"Never to meet, or never to part, is peace." - Edward Young – Night Thoughts
Letting Go
A roar echoed over the entire village and the countryside.
A piercing, commanding, and pained roar from a pair of Night Furies.
A summons that was heard and echoed by all other dragons in the village and in the wilds. All took to the sky, flying out from their stables, perches, and the feeding stations. All conveniently had no riding gear on them, all of it having been removed earlier in the day.
The wilder dragons began circling above or landing down the shore while the ones that had bonded humans gathered down on the beach at the command of their Alphas.
The Furies stood at the head of the assembly and watched as people began to filter down from the village onto the shore. Behind their tails stood Cloudjumper, Hookedfang, Stormfly, Meatlug, Jingles the Boneknapper, Gustav's Flame, Vistra's Shimmer, and Tembra's Timberjack, Razor, being nearest. All of them seemed to somehow understand the solemnity of the moment and were solemnly humming.
"What is happening?" Dawn-Singer whispered.
"I do not like this," Aurora whined.
"You will see," Was-Grounded softly answered them both.
The crowd of people approached across the sands, Chief Thorvald, Valka, Gobber, Sifa, Skald, and Eret at the head of the crowd. Many families were also gathered together behind them all as parents held their children close. In truth, it could have been all of Haven that was gathered on the beach in that moment.
Thorvald and Valka stepped forward as did Shadowwing.
A silence fell over all as the warm wind blew in from the western sea.
"What is this?" Thorvald asked.
Shadowwing bent down and slowly wrote the painful words.
We are leaving
"What!" "What!"
He glanced up at Valka and saw that her eyes were wide with alarm, fear, and understanding.
The world is not safe for us
Dragons must disappear
He briefly paused to let the terrible words sink in.
"But... why are you leaving us! Why?" Thorvald wildly exclaimed.
There is a hidden world
Shadowwing stared at Valka for a moment, trying to not see the pain and comprehension in her green eyes.
Humans do not know where
"We... what did we do wrong? Why are you doing this?" Thorvald gasped.
It must be this way
"But we must leave here anyway. We've been packing to leave before the ships get here. Why can't you take us with you?" Thorvald weakly objected.
Shadowwing gave a very heavy, pained sigh.
The dragons there will not trust you
It is dangerous for you
We must be free
Let go
Silence followed save for the soft murmur of the wind and the distant cries from above.
"Uh Chief, what is going on?" Skald shouted from the far, observing crowd.
Thorvald wiped his tear-stained cheeks with his sleeve and turned back to the crowd. He removed his helmet and let it fall to the ground at his side as he walked to the awaiting crowd. To his people and tribe.
He paused before speaking to them.
"The... dragons... must... leave... us..."
If he expected to hear shouts of protest and defiance, he was surprised to hear nothing but a gasp that gradually spread through all gathered before him.
"And we cannot go with them?" Skald cried out.
Thorvald could give no answer except a slow shake of his head.
More gasps and cries went through the entire crowd as news spread. Children turned to parents and clutched their arms in fear. Disbelieving glances were thrown everywhere. All reached up as one and removed their helmets, which they discarded. All stared across the beach toward the assembled dragons, surely to the ones they themselves knew.
Shadowwing looked away to avoid seeing all the breaking hearts among those he had known as his own tribe for many years and who had shared the dream with him. All those from the other tribes who had been driven from their homes and cast from their tribes for the crime of being dragon riders. All those who had lived years of their lives protecting and freeing dragons and had suffered because of it.
He could not meet Gobber's eyes, the smith who had been like a father to him and had been a true mentor through the years.
But the sight of Valka, his own mother, on her knees in the sand before him as tears flowed down her cheeks made his own rent heart bleed anew. This was the ending of her own dream.
He stepped over to her and crouched down before her.
You said once that we should be free
You understand why we must go?
She merely stared and struggled to speak. Her voice was terribly weak and soft when she spoke.
"Is that your judgment? That even we... we who have taken dragons into our lives and made our homes for them... we who left our old homes... we who have fought to free them... we who have died along with them... that even we are unworthy... after all we did."
He whined softly at the injustice of fate.
It was a dream only
I wish it could be different
This might be best for all
The moment was only interrupted when Luna came forward as well and stood at Shadowwing's side. Her eyes never left Valka's pained ones. They stared until Luna slowly wrote.
You are good Dragonheart
I will remember you
"Oh Luna..." Valka whispered.
Chief Thorvald slowly came forward again, his pace very slow and weak as he stepped up to Valka's side. A painful silence followed until he spoke again on behalf of the tribe after wiping his cheeks dry.
"We cannot... will not... keep you here... if you must go. Will... will we ever see you again?"
Shadowwing answered after a long moment.
When humans do not hunt dragons
When the world is safe for us again
"Never," Valka whispered.
You can live without us
You have stubbornness issues
Neither of them laughed or chuckled. Thorvald lay a hand on Valka's shoulder, either to steady himself or her.
"But we are not Nords anymore," Thovald weakly sighed.
Shadowwing winced at how true that was. They had all left that old way of life behind long ago. But now-
You can try
Valka stepped forward after rising to her feet and dropping her staff. She slowly, warily advanced until she stood directly before Shadowwing. Luna stepped slightly to the side to give them both a moment.
Silence reigned save for the zephyr of the wind as they stared at each other, tears freely falling down Valka's cheeks.
She slowly threw her arms wide and embraced his neck as he sat back on his rear and gathered her in for a hug. He keened very softly while gently holding her, remembering a distant winter when he had similarly given her a hug after learning who she was.
"As long...as... you are... safe... my son..." Valka whispered so only he could hear.
She let go, stepped back, and slowly walked back to the crowd. Thorvald followed a moment later. Gobber, his own cheeks quite moist also, softly embraced her with his arm while Thorvald held Sifa and their two young children.
It was a scene recreated all along the beach as parents comforted children and spouses comforted each other. All threw pained glances across the beach.
Not wanting to drag out the grief any longer than was necessary, Shadowwing turned away from the assembled humans and walked over to his fellow Furies.
Dawn-Singer, Aurora, and Rain-Eater stood around their father, all of them with a wing over their backs as they hung their heads and quietly mourned. They were old enough and attached enough to certain of the humans of Haven to truly understand the significance of what was happening. Their father was even now whispering words of comfort to them. Green-Wings gently held Moon-Dancer and Mist-Wings, the youngest ones all being aware that something important was going on but seeming to be spared the worst of the grief because they were not yet attached to anyone.
Shadowwing took a very deep breath and stifled his pained whine as he retook his place at the head of the dragons alongside the other Furies. All the other bonded dragons he could see looked very solemn as well.
The sun fell lower over the horizon as the beach was almost perfectly separated into humans and dragons.
Luna remained standing where she had been ever since she wrote her parting picture-words and stepped aside from her mate.
She stood between the two packs and stared at the two-legs standing before her, confusion dancing in her liver at what she had seen. At what these two-legs had just done.
They want us to leave and be free to live without them. They are letting go.
The two-legs almost without exception were dropping eye-water or softly whining in their own way as they held their nest-kin and stared across the divide, surely to their bond-kin that they were never to see again. Never to nuzzle and play with. Never to warm and be warmed by. Never to touch the clouds again. Always to remember what they held close to the liver and lost. Always to be grounded because they have no wings.
Always to be fallen.
On the warm wind she heard a sigh. The call to hiding and to depart this world.
They do not think of us as their life-thralls.
She slowly walked forward toward Kin-liver, feeling a need to do something for the first or maybe the last time, and stared into her kind and pained green eyes even as all the other two-legs stepped back to a respectful distance. Kin-liver's eyes, even in such a different shape, reminded her of her own life-mate's eyes.
She looked down at Kin-liver's paw hanging at her side. Kin-liver, clearly seeing the request, warily raised the shaking paw and held it out before her.
The moment hung in the air.
'You will do things that no light wing has done before.'
For the first time in her life, she stepped forward with a soft purr and put her nose to the paw. It felt liver-warming to do.
"Luna... be good to... Shadowwing... for... us... for... me..." Kin-liver weakly whispered.
They both understood the true meaning behind the words. They were a plea of a pained dam-mother who was wishing a warm life for her little one. For the changed little one Kin-liver held to her liver and would likely never see again after gently holding him.
She stepped back from Kin-liver, glanced over her own shoulder at all the kin on the ground, and looked forward to all the two-legs standing before her. All were looking at her.
She glanced up to the ending-sun sky and closed her eyes, remembering everything in that moment.
Being caught and held by thrall-making two-legs with kin-hate in their livers. Grounded, starved, and used in failed, empty egg-making. Rescued and helped by two-legs with kin-warmth in their livers and by two dark wings. Learning more about how life-twisting and filled with danger two-legs could be. Given back the sky and freedom by a two-leg who wanted to heal the wrongs and hurts of the past. Welcomed into the nest by two-legs who bent their heads to her wishes and thought warmly of her. Given a new cave-den by two-legs who put their own backs and paws into the making of the cave-den. Being always given food and seeing other two-legs provide food and care to the kin who need it. Attacked and taken from that good cave-den, and her little one threatened by a Monster two-leg. Seeing these two-legs fighting and dying for their bond-kin and for other wild, thrall-kin whom they owed nothing to. Seeing these two-legs let their bond-kin go to fly on their own.
She opened her eyes, turned back for the other kin, and strode across the warm sands, her tail swaying gently behind her. She sat down before Shadowwing and stared at him while humming softly.
"Luna? What is it?" Shadowwing whispered.
"We should bring these two-legs with us," she answered.
The warm wind carried the distant cries from above and the crashing of the ocean even as Shadowwing and Was-Grounded blinked in confusion.
"What?" "What?"
"You heard me. They have shown us their livers. We should bring them with us when we fly to the hidden world."
Shadowwing glanced at his brother and Green-Wings before he looked back at her.
"But Luna, we talked about this. We cannot do that."
"No? Why not?" she softly growled.
"The other kin in the hidden world will not want that. It would not be safe for the two-legs."
She glanced past him toward the other bonded-kin on the ground. She remembered how they had fought alongside their two-legs, protected them against the bad flight of hunter two-legs, and licked the others' hurts.
"And you think that these kin will let bad things happen to their bond-two-legs, to their own ground-kin? Do you think that two Night Fury Alphas will not be able to keep the peace and protect all in the range? I do not think that life as kin-bonded two-legs is safe now, but they choose to live it," she countered.
"But they do not belong... there. It is not... what should be..." Shadowwing tried to explain.
"Not the normal way? That way would have had me die in my egg and would have had a two-leg and a Night Fury kill each other many season-cycles ago. You know that the normal way is not always good or what should be."
"But... how can we... trust them? What if one of them... leaves and tells bad two-legs where we are?" he continued.
She huffed in amusement and rolled her eyes.
"We will bring only the two-legs who will leave this above world now and always because they want to fly with us. They flew from their old nests once. They will not turn their tails on us."
Silence fell again as Shadowwing seemed at a loss for words.
"Do you know if they can live in the hidden world? Does it have what two-legs need to live?" Was-Grounded warily broke the silence.
"My life-mate would know better than I would," Luna answered.
"They... can live in many... different ranges... They would need a range... with dirt and light... to grow plants and prey-animals for eating," Shadowwing whispered after a moment of thought.
Luna hummed at that.
"Many of the hidden ranges are rock and water only, but some ranges are more like this above world. Ranges like the one my sire and dam nested in. Yes, kin-bond two-legs can live with their kin in the hidden world. Should they is a different question. Will they foul the hidden world? Can we trust them to not make us their life-thralls?"
She purred softly and glanced at both Shadowwing and Was-Grounded.
"I say yes, we can. They showed us that when they let us go to fly on our own."
Shadowwing and Was-Grounded stared at her in disbelief.
"After everything that two-legs did to you... holding you in traps, trying to use you for eggs, grounding you, and almost killing you, you do not hate them?" Shadowwing whispered while hanging his head.
She stepped closer and nuzzled his forehead.
"I only hate the ones that deserve that hate, and those ones are dead now. And we will not be bringing two-legs with us. These are ground-kin," she answered.
Shadowwing whined softly at her words.
"Who are we to change the world this much?" he weakly wondered.
"Who are we? We are Night Furies and Light Furies, there are no better kin to change the world. Should I do the picture-talking or will you?" Luna chuckled.
He took a deep breath, glanced at his brother, put a wing over Luna's back, and they slowly walked together into the space between the two different kinds. Chief Thorvald and Valka were staring at them both with an indeterminable expression on their faces.
Shadowwing started writing.
Would you leave behind everything?
"What are you saying?" Valka weakly asked.
Do you want to come with us?
"Yes, you are all... like family to us," Valka answered for both herself and Thorvald.
"What is this world like?" Thorvald asked a moment later.
Under the ground and filled with light
You could live in it
But you would have to trust us
We will not say where it is
Shadowwing softly growled.
Those who fly with us cannot leave it
That would be too dangerous
Thorvald put his arms behind his back and started nervously pacing, clearly deep in thought.
"That is quite a lot to ask. To give up everything we know and fly somewhere new," he warily answered.
Shadowwing thought for a moment about the fair concern.
You already did that before
When you made peace with dragons
And when you all left Berk
"Yeah, we did."
There will be danger from other dragons
We would try to protect you though
"Danger? Something about... other dragons?"
Ones that were above and hunted
Might hate humans more
Than those that do not know you
Valka glanced at Thorvald.
"Danger that we know and would have to face alone up here, or danger below that might be and which we would not face alone," Valka softly observed.
"When has life ever been safe for us? Occupational hazard, I guess. Still, I'll ask everyone else," Thorvald shrugged.
The Chief took a breath, composed his thoughts, turned to his mournful, almost broken, and fallen tribe, and raised his voice to all with his practiced tone of authority.
"Would you all leave everything you know and fly with the dragons to their hidden home? They will not tell us where it is, and there is no coming back if we do go with them! We cannot stay here now even if we like it here! Our enemies found us! We are on the map again!"
He walked further down the line of people and met as many pairs of pained eyes as he could. Quite a few of them were nervously shuffling at the mention of there being no coming back.
"We let the dragons into our worlds when we made peace years ago, and they trusted us. We protected the dragons from those who wanted to hurt them. Now, the dragons want to do the same for us! They are asking if we will go with them to their world! A world where we will be safe from all other tribes that hate us. That sounds good to me. Think about Bucket, Hroggar, Hrormir, Orgnar, Safiya, and Tordek."
All bowed their heads in a moment of respect to the fallen.
"Think about all who died before. Stoick and Astrid. They died for us all and for our world! How will we celebrate the fallen? Live in the world they died for so that their deaths were meaningful!"
There was more muttering but also a lot more nodding of agreement. Stubbornness and honoring their own was definitely understood and appreciated.
Thorvald paused and crossed his arms, needing to bring up the most important objection of all.
"Yes, there is danger! Some of the dragons in that world might not like us or want us there!"
Everyone in the crowd nervously shuffled. Parents clutched their children closer and started whispering.
"But we are dragonriders! It is an occupational hazard! They said that they will protect us! I trust these dragons! Do you?"
He turned around and faced the dragons. The entire tribe watched their Chief as he knelt on his knees in the sand. Gasps of amazement went through the entire tribe. A moment of silence passed as everyone looked around, uncertain what to do. They all did the same as their Chief, and in so doing filled the beach with men, women, and children kneeling to the Furies and other dragons before them.
Shadowwing whined softly even as Luna purred at his side. Something shifted in his heart at the sight of something that had surely never happened before in history.
The moment lasted until all stood up as one.
Valka was the first to step forward and approach in the fading light.
"When are we leaving?" she barely whispered.
As soon as we can
"We already have our things packed. We can be ready in minutes. We just need to figure out who is going to carry what," Thorvald explained after he also stepped forward.
We will bring the dragons to you
The next few minutes were a frantic flurry of activity and chaos as people ran up into the village to grab bags of supplies from their homes. Torches and fires were lit to illuminate the activities. Many voices lifted with relieved cries as familiar dragons descended from the darkness and touched down. Lengths of ropes were brought out of storage and used to tie various supplies to the willing and trained dragons who again donned their saddles. Livestock, food supplies, leather, tools, clothing, all the essentials were assembled and stuffed into crates. Two special tapestries were packed up as well and given to Valka to carry.
It was finished, and all were ready to depart.
Another roar from a Night Fury triggered the last flight as all the dragons, lightly laden with supplies and their riders, rose into the dark sky. The storm of wings turned for the north and flew, being led by Valka and Cloudjumper and the rest of the Furies except one.
Shadowwing slowly floated on the wind and looked down at the lights of the abandoned Haven below to make sure that there were no stragglers.
Circling over a now desolate and partly burned village, having watched a flight of hundreds of dragons and all the remaining Haven humans depart these lands, he closed his eyes with a peaceful sigh as an unseen burden felt lifted away. His thoughts drifted to the hidden world that this refugee people would soon live in. The hidden world where he and Luna became one. The hidden world in which almost all the living dragons of the world would soon live.
Finally convinced that the village was truly empty by seeing no motion at all down below, he turned his flight to the north to follow after the other dragons. Once he reached the old cave that Luna had once claimed as her own, he glanced back at the massive range where so much had happened.
Where he had found his own lost brother after years of searching and separation during which they both learned to fly on their own. Where they had both learned how to be capable leaders who answered the difficult call of duty. Where a village had been built from the ashes of destroyed tribes and shattered lives. Where homes had been constructed for both humans and dragons. Where a people had come together and changed. Where new life had been begotten and welcomed into the world. Where a dream had been re-established, questioned, and strengthened. Where one person changed the course of the future.
He glanced out toward the far distant south-western waters where an armada was inbound beyond the horizon. A mild voice tinged with obsession seemed to whisper on the wind.
'There will always be war... Us against them...'
'You would always choose your own kind in the end...'
'I have already won...'
He weakly sighed and glanced up at the moon high above in the heavens.
Grimmel, you won... and you lost... because you are wrong.
He turned away and flew along the coast through the falling darkness. When he finally caught up to them, wove through the other flying dragons, and fell in at the head of the massive flight alongside all the other Furies and Valka on Cloudjumper, there was nothing left in his heart and thoughts but a bittersweet peace as he remembered all the pairs aloft together. All the sacrifices and losses through the years had led to this last flight for all. It truly felt as though they were all finally on their way home.
Dad, you were so right. I found the hidden world, and we are going there to finally have peace. Even if no one could have imagined how back. It will not be easy, but when has that ever stopped us before?
His reflection was disturbed when Luna gently brushed against his wing while Moon-Dancer flew above her. The moonlight glistened off her wings as she glided at his side. They stared into each other's eyes, neither of them saying anything aloud.
Luna, we have to talk about how amazing you are... my love.