The next morning Amara was up bright and early, having gone and grabbed some food to fix for her family's breakfast.
Roxanna had slept in, mostly due to still recovering from her dip in the freezing sea around Berk. She'd woken up a lot that night but finally found comfort when toothless had nuzzled her hand, sensing her unease.
Amara went up and found Toothless snuggled up to Roxanna, his wing over her and his head against her hand. "She have trouble sleeping last night? What a good host you are, Toothless." She said, giving him a couple fresh salmon for breakfast. "No need to share the heads, though." she added before leaving the room. The dragon cooed, eating his breakfast and then started licking Roxanna's face, doing his best to be careful with his tail as it wagged while he waited for her to get up.
Roxanna slowly woke up. She yawned and rolled over trying to remember her dream from that night and wondering if there was time for breakfast before class. Then she smelt the fishy smell from toothless licking her face and everything from yesterday came rushing back. With a sigh, she got up and sorted herself out as best she could before slowly going downstairs.
"Toothless has taken a shine to you, too...he doesn't usually cover anyone but me or dad with his wing when they're having trouble sleeping." Amara said, greeting her parents and tossing Stormfly a roast chicken, which the Nadder ate in one bite. "Time for breakfast, though...we usually start lessons and work for the day right afterwards." She said softly. Hiccup laughed at how Toothless was nudging at Roxanna's hair playfully. "Made a new friend, bud?" He asked the dragon, who cooed softly.
"That sounds like a plan to me. He's a sweet dragon and easy to get along with." Roxanna said, rubbing toothless's nose.
"Yeah, he really is... he's my best friend." Hiccup said with a smile. "He has one trait that no other species of dragon has, Roxanna... retractable teeth. Unless he's eating, or roaring in a protective display, his teeth stay hidden within his gums." he explained, as that was something everyone who met him had been fascinated with.
"I see. I don't mind teeth or fishy breath in the morning." She said, still fussing over toothless.
Hiccup smiled softly, glad to see Toothless relating to someone outside the family. "Do you wanna help them today, Bud?" He asked the dragon, who tilted his head, then looked at Roxanna with a curious coo.
"It'd be greatly appreciated." She smiled sweetly. "Could we possibly borrow another dragon too? It'd make showing her easier. Then she won't have to get on and off all the time." She asked.
"Sure thing. I'll take you two out while Hiccup makes a new stirrup for Toothless' saddle to help with his prosthetic tail wing." Astrid said. "We'll find someone to let you borrow their dragon for lessons."
"Thanks. I really appreciate it." Roxanna said as they followed her outside. The sun was shining innocently as though the storm last night never happened. The villagers went about their business but glanced at the strange girl who'd caused so much trouble as they passed.
There was suddenly a scream of pain and frustration. "Hookfang! What's wrong with you!?" the male voice called out, before yelling about hot, and a sizzling splash and sigh of relief. Astrid led the way to find the Monstrous Nightmare, Hookfang, standing over his rider, Snotlout, with the latter in a sheep trough with smoke rising from them. Astrid crossed her arms. "How did you upset your dragon this time, Snotlout?"
"Are you sure this one is suitable? He sounds a bit unhappy." Roxanna said.
"Hookfang has a temper problem that Snotlout likes to agitate." Astrid replied, as said person huffed, stating that he could use a break from the 'stubborn, bull-headed dragon'. When Astrid called his name, the dragon came over, looking at the new girl curiously. Amara greeted Hookfang, and told him softly about Roxanna's predicament, so only the Dragon would hear. He hunkered as close to the ground as he could to let Roxanna 'see' him with her hands.
"Hey there boy, aren't you..." she stopped mid sentence, her eyes widening. "This...?! You're trying to tame this?!" She exclaimed, backing away from hookfang slowly.
"What do you mean? He's just a Monstrous Nightmare. They're Stoker Class, but not exceptionally rare or dangerous as far as dragons go, unless you tick them off. Their body flames up when they're really mad, or in pain." Amara was curious as to why Roxanna was scared. "He was the 2nd dragon ever trained, and unless Snotlout angers him, he's usually as sweet as Toothless. When he's not being ridden, he spends his time scaring fish into our fishing fleets nets... then we release the juveniles and preserve the adults."
"A what? All I know is he is a Hungarian Horntail. They're considered to be the most dangerous dragons in the world. Its flame can reach over 50 feet. Their favourite food include cattle, sheep, goats, and whenever possible, humans." She uttered.
"He's what we call a Monstrous Nightmare. He will eat mutton if offered, but he prefers cod." Snotlout said firmly from his seat in the water trough, a bit annoyed anyone would think anything bad about Hookfang. "He just lights himself on fire when he's mad."
"...but... he..." Roxanna stammered and shook her head, "must still be immature."she uttered.
Hookfang let out a low sound, half-way between a growl and a purr.
Roxanna pouted, not happy with the situation but slowly walked back over to him, not willing to let these Vikings see her being weak. "Fine... if he really isn't going to... misbehave, then we'll be glad to have his help."
"Nah, I was just picking on him for his fish breath." Snotlout said. "Too much time together gets on each other's nerves." Hookfang blew a few sparks at Snotlout before lowering his neck to let Roxanna on.
"Perhaps next time feed him mints to get rid of the smell." Roxanna said, getting on slowly.
"Yeah, I'll see if I can buy a tub for use next time Johann makes it to port." Snotlout said. But good luck riding him. Hookfang only listens to me. Not even Hiccup can ride him now." he snorted but stopped laughing as Hookfang settled down and waited for her instructions like he'd been bred for the show ring. Calm and submissive... this wasn't a Hookfang Snotlout was used to seeing. He suddenly decided he felt ill and needed to take in some sea air to clear his head so turned and started heading down to the docks to start work on patching the fishing boats from the last encounter with a wild Scaldron.
"Amara, can you lead us to a quiet field? It'll be easier with less distractions." Roxanna asked, unaware of the impression she'd made on Snotlout.
Amara nodded, getting on with Toothless' newly retooled saddle. Hiccup sighed. "Bud... please. Just help them." Toothless sighed, grumbling but agreeing to try before Amara whispered to him to take them to the cove, doing her best to help the dragon in flight during the glide down when they reached the ledge though the landing was noticeably bumpy and Toothless grumbled irritably. "Here... this is the cove, Roxanna... it's where Dad and Toothless first became friends."
"Ok. To start with, pretend you don't know him. In fact, pretend you're nothing. Not even there. You're wearing a cloak of invisibility. Close your eyes and just feel." Roxanna said.
"Wearing a... what?" Amara asked, getting down from Toothless. "It'd be tough to pretend I don't know him... earliest memories I have are of him watching over me, or playing with me, mum, and Dad... but I'll do my best."
"Then get on hookfang if you can't manage it. He knows himself. He knows you. Putting emotions and memories into the mix only makes you emotional even if you can't tell." She reasoned."But if you're not willing to try then I don't know why I'm wasting my time." she added.
"Sorry! I'll do my best... I-I just didn't know what you were telling me to imagine I was wearing." She said softly, looking at Roxanna as she quickly hopped back on Toothless.
"It's a cloak that makes you invisible. Its quite rare so I'm not surprised you've not heard of it. But just pretend you aren't there." She said, now assuming that these Vikings, despite being in contact with dragons, they were certainly muggles. And this brought on more questions about what they'd do if they knew what she was.
Amara nodded, closing her eyes to meditate as she'd been taught during her 'primary' schooling with Gothi, who had handled all spiritual education.
Roxanna sat and waited. As Amara relaxed toothless seemed to become lighter under her. "There is no Amara. There is no toothless. You're a passenger and he is in charge." Roxanna spoke softly to try help the atmosphere.
Amara fell deeper into meditation, seeming to FEEL everything as energy around her, a state she hadn't felt before. She felt the dragon move his tail wing, and her foot moved to shift the prosthetic one to match it unconsciously.
Slowly she started to feel in tune with his body and as this happened she felt him move beneath her until she felt his wings spread as he took off. "You can open your eyes but don't move a muscle, and by that I mean literally. Don't tighten any, stay loose and relaxed." Roxanna told her. For now, toothless was flying a little bit behind but more or less besides hookfang, following Roxanna's lead. Hookfang was like an entirely different dragon, acting like the perfect teacher's pet, as Roxanna was focusing on guiding Toothless with simple hand movements, using her legs to guide hookfang alone.
Amara nodded, staying in tune with Toothless' movements, only part of her ever moving being her foot as Toothless indicated he needed it. It was incredible. Hookfang looked so relaxed, unlike when Snotlout rode him.
Toothless seemed a little bit irritated when she opened her eyes but otherwise he carried on flying for Roxanna. "Once we land I'll talk about movements." She explained as they flew higher.
Amara showed her understanding with her eyes as she focused on just helping Toothless to the best of her ability.
Roxanna brought them back down to ground. "ok, now you've got a feel of it you need to practice. Just be his passenger as he goes about. You can learn a lot by the way they move." She said.
"The way Dad tells it... that's how he and Toothless first learned to fly together... learning what Toothless needed by how he moved on their first flight." Amara said softly, blinking at a sound she had only heard once before, but would be familiar to Roxanna, in the distance.
"That's my whistle." Roxanna said, turning her head to the sky. "I hope he's ok..." she uttered.
Two dragons came flying in: Stormfly and a Terrible Terror. "It's an Airmail from Mum and Dad..." Amara said. "They say they've got a Red and Black Deathsong closed in the Academy!" She gasped, rubbing Toothless. "Can you help us get to the Academy, Toothless?" The dragon cooed, waiting for Amara to get on. "Dad said in the note to get there asap... apparently, the dragon started firing shots at the gate that could trap it forever if we don't get there soon."
"It'll be fine... everything will be fine. Don't panic or you'll have to walk." She said, climbing onto hookfang. "Ok boy, lend me your speed." She whispered before clicking her tongue and giving hookfang the queue to go. He really was like an entirely different dragon with Roxanna on his back. Toothless wasn't impressed following rather than leading but only grumbled about it to himself as they flew towards the academy. He knew he'd only be able to match Hookfang with Hiccup on his back and even then, with how the other dragon was flying, he'd only be able to do it over a longer distance.
"I'm new at this... I'll do my best to learn to be better, Toothless." Amara promised the dragon as they flew in and down to the academy. Once there, it was clear the problem as the Deathsong continued to shoot the gate, trapping itself further.
Roxanna landed and jumped off hookfang, instantly whistling the same turn she'd taught hiccup. The dragon instantly stopped and started whistling back. "Bane, stop being silly and let me in." She said from behind the gate, her hands on her hips. Bane stopped and sat down, watching her silently.
At it's relaxation, the amber substance turned liquid again, allowing them to raise the gate. Amara stood with her parents and their dragons as Roxanna went in, everyone nervously watching.
Roxanna walked calmly over to bane. "So, calmed down now?" She asked as the 'dangerous' dragon watched her closely. He breathed smoke from his nose and seemed to growl as she got closer. But once she put her hand up he pushed his face into her palm, purring like a cat, until he pushed her over and licked her face. "Ok beau, ok, enough." She told him, making him back up. "Bane, these guys are friends. Not food." She said, though the latter part was more for the human benefits than bane's as he didn't eat dragons or humans, just whatever Roxanna gave him.
The majority of the Berkians looked on nervously, but Amara stepped forward shyly, asking Roxanna if it'd be ok if she formally met him... something Hiccup was inwardly proud of her for. 'Maybe if she can make at least friends with this new dragon, she can find her own...' he hoped, though knew he'd have to outwardly scold her for this reckless behaviourlater.
"Bane? Be nice." Roxanna said, stepping aside. Bane sat and watched her, his head tilting left and right as he hissed and clicked with his tongue. "Close your eyes. Remember?" Roxanna told her, meaning their lesson. "There's a lot of emotions in our eyes that can be scary to a new friend."
Amara nodded, remembering the lesson and closing her eyes, relaxing as she held her hand out as she'd been taught, showing Bane the same trust and offer of friendship one would give any dragon, as well as respect.
Bane pressed his muzzle against her hand, making a mixture of chirping and purring noises. His tongue soon started licking between her fingers. "There you go, a friend for life."Roxanna said confidently.
Amara smiled, and Hiccup let out a sigh of relief. "Seems we had nothing to worry about after all... come down to the town centre later, Roxanna... we'll see about crafting you a custom saddle for Bane."
"Ok. Anybody else want to pet him? His wings are really velvety and he loves belly rubs." Roxanna was quick to offer everyone, intent on proving he wasn't dangerous.
After the children got permission from their parents, who were now free to go back to work, they all formed a line to meet the new dragon.
Bane turned out to be a natural with kids. A great big goofy smile on his face and tongue lolling out like a dog. He was soon rolling onto his back and wriggling happily as eager little hands reached for a spot to rub. Roxanna stood back, just smiling. She didn't need to see to hear how happy he was.
Amara smiled softly. "Do you want to go visit Dragon Nip Valley now?"
"Maybe in a second when he's had enough. I don't want us to meet more amber blobs and put up with a big crying baby again." She said.
Amara nodded, smiling and waiting patiently.
Roxanna slowly starting making her way back to Amara at the entrance and, seeing that his rider was leaving, Bane got up and followed, purring as he passed the kids until he was at Roxanna's side. Then he stooped his head so she could touch it and together they left the enclosure.
Amara smiled, happy to walk alongside them, showing the way to a valley meadow, filled with a tall, grass-like herb. She picked a handful of it and handed it to Roxanna. "This is Dragon Nip. This valley is a meadow full of it"
"Oh I see." She said, taking the hers and sniffing them. "They remind me of something, I just can't think what." She said, offering one to Bane which he was only too happy to take.
Amara smiled. "A lot of times, when dragons get sick from things other than eating eels, dragon nip is the only way to calm them enough to be treated...especially when they get cavities."
"Sounds like a really useful thing to have about." Roxanna said.
Yeah...the other day, Gobber was complaining about having run out and having to knock out his patients the old fashioned way to deal with cavities. Let's gather some to bring back. A couple armfuls, once dry, should last until the thaw." Amara said with a grin, starting to pick from the tallest growth, but leaving the roots so the herb could grow back.
"Makes sense. Want me to carry any?" Roxanna asked.
"If you could carry one of the armfuls, that'd be a huge help... then it could all be delivered in one trip."
"Sure, just pass it over." She said, holding her hands out.
Amara nodded, smiling and passing the herbs over until Roxanna's arms were full, then picking her own armful. "We just have to take it to Gobber's shop... it's a combination Dentistry and Saddlery." She told her with a smile as they started walking back.
Roxanna just followed her lead, listening to Amara's walk and letting bane guide her with his head or tail.
Amara smiled, glad to have a helping hand, as this was something she had had to do before alone. It was a bit after mid-day when they arrived. "Just place it on the counter, alright, Roxanna?" She said as she did the same. "I'll ring the bell for him once we're set here."
"Sure." She replied, doing as asked.
Amara smiled, ringing the bell over the counter. "Gobber! Dragon Nip Delivery!" An old man with a hammer for an arm and a peg leg, with a metal tooth and an an impressive moustache. "Aye, I've been needing more... an boy oh boy! How'd you get so much in one trip, lassie?" He asked in shock as he had his new young apprentice help him bundle it all up to hang and dry. Amara smiled. "Roxanna helped me carry it all, Gobber. She needs a saddle for her Deathsong, as well." Gobber went and changed his hammer hand for a role of measure-marked tape, knowing he needed to measure the dragon's size around to make sure it was custom fitted. "Did you have any kinds of features in mind, Roxanna? Shields, decoration, custom steering, or the like, lass?"
"Erm, no. Not really. The best saddles for horses are simple. As long as bane is comfortable then I don't mind. Though maybe a few saddle bags would be useful if you could manage it?" She asked.
Gobber nodded as he listened, measuring the area the saddle would have to cover, and noting where the fastenings would have to go so as not to impede Bane's wings. "Alright, Lass. Swing by when you're ready to head out in the morning, I'll have yer saddle ready for you then."
"Thank you so much for your work... is there anything I can do to repay you?" She asked.
"Just take care of yourself and your dragon." He said with a smile, before turning to the massive lump of a dragon inside. "Grump! Get the forge going, we have a saddle frame to forge!" The Hotburple grumbled, chin-crawling to the forge and shooting a molten ball of fire into it to get it going, being as careful as he could, but still setting the walls of the forge on fire, which were patted out by Gobber before he got to work on the saddle frame, cutting the leather as well. Amara smiled. "So... shall we get a meal for Bane as well as work on getting some food to make for tonight's meal?"
"I'm sure he'll appreciate that, right boy?" Roxanna asked bane. The deathsong hissed and wagged his tail happily. "Bane loves anything to do with food." She smiled.
Amara smiled, passing her friend a basket from the pile by the food storage when they got there. "Have Bane wait for you outside... then you fill the basket with food for him... that'll end up basically being his own feeding basket, though we do have self-serve dragon feeding stations, and even spacious stables for those dragons who are nesting... they usually nest around Snoggletog, but we haven't had any nesting dragons in a few years." She said softly.
"I see. I don't know how long we'll be here for though I appreciate how accommodating you all are. We both do." Roxanna said, taking the basket while wondering what a snoggletog was when it was at home? She kept the questions to herself though.
Amara smiled. "You do know you can ask about anything you don't understand, right?" She asked their guest as she looked through food storage. "Hmm... chicken, Pork or Mutton tonight, what do you think?"
"Mmm... maybe mutton tomorrow, it's better slow roasted. So maybe pork or chicken?" Roxanna suggested. She'd heard Amara's offer but choose to ignore it as she still wasn't 100% sure where she stood.
Amara nodded. "Yeah, true." She said grabbing enough cuts of pork to cook up for everyone to have one of them, as well as some fixings for a dish of greens for the meat to rest on and flavour. "There we go... you all set with Bane's dinner?" She said, grabbing a chicken for Stormfly and filling Toothless' basket with fish as well, the meat and vegetables in bags.
"Yeah... he mostly likes vegetables. If he eats too much meat it makes his amber solid and sometimes he becomes ill when he can't spit it out because of it. Then he has to gulp down loads of hay to stoke his fire and it melts the amber." Roxanna replied, her basket laden with carrots, peas, parsnips and some lettuce heads as well as a few small oily fish and some off cuts of pork.
"Huh... do you think that's why wild ones tend to trap Stoker-class dragons more? For the special kind of oil they produce? Dad said the only way they could escape before was with Monstrous Nightmare gel... it and normal dragon flame was enough to melt the shots they got stuck in, according to dad." Amara asked.
"Possibly. It sounds like a terrible trap to fall into. The more meat they eat, the more quickly their amber will set so the more need to hunt. I expect that the dragons internal inferno would ease the amber too." Roxanna mused.
"Yeah, likely." Amara said. "Oh! Dad collects books, and has said before I can read them when I like... Dad actually first earned fame by securing peace with the dragons by killing one with the help of Toothless that we called the 'Red Death'. Dad drew a picture of it from memory a while back, and the imprint is on the back of the page... I'm just curious if you know about any other name for it. It's absolutely massive: large enough to completely block out the sun, and lives in the depths of volcanos."
"Well the largest dragon species ever recorded in my world is the Ukrainian Ironbelly. It is a bipedal breed, metallic grey in colour, with an immense wingspan, long talons and rough scales said to be as hard as steel. It is the largest breed of dragon which reaches up to 60ft, and its eyes are deep red. Sometimes the eyes seem to be the same colour as its body because of a protective scale." She recited, having read about them at home. "That's the only one I can think of. They're native to Ukraine so might explain why you've only seen the one. They don't migrate as they're quite slow because of their weight."
"Apparently, it was the queen of the nest on a volcanic island we always just call 'Dragon Island'." Amara said, going home to get started on the evening meal. "Book of Dragons is on the shelf by the stairs, the page on the Red Death is the one after the Night Fury page."
"Maybe later you can read it to me. I've felt the stuff engraved on your doors and, I gotta be honest, it's nonsense to me. Besides, bane has a reading age of 5." She said.
"Not a problem... I just meant it so you could do feel on the shape of the Red Death. We can read by the fire before bed tonight."Amara said.
"That'll be nice. So... you think your old man is cool with bane being around? Only I couldn't read him at all earlier." Roxanna asked a little nervously.
"He'll probably ask if you'd mind having him pose to be added to the book, but I don't think he'll mind. Dad likes learning as much as he can about different dragons, even now. It's... just taken a back-seat since before I was born." Amara said softly. "With how wild Deathsongs are, he can't get close enough to them for long enough to draw them to add to the book." She explained, getting the meat set up. Smelling his own dinner ready, Toothless came in, lit the cooking fire, opened his basket, and started to eat. Amara chuckled, but started to cook the food, the salad plated up to receive the meat as each was cooked. "How do you like your meat cooked?"
"I take it as it comes. Unless I'm at school I can't really be fussy." Roxanna explained. "I'm certain bane will at least try to pose for him though he might get bored and just want his belly rubbed again." She added.
"Dad's usually pretty good at drawing before the dragons get bored of posing." Amara said, smiling and proceeding to do the cooking.
