A/N. I've found that I really should plan my plots in advance! I have a general idea, but nothing rounded enough.

I am trying to show, not tell, and the last chapter was an experiment there. I had no idea you could squeeze 4k words out of one day, much less one before the finale or even the union of both stories! What do you think will happen then? Battle it out on the reviews page.

Riddle.

What's brown and sticky?

Written while listening to castle in the sky. You should really listen to this if you're reading or writing flying sequences or anything cinematic.

Nayla glided down to a barrow and alighted on it easily. A blue-white dragon was sleeping inside.

"Ocean, are you awake?" She would be asleep. Mostly.

A low moan sounded and Ocean turned her head.

"I've got news!"

"What's that? Is it about our escape?" Asked very sleepily.

"Yes. I managed to.."

"Don't bother. This was a stupid idea, from a dumb kid trying to show off." Clearly her friend hadn't rested as well as she had.

"If only it were that easy to just give up now. I've made deals in the wrong places just to get what we needed. I've been a good friend. I too have been feeling boxed in."

"I suppose I wouldn't mind if you decided to run away from your problems."

Nayla chuckled, a laugh which irritated Ocean.

"You ma'am, are running away from your problems by sleeping in." said Nayla in a joking tone, then added more seriously,

"I have a (mostly) intact family here. Why would I run away? You have almost every reason to go."

Ocean groaned again, though this time it was consciously done.

"Don't remind me. What did you do anyway, to say you've made deals in the wrong places? Something dumb? Something Nayla?"

"I kinda sorta blackmailed a few workers into giving me a little rope after the afternoon break today."

Ocean did the dragon equivalent of slapping herself in the face.

"We could of bought that stuff. It's only a matter of time before they spill their guts and we'll be toast. Tell me. Did you 'borrow' some parchment too?"

"I bought that. The rope was being used for a big project, and I'm pretty sure that all the rope-makers will be employed. Even the two-legged's bad imitation won't be available for any but the highest price." said Nayla.

"Might as well pay you back for it." said Ocean, "I'm nothing if not an honorable dragon."

"Not a problem. I want you to have them. The parchment rolls, I mean."

"What would I use it for?"

"Sending letters home silly!"

"I've already told you that this was a dumb idea."

Nayla took a page out of her mother's book and ignored her, chalking it up to morning sickness..

"Do you wanna go flying? It's good exercise, and you'll be able to stretch out." Nayla reverted to her usual self, if only for a second.

"Seeing as I won't get any more sleep, sure. I'm hungry."

Ocean yawned and stood up, thankful that Nayla had changed the subject.

"We can talk about things later. Right now we need to keep your eyes open and your mouth closed."

Nayla couldn't stifle her yawn anymore and opened wide.

"I swear, yawning is contagious."

"No kidding. I think I might have caught it from Stulte."

"Speak of the devil. I met Carr yesterday," said Nayla, "He was being a showoff and nearly crashed into the water trying to impress me."

"I take it that that didn't work." More statement than question.

"Nope."

Ocean stretched her wings and yawned again.

"We'd better get going before this turns into Yawnfest 335." Nayla.

The two took off, Nayla in front and Ocean lagging slightly behind. By now the early risers of the nest were quietly going about their business and Nayla watched as the first turnout started to hum.

Ocean made for the nest exit, but Nayla pulled her away.

"The secret way out. You need to memorize it before you can attempt anything by yourself."

"Are you still trying to suck me into your nefarious plan? Will I get lost and left to die."

"I got lost in that cave once, had a terrible time getting out of there. Wouldn't want anyone to go through that."

Nayla's short response shut Ocean up, and she was content to remain silent as they half glided, half flew toward a crack in the rock that looked just like any other.

As they neared it Nayla pulled her another way, and from this angle she could dimly see that a small opening was there, barely detectable by even a trained eye looking the wrong way.

"Wow. How did you find this place. That little seam doesn't look at all what it did a second ago."

By this time the wall was in their faces and they had to start circling, unable to hover in one place.

"Blind luck, I guess."

"It takes more than that, in my opinion at least."

Nayla ignored the compliment and flew up for a gliding run. Getting into the secret passage was difficult, as it required Ocean to fold her wings up just before she hit the rock, so that she could fit through.

Unsurprisingly Nayla was the first in, dropping twenty feet before gripping the edge and pulling herself in.

"Come on. You can do it." she cheered.

Ocean folded her wings and dove one last time and barely managed to squeeze in, several of her head spines snapping off and being discarded.

It was quite dark in there, at least until Nayla spat out some fire onto the floor, illuminating the cave well enough for Ocean to see.

The sekrit way was much bigger inside then outside, at least twice Nayla's hight, and wide enough for two Nightmares to walk abreast.

It had a musty smell, like old books and rotting wood. Plenty of stones decorated the floor. Ocean somehow managed to stub her toe on three of them before she was even in the proper cave itself.

Multiple paths opened out from the space, which was not quite big enough to be called a cavern.

One went up, the others went down.

Nayla chose the path that sloped up without hesitation, Ocean also stumbling along behind. The fire's light decreased quickly after its initial flair, and the pair were enveloped in the darkness. Ocean had a little trouble seeing, but Nayla had no such problems.

She must be used to this sort of thing, Ocean thought, and she was right. Nayla seemed to be unfazed by the dark, being able to move through it like it was her element.

Ocean was as clumsy as Nayla was graceful in the darkness. She tripped over a stone and landed flat on her face. She quickly got up and tried to brush it off and look dignified, the only problem being that it is no use to look dignified when there is no way to see you at all, so that instead of feeling important, she felt rather foolish.

They passed several forks, but Nayla always chose the left, so that soon Ocean had completely forgotten their orientation. All sense of time had long since passed away, leaving her with a peculiar empty feeling. They could of been higher than the stars by then and she wouldn't have noticed.

Left, right. Left, right. Look down for rocks, follow Nayla, take care of your tail, plod on. Feel the dryness in your throat as you breath hoarsely from the exertion, feel hungry, drift off until you feel like you've hit a wall, rub your nose, rest, rinse and repeat

This went on for what seemed like forever for Ocean. Even Nayla was starting to flag a bit, for she called a rest break for a few minutes. Or was it hours? Ocean couldn't know.

Faintly she could hear the laughter of an untamed stream, and it became noticeably lighter in the cave, so that the walls became grey and not black. Ocean no longer struggled to see Nayla's tail and legs anymore, it seemed like a fog had been lifted from her eyes that she had not even seen before and was gone.

The air had become fresher and more rejuvenating, it held the scent of water and Ocean began to look around for any sign of the stream.

"Are we there yet?"

"No. But we're close." Nayla.

As she turned yet another bend, the light became much stronger. After so much time in the dark it was blindingly bright, a hole in the darkness filled with the power of many suns. At least that's what it felt like to her.

Ocean involuntarily closed her eyes and waited it out. Eventually she opened them a little. It still hurt, but not as much, and soon she was standing out in the grass on top of the largest mountain in the archipelago.

It was the most beautiful place she had ever seen. The waxing sun filtered through pine needles and dappled her scales. A babbling brook ran across the middle of a meadow filled with purple wildflowers. The greenery grew up to a particular line on the ground where none dared cross. An oak tree stood next to the stream, dropping beautiful orange and marigold leaves into the water.

Ocean looked up and saw that an overhang was covering most of the cove from the air at any but the most extreme angles. The Queen must have missed this place when she was flaming the island because the ledge had protected the plants.

She looked down and saw that all the ground sloped up in a circle from the cave entrance to the wall of rock, surrounding it and protecting it from the icy blasts of winter as well as dragon fire.

What she was most surprised by was the time of day. Instead of being evening or even afternoon, it was only late morning. Ocean thought that either she had miscalculated her time in the cave (she had), or she had woken up earlier than she thought she did (she hadn't).

"How is it only midmorning?"

"Welcome to cave travel," said Nayla with a smile. "Consider this your initiation test, which you passed with flying colors. I was a lot more scared when I first came here."

"I had you. You had nobody."

"I suppose you're right. But," Nayla said, looking up at the sun, "I have a little business at the beach. Remember. I'm doing this for you."

With that she flew off, leaving Ocean to consider her words.

o-o-0-o-o-o-0-o-o-o-0-o-o-o-0-o-o-o-0-o-o-o-0-o-o-o-0-o-o-o-0-o-o

Nayla was in a bit of a pinch. The traitors were supposed to be here any second now, and she couldn't help but start to worry. She had to fight to stop herself from descending into a never ending merry round of what ifs.

What if they told the guard of your deeds.

What if they shortchange you and you fall for it.

What if..

On and on and on. She was not surprised at the amount of bad results her mind could come up with, after all she had been in high pressure situations before, so this was not new. Still, it was slightly unnerving whenever it happened. This was one of those times.

The sound of buzzing interrupted her thoughts, making a reprieve against her own head possible. Still, the arrival of the workers in person brought its own problems.

Two Gronckles landed, one of them carrying a frayed coil of viking make. It still looked like it would hold in a storm however.

"We got the goodies, now leave us alone." one of them seemed to be smiling, though Nayla didn't know why. She hoped it wasn't a bad omen.

Nayla made for the coil with a flick of her tail, and cargo secured, began to climb. She hoped that was the last she would see of the troublemakers. She did not trust them.

Her father was in the study again, reading his new book. He greeted her.

"Good afternoon Nayla. I see you have bought some of the rope on sale."

Busted. Might as well go with a half-truth.

"Yes."

"The Queen has a new pulley project going."

Nayla nodded.

"I knew that already."

"Good. I have been looking up economics over the last few days." he said, holding up his book. "And according to the basic laws of economic interests, the moment one is forced to pay heavy taxes on what something owns, one tries to sell it."

"In plain Drohirrim please."

"What I'm saying is that as soon as the Queen ordered all line to be given over to her for free, the merchants sold their wares at extremely decreased prices so all their hard work wouldn't be for nothing."

"And?"

"The current price is down to pennies worth for every ten feet of decent quality."

Nayla had to avoid doing a double take. She had just done the most stupid thing possible. Instead of waiting for another chance she had acted on impulse to get what she wanted. Now she had not one but two people who might charge her with crimes against The Queen, and they had probably gotten what they needed on the cheap. A nice double play.

Nayla cursed herself. Way to go. Could her day get any worse?

She wanted to get away from it all, so she flew to a place just outside Ocean's barrow to think about what she might tell her friend. Just as she was ready to say the worst, Stulte emerged with Ocean in tow.

More bad news?

"Nayla!" Stulte. At least he sounded cheery. "We have some good news for you."

"What is it."

"My family agreed that me and Ocean could be betrothed, but only after a long bit of bugging on my part."

"We're officially together!" added Ocean.

Nayla was stunned. She'd known their relationship was deep, but not as deep as that. Still, she had known that Stulte had been Ocean's best buddy for years now, and something like this was inevitable. Just not so soon.

"We've also agreed that we'll stay on the island. No more of this silly running away stuff."

Nayla just sat, wallowing in her own silence. Unfortunately things had just gotten worse. Fortunately her preparations would bid well in the end. The end was not now.

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Nayla sat watching Ocean and Stulte enjoying a moment watching the sun set over the island from the big boulder. She had always wished that someday she would enjoy a moment just like this, just that if they got all mushy she would leave..

Sometimes the mist would part to reveal particularly nice weather. This was one of those times.

"The water looks golden tonight. I wish it could stay this way all year." said Stulte.

"That's just not the way the world works. Everything has a place. Some things must die that others may live. Summer is one of those things."

"We must be glad that it comes alive again then, or we would be stuck in eternal winter like that of the Bewilderbeast's."

"That's just a story, and a made up one at that."

"I love you."

"I love you too."

Nayla turned to leave. She couldn't stand much more of that before her bubble popped.

She stopped when she heard the whoosh of many dragons landing all at once.

"You are under arrest for High Treason to Her Majesty!"

Her day had gotten infinitely worse.

A/N

I've written myself into a box. Some plot ideas would be helpful, to say the least. First fanfic, what can you say. Just constructive criticism alright. No hate please. Berk seems to have unseasonably nice weather right now. Let's fix that. ; )