Seven weeks! Seven weeks since the last update. I won't even try to make up an excuse for not updating for so long. All I can say is that I am very sorry for not updating for so long, thank you for being patient, and I hope I am getting back into the swing of things with the writing.

Onto other news, the new 13 Race to the Edge episodes were just released last weekend, and that is fantastic, but please don't put any spoilers for it in any reviews. I personally have already watched them, but I would hate for someone to have it spoiled when jsut looking through the comment section. So if you have any questions or comments for me that will contain spoilers for Race to the Edge, just send it to me in a PM. THANKS!

And now, finally, the part you have all been waiting for. Enjoy!


By the time the Hysterics arrived, it was almost evening.

They brought no more than half a dozen ships, a small number for such a gathering, many would say. Given the fact that the various tribes of the Archipelago were usually less than friendly with each other, they usually brought a much larger force, both for protection against possible betrayal as well as an opportunity to show off their strength to those who might become enemies in their future.

But not the Hysterics. Their chieftain, Mrogan the Trusting, never suspected that Berk would become his enemy. As his title suggested, Mrogan was a trusting(a little too much for his own good) and in turn, never broke a promise once he made one. Of course, such virtues of complete truth and complete trust were supposed to be good things to have, at least in an ideal world, but in the world they lived in, such a naïve attitude could eventually get Mrogan's tribe into trouble one day.

Fortunately, Aydrien mused, it was exactly that trusting attitude that would keep everything together for the meeting. Aydrien knew his dad hated taking advantage of the Hysteric chief's trusting nature, but it was better if word did not get out that Berk was in a state of near panic.

Everyone on Berk knew something was happening, but they just didn't know what it was. Several people had actually come to Aydrien and asked why all the dragons were being locked up. He wanted to tell them why, but to do so would expose that he had been spying on his dad, so he kept it quiet.

Evidently, Hiccup, Valka, and Astrid wanted to keep the Deathsong problem a secret.

And so, Aydrien went along with it. It was customary for him to be at least present when the Hysterics arrived, given that he was the chief's son. Of course, that meant that he couldn't be out looking for his mother and the deathsong. That meant he couldn't be looking around the village with Aurora, searching for wherever his grandmother Valka had hidden the egg. That meant-

Aydrien's thoughts were interrupted as a gangplank slapped down onto the dock right in front of him, and the Mrogan, the Hysteric chief, strode onto Berk.

"Ah, Hiccup, good to see ya lad. It's been too long, friend." Mrogan rumbled heartily, reaching out to take Hiccup's offered hand. "And Aydrien, by gods, I swear you grow taller every time I see you!"

Mrogan definitely had the look of a typical Viking chieftain. Stocky, tall, and bulging with muscle, the trappings of a Viking leader almost seeming to shine resplendently in the waning daylight.

What was not so typical about Mrogan was the wide smile that almost always seemed plastered to his broad face. Aydrien wondered how someone could be constantly smiling without breaking some bone in their face after a while, but apparently Mrogan had mastered the art of it.

"Nice to see you too," Hiccup responded, his voice hitching a little as Mrogan nearly crushed his hand in a hearty grip. "Right this way then."

"Be happy to," Hrogan replied, falling in line beside Hiccup, even as the rest of the visiting Hysterics began to stream of the boats behind him. "Say, where has your lovely wife gone off to? Not off on another adventure without you, I hope."

Hiccup laughed, though Aydrien could detect the slight tremor in that seeming display of mirth.

"No, she's, umm. She's just off on an errand. She'll be back soon, I'm sure."

While Aydrien's father might have been a terrible liar, Mrogan was even more terrible at discerning a lie from the truth.

"Oh, very well. We'll just have to start without her. Tell me, old friend, who have…."

The sound of Mrogan's voice faded as he and Hiccup moved off the dock and into the village proper. The Hysterics came steaming in behind, quickly mingling with the Berkians, some seeking out old friends form years previous. Aydrien began to follow. With the formalities taken care of, he could go back to finding out where Aurora was and seeing if she made any progress on finding that deathsong egg. But apparently, Aydrien wasn't going to be so lucky.

"Well, hey there, handsome. You're not going to run off without saying hello, are you?"

Aydrien groaned. It was Kara, Mrogan's daughter, practically leaping off the ship and running towards where Aydrien.

Kara. A year older than Aydrien, and apparently head over heels in love with him, so she claimed. It started when Aydrien was only thirteen, and that year, and the year after, Kara had done nothing but moon over him and follow him around for the entirety of yearly meeting. She hardly left her alone, even when Aydrien had gotten Titan to try and scare her off. Unfortunately, she was not one to be easily deterred. Not that she was unattractive, with her big, brown eyes, her long, wavy black hair, and of course, that perpetual smile on her face, just like her father.

But Aydrien couldn't care less about her, and felt none of the affection for her that she apparently felt for him.

Too bad he forgot about her coming, what with everything else he was supposed to be worried about.

"Oh, umm, hi Kara-" Aydrien started, but was cut off she charged into him, nearly causing him to stumble over as she threw her arms around him in a big hug (fortunately, she didn't try and kiss him, as she had done the previous year.)

"Oh, I missed you so much!" She apparently wasn't paying attention to the fact that Aydrien was not hugging her back. "It feels like it's been forever since we last saw each other. It's been pure torture, waiting for today…"

Aydrien waited for her to finish her speech, just as she had done last year. On and on she went on, all about how she had missed him horribly and how everyday without him was complete and utter torture. Fortunately, she never asked him asked him to tell her about how much he had missed her, because like his dad, Aydrien wasn't much of a liar.

"…but now that were together again, Aydrien, it is like my life is suddenly so much more-"

"Kara, I'm sorry to put a downer on the, errr, reunion, but I got a few things I actually go to do. I might have time to hang out with you later."

Kara pulled away, giving Aydrien an incredulous look for several seconds, then her smile returned.

"That's alright, I don't mind. You can show me around the village while you finish your chores. Maybe show me how you do things around here, eh?"

Aydrien had to physically restrain himself from smacking his palm against his forehead.

It was going to be a long evening.


Aurora felt a mixture of excitement and more than a little nervousness at the task before her.

After Valka had left the chief's house with the egg, she and Aydrien had initially began looking in all the places his grandmother might have hidden it without drawing too much suspicion. Of course, Aydrien figured that it would be easier to find once the Hysterics arrived for the meeting since most the Berkians would be busy tending to their guests. Aydrien himself had to be at the docks to meet them, as per custom, but promised to meet her as soon as he could sneak away through the crowd.

It had been half an hour since the Hysterics arrived, and Aydrien still hadn't met up with Aurora. So Aurora decided to head out on her own, to the most likely place where the egg might be kept.

Somewhere in the dragon stables. The place where it was the least likely for some of the guests to accidentally find it.

The stables in the caves below the village were, after all, sectioned off from everything else, with few ways to get in or out without flying. Today those ways were guarded, just to make sure no one wandered into them accidentally, but Aurora didn't think those guards would be a problem. It wouldn't be the first guarded place she had broken into, and it almost certainly wouldn't be the last.

Certainly, the guards at the entrance of the stairway leading down to the stables looked utterly bored and miserable, wanting nothing more than to go in and join the festivities.

Sufficed to say, Aurora got past them as soon as one of them turned his head.

Down the stoney steps Aurora went, silent as a ghost. The tunnel down was well lit, with several torches, as per usually, so she had no problem seeing as she descended. Slowly, the sounds of the crowds from above fade, only to be replaced by a new sound.

The sound of dozens upon dozens of dragons.

As Aurora slipped down the final bend, she saw them.

Aurora had only been to the stables themselves a few times in her stay on Berk, and had been astounded by the sheer size of it. It spanned almost half the cave network under the island, with different areas sectioned off for different kinds of dragons, whether they be with hatchlings, whether they were elderly, or if they were just plain temperamental. Each time, Aurora had been astounded by the amount of dragons milling around the place, but that was nothing compared to how many there were now.

With the Deathsong incident, nearly every single dragon on the island was cooped up in the stables that evening, and it was packed.

Granted, it wasn't as packed as one might have thought, given that the stables were designed to be prepared for just such an eventuality. It was tight, but not cramped, with enough space for the dragons to at least mill around without bumping into each other. It definitely helped that many of them were asleep, willing away the hours of boredom and inactivity with rest.

The stable was too big to completely search, but fortunately, Aurora had an idea of where to start.

She picked her way through the multitudes of sleeping or dozing dragons, taking extra care that she didn't step on any tails or feet, of which there were plenty of. More than once, a challenging growl came at her from one angle or another, usually from a dragon who wasn't too pleased at having a human in what they considered to be their own private space. But with a gesture and a few soothing words, Aurora was able to calm them.

Her weeks of training were finally coming in handy.

And so, Aurora picked her way across the vast cavern. While she might not have remembered the exact location of the spot in the cavern where she was going, she knew the general direction of where they she was going, and that was enough.

She was heading to the place where she could find the one dragon Valka completely trusted to guard that egg.

She was looking for Cloudjumper.

And she had an idea of where to find him.

A few weeks ago, when Astrid had taken the class on one of their rare tours of the dragon stables, they had run into Valka, how spent much of her time there, particularly in the nursery section of the caves. The meeting had been brief before moving on, but during it, Valka had mentioned Cloudjumper's favorite place to hang out when he came to the stables.

Probably the furthest section from the entrance. The Hot Springs.

Nestled far under the surface of Berk, the bubbling pools of water were not a particularly large attraction. The heat of so many bodies already so close together in the stables were usually enough to provide all the warmth a dragon could want, but some found the steam and heat coming off the pools relaxing, and usually napped by them after a day of hard work. Despite having grown up in an ice cave (or maybe because of it), Cloudjumper found the hot springs very enticing.

And so, that was where Aurora went.

Upon entering that section of the caves, Aurora was immediately struck by the immense heat, almost as if she had stepped into an oven. She had felt the vague effects of that heat while approaching, but actually crossing the threshold was a much bigger change. Aurora was sweating within moments, and had a bit of trouble breathing for a few more moments, before she was able to steady herself.

She spotted Cloudjumper almost immediately.

The room was not very large, after all, and most of it consisted of small, steaming pools of water, boiling up from beneath the ground. Several dragons dozed around them, mostly gronckles, but several other as well.

Cloudjumper was hanging from the ceiling, his tail wrapped around a hanging stalactite, on the far side of the largest pool. And from where Aurora was standing, the deathsong egg was nowhere to be seen. But Aurora was not one to give up so easily.

She crept around the pools, making her way towards the slumbering stormcutter, making sure not to step on any tails while doing so. Aurora was dismayed to discover that the intense heat got even worse as she got nearer to the steaming pools, though it was still bearable, if only just. So long as she didn't actually touch the steaming water, it was bearable for her, at least for a little while anyway.

So focused on the water and the heat and the surrounding dragons was she that she was actually surprised to find herself right under the dozing Cloudjumper.

Suddenly the heat and resulting discomfort did not seem so important, considering the fact that the gigantic Cloudjumper was right in front of her.

And he was indeed huge. Much larger than any of the teens dragons, excluding Krotr, and certainly much larger than Aurora's dragon. She was just beginning to wonder how long it might take for it to crush her if he found her snooping around. Probably much faster than it would take for him to stop and take in that she was not some common intruder or thief.

Aurora felt herself going a little light headed at the thought as she circled around Cloudjumper's sleeping form, looking anywhere for the deathsong egg. But it was only after several rounds that she actually saw the egg.

Nestled within the folds of Cloudjumper's wings, glimmering slightly, was the deathsong egg.

Now all she had to do was get the egg out without Cloudjumper waking up.


Aydrien was finally able to get away from Kara, after almost an hour of looking for some way to get the stubborn girl off of his hands. It was quite literally as close to the definition of Hell as Aydrien would dare to think of, just waiting for something to happen. Being followed and chased round and round the village by a girl he didn't even like, and all he could really do was wait for some sign or message.

But there was nothing. His mom hadn't returned yet, Lana, Avrak, Balder, and Hax were still out looking for her, and Aurora hadn't returned either.

And there was not a thing Aydrien could do about it but wait. And trying to keep away from Kara.

Fortunately, he had gotten a few moments of freedom, ducking into the shadow of the forge in order to get away. It probably wouldn't take long for Kara to find him again, but at least he would get a few moments of peace and quiet before-

"Hey, Aydrien, over here. We got something to show you"

Aydrien nearly jumped out of his boots at the sound of Hax's voice, further in the shadows between the building. And not only Hax was there, but Avrak, Balder, and Lana were too, all press against the wall in a row.

So much for a moment of peace and quiet.

"Must you guys seriously sneak up on me like that?" Aydrien hissed "And also... how long have you guys been here?"

"We just came in a few moments ago" Hax replied, completely ignoring the first question. "We saw you making your way over in this direction to get away from your girlfriend. So, here we are"

"Ok, first of all, Kara is not my girlfriend." Aydrien said "And I don't mean that like I say she isn't but she is, I mean it like she actually is literally not my girlfriend."

Hax seemed a little confused at Aydrien's word choice, but Avrak saw it as an opportunity to but in.

"Are you sure? Well, if she wasn't your girlfriend, then why was she-"

Thankfully, Lana was able to slap her hand over Avrak's mouth before he could finish the sentence.

"Never mind that" Lana said quickly "Aydrien, we found something you need to see. Get Titan."

"Umm, Lana, can't you just tell me what you saw? I think I might be missed if I leave for more than thirty seconds" Aydrien explained.

"Told you" Avrak said, pulling Lana's hand away from his mouth. "Girlfriend."

Everyone ignored him.

"No Aydrien" Lana said gravely. "We found our deathsong friend, but there is something else out there as well. We're not entirely sure what that something might be and we are hoping you could come help us find out. Please?"

Aydrien sighed. This day just kept getting better and better.


Aydrien felt bad about going against his mother and taking his dragon out to fly, but such a trip that the other teens were leading him on would have been a hell of a walk, and so he mentally filed it away with all the other things that he had done that his parents had told him not to do. After all, he was fifteen. Wasn't he allowed to have a some of those thing?

As it was, getting out of the village without being seen was a bit tricky, but soon the five teens were soaring free, following the mountain ridge along Berk to their destination. It didn't take too long to reach their destination, a small clearing right in the middle of the vast woods, one that was easy to when looking at it from above.

Aydrien couldn't see anything in the clearing from above, but Lana quickly explained that what they brought Aydrien here to show him was not in the clearing. After landing, they pushed their way through a newly created path in the foliage around the edge of the glade, nothing more than an area of trampled grass. Aydrien followed the others down that grassy trail, peering into the darkened canopy of twilight forest.

At the end of the path, Aydrien saw something he... wasn't expecting.

The dragon was long and snakelike, easily twice as long as Titan was from snout to tail, and covering in scales of light cyan that shimmered in the moonlight. It's head was shaped like that of a snake, and decorated with darker blue frills on either side. From its back, a row of long spines protruded out of its spine, and its wings were twin swirls of color spreading out behind it.

This was obviously a Deathsong, Aydrien thought. But that wasn't what he found to be so unexpected.

The deathsong was dead, and whatever had killed it had made messy job of it.

Cuts, dozens of fresh cuts, decorated the hide of the gigantic creature, and its shimmering, butterfly-like wings were little more than shreds of flesh. Patches of scales that had been torn clean off lay all around the corpse.

Aydrien suddenly felt sick to his stomach. It didn't matter that this particular dragon was supposedly so deadly. No dragon deserved to die as this one did.

"We...we wondered if...your mom did this" Lana stuttered, obviously having difficulty controlling her stomach, just like the other riders. All except for Balder, who still had that abstract, distant look he usually had.

Aydrien instantly shook his head.

"No, mom would never do this. She would ever...at least not like this..." Aydrien groped for some excuse. He actually was wondering if his mother had it in herself to kill a dragon, but he was almost certain that she hadn't killed this one. It was too messy a kill, with way to much pain inflicted on the dragon before it was killed, given the sheer number of laceration crisscrossing over its long body. No, this was not done by Astrid.

Aydrien swallowed.

"This can't have been done by my mother, She took out Salty and Frostfire to hunt for this dragon - two thunderdrums. And this" Aydrien gestured to the lacerated body, "was not done by two thunderdrums. I am positive about that."

"You're sure?" Asked Balder.

Aydrien was temporarily startled by the question from the normally quiet boy.

"Yes, I am sure, Balder" Aydrien snapped, a bit more harshly than he meant to. "What exactly has my mom done in the past few weeks that would make you think she would do something like this?"

"We're not accusing your mom of anything" Lana interrupted, stepping in between the two boys "something brought down that dragon, something that might still be on Berk. If that is the case, we had better get back to the village as soon as possible and warn someone. Also, we have to see how Aurora is doing."

Aydrien looked back to the corpse, then back to the surrounding teens and their dragons. Titan, in a rare show of open affection, was resting his snout gently on Aydrien's shoulder, sensing his rider's apparent distress over the situation.

Aydrien breathed deeply.

"Ok" He said, after several long moments "Lets head back. Before anyone notices we were gone hopefully."


Aurora as Aydrien and the rest of the gang swooped into the academy. As they flew in, Aydrien's eyes scoured over Aurora hopefully, but her back was turned towards the rest of the riders, and the deathsong egg was nowhere to be seen. The riders each led their dragons into their separate pens, and wihsed them good night, before going over to hear about Aurora's findings.

Aydrien was to approach her. But even as he approached, before he could even say anything, Aurora turned towards him. And at the same time, giving him a view of what she held in he arms.

"Aydrien" Aurora whispered, her voice barely audible "I think we may have a problem."

It was no cradled within Aurora's crossed arms. No, within Aurora's arms, curled up and slumbering contently, was a baby deathsong, its dark blue scales shimmering in the faint moonlight.

"You were right Aydrien. Cloudjumper was watching over the egg. Almost as soon as I got it out of the stables with it, it started hatching, so I rushed here, to the academy." Aurora explained, looking down at the small, sleeping form in her arms. "Did you guys find anything?"

"We did" Aydrien responded "Another deathsong, but it was an adult, and it was dead." Aydrien shivered a bit at the memory, even as Aurora's eyes widened a bit at the news.

"Was it... your mom?"

Avrak beat Aydrien to the response.

"No" Avrak said quickly "The wounds on it didn't match with the dragons she took with her. Anyways, what does matter is that this little guy" Avrak gestured to the deathsong hatchling "no longer has anyone to look after him."

"You mean, no one except for us." Hax piped in.

All faces turned towards him, and the arena was suddenly deathly quiet.

The silence stretched onward for seconds, and then those seconds became a minute, then two. Not one of the riders could think of some kind of response for that, either for or against it, for a long, long while. It was not the idea of simply training another dragon. Based on what they had heard from both Astrid and Valka earlier that day, this dragon was dangerous. Dangerous for Astrid, one of the most experienced riders in the world, to be afraid of. Dangerous enough for Valka, the very first know dragon rider, to consider killing it when it was no more than an egg. Looking at it from that perspective, the smartest thing to do would have been to simply take the hatchling far, far away from anyone it might hurt, and hope that it might survive on its own.

But Aydrien knew, just looking at that tiny little dragon, curled up in Aurora's arms, that he couldn't do that. Perhaps he was simply too ignorant to realize how much of a danger that little deathsong would eventually become, but he couldn't accuse someone of a crime they had not yet committed. No, he could not kill this dragon, directly or otherwise. Which means he was determined to take the chance.

Even if it meant deceiving his mom. And his dad. And his grandmother, and anyone else who might try to judge this little dragon based on what they believe it might do.

"Hax is right. We have to take care of it." Aydrien blurted.

All faces turned towards him.

"Look guys, just hear me out. We're training to be dragon riders. But there is more to what we do than just riding dragons. Our job-our duty-it to help humans and dragons live together. Just because no one has ever trained a deathsong, and just because my mom believes it cannot be done, doesn't mean it isn't possible. Think about it. We have an opportunity to...to make a difference as actual dragon riders. To do what we are being trained to do." Aydrien paused to take a deep breath, then went on.

"I don't care if you guys don't want to help me. All I ask is that you guys don't say anything about this to anyone until we all agree to."

"Oh ya, of course, we won't help you" Avrak put in,"we'll just sit back and let you take all the credit for being the first person to ever train a deathsong." Avrak grinned, "I am in."

"Same here," said Aurora quickly.

And like that, one by one, the other teens agreed, the only one showing any reluctance to the idea was Balder. Aydrien noticed this, but didn;t think anything of it, attributing it to the boys seemingly natural shyness.

"Alright gang." Said Aydrien,"We need some place to take this little guy where no one from Berk is going to track him. Far enough away that no one will run into it, but close enough that we can visit often. And I think I might know just the place."


Nothing.

All day and most of the night of searching, and Astrid hadn't found any trace of the supposed deathsong.

She scoured Berk, flying over every area twice, back and forth for hours and hours. Her search was not necessarily as precise as it could have been, especially since she rode upon Frostfire rather than her own dragon Stormfly. And Frostfire, being a thunderdrum, was not half the tracker Stormfly was.

Unfortunately, it was too dangerous to take any dragon other than a thunderdrum out with this deathsong problem. And so she had found nothing.

The village was quiet now as Astrid walked home, despite the late meeting and the feasting and drinking that followed after. She was out later than she expected, getting carried away in her fruitless search, even long after the sun had set. She only quit when her exhaustion, as the well as the exhaustion of both Frostfire and Salty, forced her to head back home before they ended up falling out fo the sky together. Stubborn as she was, Astrid had almost fallen off Frostfire's back before she actually called it quits.

Apparently, someone had stayed up waiting for her to say good night.

As Astrid approached her home, Stormfly stirred from her pen built to the side of the house. She let out a soft squawk at the sight of her rider, straining to get as close to her rider as she could with the walls of her pen in the way.

Astrid smiled sadly.

"You know, you didn't have to wait for me girl" Astrid said, reaching through the bars of her pen to lay her hand on Stormfly's snout. "You should be getting some sleep."

Stormfly let out a soft growl, and Astrid was able to interpret the meaning easily enough.

"I know. I guess I have no right to tell you to go to sleep when I stay up this late huh?"

Stormfly cocked her head, and her silence was answer enough.

"Ya, I guess I might have overdone it. I'm sorry Stormfly. I just want to get this whole deathsong thing over with. But I promise that if I don;t find anything tomorrow, I'll give the order to let all the dragons out, ok?"

Stormfly warbled, trying to push her snout into Astrid's as best as she could. In truth, the Haddock's dragon stable was not much of a real obstacle to their dragons, especially given the fact that they were made of wood. They were instead more designed to keep people out that keep the dragons in. But Stormfly would stay in those stables, uncomplaining, if Astrid asked it of her, even though she hated it.

And Astrid hated making her do it.

"Oh what the heck" Astrid said, opening the lock on the stable door and tearing inside, pausing only to swing the stable door closed behind herself "I'm sorry you had to be locked in here all day. I just wanted you to be safe. Will you forgive me?"

Stormfly answered with a huge, slobbery dragon kiss to the face.

Astrid just laughed it off, wrapping her arms around the back of her dragons neck a hugging her as close as possible. Astrid could feel Stormfly curling around her, wrapping her long tail protectively around her rider. She could feel the steady heartbeat and warm breath as she leaned back against Stormfly's chest, letting herself relax against her best friends warm scales.

For both of them, it was just like old times. Just being with each other, simply for the sake of enjoying each other's company, something they didn't do nearly enough anymore. Not that they didn't spend time together, it's just that most of their time together was for working. Never just for... fun.

"Am I interrupting something?" came a voice from outside the stable, and Astrid turned to see Hiccup, a grin on his face as he leaned against the window of the stable.

"Yes. It's called girl-time," Said Astrid, tone of false irritation coloring her words. "Please tell me you didn't stay up waiting for me too."

"Well, yes, actually. Just wanted to make sure you got back safe" Hiccup said. Then his grin faded away "And I wanted to know if you found any sign of that deathsong?"

Astrid's smile also started to fade, though it didn't entirely disappear.

"I didn't find anything. I guess I might have overreacted a bit when I first found that egg this morning. If there were a deathsong on Berk, we would have known about it by now." Astrid collected herself with a breath, "Sorry for abandoning you to the meeting by yourself. How was it?"

Hiccup shrugged.

"Same as usual. Nothing ground-shaking, really. You would have hated it." Hiccup explained,"well, the kids are in bed. Are you coming in soon?"

"In a minute." Astrid replied "I actually have one more thi-"

"Mom dealt with the egg already, if that is what you were thinking about" Hiccup interrupted.

Astird's eyes narrowed slighly at that.

"Really? What do you mean when you say "dealt with it?"

Again, Hiccup shrugged.

"All she said was that it was in good hands. Asked me to make sure you weren't too worried about it," Hiccup's smile returned "She asked me to make sure you weren't to worried about it."

"Well then, I will be sure to thank her when I next see her," Astrid said, returning his grin. "You can head back inside, Hiccup. I'll be there in a minute."

"Alright." Hiccup said, turning back towards the house "I saved son dinner for you, if you are hungry. And don't stay out too late."

"Wow, listen to you" Astrid retorted, "your starting to sound like a parent."

Hiccup gave her one last smile before disappearing inside the house.

Astrid leaned back agianst Stormfly one more time, letting her worry and concerns of the day just flow from her in a deep, contented sigh.

"We'll work this all out Stormfly" Astrid said queitly, addressing her dragon but speakign mostly to herself,"We'll work this out."

Little did she know, however, that the Deathsong situation was now out of her hands.


Is it better to learn from your mistake, or to not make the mistake at all?

It is a question I have often asked myself, and others as well, yet I feel no closer to an answer than when I just started asking. There is one thing that I find consistent in the answers I receive. And that is that everyone will say that tey did it the wrong way.

Someone who speaks of a mistake from experience will say it is better if they didn't have the experience. On the other hand, someone who never made the mistake will dwell on it. They probably try to repeat that situation in hopes of intentionally trying to make that mistake, but they will wonder if they had missed something in not having that experience.

Whatever the answer is, I guess I'm jsut more concerned with trying to find out whether or not my choices were mistakes or not.

In case of my latest one, I supposed I will soon find out

-Aydrien Haddock, Rider of the Archipelago


And there we have it. Hope you like it, and I will be getting right onto working on the next chapter

Hopefully, I will talk to you all again soon. See ya!

Review, follow and favorite and as always, have a good one!

Next chapter: Sunlight, Moonlight