Enjoy!

Two

"I just don't get it mom," Hiccup sighs, resting his cheek on his hand as he adds a few finishing touches to the lines on his picture of the Light Fury "Things were fine until we get to Berk. Runa was...," his eyes go to the picture he drew of the female rider, she's smiling and her hair looks like it's been blown away from her face "She was fun and interesting and even while we were flying, we were able to talk. She knows so much about dragons, all kinds, not just Furies." Valka glances to Cloudjumper, who is hovering around her, blinking owlishly at Hiccup and the brunette woman smiles. Ever since he got back from Stoick's talk with him, all he's done is regale her with tales about this Runa girl and her white Fury. She slinks from her seat and peeks over his shoulder, looking over the pictures of the dragon. Her boy is so talented, he's managed to capture even the most minute details in the image. Normally, when he's rushing, while the pictures are still better then anything the other viking's make, they are messy, but when he sits down and takes his time... the results are amazing. Hiccup glances over his shoulder to see his mother looking over the pictures of Mistwing "Have you ever seen a Light Fury before."

"No," she admits, sitting down in the chair next to him, tilting her head, long brown locks falling down over her shoulder, as she takes a moment to scan the most detailed of the pictures "But I think I've heard of them before," Hiccup's eyes brighten and Valka chuckles to herself, knowing he's going to want to know who from and what she's heard without him needing to voice it "It was from a few Wingmaidens. I had only met then a short time before they told me this story. They mentioned beautiful dragons that could disappear in an instant. Few humans ever got to see one up close as they are very timid and cautious around us, with good reason. After Night Furies were believed to be wiped out, many dragon hunters started going after their white counterparts. It lead to an innate distrust of people."

"Yeah, as soon as we got to Berk, Mistwing was visibly uncomfortable, plus there's the whole pinning Snotlout snarling thing she did," he resists the urge to smile at the memory, it's always fun to see the stuck up viking get taken down a peg or two "But the Wingmaidens I met didn't mention them, not once." Valka smiles and places a hand on his shoulder.

"Well it could be that they themselves didn't know. As I said, this was quite some time ago and only a few of the Wingmaidens I knew, knew the stories of Light Furies. They're so elusive that many people have forgotten they exist. You're lucky you have such keen eyes and that drive to adventure like you do. Otherwise you wouldn't have ever met Runa and Mistwing."

"Yeah. Though it's also because Toothless was willing to fly into the fog bank," Valka's eyes widen at the mention of fog, but Hiccup doesn't notice and carried on "I can't imagine many dragons, even one's with riders would be willing to go in," he glances up and takes in his mother's expression "Mom. What's wrong?"

"Fog bank? Was it like a thick wall that seemed to reach high into the sky?" Hiccup frowns a little but nods, considering the fog only ended when the two Furies flew up above the clouds, that seems like an accurate description "And when you went into it, did Toothless seem to get easily turned around?"

"I mean we were following Mistwing's Plasma blasts the first time but the second, yeah, no matter where we looked, it all pretty much looked the same. It's weird. I've flown in fog before but it was nothing like this."

"There is another story the Wingmaidens told me. It was about a place they called the Isle of Mists. Supposedly there's an island just outside the edge of the maps of the archipelago and the surrounding islands. It's shrouded in a thick mist that even dragons, if they don't come from the island, struggle to navigate it. The only way to safely make it through it to be guided by one of the native dragons that call it home. The Wingmaidens told me in warning. Apparently all kinds of vessels that tried to enter the mists would either disappear forever or would come out barely more then wrecks, the crew having been lost in the fog for weeks before finding their way back out," Valka's eyes are slightly distant as she tells the tale, all the while Hiccup has put down his charcoal pencil and is leaning forward in his seat, eyes lit with interest "To be truthful, even with Cloudjumper, I've never ventured into the mists. Something about them made me... uneasy, like something inside me was warning me that I didn't belong there." Cloudjumper croons as he moves forward to wrap around his human, his eyes sharing a similar look, clearly Valka wasn't the only one to feel that way. Hiccup frowns. He didn't experience anything like that when he was at the edge of the fog. All he felt was excitement and hope, though mainly because at the time he thought it might have been another Night Fury. Not that Mistwing was a disappointment. Far from it.

"Look it's late. Maybe in the morning, you could talk to Eret. Maybe he knows something," Valka suggests, ruffling her son's hair as she stands "Right now, I have to go and see if I can calm Stoick down from another of his tirades." Hiccup rolls his eyes a little but nods. It's done Berk a lot of good, Valka returning. After Stoick recovered from his nearly fatal injuries, he returned to full form, shouting and being his typical unreasonable self. His wife is still pretty much the only person who can talk sense into the ornery viking.

"Isle of Mists?" Eret asks with a raised brow as he works toward unloading his boat "Yeah I've heard of it. Never really believed it, thought it was you know, a fairy tale. But you say Valka's been told it too," he's quiet as he takes a moment to stroke his chin "My father told me when I was a lad. Said the dragons that lived there were different then most. They weren't scared or even wary of people, and that made then dangerous because they knew how we act and what to expect. Made them seem smarter. Could just be that the dragons there got more experience with humans so they're use to dealing with us. Any hunter that's gone looking for prey there's either wound up lost at sea, or when they come back they come back a shell of who they use to be," he shudders a little at the thought "From what my old man told me, it ain't a pretty sight. Bottom line is, despite how close it actually is, don't go there. Bad news," his things unpacked, he jumps from his boat and starts walking off, before he glances over his shoulder at the future chief "Why you asking about this anyway?"

"I'm just curious is all," Hiccup defends lamely, something that Eret doesn't buy for a minute.

"Right. This got anything to do about this pretty white dragon and it's even prettier rider?"

"Well Runa was real secretive about where she came from and sure I'd like to know more about Light Furies and from the things my mum way saying, I'd guess there's a reasonable chance this Misty Island or whatever it's called could be the home of Light Furies, so yeah, I want to know more about it." Eret chuckles a little to himself, making Hiccup frown at him, thinking the older man is mocking him. He kind of it, though not for the reason Hiccup expects.

"Notice you didn't deny that this Runa was pretty. You should be careful. Girl like Astrid won't take to kindly to a blokes wondering eye."

"Shut up," he retorts, throwing something at him, unfortunately the former dragon hunter's reflexes are better then his and he catches the fish before it hits him "Look it's got nothing to do with whether I find Runa attractive or not," Eret smirks and opens his mouth so Hiccup talks over him "Fine okay, yes I think she's very beautiful, but it's really not important. I'm looking into this because I want to find answers for Toothless. Runa herself said Night Furies and Light Furies were related. And this is the closest I've ever come to a lead on finding more dragons like Toothless. You can't deny, the guy's dying to spend time with his own kind." Toothless is sat a little ways, still in Hiccup's line of sight, but he's starting at his reflection in the water, quiet, which isn't really normal for that dragon.

"Aye lad. I understand. Don't mind the ribbing, it's all in good fun," Eret smiles warmly, in his time on Berk, he has grown found of the younger man "Look that's really all I know about the Isle of Mists. There's only so much you can learn about a place without ever going there and those stories are enough to keep any of the sane dragon hunters away from that place. I'm sorry I couldn't be more help. Is there really nothing in any of those tomes you and Fishlegs are constantly looking over?"

"Nothing," Hiccup sighs "Makes sense since a lot of those books were written by past members of the tribe and they'd never ventured out that far. So of course there's no mention of a mysterious island just outside the archipelago," he the pauses and glances to the horizon, towards the direction where he met Runa, though he can't see the mists from here "You're right. If I want to find answers about that place, I'll have to go there." Eret's eyes widen and his jaw drops for a moment before he composes himself.

"Um Hiccup... didn't you hear what I just said?"

"Yeah, you said that hunters never went there. Last I checked I'm about as far from a dragon hunter as a person can get," he offers a grin that has Eret rolling his eyes and muttering about him being insane before the older man sighs and says "Hiccup. If you go, I'm not covering for you. I mean it. The second someone asks, I'm telling them."

"Will you at least give me a head start?" the brunette calls to his dragon and quickly slips into the saddle, Toothless bounding off as his rider waves back to the burly man waiting at the docks. Eret can't help but laugh a little to himself as he returns the action. That boy is going to get himself killed, or at least he would if he didn't have that dragon there to keep him safe. And with no one around him right now, who is he going to tell anyway?

"Okay bud, let's go in, nice and easy," Hiccup instructs Toothless as he hovers before the wall of mists. The dragon croons a little, looking up at his rider before he makes a determined huff and seems to nod, stealing himself before diving into the low clouds. Hiccup presses low again Toothless' back, his eyes narrowing as he attempts to peer through the fog. Thor, it's even thicker then the smoke produced by the Smothering Smokebreath. How was Mistwing able to fly in this so easily. Then again his mum did say that native dragons were the only ones that knew their way through the fog.

His isn't sure how long they've been flying and despite not consciously turning around at any point, he can't help but feel like they're flying in circles. It's hard to tell, everything looks the same and he can barely see past Toothless' nose. The dragon isn't having any easier a time of it either. He lets out a small, confused whine as he looks around, unsure of what he's doing. He can't even see the ocean water he knows is beneath him. Can't even smell it. It's disorientating. He's tempted to turn back even without Hiccup's say so, just so he can go back to somewhere he can get his bearing... if turning back would even lead back out over the ocean since he doesn't even know if he's still moving in a straight line.

A white wing cuts through the fog and Hiccup looks up to see Runa and Mistwing, the former with her hood back down as she throws him a concerned looked. Mistwing flies in close to the black counterparts side and nudges him to the side, using her body as a guide as the two fly pressed against each other. Much quicker then Hiccup thinks they should, they break through back out into the open air. Toothless whines again, shaking his head to try and clear from of the disorientation still rattling his brain while Mistwing croons, nuzzling into the size of his face to try and sooth him. It seems to work and he is quickly able to return the gesture. Seeing the black dragon in a better state, Runa directs Mistwing to fly to an outcrop of stone pillars, where the two dragon are able to land and Toothless can rest for a moment, though neither rider dismounts.

"Hiccup that was stupid. What were you think taking Toothless into that!"

"You don't seem to have any problem flying in it," he remarks, giving her a pointed look, however she's obviously to worried about the dragon as she responds quickly with "That's different Mistwing and I know the mists we fly through them all the time but that's only because we live-" she catches herself and snaps her mouth shut, looking down at her hands before she sighs heavily, looking back up to the viking.

"The Isle of Mists, that's where you two are from. Isn't it?"

"How do you know about that?"

"My mum's friends with Wingmaiden, they told her stories, plus the islands something of a dragon hunter ghost story according to Eret," Runa chuckles at that, nodding.

"Yeah it would be. Teach those jerks to come trying to harm our dragons."

"So it is where you live? And where the Light Furies live?"

"A lot of 'em. But why so many questions? And if you've heard all these stories why would you still attempt to fly in the mists when you know there's no way Toothless would be able to make it through on his own? You risked your dragon's safety Hiccup. If you'd gotten too lost or you didn't turn round and fly out at the proper angle he could have gotten to tired to keep flying and with nowhere to land the two of you would have ended up in the ocean," she sighs and shakes her head "Hiccup you know I fly around here. If you had your suspicions that I'm from the Isle of Mists, you could have just fired off some plasma blasts into the mists, I would have seen them or the sentry dragons would have and they'd have alerted us."

"I... didn't think about that actually. And you're right, I didn't put Toothless at risk but I did this for him. Runa on Berk we have all kinds of dragon, we've got Monstrous Nightmares, Zipplebacks, Terrors, Nadders," he tries not to frown when he sees both her and her dragon shudder at that last one "And so many others that I honestly don't think I have time to list them all. But Toothless is the only Fury on all Berk. I though if your island was home to Light Furies, while not exactly the same as him, being around them could help him. And maybe we'd find some answers there on if there was any chance that more Night Furies were left." Runa is quiet so what feels like a long time but probably really isn't. She looks down at her dragon who churps at her before she nods with a sigh.

"Okay," Hiccup frowns, tilting his head a little to look at her.

"Okay?"

"Okay I'll take you through the mists. If Toothless ready to fly again?" the rider doesn't even need to answer as Toothless let's out an energetic bark and bounces a little "Right, let's go," she smiles and shakes her head "I just know I'm going to get in so much trouble for this but you're right. Toothless deserves to meet other Furies. Let's go Mistwing." Both dragons take flight again and Mistwing stays pressed up close to Toothless, their wings slightly overlapping as they dive back into the mists. This time Toothless can't get lost, Mistwing is too close for him to. She constantly nudges and corrects his path but it seems to be to keep them on the right path. It still takes a short while but they do it, they break through the mists on the other side and it's... not what Hiccup was expecting. They're barely out of the wall of fog when seemingly out of nowhere a Death Song of all things flies past them, nearly knocking into them if Mistwing hadn't bumped Toothless back a bit. Hiccup looks over the revealed landscape slightly slack jawed. Even from here he can see so many different dragons, Hobblegrunts, Changewings and even a couple of Razorwhipes to name a few. There even looks to be a few young Speed Stingers playing on a beach with the older ones watching carefully. And all around with the dragons, there a people, unafraid and perfectly at ease with the dragons. A couple are even playing on a Changewing that is laying happily in the sun, letting the little ones climb all over it. And in the distance he can clearly make out a settlement. While he can't make out details, it all looks to be made of some light wooden material.

"Here we are. The Isle of Mists. Or as we all call it, Mistvale."