not.

Another young woman came by, this one toting around a small boy not but a year older than her brothers came by, and offered to trade her son, although she was talked down to a lamb that had been the runt of its litter. That woman got the white kitten with black fur on his feet and tail. Mira asked Mulch and Bucket to look after the lamb for her, and commissioned a handful of collar plates from Gobber in exchange for the last kitten, which was mostly brown save for some white on the sides that looked a bit like tiny flames.

Winter had settled in by the time the kittens were grown enough to leave Silverwhiskers. She had already dropped off Gobber's kitten, which he'd named Flecks, and Gustav's mother's kitten, now named Muddypaws. Now she knocked on Phlegma's door, trying to keep the wriggling kittens from jumping to the ground and running away.

"Mira?" Astrid answered the door.

"I brought the kitten your mother wanted." Mira held up the orange ball of fluff, who managed to swipe her hand and draw a pearl of blood.

"Oh right, she said you'd be by soon and told me to stay here so I could give you the boar's meat." She let Mira inside and unhooked a large shank from the ceiling. Mira taught her how to butter a cat's paws so by the time the cat licked itself clean it would accept its new home. Astrid thanked her and Mira awkwardly tied the wrapped up shank to Windstreak's saddle horn.

Now she only had Mulch and Bucket's kitten to deliver, and rode to their farm north of the village. They were waiting for her, and showed her the lamb that had started putting on weight and the nine chicks, all yellow and soft. The kitten was named Crown.


	3. The Blood Ground of Vikings

Summary: After the funeral she ran away. She took everything that had meaning to her and left. When she lands on Berk mere days before the big Freeze she finds a home, one that seems to be ever changing. Mira always dreamt of long gallops and fierce storms, and she's about to get her every wish.

Disclaimer: I do not own HTTYD!

Chapter 3: The Blood Ground of Vikings.

Devastating winter was now upon them, and she learned why it was so devastating. The first storm caught her by surprise, the blizzard lasted for two days. Their ship rocked on the small waves, sometimes crashing into the dock. When it was over Windstreak was half frozen and the ship had taken on some water. Thankfully, Mulch and Bucket came by to check on her after the storm and pointed her in the direction of Fishguts, a shipwright.

First he inspected the damage to the hulls, and the stall that she wanted to make warmer for her horse. Finally they set down for some negotiating. He could repair the hulls easily, and only asked for a kitten from Silverwhiskers' next litter, and she agreed on the deal. The stall was harder though, because it had been added onto the ship later when they first got Windstreak, and the wood was old. He advised her to have Windstreak moved to one of the farms and to put a collar on her, although everyone on the island knew who owned the only horse on Berk.

Mira hated to be far off from Windstreak, even if it was only a fifteen minute hike to Mulch and Bucket's farm, but she needed to do what was best for her valiant steed. She slipped the collar around her throat and arranged to return three chicks in exchange for Windstreak's housing. She didn't really need very many chickens anyway.

In the second week of Devastating Winter, she saw her first dragon. A raid had come upon them. Mira woke to crying children. She raced to the deck and watched in fear as the great lizards flew overhead, setting fire to all that moved in their quest for food.

They set fire to the deck and mast. Mira screamed her outrage and raced back and forth, fighting the blaze. One dragon, blue and green spotted with the air of some sort of bird, landed on the deck and looked at her with one beady eye. Mira, still firmly in the clutches of her fury and knowing her siblings were still below, trapped by the flames, tossed a bucket of water at the thing's head.

It squawked, breathed a few more flames, and retreated when Mira took up an oar in an attempt to brain it. A Viking had seen the commotion and got some friends to race down to her aid, they caught the beast and dragged it off, talking about some sort of training.

"Are you alright?" Stoick asked. He'd been one of the ones to race down. He had knocked the dragon out with one punch and then helped her put out the fires. The damage wasn't too bad, although she would have to replace the sail and maybe the mast.

"Just a few burns." She answered, still trying to catch her breath. "So that was a dragon?"

"Aye, a deadly Nadder. You're lucky it wasn't worse." He told her.

"M-Mira?" They both turned around. At the door to the cabin stood her brothers, Joe was carrying Betty, who was sniffling. Mira took a long look at them, knelt on one knee, and opened her arms. They were soon filled with scared children, asking her what was going on and if the scary monsters would come back.

Mira was able to finally coax them back to bed, but the sky had already started to brighten up and she needed to see about repairs. Fishguts could replace the mask easily, and he asked for no payment. After a dragon attack the only thing anyone wanted to trade for was another pair of helping hands to pass up tools for repairs.

Windstreak got a good workout, lugging timber from the forest. A strong Viking could carry a large log without a problem, but Windstreak could cart five or six of them in one trip. Her ship was repaired in no time and she learned why nearly everyone on Berk had wood working experience. There was a lot of repairs to see to before the next storm.

After that first surprise winter Mira learned it was better to bundle up the kids and catch the cats and bring them to the Great Hall. It was warmer, everyone could pull their food in bad times, and they weren't forever being bashed against the docks. Once, near the end of the season, the barns were destroyed and the animals had to come in with them.

"Hey Mira, how have you been doing?" Tuffnut asked her during one of the storms. Devastating winter was just about over, but it seemed to be doing its best to get every last soul it could.

"Hello Tuffnut, not too badly. I didn't have to chase Quickdash high and low to bring him here this time." He seemed to have finally understood that it was warmer in the Great Hall, although he still preferred the ship on any other day.

"So you're Mira, I've got a bone to pick with you!" The speaker was an old man leaning heavily on a walking stick. He had warts and wrinkles and only three teeth. Beside him was an equally disgusting sheep, with ragged and dirty wool.

"Is there a problem I can help you with?" She asked, trying to think if she had ever offended this old man before. She sternly scolded herself to stop from staring at his rotted teeth.

"There had better be!" He cursed, spitting on the floor. Jon made a gagging sound and retreated to his brother's side, as if the gob was poisonous. "Those dang cats of yours start yowling all hours of the day and night, I won't have it!"

"Most of the cats belong to other villagers now, and only the female ones yowl." She informed him. "They do it because they're adults now and are going into heat." Silverwhiskers was pregnant again, still in the early stages though.

"There isn't anything I can do about it, I'm afraid." He cursed and made some more noise but most of the people ignored him. The cats had begun proving their worth in keeping the small pests away. Mulch and Bucket in particular claimed they had only lost half the usual amount of feed, and that was mostly due to Bucket. The other farmers were clamoring for kittens of their own.

"Uh, hey, Mira." She looked up from where she was feeding Betty to see Hiccup. They hadn't talked much since the day of the tour, even though she sometimes did see Gobber when she went to the smithy.

"My dad, you know, the chief, wanted me to come over and talk to you about getting a cat." He said uncomfortably. Mira hadn't immediately known that Stoick was Hiccup's father. It seemed amazing to her that a man with dragon's blood could have a boy with bird's blood. She had never mentioned it, of course, but it seemed sometimes that everyone else was of the same opinion.

"Well, Silverwhiskers is pregnant again, she's due in another couple months." She informed him. "She's likely to have anywhere between 2 and 8 kittens this litter, and I've already promised one to Fishguts. I'll save one for you, but you can't have one until its five weeks old, that's when they can safely leave their mama."

"Right, right." She couldn't tell if he was really listening. He was staring in Astrid's direction, where she was teasing Crookshanks into standing on his hind legs and fighting for a fish. Maybe it wasn't his dad who wanted the cat, maybe it was Hiccup.

"So, so, what do you want to trade for a kitten?" He asked, coughing. Astrid had wandered over to a group of bigger Vikings who were sharing stories of dragon raids.

"I can't read. Could you teach me, since we're stuck inside most of the time anyway?" She asked. A fisherman's daughter didn't need to know how to read, but most Vikings could read now and she wanted to as well, even if it wasn't much use.

"Sure, I guess, but that seems pretty small." Now whenever a storm picked up the two would sequester a table and he'd walk her through the different letters. On clear days she would quiz herself on what she knew, and by the start of Almost Spring she could recognize simple words and sentences.

Fishguts came by and picked one of the five kittens to be given to him when it was old enough. He'd chosen a kitten with smoky fur and jokingly thought to name him Ashbiter. Stoick was the one who came by and chose a ginger female. More Vikings came for the other three, each anxious to be rid of their pests.

Spitelout, Snotlout's father, chose a male tabby. Mrs. Thorston picked the gray female. The Ovesdale's oldest daughter decided she wanted the last solid black kitten. Now Mira was that much more richer, now having a goat kid, one laying hen, and another lamb.

With the snow starting to melt everyone was getting ready for planting season. Mira was back to work with Windstreak, fishing in her spare time and even setting out lobster traps. With a few months to her name Mira was now considered to be a true member of the Berkian society, and was gifted with a helmet to celebrate it. She made sure to wear it every day, to show everyone how thankful she was that she had been accepted. She was even getting used to the chilly weather, though she doubted she'd ever bare her arms again.

With the return of lobsters, came the return of Mildew. He demanded that she haul his cabbage seeds for him in the afternoon, rather than the mornings she usually ran. Afternoons, in her fair opinion, were for fishing and riding, not working, but she accepted without complaint. He complained the whole time, and somehow roped her into helping him plant and into cleaning out his sheep's wool before she could escape. By that time the sun was ready to set, and she had no opportunity for riding that day, so she returned Windstreak to her new stable, found the boys, and went home.

Hiccup hadn't been kidding when he said spring only lasted for two weeks. It seemed Berk was a land of extremes, and that included temperature. Mira shed her winter coat and went now in only her blue spring dress, though by now it was shorter than was mannerly. If anyone from her old life could see her, oh how they'd all roar at her immodesty!

Mira now had eggs to look forward to for breakfast, and began making turnovers too. She could trade them for things like yak milk, which was alright once one got over the slightly bitter after taste. She grew comfortable in her life, and even the occasional dragon raid couldn't douse her contentment. They mostly stayed away from the docks, since they were after the livestock.

Although she couldn't simply stay indoors anymore. She was eleven now, and apparently that meant she could join the small Vikings in Fire Duty. Her first night was spent more in trying to put out her own dress than a house, but she learned to be as fast as the horse she rode. When the horn blew in the middle of the night she would dress fast and give her brothers strict instructions to stay out of sight.

What was it the priests used to preach about to her? Fire and brimstone, they said, all of Hel was made of Fire and Brimstone. Mira grabbed two buckets and filled them at the well. Her hair wasn't braided, only pulled back tight to keep it out of the way. She yelped when a Gronkle nearly crushed her, and splashed some water on the Hofferson house.

The air was hot and tight. She caught sight of the teenage Vikings from time to time, running around and trying to fight the fires same as her. She even caught a glimpse of Hiccup, which surprised her. She hadn't seen him in a raid before this.

He was being chased by a dragon. The sight brought her up short for a moment. She tossed her head like a startled mare, sprinting forward to try to help. Hiccup had taught her how to read Norse, and he'd given her a tour of Berk. He didn't deserve to be eaten.

"Away from him you lumbering oaf!" She spat as she lunged for the beastie. It roared in confusion, possibly wondering if the small thing wrenching its wings shut was sick or insane, then crashed to the ground. Hiccup stopped running, gasping for breath and calling for help.

Stoick saw Mira wrestle the beast to the ground, downing the dragon, and saw his son in blasting range of its mouth. He grabbed his hammer and slung it at the beast, which stopped struggling and lay dead beneath his blow.

"Are you alright?" He gruffly asked the spit of a girl. She looked surprised, shocked that she had attacked the dragon and saved his son's life.

"Still breathing, Chief." She assured him. He nodded and turned to look at his son. The raid was dying down now. The losses weren't so bad, only two sheep lost this time.

"Hiccup, do you have _any_ idea how dangerous that was? If that beast had rolled over, Mira would be dead right now, not _it_!" He bellowed, attracting the attention of the other Vikings.

"I-I was just-just…" Hiccup stuttered, unable to look his father in the eye. "Trying to help." Stoick sighed.

"I'm leaving tomorrow to the meeting of the Chiefs of the Shivering Shores, so stay out of trouble until I get back." Now he turned back to Mira, who was still recovering with her hands on her knees.

"Good work in downing that dragon, but next time call for someone else's help." She nodded wordlessly and he walked away to take stock of the damage to the housing.

"Thanks for…you know." She blinked at Hiccup, for a moment unsure what he meant. Realization drew her eyes back to the carcass beside her. Dead, with blood still dripping from the head, she shivered.

"Saving your life? Wasn't a problem." She contested easily. She eyed him now, inspecting him for injuries. "You're not hurt?"

"Psshh, no I'm fine!" He laughed. "You know me, they wouldn't know what to do with all _this._" She couldn't help the giggle at the cute pose he established. His pout did not help matters.

"I have to be going now, Joe and Jon will be worried and Betty will need changing." She straightened up, ignoring the twinge of her back from where she'd fallen off the beast when Stoick's hammer struck.

"Right, then, see ya!" He waved as she trotted off, mane flying in the wind. It had come loose during the struggle.

Mira hadn't known that helping to take down a dragon earned her a share of the meat, hide, horns and fangs. Sven came by and congratulated her on helping to bring down her first dragon, mentioning that if she got a weapon for herself next time she might even kill one. She thanked him politely, though she was still a little stocky from last night. She resolved to see Phlegma about making the hide into clothes, and chose to make necklaces out of the fangs for her brothers.

This is what her old townsfolk had called Going Native. She was a fisherman, but she was also becoming a Viking and most of the time that seemed like a very fine thing to be. She decided that she _was_ going to get some sort of weapon. It had been terrifying, on the back of that dragon and desperately trying to keep it on the ground.

Gobber happily accepted some dragon fangs and some of the meat in exchange for making her a weapon, and asked what she wanted.

"I'm not sure, but I don't want to be stuck on top of a dragon again like last night." She told him honestly. She noticed Hiccup's guilty grin and gave a careless shrug in reply. She'd do it again. She liked Hiccup better than a pile of ashes.

"Well, you haven't got much upper body strength, so I'd say a hammer or mace is out." Gobber said thoughtfully, before turning to his apprentice. "Hiccup, what sort of weapon would best suit Mira here."

"I don't know." He deadpanned, clearly unamused.

"Not good enough, Hiccup." Gobber lightly smacked him on the head. "Think about what sort of physical traits she has. She's not as brawny as some of our women, but she's a sight faster. Strong enough to hold back a dragon's wings, but not enough to throw a hammer the way Stoick did last night."

"So something smaller, since she's fast she doesn't need a lot of reach. An axe?" Hiccup guessed. Apparently it was the right answer, because Gobber clapped him on the back almost hard enough to make him fall on the floor.

"Good job Hiccup, an axe is just what she needs!" The blacksmith laughed. "Not a big war axe mind, not until she's got a bit more meat on her bones, but a smaller one for her to get a feel of the weapon for certain."

"We'll have it ready for you in a week, come pick it up then." She nodded, left the meat and a handful of fangs, and decided to do a bit of fishing.

"Mira, there you are!" She drew Windstreak to a stop and swiveled around to see Astrid jogging her way. The older girl had a big grin on her face and drew alongside.

"My mother told me that you helped Stoick the_ Vast_ take down a dragon last night!" She swung her axe in her hand, miming delivering the final blow. "I've never done that before, but it must've been awesome! I saw you leaving the blacksmith's earlier but couldn't talk then, I was doing my chores. What weapon are you getting?"

"An axe." She answered.

"That's good, that means when you get it _I_ can teach you how to use it, like a big sister!" Astrid nodded. "So how'd you take down that dragon?"

"Well, I saw it chasing Hiccup and didn't want him getting eaten, so I chased after them." She paused, retracing her steps last night. "We went by the Thorston house, and I vaulted over those boxes there like I do when I'm mounting Windstreak here, that got me onto the dragon's back."

"Then, well, I was afraid it might cart me off to eat me instead, so I grabbed its wings and started pulling them closed so it couldn't fly." She stopped and delivered the fish she was carting to the storage rooms. "Hiccup noticed he wasn't getting chased anymore, and called for help, but I was busy trying not to get thrown off or crushed. Then Chief Stoick _threw_ his hammer, all the way from the tower there to where we were." She pointed to a patch of gravel by the side of the road. The body had been moved already, and she had a portion of it waiting to be used back home.

"Gronkles are the dumbest of the dragons, but they're big and heavy." Astrid informed her, as if she had never known this before. "Most bladed weapons will bounce off the hide, you need something heavy and blunt to do any real damage." She hadn't known that part.

"If you had an axe and did that jumping thing again, you could probably swing your arm around and get the underside of the neck. That's where the armor is the weakest." They both looked up to see Fishlegs standing awkwardly nearby. Evidently he hadn't meant to speak up, as he looked just as surprised as they did.

"I will keep that in mind if ever I feel the urge to wrestle another Gronkle to the ground." She promised him. He still sometimes came to the beach when she was setting her traps or drawing them in.

"My dad saw the whole thing, he says people are starting to call you Mira the Quick." She latched onto the name, the title. Mira the Quick sounded like the heroine in a fanciful tale, the star of an adventure!

"The first of us to get a _title_!" Astrid praised her, reaching up on tip toes so she could pat her sister-in-arms on the back.


	4. The Rise and the Fall

Summary: After the funeral she ran away. She took everything that had meaning to her and left. When she lands on Berk mere days before the big Freeze she finds a home, one that seems to be ever changing. Mira always dreamt of long gallops and fierce storms, and she's about to get her every wish.

Disclaimer: I do not own HTTYD!

Chapter 4: The Rise and the Fall.

Astrid was true to her word about the lessons. She ambushed Mira as soon as she walked out of the forge with axe in hand, and dragged her to a clearing in the forest where they could practice. She showed her younger sister-in-arms how to hold the axe, and taught her techniques to strengthen her arms. The hardest of those, and the ones Mira hated the most, was to lie oneself flat on the ground and hold one's body straight while pushing up with the arms. She could only do four but Astrid did twenty while still giving her instruction about axe care.

Luckily, dragons didn't seem too bothered to attack except in the early morning hours, and they experienced no droughts. Her brothers seemed to think this was a sad thing though, for they had already composed a catchy poem about Mira's future victories.

_Mira the Quick is her name  
she's also known as dragon's bane  
she'll fight them up and down the lane  
bringing dragons pain!_

They loved to waltz up and down the village, singing it at the top of their lungs. They'd even gotten some other kids in on it. The adults would tease her whenever she showed up with their deliveries, asking how many she'd brought down now. When Stoick came back from his meeting even he gave a short barking laugh when he heard the stanza.

It seemed that with having helped to bring down a dragon, even if she hadn't killed it herself, Mira was now considered a full adult in the eyes of the Vikings. If someone caught her practicing with her axe they'd give tips on footing, and new mothers would come up asking for tricks for babies and making arrangements to share babysitting duties with each other.

The only downside was the sudden bolstering of Tuffnut's crush on her, which she was totally clueless on dealing with. And since he was friends with her brothers, she could always count on seeing him at least once a day. He asked her on dates, got in fights on her behalf, and had developed a habit of bringing her flowers which was awfully sweet of him but he always gave them to her while reciting poetry he had written himself, usually in front of the rest of the village.

"I just don't know how to get him to _stop,_ or to at least do it in private instead of in the middle of the village." She complained to her training teacher. Astrid was teaching her basic grappling moves today, and Mira had already wound up pinned to the floor eight times. Even as she thought this, Astrid managed to hook her left leg again and brought them both down, knocking the breath from her lungs for the fourth time that day.

Astrid patiently waited for Mira to stop wheezing before pulling her to her feet. _She_ thought the whole thing was hilarious, and spent the better part of that morning laughing at Tuffnut's latest lyrics. Mira didn't think the poem was all that bad, it was even flattering, but she _was_ uncomfortable with him doing it in public. He didn't seem to understand why she was so embarrassed either, and was now of the opinion that his poetry was slowly _wooing_ her.

"Just tell him his poetry stinks!" She suggested unhelpfully.

"I don't want to be rude." Mira frowned. It was something they didn't really agree on. Astrid was a Viking, born and raised, and had difficulty understanding the concept of rudeness. Mira had been raised in the south though, and sometimes she couldn't let go of the mannerisms of her hometown. If anyone had been giving out flowers or reciting poetry in public there the townsfolk would have a few choice words about _propriety_ for them.

She didn't even want to _try_ explaining about propriety to Vikings. They never had any compunctions of being affectionate or violent in public. The violence was more common, but couples kissed in plain sight and there _was_ the occasional problem with Snotlout and rain. She _still_ couldn't look him in the eye!

"That's your problem, Mira." Astrid began, directing her to start doing more of those darned push-ups. "You're too _nice_ unless someone threatens your siblings or your animals. Tuffnut's not doing either of those, so you're at a loss." It was completely unfair that she could do so many push-ups and still have the breath for speech.

"He's bigger than you are though, so if it really bothers you, just tell me and _I'll_ deal with him." Mira shook her head. Tuffnut wasn't really hurting anyone, and it didn't seem fair that he'd be penalized for trying to be nice.

"Just keep it in mind. Now, show me that you can get closer to the target with your axe than last time." Mira groaned good naturedly, but jumped to her feet to obey. Anything was better than more push-ups.

Well, at least she thought so until they got back to the village on their way to the Great Hall for a bite to eat and Tuffnut met them there.

"Mira, hey, I brought you some purple flowers! Purple's your favorite color!" He'd found this out from her brothers earlier, who seemed to be in total approval of his plan to someday marry their sister. She blushed prettily, no normal Viking girls ever blushed. "And now, a poem for milady!"

"_Pretty blue eyes, an awesome glare  
Strong enough to wrestle a bear  
Long black hair and a helmet with horns  
She never ever scorns!"_

"Oh, Tuffnut, t-that was very, um," Astrid's laughter was not helpful in the very least. Oh and her brothers were _smiling_ at her and Tuffnut had gone to so much _effort._

"Awesome, I know." He nodded modestly. "I'll bet you're falling for me now!" He gave her the flowers and walked off, followed by her little brothers and leaving the lady wanting more. He was so cool.

"Pfft, ha!" Ruffnut was groaning from laughing too hard. "You should've seen the faces he made while he was trying to come up with the last two lines! I thought he was going to explode!"

"Looks like the love birds are at it again." One Viking commented with a teasing smile.

"Leave her alone, Ruffnut." Astrid growled, taking her little sister and leading her away from the amused masses until her blush could die down. Only _she_ was allowed to tease Mira.

"He's never going to stop, is he?" She moaned, still holding the purple flowers he'd put in her hands. They did look nice, she could put them in a mug on the dining table, and the poem _really_ wasn't _that_ bad, and as always rather flattering even.

"Oh Astrid, what do I do if he tries to _kiss_ me?" She asked, mildly horrified.

"Then you deck him, obviously." The older Viking girl shrugged.

"I'm being serious, Astrid!" She protested.

"So am I." Mira was expecting the punch that followed, and very carefully did_ not_ rub the new bruise. It only incited further blows to that region. "You're just _too_ nice, Mira."

There was another raid that night. Mira groaned, as once again she had untied her hair before going to sleep, intending to brush it the next morning. She tied it back out of her face and instructed her brothers to stay inside, as always. Unless of course the ship caught fire, in which case they were told to run to the docks and hide.

She grabbed her axe and helmet on the way out and joined the teens in getting water to fight the fires. Luckily there was no call to leap onto the backs of fire breathing lizards, although she did have a close call with a Hideous Zippleback, a two headed dragon. She had luckily doused the head that sparks the green gas and gotten out of the way when some Vikings came to subdue it.

Hiccup did get into trouble again though, and there was nothing she could've done to prevent it. Apparently he'd been trying to save some sheep, and knocked over a bunch of barrels. The barrels had tripped up some Vikings, and Mira had narrowly avoided the same fate by bounding over them. The Vikings that had fallen had previously been carrying some sheep and goats to safety. The dragons took them.

She winced in sympathy when Stoick scolded him very publicly. Hiccup was meant to stay inside the house or the forge during a raid, and he'd broken the rules again. The dragons got away with a lot more livestock this time though, eight sheep and three goats. Astrid managed to find her before going home, having heard of the accident and wanting to make sure the dragons hadn't made off with her little sister-in-arms.

Repairs were needed again the next day, and she chafed when calls of lovebirds and dragon's bane filled the air. By the time she could give Betty over to Nolip, Gustav's mother, for her turn at babysitting Mira was ready to scream if it were not entirely rude. Windstreak was tired, but she loved a good run just as much as Mira did, and they were off.

She galloped down animal trails, jumping fallen trees and leaping over creek beds. They wove between the trees, as wild as the forest itself. Nothing could stop them, nothing could stand against them. They rose and fell on a tide of passion, of adventure. She was leading an army into battle against the dragons; she was staring into the eye of a great storm at sea!

And then part of the ground broke away, and she was falling.

Mira quivered on the ground for some time, listening to the mare's whinnies that carried down to wherever she was. Her right leg hurt, badly, and she was having a bit of trouble breathing and moving in general. She whimpered weakly as she tried to move her arm out from under body. She was hurt, on the far side of the island.

And Windstreak had been with her.

Her eyes shot open in the darkness that wasn't really dark. A shaft of light fell around her, from wherever she'd fallen from. Cautiously, she turned her head, trying to see above her. Windstreak's head was poking through the opening, blocking most of the light. She whinnied down to her misplaced foal, but seemed unhurt.

"Get help, please." She whispered, unsure if the mare could even hear her let alone understand. The horse disappeared from the hole. Mira was eleven years old and alone in a hole. But she couldn't stay there. She had no way of knowing when help would come, or if they'd even be able to find her. She needed to figure out how badly she was hurt, and if there was a way out.

Sitting up hurt too much, so she had to settle for rolling over which hurt almost as bad. Now on her back and able to breathe easier she figured out her nose was broken, which was why she tasted blood and couldn't breathe. Nothing she could do about it now, and it had mostly stopped bleeding anyway, so she tried to get a good look around her hole.

It was big and dark, that was all she could tell from her prone position. Well, this wasn't doing any good. What was it Astrid was always saying after she'd knocked down Mira for the tenth time in a day? No pain, no gain? Well, she was in a considerable amount of pain, so now it was time to see what she could get out of it.

She found she could sit up if she used the wall, and did so. Now she looked at her leg, and felt faintly ill. The ankle was swollen, but it was the calf that she felt was broken. It was twisted, and was the source of the greatest bit of her pain. She had a broken leg and nose, in a hole on the other side of Berk, and no one knew where she was. Well, things could only get better from there.

The wall had handholds. And it sloped, given it was steep but it was still a slope. The only problem was that the wall in question was on the _other_ side of the floor, and she had a broken leg. She had a bit of rope, and her axe, but not much else.

Mira managed to stand using the wall she was leaning against, and more or less hopped on one foot to the other wall by circling the hole. From there she had to drag herself up with her arms and other leg, slowly. By the time she reached half way her arms had started shaking, but the slope began getting easier at this point, and she could see a tree.

Awkwardly, she tied the rope to her axe handle, and threw it. It stuck in the trunk, and she tugged the rope a few times, gingerly testing it against her weight. It held. Now she just needed to pull herself out of there.

Getting up was difficult, but doable, and she gratefully collapsed on the ground. It had broken right in front of them and Windstreak had balked, trying to stop from falling in headfirst. Mira had gone end of end over the mare's head, and must've landed on her bad leg. Windstreak was nowhere to be seen, which was too bad. Mira needed a ride home.

Night had fallen when the rescue party found her. Gobber carried her over one shoulder while Windstreak worriedly lipped at her hair and clothes. She explained what had happened, and he told her she must've galloped over a weak part of the Earth and caused it to break open, and she was lucky she hadn't hit her head worse than breaking her nose.

She was covered in blood, tired, and would now have a crooked nose. So no, she wasn't happy when she was taken to Gothi's house to be healed up and then carried home. Phlegma was the one who brought her brothers and sister home to her, and they all tried behaving the best they could for her since she was hurt.

Perhaps the worst part about being injured, beyond having to rely on Astrid to work with Windstreak, was the fact she now could never escape Tuffnut, and by association, Ruffnut. Five and a half weeks later she welcomed freedom, celebrating her mobility _and_ Betty's, who had begun crawling and was now into everything all the time.

Windstreak seemed glad to have her back on her back. And Astrid worked her even harder in training now, payment she said for making her worry. Mira groaned, wishing she could break her leg again to escape the push-ups. Knowing Astrid would probably kill her if she tried.

She helped again in dragon raids, darting between fires and trying to put them out. Hiccup came outside again, her first night back, but this time he only distracted some Vikings. Everyone quickly forgot about Hiccup in favor of the new threat that had revealed itself.

"IT'S BACK!" Someone screamed. A high pitched whine filled the air, and the tower exploded in purple fire. People scrambled to find cover, and Mira only narrowly avoided a falling piece of burning timber. This dragon had only showed up once or twice, and no one had even really seen it. It came, it blasted, it vanished, and that was more terrifying than anything else.

The dragons seemed to rally in the confusion. Mira yelped and tried tossing her water buckets to distract a Nadder from taking some sheep. It rounded on her, roared, and began the chase. Mira did not stand her ground, though she did draw her weapon. She darted away, rounding around one of the torches to come up behind the beast, which was apparently a mistake. She was nearly gutted by some spines.

Still, her axe struck its wing and its pained roar called the attention of some nearby Vikings. They saw Mira retrieve her axe and dodge a pillar of fire. She ducked under the beast, coming up in front of it, but the creature had eyes only on the sides of its head, and could not see her. They cheered when they saw her about to strike another blow but the cheers got the Nadder's attention and it moved. It swiped the human girl with its tail, knocking her into the torch. The Vikings were furious and rushed to her aid, and then the dragon was dead.

"It was thanks to Mira the Quick, you know. She got its wing so it couldn't fly away!" People began saying.

"You should've seen the way she danced around the beast, why if she'd been only a mite faster _she_ would've taken its head!" Someone said the very next day.

"She got some spines from it, I heard, and the hide from its wings." One mother began discussing the uses of wing hide. Her brothers' song had a new stanza.

_Mira the Quick is clever as a mink  
There and back in just a wink  
didn't give the Nadder time to think  
There and gone in just a blink_

Mira was able to finally make herself a new dress, and a breast band for her now developing bosom. Astrid congratulated on her victory and began complaining about how Mira was younger but at this rate _she'd_ get to kill a dragon first. Mira hadn't been thinking about glory when she'd attacked the dragon. She'd been thinking of a long cold winter, and how the wool from the sheep made it so much easier. And then she'd been thinking of how much she really didn't feel like dying, thank you.

Tuffnut grew ever more amorous, even asking her out a couple of times though he usually got distracted by fighting with his sister. Other boys began taking an interest in her too, but though Ruffnut thought his crush was hilarious she still fought beside him when someone thought to challenge his claim. Not many people wanted to face both twins at once.

"How do you do it, I mean," Hiccup complained. She had come to the forge to have her axe sharpened and they'd gotten into a conversation about her supposed prowess.

"You make it look so easy, you've already taken down two dragons!" He ran the axe over the grinding stone again, checking the balance before shaking his head. Either at her luck or the balance, she wasn't sure.

"Well, the first time I was worried you might get hurt, and the second time I was thinking it might get the sheep." She never went out of her way to attack them, things just sort of happened. "On my first raid a Nadder actually landed on my ship, and I was terrified because my brothers and sister were inside and would be trapped by the flames."

"Aw but man, everyone _loves_ you. You're the hottest topic on Berk!" He went on like she hadn't said anything. Mira sighed but smiled, Hiccup sometimes had trouble with listening. "If _I_ could do that, I'd _finally_ get some _respect._"

"You would get people stopping to clap you on the back so hard that you bruise, teased about, and have small children write silly songs about you." She corrected him softly, knowing he wasn't listening anyway so she could say what she pleased.

"Someday I'm going to be out there." He told her firmly. "Killing a dragon is _everything_ here."

"I haven't killed one." She pointed out.

"Well yeah, but everyone _knows_ you're going to. It's only been luck so far that you haven't." She shook her head, accepted her newly sharpened axe, and bid him a good day before leaving. She was going fishing now, with Mulch and Bucket actually, and needed to drop Betty off at Nolip's house again.


End file.

How to Train Your Dragon, Adventure, Poetry