"I know you want to ride with Silvernose but I'd rather you ride with me in case you have another one," Astrid said. "You can ride in front of me, and if you fall I can grab you." Ireth reluctantly and painfully walked over and climbed on Stormfly in front of her mother.
Asta waited for Silvernose to join her, then stayed close behind Stormfly. Finn kept an eye on Astrid and Ireth, waiting in case anything happened. He did keep a safe distance from Hiccup, wanting to leave his chief room to keep an eye on his family himself.
"Are you sure you're alright?" Hiccup asked.
"Yeah, dad, I'm fine. I just want to get back to Berk. My arm and leg are killing me." Hiccup and Astrid shared a look.
Finn noticed the look and mentally sighed. All three of them knew something they weren't telling him. "Let's go." The sooner they got Ireth back, the sooner he could figure it out.
They landed in Berk, and Astrid gestured to Ireth to stay on Stormfly. Hiccup went to get Snotlout, who came reluctantly. Although the two men had never really liked each other, Snotlout had a soft spot for Ireth, and he lifted the girl off Stormfly so that she wouldn't be in pain.
Finn stayed close, trying not to bother the family, but still concerned. He wasn't very close with Astrid at all, but he knew Hiccup pretty well. Asta lead Silvernose away to a barn area for a little while.
They walked into the Haddock residence, and Snotlout softly placed Ireth on the chair. He walked out, shooting a worried look back at her but knowing he shouldn't intrude. "Please leave," Astrid said to Finn.
"No! Let him stay," Ireth shouted softly.
He gave an awkward smile. "I'm not going anywhere until we figure out what happened." As much as Astrid scared him, he really wanted to know what had happened to hurt Ireth like that.
Astrid had never trusted Finn, but she trusted her daughter's judgment, so she left him alone. Hiccup knelt beside Ireth. "Tell me what happened in your vision, Ireth," He said softly.
Finn listened eagerly, keeping a respectable distance from the family. He didn't want to intrude, but he needed to know what had happened.
Ireth took a deep breath. "Well, there was a girl lying on the ground, but I couldn't see her face. There were people and dragons surrounding her, but keeping their distance. I could tell that her arm was broken, and her leg was there but not, which I'm guessing means she loses it. Her hair was a long plait, but it had been severed off by what I assumed was a boulder. Then I realised that she was me."
Finn stiffened and understood the way Ireth seemed frightened. "Are you sure it was you?" Inside, he wondered if the girl in the vision had fallen somehow, and what would have had to have happened to the girl's dragon in order for her to fall at all.
Ireth nodded shakily. "Yeah, it was. Even though I couldn't see the face, I could tell it was me. The hair, the body shape, the way she was positioned…There's no doubt about it. And I would only be in pain if it was me, so it had to be."
He stiffened when she said she was in pain. "The vision really hurt you?" And how can you treat a ghost wound like that… He thought, watching her closely.
Ireth nodded again. "I know it's ghost pain and that it will stop hurting soon, but this pain is worse than it has been before."
"How often have you gotten it?" Despite the looks he was getting from her parents, he had questions and he wanted answers. He was staying, and he was almost as worried about Ireth as her parents were. Almost.
"This is the first time I've had this vision, and yet it's never hurt so much," Ireth said, looking at her parents with worried eyes. "I think something bad is going to happen. And I'm at the centre of it."
Finn looked over at her parents, noting the worry on their faces. "There has to be something we can do to prevent it, if we know it's coming." He tried to ignore the slightly annoyed looks on her parent's faces, and started mentally counting all of their friends he could recruit to help protect Ireth.
"Sweetie, are you sure your vision was as bad as it looked?" Astrid asked. "You know that a similar situation happened to your father and he's fine now."
"We can't just rule out what she saw though, Astrid," Hiccup interjected. "Her visions have never been wrong before, so we need to trust them."
Finn drew back, letting her parents question her. He slipped out of the house and into the sun, heading for the stable area and his dragon.
Ireth spoke with her parents, debates going back and forth. After a short while, the pain faded away. As Astrid and Hiccup because distracted with a small argument, she slipped out to see Silvernose.
Finn was in the stables with the two dragons, hauling out buckets of fish and water for the night. He talked to them softly and just keeping them calm.
Silvernose let out a dragon purring sound when she saw Ireth approaching. "Hey, Silvy," The viking girl said, stroking to the Stormcutter's head softly. "Sorry about that scare, girl."
Finn set down a bucket of water. "Feel better?" He walked over and stood next to Ireth..
Ireth nodded. "Yeah," She said softly. "The pain went away and I snuck out while my parents were arguing over what to do about my vision."