PLEASE R&R! HOPE THIS CHPTER IS GOOD.

"Well bye Fran." Ember sat outside the house, waving as both Fran and Beryl were forced onto a horse just down the road. "I'm sure you'll be fine!"

"Frankie, just get on the horse and get going!" Alyssa had a hold on Frankie's arm, and tried desperately to keep her from getting away. "What did I tell you before? You aren't going to die, I promise you that!"

"Since when did I volunteer for this job?" Unlike Alyssa, Frankie tried desperately to get away from the group of people trying to keep her on the horse.

"Since you're the one who came up with the plan! Hiccup could see that they were getting nowhere fast, and now did his best to reason with her. "You're the one with the plan, and now you have to find a place for us to pull it off."

"Hiccup and I have to stay here to oversee the re-building of the village before Stoic gets back, and the others have to lead the dragons in their squads to speed up the re-construction." Astrid folded her arms as Frankie settled down on the back of the horse and looked over at them.

The look on Frankie's face wasn't that of anger, it was more of a look of 'why me?'. "C'mon~ can't you find someone else for this job?" Glancing up she caught sight of Ember sitting beside the door of the hut. "What about you! After all it is your butt we're trying to save!"

"Well you see I would go with you, but if the Serpent sees me I'm as good as dead." Ember looked serious as she spoke. "Seeing as it had no grudge against you, it most likely won't attack you unless you get to close."

"The part of that sentence I don't like is MOST LIKELY." Grabbing the reigns, Frankie couldn't help but feel defeated. "Well, as long as I have Beryl with me I should be fine."

("Does she not know by now that Beryl almost always ruins a good plan?") Sighing Alyssa nodded her head. "Yes, well if you do find the right place, come back and tell us right away. The longer we wait to kill a Sea Serpent, the more likely it will be to attack the village again."

"Fine…well, I'll be back as soon as I find the right place, but you ALL better get to work on the thing's we'll need to pull this off." With that, Frankie was off running with Beryl riding between her arms.

Watching Frankie disappear down a path in the woods, Alyssa was about to turn down the street when she heard someone from behind call her name. Turning she could see Ember walking down the lane toward her. "Ember? What is it? If this is about Marble, I told you it would take a while for him to be completely back to normal."

"No, it's not about that." The words came from Ember's mouth as if to set up a question.

"No? Then what is it?" Alyssa could see that something was bothering her, but couldn't quite tell what it was. "What's on your mind?"

There was a long pause as Ember looked back to the hut. After a moment she took Alyssa by the hand and led her down the lane. Not a word was spoken until she was certain they were out of Marbles range of hearing.

"Ember, what's this all about?" Pulling her hand Away, Alyssa studied her for a moment. "They way you act, it's like you're guilty of a crime or have some big secret."

"No, no, nothing like that." Ember sighed before leaning against a wall near the docks. "It's about Marble. He' been acting so strange over the past few days. I don't know if it' just the medication, but something about the way he acts toward me is really different."

"Different how?" The new subject struck Alyssa as interesting, and for a moment she allowed her curiosity to take over.

"Well, when I first met him after the accident in the forest, he would have taken any opportunity to strike me down where I stood. Now…I don't know. He acts like he's trying to defend me, and it seems kind of sudden and unexplainable." Looking to Alyssa, she found her in a state of hard thinking. Can you think of any reason the medicine would be doing this to him?"

"I don't think it's the medication that's making him act like this." With a smile on her face, Alyssa turned around and began to pace.

"Then what's making him act so defensive over me?" Not understanding the look deep thought on Alyssa's face Ember grew impatient. "Is he ok, or isn't he?"

"Well have you done anything for him? Anything in the extreme?" Alyssa smiled. "Those slashes on your side hat Astrid had to fix up. How did you get them?"

"Well it wasn't anything big…I mean I just pushed him back inside to keep him from being blasted." Ember picked up her shirt and examined the bandaged area. Touching it she cringed. "It was no big deal that he clawed me, I didn't even get mad."

"That's it." Alyssa grined a wide triumphant smile. "You didn't get mad. He hurt you, and could have killed you. But you showed no fear and in doing so you established a bond."

"A bond? Wait, then why in the story that Hiccup told me did he have to go through so much to get close to Toothless?" Ember lowered her shirt and slumped over against the wall. "Ugh~ this makes no sense~."

"Well, You've gone through a lot too if you think about it." Alyssa crouched down and got face to face with Ember whom was now sitting with her back against the wall beside the docks. "I mean you went through all that you did to get him here, defended you both from the serpent at sea, AND you defended him while you were being attacked here. Face it, now you two are bonded as dragon and rider."

"Wait, wait, wait, you're telling me that because I did what was right he thinks I'm his rider?" Something about this whole thing sounded wrong. "I can't just….I mean he's got a family somewhere to get back to doesn't he?"

"Well perhaps he does, but if he's found the bond with you there's nothing that can break it." Alyssa turned to walk away with a contented grin stretched across her face. "I'd suggest getting used to a dragon being by your side for what will probably be the rest of your life."

Ember's jaw hung low in disbelief. ("How am I supposed to just accept something like that?") Shaking her head she looked up the path to the hut where Marble lay asleep. ("I mean…what about his family?")

o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o

"Marble?" It had been a few hours since Ember had been back to the hut, and much to her surprise Marble had vanished. "Oh no, I lost a dragon?" Holding her face in her hand she turned to leave. "Marble! Where did you go?"

Seeing that he had successfully gotten out of the hut and far from the village, Marble now enjoyed the sun's rays as they warmed him. He had been extra careful to avoid being seen by any of the town people (especially Ember). However, had he been paying attention he would have noticed a certain black Night Fury and Viking trailing silently after him.

It was an especially clear day, and having found an open area Marble stretched out in a sunny spot to nap. He hadn't been lying down for more than thirty minutes before sensing something coming up behind him. Feeling his solitude had been interrupted, Marble lifted his head to look back.

"You know she'll be looking for you soon." Hiccup climbed off of Toothless and walked by his side into the clearing. "After all, she's been so diligent in taking care of you that there's no way she won't notice you're gone."

Tilting his head, Hiccup seemed to think of something. "You must really think a lot of Ember if you're willing to protect her like you did yesterday."

Hearing Ember's name sparked the memory of the defensive stance he had taken for her the night prior, Marble scoffed and looked away, sprawling out even further to exaggerate his lazy, un-caring attitude. As far as he was concerned, he cared about no one other than his own kind. The incident the boy was most likely referring to was obviously an accident or misunderstanding. It couldn't be possible that he REALLY cared for a human, especially one who had caused him so much grief. There had to be some way to deny the bond forming between them, but what it was he didn't know.

As Toothless sprawled himself out in the sun next to Marble, Hiccup sat down and leaned against his dark warm scales. Realizing Marble wouldn't come around on his own, an idea hatched in his mind. "Eh, maybe you're right."

Even with a dragon's minimal understanding of human words and phrases, Marble could still understand enough to piece thing together. One thing he definitely understood was being right.

Seeing that he now had Marble's attention, Hiccup smiled. "I mean she's the one who made you sick, so who cares right? I mean maybe it was the medicine that made you care so much. After all, she's only braved storms, fought off a Sea Serpent, and risked getting eaten."

Knowing what Hiccup was attempting, Marble couldn't fight back. The human boy was right. Ember had risked a lot when she didn't have to, but there was no way Marble was ever going to admit to his forming bond with a human. Humans had been the ones to hunt his family for generations, and humans were the reason he could never fly freely wherever he wanted to.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

"Marble!" Ember had made her way nearly five miles into the densest part of the forest looking for Marble. As she walked she could sense something around her becoming closer. ("Something's coming…I have to get out of sight.") Thinking fast she could see a branch just beyond her reach. Reaching for it she quickly gave up seeing that it was too far out of her reach. ("Uh…P-plan B!") Finding an opening beneath a tree, she quickly ducked into it.

A minute passed, and then another minute passed. Soon she had been waiting for five minutes without seeing a thing. ("I was sure there was something coming…but where is it?") Crawling half way out of the opening she looked around.

Things were silent…what had she sensed?