When Hiccup finally woke up, for real this time, it was to the sound of Toothless's snores, creaking furniture and metal being sharpened.

Wait.

He shot up, his memories rushing to him. The nest, the fire, the... god?

Uhh...

His eyes caught on someone sitting on a wooden stretcher bed to his right. She was wearing leggings, boots and a dark green knee length tunic tied at the waist. light hair was tied back, a stray braid floating in front of her left eye.

And in her lap was a deadly looking sword, a whetstone hovering just above the edge.

"uh..." Hiccup smiled awkwardly, eyes glancing to his left where toothless was curled up, tail shifting absently under the stretcher he was lying on. What use was a dragon friend if they were going to fall asleep on watch?

His eyes flicked back to the girl- woman? He couldn't tell how old she was, but she didn't look much older than him- as she gripped her sword backwards by the pommel and rested the tip in the soft dirt at her feet.

"and who, pray tell, are you?" she asked. Her voice had a strange accent to it, melodic, and the R's seemed to be rolled.

"um," hiccup gulped, sitting up and fidgeting slightly, but he forced himself to keep his eyes on the girl, "Hiccup Haddock."

The girl raised her eyebrow, "enlightening."

"I'm, uh," his conversation with strange-dream guy came back to him a bit clearer. This had to be that Rome place he was talking about.

He didn't know if he could trust the strange guy, if he was even real. He absently checked his vest's inner pocket, making it look like he was merely anxious. He was surprised to find the letter inside.

Maybe, he just needed to take a leap of faith. That's what had lead him here so far, what had caused him to make the best friend he could hope for.

He took a breath, "I'm from the north. An island called Berk, in the Archipelago."

"and you're a dragon rider?" she asked, voice dry, something about her demeanour suggested she had been roped into this.

"I, uh. Yeah. Yeah, you could say that."

"I was under the impression Vikings preferred killing dragons." She shifted and leaned forward a little, "and that they didn't speak Latin."

"well, you see," He smiled awkwardly, with absolutely no idea how to handle this.

"don't try lying, I'll know if you do."

Hiccup swallowed, wishing Toothless would wake up and he could just run out of here. But as he took in the scenery he realised that probably wouldn't happen.

He seemed to be in an infirmary, just as Pluto had said. It was an open-air building, a few canvas curtains drawn here and there, but it was mainly rows of stretchers with benches and cabinets sprinkled throughout. There weren't walls, but thick wooden columns lined the rows of stretchers, undrawn curtains tied to them. Someone dressed similairly to the blonde Roman, except with a white tunic, walked between a row not far away and stopped at one of the few inhabited stretchers to remove someone's bandages.

He couldn't make out much outside the building, but he noticed other buildings and people walking by. He thought he maybe heard a vendor heckling into a crowd, and possibly metal crashing into metal in the distance.

There didn't seem to be anywhere to run, only to fly. And Pluto seemed to be suggesting he was in a military camp or something of the sort. They'd likely have watchtowers and catapults.

He'd have no chance. He was stuck here. He may as well make the most of it till they let him go. If they did.

May as well take that leap of faith then.

"this is gonna sound very insane, but bear with me, please." He said, slipping the letter out of his vest.

Atticus Mare was a soldier. He had joined the military when he was twelve and became a centurion at thirteen and a half- not to brag.

His trainers said he was gifted. His parents said it was a family resemblance.

He'd been holding a sword as long as he could remember, staring at maps and schematics and tactics till his eyes bled for years, and it led him here.

He was Legionnaire of the fifth legion's first cohort, on his first campaign holding this position he was expected to take a dragon nest. His parents said he would be a hero. His older brother, miles away in the capitol, suggested he was more likely to become a corpse.

But no, he'd survived, because someone else had killed the queen. That someone was in the infirmary right now, likely awake and speaking to Charlotte.

Outside the infirmary Atticus sat eating a strip of dried meat- today's breakfast- his friends waiting with him.

Aeliana stood at ease, picture perfect Praetor, dark hair elaborately braided and a strap of leather tied around her head, resting above her brow. She wore sandals and short linen leggings, her light tunic fell halfway down her thighs. All this under her greaves, small shoulder armouring and an armoured belt, sword strapped at her side.

Technically speaking this was protocol. All soldiers were supposed to wear those armourings at the minimum whilst on duty, inside the camp or on a campaign, the personal barracks exempt from this. If any of Atticus's superiors came along he'd be getting verbally flogged for not wearing the same.

But they were at the fifth and fourth's assigned province. Atticus's only superiors around were Charlotte- his praetor- and Aeliana. One of which didn't always abide by the protocol, and the other only expected herself to be perfect.

With them, sprawled on the grass, was Jael Mori- centurion in the fifth- wearing basic clothing that was almost definitely somehow against basic rules. She was nursing a headache from the prior night and was thus lounging in the shade of the tree to Atticus's right.

Her twin brother, Verlin, was in far better shape. Unlike his sister he didn't enjoy celebrating on military ground, and only got mildly tipsy last night. He was also abiding by protocol, in that he was wearing basic military clothing and armour. What was against procedure was the letter he was writing.

"you realise if it gets out that you sent a letter before a campaign was officially over you'll be publicly whipped and then thrown out of the army." Atticus said, eyes glancing to Verlin who was leaning against the low stone wall that ran from the archway of the infirmary to the main street. It was likely the only architectural piece made just for design in the whole camp.

"oh what a shame," he scoffed, his Latin still a bit choppy accent-wise. He and his sister had only recently joined up in the military and had, before-hand, been more on the nomadic side. They had family in the south and west nations that they frequently moved between. Atticus only knew them because their family inside Rome worked in the senate, side by side with his brother.

"at least try to pretend you joined willingly, and that you have interest in staying a centurion." Atticus sighed, "if my superiors find out I'm letting you send a letter to anyone I'll be joining you on the whipping stand."

"seems drastic to me," grumbled Jael, accent slipping all the way to her Egyptian roots with her headache stopping her from caring about appearances, "you romans just can't settle on probations and groundings, you have to go brutal."

"that's how we stop people from performing insubordination." Aeliana rolled her eyes and joined Atticus against the wall, "although you two seem to take it as a challenge."

"oh, ssh, you're no fun." Verlin murmured, signing the bottom of the page, wrapping it up and slipping it under his right arm's greave.

"this is the army," came a voice from the infirmary, "it's not supposed to be fun."

Atticus snapped to attention, Aeliana stood from the wall but remained at ease. Verlin and Jael very slowly pulled themselves up and to a mockery of an attentive position as Charlotte stood in the archway. Behind her was the lanky Viking and his dragon friend. He seemed to be entirely distracted by his leg, trying to become acquaintanced to his new metal prosthetic. Yet he was definitely taking in everything his eyes could see. He seemed to be complacent, but he was definitely looking for a good enough opening to fly out.

He wouldn't find one. Not in a camp like this.

Charlotte and Aeliana may have their leadership questioned at every turn- hence the hardcore campaign to the dragon's nest being pushed on them as a chance to prove their abilities- but they knew how to run a camp, and that meant keeping it secure from the inside and out.

"this is Hiccup Haddock," Charlotte gestured to the Viking, "and his dragon Toothless. They've got favour from Pluto."

Atticus was expecting many things from this exchange. He was not expecting that.