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Chapter 4

(Sage's POV)

The others stared at me as I pet Nauka.

"Er... W-What?" Fishlegs stammered.

I shrugged. "She's always been able to speak Russian, she grew up next to my village."

Hiccup blinked at me. "You're from Russia?" He asked. "How can you speak Norse?"

"I know a few languages. Russian is of course my first language, but I also speak fluent Norse and some Latin." I watched as Prygun rubbed her head against Nauka lovingly and I smiled.

Radicus grinned and walked up to Sage, Nauka and Prygun with Bolt following behind. "It's nice to finally meet you, Nauka. I've heard a lot about you."

"Really? Well, I haven't seen Sage in a while, ever since she flew away from her home with Prygun. After that, I decided there was nothing left for me at that horrible dragon-killing village." Nauka spoke fluently in Russian.

Radicus smiled sympathetically, but I felt terrible. "I'm really sorry, Nauka, I should've told you." I sighed.

"It's alright, no hard feelings. I know you had to do what you had to do." Nauka dragon-smiled.

I hung my head. "But-"

"Sage! Don't be so hard on yourself, Nauka said she understood." Radicus said as he put a hand on my shoulder.

I noticed the other trainers looking at us in confusion. "Radicus is also Russian?" Hiccup asked.

"Um, yes..." I trailed off.

Ruffnut frowned. "So how come you don't have one of those weird accents?"

"Oh, we are really good at impersonating accents, and it just became kind of natural to speak Norse around here." Radicus said as he patted Bolt absentmindedly.

"Hmm," Hiccup said. "I'm gonna have to tell my dad about this, I'll be right back."

I fidgeted nervously and wondered if Hiccup's dad, Chief Stoick the Vast, didn't like Russians and would kick us off the island before Radicus fully healed.

The other teens just looked at me until Primrose spoke. "So, how about we ask each other some questions, and we can get to know each other." She smiled kindly, her hazel eyes wide with curiosity.

"Sure, sounds fun." Radicus said as he sat on the ground, with the others and I sitting in a circle next to him. Our dragons, including Nauka, sat behind us and Nauka laid her head down next to me as I pet her.

"All right. I'll start," Fishlegs said. I inwardly groaned. "What were the names of your villages?"

I glared at him, and Radicus's face saddened for a moment. "My home was called Gornyy Gorod. That translates to Mountain City in Russian. It was named that because it was more of a city then a village, it was huge. And it was at the base of a giant mountain." Radicus said with a forced smile.

"Sorry, it must be painful to talk about it." Fishlegs sympathized.

Radicus shrugged. "Yeah." He said shortly.

Fishlegs turned to me. "What about you Sage, what was the name of your village? What was it like?"

I scowled at Fishlegs. "I don't want to talk about it."

Radicus looked at me pleadingly. "Sage, please."

I looked into his dark brown eyes and sighed sadly. "It was called Morskiye Skaly, or Sea Cliffs. It was a village about this size, and through the forest there were some cliffs overlooking the ocean. That's where it got it's name. All the people there are obsessed with dragon killing. So you can probably understand why I left. Besides, everyone there hated me, even my own father. I've heard him say it to his buddies before." I spat in disgust.

Before anyone could respond Hiccup came back with a huge man with a wild red beard. I shrunk back into Nauka's wing a little and stared at the man in fright. The last person I'd seen who had been that size was... My father.

"So you must be the new Russians!" Stoick the Vast boomed jovially. At least he didn't seem to hate us.

Radicus nodded, seemingly not intimidated by the Chief at all.

"Welcome to Berk! I hope you get settled in well." Stoick smiled.

I blinked and sat up. "We aren't staying." I grumbled.

Stoick frowned and turned to me. "Why not? Do you have some other place to be?"

"Far away from people, apparently." Snotlout sniggered.

"Yes." I snapped.

Stoick looked surprised. "Why?"

"Because I don't like people." I said.

Both Hiccup and his father raised an eyebrow. "Um, it's because she wasn't treated well in her old village." Radicus supplied.

I shot him a withering look and scooted back under Nauka's wing. "Whatever." I mumbled angrily.

Stoick cleared his throat and looked at me. "Well, wether or not you stay is up to you, but you aren't going anywhere until your friend heals. What're your names?"

"I'm Radicus and this is Sage," Radicus said for me. "And our dragons are Bolt, Prygun, and Sage and Prygun's adoptive mother Nauka." He pointed to each dragon in turn.

Stoick blinked, apparently confused at my 'adoptive mother'. He seemed to decide against saying anything though. He left after explaining that we were going to stay at his hut for now.

Hiccup walked over to us and sat next to Astrid and I. "So, what are you all doing?" He asked.

"We were asking each other questions, to get to know each other." Astrid said.

"Oh okay, whose turn was it?" Hiccup asked as Toothless waddled up behind him and sat on his haunches next to Prygun and Stormfly.

"Ours." I said.

Radicus nodded. "Alright, do you want to ask, Sage?"

I nodded and pointed a finger accusingly at Hiccup. "I want to know your story." I said, briefly glancing at his missing leg.

Hiccup sighed. "Fine, but get comfortable, because it's a long one."

I listened to Hiccup's story with interest. It was slightly similar to my own, but also quite different. As he was telling Radicus and I how he defeated the evil queen dragon, I suddenly felt dizzy and my vision blurred. I frowned and shook my head. Nothing. I only saw dark smudges where everyone should be. I shook my head more violently but there was still no result.

"Sage?" I could hear Radicus saying. "Sage? What's wrong?"

I frowned and turned in the direction I thought he was in. I saw a faint outline of him and poked him cautiously. I felt his shoulder, and I could hear Radicus sigh gently. "What is it?"

I shook my head. It seemed as if my hardworking vision had decided to take a vacation. "Um... Nothing." I muttered, and leaned back into what I assumed was Nauka's big brown wing.

I couldn't see anything but I knew that everyone was frowning.

"Sage, why are you acting so weird?" Nauka asked me softly.

"It's nothing." I hissed.

I suddenly felt a pair of strong hands grip my arms and pull me out of Nauka's little cave. "Hey!" I yelped, but I realized I couldn't tell who it was.

(Hiccup's POV)

I watched as Radicus pulled a yelping Sage out into the open again, and I realized she was staring a little to the left. I frowned and waved a hand in front of her face. She didn't even flinch.

"SAGE!" Radicus yelled in both an accusatory and worried manner. "You can't see anything?!"

"W-What? N-No, I can s-see..." Sage stammered.

Ruffnut raised an eyebrow. "Really? Prove it."

Sage frowned and stood slowly. "What would you have me do?" She asked, trying to sound confident but failing miserably. She stared at the large shape of Prygun as she did so. Prygun cooed softly and nudged Sage gently. Even Bolt looked slightly upset.

"Throw the axe at that target," Radicus said. "And since I know how good you are, I'll be able to tell if something's off." He crossed his arms but still had a worried expression.

Sage blinked. She just stood there. "Um... I don't... I mean, I don't really... Well..." Sage stumbled over her words.

Radicus marched up to her and handed her the axe. "There. Now throw." He pointed at the target.

Sage followed his finger, blinking. To me it looked like she was trying to figure out where the target was. She finally decided on a spot and threw the axe straight past the target and it bounced off the wall. I was surprised she actually had the strength to do so.

Sage and Radicus stood frozen. Sage was staring blankly at the wall, and Radicus was looking angrily at Sage with a shocked and upset expression.

"You're blind?!" He choked.

"No!" Sage barked. "Well... No, just... Temporarily?" Though it sounded more like a question.

Radicus grabbed her arm and dragged her out of the arena with my friends, the dragons and I following behind.

Sage was trying to pry Radicus's fingers off of her arm fruitlessly. "Rad! Stop! Where are you even taking me?!"

Radicus stopped marching and turned to me. "Where is your healer's hut?"

"Um. Gothi, the healer, has her house way up there." I pointed to the tall peak over the village.

Radicus sighed and turned to Sage. "You are going up there!" He ordered.

"No! It'll go away!" Sage pouted.

"You don't know that!"

"Yes I do!"

"No you don't! Now get your sorry butt on your dragon and up that peak!" Radicus growled. Sage stopped and sniffed a little. Radicus didn't seem like the kind of person to snap like that, but she obeyed and clumsily got onto her dragon.

Sage was quiet as Gothi inspected her eyes. Gothi, Sage, Radicus and I were the only ones there, the others had gone to do Thor-knows-what. Prygun, Bolt, and Toothless were out on the landing area.

Gothi walked over to a pot and poured some sand on the ground and and started writing unusual symbols. Over the past year I had been learning from Gobber how to read these symbols, and I understood most of it, though I still couldn't write it correctly. I watched Gothi intently.

"What's she doing?" Radicus whispered to me.

I shushed him and tried to read what was written. "Okay, according to this, she has only lost her vision temporarily due to hitting her head when she fell. It's odd that she didn't get a concussion though. Anyway, Gothi says she should get her vision back in a few years." I paused and looked back at the words. Gothi hit me upside the head with her staff just as Radicus shouted. "Years?!"

"Erm, no. Sorry, it actually says hours. I always get those mixed up..." I smiled sheepishly.

Sage stood and wobbled a little. Radicus was immediately at her side, steadying her. Gothi wrote some more symbols. "Gothi says she should rest until her knight returns." Gothi whacked me again. "Ow! Sight. Her sight returns. Sorry. I'm still learning."

Radicus and I helped Sage back to my house, and I showed her where she could sleep. I figured she should have a decent bed so I let her sleep in mine.

Almost as soon as her head hit the pillow she fell asleep, looking a lot more peaceful then when she was awake.

Radicus looked around. "Is this your room?" He asked as he looked through my drawings.

"Oh. Um, yeah." I said as Toothless curled up on his stone slab.

Radicus sighed. "Can I be honest with you, Hiccup?"

I blinked, confused, but nodded.

"I'm worried about Sage. She's already been hurt as a kid, and I'm afraid her vision won't get better." Radicus fingered a charcoal pen nervously.

"I'm sure her vision will clear. Wait... What do you mean she was hurt as a kid?" I asked.

Radicus sighed. "She told the others while you were gone. No one liked her as a kid. But what she didn't say was... She was abused. Her own father hit her, and she still has some bruises. The teens there weren't much better. She said they used to throw her in the ocean, and nobody bothered to help her, she had to help herself. All because she was a runt, and she was different." Radicus spat.

I stared with wide eyes at Sage, who looked so blissful. I used to be the village runt, the different one. But I was never abused for it. Sure, sometimes the other teens would pick on me, but I was never hit.

Radicus frowned. "Don't tell her I said that, please. She'd kill me if she found out I told you."

I nodded silently, and watched as Radicus walked back downstairs. I stood there for a bit, just watching Sage sadly. I wished I knew more about her, she seemed so mysterious. But whenever someone asked her about it she would get all hostile and put up an emotional barricade.

I decided, no matter what she might do to me, I was going to help her.

Hey peeps! So, what're your thoughts? Sorry about not updating. Stupid writers block. Anyway, I hoped you liked the chapter. Oh no! Sage is blind! But don't worry, it's only temporary. Or is it? Muahahaha! You'll have to wait and see. :P By the way, the italics are Russian, but when it is just one word in the middle of a sentence that is 'italicized', it just means they put emphasis on the word. Also, sorry if I got the translations wrong, I don't have a reliable translator (AKA; the internet). Anyway hope ya peeps had a good weekend and please review, favorite, and follow! :D Also feel free to ask questions via review and I will try to answer in the following chapter.