Chapter 2

It seemed like a long time that I slept. I didn't wake again until I was able to sit up and talk. Sure, there were a few times when I was conscious for a few minutes, but I don't think those are relevant.

When I was well enough to sit up and talk, they introduced me to Hiccup and Stoic, and moved me to their house. They had made an extra bed for me, and another flat rock was next to it, though it didn't quite register what it was – or who it was for.

I couldn't sit up for very long, my stomach muscles still needed exercise from the long time that I had been sleeping; I asked how long I had been out, they had said a month. I was surprised I was still living; my bones showed, and I had barely any muscle.

When they put me onto the bed, I slept for a few hours until sunset. I was awakened the next morning for breakfast.

I had no idea what Vikings ate, let alone drank. I know they gave me water, but I hoped they didn't drink beer. Stoic carried me down to the table to eat. When I was set down, I filled my plate first. I didn't eat until my plate was filled, trying to remember my manners.

But… who needs manners? I thought. These are Vikings! Even so, I couldn't seem to shake something that I had done all of my life. I looked at the food; chicken legs, cooked whole carrots, and a whole potato.

I almost squealed for joy at the way they ate. They simply pick it up, and eat it. No forks. No manners. Simple as that…

But I still couldn't shake the feeling that I was going to get in trouble if I ate that way. Stoic looks up at me suddenly, then the food, then back at me. "What's the matter, Alex? You aren't hungry?" I laughed out loud at that. "How would you feel if you didn't eat as long as I did?" I answered his question with a question of my own.

"Very… Very hungry." Stoic replied. Hiccup kept eating, but was looking at me curiously.

"The thing is…" I looked down at the plate. "I… I'm from England."

"Where's that?" Hiccup asked.

I looked at him. I stared in shock. Silent, I ate my food, their way, so they wouldn't ask me any more questions. I'll get in more trouble if I don't eat this way, I keep saying to myself.

I'm still delicate with my food, though they don't ask any more questions.

I sleep for most of the day; the food had upset my stomach. After a few hours, Hiccup comes and wakes me up.

"Hey. Hey, wake up. Alex." I open my eyes slowly, to see his freckled face. "My dad wants to see you. He'll be up soon."

I groan, and roll over. Hiccup retorts, "This is serious! It's about your dragon."

I bolt upright, and look at him in surprise. "M-My dragon? I don't have a dragon!"

"You don't?" he looks at me, but I can't read his expression; confused, maybe? Worried? Both? "My dad will be up. Hold on." He walks down the steps; I hear muffled voices downstairs. After a brief conversation, Stoic comes upstairs.

He looks at me for a moment, and then speaks. "There was a dragon that carried you to this island. You didn't wash up on this shore; the dragon took you here."

Suddenly it dawned on me. That dragon! The one that warmed me up; it must have been able to find a village!

It was probably a long ways away, from the looks of it.

I replied, "That dragon saved me from the beach. All I remember is being cold, and I could feel rain. I think vaguely there were a lot of rocks, too. I was on a rocky beach." I paused. Stoic nodded for me to continue on. "I was so freezing; I couldn't move. I was really scared. I couldn't open my eyes; I was afraid I was going to die."

Hiccup was leaning on the doorway, trying to listen in. I motioned him in with a, "It's okay, Hiccup." He came over next to Toothless, stroking the scaly skin on his head once before settling his hand on his lap.

"When I next woke up, I was in a cave with a small fire, and a blue dragon. I was so grateful, but my eyes were still blurry. I couldn't quite believe that a dragon had saved me. I thought later it was just a dream; but I guess it turns out that it wasn't. The dragon flew away to find someone who could help, then took me there. I don't know how she was able to do it. She would have had to keep me on her back while I was unconscious. No doubt she dropped me and then caught me a few times."

"The place you described sounds like Outcast waters," Stoic said worriedly. "I wonder where they got a Night Fury?" he looked over at Hiccup, who shrugged.

"She looks like she's not a Forest Night Fury, anyway. She's got a blue tint, and it looks like she's developed fins on her legs to help her steer, as well as webbed feet to propel her through the water." Hiccup examined my dragon, and from my place on the bed I could also see that she had webbed paws. "Dad, I don't think she's from Outcast waters, but that's just a guess, from the way she looks. And look at that! She has blue scales on her eyes and forehead, too, because that's where most of the nutrients go, to her eyes and brain. That must mean she regularly eats exotic blue fish instead of livestock or forest mammals." He looks over at Stoic uneasily.

"Outcast waters?" I ask. Is it any of my business? I look over at Hiccup, who looks over at Stoic.

"Don't worry," Was all Stoic said before going downstairs to get my lunch. Hiccup stays to explain.

"Outcast territory is where our enemies live. They have been planning revenge on us since we befriended the dragons." Hiccup paused. "We've had fights with them before, and if you prove to be useful with dragons, we'll have to protect each other." He stood up from his chair that he had pulled up next to the bed to talk to me. He walked over to his dragon.

"Toothless here is supposed to be the only Night Fury on Berk and in Outcast waters. Somehow, they got hold of another Night Fury. I'm thinking it escaped from their territory, and found you." he paused. "Of course, it is possible that they never had a Night Fury, and that the island the dragon lives on is just cold; like you said." I looked up at him, and then looked at my lap, refusing to think of the possibilities of a war in my near future.

I sighed. This is more complicated than I thought.

"So… you'll need to see what skills I have?" I looked back up at him. Hiccup nodded as he said, "But you need to rest first. My dad will be up with dinner."

I lay down, resting. I heard a knock on the door. "Come in," Hiccup responded to the knock.

Stoic put the plate of food next to me on a plate. I devoured it like a hungry wolf, and afterwards I was sorry.

"I-" I stopped myself before saying so, but Stoic heard. "What is it, Alex?" he looked incredibly gentle, for a Viking; Hiccup seemed to notice, and was obviously jealous. He turned his back on us to look at his drawing books, trying to ignore us.

I let it out in a sigh. "I'm sorry." I let out my breath I never knew I was holding, and I could tell Stoic was worried; he listened to see if I had anything else to say. I paused to get my breath back, and looked up at him. "Where I come from, it is highly undesirable to eat this way." Hiccup found himself turning around in curiosity; I smiled warmly at him from in front of Stoic, showing I didn't mean to make him jealous. "We eat with forks, which are sort of like metal…" I tried to think. How would a Viking look at a fork…? Probably as a way to poke out someone's eyes.

Shuddering at my own imagination, I kept talking. "They are short metal sticks that you poke into food to pick it up; there are also napkins that you wipe your face with, so that you don't get dirty…" I trailed off; I realized they didn't have clean in their vocabulary. I had learned their language in grade school, from Seth. Seth was from here, and that was probably why he didn't want to go back. I hoped he wasn't an Outcast.

"Huh. You are one strange creature, Alex." I wandered if what Stoic said was a compliment or an accusation. I scooted back, just in case.

"Well, you certainly don't have to be afraid of me," he said, somewhat offended. But then he recovered. "I understand your fear. You are in a strange place, and you have no idea what we're capable of." He paused as he seemed to recover a memory from way back in his mind. "I think I've heard that name before... The English? England? It seems familiar."

I looked up at him. "The Vikings always stole from our ships. We assumed their dragons cut the boat in half, and then-" my eyes went wide as saucers as I realized what had happened on the boat.

I had pushed the memory way back into my mind, but now it came up in full flame. I look around the room. The Vikings did this? How could they?

Well, I'm here now; I might as well stay until I'm well enough. They don't ask any more questions; my pained face is obvious as I look at both of them. They look back at me blankly. They couldn't have done this.

It must be the Outcast!

But then, it could've been a rogue dragon, too. Even lightning could have done the same thing, if it was strong enough. I remember the lightning hitting the water, but the voltage couldn't have ever been strong enough to cut a boat that size in half.

But suddenly, a memory surfaces from the depths of my mind. A huge, dark shape above me; I had seen it when I was looking up, to see that my fingers were slipping off of the closet rod. It must've been the Outcast; they must have tamed a dragon…

By the time I thought it, though, I was slipping into sleep. I let the blanket of rest settle over me completely.

I slept in so much that by the time I woke up it was nearing one o'clock, from the looks of the sun out the window. My breakfast was settled next to me on the small, simple, light-weight night-table. I sat up and stretched, throwing off the old, slightly tattered by use but still soft covers and sat up to try to enjoy the sunlight streaming in from the window.

I ate my breakfast in the quiet serenity of the house, with birds twittering to each other in the summer sun. Later, I read a book they had set out for me, about how to cook. I hadn't learned any of their recipes at all so far, but I should like to cook if I am no use with dragons.

I hoped dogs were at least somewhat like dragons. I figured dragons were just as dangerous, if more so. If that's true, it shouldn't be too hard to train dragons, like with dogs. I let my mind wander, and eventually I just sit there, staring out the window, my head in the clouds.

After an hour or so of daydreaming, I attempt to walk over to the drawing table, to draw me flying with my dragon (which of whom I still had to name). I manage a few wobbly steps toward my destination, but fall just barely short. I do manage to pull myself up to the chair, though, and the first thing that I see is a bunch of fairly nice charcoal drawings. They don't have a whole lot of detail, but they are good. I turn through them, to realize that almost all of the drawings are of dragons. I recognize Toothless, but none of the other dragons.

I pick up a canvas, and start drawing. The charcoal is easy under my fingers; it flows, winds and twists to create a beautiful picture of my dragon and I standing side by side, my hand on her back.

I draw three more pictures, of flying over landscapes that we might encounter, like forests and lakes, and of diving down a waterfall, imagining my dragon pulling up when we get to the bottom. I put them all in a separate pile off to the side, away from Hiccups drawings. I write, "Hiccup~" on the back of the top paper, the first word I had learned to write in Old Norse.

Hiccup was teaching me to read and write, but said he could only teach me one word every other day. So I had to wait another day to learn another word. The history books I had read on the boat had been in English, I realized.

I wondered about that for a while, and then went to sleep.

Staring out the window became my pastime for the next few months, right up there with sleeping. By the time I could walk downstairs to breakfast, lunch and dinner, I was becoming fond of Hiccup.

He told me of his friends, his work, and of dragons. He loved to tell me what he had been up to every night before bed, so that I could go to sleep thinking of him.

He didn't ask any questions until I was strong enough to answer them; Stoic, on the other hand, didn't stop asking questions until Hiccup and I told him to. It was a whole year, slightly after my 16th birthday, by the time I was able to be mobile on my own, without any support (like a walking stick to lean on). By that time, I was strong enough to be tested for my dragon training capabilities.

Hiccup awakened me early in the morning, and took me and my dragon out to the Academy. His friends weren't here yet, but he let me help him set up the school things for the day.

As I picked up the chalkboard and set that up, Hiccup started explaining how the class is going to work. "We'll have a dragon class first. In these tests, the dragons and their riders will test their bonds with their dragons." I listened intently as he got the chairs and tables. "The next part is the trick competition. Riders will see who can do the best trick in the air as well as anywhere else you can use to your advantage. The third and last part is the Quiz Competition, in which two teams will compete against each other to see who can answer the most dragon questions correctly and accurately."

I sit down on a chair provided by Hiccup. "We'll test you, too." Hiccup says as he walks over to me. "So, what do you think?"

I look around. "Not bad," I say, as I glance up at him, adding mischievously, "but your drawing skills could still use some work." He smiles as he pulls out one of my incredible colored paintings. "Where in the world did you get those colors?" I grin back, "You won't know until you figure it out, now will you?" he shakes his head as he goes up to the chalkboard, and starts cleaning the erasers. "Will you let me know if I get it right?" he asks.

I nod as I hear a clear, female voice behind both of us. "Get what right?" I spin around at the unexpected entrance of (I'm assuming) Astrid; she looks at me with icy blue eyes, compared to my warm forest green.

I start shivering with fear, even though I know this is one of Hiccups friends; she doesn't seem too friendly too me. I look at her, and she shrugs and says, "What?" I quickly look away, not wanting to start a fight.

Hiccup intervenes. "Astrid, this is Rain. She's-" Astrid cuts him off. "From England, I know. So why is she here?" I look down at my lap as my shaking gets worse. I'm about to just run, she seems so unfriendly.

"I'm scared." I whisper to Hiccup, trying to get him to explain. Hiccup was close enough to me to hear, and Astrid was standing opposite to me. Thankfully, Hiccup heard. Unfortunately, so did Astrid. "Why can't she stand up for herself?" she asks. Hiccup explains, slightly impatiently, "She's in a strange place, Astrid. She has no idea what we're going to do, even if you are my friend. She doesn't have any idea."

"She's definitely not stupid." Was the response.

Suddenly, I lost it. "How can you be so arrogant?! I'm in Berk, for heaven's sake! All of you are huge, and strong, while I have these puny muscles that I can't do a whole lot with!" I stand up, and turn to Hiccup. "Find me at home later. I can't deal with her." And at that, I turn my heel and run away, my dragon following at my heels.

After running for a long time, I get tired, feeling faint. I sit down on a rock near the ocean, and just stare. "So infinitely huge…" I whisper. I gaze out at the ocean and sigh heavily, watching the ocean's waves lap up at the pebbled shore, imagining where my dragon came from. After a few moments, my breathing had calmed significantly, and my dragon nudged my leg. "What's the matter?" I look down at her, and she's looking at me pitifully with round eyes. "What?"

Suddenly, I recognize that expression; she was hungry. Nudging me in the direction of the ocean, she lowered her back, waiting for me to grab a hold of her shoulders so that we could slither into the ocean. I smiled, and she perked her ears at me, waiting for me to do something. "Are you hungry?" she looked at the ocean, them back at me, then back at the ocean; she made a happy, higher pitched gurgle, and looked at the ocean anxiously.

"Okay, okay. Hold on just a minute!" I laughed, walking over, swinging onto her back and getting into position. We had done this many times before; she would bring me with her on her fishing trips, and I would watch the underwater scenery wiz past; she was an excellent swimmer, a lot like a seal, her slippery scales helping her to slip through the water, her wings tucked in firmly on her back, her leg fins helping her to steer herself through the water. Like the many times before, I watched the scenery wiz past; afterward we headed home in a heavy storm, trying to see through the thick clouds and pelting rain.

Eventually we figured we wouldn't be able to get home in time for dinner; without a clear way to get home in the air, we returned to the water but couldn't see a thing. The darkness was so consuming, and it was clearly because of the storm above us; there wasn't enough light for the water to reflect.

We returned to the surface, and just looked around. "Now what?!" I shout through thunder booming overhead. The thunder recedes for a few precious moments, and a flash of lightning illuminates what looks like a rocky island; I couldn't tell how big it was, just the general direction. "That way! There's an island over there!" I manage to yell over the return of the loud thunder claps that seem to never go away.

We start towards the island; however, getting there is the issue. After a long while of trying to swim there, we figure it would be faster to take to the air and fly. My dragon goes down into the water, and I grab onto her saddle (that Hiccup made) as she jumps out of the water; I hang on tight as she flaps her wings and we are lifted up and out of the water.

Shivering and feeling just genuinely cold and miserable, another lightning bolt illuminates the island and something seems to ignite on the island immediately after; probably a dead tree branch, but it's just enough for us to see where we need to land.

Unfortunately for us, we hadn't a clue that we had strayed to Outcast Island, and we were about to land on it.