Author's Note: I plan to go into a bit more detail, starting with the next chapter. Lines represent another day. I'm also not completely sure I got the order of events down quite right…..Review, please.

Disclaimer: One day, I will own a dragon!……But, unfortunately, today is not that day.


Honestly, I didn't know how to react. The thought of being able to fly again, after giving up on all hope, was an almost blinding concept.

So, of course, there would be a catch.

The boy, despite being unceremoniously thrown into the water, seemed very excited. Whooping and hollering, ideas forming behind those green eyes of his as he looked me over with a critical eye. He kept muttering things, things I'm sure I wouldn't know what he was talking about even if I did know his language.

I was sure that he could get the false tail fin thing of his to work, but there comes the catch.

He would have to operate it. He would have to move it. He would have to RIDE me!

It was an unsettling concept. I was suppose to be free in the air, Lord and Master of that domain. Now though, I would have to be bound to this, admittedly intelligent, human!

I couldn't truthfully share the boy's excitement.


The next day, the boy came back (was the ever any doubt?), carrying a rather unique saddle.

If I was going to do this, then I wanted one thing very clear from the start. I was the one letting him ride me, and I could choose not to.

I practically danced around the boy as he tried to get the saddle on me, using my tail to trip him occasionally. Undeterred, the boy got up every time until, deciding I had made my point, I let (and this is important, LET) him put the saddle on me.

It wasn't very comfortable, he apparently didn't get my measurement quite right, but I could stand it. He also attached a rope to the fake tail fin, apparently thinking he could pull the rope and control it like that.

We were in the air a grand total of three minutes before he (and it was completely HIS fault) crashed us.


The next time, he tried to control it with his leg, which, while better, still ended with us crashing.

The day wasn't a total loss though, we managed to crash in a very pleasant patch of Kitty Grass (which is, basically, the human equivalent to ale for dragons). I rolled around in it, inhaling the intoxicating aroma with ever pore of my body, before I heard an odd sound.

And there, rolling around for a completely different reason, was the boy, in near hysterics. Apparently, the sight of a dragon rolling around like a little kitten amused him.

I decided to be annoyed at him tomorrow, as his laughter mixed with the buzzing going on in my head.


I'm quite glad that I can only half remember how we got back to the ravine that day, even gladder that the boy (who I somehow learned was named Hiccup in my haze) couldn't understand a word I said (I'm a very loving drunk). Of course, given the ingenuity of the boy, it would not surprise me if he did, eventually, pick up dragonese. I was starting to understand a few words of his at least.

Which is why I didn't complain when he said he wanted to take measurements, that saddle of his was really starting to chaff. As he moved, using a piece of string and charcoal stick to take measurements, I, oddly, started to enjoy the feel of his hands against my scales. Warm and soft. Subconsciously, I started to purr.

This, I learned, was probably not the best thing to do to save my dignity (what tattered remains were still there). Hiccup, taking note of my apparent approval, dropped what he was doing and instead started to scratch my hide with those nimble fingers of his.

'Oh dear gods!' I leaned against him, thoroughly enjoying the sensation his fingers brought. Not really caring that he was, technically, petting me as humans did to lesser animals. Eventually, his hands traveled under my chin and hit a spot that sent the purest of pleasure rocketing through my body, making me drop like a rock.

Foggily, I realized that this made it twice Hiccup had felled the mighty Night Fury, not that I really much cared any more. So long as it wasn't in public, he could pet me as much as he wanted.


Despite entertaining myself with Hiccup (really, what an odd name), I often found myself quite bored. Usually, before this whole mess started, I would hunt whatever was stupid enough to enter the Nest (and the occasional Terrible Terror, no I did not eat them, just….scared them a little). Unfortunately, I had already caught all the fish that had been in the small pond. It wasn't that I was hungry, I swear I've never eaten so much as Hiccup's given me in my life, but I am a predator and I wanted to hunt!

Which is why, as I saw a little strobe of light skirting across the ground, I pounced. I am well aware that I couldn't really catch the light, and that the boy behind me was probably getting as much fun out of this cat and mouse game as I was. But, I couldn't quite bring myself to care enough to stop, chasing the light around the ravine.


Hiccup, finally, managed to make a system for the tail fin that worked. Having the rope hooked to a pedal that he could control with his foot (he really was quite clever). He even thought to secure himself to the saddle this time with a separate rope, and, most brilliant of all, in my mind, he secured us to a stump that would ensure that we didn't crash and burn like all the other times, only flying a few feet above the ground. We should have been completely safe, for once.

Should have, being the operative phrase. A strong gust of wind tearing the rope and sending us unexpectedly into the trees behind us. To add insult to injury, the clip the boy had attached to the saddle to keep himself on, became jammed.

I'm really starting to think that the gods hated the both of us.