Being the only one to ACTUALLY see the serpent face to face presented a few problems. Problem one, was that Ember had to draw out and describe what had attacked the village. Problem two…she couldn't draw, and she was no good at charades.

"Is it a worm?" Frankie looked down at the horrible drawing in the sand as the others around her started to laugh.

"No I think it's a rope with a weight on the end." Hiccup tilted his head and squinted. "Or it could be a one eyed lizard." That was the closest guess anyone had come up with so far.

Sinking into embarrassment, Ember tossed the stick away from her. "I'm doing my best here guys." Observing her own drawing, everything made sense. There was the one eye, the head and the long body. "It's clearly a giant snake."

"I'll take your word for it." Astrid chuckled looking over to Hiccup. "so what do we do with the…um…" Unable to keep herself calm, she erupted into a fit of laughter and fell over. "W-what are we going to do about this?" pointing to the drawing her laughter intensified.

Walking over Frankie and Alyssa patted Ember on the shoulder.

"Well, not everyone can draw something as complicated as a serpent." Alyssa looked on at the drawing in slight disbelief. ("Who can't draw a simple snake?")

With that said, Frankie stepped forward and grabbed the stick. "Did it look like this?" In a few quick seconds, she had drawn a perfect picture of a one eyed sea serpent. "It's basically a large black snake with yellow eyes and a bad attitude." Seeing Beryl walk up to her she smiled. "It looks like Hoper doesn't in Beryl?"

Sitting and observing Frankie's picture, Beryl narrowed his eyes. In a few moments the small Terror seemed to grin.

"Beryl, no." Seeing what was coming, Fran glared down at him. "Beryl!"

At hearing her voice sound so stern, he closed his eyes, turned tail, and trotted away.

Looking down and comparing the two drawings, Ember sank lower into her embarrassed state. After seeing Frankie's drawing, hers now confused even her. ("Is it a worm?") Shaking her head she sighed. "Yes Fran, is looked like that."

"Fran?" Frankie looked up in shock. "No one's called me that since…well no one's ever called me that." A wide grin crossed her face. "I kind of would rather be called Frankie or Frances if you wouldn't mind."

No time was wasted as Ember looked Frankie in the eye and poke honestly. "I do. What? Do you think I'm going to run around yelling Frankie all day? Why say something long and complicated when I could just call you Fran?"

"Well I…you said that so bluntly…(long and complicated?)" Shrugging Fran tossed the stick aside and examined her work. "So, one of you has pissed off a sea serpent?"

"Not just any sea serpent, a class five sea serpent." Appearing to be deep in thought, Alyssa examined the picture. "If it's as big as Ember claims it is, then what you're looking at is an adult male serpent." Turning to Hiccup Alyssa glared. "If I get killed by a sea serpent after being brought here AGAINST my will, so help me gods I will smite you from the afterlife."

"So Alyssa, what do you say we let them talk this over so we can go see Marble." Finally having someone to take care of Marble was an answer to her prayers, and she couldn't have been happier to see Alyssa. "Please come see him."

Though she didn't really want to be in Berk at all, Alyssa still couldn't resist helping a dragon in need. Especially if that dragon were a Night Fury. "Fine, I'll take a look at him."

"Oh, thank you!" Grabbing Alyssa's shirt sleeve, Ember pulled her off toward the hut, and they were there in what seemed like the blink of an eye. "He's right in here." Pushing the door open, she led the way into the small dark room where Marble lay curled around a fire. "He's still really sick, and can't really do anything. Though, I suppose he was more active when the serpent was around." Holding her side she smiled. "I guess you could say he and I got even."

"Even for poisoning him?" Even with just a mere glimpse, Alyssa knew what was wrong with him. "He's sick yes…but I don't think you found him like this."

Ember knew she'd been caught, and gazing into the fire the memory of what really happened played through her mind, as it had been for days. "I felt bad about it…I still do feel bad about it. I've loved hunting ever since I was a girl, but I never…I never liked hunting dragons." Picking the poker up Ember stirred the ashes. "I was out on a routine hunting trip. It was just me and the wolf I'd been tracking for days…or that's what I thought anyway. I was ready to take it, but as I took the shot it ran off. I didn't realize that I had hit anything until the snow turned red. I hit him with a poison arrow. My village uses poison to kill the animals we don't intend to eat." Kneeling down, she patted the top of Marble's head. "I tried to help him, but at first he resisted. I was finally able to trick him into getting on cart, and then a ship. It was a miracle of the gods...and after our boat was destroyed, it was another miracle that we landed in the right place, and were found by the right people." Looking over at Marble she closed her eyes. "I only pray for one last miracle. After all this is my fault."

"Why wouldn't you say anything?" Alyssa's tone was that of both anger and disappointment. "If poison was the culprit, you could have just gone to a medicine expert in your village for a cure."

"Yeah well, my village isn't very friendly when it comes to dragons." Ember sat down and looked into the fire. "I hate my village for the things they do to dragons, and I've been trying to stop them." The pony tail behind her back fell forward and dangled into her lap. "I'm not going to give up until they don't hurt dragons anymore…"

"Well you're off to a good start." The heavy sarcasm in Alyssa's voice was harsh. "You'll be the one giving him the medicine. I'm not risking my hand because of your mistake."

"Sounds like a good enough deal." Looking to Marble, Ember sighed. "Just…call me down when you've fished making the antidote." A tear escaped her eye as she ascended the stair case.

Looking back to Marble, Alyssa backed away seeing his eyes open and focused on her. "U-uh…" Catching the angered look in his eye, she was taken by surprise.

His eyes were narrow as he looked back and forth between the stairs and Alyssa. He couldn't speak, but what he was trying to say came across loud and clear. He didn't appreciate what she had sad to his soul bound companion. He didn't appreciate what had been said…

…to his rider.