Amaya panted softly, her heart hammering against her ribs. She'd been spotted, even touched, by a human. The first one she'd made real contact with in 6 years. She gripped the spiked scale in front of her, and gulped. Her white armor glimmered in the moonlight, and she took a shaky breath.

The dragon beneath her knew where they were going, so she resigned herself to think. The boy she'd seen, who'd so rudey collided with her, couldn't have known where she went. Men hated dragons, tried to control them for their own selfish gain. They couldn't ride dragons like she could, so they couldn't follow her. The boy she'd met must have been from the village, and she'd seen them hunting dragons before. They wouldn't have been able to follow her.

She sighed, relaxing a bit; if she wasn't followed, the dragons couldn't be in danger. She reached down to pat the neck of the dragon beneath her.

It was a few hours before they reached the waterfall, and the dragon's wings folded to dive into the gap. The wind whistling through Amaya's hair was familiar, but the euphoria didn't fade. Flying was a feeling that never got old.

When the dragon landed beside Amaya's little cave within the massive cavern, she slid from its back and rubbed its nose. It purred happily for a moment before striding away to its own place in the cavern. Amaya stretched for half a moment before she stepped inside, sliding her helmet off her head.

The little cavern was decorated sparsely, with an old deer skin for a blanket and mattress. She grabbed the amulet her father had given her from its hook on the wall. The pale lavender gem glowed softly, with a silver wire twisted around it like vines. She slid the amulet over her head, the magic imbued in it washing over her.

"You're back early," came a familiar voice from the depths of the cavern.

"I ran into some complications." Amaya placed her helmet on the ledge in the cavern where it resided, the white dragons' scales glittering in the sparse light.

"What kind of complications?" A white dragon slid out of the shadows, paws silently padding along the stone floor.

"A boy." Amaya turned to her dragon. "He was out in the woods."

"What do you mean?" The dragon's ear-like head appendages flicked forward. "Was he hunting?"

"I don't know," Amaya shrugged. "He just ran into me and left."

"Odd," Neve's ears lowered back against her head. "Very odd."

"I know." Amaya sighed softly. "But he was from Berk, so he couldn't have followed me."

Neve pinned her ears back at the mention of Berk, and Amaya sighed as she tugged off her armor. "Whoever he was," Amaya said as she hung up her chest plate, "he's gone now. He couldn't have followed me."

"Did you see anyone… like me?" Neve hesitated, and Amaya paused, guilt tugging at her heart.

"No," Amaya replied softly. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be," Neve said, curling up beside Amaya's bed. "We'll find them eventually."

Amaya bit her lip, but said nothing. She had never seen another Fury, but she knew she couldn't say that. Neve still had hope.

"Right. We'll find them." She picked up her dragon book, one she'd found in the cavern when she moved in.

As she curled up against Neve's side, she opened the book to the page she'd left off on earlier in the night. She was trying to memorize the entire book, learning all of the details about all the dragons contained inside. She could protect them all if she knew them all by heart.

"Terrible Terrors," she whispered to herself as she read.

"You called?" A little black dragon scuttled over Neve, hopping into Amaya's lap. She stroked the little dragon absently, a small smile on her face.

"Hello Menyhert," she said quietly.

"It's been lonely without you. No one else knows where I'm itchy," Menyhert whined, nudging her hand. Amaya rolled her eyes, scratching the little dragon behind his wings. He purred happily, arching up against her hand.

"You won't let anyone else scratch you there," Amaya muttered absently. "You shock them."

"Stupid details," he muttered, arching his haunches into her hand. Amaya simply read in silence, stroking Menyhert's wings when he laid back down against her lap in satisfaction with the scratches.

Amaya's dragons both huddled close, Neve curled against his side and Menyhert tucked against her lap. The last three years had been spent collecting dragons from capture and taking them back to the Hidden Enclave. But something was wrong; nests began to go empty, Bewilderbeasts turning up dead. Amaya frowned in slight worry, if only for what could happen if the dragon hunters found their retreat. She just prayed that the day the cavern was discovered would never come.

Amaya read late into the night, until finally exhaustion overcame her. She set her book aside, settling with her back tucked against Neve and Menyhert curled against her chest. She closed her eyes, blanketed in warmth, and thought back to her life before she'd come to the cavern.

Her mother had died when she was a baby, and her father had remarried. She never knew her real mother, so her stepmother was the closest she ever had. Her brother - half brother, really, - was her favorite person in the whole world. She often wondered how he faired when she disappeared. He was only 10 when she disappeared.

"How do you like high school, Matthew?" She whispered to herself.

Her father would have been devastated, never given up the search even when all hope was lost. Her stepmother would have grieved in silence and tried to be strong for her father, even as it tore her up inside. She missed them all, but she had a new life. They would too, after 6 long years. Her dad might have been promoted, her stepmom given a raise. Her little brother would have gotten his driver's license.

Amaya's grief washed over her, and she pushed the thoughts aside. She let her mind go blank as she drifted off to sleep, snoring dragons settled on either side.