"Memento mori." – Remember death.

Elegy - I

The air had gone still on Dragon Island, and there was no breeze to quickly dispel the cloud that slowly rained ash.

The youths were still searching the beach alongside their respective dragons when Gobber called out to the group and had the young people gather around him. He gave them a sad shake of his head.

"Come on ye lot. We have ta go back."

Snotlout surprised himself more than anyone else by speaking up first.

"We are not going to leave him out there. We have to find him!"

Gobber looked directly at him and tried his best to keep his composure.

"There's nothing out there ta find."

Snotlout crossed his arms, turned away defiantly, and began to walk back into the gradually clearing fog. His Monstrous Nightmare followed after him.

"Well fine, you all stay here then! I'm going to find my cousin," Snotlout shouted through the mist.

The others looked back at Gobber who solemnly shook his head.

"Let him go. I need ye lot ta help me. Stoick ordered the rest o' the tribe ta the other side o' the island. Take yer dragons, find everyone else, and bring them back here. Stoick will need ta talk ta them soon. Go on now."

Fishlegs and the twins did not look pleased, but they mounted their dragons and flew off. Astrid remained behind at his side.

"Gobber?" she asked in a pleading voice.

"Astrid?"

The unspoken question passed between them.

Gobber's shoulders slumped, and he turned away from her.

"I'm sorry Astrid."

The blacksmith stumbled over to a large, man-sized rock which he then leaned against. He had lost so many people in his life. Both his parents had already passed, Valka had been like a sister to him, and of course there were the many victims of the dragon raids over the years. Every death hurt, but as time went on they impacted him less as he became more accustomed to the loss.

This one however…

He thought of Hiccup as the son he had never had. Hiccup had always been more open with him than he had with anyone else, his own father included. Hiccup always came to him seeking comfort from the teasing, for advice about life, to commiserate about his father's formal ways, and to share ideas that he had about smithing projects.

This one would be the hardest of all for him, but he had to be strong for Stoick, the other teens, and all the others who look up to him. There was always work to be done in the shop.

If he kept himself busy, then maybe there would hopefully not be enough time to think about what he lost.

Astrid stood there in complete disbelief as Gobber walked away.

She had been sure that Hiccup would be found. After everything that he had done, after showing her a world which no Nord before had ever dreamed of, it was unthinkable that he could be gone.

He was supposed to survive! How could he leave her now?

As though in a daze, she walked over toward her Nadder curled up on the ground and apparently dozing. She reclined against its side and held her own head in her hands. Astrid the shieldmaiden and fearless warrior did something she could not remember doing before in a very long time.

She cried.

Why?

So stupid… I encouraged him to fight. I even told him to go and fly.

What else could she have done? Could they have just left the entire village to die? Gods above, they certainly would have deserved it for how blind and arrogant they had been. But Hiccup was too good to let that happen. He would have probably joked about the danger as being just an occupational hazard or something.

And he died for all of them.

Her dragon heard her distress, raised its head, and trilled questioningly. She absentmindedly stroked its side as she shook with tremors that had nothing to do with the weather.

Hiccup had done what every true Nord should dream of doing, what she herself had dreamed of on many occasions. He felled the greatest foe ever encountered in battle and had died a death worthy of the greatest legends. He certainly earned a place of honor in Valhalla.

So why did she feel so lost? She should be happy for him.

What had he been to her?

They had been playmates when they were very little and knew nothing of the real world. That changed after the first dragon raid which she could remember. The sight of spilled blood and bodies, both living and dead, being carried off in the jaws of the monsters had changed her. The carefree, six-year old little girl in her had died that night. In the aftermath of that terrible experience, she learned from listening to her parents and to others in the village what was expected of her. She became determined to be a fierce shieldmaiden who could protect her family and tribe from the monsters which brought nothing but ruin.

Her entire life had become absorbed by training. She had to train harder than anyone else; after all, for a woman to defeat grown men and dragons in battle she had to become stronger than she had been and, more importantly, she had to be more agile than her opponents. She quickly learned to spot weaknesses and how to exploit them. Every time she had seen Hiccup, the first things she noticed were his weaknesses. He tripped over his own feet, he was short, he had no physical strength to speak of, and even his ingenious mechanical creations inevitably failed to work as planned. It was as though he did not belong in their world. He was useless to the tribe.

That she had begun ignoring Hiccup had not seemed wrong since she had done so out of duty and necessity. It was for the greater good.

Then dragon training began. She had been frustrated beyond reason by Hiccup's inexplicable success at disarming dragons. All of her proper training to deal with dragons in the right way, the Nord way, and the runt had more success than her without even seeming to try! He just had a way with the beasts! She got rightfully frustrated with him and had gone to confront him and learn the truth.

What a world it was that he had shown her. The dragon, a Night Fury nonetheless, was protective of him and even seemed affectionate towards him. What she saw directly contradicted everything that tradition told her. Then came the flight. She had never imagined the experience of feeling the mist of clouds roll through her outstretched fingers, of looking down on the clouds as if they were an ocean stretching from horizon to horizon, and of seeing the lights of Berk on the horizon from on high. The flight that he had taken her on had been the most peaceful and beautiful experience of her life. It had made her feel wonder and the simple pleasure of being alive for the first time in many years.

Other than the first few terrifying minutes and the brief excursion to the monster dragon's lair of course.

That flight helped her realize that she could not be what the rest of the tribe wanted her to be. Especially so after they had landed from the flight and Hiccup had made it clear that he was going to protect Toothless.

Afterwards, she had to balance her newfound respect for him, the beauty of the flight, and the horror of what they had seen in the dragon nest. She was not sure why she had given him a quick kiss on the cheek; it just seemed like the right thing to do at the time. It was clear to her that she liked him now that her false image of him had been thoroughly shattered.

I would realize that too late... so stupid...

With a start, she realized that she had sat there so long that her legs had gone numb. After rubbing and stretching them to get back some sensation, she got back to her feet. She sighed and tapped the Nadder's side to wake up the dragon from her short nap.

It opened one of its eyes and chirped at her.

"Come on girl, we should go."

Gobber had just finished helping to splint a broken leg when Stoick reappeared through the mist as it began slowly burning off in the heat of the midday sun. Stoick briefly looked around before spotting him and walking directly to him. They looked at each other without saying a word for the longest time.

It looked to him as though Stoick had aged a decade in the time he had been gone.

"Gobber, I… I need your help."

"I've already sent the teens away ta bring everyone back."

"Good. How many did we lose?"

"Four dead, dozens are burned, many have broken bones, but nae one else should die. It could have been far worse."

"Good. There is something else though," Stoick groaned.

Gobber waited patiently for Stoick to speak.

"I… I found this."

As he said this, Stoick pulled out his right arm from underneath his shirt and showed what he was holding. It was a foot-long ovular rock that was black pitch except for several silver markings.

Gobber's eyes widened and his jaw fell open in disbelief. He could tell that the object in Stoick's hands was not a rock.

"Is that wha' I think it is?"

Stoick solemnly nodded.

"I guess the myth is true. This is all that I found back there. Hi… Hiccup would not want it to be hurt."

"What do ya want me ta do?" Gobber wondered.

Stoick looked away at the wreckage of the battlefield.

"I need to help the wounded, make repairs to the salvageable ships, and talk to the tribe when they are gathered. I need someone I can trust to protect this until we get back to Berk."

He paused a moment before looking back at Gobber and continuing.

"I don't really know anything beyond how to fight them. Of all of us… still here… you know the most about them. You would know better than me what to do for it, and you could tell me what to do once we get home. Nothing may come of it, but maybe…"

"I know more than anyone else? That's nae saying much."

"Still… will you do this for me?"

He could understand the seriousness of Stoick's request. It was true that he knew, or at least strongly suspected, some things which were not written in the Book of Dragons.

As much as he wanted to be out helping his fellow tribesmen, he knew that his own physical limitations posed a challenge in many situations. This was a task that he knew he could do, and it was an important one since it was the protection of a life.

A dragon's life.

Oh, the irony. He, the person tasked with teaching generations how to fight dragons, was now responsible for protecting one that was yet unhatched. And he knew in his bones that it was the right thing to do.

He nodded at one of the small fires which had been set slightly away from where most of the people were gathering. It was where some of those with broken bones were resting. He hobbled over and sat down next to the fire with his legs crossed and his good arm in front of his chest. Stoick carefully handed the egg over, and Gobber firmly but gently received it.

The first thing he noticed about it was that it weighed far more than he expected. The second thing was that it was so smooth at its widest part that he could see some of the light from the fire being reflected off its shell. If he had both of his hands, he would have been sorely tempted to hold it up in front of the fire on the chance that the shell was thin enough that the inside could be illuminated. It was not worth the risk with only one good hand though.

"Gobber?"

"Stoick?"

A ghostly smile of appreciation played across Stoick's features as he gently clapped Gobber on the shoulder.

"Thank you."

"Nah, don' mention it. You get back out there and be the Chief fer everyone. I'll be right 'ere."

Stoick nodded and left to organize the tribe to see to repairs and the construction of shelters.

Gobber realized something just after Stoick left earshot. It was not comfortable to be sitting on the rocky ground.

I should have had him bring me a pillow.

He then remembered that they were Nords and hadn't brought any pillows with them to war. He gave a deep sigh.

Oh well, if I see one of the teens I will have them fetch my bag of extra undies. They'll do well enough.

He settled into his quiet, simple vigil.

The twins and Fishlegs reappeared after an hour and gave Stoick the news that the other members of the tribe were safe and would be returning to the beach. In the meantime, he had been very busy. He and a company of men had already begun repairs to the one heavily-damaged ship which was still salvageable. Those people with the most serious injuries had already been sent back on the two undamaged ships. Stoick trusted that the healers back at Berk would tend to them.

Though he wanted to be off the accursed island, he knew that he had to wait. He owed his people an explanation for the day's events, and he wanted to tell everyone at once. That would have to wait until later when everyone returned from the other side of the island.

Astrid had briefly looked for Gobber to find something to do before giving up and going to find work on her own. Any kind of action would be better than just sitting around waiting for something to happen. She had found a few people who had minor burns and helped to bandage them up; however, she noted that most of them were reluctant to accept her help. She couldn't imagine why. After this simple work was completed, she saw the other youths, minus Snotlout, gathered together around a fire along with their dragons. She went to join them.

She sat down next to Fishlegs and rested against her Nadder. The dragon cocked its head at her and chirped happily at her return. The teens looked at each other in silence and exhaustion.

"Well, what have you all been doing?" Astrid sighed.

Fishlegs answered her after a moment.

"We came back to help out with repairs. No one wanted us to help though. We can't figure out why."

"Sure, we are just kids, but we can still help. It's so boring to just be sitting here," Tuffnut spoke up.

Astrid knew that Tuffnut and Ruffnut had a reputation for destruction and recklessness. Most of their pranks were directed at each other, but there was frequently some collateral damage. It made sense that there would be some unwillingness on the part of the villagers to accept their help on anything important, such as repairs to the ships. However, that did not explain their reaction to Fishlegs, or for that matter, to herself.

What was it that the four of them shared that would make the villagers reluctant to accept their help?

The answer was literally staring her in the face.

"Oh, no they don't!" Astrid indignantly exclaimed.

After a moment of thought, she realized that yes, they did. After all, the villagers were Nords and Nords, as everyone knows, have stubbornness issues.

"What is it Astrid?" Fishlegs asked as he looked up from the poking at the fire.

"They don't want our help because of our dragons. They don't trust us even after we helped to save them! Even after Hiccup just showed…" her indignation died instantly, and she looked away without completing her thought.

No, she was not ready to talk about that. The grief was still too near.

When she looked up, she saw that Fishlegs was staring aimlessly into the distance and Ruffnut was resting her head against her brother's shoulder. Tuffnut initially seemed confused by the gesture. After all, physical contact between them was limited to their fists. However, he was not so dense that he couldn't recognize her desire for comfort and thus, in a rare display of sibling affection, he did not pull away and make her fall on her face. Such trickery didn't seem right at the moment.

They sat in silence for a few minutes, and even their dragons seemed to pick up on their sullen moods.

All the youths were thinking along the same lines. What were they to do now? There was no possibility that any of them could revert to the life that they had been training to live. Hiccup had changed them by showing them that their lifelong enemies were not the monsters they had always been taught they were. He had also explained to them before they left for the Dragon Island that the dragons only raided to be able to feed the now-dead Monster.

What would happen in the future with that beast now gone? What would change now? They felt certain that dragons would not be the cause of more death and destruction on Berk.

Even though they had only had their dragons for less than a day, they already felt very protective of their creatures. Astrid most appreciated the Nadder's beauty and agility, Snotlout the Nightmare's fiery temper and imposing stature, Fishlegs the Gronkle's calm demeanor, and the twins the raw destructive potential of the two-headed Zippleback. All of them had initially experienced terror, Astrid being the exception, and then exhilaration once they began flying. To not be a prisoner to the ground, to look down on the world below, and to see the clouds rolling away beneath them was a prospect that had not occurred to them except in rare moments of childish dreaming. It was now their reality.

"What happens now?" Tuffnut interjected into the silence.

Astrid finally said what they were all thinking.

"It depends on what Stoick decides. Only the Elder could object if he decides to let the dragons stay."

They began wondering what would happen to their dragons once they got back on Berk. Would they indeed be allowed to keep them? What would they do if not?

Astrid could think of several people back in the village who would be absolutely opposed on principle to letting them keep their dragons.

"Are you going to try to talk to him?" Fishlegs asked.

She thought for a moment as a plan started to form in her mind.

"Yes, and I know just what to do."

It was mid-afternoon on Dragon Island. Stoick stood in front of his entire tribe minus those too wounded to walk and those already on the boats going back home. He could tell that his remaining people were afraid and confused. If they expected him to be able to ease their fears, they were mistaken. What he was going to tell them would change their entire world. He wasn't entirely certain what their reaction would be. He was still having difficulty accepting the truth himself.

Astrid had approached him a couple of hours ago and wanted to discuss the matter of the dragons. As she was one of the dragon riders who had come to their rescue, he had felt obligated to listen to what she had to say and to ask her questions of his own. Their discussion had also clarified some of the questions he had been asking himself concerning what exactly had happened.

He also found out that she shared his primary concern. Specifically, how was the peace, which they both knew was possible now, between dragons and humans going to be preserved given their history of violence. If there were to be an incident, it would likely be the result of a bitter and stubborn villager.

Stoick began to speak.

"Settle down everyone!"

They did.

"First, the two good ships we have are already sailing home with our most wounded. The ships will be back with supplies in a couple days. We will tough it out here until then. It'll be rough, but it is an occupational hazard. Some of you, you know who you are, are already on fishing duty."

A few nods of assent went around the audience.

"You are all wondering what happened."

A chorus of "Yeahs" and "That's right" followed.

"Well, all the dragon raids were because of that giant dead dragon over there. It used the dragons to gather food. With it gone, we will never be bothered by the dragons again."

He tried to keep it simple and to the point. He had found that doing so always helped when delivering bad or unsettling news. However, the villagers' reaction was not what he had expected. He had thought that they would be relieved to hear that they would not have to fear waking up to the sounds of a dragon raid in the dead of night. That they might actually get to enjoy peace for the first time in their lives.

He did not expect dead silence. It was obvious that they were confused and scared.

Change.

Their mutual hatred of dragons and unified struggle against the beasts had been the common purpose that kept their community together. It kept the peace by giving otherwise different people a common ground, something that they could commiserate about at the Great Hall while drinking ales. They did not know who they were without the past. Their very identity was going to have to change. They had no idea yet how much it would change if he had his way.

"In fact, we are going to do more than tolerate them. We have always been wrong about them. They were never our real enemy. I'm sure you are wondering what we are going to do now."

He paused and looked up in the sky to where Astrid was gliding in on her Nadder. The dragon dove elegantly and backwinged next to the pedestal where he stood. Astrid hopped off the Nadder's back and stood next to its head to reassure it against the assembled villagers, many of whom had pulled knives or were holding on to their axes for reassurance.

She rubbed its head underneath the jaw, and the birdlike dragon trilled in pleasure, even though it still looked around at its surroundings in suspicion.

"Good job girl. Don't worry, they won't hurt you."

She then turned and, still stroking her dragon, faced the stunned audience. They had never seen something so bizarre as a dragon standing peacefully next to a person who did not look at all afraid of it. Not only was that incredible, but the dragon seemed to enjoy the attention that Astrid was giving it.

Astrid was not afraid of being in front of crowds. After all, she had relished every opportunity to show her battle skills in the kill ring when they trained against dragons. However, she had never spoken in public before, and she was very nervous. Not that she would ever admit it to anyone or let it show. She was also slightly worried about the response to what she was going to say since it was going to be completely contrary to their tradition.

She held her head high and spoke as confidently as she could.

"We are going to train them."

Blank stares that passed between her, the Nadder, and the Chief were the only response they got. But Astrid was not very worried yet. She had suspected that something like this might happen.

"Do you know what this means? We will teach them to do things like hunt for us. Maybe even defend us against Outcasts. Think of how much they can do for us."

One of the villagers slowly got to her feet and made to speak. Astrid could not remember her name, but she did recognize her from the town. She was not an especially physically imposing woman, but everything about her bearing, from the way she carried her shoulders to the piercing glare of her eyes, bespoke a strength of will and character that few could hope to match.

"I know exactly what they do for us. I lost my husband last year and one of my sons the year before that! And take a guess what type of dragon it was that took them both!"

She was staring with a cold, unblinking gaze at the Nadder.

"You want us to trust these, these beasts when that one that you are cuddling," she spat on the ground, "might be the one that took my family from me!"

Several cheers of agreement went up throughout the assembly.

She finally remembered the woman's name, Ingrid, from the stories she had heard in the Great Hall about the most unfortunate in the battles. Almost everyone had lost an immediate or extended family member or one closely related to the family in some way. A few though were unfortunate enough to lose multiple family members. These ones generally became the most bloodthirsty of warriors, and thus tended to get themselves killed or abandoned themselves in drinking and other debaucheries. Ingrid was one of the ones who somehow maintained her sanity and her prowess in battle.

"They had to attack us for food. It was that or be eaten by that monster. It was responsible, not them," Astrid pleaded.

Ingrid shook her head and frowned at her response.

"That changes nothing. They are the ones who attack us! If they were afraid of it as you say, why didn't they just leave it?"

She did not know what to say about that. Hiccup had never explained why the dragons didn't simply fly away from the nest. What could possibly have been stopping them?

"You are so ignorant. Sure you have been in dragon training and did well, but we both know that training is nothing like the real world!"

"What? What do I not know! You think that I have not seen how bad it was? I have! I was there! Why else do you think I trained so hard and for so long?" Astrid yelled.

"You dare think that you have lost as much as I have! What do you know about loss?"

"I lost Hiccup!"

Astrid did not notice in the silence that followed that there were several fine trails of tears falling down her cheeks. No one else noticed either because all eyes save hers immediately went to Stoick.

He stood stiffly and slowly reached up to remove his helmet. He did not need to say anything for the rest of the assembly to understand that Astrid spoke the truth.

They removed their helmets as well.

"Hiccup trained that Night Fury, and he tried to tell us that we did not understand. But we did not… I did not listen," Stoick finally broke the relative silence after a few moments had passed.

"And what are we to do about the past, Chief? Should we forget our fallen brothers and sisters? What about justice for them?" Ingrid objected.

If anyone else had dared to speak up to the Chief at that moment, they would likely have regretted it. Ingrid's status and history gave her more liberty to speak her mind in such situations.

Justice.

Is that what is really important here? Stoick wondered.

Is justice just another word for revenge in this case? And if not, what do the dragons really deserve? He had no way to know what the dragons were really thinking, if they were thinking at all.

Being honest with himself, he knew that he wanted to take revenge on every dragon that had hurt either him or his own over the years. He completely understood her anger. After all, he had lost his beloved Valka to them years ago. But now, he recognized that pursuing revenge, or justice if one so wished to call it, would only lead to destruction and more death. It was a cycle of violence that tradition was incapable of escaping. He had already promised himself and Hiccup that he would change and make Berk a better place.

He looked up to the sky and gestured for everyone to look as well. They could all see several dragons gliding above the island. It was likely that possibly hundreds more were unseen.

"We can't bring back the dead, but we can remember them and we can make them proud by how we live. I would rather not have to fight anymore. I am tired of the fighting."

It was a very bizarre statement for the Chief to be making to his people. He was supposed to be a constant, indomitable person. But he now appeared vulnerable before them. His shoulders slumped slightly and his voice lacked the brash timbre which they had become accustomed to hearing from him.

"My son died for us because we would not listen. We have a chance to live in a better world now because of him."

He turned to face Ingrid directly and addressed her specifically.

"Think about Arnor and Hynrick. Do you want them to die in war also?"

She remained silent as she pondered his words of warning.

"We will allow the dragons that can be trained to stay on Berk, and I will put Astrid in charge of running the new training Academy once we get home. For now, we need to be patient and wait for the ships to get back."

Stoick finished his speech as firmly as he could and then stepped down to signal the end of the gathering. The crowd began dispersing with much muttering and grumbling.

That will surely give them something to think about.

"Oh, Astrid."

Astrid nervously turned to face him.

"Chief?"

He crossed his massive arms across his chest and gave her a faint smile.

"You did well in front of them. Just remember that she is not the only one who might not want to change. She is too honorable to do something bad now that I have spoken. Others though… I'll try to help when I can, but the Academy will be your responsibility as we talked about."

"Yes sir, I understand."

"Good."

"We could fly back right now and have fishing boats be sent over. We could get everyone back home faster and bring supplies."

He rubbed his beard in thought.

"Good idea Astrid. Just be careful not to scare anyone over there since they won't know what happened here. You will have to explain as best you can ehen they see your dragons. I'm leaving with the last group that leaves the island."

"We will leave at once."

She ran off without delay to tell the other teens about their new mission, and her dragon naturally followed her.

There was finally something productive to do. Something to keep her minds off other things.

It was her idea to establish the training Academy back on Berk. With enough time, everyone would hopefully be able to adjust to the changes that were coming. However, Nords, being themselves, would definitely need help adjusting. She did not think that the method for resolving disputes with each other, normally a fistfight, would work well with dragons. People needed to learn gentler, more appropriate ways to interact with the creatures they would be sharing their island with.

It would be up to them, her and the other teens, to teach the rest of the tribe everything they knew. That wasn't saying much though. They only had their dragons for a day and they were still learning how to interact with them. Some things seemed to happen naturally between them, such as the Zippleback heads seeming to try to keep the twins as far apart as possible. It was very likely that, in that one instance, they had more sense than their riders.

Hiccup had shown them everything that they knew, such as what kind of fish they liked, where they liked to be scratched, what to never attempt to feed them unless one wanted to be growled at, and how to hold on during flight. Other things that should be obvious, such as do not kick the dragon or do not yell at the dragon, were clear to her, but might need to be reinforced for the sake of others.

She finally arrived back where the rest of the teens were waiting. Fishlegs looked up at her approach. She also noticed that the Nightmare was back, and that had to mean that Snotlout was nearby.

"Hey Fish, he finally got back I see."

"Yeah, it was really bad. He was crying. I didn't know he cared that much."

"Where is he now?"

"He is over there with his dragon. I think he is sleeping, he only got back from searching about a half hour ago."

Astrid nodded. She would not ask Snotlout to come with them since he was not needed and he was not likely in good enough shape right now.

"Are you ready to go right now?" she asked Fishlegs.

"Uh, go where?"

"I suggested that we fly back to Berk to have them send more boats to get everyone back faster, and the Chief agreed. We leave as soon as we can."

"Ok then, I can leave now. Should I get Snotlout?"

"No, let him rest. He probably needs the time alone. We can do this on our own."

"Ok, I'll go get the twins."

Fishlegs left her side and made his way over to where Ruffnut and Tuffnut were resting. She walked over to her Nadder; it seemed very relieved to be away from the crowd and back around people that it knew. She took a few moments to give it a scratch under the chin and was rewarded with an affectionate purr.

"Hey girl, you ready to fly?"

It cocked its birdlike head and gave a single questioning chirp. Astrid looked up at the sky, and the dragon's gaze followed. Its eyes widened a moment later, and it gave a happy squawk while ruffling its wings.

Clever girl, you knew what I meant.

It crouched down and craned its neck around to look at its back. Astrid took the gesture as the invitation to climb on. Then it struck her that this would be the first time she flew a great distance both alone and completely on her own volition with her dragon.

I can do this.

She pulled herself onto her Nadder's back and seated herself on the makeshift saddle.

"Ok girl, let's wait for the others."

A couple moments later, she saw the Gronkle and Zippleback take wing with their respective humans. She rested a hand against her Nadder's neck. It was time.

"Alright girl, let's go."

The dragon gave a chirp of delight and extended its wings. Astrid's breath caught in her throat as she knew what was about to happen. Flying was still a new experience for her.

The dragon leapt and began to ascend with sweeping strokes of its wings. Astrid held tightly to the saddle as her initial anxiety began to fade away and was replaced by a growing feeling of exhilaration. The air flowing past sent her braid flying behind her. The dragon ascended in a tight spiral and joined the other two after they broke through the remains of the faint cloud bank that had always hung over the island.

Astrid turned around and looked back at the island as the Nadder swerved through sea-stacks. The fog was thin enough that she could make out the entire shoreline complete with the ruined husks of their ships, the campfires and makeshift tents they had set up, and the still-smoldering pile of charred flesh and bones that had been the monstrous Queen dragon.

As an afterthought, she remembered that Toothless had not been seen since the battle. She knew that Toothless would have tried to save Hiccup and must have perished as well. A living Night Fury would have definitely had everyone's attention. She knew that she would miss that dragon too; after all, Toothless had given her the first experience of flight and had genuinely cared for Hiccup.

So much had been lost and gained on that island. She knew that she was going to have bad dreams about that place and everything that had happened this day for a long time. She doubted that she would ever return. What possible reason could she have to return to the place where Hiccup died?

Still feeling a sharp pain in her heart, she turned away from the island and looked toward the horizon where Berk awaited after several hours of easy flight. A faint breeze was starting to pick up in her face, and she could see storm clouds gathering on the horizon.

"Great, a storm."

The other two dragons came to fly alongside hers. At least the twins would have some fun on this flight.

"Well girl, I hope you are up for flying through a storm."

The Nadder chirped at its companions and kept her course out over the sea. It seemed to know exactly where Astrid wished to be taken.

She lay down flat on her dragon's back, closed her eyes, and slowly stroked the great neck before her.

Oh gods…

The tears which trickled down her face were quickly swept away by the wind.