21 {Berk’s Bouquets PT:1}

"Eat up, friends!"

Stoick and Neil looked at each other and then at the bowl of stew sitting in front of them. Unlike the previous day, when they were offered a cooked chicken, today was a stew of clearly undercooked mutton. 

'Even when I was stuck on the island, I fully cooked meat. Is this how they usually eat?'

After seeing that Stocik began eating, Neil steeled himself and slowly ate his meal. 

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'Have some more!'

Stoick quickly shook his head and smiled, "I thank you for the meal, but it's about time for me to return."

Riplot pouted as if he were a young child, but after a bit, he sighed and nodded, "I understand a Chief can't be far from his Village for long."

"Aye, now that Hiccup has stopped the war between the Vikings and dragons my daily lists have done nothing but increase in length. There's also the danger of Alvin and the outcasts attacking us again."

The large blond Chief nodded," I'm thankful I'm not you, haha. With your way of doing simple tasks, it would take all day. All I have to do is hit some heads with my mace and things fix themselves. Maybe next time I'll be the one to visit you, that way I can see for my own eyes this dragon training you talked so much about."

Stoick got up from the table with a smile and shook Riplot's hand, "You are welcome any day."

After saying their thanks and goodbyes the two of them left for Berk, or at least they tried. Before they could even leave the island, both of them had to make an emergency landing and puke out all the food they had just eaten. 

"In Odin's name, I swear that every time I come here they cook that meat even less. One of these years I'll be asked to take a bite out of a living sheep," whined Stoick as he washed his long beard. 

Neil spit out the water that he was gurgling and smiled, "What's worse is that I think he knew this would happen haha. That's probably why he wouldn't let us leave until we finished the whole bowl."

"Aye, that does sound like something Riplot would do haha."

They both laughed even harder when the fox inside the bag got out and puked her own meal on the ground. 

Even though they rinsed their mouths Neil still had a very unsatisfying aftertaste in his mouth. After some digging, he pulled out a handful of frozen berries from his bag. He also offered some to Stoick, and the large Chief took them without a second thought.

"Well then let's start heading out, here's hoping that no more stops are needed. I'm sure that Hiccup and the rest of his friends will be very excited to meet you and that dragon of yours" 

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After a gruesome 8ish hour flight the two could finally see Berk. As they got closer Neil became more and more surprised by the Island. One of the things that stuck out more was the tall narrow mountain that became even thinner going up. The way that it swirled around reminded him of a unicorn horn. At the very tip, there seemed to be a small hut. 

Not being able to hold in his curiosity he flew closer to Stoick," Sir, what is that hut at the top of the mountain used for?"

"Oh, that is the hut of Gothi, Berk's wise woman, healer, and also one of our most important officiators." 

'You have your healer at the peak of the mountain? My condolences to anyone with a grave injury… Well, I guess that they do have dragons now so that should help things.'

Once they were flying over Berk, Neil was hit by how much more developed Berk was compared to Reioi. The huts were larger and more decorative, there were statues everywhere, and the paths were paved in concrete and not simply made out of flat stones. 

"Oh would you look at that, it looks like they are all together." 

As the chief spoke he pointed at a large plaza, on it five dragons were lying along with six teens. 

The two landed on the plaza and the teens began to walk closer to them but the Woolly Howl's snarling caused them to hesitate. 

"I'm glad to see you all gathered here, this young man is Neil and he has traveled a long…..What's going on?"

The faces of the teens looked very sad and troubled and by the looks of it, their dragons weren't doing any better. 

The skinny brown-haired teen walked over to the Chief and sighed, "It's the dragon's dad, they are sick and it's getting worse."

As he listened to Hiccup explain the events that had occurred in the last 2 days he stretched his sore body. Unlike Stoick he had no saddle which meant that he had to maintain a strong grip with his legs the whole 8 hours. Now his body was aching all over. 

While he stretched a bright blue color caught his attention, after a few seconds he managed to recognize what he was looking at.

'What the hell is that doing here?'

He quickly ran towards his dragon and flew up, "Sir! get on your dragon now and fly far from here! There is Blue Oleander on the island, every part of this plant is extremely poisonous to dragons, including its pollen!" 

Everyone was surprised by his sudden actions and then they turned to look at the blue flowers that he was pointing on. 

Stoick was the first to react and he jumped on Tornado and began giving orders," If what Neil is saying is true then move all your dragons far away from those flowers. Take one to Gothi and see what she knows about it." 

The teens nodded and quickly began moving to follow their chief's orders.

After flying away from the Island Neil made the Wolly Howl take a quick dive into the water. He was hoping that doing so would remove any of the pollen that might have stuck to the dragons. Stoick also followed his lead and soon a large soaked Chief, teen, and a shivering fox walked down a faraway mountain.