Chapter 13

Aurvandil's Fire

Under the glow of a waxing moon, the pair of Night Furies and their riders drifted into the chilly north wind. The mottled reflection off the ocean lit them again from below. Kiefer had watched her operate the prosthetic fin for a little while, and seemed impressed, but now he was watching the sky around them while she couldn't help but sneak looks sidelong at him. She flew with her riders daily, but she was now nervous in a way she'd never felt before.

Talking usually helped to pass the ride more comfortably. Maybe she should say something? But what could she talk about?

"How was the flight?" She said. Gods, was that the best she could come up with?

"From the Mesa?" He looked at her and she enjoyed his gaze. "It was long. Even with Night Fury speed and endurance, it took over a week. We stayed at the village of Hopeless yesterday, if that tells you anything."

"I've been to Hopeless!" She said with a smile. "Used to take us twelve days by ship. They have this really good pie they serve on our diplomatic visits."

"That they did," he nodded. "Kind of an almondy thing, right?"

"That's the one. I thought you said you didn't make contact with non-riders?"

"We don't, officially. We told the people of Hopeless we were simple travellers." He motioned at Claudia. "We kept our dragons out of town and out of sight."

Hiccup nodded. It might be a good idea to adopt such precautions. That's what they did when the Berserkers visited after all. Even Oswald the Agreeable wouldn't have been agreeable to renewing their peace treaty if he knew they were dragon riders. His son, Dagur the Deranged, would be even less so, especially considering how he had 'succeeded' his father. She couldn't imagine doing that to her own father.

"Do you have any family?"

"Oh, certainly. Mother is the former Lady Cairon della Rosa, namesake of Cairon the Kind. She retired and passed on her title to my elder sister, Lady Ginevra della Rosa. Ginevra took my ancestral lands — inherited our ancestral lands when she did so. I had to earn my title, Lord della Pagina, Patron of the Sothali Quarry, through service to the Queen."

She nodded, though she noticed he'd forgotten someone.

"And your dad?"

He paused for a moment and looked away. He looked back with a smirk. "Father's announced as the former Lord-Consort Iomes della Pagina. He and Mother stay at our summer villa in the ancestral vineyard."

"Lord-Consort? What's that mean?"

His smirk turned to a frown and he sighed. "Going to make me say it? He's a plebeian. He has no title of his own."

"I didn't mean to pry . . ."

"I understand," he said curtly. He took a deep breath and put on another smile. "What about you? Any other family?"

"Just my father." She shrugged. "My mother died when I was a baby. Apparently I was attacked by a dragon, gave me this scar," she pointed at her chin, "and Mom died protecting me. Dad never remarried."

"I'm sorry. I can't imagine; it must have been difficult to be raised solely by your father."

"Well, Aunt Helga helped raise me," she made a dismissive gesture, "you know, when Dad was too busy or there were . . . girl things. She was my wet-nurse, actually. She was just weaning Astrid when Mom died. She's not literally my Aunt, but she might as well be. She and Gobber were the only ones that didn't get on my case when I screwed things up."

"Oh? I didn't realize Gobber was married."

"Huh? Oh! No, no." She laughed. "They aren't together. Gobber's my trade-master. He's more laid back and . . . I guess he just got me. Aunt Helga was just . . . always kind."

"I see. What about her husband, then?"

Her eyes fell and she studied the back of Toothless's head for several seconds. Long enough that Claudia tilted her head to look at her with a compassionate eye. Kiefer clearly picked up on her discomfort as well, uttering a "Sorry," before she could answer.

"It's alright. I don't remember much about him. He died when I was five or six. I suppose she's been mourning him just like Dad's been mourning Mom. She's always saying he was the reason she moved to Berk in the first place."

He sighed. "The tragedy of dragon wars. I've seen it at other villages; it's made the acceptance of dragons difficult at times. You've had your share of personal tragedy, and yet . . ."

His eyes moved to Toothless.

"Yes, but Grimclod wasn't killed by dragons. He was . . ." She frowned and wished she hadn't said anything. But she had already started so she drew a deep breath and released it before continuing. "He was murdered. Something about a yak, I think. I don't really remember the details. I just remember that the murderer was cast out."

Kiefer squeezed his lips together and gave a curt nod. "There's some justice. Sometimes people are worse than dragons. I remember during my first month as a patrician there was a quarrel between some of the workers and one ended up dead. I had to sit in judgement of the man who murdered him. I learned some things and made some changes to how the quarry ran. But that's enough about such gruesome things!" He slapped his saddle and grinned at her. "How about your training? What have your riders been learning?"

"Oh, so much." She put on a smile and tried to put the thoughts of Astrid's dad out of her mind. "We've mostly been preparing for the festival. I told you about the parade. But we've also been working on dragon calls! Here, watch this!"

She cupped her hand over mouth and bellowed out a growling howl of a Night Fury call. Both Claudia and Toothless turned their heads sharply. Kiefer gripped at his saddle and pushed a toe into Claudia's side. "Whoa, it's alright Claudia." Once she'd straightened out her flight, he looked at Hiccup. "Quite a convincing call. Best not to use it while riding a Night Fury."

"Sorry." She looked away abashedly. She desperately tried to think of something to say to dispel the awkwardness. "What's your sister like?"

"Ginevra?" He ran a hand through his hair. "Well, like I said, she's the new Lady della Rosa. She's eleven years my senior, so we don't get on very well. She's fine, but . . . I'm just her baby brother, you know?"

Hiccup smiled to herself. "I'm having trouble seeing anyone think of you as a baby."

"I'll take that as a compliment, considering the men of your village are twice my size."

"Well, they're too big, you know?" She shrugged. "You're the perfect size."

She seized up when she realized she'd said that out loud. "I mean, you're . . . You're . . ."

She shut her mouth and looked away, her entire face flushing with warmth. She couldn't trust her mouth not to make her into more of a fool. But Kiefer didn't seem to react.

"It would be hard to ride a Night Fury if I were that size, and a noble man who can't ride a noble steed is hardly worth the title." He laughed to himself. "You're also the perfect size for Night Fury flying."

Hiccup's wind whipped cheeks turned even warmer. "Most people think I'm too small."

Kiefer chuckled. "You're beautiful as you are."

Her heart threw itself against her ribs; for a moment she wasn't even sure she'd heard him right. She turned and stared at him. Did he really call her beautiful so offhandedly? As if it were obvious? "I'm . . . what?"

"I said you're perfectly fine the way you are," he said with a gentle smile.

Oh. So she had misunderstood him; her thundering heart fell with disappointment.

"You're smart, and you care about both humans and dragons. That's what's important. To us, anyway. If your village can't see that, you'd be welcome at the Mesa."

She leaned back as her heart returned to her. That thought was so tempting, but she couldn't just leave Berk, could she? If she were marrying, that would be one thing, but to just up and leave? No, she was the Dragon Master. She had responsibilities.

Although . . .

Astrid could take over. She could handle the twins better than Hiccup could, and Stoick was right when he said Hiccup had no interest in being chief. Mesa del Cadre would allow her to concentrate on inventions and dragons. And oh, the inventions and dragons!

She could only imagine what she could learn. Not only did they have so much dragon knowledge, they had craftsmen who had figured out how to trap Zippleback gas. She'd tried to make such a thing in case Alvin attacked again, but the gas always escaped. How'd they done it?

"Could I learn how you make those lamps?" A wistful smile crossed her face.

"Sure, just attend a dissertation at the college of mechanical philosophy. I'm sure the philosophers would enjoy explaining. Or maybe it would be the college of alchemical philosophy? I don't really know, it's not really my area. Though you could follow it up with an afternoon instruction at the dragon conservatory, dinner at the cafe, wash off in the Great Baths and finish the evening at the villa . . ."

"Sounds nice."

She imagined a stone amphitheater rather like a significantly larger dragon arena, full of people looking to learn about inventing or dragons. Then enjoying a pie at an outdoor cliffside balcony overlooking a sunny sea, and finally she imagined a place like Long Shale Cove with waterfalls and pools to form the baths.

Her mind returned to her own bath, earlier that day. "How do you get water to the baths? Is it fed by a stream?"

"No, it's mechanical. You can see the water screws climbing the walls of the Mesa, drawing from the river into the city. The Great Baths are these massive, three-tiered marble pools, with clear, warm water falling in from the towers. It's bayside, but just inland and it services everyone in the city, plebeian and patrician alike."

Towers? They kept their water in towers? That made so much sense! Have someone strong, like a dragon, transport buckets of water up to it. Then you just uncork a hole in the bottom of it and let the water flow into the building, then cork it back up when you're done. She wouldn't have to carry buckets around anymore. It would be fairly simple to make a large barrel, she could even imagine how she could redesign the bathhouse to accommodate it. She wished she could make a sketch.

"That sounds pretty amazing. But what are water screws?"

"It's just big screws that draw up water." He looked at her blank expression. "Screws. You know, the metal spirals. Athena's name, you don't have screws?"

Although, embarrassment weighed down her chest she still sought to find something like what he said. She looked at her prosthetic. "I have a spring in my leg, that's a metal spiral."

He smiled. "You'll have to come down and find out."

In the distance a green ribbon appeared high in the air. In a matter of a seconds in swept over and the entire sky became bathed in bands of purple, pink and green. Kiefer stared around him, wide eyed and gaping. Finally he looked back at Hiccup and grinned. "This is amazing."

She looked up at Aurvandil's Fire with him and smiled.