The sky-fire rolled into the sea, the world quickly darkening and the sky-sparks igniting above, glistening with their cold light. Below, the sea wavered and shimmered, white-capped waves as far as could be seen in every direction, the water dulling with occasional stiff winds that blew over it.

Dreamer did not feel the same as he had when leaving Berk to find the ice nest. Wanderer looked different too, nose eagerly set to the wind and eyes staring ahead, his flying smooth, fast, and silent. There was no desire to play, to race between the sky and the sea, to chase each other through the clouds.

It was a quiet, solemn flight. They did not intend to return. The horizon beckoned, vast and unknowable, and they were focused on reaching their destination even though they didn't yet know what it was.

They flew, and the sky-sparks drifted slowly through the sky above. The Archipelago was behind them, and there was nothing but sea in every direction, which Dreamer found a lot more daunting when he had no idea what he was flying into; he wished he'd bothered to glance at a map to the South at some point in his life, but he couldn't recall ever doing so.

The nights were beginning to weaken with the summer, but he and Wanderer were still not entirely recovered, so the sight of the warming sky was something of a relief. Just as long as they found land soon, which took shape off to the side shortly after the first rays of light touched the water below.

He angled towards it without prompting, Wanderer following his lead, and they made short work of the distance… to discover the island was inhabited, a large, cramped village of Long-Paws just beginning to wake up.

This was… less than ideal. Without riders, they would not easily be able to communicate, and it would probably be best to avoid them altogether…

But there was a swathe of trees at the top of the island, forming a tidy ring most of the way around a massive rectangular building with three stories and lots of windows. The building was not of as much interest as the inviting shade of the forest, which would suffice for a rest; there was nothing else as far as they could see.

"We should eat," Dreamer suggested, and Wanderer chuffed before diving. Hot on his tail, Dreamer similarly slowed himself before reaching the water, but then tackled the other Nightstriker into the choppy waves. Roaring and spluttering, they wrestled and swatted at each other to work off the boredom of the long flight.

Once they had both had their fill of play, Wanderer snorted at him with a spray of seawater. "Now you scare fish," he growled.

"Now you not grumpy," Dreamer churred back teasingly, and Wanderer swatted at him again before ducking under and throwing himself back into the air. Dreamer followed him up, and they drifted apart a little to look for fish in the dawn.

All the fishermen knew that early morning was the best time for fish, and there were many around, his dragon eyes easily piercing the surface of the water. As he dove into a school of them to snatch a few up, he relished once again in his independence, in eviscerating live prey with his sharp teeth, almost groaning with the bliss of fulfilling that driving instinct.

The school darted back towards him, fleeing Wanderer, and he managed to snag another. Its tail thrashed furiously, rocking his head, while it tried to escape – until he kicked up to breach the surface, and bit down. The crisp, sharp taste of fish once again filled his mouth, replacing that of strong salt from the water, and he purred after the second half slid down his throat, letting himself drift on his back in the waves.

It had been over a month since he'd fished for himself, back at the ice nest. That seemed so long ago now, so much had happened… as always seemed to be the way with his life. But he didn't regret the experiences. Compared to all that, striking out on their own seemed laughably easy, and lounging around on some remote mountain sounded wonderful…

Falling asleep in the sea wouldn't be very productive, so he reluctantly dipped backwards under the water and kicked up out of it, closely followed by Wanderer. Realising his fire was usable again, he then fired ahead of himself; he could easily make out the village in the distance, but they were still well out of sight themselves. The water almost instantly dried from his scales in the hot air as he flew through it, the warmth a wonderful comfort to his aching body. Wanderer fired his own shot and was similarly dry as they angled for their approach on the island, flying low and working their wings for speed.

As they rounded it, a few residences became evident at the back of it, behind the forest. Wrrr, there was a fairly good likelihood of being spotted, but it wasn't a small forest. At worst they'd get some rest before simply flying away. These weren't dragon hunters, they were likely just simple people living a simple life; it was a huge relief to drop all that paranoia and excessive caution, and just take things at face value.

Flying at speed, they reached the island in no time at all and pulled up over the cliff. Anyone who happened to be looking up would have seen two large shadows flit overhead, cutting silently through the air, but even if an alarm was raised it would take time to respond. Still, they loped through rough branches to a halt in the shade, listening, but no bell rang, no horn blew.

Dreamer huffed, swept his tail over the dirt ground, and looked about. The trees here were not as smooth as he was used to seeing, the bark so wrinkled that it looked more like someone had clawed it up. A number of branches grew very close to the ground, forcing him to step over as many as he had to duck under as he wandered further in, and had thin needles for leaves a bit like pine trees except very long and soft. They tickled his scales where they brushed against him, feeling more like grass than trees, aside from the scratchy branches.

"This look good." Wanderer then yawned, his teeth sliding out and his tongue curling, then lay down and roughly rolled in the dirt.

Cleaning the salt off was a good idea – it always felt a little uncomfortable when dried on as it was, particularly if left a while – but Dreamer first nosed around a little bit, looking for paths. Scarcely a rabbit trail to be found, but he was more interested in where humans might come through…

But the trees obscured everything from more than a few paces anyway, and they were Nightstrikers in the shade. He yawned widely himself, then returned to his friend and joined in the half-hearted rolling around. He would have preferred grass to roll in, but he made do with what he had.

Wanderer rolled upright and nudged one of Dreamer's forelegs. "I will watch," he chuffed. "You sleep. Not worry."

Dreamer purred gratefully, stretching out on his back… then lashed out at the branch tickling his belly to snap it off. That was… not…

Gentle rustling and the twittering of small birds roused Dreamer, and he cracked an eye to find the sky-fire well into the sky, tiny sparkles of bright light filtering through the trees as they swayed in the breeze. He purred, feeling well-rested but lethargic, and stretched to find Wanderer by his side and the scratchy trunk of a tree by his tail.

"You can sleep," he murmured, further stretching his back and paws, pushing them to their limits, flexing his wings, and then letting everything fall blissfully limp.

He was licked across the face, and then he felt Wanderer settle down next to him, preparing to sleep himself. Dreamer hadn't at all expected to sleep, not properly, not in an unfamiliar and potentially hostile place.

But then again, he did not feel threatened. Not in the slightest, not even potentially. Wanderer would have easily sent even the largest wolf running with its tail between its legs, and the humans clearly didn't navigate this forest often, or at least this part of it. There were scents of the village on the wind, that of smoke, livestock, and Long-Paws themselves, but it was all faint, wafting in on the breeze. The forest smelled of birds, and next to nothing else.

His presence here would frighten people, potentially scare them into doing something stupid. There was no way to communicate with them, not unless they stopped and gave him time to write or allowed him to direct them to something he had written. A barrier existed between him and them, one that would be arduous to overcome.

Oddly enough, he found he didn't mind that. As much as he would have been fine with offering to catch a few fish or use his fire in some way in exchange for a hot meal and shelter, that was more for their benefit than anything. He was perfectly happy here, lying on his back in the dirt under a tree, listening to the light hum of the trees swaying in the wind and Wanderer snoring quietly beside him.

Long ago, he had held dreams of uniting people and dragons. He had completely succeeded in that endeavour with Berk, that tribe was now everything he had hoped for. It was not peace everywhere, as he wanted… but he was so very tired of it. Progress was hard-fought and slow, and half the time had involved just murdering the one pushing back… Actually, come to think of it, Dagur and Viggo were the only exceptions to that in his long list of adversaries. Drago, Krogan, Alvin, Mildew, all people who had died for their hatred and greed.

Wrrr, he wasn't about to get bogged down in such thoughts. What he had accomplished with Berk was satisfying, and their influence would naturally spread. He could accept that as a victory.

The afternoon wore on while he lazed, relishing in the act of just doing nothing. He couldn't even remember the last time he'd had no responsibility; even back at the ice nest there had been some pressure to get to know his dam, and… he was sure there was something else he was supposed to be doing there, but it was slipping his mind. It was irrelevant, in any case. He needed nothing, and he needed to do nothing.

That only left what he wanted to do, which was… to fly south, he supposed. Find a female for Wanderer, figure himself out. But mostly he was just following Wanderer's lead on that, so he did not need to do anything other than be there for it and just go where those winds took him.

The wind had died off and the sky-fire was close to setting when sounds pricked Dreamer's ears. He wasn't asleep, but he had successfully lay around all afternoon doing absolutely nothing, just lying there with his eyes closed or watching the light drift across the sky. It had been wonderful.

But now, there were humans crashing through the trees, seemingly making as much noise as possible and talking loudly. Wanderer did not stir, and likely would not unless Dreamer gave him cause to; he had implicitly trusted Wanderer to watch over him while he slept, it worked the other way too. In any case, it was unlikely they would be stumbled upon by the Long-Paws, the forest was dense and they were obscured by the shade.

Devoid of much else to do, he focused on the voices, trying to ignore the sounds of them hacking and breaking through these strange trees.

"...boring, there's nothing here," one said in a low complaint.

"There's something here," a more determined voice replied firmly. This went back and forth several times, different words saying the same things. As best Dreamer could make out, there were four voices, two sounding bored, one confident. The way they spoke was interesting, the words not as smooth as he was used to and with more emphasis on vowels.

"We wouldn't have been told to stay away if there wasn't," a fourth voice added neutrally, a notable distance from the others.

"Yeah," the firm, arrogant one agreed.

Wrrr, it appeared someone had seen him and Wanderer that morning, and wisely made the forest off-limits. So now these idiot kids were looking for adventure… and their deaths, at this rate. At least when he had roamed the forest as a Long-Paw, he had been… perhaps not more cautious, but with better expectations of what he might find, and to be fair to him he'd had a lot of experience running from dragons.

He almost dismissed them entirely, but those noises were approaching steadily. The forest was long, but not all that deep, so it wasn't all that unlikely he and Wanderer would be discovered. They needed dealing with somehow. Dreamer yawned widely and carefully rolled to his paws so as to not make much sound or disturb Wanderer; his ear flicked, but his breathing remained steady.

Just ward off a few kids. He was hilariously overqualified for this, there were almost too many ways to approach it. It was tempting to teach them a lesson on ignoring warnings, but he just couldn't be bothered. He had no stake in their intelligence, no reason to invest any more than the bare minimum of effort.

Slowly, with careful placement of his paws, Dreamer slinked through the trees, putting distance to his sleeping friend; hopefully this could be resolved without too much noise. Several body-lengths away seemed sufficient, where he settled onto his chest. Relaxed, unbothered, but ready to act in an instant.

He wasn't quite as relaxed as he appeared – he had a lot of bad memories around Long-Paws – but he waited patiently for them to find him, ignoring their meaningless chatter and banter. They were doing something stupid and interrupting his peace, and were lucky that his laziness currently outweighed his spite.

His hide may blend into shadows, but that didn't really count when he made a big obviously shaped silhouette in a reasonably lit forest, so the first kid noticed him shortly after he gained sight of them. More an older teenager, really, he had a tall face, short curly black hair, a hunting knife stained with tree sap, and simple but tidy clothes that made Dreamer think this village wasn't doing too badly for itself. They stared at each other, somewhat disgruntled narrowed eyes meeting wide and regretful ones.

"Can we go yet?" one of the bored ones asked. "The Hel you staring at?" The second teenager to learn regret blundered through the trees, this one quite overweight with finely trimmed clothes and orange hair. "Dragon!" he shouted immediately upon spotting Dreamer, voice cracking into a high note, then spun and tried to just shove his way through the branches; clearly, he lacked the survival instinct of the first. He was slow and loud, but disappeared from sight again fairly quickly.

Dreamer's gaze went to the hunting knife, and the white knuckles inexpertly gripping it. Any sort of fight would be hilariously one-sided, but it was good to see the idiot start to slowly back away. The others in the forest were also now hurrying further away, alerted by the shout.

Keeping his annoyed glare on the teen, Dreamer calmly rose to his paws and turned to disappear back into the trees. He and Wanderer would be long gone by the time anyone could do anything about it, if these kids even told anyone when they got back. Though he stayed just out of sight to listen and confirm that they were all moving in the opposite direction now.

He returned to find Wanderer lying on his side, purring deeply and looking marginally alert. "I not wanted wake you," Dreamer grumbled, slipping over the last branch and into the little patch they had claimed for the day.

"I had good sleep," Wanderer murred, stretching out on his back before rolling upright. "We should keep flying." His tail swayed eagerly, wings twitched restlessly.

"Yes," Dreamer agreed with a chuff, stepping up to affectionately butt heads-

He discreetly turned away to gag at the scent that hit him. We have got to find you a female… Stupid sensitive nose… At least Wanderer never seemed to… do that… in front of anyone. Which was the first sign of modesty he had ever shown, come to think of it, but it was appreciated nonetheless.

Without further delay, they wove their way through the branches to leap into the evening sky and cross the short stretch of sloped land towards the sea. To resume their journey… after catching some fish, once they were a way out from shore.

No sharp arrows followed them, no schemes or plots sprung to trap them, no surprises jumped out to fall on them. That was exactly what Dreamer had expected, but it was weird that it had actually worked out that way. It felt as if nothing ever worked out that way, even if that was how it should work.

After the quick distraction of filling his belly, Dreamer fired ahead to dry himself off again, then purred as he adjusted his legs against his body, getting comfortable for another long and efficient flight through the night. He was perfectly fine with the most complicated thing in his life being some awkward scents.

A pawful of coarse leaves lightly scratched over Wanderer's face as he crept under them, stalking his prey in the evening light. It was ignorant for now, but wary. His breaths were calm, his life-beats slow, claws gripping the soft ground.

The first light of their journey had been on a small-land shared with Long-Paws, but this small-land was even smaller than most and featured a dense forest and tall cliffs, so they had been able to sleep together in a warm, comfortable tangle. Long flights were something to be undertaken at night, and there was still some time before the sky-fire quenched. Time to be spent playing and hunting.

His prey was rested, alert, aware it was probably being hunted, eyes sharp and ears keen. Wanderer could not trust his scales to hide him, not with this prey, could not expect to outrun it, or even maybe outfight it. But this would not be fun if it was not difficult.

Dreamer paused in his slow walk, ears twitching and wavering, head turning to look around. Wanderer peered at him through the leaves of the rough bush he was under, trusting them to hide his eyes. Dreamer's gaze passed right over him, and then he rumbled quietly and carried on walking.

Wanderer slowly placed a paw, edging forwards – and froze, thankfully having been too slow as Dreamer turned to look behind himself. Again, that gaze passed right over his hiding place, and then he was creeping forwards again.

Hunting actual prey was now only as difficult as he made it. But he had no idea how Dreamer would react on this particular hunt. Would he run? Fly? Turn and fight? Wanderer had to be ready for anything, an exhilarating game, but he kept his breaths and life-beats steady.

He wanted to see how close he could get. Dreamer was not attempting to be quiet, but his pawsteps were irregular, making it difficult to match them. He was expecting Wanderer to be lying in wait ahead, not to have doubled back to sneak up behind him, but he was cautious nonetheless. Still, he was not being overly quick either, and Wanderer was quiet, seeing where his paws would land in the grass to make the least sound.

Two body-lengths between them narrowed down to one. Any moment, Dreamer would turn and see his pursuer. Wanderer kept a careful eye on him, the long tail in front of him and its folded fins brushing through the grass. Were this a real hunt he would lunge for it now, trusting the scant head start to close the distance, but that was not the game he was playing…

Dreamer bolted without warning, and Wanderer lunged after him. He had been crouching already, while Dreamer had been standing, but Dreamer was fast. He had never caught up in growing, never bulked out or up as much, but his lighter body and powerful legs still kept him just out of Wanderer's reach, darting between these thick trees.

An eager snarl tore through his teeth as he doggedly pursued, body jolting from side to side as he leapt around obstacles, tail and wings twitching to avoid things and put him in just the right places. Regular prey was not nearly so slippery, but Dreamer was not regular prey.

But this light, he was prey, and he realised this the moment he took a turn and discovered his path was blocked by a thick tangle of leafy vines. In a real hunt he would have attempted to blast through, but this was only play, so he instead had to leap off to one side-

Wanderer cut him off and ruthlessly tackled him, wrapping paws around his torso and rolling with him. Dreamer almost managed to stop the roll early in a counter-pin, but Wanderer grabbed his scruff in his teeth in the last moment and heaved him over, driving him into the ground against the vines. He was quick to get out of the way of any slashing claws or biting teeth, systematically working on keeping his Dreamer pinned.

Dreamer could not get his chest off the ground – but he did something unexpected, throwing his hindquarters into the air and tucking his head to roll onto his back, using the vines to leverage himself over. Wanderer was taken with him, yelping in surprise as he was partially rolled over himself.

But there was a reason he hadn't expected it. He pulled himself free to pounce again, quicker than Dreamer could right himself, and then Dreamer was shrieking and writhing with his hindlegs pinned and blocked while Wanderer lightly bit at his exposed belly.

He only wanted to punish him a little for the stupid move, so he soon relented and took up his original goal. They hadn't fought to groom each other for a long time, but there was something satisfying about taking down his Dreamer in a hunt and then properly cleaning him. Although they were already well placed for it, he avoided his belly for the moment to instead work around his forelegs, finding little patches of salt from when they had fished upon waking.

Dreamer's desperate panting gradually softened into relaxed purring, a pleasant accompaniment to the quiet lull of the forest. Wanderer was sure to be thorough too, they needed to look their best now that they were going to be looking…

Something long overdue. Females… Dreamer's scent was most thoroughly male, but he tasted of Nightstriker, and he was lithe and sleek… It was not difficult to imagine.

There was some time yet before that would happen for real. They still had to get there, and then actually start looking… Wrr, they would fly those winds when they came. It was unlikely they would find females before the next cold-season, and maybe not even by the following cold-season. That would be unpleasant… but they'd get through it. They had been through worse together.

Dreamer purred even louder as he stretched, flexing his claws up into the air, before curling his forelegs to his chest. "We need leave soon," Wanderer reminded him, lightly touching him with a paw.

"Soon," Dreamer purred. "Not now…"

Wanderer held his head over Dreamer's belly, loudly unsheathed his teeth, then laughed as Dreamer rolled onto his side with a yelp. He then cleaned off Dreamer's shoulders and the back of his neck, but here he did not bother being too thorough; he would do that next time, as they would most likely be going fishing again anyway.

"I said we go soon," Dreamer growled as he rolled to his paws, then walked around to put a paw over Wanderer's back.

"Soon," Wanderer purred, sinking into the grass as itchy patches of salt were cleaned away from around his back-spines. Or maybe later… This was pleasant, and they weren't in that much of a hurry.

The further they travelled, stopping only when they found water or to sleep when the sky-fire kindled, the longer the nights became. The hot-seasons so far north were not so hot, but the sky-fire remained in the sky for a ridiculous amount of time.

Even still, Wanderer was somewhat surprised when he half-awoke and opened an eye just a crack to see the sky-fire well on its way to the horizon; he hadn't slept that long, his weariness still pulled at him, beckoning him to sleep. The light was gloriously warm and relaxing, as was Dreamer, snuggled up to his side.

Another Long-Paw nest marred the sea nearby, but they were on the top of a tall rock protruding from the water, and there was absolutely nothing to share it with them, not even a blade of grass. No danger would reach them here. Purring contentedly, he stretched out his tail-fins and a wing to better soak in the warmth, finding the rock lovely and warm as well. Not just lacking cold, as he was used to with rocks warmed in the sky-fire, but actually warm.

Some time later, he roused more thoroughly, the deeper light of the sinking sky-fire shining into one side of his heavily lidded eyes. That light wasn't as warm now, Dreamer had risen, and the wind was cold, but the rock was still fairly warm… He curled up a little, stretching his leg appreciatively as Dreamer licked it, and just enjoyed a slow wake-up.

Though, in curling up, he trapped a distinct scent that had been blowing away on the wind, and partially opened an eye. Dreamer was shooting furtive glances at him, both apologetic and challenging, daring him to say something.

Not the first time that had happened, and probably not the last. Wanderer closed his eyes again, purring at the attention. He didn't know how Dreamer could stand having that need all the time; he hadn't ever dealt with it, as far as Wanderer knew, and didn't seem to intend to.

Wanderer gave him a light croon to put him at ease as the licking ceased. "That not happen if-"

A scrape of claws on rock and a single flap of wings announced Dreamer's sudden departure. Wanderer sighed. He wasn't affected by it, so Dreamer could do whatever he wanted; he was only torturing himself. It certainly seemed as if he wouldn't appreciate trying to talk about it, and he definitely didn't want help.

Perhaps, a lifetime ago, Wanderer might have been more brazen… but since his time in the warm-nest, sharing it with many other types of wing-hunters, he had come to appreciate an element of discretion. He had all too much experience with unwanted advances, and while it had been flattering to start with, it quickly became tiresome and then aggravating. He wasn't fussed about this either way.

He rolled to his paws and yawned as he stood, then arched his back and flexed his wings; these thoughts were making him warm, but not in a way that he would appreciate diving into cold water. He leaped off the tall rock and easily caught the brisk wind, giving it a few hearty flaps before ducking into a brief swoop and roll to warm his muscles. Dreamer was still chasing fish in the water, so Wanderer dove in to herd them back to him, giving them both a much easier hunt.

With bellies comfortably full, they flew through their fire to dry, returned to the tall rock to clear off the worst of the salt, then resumed their long flight, working their wings hard for speed. They set a brutal pace for themselves, even compared to when they usually flew alone, but it was necessary with how few places there were to land and rest. Only until they reached land, proper land that stretched as far as he could see.

While they flew, he thought on how he could make his Dreamer more comfortable. It was a familiar problem, and he now knew where to start. "How Long-Paws court?" he asked in a light, interested tone.

"Court?" Dreamer asked, fumbling the word a little.

"Show wanting," Wanderer clarified. They'd probably have to go over all this at some point, though he couldn't really think of anything Dreamer wouldn't know; Long-Paws were much the same, as far as he had seen.

Dreamer tilted his head, flapping a few times to keep pace while he thought. "Good Long-Paws are friends first," he hummed, not sounding particularly awkward or stressed; that was a good sign. "Both court, show wanting…" He huffed. "But that not happen much. Mostly, male want female, give things until she want him."

"Male hunts for her?" Wanderer warbled. That sounded reasonable, though they'd both probably find more enjoyment in hunting together.

"Maybe. Male maybe give her Long-Paw-claws, shiny things, or maybe… make her nest-kin think she good." He snorted. "Snotlout not was good courter. I not was also."

As tempting as it was to tease him about that, this was a gentle push, not something Wanderer wanted to play-fight over yet. "Now?"

"Now?" Dreamer echoed. "I not know what I want yet. Maybe. I fly those winds later."

Wanderer settled into their flight, satisfied. Dreamer was still discovering himself, still figuring things out, but he wasn't fighting it as he had done before. Instincts would undoubtedly set him right when the time came.

Dreamer squinted at the horizon, chills running down his back as he wondered if the uneven smudge stretching across it was his imagination. They had flown harder and longer than ever before, covering an immense distance in only a few nights, but while logic told him this was about right, he felt that they should still be a few more days away or something…

It was not yet dawn, still hours away by his reckoning – although the sky-sparks had all shunted north some distance, so his guess might be off – but the air was still warm, for how high up they were. He had noticed it growing progressively warmer as they travelled, each sky-fire kindled more fiercely than the last and travelled higher overhead. This wasn't just some day journey out to sea, they had moved in the world, to the distant lands of Johann's wild and wacky stories. To where Wanderer had hatched. Hopefully, where they would find other Nightstrikers…

And maybe figure out this whole thing between Nightstrikers and humans. His recollection of that one Defender of the Wing was somewhat fuzzy – he'd forgotten it entirely, until just now – but he remembered something about Nightstrikers attacking Long-Paws for apparently no reason, and the fear he and Wanderer had triggered in so many people just by existing. He figured relationships wouldn't be great, but surely Nightstrikers were something like wolves in the forest? Just something that was there, to be left alone, and would leave alone?

He was startled from his sudden thoughts by noticing that he was reaching the end of the sea – literally, the end of it. Behind him was the sea, and in front of him was land, the divide between the two stretching to the horizon on either side. He had thought the sea stretched on forever, but the sight before him shattered that assumption.

Where was the sky-fire? A moment such as this should be realised with the break of dawn shining across it, even if his incredible eyes clearly saw the land below, and he was not yet ready to settle down and rest…

Wanderer roared happily. "We still have time before sky-fire kindles!" He flew a barrel roll around Dreamer, who was still busy gawking. "We should explore!"

Dreamer wasn't ready to explore! The sheer scale of what he was staring down at was still consuming the entirety of his attention, he hadn't even begun to actually look at it yet! He shook his head and stared intently at the land now passing below them, leaning back a bit and allowing himself to slow into a glide.

The night was dark, and they were high up, but the view was gorgeous to his keen eyes. The abrupt end of the sea met a jagged coast, rising into cliffs and sinking into dark beaches that seemed to rock and sway as the white surf rolled over them. In some places, he could not make out the coast at all behind all the piers and ships docked at them, their shapes and sizes varying wildly.

The bigger dock he could see was within a great wall around an area of sea that could easily have encompassed the entire village of Berk. The walls continued up onto the land to surround a conglomeration of buildings the likes of which he had never seen, even denser than the packed town that Drago had attacked, and utterly wild in how it was laid out.

Such a wall seemed bizarre, until he realised that there was literally nothing stopping another tribe from just walking up to them. He squeaked nervously at the concept, not being protected by cliffs and crashing waves. He sort of knew Southerners did not fight each other like Vikings did, but still, that had to be a worry, even aside from the actual Vikings sailing here to pillage; he wondered if Spitelout had hit one of these ports on his last raid.

But the Long-Paw nests were an odd curiosity, while beyond them, a whole world of land spread out towards a wobbly horizon. Impossibly large fields, more crops than Berk needed in a year leading up to a wild domain of endless trees, more than he had ever seen in his life. A thick river carved through it all, winding from impossibly far in the distance to flow into the sea, along which he could see regular shapes that looked like more Long-Paw settlements.

He laughed, a nervous, impulsive sound to his own ears. There was more of everything here than he had ever seen in his entire life. Anything that could be found in the entire Archipelago, there was more of it here.

Except for dragons, that was.

That thought sobered him somewhat, and he crooned delight, overwhelmed, still taking in the sights with wide eyes while Wanderer watched him. "What we do now?" he asked, unable to even contemplate deciding anything for himself.

"Wrrr, not know," Wanderer hummed warmly. "Find somewhere for sleep. Food first?"

Dreamer eagerly eyed the massive, sprawling forests. "Hunt?"

"We can hunt!" With a gleeful bark, Wanderer rolled upside down and lazily fell into a dive-

"Stop sound-sight!" Dreamer barked, reminded of the fear again, and Wanderer folded his sub-wings before it could rise to more than a low whistle. He felt a bit blind diving without it, but the skies were completely clear, the sky-sparks shining overhead, and the land was still and quiet. The night was theirs, however much he could see of it at once.

They pulled up much nearer the ground, and Dreamer again marvelled at just how much land there was. Berk was a big island, but it was laughably insignificant compared to this. He suspected they had the entire length of Berk to cover before they even reached the forests, past where the fields ended.

The scents of farming and land-prey wafted up to him, pungent but familiar. They didn't yet look ready for harvest, but there seemed to be enough food here to feed the whole Archipelago for a year. His mind boggled just thinking of the logistics of it all.

And then they were skimming the treetops, and Dreamer relished in the clean leafy scents of the forest. It was an odd forest though, each tree sprawling out and into its neighbours so that he could not see one from the next, rather than the distinct peaks of pines. The scents weren't as sharp and crisp as pine either.

He spotted a break in the canopy and angled for it, braking hard against the wind. His wings and tail expertly manoeuvred him through the gap to land between the large rock formation jutting from the ground and the trees around it. The soil here was soft, very soft, and the grass had wide leafy blades instead of the thin strands he was accustomed to.

Everything was the same, there was grass, trees, rocks, probably wildlife, but all of that was so different. He bounded up to the nearest tree and avidly scented it, then rubbed his shoulder against it, mesmerised by the smooth bark. Spindly plants tickled his chest with comically large leaves for their size, as large as the ones on the trees around it, and he put his nose to them too-

He yelped and hopped back, licking at his stinging nostrils and trying to spot the critter that had taken offense to him and subsequently doomed itself.

"You would do that," Wanderer said with a throaty laugh as he trotted over. "These leaves hurt for touch. Not hurt scales, but you not want roll in them." He slashed the leafy plant, severing a pawful of its broad leaves and the tough stem.

Dreamer growled and trotted back up for another look, committing to memory the jagged edges of the leaves, how they looked soft and furred. They were soft, but somehow they had hurt him. He snorted and shot a stream of fire at its base, burning through it and shrivelling the damp leaf litter around it.

Satisfied with his revenge, he pawed at his poor nose and licked it again; it still stung, but it was slowly fading. "What else I need know?" he asked, warily eyeing the many other types of plants.

"Nothing," Wanderer laughed. "Only that plant. It not dangerous, nothing else will hurt you." His humour faded, and he looked down. "Some wing-hunters maybe hurt us. But I not need warn you. You will know." Dreamer crooned and nuzzled him, and he purred as he nuzzled back. "We should hunt now!"

Hunting! Dreamer had nearly forgotten about that! He playfully bit Wanderer's ear and shook it, then leaped off into the forest-

Almost straight into a narrow tree leaning nearly horizontally across his path, and then he was tackled to the ground. "Hunt food, not me!" he growled as Wanderer bit him back, then scrambled to his paws and chased after him.

This forest was like nothing he had ever encountered, and he found himself needing to learn navigation anew. For now he just followed Wanderer, barely keeping up with his winding and twisting, taking the path of least resistance; he would forge his own paths and learn for himself another night.

Wanderer stopped at a well worn trail to nose at it disinterestedly, letting Dreamer come up beside him to get the scent. Something unfamiliar had been through here, regularly and recently, something furred and hoofed… and… iron? But something that was prey.

"This not good hunting," Wanderer huffed, pawing at the ground, and Dreamer let out a surprised and disappointed whine. "This is Long-Paw thing. Trail will go to their nest. Ignore it." Dreamer carefully inhaled it, committing the scents to memory, then mentally added it to the 'worthless prey' list and chuffed understanding. They moved on.

Some time later, time spent fruitlessly leaping through the maze of trees and plants, Wanderer trotted to a stop, panting. The forest may be different, but prey was prey, and there hadn't been any scents, any signs, other than the useless one.

"We fly?" Dreamer chuffed, also panting, feeling every moment of the hard flying from the last few nights and all the work and stress that had led up to it.

Wanderer huffed affirmative, then clawed his way up the nearest tree. Dreamer chose a different one with coarser bark, which turned out to be crumbly and difficult to get a grip on, but then he reached the branches and worked his way up using them instead.

After awkwardly breaking through the canopy, they flew several miles along the river before dropping down at the treeline and trying again. They ran more conservatively, especially considering they would also need to catch whatever they found...

But that assumed they would ever actually find anything. The night inexorably wore on. Eventually, Dreamer barked wearily, panting heavily, tired of running, beyond the point of particularly wanting to chase anything even if it walked out in front of him there and then.

"These forests big," Wanderer huffed, also panting again. "We should find prey already…"

Dreamer thought about that. "Maybe we too close to Long-Paw nest?" They were actually very far from them, several days' hiking from the ones on the river, but if he were wild prey and wasn't trapped on a comparatively tiny island with them, he'd wander off too.

"Maybe. We fish instead." With that, he sighed at the nearest tree, then scrambled up it. Dreamer followed him this time, finding an easier time of it, and after another messy takeoff through the canopy, they glided languidly to the river. It was certainly big enough to have fish, maybe half a mile wide and unfathomably long, calmly flowing out to sea. They dove for it-

Dreamer pulled up at the same time Wanderer did, snapping out his wings and climbing back into the sky where he pawed at his snout. "Not good water," he moaned, then vigorously shook his head. He wasn't sure if that fouled scent was clinging to his nose or if he could still smell it; probably both.

"I not want eat fish from there," Wanderer agreed, then violently snorted out a puff of smoke.

That was a good idea, and Dreamer followed suit, sighing relief under his breath as the foul taint was replaced with clean, stifling smoke. Ugh. That had been as if a whole nest had…

He snarled. "Throw waste in water! Yes, what good idea! Make it problem for next nest!" His gaze drifted along the river, where it flowed from the horizon to the now distant sea, and the many nests dotting both sides all the way into the distance. "Long-Paws stupid."

"I say that." Wanderer growled aimlessly, then turned his head back to the distant sea. "We fish…"

"I not even want food now," Dreamer grumbled, nudging their heading back inland, towards the relatively close mountain. "We find food next night. I want sleep." He was exhausted, the sky-fire was now near to kindling and would possibly rise before they even made it back to the sea, and he could go a few nights without food anyway. It was just too much effort to think about doing right now.

"If want," Wanderer huffed, shifting their heading to the mountains as Dreamer had wanted. "Could take from Long-Paws, they have much food."

"We not need do that," Dreamer huffed back. "Need find place where no Long-Paws." This landmass was huge, there would be somewhere they could claim. There were only so many nests here because of the water, trade routes along the sea and such. Transport by boat was far easier and faster than by land – even Berk used boats to carry tools and materials around its own island – so it made sense for them to cluster on the river and sea; he couldn't see any that weren't built on the water.

They made the rest of the flight in silence, Dreamer brooding a little that their arrival hadn't gone quite as perfectly as he'd expected. Still, they were here… So far away from where he'd been born… hatched, whatever. That safety net of Berk, and also that of the Defenders of the Wing, knowing there was shelter, food, and help there if he needed it, he had none of that here. He knew nobody here but Wanderer. It was as exhilarating as it was frightening. He literally had nothing but the skin on his back and his friend by his side.

The mountain didn't offer a lot of cover, being mostly rock with only a few trees jutting up here and there, but the same went for anything that might mean them harm. It did also mean they could sleep in the warm light again… Mrrr…

He followed Wanderer down to a mostly flat outcrop, touching down inside a smooth, shallow basin. The gritty residue at the bottom suggested it normally collected rain, but it was currently dry. Not that it mattered, even though they couldn't drink from the river… Ugh. He hoped the inhabitants of those nests weren't drinking from it.

Wanderer pawed at the rock, hesitantly settling down. He looked… nervous about something. "Sleep," Dreamer hummed to him, nuzzling his head, then licked at the back of his neck; a poor substitute for a meal, but it let him trick himself a bit. "I will watch." Wanderer settled at that, lying over the rim of the basin with the lower two thirds of his body trailing down into it.

Dreamer was perfectly fine with taking it in turns to sleep, and covering the first watch. Aside from being in wildly unfamiliar territory, thoughts about where they were and what they might find were still running rampant through his head. For the moment, he would just rest.

And finally finish the perpetual task of cleaning all the salt off his friend, who was already drifting off. He had to look his best from now on, after all.