THIS CHAPTER HAS BEEN REWRITTEN

When I open my eyes, it's nighttime. Lifting my head, I gaze out of the window at the shining full moon. The sky is cloudless and I long to be flying amongst the stars. Suddenly, I feel overwhelmed and caged in this house- this village. It was a mistake to come here; I have to leave while I can. I don't care if I'm wounded and it's almost winter. I've always been able to survive through the worst blizzards and my leg wound has been taken care of already. Why should I stay?

Turning my head, I glance around the room and immediately notice Toothless sleeping next to me. The larger dragon is curled up on the floor a few feet away, his low snoring filling the room. I gaze at him for a few moments, and then quietly stand up so I don't wake him.

As stealthily as I can, I sneak out of the window and land on the ground. Nobody seems to be awake at this time, so I quickly try to find my way out of the village. I would fly out, but I don't have enough space to unravel my wings and I don't want to wake anyone up.

I soon become frustrated, however, at my inability to find my way out of the village. The whole place is like a labyrinth, each street taking different turns and splits, and the houses look identical and yet different at the same time. How does anyone find their way around here?!

Suddenly, I hear footsteps pounding behind me and I quickly duck behind a building. Sniffing the air, I catch Toothless's scent and bite back a groan of annoyance. I must've woken him up somehow.

I see him padding down the street, head swinging back and forth. I'm just about to slink past him when he starts sniffing the air and I freeze. He continues sniffing before finally turning to me. His eyes brighten when he sees me, but I growl and start running in the opposite direction.

My injured leg aches in protest, but I ignore it and continue running, hearing Toothless give chase after me. "Raven!" he calls out, "Raven, wait!" I hiss in response and take a sharp turn. Pain tears through my leg and I stumble, grunting as I hit the ground. I quickly scramble back to my paws, but the delay was long enough for Toothless to catch up with me.

Dodging him, I continue dashing down the street with him close by. It might be due to my injured leg, or maybe the fact that he's bigger than me, but soon he manages to speed ahead of me and jump in my path. Grunting, I skid to a stop, my nose hitting Toothless's shoulder before I stumble back a few paces.

"Raven!" he exclaims, "Where are you going? It's the middle of the night!"

"I'm leaving." I say, ignoring how his expression turns sorrowful, "I can't stay here, Toothless. I have to go back to the wild."

"Why?" he asks.

I flex my claws and jerk my head to the houses, "This- this just isn't natural. At least, not for me. I don't belong here, I belong in the trees."

"It was strange for me at first, too." he tries to reassure me, "But you'll get used to it! You'll soon see what a great place this can be!"

I flatten my windflaps and point out bluntly, "I never said I'd stay here forever." Shaking my head, I sigh, "I have to go. Thanks for the help." I brush past him and start walking towards where I smell the shore. Before I can get more than a few meters, Toothless stops me, but this time with his voice.

"Raven… please don't leave."

Maybe it was the desperation in his words that makes me stop, but I do and glance over my shoulder. He stays standing where I left him, gazing at me with a crestfallen expression.

Turning around, I ask, "Why should I?"

He lifts a paw to walk towards me, but then puts it back down. Sighing, he says, "You're the only Night Fury I've ever known besides my mother and siblings. For the longest time, I thought I was the only one left… and then you came, saying that there were more of us. Not a lot, but some, and that was enough for me. Please, Raven, just… stay. At least until winter is over."

For a few moments, I forget my usual snarky attitude as I stare at him. He looks so… depressed. Like he's completely given up. I consider the weight of his words, and then sigh. I may be rude, but I'm not cruel.

Slowly nodding, I walk back towards him, "Fine. Just until winter is over."

He practically deflates with relief and says, "Oh, thank goodness. Don't worry, Raven, you won't regret this!" Turning around, he starts leading the way back to the house.

As I follow him, I wonder just what I've gotten myself into.


The next day, Hiccup feeds Toothless and I some fish before leading us down to the village. As we walk, Toothless keeps casting glances at me and staying close, as if making sure that I don't decide to run off. I roll my eyes, but decide to ignore this.

We meet up with the rest of the dragon riders in a circular area in the village. Hiccup announces that we're going to something called the 'Dragon Academy'.

When I question what it is, Stormfly replies, "It's where we train. Like, for battle, or flying, or just daily stuff. Sometimes we play games."

"Huh." I huff, following them as we reach the arena. It's nothing more than a stone hollow with netting above.

Once we're settled in, Hiccup grabs everyone's attention, "We should start with taming Raven. She allowed me to touch her yesterday, but I want to see if she'll allow the rest of you to do so."

"I'll go first." Astrid volunteers. As she walks towards me with her hand stretched out, Hookfang drawls, "Please, don't growl at her this time. Things will move way faster if you just let her put her hand on your head."

I suppress another eye-roll (it seems like I'm doing this a lot lately) and allow Astrid to touch me. To make me feel better, Stormfly says, "Don't worry, she bathes every day, so she's clean."

"I can't say the same about Ruffnut." Barf says, and Belch adds, "Nor Tuffnut."

I wince as the two twins pet me, trying not to imagine their filth. Soon, all of the riders have petted me and rejoin their dragons.

"Alright," Hiccup says, lifting up a strange-looking object, "First thing's first. We've got to saddle her up."


I do not like saddles. After about an hour of chasing, dodging, and an unfortunate trip, the riders finally managed to strap the saddle on my back. Meanwhile, the dragons had sat back and watched the scene play out before them, occasionally commenting or bursting out with laughter.

Now, we're all back in the townsquare (a new word I learned), curled up on spongy grass and a pile of food in front of each of us. In my case, a pile of fish. It feels weird to not have to hunt for my food- even weirder to be wearing a saddle- and I'm faintly reminded of my days as a hatchling when I was too young to hunt. Back then, my mother hunted for us, but once we were old enough to kill, we had to catch our own food or starve.

This is nice, though. Sure, the fish isn't as fresh as a newkill, but I'm glad that I didn't have to work my injured leg to hunt.

The other dragons are friendly enough. I especially like Stormfly. She's surprisingly easy to talk to and we both seem to like each other. Despite being soft and kind on the outside, I remember how she was during training. Underneath it all, she's hardcore and tough- and I like that.

So as I eat and chat with the group, I begin to think that maybe this wasn't such a bad idea at all. Suddenly, my scales start to prickle and I glance up, seeing Toothless watching me. Snorting, I turn back to my meal and swallow another fish.

Maybe.