Chapter Text
“Hey, what’s that?” a distant voice asked.
Ingrid slowly began to regain consciousness. Her eyes peeled open. She saw a group of people standing not too far away from her.
“More like who’s that?” another voice commented, slowly getting louder as Ingrid came to.
A lone figure approached her. Lanky, brunette, wearing a green tunic. Very blurry.
“Hey, are you OK?”
Ingrid slowly sat up and adjusted to where she was. She felt moss under her feet and her skin was shaded from the blazing sun by the thick trees. She could hear birdsong and the distant grunts of yaks. She smelled earth and tasted blood.
She rubbed her eyes and looked up at the person who had approached her. He was small, not much taller than her, and he had a concerned look about him.
She went to say something, but all that came out was a cough. Hoarsely, she asked, "Do you have any water?"
The boy handed her a bottle and she took a long sip, spluttering a little as she drank.
"Thank you," Ingrid handed the bottle back to the boy. She stood up, and though she was stiff she walked out into the sunlight. Staring at everyone around her, she took note of the ragtag group. There was a girl with piercing blue eyes and blonde hair in a braid. There was a sturdily built boy with messy black hair who was staring, no, ogling at her. There was a large boy with blonde hair, and two other dirty blonde haired individuals who looked strikingly similar.
Ingrid herself had two brunette braids and calm blue eyes. She wore tough clothes ideal for exploring in: a green shirt with a leather waistband and short sleeves complimented a stiff, dark green skirt, brown leggings and sturdy brown boots.
"What's your name?" the brunette boy asked.
"Ingrid, yours?" Ingrid replied.
"I'm-"
"I'm Snotlout," the black haired boy interrupted as he got down on one knee and took her hand, "It is such a great pleasure to meet you, fair Ingrid."
"Hiccup," the brunette boy finished, "These are my friends, Fishlegs, Ruffnut and Tuffnut, and-"
"Astrid, a pleasure," the blonde girl approached her, "Now, how did you end up unconscious under a tree?"
"I…" Ingrid thought for a while.
Everyone stares in anticipation.
"I'm not sure how I got there, sorry," Ingrid eventually concluded.
“Was it pirates?” Tuffnut asked.
“Was it Berserkers?” Ruffnut asked.
“Was it Berserker pirates?” Tuffnut asked.
"You don't remember?" Hiccup asked.
"Nothing, sorry," Ingrid confirmed, "In fact, though I'm sure I should remember, I can't picture much of anything at all."
"Well what do you remember?" Astrid asked.
"Well, my name is Ingrid, I'm from… somewhere… and I…” Ingrid thought.
“You really don’t know, do you?” Hiccup asked.
“I got nothing, sorry,” Ingrid sighed.
“It’s OK, we’ll take you back to the village and work out what to do from there,” Hiccup said.
Astrid leaned in close to Hiccup, and Ingrid overheard her whisper, “Just be careful that we don’t end up with another Heather situation.”
“I’ll be careful this time,” Hiccup replied. Then he cupped his hands to his mouth and let out a noise unlike anything Ingrid had ever heard before.
A dragon black as night appeared from within the forest, followed by several other dragons. Hiccup watched for Ingrid to flinch, but she didn’t.
“Dragons,” Ingrid muttered, “I can remember this. Deadly Nadder, Monstrous Nightmare, Gronkle, Hideous Zippleback and… and a…”
“That-” Hiccup started.
“That is a Night Fury,” Fishlegs interrupted, “Strike class. The unholy offspring of lightning and death itself. So far, this one is the only one in the world that we know of.”
“That’s Toothless,” Hiccup said, rolling his eyes.
“Wow,” Ingrid breathed. She eased closer to Toothless, holding out her hand. Toothless responded well and pressed his snout into the palm of her hand.
“I take it you have experience with dragons?” Hiccup questioned.
“I think so,” Ingrid replied, “Though I’m not sure to what extent.”
“Right, well, that’s good,” Hiccup said as he climbed onto Toothless and extended his arm to Ingrid, “We’ll take you to the village. Hold on.”
Ingrid climbed aboard Toothless and they shot into the sky.