Astrid began to have second thoughts about what she had done almost as soon as she rejoined the flock on their way away from Berk.
Not because the Nadder was suspicious. Far from it.
"So, did you get to kill him?" the Nadder asked brightly, flying up from behind Astrid and slowing down to hold a place to her right. "I don't see any blood on you."
"I didn't need to draw blood," Astrid improvised. "That kills too quickly. But he's most definitely dead." She managed a pretty good impression of satisfied bloodlust by baring her teeth and purring at the same time, though the purring was an addition her instincts had provided of their own accord. It certainly seemed to fit the mood she was trying to convey.
"Oh, good," the Nadder chirped. "Want to talk about why he deserved to die?"
"No. I want to not talk," Astrid grumbled. The Nadder was going to be a problem if she wouldn't let it–
"Okay." The Nadder darted off, probably deciding to interrogate someone else on some likely useless topic. It was the first time she had voluntarily left Astrid alone, aside from 'guarding' the forest.
The Nadder wasn't why she was having second thoughts.
"Where did you go during the raid, female Bolt?" Mentor's mate asked, dropping down to fly behind her a few moments later. "I would have helped you spot targets."
"It would not have done any good," Astrid lied, "because I can't aim. I went to kill a Flightless, which I'm sure will make Inferna happy."
"What?" Mentor's mate spared Astrid a mild glower. "I do not truly believe that, female Bolt."
"He deserved to die," she elaborated, sticking to the same cover story she had told the Nadder. "I only did not kill him as a Flightless because there would be consequences. As a flame," and she remembered to use the correct term for herself this time, "there are none."
"What did he do?" Mentor's mate asked.
"He attacked me, and tried to do exactly what you suspected the Bolt of doing to me," she said solemnly. "I got away, but I never forgot, and I never forgave." All total falsehoods; she could have gotten any such attacker tried and possibly exiled if she could prove the attempt had happened. Really, the trial itself would be enough to ensure any attacker shunned. Berk did not tolerate that sort of thing. Other tribes might, but Berkians had to be able to trust each other in raids, so they were far harsher in punishing anything that might cause a feud between families.
But that didn't matter. Astrid had never had a reason to test Berk's systems for these things. She had plenty of admirers, Snotlout being the most obnoxious, but they all wanted her hand in marriage. It never went as far as she was saying it had, and she would never say otherwise if she was speaking to a human and thus capable of accidentally starting rumors.
"That, I understand," Mentor's mate allowed, "but you know that the Bolt is going to have to be with you eventually. You may wish to keep an open mind. He really is not a bad flame."
Astrid scoffed at that, both annoyed at the attempted persuasion and happy to let the conversation leave her actions during the raid. "I am sure you think that," she huffed.
"I knew his Dam. She was not... overly fond of him." Mentor's mate sighed. "That was one of her many issues. He loved her regardless. When she died, he mourned and then mostly bounced back, but he has not been the same since. Now he is mourning someone else, apparently. He needs a female in his life, and–"
"And since he changed me, I should be that female?" Astrid snarled. "No. That is as good as saying I do not mind what he did, or have no will of my own."
"I was going to say that you have yet to see him as he should be," Mentor's mate answered with a low growl. "All you have seen is a sad shadow of him. I see two possible futures for the two of you."
"And you will tell me them," Astrid grumbled, not willing to be too disrespectful.
"Yes," Mentor's mate said firmly. "On one path, you hate him and make no effort to get to know him, and you are forced together by Inferna. You will both be bitter and unhappy. On the other, you try to bring out who he really is, and maybe find someone you can stand, despite his past mistakes. Either way, you will be with him, because Inferna will force it." She nodded at Astrid. "You know that. You have postponed it, but that will not last. On one path, you might find some semblance of happiness. On the other, no such thing."
"She is right," the Nadder squawked, alerting Astrid to her presence, eavesdropping a fair distance below them both.
"This is a private conversation," Mentor's mate snarled. "Or it was. Come with me, Flare. We are going to talk about how to be less obnoxious, before the female Bolt kills you."
Astrid was grateful for that. She watched them fly up to the top of the formation, where Mentor's mate began lecturing the Nadder with quick, exaggerated motions of her head and wings. That was the both of them taken care of.
Mentor's mate was not the problem either. But, as Astrid finally got a moment to think, a creeping dread began to form.
Snotlout had taken everything far too well. What if he woke up tomorrow morning and decided it was all a dream? Or what if he had a crisis of conscience, as unlikely as that was, about working with a 'dragon' for any reason at all?
Or, she realized, he might decide a dead Night Fury now was worth more than risking anything for a dead Night Fury later. He might try to kill her in a sneak attack the next time she grabbed him, or tell the rest of Berk and set a trap.
Or he might actually do as he said he would. She couldn't know, but there were a lot of ways that could go, and only a few were good.
For now, it didn't matter. She wasn't going to be able to trick the Nadder into letting her go on a multiple-day trip alone, and the Nadder was not limitlessly gullible so she couldn't bring her along, either. The next time Astrid went to Berk would be with the next raid there, which could be months from now.
By then, Inferna might have forced her to be with the Night Fury.
Astrid tried not to dwell on that morose thought, but it was hard. She almost involuntarily began to consider what Mentor's mate had said.
The Night Fury lost his mother. She had lost hers, and far more recently, in a chain of events that could be traced back to him. His loss would garner no sympathy from her. As for needing a female in his life...
She had heard the same said of Tuffnut, of all people, when her mother had a few of the other village women over to talk. Apparently, some of the other village women were actively hoping Tuffnut got married off to someone forceful enough to calm him down. According to them, his sister just fed the craziness, but he'd make a good husband and Viking with a strong woman to counter his oddities. She had and still did dismiss that as an impossible task; nobody was that strong. The twins were a force of nature.
Astrid didn't believe it, though, of Tuffnut or of Toothless. Such sayings were just the excuses prying meddlers used to justify their interference and self-righteous condescension. And she didn't feel that way just because said meddlers often went on to imply she'd be fit for the job of fixing whatever poor sap they were gossiping about.
No, it wasn't up to her. Mentor's mate had made other points, but they were just as disagreeable. She was not going to cozy up to the Night Fury and hope that Inferna's intentions would become palatable in time, that was giving up! If Inferna could actually make her do the dragon equivalent of marry someone she despised, and do so even somewhat willingly, then she had won.
Astrid would only win if she resisted. She had played Inferna for time, and she would continue to make sacrifices to keep her freedom, lest Inferna's most horrible threats become reality, but as long as she despised the Night Fury in her heart, she was still her own person and Inferna had lost in some small way.
It was not a happy future, but she'd rather be unbroken and bitter than broken and deluded into thinking herself content.
~O~o~O~
Astrid was growing to hate being in the volcano for any reason. Far too often she was there to be stared at and intimidated by a massive tyrant of a dragon. She couldn't think of a single time she'd experienced something positive here, standing on a ledge with the Nightmares and looking out at the monster.
"Blue Flare that I assigned to watch the female Bolt," Inferna rumbled. "Report, tell no lies."
"The female Bolt tried to help," the Nadder squawked, stepping forward to balance right on the edge of her ledge, "She really did! But her aim is terrible, and she didn't hit anything, even when she tried. She did kill one Flightless, though."
Inferna laughed, a dark and horrible thunder that did not come from the sky. "Terrible aim. I suppose it is a good thing I am not as gullible as you are, Flare." She glared at Astrid. "I said you would participate. Not fake it."
"I tried, but my aim truly is bad," Astrid objected. "I killed one of them regardless, what else would you call participating?"
"She wanted revenge, so she had me guard her while she slowly killed one of the Flightless," the Nadder supplied helpfully.
"So you say," Inferna growled. "Blue Flare, you are dismissed."
Astrid let out a quiet sigh of relief. The way the Nadder had spoken made it sound like she had actually seen Astrid killing someone. Inferna wasn't entirely convinced, of course, but neither did she seem particularly suspicious.
"Female Bolt. I order you to work on your aim." Inferna sunk down a bit to meet Astrid's eyes with a terrifying six-eyed stare. "The male Bolt will assist you. If you cannot reliably use your fire in a test of my design the morning after next, we will see how well the male Bolt can aim something of his at you. Whether it is fire or something else is up to how badly you do." She left it at that, sinking out of sight with an almost subsonic growl.
Astrid shuddered, her ears flat against her skull. If she was interpreting Inferna's threat right, anything but perfection would be punished by injury, and failure worse than just a few close misses would be punished by Inferna deciding to force the Night Fury on her.
And she had to work with the Night Fury on it. If word got back to her that Astrid had not gone to him for help, she would consider Astrid to be breaking her promise, and punish her accordingly. Punish Berk accordingly.
Inferna only had one threat, but it was one Astrid could not ignore. So... she had to learn to aim and fire like a real Night Fury, and the real Night Fury of this nest would be teaching her, though she couldn't stand him.
~O~o~O~
Astrid managed to put off the inevitable until mid-morning of the following day. By then, self-preservation was kicking in and forcing her to overcome her dislike long enough to search out the Night Fury.
But finding him was difficult. "He is one of two black dragons in this whole nest. What do you mean, you have not seen him?" she asked. "That cannot be true." It was true for her, but that was because she hated him and would have turned around and gone the other way if she'd noticed him.
"I can't be sure," the Gronckle she was questioning huffed irritably. "You look like him from a distance, and I don't know if I saw you or him going to the sleeping alcoves this morning."
That would have been her, returning from an early flight to sleep a little more. She had a strangely sporadic sleep schedule, thanks to the two raids and sneak attack messing with any attempt at a regular sleep pattern. Her habits from her time as a human weren't helping either. This morning, for instance, she had woken full of energy, gone for a flight, and spent most of it fighting off yawns and heavy eyelids.
The end result of all of that, right now, was that she was both well-rested and annoyed. This was the fifth dragon she had asked and none knew where the Night Fury was. "In that case," she gritted, forcing herself to remain calm on the outside, "when was the last time you know you saw him?"
"The day before you returned," the Gronckle said. "He was down on the shore, staring into the water."
"Thank you," she said politely, though it was a strain. She needed to practice being at least neutral to people she didn't like. Having to deal with life-or-death situations and horribly serious choices for a few weeks had drastically lowered her tolerance for slow, pointless conversation, but she was not going to let that sabotage her.
At least now she had somewhere to search. The shore was a large area, but she could fly, and she liked to fly. She practically ran out the nearest tunnel to begin scoping out the shoreline, jumping off of the slope leading to the tunnel and gliding out into the fog.
Flying was calming, like throwing her ax or sparring used to be. It was also interesting, which was honestly more than she could say for throwing her ax. That was a single motion, whereas flight was infinitely variable. Right now, for instance, she had to correct for a tailwind, and that involved some actual concentration. With throwing her ax, nothing ever changed.
She did still miss it, though. It was back on Berk, slowly rusting away. Maybe someone would eventually find it, discarded on the ground in the cove.
She flew for a while, repeatedly circling the volcano and thinking about nothing in particular, one eye on the ground, looking for her target. She spotted him on her third time around.
He was right at the shoreline… drinking from the tide. Then he backed up and convulsed, spitting something out. That piqued her curiosity despite her dislike for him, and she landed behind him without any insults or threats.
He didn't react to her presence, though she'd landed quite loudly. She got a bit closer, debating startling him with something, before thinking better of it. She was no prankster, and she needed him as focused as possible, if only to get this over with quickly.
So, she asked her question. "What was that?"
He turned to look at her with narrow, pained eyes. "What?" he asked hoarsely.
"What you spit up," Astrid continued. "Is it something I should be doing? I have a right to know." She moved over to get a good look, only to be both disgusted and disappointed. A lump of what she assumed was snot speckled with ash lay on the shore, larger than her fist would have been were she still in her human body.
"Unless you are drinking the water this close to the nest, no," he groaned. "It is bad to do that. I am sick, though it is not serious, so do not get your hopes up."
"Does this sickness mean you cannot teach me to aim?" she asked hopefully. Inferna could not complain if the teacher she assigned was truly too sick to teach.
"Inferna would not accept broken bones as an excuse, let alone a scratchy throat and clogged nostrils," he grumbled. "I can still teach. We both need you to learn well." He knew the consequences of not doing so as well as she did… meaning someone had told him. She resisted the urge to seek out that person and punch them for not letting her know where he was at the time.
"Then start teaching," Astrid concluded. "I want this done with."
"Am I that terrible to be around?" he asked rhetorically, turning away. "We need targets. Come over here, by the base of the volcano."
Astrid walked quickly, refusing to follow him around, and beat him to where he had specified. There were several smaller rocks lying on larger ones, distinct in that they were very different in coloration. Dull red stones sat on a grey boulder, while grey stones rested on the near-black ledge next to them. They would serve well as precision targets. She didn't expect much from his teaching, but at least he had the right tools for the job and was already set up to teach.
The Night Fury stopped at about fifty paces away, and Astrid reluctantly joined him after examining the stones up close. He hacked up another glob of snot, coughing quietly, then turned to face her. "Show me what you can do. Aim for the central red stone, and truly try to hit it. I need to see your skill." Now that she was listening, she could hear a deep rawness in his voice. If this was the dragon version of a cold, she hoped she never caught it.
Now, to fire and hopefully be told she was just missing one obvious thing that would make her aim perfect. Everything else about this body had come that easily, but it would be just her luck if this was the exception.
She fired, aiming for the stone he had specified. The steps came easily now, and it did not take her more than a solitary heartbeat to blast... at least ten paces above and to the left of it. If anyone else had missed that badly at this range, she would have assumed they were messing with her.
She cringed inwardly, and outwardly growled. Finding out her own aim was that terrible was not a fun experience.
"Wow..." The Night Fury was as disappointed as she was. "That needs work. Did you have good aim... previously?"
"Good enough to plant an ax between your eyes if I had gotten the chance back in that cove," she shot back. He had a lot of nerve, asking about the life he had stolen from her.
"Glad he didn't let you, then," the Night Fury sighed. "Given I'm pretty sure he'd have been next." He coughed hoarsely before continuing. "When you fire, you must keep your head steady and consider that your shots will not fall with distance. They move far too fast for that. Aim as if you are aiming for a target right in front of you."
Astrid tried again, intentionally holding her head straight and aiming right at the target. Her shot ended up detonating about three paces directly above the stone.
"Good. You moved your head the first time, so that was all that was wrong with your aim," he praised. "But you are still compensating for the shot when you do not need to. It will not drop at all. Try again."
"What if I don't want to?" she asked rebelliously, not liking that he was giving her orders.
"We get to find out if Inferna considers missing by that much worth a bruising or something far worse," he rasped. Speaking clearly hurt him.
"Show me how you fire," she demanded. The least he could do was give her an example to follow.
He shot her a disbelieving look, his eyes widening. "My throat is raw. That might permanently damage something. I can barely stand to swallow as it is."
She hadn't considered how being sick might affect that… but she didn't mind him getting hurt, and it would be a learning experience for her. "Not my problem," she replied. "Show me."
"I..." he paused, gritting his teeth and shaking his head. "I will not. You just wish to see me suffer."
"Yes, when it might help me," she growled, though she didn't really believe it. This was not making her feel better, or even good about herself, but she wasn't going to back down. Not for him, and certainly not to save him a little pain.
"I cannot believe..." he mumbled, trailing off into a few short words she couldn't make out. He looked up, his face drawn and pained, more than before.
"What was that?" He had said something, and she would know what. "Tell me."
"I cannot believe that my friend desired you," he said plainly. "I smelled it myself, but I do not believe it. He was far too considerate to like anyone so cruel."
"Your friend," Astrid repeated venomously. She knew who that had to refer to, as laughable as it was to think of a human and a Night Fury being friends. "Every male close to my age liked me. I certainly did not like any of them."
"Your kind must almost all be like Flares, only concerned with appearances," he said mournfully. It took her a moment to realize she had just been insulted, but he was already talking again when she figured that out. "But he was different. I cannot see anything I could appreciate in you, but he had to have seen something."
"Maybe you'd have less trouble seeing something if I didn't utterly despise you," she hissed.
"Maybe." He closed his eyes, and did not open them. "But I cannot teach you if you hate me. So do whatever you have to, now, as long as it does not kill me. You have already started." His ear stub twitched. "Finish taking your vengeance. Then I can teach you."
Now there was an offer worth considering. Astrid stalked up to the Night Fury. "No fighting back?" she asked curiously.
"None," he confirmed, his eyes still closed. "Just get it over with. But if you kill me, Inferna will definitely take that as you breaking your deal with her, so keep that in mind."
"So selfless," Astrid muttered sarcastically, walking around him to consider her options. She was not going to waste this chance. The hard part was deciding what she wanted to do with it.
She could kill him, if she was willing to live with the consequences. On the one hand, not even the slightest chance of being forced to be with him, and by extension no chance of more Night Furies plaguing the archipelago in the future. On the other, Inferna would have her tortured, killed, and then annihilate Berk in retaliation. Not worth it.
But nothing said she had to kill him. She could find whatever passed for reproductive parts on him and remove them, like farmers did to certain sheep and yaks. The problem with that was that she didn't know what to look for, aside from the vaguest of ideas, and it would probably end the same way as her first idea, as Inferna could just force the Night Fury to tell the truth about what had happened to him, and would know Astrid had broken their deal.
Those were the good options, both unusable. Inferna had her over a barrel, and she knew it.
She could just make him suffer. Remove the other ear, all his frills, his claws, and his eyes to boot, along with the other tailfin. Maybe the teeth, too. She could totally mutilate him, or get as far as she could along that list before he began to fight back, unable to take the pain. But she'd still be stuck with him in the long run… and she didn't know if she had it in her to do something so drastic for absolutely no reason other than that she hated him.
She could hurt him, though. Nothing big, nothing permanent… just a way to work off some anger. He was offering as much, she would have to be stupid not to take the opportunity.
Astrid unsheathed her claws, stalked forward, and placed her right front paw on his tail, pushing it to the ground. He stilled, and she had free reign to do whatever she wanted.
She didn't do anything, though. She should have torn his worthless, lopsided tail up, made him finless, or even just cut him with her claws. She had every reason to hate him, and the opportunity to make him suffer for it was literally in her clutches.
None of that made her want to do it. She felt as though she should want to, but the actual desire to hurt, to cause pain, was missing.
She took her paw away and paced around him. He shivered as her tail brushed his. She could just...
No.
Astrid let herself back away. She couldn't do it.
Wouldn't do it.
Fighting was one thing, but cutting into and hurting someone who was not fighting back was quite another, and she didn't have it in herself to cross that line. Apparently. She'd never been in a position to find out before today. Never thought about it.
Her anger, her hate, had limits. She had just found one.
"I'm not going to do anything," she admitted tonelessly. "I'm not that kind of person. Just get back to teaching me."
"No," he huffed. "Do what must be done."
"Open your stupid eyes and teach me," she snapped. "I'm not going to change my mind because you tell me to. Do you want to be hurt? Because that's what it is starting to seem like."
"No, but I would deserve it." He opened his eyes, slowly and reluctantly, acid green staring at her appraisingly. "For someone who talks like the second most cruel dragon in this nest, you do not do much to back it up."
"Your ear says otherwise." She thought about the rest of his statement. "And I only talk like that because I hate you."
"I saved your life in the only way I knew how," he replied sadly. "But the side effect was the cure, and if you really don't think it is worth it, then I am truly sorry," he finished. "I would take it back if I could."
Far too little, far too late, but she had just proven to herself that she couldn't hurt him without fresh provocation. She was done with this, for now. "Just teach me the rest of what I need to know."
~O~o~O~
There was far more to firing than keeping one's head steady and not accounting for drop. Once they got to moving targets, Astrid learned exactly how bad she was at aiming. It didn't help that she only had eight shots in a row before needing to wait for them to come back. At least now she knew why nobody knew a Night Fury's shot limit from raids. There were rarely ever more than a few good targets in any given raid for him to destroy, so he never hit the limit.
By nightfall, she could hit what she was aiming at half the time, so long as it was not too far away. By midnight, half again as often. This was not a skill that could be mastered in a night; there was too much thinking to do, and none of it worked with her ingrained instinct.
But they kept at it, working through the night, though the Night Fury looked about ready to drop dead by the time dawn rolled around. Inferna's deadline had not left any leeway; she needed to be ready by morning.
Their marathon of training was justified when two Nightmares Astrid didn't recognize flew over to them just as the fog began to lighten.
The female, a larger one with pale red scales, spoke in a deep but extremely feminine voice. "Inferna sends us. We are to test her now."
"What are the requirements on her skill?" the Night Fury asked, his voice almost inaudibly low and strained. Speaking had taken its toll, and he only had more of the ashy water to drink, which certainly hadn't helped him at all.
"We are not to say what thresholds must be passed, only that Inferna has already specified them," she replied. "Her fate relies on her skill." It went unsaid that Astrid's fate also relied on how merciful Inferna was feeling when she went to the effort to specify how Astrid was to be tested, which was already a very bad sign.
"At least you will not be doing any of this where she can see," the male Nightmare said. "She doesn't like anyone firing in the volcano."
Astrid had no idea why that would be; no dragon's fire could hurt that hulking monstrosity. Inferna literally lived in a pool of molten rock, a few relatively paltry explosions would be like bubbles in a bath.
"Let's get on with it," the female said impatiently. "Female Bolt. How many shots do you have?"
"Eight," Astrid answered. Luckily, she had just come off a long rest period, so she had all of her shots back.
"Good. You will use them all." The male Nightmare went out across the shore, flying so far away he was almost indistinct in the fog, but not quite hidden entirely.
"First test," the female announced. "You are to fire at the ground in front of him. Hitting him is failure, and success is measured by how close you can get. You may fire twice in total."
This was far more thought out and complex than Astrid had anticipated... and far harder. At this angle, even a small misjudgment in distance would hit the Nightmare. "Really?" she asked.
"Really." The female glared at the Night Fury. "And you may not advise her."
"Fine," the Night Fury coughed.
Astrid wouldn't have wanted him distracting her with advice, anyway. She lined up the shot with more than a little trepidation, aiming just in front of his distant talons. If she got it a hair off, she would hit him and immediately fail.
But she had been given two shots, not one. She adjusted her aim and fired, her shot impacting some distance in front of the Nightmare. It hit higher than she had meant it to go, but not high enough to undo her intentional undershooting.
"One," the female Nightmare rumbled.
"I can count to one," Astrid grumbled. Now, she could guess at how much higher she needed to aim... She fired again, hitting close enough to spray shells and pebbles at the male.
"That was good," the Night Fury said. Astrid ignored him; she knew very well that it was a good shot without him saying so.
The female Nightmare stalked over to the impact site – it was odd, watching a Monstrous Nightmare choose to walk somewhere on ungainly wingtips and legs when they could just fly – and inspected it. After a few long moments, she nodded and the male left Astrid's makeshift firing range.
"Second trial." The female Nightmare called out. She then nosed at one of the grey stones Toothless had set out and laboriously wedged it between two boulders. "One hundred paces back. You must hit it. Your other six shots go to this. Failure is if you cannot hit it in those six. Success is counted by how many it takes you, fewer being better."
Astrid took the requisite hundred paces back, cursing Inferna in the back of her head. These were almost unfairly difficult tests, given she had only a day to learn, and she didn't even know what Inferna would count as success good enough to not be punished.
Still, she could do this. Her aim still was not up to par with the legends of Night Furies, and the actual Night Fury had not at any point mentioned his own skill, but she could hit things... most of the time. This was a tiny target at an unreasonably far distance. Not easy, but not impossible either.
She inhaled, steadied herself, set her head straight, and fired. Her shot detonated against the ground a pace to the left of the target. Her next shot glanced off the rightmost boulder, despite her correcting to the left. She didn't know how she had missed, aside from the catchall scapegoat of inexperience.
The Night Fury grunted worriedly as her third shot also missed, striking to the left because she had overcompensated. He hocked up a small glob of mucus afterward, though she did her best to ignore that.
Astrid waited until all was silent to make her fourth shot. Her patience was rewarded when the grey stone vanished from existence in a fiery explosion a moment later.
A satisfied purr worked its way out of her despite the seriousness of the situation. Axes did not blow up what they hit. She missed her ax and ax-throwing practice, but this could be a suitable substitute. Especially once she ditched the Night Fury and practiced on her own.
"We will now be sure we know how you did," the female announced, moving a short distance down the shore with the male. They bowed their heads, conferring.
"You did great," the Night Fury whispered. "Do not take their decision as proof to the contrary. I do not think there was a way to escape without punishment, no matter how well you learned. That is just how Inferna does things."
Astrid didn't want to believe him, but his words had the ring of an unpleasant truth, so she mentally prepared herself to be disappointed. She thought she had done well, but merely well was not good enough. As long as it was not the ultimate punishment, she could bear it.
The female Nightmare returned, her head held high. "You did not fail the test. Neither did you perform as Inferna specified. Inferna commands the male Bolt to blast you hard enough to bruise, in the stomach."
Astrid winced. "What would I have had to do to avoid that?"
"Land a blast at my friend's talons close enough to throw shards in his face, which you did, and hit the target on your first try, which you did not," the female explained ruefully, sounding fully aware of how unfair that was. "And your 'reward' would just have been to be able to pick where he bruised. If you had totally failed at either test we were to take you to Inferna and assist the male Bolt by holding you down for him."
So she had escaped the worst case scenario, but only barely. It had been close. Suddenly, Astrid felt a little better about being shot in the stomach, even if it would hurt her–
But not just her. She looked over at the Night Fury and saw the grimace of reluctant acceptance that crossed his features.
If he would take it stoically, so would she. She reared back on her hind legs, presenting her stomach. "Sorry," she said angrily. "But it sounds like this was going to happen no matter what."
"I know," he said hoarsely. He snarled, winced, and then fired, coughing out a single underpowered shot.
The impact drove the air from her and she folded over, gasping futilely. There was no way he had made it any bigger than absolutely necessary to carry out the punishment, but she was still shocked by how hard-hitting a projectile composed of fire could be, even to somebody fireproof.
Eventually, after what felt like an eternity, she could breathe again. Her relieved gasps were loud in her ears, almost drowning out the wet, incessant coughing that had been going on all the while.
The Nightmares left, two large figures flying over her. She didn't like them. Not everybody could be Mentor, but they could have at least waited for her to recover.
Maybe they thought the Night Fury's illness was contagious. Astrid forced herself to stand, to look in his direction.
He was hacking his lungs out – figuratively, so far as she knew – in the surf, spitting phlegm, blood, and bile into the ashy water. His coughs were intermittent, but every time they died down he inhaled and unintentionally set them off again.
Astrid's stomach hurt, but she didn't think she had gotten the worse end of her own punishment. It didn't feel fair, and it felt like she had done this, even though she hadn't.
There was nothing she could do for him, save for letting him suffer alone, without anyone to see his weakness. She turned her back on him–
Something caught her eye in the chaotic debris of the tideline. A relatively small thing, speckled grey with ash and salt. Unimportant, unremarkable…
She glanced back at the Night Fury. He was still coughing sporadically, but no longer choking up anything more than spit. Miserable, but not in danger. Just suffering from circumstances out of his control.
~O~o~O~
Claws were nowhere near as good as fingers, and her tail could not hold anything at all. When she flew, she did not do so smoothly, no matter how smooth it might feel to her. The ocean around the volcano was polluted with ash, meaning fresh water was at least a moderate flight away.
All of these were problems, reasons to give up, but Astrid had made her choice and was not about to let minor complications deter her. She worked out a way to grip small, thin things with her paws. She practiced flying stiffly, so as to not jostle anything she carried. She made the trip out beyond the fog several times over, just to get a feel for it.
And in the end, she succeeded at bringing a large conch shell full of clean saltwater all the way back to the nest without spilling anything. She came down to land on the shore with exaggerated care, clutching the shell against her chest and planting her other three paws firmly. Then she walked it all the way to the boulder the Night Fury had retreated to, coming up behind him. From the way he was staring listlessly into the distance, she suspected he wouldn't have noticed her for a while even if she walked right in front of him.
"Here." Her tone was brusque as she set the shell down beside him, out of flailing range but no further. He jerked around, surprised, and stared at her until she pawed at the shell to draw his attention to it. "Clean water."
"Why?" he asked, his eyes wide.
She didn't have a good answer for him, so she said nothing at all.