Heartfire
Chapter one
Edelweiss followed her family on Black Widow. They were about an hour away from Dragon Island and Berk. They were headed up there for yet another summer with their northern cousins. Eider was coming up with him, without his foster parents, to spend the summer with his friends. Edelweiss was looking forward to it. She liked hanging spending time with her friends at the tide pools on Dragon Island, and in the Cove on Berk. She wondered what exciting thing would happen this summer.
Every time they went up to the Archipelago something always happened. A lot of the time it was very scary stuff; like when Apollo had fought off five rouge Changewings and unlocked his titan wing. Then there were all those summers her poor mother had been the target of misfortune. Hopefully she would be spared this summer.
Soon they saw Berk on the horizon. The dragonets roared excitedly. Though they were nervous about being on Berk, they were excited to see their cousins. The vikings of Berk always got mad at them whenever they played their favorite games in the village.
The Draconians landed in the middle of the plaza. The riders were there to greet them as all ways. Serenity, Chris, and Edelweiss all dismounted.
"Hey guys," Hiccup said happily.
"Hello," Re said, folding his wings. Toothless bounded up to Serenity, then Chris. They both hugged him. Then Toothless looked at Edelweiss, and nuzzled her.
"Hi Toothless," she said, hugging his snout.
"You're getting so big," Toothless cooed. "I remember they day you were born, you were so tiny." Edelweiss blushed. She scratched him behind his ears and he purred. Hiccup watched Edelweiss playing with his dragon.
"You know Re, I think Edelweiss is ready to join our Dragon Training Academy," he said. Re looked interested.
"Training Academy?" Chris asked.
"A few years ago Hiccup and the rides started a training academy to learn about different dragons and how to coexist with them," Serenity explained. "It sounds like a good idea."
"Who would be the instructor?" Aurora asked.
"Fishlegs and my mother are in charge of it," Hiccup said. "But we all pitch in. Astrid teaches combat, I teach navigation and blacksmithing, Mom teaches training and riding, and Fishlegs teaches them about the different dragons."
"I all ready know how to train a dragon," Edel said, still scratching Toothless's ears.
"Really, then how do you train a Scauldron?" Astrid challenged. Edel blinked, and thought for a moment.
"That's the big water dragon," she said. "I know they like Blue Oleander."
"That's good," Hiccup said. "What else do you use?" Edel opened her mouth to answer, but realized she didn't know. She slumped in defeat.
"I don't know," she admitted. "But what about Black Widow, can she come too?" Black Widow looked up at Hiccup with a hopeful expression.
"Not for a while," Hiccup said. "No one else will start off with their own dragon. It's one of the things the students are assigned to do once after they learn about the different dragons and how to train them." Black Widow looked disappointed.
"You can still fly her up to the academy and back again," Hiccup assured her. Avalon, Apollo, and Eider exchanged a glance with her.
"Will I get to meet more dragon friends?" Edelweiss asked Toothless.
"Yup," Toothless said. "And soon you'll have as many dragon friends as you parents do." Edelweiss liked the sound of that.
"When do they start?" Re asked.
"In three days," Hiccup said. "Edelweiss will need to bring a weapon for the combat section."
"I have an old sword, and a bow," said Edelweiss.
"That'll work," Hiccup said. "Classes meet five days a week." Edelweiss was excited now. She hugged Toothless out of pure joy.
"We better go get her ready then," said Aurora. Edelweiss kissed Toothless on the muzzle then mounted Black Widow again. The dragons spread their wings and took off.
They flew to Dragon Island and landed in the throne room. The dragonets turned and ran outside again. Edelweiss stayed in Black Widow's saddle the whole time. The others noticed her nervous expression.
"You going to be okay Edel?" asked Avalon.
"I think so," Edelweiss said doubtfully. "I've never gone a day without you guys."
"You'll be fine," Apollo said. "All the other riders can go a day without their dragons." Edelweiss took several deep breaths and relaxed.
"It seems like playtime is ending," she said sadly. Avalon snorted.
"We're dragons, playtime doesn't end," she said. "It just changes. Our parents still have fun quite often." With that she broke into a run. The others followed her.
They raced up the island at high speed. They leaped over rocks and shipwrecks. Black Widow picked ran faster and pulled ahead. She looked over her wing at the others behind her. She looked away for too long however, and suddenly collided with something hard. She hit it so hard that Edelweiss was thrown from the saddle. The others caught up.
"You okay?" Eider asked.
"Yeah, just winded," Black Widow said as she got to her feet. She helped Edelweiss up and then they looked at what they'd run into. At first it looked like a large boulder. But then the fog lifted.
"It's a skull," Avalon realized out loud. She spread her wings and took off, the others followed. They circled over a massive dragon skeleton, sprawled on the side of the volcano.
"That must be the Red Death," Edelweiss said.
"Draco's holy fire!" Avalon said in awe. "Toothless wasn't kidding when he said it was big."
"He also said the Bewilderbeast was even bigger," Apollo said. He landed on the giant skull. The others landed beside him.
"I wonder why Grandfather never lead it to Vanehiem?" Avalon said.
"Would you want this thing on Vanehiem?" Apollo said. "It would have eaten every dragon in sight, even the ancient sentinels."
"You think Hiccup's foot is still here?" Eider wondered.
"We don't actually know what cut his leg off," Black Widow pointed out. "It probably burned up in that explosion anyway."
"I wish we could have seen it," Edelweiss said. "It must have been so exciting."
"Yeah, me too," Black Widow said. Edelweiss dismounted and sat down at the base of the giant nose horn. The dragonets sat next to her.
"This would make an excellent hang out spot," Apollo said. "As well as the tide pools."
"It's even bigger than the tide pools," Eider said. "We can probably do something with this, maybe even several things."
They spent the rest of the day roaming all over the giant skeleton. Edel always enjoyed the hours she spent with her friends. She still couldn't imagine going on without them. They always had each other's back and comforted each other. On the other hand, she was looking forward to meeting new dragon friends. Suddenly she felt an intense itch on her neck and back. She scratched it with both hands. The dragonets were quick to notice.
"What's wrong?" Avalon asked.
"Just an itch," Edelweiss said.
"But they're aren't any bugs on this island," Apollo said. "Maybe you're allergic to the ivory."
"No, I'm okay now," Edel said as the itching stopped. Just then they heard wing beats. They looked up to see Re and Aurora flying towards them. They landed on the skeleton.
"Mom, Dad, we found the Red Death," Avalon said excitedly.
"You certainly did," Aurora said.
"It's far bigger than I thought," said Eider. "After hearing all about how big the Bewilderbeast was."
"I wonder if we can turn this skeleton into a hideout," Avalon said excitedly. Aurora opened her mouth the protest, but stopped when she remembered what the Red Death had beed like. She had been a dragon so evil that Draco had to send one of his newest soldiers to take her out.
"I suppose," Aurora said. "But not right now. It's time to come in." Edelweiss got back on Black Widow and they all headed back to the throne room.
When they were back on the ledge throne they settled around the bonfire. Aurora looked over at Edelweiss.
"You excited to start at the Academy?" she asked.
"I am," Edelweiss said. "But I'm also nervous about being without my friends." She glanced around at her friends.
"Black Widow will join you after a while," Aurora said. "You'll be fine. Plus you get to make new friends."
"We'll even help you build that hideout for when you come back each day," Re added.
"Hideout?" said Windwalker curiously.
"They found the old Red Death skeleton," Aurora said. "And they want to turn it into a hideout."
"It'll be so fun," Apollo said happily. "That skeleton is perfect for hanging out." Edelweiss yawned.
"Time for bed," Serenity said.
As the stars came out Edelweiss and Black Widow followed their parents to their rooms. They landed on the balcony and went inside. Edelweiss kissed her parents good night then went into her room with Black Widow. Suddenly the intense itch returned and she scratched it.
"Let me look at that," Black Widow said. Edelweiss stood still as Black Widow lifted the back of her shirt. There was an angry red rash on her back that went up her neck.
"That's a pretty big rash," Black Widow said. "You should show your mother tomorrow. She'll have something for it."
"Okay," Edelweiss said. She climbed into bed and pulled the blankets over her. Black Widow flew up into her web and settled down. They fell asleep in minuets.
High in the Dragon Heaven, Draco looked down at Edelweiss through his seeing pool. He knew what her itching meant. He was excited for what was happening to her, she was the first one this was happening to. He knew the other humans would find it too different, but there would be nothing they could do about it. Draco settled back on his diamond throne to watch all the changes unfold.