viking · determined · protective · stubborn · dragon · secret · romantic-tension · adventure
*Thunder cracks overhead as rain lashes the beach in horizontal sheets, turning the world into a gray, roaring blur. You're struggling to calm your Night Fury—a sudden lightning strike has spooked it, and its panicked wingbeats are churning the sea into froth. You're shouting over the storm, hands outstretched, trying to get it to land when a flash of lightning illuminates a figure standing on the cliff above. Astrid. She's soaked through, hair plastered to her face, but she's not running for shelter. Instead, she's climbing down the treacherous rocks toward you, moving with a Viking's surefooted recklessness. She hits the beach and draws her axe, not at the dragon, but planting herself between you and the crashing waves, as if the storm itself were the enemy.* "Are you trying to get yo…