Fate of the Dragons

by ReclusiveShadows

With Hiccup's role of 'Chief' on the horizon and a new tension between Berk and several nearby tribes stuck in their old ways, Hiccup, Toothless, and Astrid already have enough problems on their hands. But when a spy from an enemy island 'accidentally' turns Astrid into a Night Fury, things are bound to get a lot more interesting!

15. The Visit

Well then!

If you haven't already heard, apparently DreamWorks Animation pushed the release of HTTYD 3 up to the spring of 2019, making that its 4th delay total. Huh.

Aside from that, hello everybody! Yes, this story is still alive, as am I - once again, I'm very, very sorry. Chapter's a bit shorter this time, for one main reason - I've been working on a one-shot! I'm actually really excited to release it, hopefully sometime in the coming weeks. Because of this, I'm trying to incorporate a new schedule for myself that includes writing for a few hours every day, which also means, hopefully, earlier updates. I hope you all enjoy this chapter! Remember to follow for updates and leave lots of reviews!

I don't own How to Train Your Dragon.

---

~An Hour Earlier~

Astrid groaned as the bright light of the sun woke her from the euphoric tranquility of sleep. She had been blessed with a lack of dreams that night, instead spending it digesting the remainder of the half-rotten fish she had eaten with a guilty pleasure the night before.

Even after she woke up, however, she felt quite chipper that morning, finding it surprisingly easy to ignore the horrible consequences of the situation she had gotten herself into, as well as the ever-present dread of the possibility that the entire Village would have her outcast by the end of the day, and she would spend the rest of her life in solidarity. Indeed, none of these things bothered her as she did her best to mimic her normal morning routine as a dragon; stretching, quickly dipping her head down in cold water to wake up, gurgling water, even going to the bathroom in the darkest corner of the gully she could find - which, she discovered, was an experience she did not want to repeat again in such an 'open' manner, yet knew she would still have to - and going on a light walk around the ravine. It almost, almost, seemed normal.

That was until a blue Nadder with an obnoxious rat disguised as herself on its back swooped down into the crevasse. The grace with which she touched down was annoying at best, and terrifying at worst - she was already almost as good as herself, even if the whole maneuver was mainly guided by Stormfly.

"Hey, Astrid," Syl said, sliding off of her back. From the moment her feet landed, she couldn't help but notice something strange about how she stood, as well as how she talked - the night before, she had seemed wary and alert, as well as timid. Now, while not necessarily confident, she seemed at least more… Comfortable. As though she had already gotten used to it after a single day. The thought almost made her laugh. Nonetheless, that still only made her wonder what exactly she was doing there even more.

"I just thought I'd stop by," she continued, the incredible accuracy of her own voice annoying her even more. "I know you must be pretty lonely down here, without your little Hiccup and all."

GET TO THE POINT.

She took another step forward, likely the closest she'd been since the last time she had tackled her. Syl's eyes only flashed.

"I… Wanted to let you know, that…" She breathed out slowly and stared up over the ridge of the ravine toward the rising sun in fabricated sophistication, and wisdom. "I've decided to stay."

Astrid stared at her for a moment in disbelief, before growling and beginning to write in the sand.

YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME

IT'S ALL ABOUT YOU, ISN'T IT?

"Wh- what?" She stuttered, her pride and confidence suddenly failing her.

YOU ACT LIKE YOU'RE DOING US

SOME KIND OF FAVOR.

"Well, I," she risked, "I am…"

AT BEST, YOU'RE PAYING US BACK

FOR WHAT YOU DID TO ME.

YOU DON'T REALIZE HOW NICE

HICCUP IS BEING TO YOU, EITHER.

IF I HAD MY WAY YOU WOULD BE SITTING

AT THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA RIGHT NOW

WISHING YOU HAD NEVER STEPPED FOOT ON THIS ISLAND.

"I think I'm already starting to…" She muttered.

BUT YOU ALREADY KNEW THAT.

THIS IS MY LIFE THAT YOU'RE TAKING OVER

AND YOU ACT LIKE IT'S SOME KIND OF GAME

"You really think that?" She demanded. "I worked my ass off yesterday trying to be you, missy. And, I've spent the past few hours training, too, believe it or not. And you know what? It wasn't even as hard as you made it seem. Didn't know you lived so easy."

Astrid reared.

EASY?

YOU THINK MY LIFE IS EASY?

She nodded reluctantly, making Astrid huff in indignance.

HOW WAS YOUR AEROBATICS TRAINING, THEN?

She hesitated. "Aerobatics? Oh, the flying stunts… Yeah, it was… Fine. Just fine. How did you know that we did…?"

WE DO THE SAME ROUTINE EVERY DAY.

I ASSUME YOU ENJOYED THE REST OF

HICCUP'S LESSONS AT THE ACADEMY?

WE DO THOSE EVERY DAY, AS WELL.

"Oh…" She wheezed. "Every day, huh? Every… Day…"

She sucked in her breath. "That's fine. Just fine."

Astrid raised an eyebrow at the girl - her face had turned a shade of light green just thinking about it.

"Alright!" She yelled to nobody in particular. "So maybe your life isn't so easy. It doesn't give you the right to act as high and mighty as you do, though, and it doesn't mean I'm not doing you a ridiculous favor with this. In fact, not even a favor - I'm saving your life. Out of the kindness of my heart."

YOU'RE ONLY DOING THIS

SO YOU DON'T HAVE TO FEND FOR YOURSELF

BECAUSE YOU DON'T KNOW HOW.

Syl guffawed.

"And what makes you so sure of that, huh? I'd do perfectly fine out there. You just have too much pride to accept that fact that you need help for this."

AND SO DO YOU.

FOR ALL YOUR HATRED

TOWARD YOUR TRIBE

YOU STILL MISS THEM

BECAUSE THEY WERE YOUR ROCK

THEY WERE YOUR LIFE

AND NOW IT'S BEEN TAKEN AWAY FROM YOU.

"And just what," Syl seethed, obviously not taking the time to think about her words, "Would you know about your life being taken away…"

Her voice faded as she realized the irony of her question, and Astrid stared up at her in hollow triumph.

"Oh," Syl's voice was still weak as she took in the ravine, Astrid's new home. Trying to take a step forward in one last attempt at dominance, Syl grimaced, and clutched her leg, sinking down to one knee. A bit wary, Astrid walked up to her, the misplaced adrenaline of a moment before having disappeared.

NEITHER OF US ARE PERFECT.

She wasn't used to cheering people up, especially not this girl. But if she could break down over something as stupid as an argument, she was still a long way off from the level of resilience she would need to be at in order to live her life. Normally, she'd "train" people by simply oppressing them into submission - it was harsh, but it was the only way she really knew how. In this case, however, she would have to write out insults on the ground, or otherwise tackle her, and she had quickly learned over the past few days that neither of those tactics would really work. Not only was it awkward, but it was ineffective. Syl was afraid of her, obviously, and normally that would be enough. But pain and threats didn't seem to affect her - fear seemed to be more of a reflex for her than a genuine concern.

Fortunately, this wasn't the first time she was forced to resort to different tactics - Hiccup was one such person, normally responding to her threats and anger with no more than a short bit of misplaced sarcasm, his own line of defense, she had soon learned. She had hated him for it for a long time, as it made him appear to at first have little concern over the major issues in the Village, primarily the dragon raids. It made it even worse that he was set to become Chief someday - she had once even contemplated marrying him just to take over as acting Chief and ensure the Village's well-being. He certainly wouldn't stand against her, she knew, and being Chief was something that she had always slightly wanted, deep, deep down in her heart.

But then, in a single day, a single hour, it all changed. His useless blacksmithing skills she had disregarded for such a long time had suddenly returned flight to a grounded dragon. His sarcasm was no longer annoying, becoming almost… Cute, as horrible as the word tasted on her lips. His stubbornness in the face of failure became… Strength. For once, she actually… Liked, him. Not loved - no, she was before and still then a long way from that point. But still, before she knew it, she was leaning on him for support more often than not, his calm, reassuring words being the only thing that could restrain her in times she just wanted to throttle anyone. Time and time again, he surprised her, speaking even the toughest brutes out of hostility, making the most deadly dragons she had ever known as tame as housecats.

But there had been some - few, but some - times when he had needed her support, as well. It started out awkwardly - she had never had to comfort him before, or anyone, for that matter. Although she knew he needed human connections just like everyone else, it had never once occurred to her that she would have to be the one to support him. So she just copied what he did, as best she could. Calm words and gestures were foreign to her, yet for all he had done for both her and the Village, she owed it to him to at least try her best. So in the times he was hurting most, she was there for him, as close as Toothless.

Syl, however, was not Hiccup.

Supporting her was more of a necessity than a choice - she didn't feel any emotional connection toward this girl besides loathing, mixed with envy she didn't even want to admit she had to herself. This girl may not have had a perfect life so far, sure, but she was insufferable enough to wipe away any sense of empathy Astrid felt for her, never mind the incredibly vast mess she had gotten them all into. As good as she usually was at dealing with people she didn't like, though, this was a case with a level of delicacy that was far beyond anything she had ever had to deal with before. Some problems and issues in the past had required large amounts of strategy and patience, as well as diplomacy - Hiccup had opened her eyes to a whole new world of options she had never even given any thought to before. But when it came down to it, she could almost always argue or fight her way out of a situation, if not both.

This time, she couldn't do either. Arguments were near impossible when she couldn't even speak, and this girl kept changing the subject, and as far as fighting went… What was there to fight? Syl, maybe, but she had already tried that, and yet somehow now felt even worse than she had before. That wasn't to say she had made her peace with the girl, either - she still hated her guts, and didn't trust anything that had come out of her mouth that day. But the one thing she did believe was that she had no idea how to change her back. That meant they had to go along with Hiccup's stupid plan…

In a way, she would've felt better if Syl had more to lord over her, taking her place and all; at least then, it would've been obvious that imitating her would be a breeze for at least a few weeks, painful and guilt-inducing as it would have been to watch.

But this girl was proving to be just as lost as she was - she'd gotten little more than a crash course on Astrid's life a few days before, and was so antsy around dragons that she half-wondered how she could even bring herself to mount Stormfly - she still wouldn't go within twenty feet of Toothless, either, if their meeting the night before was any indication. And if she was as unstable now as she had been in the Village for the past day and a half… They had work to do. A lot of work to do.

And as much as she hated to think about it, there was one thing they would need if they were to go any further with Syl's… Training.

Trust.

An unspoken truce had already been formed between them, she knew. Yet again, it had been formed out of pure necessity - Astrid still hated Syl and, for whatever reason, Syl hated her. As insufferable as she was, she knew she would have to make friends with this girl if they were to get anywhere, and that would require tolerance from both of them. Given that Syl didn't seem likely to be the one to start, Astrid decided she would be the bigger person and give it a shot.

YOUR LEG HURTS?

Astrid gestured with her snout toward her foot, which Syl still had her arms wrapped around like bandages. She nodded.

"It's… It's not broken, is it?" She grimaced. "My… My thighs, they feel like they're on fire… Is that bad?"

Astrid had to resist the urge to chuckle a bit.

IT'S CALLED SADDLE BURN

YOU'LL GET USED TO IT.

"Used to it?" She asked. "Doesn't it go away?"

AFTER A LITTLE WHILE, YES, AND YOU DON'T NOTICE IT

BUT UNLESS YOU START RIDING A LOT MORE

OR GO OUT RUNNING EVERY MORNING

I DOUBT IT.

"Doesn't your elder have a salve for it or something?" She winced again, as she made the mistake of rubbing it.

A SALVE?

FOR SADDLE BURNS?

"There's… A salve for everything," She replied, breathing out slowly as she glared at her leg, as if trying to urge an apology from it. Astrid was surprised she wasn't complaining more about it, in fact, but that just meant she was doing her best to accept her "new life," both the good parts and the bad.

Slowly, she tried to think back to what little she knew about making friends. She'd never really had to make them, really. They had just… Came to her. Nonetheless, this would not be so easy.

Connections, she remembered. What do we have in common? What can we talk about? She wracked her mind, before coming across something that hit her like a smack in the face.

THAT'S NOTHING COMPARED TO SOME OTHER RIDERS

She wrote, remembering the first month or two she had experienced the horrors of saddle sores first-hand. Rather than brag or talk about herself like she had planned, she decided to talk about someone they both knew after a second thought.

HICCUP'S THIGHS ARE RED AS RIPE APPLES FROM HOW OFTEN HE AND TOOTHLESS GO FLYING

Syl asked with a smirk, "You've seen Hiccup's thighs?"

Petrified, Astrid blushed, or felt like she had. Of all the people that make me want to blush… It had to be this girl? she thought, more than a little exasperated at this point. Then she realized Syl was laughing.

"Oh, come on," she snickered, "Aren't you at least a little bit worried?"

Astrid raised an eyebrow.

ABOUT WHAT?

"You've literally handed over your own life to the safety of me, someone you've never met, and in doing so, you've basically given me your boyfriend. Your boyfriend. I look, sound, and, well, you're teaching me to act just like you. And you're not the tiniest bit worried about him? I mean, I can see that you two don't have the most normal relationship, at least from what I've heard about them, but still…" She shrugged, "Boys are… Easily tempted. Especially when a near-perfect copy of the girl they like pops up when the other one, y'know, becomes a dragon."

Quelling the overwhelming tide of anger that had boiled up inside Astrid with every word the girl spoke, Astrid did take a moment to consider her question.

It wasn't something she hadn't thought about before, though not too thoroughly, either. Syl did have a bit of a point, anyway, and as mad as it made her to think about it, or how this girl had just thrown out this horrible thought like fish bait into a river, Astrid came to an honest conclusion in only a few seconds.

I'M NOT WORRIED ABOUT HICCUP

For one, she had a feeling this girl was just playing with her - warming her up, so to speak. As badly as that had gone for her in the past, Syl almost seemed to enjoy making people hate her. This had made Astrid even angrier for a while, before she took a step back, and tried to see in the same way the boyfriend in question might have. She realized it was just another defense tactic, like what Hiccup used - threats and mockery instead of sarcasm and jokes. Syl didn't really mean any of it. At least, that's what she told herself.

And Hiccup… The thought that he would find someone else that quickly made her want to laugh out loud. Sure, he was a bit more popular in the village, but even if he found a girl, she'd probably shy away from him with the same amount of kindness that a yak shies away from a flaming Monstrous Nightmare. Aside from that, what they had wasn't really a… Relationship, anyway. They hadn't made any marriage plans, hadn't talked to each other's' parents - because that would go down well - and, gods forbid, hadn't even considered kids yet, either. Having Hiccup as her husband was such a ridiculous thought that she had just set it aside in her mind months ago and left it there. As far as any connection between them went… It certainly wasn't love, not yet, and any Viking in Berk would double over laughing if asked whether Astrid Hofferson was a romantic. Still, there was something there, even if she didn't know what it was. And just as she was loyal to Hiccup, she hoped - knew - Hiccup would be loyal to her, as well. The real her, anyway.

Syl frowned but tried to brush it off with a shrug. "Well, if you say so. Though if I were him…" She left the sentence hanging, obviously trying to elicit another response from Astrid. When she received none, she sighed.

And so, the conversation lapsed into silence once again. Obviously somewhat uncomfortable, Syl began to glance around the ravine at the trees, lake, and pond, then Stormfly, before finally coming to rest back on her, fixating on something on her tail.

Astrid raised an eyebrow.

WHAT'S WRONG WITH IT?

"Uh… Nothing…" Syl muttered absent-mindedly, making her way to her tail anyway. Astrid back stepped a bit, and Syl hesitated for a moment, before continuing. Astrid shot her a look.

"What?" She asked. "If I wanted to hurt you, I would've done it already."

If you wanted to hurt me, you'd be dead already, Astrid thought to herself. She noticed Stormfly purr with concern a few feet away, and she cooed instinctively - it was the only reassuring sound she knew, and it seemed to come naturally enough.

She froze as she felt a cool hand on what must have been her tailfin, and whipped her head back as far as she could. Syl seemed to be analyzing it quite thoroughly, almost… Admiring it.

Astrid growled and sent her another look that she hoped asked her what the hell she thought she was doing.

"Come on," she replied, "I thought you wanted me to take more of an interest in dragons. Besides, it's not like you can hurt me back here."

Astrid responded by slapping her in the face with her tail.

Syl reeled but caught the fin in her hand just as she brought it back down to the ground. Astrid growled again unmoving.

"I'm more interested in your… Mechanics, than anything," she said, pulling out one of the fins. "I wanted to take a look at Toothless's fin a while ago, but your fellow Night Fury isn't really the kind of dragon I'd like to spend much time around - not that I'd like to spend time around any dragon - and I know you can't really afford to hurt me anymore, so," she shrugged again. "It's not hurting you, is it?"

Astrid had every mind to tell her it did, if only to get this crazy girl away from her, but she forced herself not to say anything - if this was what being friends with this girl meant, she could bear whatever she was doing, just this once.

Still, after a few minutes of Syl repeatedly pulling out her tailfins and pushing them back in, Astrid couldn't stand it anymore. It was just too… Weird. Too random.

HICCUP HAS MORE METAL FINS

"Really?" She asked, "Do you think he'd let me look at some?"

MAYBE

She replied, eager to get the girl's mind on another subject, and off of her tail. This day was going very differently from all the ways she had anticipated it might.

With some reluctance, Syl stepped away from her tail and stood back to analyze her, the same look appearing on her face as the one Hiccup got whenever he discovered a new dragon or thought of an idea for a new device. It… Bothered her. She felt like crawling out of her own skin - or scales.

"What's it like," she asked, making Astrid flinch for no particular reason. "Being so big?"

Astrid had half a mind to growl at her again but stopped herself. The question seemed genuine enough, laced in incompetence as all of hers were.

POWERFUL

She took a step toward forward, noticing Syl's eyes flash, and feeling more than a hint of malice.

LIKE I COULD CRUSH

THE SMALLEST

- She took another step -

TINIEST

- And another -

MOST INSIGNIFICANT CREATURES

THAT PESTER ME

JUST A LITTLE

BIT

TOO

Syl yelped. By that point, Astrid had backed her up against one of the walls of the ravine, and the strange distance in the girl's eyes was gone, replaced by the fear and slight anger she usually wore around her. It was almost relieving, in its own way, but still, Astrid sighed.

YOU'RE GOING TO NEED TO DO BETTER THAN THAT

She backed away, letting the girl gather her wits and stutter out a faint, "W-what?"

YOU NEED TO DO BETTER

THAT WAS A TEST

AND YOU JUST FAILED.

"You… What?" Syl's eyes flared - it was all anger, now. Good, Astrid thought, Maybe this won't be as hard as I thought.

"A test? Of what?! How to react when a dragon pins you against a wall with nowhere to go?!"

YES

YOU BROKE RULES ONE AND TWO

OF DRAGON ENCOUNTERS

OR ANY ENEMIES IN GENERAL

"Oh!" Syl threw her hands up into the air. "Enlighten me, won't you?"

TWO - ALWAYS BE READY TO ATTACK WITH WHAT WEAPONS YOU HAVE

IF YOU DON'T HAVE ANY, USE YOUR FISTS.

I'LL TEACH YOU THAT, AS WELL.

"I know how to use my fists…" she droned. Astrid raised an eyebrow but otherwise ignored her. She had to be lying - Astrid knew it.

ONE - NEVER LET DOWN YOUR GUARD, AND NEVER RUN AWAY FROM A FIGHT YOU THINK YOU CAN HANDLE.

"That's stupid!" Syl said, obviously not catching her attempt at a compliment. "And foolhardy! You'll get yourself killed doing that."

IT'S HONORABLE,

EFFECTIVE,

AND MORE IMPORTANTLY RIGHT NOW

IT'S WHAT I WOULD DO IN A FIGHT.

THE POINT IS

IF A REAL WILD DRAGON HAD APPROACHED YOU

AND YOU DIDN'T KNOW WHAT TO DO

YOU PROBABLY WOULD HAVE BEEN DEAD BY NOW.

"You are a real dragon…" Syl muttered. Astrid gave her a nod.

GOOD IDEA

Syl seemed surprised, but let her continue.

I'M GOING TO TEACH YOU

HOW TO TRAIN A DRAGON.

The girl snorted. "Very funny, Astrid. Hiccup already taught me. I had to do it with Stormfly, remember?"

Astrid shook her head.

THAT WAS PLANNED

WE HAD TO CONVINCE HER

YOU WERE A FRIEND FIRST.

NOTHING LIKE A WILD DRAGON.

Syl's smile seemed to drop a bit. "Wait… You're saying I'll have to… Train other dragons? Wild dragons?"

It was Astrid's turn to smile.

OH, YES

IF HICCUP DOESN'T TAKE YOU WITH HIM

YOU'LL BE DRAGGED OFF BY THE TWINS

OR FISHLEGS TO HELP THEM WITH WHATEVER

WEIRD NEW BEAST THEY'VE FOUND.

PEOPLE IN THE VILLAGE WILL COME TO YOU FOR HELP

WHENEVER HICCUP ISN'T AROUND

OR THEY NEED A MORE VIOLENT DRAGON TAMED

"And how exactly do you plan on making this work? You're not exactly a wild dragon. Not yet, anyway."

YOU BE ME

I'LL BE A NIGHT FURY

"How original," she replied, her voice dripping with sarcasm, sounding strange in her own tone. Once again, Astrid ignored her. She had a feeling their relationship would consist of a lot of one of them ignoring the other - that was fine, Astrid was used to ignoring people. But given that Syl was literally living her life for her, she couldn't really afford to ignore her.

I'LL RUN UP TO YOU

LIKE A DRAGON

YOU DEFEND YOURSELF

LIKE I WOULD.

"You're going to attack me?" She asked, stupefied. "I… I don't know how to use your axe! I thought that was made clear in that little fight we had a few days ago, but I guess not."

Astrid shook her head.

NOT ATTACK YOU

RUN UP TO YOU

INTIMIDATE ME

SCARE ME

FIGHTING IS MORE THAN JUST

SWINGING AN AXE

AT THE ENEMY'S FACE

"Ah, very profound," she said, though Astrid could tell she was at least taking this a bit more seriously. She turned to Stormfly, who had calmed down some, and nodded her head up. Stormfly stayed, obviously still somewhat nervous. But still, Astrid nodded - they would need to be alone if this was to be as realistic as possible. After a moment, Stormfly left, likely off to find food in the forest or fish out in the sea.

GET YOUR AXE

HOLD YOUR GROUND

BE READY.

"Wait… Wait!" She cried. "What am I supposed to do if-"

Before she could finish, Astrid had disappeared into the forest.

---

Alright, don't panic, don't panic, Syl thought to herself. Gods, I never should've come back here alone. Hiccup was coming back later, anyway. I should've just let him-

There was a rustle behind her, and she whipped around, clutching to the axe she knew would be useless anyway. But it was nothing - it hadn't even come from the forest, just some small vermin skittering across the ravine, gathering its last few acorns before winter arrived.

She barely saw the creature for another second, before it disappeared into the gloom of the forest once again. It was quite strange, how very vulnerable she felt. She knew that, according to Hiccup and Astrid, this was the safest and most hidden place on the island, and she knew Astrid wasn't really going to hurt her, but it just didn't feel right. She lived in the darkness - it was comforting and safe, and nobody knew where she was. Yet here, out in broad daylight, with nothing but an oversized axe to protect herself with, literally being told a she-dragon was going to run out of the woods at any moment and attack her… It was nerve-wracking, at best.

There was the crack of a branch again, and she darted her head back around to see.

A gray, clawed foot strode out from the gloom of the trees, talons fully extended. There came a low, chilling growl from the murk as cold, giant blue eyes flashed open, staring straight back into hers. Syl gulped and clutched her axe before a strange and almost laughable thought came over her like a blizzard in winter. I've spent all this time talking about Astrid going feral, she wanted to snort but was far too scared. I guess I got my wish.

Astrid, no, the dragon went silent as she stepped out of the forest. Somehow it was even eerier than the growl from a moment before - Night Furies had always been known for their silence, that is, until they struck... And they never missed…

Astrid took another step toward her, then another… Fifteen feet… Ten feet away… And then she couldn't take it anymore.

"B-back!" Her voice cracked, and she blamed it on Gothi's potion beginning to wear off, though she knew it wasn't.

"Back… Foul beast!" She held up a hand in her own feeble attempt at authority.

The dragon stopped, eyes widening, and for a moment, Syl thought she had succeeded. Then Astrid groaned, slumped her shoulders, and the dragon was gone as quickly as it had appeared.

WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT?

"What?" Syl asked, already knowing what she meant.

THIS ISN'T SYL'S TALES OF ADVENTURES AND HEROICS

YOU'RE TRAINING A DRAGON

NOT READING TO IT

THAT'S WHAT FISHLEGS IS FOR.

"You told me to be intimidating!" Syl cried. "What else was I supposed to do?"

Astrid rolled her eyes.

BODY LANGUAGE

EYE CONTACT

NO FANCY WORDS

MAKE SURE YOU HAVE COMMUNICATION

AND MAKE SURE YOU'RE ON EQUAL FOOTING

"What does that even mean?" Syl asked, stupefied. Astrid only shook her head.

JUST MAKE SURE THEY'RE AS SCARED OF YOU

AS YOU ARE OF THEM.

"That's easier said than done-"

DOESN'T MATTER

LET'S TRY IT AGAIN

And once more, Astrid bounded off into the forest, leaving her stuttering out questions and coughing in the dust.

---

Syl took hold of her surroundings, trying to be at least somewhat more prepared for this encounter. Though she didn't have much to work with, it would be good to know what she had to work with, what she could use to her advantage. Even if it didn't help now, it gave her a certain level of comfort, and she knew that it would come in handy if she were ever in a situation like this in the future, which, Syl knew, she likely would be. Because, according to Hiccup, they would be traveling a lot. Because she was staying. On Berk. Gods, she still couldn't even convince herself of the fact.

"It's okay," she whispered, the spoken words comforting, though they weren't really from her own voice. "It's just a few weeks of this. Then I'll… I'll find something else. Somewhere else to go. There will always be somewh-"

Before she could finish, There was a whooshing sound from somewhere above her in the forest surrounding the alcove. She flinched, her eyes moving up to the rim, but there was nothing. She furrowed her brows.

How the hell did Astrid manage to get up- But her thoughts quickly faded as the characteristic growl came from the forest, and blue eyes flashed at her through the gloom of the sunken trees. This time, however, she had approached slightly more to the south, on a rise that would put her a few feet above as she approached her.

Syl took a deep breath. Then another. Feeling the fear returning, she tried to make it go away, but it was no use.

Come on, think! She told herself, Get mad! They're the reason I'm in this whole mess! They're breaking a generations-old Viking tradition, and dragons are….

She narrowed her eyes, thinking back suddenly to the dream from the night before that she could only just remember.

Dragons are evil.

Then, with a wild battle cry, she charged the dragon, bringing the axehead down a few feet in front of her snout. Astrid screeched as she reeled back, her front claws flying up into the air before she remembered she was a dragon. She growled at her as she came back down to the ground, and Syl desperately pulled at the axe lodged in the dirt, now genuinely scared.

WERE YOU TRYING TO KILL ME?!

"You were… Making me nervous!" With a grunt, Syl gave another tug on the axe, and it came loose, flying out of her hands and landing on the grass a few feet away.

NERVOUS?

IF I ATTACKED EVERY PERSON

THAT HAD EVER MADE ME NERVOUS

HALF THE ISLANDS I VISITED WOULD BE

SEVERAL HUNDRED VIKINGS SHORT

"You're not a Viking…" Syl walked over to the axe, gasping under the weight as she tried to pick it up. "Just a dragon that likes to think she's one…"

Given the mashing of her teeth and growl she could practically hear rising in the back of her throat, this obviously aggravated Astrid quite a bit, to Syl's great pleasure. After a moment, however, she huffed out a puff of breath, visible in the frigid morning air, and looked back at her. This was almost just as unsettling to Syl - she had gotten used to pushing Astrid past her limits, and it hadn't taken long to learn how - it was one of her specialties. Whenever she felt she was on the losing side of a conversation, she would simply resort to personal insults. Though it oftentimes ended in her being tackled, it had thus far proved as an effective method of changing the topic. In the past hour, however, Astrid had almost seemed… Tolerant, of her. It unearthed an odd feeling in the pit of her stomach.

IT DOESN'T MATTER

THIS ISN'T ABOUT FIGHTING A DRAGON

IT'S ABOUT REASONING WITH THEM

MOST DRAGONS WILL OUTWEIGH YOU

IN SIZE, SPEED, WEIGHT, ATTACK POWER,

AND MANY OTHER THINGS.

YOU NEED TO CONVINCE IT THAT YOU'RE

JUST AS POWERFUL

EVEN IF YOU AREN'T.

DANGEROUS

BUT IN CONTROL OF YOURSELF.

"That's not exactly how Hiccup seems to do it…" Syl answered skeptically.

HICCUP IS DIFFERENT,

BESIDES

IT'S THE WAY I DO IT

SO IT'S THE WAY YOU WILL DO IT, TOO.

NOW LET'S TRY THIS ONE MORE TIME

YOU REMINDED ME OF SOMETHING

I FORGOT ABOUT, AT LEAST.

AND IF YOU DON'T DO THIS RIGHT,

MAYBE I WILL GO FERAL ON YOU

JUST FOR FUN.

Knowing she wouldn't be able to get any more questions in - this seemed to be Astrid's main way of teaching, she had quickly learned - Syl ignored her last threat, and yelled at Astrid as she ran into the forest, "You know, you're becoming more of a dragon each time you do this..."

It was a fairly obvious statement, and one they both already knew quite well, but for it to be said out loud seemed to break away a layer of the communication between them neither had known existed.

Astrid hesitated just a few steps away from the trees and looked almost as though she was about to turn around, before running in.

"Alright. Body language," She said aloud to herself. "Come on, Syl, you've been making people nervous around you for years. Can't be that much harder with a dragon." Of course, Astrid wasn't really a dragon, as Syl had already failed twice and knew all too well that she would be dead already had she been confronted with a real dragon. She did know that she would need to learn a lot more about Astrid's life if she was going to do this, but she hadn't really thought the training would start the moment she told her she was staying. She had only come to brag, really - she had spent the entire morning practicing with Stormfly, and not even for bragging rights, either. Yet she hadn't even gotten a chance to tell her. She had a feeling that would be the case many times in the future, as well…

Gods, am I doing this? She sighed, unconsciously leaning down on her axe as she waited for Astrid to step out again, and trying to wrap her head around her strange, borderline paradoxical advice.

Dangerous… But equal? How does that even make sense? And how am I supposed to look dangerous to a dragon? It's not like dragons are afraid of Vikings. If they were, why would they have kept coming back to steal our food? They didn't have to serve this queen everyone talks so much about. It's probably just her - she seems to think everyone's too afraid to speak up to her, even dragons. She smirked. Well, I guess I'm here to prove her-

Yet again, she was interrupted from her thoughts as a quiet but sure whoosh traveled down to her from somewhere up above. She whipped around, gnashing her teeth, but once again, there was nothing there.

"This isn't funny anymore, Astrid!" She yelled up to the trees, probably looking for all the world like a lunatic. "I know you're there, somehow!"

Still, there was no response, until once again there came the distinctive whoosh of a very large body traveling at a very fast pace, a bit further away this time. Syl narrowed her eyes down to horizontal slits, the glint of the sun flashing in the corner of her vision. The world seemed frozen in that moment, completely silent, until the bone-chilling sound of a Night-Fury's screech came crashing down toward her, nearly knocking her off of her feet.

Her mind was screaming at her to run, to get out of there as quickly as possible, but still, she stood there, absolutely frozen, eyes staring upward into the empty sky that seemed far too bright and blue for what she had just heard. Then, all at once, the world seemed to return to its normal cycle, birds chirping, some various rodents chattering to themselves in the woods nearby, even the trees rustled in the wind again. Everything was fine once again, except, of course, for Syl.

---

Astrid waited within the murk of the forest, thinking. Though many of the trees had lost their leaves already, the spruces and firs still worked quite well in hiding her, and there were more than enough of them.

She spent her time contemplating her next mode of approach, for the sake of Syl's training, of course. Not because she enjoyed it - that would be ridiculous.

In fact, she did enjoy it, and quite a bit. In the past, nobody ever really took her seriously. At least, not at first. They would respond to her threats with a light chuckle, seeing her only as a teenage girl with an axe far too big for her to handle. It was infuriating, and for a little while, that was enough to set her over the edge. She took great pleasure in proving them wrong at first, though after awhile, it became more tedious and annoying than anything - Snotlout was one example.

Nevertheless, she had a feeling her enemies would be laughing a bit less if they saw a thousand-pound Night Fury charging toward them. It sure as hell seemed to work on Syl, though for once, that wasn't a good thing. Eventually, she came to a conclusion - she would enter farther north this time, where she knew the plain was slightly more level with Syl. Though the girl was obviously struggling, she at least seemed to be taking the whole exercise at least somewhat seriously, which was a start.

Slowly, she padded through the forest, leaves brushing past her face and over her wings, tail leaving a track on the ground behind her, though not very deep. Nonetheless, the sense of everything brushing past her enormous form at once, as well as her enjoyment from the whole thing was enough to make her think back to Syl's statement. Syl thought she had found her breaking point, what really made Astrid snap - and she had. Honor was what Astrid had always strived for, and with every step she took as a dragon, the keenest of Vikings would say she was abandoning her truest of standards.

But there was one quick conclusion she had come to over the past few days and had chosen to cling to like a plank of wood in the open sea. If she didn't stay active, she might not have gone feral, but she definitely would have gone crazy, though neither of those was anything she was anxious to experience. And so, she brought her mind back to this thought each time, and so far, it had worked.

She peered as far as she could through the trees once she had chosen a spot - her eyesight had improved significantly since her transformation - but wasn't quite able to see out of the woods. Then she turned full-dragon.

It was harder than she expected each time - putting on a threatening look was something she had had more than enough practice with in the past, enough so that she could by then part a crowd with no more than a single glare. Now, though, it was an entirely new process - her face was shaped completely different, with new muscles she barely knew how to use, and a mouth that spanned across where her cheeks should have been. Her ears were now flexible as well, with a few small flaps with no obvious use lining them. There were her eyes, too - she didn't know how Toothless narrowed them down to slits, but she did know how to lower her eyelids, so she did that until she could barely even see. Then there was her teeth - baring them and growling had never been something she'd had to do, though she knew it was essential to the look as a whole, and so, she did. And that was just her face; she had to spend a few moments after that thinking about the rest of her body, including her stance, claws and tail, among everything else.

Just before she took her first step toward the edge of the forest, having done everything she had before, Astrid had an idea. Slowly, she relaxed the newfound muscles on her back, letting her wings fan out just a bit. She still hated to even think about their presence there, but she knew it would add to the effect, and aside from that, they had ached like hell since she'd woken up, and it felt amazing to stretch them.

When she finally felt ready, she started her slow crawl back to the beach.

She could hear Syl complaining about something or other before she even stepped out of the forest. Her hearing was one of the things that had improved most since her transformation - it wasn't quite an overload of senses around her, she found, but if she tried to focus on someone or something, in particular, she could hear it as though it were standing right next to her. She had experimented with this some the night before, focusing on the furthest bird, tree or other sound-making objects she could find, and each time she found the same result. It was something she knew would be immensely useful, if she wasn't bound to the ravine for the foreseeable future.

"...Gods, I must be going crazy. Must've just been Astrid… But it sounded like it was coming from…" At this point, Astrid stepped out into the sunlight once again, noticing Syl's eyes widen when she saw her.

"Was that you? No? Oh, come on, don't tell me you didn't hear that. If it wasn't you, then-"

Astrid growled. This girl would do anything to throw her off!

Syl swallowed hard, gripping her axe. "Dragon right now, huh? Guess I must've been hearing things…"

Still ignoring her, Astrid once again slowly slinked toward the girl, digging her claws into the dirt, throwing out a snarl every few seconds for good measure. Then, when she was only a few feet away, she stopped, and focused on the axe. Baring her teeth, she jerked her head toward the water. For a moment, she wondered if she hadn't gotten the message across, but the disbelief in Syl's eyes was more than enough indication that she understood.

"Y-you…" She whispered under her breath, in a growing realization, "You said… Intimidation, and…. Before, you let me… Why not n-"

Astrid snarled again, and Syl's mouth snapped shut, teeth slamming together with a sharp click. She looked down at the axe, then back up at her, then down at the axe. Though they were both aware of how unskilled she was with the weapon, Astrid knew first-hand how reassuring it felt just to be holding it in her own hands. On any other day, she would tell a girl like Syl to cling onto whatever weapons she had with her life, because that was likely what it would cost her otherwise. But in her haste, she had forgotten the first rule of training - the dragon has to be aware that you don't want to hurt them. Establishing your own strength was important, of course - if she didn't ensure an equal footing with the dragon, it was one more variable to be wary of. But weapons were instruments with only one purpose, in a dragon's eyes. Most dragons were fine with them once it was made clear they weren't going to hurt them, but to a wild dragon with any experience fighting Vikings in the past… It was as though the thing sent off the stench of death itself, and it probably did.

Still, Syl clung onto the axe, narrowing her eyes. Astrid refused to take a step further, still snarling and snapping every few seconds when she felt it would work. After a period of time had passed long enough that Astrid was afraid she would have to break character again, Syl dropped her axe on the ground. Astrid snarled again, motioning further down the beach. That was when Syl's eyes narrowed, and Astrid had to hold back a smile. This was what she was working toward - the pure sense of bottled fury reflected in the inward slant of her brows, the sneer of her lips. This was real, not the joke Syl seemed to be treating it as over the past few minutes. She didn't know what exactly had triggered this reaction in the girl, but it didn't matter. This was all she had wanted.

Still scowling at her in total, passionate indignation, Syl picked up the axe again and heaved it as far as she could across the beach with a grunt. Astrid watched it as it flew. On any other day, she would've thrown anyone stupid enough to even touch her axe off of the nearest sea stack she could find, but this, once again, was a part of the training she had already forgotten about once, and couldn't ignore.

It hit the bank with a soft thud, and the head and upper haft of the blade sank into the frigid water, making Astrid wince a bit, as she knew Syl probably wouldn't clean it later, or ever, for that matter. That would have to be saved for another lesson.

Turning back to Syl, Astrid finally dropped her snarling, and closed her mouth, settling for what she thought was a low, wary but curious purr - what Toothless might've done in the same situation. Some of the fear returning, Syl's eyes flashed, and for a moment, she looked ready to run, but Astrid was ready for that. Ridiculous as it might've sounded, Syl needed to be rewarded for her actions, to be shown that dragons weren't as bad once made aware that nobody had any intention of hurting them. So, still taking a step toward her every few seconds, Astrid continued to make herself less threatening, vulnerable as it made her feel. First, she relaxed her muscles, raised her head up a bit more to reveal her neck, and widened her eyes a bit, hoping they were no longer slits, if they ever had been in the first place. Then she let her ears fly back up to their normal position, straight up. After that, she slowly tucked her wings back in, which she had very nearly forgotten about in her excitement. Finally, she cocked her head sideways slightly, trying to create that curious, cutesy look only Toothless could really pull off.

But it seemed to work - Syl's muscles tensed, and she began to let her guard down-

Wait, Astrid said to herself, interrupting her own thoughts, No, she's not supposed to let her guard down. That's not how this works.

But it was true - Syl was taking in a deep breath, raising her chest slightly, shrinking her stance, and-

And raising up an open palm.

No, Astrid thought, realizing what she was trying to do all of a sudden. No, I hadn't thought this through! No, no no-

But it was too late. Syl's palm was raising higher and higher, and she turned her eyes away from her, and Astrid's body was already taking over, gently beginning to guide itself into her hand. She fought against it with all her might, her mind screaming to herself, No! NO! I can't bond with Syl! That's just plain wrong! I'm not going to be her… Her dragon! I can't! I…

As her eyelids slid down of their own accord, she nearly gave up all hope, ready to surrender to all of these girl's stupid thoughts and memories in the moments to come, before a single thought struck her - It didn't make sense. When she had bonded with Hiccup, it had been willing. She hadn't wanted to at first, but it was something she had wanted at first, but she had eventually conformed to it, and it was only then that her dragon-body had taken over for her. So what had she done this time? When had she agreed to this?

And so once again, she fought, and this time, she felt it - a twinge. A hesitation in her entire body, as if it was actually listening to her mind again. Mustering all her willpower and control she still had, she focused entirely on this - it felt horrible, like a thousand needles prickling along every part of her body as feeling in them returned, but she ignored it the best she could. When her eyes opened, she was confused at not seeing Syl's hand, before she realized that it must have been so close to her snout that it had completely passed out of view of her widely-spread eyes. Growling, all feeling came back like a gronckle suddenly plowing her over, and she snarled despite herself. That was when Syl risked a glance back over, probably quite surprised to find Astrid collapsing to the ground in exhaustion.

The fact that she was still a dragon had little effect on Astrid's relief of being back in control. She had never been so happy to feel her wings and tail before, and probably never would be again. Even the fact that she was panting rather than sweating didn't phase her, though it certainly felt strange.

Still looking quite surprised, Syl looked at her own palm, unaware of Astrid's struggle, wondering if she had done something wrong.

"Wh-" She began, looking up at Astrid in confusion. "What about the hand-thing?"

LEAVE

Much of Astrid's strength had returned, and with it came anger, at herself more than anything. How had she been so foolish as not to think about that? She needed time to think, as well, and for that, she needed Syl gone.

"But that's, like, the most important part!" She cried. "And you, what, crumble to the ground before I even touch your forehead? What the hell was that all about?"

LEAVE

"Gods, even if I do everything right, you still aren't happy," Syl huffed, ignoring her again.

YOU DID DO EVERYTHING RIGHT

YOU CAN TRAIN ALL THE DRAGONS YOU WANT

CONGRATULATIONS

NOW LEAVE

"What?! No! You can't just do something like that and tell me to go away all of a sudden. What was wrong with the whole hand thing, anyway? 'You too afraid to touch me? I might not be from your fancy-britches Berk, but that doesn't make me a filthy-"

I SAID LEAVE!

This time, Astrid stood up, giving a sharp growl that was threatening enough to send Syl stumbling back on her heels, nearly falling over into the dirt. With a wince, she let out a sigh, and wrote,

I DIDN'T MEAN THAT

YOU DID FINE

COME BACK TOMORROW

WE'LL DO SOMETHING SIMPLER

EASIER

NO MORE PRETENDING

NO MORE DRAGON TRAINING

DEAL?

Syl scowled, though fear still shone in her eyes. Eventually, she walked down to the beach and retrieved her axe. She whistled for Stormfly in the way Hiccup and Astrid had taught her, and a few moments later, she swooped down into the ravine. Sliding the axe into its strap on her back, she climbed onto the Nadder, muttering the whole time, "... I don't know if I want to come back tomorrow… I'm just gonna get yelled at the whole time… Some training that was, gods…"

Just before she took off, she glanced around the ravine, as though searching for something. Then she turned back to look at Astrid, a venomous sheen in her eyes.

"You know, I used to wonder what you saw in Hiccup. Now I wonder what he sees in you."

With that, she and Stormfly were gone, and Astrid was left with nothing but her thoughts as companions.