More
Hiccup could hardly believe how calm Ragna was about all this. Two Night Furies, a mother and son, supposedly. Were there more? Did Toothless have siblings? A father, perhaps? If so, where were they?
Ragna focused on cleaning the seal as she spoke;
"Mörgum's full name is Móðir Mörgum, Mother of Many."
"There are others?" Hiccup asked.
"Somewhere. For all I know, they could still be back home at the breeding grounds."
"Breeding grounds! You're a breeder?"
"You might say that."
Hiccup shook his head in amazement. There were more of them. More Night Furies. Toothless wasn't the last! Suddenly, something occurred to him;
"But… how could you be a breeder? Dragons and Vikings have been at war for years."
"It seems that the war has ended." Ragna commented, nodding at Toothless. "But I understand what you mean. My husband was of a rare breed of Viking that had a heart for Dragons. An outcast among the people. I found him independant, and mysterious. This man knew a beautiful secret. The secret to an alliance between Dragons and Humans. I was captivated, and immediately fell in love. Both with him and the Dragons. We married of course, and I was rejected by my family in doing so. However, we lived happily for a few years. Raising three children with whom we shared the wonders of Dragons." She paused, signing. She set down the knife and tossed the meat into the pan over the fire. Hiccup waited for the story to continue.
"... The older ones refused to accept it, siding with our violent community in the war against these creatures." She stroked Mörgum's ear as the dragon rested her head in her mistress' lap.
"... Only the youngest shared our enthusiasm. Our little girl. She was our hope. Perhaps we could still convince the others. However…" She hesitated, eyes growing misty in the light of the fire. "...However… the town had had enough of our campaign. Erland and I… were banished from our home."
"What about your children?" Hiccup breathed, almost afraid to ask.
"Taken." She replied, closing her eyes. "Given to another family, deemed more capable than us."
Hiccup looked at the floor. It was all so much to take in… And Ragna spoke with such emotion, such passion, that he knew it was all true.
"There was only one thing we could do." Ragna continued, composing herself as she turned the meat. "We left."
xxx
Hiccup stared at Ragna as she pulled the pan off the fire, almost forgetting to catch his share when she tossed it to him. The story couldn't end there, and he wanted to hear more.
Ragna knew that she couldn't keep him from the rest of the story. For years, she had held it in, with no one to understand. So, she continued;
"I was heartbroken, and Erland had no way to comfort me. We could only do as we were told, and leave our home. But we had one small victory in the end; when Erland called down a Night Fury from the sky, taking me and riding away on its back. We left the people who rejected us, but at the same time, mourned for our children, who likely wouldn't remember us."
Mörgum sighed, as if sympathizing with her mistress. Toothless pressed closer to Hiccup, whimpering.
"The Night Fury was Vinur, Mörgum's mate. We flew for miles, until we arrived at an island untouched by man."
"... The breeding grounds…" Hiccup murmured. Ragna nodded.
"We made our new home among the last Night Furies. At first, there were about ten of them. Perhaps the last ten in existence. Erland and I made it our purpose to care for them and help raise their young. By the time I last saw them, there may have been twenty or thirty of them."
"Twenty or thirty…" Hiccup murmured. Even such small numbers were amazing to him. Just one other Night Fury was baffling enough, but twenty, thirty of them? It was like a dream come true.
Despite the sheer awesomeness of the discovery, Ragna still seemed sad.
"What's wrong?" He asked. "The Night Furies are back! You saved them! Now Toothless isn't the last, and when you get back to your island, there will be even more!"
Ragna nodded. "Aye. But in the course of it all, I lost everything."
Hiccup's excitement dwindled as he saw the years of sorrow in the old woman's eyes.
"... Erland was killed breaking up a fight between two males. It was on that day that I realized I had given up everything for these creatures. My reputation, my home, even my children. But when Erland died, I knew that he was the one who had truly given everything. Even his life."
xxx
The story went on as they ate. After Erland's death, Ragna decided that he would follow in her husband's footsteps. Her first action was to find another island, to expand and make more room for the dragons so that they wouldn't fight. That was when she got lost, ending up on this iceberg in the middle of nowhere. With no way to know whatever happened to the other Night Furies.
A noble woman, indeed.
