Crying was for pain. Not for fear.

"Why do I feel so confused?" I asked her and she let out a pained laugh.

"I think you might like this boy. Which is good, because I was thinking that you were coming to hate humans." she said and wrapped an arm around me.

Soon Cloudjumper had his head rested on mom's shoulder and Toothless clambered into my lap even though he was way too big to do that anymore.

"You'll be fine Hicca." he assured me with a lick and I laughed, patting my hair down so it laid flat again.

"I know."

—

"I'm hungry." Toothless complained as soon as I began stirring in his embrace.

"Aren't you always?" I'd responded before crawling out of his wings and into the sunlight.

"Don't try to act like you're not." he says and i just smirk as we make our way into the kitchen.

"Morning!" mom smiles and places the fish over the fire.

"How are you always so enthusiastic in the morning?" I grumble and plop down at our table.

"Oh, I used to have to get up many times during the night to take care of a whiney baby." she teased and sat down next to me.

"Haha, so very funny you are." I mumble incoherently and feel my head droop. I hadn't been able to sleep last night so I found myself in the forge, relentlessly hammering away at a new dagger as one of my old ones had broke.

"I know I am. You though, that's a bit questionable." she says and in my sleepy haze I swat at her only to have her dodge my hit and laugh.

"So, when do you think you'll be able to bring the boy here?" she asked and stood up again, the fish being done if the pleasant aroma filling the air had anything to say.

"Today at the least, tomorrow at the latest." I reply as Toothless and Cloudjumper gorged themselves on their share of raw fish.

"Hm, and what's his name again?" mom asked.

"Aster." I replied and my head lolled to the side, landing on Toothless's back.

"If you don't wake up soon I'll feed your share to the Terrors." she threatened and I sprung awake while she laughed.

"You know, I think I'd rather like it if you didn't threaten my food." I said as she handed me my share of the fish.

"It's a motherly thing." she says in Norse which is a bit of a rare thing but I brush it off. We eat in silence as dragons all around the nest wake up and roar before going off to hunt for their share of fish.

"You gonna take some down to Aster?" she offered and nodded to where an extra fish was still hovering over the fire.

"Yeah, thanks. I might bring him back today, so make sure no one blasts him to bits." I smile and stand up, grabbing it and packing it in Toothless's pack.

"Can't guarantee anything." she calls as I trot out the house, Toothless in tow.

"Try your hardest?" I yell back before I climb onto Toothless and in seconds we're soaring through the empty sky.

"Can we go flying today?" he asks as we begin to circle overhead.

"Maybe later? I don't know what I'm going to do with Aster though." I lean back onto the saddle pack and sigh. "Why is this so confusing!" I punch the air before sitting up again only to sigh and fall back down.

"You could take him flying?" Toothless offers and I laugh.

"As if- wait. Wait. That's actually a pretty good idea bud!" I smile and sit up.

"And to think," he chuckles, "I only suggested it so we could go flying."

"Lizard." which earns me a smack as we climb higher into the air before pulling into a dive.

The ground rushes faster and faster towards us, until it almost looks like we're about to crash into the treetops. Yet I know better.

At the last second Toothless's wings catch and he tilts to the side, leaning into a barrel roll as we spiral downwards. He stops the roll just in time to land on the ground.

"We need to work on your speed buddy." I say and slide off of him.

"You cannot say that to the unholy offspring of lightening and death!" he protest, puffing out his chest in pride.

"Oh gods, it's gone to your head." I smile before looking up to meet crystal blue eyes.

"Hello." I say and nod my head. Aster had just gotten up, according to the sleep that's still in his eyes, and he clambers out of the cocoon he'd made with the large blanket.

"Morning." he grumbles.

"Here." I say and dig in the pack before handing him the fish, still warm from the fire.

"Thanks." he grumbles and goes back to sit down, taking large bites as he cuddles under his blanket. He kind of reminds me of a child, though he isn't dwarfed by the blanket as I used to be. And still am.

I just stand there awkwardly as Toothless shuffles off, grumbling something about my social skills and how awkward humans are.

When he finishes his fish he stretches and yawns again, standing up. "Morning."

"You already said that."

"Well sorry. Some of us are tired in the morning, unlike some people apparently." he laughs and gestures to me.

"To be fair, I hate mornings too. Though, mom usually can get me up." I say and grimace remembering how she usually has Toothless lick my face until I get up.

"Anyways, so. Have you figured out what you're going to do with me?" he asks and moves to stand in front of me.

"Yes." I stand up straight and crane my neck to stare back into his eyes.

"Are you going to elaborate?" he asks and crosses his arms, a smirk on his face.

"You'll find out soon enough." I reply before swiveling on my heel, cloak flying out behind me as I walk towards the forest.

"Where are we going?" he asks and follows me. Albeit, he was much slower and clumsier as we made our way through the forest.

"You'll find out soon enough." I reply, just as I had before.

"Didn't you already give me that?" he asks and I turn around for a second, smiling before I bolted into the tree above me.

"Yep!" I call down and begin skipping from tree to tree. I know he's following me as I can hear him running below me, though somehow I'm still a bit faster than him even though I'm jumping from tree to tree. It makes me feel a bit proud, though that isn't my intent as I gather my supplies.

"Shit!" I hear him yell and a large commotion below.

I drop onto the nearest branch to the ground, hanging on it from my knees so I resemble Toothless whenever he decides to take a nap during the day.

Aster is laying in the lush undergrowth, cringing as he pushes himself up, coming face to face with me.

"Dammit, you're still taller than I am. Even when I'm in a tree!" is what I say and he just laughs before cringing again.

"Are you okay?" I ask and let myself down.

"My chest is still hurting and this running isn't helping." he said through clenched teeth.

Oh right.

"Sorry, I forgot you were wounded. We can walk for now." I say and prop myself under his shoulder to keep him up.

"I can make it on my own." he says as he stares straight ahead, his face slightly red. What was up with his face being slightly red?

"Okay." I say and wiggle out from under his arm as we begin walking.

Occasionally I'd stop, grabbing something from a tree as he stopped and waited, but most of the time the noises of the forest enveloped us.

Bugs chirped happily and a stream would gurgle by, covered by trees so it would stay unseen. Trees would rustle in the wind that swept over the island and a dragon would fly overhead. One time we saw a small Terror who I said hi to, his name was Squeaky, before he continued on.

"So, you know almost every dragon in your nest?" Aster asks.

"Mmhm. We're one big family." I explain and reach to grab a pinecone from a tree but end up short a few inches.

"Curse my height."

"I'll get it." Aster offers and reaches up easily, yanking the pinecone from the tree before handing it to me.

"It's no fair how much taller you are than I am." I complain as we begin walking along again.

"Ha. At least I beat you in one thing." he smiles.

"That and people skills." I tease.

"Most definitely in people skills." he reassures me.

"Even that rock beats me in people skills." I point to a rock as he laughs and pretends to hold a conversation with said rock.

"You're right. It's a great conversationalist." he says and turns to me.

"You're hilarious." I say sarcastically and begin walking on.

"Someone still haven't told me where we're going." he complains as we continue to walk through the towering trees.

"Be patient hatchling." I chide before walking along. By now I have about an armful of supplies, luckily we'll be there in a few minutes.

"So, how do you know your way around this place so well?" he asks and steps over a log. "I grew up here. For a long time we didn't really venture off of the island except to trade for spices and clothes at nearby towns. Mom didn't seem to want to be in the company of people for a while. I'm not sure why. So, my friends and I would play out here."

"You mean, other dragons?" he asks, an edge to his voice.

"No, I was talking about the trees." I say sarcastically and he laughs. "Of course the dragons. They're my family, my friends, my everything. Until you."

"Me?" his voice squeaks which sounds kind of funny as his voice is fairly low.

"Yep. You're human. The first I've ever really met and talked to." I shrug and duck under a tree branch as he pushes it aside.

"Really? But y-" he begins to say but stops in the middle of the sentence at the sight before us.

A small trickle of a waterfall descends from a cliff high above and splashes down into a crystalline pit of water that eventually gets dark in color as it gets deeper. Stones line the bottom and ferns splash over the edges and onto the banks of rounded stones under our feet. Unbeknownst to Aster there's a small waterfall behind the cave.

Quickly, I begin smashing up the pine needles in my hand, scraping the sap off of the pine cones and mixing that in too. A few small bells of flowers and a fine green paste sits in the palm of my hand.

"Come here." I tell him and stand up, using the back of my hand to wipe my bangs out of my face.

"Why?" he asks but edges closer.

"You smell like dragon blood." I say, and he does.

"And what does that have to do with anything?"

"I'm taking you somewhere where that would not be a good thing." I reply and hand him the paste.

"What do I do with this?" he asks.

"Rub it at your wrist, pulse point, and clavicle. It'll get rid of the stench."

"This smells really good. What's in it?" he says and begins rubbing it in at the places I told him to.

"How about all of the things I was carrying earlier?" I offer and smirk as I unclip my cloak and fold it up.

"What are you doing?" he asks.

"We do have to go swimming to get there." I reply and take off my greaves and unbuckle pack which has my wings on it.

"Swimming?!" he squeaks again and I just laugh.

"Why do you think we're here. At a pond?" I ask and pull off my boots and chest plate so that I'm left in a black shirt, an almost corset like piece which is brown and looks like dragon scales and my pants.

"Um.." he says and his face looks like it's trying to become a tomato.

"Why is your face red?" I ask and pull off the brown dragon scales 'corset.'

"Well, uh. It happens when people get embarrassed." he says and his face gets redder.

"Really? Huh." I say and begin to slip off my pants and shirt, folding them up alongside the rest of my clothes so that I'm only in my white wrappings.

Aster has edged farther away from me, which I find a bit offensive and send him a questioning look.

Humans are weird.

Okay, I feel like I need to get this out here but no this is not going to go into smut territory. It's just meant to show how... uncivilized different Hicca is from normal people since she's kinda a social outcast... by choice though so yep.

KittyArt: I know he doesn't have horns (thank you tho for caring enough to make sure I was informed) I just wasn't really sure what to call them because they aren't ears but they aren't exactly spikes? So they ended up being horns. Yup. :P

Anyways, thank everyone for you reviews and hope you all enjoyed this chapter!