Toothless watched his friend with his mate. The female, Astrid, was very sick. Her coughing only got worse. Hiccup never left her side. He tried to use the medicines to help her, but even to Toothless it was obvious that he didn't have enough skill to help her. He remembered when Hiccup had gotten injured shortly after they'd left Berk. His leg was scalded by a Scauldrun and had gotten infected. That was when they'd met the lady with the dragon tattoo on her face. Toothless liked her. She was gentle and understood dragons. And she gave him lots of his favorite fish. The dragon lady. She'd healed Hiccup. Maybe she could help Astrid.
Toothless ran and grabbed Hiccup's journal from his forge. He'd seen him writing in it just the other day and the dragon hoped the dragon lady would be able to understand what he was trying to tell her.
When Astrid had gotten sick and Hiccup refused to leave her side he'd put the prosthetic on Toothless's tail that would allow him to fly solo. Toothless wasted no time in taking off and getting to the place where the dragon lady lived.
Aislynn saw the Night Fury approaching and ran to meet him, "Toothless, where's Hiccup? Is everything ok?"
Toothless pushed the journal into her hands and warbled urgently. Dancing agitatedly and tugged gently on her skirt. She opened up the journal looking for something with her name. The book opened to the page Hiccup had left his pencil in.
"Astrid is sick. Nothing I do seems to be working. Her cough his getting worse and there is more blood. Her chest sounds like the popping of wood in a fire. A sound that is also made with each breath. I have tried to get her to eat but it only makes her vomit. She is so thin already. I don't know what to do..."
Aislynn looked at Toothless and stroked his cheek, "It's going to be ok. I need to pack some medicines and supplies and then we'll get Luna and be on our way."
Toothless smiled and growled happily. She understood. She took off running, yelling for various people as she went. A little while later they were flying with Toothless leading the way back to their island. Aislynn followed on her own dragon. They arrived at the cave and they all went in.
"Hiccup! I'm here!"
Hiccup came out of Astrid's room surprised, "Aislynn? What are you doing here?"
She walked past him and into Astrid's room, taking off her gloves and handing him the journal as she went. "Toothless came and got me. He gave me your journal, hoping I would understand. I did. Luna and Toothless have the supplies I brought with me. To get started I'll need you to get the kettle boiling over the fire in here, I'll also need a bowl of cool water, clean linens and blankets on her bed, and you'll need to wash them thoroughly. I'll get started on Astrid." She gently brushed the girls bangs back from her face whispering gently, "It's ok, sweetie. Everything is going to be fine. My name is Aislynn. I'm here to help you."
While Hiccup was busy with the tasks Aislynn had given him she gave Astrid a quick sponge bath and cleaned and braided her hair and changed her into clean clothes. In between those things she gave Astrid medicine and applied poultices. When Hiccup came back in she took one look at him, "Hiccup you look awful. Go bathe. It won't do Astrid any good to have you sick. She is fine and resting at the moment. As is Toothless and Luna. Go."
He looked at Astrid and gently touched her cheek, "Thank you for coming, Aislynn."
He left and Aislynn took the opportunity to set up her cot in an out of the way spot and to set up her medicines on the table. She finished just as Hiccup came back in. Toothless warbled at him and Hiccup scratched the dragons neck.
Astrid's fever lasted lasted another week. In that time Aislynn and Hiccup took turns watching over her while the other took care of the various tasks like cooking or making sure there was enough wood for the fire or cleaning and caring for their dragons. Their hearts broke when Astrid began hallucinating and began begging for different necessities or reliving various beatings she'd received through her life. Hiccup was on watch when her fever finally broke and she woke for a few minutes. She reached for his hand, "Hiccup?"
"I'm here," he said as he took her hand.
"Don't leave me."
"I'm not going anywhere. Just sleep. I'll be here the whole time." He kissed her forehead. Astrid squeezed his hand weakly and drifted back to sleep. "I promise."
