They landed upon a sea stack a few wing flaps out from the east side of the island. The queen stretched her wings and then laid down in a sunbeam. Astrid slipped off Stormfly's back, letting her sister do the same.
[Young queen-to-be, please sit,] the queen said.
Astrid did, leaning against Stormfly. The queen stared back over the waters towards her nest before looking back at Astrid.
[My mate was not hatched in this nest,] she said. [His hatch nest is far from here. He and his sister were driven here via a combined effort of a father grieving for his mate and humans hunting dragons.]
Astrid frowned. "To kill because of the war?" she asked.
[It is unknown what happens to the dragons caught. They are taken and never seen again. At least according to my mate and sister-in-law.] The queen paused. [You will not believe it now but my mate was smaller than normal Illusion-scales.]
Astrid tilted her head when the queen hissed and closed her eyes.
[I am amazed he ever wished to be my mate. I had one focus in my life when the elder you all met found him and his sister on a sea stack not far from the island you all call home. I was learning to be the queen my mother could be proud of. When the elder presented this thin and small pair of siblings I paid them no attention.] The queen sighed. [Looking back, I should have.]
"What happened?"
The queen gave a humorless laugh. [Dragons, especially young ones, can be just as cruel as humans when faced with something or someone they feel is weaker then they.]
Astrid blinked then grunted. "Moondust, one of the Night Furies that showed up with Toothless' brother said a male from her old nest tried to force a mate-hood ceremony upon her."
The queen's eyes momentarily became slits then the queen grunted. [I rest my case. Though, be warned, I doubt that male will take it well that she lives in a nest run by a human should he ever learn of her location.]
Astrid's faced hardened. "Let him come," she said.
The queen laughed. [Indeed.] The laugh did not reach the dragon's eyes, nor did the laugh last more than a heartbeat and a half before the queen sighed again and lowered her gaze to the short grass growing on top of sea stack.
[My mate endured much while growing up under the guidance of that elder.] The queen took a deep breath. [I could have prevented some of his pain. I had walked by the sleeping cave's entrance, intending to go out and practice more. I heard two males planning to toughen him up. To, as they said, teach him to fight instead of run from humans.]
The queen stared Astrid in the face. [I did nothing. My mate was found barely clinging to his life upon this very sea stack. My mother and father were furious, but he never revealed what happened that night.]
"Did you tell your mother and father what you heard?"
[Not at first, no. My mother with the wisdom I lacked back then, ordered my sister to teach my mate how to be a warrior guard. Leadership in this nest is passed from mother to the oldest daughter. Younger females and all male young are trained to be warrior guards. The oldest sibling, male or female, is to be the head guard. My sister hatched a day after me. Since my mother was the one to appoint the one who would become my mate as a guard and declared my sister was to be his teacher that meant he would be around the royal flock often.]
"You got to know him during these times?"
[Correct. In doing so, I learned how blind I was. In my desire to be the best, I failed to protect a member of my own nest. A member I was steadily growing to care for.]
Astrid fidgeted. The queen stared at her.
[Do you know what my mate said when I apologized for not speaking up and stopping those males?]
Astrid shook her head. The queen gave another humorless laugh.
[He'd endure it all again if that mean he could spend time in my presence. I learned more about being a true leader from him in that moment than any lesson my mother ever gave me. A true leader will endure a vast amount that will not be pleasant and can, at times, be very deadly, but it is worth it in the end when we are able to spend a few moments with those we love.]
"But it wasn't right what those male did and it wasn't right that you didn't speak up."
[Yes, I know, and you are correct. They were in the wrong for almost killing him and I was in the wrong for not preventing it. Still my mate forgave me. The trick was, I had to learn to forgive myself. Given your sister's explanation, I suspect you find yourself in a similar situation.]
"I should have stopped all of it. Hiccup never deserved the treatment he got. I shouldn't have let it happened, but I was so focused upon regaining my family's honor and Hiccup.. well, even the chief seemed to not care."
[I gathered from the tale they gave that the relationship between the young alpha and his father was not a close one. I know my mate came to the same conclusion. That's why he offered to be the young alpha's father. He and his sister were ordered to leave because his father's mind snapped. Hunters captured my mate's mother and my mate's father could not handle knowing he had failed to keep her safe. The elder of my mate's old nest felt my mate and his sister were in danger and told them to leave.]
"Stoick's wife, Hiccup's mother, was taken by a dragon."
The queen blinked. [I see. Eerie.]
Astrid grunted. "It doesn't matter what Stoick's actions and beliefs about Hiccup were before the end of the war. I shouldn't have neglected Hiccup. I failed him."
"Astrid?"
Kirika: Yep. Astrid's line of thinking is not really healthy and something she needs to come to terms with.
Prince: Hehe, we shall see