A Better Version of Our Best

Chapter 8: Initiate the Heart Within Me

"Welcome to your first day of dragon training," Fishlegs said, waving the teenagers into the arena.

Zephyr tuned out the next part of his speech (no doubt a very Fishlegs-ish warning about staying safe and the dangers they would experience), choosing to focus on the other trainees.

On the left were Dagmar and Bryn Ingerman, Fishlegs's nieces. The two cousins looked nothing alike, but wore identical expressions of boredom that made Zephyr want to roll her eyes. (Yes, she could do without Fishlegs's lecturing, but this was still dragon training.)

She'd never been close with the older girls- they'd always treated her like some bratty little kid.

Standing next to them, as usual, was Arnst Emilson, who actually was paying attention, at least more than his friends were. He noticed Zeph watching him and winked at her. (She turned away, hoping he hadn't noticed the blush she could feel rising to her cheeks.)

And there, in the back, looking at Fishlegs with the same blank, inscrutable expression he usually wore, was her brother. As Hicc's eyes met hers, he nodded in acknowledgement, and she scowled.

It was a small class, smaller than she'd expected. At the very least, she'd expected to see Brenna or Luffnut here. Brenna had been just a bit too young the last time there'd been both enough dragons to practice on and enough kids to be worth the training, and while Luffnut was, like Zephyr, a bit younger than the typical recruit, the next chance she'd have probably wouldn't be until some of her younger siblings were old enough.

But when she thought more about it, Zephyr supposed it did make sense that the older girl had chosen to sit this one out. Much as she respected Brenna, she knew her mother's old younger sister wasn't exactly the 'warrior' type. (She could fight, sure, just like any other Viking, but Brenna preferred to solve her problems in other ways. Which was weird, but to each their own.)

Luffnut, though…

She and Luff had been friends, once, before… before everything changed. And Zephyr knew that the oldest of the Thorston brood could handle a knife or short sword as well as she herself could use a mace or axe. Luffnut was ridiculous, and talked too much, and took very little seriously, but she was definitely a fighter. By all rights, she should have been thrilled for the chance to be here. (Maybe her mother wanted her to wait, the way Holger's mother had? It certainly wouldn't have been her father- Tuffnut the Elder seemed to encourage his kids' thrill-seeking streaks.)

But she didn't care about Luff, didn't care why the girl she'd once thought would have her back through everything hadn't shown up for the chance to prove her worth. It didn't matter.

The only thing that mattered was taking down the enemy. And in this case, the enemy was not only the dragons she could hear banging in their cells. Every other student in this room was her opponent. She was going to have to outmatch all of them if she hoped to demonstrate her own skills before the tribe.

Five years ago…

Hicc saw the dragons before he heard the screams.

Ever since the funeral, he'd been out here in the woods, not even going back to the village for meals or fresh clothes.

Nobody had protested; he was old enough to camp out on his own, and they all knew what he was going through. Or, at least, they thought they did.

Because it wasn't just grief that kept him out here, hunting and fishing and hiding from the world. It wasn't even guilt, all though he had plenty of that rolling around in his gut, too.

It was planning. Or rather, a lack thereof.

For over five years, he'd been watching dragons, studying them, befriending them, all here on Berk. He'd spent hours in the dragon pens, unbeknownst to anyone in the village. And he'd been freeing them, too.

As he'd gotten older, his motivations had shifted. It wasn't just about befriending or saving the poor, trapped creatures. It was about understanding them, about finding a way to stop what was happening, to convince the rest of Berk to listen when he finally admitted the truth, and to, ultimately, end the war.

He'd wanted to introduce someone, anyone else to one of the dragons, but he didn't know how. No one would follow a child into the dragon pens and let him do as he pleased. And the freed dragons didn't exactly stick around long enough for him to show them to anyone.

So he'd come to realize that his best bet was to find a dragon out in the wild, one who wasn't occupied with raiding humans, and befriend and introduce that one to other people. And there weren't any wild dragons living on Berk. (He missed Blanket.)

This trip with Dad was supposed to be the start of that. Of everyone on Berk, Dad was the one most likely to listen to him, even if his ideas sounded crazy. He'd really been hoping to find a wild, friendly, unthreatening dragon and at least try to get Dad to understand.

And then everything had gone absolutely, horribly wrong.

Even Dad, one of the most peaceful, unthreatening men on Berk- someone whose only experience with fighting dragons was directing others- had reacted badly. Very badly. And now Dad was gone, and it was all Hicc's fault.

So what was he supposed to do now?

He just… didn't know.

So he'd spent days and days out here, trying to figure out what he was supposed to do now. Should he just… give up? Pretend that the last five years had never happened? Stop freeing the dragons? Grow up and learn to slay them like everyone else did, as though they were just fish or boar? Or should he leave? Flee Berk, and go live on some uninhabited island with the dragons?

None of those sounded like good options, and he didn't know what else to do, and all he wanted was to talk it all through with Dad, but he couldn't because Dad was gone, and-

What's that? Squinting, Hicc stared up at the sky, spotting several large dragons flying right towards Berk. It's the wrong time! It was still early in the afternoon (dragons attacked at night), and winter was only a few weeks away (for reasons no one understood, the dragons didn't raid in the winter).

But then he heard the horn blowing, and the sound of screams, and started running.

He didn't know what he was going to do. Would he hide? Would he fight? Would he try to flee with the dragons?

He didn't know, but he couldn't just stay here, not while his home was being attacked.

So he ran as fast as he could towards the village. Not fast enough, of course. He could hear the clashing, the sound of humans and dragons fighting. And just as he reached the edge of the forest he heard another scream. One that sounded very familiar.

Hicc knew that voice. And it was yelling an even more familiar name

"Nuffink!"

Present day…

"Okay, class, I will see you all here tomorrow, at the same time," Fishlegs said, clapping his hands.

Hicc didn't let his relief show on his face, though he noticed the way Bryn's mask of annoyed boredom slipped for just a moment.

Arnst and Zeph, however, were clearly not happy with the situation.

"That's it?" Zephyr said, outraged. "We've only been here an hour!"

"Yeah!" Arnst complained. "I thought I'd actually get a chance to fight a dragon, not just listen to some dumb lecture."

Except that Hicc had noticed that, unlike the girls, Arnst actually had seemed interested in what Fishlegs was telling them. (It had gone on a little long, but the gist of it seemed to be that dragons were fascinating but dangerous creatures who'd kill a Viking as soon as look at them. Which he knew was wrong, even if no one else did. But he'd kept his mouth shut, the way he always did.)

Hicc and Arnst had never been particularly close- while Arnst was generally friendlier to younger Vikings than his two friends were (probably because, unlike either of them, he wasn't the youngest of a pack of overly bossy siblings), Hicc didn't think he and the older boy would ever really be friends. The other Viking seemed to respect Hicc's physical abilities, and had never been overly mean to him or anything, but Hicc knew that Arnst found his taciturn attitude bewildering.

To Arnst, being a Viking meant being tough and strong. It also meant competing and verbal sparring and more than the occasional bit of bragging- none of which Hicc had ever been interested in.

Which probably explained the attitude shift- the older boy couldn't very well admit to being relieved not to have to face a dragon today.

Zephyr's disappointment, however, was genuine. Hicc's younger sister was always prepared for a fight.

"I thought we were actually going to learn something, not just listen to the same lectures we've been getting our whole lives," protested Zephyr. "Isn't that your job?"

Fishlegs, to his credit, took the complaints in stride.

"Actually," he said, smiling widely, "my job is to make sure that you all know how to keep yourselves alive. Which means I'm not about to unleash an angry dragon on teenagers who haven't even had an hour's training."

Zephyr seemed prepared to continue the argument, but Fishlegs had already walked away, directing Arnst and the older girls out. Zephyr followed behind him, muttering under her breath, and Hicc took to the back.

He paused for a moment at the entrance to the arena, turning back to look at the pens. They were sealed, of course, but he could hear them rattling, and he knew exactly where each of the dragons were.

The Zippleback Hicc hadn't named yet was in one of the larger pens. She- er, they had been caught just a few weeks earlier, and he hadn't quite managed to win the trust of either of the heads.

Skyfall, the Deadly Nadder, was in that cage. She'd tried to shoot her spines at Hicc the first few times he'd come to check on her, but by now they were friends. (Hicc was working on a plan to get her out of here in a few weeks, probably around the time dragon training was over.)

The biggest cage should have been holding a Monstrous Nightmare, but Hicc had gotten Surtr out just last week, the day before his birthday.

The smaller cage over there had been unoccupied for years- it used to be used to hold Terrible Terrors, but they'd been so easy to sneak out that Hicc had managed to free over a dozen in the span of two years when he was much younger, and they'd eventually given up on trying to hold onto them.

And that cage held Boulder- a very sweet Gronkle who'd been here for over a year. He'd befriended Hicc willingly enough, but was a bit too large and slow for Hicc to easily be able to get him out. Someday, Norns willing.

"Nervous?" Fishlegs asked, startling Hicc out of his musings. "Don't worry, you're going to do great!"

That's what I'm worried about, Hicc thought gloomily.

"You'd better get going," continued Fishlegs. "You don't want to be late, do you?"

"Where?" Hicc asked, confused.

"The Thorstons'," Fishlegs said, looking at him strangely. "Remember, you're going to work over there today?"

"What?"

Hicc supposed it was at least partially his own fault. He hadn't taken his boat to the Larsons' yet, so Gustav hadn't been able to tell him. He'd been avoiding Fishlegs, and Mom and Snotlout were so busy with winter preparations that he hadn't seen either of them for more than a few moments here and there since his return, so he hadn't heard about it from any of them. And everyone else who'd heard about the arrangement had probably assumed that he already knew.

But he hadn't known, and so he found himself scrambling over to the Thorstons' with very little warning or a chance to prepare himself.

He showed up at the Thorstons' doorstep a bit sweaty and out of breath. Ruffnut opened the door.

"Luff!" She yelled out behind her. "Get over here!"

Lovie? Why does she need to know if I'm here or not?

Lovie appeared from some other room, looking a bit distracted.

"Ruffnut, I'm in the middle of counting-" she paused mid-sentence. "Hiccup! I didn't realize you were coming today, the place is a mess, and-"

"Luffnut, he's going to be working back there for the next few months," Ruffnut interrupted. "He's going to have to see the mess some time or another."

"Yes, but-"

"So how much time do we get you for today?" Ruffnut asked, turning back to Hicc.

"Three hours," said Hicc, remembering what Fishlegs had told him.

("Three hours today, so they can teach you the ropes," Fishlegs had said. "And then from next week on, an hour and a half each on every Mani's day and Thor's day." He wasn't sure exactly how Fishlegs had gotten involved in this situation, but he decided it wasn't worth asking.)

"Awesome!" Ruffnut nodded, waving him into the house. "That gives Luffnut plenty of time to show you how things work around here."

Hicc didn't bother asking why Lovie was the one who'd been put in charge of him. The talkative girl was sure to tell him anyway.

"Now's one of the busiest times of the year around here," explained Lovie as she led him to a room in the workshop behind the house. "Mom and Dad and Ruffnut are absolutely swamped with work, so I'll give you the quick run-through." She wasn't looking at him, so he couldn't read her facial expression, but he could hear the false cheer in her voice. "Over-"

Hicc put his hand on her arm, and she turned to look at him.

"Hiccup?" She seemed confused. "You can't have any questions yet, I haven't even shown you anything! What's-"

"Lovie," he said, meeting her gaze. She flushed, looking away. "What's wrong?"

"What are you talking about, nothing's-" she paused mid-sentence, probably noting the doubtful look on his face.

"Lovie," Hicc said again. She just shook her head.

"Don't worry about it, Hiccup," Lovie said. "It's no big deal. Really."

Hicc didn't believe her, but he decided not to press. He'd spent enough time with Lovie to know that, unlike him, she didn't really 'keep things to herself'- and that she very rarely ever let anything seriously bother her for very long.

Five years ago…

Luffnut Thorston hadn't intended on ending up at the forest's edge right in the middle of a dragon attack. What she was supposed to be doing was taking Nuffink back to the Haddock lodge.

Aunt Ruffnut had come home with Dad, barging into the house angrily, and said that enough was enough, Nuffink needed to go back home. Mom had met them at the door and tried to convince Ruff that it wasn't the right time, that they had plenty of room in the house, but Ruffnut had said that he belonged with his mother, and that had shut Mom up.

Her parents had sent Luffnut to take him back, but they'd only gone a few feet down the road when Nuffink insisted that he didn't want to go back, not without his siblings. She'd offered to take him to the Hoffersons' to get Zephyr, but the not-quite-five-year-old had said he wanted to go find Hicc first.

So Luff had allowed herself to be dragged along (she had a mountain of chores she wanted to put off doing as long as possible), and she had enough experience wrangling her own rambunctious younger siblings that one kid couldn't be that hard, right?

They'd only just entered the woods when they heard the horns.

"Dragon attack!" Luffnut yelled. "Nuffink, come here, we've got to get to safety!"

"Not yet!" The chief's son had apparently inherited his mother's stubbornness. "I've got to find Hicc!"

"I'm sure your brother is fine, but we've got to go," said Luffnut. She looked up to the sky and winced. Running to Nuffink, she yelled his name and pushed him out of the way just as a large Monstrous Nightmare flew over them both.

"Nuffink, I told you-" Just as she was about to yell at the boy lying next to her, she heard someone calling her.

"Lovie!"

Luffnut was used to nicknames. She was called 'Luff' or 'Luffie' more often than her actual name, and her mother did occasionally call her 'Love.' But there was only one person who called her 'Lovie.'

"Hiccup!" Sitting up, she watched as the blond boy ran out of the woods and towards her and Nuffink. He had a worried expression on his face and shook his head.

"Get down!" The normally quiet boy was yelling. Without hesitation, she ducked back down, pulling Nuffink with her. Shifting her head, she saw Hiccup run past her, blocking both Luffnut and Nuffink from the dragon's view.

Nuffink was squirming in her arms, trying to get to his brother, probably not understanding why that was a bad idea.

"Get him out of here," said Hicc, and, though she couldn't see his face, she could hear the concern in his voice.

"I'm not-" Lovie paused. She didn't want to leave her friend here, alone, with an angry dragon. But there was Nuffink to worry about, and she was an older sibling just like Hiccup. If their roles were reversed, and it was Junior or Fluff or one of the twins, the most important thing to her would be getting them out of here. "Alright, but then I'm coming back."

Not that two children had much more of a chance with an angry Monstrous Nightmare than one on his own. But the path to the village was blocked by flames, and she wasn't going to leave him here on his own.

"No!" Hiccup said, gaze still fixated on the dragon in front of them. "Run into the forest with him, and whatever you hear, don't look back. Promise me."

"I-"

"Please, Lovie," said Hicc, and she couldn't remember the independent boy ever begging her for anything, not like that.

"Okay," she said, picking up Nuffink as best as she could (which would have been tricky for anyone else her size, but she'd had enough experience with Junior and the twins to manage) and running off.

Please don't die, Hiccup, Luffnut thought to herself.

Behind her, she could hear the older boy talking, but she couldn't make out the words, especially as she got farther away. A part of her was tempted to turn back and see what had happened, but she'd promised.

So once she thought she was far enough, she put the squirming, protesting Nuffink down, and knelt down in front of him.

"It's going to be okay, Nuff," she said, talking to him like he was just another one of her brothers. "Everything's going to be fine." Pulling him to her chest, she covered his ears.

If she was wrong, at least Nuffink wouldn't have to hear it.

Present day…

Luffnut had told Dad that she couldn't do this, that it would be weird and uncomfortable and wrong.

"He's the future chief! I can't just… boss him around like Junior or the twins," she'd insisted, but Dad had just looked at her like she was the crazy one.

"Yeah, he is the chief's son," he'd said, sounding confused. "And you're the weaver's daughter. Which means this is your territory."

And that wasn't right, and she knew it wasn't right, but she couldn't find the right words to explain. (This was why she hated arguing with Dad. He had this way of making even the most absurd things seem completely reasonable, even when you knew it was insane.)

"But-"

"Besides, when did being the chief's kid suddenly earn anyone special privileges, especially around here?" Dad had scratched at his chin thoughtfully. "I don't remember you hesitating to yell at young Nuffnut when he was over here last week."

"Yeah, but that's Nuffink," Luffnut had replied, not articulating further. Nuff and Junior had been attached at the hip practically since birth- he was basically just another one of her brothers. Hiccup, on the other hand, was most definitely not. "He's not… you know…"

"Hmm…" Dad had said, looking at her carefully. Then he'd smiled. "Ah, I see how it is."

"You do? Then-"

"So it's like that, then," he'd continued, smirking that stupid smirk that every single one of her siblings seemed to know how to replicate (though she never could). "You're a little young, but I guess he's not a bad choice, even if he is a bit too serious for my liking… and I suppose Junior or one of the twins could always take over this place if need be…"

"What are you talking about, Dad?" She hadn't liked the way he'd continued to stroke his chin, a mischievous gleam in his eyes. "Dad?"

"But no funny business while he's over here, you understand?" The mock seriousness in his tone had told her that there was some joke being made at her expense, though she wasn't quite sure what. "He's coming here to work, remember?"

And then it had clicked.

"Dad!" Blushing furiously, she'd stormed out of the room. It wasn't like that. Hiccup was her friend.

Or at least he had been.

Five years ago…

After Lovie and Finn ran off, Hicc took a single step closer to the dragon in front of him.

"It's okay," he murmured soothingly.

He had no idea if this would work- he'd never tried to calm a dragon in the middle of a raid-frenzy. And at first, it didn't work. The dragon growled and shot another fiery breath in his direction, which he just managed to duck away from.

But as the dragon's head got closer to him, he saw a familiar-looking scar on the side of her neck.

"Jorma?" When he spoke the name, the Monstrous Nightmare in front of him froze, blinking slowly. "Jorma, what are you doing here?"

He remembered her- this time last year, she'd been locked up in one of the pens. It had taken him weeks to get her to trust him, to let him close without trying to set him on fire.

He'd been worried he wouldn't be able to get her out in time- dragon training was almost over, and her head was meant to be the prize. But he couldn't get her out unless she was calm and quiet enough not to alert the guards, or risk getting caught and having all of his rescue attempts stopped.

She'd come around eventually, though, and he'd snuck her out two days before the death match.

But why was she here? Once he set dragons free, they never returned to Berk, even during raids. (He was careful to check all the bodies left over after the raids were over.) The only freed dragon he'd ever seen again was Stormfly, and that was nowhere near here.

"Jorma," Hicc said cautiously, holding out his hand. She nuzzled it happily. "Good to see you too, girl. Maybe next time, don't try to fry my baby brother?"

The Nightmare tilted her head, completely calm, seeming to have completely forgotten whatever she'd been so upset about just a few minutes earlier. Flicking her tail, she batted at the fire blocking the way back to the village, smothering it.

"Thanks, girl," he said, relieved. Then he heard the approaching voices.

"Hicc! Nuffink!" Mom. She couldn't see her yet, but he knew she'd be here any moment.

"And that's your cue to leave," Hicc said, waving his hand towards the sky. "You've got to get out of here."

Jorma made a disappointed noise, but dutifully bobbed her head and flew away. And not a moment too soon.

"Hicc!" Before he knew it, his mother's strong arms were wrapped around him. "What happened?"

It was the first time she'd held him since before the funeral, and he leaned into it.

"Lovie and Finn," he said, once she'd pulled away. He tilted his head in the direction of the woods.

"Are they-"

"We're fine, Chief," said Lovie, stepping out from behind a tree, Finn's little hand in hers. How long had she been there? Had she heard- "Hiccup saved us. He got me and Nuffink out of the way, and then he frightened away the dragon. It was a Monstrous Nightmare."

He noticed the way his mother flinched slightly as Lovie spoke the name he shared with his father. (Had shared.) At Lovie's explanation, her hand flew to her face in shock.

"He did what?" Mom said, gaze flickering from Lovie and Nuffink back to Hicc. "Hicc, you know you're supposed to leave dragon-fighting to the Vikings who've been trained! How could you be so stupid?"

Hicc didn't have a response to that, so he kept his mouth shut. Lovie, however, did not.

"He didn't have a choice!" The younger girl stomped over to his mother, Nuffink trailing behind her. "The fires were blocking the way back to the village, so he couldn't call for help or run that way. If he hadn't done anything, Nuff and I both could have died!"

Mom blinked, clearly not expecting a lecture from a girl half her size.

"Luffnut-"

"Hiccup saved our lives," Lovie repeated, looking his mother- the chief!- directly in the eyes. "That wasn't stupidity, it was bravery! If you can't see that, you're the stupid one!"

Mom opened her mouth, and for a moment, Hicc thought she was going to reprimand Lovie for talking to her that way.

But she didn't.

"I suppose I should've expected that from Ruffnut Thorston's niece," Mom said, laughing. (He couldn't remember the last time he'd heard her laugh.) Reaching out, she picked up Nuffink and propped him on her hip.

Normally, Hicc would have expected his little brother to squirm and protest that he wasn't a baby, but he supposed Finn was so tired and worn out from the day's events that it didn't even occur to him. Instead, he burst into tears and buried his face into Mom's neck. (Later, when Hicc realized that his brother hadn't even seen Mom in weeks, the behavior made a little more sense.)

"It's alright, Finnie," said Mom, stroking Nuffink's hair. Then she nodded to Lovie. "Luffnut, please thank your parents and aunt for me."

"Okay?" Lovie sounded slightly bewildered. She turned to Hicc, and nodded her head. "Thanks for saving me, Hiccup," she said before running off.

"Alright, Hicc," Mom said, shifting Nuffink's position slightly. "Let's go get your sister. It's time to go home."

Blinking back tears, Hicc smiled.

Present day…

The sky was beginning to darken as Hicc approached his home.

After leaving the Thorstons' (still puzzling over Lovie's uncharacteristic behavior), he'd had dinner at the mead-hall. He'd sat at the same table as Arnst, Dagmar, and Bryn, listening quietly as the three of the them discussed the day's training session.

Arnst, of course, had been bragging the whole time about how he was going to be the top student, while Dagmar had laughed at his efforts and told him to stop being ridiculous. Bryn had tried to involve Hicc in their conversation (despite her usual bored affectations, she did have a bit of a softer side that Dagmar seemed to lack), but he'd pretended not to notice, and she'd quickly given up.

Once he'd finished eating and put his dishes to soak, he'd headed for his house, hoping to get a good night's sleep- it had been an exhausting day.

As he opened the front door, he noticed Zephyr sitting at the table, inspecting the spikes of her favorite mace.

He'd passed by the blacksmith's stall on his way home, so he knew Nuffink was already home- presumably both of his younger brothers had already gone to bed, along with Grandpa. Mom had still been at the mead-hall when he left, deep in conversation with a few of the council members, and he didn't expect her home any time soon.

Zephyr, however, was clearly still up for a reason.

Had she been waiting for him?

Unlikely. Most of the time, his sister seemed to prefer to pretend that she didn't have an older brother. He closed his eyes for a moment, then headed for the stairs. He'd given up trying to puzzle out Zeph's behavior a long time ago. (He didn't know what had first set off her antagonism towards him, but what had happened five years ago certainly hadn't helped their relationship. Which was, of course, just what he deserved.)

As he put his foot down on the first step, he heard a voice behind him.

"Hicc?" He paused, turning to look at his sister. She had always called him that, even as nearly everyone else had dropped the nickname. (Others might have thought it was a sign of affection, but he knew that wasn't why she used it.) "You were at the Thorstons', right?"

Hicc nodded. Why was she asking?

"Did you… I mean…" She turned her face away, but he could still see the frustrated scowl she was wearing. "Was Luffnut there? I mean, did you see her? Talk to her?"

He nodded again, not bothering to get into the way she'd basically been put in charge of him, or her strange behavior.

"And?" Zephyr asked, making a gesture that implied go on, but he wasn't sure what she was asking. She sighed. "Did you find out… I mean… do you know…"

He waited, watching carefully as she struggled to find words. Zephyr could get angry with him at the drop of a helmet, he wasn't going to risk annoying her further by interrupting.

"Why wasn't she in dragon training?" Zeph finally said. Hicc shrugged.

In all honesty, the question hadn't even occurred to him. Recruits were usually thirteen before they were allowed in the pens, and while Zephyr was close enough that she'd been allowed to join (after much pleading), Lovie's birthday wasn't until midsummer.

(Hicc, unlike his sister, hadn't really had an option. He had merely been informed when training would be starting, as though it was a foregone conclusion that he'd be joining. He'd briefly considered protesting, but that would have led to a lot of unnecessary questions. Besides, if he was caught near the arena when he shouldn't be, at least now he'd have an excuse.)

"Right," said his sister. "I suppose it was a waste of time to ask you for anything."

And there were a lot of ways Hicc could respond to that. He could ignore it, or apologize, or lash out to try and make her feel the same stinging pain her constant such jabs gave him.

But he did none of those things.

"Maybe you should ask her yourself," Hicc said instead.

"What?" Zephyr said, looking confused. (He supposed she hadn't expected him to break his usual silence, but in this case it felt important.)

"She misses you too, you know," he continued.

So do I, he didn't say.