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

Ronde

It had been three days since I asked Kindle to go out with me, and it was the most fun I'd had in a very long time. It reminded me of the old days back on her island, but this time we weren't sneaking out to see each other. We traveled to the other nearby villages, saw fields of flowers and the many materials we use for food and to make clothing. The experiences we've been able to share together, with some help from my mother, have taught her a lot about my country's agriculture.

But I think the highlight of our adventures was last night. She asked me if I could take her on a night flight and I happily agreed. We snuck into my mother's garden, and I made sure to stay hidden so the guards couldn't see us. Even if they wanted to change in front of the many dragons, who were quite confused about our presence and even shocked to see me change. But at that moment I didn't care, I just wanted to be next to Kindle. I helped her climb onto my back and took off toward the sky.

The sun was just about to set, giving off a purplish glow against the darkness. But at this moment, I decided it was best that we went outside my village for once and towards the outlands. As we soared through the clouds, I was glad to see hordes of animals running in groups around a huge lake. Some of the animals were still drinking from it, while others ran away as they sensed my presence. I descended towards the water and quickly realized how beautiful this scene was, the water reflecting myself, Kindle and the sky above us, with its many twinkling stars. In a way, it was like flying over a mirror. Kindle leaned towards the water's surface, while holding on to one of my back spikes so she wouldn't slip off. I was a little bit worried, but relaxed when I saw she had a good grip.

Her hand slid across the water as fast as I was flying, gliding delicately on its surface. Suddenly she started to laugh and grabbed on to me, which I assumed was my signal to pull up. I noticed why she had done that, the calluses on her hands were gone and her palms were clear. She did have some scarring, but they had faded; you could barely notice them. They had healed, so she could feel more sensations on her hand that she couldn't before. She was a little bit more touchy when it came to holding objects in my room, but I didn't mind.

As much as I wanted to go out further, towards the outlands last night, to show her more of my home, it was getting late. She was a bit disappointed, but understood why we were leaving. We came back to the castle, I landed towards the area where no one could see us. She got off my back and found my clothes, I quickly changed back and put them on. After I did, I felt a little winded, but I shook it off and to my surprise, Kindle thanked me and kissed me on my cheek. She has been getting closer to me every day, to the point that she sleeps closer to me before we go to bed.

Last night, after we were resting, I didn't have any urges to do anything while we're together, my primary goal is just to make her happy. Spending time and helping her is enough for me. However, I have been getting these strange feelings whenever I am around her. I don't know what they are, but they're very strange.

But today is a new day. Right now, I'm waiting outside the castle for the Kindle. Today we decided to go out to eat at a place that Kindle heard about and she wanted to try. But I did something I'm not proud of…I had to ask my mother for money, and she gave me too many gold pieces. One would be enough for the meal, but a whole bag full of them is completely unnecessary. I guess I can give a huge tip, but I think I'll save it for tomorrow.

Tomorrow is the Spring Festival. My village already has concession stands, masks for display and they've finished setting up some games. I might play a few games with Kindle, and hopefully win her a prize, but I'll think of plans for tomorrow later today.

After a while she finally came out and greeted me, "Good morning Orond… or is it the afternoon?"

I couldn't help but smile and get annoyed at that fake name, but I said, "It's the beginning of the afternoon. How was the lesson with the queen?"

"Great, I think I can finally read some of your language, but I'm still having a hard time with certain symbols and sounds. I still have a long way to go, but I'm confident that I'll learn sooner rather than later. But I'm ready to go now, if you are."

"Yeah," I responded. "But I don't know what place you were talking about. I've never heard of the place either, do you know where it's located?"

She nodded, and walked past me. "Yeah, it's not that far from that pawn shop we went to a few days ago. I can take you there, just follow me."

I did that and followed behind her. Walking through my village was a sight to behold. The decorations around the place were getting me excited for tomorrow. And this would be Kindle's first time experiencing my people's festivities. I can't wait to see her reaction to the games and parade.

Speaking of reactions, Kindle was walking a little funny, looking towards the sky with her hands together behind her back. From the looks of it, she was either nervous or excited about something.

After a few minutes of walking through my village, she found the place. It looked like an ordinary house with tables outside. But once we got inside, the place reminded me of the Great Hall. There were tables in a row, with a counter in the middle, with a very bald man just behind it. He greeted us and asked to pick a table. I told Kindle it was her choice, but to my surprise, she picked out the one near the window. He also asked if we were ready to order our food, Kindle asked if they had any grub and fruit and the man said yes. However, for me, I just asked if they had my usual cooked fish with smoked meat, and he told me they did. He then gave me a price and told us how much time it would take to make our order. It was about fifteen to thirty minutes.

We sat down near the window, and she stared outside. "Tomorrow is the celebration, correct? It looks fun. My village never had a celebration on this scale."

"It's a tradition of my people that we celebrate the changing times of the season. Since the transition of spring to summer is the awakening of all living creatures, we celebrate it. I loved it as a child because of the games, music and the parade."

"It sounds nice and it could be fun. I have been enjoying my time in your village. I haven't been this happy in a while now."

Before I had a chance to respond, she said, "I meant to ask, but tell me who you are as a person?"

I was confused. "W-What do you mean? I just told you the last bit of my life last night."

"Yes, you did, but you only told me about your story, not who you are."

I was somewhat baffled by that, but she said, "You see, your mother asked me to tell her my goals and what I want to do for my future. Again, I told you everything about me while you were on my island but the only thing I know about you is how you came to be. I know nothing about what you like, your favorite color or your plans for the future."

"I see… well I really don't have a favorite color, what I like to do is fly, draw, read or write in my free time. Because of the circumstances in which I was raised, I really didn't have a plan for my future, even after the incident. There was no point at the time because the end goal was going to be the same regardless, but even after the incident my main goal was just to survive and learn how to use my body correctly. After I met you, my goal was to rescue you from that Island. But now I don't have anything planned, whatever happens from this point on I'll have to live with."

She looks slightly disappointed by my answer. However, I did have one goal but it involved her, and I felt it wasn't the right time to say something about it, right now it just felt inappropriate. But I made her feel bad, "But maybe I can tell you more about my likes and dislikes."

Her eyes lit up and she smiled.

After a while of talking to one another, our food came, but we were still talking about certain aspects about my life that she seemed interested in. I didn't think she'd care that much, but she was listening to every word. Suddenly the topic of how I changed was brought up, and I tried to explain it to her.

"Wow, your changes sound very painful, I heard them while I was next to you in the garden and when we were on that ship. But now… why do you still do it?"

"I just got used to the pain, yes, it does get worse as time goes on, but the results are worth it. I feel like I'm free. Even though I feel everything on my body changing, I mean everything from inside and out I feel as though it's worth it."

She looked confused yet curious. "I don't understand, but in some ways I do, it is a strange feeling. But how did you control it? It seems very complicated."

I grabbed my mug and began to swish it around, thinking of ways to explain it to her. "Well it was at first, and it happened at random sometimes. The first time I told you was when I was sleeping next to that Sand Wraith, which is why I have those claw marks on my chest. But at that point I knew it was possible, I just didn't know how to control it. But I met a dragon that knew what I was, and he decided to help me. Because of his help, I discovered how to control it. It takes a little focus and it depends on my emotions."

"What do you mean?" she asked, confused.

"Well, it's hard to explain, but I'll try. My emotions are somewhat the trigger, but in order to control it, I have to visualize the dragon and focus on each and every corner of my body, and try to match whatever I was feeling, and then I change. However, it is a lot easier for me just to think about the dragon's abilities that make it unique, and I can change into them, but only for a few months. The first time I changed into another dragon was that time with my friend the Sand Wraith, but I can't do it anymore, or the others I found when I was younger. But I can change into that black dragon you saw with the chief. However, I'm not sure about a Skrill, because I had contact with Thunder, but I never tried. However, I can't change into certain dragons, either because of their anatomy, physiology or their abilities. I can't become anything smaller than my human self, and I can't become anything bigger than my Chimera dragon body.

Kindle still looked confused. "I think I got a hold of everything you just explained, but the thing I understand is that your emotions are the reason why. I experienced it first hand when you nearly suffocated me, because of the heat you were creating."

I was a little embarrassed. "Sorry about that, extreme emotions can bring uncontrollable results and reactions. I can't get too upset, otherwise I'll become an… uncontrollable wild dragon."

"What are you talking about? I saw you mad when you were yelling at the king."

I sighed. "I have a cap I must never go above. I was almost pushed past it at that point, but if I saw someone hurt or worse…" I looked over to her. "Kindle, if I were to ever reach that point, please stay away from me. I couldn't live with myself if I did something to you."

She said, "I doubt you'll ever reach that point if I'm around, anyway. But I'll try, if you're that scared of yourself."

Well, she wasn't wrong. I'd been happy these last few days, when I was with her. I don't want to risk that, but then again I'm home. I hope there's nothing here that will put me over the edge.

Suddenly, Kindle's eyes sparkled. "Oh right, your mother told me that you were trained in combat."

"Yes, I was at first, I was taught by my mentor, you should know him. His name is Skild, but after him it was my father who trained me next. I was at the top of my class but… my father, as you saw, can be excessive and forceful. I had to learn how to use weapons…"

She looked a little saddened. "Oh right, sorry, but I was wondering if you could… teach me how to fight."

I didn't know how to say this without supporting her, but it needed to be said. "Kindle, there are two reasons why I can't. One, I'll never hit a woman unless it's self defense. The second is, the way I fight is instinctual and more in the moment. When I fight someone, I always look for weakness in their moment and counter them. How I've been taught how to fight from my teacher, father and Dragons. I mix them together to make my own style. I can't teach you, because it's complicated to explain and teach. I can only teach you the basics. Something tells me there's a good chance you already know them."

She looked disappointed again. "Oh."

"After we eat, I'll take you to see my mentor and, if he's not busy, he'll teach you what he has taught me."

She looked surprised. "Really?

I smiled. "Yes, but let's finish our food first, I don't want it to get cold.

She smiled, after that we enjoyed our food, and I tipped the owner of the place with a few golden pieces, much to his surprise, and left.

After a few minutes of walking, we made it to my mentor's Arena. We had to walk around the stands in order to get down to the actual training area. My mentor was starting to do a basic warm up with his students, basically stretching, punching, kicking in sync with him.

After a while of repeating, he noticed us and told his students to stop. Me and Kindle finally found a slope that let us down, and we walked down to meet him, and he greeted us, "Ah, my old student and his accomplice, Kindle. What do I owe this pleasant surprise to?"

I slightly bowed and gestured towards Kindle. "Kindle would like to learn the ways we fight through combat."

Before my mentor could respond, one of his students shouted, "Hey hold on, why is this fresh meat not training with us? And you called him an old student? He looks to be the same age as us! What, did you get kicked out or something!?"

I looked towards the person, who was a lot taller than me, with a more muscular build. He did look somewhat familiar, but I didn't care. I kindly said, "I am one of the few people who graduated early, but I decided to not become a crown guard or a guardian in order to pursue my own dream."

What I said wasn't a total lie, I technically did graduate early, because there was nothing else for me to learn; it was just building my strength and endurance at that point. But what I said didn't seem to calm this person down. He walked up to me and started to poke me while saying, "You seem a bit too skinny for that being the case. You're lying to impress this little girl, aren't you?"

'Me skinny and Kindle little? Okay, I can see it now. This man has some sort of Superiority complex. I can already see the pride radiating from him, because he thinks he's the strongest one here.'

My mentor had enough. "Mkali, stop."

I thought to myself, 'Mkali? That was the name of one of the kids that bullied me when I was younger!'

I suddenly had a idea, and I looked over to him while he was still poking me, smiled and said, "Please stop poking me, or else I'll—"

He cut me off. "Or what? What can a little shrimp like you do?"

When he wouldn't stop, I grabbed his right wrist, gripping it tightly, much to his discomfort, with my left hand. He tried to react, but I was much quicker than him and put my arm forward on the side of his neck. I pushed back on my arm on his neck, forcing him to move forward. I moved around his right side, still holding onto his wrist, and kicked him in the back of his legs, forcing him on his knees. He fell on his stomach, grunting in pain, while I was still holding on to his wrist. I placed my left foot on his arm so he wouldn't be able to lift it up.

The other students were in shock, as well as Kindle, but my mentor was both impressed and disappointed. I told Mkali, "You see, strength isn't everything. I get it, you probably use your looks to intimidate people, unfortunately for you, I am not one of them. You can give an inexperienced strong guy a sword, and a very skinny experienced person the shield, and I'm positive the person with the shield would win every single time, because he has more experience to deal with situations like the one I am in now. I have more experience in combat in real situations compared to you, because you are still a student. Pick your fights more wisely, otherwise the next time you do this, I'll break your arm."

I let go and got off of him. I was very tempted to break his arm after those years of torment, but I think the embarrassment of the situation was satisfying enough. He got up and looked at me with anger, but said nothing and went to the back of the group of students.

My mentor just chuckled, and looked at me, "You change a lot but still remain the same."

I shrugged. " At least on the bright side, he'll listen more to you. I can already tell that he's the one in the group that doesn't follow orders to the letter."

"Well, you're not wrong. Anyway, I think I may be able to help your friend out." He looked towards his students. "Everyone take a fifteen minute break, except for Lelieblom, I need you."

Everyone but a young woman left; she had to be in her late teens or early adulthood.

My mentor said, "This is Lelieblom . She is my best student, right now, and is being recommended to be a crown guard with yours truly. I believe she can be fit to spar with Kindle."

I was shocked, confused even. "Wait, hold up, that is not what I meant! She needs to be taught the basics first before that, and why with your best student!?"

My mentor said, "The basics are for children that don't know how to Punch, Kick or don't even have a proper stance, while slowly building their strength and endurance. From what I can tell, she is already beyond the basics. I could be wrong, but her carrying those weapons when we got her here would indicate that she knows how to at least throw a punch. And she's much more muscular than the average girl."

I was still concerned. "But still, why your best student?"

Suddenly, I felt a hand around my shoulder and I saw who it belonged to. It was Kindle, with a smile. "Please don't be concerned about me, I think I'll manage."

She walked past me, towards my mentor and student. "I believe I know enough to hold my own, if you wouldn't mind."

My mentor nodded, and said, "Even if you don't, I believe it's best to learn from experience," he told his student, "Go easy on her. In fact, let me get you both some training gloves."

He walked towards the other side of the Arena, looking through some sort of containment box, and came back with some sort of oversized gloves. He handed them to the girls, and said, "Tomorrow is the spring festival, and the last thing I want you two to worry about is cuts and scabs."

My mentor came towards me and said, "I can see why you like her. Let's see what she can do."

I don't say anything. I just saw the two preparing to spar. I was concerned, but I needed to remember that her dream was to be a warrior. I just hoped she could defend herself.

Lelieblom took her stance, and I was somewhat impressed. She looked good. She had no openings, unless she was surprised from behind, but her arms and legs were spread out perfectly to attack or defend herself.

Kindle, however, took a very basic fighting stance, with both her hands up. Now I was beginning to worry.

Suddenly my mentor walked slightly forward, and said, "Get ready to begin."

Both of them got ready.

"BEGIN!"

They both got close to one another, but didn't swing at each other yet, they only stared at each other, waiting for the other to make a move. This felt almost as intense as watching dragons fighting over territory, circling each other waiting to pounce.

Suddenly, Lelieblom quickly jabbed towards Kindle, but she avoided it and hit Lelieblom around her rib where she opened it. I stood back, surprised how quickly she reacted. However, she didn't put much strength into her strike. She didn't have enough time to put more strength to that attack, she just saw the opening, and took it without preparing herself.

My mentor raised his eyebrow. "Interesting…"

Kindle took a few steps back, while Lelieblom was preparing herself for another strike.

Lelieblom tried to punch Kindle again, but this time she dodged it, and reacted by striking Lelieblom in the face, but she moved. Kindle managed to graze her and there was a tiny cut that she managed to leave behind.

Kindle was surprisingly good at reacting and dodging but, that was it, I was afraid the spar might not last very long.

I believe that Lelieblom knew what Kindle was doing, so instead of waiting for Kindle to react to her attacks, she wouldn't give her the opportunity to counter. Lelieblom quickly started to jab and kick in quick succession, and it was very clear that she began to overwhelm Kindle.

Kindle could barely do anything. She was having a hard time just keeping up, to the point where she tripped on the floor. Lelieblom didn't continue with her assault, but she still had our hands up in a defensive position, and looked down towards Kindle, and asked, "Do you yield?"

I could tell that Kindle was frustrated, but she stood up and said, "No… not yet." She put her hands up again, preparing herself.

"She's got spirit," my mentor commented.

They continued to spar, and Kindle seemed to be the type of person who responded to reaction and countering. Lelieblom had more experience so she knew how to stop Kindle.

However, as they were sparing it seemed Kindle had the advantage, for a few moments she was causing Lelieblom to back away, losing her ground. But just for a moment, Kindle made a mistake, taking a step back to give her next hit more power. She took a step forward, preparing to hit her, but she gave Lelieblom too much to react, so she dodged and delivered a very hard gut punch to Kindle.

Kindle fell on her knees, clutching her stomach in pain.

My mentor quickly yelled, "It's over. The spar has concluded!"

Both myself and my mentor ran towards them, but I ran to Kindle, worried about her. "Kindle, are you okay? Do you need anything? Can I get you anything?"

She looked at me surprisingly and smiled, but said with a raspy voice, "No.. I'm fine… trust me… this isn't… my first time… getting punched… in the… stomach."

She struggled, but tried to sit up, looking a little disappointed. "I…,thought I had it…I know that she… is an expert at… this sort of thing but… I was hanging in there."

Lelieblom took off her gloves, and said, "This was a spar, and my master told me to go easy on you. At your current level you can't win against me if we were to fight seriously."

I was a bit shocked and angry, but before I had a chance to respond, Lelieblom said, "That being said, for a moment there, you actually made me get serious. You do have some flaws in the way you fight, but if you manage to hone those skills and learn from my master, you could possibly be the same, if not better, than me. Like I said, you don't have a chance against me at your current level. However, you're better than a beginner, maybe even more than intermediate, so if you're willing to learn you could be good."

My mentor smiled. "I couldn't have said it better myself. You seem to be very good at reacting to your opponent's moves, this doesn't seem like your first time saying something against someone, or have you trained with someone before?"

Kindle, able to catch her breath said, "My father would teach fighting when I was younger. It was a gift that he would give me for my birthday, or any special days. Other girls wanted dolls or had their hair done. I just wanted to be like my father and learn how to fight off enemies. So he taught me some of the basics, but it was all mostly reactionary. I was supposed to dodge and counter."

My mentor looked a little surprised, and held Kindle's shoulder. "Well it clearly shows, and your father should be very proud of you. Perhaps I could teach you how to defend yourself sometime after the spring festival, if you'd like that?"

Both me and Kindle were surprised, and it seemed Kindle was about to cry from happiness, but she rubbed her eyes with her sleeve. "Yes please, I would be more than honored to learn."

My mentor looked happy. "Splendid, I will make some room and lessons for you when you're ready." he then looked towards his other students and yelled, "We will have a new student in our Arena when she comes by. I expect you all to treat her with the utmost respect!"

They all nodded and began to clap for her.

Kindle and I stood up. I felt overjoyed to see her so happy. "Kindle, congratulations, you're one step closer to achieving your dreams. I'm so happy for you."

Suddenly she looked over to me and hugged me very tightly. I was a bit surprised, but she said, "Thank you so much for taking me here. If it wasn't for you, I would still be on my island with that scumbag and be forced to marry him. I really can't thank you enough."

"No, I'm the one who should be thanking you. You are the reason why I'm still here in my country. It was your choice to come along with me, yet you chose to be with me. You are the reason why I'm…"

She stopped hugging and we just stared at each other, unmoving and unblinking. There was this feeling I couldn't describe, but I just slowly moved closer to her and she was doing the same.

But before I knew it someone was on my side, tapping my shoulder. "Are we interrupting something?"

I turned around to see both my sisters, Akili and Moyo, by my side.

"What the hell!?" I yelled. "What are you two doing here!?"

Moyo said, "Our Mother would like to speak with Kindle again, she said it was a bit urgent. Right now, she should be wrapping up a discussion with the one called Hiccup, the chief from Berk, but she would like to speak with you and she apologizes for not discussing it with you during your lesson. Apparently, it slipped her mind."

Then Akili said, "Mother also told me to tell you to be at the castle before sunset. Apparently, she knows that you too are sneaking out after curfew."

I was a bit embarrassed, how did she know, and why today, of all days, to enforce this rule if she knew? "Fine, come on, let's go."

Both my sisters stopped me, I was confused until Akili said, "We just need Kindle, you can do whatever you want. Just get home before the sunsets, but this is going to be us three, no boys allowed."

Before I could say anything, they both grabbed Kindle and walked away.

At that moment, I felt… anger, relief and sadness. But in that moment when we were staring at each other, were we about to….?

Kindle

Both Ronde's sisters dragged me away from him. I was a bit confused and agitated, because of what was about to happen, but maybe it was just a bit rushed.

"So, were you about to kiss our brother?" asked Akili.

That line of words quickly got me out of my thoughts. "W-What? No we…"

"Oh, there's no point lying to us, we've been in the same shoes as you. We saw how close you were from kissing," Moyo said.

Before I could respond, Akili said, "So do you like our brother? Or is this like a temporary thing you two have going on?"

I was confused. "Wait what? Temporary?"

They both looked at each other, nodded, and Moyo said, "Yep, they're in love with each other."

"Wait, hold on," I said.

Akili said, "Nope, there is no reason to hold on. Perhaps you're just scared to admit it, so tell us, are you?"

"I just—"

"Are you scared to tell us?" Moyo asked, "We won't tell Ronde, we love to sometimes leave our brother in the dark."

"I need time to—"

They both continued, "Come on, it's a yes or no question."

"Tell us," they both said in unison.

"FINE!" I yelled, "I do like him more than a friend. He showed me nothing but appreciation, attention, and the beauty of this land. He's helped me more in this past week than anyone did my entire time on my island, other than my parents! But I don't want to push him away. He seems so nervous all the time when I try to make any sort of advances, so I tried to wait for him, and we had a moment before you two ruined it!"

I was talking so fast, I didn't have a moment to think before I said everything. I was embarrassed, "I'm sorry it just…"

Both of them smiled. "There is no need to apologize," Moyo said.

"We understand, and would probably feel the exact same way you do," Akili added.

I was just embarrassed that I admitted I had feelings for him, in front of his sisters.

Moyo spoke. "Ronde is just like our father in some aspects, our father doesn't like to show emotion because he's afraid that it will hurt his image as king. Ronde's the same, because he believes if he shows feelings for something or someone, he'll push it away."

"If this is true, his nervousness is because he's afraid of losing you by showing any sort of advances, like putting his hands on you, kissing or… what's a way of saying it? Deep hugging?"

I was confused. "What is Deep hugging?"

They looked a bit concerned, but Moyo said, "Basically when a man and a woman are together in bed, and Primal urges come out, so the man and woman—"

I quickly realized what they were talking about, and I yelled, "Stop! I know what it is now, and we have never gone that far, kissing was where we were before—well, you know."

Moyo and Akili looked at each other, and Akili spoke, "We know our brother too well, so I think we can try to help you, but it takes two to Tango."

Moyo looked extremely excited. "Tomorrow is the spring festival, so both my sister and I could groom you and our little brother, so you two can look the best for tomorrow. There are plenty of festivities that you two can Bond over, and I'm pretty sure that our brother would try to impress you somehow. You two can be together all you want, and I'm positive, because of the atmosphere between you and him, we'll make a move."

I was a bit surprised. "You'll do that?"

Akili smiled. "Yep, and I think that's probably part of the reason why my mother wants to speak to you."

I guess this was fine. "Okay, let's go see her."

Neurie

Together with my husband and the chief of Berk, he just signed our little peace treaty and now we were just making some final agreements.

Woede was speaking to him, "Young leader, I agree with my wife. I'm saying that it's probably a wise decision for us to become allies, but you need to learn when to keep your mouth shut when providing information for others. That mouth of yours is either going to get yourself or someone else killed."

"Yes, I understand that, I sometimes forget the lengths people will go to get rid of dragons, even at the cost of their own life," the chief said.

Woede gave him a blank expression, but sat back into his chair. "And I sometimes forget that you are still a young child, but I will learn from this experience today, and I hope you do as well. Now that the treaty has been signed, how long are you and your friend staying?"

The chief thought for a moment. "Well, within the next two days, I believe that'll give us plenty of time to get back."

Woede looked at me and I raised my eyebrow, he knew exactly what that meant. He sighed and said, "Because it is polite, I may have advice for you, just to stay for festivities and enjoy our… hospitality."

The chief smiled. "I think I would be rude if I said no, but I think my friends and I will stay on the sidelines and enjoy it without getting directly involved."

I was shocked. "Why, chief?"

"Please don't get the wrong idea, it's not that we don't want to, it's just the fact that there are some people in our group who will probably do something that will upset people. Every time that there are some sort of festivities, we somehow almost get killed."

Woede smiled, "If that is your choice, I can abide by it. It seems you know your people very well."

"Yeah, I learned from experience, many, many experiences, but this is my choice and the others have agreed with me."

I was shocked and a bit saddened by the news. "I see, what a choice but it is yours to make. I hope you change your mind, but I hope you enjoy the festivities. I believe we're all done here, unless there is something else you wish to discuss?"

He shook his head. "No ma'am, there's nothing else left to discuss. Thank you for having me as a guest here and as an ally."

"You're welcome, you may leave if you want to," I said, while using my hand to dismiss him.

He walked out of the room and, the moment he did, Woede got up and sat next to me on the table. "This was a small meeting so there was no point in getting the councilman involved. I will also put these documents in my file with the other contracts. However, I think this is a waste of time and resources. I do not like young leaders who are too inexperienced to make necessary decisions. This is why I wanted Akili, Moyo and… Ronde to get proper education about our history, so they won't make the same mistakes as their ancestors did, or as we have. Even if I were to perish, they would have the necessary skills to lead this country. Other than the fact that their land has integrated dragons, I don't see a reason why you brought them all this way here to become allies when chances are we'll probably never see them again or need their help."

I looked down at the table. "It just seemed like a smart thing to do. Their dragons are very fast, so messaging them back and forth will probably take a week by mail if we need it."

Woede looked up towards the ceiling. "But do we need it; is the question. I feel like there's something more going on here that you're letting on, are you hiding something from me? Or is this some grand plan of yours that I'm just too unaware of to understand?"

I can't tell him about our son. He has to see it for himself. "No, I just saw an opportunity and I wanted to take it."

Technically I wasn't lying.

Woede got off the table. "I see…well it is your choice, I'm just trying to understand it. When it comes to decisions like these, you are smarter and wiser than me, which is why I'm glad I married you."

He came next to me and kissed me on my neck, which surprised me. "You seem a little stressed. Perhaps I could give you a proper massage tonight, before the big day tomorrow?"

He put his hand over my shoulder and I stared at him. "I would like that; I have been very tense lately."

He smiled. "Okay, I tried to get all your favorite oils and lotion to make you feel better, okay?"

I smiled slightly. "Okay, but get the right ones this time."

He walked towards the door and, before he opened it, he said, "No promises, but I'll try." He opened the door and left.

I smiled. "There's the man I married. Only you can act like that around other people."

I needed to clean the table of all the papers and documents and place them in my drawers. As I was cleaning, the door slightly opened ,and I saw my daughter Akili peeking around. "Is it okay if we come in, or are you too busy?"

I waved them in. "No, it's fine, come in."

Both my daughters and Kindle came inside the room while I was still cleaning, but I said, "Kindle, I apologize for not discussing it earlier, but the chief made me realize that their time here is almost up. They will be leaving soon, and I was wondering if you would be leaving too?"

She was confused. "What? No, I won't be leaving. I don't have anywhere to go and I just got used to living here and learning about this land's culture."

I sighed. "That's good, I was just making sure, but what about… the other guy you were hanging around with? He said that he would be leaving in a week, too."

It took her a second to realize I was talking about Ronde, and then she said, "He didn't mention anything about that, but he is excited about the Spring Festival."

I was slightly happy. "Well then, I guess you two have plans. Please allow me to help make tomorrow the best time you two will experience. I believe I can help you with an outfit, and Moyo and I can do your hair if you'd like?"

She was shocked. "You'd do that for me? Your daughters told me that they will get involved, but you too? Why? I haven't done anything to deserve this treatment."

I smiled. "You have, and think of this as a reward for all your hard work during your lessons. You've improved a lot over these last few days. Tomorrow is a holiday, so no lessons, but during our usual time we will be doing your hair and picking out some clothes."

She just stood there, frozen. "I don't know what to say."

I finished cleaning up the papers, and said. "That's okay, just be here around the early afternoon, the spring festival doesn't start until the late afternoon. I have to go, but you're free to do what you like, but remember don't go out after curfew. I saw you two in my garden the other day."

I left the room while my daughters looked puzzled about what I just said, and they began to bombard her with questions. I just walked in the hallway until I reached my room. I went inside and put the papers and documents inside my drawer. After that, I went towards my window and opened it, letting the wind blow the curtains, and just stood outside watching the clouds go by.

'I hope this works, if the Dragon Riders leave then my son's only anchor of staying here is Kindle. I haven't spent that much time with him, because I saw how much time he was spending with her. I need him to be happy, and in order to do that, I need the Kindle to be happy as well. I like her, I really do understand why my son is in love with her, but I need her to keep him here. I just hope that he stays, and Kindle forgives me for using her.'

I looked towards my door. 'I can't keep lying to my husband forever, either, I just wish that Woede can recognize his… our son, or Ronde can tell him. This whole mess is making me stressed. I just need one or the other to tell each other.'

I saw the door open with Woede holding a bag full of lotion and fruit. "There you are. Now are you ready for your massage, my love?"

I looked over at him, and left the balcony and closed the window. "Yes, but get one of the old sheets, I don't need lotion or oil to spill on our bed."

"Whatever you say my queen, this is for you to relax."

3rd

After some time had passed Ronde and Kindle were talking and planning for tomorrow. Hiccup was still working on his latest project. Astrid was flying around Alkebulan, Fishlegs was still in the library with his new friend the librarian. The twins were in their room torturing each other and Snotlout was trying to train Hookfang to do a new trick, we all know how that ended when he was on fire. The king and queen are together having a very private moment. Akili and Moyo are preparing themselves to help Kindle and Ronde tomorrow and Ronde's uncle, Woede brother Upendo, is nowhere to be found. It was getting late and after everyone had supper they went to bed.

Until the next morning.

Ronde

It must have be very close to the afternoon, because I heard a loud knock on my door, to wake me up abruptly. I opened my eyes to see that Kindle wasn't in my room, but the loud banging on my door was irritating me. I got out of bed and walked towards my door, and yelled, "WHAT?!"

I didn't realize, but it was my sister Akili, looking surprised. I yelled at her, and she snarked back at me, "Sheesh I'm sorry, but the Spring festival will start soon and mom told me to help you look your best."

"I'm sorry, it's just I barely got any sleep last night, I kept waking up in the middle of the night, for some reason."

She just walked into my room and shrugged., "I understand you're excited about today, but I don't need you tired, just lay down and I'll try to pick up your clothes."

I thanked her, then rocked back to my bed. "I just need a few minutes, a power nap. Just pick out my clothes in my closet and wake me up."

She nodded and I laid back down, something to keep me up last night. I didn't know why I kept having weird dreams about this castle, my home and the sky but even when I would come close to one or the other, I woke up. It was strange but I just needed a few minutes of sleep.

Kindle

I was sitting in a chair where both Neurie and Moyo were doing my hair. They somehow managed to straighten it out and curl it at the same time.

After they were done, they wanted to put on some sort of makeup on me and do my nails, but I kindly refused. I looked fine as I was, and I was happy how they did my hair. Suddenly, Neurie asked her daughter to help out Ronde and Akili, so she left. Now it was just myself and Neurie in the room, together.

"Follow me," she suddenly said.

She led me next to a door, or it might have been some sort of closet? She opened it to reveal a bunch of dresses and clothes.

She began to look through each of them. "You and I seem to be around the same size."

She suddenly grabbed one of the dresses and presented it to me, "Yeah, this will look perfect on you."

I was shocked. "You're giving me one of your dresses?"

She nodded, "Yes I am. The clothes that you picked out from the day we went shopping were okay, but this is the Spring Festival. I want you and my son to look your best. I know that this has been worn before, but I think that it will look perfect on you."

I looked at it… it was something all right, a yellow and white dress with a unique pattern going through it, but the skirt around it was huge and it almost looked like some sort of wedding dress. I looked at her and I tried my best not to upset her. "I really do appreciate you doing this but, me and long dresses don't work out. I've tried once before, but I never want to do it again. I kept tripping on the skirt while I walked, and with something this big and long, I will be tripping and falling all day. Is it possible you have something a bit more manageable?"

I hope I wasn't coming off as ungrateful, but I really wanted something less attention-grabbing. She looked over and sighed. "I guess this one is a bit much. I just thought the coloring looked nice and probably would be perfect for the spring festival. Do you have something in mind?"

I tried something. "I don't know. I just don't want something that will draw attention to me or Ronde. But I do want something beautiful that would look good on me. Nothing too fancy and no shoes like heels, I saw a woman break her ankles because of one misstep."

Neurie gave me a blank expression. "So you just want a regular dress, with normal shoes or boots?"

I shrugged. "I guess."

She sighed and went inside her closet, she walked through every single dress, until she could find the perfect dress. Suddenly, she gasped, "This one is perfect!"

She came out of the closet, with pieces of fur and lint balls all over her, holding up a green dress with a dark pattern. It looked a bit smaller than the one she'd presented before. She held it in front of me to see if it might fit me, and it looked like it could. "Yes! Alright go in the back and try this on, unless you don't mind if I help you?"

I thought about it for a moment. I didn't remember the last time my mother helped me out by putting on something, and Neurie had helped me with learning more reading and writing. "I would be more happy if you were to help me put this on."

She smiled. "Thank you. If it fits, you can have it, I actually forgot I had that dress, but let's get it on you and strap it up."

After undressing, she helped put it on around my body. After she was done, she helped tighten it so it could fit better while giving me room to move around. After a few minutes, we were done and she brought me to a mirror, and it looked perfect. The dress was at the perfect length to not touch the floor. It was around my ankles, and there was a slit where my left leg could be exposed.

Neurie looked surprised. "I never thought I'd say this to another woman, but you look extremely good in green. I can see why you wore it with your other clothes. All you need now is some accessories, like neck beads or a bracelet!"

I tried to stop her. "N-no, I'm good. What I have is enough. Like I said, I'm not trying to draw attention, I just want to look good for this celebration."

She looked slightly disappointed. "Oh, okay, it's your choice. So I guess all that's left is to wait for the festival to begin, in the next few hours."

I was somewhat excited to experience the celebration. For the last few days the village had been preparing for this day, and everyone, including Ronde, made the event seem the best time for some fun. But I wondered what was going to happen? In fact, what were me and Ronde going to do?

"Hey Neurie, do you mind if I ask you for some advice?" I asked.

She looked surprised. "Really, you want advice from me? What kind of advice do you want me to give to you?"

"Well, me and Ronde have been spending a lot of time together ever since we got here. And I started to have feelings for him, and I think he does too, but I'm afraid if we rush something it might ruin it. But I think he also feels the same way, and I think we're stuck because of it. Is there anything I or we can do to fix it?"

She looked a little puzzled by what I said. "Well the best advice I can give you is to just be yourself. If one of you feels too nervous to make a move, then it's probably not the right time for it yet. There will possibly be a time for it, but I don't know, there are some people in this world that need to be pushed out of their comfort zone, in order to move on. I'm not sure how my son is, because he's very different and sometimes hard to read. However, if you two are close to having a very close relationship, I can give you some advice for that."

Well I guess it was better than nothing. "Okay, what can you tell me?"

She walked around to me, "Well, there are two ways to get to a boy's heart. Either through his stomach or his—"

"Stop right there, because I know where that's going," I quickly said, trying to cut her off. I could see where Ronde's sisters got it from. "Listen, I had that talk before with my boss, over on my island. I know all about that and I'm not ready for that next step, I just wanted advice for having a stable relationship, or a great one."

"Oh, sorry. Uh, let me think," she said, while pacing back and forth until she came up with an idea. "One way to keep a good relationship is to talk to one another about your feelings, or just plainly compliment each; positivity can go a long way. Always be faithful to each other, some things in life can get in the way of your relationship, but once you overcome it your love for one another can become stronger. And always tell… the… truth to… one another…."

At the last line, she stood still for a bit, and looked a little frustrated. I was slightly worried. "Hey, are you okay?"

"It's ironic, because I'm giving you this advice, yet I can't even do the same thing." She shook her head. "No, it is not ironic; it's hypocritical."

She must be talking about hiding Ronde's identity from her husband. "Neurie, it's fine. Ronde told me about your agreement, so it's not your fault. I know you want to tell your husband, but you want your son to stay here."

She sat down and said, "He's not the only person I've been lying to."

I was confused. "What are you talking about?"

She looked up at me strangely, then looked towards the ground. "For my sake, I can hold in another lie in my conscience. I… need to tell you something."

At this point, I was starting to get a little worried. "What do you need to tell me?"

She took a deep breath. "You're probably going to hate me for this, and I wouldn't blame you, but… the reason why in the beginning I was being nice to you, was because I needed you to be the reason why Ronde would stay here."

"What?"

She continued to look down. "I was afraid of losing my son even before we returned here. I knew there was possibly nothing here that would make him want to stay. I showed him his room, his sisters, his dragon and the very home he left was still here. But that incident with his father showed me that anything could set him off, and he would want to leave. I saw how happy he was when he was next to you. You two kept spending time together, heck you two managed to be in the same room together for more than a week. I couldn't even manage that with Woede for our first time without getting pregnant… unless there was something you didn't tell me?"

She raised an eyebrow, but realized how angry I was. "Sorry, now is not the time for that… Look, what I taught you wasn't because I wanted to use you for anything, I really wanted to teach you the ways of our land and culture."

"Why? All this time you were using me as some sort of pawn, just to keep your son here?"

She shook her head. "'Pawn' is not not the correct word, although I do see why you would think that. I was hoping you were the reason why he would stay here, I wanted you to be his anchor."

"His anchor?"

She nodded. "Yes, as you probably know, he told me he might be staying here for a few weeks, but I believe he will leave sooner because the Dragon Riders leave sometime tomorrow. I'm afraid that he's going to leave and go in the wild again, or just go with them, but he needs to stay here just for a bit longer. He hasn't had the chance to be himself here, going under a false name and identity. He needs to feel safe and secure and have a reason to stay here. He… he hasn't been coming to me anymore, but he's been hanging out with you. I can tell that he likes you a lot, I wanted you to be the reason why he wanted to stay, because I don't think I'm or what I am doing is enough."

I just stood there, utterly distraught. I understood why she did it, but that doesn't excuse her for using me to get to her son. I tried to hold in my anger. "So all this time, you were teaching me how to read and write just so I could impress your son? Solely to think you saw me as some sort of object, just to keep your son here!"

She shook her head again. "No, believe me when I say that I did feel bad for you. I did want to teach you. No one should be in the position you were in on an island, but if something were to happen between you two, you possibly would have been… not in a favorable position, especially since you are a part of this land. Without the knowledge to read or write, you would have had a difficult time trying to make something of yourself. I would have still helped you regardless because you know my son, but it would have been more difficult if you didn't have the knowledge that I taught you."

Each and every word that came out of her mouth, frustrated me more each passing second. It didn't matter if she had good intentions or not, the fact was; she had used me to get to her son. I tried to not raise my voice. "I think I should leave. I will give you back this dress later."

I grabbed my clothes and headed for the door, but the moment my hand was on the lever she called out to me, "Kindle wait."

I didn't say anything, I just looked at her angrily. She hesitated, before speaking for a moment, but eventually she told me, "Listen, I understand that you're frustrated at me and angry at me. I really do, but I need to tell you the truth because I don't think I can handle holding in another lie. But that advice I gave you was very genuine, I did not lie about that. Holding feelings or lies can damage a relationship. If you really like my son, then tell him the truth about you, your feelings and your decision to leave your island."

I was shocked that she said that, I was angry, but what she said was somewhat true. If this were to work between me and him, I had to tell him the reason why I left.

I looked at her, and opened and slammed the door behind me. I just couldn't believe that I didn't see this coming! No one is nice like that for no reason, they always want something! But wait, if that's true, what does Ronde want from me? Has he also been using me for something?

No, I'm being paranoid, but I think I should ask him later at the right time tonight. But I couldn't let this slow me down. I needed to try to enjoy today's festivities.

I walked towards Ronde's room, trying to forget what just happened between his mother and I, or at least try not to think about it to the point it may ruin today's events.

Ronde

Both my sisters were in the room, helping me pick out my closet. They were trying to go overboard, but I liked what I had on. I was completely wearing black, with a unique white pattern across it. My sister, Moyo, tried to do my hair, but there wasn't much to be done, other than getting out hair knots. As I said before, I did have long hair, but I cut it while I was on my adopted parents' island, because it was growing too long. It grew like a mane when I changed, but it stayed very short when I changed back.

Akili looked at me. "If I wasn't married and you weren't my brother, I would say you look very handsome. But I have to tease you and say you look 'above average'."

I slightly laughed, and said, "That's the best compliment I'm going to get from you today, isn't it?"

"Yep," she said, proudly.

Moyo said, "I can't wait for you to see Kindle. I did everything I could to make you two look like the best couple in the festival. Mother is handling her dress, but I think you two will turn out fine."

I was somewhat nervous when she said we were a 'couple' . I mean, are we there yet in this relationship, or are we good friends?

Before I had a chance to speak, Akili patted me down and straightened out the creases on my pants and shirt. "Are you all ready to go, now that you have the money to play the games and win prizes?"

I showed her my bag full of gold pieces, sitting on my desk, and she said, "Good, now win that girl some prizes. My husband can't even win me a doll… but I still love him."

I laughed, but then my doorknob began to twist and Kindle opened the door, looking very good… just wow, I barely recognized her.

Both my sisters gave us space, and I tried to speak first, "Hello, Kindle, you look… beautiful."

"Thanks," was all she said.

I could tell someone was wrong, but she quickly looked at me with widened eyes. "Oh, right, thank you. You too look very handsome."

Both my sisters looked at each other, then us, and Akili spoke, "I think my sister and I should leave you two alone. You two, don't go too crazy out there."

They quickly left the room, and I said, "They probably still need to finish up their makeup and everything, before they attend the Spring Festival. We won't see them for another hour or two."

"Yeah," she said.

Her mood was somewhat different today. Did something happen? "Kindle, are you okay?"

Again her eyes widened. "Yeah, I'm fine, I'm just excited. So, umm, what are we going to do?"

I said, "I think we should find and talk to the Dragon Riders first, then have the rest of the day to enjoy the festival."

She only nodded, and we walked out of my room, and went to the hallway where the Dragon Riders rested. It took a minute, but I found out that they were all in my grandparents' room, on my father's side, gathering around. Hiccup then told me what they were doing and I was shocked.

I quickly said, "Why don't you guys want to come? This is the most fun you can get in my country."

Hiccup said, "We do want to participate but we are afraid—well, mostly me and Astrid are—that someone in our group might do something to offend the town folks here. We will go to watch, possibly be somewhat involved, but we aren't doing anything that could attract a crowd, or being in the middle of attention. Sorry, but we shouldn't risk it."

I felt bad and angry, because I knew the reason. It was because the twins could think of something to ruin everything, and Snotlout would most likely cause a fuss. If one couldn't behave, then they couldn't participate.

I sighed. "You could at least ask my mother to give you some guards to protect you from others, or in this case, the other way around."

Before Hiccup could talk, Snotlout blurted out, "What's so special about today anyway! There's nothing special about spring."

I slightly laughed, because of his ignorance, about the topic of spring, but I said, "Well, for your information, there's a lot to celebrate about spring. For the Spring Festival, it's more about the celebration of a new age of Awakening. The transition from Spring to Summer shows the growth of all life. The plants, animals and we as people. Spring is the time where everything has fully matured and awakened, flowers, the trees, the animals have come out to fully experience the warmth of this transition. They have bloomed, survived and lived. My people celebrate that transition with games, parades, food, masks, music, and performances from those who want to express themselves. Then, during the final act, we all light a candle and my father will give his speech about the changes we experienced and what is to come."

Hiccup and Astrid looked intrigued. I think this was the first time they'd actually heard what the Spring Festival was about. But Astrid said, "Ronde, we would like to be a part of it, but we don't know what certain people could do. We'll sit back and watch, so don't be worried about us. And if something were to happen, Hiccup and I will have our dragons waiting."

I guess if it was something they'd agreed on, then there was no point in arguing with them. I just felt bad for them. "I understand, but if you change your mind, let us know. But I think we should leave, if you all are ready, the Festival should be beginning shortly, and I don't want to miss a second of the celebration."

Most of them nodded, and Hiccup said, "Alright, Ronde, you lead the way."

I got excited, and led them out of the room and out of the castle. The sky was starting to transition to a light Autumn color, but it would be a while before it got dark. I, however, was almost sprinting toward my Village, while the others were fine, but I also noticed how it seemed Kindle was feeling down. I think I can come up with something to cheer her up.

I saw one of the stands had the game of darts open with other people. I quickly grabbed Kindle's hand, much to her surprise. "Kindle, come here for a sec."

I saw the others just sitting down on the pavement, but Astrid left, going back towards the castle. I think she went to go get her dragon. But it still upset me that they were going to really sit this out. However, I was going to try to make this the best day possible for me and Kindle.

We made it to the stall as another couple were trying to score the most points so they could win a prize. The owner greeted us. "Hello, are you here to play this game?"

I nodded, and he heard out his hand. "That will be one silver piece."

I handed him one gold piece, and his eyes widened. "Hold on, this is a gold piece. I can't afford to give any change back when the festival has only just started."

"That's fine, you can keep the change if you'd like," I said.

He looked a little bewildered, but somewhat smiled. "Okay, thank you sir," he said, while handing me five darts.

I took three of the darts, while trying to hand some to Kindle, but again she seemed out of it and distracted, so I called to her, "Kindle, are you okay? Is something wrong?"

Her eyes widened. "Oh sorry, I'm just thinking about something."

"Do… do you want to talk about it? You seem a bit distracted."

She shook her head. "No, not now."

I was a bit saddened by her mood. She just seemed out of it, yet I didn't know why. Did it have something to do with me?

She saw my look of disappointment and, after a few moments, she suddenly slapped herself with both hands on her cheek. I was a bit shocked by her reaction, but she looked at me with slightly red cheeks, either from her slapping herself or blushing, and told me, "I'm sorry, today is a celebration. I should be happy, but I have a lot of stuff going through my mind now, but I won't let that stop me from enjoying today's events."

She held out her hand, and I gave her two darts, and walked towards the stand. "Alright, I'm ready to win."

She turned around and said, "What do we win?"

I grabbed her shoulder and pointed with my other hand, saying, "Look at the top, you can win toys. That doll over there and the accessories are cheaply made and aren't worth much. The main prize is that huge dragon doll the size of your head, but we have to at least get over 450 points, if I remember correctly, and we have to beat that couple on the side."

We looked over, and the husband and wife were staring daggers at us. "I think they want that dragon doll."

Kindle smiled. "Ohhh, a competition between couples? Okay, let's win this."

The couple beside us quickly paid the owner the silver pieces, and set up their dartboard on their side, and quickly started to shoot. The owner announced the score "475."

Okay, a fairly high number, they went for the hundred points on the side, but missed the bullseye, which was worth two hundred points.

I was preparing myself to aim towards the middle, but before I could, Kindle stopped me. "Hold on, take one of mine and you do four. I want to try to get the bullseye."

She gave me one of hers. I, again, was a little surprised. "Are you sure?"

She nodded, and I just shrugged. I looked towards the dartboard, and aimed towards the outside circle that had spots that would give us a hundred points each. I threw each one at the corners, landing on each one of them, earning us four hundred points. The couple looked worried now. I looked at Kindle and nodded. "It's up to you."

She nodded, and lowered herself to get a better aim. "Alright, here goes."

She quickly threw it and it landed on the board.

The owner yelled, "BULLSEYE! Two hundred points added makes six hundred points in total. A perfect score!"

In all honesty, I was surprised that she actually hit it. I thought she might have changed her mind and hit the other hundred pointers at the top and bottom of the dartboard, but she managed to hit the middle easily.

Kindle looked surprised. "We did it? We actually won?"

"Yes, we did, thanks to you!" I yelled, "Maybe you didn't even need my help, but pick your prize, you're the one who hit the bullseye."

The owner nodded. "Yes, young lady, what do you want?"

She looked at the big dragon doll that they had, and pointed at it. "That doll, please."

The man nodded, and as we were waiting for him to get it down, we heard a disappointed sigh coming from our side. We looked over and saw the couple leaning down to the ground. We didn't notice it before, but they had a young girl looking very disappointed.

"I'm so sorry, sweetie, but they won it, and it looked like it was the only one they had," the father said.

The mother leaned down as well. "We just can't take it from them. We know it's something you wanted for a while now, but we can't get it for you. We tried our best, but it wasn't enough."

The girl looked saddened, but said, "It's okay, mama and papa, I can wait a little longer until you can find one. I know you tried, and I don't think I can do better than what you did."

I somewhat felt bad and I believed Kindle did as well. The moment the owner gave us the huge fluffy doll, Kindle said, "Hold on, is it possible for you to give this to that family over there?"

Both the owner and the family looked shocked. I was surprised, but smiled. The owner, quite confused, said, "You want to give this away to them? I mean, you can, but I can't. They won the lower prize; they can't have two prizes unless you trade."

Kindle looked over towards them. "Is that okay with you? To trade our prizes?"

They looked confused, but the mother said, "Is that okay with you, daughter?"

She quickly nodded, and the owner gave me the huge doll, then I gave it to the young girl who looked excited. "Mama! Papa! Look at it! It's so big and fluffy!"

The young girl went towards Kindle, and told her, "Thank you, nice lady."

The mother and father looked at us, and also thanked us, and left with their daughter holding a doll that was almost as big as her.

"That was real sweet of ya, but you wanted their lower tier price, right?" The owner said, "Here you go."

He gave Kindle a wooden beads bracelet. The beads were made of wood that were poked through the middle with a cheaply made string.

I somewhat felt bad, but she put it on one right wrist and inspected it for a few moments, and said, "It's perfect, thank you, sir."

We walked off. "That was nice of you for giving that kid your prize, but I'd like to know why you did it?"

She said, "Well, for a few reasons. When I was younger I wanted something just like the girl did, yet I never got them, so I didn't want her to experience the disappointment that I went through. The other reason is that the thing was too big, and I know for a fact that you wouldn't want to carry it for the remainder of the celebration."

"Well, you got me right there. What did you want when you were younger? Let me guess, some sort of weapon?"

She giggled and said, "No, I wanted a pair of metal bracelets or cuffs to go around my wrist. I heard of a female goddess wearing some in legends but I don't recall what her name is. Let me tell you the second reason why I gave it away." She got closer to me and put her finger underneath my chin, and said, "I already have a big dragon around, don't I?" She dragged her finger until she was at my chin and lifted it off. "Now, shall we move on to the next game or something else?"

I didn't know what noise I made after she released her finger,but it was between a purring and a growling sound. It was like a reflex or something, but once it happened I quickly covered my mouth.

She looked confused. "Did… Did you just purr or growl at me?"

I quickly answered, "I don't know what that was, but let's not do that again, please."

She teased, "Why? It seems like you like it."

I quickly looked around to see if I could find something else to distract us from this conversation.

For the next hour, we traveled from place to place together, experiencing the fullness of the spring festival. One side, my village was doing a huge parade of dragons and horses pushing chariots full of decorated material. The dragons were covered in paint markings and sheets of covers to make themself look more exotic. Some of the people within the parade were doing tricks on top of some of the dragons. Flips, tossing and turning sticks that were on fire, that kind of thing. After that show, we were hungry and got food. We, however, didn't say much during this time, we were just impressed by how much effort that the village put into this festival. But when we were done eating, there had to be at least two hours left of the festival, and after that there was going to be a speech from my parents. But I believed there was one place that me or Kindle hadn't visited yet and we needed to go see them. The music side of things.

We managed to make it. There were a few people here and there, and it was in the middle of the town's mural fountain. The artist who made this was very interesting, and widely known, but I didn't know if she was still alive. But there were musicians with drums, some sort of string instrument, and another with metal-like pieces coming out of it.

There was a place next to a house where we could sit and listen to their music.

"This is nice isn't it?" she asked, "They're playing it so softly."

She suddenly leaned herself on my shoulder, to my surprise. I didn't know what to do. Should I say something? Should I place my hand around her? I didn't know what to do, so I just slightly leaned in myself, without putting my weight on her, and tried to find the right words. "Yes, it is, but I can't think of anything to do right now but listen to their melody."

Suddenly the musicians changed the music to something a little faster, but soffer as well. Kindle lifted her head up underneath mine, and said, "I know the perfect thing we can do right now."

She grabbed my hands and pulled me to my feet, and dragged me towards the middle of the place. I was confused. "Uh, Kindle, what are you doing?"

She giggled and looked around. "We're going to dance to this song."

The moment she said that, I let go of her hands and backed away. She looked a little hurt."Ronde?"

"I'm sorry, but I don't dance… I can't… I… don't do that."

She walked closer to me, concerned. "Why can't you? Are you… embarrassed to do it?"

I shook my head. "No, that is not the reason. I've… just… never… been taught… how."

She moved closer to me. "You've never been taught? That's the reason?"

"Fighting, being a dragon and surviving is all I know. I don't… want to embarrass you."

Suddenly she grabbed my hand again. "You can never embarrass me, just because you didn't learn as a child. But Ronde, if I can read and write, you can dance, it's all about following the rhythm of the music and your partner."

That doesn't help me at all!. "That sounds easier said than done, Kindle."

She laughed and looked back towards the musicians, and back to me. "We will go slow, but trust me, okay? Now listen to the music and step to it."

I tried to take her advice, and step to the rhythm of the song, but at the same time, she was moving around as well.

After a little bit, I was starting to move with her and she smiled. "See, was that so hard?"

I didn't say anything. I just saw the other folks dancing, as well doing more advanced moves, such as twirling the woman, or lifting up their lady in the air.

Kindle put her hand on my cheek and made me look at her. "No, just focus on me, okay, you shouldn't let others discourage you."

I didn't know what this feeling was, but it was a mixture of embarrassment and anger. How could I let the other couples show off, yet I only knew how to do simple steps? The more I danced, the more the feeling would grow and I couldn't take it.

I grabbed Kindle's hands and brought her closer to me. She was surprised, but then I twirled her until her back was on my front, my left hand touching hers and my right on her right hip. Before I knew it, the song began to pick up its pace, and I began to step to the beat. She followed along without any problems. After a few moments of repeating this, I had to visualize the next action to take, and I figured something out. I twirled her while we were moving around the mural, back and forth. She laughed and giggled throughout it, until I twirled away from my body, but I still held on to her hand. I brought her back towards me, and she almost fell over but I caught her in my arms.

She laughed and said, "See, I told you."

I didn't know if it was the atmosphere, the music, seeing the stairs reflect in her eyes, a long awaited desire, or maybe all the above, but before I knew it, I leaned in and kissed her on the lips.

It took me a moment to realize what I did, however she had a strange look on her face, so I said, "I'm so sorry, I wasn't thinking, and the music just—"

"You were three seconds off."

I looked at her, completely confused. "Huh?" But suddenly, she grabbed the collar to my shirt and forced me closer to her, and she kissed me on my lips. I was surprised, but I let go of my restraints and just embraced her, our lips contacting one another. We stood there for several moments, until we stopped kissing. I looked down at her, and helped her up to her feet, and asked her, "So, does this mean that we're…?"

She smiled and nodded. "I would like to think so. But you were three seconds off the song when you kissed me, that's why I said that."

I was very happy, but I was also confused. "What… what should we do next?"

"I think we should talk about ourselves, so we'll have a better understanding of one another. I do like you." She looked around at the crowd of people. "But not here, I just want it to be me and you."

I thought for a moment. Since it was the spring festival, most of the homes in the outskirts of my village weren't occupied, maybe even completely empty. "I think I know of a place, follow me."

Kindle

Ronde let me away from the Village, and I believed we were near the outskirts, where the homes were completely dark. I didn't think anybody lived out there. It was dark out, but the moon and the stars made it somewhat easier to see.

"So, how long did you know you liked me?" he suddenly asked.

I decided to be truthful. "The second day I was here. You showed me around your village, taking me places, helping me get rid of that ring, and defending me when your father insulted me. From there, my feelings for you just grew over time, until today."

He was silent, so I asked, "How long have you liked me?"

He looked slightly uncomfortable, but admitted, "I don't know. Years? It started a few days after I met you on your island. During that time, I was having difficulty understanding who, or what, I was. Was I more beast than man? Or was I just lost? Being around dragons helped in some aspects of my life, but I missed being around people, especially those who could just understand me. Although I knew you couldn't understand what I was saying back then, you understood my actions and how I was feeling. I saw that you were having a tough time during those days, and I also wanted you to be happy whenever you were with me, and seeing you smile made me happy."

He turned around while pacing back and forth. "I've had dragon friends before, but I didn't have one with a person before. Every time I was with you, this feeling I had was growing. To the point where I was beginning to get sad when you had to leave. I was just happy being around you, but we almost got caught. I knew that there was nothing I could do about your safety. I wasn't strong enough to protect you, and even if I was, where would you have gone? I couldn't take you back with me, and I didn't know how to feel about what I felt, so I left you, but I promised myself I would return to save you."

So he'd liked me ever since he was on my island. I mean, it was obvious now that I look back on it, but hearing it made me wonder why he took so long to tell me, especially after he rescued me? Again, I knew that he did, but he never told me. "Why didn't you tell me you liked me?"

He looked confused. "It wasn't obvious?"

"It was, but I was just waiting for you to tell me," I said.

He sighed. "Remember what you told me on the boat? You said that you couldn't associate my face with the dragon you met. What if you'd learnt that I liked you? You seemed a bit disgusted by the thought. I thought that if I were to show you who I was, then maybe we could at least be friends. I didn't want you to compare me to the boy that hit you. So I gave you a little bit of space. But it was also in the back of my mind that you knew I could change into a dragon, and what you said was there in the back of my mind. I wasn't normal, so why would you even try to be in a relationship with me?"

He looked at me. "But I know you tried to make some advances on me, but I was afraid that if I were to make a wrong move, then it would be over for our friendship, or anything beyond that."

I walked right next to him. "Ronde, I'm sorry if I made you feel that way. I was just confused about everything and everyone. People riding dragons, and people turning into them was just a bit too much for me. But to tell you the truth, I like you because of your uniqueness."

He gave me a confused look, so I explained, "You seemed to be the only one who cared about me, beside my parents. You cared when you were on my island, and even years after that. You came back and took me to a nicer and safer place, after I was almost ready to give everything up. You took your time to show me the beauty of a world outside of the place I was supposed to stay and die. This place… your home… no, because of you I feel like I can live again, free to achieve my dreams, which I am a step closer to doing because of you. Yes, you are unique, not because you can turn into a dragon, but because you helped me become free when no one else would."

I kissed him again. "I don't care what you are, or what you can become, I only care about you."

After a few short moments, he suddenly hugged me and I could have been wrong, but it seemed like he wanted to cry, but all he said was, "Thank you for your kind words, Kindle."

I hugged him back, but suddenly something echoed in my mind. 'Holding feelings or lies can damage a relationship. If you really like my son then tell him the truth about you, your feelings and your decision to leave your island.' Neurie's voice was echoing now, and a wave of guilt washed over me.

I looked over at Ronde and stopped hugging him. I slightly backed away from him. "Ronde, I need to tell you something."

He looked confused. "What do you need to tell me? Your mood is gone, something is wrong."

"Your mother told me that lies or holding on to the truth can destroy relationships. If we are about to start ours, I need to tell you the truth."

He looked a bit concerned. "What is it?"

I bit my lip. "I… I was… I used you to leave my island. I didn't have a plan or a goal, I just wanted to leave. I just wanted you to take me off my island. I'm sorry."

I was waiting for him to respond, but every moment of silence was making me more and more anxious.

"Kindle."

I braced myself for whatever he was about to say.

He exhaled and said, "I knew that from the day I got you off that island."

I didn't expect that. "You knew? How did—"

He said in a calm voice, "Kindle, I told you the day I took you from your Island, and even yesterday, that my only goal was to get you off the island, and you didn't have to be in a relationship with me. You could have done your own thing, and I would have let you alone once I brought you here. I just hoped that I could make you see that I wasn't a bad person."

"So, you're not mad at me?" I asked.

It took him a few moments to answer. " I don't know how to feel about it. I'm not angry, but I'm not happy about it either, however…"

He came closer and grabbed my hands. "I'm happy about us. I… do like you a lot, but I guess the proper word is 'love'."

He kissed me on my forehead and said, "Is that the reason why you were acting so funny earlier?"

I thought about it for a moment; should I tell him about what his mother told me? Would it make him upset? "Actually, Ronde, it was because of what your mother said, and it got me thinking about people. Someone always wants something from somebody. I started to question us, but I know now that you don't want anything from me that I can give to you."

He looked a bit distracted. "Kindle, in some aspects that statement might not be true, but you're wrong. There is something I want from you."

I was taken aback, "W—What? You want something from me?"

He got closer to me, and placed his hand on my cheek, and said, "I want to see you happy, I want to see you achieve your dreams. I want to be a part of your life, if you allow me to, that's all. You don't need to give me any gifts. The only thing I want from you is just to see you happy."

I was shocked by his words, and for a moment we were about to kiss again, but suddenly he looked confused. He looked over towards the main road. "Hold on, do you hear that?"

I looked over, but I didn't hear a sound coming from the village festival. He dragged me towards one of the corners of the houses.

"Ronde?"

Suddenly, I heard a noise coming towards our direction. I wondered what it was, until suddenly around ten horses, with people riding them, ran towards the opposite road. The direction they were going, they were heading towards the festival, but they were heading further out towards the outskirts.

Once they left, Ronde got up and said, "That doesn't make any sense, they're heading away from the festival instead of going towards it. If they were in some part of the parade, they would have had to go down this road. Something's going on outside of the festival."

"What do you think is happening?" I asked, "And why ride horses when they have dragons?"

He looked concerned. "That's the other thing that's bothering me. Yes, there are people that still use horses, but it seems like they're trying to do something low profile while the festivals are going on."

Suddenly, he dashed after them. I was surprised, but since I knew I wasn't wearing heels, I ran after him, holding up parts of my skirt.

After a while of running through the outskirts of his village, I managed to catch up with him while he was peeking over a house. Suddenly, he bolted over and climbed up a huge house. I was at the same place he was just peeking over. I looked over and saw the horses and their gear attached to something on the side of the house, with two men armed with crossbows.

'What the hell is going on?' I had to wait so they couldn't see me, then I ran towards the house. Once I knew I was in a place where I couldn't be spotted, I looked up at the house where Ronde was, only to find out that this wasn't a house. It was some sort of mini Palace, or a Cathedral.

I saw a structure I could climb on, and I quickly climbed up on the side of the Cathedral, until I was right next to him. "So, you were just going to leave me?"

He looked surprised to see me. "How did you get—?" He suddenly looked down, and back at me. "You climbed up here without any help?"

"Yeah, why?" I asked.

His face turned red. "I'm just surprised and happy I found a strong woman, such as yourself."

He was blushing? "Well, I want to know what's going on."

He nodded and told me to follow him. We weren't at the top of this building but we could easily break our bones, and possibly die, if we made a simple slip up. We tried to take our time while moving, until we found an open window. We both saw eight people in the huge room. five were wearing some sort of cloth around their body. The one that wasn't wearing any sat in the middle, and the other one was on this side of the room.

Ronde somewhat gasped. "That's my uncle down there. What is he doing here?"

I looked, and it looked like the king, but something was a bit off, so maybe Ronde was right.

Suddenly three of the people in cloaks walked up to him, and they all began talking. "Ah, my friend, long time no see."

Ronde's uncle hissed, "Don't give me that crap, do you have what I want?"

The person who was talking took off some of the clothes that were covering her face, and it turned out to be some sort of woman, but she wasn't from here. She walked closer and scoffed, "Rude much? I thought we had something special, and yes, we do have it. But do you have what we want?"

The uncle walked to her. "Is 'something special' when you threw a knife at me when I didn't give you the proper answer? On my own turf, might I add. That's why he is here," he pointed to the man on the side, "You try to double-cross me and he'll end you here and I'll take over your Armada. Now with that being said, I can't give you one of my books, otherwise they will get suspicious, however I can give you the knowledge that you seek."

The woman growled for a moment, but snapped her fingers in one of the other two people's faces and bought her a box with some papers. She opened it but I couldn't see it. "What's inside that box that's so important?"

Ronde said, "I don't know what it is, but I can see it . It looks like some sort of bottle, with liquid inside."

He could see that far?

His uncle looked surprised. "This is it? This is the poison I seek?"

Both Ronde and I were shocked

The woman smiled gleefully. "Yes, one drop will make the person sick for a few weeks, two drops will put them in a coma-like state for months," she laughed, "The third—well, let's just say it puts them to sleep permanently. Placing it on your weapons will cause the same effects, depending on how many cuts you caused, or if the weapon stuck in them too long."

His uncle shook his head. " I didn't need that much, I just needed enough to get my brother out the way for few weeks"

I was shocked, but Ronde was getting angry. "Why is he doing this?"

"Ronde, calm down," I said.

Suddenly another person walked up towards his uncle and imparted papers. "If you want to be a part of our armys and have this poison, you have to sign these papers."

"You do realize that those papers are void until I become king, right?" The uncle said as he signed them. He took the bottle out of the box and inspected it.

The girl demanded, "You have what you need, so give us what we want."

He glared at her. "I will, but you need to give me time. It looks as though you didn't bring anything to write with. I can't give you any of her books, otherwise one of my dragons could track it on you. Plus, you wouldn't believe me if I would have just told you how to gain a dragon's trust."

What was this? Was Ronde's uncle really planning to kill his own brother?

Suddenly, I heard Ronde growling. I tried to calm him down. "Ronde, please, let's just warn your father about this."

"No, I'll try to calm down. He might say something important or give us his plan to do it. I'll try to control myself."

The man asked, "How are you planning on doing this?"

Ronde's uncle turned around and said, "Why would the three Warlords like to know my plan? You're not going to help me succeed from this point, so what's the point of wasting my breath on you?"

Wait a second, the notorious Warlords? I believe I'd heard of them. I didn't think they would come this far out.

Ronde was shocked, confused and mad. "What? The Warlords? Here in my home?"

His uncle shrugged and said, "If you must know, I have a few people that will stage an uproar during the Spring Festival that will happen in a few hours. My brother and his wife will be protected by their Crown guard and led towards the castle. Only those in the royal family are allowed to go back inside the castle while this is happening. I'll either poison them in their sleep and one of the Crown guards will be blamed either for abandoning them while they slept, or I'll plant poison on one of them. I do not wish to kill them, however. I need them out of the way for my plan to succeed. I need to be the next king in order to protect our land and do something my brother refuses to do."

I just stood shocked and disgusted by what I was hearing. How could he even do such a thing?

The uncle looked at the bottle again. "I don't need anyone else to get hurt, they're still my family. Hopefully, they'll understand why I did what I did today, if they ever found out. I don't need another incident like when I drugged my nephew's dragon in order to attack my brother, or anyone else in that room. Unfortunately, it only attacked my nephew."

"YOU DID WHAT?!" Ronde yelled, standing up in plain sight

All eyes were on us, Ronde glaring at his uncle in rage.

His uncle looked up. "Ronde?!"

Before I knew it, I saw the person on his uncle's side aim a crossbow at him. I didn't think, I just tried to push Ronde out of the way.

I felt something sharp hit my thigh, and we both rolled off and tumbled down towards the ground. Ronde held on to me, but as he did, we fell on a few barrels on the side. It hurt, but not as bad as the pain in my thigh.

I looked down at my leg to see a broken arrow in my leg. The fall must have broken it, but it was in my leg and the wound was bleeding. The good news was, I wasn't bleeding too much, meaning It didn't hit anything vital, but the pain was starting to get to me. I tried to stand up but quickly fell down. I probably couldn't walk right, or even stand. I noticed we'd landed on the side and we were covering the shadow of the building, but it was still visible to see us.

As I was trying to stand, I didn't realize that Ronde was just staring at me with a horrified expression. But something was wrong. He didn't look right, then I saw him grab his head, groaning and making strange noises.

"Ronde, are you okay?" I asked.

Suddenly, he started to scrape the ground with his hands, when I noticed his shirt was starting to tear off, and he was growing. 'Wait is he changing?'

I heard a voice on my other side. "Don't move or I'll shoot!"

One of the Warlords with a bag held a crossbow, aiming towards me. I didn't move as he was getting closer, but I didn't know what to do.

Suddenly, I felt something brush past my hair and something slammed into the guy with the crossbow, so hard it launched him towards the house in front of me.

I looked up, and saw a purple tail over my head. I looked over towards the shadows, and saw a pair of eyes glowing. I felt the ground shake with each step, and saw Ronde as a dragon coming out of the shadows, slowly walking towards me.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

He didn't respond, just slowly walked towards me. I was beginning to get scared. "R—Ronde?"

He just walked past me, not even acknowledging my presence. That was when I saw the look in his eyes. They were slits, paper thin, staring only at what was in front of him. He bared his fangs, growling loudly. Once he went towards the open road, he rose up on his feet and roared very loudly.

"RAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHhhhghhhh!"

He was so loud that I had to cover my ears, but what was going on? Why was he acting this way?

I remembered something he'd said, ("Extreme emotions can bring uncontrollable reactions. I can't get too upset otherwise I'll become an… uncontrollable wild dragon.")

Was that what was happening to him?

Ronde turned towards the entrance of the Cathedral, and I saw arrows bouncing off him and people yelling. "Where did that dragon come from?" Another person yelled, "It doesn't matter, it took out one of the Warlords, take it down now!"

Ronde roared again and flew towards them. All I heard next was screaming. I needed to get out of there, now.

I looked over and saw the house where the Warlords was thrown into, and I had no choice but to crawl over there. I still couldn't walk. Once I made it, I saw the man on his stomach. I needed to know something. I checked his pulse and found out he was still alive. I also saw a wood plank I could use to walk. I got it and tried to stand on it; it was a bit difficult but I managed. I just couldn't put pressure on my right leg.

'I need to find others to help me. I can't do this by myself. That means I have to waddle all the way back to the festival and find them.'

As I was about to leave, I noticed the bag full of papers right next to the unconscious man. I thought about it for a moment, and realized I could possibly use the papers to prove what Ronde's uncle had done. I grabbed it off the man, and waddled outside the house.

I heard Ronde roar in the background, not from pain but from rage. 'I need to try to bring him back to his senses, but I don't know how.'

I walked towards the main road.

After a while, I felt like I was going nowhere. I was wasting so much time. If it wasn't for the pain, I would probably be there by now.

Suddenly, I slipped and fell on my side. "Damn it!"

I tried to get up again, but I couldn't.

I heard something above me. I looked up, and it was a dragon. At that moment, I thought that one of the Dragons Riders had found me. But when the dragon landed in front of me, I was completely shocked, it was Ronde's dragon.

"Th—Thunder?"

She looked down at me, and growled and warbled something at me. I was confused about what she was trying to say to me, when suddenly she rolled her eyes. I didn't think she could do that. She sniffed the air and came to my side. She noticed my leg and looked a bit shocked. I was desperate at this point. I didn't know if this was going to work, but I had to try. "Thunder, I don't know if you can understand me, but I need help. Ronde is out of control, and I need to find others to help me. Could you please take me to them?"

She stared at me for a few moments then lowered herself to the ground next to me. I was surprised, but I tried to climb on top of her and she helped by moving her neck. Her scales were so smooth that I had a hard time staying on her, but she flew towards the festival.

I had to remember where we last saw them; they had to be near the entrance where we played that dart game. I believed I saw it and pointed to it. "Thunder, over there."

She saw where I was pointing to, and tried to slow down. The people on the ground saw us and moved out of the way. I let go of Thunder and fell over. My legs still had the arrow, and I was still bleeding. I tried to rip apart my dress. Once I did, I wrapped it around the wound. I was afraid to take the arrow out, so I left it in there, but I yelled to get help, "Hiccup! Astrid!"

I was afraid that they weren't there, but after a while they came through the crowd and looked at me in shock. "Kindle? What happened," Astrid asked.

"Please, I need your help! Ronde's uncle—no, Ronde is out of control, and I need help to calm him down!"

Hiccup looked confused. "Out of control?" Suddenly he looked horrified. "You mean he's rampaging again?"

Again? I didn't realize they'd probably experienced this before. "Yes, please, he's on the outskirts—I don't think I can help him."

They both looked at each other, and Hiccup said, "Astrid, help Kindle up. Kindle, you need to show us where he is located. I'll inform Fishlegs about what's going on, so he can keep an eye on Snotlout and the twins. I'll meet you there. I need to suit up."

Astrid nodded and helped me up, but she looked down at my leg. "You're bleeding, you need to get that checked. Did Ronde do that to you?"

I quickly said, "No, I tried to protect him, but I wasn't thinking. I'll explain on our way there."

We got to her Nadder, and she jumped on and helped me up. I tried to hold on to her, when I noticed Thunder was by our side. I said, "You're coming with us?"

She growled and gestured towards the direction where we came from. I nodded, "Alright, have it your way. Let's go Astrid."

Her Nadder took flight and I told her where to go, but she said, "Explain everything that happened?"

I tried to summarize everything I heard from the conversation Ronde and I overheard.

She looked horrified. "His uncle said that?"

I nodded.

"And seeing you like that, probably sent him over the edge," she said.

"How did you guys calm him down last time?" I asked.

"We didn't, our dragons did, but we could try again."

That did not fill me with confidence at all.

We made it, and it was completely destroyed—house's were on fire, buildings were decimated, and the Cathedral roof was completely caved in. We saw him in the distance, destroying a house, ripping it apart with his claws.

We landed far away from him.

I was scared, seeing the destruction he caused. "He's completely lost his mind… hasn't he?"

Astrid had a stern face. "He's in there somewhere, we just need to remind him who he is, without getting hurt."

When she said that, Ronde completely destroyed the house and he stopped for a moment, looked around and went towards the next house, destroying the roof first and digging through.

For a moment, I thought it was strange that he was doing that.

Suddenly, Hiccup, in a new black suit on top of his black dragon, landed beside us. "So what's it looking like?"

Astrid answered, "We don't know what he's doing, but he's still dangerous. He might also attack us on sight."

Hiccup nodded, "Alright, I gotta plan. I'll lead him towards the middle road that leads inside the cathedral—that seems to be the most open space. Hopefully, our dragons can do what they did last time to calm him down. Be prepared Astrid and Stormfly. And Kindle stay at a safe distance."

They both nodded.

Astrid brought us towards the road that led into the cathedral.

I saw Hiccup put on his helmet and flew on top of his black dragon.

Hiccup

Up here in the sky, I looked down at Ronde decimating a house, but why was he doing that? Was it possible that he already came back to his senses? That wasn't normal dragon behavior.

We slowly flew close to him, and I yelled, "Ronde, are you in there?"

He slowly turned around to see me, but I noticed his irises were completely thin, then he started to snarl at us. 'Well, that answered my question.'

I noticed also he was staring directly at me, and not Toothless. He got off the house and blew a fast fire ball at me. I say 'me' because it was closer to hitting me than Toothless. But I barely felt the heat because of the new suit. That was a good sign.

We started to fly away from him, but when I noticed that he was following me, but instead of flying he was jumping from rooftop to rooftop to catch up with us—also strange.

We managed to get him on the main road, but suddenly he was trying to shoot us out of the sky. There was no time to land. Something told me, even if we did, he would try to shoot us and I didn't think I had a choice. "Toothless, we have to hit him with a very hard hitting Plasma Blast."

Toothless started to go towards the sky, higher and higher, until we were almost touching the clouds. We quickly descended down towards him. Toothless was preparing to fire, and by the certain glow that was coming from Ronde, he was too. At the last possible second, Ronde shot a fireball at us but we barrel-rolled out of its way, and quickly shot him.

A massive explosion happened, and I realized we may have overdone it. But that should at least slow him down.

Toothless landed on top of the house. I said out loud, "You think that did it?"

As the smoke cleared, I noticed Ronde on his hind legs, staring. His eyes were fixated on me, snarling at me with his fangs bared. It looked like it didn't do anything! There wasn't even a mark on him.

I started to notice that his body was glowing. I got a bad feeling.

"RAH RAHHHHHhhh RHAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"

Suddenly, electricity started to protrude off of his body, like a Skrill! I covered my eyes, but I noticed that something was happening to him. Some sort of markings began to form around his body. Those mark's were the part that was glowing. I could be wrong, but he looked like some sort of Titan Wing.

I never left his gaze, he suddenly stretched out his wings and pulled them back. I quickly knew what was about to happen. I tried to brace myself, but I was too late. He flapped his wings in my direction, causing a gust of wind to make me lose my balance. I fell off to the side and landed on the sandy road. It wasn't a rough landing, but it still hurt and my helmet fell off.

Ronde quickly flew over and landed on top of me with his mouth open, glowing from a fire ball he was about to shoot at me. He stared at me, and I thought it was over. But after a few moments, the glow from his mouth vanished and he lowered himself to sniff me. After looking at me for a few moments, he slowly turned around and walked away from me. My heart was still pounding, but what was that?

Astrid managed to sneak past him and came to me. "Hiccup, you're alive."

I nodded, "He gave me a scare, but I'm fine, just confused."

"Why?" she asked, while helping me up.

"He didn't attack me while he was in that state. It is a long stretch, but do you think it's possible that he recognized me?"

"He told us that he would attack anything he sees as a threat."

I nodded. "I know, but the moment he saw me without my helmet, he stopped attacking me."

Wait a second, where was he going and where was Kindle?

That's when I saw Ronde crash inside the cathedral, going after Kindle. Astrid and I quickly ran after him, Toothless right behind us.

Kindle

Ronde found me and was stalking me inside of the place. I was scared because of what I saw him do. His eyes were focused on me, but why me? My leg still hurt if I placed any pressure on it, so I found another stick to use as a crutch.

Suddenly, I tripped on some debris and fell back. He was still coming towards me, but when he got too close, I held my arms up to protect myself.

But I felt something wet on my arm. I opened my eyes to see that he'd just licked me.

'What the hell?'

He got closer and sniffed my right leg, and he must have noticed my wound. He suddenly nipped at the cloth around it and ripped it off. Looking at my arrow, he nipped that and took it out of my leg. It hurt and started to bleed again. Ronde opened his mouth and it began to glow a light blue color. After that he suddenly licked the injury. It hurt because his tongue was hot to the touch, but it soon turned into a warm feeling. My leg stopped bleeding, but the cut was still there. He stepped away, and I didn't feel the pain anymore so I tried to stand up and I was fine. I thought he just numbed the pain, or he healed my leg, I couldn't believe it!

I looked over to him. "Why didn't you just tell me you came back to your senses? Thanks for healing my leg, but come on, Ronde, why didn't you say anything?"

He just looked at me and suddenly moved closer, nuzzling me and purring! "Ronde, are you okay?"

He still didn't respond; he just kept nuzzling me.

Something was very wrong.

Suddenly his eyes widened and he looked towards the entrance, seeing Hiccup and Astrid. He quickly went behind me, but he tried to cover me with his tail in a protective manner.

Hiccup and Astrid walked in with their dragons, but were staring at both me and Ronde. Hiccup said, "I don't understand, he's trying to protect her, but he's calmer than he was a few minutes ago… Shouldn't he be back to normal?"

"I don't know, I thought if he was calm he would regain his senses, but look at him! He's acting more like a dragon," Astrid said.

Hiccup yelled, "Kindle, are you okay?"

I answered back, "Yeah, just really confused about this."

Ronde looked down towards me and tilted his head, his eyes were still slits but not as paper thin as there were. They weren't back to their normal sizes though, not by a long way.

Hiccup looked like he had an idea. "Astrid, go over to him."

She looked confused, but Hiccup told her, "Just trust me, I'll swoop in if he looks threatening."

She hesitated, but slowly walked towards us. Ronde noticed her and lowered his head toward her. Once she was in front of him, he sniffed her while examining her. After a few moments, he suddenly nuzzled her, but after that he went back to me and licked me across my face.

I was a bit disgusted because there was a bit of dragon spit on my face. Astrid slightly laughed, and said, "Well at least we know who is his favorite. But it seems like he recognizes me."

Hiccup, alongside their dragons, walked up towards us. Ronde, however, stood his ground and he wrapped his tail around me, but it was to cover me from them. He also looked at Hiccup, but didn't do anything but stare.

Hiccup said, "I think I understand now. While he's in that state, it's still him. He still recognizes people that he considers close to him. I think that's why he attacked me when I had my helmet on, he didn't know it was me until it came off."

Astrid asked, "If that were true, why did he almost attack me and Fishlegs that day when our village was being raided?"

"The reason he went out of control was because he saw you get hurt. He was focusing on nothing but the ones that caused that. Then Fishlegs…" Suddenly his eyes widened with realization, "He wasn't trying to harm you, he thought that Fishlegs was a threat to you. But he was slowly approaching you guys. He was waiting to see if Fishlegs was going to do something to you."

"So why didn't he recognize Fishlegs?" Astrid asked.

"It's quite possible that he did, but I think he was still upset because Fishlegs stole his book. I believe he wasn't trying to harm you. I think he was trying to scare Fishlegs away from you. In fact, this all makes sense now. Remember when he told us the first time he lost himself? It was with his father and he said that while he was like that, he could have hurt his father, but he didn't and he doesn't know why. I think it's because he still recognized him as his father or someone he knows not to hurt. It's likely that he's still in there.

Hiccup said, "His behavior was strange until now. I don't think he was destroying those houses out of anger or anything. I think he was looking for something or someone, and I think that someone was you, Kindle."

I interjected while Ronde nuzzled me, "Okay, but how do we get him back to his normal self?"

Both Astrid and Hiccup led their dragons towards us. "Our dragons did it last time, let them try again."

Both the black dragon and the Nadder growled and warbled something towards Ronde. However, he just stared at them and looked down at me, and roared at them. They stood back, and all of us were shocked.

"That didn't help, there has to be some sort of way!" I yelled.

I looked up, and on the side of the cathedral, Thunder was just staring at all of us. "Thunder, please help and bring him back to his senses!"

The Skrill took a moment, but came down towards us. She started to warble and growl something, and pointed her snout at me. She was finished. Ronde held me closer to him and growled something back at her. I never thought I'd see a dragon look so shocked before. The look on her face meant that Ronde said something bad to her. Before I knew it, Thunder quickly spun around and whipped her tail hard across his face. At that moment, I knew Ronde was going to attack her, so I quickly got up and placed my arms around his snout. He calmed down, but snarled at her.

"This doesn't look good," Astrid said.

Hiccup turned around and said, "D—do you think it's possible this was what he was talking about? Can he be stuck like that?"

I looked over to him and muttered, "No, no, he said within ten years. It's hardly been two weeks. He said his body, not his mind!"

I went to his face, "Ronde, please it's me, Kindle! Please don't do this, we just started our relationship! Please, I don't want to see you like this!"

He just stared at me, and tried to comfort me by nuzzling me, but I backed away. "No, I need you to talk to me. I know you're in there, please just say something! Anything!"

I was waving my hands around and I noticed that he was looking at my wooden bead bracelet. "You… you recognize this, don't you? Yes, this was the bracelet we won when we gave that little girl that doll, do you remember?"

He got closer and sniffed at it, but he just continued to stare at me, so I got closer to him. "Do you remember the dance we had? We were having so much fun dancing to the music under the moonlight and stars? When you were twirling me around?" I got closer to him. "When you kissed me?"

I kissed him in the middle of his snout, and waited and waited… but no response, no reaction, he was only staring at me.

I didn't know what more I could do. I felt helpless. I just stood there, beginning to cry.

Ronde

I felt a wave of sadness coming off of her

I didn't know what to do. What was I supposed to do?

Every time I tried to comfort her she would get upset, but everytime I didn't she would get even more upset.

Am I the problem?

What did I do?

What should I do?

The other two came to her and gave me a look of anger and pity.

Why?

Is there something I'm missing?

I just wanted to protect and comfort her.

Others harmed her, I got rid of them and I had to find her but she was still upset.

Is she upset with me?

Why?

She got up and kept making the same sound over and over again.

Ronde, is what she said.

What is that?

Is that supposed to mean something?

I tried to repeat the sound.

"ROHHDDAAA?"

They all looked at me. The two in the back had a strange expression, but she stopped being sad and came close to me.

She said, "Yes! Do you remember? Ronde?"

That sound—no, that word she keeps saying has importance.

I tried to say it again, "RONNNDAAA?"

She tried again, "Yes, that's your name, do you remember?"

Another noise she made that sounded familiar…

Name?

What is a name?

No wait, a name is…

My head began to hurt, but I tried to think—

A name is something you're given like a title that means…

You.

Me.

That is my title, my name.

Ronde.

"RONDE, please remember!"

Suddenly my head hurt and I started to back away from them, my mind was trying to make sense of it all. I grabbed my head and stood up, falling on my back. My life was flashing before my eyes as I started to remember everything.

My mother, my father, my sister and my grandmother.

My journey throughout the world.

My encounters with the dragon Riders.

And finally I remembered a kiss from…

I opened my eyes to see Hiccup, Astrid and Kindle staring at me.

Kindle looked confused but said, "Ronde, is that you?"

I was confused and looked around. I remembered being on the side of the cathedral, but we were all inside now, with rubble all over the place, and the roof caved in so I could see the night sky. I got up and fell down on my stomach. But I slowly got up, and I couldn't stand normally. I looked at them confusedly. "K—Kindle?"

She suddenly ran towards me and hugged me around my snout, which surprised me because I just realized how small she was, then she yelled, "Don't you ever scare me like that again! I thought I lost you!"

I was confused, until I realized I was a dragon—but I don't remember changing. "What's going on?" I asked.

Hiccup spoke, "Actually, that's why I'm here. I don't know what is going on. All I know is that you went on a rampage and we tried to calm you down. You almost killed me, by the way."

I was shocked and started to look at the damage around me. "I did this?"

Kindle said, "You don't remember?"

I shook my head, "Not really, I remember we were following a group of people on horses and climbing on the side of this building. But that's where I draw a blank."

Kindle looked a bit worried. "Okay, before you try to remember, perhaps you should change back."

I nodded and tried, but for some odd reason the changes hurt worse in some places than others. I changed back. "Okay, Kindle, you were there, please try to help me remember."

As I said that, I noticed that Astrid and Hiccup were covering their eyes. That's when I realized I was naked again! "I'm sorry, is there anything that…"

I noticed however, that while the others were covering their eyes, Kindle was just staring at me. She was somewhat blushing, but she had a strange look on her face. The way she was looking at me wasn't embarrassment, it was confusion and concern.

"Kindle, what's wrong?" I asked, scared.

She didn't say anything. She just looked around and grabbed a long curtain from the ground, shaking it out to get rid of any debris, and handed it to me. I wrapped it around my waist, but I was still concerned. Why was she staring at me? "Kindle, what's wrong?"

She looked as though she didn't want to tell me, but she finally spoke. "You're not doing that on purpose."

"Doing what on purpose?" I asked.

"You have scale markings all over your body."

I looked down on my hands and arms to find out what she was talking about. I had marks of scales on my skin, my arm and hands. They were even in some sort of pattern… that was when I realized they were also on my chest, stomach and legs. I was scared and curious to see if they were on another part of my body… they were.

I was beginning to freak out. They were purple and very noticeable! Then I felt my face and they were there too! On the bag under my eyes, on my forehead, EVERYWHERE!

Kindle grabbed me. "It's okay, it's not that bad."

"Not that bad?! It's everywhere! What happened to me while I was rampaging?"

Hiccup got closer and answered, "You were getting angry, and your whole body began to glow suddenly. The marks on your body started to appear while you were a dragon. I guess they stayed."

Kindle looked concerned. "Ronde, do you know what this means, because I'm lost."

I was scared. "This could mean two things, or both, which I'm scared of. Either, while I was in my enraged state, somehow I changed into a Titan Wing, which I thought was impossible for me. Or this proves what I've been saying for a while now. My body is beginning to change, and this could be the first sign of not being able to change back when I'm older. I thought that maybe I had a choice, I just couldn't turn into a dragon when I got older, but it seems like I don't."

I was starting to freak out. What would I tell my mother or anyone else that sees me? That the markings are birthmarks or tattoos?!

Suddenly, Kindle kissed me on my lips. When she stopped, she said, "It's alright, we'll figure this out—together. No matter what happens, I'll be next to you."

I began to calm down. "Thank you, Kindle."

("What about me? I help too, you rock headed fool.")

I turned around, and I was surprised to see her here. "Thunder? You're back?! I thought you left."

She looked angry at me, and growled, ("I came back to inform you that I found a potential mate, but we're having trouble finding a place to live, so I wanted to ask if we could stay in that place you call 'garden'. Then I found your mate injured and needing help. But after what you said to me, I should rip your front tail off!")

I was happy for her that she finally found someone, but I was confused about what she was talking about. 'My front tail?' Suddenly I knew what she was talking about. "Thunder that… wasn't a tail…"

("Then what was… ?... oh… OHHH! Why was it out? Were you—?")

"Thunder, I don't have to explain human anatomy compared to dragons to you. And I'm sorry for whatever I said to you. But we can discuss your living situation later. I need to remember why I went on a rampage in the first place."

("Fine.")

I looked over towards Kindle. "Please, help me remember what happened."

She explained what happened between my uncle and the Warlords.

"He was responsible for everything? Drugging my dragon, which caused him to poison me? My uncle said that?"

She nodded, and I remembered what he said. "He's going to poison my parents! We need to go save them! Before the ceremony begins!"

Kindle was worried. "Ronde, calm down, it'll be okay, we'll try to stop them."

I shook my head. "No, I'm afraid that now my uncle knows someone heard about his plans, he's going to change them. I don't know how long I was in that state, but if there's no sign of him or his accomplices then it's too late. We have to find my parents before he does, and there is a good chance that they are about to give their speech and send everyone home. But whatever my uncle's planning is probably going to happen before or during the speech. We have to leave now."

Hiccup asked, "So what should we do?"

I thought about the best case scenario. "If my uncle hasn't done anything, myself and Kindle will get my parents out before anything happens, and possibly my sisters as well. You and Astrid need to get the other Dragons Riders, they might be in danger as well since all of you were affiliated with my mother, they will probably go out to you guys if a riot breaks out. We will all meet in the outlands, somewhere safe. Stormfly can track my scent with this."

I ripped off a piece of cloth that had touched my skin and gave it to Astrid. "That's the plan for now, we'll discuss something further once we all gather to come up with a plan to end all this. But our first priority right now is saving my parents, my siblings and the others."

They nodded and got on their dragons and flew off. I looked over towards Kindle. "I know this is a bad time, but I'm sorry if there was anything I did while I was in that state that scared you. But I don't want that to slow down what we had. I'd like to talk about us more, but after we save my family, okay?"

She nodded and came over towards me, and we walked to Thunder, who was getting impatient. We climbed on her back, and Kindle wrapped her arms around my stomach. We took off, heading towards the spring festival to save my family from my uncle's plan.