The day started as usual, since Amara wasn't up much later after they got back.
Roxanna wasn't sure if it was because of the change in weather or if she was becoming ill, but either way she did not want to get up when the light started to filter through her windows.
Amara walked up, soothing Bane as she gently laid a hand on Roxanna's forehead, as she'd seen both her parents do to her or each other at times to check for any kind of fever. "She's burning up... we need to find out what's wrong." Amara said, careful to try to let Roxanna sleep. "Bane, please, try to ensure she stays comfortable? I'm gonna go talk to dad... Gothi's our healer, she'll be able to tell us what to do... at least, as far as I can tell, she's just got a fever... there's no hallucinations or explosive cough... so hopefully it's not Eel Pox." She said, heading downstairs, visibly panicked.
Bane cooed, probably agreeing with her and continued to keep guard over his mistress.
Amara was slightly out of breath from panic. "Dad, Roxanna's burning up... I think we should call on Gothi, just to be safe... do you mind if I borrow Toothless to go get her?" She asked, the worry clear on her face.
"Sure, you know where to find her?" He asked, getting up and whistling for toothless who soon came padding through the door.
"Yeah, I know, this time of day, like most any, she's up in her hut. Thanks, Dad... be back soon." She said, rubbing Toothless' head before she got on. "C'mon... Rox isn't doing well, Toothless. We need to get Gothi." She said, opening his tail fin. Her lessons with Roxanna were paying off, as she was able to stay calm and read what Toothless needed from her now, unlike before. They soon had arrived, and she thanked Toothless as he landed before she knocked on Gothi's door, explaining the situation to the respected elder and before long they were back home, Amara leading the way up to the guest room.
Roxanna was still sleeping silently and bane was watching over her being surprisingly calm and behaved.
Amara still seemed nervous as Gothi examined her. When the elder spoke, as she was now able to, it was slower than the other time Amara had heard her. "Just keep her comfortable and make sure she gets the best food for this as possible, Amara Haddock. It's just a cold, she'll be better in time for Snoggletog." Amara breathed a sigh of relief at that. "Alright, thank you, Gothi. I was worried about her as a friend."
Bane purred his thanks too though he didn't seem to care too much. Dragons seem to have a sixth sense about these things. While they're sympathetic to their riders emotions, they seem quite capable of telling if somebody is pretending to be ill or the degree of illness.
Gothi nodded, and as Amara worked on making something for Roxanna downstairs as Hiccup smiled after hearing the news and headed to take Gothi home. When Amara came up around noon with a home-made chicken soup, with the last they had of what Johann had called "noodles" in it, she smiled at Bane. "Can you help me wake her? She missed breakfast, and Dad gave me permission to stay home and take care of her... we'll have to tend to the egg later, but for now, I want to make sure to get something into her. I see her as a friend, Bane." She said softly, speaking to the Deathsong as she would to any human.
Bane tilted his head and cooed then started nudge Roxanna's hand, breathing warm air through his nose, creating steam that drifted through her fingers. Roxanna grumbled, rolled into her side and slowly opened her eyes sleepily.
Amara stood beside her. "Hey... hope you get well soon... I would have let you sleep, but you do need to get some food in you. Feel up to sitting up?" She asked, holding a tray with the bowl of steaming chicken noodle soup.
Roxanna didn't look impressed but hardly any people are impressed when being woken up. Bane pushed her 'helping' her to sit up. "Thanks..." she managed to croak through what sounded like a pretty sore throat.
Amara nodded, gently placing the tray over Roxanna's lap. "You're welcome... Dad actually gave me leave to not go with the rest of the village to take care of you, today. I'll take a quick trip to tend to the egg for today while you eat, but I'll be back as soon as I can, I promise." She said softly.
"Na, you should go. Bane can take you. Its just a cold. I just want to sleep." She yawned.
"Ok... just make sure to eat your soup, ok? We'll be back."
"Yeah, don't worry." She nodded.
Amara nodded. "Alright, we'll be back as soon as we can, just get your rest. Mum left Stormfly, and even taught her to fetch small things like water mugs, so if you need anything like that, you can ask Stormfly for help, ok?" She said softly, double-checking to make sure Bane's saddle wouldn't slip, but was comfortable for the dragon.
Bane hissed, looking back at his mistress. Roxanna hissed back. "I'll be fine." She said to Amara. Once Amara was in the saddle, bane took off into the sky.
Amara sighed, staying calm like Roxanna had taught her before guiding Bane back toward the cave by the cove and asking him to warm up the amber again after checking on the egg. Besides slight movements within, the egg was still. "A couple more days at least, I think..."
Bane nodded in agreement, chirping softly.
She smiled softly as they headed out after the nest was warmed back up. "Thanks for your help, Bane. Let's get back to Roxanna, huh?"
Bane looked back along the coast, towards where the trader was with the town's folk. Amara had been on about it for a while so bane knew it was important to her.
"You don't mind making sure she stays comfortable, and getting me if she needs another bowl of soup, since I left it on a hot plate to stay warm?" She asked him. "I'd trade my wool cloth for the dies she asked for, some leather, and some things I could trade with Sven for more wool to be able to make those 'dress robes' she asked me to make."
Bane hissed like a snake and nodded, his wings fluttering.
She nodded, scratching him in what seemed his favourite spot in thanks after they landed back in Roxanna's room. "Alright, Bane. I'll be back soon." She promised, heading to her room and grabbing the chest of cloth before heading down to the docks as fast as she could. Once there, she was surprised at how little Johann made her haggle to get what she needed, even for this time of year. It still took her a few hours, but she had the dye, leather, and fresh-sheared wool from Johann and Sven filling her chest in place of the wool cloth. She poked her head in to let Bane know she was back, then went to work on finishing the outfit she'd started before, using the leather to apply a wind-proof outer layer to the outfit.
In Amara's absence, Roxanna had managed to eat the food left for her. She was still fast asleep as bane curled up by her bed.
It took until dinner time, but Amara finally finished her gift, and wrapped it up. She started cooking immediately afterwards.
Even as the rest of the family came home, Roxanna still didn't come down. Gothi had said that it would be best to let her sleep it off though, and with bane watching her closely, there was no use worrying.
Amara fixed up a plate, asking Toothless to heat the hot plate with a low flame. After the family ate, she headed up with Roxanna's dinner. "Rox? I brought dinner." She said softly, knowing how bad noises effected her when she came down sick.
"Thanks... I'll eat it later..." she uttered from under the blankets.
Amara nodded. "There's another bowl of soup, but also a cut of mutton... try to eat it before it gets cold, ok?" She said softly.
"... kay" she muttered, pulling the covers tighter around herself.
Amara smiled. "Rest well, Rox... I'll check in in the morning."
Roxanna didn't reply as she'd fallen back asleep. Bane chirped a good night to Amara and settled down beside his mistress.
Amara smiled, leaving Bane his dinner, too before going to her room and settling down to sleep. She hoped that Rox would get better soon, sending up a silent prayer to the gods as she drifted off to sleep to that effect.
Thanks to her long sleep, Roxanna woke up earlier the next day. She yawned, stretched and felt generally better though her throat still hurt.
Amara peeked in on them on the way downstairs. "Hey, feeling any better?" She asked on noticing Rox was awake this time.
"Yeah, much. Thanks." She said, stretching and getting out of bed. "Sorry to trouble you." She said.
Amara smiled softly. "It's no trouble... what are friends for? Mother traded some of her own tempered weapons for a year's worth of honey and dried chamomile... I could make you some Chamomile tea with honey for your throat, if you'd like?"
"I don't want to be a bother... but I would appreciate a hot drink." She said.
"I told you, it's no trouble or bother, Rox. You're my friend... if you can't help your friends in some way, what else makes life worth living?" She asked, preparing a bag of Chamomile and other herbs while putting a kettle on for the tea and also working on breakfast while waiting for the water.
"How much honey would you like? Mother swears by Chamomile Tea with Honey for a sore throat."
"Just a spoon will be fine, thanks." Roxanna smiled.
Amara nodded, working on breakfast until the kettle whistled, setting the herbal tea to steep while she finished, then adding and stirring in a single spoonful of honey and serving the cup to her friend with her breakfast.
"Thanks. I feel better already. Did you two manage with the egg yesterday?" She asked.
"Yeah. It should hatch tomorrow at the earliest, actually." She said softly. "Bane also insisted I run to do my trading, I was able to haggle for enough stuff to get the wool I need to make the cloth for your dress robes, too, as well as the dye. Once I wash and card and dye the wool I got yesterday, I can start weaving the cloth to use."
"Great. Just let me know if I can help you with anything." She said, sipping her tea.
"Will do, don't worry about that." She said softly, heading out to get the dragons' breakfast.
Roxanna sat with bane and ate her breakfast, trying to ignore the close eye the dragon was keeping on her.
Amara was soon back with breakfast for the dragons.
Bane only left Roxanna when he heard Amara return with the food.
Amara giggled as her parents came down as well, and everyone enjoyed their own breakfasts.
Roxanna was silent as ever. She never did find it easy to talk to people in a group.
Amara smiled softly. "I'm glad you're feeling better, and that it was just a cold. I was afraid of it ending up being Eel Pox... the village usually has an outbreak during devastating Winter."
"Eel pox? Sounds ghastly." She said with a slight frown.
"Yeah, it's pretty nasty. It starts like a cold, with a really high fever... but then there is also a really explosive cough, and hallucinations in some people." Amara said. "Dragons can even get it if they eat an eel, except for two species we know of. An alternative for dragons for prey for wild Deathsongs are giant eels... the other species that actively eats them are the Typhoomerangs."
"That sounds very ghastly indeed." She said looking like she had a bitter taste in her mouth at the thought of the illness.
"Yeah. The whole reason we call it Eel Pox is because of the central ingredient to making the medicine to treat the illness." Amara said. "The blood of a specific species of Eel called a 'blood-bane eel'. There are a lot of other hard to acquire ingredients that mix with that blood to make the medicine you have to take to help your body properly fight off the ailment. And strangely, it doesn't seem that you can build an immunity... you can be immune for a year or two at most before you can catch it again." She explained gently. "But if it had turned out to be Eel Pox instead of a cold, I would have travelled all over the archipelago to get the ingredients for the medicine."
"Well, I'm most glad it isn't. I dare say bane would have carried you there and back again, trying to do so in one go." She said, rubbing bane's head as he pushed against her hand.
"Yeah, I can see that happening. He really seems to love you, as if you were part of his own blood family." Amara said softly. "He looks after you like Toothless and Stormfly do for us." she said, her parents agreeing with her statement.
"I'm all he's known so it's to be expected." She shrugged but did smile slightly.
Amara nodded. "Dragons are really amazing... I'm glad to live here, where we live together in peace." She said softly, finishing her breakfast.
Roxanna nodded but said nothing more as she finished her drink.
Amara smiled, putting the dishes up. "Usual training spot today, Rox?"
"Can do. Its all the same to me." She said honestly. She'd never had anyone shorten her name like that before. Sure, she'd usually be called 'Black' but anything other than her full first name simply wasn't done. Even so, she thought it was quite nice... even though it wasn't her real name.
Amara smiled as they passed a friend of her father's on the way outside. "Morning, Heather. You and Windshear don't visit Berk that often any more." She said softly in greeting, even as the Razorwhip sniffed curiously at Roxanna and Bane.
Bane pulled a face at the dragon and stood behind Roxanna, like a child afraid to be told off for teasing.
Amara smiled. "She won't hurt you, she just wants to say hello." said the black-haired and green-eyed woman to the Deathsong. She turned to the girl the dragon seemed to be hiding behind. "You must be some rider to have been able to train a Deathsong... and quite a singer... we had trouble with a baby Deathsong quite a few years ago... only way to keep it from crying was to sing to it... Hiccup tries to forget about it." She said as Windshear tried to figure out this cloudy-eyed human.
"I don't know about that... I just found his egg so he's probably just imprinted on me or something." Roxanna shrugged, pushing banes's tickling tongue away from her ear.
"That's quite possible... the baby Deathsong at Dragon's Edge seemed to have imprinted on me, too... it was calmest when I sang, and it even challenged an adult to protect me." She said with a smile, smothering a giggle as Windshear nudged Roxanna's hand. "I'm sorry... Windshear is very friendly and curious, if amazingly protective of me."
"So I see." Roxanna said, rubbing the dragons head gently in small circles. "It's character sounds a lot like stormfly, but probably rides more like bane..." she mused, speaking more to Amara here.
"I've been on her double with Heather before... Windshear actually is similar in flight to Bane... but she can keep up with Toothless at his top speed." Heather blinked. "I got a Terror Mail from Hiccup... are you the young lady who's been training Amara in riding dragons?" She asked kindly.
"I guess so..." Roxanna replied, not exactly sure how she should feel or what hiccup had said about her.
Heather's friendly smile was evident in her voice. "I think it's great that Amara found a friend who can help her out. I'm gonna be sticking on the ground for a while, and Windshear could use a workout, so you can borrow her today, if you'd like. Hiccup had nothing but praise for how kind and helpful you've been."
"Oh... well... thank you very much." She replied. Bane stuck his tongue out at them behind her back.
Windshear blinked her long-lashed eyes at him before basically copying him, which made Amara giggle.
"Well, we should get on while the day is young. Thanks again for the loan." Roxanna said before starting to head off.
Amara nodded, thanking Heather as well, even as Windshear crouched to let her on. Once settled, the girls left together, Amara using all she'd been learning lately to work with Windshear.
Roxanna let Amara lead the way. There wasn't much more she could teach her. Now it was all about practice.
It didn't take long for them to reach the cave, where Amara guided Windshear to the nest, the egg glowing more than before. "Yeah... it should hatch tomorrow." She said, nodding and turning to Windshear. "Can you heat the nest with a low flame, please?" The Razorwhip growled softly before doing as asked, a couple seconds all it took for it to be heated enough for a full 24 hours. After Amara thanked her, the girls headed out for some more practice. Amara used all the different tricks and stunt flying that Rox had taught her during the days practice, ending up back home in time for lunch. "I need to get to work on washing, carding, dying, spinning, and weaving the cloth for your dress robes, I'd like to spend the afternoon on that, Rox." She said with a smile.
"Of course." She replied, walking back inside behind Amara with bane following closely. The deathsong had really been trying to show off since Amara had started to try out different tricks with Windshear, as though needing to prove to everyone that he was better.
Windshear let out a soft noise, nudging some of her lunch, a couple extra greens, toward Bane, which made Heather, who was visiting the family laugh. "Roxanna, I think Windshear likes your Deathsong's company. She doesn't often share her meals with other dragons unless she wants to be their friend." She said with a smile audible in her voice.
"Bane, be nice..." Roxanna said softly to the deathsong who looked grumpily back at the humans then, begrudgingly, dumped a mouth full of greens in front of Windshear.
Windshear seemed to smile, nudging Bane affectionately and seeming happy to have a friend. Heather smiled. "I'm travelling around so much... Windshear doesn't get to spend much time with other dragons." She explained to Roxanna. "I told Hiccup, but since you're Bane's human, you should know, too... black is a very rare colour for Deathsongs... and the Dragon Hunters have a client who has paid them to capture a black Deathsong."
"Well, thanks for the warning, but we're not afraid of anyone. Still, we'll be cautious so don't trouble yourself." She said.
"That was the reasoning... but be extra careful. Viggo is leading this expedition himself, and he's ruthless." Heather said, which in turn made Amara nervous, but after they ate, she headed up to her room with a heated washbasin of soapy water to wash the wool.
Roxanna didn't feel threatened but she'd had to learn to be brave in that she couldn't see what she should be afraid of. Nervous? Yes she'd been nervous. Worried? Yes, that too. Anxious even? Oh yeah, especially before a test. But scared and threatened? No. Still, she sat quietly with bane, mentally preparing herself just in case.
Heather smiled softly at the Deathsong and his human, hoping nothing would happen, and glad to have at least warned them, before heading out to help with preparing the Great Hall. Snoggletog celebrations were the day after next, after all, and everything had to be ready.
Roxanna let everyone get on with their afternoon, deciding to go out on her own with bane. They took it slow but high so nobody would notice them hissing to each other as though in conversation. The truth is that they were speaking through a common, rare language. Parseltongue. A language spoken by snakes and reptiles primarily. It seemed that, being basically of the reptile family, dragons could also speak it. Roxanna had unfortunately been born with the ability to speak it fluently. For the first seven years of her life, it'd been the only language she'd been able to speak. Further more, it was also still linked more closely with being a dark one. Currently they were trying to decide the best way to get home.
Amara flew out on Windshear again, looking for them once dinner was ready.
By now, Roxanna and bane had landed on a cliff and were deep in discussion. Bane wasn't happy with the threat looming that Heather warned about. He'd much rather go and find the threat and crush it, than wait and see. Roxy agrees, she'd also prefer to take out the threat. But she also doesn't want the villagers to be in any danger... or for them to find out about her secret.
Amara continued searching, calling out as loudly as she could for them. "Rox! Bane! Dinner's set and ready, we're waiting for you!" She called out as best as she could over the wind of Windshear's speed.
Bird like song rose in echoes from the cliffs where Roxanna and bane had stopped. He was signalling to Amara that they were there and had heard her as they took off and joined up with her. "Sorry, I was seeking council. How's the egg?" She asked when close enough to not have to shout.
"It'll likely hatch around mid-morning tomorrow. I'm glad Johann usually throws in some extra fish and other dragon food with the trades I make with him. Once we find out it's gender... we'll have to come up with a name... and we should probably be there well before it hatches... which means we'll have to be up and eaten and at practice before Mother and Father get up." She said softly.
"Practice? You think you really need more training to ride?" She asked looking quite confused. Unlike the villagers, it was now obvious that Roxanna had never doubted Amara or her abilities. She was had to read and sometimes sarcastic and perhaps a bit aloof. But now it was clear that if nobody had insisted that Amara couldn't fly, Roxanna would have happily put her straight on Bane. It was also clearer now why Roxanna had insisted she wasn't friends with the dragon. They weren't friends. They were too close for that, like hiccup and toothless. She'd probably been around bane since a young kid but obviously didn't have the freedom to speak her mind. So bane couldn't be classed as family either... though he certainly was more like her protective big brother.
"Not really, but I don't think that the rest of the village will believe it until I am confidently soaring on my own dragon, so until my Thunderdrum is big enough and strong enough to carry me, that's the cover story, at least." Amara said softly. "I've been thinking about the behaviour you described from the dragons in the land you call home...do you think it could be something like a memory that's become instinct for them, like self-preservation?" She asked curiously. Having grown up around dragons, she was really hoping there was some kind of evolutionary reason for dragons elsewhere to behave as if they were still at war with humans.
"Probably. There's only so much I've been able to find out... not a lot of books cater for the blind." She smiled slightly. "It's so frustrating. There's at least two people at school I could get a good answer from... but school is hundreds if not thousands of miles away." She sighed. "I don't have friends but I do miss it." She admitted.
"Do you... have any pictures of what these people look like in your things? We could try Terror Mail, they're very smart. You could write the note, tie it to one of a Terrible Terror's hind legs, and show it the picture of the person you want to write to ask about it, and they could deliver it and wait for a reply."
"Yeah-No... being blind... kinda makes pictures useless." She said with a slightly embarrassed blush.
Amara nodded. "Well, it was worth a shot, to get the advice, you know?" She said softly, flying back towards home.
"I might be able to figure it out once I get back home." She said as they followed her.
"Alright, I'll work on those dress robes you asked for, and if you're home by the time I finish them, I'll do all I can to deliver them myself, ok?"
"Sure... I'll be sure to tell you where to send them before I leave." She nodded.
Amara smiled. "Sounds good." She said as they started down for a landing.
"Yeah... maybe you could even visit when I'm older and have my own place." She said as she got off bane.
"Maybe. You're really the first friend I've ever made...I'd hate to fall out of touch." She said, checking the food was still hot as they sat down to dinner.
"Oh I wouldn't worry about keeping in touch. That part would be easy enough." She said.
"Good to know." Amara said, settling in to eat.
Roxanna sat at her usual spot as Amara's family joined them and soon they started eating. Roxy was silent like always.
Hiccup smiled. "The pod, as you called them, of Night Furies is set to fly within 3 hours north of Berk in 3 weeks... we've had Gustav and his Monstrous Nightmare, Fanghook, tracking them on their migration path for a few years. How long before their rest on the outer mud flats should we separate Toothless from us to help him be ready to meet them?"
"The longer we leave him the better chance he'll have." She said simply.
Toothless cooed sadly, but understandingly at the same time. "Not tomorrow night, but the night after, is Snoggletog... we'll take him out to an isolated place the next day." Hiccup said softly. "I'm just worried he'd be lonely out there for so long."
"He can have a fellow dragon with him for the first week or two. But the week after that he'll have to be alone. It'd encourage him to call out to them." She said.
Toothless sighed, not liking it, but understanding. Then, making sounds the rest of those who knew him had never heard before, he asked Roxanna if he would have to wear the tail that let him fly on his own, or if he could have her or Amara with him the first time he flew with the other Night Furies.
Roxanna blushed and uttered back at him in a very low tone, hoping nobody at the table would notice. "Preferably, alone. But if needs be, we can fly alongside." She hissed back.
He nodded softly, cooing in understanding. He didn't like the idea of using that tail, he'd been gone so long last time, Hiccup had been scared. But if he had to, he'd use it.
Roxanna finished eating and took her plate to the sink to clean up.
Amara helped Rox out, and the girls soon bid goodnight to Amara's parents.
"Think I'm going to call it a night Amara." Rox yawned as she got near the guest room.
"Same. Night, Rox. Sleep well."
"You too." She replied before closing the guest room door with a huge sigh and slumping to the floor. Bane tilted his head as he watched her curiously. "What's the matter now?" He hissed softly. Roxanna glared at the direction the hissing came from. "As though you don't know." She snapped. "They didn't seem to notice, precious..." he hissed. "Noticing and commenting are two different things Beau... you wouldn't understand." She sighed. "I understand it upset you... and yet you replied politely in our tongue... why was that precious?" He hissed again. Roxanna glared but was too tired to argue so got into bed. She regretted letting him watch the Lord of the Rings films with her 4 years back. Before then he'd called her mama. That has annoyed her. Then it'd been Lady Black, like the house elves had. That too has been frustrating. But this, being called 'precious', was worse.
