[Open] A Hunter's Return.

[Ulrika&Timber]

Ulrika's feet felt rooted to the spot as Asgeir and Eimhir headed to the hall. She didn't want to follow them. Why should she follow people who had no interest in her welfare? Upset, she looked towards her dragon. She daren't approach a group of dragons, she was well aware she was bad with them, and getting punished by annoyed dragons was the last thing she wanted.

Timber watched as the subject focused on size. "I'm half and half." She slunk towards the galewing and made herself as tall as she could. "I'm not that tall," and then the crouched by the terrible terror. "And I'm not that small either. But my wings are very big. They can get in the way sometimes."

Her messing around in the snow prompted the Galewing to initiate a snow-fight. With one might beat of his wings, he sent a flurry of powdered snow into the air. Timber tried to playfully snap at some of the flying bits of frozen water. She licked her lips and butwiggled her tail excitedly, ready to play game.

Ulrika saw this flurry of snow, but the reaction was opposite. The surprise frightened her and she staggered back, falling into the snow to cushion her fall. "Aah!" She cried weakly, holding her scarred arm with her right hand. Her breathing elevated as she stared into space. Heor had triggered a flashback.

She remembered being engulfed in a miniature snowstorm, vague shadowy figures. She remembered almost with perfect clairty as she approached to rescue her dragon, and there was that man there. He had goaded her on, and put her down. He had made to kill her and her dragon but she shot him. He was down, but he staggered to his feet, almost laughing. It was the laugh that haunted her the most, as well as him getting back up. She had been so used to her prey not getting up after her shots. And this wasn't some animal either, another human like her. He had thrown a knife at her but missed, except for her arm.

Ulrika gripped her arm tighter at the thought.

She strained against her injury to shoot the man again. In the end she had to use two more arrows. She had saved Timber. Her dragon was safe. She remembered how her stupid arm wouldn't stop bleeding for a while, the cut was so deep.

Timber had heard the strangled cry of her human. Her ears perked. "Ulrika!" Her entire attention moved from Heor and the other dragons to her human in need. By now she recognised Ulrika was having an episode. Ulrika almost appeared zoned out, weren't it for her wide eyes and fast breathing.

Timber tried to nudge her but it did little to help. The most the Night Fury could do was wrap her body around the girl and wait for her to come back to her senses, and comfort her. Timber wasn't aware that Heor had caused the trigger, though.

She pushed her nose into the top of Ulrika's head. "You're not alone."

[Deleted]

The seconds following Moln's question were filled with pride; she was expecting an answer that would support her claim and show off to those larger dragons that they had no reason to laugh at her and that she was imposing enough to be jealous off. She sat down proudly, ready to use the claim of the other dragon as support and explain to the world her greatness. However, things didn't really go as planned for the baby dragon soon explained that she disliked being small and that, even if they were larger, dragons the size of her mother were allowed inside the house.

The Terrible Terror's pride faltered in an instant and she started feeling anger build up. She was not to be shamed! As if to add to the pityfulness of the situation, the Galewing started laughing at Moln and how her argument had just been completely destroyed. The small dragon started building up rage, rage that encouraged the formation of a blast in her throat. She would not allow herself to be intimidated by a large dummy like Heor, she would show them all! As a small amount of gas started building up in the back of her throat, Moln realized that it would do no good for her to show one of her blasts; she was a non-imposing tiny being after all. Oh well, the others would know that she meant business and that it was stupid to laugh at her.

The Terrible Terror started opening her mouth, ready to light up her shot and fire, when the Night Fury answered her claim by saying that equilibrium between tiny and huge was the best. This way she could enjoy the warmth of the house, but also be somewhat imposing in fights, understood Moln. Perhaps Timber was right on this one. The small dragon calmed down in an instant and her attention returned to her peers, who had engaged in a snow fight? Confused, the small dragon took off and started flying on top of the group, staying as far as she could from the snow. She didn't want to be cooled down by the annoying element.

The fight went on for few seconds before being interrupted by the weak cry of a human. Moln observed the scene with incomprehension as Timber abandoned the game to hug her human and protect her from the world. The Terrible Terror couldn't hear what they said, but she landed and walked closer to the duo carefully. Once at a respectable distance from them, and after carefully avoiding to walk on either the dragon or the human, Moln sent a look at the girl. "Why is she like that?" she finally asked, completely lost in what post-traumatic stress could even be.

Eimhir was about to head towards the table in the corner of the hall, when she turned around to make sure that the other two vikings were still following. During the entire walk, she had heard, and listened to, Asgeir's speech, never really hearing Ulrika's replies. It was probably normal, the girl looked shocked earlier, she probably didn't really feel like speaking loudly. However, as she turned around, the young viking noticed that the girl was missing. She frowned before looking at the rider, "Wasn't she right behind you?" she asked, referring to the other girl. After quickly scanning the path to the hall, and the hall itself, you never knew, Eimhir bit her lower lip. "Perhaps she didn't want to follow or got lost, you should go find her." The girl stressfully started playing with her sleeve and nudged the other back down the path, "she can't be too far."

[Jokul & Starkad]

Even with the vague answer, Starkad was content to know the large dragon could fly for hours on end. Given on how big his wings are, it shouldn't have come as a surprise.

And though the terror's anger was building, it didn't really affect the hobblegrunt. This wouldn't have been the first time she got a terrible terror mad. Alone, they couldn't do much to hurt her, but get a group of them, yeah... then you should run and hide and hope they don't find you.

Luckily, Timber stopped the argument before it could turn into a fight. The hobblegrunt cooed in agreement with her reasoning. Her wings never really got in the way due to her species' size, but she knew her mother had a little trouble getting through the door to the house sometimes.

A squeak ecaped her when Heor's snow covered the front half of her body. She wasn't quite expecting the larger dragon to join in on the fun, let alone enjoy it. With a quick shake of her head, she sent her own, much smaller batch of snow back at him.

But Starkad's playful mood was snuffed out in an instant. Her frill stood up straight, and her pupils turned to slits. The wave of terror crashed into her with full force and she nearly fell over in surprise. It was only a second later that a scream reached her ears, which only sent another jolt of panic through her small body.

She'd rarely felt this level of fear around any others, dragons included, and when she did, she steered clear to distance herself from them. In fact, she usually sought comfort from Shade, knowing her mother could feel the negative emotions as well.

So when Timber ran towards the source of it, Starkad was left to wonder why. Can't she feel it too? Even if she isn't like me, shouldn't she sense that much? Without the black dragon next to her, she fidgeted and shifted her weight from foot to foot, feeling anxious near Heor.

A small whine escaped her as another set of emotions swept over her; worry and distress. It was better than what she'd felt before, but looking over and seeing Timber be the one experiencing it only made the hobblegrunt more afraid of what had happened.

Starkad didn't know Timber to be one to show weakness, especially in front of others, and having this new development occur, the hobblegrunt didn't know what to do. She either put on a brave face and go investigate, or risk it and stay near the larger dragon until the night fury came back.

Deciding on the former, Starkad scurried away from Heor without even looking back. Luckily for her, Timber was easy enough to find in the low light, despite her dark scales. But the closer the young dragon got, the harder it was to keep from whining. All the feelings were starting to become her own, and she didn't like any of it. Not one bit.

"Why is she like that?"

Starkad had barely even acknowledged the terror's question, and rubbed her head against the ground in a desperate attempt to make the bad feelings go away, letting out painful whimpers as she did so.