Strider smelled the boy long before she could see him. She smiled as she smelled food with him, "Is that Icelandic cod?"
Hiccup nodded, setting the bowl within her reach, "Thought you might like something warm to eat. Its fish stew."
The werewolf's tail was wagging wildly behind her, "Iceland cod, Icelandic cod, do you have any idea how much that stuff is worth back home? It's nearly impossible to get without crossing into Viking waters so the value on this fish is through the roof."
Hiccup nodded as if he had understood what she was talking about and sat down with a bowl of stew for himself, "so I hear my dad came to see you again. How did that work out?"
Strider snatched up the bowl with a devilish smile on her face, ignoring the boy's question entirely, "Icelandic cod, the most delicious fish in all the northern hemisphere, a fish that literally has next to a hundred ways of being devoured, and now…down…the…hatch."
Hiccup grimaced as she picked up a piece of fish with her teeth and chewed it rapidly, her sharp fangs showing as she smacked her lips and gulped down every morsel. She then proceeded to lick broth from her lips and lap at the bowl loudly, her tail waving back and forth in sheer pleasure. He looked down at his own bowl hesitantly.
"Uh, is Icelandic cod really that hard to come by where you're from?" he asked without looking up.
Strider gaged, coughing so violently that Hiccup turned pale, "W-water…"
The boy quickly grabbed for a bottle he had brought with him, handing it to her through the bars, she snatched it up and began gulping so quickly that she could've rivaled Gobber in a drinking contest. She sighed aloud, dropping the now empty bottle and leaning back against the wall.
"Ah, I forgot my throat's too narrow for that sort of thing."
Hiccup sat down again, eyeing her claws a minute, "Yeah well, that's what happens when you eat too fast."
Strider sighed, sniffing, "So…what do you want to talk about this time?"
Hiccup looked at her a little surprised, he had been seeing her in her cell for the past three afternoons straight, always around dinnertime. And each time she had sort of beaten around the bush with their conversations, tried to throw him off only to give him more clues to her past. They had talked mostly about dragons on and off, and of course he was very interested to hear about a dragon she kept mentioning but never continued with, she called it the Guise. It was the only thing he wanted to know the most about and she had yet to oblige.
She stared at him waiting, he hesitated. Was she seriously just going to have a conversation with him? As in talk straight up without any of her riddles and doges?
"Well…I was wondering what kind of place you came from. If you don't mind me asking." He said slowly.
The wolf smiled slightly, "Oh I don't mind."
Hiccup felt his ears prick at this. The wolf tapped the bars of her cell, "Just let me out and I can show you where I'm from. Take a few days, but hey worth a trip right?"
Hiccup sighed heavily, he knew it sounded too good to be true. He changed the conversation, "So I can't help but wonder something."
"Somehow I don't think you ever stop." Strider rolled over on her back, wrapping the blanket around her.
Hiccup ignored that comment and continued, "It's about Feather-storm…"
The wolf sniffed saying nothing.
"…what is she to you?"
The wolf glared at him a moment tapping the bars again, "What's forge work to you?"
Hiccup, remembering their last conversation thought this over. Answer a question with a question, what do the answers have in common? He doubted his question had anything to do with making something amazing out of lumps of metal or how much he enjoyed doing it. After all a dragon and a former rock had nothing to do with each other didn't they?
"I'm not sure where you're getting at." Hiccup ventured, "But I know that Toothless and I will always be there for each other. He's my best friend."
Strider flicked her tail a few times before rolling back to her paws, "Then maybe you'll have some idea if I tell you. you see, I've known that silver dragon ever since she was a fledgling just learning to fly, at her age now that's about ten years ago."
She paused staring at him. Hiccup leaned forward, "And…"
Strider shrugged with a sly smile, "She learned to never go anywhere near where Vikings roam as they are all dragon killers. What do you want me to say?"
"Gee, I don't know, maybe exactly what I ask you?" Hiccup was starting to lose his patience a bit.
The wolf chuckled holding her front paws in the air, "Hey now, easy there. You should know by now how I feel about Vikings right? So why would I tell you everything after only two days?"
Hiccup sighed, "You know, feather-storm learned to trust us after all she had been through, and today she helped us in our dragon training, and…."
"Oh?" Strider's expression suddenly became doubtful, "And what sort of training did you do?"
"Flight tag, one touch of the 'enemy' dragon and you're out. She was amazing you should've seen her…"
"Hiccup?"
Wolf and boy turned to see Mulch walking in with a little wooden pail, behind him was his companion Bucket. The boy stood up so fast he stumbled on his false leg, "Uh, hey guys, w-what are you doing here?"
Mulch held up his load, "We're bringing the monster its lunch."
Bucket nodded holding up a whole roast chicken, "Yeah we got a yummy hen for her and water."
Strider stuck her tongue out, hiding the bowl of stew carefully under her blanket, "Smells awful, did you pluck it before or after you cooked it?"
Bucket looked at it a minute as if trying to remember, "Well…Mulch did you…?"
"Never mind that bucket, she's just trying to play with your head." The stout Viking turned to Hiccup, "And she'll be doing the same to you lad. She's gotten the best of every Viking on the island, your father went home with a headache just hours ago."
Hiccup looked to the wolf, she shrugged, "All I did was ask him how to get out of a cave with no exits and only a mirror and table with him."
She said it so innocently it was hard to imagine that sly smile of hers having crossed her face. Hiccup gave a sigh, "couldn't I stay a little longer, I was just about to find out what she knows about feather-storm."
Mulch patted the boy on the back, "I know you're a smart one you are, but we have to remember she's dangerous, Enough to almost kill you in case you forgot."
"Him, you…couple dozen others," The wolf stated nonchalantly, "oh and let's not forget about that guy in the armory. Bet you call him, shivering Shaun by now."
She laughed to herself for that last part.
"You're not helping your case like that." Hiccup told her.
Mulch gave the lad a tiny pat towards the door, "Go on home now Hiccup, and I promise we won't tell the chief about this, ok?"
***8***
Strider watched as the boy looked back, her eyes met his, he wanted to stay and talk some more. Admitibly she felt the same way, she liked talking to him, Viking or not.
Her heart sank a bit when he finally left. She inwardly berated herself for it, feeling such a thing for a Viking. Good grief!
"All right, See you tomorrow."
He could've been talking to any one of the three in the room, thankfully Mulch and Bucket thought he was talking to them.
"There's a good lad, stick to your dragons and let us handle the monsters." Mulch said proudly, Bucket nodded in agreement, his face fell not long after Hiccup had left.
"Don't we need weapons to deal with monsters?"
Mulch waved the phrase off, "Nonsense bucket, the chief knows what he's doing. Besides, that thing's been in there for this long then its proof there's no way she can break out."
Strider's ear twitched, she lay in the blanket thinking as her dinner was shoved through the bars carefully. Break out, Mimi in dragon training? And hiccup happily sharing tales about it.
She sniffed at her meal absently, her eyes gazed at the metal door again, just three days she had been in here. maybe that was too long.
'you should've seen her…' hiccup had said.
She smiled to herself, muttering, "I can arrange that."
She then turned back to her stew, tail wagging in delight at the taste of Icelandic cod.
The next morning as the sun was barely over the horizon, Hiccup was out on Toothless for their morning flights. Nothing fancy, just the two of them flying as one.
On the ground Stoick watched them dip and tumble through the air as they sped off around the island, a faint smile on his face. No matter how often he saw them fly like that he was always amazed at how they looked like one being, every movement perfectly executed with such grace. On Berk Stoic may be the ruler of the village, but in the air on his dragon, that's where the boy ruled surely.
A groaning yawn caught his attention, he looked to see Feather-storm curled up in her feathery wings next to his own dragon Thornado. Not nearly as close as with toothless he couldn't help noticing.
"Here now what's this?" he strode over to pat the silver white scales gently, "Not going for a morning flight with Toothless today?"
Feather-storm shook her head once and curled back into a ball, closing her eyes to drift back to sleep. Stoick smiled again, glancing back to the pale scar on her wing, almost completely gone. He patted her again and went over to his Thunderum.
"Well if you want to sleep in that's none of my concern, Come on Thornado, we have a little trip to make today so I hope you're ready for some flying."
The blue dragon shook himself off, grunting questioningly to the dragoness. She purred muscly shivering her wings a bit as he stood up to follow his trainer. Stoick shook his head, sometimes he wondered if dragons have conversations like humans do, and what they talked about.
He mounted up into the saddle, calling over his shoulder as he took off, "keep an eye on Hiccup for me would you? he still tends to get himself into trouble."
The silver dragoness flicked her tail at him, Stoick smiled to himself as he turned his dragon towards the sky an out to the northeast.
A roar sounded out as a large green nightmare rushed past, Thornado faltered a little, dragon and rider both startled by its sudden appearance.
Stoick shook his head, shaking it off, "Boy that dragon seems to be in a hurry. No matter, we have things to do and places to be."
Thornado grunted and continued to fly off. His rider however couldn't help but wonder something for a minute, had he been imagining things or did that nightmare have a rider on its back?
"Like I said." He muttered, "no matter. Besides the best place to ride a nightmare is on its head."
AN: Ok so maybe not my best chapter, but hey, I've been having some writers block lately. this isn't the only story I've been working on after all.
please review, tell me what you think. go ahead and let me have it, criticism helps me do better. (bow) thanks for reading.
spoiler alert, Silver and gold wont be separate for long.