Starcrossed 2: Lineage

Chapter 2: Those little details.

Dragon bane was out and about the mountainside, looking for some kind of fruit. He knew there was a nice little oasis a mile or so down. When he got there he found exactly what he was looking for, apple trees berry bushes, even a vegetable garden. Now seeing how everything was so evenly spaced out and organized, it lead him to believe that this was now someone's personal supply. Either way no one was around, so he took what he could grab. One by one Our hero filled his bag. Dragonbane was in a particularly good mood. He had the girl of his dreams waiting for him at home, a nice hot meal in the works, and family he hadn't seen in a year on their way to visit. Then it hit him, he left the love of his life alone at home with the nice hot meal. To this realization, he hurried along with his collection.

He was then met with an angry hiss. Our hero turned and a zippleback was standing behind him. It glared down at him with hate then spoke in a growling voice. "Oursssss! Not yoursssss!"

Dragonbane put on a smile. "Awww, you spoke, now that either means word is still spreading about my love life or you must really like me."

The beast got aggressive. The left head spoke first "Hate!" then the right. "You!"

He shrugged, then set his bag down. Now, he didn't think he would need his armor or weapons for this trip and in his eyes he was right. "Look, sir...or mam...I really can't tell from the voices. I promised my girl that I wouldn't go out dragon-slaying. Now we could settle this peacefully, or I could take you down, your choice."

The zippleback didn't need long to think, it reared back it's heads and lunged at him. Dragonbane was still quick as always, jumping over the beast and landing gracefully on his opponents back. The heads twisted around and looked in fright and amazement. Then our hero simply said. "Wrong choice."

Narissa was zipping about the cave playing the role of the busy house wife. After twenty years on her own, not caring what anyone else thought. Now she was brightening things up, dusting around, sweeping her tail across the floor keeping everything nice and clean. Although, she was tempted by the smell of roasting turkey, nice, plump and juicy. Even while she and Dragonbane plucked and gutted them, she couldn't help but wonder if he would notice just one missing. While she swept some of the dust and pebbles out the cave entrance, she heard something odd out in the distance. With the wind picking up it was hard to tell, but it sounded like muffled roars and bones snapping.

She decided it would be best if she put it out of mind and got back to work. She went to the fireplace, and just above it was a painting of her and Dragonbane, done by their old friend Fezziwig. She adjusted it so it was perfectly straight. Narissa then took a moment to admire it for a bit. She still couldn't believe this was her life. Either way, she just loved having him around. Someone to cuddle on cold nights, granted that every night on this mountain was cold, but she wasn't about to burst her own bubble.

Not long after Narissa's thought train ended, Dragonbane returned from his trip. She recognized his scent and turned around with a smile to greet him. "Well that didn't take lo...sweet mother of Loki! What happened to you?"

He tried his best to fake innocence. "Oh I found a second path at the oasis, shoots right up here, no hustle or bustle from the weather just straight to the top."

She rolled her eyes, but immediately went back to concern. "But look at you! Your cloths are all torn uo, you're bruised and cut in a couple of places, " She sniffed him a bit. "And...is that Zippleback blood?"

Dragonbane shrugged his shoulders. "I'm fine, I just ran into a little trouble while getting the side dishes."

Narissa glared at him. "You promised no more dragon-slaying."

He moved passed her nonchalantly. "And I wasn't. I gave him the option of a peaceful outcome, but he decided to attack. It was in self defense, you would have done the same thing in my position. Now if you excuse me, I gotta change before Hiccup and the others get here. I left things on rocky terms with Toothless and I'm hoping to start fresh." With that he disappeared into the deeper parts of the cave, where he kept his armor, his parent's weapons, and a few spare sets of clothing.

Narissa gave a disapproving snort. "Hmph! Big tough guy, thinks he can justify killing. Thinks he can predict what I'd do." She eyed the turkeys, all golden brown and just waiting to be carved. She looked back to where Dragonbane had gone, then back to the birds. She casually stepped up and took in a good wiff. "Me thinks perhaps he won't miss just one." She reached a claw to grab one, but before she could reach it, she was grabbed by the tail. Poor Narissa was so spooked that she didn't even have time to react before she was pulled. If you've ever seen a cat slide across a kitchen tile floor, then you should have a good idea of what the scene looked like.

She slid back several feet, spun, then stopped when her behind bumped the wall. Narissa then saw Dragonbane, close to the spot she was in, finishing putting on the new shirt, then he smiled and spoke. "Now how did I know that would happen?"

Narissa glared daggers at him, then the idea hit her that maybe she should smack some sense into him. She lunged at him, but Dragonbane slipped out of the way just in time. He laughed a little bit before Narissa redirected herself in his direction, charging at top speed. What ensued was a rather comical cat and mouse chase. Dragonbane was a little more warm hearted since he found himself with Narissa, but he had in no sense gone soft. The two ricocheted around the cave, Narissa becoming a bit agitated, but she was having fun. Dragonbane got her to chase him all over the cave, before he made one last jump and poor Narissa got her head stuck between two rocks.

She pulled and pulled trying to get out, butno luck. "Ouch! Time-out."

Dragonbane stopped running, took a look at the scene and let out a little laugh. "Hmhmhmhm, aww, what's wrong, did the poor little baby get stuck?"

Narissa rolled her eyes. "No, I'm just taking a breather. Of coarse I'm stuck! Now help me out of this."

He casually walked up to her, moved around so they were face to face, then gave her a kiss on the nose. "Okay, but first you have to promise to behave."

She gave him this look that seemed to scream 'Excuse me?' "Oh, you have got to be kidding. Dragonbane I'm serious, this is really uncomfortable, and I really don't do well all tied down."

Dragonbane shrugged his shoulders. "Well, I suppose as long as you don't try sneaking any before-dinner snacks. Oh, and by the by, I only argue so I can see that wild side of yours, you're so cute when you're mad." He gave her another kiss, deeper this time, then scratched under her chin, just how she liked it. Narissa went limp with a smile, then Dragonbane simply twisted her head at just such an angle that she slid out without so much as a bump.

Narissa shook off that trapped feeling and stretched out, either to re-tense the muscles, or to show off for her man, then spoke sweetly to him. "Apology accepted handsome," Her eyes looked big and sad now. "but when are they gonna get here, I'm starving."

He gave her a hug. "Don't worry my darling. If I know, my cousin and trust me I do, He and the rest will be here in no time."

As if on some incredible well planned cue, the two heard a voice call from outside. " Hello!"

Dragonbane recognized it immediately. "That's cousin Hiccup now." He dashed off to the entrance with his beloved fllowing close behind.

Narissa straightened herself out as best as she could, she dusted herself off, then inquired to our hero. "How do I look?"

He was more focused on the arriving guests. "Sure dear, whatever you say."

She glared. "Okay, if you're gonna ignore me, at least make sense doing it."

From out of the pure white sky, came Hiccup, Toothless, Astrid and Gem. The dragons carried a large net, which held all the crates that were packed. When they landed, Gem and Toothless scrambled inside to get out of the cold. Hiccup and Astrid dismounted shortly after the landing, but their dragons went right to the fire place.

Toothless shivered and panted heavily. "W-w-why di-did you have to move somewhere so c-c-cold?"

Gem fell to her side. "We flew for hours lugging that junk! Oh...I can't feel my wings."

Toothless' eyes widened. "Gem, the kids!"

She was stunned upon remembering. "Ah, I forgot!" She forgot that the twins were passed out on her back. She turned around and there they were. Wide awake, on their backs, poor little eyes on the verge of tears. Gem tried to console them. "Oh, sweeties I'm so sorry. Are you alright?" She nuzzled them, but the damage was done. If you've ever waken a baby abruptly from their nap, then you could probably guess what happened next.

The sound of their crying filled the cave. It was sad, but everyone held their ears in pain. Hiccup ,who was greeting Dragonbane when this incident occured, couldn't help but comment. "yeesh! Well there go my ear drums."

Dragonbane held his hands over his ears as he spoke. "Gah! I wonder if this is what it was like for the dragons the night I was born. I think I might feel sorry for them if it was."

Narissa shook her head at the comment. Sure it wasn't exactly easy on the ears, but the poor little dears can't help it if their upset. She made her way over to the scene, Toothless and Gem trying to calm the twins down, but to no avail. Narissa, wanting to be a gracious hostess, was more than willing to help. "Need a hand?" She asked with a smile.

Toothless was a little flustered. "I'm not sure it would do any good. It's getting close to their nap time and they tend to put up one heck of a fight before settling down."

Gem added in while trying to calm her children. "We wouldn't want to put you through that."

Narissa would not give in. "Oh, don't be silly. I think I might be able to solve all your troubles." She nodded her head in the twins' direction. "May I?"

Toothless and Gem were running out of ideas, so they figured they may as well give her a go. Narissa smiled sweetly at the tots. With gentle care she reached an arm around them and cradled them in a calm rocking motion. She spoke softly to them. "Shhhh, it's alright little ones. Auntie will make it all better." She started to sing a lullaby that she heard when she was a young one herself.

"Hush dear babies, don't cry a peep.

The moon's in the sky, let's count the sheep.

One,two,three, four

I said hush, shush, shh, snore

Not wah, blah, cry or roar.

One, two, three, four,

I said hush, shush, shh, snore.

One, two, three, four,

Sleep tight, not a sound 'til morn..."

As the last line was sung, the twins were out like a light. Now one may debate what made this song effective. Was it the rocking, the rhythm, or that the hatch-lings were simply tired? Personally my money's on the fact that Narissa sings like an angel, but it just comes down to one's opinion I suppose. Either way, the children were sound asleep, Gem and Toothless were grateful, and everyone was ready for dinner.

It was a fine feast. Everyone loved the spread that Dragonbane had prepared. Not many know this, but he is a wiz in the kitchen. Strong enough to stomach whatever he can get his hands on in the wild, but sophisticated enough to make something spectacular for himself.

Everyone was sharing stories about their past. Dragonbane just had to get Narissa to tell the one about the little girl and her dog, Astrid told a story about how her parents freaked her out with this old ghost story about some goblin that would sneak into naughty children's rooms at night and stole their bones. She was so terrified by this story that she couldn't sleep. Then she heard footsteps coming closer, so she jumped out of bed and started beating that thing down like no tomorrow. Turns out it was just her brother coming in to see if she had seen his spare pillow.

Toothless had a rather embarrassing one about when he was first learning how to fly. He was all confident, with his parents watching with pride, he just took off running and lept off the edge of his perch. He managed to get about three feet before the wind turned against him, then he fell, knocked his grandmother out of the air, and put both of them in traction for about a week.

Gem recounted the time when she was cornered in the woods by some bigger dragons who where after the deer she was dragging home. Her brother, our old friend Daken, saw the danger and immediately went to defend his sister. She says this might be the reason he turned out evil, because before this incident, he was all sweet and kind and willing to help others and all that other goody-goody idiocy, but after the massive beat down they gave him while Gem got away, he was all dark and sinister, anti-social, a little mean, kind of cynical...aw to hell with it, let's just call him grinchy. The funny part was that she was watching this as she ran, dragging the deer carcass. In every detail every blow, scratch, bite, and other generic butt-whooping terms. She said they hit him in the head alot, so that very well may have screwed up his world view. Everyone thought the story was hilarious.

Hiccup and Dragonbane told their story together, since it was the funniest thing that ever happen to either of them.

Hiccup started. "Okay, if I remember correctly, I was five years old and Dragonbane was eleven and over for his yearly visit."

Dragnbane picked up. "Yeah! Oh, I know where this is going. So we were going through the woods, looking for trolls. Uncle Stoic told us they weren't real, but Gobber said they were and to protect our left socks, which we didn't really get at that point, but looking at it now, it's kind of funny."

Hiccup interupted. "Sadly, instead of taking anyone's word for it, Mr. adventure over here just had to go and find out for himself. Not to mention he just had to drag me along. We marched into those woods and spent hours looking, but no trolls."

Dragonbane nodded. "Right, and then we find this big hollow log on top of this really steep perch and I'm talking steep. It went down a slope for who knows how far, then looped up into a kind of ramp. So I'm looking at this log, then I look at Hiccup and of coarse I say 'Dude we gotta try this thing.'"

Hiccup shook his head. "It's like you were involving me in crime and I let you. Why did I let you?"

Dragonbane seemed kind of cross. "Will you stop interupting so I can tell the story. So I tell him to get in the log, so we could find out how fast it would go. Of coarse cry-baby Hiccup wanted no part of it. He was too scared."

Hiccup seemed a bit aggitated. "I wasn't being scared, I was being smart. I pretty much went through about 3 minuets of wasted breath protesting, until he spoke up."

Dragonbane seemed proud. "I grabbed him by the shoulders, looked him straight in the eye and said. 'Hiccup, these are the best days of our lives, we can't just sit back and let fear keep us down. Life's a journey, not a destination and half the fun is the trip. I say we plunge into the unknown head first and shout to the heavens, we will not be swayed. We must be strong and move onward into the new frontier!'"

Astrid laughed a little. "Hmhmhm great speech, so how long did it take him to think it over?"

Hiccup seemed a bit depressed. "Think what over? Once he stopped talking, he threw me in the log and kicked it down the hill side."

She then raised an eyebrow and glanced at Dragonbane. "You really were a jerk huh?"

Narissa nuzzled Dragonbane's cheek and purred. She wanted to say 'He's not a jerk, he's ecentric.',but unfortunatly, she was forced to keep the secret of dragon's speaking human from the still oblivious kids from Birk. Dragonbane scratched behind her ear, which made her smile more, then he continued. "Hey, you learn through experience. So off Hiccup goes on this messed up ride and I'm laughing like crazy. The way he shot into the air, I can't even decribe. After all was said and done from an hour long high-speed chase, I finally catch up with him. I pull him out of the log, he stands up and shouts 'That was awsome!'"

Every one laughed. Dragonbane was happy that everyone was getting along. It wasat this time that the twins decided to wake up. Hiccup and Astrid were kind enough to look after them, since Toothless and Gem had been busy with them all day.

Narissa, for one, was glad they were gone. "Oh, finally! I thought I'd have to keep quiet all day." Since the two young vikings were still in the dark about dragons being able to speak, she had to avoid her usual gift of gab. "You two really need to clue them in. What's the point of being able to talk if we have to keep secrets?"

Toothless shook his head. "I don't know, there's never really been a reason to. Hiccup just kind of understands. Communication through friendship, nothing like it."

Dragonbane nodded. "Too true. Matter of fact that's how I keep up with Narissa on a day to day basis."

She glared at him. "Oh really?"

He smiled and tickled her under her chin, just to see her smile back. "Absolutely, you're sarcasm and charm might get you out of trouble here and there, but I'll always know just what you're up to. I just love you that much."

Narissa liked it when he sweet talked her. "Oh you, always knowing just what to say. So, Toothless, Gem, what's it like being parents?"

Gem smiled and let out a peaceful sigh. "Oh, it's just wonderful. Garoth and Ember are absolute sweethearts. It's just amasing, helping them learn, watching them play and discover and knowing that we helped brought them into the world. It just makes one feel so great."

Toothless had to comment. "I couldn't agree more. I've never felt so proud before. Narissa, I gotta say you did a great job getting them to sleep."

Narissa almost blushed. "Well, thank you. The perks of an angelic voice I suppose."

Gem then posed a question. "So, have you two thought about having kids?"

Dragonbane and Narissa went wide eyed and seemed a little embarassed. Dragonbane answered. "Well...uh, it's a little early to be thinking about that. We're still settling in. After all, we still haven't put out furniture yet."

Narissa nodded. "Yeah, we're just gonna hang on and ease into that phase at a later date."

Toothless decided to let it go. "Okay, but think about it. You two would make great parents someday."

Altogether, everything went perfectly. When the storm subsided, the group from Birk decided to take the chance and head home. Clean up went pretty well for our little couple. Turkey bones, fruit skins, and hatever was left of the sheep, all swept out the entrance and lost forever in the snow. Once Dragonbane and Narissa cleaned up, they decided to call it a night. Narissa, eager to stop sleeping on the hard stone floor, un-packed the matress and the pillows, blankets, and bedding, then fashined a nest out of all of it. She padded it down and snuggled in. From the purring, one would assume that it was just right.

To clear some space, Dragonbane had moved the un-opened boxes back further into the cave. When he got back into their cozy little sleeping chamber, he saw how his love had gotten herself situated and he just had to comment. "Awww, now don't you look precious."

She opened one eye and glanced in his direction. "Hey, hun. Why didn't you tell me you had such great bedding? This stuff is so comfy."

He smiled at her enjoyment, but he could pick up just a hint of sadness in her voice. "Yep, I only use the best. Is everything okay? You seem a bit down."

Narissa paused for a moment, looked down as if thinking about something, then answered. "Well...It's just...oh, forget it, I'm probably just over-reacting."

Dragonbane smiled. "Well, it wouldn't surprise me," As his lady love rolled her eyes, he got in close and put an arm around her."But just to be safe, why don't you tell me anyway?"

She rested her head on his shoulder. "It's...do you think maybe we should start thinking about a family?"

He was a bit surprised. "Wow...I wasn't really expecting that. Is this about that moment at dinner?"

Narissa pulled away and sat up. "No, it's not just that. Back when we were first getting to know eachother, I found a little Nightfury in the woods, He as so cute and I thought, wouldn't it be great to have a little miracle of my own, who could look at me like that sweet little look. Then when I held the twins, it just felt great bringing peace to those little angels. Maybe I'm just reaching that point in life."

Dragonbane didn't want to know what she meant by that last part. "Look, I get what you're saying, but we've got to be realistic. We're just getting set up at our own place. Besides' between the two of us, we're not prepared to take care of a kid. You're too much of a free spirit and I'm not exactly a gentle soul."

She gave him a sweet accusing look. "Not so fast, I happen to know you can be gentle when you want to be and I can keep myself grounded."

He smiled, brought her in close and gave her a peck on the cheek. "Even so, we should take it slow. I don't know about you, but I'm still liking what we've got going for us now."

Narissa nuzzled him, then gave him a kiss. "Me too. Okay, we'll save this topic for another day." She placed and arm around him and hugged him tight. "Now let's get some shut-eye, it's late and I'm feeling a little drowsy."

Dragonbane yawned. "Yep, Turkey can do that to ya," He nestled in close to her. "Good night my queen of the night sky."

She let out a big yawn. "Good night my king of the dark mountain."

With that, the two slipped into silent slumber, smiling. Both at peace with the one they loved.