How To Train Your Dragon- From One World To Another, And Yet I'm Home

Disclaimer:

The Film 'How To Train Your Dragon', is Copyrighted by DreamWorks Animation and Distributed by Paramount Pictures. Directed by Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois and released on March 26, 2010

The DreamWorks 'Dragons' were directed by Dean Deblois and Chris Sanders and released in 2013- 2018. I only claim Copyright to my characters and some of the elements of the story that are of my own creation.

Chapter Soundtrack(s):

 En Etsi Valtaa Loistoa and Arkihuolesi Kaikki Heitä- The Tapiola Choir and Erkki Pohjola  

Author Warning, Notes:

This symbol (*) means that there's something written about this particular paragraph in the Ending Author's Notes.

Viewpoint Signs:

***MS*** (movie scene)

***EMS*** (end of movie scene)

***PPOV*** (person's point of view)

...

Chapter 13 Who We Are

The Cd- player was blasting out cheerful, and calming songs and tunes in the Living room of the 'Aho- house'. The music mingled with children's laughter and cheers as they played with whatever gifts they had received from their parents.

Both twin girls were wearing festive leather clothing in shades of red, green and dark brown that her mother had made for them during the season of hunting in Finland.

Their parents looked on with pride at their small brood as they sat together on a piece of furniture people of the time called a sofa.

There was a beautifully decorated spruce tree (with all kinds of colourful baubles and even homemade decorations that looked like painted Viking-shields) situated on the one side of the room.

... 

'' IT'S A SNOGGLETOG DAY!

I couldn't help but grin at the happy, childish voices that echoed around the theatre. 

I shared a glance with my dad who smiled warmly and hugged me close. 

...

An old wooden chest (with a leather-bow on top the lid), still sat under the Snoggletog- tree. But with all the other presents they had unveiled taking their attention, the children seemed to not have noticed it.

Sigrun smiled in amusement at the scene. 

'' Girls, your father and I have something else to hand out for the pair of you, but you'll have to look into that wooden chest still left under the tree,'' she called out.

This snapped the girls into attention and the two started pulling the chest out from under the tree, using the mat underneath the chest. Sonja was using both hands whilst Ronja used only her right arm. Her left wrist and lower arm were still wrapped in a cast to keep the healing bone in place.

Ronja and Sonja then proceeded to slowly untie the bow on top of the wooden chest before finally opening up the lid.

What they saw upon lifting the lid filled the two young girls with awe, but also with shock.

There were two piles of cleaned clothing carefully folded inside. The clothing looked very rustic, ancient-styled, even. A complete leather corset armour was carefully folded in cloth, along with pauldrons and leather bracers. Two belts were also there; one wide and one that was more slender. Leather shoes and boots were also amongst the clothing pile.

And on the very top of the clothing pile was a real, iron made Viking helmet with horns on the sides.

Ronja picked it up to marvel at its weight before putting it over her head.

Clanggg

It was soon proven that the helmet fitted loosely. Sonja burst out giggling as the helmet fell over her sister's eyes.

'' I wore that helmet when I was fourteen years old. You'll grow into it, Ronja, ''Sigrun chuckled out and got up from the sofa to walk over to her girls.

'' Really, you wore this helmet as a teenager? Its heavy, and it.... somehow feels real, not like the props made for movies,'' Ronja gasped out.

Sigrun just smiled before reaching down into the chest to pull out a 'circlet' that she then put over Sonja's head.

 Her youngest reached up to touch the soft leather and the small metal studs running the length of the circlet.

'' For some reason, every personal thing I owned was brought with me to this world in this wooden chest. This is the 'Kransen' circlet that my mother had once worn and which was passed onto me.  I wore this circlet until the time your father and I were wed, but now I give it to you, Sonja.''

Sigrun then lifted an ornamental sheath and dagger from the chest.

'' These go with the 'Kransen', '' she added with a smile, handing the dagger over to her daughter who carefully took hold of it. 

'' You may also choose whichever of the two clothing piles, within the chest, you wish to take for yourself, Sonja,'' Sigrun said fondly as Sonja stared in awe of the workmanship put into the dagger.

Sonja smiled warmly as she watched Stryka reach down into the chest, again, and pull out something wrapped in a thick leather parcel.

''And, as there is only one 'Kransen' to hand out to a daughter, for you, Ronja, I give you my helmet and these.''

Ronja reached over to take the bundle and found herself gasping at the weight of it.

She quickly set it down on her lap before she put too much strain on her left wrist before quickly unwinding the rope around the parcel.

What she found in the unfurled wrapping made her utter a delighted gasp.

 '' Oh wow, mom!'' she exclaimed upon looking down at two small throwing axes that looked to have been used often by their mother but had been mended in the forge, by the looks of them. There was new leather added to the handles, and the blade itself had been forged anew.  

'' Just, wow!'' Ronja exclaimed a second time as she set both axes on the ground, stood up and then grabbed one of the axes with her uninjured hand.

She tested the weight and balance of the weapon with swings and a few throws before lobbing the weapon towards a target set on the side of the fireplace.

It sunk with deadly accuracy near the very centre of the reinforced target.

Clanggg  

As for Ronja's new Viking helmet, the violent movement had made it spin on her head before tipping over the side of her head and falling to the floor with a metallic clatter.

***EMS***

Despite the very saddened atmosphere not that long past, there was an explosion of cheers mixed with raucous laughter from the crowd sitting on the Theater- seats.

Ronja blushed faintly on the cheeks as she shared a grin with Hiccup.

'' I can be a bit clumsy, too.''

'' Yeah like during that raid Hiccup shot down Toothless. You told Fishlegs, the twins and I to run away from the situation when we were all confronted by a Monstrous Nightmare, but then we all ended up tumbling down that hill because you pushed Tuffnut on the back,'' Snotlout cut in with a chuckle.

'' Hey, hey, hey! I had just stabbed my sword into the underside of said Monstrous Nightmare's jaw and it was about to go on a warpath with me for having done it! So excuse me for having wanted to get out of the line of fire before she could roast me! I wasn't expecting you 'numb-nuts' to still be in my path when I took off running, and I certainly wasn't expecting Tuffnut to grab me as he lost balance!''

'' You all fell down a hill?! I can't believe all that happened in the sidelines at a time when I'd been out there with my Bolas- launcher,'' Hiccup faintly chuckled.

'' Funny, Hiccup! Did you miss the part where I was almost roasted?'' I groused out as Anca wandered over to us and laid her large head on my lap, whining slightly and glaring at Hiccup with her huge eyes.

My cousin immediately stopped laughing when he caught sight of her glare and mine. Hiccup held his palms forward in a calming gesture.

'' And I'm sorry for injuring you, girl,'' I said sincerely.

'' What?!'' my father gasped, as I reached over to lightly run my hand over the scar on the nightmare's jaw.

 I could tell my dad was rather shocked at my admission.  

Anca warbled at me, nudging against my chest and looking at me with her big, golden yellow eyes.

Stomp, stomp, stomp

Hiccup, my father and I all looked up when we heard footsteps and found Stoick the Vast approaching our seats.

'' The other teens reported you having injured a Monstrous Nightmare in the midst of the raid, but I never thought to ask you if that dragon was someone who became your friend?'' Stoick said in a hushed tone, gesturing at Anca before slowly leaning forward with his large palm in plain view.

'' Hiccup wasn't the only person to have... hurt a dragon before befriending said creature, '' I answered my uncle but explaining myself to my father at the same time.

Anca jerked slightly at the presence of my uncle, before allowing Stoick to touch her hot scales.

I reached over with my other hand to grasp my uncle's hand and guided it to where my free hand was touching my dragon's scar. 

I removed my own palm and replaced it with my uncle's.

'' Beard of Thor!'' Stoick murmured as his fingers were met with the bumpy scar. 

I patted my dragon on the snout as she looked up at Stoick a bit warily, but calmed down when he felt the large, calloused fingers begin to rub lightly across her jawline.

Stoick's hand was soon joined by Hiccup's much smaller hand, the boy grinning from ear to ear overseeing his father interacting with another Dragon aside from Toothless.

'' I think this 'Nightmare' may actually be a young one,'' Stoick said, glancing briefly over at my father who was watching and listening to the interaction with an interest in his eyes.

'' Really, Anca is still a youngling?'' my dad asked, looking at the dark-scaled dragon with new intrigue. 

'' Maybe, I mean she didn't decide to migrate with the other dragons,'' I said softly, petting Toothless who had taken the moment to wander closer to his Rider, and the rest of us.

He was warbling softly in surprise over how gentle the chief was being with his friend.

The other teens stood up, too, and walked closer to us. Fishlegs quietly asked the chief, and me, if he could see Anca's jawline.

I continued petting the 'Nightmare' when she began to feel nervous about the crowding people, and Fishlegs inspecting her old injury.

'' I've fought... and killed a Monstrous Nightmare in the Kill-ring when I was fourteen; and in the aftermath of... slaughtering it...''

Anca jerked at my uncle's words, but my soothing touch kept her in place.

Hiccup jolted slightly at his father's words and peered more closely at my 'Nightmare'.

''My fourteen-year-old self-became intrigued enough to inspect the creature from feet to wings, and especially the head-area. The flesh across the Nightmare's jawline wasn't this soft and vulnerable.''

Then Gobber broke in with his own observations.

'' True that, Stoick. And Anca is quite a lot smaller than Hookfang. But she doesn't look too young. I'd say in maybe a year she will have reached her full height and length and in two years more she will have surely lost the lankiness of youth,'' Gobber said as we all turned to look at him.

Well, he knew the most about dragons, apart from Fishlegs and Hiccup, so what he said was very plausible.

'' Ouch! The weapon went right through your lower jaw, didn't it?''

I winced sharply and looked away for a moment when I heard the hefty blond (who had still been inspecting Anca) murmur those words to my dragon- friend.

'' So you're still a child, just like me. No wonder you and I get along so well,'' I gently told Anca who licked me on the cheek with the soft side of her tongue.

'' Maybe Toothless is a young one, too. He seems like one sometimes,'' Hiccup murmured to me as the Nightfury nuzzled up to him.

'' Yeah, maybe,'' I murmured my answer as we humans still rested our hands on Toothless's and Anca's heads.

''MOTHER!''

My dad, Stoick, Hiccup, Toothless, Anca, the other teens and I all turned to face the screen as the sound volume had been suddenly dialled- up to make sure the sound reached all ears.

***MS***

'' Yes, Sonja?'' Sigrun asked as her daughter looked at her imploringly.

'' These aren't just props, are they? They seem entirely authentic and made with such care for detail. It makes me wonder... mother, do you have something you wish to tell Ronja and me? Something about our family and yourself? I mean, we have never heard you speak to them, let alone met up with them, or taken us to meet them.''

CRACKKK

Sigrun and Sonja turned to glance at the older twin who had ripped her axe off the wooden target.

Klaus, who had wandered over to assist his daughter upon seeing her struggling to remove her axe it with one hand, grinned cheekily at Sonja and his wife as he let go of the target and let it fall back into place.

'' And I wonder about the words you spoke to us before you gave me my helmet,'' Ronja cut in as she stooped to pick up her fallen helmet.

She then hefted her axe up and rested the dull side of it against her shoulder as she quickly sauntered over to her mother and sister.

Klaus ambled over, with less of a hurry, and sat down beside his wife.

Ronja plopped down on the floor beside Sonja, so close their knees were lightly touching.

'' When you said you wore this helmet when you were fourteen, were you hinting on something important?'' Ronja asked.

Her mother sighed, expression slightly sad as she looked at the Snoggletog-tree for a short moment before turning to face her children.

'' Girls, the reason you have never met your uncle or any of his family. If he has one, of course, is because he is somewhere I can't take you unless it is within Odin's wish and within his ability. The two of you, especially you Sonja, have already questioned me about how it is possible for me to so easily speak and write Ancient Norse. Or how it is that I'm so capable when it comes to using weapons.''

Sigrun paused for a moment to look from one daughter to the next who was watching her with rapt attention.

'' I'd done such things since very early childhood. As a tiny baby I received my first wooden, toy axe, and when I was five years old I was handed my very first real, albeit unsharpened axe. The reason for this, I wasn't born in the same kind of circumstances as your father. ''

Both her daughters' eyes widened in shock, their lips parting to ask a question.

But before they could say anything Sigrun continued,'' In other words, I wasn't born in the modern times. I may not even be of this dimension world. I used to be, and still am no matter what I've become, a Viking from Berk.

Sharp intakes of breath escaped her daughters' lips.

'' It's an island where it snows nine months of the year and hails the other three. And the island is surrounded by savage seas. It's a cold, cold place during the winter and Dragons raided our village six times a year. Every year, girls! And so it was that every child had to learn to become strong warriors. It was an often brutal and dangerous place to live, but it was my home. For thirteen years I lived a normal Viking life.''

Ronja and Sonja listened with wide-eyed shock as their mother finished describing a place they hadn't even imagined in their wildest dreams.

And to hear their mother was a Viking was just as shocking but still, somehow, believable.

How else would their mother know how to speak Ancient Norse or write the language so perfectly and easily?

And she had taught a piece of her past to her children! Speaking, and writing ancient Norse was now a gift to pass on to their own future children (if they ever had any).

And the dragons?! To think there actually was a world with dragons!

Of course these creatures were likely very different from the ones in J.R.R Tolkien's Middle Earth, but still, there were real life Dragons roaming the skies, Islands and bigger mainlands.

And when Stryka lifted the sleeve of her green dress, any doubts that may have lingered in the hearts of her children were eradicated at the sight of a glowing tattoo the shape of a Valknute (Valknut).

'' That's 'Odin's mark'! '' Sonja practically shrieks.

''And it's glowing!'' Ronja added, just as loudly.

To be continued...

End of Chapter 13

...

Author Notes:

Constructive criticism is always welcomed by me, the Author.