"English"
"Norse"
==TST==
Since we agreed on the arrangement, days passed in a montage like way. Days turned into weeks and before I knew it a month had gone by.
We would train before Hiccup could fix up to Toothless' harness. He wasn't getting worse. He was improving on his basic stances. As we trained I made Hiccup give me vocab quizzes. I was getting basic understanding.
Toothless on the other hand (or claw) was coming closer and closer to flying again.
Lilac...was getting better at wood carvings.
Pick up is becoming more popular as the days went by. When he talked about the village- usually to quiz me on what I learned- he admitted to being followed by crowds. He was using the fighter trading I was giving him to help in the ring, or at least to avoid fights with the other kids.
Sometimes while he trained in the ring I'd listen to the villages. The crowds were growing bigger every day. I would try to guess what was being said, double checking with Hiccup after if I got it right. Most of the time I was wrong. Still, learned how to speak the basics.
One day, after dragon killing training ended, Hiccup showed up late.
I tried to sneak up on him to whack him with my bo staff. Hiccup in barely dodged it in time. Seeing? Learning.
"Late." I told him.
"Late? We never said when I had to show up for this."
From lack of understanding, I gave him the flattest stare I could. "Don't know that words."
Hiccup tilted his head. "That's fine. It's-uh."
"You just tried to give me a generic excuse-"
"Bah-bah-bah! You said no using your language when we started!" Hiccup reminded me.
"Immersion learning- I know, I know!" I glared at him. "Late. Still."
"I wasn't late-" Hiccup tried to excuse.
"You come after dragon-kill training." I instructed. "After training? You were not here. Tell me what I say wrong."
Hiccup huffed. "It was nothing. I was studying the Dragon Manual to see if they noticed of the same things I did."
He had learned a lot of the things- that's true. Not just the dragon-nip, there were a lot of other things I hadn't seen in the films. Dragons shed. The scales were falling off when Toothless scratched them, Lilac's probably didn't because she was young. If he licked you the drool fucking stuck. On the bright side, I found out if you mixed the spit and the scales Lilac had fresh paint!
Hiccup learned from that: don't be near paint brush wielding Lilac.
So I guess it's fair to see if any other Vikings have seen the same.
The scales and spit, not the paint thing.
Hiccup held up the Book of Dragons. My eyes bugged. "I couldn't find anything, which I guess makes sense but-"
"You brought a book!" I cheered, running up to him. Hiccup let me take it- too surprised to argue. "Dude you're perfect!"
Hiccup raised his arms, glancing at me then the book. "Starfire I don't-" I dropped the Book of Dragons on the ground, grabbing my Bag and snatching a book out from it. "-know what's going on but it's freaking me out."
I stretched my hand out over the book. "Good words, bad words, all in between." My hand glowed yellow. "Let the translations of these words be seen."
Hiccup screamed.
I kept my focus on the book when he did. The words on the book changed, glowing yellow with my hand.
Something burned in my eyes. The first few times I did this spell, I was freaked out. It broke the concentration on the spell. Now I knew it was the translations coming to my eyes. Think subtitles but directly in the brain. It was a spell that worked, so ha.
The spell completed its work. I hummed in delight as the two books lowered to the ground.
"You're a norn!?" Hiccup yelped, cowering away.
My eyebrow raised.
"Did you just call me the Norse equivalent of a witch?" I asked him. "Wait. I know that word. Norn? That's a kind of...god...yeah?"
Hiccup was still cowering.
Lilac and Toothless ran over.
"Mom?" Lilac asked, cautiously. "Did you hit Hiccup too hard?"
"Maybe...earlier in the week. He actually dodged the hits today. But that's not important. I can read Norse now!" I cheered, holding up the Book of Dragons.
Lilac beamed. "Cool!"
"Hiccup What is a…'norn'?" I asked him, struck by curiosity again. "...Hiccup."
Hiccup was trying to climb back up the rocks.
I rolled my eyes. "Toothless. Catch Hiccup." I instructed. Grabbing a rock, I aimed it towards Hiccup. It hit his hand. Startled, Hiccup let go.
Toothless ran there. He catches Hiccup in his arms, rolling onto the dirt with him. Toothless beamed when he saw he'd caught him. I gave him a thumbs-up.
Toothless brought the still freaking out Hiccup back to me. My expression was on par with McGonagall (I think). "Are you done?"
Hiccup flinched.
"You are not done." I sighed, rubbing the side of my head. "I do not understand. Explain?"
"You- That- you used seidr." Hiccup explained.
I paused a moment, taking the time to translate. My hand flowed gold. Hiccup flinched away from it. "Ah. I see. Witch. A seidr user. Is norn that what you call witch?"
"I think so. Could you turn it off?" Hiccup pointed to my hand.
The glow faded.
"Not norn." I told Hiccup. "Better."
"Völva?" Hiccup asked, cautious now.
"...yes." I replied. "By the way, nothing in the Book about what you've done. It doesn't even look like Fishlegs has done any of it yet."
"A Völva! Wow!" Hiccup remarked, coming out of the fear word by word. He stood up, walking up towards me. "I- Berk has never had a Völva before!"
"Yes...yes." I nodded. My fingertips glowed yellow. A brilliant idea came to my mind. "Wow."
"This- this is so-" Hiccup
I hid my hand behind my back. The glow on them was growing brighter.
"Is- is that why you're here? Because you're a Völva?" Hiccup asked. "Because your old village banished you? Is that why you came here?"
"Yes." I nodded, vaguely understanding what Hiccup was saying. The bo staff raised higher and higher above his head. "Good."
Hiccup inhaled shapely, looking towards Lilac. She was giving me a weak glare. Toothless was snickering. "Is it because of Kori that you were ba-"
He dropped to the ground, avoiding the bo staff just in time.
"Whoa! Hey?!" Hiccup stood back up to glare at me.
The bo staff twirled in air, glowing with my magic. It stood by my side. "Yes?"
Hiccup huffed. "You have no idea what I've been saying, then?"
"No." I grinned wide. The staff raised. "We train better now."
Hiccup sighed. "Great. Whoa!" He dodged the staff again. "Hey!"
My grin became shark like.
Lilac curled herself around my legs. "Mom. Are you gonna train me like that someday?"
"Yes." I replied.
Hiccup was forced to make quick moves to avoid my bo staff.
"But harder." I added. "Cause I love you."
Lilac winced when the staff hit Hiccup on the arm.
==TST==
Since the revelation of my magic, it had barely come up again. Beyond use in Hiccup's training, or the books he would bring. The reading was actually helpful in language training, so a big ha to that.
Course Hiccup was convinced that I was a witch goddess so it's all kinda meh.
Hiccup continued to excel in his dragon training. The tribe was taking notice. The crowd grew larger every time. He would show up later and later to the Pit to train. There was improvement in his sneaking away.
Well...I say improved.
He barely managed to get away from Astrid, who wasn't even trying to find him.
"No, Starfire, I don't need to learn how to sneak through the woods." I teased him, as we climbed down the wall to the Pit.
Hiccup gave me a look. "When did I teach you sarcasm?"
"Never." I stood with my hands on my hips. "I am just a natural. Now duck."
Hiccup did so after only a second's hesitation.
Last time, he'd asked why before being hit in the head by the Asgardian bo staff.
==TST==
In the afternoon we got to try out the new harness Hiccup had constructed. That in all his busy schedule he had time for this, I was impressed.
I followed him and Toothless to the cliff side. Lilac was beside me, cloud watching. Hiccup was working on the attachments for the harness to a pole he'd stuck in the dirt..
"If you're just waiting to watching to see me fail you will be sorely disappointed." Hiccup informed me.
A snort that sounded more natural on a pig came from me.
"Just you wait. It's going to work this time."
"Like it did last time, or better?" I asked, cheerily.
Hiccup didn't meet my eyes. "Better." He climbed on the back of Toothless.
Leaning towards Lilac, I nudged her shoulder. "Hmm?" Lilac sat up. "Oh! He's gonna try flying! Was this the part when he crashes and gets stuck?"
"Yep." I ruffled the fin on her head. Lilac snorted, pulling her head away. "You're getting so smart, princess."
Lilac beamed.
Hiccup and Toothless begun their practice flight. They hovered with the aid of the breeze, which were caught in Toothless' outstretched wings. Toothless was following Hiccup's lead on how the wing attachment was working. Hiccup was more cautious about the attempt, shifting about to pull out a scrap of paper.
"Mommy do you think I'll fly someday?" Lilac asked, voice soft.
It took me a moment to understand what she was really asking. "Without a doubt."
Lilac glanced at her back. "I don't have wings. How can I fly?"
"We don't know all we should about Equestrian dragons. It's possible that their wings come in late, some latent evolutionary tactic for the safety of the young."
"What if I only get my wings-" Lilac swallowed. "What if I only get them because...of a Greed Growth?"
Breathing through my nose, I thought about a counterargument. Back in Lilac's birth world dragons were sentient. Able to walk and talk like any other creature. The dragons were notoriously greedy. If a dragon were to gain a hoard, their greed would grow with the hoard until the dragon grew into an enormous size. It took only a matter of days.
"I don't want to have a Greed Growth, Mommy." Lilac curled tighter to my side.
My hand brushed down her back, soothing her as best I could. "I doubt you will, Lilac."
"But I almost did."
"I told you- that was more a Rage Growth. You were like the Hulk, according to Rainbow Dash anyway. Then again I'm taking Rainbow Dash's word on something."
Hiccup yelped.
My magic flared.
It caught the boy and his dragon, stopping them from barreling into us.
I gave Hiccup a dry stare. "You good?" I prompted.
Hiccup huffed, body sagging down. He tumbled off Toothless, sticking by my magic and the chain. "Oh, great."
I sighed, adding a smirk. "Princess head back to the Pit. I'm gonna help get these two knuckleheads unstuck."
Lilac giggled. Toothless glared, using the end of his tail to whack Lilac in the head.
Hiccup threw me a look. "They're fighting because of you again, aren't they?"
I smiled innocently.
"Oh no."
They dropped to the floor in a lump.
==TST==
I was following them into Berk.
"Starfire you don't need to help." Hiccup insisted.
"You are awful sneak." I replied, riding on Toothless' back. The Night Fury was totally fine with this. He liked the back scratches I was giving him. The cloak I wore added extra cover to me, in case of any almost sightings. "So I stay."
Hiccup groaned through clenched teeth.
He stopped immediately, leaning against the side of a building. I put my hand flat on Toothless, pausing him in his steps. The Night Fury halted. He turned his head back to me curiously. I lowered myself so I was flat on his back, pulling the cloak to cover myself.
"Hiccup." A viking greeted, walking by the path.
Hiccup gave him a casual nod. It was passing.
Once the viking was out of eyesight, Hiccup continued walking us toward the blacksmith stall. I only sat up the second we were inside. Climbing off Toothless, my hand rubbed soothing circles on his back.
Hiccup started working on removing the attachment. I moved to stand in front of Toothless, blocking his sight from the sheep that would appear.
"You didn't- ugh- have to- geez- come with us." Hiccup repeated, trying to work the pliers around.
"You did not have to build chain like so. Yet here we are." I mused.
My hands glowed once again, just in time for Toothless to let his wings flare out. They would've hit the other tools thus causing the ruckus.
As though to personal counter my efforts to keep us hidden, Hiccup yelped at the glow. He fell back.
My gaze toward him was flat, as I moved the tools back. Toothless chuckled at Hiccup's expense.
"Why are you still scared of it?" I asked him. "I'm not going to hurt you, you know."
I couldn't see Hiccup's expression in the dark of the night. A large part of me wondered if I even wanted to see it.
"Hiccup. You know, yes?" I prompted.
"Hiccup?" Astrid called out.
Hiccup froze. He tried to yank at the cord, fruitlessly in effort to remove it. I stood up, pushing him away while working on it. When Hiccup tried to come back I pushed him towards the gate.
"Are you in there?" Astrid prompted.
Hiccup leapt out of the window. He closed the shutters behind him. I used magic to pluck off the saddle hook, letting the ring connecting it to cord loose. Once it was free I reattached the hook. Toothless slumped against the ground when the tension pulling him towards the shutters vanished. He moved toward me. I succumbed to the dragon drool on my face.
"Astrid. Hey! Hi Astrid. Hi Astrid. Hi Astrid." Hiccup babbled.
"I normally don't care what people do, but you're acting weird. Well, weirder."
I stood in front of Toothless, continuing to block the sight of the sheep. "Good Toothless. Good boy. Don't look toward the sheep. We don't want you to get that sheep do we?"
Toothless was still licking at my face.
Actually becoming annoyed now, I tugged on the rope cord in my hand. It jerked the shutters, along with Hiccup. Tugging them once more I let them go so that Hiccup was free. He could find us later.
I climbed onto the saddle. "Go." I instructed.
The dragon nodded, running out the way we came. My body was still hidden by the cloak as we moved along.
At the tree line to the woods, Hiccup ran to us. He held the cord in his hands.
"Yeah. Thanks for leaving me alone back there." Hiccup remarked dryly.
"Thanks for still thinking I'm going to murder you with magic." I remarked right back. "That's a great feeling. Again, thanks."
Climbing off Toothless I started the walk back towards the Pit.
"Starfire?" Hiccup called out.
I ignored him.
Toothless hummed, whacking Hiccup with his wing.
"Hey! What did I do?" Hiccup asked.
Scoffing, I vanished into the night.
==TST==
AN: Well here it is. Morgan/Starfire and Hiccup weren't cooperating with me this chapter. What nuisances they are. Why can't they let me beat some sense into them?!
Thanks to Aurora the Void Dragon for favoriting
Thanks to Juplin and Aurora the Void Dragon for following
