Disclaimer: Nope. Don't own it. Who wants to be a ninja and steal the rights for me?

Chapter 10: Explanations

A/N: For those that didn't read the intermission please do so. There is important contest information there that you will be interested in.

Previously:

Star looked around widely and then up at her mother. "Mother, I have to go back to Berk." She looked at her mother with wide pleading eyes. "I have to go back and tell Toothless and Hiccup the truth! They'll understand! I have to get back to Toothless."

Elizabeth slowly shook her head as she caressed Star's head. "I can't understand you Star..." She said sadly as Star continued to make pleading sounds. "Trust me that this is the right thing to do? Please Star." The sadness and misery that filled Star's yellow eyes made the older woman wince in pain. "Everything will work out in the end. You'll see."

Star shook her head miserably. "Toothless will find me and when he does you'll be in danger." She had little doubt in her mind how angry Toothless would be when he finally caught up to them. She didn't much care about what would happen to Havardr, but she would protect her mother from the black night furies wrath.

Elizabeth stayed with Star for the rest of the day and a cot was set up for her so the elderly woman would be comfortable when she slept. Star didn't get any more explanations nor did she see Havardr for the rest of the day. As night fell she didn't get much sleep. Instead Star wondered just how far away Toothless was and when he'd finally rescue her.

The group flew for hours until finally Hiccup spotted an island slowly growing on the horizon. "Great." He mumbled in annoyance. "The Outcast island." It was easy for him to recognize the island he'd once been taken to.

Hiccup knew that Trader Johann went to many of the islands around Berk, and he knew that the man even visited the Outcast Island, he had just been hoping that maybe Trader Johann had been in a more hospitable place.

"What do we do Chief?" Eret asked as they grew closer and closer to the Outcast Island. Having lived with the people of Berk for over ten years he'd learned quite a bit about their feelings concerning the Outcasts.

Hiccup felt more then heard Toothless growl. "We go in, question Johann, then leave." He reached forward to place a calming hand on Toothless's neck.

"And if things get violent?" Eret frowned a bit at that.

Toothless growled louder and he let the fire build up in his mouth. "Then WE get violent." No one would stand in his way of finding and saving Star. No one.

Toothless's little show was enough to answer Eret's question and it wasn't long before the dragons began to descend.

Hiccup sighed as several of the outcasts pointed up at him and Eret on their dragons. 'That didn't last long.' He thought to himself. "Let's land bud." Hiccup told Toothless. Now that they'd been seen they really shouldn't put off this short visit.

Toothless nodded in agreement and he swiftly made his way down to the docks where Johann's boat was located. Skullcrusher landed shortly after him.

"We're only here to talk to Johann." Hiccup said loudly as several outcast Vikings rushed onto the docks and towards them. "We'll leave shortly."

Toothless growled and let the fire build up in his mouth again to warn off the outcast. Most knew who he and Hiccup were so they quickly backed up.

"Chief Hiccup! This is a surprise." Johann said as he came up from below deck. "What brings you here to the Outcast Island?"

Hiccup, knowing that they wouldn't be long, didn't dismount from Toothless's saddle. "Morning Star's been kidnapped." He said quickly. "We think that man you brought a few months ago, Havardr Colby, is behind it."

The genuine look of surprise on Johann's face concerned Hiccup. "Well that…that doesn't make sense." Johann rubbed his head.

"Why is that?" Eret demanded. He too hadn't dismounted from his dragon.

"Well ya see," Johann started quickly. "Where the place that Havardr is from is just like Berk." Johann had been very surprised when his ship had washed up on the shores of Havardr's homeland.

Hiccup's concern started to grow. "What do you mean Johann?"

"They have dragons there like Berk does." Johann said with a shrug. "It's why when Havardr asked to come along with me I agreed. Dragons seemed so important to Havardr's people."

Toothless cursed and shook his head. "I don't believe it." He said even though the only one there that would understand him would be Skullcrusher. "Someone who holds dragons in such high regard would never outright kidnap one." Then again he didn't know anything about the place Havardr had come from. For all he knew it was an island full of people like Drago Bludvist.

"Where is this island Johann?" Hiccup asked as he rubbed Toothless's neck to keep him calm. "We need to know. We have to find Star."

Johann was conflicted about what to tell Hiccup. Technically he'd sworn not to tell anyone about where the island was; he'd had to make that deal if he'd ever wanted to leave. But with Morning Star gone he knew he'd be in big trouble if he didn't say anything.

"I'll get my map." Johann said with resignation as he went back below the deck of his ship. The air was tense on the dock as Hiccup and Eret waited for the trader to return. Finally Johann returned and in his hands was a large rolled up parchment. "It's a copy of my map, but it's accurate."

Hiccup reached down and tried to take the map. "Chief…I know how important Morning Star is to Berk. She's a sweet lass for a dragon, but I'm sure what has happened wasn't because of Havardr Colby."

Hiccup frowned. "We have to make sure. He's the only lead right now."

Johann nodded and let go of the map so Hiccup could take it. "Do me a favor then; when and if you get to that island do not let them know I'm your source." Toothless scared him, but he was pretty sure if Havardr's people knew that he had been the one to tell Hiccup and Toothless where their island was, Johann wouldn't live for too much longer.

Hiccup put the map securely away in his bag before nodding. "You won't be mentioned." With that he set Toothless's tailfin in the takeoff position. It was enough of a signal that Toothless took off seconds after followed by Skullcrusher and Eret.

After they'd put some distance between themselves and the Outcast Island Eret finally spoke up. "What now Chief?" He asked pensively.

Hiccup sighed. He knew what Toothless wanted; to go out and immediately hunt down the bastards that had taken Star, but they needed to do this the smart way. "We go back to Berk and question the prisoner." He was pretty sure they would be able to get some sort of answer out of the man. "Then we'll hunt down this island Havardr is from."

Eret nodded. It was a solid plan and he knew it would only get more detailed the longer Hiccup had to work on it.

If there was one benefit of having dragons as travel companions it was the fact that flying on a dragon cut the travel time well in half. They made it back to Berk in record time.

"Hiccup!" Astrid was the first person to make her way to Hiccup and Toothless when they landed. She skidded to a stop when she noticed just how angry Toothless was. "What happened?"

Hiccup climbed off of Toothless and sighed. "Johann gave us a map to Havardr's island." He rubbed the back of his neck. "Has the prisoner said anything?"

The shake of Astrid's head made Toothless snarl. Many of the Vikings nearby jumped and backed away in fear of Toothless. No one had seen him like that since Drago Bludvist had tried to attack Berk.

"Come on bud. Let's go meet this guy." Hiccup said coldly. Toothless growled and nodded in agreement. "Just remember, we need this guy alive."

"We'll see." Toothless grumbled as he followed after Hiccup to Berk's prison cells.

When they arrived to the prison cells Toothless had worked himself into quite a fury. He was at the point that his blue fire was glowing dimly through his scales and tendrils of smoke were floating from his mouth.

"Come on bud, we need to keep our cool." Hiccup whispered as the two of them were led to the most secure of the prison cells. Astrid had done a good job in making sure the man would not get away. Several guards stood at five foot intervals outside of the man's cell and the particular cell that the man was in had only a tiny slit in the wall for a window.

"Unlock the door." Hiccup ordered one of the guards when Toothless finally got his fire under control.

The door opened slowly and Hiccup got a good look at the dark haired man chained to the floor.

"Are you going to talk now?" Hiccup asked as he and Toothless entered the cell.

The stranger looked up calmly with his green eyes. His right eye was rimmed with a dark bruise, there was a bandaged cut on his cheek, and it looked like his arm was broken. Snotlout had really tried to get this guy to talk.

"Are you the chief?" The man asked hoarsely. He frowned a little and cleared his throat.

Hiccup poked his head out of the cell. "Get some water." He said softly to one of the guards.

Toothless dug his claws into the stone floor beneath him and his shoulders shook in suppressed rage. "Where is she?" he demanded coldly. "Where is my Star?!"

The prisoner slowly looked at Toothless with his calm green eyes.

The way the man looked at Toothless, so unafraid and unaffected by the obviously enraged night fury, just pushed Toothless over. His fire came raging back and his scales lit up with his blue fire. "WHERE IS SHE?!"

"Damnit!" Hiccup cursed as he quickly wrapped his arms around Toothless's neck to try and hold him back from attacking the stranger. He knew he wouldn't be able to physically stop him, but he knew Toothless would hold still so long as Hiccup was touching him.

The man blinked and stared at the hissing and screaming night fury. Molten drops of his plasma dripped out of his mouth and sizzled against the floor.

Toothless could smell the lingering scent of Star's fear and panic on the man. If his Hiccup hadn't been holding onto him Toothless would have mauled the man to make him answer for what he'd done.

"Tell us what you did with Morning Star," Hiccup said quickly. The guards had rushed into the room when Hiccup had cursed only to hastily back out again at the sight of Toothless. "The white night fury. Where is she?"

The man looked from Hiccup to Toothless still as silent as a grave.

This was the last straw for Toothless. Using a wing and his tail Toothless pushed Hiccup off of him and then, when Hiccup was safely away from his plasma, Toothless rushed at the stranger and pinned him to the ground. "Where is MY MATE!" His eyes were slits with rage and madness as he threateningly let the plasma drip right over the man's head.

The calm and uncaring look the man had been sporting changed to one of satisfaction and he smiled just a bit up at Toothless. "She is safe." He stated plainly and simply.

Hiccup knew that he wouldn't be able to get Toothless off of the man until the man had finally told us something or had died. "What do you mean 'safe'? You kidnapped her."

The man turned his head a fraction of an inch to look over at Hiccup. "Yes, but no harm will come to her."

"Pardon us for not trusting you." Hiccup said sarcastically as he leaned against the wall of the prison cell. Suddenly he felt better about Toothless being so close to killing the man.

"Give her back to me." Toothless hissed as he dug a claw into the man's broken arm. There was a soft crunching sound and Toothless got a bit of satisfaction from the man's pained expression.

Hiccup winced as he heard the crunch and he sighed. "You better tell him something or else you're going to lose that arm permanently." The healers on Berk were very experienced with broken limbs, but they couldn't repair something that was nothing but splinters.

It wasn't the pain that finally made him talk; it was the commands from an Alpha. "I-I was left behind to e-evaluate the male night fury." He said as he hissed in pain, but Toothless lifted up a little on the pressure he was applying to the man's arm.

Hiccup frowned. "Evaluate him for what?"

"Evaluate his connection to the female!" The man said quickly so Toothless wouldn't reapply the pressure. "To see how close they were!"

Hiccup was silent for several long minutes as he really thought about what the man had said. He'd had a feeling that when Star grew up she and Toothless would become more then friends. He figured they would become mates if only because they were the only two left.

"You were thinking about kidnapping Toothless weren't you?" Hiccup asked slowly. The only reason to study a male dragon after stealing a female was to see if the two would fight to get back to each other. Hiccup had learned over the years that when dragons mated nothing stood in their way of each other.

The man quickly shook his head. "I'm under orders-"He hesitated then. Toothless moved his paw to dig a claw slowly into the man's shoulder. "I'm under orders to not say anything until I was sure the two were a mated pair!"

"Toothless I think he gets the point." Hiccup said as he pushed off the wall to walk over to Toothless. "You'll keep talking?"

The man slowly nodded. Hiccup pulled Toothless off of the man and tried to get him to sit down.

Even though he was off of the man he continued to growl and light up his scales with his blue fire.

The man winced as he sat up and his shoulder started to bleed. Hiccup stuck his head out of the cell again and shortly afterwards a middle aged woman came in to wrap his shoulder and look at his arm.

"Let's get a few things straight." Hiccup said as he leaned against Toothless's side. "I know your island has dragons like Berk and I know Havardr Colby has something to do with this." No matter what Johann had said Hiccup was positive Havardr was behind the kidnapping. "Toothless knows when people are lying to him so I suggest you keep your answers honest and straight to the point."

The man nodded. His mind worked fast to figure out just how he would explain things. He wouldn't be able to tell these people everything; he was under oath to keep his people safe. "Havardr took your white night fury." He said quickly. "I swear she will not be harmed."

Hiccup nodded. "What were your orders?"

The man licked his lips and let out a yelp when the healer started setting his arm again. "There are some things I can't say." The man quickly continued. "To protect my people! Please! I'll tell you about my orders, but there are some things I just can tell you."

Toothless growled sharply at the man and his tail lashed back and forth. "You are in NO position to compromise!"

Hiccup looked at Toothless and could guess at what the night fury had said. "We'll see. I can respect you protecting your people, but if your answers are not satisfactory I will need more."

The man hesitantly nodded. He had been worried that the Chief of Berk would be a little less forgiving.

"Now…what were your orders?"

Star honestly didn't sleep well during the night. The rocking ship and the sounds of the waves brought back to many memories of the night her sister had died. It didn't help that she was afraid she'd wake up only to find that her mother had been a figment of her imagination. Star didn't know if she would be able to take the loss of her mother a second time.

She could tell when morning came as the people up on deck started moving around more. The deck above her was crafted well enough that very little light could seep through the cracks.

Star's ears lifted up when she heard light whispers near the stairs leading up to the deck. She looked over and growled softly when she spotted several men looking in at her. Her growling didn't seem to phase them as they just stared at her. Star felt a bit nervous as she realized they were looking at her with awed fascination.

"I see you're awake."

She jumped to her feet and spun around to face Havardr who was leaning against the wall of the ship. How had she not noticed him standing there? How long had he been standing there? "What do you want?" she growled out angrily.

Havardr sighed and shook his head. "I brought breakfast." He waved towards the basket with fish in it and a plate of food for Elizabeth.

Star eyed the fish warily, but didn't say anything further. She wasn't too hungry, but she knew humans needed to eat on a regular basis. She waited silently as Havardr brought the basket of fish to her. He'd wait to give Elizabeth her food since the elderly woman was still asleep on her cot.

"You brought breakfast. Now what do you want." Star demanded as she pulled the basket closer to herself. Even though she wasn't hungry it wouldn't hurt to eat one or two of the fish; it'd be a waist of perfectly good Icelandic cod if she didn't eat it.

Havardr rubbed the bridge of her nose. "You know...I'm starting to get the feeling that you're a brat." He mumbled quietly to himself. Havardr dropped his hands when he spoke up. "I promised you explanations. I'll tell them to you if you're willing to listen."

Star swallowed her first fish and thought about his offer. She didn't much like Havardr, but she did want to know what the hell was going on. Maybe if she knew what was going on she'd be able to get back to Berk. "Fine." She huffed out.

Havardr sighed and shook his head again. This dragon really was a brat, but he knew it wasn't completely her fault. The situation was not the best and it was probably putting both him and her on edge. He hoped that things would get better by the time they made it back to the Island; he didn't know what he was going to do if he had to drag Star off the boat in chains.

"From the beginning then." Havardr said as he pushed up off the wall and went to one of the crates near Star's crate. Despite her growling at him he reached in and pulled out a large rolled up canvas. With a huff he carried it over to the wall and used two daggers to pin the canvas to the wall. Havardr tugged once to make sure the canvas would stay before letting go.

The canvas unrolled to reveal a large map. Star quickly recognized the cluster of islands where Berk was and she looked at that part of the map longingly.

"This is a map of the known world." Havardr said as he blocked the part of the map Star had been staring out with his body. He rolled his eyes when Star simply glared at him. "You already know where Berk is." He said with a huff as he pointed to the far bottom left of the map. "This is our home. Øya Natt og dag."

'Island of Night and Day.' Star thought as she looked at the large landmass. It looked to be a few times larger then Berk. Off to the right side of the map seemed to be a blurry landmass that stretched off of the map. Her eyes went back and forth from the island to where Havardr was standing. "That's a lot of Ocean." She said blandly.

Havardr nodded and shrugged. "It's pretty accurate. Natt og Dag is almost a month of travel away from most places." And that was just if they had good weather. If the weather was perfect the time could usually be cut by a few days to a week. With a dragon pulling a boat usually people could get too and from in just a week.

"Anyway." Havardr cleared his throat so he could keep going before being interrupted again. "Something like a few thousand years ago the first humans crash landed on Natt og Dag. They soon discovered that the island was home to many species of dragons." He'd give Star the short version of the history lesson. "A huge war started between the humans and dragons. It lasted for generations."

Star rolled her eyes. "I'm not a child you know. I don't get bored easily." She hated it when adults treated her like she had a short attention span.

"Too bad." Havardr said with a huff. "Anyway. So there was a huge war. Lots of humans and dragons died." He didn't much like talking about the war; not many people from Natt og Dag did. "The war ended when a young human child got lost and found herself in the heart of the dragon nest." He held up a hand before Star could interrupt. "The dragons had only ever encountered the angry adult humans so this frail and quiet girl was a surprise to them. The dragons took the human child to their alpha to find out what to do with her."

Star didn't much like the way Havardr was telling his story, but she had a feeling if she interrupted again he'd probably walk out.

"The alpha didn't know what to do with the human child, who was frightened out of her mind, so he sent her to the dragon queen." Havardr paused there as he considered whether or not to edit out some of the important parts. Shaking his head he continued. "The dragon queen, a white night fury mother, saw this child for what she was: an innocent child. So she made a decision to give the gift of speech to the human child. Once she could understand the dragons the white night fury escorted her back to the humans. The human child became a bridge between the dragons and the humans." He really was editing out quite a bit of the story, but he figured Star would learn the rest later.

Star frowned at Havardr as he told the obviously watered down version of the story. The mention of the white night fury made Star curious as well as this 'gift' that the dragon had given to the human child.

"One by one the white night fury gave the gift of speech to other humans until finally there was peace." Havardr looked down at his nails for a moment waiting for Star to ask her questions. He looked up at her in curiosity when she remained silent. "So yeah. After that the humans built a town where both dragons and humans could live side by side. Pretty soon the dragons told the humans all their secrets and the white night fury became a symbol of the island." Havardr paused again as if waiting for Star to ask a question.

"Oh! I can talk now?" She asked sarcastically when Havardr looked at her expectantly. "So how did this white night fury 'give the gift of speech' to the human?" She asked curiously.

Havardr had figured that would be Star's first question. "The queen dragon bit the human." He chuckled a little at the wide eyed expression on Star's face. "And before you ask, because I know you will, only a white night fury can do it. Normal night furies don't seem to be able to do the weird...magic...stuff that the white ones can."

Star looked down at her paws as she thought about what he'd told her. She looked over at her mother and an idea came to her. "So if I...bit someone they would be able to understand me?"

Havardr frowned a little as he followed her line of sight to the still sleeping Elizabeth. "I wouldn't suggest it quite yet." He said as he rubbed the back of his head. "Usually the mother teaches the daughter about what she can do, but you never got to learn." He pointed out. "You'll need to talk to the elders. I don't know the stories on how that stuff works."

Star frowned and her muzzle wrinkled. "And why can't I ask another night fury about all of this?"

Havardr shook his head violently and scowled. "I thought you'd be smart enough to figure it out."

"Figure out what?" Star demanded coldly.

"I told you before Star that you're the only white night fury; that only 1 is born every thousand years." He was pretty sure Star had forgotten some of what he'd told her yesterday. "The other night furies can't do what the white can do. Did your night fury on Berk tell you all this?" Havardr asked sharply.

Star reeled back. No, Toothless hadn't told her any of this. Was it really possible that he hadn't known? He'd told her how he'd lost his parents as a young adult night fury, but they would have told him something before they'd died...right?

Havardr relaxed seeing as how he was finally getting through to Star. "We need you back home Star...not many people are born with the gift of speech. There are quite a few people who can't talk to dragons." He rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "Life just isn't the same without a white night fury."

"Is that really why you kidnapped me?" Star demanded. "To...to bite a bunch of people? That's...that's so stupid! The people of Berk can't talk to dragons and they do just fine!"

Havardr's patience snapped. "You know what? Forget it. I'm done for today." He stormed up the stairs and back up on deck angrily. He'd come to the conclusion that Morning Star was a brat who had no idea just how important dragons were to the people of Natt og Dag. He'd let someone else explain things to her.

"You shouldn't be so hard on him Star." Elizabeth said softly as she sat up on her cot. "He's been searching for you for years. When everyone else gave up hope he continued to search."

Star winced as if slapped by her mother's words. She didn't care if she was being difficult or not...she just wanted to go home and be with Toothless again.

A/N:

So yeah. If you haven't read the intermission go read it. There is important info about a contest there. You should go read it.