Pheda was angrier than she'd ever been. Angrier than when they'd found a badly-injured Nuffink adrift. Angrier than when many of the New-Berkians had gone missing. Angrier than when Grandmother had told her that her parents had been murdered and her older sister Lindyr kidnapped. But even with all the wrongs their enemies had committed, they had somehow found it in their stone-hard hearts to direct their injustice upon a child who was unlucky enough to be in their grasp. A child! The mere idea of it alone made her angry, and the truth, the actuality of it. . . it made her furious.

When Spirit had poked his head in, and said that they'd found a child on board the ship, she hadn't truly believed him, mainly because she was hoping madly that it wasn't true. But it was. In a little room that wasn't much better than a cell, there was, sure enough, a girl, no older than thirteen, who was cowering behind a cot, staring in terror at Onyx, who was trying her best to look friendly and safe. Honest had made a crooning sound, and Onyx's head had jerked up, and she had stepped back reluctantly.

Pheda had been silent for a moment, unsure where to begin, then had stepped forward, deciding to go with the calming gestures first before the words. She had kept her voice soft and gentle, the way you do when you're talking to a frightened animal, and her movements refined, and predictable. "It's okay. It's okay. We're not going to hurt you, I promise. Whatever happened, it's over now."

"Who. . . who are you?" the girl had asked, her voice small and terrified. "The dragons. . . why do they obey you?"

"I am called Pheda Kint," Pheda had answered. "And. . . well. . . it's a long story why the dragons obey me. If I try to tell it to you, it might come across as creepy, and in truth, it all happened so fast that I had a hard time truly understanding it all for months."

She had reached down, but straightened back up when the girl jerked away. Keeping her voice as low and kind as she could, she spoke again. "Come on, now. It's okay. Let me help you up. I don't know about you, but staying on this ship longer than necessary seems like a bad idea to me. We'll find you a new home, a new family, yeah? That sound good to you? There's an island nearby. Well, not exactly nearby, but by dragon standards, fairly close. You'll be safe there. I promise."

She had reached down again.

After a moment of hesitation, the girl had reached up, and grasped Pheda's hand, allowing her to help her to her feet. She had kept a wary eye on the Furies. "Are they really dragons? Real actual dragons?"

Pheda had smiled, and nodded. "Yes. Real actual dragons."

Now they were flying at a decent speed away from the ship, which the girl had said was called Ironside. Pheda was riding Honest, all of her willpower going towards keeping her composure, and the girl was riding Onyx, who had insisted that since Honest wanted to speak with Starflinger, Moonshadow was too flighty, and Spirit was. . . well. . . Spirit, she was the best choice.

Moonshadow was rather flighty, for the only human he'd ever really gotten to know was Pheda, and the others creeped him out since they could never tell when enough was enough, and he glided on Pheda's left, a good distance from the girl and Onyx, while Starflinger was soaring on Pheda's right, head down while Honest gave her a lecture on listening to her elders, and Spirit was high above them all, eyes - which were the sharpest out of all the group - searching the ocean below in the unlikely case that they were to have the luck to come across another suspicious ship. He hadn't been asked to do that; he was the type to take initiative.

Pheda could hear Honest's voice in her thoughts, giving Starflinger the lecturing that she'd narrowly escaped earlier. The young Night Fury spoke little, and her voice was timid, like that of a frightened child that knows she has done wrong. Normally, Pheda would have kept tabs on the conversation, but right now her mind was far too busy.

After what seemed to her like an eternity, they dove down, glided the last fifteen meters, then landed at the docks of New Berk. Word had somehow gotten around that they had gone on another raid, and a small crowd had gathered to see if they had found anything. Hopeful-eyed teenagers and young adults who had been mere children when the attack had come thirteen years before, and were hoping that family members they'd lost had been found or heard of, made up the front lines. As usual, Zephyr was at the head of the crowd.

Pheda dismounted, and helped the girl they'd found from Onyx's back. She smiled down at her, then looked at the crowd. "I'll be back in a moment, all right? May we have a path please?"

The crowd divided into two parts, a neat, long walkway between them, and Pheda led the girl along it. "I'm taking you to my house," she explained.

Pheda walked slowly, matching the girl's short stride as they walked up to the village, then around to her hilltop home. She opened the door, and let go of the girl's hand as she kicked off her shoes. Her housekeeper looked up as she entered, and smiled, but it faltered when she saw the child.

Pheda ignored it. "This is Mrs. Envel, my housekeeper. Mrs. Envel, this is. . ." she stopped, and turned to the girl. "What did you say your name was?"

"I'm Everlynh."

". . . Everlynh," Pheda finished her previous sentence. "Everlynh, Mrs. Envel will be looking after you when I'm not around. She will be good to you."

After leaving Everlynh in Mrs. Envel's care, Pheda headed back to the docks, and to the eager crowd. This better end quickly, she thought to herself.