x1x
Hiccup and Toothless were on their way to the cove after dragon training this noon.
Astrid and Snotlout had gotten into another fight after Astrid had beaten him in yet another race.
The cove was glowing in the summer light. Fish were swimming in the clear water of the small lake in its middle.
Hiccups eyes traced over it and to the spot where he had first found Toothless after he had freed him that fateful day.
There was someone lying there. From the distance Hiccup couldn't see who it was. They had taken the high passage in.
"Bud, let's get down there," Hiccup said and climbed on. They landed a few yards away from the figure in the grass.
She was a girl about his age. Her face was covered in small cuts and scratches, her hands as well. She was wearing a long sleeved brown shirt that went to her knees and trousers in a lighter shade. The shaft of her leather boots was so high that they hid half her lower leg. There was a beige linen sack with two ropes attached at top and bottom to carry over your shoulder or on your back nearby that was probably hers.
Hiccup approached her, slowly. Behind him, Toothless began to growl and crouch down, ready to pounce.
Hiccup looked back. "What is it, Toothless?"
The dragon's eyes were fixed on the girl in front of them.
Hiccup took another step. "Easy, bud. She's just a girl."
Toothless pounced in front of Hiccup as he heard the hiss of the other dragon fill the cove and a glob of hot acid whizzed past them.
"Changewing," Hiccup breathed astonished.
Toothless let out a warning growl at the Changewing, who retorted by pacing up and down in front of the girl protectively.
Toothless slowly backed up behind Hiccup again, never taking his eyes off the Changewing.
It had stopped blending in with its surroundings and Hiccup slowly began approaching again.
"It's ok, we want to help. We're not your enemy," he soothed the dragon protecting the unconscious girl. He reached out a hand.
The Changewing eyed him suspiciously. Hiccup didn't move his hand closer to the dragon. He looked back at it. The Changewing began to blend into its surroundings again in front of his eyes. The red scales and yellow wing tips slowly changing into shades of green. It sniffed at Hiccups outstretched hand. Hiccup could still see the Changewing now, but it was hard and cost a lot of concentration, since it blended perfectly.
Toothless, still close behind Hiccup relaxed. The Changewing moved around them in a circle once and then touched Hiccups still outstretched hand.
Hiccup went to his knees next to the girl and inspected the cuts closer. They weren't bad, but untreated could get infected.
"She looks like a fox," Hiccup murmured. And she really did. Her hair was the orange-red color of a fox hide and as long and bushy as its tail. Her face sharp with round eyes, thin straight eyebrows, pointed nose and thin lips.
Hiccup turned back to the Changewing and said, "We can take her to Berk. My father's the chief, we can get her cuts treated."
It approved. It took the sack Hiccup had seen close by the dragon's rider earlier and carefully picked up its rider.
Hiccup got on Toothless and fastened his prosthetic leg in the harness.
They took off for Berk. The Changewing and the fox girl close behind.
Upon landing on Berk Hiccup informed his friends about his discovery and sure enough, now they were all gathered around the unconscious girl and her Changewing near the Great Hall.
Astrid had gone to collect the herbs needed to treat the girl's cuts and now they were waiting for her to wake up.
The Changewing kept alternating between being blended into its surroundings and being visible. It moved about, occasionally nudging the friends in the back and seemingly having an extra good time teasing Fishlegs.
"I think it likes you!" Snotlout remarked as the Changewing circled around Fishlegs.
"I can't stop thinking about my last Changewing encounter. I feel like it knows me somehow, and that's why it's teasing me," Fishlegs whined.
"Well, we won't know where it's from until the girl wakes up," Hiccup sighed.
Snotlout turned to him. "Why is it that you always bring home girls?! I mean, you have Astrid... so does that mean I can have that one?!"
Astrid punched him hard. "I hope the girl gives you a beating when she wakes and sees you!"
"What do you think happened to her?" Fishlegs wanted to know. "It almost looks like she had trees break her fall. Maybe they crash landed in the cove."
"The Changewing doesn't look hurt," Ruffnut noted.
They fell silent for a bit.
"Argh!" Tuffnut exclaimed. "The waiting is driving me nuts! How long until she wakes up?!"
Astrid suggested. "Hiccup, let's move her to the Great Hall. Then go and tell your dad."
Said and done. They moved her to the Great Hall and Hiccup sought his dad.
The others, excluding Astrid, who stayed behind to watch the girl and the Changewing, who was curiously checking out every inch of the Great Hall.
It had put down the girl's bag on the table Astrid sat at. She wondered if Hiccup had taken a look through her belongings yet. If he hadn't it wouldn't matter, because she would now. And if he had, a second look by someone else to make sure there wasn't anything suspicious, that couldn't hurt.
After what had happened with Heather, the Outcast spy, Astrid was even more alert.
She silently took the small linen sack and opened it. There was not much in it. Two apples, a book, pencil and a flute. Astrid took the book and flipped through its pages.
It was filled with tons of beautiful drawings of landscapes, dragons and animals. Most of them went across two pages of the book.
"Wow," Astrid breathed. She stopped flipping through the pages. One of the drawings had caught her attention. People sitting around a large fire and in the background, not far; a flock of dragons eating on a pile of fish.
There were a lot of blank pages in the sketchbook still. On the last page, Astrid stopped again. It was the only page with text written on it.
"We've lived in tune with nature and the animals and dragons on this Island for as long as the first generation. The knowledge of our ancestors passed on and on again. We are content with what we have been given here and our peace is undisturbed.
One day a trader named Johann came on his ship and asked us if we wanted to trade wares. We offered him some of our tools and seeds. In return we asked him to keep our location and existence a secret, so that no one would disturb our peace.
Our ancestors had told us about other tribes, on other islands, the ones who fought and killed dragons, the ones who herded animals and put them in cages. The ones who were unable to see another truth, unable to change.
After a long time the trader came back and told us an amazing tale. Another tribe, who once fought the flying reptiles, now lived in peace with them.
So I set out for Berk, to see for myself and bring back home, the news that I had been there and experienced, that it was real."
Astrid stared at the page she had just read. You could almost hear her brain working. Another tribe who lived with dragons in peace, had lived longer in peace with them as they had, as anyone had.
The doors of the Great Hall opened and Hiccup came in. The Changewing raised its head and eyed him as he approached. It had curled up next to its rider again while Astrid had looked through the book. It hadn't snapped at her, even though it was fully aware Astrid was invading its rider's privacy. Astrid wondered if that was because its rider wouldn't have minded.
"Hiccup!" Astrid handed him the book as he sat down next to her. "Look! That was in her bag. She drew all these. Do you notice anything? Don't flip open the last page just yet."
Hiccup looked through the drawings and, like Astrid, stopped at the one of the people around the fire and the dragons. He looked at Astrid. "They live in peace?"
Astrid nodded. "Read the last page. She wrote a bit about their tribe and herself. Trader Johan told them about us making peace with the dragons... She came here to see for herself and bring the news home."
Hiccup read and after he finished, he was awed. "I've never thought this possible... And I guess the same goes for them as well." He looked at the girl again. It seemed like she had gone from unconscious to asleep. She had rolled from her back to her side.
"What did you tell your dad?"
"I told him what happened. That I found her in the woods with the dragon and that he should let everyone know there's a new invisible Changewing friend roaming around Berk later, and that we're in the Great Hall at the moment." Hiccup closed the book and put it back in the linen bag Astrid had pulled it from.
"Should we wake her?" Astrid reached out, but Hiccup gently took her by the wrist and shook his head.
"Let her sleep. We don't know how long she's been travelling. I guess she just needs the rest."
"Fine. Then let's take turns watching her until she wakes up. I don't think it'd be a good idea to have her wake up alone. Though on second thought. Her dragon's right beside her. I'm pretty sure she'd realize where she is..." Astrid got up and walked to the entrance, leaving Hiccup with a teasing, "You're on watch first. I'll see you in an hour!"
Next time the doors opened, Fishlegs peeked in. "Are you guys ok? Is she up yet?"
Hiccup stretched his legs. "No. She's asleep now. We didn't get to talk to her yet."
Fishlegs took a seat further away from the Changewing than Astrid had. "I don't like the way it looks at me. I really think it knows me, Hiccup. It knows that I swore to make sure the Changewing eggs are safe."
Hiccup sighed and shook his head in disbelieve. "I think you're being paranoid Fishlegs. Now if you excuse me. I'll send the twins to watch her in an hour."
"Hiccup? Astrid told us about the book she found in the girl's bag. She told Gobber and Stoick too." Fishlegs seemed to feel uncomfortable about the fact that everyone knew and they hadn't even given the girl the chance to tell her story herself.
"Okay. Let me know if she wakes up."
The twins took the watch over the still sleeping girl. Fishlegs refused to let them alone with her out of fear they would do something stupid.
In the late afternoon, the girl finally stirred in her sleep and rolled onto her stomach.
"Get Hiccup and the others!" Fishlegs told the twins. They were off in a second.
The girl's eyes opened and she realized she was not lying in the grass, but on stone floor. For a split second, she felt panic within her. Then she felt her dragon's warm body beside her and smiled. Propping herself up on her elbow into a sitting position, she took in her surroundings.
She was in a hall with banners, tables, benches and a huge fireplace in the middle. She remembered falling through the trees and limping to the cove with the lake, dizzy from both, exhaustion and dehydration.
"Uhm, hello."
She turned her head to the voice and faced a well fed guy with blonde hair and a fur coat.
"I'm Fishlegs," he introduced himself to her.
"Fishlegs." The girl smiled at him. "Where am I?"
"You're on Berk," he answered.
"We did it!" The girl's eyes went wide with joy and her smile was even wider. "We really did it, Blaze!" The dragon nudged her and let out a happy sound, to show that he shared her excitement.
"Did you bring me here?" she asked Fishlegs.
"No, Hiccup brought you here. He found you unconscious in the cove."
The girl reached for her bag and pulled out her sketchbook. She was asked, "By the way, what's your name?"
"I'm Fie."
Fie opened the sketchbook and showed him all the important drawings Astrid had already told him about. She added a few more lines to about why she had set out to Berk and then asked if it was already common knowledge around the village that she and Blaze where here.
"Word spreads fast here. Hiccup and the others should be here any minute. The twins are getting him."
With Fishlegs words the twins, Astrid, Snotlout, Stoick and Gobber entered the Great Hall.
"My son tells me he found you and your dragon in the woods," Stoick said.
Fie introduced herself to the group and retold her story, showing them the book.
"You're welcome to stay here, as long as you like," Stoick offered. "And when you decide to go back home, bring word to your chief that we will keep your secrets safe."
Fie chuckled. "We don't really have a chief. Only a clan mother. She's the eldest and wisest, and I will bring your word to her. She will most likely offer you to come to our island. Maybe some of us will want to come here and see for themselves too."
"They are all welcome here. Just announce the day and time and we will welcome you all to a great feast in the Great Hall." Stoick seemed excited about having made new allies.
"Now let's find the fox girl a place to stay. Who volunteers to take her in?!" Gobber clapped his hands, expectantly.
"Gobber!" Hiccup exclaimed.
"What Hiccup? Someone has to take her in!"
"No, no, that's not what I meant!" He warily looked at Fie.
"Oh! You mean because I called her fox girl. Well she does look like a fox, now doesn't she?"
"Gobber!" This time it was Stoick.
Fie laughed. "It's fine, let him nickname me. Besides he's right isn't he?"
Hiccup smiled. "Well, to be honest. Yes. It's the first thing that came to my mind too."
X Hope you enjoyed the first chapter of my fanfic. Feel free to comment and leave critique! X