-Chapter: XI-

-Questions-

`As often as I have been held as being a thinker, which is not the best title in a Viking settlement mind you, I have also been held as a questioner. Someone who thinks before leaping, someone like me, is someone who would dare to question everything. Everything from the nature of stone, to the life of a fish. I don't dare question the things we know, for what good would come of that? What good would come of thinking of things in your own light? Everything good could happen. The same day that I made the connection with the Night Fury, was the same day I learned something astounding. Something far bigger than a hefty hammer or sword. I question what I learned, then and now...

Hiccup worked his way out of the woods, following his quick map he had sketched out. He wanted to stay with the dragon. For once he actually felt safe around one. Time would have none of it, as the sun slowly was consumed by the sea as he pushed in the door to his home. He grabbed a few logs from the dry storage room; the trees surrounding him were soaked from the recent rainstorm. He started a small fire in the pit, and collapsed in a chair lining the stone border. He wondered if this is what it felt like for his father, after he had a long and trying day. He then wondered what his father would think, if he knew that his son had made a spiritual connection with a Night Fury. He wondered what his father would think he gained a spiritual brother in heart that day. It wasn't a pretty thought.

"How could I have be lead so astray? All my life, I have been told so many lies and false beliefs about them, about us." He voiced his thoughts to himself. "What does it all mean?"

So many questions ran through his head, never stopping since the connection. His own thoughts raced through living as a dragon, through living a life that was not a Viking life.

"Are we so ignorant to this simple truth? Are we the cause for so much damage?" He dared not think of what it meant. "Were we to blame?" He looked up from the fire, his mind snapped back to reality as he suddenly felt his soaked tunic and trousers.

He groaned and climbed the stairs with a sigh. He dressed himself in clean, dry clothes. Grabbing clips, he moved back to the fire, attaching his wet garments to the drying line above the pit. His aching feet moved him to a dry chair.

He could see the slight steam rise up from the hot coals, as glistening droplets fell into the hot embers. He stared into the hot flames, his mind alight with a fierce drive. He couldn't move his mind from the flames that burned before him. He sat, and stared, barely breathing as his focus drove ever deeper into the blaze. He gazed, as memories and thoughts drove themselves into the flames, bursting into flame before dwindling away to nothing.

Hiccup stared as the fire burned on. Smoke and wispy vapour curling in hazy dances in the swirling currents. He could feel his own core burning with the wood. He could not just feel the heat in his face and hands, he could feel it in his being. He could feel the lighting and the passion of the blaze. It was mesmerizing. Nothing compared to the dance in his heart as he stared into the passions of the blaze. The feeling the love and care his mother would give him when he came back hurt. He could feel the strength and drive that drove him in his progress through Gobbers brutal smithing training. He felt the energy that the fire gave off, collect in himself. He felt like he was tied to the flames, tied down with energy, a connection. Nothing could be felt of the world around him, he no longer felt the wood chair beneath him, he no longer felt the wool knitted cloth wrapped around him.

All his feelings and emotions were tied down with the burning blaze set in his minds eye. Nothing mattered but the love, care, passion and drive that coursed through him as he drank in the fire light. Be it hours, days, seconds, or minutes, seasons or years, cycles or passings; time was irrelevant in the trance he sat himself in. No thoughts of the village continuing on, no worries of his father and the other hunters coming back. The world was blind to him, as he blind to the world. He stared on, feelings and emotions swirling within the fires.

His minds eye drifted over his memories and thoughts. He fell onto the image of his friend in the woods. His one true friend who saw him as he was and accepted him for it. A friend who accepted him for his mistakes, his faults, his clumsiness and ineptitude. Acceptance for being simply himself. Not the son his father wanted, not the trainee that would satisfy Gobber, not the Viking that Berk would all accept. The compassion, the understanding, the friendship that he felt through that bond eased into Hiccups heart as he felt the flames of the pit stir his soul.

His mind lurched forward as Hiccup found himself stretching outwards to the tongues of fire. He felt numb as he slowly reached his right hand in front of him. He wanted to feel all the warmth that the fire brought, in his hand, in his limbs. He was cold, cold even with the flame cooking the air into a cozy warmth. He wanted to feel warmth, to feel the memories again. The flames licked upwards, his hand so close. He could feel its warmth, like a gentle blanket protecting him from the dead of winter. He could feel his hand be licked by soft flames. He didn't register anything but a gentle warmth, easing his tender flesh. Brushing away any feelings of pain, or anguish. He let the heat flow through his hand and into his wrists, up his forearms, past his elbows. He could feel the warmth spreading past his shoulder and through his core. Down his limbs, and into his head. He felt warm all over. There was no cold, no sense of pain, no displeasure. He felt good, content with himself, as he pulled away.

Hiccup looked over his hand, the hand that was licked by the flames. He brushed his fingers across his palm, and the back of his hand. There was no reddening of the skin, there was no charred flesh. All he felt, was a warm touch. His finger tips, calloused over from years in the forge, were present and fine. He untied his tunic and pressed his left palm against his chest, over his beating heart. He felt a hot, burning core. A strong heart beat beneath his ribs. He wiggled his toes, numbness lacking.

Hiccup sat there for time he knew not. His mind slowly drifted away as his eyelids fluttered. He let sleep take him.

A soft breeze ruffled the auburn hair of a young boy. Faint clouds parted the gentle rays of soft sun as it fell across the face of this boy. Waves crashing against a rocky shore sounded in the distance. The soft grass that surrounded the boy danced in the coastal wind. The sound of gulls echoed in the distance as the boy woke from his slumber, his eyelids fluttered at the brightness of the sun. Shaded green eyes scanned the horizon as the boy moved himself into a sitting position. His gaze spread out over the landscape. He was on a grassy hill, overlooking a beach. A forest of birch and elm was behind him. Across the land to the left was nothing but rolling green hills, and a few streaks of water. His mind slowly started to process where he was. He looked out over the water.

'Where am I?' It wouldn't feel right, breaking the music of the surroundings. He looked down at his body. He was dressed in light Viking attire. His clothes he remembered from his evening in the chair by the fire. 'Is this a dream?' He stretched out over the soft grass, feelings its blades brush across his skin. It all felt so real. He breathed in the salty air, tasting its unique aroma. He sat there, cross legged, looking out over the sea. Vikings were sea-going folk. They travel often, moving from settlement to settlement, constantly shifting. It was natural for one to become attached to the sea. Hiccup admired the simple beauty the place brought him. It wasn't cold, nor hot. He was comfortable under the rays of the sun.

"I could get used to this.." His voice traveled over the grass, mixing in with the music around him with harmony. Hiccup sat there, shifting his gaze from area to area. He didn't need to get up, he could see anything and everywhere from where he was. He sat like this for however long. He looked up in the sky. There was nothing but the puffy clouds and a bright sun, a few gulls echoed in the distance. He brought his gaze back down. He relished in the moment of simply gazing out across the horizon. It showed him the edge of the world. Anything beyond was a mystery waiting to be solved...

"Wonderful..." His tone was soft. He didn't dare break the echos around him.

"...wonderful..." A voice echoed back. Hiccup jumped. Was it his imagination? He franticly looked around with a short lived moment as he found a great black dragon sitting on its haunches, looking out in the same direction that Hiccup was.

He floundered, as he clumsily shifted position to move away, until he heard the voice again.

"Frightful notion, Troubled soul." The dragon shifted its gaze, looking at the boy that was barely able to contain the fear that stretched across his face. "Young and True. Bold and Bright." The dragon looked back to the horizon. Shock was plastered across Hiccups face. He tried to make words but all he managed was a burble. "Fear me?" The dragon asked with a sign of worry.

Hiccup looked over the dragon. The being seemed familiar. His gaze looked over his friend as he spied the damaged tail fin. "I shouldn't..." He didn't know if actually felt fear, but know this dragon was his friend from the woods, surely that meant he was a friend now.

"Shock and Awe. Tone of uncertainty." The dragon continued with his strange phrases.

"Are they meant about me?" The boy asked the strange being.

"Truth." Hiccup looked up at the dragon. He was looking back at the boy. A suspicious grin was showing on his lips as he spoke,

"Asking too much at one too little a moment, or shall I continue with my cryptic tone?" The dragon spoke with a hint of a smile.

Hiccup was shocked at the sudden question. "I do know you have no reason to have an understanding of me right now." The Night Fury looked back over the waters.

Hiccup did not remove his eyes from the being before him. He didn't understand at all. "I, I-, I don't. I don't understand." his voice a stuttering mess. "How are you talking?" The Night Fury flashed a quick smile. "As easily as you talk now. Ones voice may flow simply when one wishes to simply, talk."

"I still don't understand." Hiccups voice was tense.

"At the moment I do not intend that you should." He answered back, never ceasing his gaze across the horizon. "Do you know who I am?"

Hiccup looked over the dragon again, taking in his lack of a left tail fin. "You are my friend." His tone lightened as he knew he was in no danger from him.

The Night Fury continued, "Two in one bond. A shared path. A shared connection. The two bonded remain till death do part." The Night Fury looked back over the boy, "You may be right in describing it as a 'brotherly bond'. We now share a deeper friendship, which due in part explains my presence."

Hiccup was stunned. He fell onto his back, starring up at the sky. It was all so much, at all so little a time. "What do you mean, 'explains my presence'?" It was all he could think of to ask. Why was the dragon here, in this strange land?

"I am here, simply because I had the wish to be here." He moved down onto his belly, laying comfortably in the grass. "We share a connection, and this connection shares in our beings."

"Does my presence disturb you?" Hiccup looked up at the questioner, the Night Fury did not move from its gaze at the horizon. His large eyes turned over every crest, every sparkle of the sea with vigor. Hiccup wasn't sure of anything. His own being betrayed him as his friend understood completely.

"Time is like a companion, always by your side, reminding you to cherish each and every moment. Time also serves to help you understand all that may be." He turned to face Hiccup.

"In due time, you may understand." With that, the Night Fury vanished from Hiccups sight, the trees crumpled away and the sea disappeared into a hazy fog. All around him, Hiccups eyes grew dark as his vision faded and he tumbled into complete darkness. His mind floated as he was pulled together by a resounding thud.

Hiccup woke from his chair with a start as a loud knock sounded from his door. His eyes adjusted to the darkness as he took in the burned out ashes of the nights fire. He felt a slight chill waft in from the door frame as he got up. His feet were numb with ache, and his hands were stiff as stone. Stumbling along, he stretched his toes and fingers, waking both as he fumbled for the door handle and pulled it open.

Before him was Fishlegs. "Hey." He answered the groggy Hiccup with a somewhat cheery tone. "Gobber's collecting the class for an evening night at the south-west cliffs. He wants everyone there." With that, he turned and walked down the steps leading down from the house. Hiccup looked over to the right and saw a few people sitting atop the cliffs. It was the favorite camping spot for the teens of the village. . His class he supposed.

"Well, wonderful way to spend the evening." He grumbled sarcastically. He closed the door, and moved to his chair where his cloak was draped across. He started thinking about his dream and what it meant. It all felt so real, yet here he is, in his house on Berk.

"What did it all mean?" He was used to hearing of stories telling about dreams and how they can affect people, but he's never know what they really meant. His eyes dropped to the orange embers of the dying fire, and the dream that proceeded it. His thoughts churned.

'...In due time...'

If it is not clear: "(text speak)" represents a dragons form of Mind Tongue, or thought speaking.