Chapitre 30
Trust

Several hours had elapsed since the end of the dragon riders training, though some were still at the Academy. Indeed, Nuffink had not moved and was still keeping company to the Night Lights. As to Birdlegs, she was taking her time to tidy her belongings and make sure she was not forgetting one of her father's books about dragons. She had put the last one in her satchel when she finally noticed her blond friend was staring intently at the entrance.

He had started to pace around, then had search something to keep himself busy. He had been shining the same dagger for the last ten minutes. He was shining it that much he was actually sandpapering the blade.

''Nuffink ? Are you okay ?''

''They're taking too much time, don't you think ?'' He grumbled.

''Igvid and Frost ? Don't worry, they surely are still patching things up. It had been a while since Igvid was uneasy with him.''

'' 'Uneasy' ?'' Nuffink mused.

The young viking was surprised to see how Birdlegs was neutral in all of this, managing to support the couple and Igvid at the same time. She really was a good friend, and someone they can rely on.

''You're really a good person, Birdlegs.''

She looked up at him, blinking owlishly, only to find a smile. She was not used to be praised, as she had always been the shy type, but she accepted the compliment and smiled back.

''If you're that worried, you can still go fetch them.'' She teased.

''I don't know… I don't to interrupt them. i'd really like them to get along, you know.''

Birdlegs' smile grew bigger and fonder.

''I know. Still that doesn't mean you have to wait here for them. I mean, you can meet Frost back at your house, and you should take care of Ruffrunner's paw.''

Hearing the dragon's name, Nuffink quickly looked back at him. Pouncer and Dart were circling him while he was licking the swollen paw. If his sister seemed concerned, Pouncer was clucking teasingly, which was annoying the grumpy one of the family. Both vikings chuckled at this, then Nuffink carefully stroked the youngest's head.

From the moment he had met Frost, Ruffrunner had softened and opened up to other people and dragons, to the extend he was now accepting petting from the blond viking. It warmed up the blond's heart, the merman really made miracles with the grumpy dragon.

''Frost will join us back at the house, okay ?''

The dragon purred at the name he had grown so fond of.

Nuffink wished goodnight to his friend, who waved back, then he left the arena with the three dragons. Dart lend her shoulder so her little brother could lean on it while Pouncer was bouncing around, as if to mock him. For all amusing the scene was, once they left the arena, Birdlegs' smile dropped. She thought back to what Frost had told her, and how guilty he was for having – thought unintentionaly – hurt Nuffink. 'Maybe I do him more bad than good…' That was the words stuck in her head.

At that time, she didn't know what to reply, yet she knew the boy didn't have to worry about this. Because Nuffink was really happy since he had met Frost. The difference was obvious and visible even in his smile that was brighter than ever.

She would have lied saying the misunderstanding with Selina had not hurt the viking, but she also knew Nuffink had live worst with Avock. The viking was tough, and Frost had not meant to hurt him, he had not cheated on him.

She felt a bit guilty for not having saidd that to Frost, but she promised herself she would next time she saw him. She didn't know the boy all that well, but she knew this kind of guilt was not a good thing and could rot someone from the inside, especially someone as sensible as Frost.

Once Nuffink was done with Ruffrunner's bandage, he was kind of prouf of his handiwork. He had learnt a few tips from his grandmother to take care of dragons, and he had to admit Pouncer had more than often needed patch up, mostly after dragon racing and wretles with his siblings. The black and white Night Light seemed also pleased with his bandage, and put back his paw to the ground, nodding once to the viking.

Nuffink smiled and patted his head, before Pouncer growled and nudged him on the back. Nuffink chuckled, understanding his dragon's jealousy, and quickly made amend to him by scratching his chin. The dragon purred and cooned, stomping his hinder paw on the ground repeatedly. This amused even more the viking, though his smile faltered when he noticed it was dark outside. It was still early evening, but during winter night fell in the late afternoon.

Zephyr was back for a while, and she had met their mother outside, who said Hiccup and her had chief duty going on for a few hours more. They were going back home late, that day too. Dart had abandoned her brothers to join her rider in the young woman's room. Yet, Frost was still not back. The blond viking frowned, looking back at the front door. He sat properly against his dragon's side, facing the door, and waited a few minutes like this.

He could feel his throat and chest tightening as time pass by, and found himself playing nervously with his fingers. He didn't know how much time he waited like this, he only knew he has reached the limits of his patience when he stood. Why was Frost that late ?

He opened the door and stared waryly at the street. Some torches were lighting up the path and there were still people outside. It was too early for dinner even if it was so dark one could think it was time to go to bed. If Ruffrunner had not been in the house, Nuffink wouldn't be that anxious, thinking the dragon would be with Frost, but in tthis situation… Frost had been so worried for his dragon before leaving with Igvid that it was impossible he wouldn't have come back straight to Ruffrunner.

Nuffink stared at the different faces coming by, biting the inside of his cheeks, his heart pounding faster with apprehension. Why was he that worried ? Frost was carefree, it was not the first time he was absent, by day or night. He had already done it several time. Actually, Nuffink knew why he was worried, it was because Frost was not with Ruffrunner, unlike the other times. Where could he be, anyway ?

An idea quickly crossed his mind, and the vikin sighed in relief but also felt dumb. Of course ! Where could Frost possibly be ? At the beach ! And he was not alone, he surely was with Baby Tooth !… and Selina ? Just thinking about the girl with strange blond-green hair made the viking frown.

Igvid said she had seen them taking a midnight bath together. Even if Frost has assured him nothing happened, and that he was naked because he was in his merman form, that didn't explain why Igvid said she had seen Selina naked too. Nuffink felt bad to loos his trust in his boyfriend, but he needed to know what happened that night.

When he left the house, the two male Night Lights followed him. He wasn't against Pouncer coming with him, but he didn't want Ruffrunner to wander around with his injury. He tried to scold the dragon and make him stay, but said grumpy huffed and ketp his paw up, not using it to walk. Still he came along. Decidedly, Nuffink couldn't refuse anything to the Night Lights…

So the threesome made their way to the beach the viking couldn't see the same anymore since he had learnt it was kind of a secret garden for Frost. It made it sacred, somehow, hense the viking didn't really dare to go there. But once they arrived, they were met with silence and stillness. Only the sound of waves and locusts could be heard.

Nuffink kept walking and searching, until his eyes fell on a shadow at the end of rock formation that looked like a dock. It had to be Frost, but the viking didn't know why he was so silent. Surely it was because Baby Tooth was not there, strangely. Nuffink felt like there was some tension around his boyfriend. He barely had the time to think about it he was distracted when Ruffrunner rushed pass him and ran to the end of the dock. Only to stop when he reached the sat silhouette. When Nuffink reached them too, he noticed it was not Frost, but Selina.

She seemed as surprised to see him as he was to see her. She stood and brushed some sand from her pants, facing him, then she lowered her head.

''I guess it means Frost won't come anymore.'' She murmured, disappointed.

Nuffink froze. What ? Frost was not there ? And why did Selina seem to take the viking's presence as a bad omen ? Oh… He scolded himself mentally for not thinking about it sooner. Surely she was worried about the boy's fight. Since Igvid had tell the other dragon riders, no doubts the outside girl had heard of it too.

She surely was afraid Nuffink was mad at her and had convinced Frost to not see her anymore… at all.

''I… Actually, I… I trust Frost. He told me you guys were just friends, so I don't see why I would try and stop you to hang out with each other, I…''

He had troubles finishing his sentence. Grante,d he wanted to apologize to Selina, he also wanted to ask her to respect their couple and not try anything with his boyfriend, but it was not really the more pressing problem he was thinking about. The young woman in front of him looked at him hesitantly, feeling both relieved by what he said… and worried about his presence.

''So… That case… What are you doing here ?''

''I was searching for Frost.'' He explained, feeling his anxiousness coming back. ''I thought he would be here, but… visibly he's not.''

''He's not with you ?''

Selina's reaction puzzled the viking, she seemed to have no idea where the boy was, as if he had never come to the beach.

''He didn't went home.'' He admitted, feeling a painful pinch in his chest.

''But… If he's not with you…'' Selina gasped.

Something seemed to click in her head, and her eyes started to dart between the viking, the dragons, and the huge lake. She stayed like this for a moment, fists clenched so hard her knuckles were turning white. She then ran her hands in her hair, trying to steady her quickening breath.

''There must be an explanation.'' She mumbled. ''There's no need to worry. Baby Tooth is not here either, they're probably together. Yeah, probably.''

''Selina… Why are you so worried, all of a sudden ?''

''I-I'm not !''

She gestured wildly and smiled in try and convince him, but he didn't buy it. He caught her wrist and looked at her in the eye.

''You know something.'' He stated, annoyed.

''I know a lot of things.'' She growled back, freeing her hands. ''Doesn't mean it's your business.''

She backed towards the edge of the dock, but Nuffink stopped her once more. This time, he grabbed her arm and gave her a worried and pleading look.

''Look, I know you know for him. I don't know exactly how you found it out… but if he had just told you, it means he trusts you. If you really are his friend and he's in troubles, you have to tell me.''

Selina stared at him for a moment, thoughtful. The anger and annoyment in her eyes had fade away, replaced by some sort of sadness.

''I can tell you really do care about him, perhaps as much as he cares about you, but this has nothing to do with you. This is a mistake I made, so it's up to me to fix it.''

Now Nuffink was confused. He didn't have the slightest idea what she was talking about, though he knew she intentionaly had left the details out. Hesitantly, he let go of her arm and accepted to drop this subject, but not the one still nagging at the back of his mind.

''Selina… What happened exactly, that night ?''

She frowned slightly, then she calmed down and sighed.

''Nothing more than the other times. We just swam, raced each other, played with Baby Tooth and the dragon. Nothing more. It's an important moment for Frost, because he can be himself, and feel honored to share this moment with him.''

Nuffink could understand that. He knew what Selina meant, and he would have lied if saying he was not jealous. He would also have like spend these nights with Frost, if only just to see him in his true form. The boy may was always that eager and joyful on land, he still was a merman, so it was no wonder he would enjoy himself better underwater. The viking could barely imagine how happy Frost was happy to spend these nights with Baby Tooth, in the water…

''I want you to be honest with me.'' The viking insisted. ''Are you in love with Frost ?''

Selina was taken aback by the question, her pale jade eyes growing wide. She averted her gaze and rubbed her upper arm nervously.

''I like him a lot, yes, but saying I have feelings for him… No, not really. I mean, he's stunning and has a really nice personality, we do get along pretty well, but I'd rather say I look up at him.''

She shyly glanced up at the viking, as if trying to see if she had convinced him. He didn't know why, surely this was because this answer reassured him, he wanted to believe her. Selina then smiled sheepishly.

''Either way, even if I loved him, that wouldn't change the fact he had eyes only for you. You should hear how he talks about you, and Baby Tooth is always teasing him about you.''

Nuffink blushed without controlling it. Was Frost really talking that much about him?Now he was curious and wanted to ask her some details, yet he couldn't as she spoke first.

''And when you two got into a fight, he was so low. He thought you didn't want him anymore, and despite that he wanted to stay at Berk to make it up to you.''

A dreamy smile stretched out her pale lips.

''I don't know anyone that genuine with what he feels or think, and I never before did I see such bound like the one you two have. It's really precious, you guys are lucky.''

She smiled even more at the viking, this smile full of wonder and admiration.

''I'm sure Frost will be back soon. Maybe he just needed some fresh air ?''

Nuffink pressed his lips in a thin line, admitting she had a point. After all, he didn't know what Igvid and him had been talking about. Knowing his brunette friend, it must have ended in a fight and Frost needed to recover from his emotions. Still the viking was worried, he wanted to know where his boyfriend was and make sure he was okay.

He said goodbye to Selina and headed back to the village. The mermaid in disguise looked at him and waited for him to be out of sigh to turn back towards the water. She pulled out of her pocket a tiny ice box Frost had made for her. He didn't know much about totems, but they had found out his ice was blocking the totem's magic. So they had worked on this trick so Selina could dive in the water without leaving her totem behind, where it could get lost or stolen.

She swiftly closed the box around her magical shell and dove in. A brief white light envelopped her and gave her back tail and fins, allowing her to search for her friend.

Nuffink an incredible among of time running through the village, but still he couldn't find Frost anywhere. He searched in the places where the boy used to go, then where he happened to go sometimes, and even ended up checking place where Frost had never been. The viking tried to calm down, repeating his boyfriend had just layed somewhere and fell asleep, but where ? Two times he went back home to see if Frost was back, but no. The more he was searching and not finding anything, the more his heart was aching and making it diddicult to breath, and his mind couldn't help but come up with different scenarios.

The third time he went back to the Haddock hutt, he found his sister with their mother, who had just gotten back. The chieftess was adding wood in the fireplace while the younger woman was heading towards the kitchen, but both stopped as they saw Nuffink's face.

''What's wrong ?'' Astrid hesitated.

''Frost's still not back yet ?''

'' 'Yet' ? What do you mean ?''

''I don't know, he…'' Nuffink tried to sooth his shaking voice. ''He's not home, he wasn't at the beach nor at the Academy… I searched the whole village but… Where is he ?''

Astrid shook her head and stood, walking to her son and placing warm and reassuring hands on his shoulders.

''Calm down, son. I'm sur this is nothing to worry about. Knowing him, he has dropped asleep somewhere with Ruffrunner. You know he's still not used to how fast night and day pass here.''

''But Ruffrunner is here !''

He wanted to go back to panic mode, but he remembered he had not seen Baby Tooth at the beach. He surely was worrying for nothing. The beluga was Frost's best friend, far before Selina and even Ruffrunner. If the boy was not with the viking, nor the dragon, nor the outsider girl, he surely was with Baby Tooth.

''Yeah, you're right. I'm overreacting. Baby Tooth was not at the beach, they must be playing together, somewhere. He'll probably be back in the middle of the night or even tomorrow when he'll wake up.''

Astrid smiled and patted his shoulder, relieved to see her son had calmed down. Th young man shook his head to try and clear it, then headed towards the stairs.

''I should get some sleep. Good night.''

He nodded and climbed the stairs instantly, followed by the three Night Lights, Ruffrunner the last behind since he was slowed down by his injured paw.

Astrid and Zephyr glanced at each other, amused, not making any comment on the fact the young man was skipping dinner. Zephyr insisted to cook, assuring her mother she was tired after such a long day of chieftess duties. Of course, the blonde didn't buy it, she knew all too well her cooking skills were not appreciated by her family. Though she didn't complain, that was less work for her.

Once dinner was ready, the two women sat down and started to eat without their boys. Nuffink seemed tired enough to sleep right away, as to Hiccup… Let's just say it was not the first time his duties kept him busy longer than his wife. They could only hope food would still be warm when he was back.

They made use of this mother-and-daughter time and made fun of the family's youngest.

''Nuffink's way too worried.'' Zephyr snickered. ''Reminds me of Gorth at the beginning of our relationship, he was always on my back, worried something could happen to me.''

''Your father was too, you know.'' Astrid chuckled.

Zephyr laughed too, then took another bite of her yak steak.

''Still we should talk to Frost about his outings. If he would warn us he is leaving, that would prevent this kind of situations.''

''They're still young.'' Astrid added. ''They still have a lot to learn.''

Zephyr smiled and nodded, she was going to tease them both about it.