This felt familiar, this state of mind I was in. I had felt it before when I first came to Berk. Only now, the companion of THIRST was substituted with PAIN. It was anything but enjoyable. I remembered, after I was off the crate, I thought that I could open my eyes anytime I wanted to. Oh ... oh ... almost. Turns out you cant. I didn't really have a concept of time in this state so when I finally awoke it seemed like both seconds and an eternity later. I was face down on a bed with a bandage on my shoulder wound.
"Hey it's about time you woke up!" said Astrid from somewhere close to me. I shuffled around on my bed, being careful not to agitate my shoulder wound, and saw her sitting in a chair in what I now saw was Gothi's hut.
"What happened?" I said groggily.
"What do you mean? You were there. Oh no ... did you forget again?" Astrid said slightly coy but mostly with concern.
"What happened after we crashed? Where is Starfire? Why is the Arbiter back?" I asked trying to get up. Astrid got off the chair and grabbed my right arm making me unable to move.
"Freya you need to rest and drink. You lost allot of blood and if you move you will break the stitching." Astrid said. I stopped struggling and Astrid released my arm. She went over to a table and poured some liquid out into a bowl and handed it to me.
"What good is resting in here if Arbiter burns this hut down?" I protested.
"What good is one injured dragon rider against the Alpha that turned a fleet of forty ships into driftwood? Hiccup and Stoick are going to talk with him now and if I know Hiccup, he will fight as hard as he can for peace. Now drink." commanded Astrid.
"You have seen how Arbiter reacts to ..." I started my protest but I was cut off by Astrid.
"Drink!" she said almost yelling now. I rolled my eyes and realized that she wouldn't leave me until she did what I guess Gothi left her in charge of doing. If she left then I could get up and find Starfire so I picked up the boll and drank the water.
"That's some funny tasting wataaaaah." I said with my tongue failing me on the last word. I immediately knew what was happening and I glared at Astrid.
She gave a small chuckle and said "Don't pretend you weren't going to try to get up again. This is for your own good. You should be fine to move when that medicine wares off". I didn't have time for a response before I passed out again.
This time I could guess how long I was unconscious. My body felt stiff and sore, but rested. The pain from my shoulder was replaced by a dull ache. I got up and carefully got dressed as I was alone. I added a sling that was nearby to my apparel and cradled my left arm in it. I found some water and bread that was laid out for me and I hastily consumed it. I opened the door to Gothi's hut and was greeted by a blinding light. I panicked and immediately assumed it was Arbiter making an attack. As my eyes adjusted I saw that the light was nothing more than the rising sun. Wait, the sun is just rising now? It was still dark when Astrid made me drink that stuff and it must have been the early hours of the morning when I passed out in the first place.
"No. I couldn't have ..." I said to myself as a suspicion crept into my head. I decided to not worry about it and started to climb down the ladder which was much more difficult than it would normally be as I had only one uninjured arm. As I reached the bottom I heard the roar of a Nightfury above me. Starfire descended and landed just in front of me.
"Now you show up; After I had to climb down that ladder. Did you have a good time without a rider telling you what to do?" I mocked, secretly excited to see her. "It's okay girl. It's nice to see you care, even if it is not enough to wait for me outside." I said rubbing her head. Without warning she stood on her hind legs and embraced me inside her wings and forelegs, crooning softly.
"Okay ... that's painful caring. Very painful caring" I wheezed, crushed in her clutches. She swiftly released me and bowed her head. I waited for the pain to subside and then got onto Starfire's back. She took off and I held on tightly with one hand. Something didn't feel right. Wait, my saddle was destroyed in the battle so what was I sitting on. I looked over to the bay and was astounded to see that there was no rubble from the battle and all of the preparations on the beach were dismantled. On top of that, there were no Outcast ships mixed in with Berks fleet. I had Starfire dive down to Gobbers blacksmith where I saw a crowd of people gathering.
"Freya!" Hiccup called out from inside the blacksmith. He abandoned a weapon he was working on and ran over to me. "What are you doing flying? You need to take it easy and rest that arm." he added.
"Something tells me I have had plenty of rest, Hiccup. Where is Arbiter? Why isn't Alvin still here incase he attacks." I asked and as I said it I noticed small indications of guilt on his face.
"Um ... well ... they both left." Hiccup replied.
"Left? Already? Why and where did they go?" I asked.
"Well they weren't going to stick around for very long. Alvin went back to Outcast Island and Arbiter went back to gods knows where in the empire." Hiccup explained.
"Very long? How long are we talking about Hiccup." I questioned, sparks of anger in my voice.
"Oh ... um ... before I tell you I want to let you know that Astrid made a slight mistake in measurement when she gave you that medicine and she told me that she is very sorr ..." Hiccup stammered.
"How long, Hiccup!" I demanded.
"Three days." He answered sheepishly. "Look at it this way you got plenty of rest and you slept through the worst of the pain." Hiccup said, trying to justify this.
"SLEPT?! Three days is a short coma, not a rest. What if Arbiter set the hut on fire while I was laying there? Sure let's drug someone and leave them incapacitated while Berk is host to a hostile Alpha and his ruthless, methodical, and extremely violent rider!" I started yelling before I realized, mid-sentence, that this was not his fault.
"He is actually not all that violent. Not all the time. He is actually ... well I wouldn't say reasonable but ... understanding ... kind of." Hiccup said. This was absolutely breathtaking to me. Was Hiccup defending the person who shot him in the chest a few days ago? Hiccup picked up on my quizzical look and shouted over to Gobber and Fishlegs, who I now saw was at the forge with Meatlug, "Hey I'm going to help get Freya caught up. Can you guys manage alone for a few minutes?".
"When your done ask her if she can help. Berks armory isn't going to replenish itself." Gobber yelled back. Hiccup led me up to his house and sat me down on the bench while he started to pace in front of me.
"So ... I guess I should start after you crashed on the beach, huh?" Hiccup confirmed before moving on with the story.