Saddle

Hailey gathered up the extra leather and metal she took from the forge to start on the saddle. She had drawn up measurements she needed to ensure that the straps wouldn't hinder Toothless breathing in the slightest. She had also made connecting rods so she could control the tail fin from Toothless's back with a foot pedal. The saddle fit perfectly onto Toothless and the connecting rods worked perfectly. Toothless looked back at the saddle and back at Hailey. Then, the dragon questioned something.

"Everything looks ship-shape, but one question. How are you going to stay on?" he asked. This question made Hailey think. Then, another idea hit her.

"I could make a harness!" she exclaimed in Dragonese. She realized that it had become a habit for her to talk in Dragonese when she was around dragons. She quickly took off the saddle and made hooks for her to hook a harness on. She had crafted one fairly easily, considering she had done all of the hard things first. She had grabbed two leather straps and one of her golden lockets to hold the straps together. Once she had made that, she hooked it up to the saddle. She then put the saddle back on, lifted herself onto the saddle and locked her foot into place.

"Oh! I almost forgot!" Hailey jumped off the saddle, but got stuck because of the harness and she hung at the side of the saddle. She chuckled. "Oops. Maybe I should unhook the harness." she unhooked the clasps and fell flat on her back. She ran over to her basket, which contained her journal, and pulled it out. When she came back, Toothless had yet another questioning look.

"Why do you need that book thing?" he asked, sniffing the book in her hands.

"It's called a journal, Toothless," Hailey replied, scratching him behind the ear. "And I need it so I can document the different positions of the tail fin. This way, I can remember the positions and we can fly smoothly." She also grabbed a rope for the saddle. "C'mon. Let's go see if we can find a stump on a windy cliff."

"Why?" Wariness dripped in his voice.

"Because, that is the only way I can get the positions without killing ourselves." She scratched the top of his head as she lead them both to a stump near a windy cliff. "Perfect." She tied the bottom of the saddle with one end of the rope, and the other end to the stump. Then, she mounted.

"Okay, you ready to try this out?" Toothless nodded as he jumped up in the air when a gust of wind came. Hailey switched her position to where they could jump into the air. Then she clicked the foot pedal down and they landed smoothly.

After a few more position shifts, she finally had all of the positions documented in her journal. "Okay, once more to make sure I have the correct positions," said Hailey as she looked at her new 'cheat sheet'. She was about to click her foot into a position, but a gust of wind came and blew the duo into a large patch of grass. Hailey was flung off the saddle as soon as Toothless made contact with the ground.

Said dragon had skidded to a stop as he felt how soft the grass was. Hailey had been flung a good distance away from her dragon friend, but she managed to stop herself from tumbling into the grass. She looked back the way she came and followed the sound of her friend purring contently.

Toothless had mushed the grass around him and he was acing like an overgrown puppy dog with an itch. Hailey picked up some grass and shoved it into her journal, closing it shut. She looked back up to where Toothless was laying, but he wasn't laying down. He was standing up, his tail swooshing left and right behind him, eyes slits, and a grumbling noise that was unintelligible for Hailey to understand. The girl only hoped that it was the grass making Toothless act like that.

Then, she caught on. "Oh no!" she shouted, or roared. She started backing up, but she wasn't quick enough to avoid the pouncing Night Fury. She hit the ground and a large dragon landed on top of her. He had put his full weight on top of the fragile girl, making it near impossible for her to breathe.

"Toothless... I... can't.. breathe." The dragon made an apologetic look and shifted his weight to where only his paws were draped across the top of her stomach. "Better." She petted Toothless' snout as her breath slowly came back to her. "Okay. What was the point of this?"

"Of me tackling you?" he asked, looking slightly amused with the situation. Hailey nodded. "I don't know. I just wanted to see your reaction, and it was very amusing." He nuzzled the side of her head, purring slightly. Hailey looked at the grass beneath her and she remembered what it was called. Fire-weed. It was the softest type of grass ever known. She looked back up at Toothless and he was laying down right next to her.

"Wanna fly back to the cove?" she asked patting his snout. Toothless nodded vigorously. "Alright then. Let's go!" She hoisted herself onto the saddle, clicked her foot into position, and they were airborne. They flew slowly so Hailey could get used to the foot positions. Once they landed, Hailey walked out of the cave with her fishing pole and sat down next to Toothless near the pond.

Hailey had caught a couple fish for herself and a ton of fish for Toothless. The dragon had lit a fire for Hailey to cook her fish. "Explain to me why you humans always burn your food or why you rub herbs into the meat. You just get rid of the taste!" said Toothless prodding Hailey in her side.

"Okay, okay!" exclaimed Hailey, raising her arms up. "First, rubbing herbs into our food is called seasoning. And two, we cook meat so we can eat it without having to throw up."

"And why do you not eat the bone?"

"You see these?" she showed her teeth to Toothless. "These are my weak little human teeth! Humans can't chew through bones. It'll break our teeth. Where as your teeth are extremely strong, unlike human."

"I find that ridiculous. Let me see your teeth again." Hailey clenched her teeth together and showed Toothless. She found it odd that he was interested in human teeth. "I thought that your teeth would get sharper along the back."

"'Eh. Dats hu'an teeth 'or ya." Toothless returned to his fish, as did Hailey. They ate for about 24 minutes before they both finished. The dragon nudged Hailey's back, causing her to turn around.

"Come on! Let's do a real flight!" he exclaimed. "Please?!" he looked at Hailey with pleading eyes.

She couldn't resist. "Alright. Let's go!" She jumped onto the saddle. She clipped her journal into place, hooked her harness to the saddle, and they were off.