Chapter 33- Who is to Blame

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Isle of Sterway, Noon

The flight to Sterway was fairly quick, only taking a morning. The island was really the rim of an ancient caldera; houses and buildings covered most of the crescent rim that surrounded a shallow harbor that opened out to the sea. I didn't know too much about Sterwayonly that it was old and that its economy was mostly based around the mining of rare metals like gold and diamonds. In fact it was the only source of diamonds in the entire archipelago. I was also aware that the two of us would be fine flying in on dragon back as after the war the inhabitants of the island had been quick to start using dragons—mostly Gronkles unsurprisingly—to help in their mining operations deep beneath the sea.

As most of the island was covered by the village there weren't any obvious places for us to land so we had to instead choose the docks. Finding a relatively open space among the crowded and busy waterfront, the two of us landed; Toothless coming down with barely a sound and Meatlug thumbing heavily and landing with a thud. I took my helmet off and glanced around, noting that there was a small crowd of mostly dock workers beginning to gather.

One of them, an older man with a rather long beard approached us. By the way he held himself, I assumed him to be the one in charge of the dockworkers around us. "You must be that Chief of Berk!"

I dismounted Toothless and met the man. "Did the Night Fury make it obvious?" I replied with a smile.

He chuckled nervously, wringing his hands. "I don't recall you having ever visited our island before. Makes me wonder what brings you? I hope nothing bad?"

I could guess what he was worried about. "You're right in saying I have not been here before, but my father had at some point. We're just passing through for the day and taking the chance to check the island out."

The man nodded slightly. "Well, as long as you're not bringing any trouble I am sure you'll enjoy the stay. But you might want to check in Chief Svean the Grounded, he would be glad to finally meet the famed Dragon Whisperer and be more than happy to show you around."

I internally groaned at the name I still couldn't escape. "I'll be sure to do so. Are our dragons allowed in the village?"

"We've got plenty of Gronkles already wandering around so your companion's will fit in just fine. Your Night Fury might draw a crowd though. Speaking of which…" the man turned and addressed the crowd behind him. "Get back to work! We've got a deadline to meet so get those ships stocked and ready to sail! You'll have your time to gawk at the dragon later!"

The crowd reluctantly dispersed and the man returned his attention to me. After another brief few pleasantries, he informed us that we would likely find the chief doing his rounds at the market which was just past the docks. Giving my thanks we headed there, along the way giving quick greetings to those who stopped to admire Toothless. The dragon seemed to relish in the attention and I was sure to do my best to reign in his ever-growing ego.

The market, much like the docks, was bustling with activity. It had to be three times the size of Berks and it was hard to make out the vendors through the crowd which parted around us as we walked through. Venders who did manage to see us tried their best to call for us and offer tantalizing deals assuming we had plenty of money to spend. I was a Chief after all. Unfortunately for them even if I had been interested I didn't have much on me to give. Money was an excess weight that I rarely needed which is why what little we did have was being carried by Fishlegs.

Which had become an issue as he needed to be stopped from compulsively buying scrolls and books from a few of the shops we passed.

At some point we simply stopped in the middle of the crowd, scanning over it to see if we couldn't spot anyone who looked like they would be their chief. The man from the dock said Svean was fairly short and stubby which would make it hard to make him out in the crowd. Thankfully Toothless was able to pick him out after standing up on his hind legs for a better view. Svean had already been making his way towards us as well, a brimming smile barely peeking out from his thick curly beard as he strode up to us along with a few of his escorts.

He placed a hand over his chest a bowed. "Hiccup Haddock the Third! It is an honor to have you here on my island!" he peaked up slightly. "Though certainly unexpected."

I returned my own bow. "I apologize for not announcing my arrival, Chief Svean. We are simply passing through and needed a place to stay the night." It was a simple cover story that was vague enough for anyone to have their assumptions that would hopefully not lead to many questions.

He straightened out and looked me over, and then Fishlegs, before nodding. "Sterway will gladly accommodate you. And if you'd like, I could show you the Mines while you're here! I've been meaning to reach out to Berk for a trade agreement recently and I think we have plenty of goods you'd be interested in having a steady supply of!"

I raised an eyebrow. Sterway and Berk had never had any direct trade agreement before. Most of what the island exported came to Berk through secondary sources, and I was told this was because Sterway didn't want to risk shipping such valuable resources all the way out to a small island like Berk. However, Berk had grown substantially in recent years and become a sort of new hotspot of trade, so it made sense why Sterway might want to change its mind.

I wasn't there to discuss a trade agreement though. Let alone one as big as he was offering. I also was more focused on the main reason we were there at all: to check their achieves for any clues that could help Fishlegs.

I raised a placating hand. "I am flattered, but now is not the best time. Once I get back to Berk I would be more than happy to reach out for a more formal meeting. In the meantime, me and my friend here would be more interested in seeing your village's library or even achieves, if that is alright?"

I needed to ask permission for the achieves as most islands tended to keep theirs locked up to outsiders. It made sense seeing as they sometimes contain sensitive documents about the island and its inhabitants. But they also tended to hold the oldest documents that were seen as needing to be preserved.

Svean returned a confused look before his smile returned. "Well, the library is open to all so there are no issues with that. As for our archives, I'm not sure what it is you might seek from them but I am well aware of the Chief of Berk's insatiable hunger for knowledge. And after all you've done for the archipelago, I see no reason not to let you have access. With an escort, of course."

He still seemed slightly confused why I was more interested in some old scrolls and not a lucrative trade deal, but he didn't make any moves to counter it. I guessed he was simply trying to give me what I wanted to be seen in better favor later on.

I breathed a sigh of relief, happy that we wouldn't have to deal with convincing them as we had on Beserker or be told it was inaccessible like on Springland. "Perfect, thank you. I'll owe you one." I said, leaning into what I assumed he was already planning.

He laughed deeply. "I'll remember that during our trade talks! Come, we should stop holding up the market. I will lead you to somewhere you can stay the night and after leave you with some of my guards to show you the way to our achieves."

I returned a smile and turned to Fishlegs. "Looks like we might just…"

Fishlegs, nor his dragon, were next to me and at some point during my talk with the chief had wandered off to one of the stands where he seemed to be buying an arm full of scrolls. I let out a small groan and rubbed my face.

He's going to end up spending all our money out here.

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Mines Beneath Sterway, Late Afternoon

After showing us where we would be staying, Fishlegs and I were quick to ask to be taken to the archives. We were led to the other side of the village where part of the caldera's rim jutted upward into a mountain that split the town down the middle. It was their main entrance to the mines below, and while at first I was confused it was quickly explained that the achieves were located at the end of one of the older shafts so that most people wouldn't be able to find it. What followed was a long trek down into the earth.

While at first the shafts were neat and orderly, cut with precision that told me it was recently carved and expanded, they soon became more rugged and aimless as we ventured into the older sections of the mines. Occasionally we would pass miners who were heading back up followed closely by their Gronkels. They would be surprised to see us, especially Toothless, walking the other way but would simply nod and share a greeting. For whatever reason, they seemed eager to not stand around and were almost jogging up the shafts.

I ignored a strange sinking feeling in my gut and continued forward.

I could also see why we needed escorts. It became a maze of branching tunnels and paths the deeper we went, and the air grew increasingly warm and dry. The walls of the caves also seemed more cracked, but something about them didn't seem right.

Soon though we came upon a black door that looked to be made of some sort of obsidian. One of the guards pulled out a set of keys and unlocked the entrance, opening it for us and letting us through, Toothless and Meatlug having to squeeze tight to get through. The guards lit a few of the interior torches on the wall before heading back for the door. He told us to call for them if we needed anything and also asked that we didn't stay too long. When I asked why, he simply said that the mines can be a dangerous place after hesitating.

The feeling in my gut returned but I again ignored it. We wouldn't be down there on the Chief's blessing if they thought it was too risky, so I chalked up the guard's reaction to being something superstitious.

I scanned the small circular cave we had entered. In the dim light, I could see it was filled with rows of old wooden shelves, packed with books and scrolls, all covered in years' worth of dust and sediment. They were split into two sides of the room, each having what looked to be five rows of shelves that went three shelves deep and encircled the center of the room where a single table was.

Above was a high ceiling that seemed to have some sort of opening near the top, one that I could only assume was made to let air in and out. The ceiling and walls also sported the same cracks the outside cave walls had.

Directly in front of us was a small lectern with an open book. Blowing the dust off and scanning the page, I saw that it was some sort of log showing who was last in the room. The most recent entry was dated several years prior to our visit. I hummed as I took out my charcoal and quickly signed my name and the date.

I turned to Toothless when I finished. "Give us a light bud."

He quickly shot a few small bolts of plasma to the remaining touches on the far walls the guard hadn't bothered to light. It didn't reveal any hidden sections of the room, but it did provide more light that would make it easier to read.

"Alright, let's get to work." I said to Fishlegs who had already begun scanning over one of the nearby shelves.

He hummed in thought. "This seems to be similarly organized to the one on Beserker. That would mean most of the shelves nearest the entrance are the more recent tribal documents. Though even these seem old. The further back into the room we go, the older the scrolls should be." he then dropped to the floor and looked underneath the shelf. "And don't forget to check for anything hidden away."

I nodded and chose the row to my right and began skimming, also directing Toothless to check for any scrolls on the floor.

Each shelf had four rows, with about fifteen or so scrolls or books for each, which meant that with Fishlegs covering the left side of the room and me the right, we had roughly just under a thousand books we would need to check. It was a daunting task, but we only needed to look for loose papers which eliminated the need to actually read anything.

Despite that, though, and what felt like hours later we had found nothing. I still had the last row to check, but I felt my eyes growing tired of skimming and opted to take a break at the central table in the room. Meatlug had fallen asleep next to it, and Toothless was lounging about seeming completely bored. When he saw me walk out of the row, his frills popped up as he looked at me expectantly.

I shook my head. "Nothing yet bud, sorry. Just need a quick break."

He grumbled and put his head back down as I took a seat at the table. Rubbing my eyes I called out to Fishlegs. "Any luck 'Legs?"

"Nope." his muffled reply came from what seemed like the third row. "But some of these documents are amazing nonetheless…"

"You're reading them?" I moaned, feeling like he was wasting time.

"More like glancing over, but a few I have." He walked out of the row with a handful of scrolls. "Some of these predate the Veil I think!"

That piqued my interest. "Really?"

He walked over and placed the scrolls down, letting a few sprawl open exposing maps of both the Archipelago and land I couldn't recognize.

"Is that…?"

"The mainland? I'm pretty sure it is. Norway, England, Alba, Orkney, and this map shows even further south with the Roman Empire and Fatimid Caliphat. It's amazing how much of the world is out there!"

I scanned the maps over, reading out each of the different lands; most of which I had never heard of. I even tried seeing if I couldn't find Bermuda or Florida, but quickly realized that those probably didn't exist when these maps were made.

"And a lot of these are really old trade logs that show shipments from places like Arabia, the Song Dynasty, and Russia." The smile on his face fell slightly as he looked over the maps, and a strange look came over him. "All of these places… we used to be able to go to them."

I returned a pensive look as I could understand what he was implying. Whatever the reasons were for the Veil, it was still undeniable that it felt like we were now stuck. Locked away from the rest of the world. It was nice to imagine what things could have been like if that weren't the case, but the fact was the only reason we were even there now was because of the Veil. History would be very different without it.

"Nothing we can do about it." I said simply.

Fishlegs sighed. "I guess not. Out of our control." He let one of the scrolls still under his arm slide out down into his hand.

"What's that one about?"

He took it and opened it. "Not sure, I didn't get to read it yet…" his brows furrowed, and a look of what almost seemed like dread came over him.

I stood up, hands still on the table. "What is it?" I asked carefully.

He glanced at me for a second before looking back down at the scroll and reading.

WE HAVE BEEN BETRAYED

AVOID THE MAINLAND

IT IS LOST

TO LEAVE THE ISLANDS IS DEATH

TRUST NOT THOSE WHO CLAIM THE GODS POWER FOR THEMSEVLES

TRUST NOT THE BEASTS WHO GAVE THEM THIS POWER

WE WILL PERSERVERE OVER THEM

LET THE WORLD BE LOST

WE WILL REMIAN STRONG

TOGETHER

AS VIKINGS

WE HAVE BEEN BETRAYED

THEY WILL NOT BE ALLOWED IN THIS NEW WORLD

MAY THE GODS BLESS US

I stared back at Fishlegs, not sure how to respond. The document, while short, carried a weight to it that carried through the centuries, especially when I knew full well what it was about. I had been under the assumption that when the Veil was put up, somehow people's memories had been erased or altered to hide the fact. But it was clear now our ancestors were fully aware of what happened.

Then why doesn't anyone remember now?

Fishlegs shuddered as he pointed to a list of names at the bottom of the document. "This document seems to have been sent to every existing tribe at the time it was signed, over five hundred years ago. I'm guessing right after the Veil was created."

I nodded slowly. "Most likely. Who sent it out, though?"

Fishlegs scanned over the scroll again. "Seems to have been signed by the Chief of Sterway of the time, Hadson the Steadfast."

There was a momentary surprise at hearing the name, but among the other things going around in my mind I didn't put too much weight on it. Hadson wasn't exactly an uncommon name, so I chalked it up to coincidence.

The document proved our ancestors knew about the Veil in some capacity, and were well aware the mainland was no longer accessible. It didn't make sense to me why that knowledge was lost, but if I had to guess there were only two reasons. War and conspiracy.

I sighed heavily and rubbed my head. "Certainly, puts some things into perspective. But it doesn't help us right now."

Fishleg's shoulders sagged slightly. "I guess not. But I wasn't exactly expecting to find anything from them here seeing as Sterway never came up in their writings."

I thought about it and found myself not agreeing with his assumption. The Knower had said he had been everywhere across the archipelago, so him not specifically mentioning an island didn't mean he hadn't visited. We were simply narrowing our search to the places he did bring up. And we knew the Knower liked to leave behind tidbits of his knowledge wherever he went; not content to keep it a secret. So it wouldn't make sense for him to completely hide it in some random book or shelve in a room filled with them. They would leave a clue, or hide it in plain sight so that those who were specifically looking for it could find it.

I thought on the assumption that he had been on Sterway and left something behind. He would have wanted it to be somewhere safe, somewhere that would last. On Clearland, he would have most likely chosen the archive. It was the one place that was dedicated to storing and preserving paper documents and was well protected, unlike the library that ended up being destroyed.

We didn't have access the archive of Clearland, though, as it was lost. Sterway's however, we were standing in. It was deep underground and locked to most people. If the Knower had left anything behind it would have been here.

Which means he must have left a clue somewhere.

I glanced at the entrance of the room and the stand. An idea came to me as a walked over to it and began flipping through the older pages. Fishlegs was quick to notice my strange behavior and asked me what I was doing. I explained my thought process, and after a moment he agreed with my theory. He joined me at the stand as we both scanned the list of names.

The further back we went, the more names there seemed to be. At some point, Sterway's archive had been open to the public and readily accessible, which made it hard to find anything to stand out. Except for one entry that was towards the beginning of the logs. Around the time of August, 1652, there was a name was signed simply 'K' with a date written out of order. The day and month matched with the entry before and after it, but the year was signed 1650, the zero having been written larger than the other numbers.

Fishlegs grabbed the book and held it closer to his face, seemingly having noticed something. "There's a notch in the zero. And if they wrote that to point at something…" he lowered the book and looked ahead, straight at the table. We shared a glance before heading back to it. Crouching I looked under, but didn't see anything. Fishlegs got down on his back and ran a hand along the rim of the table before his fingers seemed to bump into something.

"Clever Knower." he said with a smile as he grabbed the rolled-up scroll that had a color that matched the table's almost perfectly.

The commotion attracted the attention of Toothless who had gotten up and joined me at my side, looking at me curiously. I returned a smile before looking at Fishlegs. A part of me was hoping that the scroll we had just found was the exact page we were looking for, but I quelled my optimism.

"Well? What's it say?" I asked, placing my hands on the table and leaning closer.

Toothless went stiff next to me, but I ignored it.

He unrolled the page and began to read, but was interrupted when the room started shaking. Toothless had seemingly noticed it before we did as he was already starting to pull me towards the door. Meatlug had also woken up at the same time and began attempting the same. Dust and small chunks of rocks began falling from the ceiling and the cracks I had noticed early began expanding.

It was an earthquake.

The guards who were outside stormed in. "I told you not to take long! We need to get out of here before we get caved in!"

Fishlegs and I wasted no time in following their instructions as we ran out. While the shafts outside weren't large, they were big enough for our dragons to maneuver through; Toothless sprinting and Meatlug hovering. We mounted them and got one of each guard with us before racing up the shaft, the guard with me yelling over the rumbling which direction to go. As we got further up and entered the newer, more supported shafts, the paths behind us collapsed where we had been moments ago. That only encouraged our dragons to move faster.

We were quickly at the top of the mine and out the entrance where a crowd of the other miners was gathered.

We came to a stop and I looked around in a panic, heart racing at nearly being crushed. The quake was still going, but the island seemed to be taking it far better than Berk had. Even the buildings seemed barely affected by the strong tremor. Soon it subsided, and after dismounting Toothless with the guard, a cloud of ash and debris began wafting out of the mine.

The guard who had been with me grabbed my hand and began shaking it. "You saved our lives. We never would have made it out of there without your dragons."

"That's why you wanted us to leave soon. This has happened before." I replied, having realized the obvious.

He nodded. "For almost a month now. The island is sturdy and can take them, but the mines? We've lost many to them." There was sadness in his voice.

"Why didn't you tell us that when we were down there?" I pressed, remembering his hesitation before.

The man paused for a moment, glancing around before answering. "We were told not to mention it… The Chief doesn't want to cause a panic in the village, and didn't want to spook you off."

I sighed heavily, ignoring my annoyance at the chief for his carelessness, and as the feeling went away it was replaced with a new growing dread as I looked back at the mine.

A chill ran down my spine. First the dragons acting strangely on Clearland, and now the earthquakes on Sterway. It was becoming more and more clear that what had been happening on Berk was happening everywhere, and I had a very strong suspicion as to what was causing it.

I looked to Toothless who looked back, picking up on my concern. He crooned, and I simply placed a hand on his head.

"We need to hurry."

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Forest of Berk, 1:30pm

It had been a few days since not only revealing Lehaun to Astrid, Valka and Gothi, but also since telling a few others about the Veil and the threat it was posing. Surprisingly everyone had handled the news fairly well, with the main reaction being a want of what to do next.

Astrid had begun devising a plan of reaching out to other islands to not only check if they were experiencing similar issues but to also start organizing a relief effort. While Berk wasn't the richest and most resource-filled island, it did have a speedy transportation system, so Astrid saw it worthwhile to try and help other islands that may need it. She also tasked those at the meeting to begin fortifying the island to prepare for more quakes and any other issues that might arise.

None of it really involved me, though, as I had my own responsibilities to worry about.

Honestly the biggest thing to come out of the meeting for me was that fact Gobber now knew who I really was, and seeing as I was going to need help with the plane, I let him in on that as well. The old blacksmith was awestruck when I showed him the wreckage, and was more than willing to provide me with anything I needed to help get the engine working.

For the moment though, I was focusing on my Will training. It had been very taxing on me, exerting not only my body when training with Astrid but then my mind right after. Most evenings I felt like I was walking through a haze that had caused a few accidents already. Usually though a good sleep was enough to get me functioning in the mornings, and it helped that I hadn't had to deal with that thing in my dreams.

Though I did find myself wanting to see it again. I had a few questions.

"Hadson."

Lehaun's sudden voice startled me out of my thoughts as I looked up into the trees. She was perched up on one of the branches and peering down at me with a half-lidded stare.

She huffed. "Are you going to answer the question?"

I scanned my mind looking for said question, drawing a blank. "Uh, what was it again?"

Sighing heavily, she tilted her head. "I understand forcing your Will out can be hard on your mind, but you have been very absentminded lately. Well, more so than usual that is. I asked if you remember what I told you about materializing your thoughts through your Will."

I nodded, feeling a little guilty. "Right. Uh, and yes. I do. You said it was like turning the thoughts in my head into words."

Her frills perked up. "Good. Your aligning has been going very well and you are beginning to form a stronger connection with your Will. Now you simply need to use that connection. We can start with something simple."

She outstretched her paw and flexed its claws. For a moment nothing happened, but then what looked like small blue sparks of electricity jumped out between the claws as the limb glowed in the same way it had when she had made the explosive willstone a few days prior. The bolts of what I assumed were Will must have been fairly strong seeing as how defined they looked from where I was on the ground below.

She eyed me levelly. "You can consider this a raw form of Will. It has no purpose and thus is short-lived and violent. Being able to let it out without letting it get out of control is a good step forward. I want you to try."

My brows furrowed as I brought my own hands up and flexed them. Both felt sore due to training with a bow, and the fingertips of my right hand twinged with pain for a moment.

"That looks like it would shock me. You sure?" I asked looking back up.

She seemed to find my concern humerous as she chuckled slightly. "I remember asking the same question to my Sire." she paused for a moment as she seemed to think about something. "It will not hurt you. It is merely an extension of yourself, like a thought but visible."

"Thoughts can hurt." I retorted.

She returned a flat stare. "You will be fine, Hadson. Trust me."

I sighed and rolled my shoulder to relieve some lingering tension. "Alright, how do I do it?"

"You know what your Will feels like within you?"

I nodded. Ever since my pathways had opened, I could feel a strange sensation at the back of my mind that only grew more defined as the days passed. The small pocket of presence seemed to grow more defined when I did alignment, and in my head, I imagined it as a small sphere at the center of my thoughts. It was a strange sensation, it almost felt physical, but it would go away whenever my attention was on other things.

"Keep that feeling at the forefront of your mind. Imagine your thoughts coming from it and back through, like fish jumping from the sea."

"Okay…" I replied, thinking the metaphor was a little strange but doing so anyways. I brought the sphere to my attention, its edges sharpening the more I focused on it. Instead of fish my mind thought of an airport; planes taking off and landing on the surface of the sphere, each carrying a thought.

Lehaun shifted on the branch, laying herself down as she continued to observe. "Now, imagine those fish taking the water with them as they leap into the air. It trails behind and flows to wherever the fish goes."

The planes, instead of taking off, kept on the runway. But the runway stretched off the sphere and off with the plane. There was a strange feeling of pins and needles that erupted from the top of my spine which caused me to shudder and lose my train of thought.

Lehaun perked up. "You felt it. That is good. Very good. Try again but keep your focus. Ignore any discomfort."

"You said it wouldn't hurt." I responded as I eyed her, rubbing the back of my neck until the feeling went away.

"Discomfort and pain are very different things. I think you will be able to tolerate it." she responded with a slightly encouraging tone.

I took a breath and clear my thoughts, continuing with the imagined planes.

"Let those fish float away, off through your body; through your arm, your hand, your fingers, their tips…"

The planes sped down the runway, the prickly feeling from before returning and spreading down my spine and down my arm, going further and further until they reached the end of the limb. I looked at tips of my right hand, feeling something churning beneath them.

"Now let the fish burst—,"

The planes were struck by a bolt of lightning and with a flash, they exploded. From the tips of my fingers, a purple light erupted, and quickly after a force exploded that blew me back onto the ground as a crackle rang out in the air.

"Hadson!" Lehaun yelled as she dropped from the tree and came up to me.

My ears were ringing and my vision was blurry, but everything slowly came back into focus along with a burning sensation from my right hand.

I groaned. "What the Hell was that!"

"It looks like you released all your Will at once, which was not at all what I wanted you to do!" she got out with both a worried and annoyed tone.

I propped myself up, looking at my hand that looked to have been burned. "Shit. You said burst and my mind just… I don't know."

She sighed heavily. "Burst through the sky as they did the sea. Not… literally burst. I should have used a better word."

I grimaced. "Like you could have known what my mind would do."

"Still, I am sorry." she said as she circled around and prompted me to give her my hand.

I did so and she carefully clasped two claws on it, a soft blue light emitting from them that sent waves of a cool sensation into my hands. She retracted her claws and let out a heavy breath. I flexed my fingers carefully and found the pain to be gone along with the redness.

"Well that is useful…" I said, awestruck she was able to heal the burns so easily. Abruptly though my hand went limp, causing me to panic.

"Relax, you are fine. As I have said before, the body has ways of treating pain and healing itself. Push those too hard or quickly and there will be side effects." she said simply.

I stared back at her with confusion. "Like my hand becoming completely unresponsive?"

She shrugged her wings. "Only for a little while. Better than being burned and unusable for days, no?"

"Fair enough. Thank you." I sighed rubbing my now numb hand. "Say, why was it purple when I did it? Actually now that I think about it, the stone always did glow that color…"

Lehaun returned a considering look as she cocked her head. "In all honesty, I am not sure. I had noticed it before, but thought it was simply to do with you being human. Will has always been blue for me, and my Sire never mentioned it ever being different." She shrugged. "It is probably not an issue, though."

"Well, if you think so." I replied simply as I got to my feet, still feeling a little woozy. "Well this puts an end to things I think, I should probably head back."

She picked up on my unsteadiness. "Careful. After that kind of Will release, you are going to experience some withdrawal."

I rolled my eyes and cracked a smile. "Wouldn't be the first time. I'll be fine."

Truth be told I was slightly worried that it would mean I'd be bedridden for days again, but seeing as Lehaun didn't look super concerned I assumed it wasn't nearly as bad. Maybe the training was working after all and I had a lot more endurance than before.

And I just shot Will out of my hand and caused an explosion. That's gotta be progress.

The dragon didn't seem very reassured. "Even so, I think I will walk you back to the village. In case you pass out."

I didn't have anything against the idea. I thought it would be a good opportunity for small talk again. The last few days I had been trying to get as much of that into our conversations, and it seemed to brighten her mood along with mine. It also helped relieve some of the stress.

I agreed and we began the trek back to Berk, along the way me thinking of something to talk about. My thoughts came back to the question she had asked earlier, and the analogy of words and thoughts. I had never thought about it much until then, but I realized that whenever I heard Lehaun in my mind, she spoke English. I wondered if that was my own mind translating her thoughts, or if she had been speaking in English to me on purpose.

I turned to her and thought of a way to test my thoughts.

"Lehaun, do you and dragons think in your own language?" I asked in English. It felt weird to do so as I hadn't for several days, but it still managed to come out as I expected it to.

Lehaun eyed me with a curious look. "Going for small talk again?"

My eyes widened slightly. "You understood that?" I said, once again in English.

She seemed confused at first but then it dawned on her what was going on. "That was not Norse… It seems you were not the only one who the Veilstone imparted with knowledge…"

"Guess so…" I replied simply, confused about why it would have done that. For whatever reason Lehaun understood Norse, so it wasn't like she needed to know English to understand me.

Maybe it's just the bond acting like a two-way street…

"As for your question," Lehaun said, interrupting my thoughts. "Since dragons communicate mentally, we did not need a real language. We simply shared our thoughts and emotions as hard as that may be to imagine. But when humans arrived and began interacting with our kind, our cultures mixed, and dragons picked up words into their thoughts."

I raised an eyebrow. "Really? I thought dragons and humans were always at war until recently?"

She hummed. "The history of our two kinds is older than the war, and at some point we coexisted in relative peace. But dragons never trusted humans, and after the Veil that relationship only worsened."

"So was it the war that turned that into hate? Is that why you hate humans?"

She snorted. "I was never part of the war, nor was my pack. The Furies came to hate humans after they misused our knowledge, and seeing what we have to deal with today I would say we were right to feel that way."

"The Veil?" I asked leadingly.

She paused for a moment, eying me, before looking forward and responding. "Humans built it out of a self-righteous belief they were protectors of the very beings that gave them the knowledge to craft the Veil. The Furies were against such an idea and refused to help, but the mages of that time found a way to trick a handful into helping anyway."

"I had no idea…" I replied simply, becoming lost in thought about what she had said.

It sounded like something humans might do, but it also felt strange that they were able to trick the dragons into helping at all. As much as I wanted to poke further into that history, it wasn't exactly the upbeat discussion I wanted to be having at the moment, so I opted instead to try and bring it back to the original topic.

"Well, anyway, I brought this all up because I realized you had been speaking to me in English this whole time."

She hummed and looked ahead. "Not too surprising. I am sure that if you could speak with your thoughts to me, I would hear you as a dragon."

I perked up a bit. "I could do that?"

She smiled slightly. "It may be possible with our bond. Maybe I can try and teach you when we have some time."

I returned a smile. "Sounds like fun."

We continued our walk through the forest, continuing to lapse in and out of the conversation of random thoughts. The whole time, my mind was frequently occupied by the feeling of my limp hand dangling at my side.

-0-0-0-0-0-

A/N:

Record breaking new chapter oh wow. I have not much to say this time around, other than I hope you enjoyed another look into the side story and what it is building. Got a few interesting reviews last time, and I appreciate those of you that left them. It's always a boost to me to see people enjoying my silly little story.

Thank you to those who favorited and followed, it always means a lot to me. Feel free to leave your thoughts or ask questions.

Until next time.

4-9-23