Special Thanks to JustAnotherRandomPoster for helping with grammar and fixing some of the words and editing this chapter in this chapter

Kindle

I was extremely warm and comfortable in the position I was in but I was slowly walking up. But I just didn't want to move right now, I just wanted a few more minutes of unerupted silence.

But suddenly I heard a door open and a familiar voice, "Rise and shine, you two, it's morning and we all have a long day ahead of us."

The voice sounded like Ronde's mother.

The next thing I knew, it was a little brighter in the room. She must have opened the curtains. After that she sounded like she opened the curtains around our bed, "Come on you two I have to...oh my."

When she said that, I finally opened my eyes. But when I did, I noticed something, I was sleeping on top of Ronde's chest. My whole body was over him; I was completely confused. I didn't remember moving in this position last night.

But when Ronde finally opened his eyes, he looked more confused than I was, "K-Kindle?"

Embarrassed, I quickly clambered off him and kicked him out of bed, then crawled to the other side.

I felt my heart racing while trying to compose myself. Ronde, on the other hand, fell off the bed and landed right next to his mother.

Before he said anything, his mother was looking back and forth between us and had a little smile, "You two still have your clothes on so I can assume that nothing...intimate happened last night?"

"Yes! I mean no! I mean... we didn't do anything last night!" I yelled

She just shrugged and helped her son off the floor, "I wouldn't be upset if you did the deed or not. My son is around the age where he should be thinking about having children of his own or at the least finding someone to have children with."

I couldn't tell who was more embarrassed, me or Ronde, but he reacted much quicker than I did, "Mother why are you saying that this early in the morning!? We didn't do anything last night!"

Then suddenly she booped him on his nose and said, "I love to tease both of you because of your reactions, but I'll stop for now. You both need to get freshened up. I'll wait in the hallway when you're ready to go but I need to show you something, Ronde, before we wake up the others."

Ronde was confused but then his mother left and we had the room to ourselves. Then Ronde looked at me and I felt a little embarrassed for kicking him off the bed, but he asked, "Would you like to freshen up first or do you want me to?"

I quickly responded, "You can go first, I need to do my hair and make myself look...presentable. It could take a little longer compared to you cleaning yourself."

He smiled, "Ok Kindle, while I'm doing that please gather the stuff that you need for today."

I started stroking my hair nervously while looking away from him, "Yeah, will do."

He grabbed some of his clothes and walked inside of his restroom and closed the door.

'What the hell was that? Why was I on top of him like that? I didn't remember moving! He must have moved me while I was sleeping!'

'No he wouldn't have done that, this was my fault. I would have woken up if he had moved me. I must have done it while I was sleeping, trying to get comfortable. Plus, Ronde looked more confused than I was.'

I then stopped twirling my hair and looked down at my hands, 'Right, I remember that he said he was going to help me get rid of these calluses today. So we need to see his grandmother for that? I wonder how alike she is to Ronde or his parents.'

Several minutes later.

Ronde

After finishing getting everything ready for today and waiting for Kindle to finish in the restroom, my mother guided us downstairs towards the main hallway, and towards the back of the castle.

Then I had an idea of where we were going, "Mother, are we going to the garden?"

Kindle looked confused, "This place has a garden?"

My mother looked at us while walking towards our destination, "Well, yes and no. It's still technically a garden, but while you were gone it flourished and now it's more like a miniature forest. The dragons either sleep there or wherever they like."

I'm a little excited to see how much the garden has grown since the last time I was there, but knowing my mother she didn't wake us up early just to see the garden, "Mother, why are you taking us there?"

She smiled and said, "There's someone there that I think you'll love to see."

'Someone?' I thought to myself.

We finally made it towards the door and after opening it, we were both amazed to see the incredible greenery sprouting from absolutely everywhere. There were flowers, trees, fruits and vegetables, and a river with either dragons resting or little hatchlings playing with each other. This place was far more beautiful compared to the garden I remembered

My mother walked on ahead, "Come, you two, you need to see this."

We continued looking around. This place was bigger than I remembered, incredible greenery sprouting from absolutely everywhere. I could see a wall in the far distance, but the dragons within this garden could fly in and out whenever they wanted to. There was a tiny bridge going over the river and we all walked across it. The clear water sparkled as it flowed under the bridge.

My mother then stopped walking and said, "Up ahead is his usual spot. I think it would benefit if the both of you see each other again, Ronde. But Ronde you go up and see him and Kindle and I will stay here and watch."

Both Kindle and I were surprised but I said, "What? Why do you just want me to go?"

She said nothing but just pointed over towards the area. I sighed and walked on ahead.

When I finally walked past the bushes something caught my attention: a dragon not 10 feet away from me with purple scales. I stared at the dragon for a while and the dragon noticed me as well. I walked closer towards this dragon that looked like...but I thought that he...

The Threadtail looked at me and stood up and started walking towards me slowly. When it was in front of me it sniffed me.

("Strange...a Two-leg that smells like a kin...I wonder why it's staring at me like that?")

I looked closer at the dragon's neck and saw a long scar. The same position of where my dragon was cut by my father...could this be...

"Dapper?"

The dragon looked at me curiously after I said that and growled to himself, ("That word is the same word my Two-leg hatchling would say to get my attention...are you..?")

I walked closer to him and examined the scar around his neck. It was exactly where I had seen the blood coming out of his neck. And he remembered a little boy calling him by his name.

I began to tear up, all this time I'd thought he was dead.

He walked even closer and began sniffing me again, but this time he backed away in shock, ("No...could it be? I thought that my poison killed you. I grieved because it was my fault but is it you? You smell like a kin but there's a small hint of my Two-leg hatchling musk.")

I reached out and hugged him at the base of his neck, "I thought my father killed you! but you're still alive, Dapper!"

He sounded surprised, ("Wait, I can hear what you're saying. But it is you my Two-leg hatchling I thought I would never see you again.")

Suddenly I heard a voice on my right, ("Sire, who is this?")

I looked down to my right and saw a young, dark blue Threadtai, l staring at me in confusion. Hold on a minute, this dragon just called him Sire...did that mean...?

Dapper looked at the dragon and said, ("My hatchling, this is my Two-leg partner I was telling you about. I thought that my poison killed him, but he's alive.")

The dragon looked at me curiously, ("Oh, you're the one who protected my Sire before I hatched, Sire when this place first accepted our kind. Thank you Two-leg.")

I lowered myself to the ground to meet the dragon's height and reached out to scratch her under her chin and said, "I just wanted to be friends with your Sire. I didn't do anything to change this place."

She looked surprised and happy, then looked at her father, ("Sire, I can understand what he's saying. And he responded to what I said! I didn't know that your partner could understand us.")

Dapper looked at his daughter then back to me, ("I believe he couldn't before but now he can. I wonder if that has something to do with him smelling like a kin?")

Then he looked at his daughter again and said, ("My little one, could you see your Dam while I see to my old Two-leg hatchling?")

She happily squawked, ("Yes, Sire.") Then she flew away from him.

Dapper examined me and growled, ("My, you've grown. I guess I can't call you a hatchling anymore can I? What happened to the fur that was on top of your head? It's much shorter now. And how can you understand us?")

I smiled, "I cut my hair because it was getting in the way when I was flying and doing other normal activities when I was younger. And I can basically turn into a kin, so that's why I can understand you."

He looked very confused, ("I'm not sure if that translated right, you said you can turn into one of us?")

"Yes, but I can't do it right now. It takes a lot out of me and I have a lot to do today, so maybe one day I can show you but right now I'm here with my moth—I mean my Dam and someone else special."

I noticed his facial expression changed, ("Your Dam?")

"Yeah, why? I can tell you are uncomfortable when I mention her."

("Your Dam hates me because of the accident. She tried to be nice but I know that she really doesn't like me.")

Does he really believe that? My mother wouldn't ever hate someone and lie about it. Hell, she'd tell it to your face.

Suddenly Dapper began to rub his face around my chest, ("My Two-leg, friend I'm sorry for what happened, something made me lose myself and I attacked you. Please forgive me.")

I rubbed the top of his snout, "My friend, there is nothing to forgive. I knew from the start it wasn't your fault. All this time I thought that my Sire killed you and that made me very sad. But knowing that you're alive makes me feel very good and warm. By the way, my Dam does not hate you, she was sad as well."

Suddenly, Dapper took a few steps back away from me and I wondered why, until I heard footsteps behind me and I saw my mother, standing behind me with Kindle next to her.

My mother stepped in front of me and said, "When I heard you were still alive, I knew that you thought that your dragon died during that night. My mother and her assistant saved him, but ever since the day you left he's been depressed. I tried to make him feel better, but he seemed scared of me."

I looked over towards Dapper and my mother. Yeah, this was a misunderstanding, "Mother, he told me he believed you were mad at him because of what he did to me."

She was surprised, "What? I would never! I knew from the beginning that it wasn't his fault."

"I told him that but he still thinks that it is. But it should be fine now, you both know that I'm alive."

She walked past me and toward Dapper, he backed away a little bit but she placed her hand underneath his chin and rubbed it gently, "I sorry if you feel this way, I was just very sad when I thought my own son had died, but I never blamed you for it."

She stopped rubbing him and came to my side, "I hope that helped, I left him alone after he found a lover but I visited him from time to time. But right now, Ronde, I have to wake up your friends and something tells me that I need to find a bucket and a stick to rouse a few of them. Please meet me in the main room in front of the entrance that leads to outside ."

She waved me and Kindle goodbye and left us alone with my dragon.

Kindle looked a little bit confused about what was going on, "Oh right, Kindle, this is my dragon friend Dapper. I have known him since I was five years old. He is the dragon that poisoned me but it wasn't his fault, he was drugged."

"I think I understand all that from the conversation between you and your mother. It still surprises me that you can understand them and these dragons are so peaceful."

I smiled nervously, "Yeah, hang out with me and you'll get used to it."

Suddenly, Dapper came to my side and gave me a smug look, ("Oh that Two-leg is a female. You found yourself a mate, just like I did.")

I pushed his head back, "It's nothing like 'that'."

Then Kindle looked at me, "Let me guess, he said something about us?"

Before I could respond, Dapper growled, ("Anyway, would you like to see my mate? I believe she'll love to meet you and show you our hatchlings.")

I still didn't answer Kindle, because I didn't want to, but I said out loud to her, "Yes my friend, I would love to see your mate. Kindle, would you like to come too?"

She crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow at me., "I don't think I have a choice. It's either go with you or wait for your mother and be bored."

She followed behind me and Dapper led us around the garden. As we walked I saw many species of dragons within these walls. I guessed that while I was gone more dragons must have found this place and stayed here.

When we got past a certain point in the forest, Dapper quickly trotted off. ("My mate, I bring a guest to see you.")

Right next to my friend was another Threadtail, but her scales' color was a mix between dark and light blue with a pattern across her body. Next to her were two young Threadtails; one was completely purple and the other was the one we saw before.

Dapper's mate warbled, ("Oh, I was expecting more kin. Are you sure these ones are safe?")

He hummed and nuzzled her happily. ("Yes, the Male over there is my Two-leg hatchling I was telling you about. He's alive and brought his potential mate with him.")

'Well potential isn't inaccurate,' I thought to myself.

She looked over to me, ("Well then, I suppose it's fine.")

The little Threadtails got up from their mother and ran towards us. But suddenly they ran past me and towards Kindle, much to our surprise. Kindle jumped, startled by the two baby dragons near her feet, sniffing her.

("Wow, she smells new. Like she's from somewhere else.")

("Yes, my sibling, you noticed it as well. The things on her body did not come from here, but it does smell interesting.")

'I hope they're talking about her clothes.'

I was surprised to see Kindle leaning down to gently rub one of them on the head and scratch the other one on its chin, "Well you two are cute ain't you? You surprised me when you ran towards me and not Ronde. I thought that he was the dragon magnet, but I'm glad."

They all purred and rubbed their bodies against her feet, but suddenly their mother called them. They looked back at Kindle and ran towards their mother.

Dapper warbled, ("She would be a great Dam, handling my hatchling like that. You are very lucky my friend.")

I tried to ignore that comment. I thought it was time to leave, so with a sinking heart, I went next to him and rubbed him underneath his chin, "It was nice to see you again, my friend, but I know my Dam is probably waiting for us, so I think it's best if we leave. But I will come back and visit."

He nodded and went back towards his family and I joined Kindle, "Come on, Kindle, let's meet with the others."

She nodded somewhat but followed me back.

After a few moments had passed, we saw the entrance, and she spoke, "Hey I've been meaning to ask, but I felt it was a little inappropriate."

I was a bit confused, "What do you want to know?"

"You keep saying the words 'Sire' and 'Dam' when you're talking to these dragons, but what are they? I know you call someone who is royal 'Sire', but I've never heard of Dam."

My eyes widened, "Oh, ok um this can get a little complicated but a Sire is what a dragon would call father and the Dam is the mother. The dragon language is somewhat different from ours, and certain words have the same meaning, while others mean something different. It's hard to explain unless you are one of them."

I noticed she somewhat hesitated when she asked me her next question, "Oh, I see...well what is the word for love in the dragon language?"

I was shocked that she asked that, "Well it's not the same word as we know it. Their version of the word has multiple meanings, but 'love' in the dragon language is 'warm'. It has many different meanings depending on how you say it, or your body language, but the word is 'warm'."

I opened the door that ledus inside the castle, and we walked together towards the main room, "Warm huh? I can understand that. Thanks for telling me,Ronde."

I smiled. "It's not a problem. If there's anything else you need to know, just talk to me."

She giggled slightly, "Will do."

After a few minutes of waiting, my mother and the other dragon Riders approached us. My mother explained that she had already talked about making an announcement about their presence, and the people should be aware of our village messenger. But the reason why she woke us up early was because it was safer when more people were asleep and above all else...

The clothes store should be opening around this time.

What surprised me was that we weren't going to ride our dragons there. We were going to ride on a chariot with horses. I thought having dragons made horses unnecessary, but I guessed there were a few people that still rode them.

There were two chariots, and each of them could hold six people at a time. Me, Kindle, my mother, Astrid, and Hiccup were in one, and Fishlegs, the twins, and Snotlout were in the other. Unfortunately they couldn't take their dragons with them.

I would say it was about ten to fifteen minutes before we made it to our destination. It was the same clothes shop as when I was younger, full of old memories. We parked the chariot out of the way to make sure that no one could see the dragon Riders, then we walked inside the store.

Immediately a noise, letting the store owner know he had a potential customer, echoed throughout the store. Next thing I knew,a man came through from the other side of the shop to greet us, "Habari wateja karibu kwenye duka langu nawezaje..."

(Hello customers around my shop, how can I...)

He looked at everyone and had a confused look. "Vizuri sasa huu ni umati tofauti sana. Je! Ninaibiwa hivi sasa? Ni mapema sana kwa hii kwa hivyo nitafanya joka langu lije uso kwa uso na shida hii."

(Well now, this is a very different crowd. Am I being robbed right now? It's too early for this, so I'll make my dragon come face to face with the problem.)

I tried to speak, but my mother spoke to the man before I had a chance, "Mimi ni malkia wako na wako hapa kwa sababu ya mimi Vesel. Nilikuwa najiuliza ikiwa tunaweza kununua nguo kwa watu hawa. Kwani unaweza kuona kuvaa kwao haifai kwa hali ya hewa yetu."

(I am your queen and they are here because of me, Vesel. I was wondering if we could buy clothes for these people, since you can see their wear is not suitable for our climate.)

The man looked surprised to see my mother there and a huge smile spread across his face. The next thing I knew, he was hugging my mother and she wasn't surprised at all as the man said, "Kwa nini hukuyasema hayo hapo awali? Nitakusaidia wewe na watu hawa. wanaweza kuwa na vazi moja la bure au nguo za wanawake. Lakini kuna hali moja."

(Why didn't you say that before? I will help you and these people. They may have one free garment or women's clothing, but there is one condition.)

My mother looks slightly concerned because it seems she really wanted that deal, "Na wao ni?"

(And they are?)

He smiled and said, "Watu hawa lazima wavae hadharani kwa kila mtu kuona. Matangazo yake ya bure kwangu kwa sababu ya nguo hizi kwenye duka langu ni mtindo wa hivi karibuni. Ikiwa watu watawaona wamevaa hii kila mtu atataka pia!"

(These people must wear it publicly for everyone to see. It's free advertising for me because these clothes in my shop are the latest fashion. If people see them wearing this, everyone will want to!)

My mother smiled and almost looked like an excited child, "Ni hivyo tu? Ni rahisi kutimiza asante sana. Oh hawa watu wanazungumza Norse na wanaonekana kuchanganyikiwa sana juu ya kile kinachotokea sasa. Ikiwa unaweza kuwaelezea nini kinatokea?"

(Is that so? It's easy to fulfill. Thank you very much. Oh, these people are speaking Norse and they seem very confused about what's happening now. If you can explain to them what happens?)

The man looked over towards us and rolled his eyes, "Alright you fresh fish! You are allowed to buy my clothing items and if you get any of my clothes you get ONE free. Buy any get one free not buy one get one free!"

Everyone but Astrid and I were the only ones who weren't scared.. But I looked over to Astrid and said, "I apologize for Vesel, he can get a little intense sometimes. He has the heart of a kitten but an attitude like an aggressive lion."

She laughed, "It's fine, I can get used to this."

Scratching the back of my head, I said to her, "I hope this makes up for those times when you had to buy me new clothes."

"Oh yeah, that did happen, huh. Well I guess this will make up for it, since your mother is paying for all of us. Some of these clothes are designed differently but they do look good," she said, looking around.

As she was looking around I did the same. I need to change my outfit because these clothes were made for the cold climate and it gets pretty warm. I can easily overheat if I wear something like this. But suddenly, I saw Kindle just standing in one place and looking almost... sad.

I walked next to her and asked, "Kindle, is there something wrong?"

Her eyes widened, "Oh, sorry I just...don't know if I should get these clothes now."

"Wait, what? Why don't you want these clothes now? I'm not saying you look bad with what you have on, but I don't want you to overheat as well."

She shook her head, "No, it is not that, if I wanted to I could easily roll up my sleeves. This place isn't too far from my island so we experience the same weather. But these clothes I have on and the ones I bought were made and stitched together by my mother. When I have these clothes on they remind me that she will always be with me. Some of these clothes are cute and beautiful, but I'm afraid that I'll lose that connection...you know? I know that eventually I'll have to change my clothes but I'm just not comfortable changing right now."

Now I understood what she was feeling, "Kindle, I completely understand. What you brought has value to you, and it is your choice. But Kindle, I want you to know that just because your mother made you these clothes doesn't mean that they're your only connection to her. These items are special to you, but you have something else that no one can take."

She was very confused, "What? No one can take? What are you talking about?"

I smiled and pointed to my head. "You have memories and experiences with her. Those connections and times you spent with her will always be with you, and I do believe those times we spend with someone precious to us will always have more of an impact then the item that they gave to us. Possessions can easily get ruined or destroyed, but the memories will always be a part of us, in here," I pointed to my head. "And in here," I place my hand on her chest to say in her heart.

She looked at my hand, then stared into my eyes and her cheeks flushed a delicate pink. I was confused, until I realized where I was touching her.I pulled my hand away as if it had been burnt, and took a few steps away, completely embarrassed, "I'm so sorry, I was caught up in the moment and didn't realize that my hand was on your chest! I should have asked permission to touch you!"

She was still blushing, but she tried to get my attention, "No, no, no, it's fine. I mean, yes you should have asked, but I know there was no malicious intent so it's fine...for now. Just don't do that again."

I quickly nodded. To my surprise, she went back towards the clothes and dresses that were hanging up and grabbed two of them. Once she did, she had one hanging over her shoulder and one in her hand. She looked over towards me almost nervously and somewhat smiled and looked around more.

Maybe I should do the same. I need to look for something to wear. Just like Berk, my land has sheep and we do shear them to make clothes, but we also are huge in cotton as well. Depending on the quality, style and fiber of cotton clothes can vary between prices.

But I managed to pick out something similar to the clothes that Astrid bought me. A black short sleeve shirt with light green pants with sandals and boots. And another shirt with a black and white pattern. I'm not sure if I should get different color pants, black is for when it gets cooler and white is for when it's hot but they can easily get ruined. Yeah, I'm sticking with green.

After several minutes, it seemed everyone picked out something and changed into their new set of clothes. But in my opinion they all looked the same as before, except for Astrid, but I assume

they have a style that they like. Kindle picked out a few things, but she decided not to wear them now. After my mother finished paying a small fee for our clothes, we went outside and it was already a little warmer.

My mother spoke to all of us. "Ok, you all should be safe by yourself. You wear our uniform so my people will know you are not threats. But it's up to you what you want to do now. You can come back to the castle with me, or explore my kingdom."

She looked over to Hiccup. "Young chief, if you want we can discuss our treaty and arrangement today, after I'm done reading and filling out some of my own papers. Or we could do it tomorrow because I'm completely free during the late afternoon. What would you like to do?"

Hiccup thought for a moment while looking at his friends, "I'd like to do it tomorrow. I'd like to explore your home a bit more with my friends. I know we're not going to stay long, but it's not every day that someone invites us to their home without trying to kill us."

My mother smiled, "I see, well if that is true, then may my assistance be of any help? For example, where would you like to go?"

Fishlegs was the first to yell something. "Do you have a library where you keep your historical events and dragons guides?"

My mother quickly answered, "Why yes we do. It's not far from the castle either. I can take you there on my way back."

Fishlegs started to squeal like an excited child, and hurriedly scurried next to my mother.

My mother looks over towards the rest of us. "Well what about the rest of you? Do you have a place in mind that you'd like to go?"

Astrid was the next person who spoke. "I would actually like to see the place where you train your people, especially this person." She pointed at me, much to my and my mother's surprise.

Mother took a moment to process what Astrid said. "I didn't know that you knew about that. Well, my friend Skild is probably training some of his students with his son, right now. There is a place that looks like a dome up this path, just keep heading straight until you see it."

Astrid looked at the path my mother was talking about, "Great, Hiccup, would you come with me?"

"Fine, but that means the twins and Snotlout have to come with us."

Snotlout, being the loud person he is, yelled, "Why do I have to go with you and them!" He pointed at the twins.

"We can't leave you guys alone in a foreign land, you guys could do something that could upset the locals here," Hiccup explained.

Snotlout grumbled something underneath his breath, but the twins were almost excited to go with them, which scared me.

My mother looked towards me and Kindle and said, "All that left is you two, so what are going to be doing...Orond and Kindle?"

For a second I wondered why she called me that, until I realized that people were walking around the village around us, and some of them were even staring at us. "Actually...my queen...I was hoping to hear what Kindle wanted to do today."

Kindle was smart enough to know why we were talking the way we were, and she played along, "Yes...my queen I was planning on...going with Orond to look around the village so I can get a sense of the landscape, until we have to see someone later today."

My mother nodded. "Ok, I'll take this one to the library." She gestured towards Fishlegs.

Once she and Fishlegs got inside the chariot, she told all of us. "Oh, before I forget, I need to tell you all that we are having a feast tonight with everyone including my husband and daughters. Everything should be done around nightfall so please be careful while you're out, and don't do anything crazy. I won't be able to help you until the news gets to me. Now I am off, goodbye for now."

They went away with both chariots. Astrid and the others went ahead towards my mentor training arena and now it was just me and Kindle.

I don't know why, but both of us were silent and staring at each other. I don't think she had anything to say to me or she didn't know how to begin. But I decided to say something. "Thank you for not saying my real name out loud and for catching on."

She looked surprised. "Oh, it's not a problem, but what I don't understand is why do you want to hide your identity?"

I was slightly frustrated; not at her but at this situation. "I can't tell you now, not in front of all these people. Even the walls have ears. Maybe later, in a safer place, but right now where would you like to go?"

She thought for a moment. "I guess we can explore around, and just waste time until your grandmother is most likely available. You said, if I remember, sometime in the middle or late afternoon? Plus, I have a few silver and gold pieces we can use if we get hungry, and if your village accepts them here. But before we leave to see your grandmother, I need to do something."

I was a little worried for some odd reason. "Yeah, what do you need to do?"

She suddenly pulled something from her was gold and very shiny when she showed it to me. When I realized what it was, I opened my mouth, but she spoke first. "I talked to the store owner about selling this ring and he told me that it looks very valuable, but I couldn't sell it to him. So he told me where I could sell it to the owner of a store, in the middle of this village, and I was hoping you could take me there, so I can finally get rid of this."

I was a little bit upset, even though I knew she kept that ring. It was just a reminder of the moment I saw that boy hit her. She wanted to sell it but why was I still upset about it? It's over. She's here safe with me and...

She gently taped my face, and I blinked. "Hey you okay? You zoned out there for a moment."

I tried to compose myself. "Y-Yeah sorry. I think I know the place you're talking about, and we can go there whenever you're ready. Where would you like to go?"

She smiled. "I honestly don't mind. Anywhere. I want to see this village for what it is. Its landmarks, its culture, it's people. I want to see it all for myself."

I smiled. "I can think of a few places to start with, but remember I haven't been here for a while. Things can change, but it can still be fun to look around." I held my hand out in front of her. "Come on, let's explore my village. Maybe we can find something new if we look around."

She looked at my hand for a moment and started to reach for it. She hesitated for a moment, but then she held onto my hand, "Yeah, let's see."

Several minutes later

Fishlegs

Ronde's mother just dropped me off in front of the place I assumed was the library. This place was a little bit bigger than I'd expected, but I went inside. Much to my surprise, there were a few people inside, walking around or reading at some of the tables that were scattered across the place. The inside was huge as well, there were shelves full of books and some things that looked like scrolls. There was even a second floor with even more books!

But the moment I was in the middle of this place, all eyes were on me and it became deathly quiet. I know libraries are supposed to be quiet, but you could hear a fly buzzing around easily.

I slowly walked towards the other side of the library to see if this place had a librarian. But people were still staring at me. I tried to ignore them, but it was difficult.

I finally made it to the other side and there was a counter, with a teenage boy reading something on the other side. He didn't notice me or chose to ignore me, and for a moment I wondered if this person was the librarian? But then he loudly closed the book, and looked over to me. "Kwa hivyo uvumi ulikuwa sahihi kulikuwa na wageni katika kijiji chetu. Lakini unavaa mavazi yetu ya hivi karibuni ikiwa nasema hivyo mwenyewe. Kwa hivyo lazima iwe kweli uko na malkia wetu."

He walked around the counter towards me and examined me. He shrugged and he was laughed as he said, "Una tumbo kubwa kwa mgeni. Nashangaa wanakulisha nini? Lakini naweza kudhani uko hapa kula maarifa fulani? Niambie nini ungependa kusoma?"

I had no clue what he was saying, or talking about, and I didn't know if I should say something or laugh along with him.

Before I had a chance to say anything, he spoke again but this time I heard a little bit of irritation in his voice. "Vizuri ni nini? Kwanini umekuja kwenye maktaba ya familia yangu? Sema kitu."

I still didn't know what to say, but suddenly the teenager facepalmed himself. "Oh sawa wewe ni mgeni, haujui lugha moja kama mimi. Lakini sasa lazima nijue ni lugha gani unayoongea, ni ya Uigiriki?"

He took a deep breath and spoke again. "πες μου φίλε μου μπορείς να με καταλάβεις τώρα;"

I was completely dumbfounded. I think he was trying to talk to me in a different language, but I had no idea what he was saying. He must have noticed and tried to think of something. He paced back and forth until it looked like he had an idea.

The teenager spoke one more time. "What about now? Is this the language you can understand? Can you understand me like this?"

I quickly responded. "Yes, like that. I can understand you."

He sighed. "Thank God, I had another 5 more languages that I thought you might speak. It would have been easier if you could have said something earlier. That way I could have known what language you speak."

I nervously laughed. "Yeah, sorry. I didn't want to seem rude or anything, by talking or laughing at what I believed were jokes."

"No, it is fine. You are the second outsider to have visited my family library. I can understand that our culture is unusual to some, but tell me, what would you like to see, buy or research?"

I looked around at the many books. "I was wondering if you had any books about your history, or anything to do with dragons."

He leaned over on his counter, thinking and tapping his fingers. "Give me a few minutes."

He walked away from me, towards the back of the library. After several minutes, he came back with a cart full of books and scrolls. He handed a few books to me and said, "The ones at the top hold some of our discoveries about dragons, so they're fairly new. The ones at the bottom are our history from my people's ancestors."

I sat some of the books down, picked one up and opened it, while saying, "Thank you so much I'll be more than happy to..."

When I looked inside of the book there were texts and symbols that I couldn't read. Stupid, stupid, stupid! I should have known they would have a different writing system! But I thought that Ronde was taught to write Norse, so I assume that they would as well. But I knew that I couldn't read it.

The teenager noticed my facial expression. "Let me guess, you can't read it?"

I nodded. "Yeah I can't. Do you have anything I could read in Norse?"

He sighed. "You know, you're giving me a real challenge. You would be very lucky if I do have any."

He looked through his cart, searching through some of the books. Eventually he pulled out three books, "Okay, I have three books. One of them is Norse for the last half. The second book is something we learned about dragons, and finally, the last one is to help you translate our language. Once you have a better understanding of our language, you can get the rest of these books. But tell me, are you going to buy or rent these?"

"What? I'm planning on just reading them here," I said nervously.

He sighed again. "Fine, just return them when you're done." He looked down at the books remaining inside his cart. "Something tells me, you're going to be back here soon. Would you like for me to hold these books here until you return?"

"Yes, I might come back tomorrow," I quickly responded.

He nodded and went about his business, while I tried to find a place for myself to read. When I found a table, I pulled out the book that was written in Norse, and it read: (Well this is the first night I had to rewrite my discoveries. My name is Trotse Oorskot, at least I think that's how you write it in Norse. Some of you are probably wondering why I'm writing like this, well I have some friends on the outside that can read Norse. He is a person that also travels and studies dragons as well, and we share notes about dragons and he really has helped me when it comes to classifying each dragon species in 5 groups. But unfortunately, my ship was washed away the same night after our prince had died. That ship had everything I needed for my travels, but most of all it had my book with all the species of dragons that I've encountered. That book was expansive too, it had a seal to protect the pages from damage. It came with a strap that could adjust the size, so you carry it on your side or across your body. Anyway, I haven't made contact with my friend in awhile. I hope he's alright, he probably just got caught up with his daughter and son. Life as a parent isn't easy, but I know it can be rewarding. I hope that you can find this book, my friend, I learned to write like this for you.)

So this man, Trotse Oorskot, met someone that was studying dragons that knows Norse? I wonder who that would be? But above all, the ship he just described might be the same ship Ronde stole to escape here, and the one we took to return to his home. And the book he just described might be the same book that Ronde used as his journal?

I kept reading because this was getting interesting.

Astrid

After finally finding the dome that Ronde's mother was talking about, we went in to see what the inside was like. But on the other side was a small arena, just like our dragon training area, but a bit bigger, with at least thirty people doing some sort of training routine, punching and kicking the air in sync with one another.

All of us were watching from afar, until one of the people noticed us and got off rhythm with the others. I believe it was the teacher who called it out, but then the student pointed towards us. Once the teacher saw us, I noticed it was Ronde mentor Skild.

He laughed, walked up towards us, and said something to his students to follow him. Then he greeted us in a bow, and said, "Ah, hello, my student's friends, you can come down, it is safe."

I jumped down, landing lightly, while everyone else climbed down. He shook our hands. "I wasn't expecting you all to come, but I'm happy that you did. These are the next generation of guardians in our village."

He then gestured towards the group of people. That was when I noticed that the majority of them were in their mid to late teens. They were most definitely younger than us. Skild said something to them, and pointed towards us. Most of them greeted us by either waving or bowing, but some of them just stared at us. Skild dismissed them, except for one teenage girl.

Skild then said to us, "Excuse some of them, they are still learning to speak in a different language. Most of them already know two but it is required to learn three if they want to be a crown guard, like yours truly. But anyway, during our travels back, our 'friends that we were returning' told me that one of you is an exceptionally good warrior. This is one of my students, her name is Lelieblom Verborge and she is the most gifted student I have had in a while. She can speak in your language, but I believe she needs a change of pace when it comes to sparring with her classmates. So I was wondering who it was, and could they spar with her for a bit?"

I wasn't trying to flatter myself, but I knew he was talking about me. No one else even tried to train anymore, except when it came to our dragons. I could help but laugh, knowing Ronde would say that. I went towards him and said, "I would be honored to—"

"Who would have thought that an outsider would recognize my greatness too? I would be happy to help this little girl," Snotlout blurted it out.

I was shocked, yet I didn't know why I didn't see that coming. The moment I was about to hit him with my axe, an idea came to mind. I quickly went over between Snotlout, Skild, and the girl, and said, "Oh yes this is the guy right here. In fact, he's the best warrior around our age." I winked at them.

Skild knew what I was trying to do, and whispered something to the girl. She seemed a little disappointed, but kept a straight face.

When I went back towards the others, they all looked confused, especially Hiccup. "Astrid, what are you doing? You know you just lied to them."

"I know, and they know as well. Let's just sit back and watch," I responded.

Skild went towards Snotlout, and grabbed his shoulder. "So, you're the best warrior your village has to offer? Splendid! You will make a great sparring partner for my protege. Come over here."

He led Snotlout towards another part of the arena, and his student followed dutifully. The girl and Snotlout were, at the most, ten feet away from each other. Then Skild backed away and said, "Remember, this is a spar not a deathmatch. No unnecessary roughness, alright? Now, when I whistle that means that the spar has begun, okay?"

The girl quickly bowed towards Snotlout and said, "I look forward to… learning more about your fighting style."

"Oh, I looked forward to winning. But just to let you know, I'm not afraid to fight someone, even if you're a woman."

The girl smiled and said, "That's fine, neither am I."

Wheeeeeeeeep!

The moment Skild blew the whistle, the girl quickly closed the gap between her and Snotlout. And what happened next was the funniest beatdown I'd ever seen.

Ronde

I don't know why, but I just got happier, all of a sudden. Don't get me wrong, spending time with Kindle really put me in a good mood, but a spark of joy just hit me.

I don't know the reason, but right now myself and Kindle are eating outside. It turns out that we could use her money here, since the coins were made out of copper and silver so they still had value. But she just bought some cooked meat and some fruit. I, however, just had my usual cooked fish and water. I can eat other food, but I think I should save my appetite for the feast tonight.

Me and Kindle had explored my home, and we both had discovered something new. They had built homes for dragons closer towards our rivers and ponds, I believe the reason was it would be easier to put out any fire that the dragons caused. Some of the dragons were walking around the village, others were on top of the houses, sleeping. The houses looked nice, but I think I would prefer my room. Kindle would love to have a home in an area like this.

After she had finished eating, Kindle asked me. "So, Orond, what's next?"

I sighed, because I'm already getting tired of hearing that fake name, "Well, I don't really know. I would say that within an hour or so my grandmother shouldn't have any more patients to help, but right now I'm stumped."

She suddenly thought of something, and pulled out her ring. "Well, we could find that shop and sell this finally. This way I can get ahead and have a new start here."

As she was talking, I kept focusing on that ring she held up. And the more I stared into it, the angrier I got. The memories of Kindle screaming at the boy, and her getting slapped, keep replaying over and over again. How dare that man hit her! I swear if I ever see that boy again, I will tear him apart limb by limb! Kindle is mi-!

"Hey, what's with the angry look? You okay?" asked Kindle.

I quickly snapped out of whatever trance I was in, and tried to fix my facial expression. I quickly faked a laugh. "Oh, sorry. I thought that I saw a bug on your shoulder pads. But you're right, let's go to the pawnshop."

She got up and said teasingly, "Ok, you lead the way, Orond."

I got up as well, and said, "Yeah will do, just follow me."

She quickly got to my side, and we walked together side by side, but as we were going up this path, I began to think about what just happened to me. 'Why did I get so angry all of a sudden? I never got angry by looking at an object before, or at least a harmless object. And those thoughts… they weren't mine, but at the same time they were. What is happening to me? I do like Kindle, but these thoughts are telling me she's mine. No, she can choose to be with me or not. But what are these thoughts? This isn't love or anything, it's more of a deep desire for something else, but what!? Or maybe it is not a desire, maybe it is my dragon instincts, or more specifically my protective instincts, maybe.'

"Hey, what's wrong? You looked depressed, don't you want to do this?" Kindle asked.

I quickly responded, "Oh, sorry I just got a lot on my mind. The feast, meeting my family in the same room, seeing my sisters for the first time in over seven years, and finally, seeing my grandmother. She might think I hate her because she did this to me. I'm just a little worried, is all," I said, while somewhat lying.

"Well, I know for a fact that, despite all the flaws you think you have, a family… your family will always love you. My mother and father knew I didn't have much of a chance to be a warrior, but they supported me until their last breath. I know you think they won't accept you, but a family will always understand. Look at you and your mother."

I somewhat laughed. She did make me feel a little better, even though what I said wasn't what I was thinking about. But still, "Usually it's me that gives people encouragement. Thank you, but what about you?"

She was confused. "What about me?"

"What do you see me as? The dragon that played with you five years ago, the boy who is a bit weird with a complicated life, or you don't see me at all?"

She sighed, "I'm not going to lie to you, I still can't see you as that dragon even though I know it was you. But your actions and the way you listen to others does remind me of those days, only this time you can talk back. I see you as who you are, not what you are. A good person, a son that cares about his family." She got extremely close to my face and smiled while I was trying my best not to blush. She finally said, "A friend who is willing to help and encourage others."

She stepped a few feet ahead of me and giggled. "Your face has a red hue to it, but let's get moving, okay? After that, let's see your grandmother. I honestly can't wait to meet her."

I couldn't help but be excited, maybe it was my dragon instincts or just me, but she just called me her friend, maybe even more by the way she's acting towards me. She's beginning to act more friendly the more we spend time together.

I tried to clear my mind and focused on getting her to the pawnshop. "Come on, Kindle, we're very close to the store."

I don't know why, but we ran the rest of the way there. It wasn't a long run but we were having fun, and she was laughing as she tried to catch up with me. I wasn't going my full speed, but she was still able to catch up with me, which surprised me. She was much quicker than I remember.

But we finally made it to the shop. Once inside, we looked around, before she decided to sell the ring. There were weapons, shields, saddles and the prank rope I found in that ship I stole. Ah good times.

Kindle looked interested in the weapons, but decided to hold off for now. Once we were done, she decided to talk to the man behind the counter. What surprised me was that she spoke in my native language. But we were both shocked to hear about the ring.

Kindle incredulously asked the man, "What did you just say?"

"This ring isn't worth that much. You see this isn't gold, it's a mineral called pyrite, also known as fool's gold. It was crafted very nicely, but it's not worth much of anything. The tiny crystals are also very common as well. I'm sorry, but this is a very cheap ring. I can give you a few silver pieces for it, but that's all."

I couldn't describe the look on Kindle face, and I felt bad for her. She believed that this ring was what she needed to start a new life here, and now she really did have nothing.

She looked up towards the man. "I'll take those silver pieces please."

The man handed her a bag full of coins and we walked outside together. She didn't say much, and we just stood there next to the entrance of the shop.

I felt bad so I tried to say something. "Kindle I'm so sorr—"

She cut me off. "It's ok, I'm not at all upset. I am disappointed, but it's okay, because I got the last laugh."

I just stood there confused. "Huh?"

She turned around smiling. "I may have these few coins, but that man Valea has something he will never obtain. Me. He'll never have me as his wife, I'm free to do whatever I want with my life and he can't stop me anymore. This is just a setback, this isn't going to stop me from enjoying my life."

My body moved before I had processed what I was doing. I went towards her and hugged her— much to her and to my surprise. She didn't push me away or anything. She just stood there, but she said my name, "Ronde?"

"Please don't say my real name out loud, Kindle, but I just wanted to cheer you up somehow. I know that you're not mad, but I don't want you to be disappointed either. You still have a chance of happiness here, and I'll try my best to make it happen."

I got off her and smiled. "I know we should see my grandmother right now, but I think we should tell the others first, just to make sure they're not worried or looking for us, okay?"

She nodded. "Okay I understand, I believe they said that they were going to see..."

I noticed she stopped talking, and was looking at something before moving out of the way. I was tackled to the ground by something or someone, and whatever knocked me to the ground had put some of its weight on me. I soon found out who it was.

("Partner, you said that you was going to help me find a kin to be my mate this sun, and I'm not getting off of you until you say you're going to help me.")

I tried to move, but Thunder's weight made it impossible so I tried to yell, "Thunder get off of me, I need to help Kindle!"

She shook her head. ("No, just because you want to be with your mate doesn't give you an excuse to not help me. My kin Two-leg friend, please help me, I just want to find a kin to be with, please.")

Thunder dilated her eyes to make her pupils look bigger. I still don't understand how dragons do that! But what made this even more frustrating was the fact that Kindle was laughing at us.

I couldn't take it anymore. "Fine! Just get off of me!"

She got off me and I tried to stand up, while brushing the dirt off my shirt and pants. I am getting tired of these dragons pinning me down. I looked over towards Kindle and told her, "We need to make a quick stop for my dragon, okay? There is a place that should be open."

She was still laughing about my situation, but she said, "That's fine, let's just hurry, okay."

I quickly nodded, and tried to think where the place could be in my village. And then I remembered, it was near the arena where I used to train with my mentor, just further down the street, and we should see a barn of some sort. I quickly climbed on top of Thunder's back and helped Kindle as well. We flew towards and then above my training arena, and I saw the place just below. I told Thunder where to land.

Once we landed, there was a man who was quite surprised to see us, especially Thunder. He was a bit nervous and asked, "What the—! Why are there two teenagers on top of a Skrill? And here of all places?!"

I quickly got off Thunder's back, and greeted him, "Hello my dragon wants to have… babies, and I believe that this is the place where people come to breed dragons?"

He was shocked. "Yeah, um, that is not going to work out. You see, I don't have your type of dragons, they're very rare."

"Trust me when I say, my dragon does not care if the dragon is the same species as her. I heard from my travels that it is possible for two different species of dragons to make a hybrid. And my dragon has more interest in other species than her own."

He was very confused. "I've never experienced that before. Sure different species of dragons play with one another, but creating a new species? Are you sure that's not just rumors?"

I looked over towards Thunder. "Yeah, I heard from a reliable source that it's possible. My question is; can you help me and my dragon?"

He was contemplating whether or not to help me. "If your dragon is a female, then it's up to the males to accept her. I can try, but you can leave her here and I won't charge you because this is the first Skrill I have seen up close, so this might be an experience. But if she's too violent, I will have no choice but to sedate her and separate her from the others."

That kind of scared me. "She is not violent, but can be aggressive if she's provoked in the wrong way."

He nodded and waved to us to follow him inside of his barn. The inside had a few dragons sleeping on top of hay. It looked like the same kind my mother had on her ship. On the other side of the barn was a field with all sorts of dragons either walking around, eating from some sort of food station, or young dragons playing fighting with another.

Even Thunder got excited by what we were looking at. She growled, ("So many kin and Younglings! This place is it I might be able to find a mate here!")

The man looked over towards Thunder, "Wow, she is extremely excited to see different types of dragons. This is very interesting, you may leave her here but please take off her saddle and place it near the entrance on your way out, or take it. You see, it can get in the way if two dragons decide to—"

I quickly tried to cut him off, "I know, and too much information."

I went towards Thunder and slowly took off her saddle. I held in my hands while looking over towards the field where the other dragons were. "Thunder go, you want to find your mate out there okay? I'll be back tomorrow to check on you."

Suddenly she nuzzled me. ("Thank you partner, I hope I can find the proper mate for me. And I hope that you can have an intimate time with your mate as well. Goodbye for now.")

She quickly flew towards the crowd of dragons and, from what I could tell, they accepted her into their group. But I blushed because of what she said, I can never truly understand dragons when it comes to relationships.

Kindle noticed the red hue on my face. "She said something about us again, didn't she?"

"Kindle, can we just leave so I don't have to repeat what she just said?" I asked.

She sighed and walked on ahead, I followed her and just like the man asked, I placed the saddle near the exit. All that was left was to tell the others what me and Kindle we're going to do.

Several minutes later.

"Hee haa haa haa!"

I was laughing too hard, to the point my side hurt, but I couldn't help myself. Me and Kindle met the others inside of my mentor arena. And found that Snotlout and Astrid had spared against his best students in the class. But what had me laughing so hard, was the fact that Snotlout had bruised himself all over, and a black eye. Astrid just had two to three cuts on her arm.

"IT'S NOT FUNNY!" Snotlout yelled.

I was still laughing. "Oh my God, you believed you had a chance against my mentor's best student? You couldn't beat me in an archery contest, even though I had not held a bow for seven years."

"I was jumped! There were four of them hitting me at once!" He yelled again.

Hiccup sighed, "Snotlout, we've been over this. There was only one person. She hit your eyes. Your vision must have been blurry or split, because you think you saw more than one person."

I continued laughing, this was too good. I was just upset that I didn't see it, but I was glad to see the aftermath of what happened.

Kindle, held onto my shoulder. "Ronde, as funny as this is, and trust me I know this is funny, we came here to tell them about what we were about to do."

She was right. I tried to calm down, but the moment I saw Snotlout's black eye, I almost started laughing again. "Okay. I'm calm. Look, me and Kindle are about to see my grandmother. We'll be back before the feast but I just needed to see her… I… it's been a while."

"If you're going to see your grandmother, I suggest you take all of them with you."

I turned around to see my mentor near the entrance. "Oh, why would you suggest that?" I asked.

He gave me a serious face. "I was about to take the boy and girl there anyway, but now that I know that your mother is planning on having a feast, she is going to be very upset to see bruises and cuts on her guests. Remember, you're all representing her, and any bad examples reflect on how the others see you, especially our King, Ronde's father. So tell your grandmother the situation, and I'm sure she'll be more than happy to help you, and especially to see you, her grandson."

I scratched the back of my head while sighing. "Right, I understand. But from here it is a long walk to the outlands of the edge of the village."

"I know, but I'll be worth it in the end. Again Ronde, she needs to know about you."

I looked back at the others. "Come on ,guys, let's go see my grandmother."

Kindle

After almost an hour of walking, Ronde led us up some hill with a trail, on the outskirts of his village. I wasn't tired, but some of the ones called The Dragon Riders were, except for the one called Astrid. When I looked up at Ronde, I could tell he was very nervous about coming here. He just continued to look ahead of him, instead of checking on us, and yeah he's distracted.

But I think I saw a cabin of some sort up ahead, it was bigger than what I was expecting. Ronde went up to the door and was about to knock, but hesitated, his hand next to the door and suspended in the air.

I went next to him and said, "It's okay, take your time. There's no need to be nervous."

He looked at me for just a moment. And looked back at the door, and finally knocked on it.

The moment he did, I heard someone inside yelling in Ronde's native language, "Imechelewa siwezi kukuona sasa. Kwa kesi ya dharura tafadhali nenda kijijini na nitakusaidia kesho asubuhi!"

("It's too late, I can't see you now. In case of an emergency, please go to the village and I'll help you tomorrow morning!")

Ronde knocked again, but this time we heard stomping and whoever it was came to the door and opened it. At that moment, there was a woman that looked to be in her mid forties, with a stick in her hand pointing at Ronde. Then she yelled, "Si unanisikia? Nilisema siwezi kukuona! lazima uje hapa asubuhi! sio mchana..."

(Don't you hear me? I said I can't see you! You must come here in the morning! It's not daylight...)

She suddenly dropped the stick and looked at Ronde strangely. She grabbed his face with both of her arms, examining him, pulled down the collar around his shirt and stood back in shock.

After a moment of silence, she decided to speak, "Wewe ni mjukuu wangu? Ronde?"

(Are you my grandson? Ronde?)

Ronde look nervous, but he tried to smile and said, "Hello imekuwa muda mrefu. Bibi."

(Hello, it's been a long time. Grandmother.)

She suddenly lunged at him, and hugged him very tightly, "Nilidhani kwamba nimekupoteza milele. Walidhani umekufa au ulijipoteza ulipokuwa..."

(I thought that I lost you forever. Thought you were dead or lost yourself when you were...)

She quickly noticed all of us, and slightly freaked out, but Ronde said, "They're with me, and they know about what happened to me, so we don't need to hide it. Also, let's talk like this so they know what's going on."

She looked over towards us. "My apologies, this is my first impression and I've already ruined it. Allow me to start over. My name is Mimea. I'm the town healer, but I usually don't get visitors around this time. But if you are friends with my grandson, then please come into my home."

Everyone walked inside, and to my surprise, there was a room on my left and right. The one on my left had plants and bottles full of some type of liquid, and the right had a room with tables and other appliances. And the middle was just some stairs that led to the 2nd floor.

Ronde's grandmother, Mimea, stopped near the stairs and sat down. "I'm not saying I'm not enjoying your company, but why are you here?"

Ronde said, "Well, I wanted to see you. It has been seven years, after all, but the second reason is my friends are hurt, and need to be healed before tonight. Mom is having a feast with these people, and you know how she is when I come with people representing her."

She sighed, "Ronde, if you want me to heal your friends, I need you to feed Kijani."

Ronde's eyes widened. "That dragon is still here?"

His grandmother nodded and smiled. "I hate to admit it, but I grew attached to that dragon. He's grown a lot, but he's still the same dragon, and he's still a little shy around people."

"Wait, if he grew bigger, how are we supposed to feed him?" Ronde asked, confused.

"He usually catches his own food in the outlands, but loves it when I feed him. But to answer your question, I ordered some barrels full of fish and other meat and had them delivered outside near the lake. I did feel some vibration earlier, so he's waiting for me."

The one called Hiccup asked, "Wait, what is this dragon you call Kijani?"

Ronde turned around. "Kijani is the dragon I tol-"

Mimea cut Ronde off. "Hold on, Ronde. I love to see people's reactions when they see him. Come and I'll show you, but please don't provoke him. He may be shy, but he will defend himself."

Mimea led us towards the room in the back of the cabin and there was a door. What was on the other side blew me away. It was a beautiful lake with a forest around it, but there was an opening in the forest that allowed me to see outside of Ronde's village. The lake was crystal clear, with a giant rock formation in the middle. What was strange about that rock formation was it seemed like it didn't belong there.

Suddenly, Minea yelled, "KIJANI! I HAVE FOOD!"

Nothing happened.

We were all just staring at each other, but I noticed Ronde and his grandmother were staring at the lake. When I decided to do the same, I noticed that bubbles were forming around the rock formation. The rock began to move across the ground. Slowly two sets of wings appeared, then after that a tail with a boulder at the end came out of the water.

The dragon Riders looked horrified. "A RED DEATH!?"

Mimea laughed. "No, but a very close cousin."

The dragon head came out of the water, and that was when I noticed it had six eyes. When the giant dragon was completely out of the water, it roared very loudly. It finally stopped and came over towards us.

Mimea said, "This is Kijani the Green Death. Isn't he just so precious? Come here baby," she said, while holding her arms out.

The dragon slowly came to us, but suddenly stopped to look at all of us and, to my surprise, it looked scared and started to whimper.

Ronde said, "You weren't kidding when you said he was shy. I didn't think a dragon of his size would be scared of us."

His grandmother responded, "It's like when a person is afraid of a bug, or an elephant afraid of mice. But he'll come. Here, give this to him."

She gave Ronde one of the many barrels of food. Ronde opened the barrel and held it out for the giant dragon to see. Kijani slowly approached Ronde, and sniffed at him. After that Ronde asked, "Do you remember me, Kijani?"

The dragon growled at him, and Ronde smiled. "I honestly can't believe you recognize me. Anyway, my grandmother wanted me to give you some food."

The dragon blew a tiny smoke cloud near him, and Mimea laughed. "I assume you've got it from here, my grandson?"

He waved at her, then dumped the food on the dragon's tongue. "Yeah, I got this, you can go inside."

She was just here for everyone to follow her inside the house, but she looked back at Ronde and said, "Don't forget these barrels as well."

He was about to complain, but his grandmother was already inside and we followed her. She led us towards the room with the table, and sat down. "Alright, you need help right? So which one of you needs to be healed?"

The boy with the black eye raised his hand very slowly, and the girl named Astrid did as well. I hesitated somewhat, but I put my hand in the air as well. She examined us. "Ok, a black eye, some cuts, bruises, and calluses, okay. I can make the black eye go away in a few hours, and the cuts in a few minutes." She looked over towards me, "And I'll fix those calluses on your hands last, okay?"

I nodded, and she went into the other room to grab some bottles, flowers, a bowl, and a stick of some sort. She leaned closer to the boy's black eye and began to clip off some of the petals of a flower, and put it inside the bowl. After that, she slowly poured some of the liquid inside the bowl, and began using a stick to grind the petal and a liquid together. After a while, she finished mixing it and it became some type of paste. She grabbed some of it and placed it around the boy's eyes, and then on his arms. "This will help with the bruises. They should go away within an hour, but the black eye will probably still be there during the dinner. However, it will be reduced so much to the point that it just looks like you're tired with dark lines around your eyes. But keep that paste on it until dinner."

She moved on to Astrid. She made a new bowl, and used a different flower, but she did the same thing. This time, instead of it being a paste, it was some sort of green liquid. She placed some of it on Astrid's cut. "Now, it might feel a little funny, but it shouldn't hurt."

Astrid looked at her arm, and to her and everyone else's surprise, we saw the cut slowly closing. And after a few moments her cuts vanished completely.

"Oh my gods, it's really gone? That fast?" Astrid said, incredulously.

Mimea nodded. "Yes, you should be at 100%, cuts are easy to heal."

"I can't believe how this is possible. It should take days, if not weeks to heal injuries like this," Astrid said.

Mimea sat down on her counter. "It's nothing, really. All I do is increase the body's natural healing process without putting it at risk. Everything I grew is natural, that's why I live on this hill."

She looked a little sad and gazed at the back entrance/ "But my grandson..."

"Actually, if you want, could you tell us what happened to Ronde?" Hiccup asked.

Mimea looked away from us.

"It's just that what he can do shouldn't be even possible, and he told us that you did it to him. And I'm curious how, or even why."

Mimea looked a little distraught. I was contemplating whether or not she wanted to say something to us. Silence stretched out, longer and longer. Eventually, Hiccup said, "I'm sorry if it's too hard to talk about it. You don't need to tell us."

Mimea finally spoke. "You guys already know about his condition. So tell me, can he still change?"

Hiccup nodded and she sighed in relief. "I guess it's good that he can have a choice. It fills me with joy to see him again, with friends no doubt."

She looked over towards us. "Listen, some of you probably think I'm some sort of monster for doing… that to my grandson but I wasn't trying to change him, only save him by healing his body."

Everyone sat down and looked very interested. "What are you saying? He told us that."

She looked towards the ceiling, avoiding our eyes. "It's a little more than that. Tell me, did you hear about the night he changed?"

"Yes, he told us. During dinner, his dragon friend bit him and poisoned him," Astrid said.

"I will take it a little further, back to the moment before that happened. The moment Ronde's dragon went out of control, I noticed that it was acting strangely. After my son in law cut the dragon's neck, I noticed that there was something in the dragon's food to make it aggressive. Someone was trying to kill us all, or just my son in law, the king.

Everyone, including me, was shocked.

"Luckily, just before all of this happened I had anti venom. But it wasn't working for Ronde for some odd reason. Ronde's symptoms were getting worse and worse by the minute, and I was afraid I was going to lose him. Whatever was in the drug was preventing the anti venom from neutralizing the poison, so whoever was trying to kill us was thinking ahead. So I had a crazy idea that could save his life."

I was a bit concerned about what she did, but I asked anyway. "What did you do?"

"I came up with a formula to help heal the damage caused by the poison. The formula was supposed to heal the damage the poison was causing his body, until the poison was completely gone, and heal as much damage as it could. And in some ways it worked, but I had mere minutes to come up with something, otherwise he would've died. I found the right flowers and created the right liquids. I even added one of the scales from Ronde's dragon, because it had healing properties. After it was done, I quickly recorded everything I did and gave it to him. In a few short minutes, the color was returning to his face and he was breathing normally again, until…"

Mimea began to tear up. "Until suddenly Ronde looked like he was in pain. He wasn't fully awake, but he grabbed his chest and began to scream in pain. He fell on the floor. I was trying to help him but that's when I noticed he was growing. His shirt and pants were ripped off and he changed into a dragon in front of me. He was awake but… he didn't recognize me and he tried to attack me. I kept trying to calm him down, but nothing I did got through, until I screamed his name when he was about to strike me down. I think that, at that moment, something triggered within him. But he grabbed his head and started to scream again, and fainted and he slowly began to shrink into a tiny dragon that was the size of a child. When he woke up again, I noticed he wasn't as aggressive. It took me a moment, but I soon found out he'd regained his senses again and it was him."

"I tried to return him to his parents and explain what happened to him, but something must have happened that caused him to run away. And he's been gone ever since."

I was shocked. "That's what happened to him?"

She nodded, "Through my point of view, yes. However, I don't know what Ronde's been through. I hope it wasn't too hard for him. But it wouldn't surprise me if he hated me because of what I did to him."

She looked towards us. "Is there anything that has been wrong with him? Like, he experienced pain or possibly losses?"

The one called Hiccup said, "There was the time our village was raided, he saw Astrid get hurt and he went on a rampage against those that hurt her. But he told us that he barely remembers the events. And what kind of concerns me is that when he changes he becomes very tired."

Mimea looked a little worried. "It was probably a fight or flight response; sometimes rational thought can get in the way of instinct. But the other thing about him being tired… my best guess is that this is his body's way to recover itself. I've noticed that our body's recover quicker while we're asleep. That is probably why he's probably drained every time he… changes."

Mimea looked outside. "It's getting late. I recommend that you all leave now, so you won't be late to my daughter's feast. The girl with the calluses can stay, and I'll see Ronde and tell him what's going on."

The dragon Riders understood, and said their goodbyes. Mimea then looked over towards me and said, "Before we get started I'd like to see my grandson, is that okay?"

I quickly nodded. "Oh please, I can wait."

We both went outside, to see a stack of barrels near the edge of the lake while Ronde was pouring the contents into a dragon's mouth and yelling, "That's ten! I hope you're not still hungry."

The dragon suddenly burped in front of him, much to Ronde's disgust. "OH MY GOD! THAT FOUL! WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT!? Is that why people call bad breath 'dragon breath'? Egh, yeah, you're most definitely a boy."

The dragon chuckled and slowly went back towards the middle of the lake.

Me and Mimea walked towards Ronde. "Hello, my grandson, I was wondering if you could answer a few questions."

Ronde looked a little concerned. "Oh ok what are they?"

"I would like to see it for myself, but can you still turn into a dragon, or has it completely gone away?"

"Yes, I can and I don't think it's going away. But you just reminded me of something I needed to ask you."

She raised her eyebrows. "Oh, do you now? What would it be?"

Ronde suddenly looked over to me and was concerned about something. "I don't think you want to hear this, Kindle. I don't want you to… pity me or think less of me."

I was confused. "What are you talking about, why would I pity you? If anything, I envy you sometimes. And why would I think less of you after everything you've done for me? I don't think I would do that."

He still looked concerned. "It's just that... I…"

"Ronde, whatever it is, I can handle it," I said.

He looked over to me, and then back at his grandmother. "Grandma, I've noticed throughout the years, each and every time I change back and forth, the pain gets worse and worse. And even now, I have weird thoughts and urges I can't seem to control. I'm afraid that within the next ten years I won't be able to change at all. At first, I thought I might have a choice to be either dragon or human, but now I think my dragon side is coming out more. Is there a way to slow it down, or possibly prevent it?"

I was completely shocked. Would he be a dragon forever in the future?

His grandmother was thinking. "I'm sorry, Ronde, but I can't help you. If it was physical damage, then maybe, but you are a mystery when it comes to going back and forth between human and dragon. However, these instincts or urges, I might be able to help but I need you to change for me.

He was shocked. "Could you turn around please?"

She was confused. "What? Why do I need to… oh Ronde, I've seen you naked before! Remember the time my daughter was given you a bath and you ran around the castle naked?"

I couldn't help but laugh at that story, but Ronde was flustered, "Why would you say that in front of her! Kindle, please just turn around."

The moment I did, I heard him taking off his clothes and then changing. Once I heard him breathing hard, I looked over and there he was.

Mimea was very confused. "Y-Your much bigger than what I was expecting. You were barely the size of a child, and now you're two, if not three times bigger than a Nadder. Ronde, can you talk like that?"

He nodded. "I can."

"Wonderful, me and Kindle will be inside. I'll see you in a minute."

Both Ronde and I were confused. Why did she ask him to do that?

We went inside and she grabbed a bigger bowl. She did what she did before, and made some sort of paste, then she poured some liquid into the bigger bowl, grabbed my hands and put some of the paste on my calluses. "Just let it sit for a couple of seconds, then place your hands inside the bowl."

Before I did, I wanted to ask her something. "Hey, Mimea."

She turned around. "Yes?"

"Why did you ask Ronde to change, yet didn't do anything?"

She smiled. "Well, for two reasons. One, I just wanted to see if he could control changing his body. But it looks as though it has a toll on him. The second is, he said that his dragon instinct was concerning him, and I wanted to see if that had something to do with you. Or perhaps he is just more concerned for you than he is over me."

"With me?"

"Yes, you didn't notice, but the moment he became a dragon, he was only focusing on you. I wonder if you two are a couple? Or just friends?"

I immediately blushed and tried to explain. "We're not a couple. We're just friends."

"Friends don't blush when mentioning the other person. I can tell by your response, you like him as more than just a friend. And I think he sees you the same way. But because of his instinct, he might be protective over you."

"What?"

"Boys can also be like this, but when it comes to dragons they will protect their partner, friends or mates with their lives. But they might be aggressive towards anything they see as a threat. I doubt Ronde would be aggressive, but have you noticed something off about him lately?"

I thought about it and I remembered the times I pulled out the ring. "Today I was trying to sell my ring my ex-fiance gave me, but everytime I pulled it out, Ronde just looked angry and stared at it."

She placed my hands into the bowl, "His instinct might be telling him that whoever this person was is a threat to your relationship. I hope you won't see him with Ronde nearby, that would not be pretty."

This question came into my head, and I needed to know. "Mimea, this is the last question I have. I know it seems weird, but I need to know."

She was a bit concerned but she answered, "What would you like to know?"

It was just a hypothetical one, but I needed to know. "Is it possible for you to do to me what you did to Ronde?"

She was so shocked that she nearly fell off the table. "What! W-why would you want that?" You want to be a dragon like him?"

I didn't answer her questions. "Listen please, if me and Ronde were to have a relationship or something… more, I don't want us to be separated like that. And what he told us about him being a dragon forever, what if we get attached to one another and that happened? I'd be stuck. So that's why I'm asking, I'm not saying that I want it to happen now, but could you do it?"

She just looked at me. "I don't know."

"You're saying it's possible, but there's an issue isn't there?" I asked.

She nodded. "I don't know if Ronde was a special case. If I were to do the same thing to you, it could kill you or horribly disfigure you. However, if it's not based on blood or the person, I'd say it would have a small chance of working on you, but that would mean I'll have to recreate everything that had happened to Ronde on that night to you."

I was very concerned about what that meant. "Meaning?"

"I'll have to poison you with the dragon's venom with the drug found in the food, then use the anti venom. Once it's in your system for a certain period of time, I'll use the same solution and potion I use for Ronde and… hope it works. I don't know if it was the solution, or everything being in his system caused that reaction of him becoming a dragon. But if I were to do it to you, I would say you may have a two out of ten chance of it working on you."

I gulped. Two out of ten... I really didn't like those odds.

Then she gave me a serious look. "If you're serious about this, just give me time to increase the chances of it working for you. To think you're willing to do that for my grandson! Most women would've just found another guy, or possibly just tried to make things work anyway, but you are willing to give up your body, society, and possibly dreams to be with him. I hope you two have a bright future."

I almost blushed, but what she'd said confused me. "You say that like this has happened before."

"Well, not in a situation like this, but something similar. About thirteen years ago, we were in a battle with Kijani's mother. She killed and burned some of the people in this nation. There was a burnt victim that I was taking care of, but eventually his wife left him because he was too disfigured for her. It was hard for him, but after six months of him coming here and doing our daily routine, his body made a full recovery. His skin returned to normal. Unfortunately, he couldn't grow any hair anymore—I could have fixed that, but he preferred to stay bald. Eventually he worked hard to make his own food place, and he was very successful. His ex-wife tried to come back, but he wasn't having anything to do with her."

"That was a lovely story," I said.

She smiled. "I've got more, but I think it's time for you to leave before you're late. In the morning, the hardened skin on your hands should peel off, and new fresh skin should replace those calluses. It might feel a bit strange while you get used to it, but you should be fine. Let's go and see Ronde."

I quickly got off the table and followed her towards the back. What surprised me was it looked like Ronde was pacing around the lake, waiting for us. He was still a dragon, but when he noticed us, he quickly flew over to where we were and looked at me, concerned. "Kindle! Are you okay? Did my grandmother help with your hands? Why are you two looking at me like that?"

Mimea and I looked at each other and laughed about his reaction. "It's fine Ronde. Yes, she helped me.

He closed his eyes, and sighed in relief, "Oh, thank God, I hope she didn't tell you any more embarrassing stories about me."

Mimea laughed. "Maybe next time, but since you are a dragon, how about you let Kindle on your back and fly over towards my daughter's home and enjoy the feast."

His eyes widened. "I can't believe I forgot about that! Kindle, let's go."

He lowered himself towards the ground, and I climbed on the base of his neck and held on to one of his spikes.

"Now, Kindle, if you're serious about what we talked about, then I'll try my best to help. But remember, it is up to you if you want to go through with it. I won't stop you, but I need you to know the risks. I'll try to do further research on it, but that's all I can do. But it needs to be something you both agree on."

I nodded. "I understand."

She waved goodbye and went inside her cabin. Ronde flew off, and in that moment, I noticed that his scales changed color to match the autumn sky. His village looked beautiful from this height, with lights from candles and torches dotted across the ground like fireflies. But Ronde spoke. "So, what were you and my grandmother talking about?"

I tried to think of something quickly. "We were talking about the remaining scars on my body and whether to heal them or just leave them be. She told me that you might have a problem with that."

"What? No it would be entirely up to you, I wouldn't care. I would only care if you made some sort of alterations to your body, like having your lips stretched by putting a plate inside your mouth and making a plate bigger as your mouth stretches, or getting some sort of piercing on your nose or your lips. I wouldn't know why you would do that to your body. You're beautiful enough as you are."

I was moved by what he said, and my heart beat a little faster.

Wait a minute, when he said that he wasn't blushing and his scales didn't turn a different color. And he didn't try to take back what he said nervously. So I said, "Ronde, thank you, but are you okay?"

He was slightly confused and looked back towards me for a moment. "Yeah I'm fine. Why do you ask? Am I flying weirdly?"

"No, no you're fine. I was just asking."

This was strange but I wondered if he was more confident talking to me as a dragon? He seemed a bit nervous when he was near me as a person, but now it seemed like he was more confident when he was talking to me. This was so strange, yet at the same time it was somewhat funny.

I looked down at my left hand on top of his scales. Should I be a warrior like I always wanted to be, or become a dragon with Ronde? Honestly, I'd prefer to be a warrior to protect the integrity of my home, wherever that may be. But if I became what Ronde was...is, I'd lose that dream. But I guess I'd choose whatever path made me the happiest, I just hoped that whatever I chose, I wouldn't regret it. But that was for the future, if everything works out for me and Ronde.

Ronde

After returning to the castle, I landed in the garden without anyone noticing. I quickly tried to change back, put on my clothes, and get back inside the castle with a Kindle. We managed to get inside without anyone noticing us and got up the stairs and towards my room.

I turned around towards Kindle. "Alright, once we get inside my room we need to change into our clothes that we got earlier, and then see my mother."

"I already have a set of clothes that are more than appropriate for your feast," Kindle said.

I somewhat laughed. "Of course you do, you'll be prepared for anything."

"Yes, but unlike the both of you, I came prepared for your arrival."

I turned around towards the other side of the hallway, to see my mother walking towards us. "I knew I would see you here, but where are the others? I know we all separated, but the feast is almost ready and they are nowhere to be found."

I quickly tried to answer. "They are on their way back. We all just came from grandma's house. Someone got injured but he's fine now."

My mother sighed. "Of course they got injured, I just hope they make it on time. Anyway, Ronde and Kindle, I know you're about to change your clothes, but I need to see the girl for a moment. And Ronde, when you finish changing, could you get your sisters and tell them that the feast is ready."

I was completely shocked. "You want me to see my sisters? Why? I don't think I'm ready for that! And why take Kindle, do you have plans for something?"

"Actually, yes. I have plans for Kindle but we need to discuss a schedule that can work for us. And by this time you've seen everyone, except for your sisters and uncle, but I have no idea what he's doing, so I know he's not coming. But your sisters need to see you, and chances are that they might not recognize you, so you have nothing to worry about."

'Of course I would have to see them before the feast, but maybe this is good. I wonder how much they've changed if they had at all.' "Fine, I'll go see them."

She smiled. "Good, now come along, Kindle, we have a few things to discuss."

She took Kindle farther down the hallway as I went inside my room. When I was inside, I saw the clothes that I had chosen on my bed alongside the ones that Kindle picked out as well. I assume that was her way of telling me to put them on instead of the other things that I'd picked out but I guessed that was fine. I took off my clothes and replaced them with the ones on my bed. Now that I could think about it, it was strange how I wasn't sweating or overheating when I had the long sleeve black shirts on, weird but I had my black shirt on and it had a cool looking white pattern on it with… white pants? I don't remember getting those , she must have made some last minute changes to my outfit, of course.

I looked at myself in the mirror, and despite being slightly angry at the fact that she changed my outfit and it actually didn't look bad.

After several minutes, Kindle came back into my room, much to my surprise. "That was quick, what were you and my mother talking about?"

"I'll tell you later, but could you step out for a minute while I change my clothes, please."

I laughed. "Alright, but please don't take too long. After this, I was wondering if you would go with me to see my sisters? I think I may need some support."

She smiled. "That seems fine. I would actually like to meet all of your family members. You all act so different, but you're so alike too."

I walked towards my door and told her, "Yeah, and because of that we can be dysfunctional sometimes… most times… a lot. Anyway, whenever you're ready just come out, I'll be next to the door waiting for you."

She picked up her bag she'd brought with her and said, "Alright, I just need to change my clothes and do my hair."

I smiled and closed the door behind me, and waited for her to come out.

After a few minutes of waiting, the door finally opened and she came out. "So, how do I look?"

I turned over to look at her and I couldn't help but stare at her. She wore a long white dress, with black flowers dripping down her bodice and the ends of sleeves, that came halfway down her arms. It was tight around her shoulders and waist, but from her hips downwards, it hung loose in a simple, yet gorgeous, skirt that swirled around her ankles. I could hardly breathe. "You look… very beautiful."

Then I turned away to make sure she didn't see me blushing. I slightly laughed and said, "I knew it."

I was about to ask what she was talking about but then she walked past me, and turned around. "Well, don't we need to see your sisters? But I think you know this place better than I do."

I got off the wall I'd leaned on for support. "R-Right, their room is on the opposite side of this hallway, technically. Just go down the stairs towards the set of steps, and we should be there."

She pointed towards the end of the hallway. "Is that right? Then please lead the way, Orond," she said teasingly.

"I regret calling myself that name," I said walking past her.

She laughed and followed me down the stairs.

After a few moments of walking, we made it to my sisters' hallway. They had at least five to six rooms to themselves. Each room had a function that they'd established, such as one for playing, sleep, makeup and to do their hair in—why I don't know nor I will try to understand.

I went to each room and listened to see if they were in a specific room. And what would you know, they were in their hair room, probably finishing up.

I looked at the Kindle and said, "They are in this room."

She nodded, "Go ahead, I'd like to meet them. And don't be nervous, I'll be right here."

I was nervous, so I inhaled to calm my nerves, then exhaled. I knocked on the door. A few seconds went by and the room was silent. Suddenly the door swung open and to my surprise my youngest sister, the middle child, had her finger in my face and yelled, "We told all the servants not to disturb us! We are almost finished with our hair and we're not going to be late! You got that budd—"

She lowered her hand and looked at me, but she was still looking at me strangely, so I tried to speak, "Yes I'm sorry my...princesses, I was sent here by your mother to tell you

the feast is almost ready."

She got closer to my face and I was beginning to get a little worried, until she turned around and said to our other sister, "Moyo, could you come here for a second?"

My oldest sister got up and walked beside her. "What is it, Akili? Is the guy being rude or something?"

Then they were both staring at me weirdly, and I was scared, so I asked, "Why are you two staring at me like that?"

They both looked at each other, then nodded. Suddenly, they both grabbed me by my shirt and… hugged me? Wait did they know?!, "Why are you—"

My youngest sister Akili cut me off, "Shut up, Ronde, we know it's you, no need to lie to us."

Moyo, my oldest sister, said, "We knew for a long time now that you weren't dead. It just took us a moment to realize it was you, because you've cut your hair."

I was very confused, "H-how did you know it's me? I've been gone for so long, how can you even recognize me?"

"You're our little brother, how can we not recognize you? Plus, you look like dad when he was younger, and you have mom's eyes."

Why does everyone say that? I looked nothing like my father.

Moyo spoke, "We both knew that you might have faked your death, just to get away from here, for a while now. But we didn't tell anyone, we didn't want mom or dad to get worried, or even sadder."

They stopped hugging me and looked very happy to see me, but I had to know, "How did you know that I was still alive?"

They both looked at each other and smiled nervously. "Well, we sort of dug up your casket and opened it to see what was really inside."

Had I misheard them? "I'm sorry, you did what?"

Akili said, "Look, we knew something was fishy when grandmother wanted a close casket during your funeral. Even if you were poisoned by your dragon, it still should have been in the open. So one night, when everyone was asleep, we dug up and opened your casket to find one of those training dummies that grandmother uses to teach others about the body's anatomy. She even dressed it like you, just in case someone opened it. We were thinking about telling Mom and Dad, but we assumed you did it for a reason. Both of us understood that you were not treated fairly by father, but you could have at least told us you were planning on running away."

I looked towards the ground, frustrated. Even if I had wanted to, I couldn't. "It wasn't exactly planned, it just happened."

They both look confused. "What do you mean?" They said in unison.

I looked towards both of them. "Listen, I wanted to stay, but I was afraid that if I did I would have lost my life, or worse. Perhaps I'll tell you later, or in this case, show you why I left and where I've been."

They both looked at each other, then me, and hugged me again. "It's great to see you again Ronde," Moyo said. Then Akili whispered, "Please don't scare us like that."

I backed away when they stopped hugging me. "By the way, only mother, grandma and my mentor know who I am and I prefer to keep it that way. During the feast, please call me Orond."

They both laughed. "Why that name? But fine, we understand."

They were both still laughing at the name, and I was slightly irritated, but at the same time, a little happy that they could still recognize me, even after all this time, and in a way we were bonding just like old times."

"So, Orond, aren't you going to introduce me?"

I turned around to see Kindle waiting patiently for us.

I quickly realized that I hadn't and tried to introduce her. "Oh, sorry. Akili, Moyo, this is Kindle. She's new around these parts, so I'm trying to make her feel more at home."

My sibling, both greeted her after a few moments. Akili said, "You're not from here, I can tell, but you are more than welcome to come to us, if you have any questions, or if you want to get your hair done by my sister."

Moyo smiled. "Royal and classy, that's my motto, and if you're friends with our brother, I'll gladly do it for you for free. But if our brother is hanging out with you like this, is it possible that you're our brother's girlfriend?"

I tried to hide the fact that I'm blushing, by covering my face with my hands, but before I could say anything, Kindle spoke up. "I don't know about that, but we are very close friends. He's helped me out throughout the past two days, even though he didn't have to, and I'm grateful for it."

I looked over towards her, and we stared at each other for a few moments. But then Moyo spoke. "Well, you two seem to be getting along with each other, so we'll leave you be. But both of us are almost finished, so we'll be down there in a couple of minutes. Well, we should get going. Goodbye, you two.

Both my sisters walked inside the room and closed the door. After that, both me and Kindle were walking down the stairs towards the main entrance. As we walked together, I felt some weird urge to place my hand over her shoulder, or just hold her hands but I suppressed it.

When we finally got down, I saw all of the dragon Riders in different new clothes with some of their dragons talking to my mother. "But what about them, what are they going to eat?"

My mother responded with, "They will be fed, but it's a strict rule of ours ever since that incident. Please try to understand that I can't uplift this rule even if it's wrong to do so."

We finally made it down the steps, and everyone was looking in our direction, so I asked, "What's wrong? Is there a problem or is something else going on?"

Hiccup greeted us, "Hello… Orond and Kindle, your moth—your queen told us that our dragons are not allowed in the feast."

Even I was confused. We always allowed Dapper to come inside while we were eating. I looked over towards my mother. "Why can't they? We used to do it all the time."

My mother looked a little distraught. "Because of that incident seven years ago, when Dapper was drugged and someone tried to kill us by having a dragon do it for them, we've banned dragons from feasting with us until we know who it was. But please understand, all of you, we can not have that incident repeating itself."

Oh right, it took me a few days to figure out that he was drugged; his behavior was similar to what the Bog Burglars used inside those darts. But I understood why she was being cautious. Perhaps the person will do it again if there were any dragons in the room. Our chef always checked the food in front of us to make sure it wasn't poisoned, or anything, but dragons… we don't have a taste test for that. I believe that would be disgusting even for a chef.

I turned towards the Dragon Riders. "She's right, I did tell you all about what happened to my dragon. It could happen again. I know that you all want to be with your dragons, but it could be dangerous for them and us. I'm positive that my queen will have them fed in the garden with the other dragons, but they can't come with us. Remember, you have all day tomorrow to hang out with them across the village."

They all sighed and were disappointed. Even Hiccup looked over towards Toothless, and said, "I'm sorry, bud." I somewhat felt bad but it had to be done. Plus, it's only for the feast, and they can see their dragons after.

My mother's assistants helped lead the dragons back towards the garden, and my mother gestured towards all of us to follow her, and we did. She walked us towards the right side of the first floor, towards the opened the first door on the right side, and led us inside. The moment I walked inside, I smelled the food still cooking and meat, but the room only had a long table with chairs, and with each sat a plate with silverware on each side.

I felt myself getting hungry just by smelling the food in the air, yet I just ate with Kindle not that long ago. I just hoped I wouldn't lose myself while eating.

Each of us sat down in our own individual seats, and I sat down where I used to sit when I was younger, towards the end of the table with Kindle next to me. My mother said to us, "I will be back to get my husband, young man, if you could sit closer to my side of the table so we can have a discussion about being allies. My daughter should be here before I and my husband do, but the feast will begin in five minutes. I'll be back before then."

My mother left the room with everyone else.

I usually don't do this, but somehow I was in a good mood so I asked, "So, how was everyone's day? I know Snotlout got a beating, which I'm upset that I missed, but how are you liking my village, Alkebulan?"

Everyone, except for Snotlout, laughed but Astrid was the first person to speak., "This place is better than you described. Yet I didn't even see everything, I might just explore this place a little more tomorrow with Stormfly."

Fishlegs was next. "I'm still trying to learn how to read in your language, but I found some of the books in the library very interesting. There was even one that was in Norse that was talking about—"

Snotlout quickly started talking. "Yeah, yeah, no one cares about what you've read or about history or whatever, and I hate it here! It is too hot and there is nothing to do! The only thing that looks interesting are the women here, but I have eyes set on someone so what is there to do?"

Immediately, everyone except for Kindle and the twins, because they weren't paying attention, looked disgusted by what he said, because we all knew who he was talking about. But wasn't she thirty years older than him? How old is Valka anyway?

Kindle was confused by all of our faces, and asked me, "Who is he talking about?"

I turned towards her. "I'll tell you later, right now I want you to keep your appetite."

I turned towards Snotlout. "By the way, you of all people should care about history. From what I can tell, you don't learn from your mistakes, and I know for a fact you can't learn from other's. So if you take anything whenever you leave this place remember this: we need to know our history from ourselves, others, and our ancestors, so we don't make the same mistakes they made."

Everyone smiled and nodded about what I said.

"Very wise words for a commoner."

I turned towards my left, to see my entire family coming through the door, and in the front was my father. He walked towards the front of the table, right next to where I was sitting. I was confused, why was he sitting next to me?, but then I remembered that this was the spot I used to sit in to talk to him. I was such an idiot!

He organized his silverware and looked at me. "Well, that was where my son used to sit. Be glad I don't have you move somewhere else, but you might entertain me."

As I was getting annoyed, my mother spoke. "Woede, what did we talk about? Stop antagonizing Our Guest."

He looked up towards her, and said, "Yes I know, but that meant the folks that called themselves the Dragon Riders, not one of our own from the village and the female from that island full of savages."

I tried to hold back from yelling at him, but it was very hard.

My mother noticed me getting angry, and said, "Anyone who is in this room, that is not a part of our family, is a guest, Woede. Please, just don't be mean to them."

"No promises, if I see something wrong, I will call them out for it."

She sighed, and sat down towards the end of the table, while my sister, who was on the other side of where I was sitting, smiled at me. Akili was the first to speak. "Anyway, we were all here with our guests and we should be happy. We haven't done something like this, since that man in the white Robe showed up."

My father smiled. "Ah yes, Unitatis. That man was talking the entire time about being peaceful and telling us about how he built the empire. I don't know why I asked him to come to my kingdom, when we could have become allies in his nation."

My mother interjected, "That's because it would have been easier to get on his good side here than in his own home. It showed him that we were happy to have him here as a guest. Until one of our own tried to decapitate him, good thing Skild was there to stop him, otherwise that may have started a war."

"Ah yes, that's why we both decided to promote him." My father looked over towards my sister. "By the way, Akili and Moyo, how are your studies coming along?"

Akili answered first. "They're coming along fine. They are beginning to get a little difficult, but I'm starting to understand the foundations of our land. And trying to speak in another language is somewhat different, but I think I can get used to it."

Moyo spoke next. "Yeah, learning a new language is not my favorite subject, but learning about our history is somewhat enjoyable."

My father smiled. "That's my girls, you two will be the future of this country after me and your mother. Akili will be a wonderful queen and, Moyo, you will be an excellent advisor for your sister, just like my brother and I."

I couldn't believe it. My youngest sister was going to be the next in line to replace my father on the throne? And Moyo was going to replace my uncle? I guess a lot had changed after all.

I couldn't help but chuckle at the thought of it.

"What are you laughing about, commoner? Did I say something funny?"

I look up to see my father staring at me with a very intense stare. However, I wasn't fazed by it. Eventually, while growing up, I just grew numb to that look. The look of anger and disappointment. I stared back with a calm look. "No, what you just said reminded me of something. That's all."

"Oh, is that so? Well then, tell us what it was, I'm sure we all could use a good laugh before the food is served."

"It's something only I would find funny. If you want a good laugh, maybe you should tell a joke."

My father smiled. "I don't tell jokes, I just expose people for who they really are, not who they pretend to be. I like to expose people for the fakes that they are, so they can look foolish, that is what I find funny. So tell me, commoner, where are you from and what are you doing here? Especially with that savage girl?"

I was about to yell at him, but then I felt something on my right hand. I turned around to see Kindle shake her head at me, telling me 'no'. She smiled to reassure me that she was okay with my father talking about her. I tried to calm down and faced him. "My Queen… saved me while I was traveling outside of our borders, while she was on her way back from here. I owe her my life for saving me, but she extends her kindness and offers me a place to stay for the time being, while I find a place here."

"And where would that be? I already know that you're from this tribe, because you're speaking in perfect Norse. We were only doing it because my wife insisted that we talk like this, so the so-called 'Dragon Riders' could understand our conversation, but you were speaking in Norse before you came into my castle. You are not a warrior or a person, apart from our communication Guild, so who are you, boy?"

I looked towards the ceiling and back down towards my father. "It's ironic, but even I don't know why I'm here."

He wasn't satisfied with my answer. "I'm not playing games right now, tell me who you are."

"I wish this was a game, that way this outcome would be in my favor."

I noticed he had a confused look on his face, and he was about to say something, but at that moment, the doors to the kitchen opened and their servants were carrying our food. One after the other, they began to place the food on the table.

The aroma of the food began to make my mouth water. The smell of the sizzling juicy meat, the sight of the cut fruit, bowls of soup and grub along with sauces! It'd been a while since I had home cooked food.

All of the food was around the table, and the servants around us, waiting for all of us to finish. That's when I noticed that my family had their hands together, and heads down. They all said in unison, "Asante kwa chakula na dhabihu ya viumbe ambayo ilifanya hii iwezekane."

Oh, that was our prayer, how could I forget to say grace? Wow, I guess I've really been away for a while, huh?

I noticed that my family was reaching for their food, and everyone else was as well. I grabbed my silverware and some of the meat and fruit. It felt weird to use silverware to eat, I barely used any on Berk, and while I was a dragon I just used my hands to hold it or pull it apart.

But after I took my first bite, I almost cried, this was the best meal I'd had in years!

Even Kindle, next to me, was enjoying her food with a smile, as she chewed. But, as I looked at her plate, I noticed she had the castle's most notorious grub balanced with meat, vegetables, and the best sauce on this side of our community! How did she get it?

I looked over and saw a huge bowl next to her, and I sniffed the air and I smelled the grub coming from the bowl. So I got Kindle's attention by gently tapping her shoulder, and grabbed an empty bowl, and asked her, "Kindle, could you please fill this bowl with that grub over there?"

She grabbed the bowl out of my hand. "Yes I can, if you can hand me that lemon over there, on your left."

I looked over and saw the lemon she was talking about, and grabbed it while she was pouring the grub into my bowl. We traded and I quickly poured the grub into my mouth, and just in that moment I cried tears of happiness, it was just so good to have a home cooked meal.

As I was eating the grub, I noticed that Kindle was cutting her lemon in half and squeezing the juice on her pieces of meat. I was confused, so I placed the bowl down and asked her, "Hey, what are you doing?"

She turned around, surprised, "Oh, it's a little bit of a habit of mine, but if I know that the meal could be better, I'll try to enhance the flavor of the food. You see, I was working as a cook before I saw you, and I would try to use fruit oil or lemons to add to the flavor. Not saying there's anything wrong with the food, my compliments go towards the chef, but… here, try some and see what I mean."

She used the fork to pick up the food and she held it near my face. Was she going to feed me? I slightly opened my mouth and she gave it to me. Once it was in my mouth, I could taste what she was talking about. The lemon juice did add to the flavor of the meat. It was different, but it was a little bit better.

"Wow, you were right," I said out loud.

She laughed. "See, I know what I'm talking about. I just need some spices, and we'll really have ourselves a meal."

When she said spices, I thought of something, our special soup with the peppers inside. I remembered that stuff would make my nose run for a couple of minutes. Suddenly, I looked back towards the end of the table and saw the twins.

Oh yeah, payback was happening now. I turned around to get the servants attention. He came up to me and I whispered in his ear, "Unaona hizo mbili hapo? Mapacha wanapenda chakula cha moto ili uweze kuwapa supu yetu maalum ya viungo na unaweza pia kumpa msichana maziwa ya utakaso?"

He looked over towards the twins, and then shrugged and went towards the back. Phase one was done, but would they take the bait?

The servant came back with the bowl of soup I asked for, and with the milk. He gave it to the twins and said something to them. He backed away from them and I noticed that they looked excited, first Tuffnut took a few sips, then his sister, but after a few moments, they must have realized how spicy the soup was, so they quickly tried to grab the cup of milk. Ruffnut grabbed it first and drank some of it, before Tuffnut snatched it out her hand and drank some as well.

And they fell for it. Now I play the waiting game.

After a while of everyone enjoying their food, my mother spoke up. "Well, I hope you all are enjoying the food we've prepared."

Everyone, except for my father, cheered.

My mother continued, "That's great, I was afraid that it would be too different from what you all are used to. But anyway, I hope you don't mind if me and my husband talk over you all with chief Hiccup." No one seemed to care, so she turned towards him and said, "Chief, as you know I'd like to become allies with Berk. I know that we live far away from each other, but there is no other village or community that has integrated dragons into their society, and I believe that this is a very rare opportunity for our two lands to be neighbors to one another. But the choice is yours to make, if you say no, then it is fine. You can stay until you are ready to depart, and we will hold no grudges against Berk. But if we all agree, then we will discuss ways to communicate with one another. So chief, what is your decision?"

Hiccup looked towards the ceiling for a couple of moments then towards the other Dragon Riders and smiled. "I believe it would help us if we did become allies. We also have a few tribes of our own that have integrated dragons as well. It would also put me at ease to know that there is one less tribe trying to kill us. I would be happy to become allies with you."

My mother smiled, and looked towards my father across the table. "Woede, how about you?"

He didn't look very pleased but said, "I do not agree with becoming allies with someone so young, you know this, Neurie. He's already proven that he is incapable of making smart decisions. I knew what he was going to say during that meeting, and if he would have said it out loud then many dragons and people would have been killed. I still find it hard to believe that you've taken down Drago Bludvist."

I noticed that my father's facial expression changed. "But… I trust your judgment, Neurie. If you think that this is a good idea then… I'll stand by it, if that chief is willing to learn."

I wasn't expecting that, I would have thought that he would condemn him more, but he actually agreed with my mother?

Mother smiled. "Great, we've all agreed. Now then, you and I can discuss more about it tomorrow afternoon. I'm completely free around that time, we can do the paperwork and I'll show you more around the kingdom. Also, do you know how long you're staying?"

Hiccup looked a little worried. "My mother and Gobber gave us about two and a half weeks. It's been a week from today since we left Berk, so we can stay for another few days or a week, but we must leave in that time frame or else Gobber is going to punish me by making me clean the dragon stables when we get home."

My mother laughed. "Oh I see, don't worry, we can get this done in a few hours and then you can run around our village all week long, until it's time for you all to leave. But I hope you stay for our festivities."

"Yes, depending on the day we can join," Hiccup said.

As my mother and Hiccup were laughing, my father stood up from his chair and pointed in my direction. "Yes, now what about these two? Surely they're also not staying here, are they?"

Everyone looked up in our direction, until my mother spoke. "Woede, they are my guests."

My father just looked irritated. "I might be able to believe that the boy can be your guest, and that is a very big 'might', but that girl is not. She and her clan are not welcome here."

Just as I was about to yell at him, Kindle grabbed my arm and whispered in my ear, "It's ok."

My mother spoke out. "Woede, that girl was banished from her home."

"This is the FitaFita tribe we are talking about! They don't banish, they execute! They're savages, look at the history books and recent events. They doomed their own population because of conflicts that they started, wars and diseases! I know that their culture oppresses women, but for all I know this could be a trick to destroy our way of life, she could be a spy."

My mother was about to speak, but much to my surprise, it was Kindle who spoke up. "I mean no disrespect, but you don't know what you're talking about. Yes, our history is that of violence, and I will admit I hate my tribe and its culture, but I'm not a spy. I was banished for not marrying someone. This boy found me alone, beside the queen and the Dragon Riders. I came here looking for a fresh start, away from my village. I'm thankful for that."

My father looked over towards Kindle, "Ah, so you can speak in the same language as me? That is strange for a tribe that suppresses women. You can talk in multiple languages?"

"They forced all teenagers to learn languages from potential allies. Your language was one of them, especially the language from our old allies the Meatheads."

"You're lucky I've heard of that old alliance, otherwise I would have called you a liar right now. But that still doesn't excuse you for being here. I hope you don't plan on living in my castle? If you are then, that was just a dream, you and this boy have no reason to be here among us. He is a commoner, you are an outsider who has no place in my kingdom. So once this dinner is over, you can either find somewhere else to stay or go back to your Island full of savages."

"BACK OFF!"

Everyone was shocked to see me right next to my father staring him down. "You have no right to judge her! You couldn't even imagine what she's been through her entire life! People talking down to her, living life everyday as if she was in a constant battle! Struggling to make it by every day to make herself happy! She doesn't need another person talking down to her and—!"

"Say another word, and I'll have my men remove your tongue," he said coldly.

That's when I noticed that some of the servants were very close to us, with knives in their hands ready to strike the moment I made a move. My mother was in the back, trying to tell them to stand down.

My father got closer to me. "I find it strange that you would risk your own life to protect this girl. I bet you she can't even read, yet you would go this far to get in my face, your king's face, might I add." He walked beside me to be more imitating. "You know, I could have you executed right now just for talking to me in that manner and threatening me, but as the merciful king that I am, I'll let this slide for now. You were entertaining, after all you made this meal quite enjoyable with you and this girl made a complete fool of yourselves, so I'll let this be for now, commoner."

He went back towards his chair and ordered his men back. Then he held his hand out pointing at me and said, "Now you have my permission to speak, boy."

I forgot when was the last time I was this angry with my father. But I don't know what hurts worse, him talking down to me and Kindle, or the fact he still doesn't recognize me. No, I don't care about if he recognizes me or not, but no one will talk to Kindle that way. I knew he didn't care much about me at all, and he'd gotten worse.

"I never needed your permission to speak, live or die. I thought that coming back to the place I called home was going to make me happy. Seeing old faces, going to new places, in a way it was. But now that I see you… my king, I realize I should have just stayed away."

I got up and walked towards the exit door. "Goodbye my queen and… king."

I closed the door behind me but as I did, I heard my mother call my fake name, and I ignored her.

As I was walking, I made it towards the main hallway, with the entrance of the castle and the set of stairs behind me. I was wondering if I should just leave or stay for a little while longer.

I didn't have time to think about what to do, before I heard someone behind me. I turned around to see who it was.

"Kindle?" I said out loud.

She looked somewhat irritated, "What was that?"

"What are you—?"

"You were just planning on leaving? After a little disagreement?"

I was confused. "Disagreement? He was talking down to you! Calling you names, questioning your intelligence, and calling you a spy, I couldn't take it anymore."

She faced away from me. "Except for being a spy, all of it is true."

"What are you talking about?"

"I agree with your father. My people are savages, well it's not their fault, it's the culture and environment we live in. We do what we need to survive; taking advantage of each other, killing one another, and having a leader that uses the profits for himself. It was until two years ago, when our people got sick of it, so the people staged a coup. However, my father was the Guardian of the old leader's home, and my mother was a servant for the leader as well. So in the middle of fighting, my father died trying to protect him, and my mother was used as a meat shield when the leader tried to protect himself."

So that's what happened to her parents.

"My culture also forbids women from learning how to read. They saw no need for it, because women could only get low risk, low paying jobs. So again, your father is right, I don't know how to read or write."

I felt so bad for her

"It's fine now, because of your mother. She's willing to teach me how to read and write in my language as well. So there's no need to feel bad or sorry for me."

I was scratching the back of my head nervously, "It's hard. You've been through so much and I just couldn't—"

What happened next surprised me. She slapped me hard across my face. I held my cheek. "What the hell was that for?"

"My friend, that was for almost getting yourself killed by your supposed King and almost getting me into your mess!"

She came close to me. I was expecting her to hit me again, but suddenly she had her arms around me, was she hugging me?!

"This is for defending me from your father's insults."

Suddenly she got really close to my face, closed her eyes and kissed me on my cheek and said, "Thank you for caring enough to defend me. Most men I know wouldn't do that."

I don't know if it was instinct or something else, but my mouth moved before I had a chance to think of something to say. "I'm not like most men."

She moved her arms on my shoulder around my neck, and she said, "I know, you are very different but… I like that about you."

What is this? What is happening? Why am I acting this way?! Is this normal? I had so many questions! Yet why am I still staring at her beautiful eyes? I mean, I'm not complaining, I could stare at her all day, but why was I acting like this? Was this…

Suddenly she let go of me, and began to walk up the stairs. When she was halfway up, she turned around towards me. "Are you coming?"

"Y-Yeah," I answered nervously, while running to catch up to her.

We both walked through the hallway towards my room. She was very close to me as we walked. I did enjoy having someone next to me. But before we entered my room, she asked me, "Hey do you mind if I asked you a question?"

I quickly answered, "Sure, what would you like to know?"

"When you were talking to that servant what did you ask him to do? I saw he came back with some sort of bowl and a glass full of milk. Why did you seem so secretive about it?"

I opened my door for her. "I call it pay back."

"Pay back?" She said, confused.

We went inside my room and I closed my door. "Yes, pay back. Those two are going to feel the burn in a few hours."

We both sat on my bed next to each other, but she looked concerned. "Wait, hold on, what did they do to you and what did you just do to them? You didn't poison them didn't you?"

I was shocked that she'd even suggest I'd do something like that. "What? I'd never do something like that! But to answer your question, basically they gave me something I wasn't supposed to take, and I went on a stupid rampage as a dragon across their village. If it wasn't for the others being there and trying to calm me down, I possibly would have done some real damage to their village. I don't remember exactly what I did, because the next day after it happened I found some white wool stuck between my teeth. When I asked what happened, they told me that I didn't want to know so I assumed I was probably chewing on someone's pillow or something."

I noticed she had a confused look on her face, but I continued speaking. "Anyway, what I did today was ask the chef to give the twins a bowl of spicy soup, and some special milk, knowing that those two would fight over it. And what do you know, they did and they both drank the soup and had some of the milk."

Kindle had her hand out. "Wait, hold on, I'm still confused. Why the soup and the milk?"

"The soup is full of spices and uncut Peppers that are usually very hot for the average person to consume, but because of the juices within the soup that usually cools it down whenever it's in your mouth. However they also drank the milk, which helps cool down your mouth faster, but this particular milk I asked the chef to order, has a special property."

"What does it do?" she asked.

"The appropriate way I can describe, is it helps cleanse your body. Some people use it because they think it helps them lose weight, others think it helps with constipation."

She still looked confused. "Constipation? You mean—" her eyes widened, because she knew what I was getting at. "No, you didn't."

"Because of the milk, the peppers within their system won't be fully digested, so the next time they have to use the bathroom, which might be very soon, they're going to feel the burn. So, I'll say in about two to three hours, you might hear some screams coming from the hallway. They didn't drink that much, so it's not going to go through their system very quickly."

"That is so evil, Ronde."

I shrugged. "I wouldn't say evil, I would say even, because my whole body ached for a few hours after the stuff wore off on me. If you were there you would understand, I was told I was singing on top of rooftops and doing some other embarrassing things. They still wouldn't tell me what exactly I did, but I know it was bad."

She got up and grabbed some of her clothes off of my desk. "I think I understand but it's still wrong, Ronde. Anyway, I'm about to change into my more comfortable clothes for me to sleep in. But I wanted to ask you something else, while I'm changing in your restroom."

I looked at my window and it was very dark outside. I suppose I should change out of these clothes as well, while she was in my restroom. I got up and picked up my clothes while talking to Kindle. "Sure, you can ask me anything."

She was quiet for a while, but eventually she said, "What were you about to do, if I hadn't met you in the hallway, after your argument with the king?"

I paused for a moment. I didn't know what to say, because I wasn't thinking about her at that moment. So, I told the truth. "I was thinking about leaving again."

"Leaving? So… you would have just left me here? By myself?"

I was ashamed. "I'm sorry, in moments of anger I just don't think. I only do what comes out of anger. At that moment, I just wanted to get away from the source of what was causing my anger, instead of thinking about the consequences of what would have happened, if I did the action. Eventually I would have come and thought about you, but I think by that time it would have been too late to take back what I did. I apologize."

After a few moments of silence, I thought she just didn't want to talk to me but suddenly, "I don't really blame you for wanting to get away, but if you do try to do that again, then please wait for me or take me with you so I can calm you down."

I was completely shocked by that.

She continued, "Listen, I know that may be hard, but don't let your emotions control you. I know from experience that it can lead to bad decisions. I know that it's also hard for you to know that this is your family, and you're pretending to be someone else, yet your father is the only person who has no clue Who You Are. But you have the Dragon Riders who know about you, you have a mother that has accepted you for who you are, and me..."

She finally came out of the restroom, in her sleeping clothing, "Ronde, if you were to leave, I wouldn't know what to do here by myself. My life hasn't been this exciting since you came to my island, five years ago. I haven't been this happy to be around someone since my parents died. So please, don't try to leave without me next time, let me talk to you, okay?"

I just finished changing my clothes, but I said, "Yeah I'm sorry."

She walked next to me and grabbed my hand, and pulled me towards the bed. "Come on, I'm tired and it's getting a little late."

We got on my bed together. We were still apart from each other, but a little closer than yesterday.

"By the way, tomorrow I have to see your mother in the morning. She's going to teach me a few things, so you'll be by yourself until the afternoon but I was just letting you know."

I looked up at the ceiling. "I guess I'll just explore the town again, and check on Thunder and my grandmother, tomorrow."

As it felt like I was sinking into my bed, Kindle spoke out. "Hey before you go to sleep, can I ask something?"

"Yeah, sure," I said, while trying to sit up.

"Well, when you were defending me from your father, you were saying something that was true about me. But if the reverse were to happen, I wouldn't know what to say to defend you. You know so much about me, because I told you everything when we were kids. So if you could, can you tell me your story? How did this happen to you, and what did you do after you left my island?"

I was a little surprised. "I mean, I could, but it's a long story. You will most likely fall asleep before I even reach the middle of it."

"Then I'll tell you where I fell asleep, and you can tell me the story again tomorrow night."

That could get a little annoying, but I'd do anything for her, "I suppose I should start at the beginning, where the ball began to roll. It all started when I was five years old..."

1 hour later

Neurie

Both my husband and I were in our room together. I was sitting on my bed preparing to lay down, but I was worried about Ronde after he left the feast. I was afraid that he would leave again. I hoped Kindle got to him on time, or at least calmed him down. I didn't think I could live with myself, if he were to run away again.

As I was about to cover myself with our blanket, I noticed that Woede was just staring outside our window, looking very distraught. I called out to him, "Woede, what's wrong?"

He just continued to stare outside. "That… boy that you brought… said something that has been bothering me."

"Really? What did he say?" I asked curiously.

After a few moments, he finally looked at me. "He said something that you used to tell Ronde, about life being a game so that altercation that we had would be in his favor."

Ronde said that to him?

Woede gave me a serious look. "Neurie, where did you find that boy, and where are his parents?"

At that moment, my heart ached about holding the secret about our son. Should I just tell him that our son was literally here? That he was possibly on the other side of this castle? That he was just arguing with him? Should I just tell him that boy is his son?

But Ronde's voice echoed in my head ("Do not tell anyone who I am, especially my dear father. If you do tell him, or anyone, who I am, I will leave immediately."). I was scared that I'd just make things worse if I told the truth.

I looked over towards my husband. "As we were traveling back here, we found that boy stranded on an island near the FitaFita tribe, or more specifically, that island where you used to hunt for food. He'd also found one of our warships while he was on that island, but he didn't know how to use the controls so he just stayed on the island. Once he identified himself to me, I allowed him to come along with us. When we arrived here, he didn't have anywhere to go so I allowed him to stay with us for the time being."

He didn't look convinced. "What about that girl? That commoner was willing to throw his life away to protect her."

'Shoot I forgot to mention her!' "I really don't know, they were together when we found them. At first I didn't trust her, but when I saw them together I believed that she was just an outcast from her island. And the boy already explained that she was banished. I trust both of them completely."

Woede looked disgusted. "That boy is in love with someone from that barbaric tribe? How disgusting."

"Woede, perhaps you should not judge that girl based on what her ancestors did. Our tribe has created some people that were vile, should I remind you of Krogan?"

"Do not mention that trash. I do not understand why you trust her. Did she do something that made you trust her after coming back here?"

'That fact is; I don't care where she's from or her heritage. But the fact that my son likes her let's me know that she is a kind and gentle girl. And that conversation that we had yesterday proves to me that she's like him too.'

"Her actions tell me that she's not a spy, or anything of that sort. I truly believe that she's just looking for a new home, after leaving her island."

Woede sighed. "I want to trust your judgment on this, but I will not risk the safety of my people. So I'll say this, I will allow that woman to stay here, if someone watches her every move from afar."

"I guess that's fine, as long as she is not being harassed. But I am seeing her tomorrow, Woede, I need to… teach her the basics of our land."

He sighed and came towards the bed, laying down next to me. "Just be careful not to let your guard down."

"There's nothing to worry about, Strykyster, I'll be fine. You need to worry about what you're going to do during the spring festival that's coming up soon."

He didn't say anything, so I looked over to see he still looked conflicted, so I asked, "Woede, what's wrong this time?"

"Tomorrow is the day they start preparing for the spring festival. That means that tomorrow is his… That boy just reminds me of my son for some odd reason. I can't shake this feeling that I'm missing something, but I do miss our boy, our son."

He then turned around trying to get comfortable on his side of the bed. I just felt bad for withholding this secret from him. "I miss him too."

A few hours later.

Ronde

I woke up in the middle of the night. I was just parched, I needed to go down stairs to get some water.

I tried to get up, but I was surprised to see Kindle on top of me again. But this time, her head was resting on my chest, instead of her entire body. I couldn't help but stare at her while she was sleeping, she looked so peaceful. I tried to move very slowly to not wake her up. I even managed to slip a pillow underneath her head in the process. She hadn't awakened, so I slowly walked out of my room. I tried to put on my sandals while walking in the hallway. But as I was walking down the steps, I heard someone squealing and grunting from the other side of the hallway. When I finally made it to the main hallway, I saw Tuffnut clenching his stomach in pain with his legs crossed.

When he noticed me, he quickly tried to walk down the stairs, while struggling to keep his legs crossed and barely got out, "Ronde! You have to help me find a bathroom! Ruffnut took the one in our room and the others won't open their doors. Please, I can't hold it in much longer!"

I grinned slightly, as much as I didn't mind him defecating on himself, I would feel bad for the servants that would have to clean up afterwards. There was one place I could think of where he could use the bathroom. "Alright, follow me, quickly. I'm heading to that area now."

We went down the hallway, where the feast was being held, only a little further down. Tuffnut, at this point, was waddling, which I found funny. The door that I needed to go through was a few doors down, but where Tuffnut needed to go was just the next door over.

When we made it towards the room with a bathroom inside, I opened the door and told him where it was, and he quickly ran inside the room I pointed towards. I left the room and went towards my parent's wine cellar. This room had the most exotic drinks that my parents found throughout their travels, in buckets or barrels, but that's not what I was looking for. They had a huge barrel full of our purest water. The water is from the mountains on the far side of the outlands. It's somewhat rare to obtain, because no one wanted to make that journey back and forth, just to make a decent profit. But now that we have dragons, I'm sure they have a lot of it. This was the same water I gave to Kindle last night. I just needed to find it.

After some time looking, I think I found it. It was the only one that wasn't labeled or called anything. I quickly tried to pull it out and took off the top, and just to make sure that it was water, I sniffed it. I wasn't getting any type of unusual smells, so I grabbed one of the mugs on the far end of the room, and dipped it. Now to really make sure it was water, I took a small sip, and I was sure that it was water. There was no odd taste or anything, good, I didn't need to be drunk. I drank a few sips of water, and placed the barrel back. I grabbed my mug and walked out of the room. As I was walking back, I heard a muffled scream coming from the room where Tuffnut was.

"Ahgaaaaa! It burns!"

I smiled, while drinking my mug and walking away. "Revenge never sounded more beautiful."

I went back into my room, and I saw Kindle snuggling the pillow I left her. 'So I guess it wasn't me who moved her last night. I can't believe I'm thinking this, but I want to be in that pillow's place right now. But she's comfortable, that's all that matters.'

I placed my mug down on my desk, and laid down on the opposite side of where Kindle was, and slowly fell asleep.

The next morning

I woke up during the early morning hours. I got up from my bed and looked over to see if Kindle was still asleep. But when I turned around she wasn't there, but a small piece of paper with something written on it. I grabbed it to see what it had said.

-Neurie-

Hello my guest, I have taken Kindle to teach her more about our culture/country. I will also be teaching her how to read in our language, and then hers. She won't be available until the afternoon, that's when I have to talk to the chief of Berk, but after that I would like to see you. Also I left you a sort of necklace, it has our royal family insignia on it. It's for those within our kingdom that have it so, with it you should be able to go places where you couldn't before. Also, my son hap-

The last bit was either erased or she didn't have time to finish because it was a smudge mark at the bottom. But I guess I had the full morning to myself.

I guess the first thing I should do is wash up, then go to check on Thunder, then my grandmother. I'm sure that the others will also be busy today, so I'll go see Thunder and she can tell me how her night was.

I quickly put on my casual clothes, and placed the necklace in my pocket and ran out of my room, but as I went down the stairs I ran into someone, I tripped on the person's foot and fell with the person. We were both a bit confused about what happened, but I tried to get up and tried to apologize, "I'm sorry, sir, I was a bit in a rush to see my…"

My eyes widened when I saw who was in front of me. The man got up and said, "It's fine, but are you okay? That was a nasty fall."

I was completely shocked, because for a moment I thought I'd run into my father, but I noticed that this man didn't have the same hairstyle and beard that my father had. And his voice also gave it away, this was my father's twin brother Upendo, my uncle!

He got up and held his hand out, "Come on, let me help you up."

I was hesitant for a moment, but then I decided to grab his hand and he helped me up off the ground. I didn't know what to say at that moment, should I thank him?

He gave me a confused look. "Kid, I don't bite. You don't have to look at me like I'm going to kill you. Say something at least."

"I-I'm sorry, I thought that… you were the king, for a moment."

He looked at me funny, and said, "Yeah… don't worry, I get that a lot. We are twins after all…"

I began to get worried, because of the way he looked at me. "I'm sorry, but I have to leave. I need to run and do some… tasks around the village."

I quickly ran down the steps to try to walk past him.

"You know, I monitor our crown guard students, which is my brother's friend Skild. Yet I don't remember ever seeing you among those students. Even among the other students that are being taught a different language, among those teachers, I still have never seen you before. But as I look at you… you look like me and my brother when we were younger… So who are you? You have to be related to us, your features on your face tells me that, but you can't be an illegitimate child from my father and mother, you look between sixteen or eighteen, but my parents died over twenty years ago."

I completely forgot how observant my uncle was, so he could figure out who I am.

He walked closer to me. "My brother would never have another relationship with another woman, and I don't have a partner for myself, but that age range… sixteen to eighteen years old is the same age as…"

He got even closer to me. "It is not possible… You… can't be… Ronde, is that you?"

I don't know what to do. I just couldn't lie in front of him because he had an uncanny sixth sense whether the person is lying to or not. I guess I didn't have a choice but to own up to it. "It's sad really, that my uncle could recognize me before my own father. Hey, uncle Upendo...it's been a while, huh?"

His eyes widened, and he held onto my shoulder. "I can't believe it… you're alive…h—how? Your grandmother told everyone that you were dead."

I was slightly surprised by his reaction as he learned I was still alive. "Grandma said that to protect me. I… ran away to see life outside of this nation, but during one of mother's recent travels, she found me and brought me back here, with some people from an island called Berk. But only a few people know who I really am, and I want to keep it that way."

I noticed that my uncle was slightly worried about something. "I'm so glad to see you, but why did you run away at all? If you felt better from being poisoned, why didn't you come back?"

"I… just didn't want to be here, the training, my father and the crown was too much for me. I just wanted time to be free."

He still was confused, but he held my shoulders even tighter. "Okay, but why now?"

"I made a promise to my mother, and she promised me that she wouldn't tell anyone who I was, if I came back."

"So that's why… I'm glad to see you again, little man. So, no one else knows about you?" he asked.

I just shook my head. "Everyone in the family, except for my father, and I'd like to keep it that way. So please, don't tell anyone that I have returned, I might not even be here for very long."

"I see, I promise that I won't say anything about you. But my brother really hasn't recognized you? I mean, we three do look alike, after all."

"Why does everyone keep saying that? We look nothing alike. I look nothing like him or you."

"It's the beard Ronde, wait for yours to grow in and you'll see what I mean."

'You know I really never thought of this, but I wonder since my Chimera dragon body has hair, is it possible that I would grow a beard while I'm a dragon?'

Anyway, "Look, uncle, it was great seeing you again, but I have to meet someone. Maybe I'll see you soon."

"I'll be busy for the next three weeks, so I doubt that, but I was glad to see you too… alive and well. Goodbye, my nephew."

He walked past me, down the steps towards the entrance of the castle. I was glad to see him again, but something felt off about him that I couldn't put my finger on. It almost seemed like he was more worried about me returning, than being happy about something else I said. Did I imagine that, or had it been so long since the last time I saw him that I can no longer read him? I don't know, but something feels… off.

Speaking of something feeling off, I suddenly just got this feeling. I couldn't explain it but something was—not exactly calling me—but it felt like something needed me. It was strange, but the feeling got stronger the more I walked upstairs.

I'd never felt this feeling before, but something was driving me to see what it was.

I walked back towards the hallway, below where my room was, until I recognized where I was. But before I had time to process this hallway, the feeling got stronger and I believed it was behind the door, a little further down the hallway. When I finally got to the door and opened it, I was completely surprised and confused to see Thunder in the middle of the floor, with the balcony window open and she looked to be… sulking?

"Th—Thunder? What's wrong?" I asked.

She looked up at me, and I could tell she was upset and sad. ("It was a mistake to come here.")

I got closer to her and sat down near her. "Thunder, what happened? You were supposed to have fun with those dragons."

("ALL THOSE KIN ARE ROCK HEADED AND RUDE!") she roared, which surprised me.

But she continued, ("I thought that I would find a kin to bond with, one that would help me be more than what I am, and I in return. But the kin here don't want a relationship. They want to mate, just to mate. They don't care about the female, or the hatchling, they just care about themselves.")

'I honestly didn't think that the dragons in that place wouldn't care about their offspring, or the dam of said offspring. But I suppose it is possible that they know that female dragons come and go, so they wouldn't be interested in a relationship, if the female was just going to leave anyway. I should have thought of that before I sent her there.'

"Thunder, I apologize. That place wasn't the right place for you to find a kin, but don't give up now. I'm sure that there is a kin out there, waiting to find a beautiful kin like yourself."

She looked up at me. ("You really think I'm a beautiful kin?")

I placed my hand on her snout. "Yes, I do. I feel sorry for the kin that didn't want you. You're great to be around, when you're not threatening me."

("I see, I'll try to be less threatening. I'm sorry.")

I took my hand off her. "Actually, I'm the one who needs to apologize, Thunder. I haven't tried to fulfill my promise to you. I've been trying to make sure that my… friend, Kindle, had a nice transition to my home. This place is new to her, so I wanted to make sure she was comfortable living here, but because of that I was ignoring the promise I made to you."

She tilted her head. ("The one named Kindle is your potential mate, correct?")

"She has the choice to be with me or not. I'm not going to force her to do anything that she doesn't want to do. I just want her to be happy."

("But what about you? Don't you want to be happy with her?")

"I do, more than anything, but… I want her to have a choice to be with me. I'll try to make her happy. But I believe knowing that I saved her from her island, and gave her a better chance at life, is good enough for me. Her happiness will make me happy."

("You Two-legs are strange when it comes to a male and a female trying to become a pair, but what you just said was beautiful. And I can tell that she has feelings for you, if it makes you feel better.")

"I guess I should help you today, shouldn't I?"

("What do you mean, partner?")

"I should help you find a mate today, but I'm not completely a dragon expert. I need to do some further research. I'm positive that my home has discovered more about dragons than I have in my travels. I can then tell you which breed of kin you'd like to be with."

She got up and looked very excited. ("You can? That would be great. But I'm not very picky on the kin, I just want to be with a kin that will be with me until our final breath.")

"You could have phrased that differently, but I understand what you're trying to say. But in order for us to do this, I need to go to the library. Can you fly me to the library, Thunder?"

("I can, but you have to show me the way. I don't know what a Lib-brr-aries is?")

"Right. I'll point you in the right direction, it's not that far from here anyways."

I stood up and got on her back. The balcony windows were already open, and we flew off.

Kindle

I was sitting in a chair in Ronde's mother's room, where she was gathering papers. She was in a rush, not to help me but I believe she had other things to do, and she wanted to teach me, at least the basics, today.

She pulled out some papers and handed them to me. Some of them had symbols, and the rest were blank. I was completely confused.

She pulled up a chair right next to me. "Alright, some of these papers have our language and written on them, and your language as well. But today, I think it's best if you learn our language, since you're staying here. The fact of the matter is that you know how to speak in different languages, but not know how to read. I don't know how the FitaFita tribe managed to do that, but it must have been difficult, not having anything to go back on. But today, let's just focus on the way we pronounce certain words and symbols, and then you're going to try to write your name."

I nodded.

Neurie called my name, "Kindle, this may be slightly difficult, so please take your time. If you are confused about something, don't hesitate to ask a question. Anyway, let's begin."

After several minutes of her teaching me the symbols, writing them down, and how to say the sound that the symbol makes while punctuating the words. After getting several right, she asked me to try to write down my name.

I wrote it down on a piece of paper, once I did I gave it to her and prayed that I got it right. She said it out loud.

"Kindle Amataga Suia? Is that your full name?"

I nodded. "Yes, did I put it down correctly?"

She smiled. "Well, yes, but you wrote down the symbol for your middle name backwards, and the end of your last name, but I can read it. Good job, Kindle."

It actually felt good, just to write something down, and knowing that I did by using my name, made it so much better. But right now if I was still at home I would be in forbidden territory. I didn't care, I actually wanted to keep going and learning.

Neurie then said, "You're actually learning this faster than I thought. Perhaps we can get started on learning how to read before this afternoon, or even tomorrow, if you'd like to continue."

"Yes, please teach me," I said excitedly.

She held her hand out, "But before we do, I'd like to talk to you about goals."

I was confused. "Goals?"

She nodded. "Yes, tell me what your dreams are. What do you want to be or do when you… well, grow up. You're a young adult with more freedom here than your home. What do you want to do with that freedom? What job do you want? Do you want to raise a family, own a business or help others? What do you want to do, Kindle?"

"I don't know. I mean, my biggest dream was to be a warrior like my father. He helped keep the peace around my island. But because I was a woman, I was forbidden to take a role in that job. But I would still like to become one, I can't think of any other thing that would make me happier to do. Your other question… to raise a family… I… would like to, but I want to… know that person first and… well… I want to have something to do in that relationship, not just sit around taking care of the… kids. I want to do something, like the job I mentioned before… yeah, that. But right now, I don't want to have kids. I think nineteen is too early to have them, maybe in my early to mid twenties, but now I'm not interested."

Neurie started to chuckle. "You were blushing the entire time when you were discussing raising a family. I don't think you've met another boy, other than my son, and you barely said anything towards that group known as the Dragon Riders, and I saw how you two were sharing food with one another. You two have been close to one another for the past three days. Even if Ronde doesn't know it, your feelings for him have grown, haven't they?"

I was completely speechless. I didn't know what to say, if I could say anything at all because I was still too choked up.

"It's fine if you don't want to talk about it, it's your personal feelings after all, so I won't say anything… for now. Right now, let's continue with the lesson."

"Yeah, let's finish up."

Ronde

I'd been at the library for nearly an hour, researching the various types of dragons that my people discovered while I was gone. It turns out that they have discovered a few different types of dragons that even I hadn't seen before. Oh yeah, Dragons weren't allowed in the library, but since Thunder was a Skrill, and the owner of this place saw me with my mother yesterday, he allowed her to stay inside as long as she didn't start a fire.

But it turns out that this was probably a wasted effort, because I kept showing her pictures of the dragons that the author drew, and she says she doesn't care, and likes them all. It just frustrates me that she can't pick one, but I remembered she told me that she just needs a dragon that is willing to be with her. So now what? Do I just ask every dragon in my country if they want to be with Thunder?

I don't want to do the other option, which is to tell her to go off on her own again and find her mate. I've really enjoyed our time together and I don't want that, but it's her happiness. If I'm holding her back from being happy, then I have to let her go.

"Oh hey, Ronde."

I quickly turned around, to see Fishlegs with a stack of books in his hands coming in my direction. But I gave him a death stare when he said my real name out loud. He saw my expression and quickly said, "Oh I'm sorry… Orden."

"Smooth, Fishlegs. Real smooth. What are you doing here?"

He sat down near a chair next to me. "Well, I found some interesting things here yesterday, and now that you're here, I wanted to ask you a few questions."

"I'm sorry, but they may have to wait. I've been trying to help Thunder with something."

He looked curious. "Oh, you're trying to help your dragon with something? What is it? I may be able to help."

I was contemplating whether or not I could tell him, but this was for Thunder, not for myself, plus he is somewhat of a dragon expert. "I've been doing research on dragons that would be a good match for Thunder, but every time I show her one, she just says 'I don't care' or 'that one could work but something looks off'. I left her yesterday with a dragon breeder, but that didn't work out. I'm just trying to help her, and to fulfill my promise to her."

He had his hands together. "I see, I remember you telling us your dragon was looking for others to be bonded with, regardless of the dragon species. But if what you heard is true, it's possible for two different species of dragons to make a hybrid, then it must be rare for a reason. Usually, the same species will remain with their own and only interact with other species if they're in the same nest. But I assume if two different species get together, it is because they were forced to or that the two species have bonded in unlikely circumstances."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"Well, I can make the assumption that if an unlikely situation were to happen with two different species, it is because the dragons didn't find another one of its own species and both have the desire to… well, breed. Or perhaps the two species found out that they have more benefit being together, than being with their own, and thus a hybrid is born. But I don't know, I don't think I've ever seen a hybrid dragon before."

"But I left her with the dragon breeder yesterday, and there were plenty of dragons for her to interact with."

"I think it's better just to let dragons do what they do naturally. The dragons within that place are probably used to other dragons coming and going, so they probably see no point in staying with the dragon that they did the deed with, if they're not going to stay. That's why we don't have one like that on Berk, one of the parents wouldn't care for their offspring."

I realized how much of an idiot I was, that's why Thunder said that about those other dragons. So what should I do now?

Fishlegs could see how frustrated I was, and said, "Ronde, it's okay. Maybe you should let Thunder do things on her own."

"What do you mean? Just let her go? I… can't, she's like another family member to me. I haven't been this close to a dragon since my friend, Combustion the Typhoomerang."

"What, no I meant… well… not just let her go free, but maybe let her discover other dragons on her own. You told me she had trouble with other dragons before you two had met. But now she's in a place with dragons free to roam around, maybe you should let her do the same."

'Perhaps that could work, but Thunder can be a little aggressive and she would probably blow something up if she is not satisfied. No, that is a good idea, but I need time to think and discuss something with Thunder.' I looked at Fishlegs. "That's a good idea, but I need time to elaborate on that. Thanks, Fishlegs."

"It's nothing, but if you're about to leave, do you mind if I show you something?"

Well, he just gave me an idea and Thunder was waiting patiently for me. "I suppose so."

He suddenly took out one of the books in his pile, opened it, and showed it to me. To my surprise it was written in Norse. So I looked towards him and asked, "What is this? I saw the title of the book, and it was written in my language, but this is in yours, what is it?"

He pointed to one of the words written on the page and, when I looked at it, I noticed it was a name, but then Fishlegs said, "Trotse Oorskot. Does that name sound familiar?"

I thought of it for a moment. "I think he was either a famous expeditioner, or an author of a book when I was younger."

"Well, you're correct on both. I did some research yesterday about him, and he was one of your country's best expeditioners. He's the one who helped expand your maps and wrote about the outside of your home. He made many discoveries and reports back to your paren—I mean the king and queen. Also, he wrote about dragons, their abilities, class and much, much more."

"I see, but why did you want to tell me that?"

He looked pointedly towards the book again. "Well, in this part of his journal, he said something that caught my attention, and it may have something to do with you and a connection to Berk, or just on our side of the world."

"What do you mean?"

"In his journal, he mentions his ship was washed away during the same day that… the prince died, but when I thought about it, I don't think it was the sea that washed away his ship, I think it was you, I think you took his ship and the book that you found inside was his."

I was a little baffled. "You really think it's the same guy? Like I said before, the book didn't have an author."

He nodded. "Yes and it makes sense, what was written in this and your book, the ship connects everything."

"I stole a ship from someone famous yet I've never known. I really feel like a thief right now."

"Also, I think this person has met someone on our side, that is the reason why he was writing this in Norse."

I was curious. "Really, are you sure? I didn't think anyone would travel that far, but who was it?"

"Well, I'm not exactly sure, but I can narrow it down to two people that helped with the information about dragons, which were Bork the Bold and Oswald the Agreeable. But he also mentioned that his friend had children, and I don't know if Bork had children, but Oswald did and I met both of them."

I thought of those names for a moment. "I think I've heard of the name Oswald the Agreeable, but it was just someone mentioning him. But I don't exactly know the other person. But I do find it interesting that someone from our nation has met someone in your archipelago."

"Yes, it is quite interesting. Oh, Orden, do you mind if I ask you one more question?"

I sighed. "Yes, what do you need to know?"

"Well, I noticed that, when you were writing in that book, you were writing in Norse, but not in your language. I was wondering why you did that?"

"Oh right, during that time was when I wrote my first journal to calm myself down, because of that situation. But I thought if someone from my country were to find me while I was traveling, they would have probably discovered that I may have been alive, but me as a dragon would think they probably had something to do with it so they took me back. So, I decided to write my journals in the second easiest language I knew, which was Norse."

Fishlegs was confused. "Okay, but why Norse?"

"It was easier to write the symbol as letters than using symbols to make an abbreviation of a sound and putting it all together to make one word. Your language was the second easiest to write, in my opinion. I was taught how to speak in four different languages, and read them as well, before I left my home."

"I just find it amazing that you know so many languages."

I got a little depressed. "It is required to know at least two languages if you want a higher position in the job field. My tribe is the communication between the three other tribes and those who are outside of ours, so we need to expand our resources and share ours that are not as valuable to us, but people would pay a fortune for. But all I needed was to learn one language before I turned ten, then more after. But… since I was having trouble making friends, I thought that if I learned more languages, I could meet people that were from other parts of the world, so they could be my friends. So, I tried to learn more before the incident."

"Oh, I'm sorry that happened to you, but it was worth it right? I mean you met us, imagine if we met and you didn't understand us."

I shrugged. "I would've probably changed my approach to you guys. Or maybe not, since you couldn't understand me, I probably would have just kidnapped one of you and showed you the reason why."

Fishlegs laughing nervously. "Probably…"

Suddenly, I saw someone with a huge stack of books in his hands coming towards us. While he was walking over towards us, he said, "Hey Fishlegs, I believe I found some more books that may interest you."

He placed the books down on the table, and the moment he did, he tried to say something but because of the way he was holding the books, he didn't see me or Thunder on my side and he freaked out, "What the? A dragon? I thought that dragons weren't allowed in here, and that dragon is a…"

His eyes nearly popped out of his head as he got closer to Thunder, much to her discomfort, "Oh my god it's a Skrill! Wait no, the coloration on its body is not normal...no it couldn't be...it's a Shadow Skrill!"

Both me and Fishlegs looked at each other, then towards the man. "Shadow Skrill?"

He looked even more excited. "Yes, you have a Shadow Skrill! I didn't know they existed, but the colors didn't lie. Most Skrill are dark blue or purple, but this one is pink and purple with dark purple horns. Where are its back spikes?"

He got a little too close to Thunder, in the middle of putting his hand out. She growled very loudly, and it echoed inside the library, ("DO NOT TOUCH ME, TWO-LEGS!")

He fell backwards on the floor, and all eyes were on us. Thunder continued to growl at him, with bits of static coming from her. I got up and tried to calm her down by rubbing the top of her snout, while also trying to make sure that she wasn't going to attack this man. "It's okay, he was just admiring you. I promise he won't do it again, so please calm down, Thunder."

I felt the static around her disappear, and she became calm. ("Keep that Two-leg thing away from me. I can see curiosity and craziness in his eyes.")

I slightly laughed. "I'll try, just please calm down, everyone is looking at us and I don't want to be kicked out."

She said nothing and slowly went back to the place she was before, laying down on the floor. The teen got up and looked amazed. "Wow, I can't believe you were able to calm down a Skrill. You must have a bond with it, because I heard that those dragons can't be trained. How were you able to find it?"

"I was able to find "her" inside of Misty Bog, after following a thunderstorm. But please refrain from touching her, because she doesn't like strangers approaching her, it's best for her to come to you instead. But that was not my advice to find a Skrill by the way, she nearly could have killed me."

("Would have if I didn't know that you were a kin,") she growled.

I turned around. "Thunder, not now."

The teen looked confused by our interaction. "It's almost like you were talking to her and she responded back… but that's impossible. You must really know your dragon."

"Yeah, anyway what you were saying about her? What is a Shadow Skrill?"

We all sat back down on the table while he was explaining, "Shadow Skrill are a very rare or uncommon species of Skrill's. They have the same abilities as a Skrill, but some people say that they have a more elusive type of abilities, but no one knows because no one was able to find or study one. What you have has to be a Shadow Skrill because of its coloring. Most Skrill are dark blue and purple, but yours is pink and purple, that matches the description. However, your dragon doesn't have any dorsal spines. What happened? Was she in a battle or something?"

I quickly answered, "No, she was born that way."

He was confused. "How do you know?"

Shoot! I wasn't thinking when I said that. I needed to think of something to say and fast, how would I know that? I just can't say she told me. Oh, wait I got it! "I can tell because she doesn't have any scarring on her back or anywhere for that matter. My dragon, from what I can tell, has never been in a fight, unless they were just flawless victories."

("Yeah, I've been in three so far, two were for territorial reasons, and the other one was with you and that black kin.")

I tried to ignore her, and the teen accepted my answer. "Okay, that does make a lot of sense. Maybe we should study her, I'd like to learn more about her."

I quickly tried to block his view of Thunder. "Yeah no, did you not learn from the last time you tried to examine her, which was literally minutes ago? I'm sorry, but I think it's best we leave. I've only come to learn more about dragons, but some of the information I've gathered is useless for what I'm researching."

The teen then got excited for some reason. "Oh, then you should stay. Today is my father's shift, so I have all day to discuss dragons with this man over here." He pointed towards Fishlegs.

Fishlegs nodded. "Yep, and I have my notes. We're going to be trading information about dragons. Everything that Afri knows, and all the knowledge that I've gathered over the years."

The teen nodded as well. "Yep, that's why I have some of these books, I'll translate for you."

Fishlegs was shocked. "You'll do that for me? That would make everything so much easier. I'm still trying to learn which symbols mean what."

While those two were talking, I quickly signaled Thunder to go towards the exit, and she quickly understood. While they were about to open one of their books, I slowly sneaked out towards the exit, opened the door and ran out before they could see us.

I sat down on the side of the road, and Thunder decided to sit down with me. But once again, I felt frustrated because I couldn't help Thunder. She must have noticed it, because before I knew it, she patted me with her nose to get my attention.

("Partner, what's wrong?")

"I'm sorry… it just feels like I've failed you again. I'm trying to help you find a suitable mate, but I'm not good with dragon relationships match making. Even now, I'm still learning about my relationship with Kindle, if I even have one. I just thought it would be easy because back when I was in the Bewilderbeast's nest, those female kin would chase me around. But it's difficult, because those dragons from that breeder are used to female kin going in and out, and you want to bond with your mate. And I think it's a bit harder because you're a female, the males should be fighting over you."

("I understand… do you think it's better if I leave to find a mate?")

I was upset, I didn't want it to come to this. We've known each other for almost two weeks now but she felt like a part of my family, and I didn't want her to leave. Before I knew it, I had my hands over her neck, hugging her. "I don't want you to go… you've been a good partner… no, a great friend to me but… if you have to go, then please don't let me be in your way. I don't want to be the source of someone's misery again."

She didn't move for several moments, but she leaned slightly forward and had her neck on my shoulder and head on my back, pulling me closer to her. This was her way to hug me back, and she warbled softly, ("I don't want to leave either, I've never met a Two-leg or any being, except for my Sire and Dam, with so much Warmth. It does make me feel very warm to know that you are helping me. But my friend, if I can't find a mate soon, I'm afraid that I may never will. Ronde, please don't think that you have to be held accountable for me, I can make my own choices.")

I stood back, surprised.

Suddenly she tilted her head, confused. ("What? Did I say something wrong?")

"No, that was the first time you used my real name. I've never heard you say it before."

("Well, I thought that you'd like it if called you by your title and it looks like it worked.")

"I guess it did make me feel a bit better, it shows that we have bonded and are becoming great friends. But I just don't want that bond to be broken by one of us leaving."

("I'm sorry, but I can't make someone feel warm. Even if we split apart, we still have a bond, right? I assume that you will still be thinking of me, and I'll never forget you. How could I? A Two-leg that can change into a kin? I'll like to tell my hatchling and theirs about that.")

When she said that I had an idea? "Wait a minute, we can go see my grandmother! She may have some advice for us, Thunder!"

("If I were you, I wouldn't get my hopes up, but I will aid you. Tell me where your… grand-mother is, and I'll take you there.")

I quickly got on her back and told her the directions of my grandmother's home, and she quickly flew in the air.

After a few minutes, we landed at my grandmother's front door. It didn't look like there was anyone here, which was weird because it still should be early in the afternoon, maybe even the middle of it, yet I didn't see anyone. I got off of Thunder and knocked on the door, but after a few moments of waiting, no one answered. 'She's not home? She's always home unless something happens in the village that needs her attention there.

But this puts me in a very stressful situation. Here I think I need her advice when it comes to this problem I'm having. Maybe I should see my mentor instead, I wonder if he even has a dragon?'

("Hey Ronde, I've been meaning to ask you something.") Thunder suddenly warbled.

I got closer to her. "Yeah, go ahead I'm listening."

("What is this grand-mother? Is that what you call a person that has a higher authority than your Dam? I know what you call mother is your Dam but why is this Two-leg so grand?")

I slightly laughed. "Well in a way you are right, but what we call grandmother is our mother's mother, or Our Dam's Dam. I probably just confused you, but to put it simply, if your Dam had a Dam."

Her eyes widened. ("Oh, you mean an elder, I get it now. What you call grand-mother and… what do you call your Sire? Fa-th-e-air? We kin call them our elders.")

'Well, I guess I learned something new today.' "Anyway, she's not here… maybe we should…"

Suddenly, both me and Thunder heard something coming up from behind us, and my grandmother was coming up from the hill with bags of plants, looking at us with a confused expression on her face. "What's this? A pink Skrill with… my grandson?"

I quickly walked towards her, and tried to help walk the rest of the way back inside the house, "Here let me help you."

Suddenly she somewhat flinched away from me when I tried to grab the bag for her. She must have noticed my confused expression. "Oh sorry, but I got this. So um… why are you here?"

"I wanted to see you and talk to you. We really didn't get a chance yesterday because everyone was here."

She didn't say anything, she just looked at me strangely and continued walking towards our house. I followed behind her, but then I realized that Thunder couldn't fit through the front door. I said to her, "Thunder, there is a lake on the other side of this house. I'll meet you over there, okay?"

She nodded and flew towards the back, meanwhile I was with my grandmother, waiting for her to open the door. Once she opened it, we both went inside, and she placed her bags on her table. But after she started to place the things outside of her bag on the table, I began to feel some sort of weird vibe coming from her.

"Grandma are you…"

"Your mother told you to see me, didn't she?" She said suddenly.

I was kind of confused why she said that. "N-No she didn't, why would you…"

"Don't lie to me, why else would you have come to see me?"

Now I was even more confused. "To see you, what else? And I'm not lying, are you okay?"

She looked at me very strangely for a few moments, then she said, "You… really aren't lying… but I thought that…"

"You thought what, grandma?"

"I thought that you hated me, and the only reason you came yesterday was because someone told you to bring your friends here. I assume that's why you weren't so opposed to feeding Kijani, because you didn't want to see me."

"What?! No, I would never, I just wanted to help you. I saw how heavy those barrels were, and I didn't want you to struggle. I also just thought that there were too many people in your house, so I thought I could talk to you about my… condition when you were done, but it was getting late, so I had to leave a bit quicker than I planned. Why would you think I would hate you?"

She got a little teary eyed. "Because of what I did to you. I turned you into something that you weren't supposed to be. I know that you've been through a lot over these past seven years. I saw those scars all over your body yesterday. I know that you blame me for everything that happened to you."

"Grandmother, I never hated you or was angry towards you. I admit that I was confused at a few points in my life. I wondered why you would do this to me, but after a few moments of asking that question, I always came to the conclusion that you were trying to save my life. You gave me another chance at life, and I can experience life outside of my home. I can fly, go anywhere I want in the world and I meet new people. I met the Dragon Riders, my dragon friends, and I met Kindle, and because of what you did to me, I was able to save her from her home. So, grandmother, I don't hate you, I still love you."

She was silent, but after a while she came over to me and hugged me, as I hugged her right back.

We went towards the backyard and sat down near the lake. It looked like Kijani was in the outlands somewhere, looking for his own food, because the lake was empty of any signs that he was here. Thunder was drinking from the lake.

My grandmother was right beside me watching the scenery, but suddenly she asked me, "So, are you and that girl a couple?"

"What? N-no! I mean I don't know, I'm afraid to ask her how she really feels about me. I want to give her a little space, but I really like her."

She suddenly bumped my shoulder with her elbow, and slightly laughed. "Well, something tells me that you two feel the same way about each other, but neither one of you knows how to express yourself, because you fear that you'll get hurt. Maybe ask her out sometime?"

"M-maybe later," I said nervously. "Hey grandma, can I say something?"

She nodded. "Sure grandson, what do you want to know?"

"Well, I sort of need someone's advice. You see, my dragon over there is looking for another dragon to… be with. I took her to the village breeder, but that didn't work out because my dragon wanted a dragon she could bond with, and those dragons didn't want that kind of connection with her. So, I was wondering, what should I do? Do I continue to find a dragon here in our country? Or should I just let her go free? I made a promise to her that I'll help her, but it seems like the only way to do that is to let her go, and I don't want to do that. We've only known each other for a few weeks now, but we've bonded over that time."

She gazed at my dragon for a few moments, and said, "Well, I think it's better to let her be free, if it's her happiness that you're thinking about, but your dragon can make that choice as well. Instead of asking me, let your dragon decide what she wants to do."

I just sat right next to her silently. I somewhat knew that was the answer, but I just wanted to hear something different from someone else. I guess I'd let her decide when we go home after this.

She must have noticed how disappointed I was. "It's not easy to say goodbye, but sometimes it's not forever, just temporary. Knowing your luck, you two will see each other again."

"Perhaps you're right, thank you, grandma."

She smiled. "I've experienced something similar with your grandfather, he still sends me letters about his adventures, to this day."

Oh yeah, granddad travels a lot. I think I've met him a few times, when I was younger, but I really don't remember him all that well. Mom also really doesn't talk about him much, I don't think it's because of hate or anything like that, it just seems like she doesn't want to be bothered with him. It's strange, but I would find it rude if I asked, but I had to ask one more thing. "Grandma, I just have one more thing to ask."

"Go ahead grandson," she said.

"Well, remember what I told you yesterday, about me possibly being a dragon permanently? I was wondering if I should tell the others, like my mother, or if I shouldn't tell them at all?"

She looked surprised. "Oh right… I don't really know what to tell you. Knowing your mother, she'll probably be saddened by that news. Ronde, do you know if you're staying here, or are you going to leave the country again?"

"I don't really know; it depends on what is going on with my family. Out of everyone in our family, my father is the only one who hasn't recognized me, and it makes me angry. But I don't want to leave you all again like I did before, it was wrong of me, but I didn't know what to do in that situation. I don't know if I'm staying or not, though."

"Well, I recommend not telling them yet, make your decision first whether or not you're staying. If you are, I think it's better to tell them right away, it's better to rip off the patch now than later. They'll probably be upset, then blame me, but at least they'll know, instead of being surprised and very upset when it happens."

Yeah, I supposed so, but mom would be so upset. She would probably feel like she lost me again, if that were to happen. But then again, I didn't know if what I was saying could be true. Yes, the pain had gotten worse over the years, but there hadn't been any change to my human body. There hadn't been any physical changes that I had seen, no growing horns on the top of my head, no scales and my hands didn't look like claws. I assumed that the reason it's been painful transforming, is because my dragon form is not done growing yet. My body hadn't fully matured yet on both sides, as a dragon or a human. I remembered Dam told me that because I was growing at such a small rate, either I was going to barely grow at all, or I was going to grow into a very big dragon over a long period of time.

She was right. I was much bigger than her, but I had a feeling that I wasn't done growing yet. I wasn't a full grown adult yet, so I was honestly scared how big I could become. Because of that, if I got too big, the pain would be too much for me, to the point I may faint or possibly die. That's why I had to choose between now and a decade, whether to stay as a dragon or human. I guess it depended on what happened in the next few days, between my parents and the Dragons Riders, and I guess between me and my relationships with certain individuals here, and…Kindle.

I got up. "Thank you, grandma, I needed to know what to do."

She got up beside me, and hugged me. "Any time, my grandson, if you need anything don't hesitate to ask."

While she was hugging me, I felt something in my pocket. I pulled it out and noticed it was the necklace that mom gave me in her note this morning. The necklace had our insignia on it, so people would know that the person wearing it had connections with the king and queen. Then suddenly I had an idea.

Grandma stopped hugging me, and noticed the necklace in my hand but before she had a chance to respond, I said. "Hey grandma, do you have a long string or a long thin rope?"

She quickly nodded and walked inside of the house and, after a few minutes of waiting, she came out with a wrapped up leather rope and gave it to me.

I hugged her goodbye, then ran towards Thunder and got on her back, and waved goodbye to my grandmother, as she walked towards her home, and me and Thunder flew off towards my home. But as we were flying over my village, I noticed that people were still setting up stuff around the streets. This was strange to me, because it was late in the afternoon, and usually around this time, people are packing up and going towards their homes but there are still people out, that look like they're still working. I didn't think much of it, however, when I made it home as Thunder landed on the door.

I got off of Thunder's back, while trying to make something for her, and also preparing myself for what I was about to say to her.

I rubbed her neck. "Well, I had fun with you today, Thunder. It wasn't what I was expecting, but it was nice to be with you today. So umm… you can choose what you want to do, and if you want to stay or not."

("Partner, I…")

"Before you make your decision, please know that I'll be happy regardless if you stay or leave. I want you to find happiness too, so please don't worry about my feelings, if it's going to hold you back."

She stood still for a moment, and thought about something. But after a while she warbled, ("Partner...no, Ronde, I've decided to leave this part of your home so I can find other kin by myself.")

I was confused. "This part of my home? What do you mean?"

("I remember you said something about there being other parts of your home, or nests of Two-leg and kin's being together. So, I've decided to go to those parts and find a potential mate. That means I won't be too far away from you, if I need something or someone to help me.")

I smiled and hugged her around her neck, and then she did something I never knew she could do. "Thunder, did you just purr?"

She backed away from me, somewhat embarrassed. ("No, I growled at you for getting too close… yeah… that's it,) she whispered the last part.

I didn't want to talk about her purring anymore, because I needed to give her my gift. "Well Thunder, I thought maybe you were going to leave my country, so I was going to give you this, but I think I should give it to you regardless. Lower your head please."

She did, and I put my necklace that my mother gave me, with the extended thin leather rope, over her head. It was slightly difficult, because one of her horns got in the way, but I managed to get it on her neck, with enough room around her neck, so it wouldn't feel like it was tight on her neck.

She felt it, and asked, ("What is this?")

"It's an accessory that people put on their necks. My mother gave it to me this morning, and I was planning on giving it to you, so you have something to remind you of me if you left. But since you're staying, that necklace has my family's Insignia on it, and people will know that you are a part of my family, so they won't mess with you or try to claim you. But if you ever want to take it off, just use your legs like you were the other day, scratching your neck to remove it, or come back here and someone will remove it. But if you do, please destroy it. Someone could take advantage of using that."

She looked surprised. ("Oh, so it's like a gift, thank you.")

I nodded. "You're welcome, now let's remove your saddle and… you can go."

I quickly went around her to undo some of the straps holding it in place, and pulled it off her back. I held it to my side, and now Thunder looked like she did the first time I met her, without the murderous intent in her eyes, and with the necklace I just gave her.

I looked at her and said, "Goodbye, Thunder, my friend."

She nodded, and was about to take flight. But before she took off, she hesitated and looked back at me. ("Wait, before I go, I need to ask you something, then I need to tell you something that you probably haven't noticed.)

I was confused. "Ask me something? What is it?"

("Earlier this sun, how did you discover my presence? I made sure that no one saw me or heard me, yet you discovered me. How?")

I didn't really think I just wanted to know where that feeling had come from, drawing me to her. "It was something like a feeling I had, that was calling me. Well, not calling me, so to say, but it needed something, and that feeling led me to you."

She didn't say anything for a few moments, but she suddenly said, ("The majority of Kin's can sense when another kin's mood is negative. Sometimes the one who senses it will aid the other one to make them feel better, and I think that's what happened to you today. You sensed my emotions and came to me.")

"N-no I just had a feeling you know, I doubt it was that, I've never experienced that before when I was younger."

("Yes perhaps, but there's something else I noticed today, that I don't think you know.")

"What is it?" I was very worried.

("Before I answer that, I would like to know something.")

I was confused. "Oh okay, what do you want to know?"

("How do you communicate with me? The noises that I hear now are the ones I understand from your language, yet I can understand them. How do you do that?")

"Well, I can send the words that I'm saying as thoughts or feelings, so that you can understand what I'm saying. I know that certain dragons are willing to know specific words that people say but not the whole word. So I tried to make it easier on you and other dragons by touching you, so I can send my thoughts so you can understand me. I picked up that skill by accident during my encounter with the Bewilderbeast."

("So you haven't noticed it.")

Now I was confused. "Noticed what?"

("You just said that the only way for me to understand you, is by you touching me, correct?")

"Yeah…"

Then I realized what she was talking about.

("I've been able to understand you all day, yet you aren't touching me right now. I noticed it when you were talking to the person you call Fishlegs, and the other Two-leg that tried to touch me. I wanted to say something earlier, but I didn't want to bother you about it since you were so focused on helping me. So it seems that your skills are improving, we are not that far apart from each other, yet I can understand everything you've said today, even to your elder.")

This can't be right, my abilities are getting stronger?! But how?! I haven't been doing this on purpose so why?!

Thunder nudged me with her snout, trying to get my attention. ("Now I can sense that you're getting worried, don't be. I'm sure that it's natural that your abilities are improving. That's what happens over time, and to tell you the truth, I just noticed today. This may have been going on even before I met you, so don't be worried.")

"Y-yeah thank you for telling me this, Thunder."

She nodded. ("You're very welcome, I think I should leave now so I may find a place to sleep. So goodbye, my friend, until our paths cross again.")

She backed away and took flight away from me. And already I missed her, but this was probably for the best. But still, my abilities are getting stronger over time. Does that mean what I said could be true? I'm slowly changing into a dragon? I need to go into my room to examine myself to make sure there's no physical changes as well.

As I let myself inside of the castle, I saw my father on the right side of the main hall talking to someone, but he noticed me. However, possibly because he was busy, he only glared at me for a few moments, then resumed talking, while I took the stairs to get to my room.

Once I made it towards the hallway and opened my door, my mother and Kindle were sitting on my bed, talking. They both made noise, and said my name at the same time.

My mother hugged me, but then said in an irritated voice, "Ronde, where were you! Both me and Kindle were looking for you."

"I apologize. I had to do something with my dragon today. One thing led to another, I went to the library, saw my grandmother again, but at the end of the day I had to release Thunder, so she could find her own path, and she left not that long ago."

They both looked confused, and Kindle said, "Wait, that pink Skrill is gone?"

I nodded while sitting on my bed.

"I'm sorry that happened to you son. If you'd like, I could get you another dragon?"

I looked over towards her. "Mother, you can't just replace my dragon, she was my friend. Look, it's fine. I'm happy for her, and she'll come back on her own time."

"Sorry, my son… Did you, by any chance, read my letter?"

I nodded. "Yes, but the last part was so smudged I couldn't read it. And the necklace you gave me, I gave to Thunder for her protection."

Suddenly my mother got irritated. "You gave my gift to your dragon? Why would you do that? It was for you and your protection!"

"I'm not the same little boy you think I am. As much as I appreciate it, I don't need your protection, not anymore."

She just sighed. "In some ways you are right, possibly physically you don't need my help, but I am still your mother. I will protect you anyway, for as long as I live. I know you're not the same little boy anymore, but I'm still your mother and you are my son, don't you forget that."

I didn't know what to say, I know she's right, but the protection I needed when I was younger I never got from her. I know it is not her fault but the time when I need protection is long over. I didn't have anyone to protect me over the past seven years, yes, I had help, but someone staying with me was the most non existent. Perhaps Sire and Dam did, but they tried to help me be independent.

I didn't say anything, I only nodded towards her.

"I can't be upset, today's a special day anyway."

"What the heck is so special about today?" I said.

My mother was confused, then tried to laugh it off. "Stop playing, Ronde, you know what day it is."

I got up from my bed to walk towards the other side of my bed, towards my bookshelf. "I'm not playing, what's so special about today, mother?"

She looked surprised. "Y-you really don't know do you? Okay… I think I can help jog your memory here, both of you look out the window towards the village."

I walked towards the window next to her, with Kindle behind me, and mother pointed towards the village and said, "Look at the village."

I did just that, and that was when I noticed that it was completely dark outside, but there were still people outside of our village, in fact there were people out that looked like they were still setting up stuff like lanterns.

"What are they doing? Usually around this time, people return to their homes, what's going on?"

She placed her hand on my back. "Son, I want you to think. What's the one time every year that our people would stay up this late to set up for something?"

It took me a while to figure out, then it came to me and I got excited. "Our village Spring festival."

She patted my back. "Yes, but that is not all. It will take a few days for everything to get ready, but there's something else very special about today."

"If it's not the preparation of the Spring Festival, then what is it?"

She looked surprised, then hurt. "You seriously don't know? Ronde, today is your birthday."

"Is it really? Then how old am I?"

She looked confused. "You don't know? My son, you turn eighteen today. Did you really forget this much?"

"Mother, I couldn't keep track of the days after the first few weeks, only the seasons, so I've known I was away for more than seven years."

She sighed. "I'm sorry, I just… don't think about what you've been through. I'll try to be more considerate for you. But happy birthday, my son, my gift was that necklace but… it's fine. I would like to see you tomorrow night. But I think it's time for me to go, I'll see you both later."

My mother walked out of my room.

I turned around towards Kindle, and asked, "Well, how was your day today?"

"I've actually learned a lot from your mother. She is an excellent teacher, but after that I was looking for you, and I met the ones you call Astrid and Hiccup. They were looking for the twins, but then I remembered what you did last night and both of them fell asleep on the… well in the restroom. After we got that sorted out, I was helping your mother to find you, but then you came here. I didn't know it was your birthday, so congratulations. Where I'm from eighteen means you're an adult."

"I still have some growing left to do," I said out loud.

She suddenly got closer to me and said, "I think we all do, even people that are older than us aren't perfect. They still have much to learn. Your mother seems to be one of them, she is still trying to get used to your… transformation. I'm still trying to get used to it, it's better now, but I'm still not totally used to it yet."

"I don't blame you for not being used to it. But I generally believe that my mother is trying to purposely forget it or dismiss it, as if it was too much for her to handle."

"I think it's more that she just wants some form of normality in this situation. I believe she is trying to be more considerate, but she still wants to be there to protect you. I believe that's why she gave you that necklace."

I sighed. "I guess you're right, but she needs to know that I don't need her protection anymore."

"Ronde, like she said, she is your mother and she will try to protect you until her last breath, whether you like it or not. I understand where you both are coming from, you survived for seven years without her help and she wants you to have the best life you can have."

I didn't want to discuss this topic anymore, because I was afraid that Kindle might bring up something about her parents, and I should be thankful that I still have mine. Which I am, but I don't want to start an argument about this, it's unnecessary and I don't want to put a Strain on our friendship because of the severity of this conversation. So I just needed to drop it.

"You're right, perhaps I just need to talk to her later so we can work something out." I looked outside. "It's getting late. I think it's best if we both get some rest. I can change out here while you can change in the restroom. Does that sound fine?"

She smiled. "Yes, just let me gather my clothes."

She went towards my desk and grabbed her clothes off the top of it, and went inside my bathroom and closed the door.

While she was doing that, I changed my clothes as well. When I took off my shirt I saw myself in the mirror, I saw every scar that I got throughout my life here and my journeys. But perhaps I should check to see if there are any physical changes to my body.

I examined my arms, legs and my chest, yet I didn't see anything out of the ordinary. I tried to turn around so I could see my back in the mirror but I couldn't see everything.

At that moment Kindle came out of the restroom and saw me. "Ronde? What are you doing?"

"I'm trying to see if there's anything on my back that looks weird, or at least not normal. Actually, if you could, can you check for me? I just want to make sure everything's fine with me."

She looked surprised. "O-okay?"

She got closer and started to examine my back before I knew it. She started touching me, and I got a little nervous for some reason. But after a few moments she stopped, and said, "No, I don't see anything besides the scars. No bumps or anything, you have smooth skin though, which I find weird. For some reason I thought your skin would be a lot drier than this because… well you know…"

"Because I can change into a dragon? My scales are very smooth and durable, that's why I had to use them as an undershirt when I learned how to change back and forth."

"You used to wear your own shedded skin as clothes?"

I somewhat chuckled. "It was either that, or be naked or go to someone else's Village and steal their clothes, which I did anyway. I was somewhat of a scavenger growing up."

She looked a bit confused. "I think I understand, but maybe you should tell me more about it later. In fact, you can tell me the rest of your story, possibly tomorrow, but we should be going to sleep now. Come, let's get some rest."

I put on my shirt while she went to her side of the bed. I lay down shortly after she covered herself, getting ready to go to bed. But something was bothering me. What my grandmother said to me was echoing in my mind. ["Well something tells me that you two feel the same way about each other, but neither one of you knows how to express yourself in fear that you'll get hurt. Maybe ask her out sometime?"] Should I do it? What would happen if she says no, or something else even worse? What if it made our friendship awkward?

No, remember what I told myself, regardless if she likes me or not, it is her choice so she would tell me if I ask her, then it's fine.

I took a deep breath. "Kindle, are you still awake?"

"Yes, do you need something?" she answered.

"N-no I just wanted to ask you something," I said nervously.

She leaned over towards my direction, "Oh, really? What do you want to ask."

Moment of truth. "I was wondering if you'd like to… go out with me tomorrow to explore more of my home?"

She was quiet for an uncomfortable amount of time, but suddenly she said, "Tomorrow, I have to study with your mother again until the afternoon."

I was somewhat disappointed.

She leaned away facing the other side. "But after that, I'd love to."

My eyes widened when she said that, and I smiled. She tried to get comfortable again, by moving her pillow into a different position, then she said, "Good night, Ronde, be sure not to go off like you did today."

"No promises, my life is crazy and unpredictable, but what I can promise is, I will be here on time to get you."

I heard her giggle. "You better."

She slowly fell asleep, while I tried to do the same, but now I was very excited and also nervous about what I could do tomorrow to make it memorable for her. Perhaps I'd think of something.

I started to fluff my pillow, trying to calm down, and then slowly fell asleep.

1st off I'd like to say that I'm sorry for taking so long to upload this chapter. I hope the length will make up for the time Waited I appreciate the better reader for editing my stupid mistakes in this chat I'm trying to learn not to use repetition as often like always saying things like said she, he said and I said. I will try to rectify that habit in my next story and the one after that. Speaking of which I have a special announcement I'm done with the next 5 or at this point 4 next chapters 27 has been looked at and 28 is we looked at right now. I'm saying this right now because I announced on my other website that I feel as though I should post final chapters Every other week once they're done being looked after.

I'm doing this so you guys don't have to wait an entire year for the next chapter. The reason why this chapter took so long it's because I'm not comfortable with my writing skills right now, I know how to be a decent storyteller but writing it is another story. I'm used to writing comics where I don't have to say who said what, you could see it but I didn't want to make a comic out of this story. But that's my plan right now I still need to edit the final chapter and add a few scenes then Look after the other chapters that I work on a prequel. That's my plan right now again I'm sorry for waiting a year to post this chapter but I hope that you understand my reasons for doing this.