"Ah, there we go" Hiccup says, spying a fairly large cluster of sea stacks off shore of a decent sized island approaching ahead. "Let's stop here for a minute".
The dark, towering rock structures stand out from the choppy waters far below. Terrible terrors scurry around looking for food through the sparse bushes and shrubs that top the imposing monoliths like hair. A few of the lower stacks create archways some with caves going deep inside. A few hardy gulls nest in niches in the sides of the stacks; ever vigilant in case an egg-thieving dragon swoops by.
Toothless alighted on the top of a medium sized stack with suitable grass, letting Hiccup and Astrid dismount. Hiccup slightly more gracefully while Astrid half vaulted - half fell off onto saddle-sore legs.
"Uhhh, my legs are sore" she complained, collapsing onto the ground.
"Really?" Hiccup laughed "We were only flying for 20 minutes or so", sitting down beside her.
"Yeah, and?" Astrid asked defiantly, "That's 20 minutes more than i have before".
"What about the time you leapt onto that Gronckle's back at dragon training?" Hiccup grinned.
"Oh come on, that was like for 20 seconds as I bashed it on the head with my shield putting it in a daze. That wasn't *riding* it." Astrid insisted.
But Hiccup only laughed at her insistent demeanour.
"It wasn't!" She said, shoving his shoulder playfully. "But anyway, why do you remember that?"
Hiccup blushed slightly and mumbled, "It was only a year and a bit ago".
"Oh, so is that the *only* reason you remember that?" She asked teasingly.
"Anyway" He said, swiftly changing the subject, "Why don't you catch me up on what's happened at the village since i was taken by Toothless here".
So the next half hour was spent with the two teens catching up with each other, just enjoying the others company. Through this exchange Toothless had dozed off, leaving the humans to talk.
Unbeknownst to any of the party, a pair of eyes watched hungrily from a small cave higher up in the sea stacks.
Hiccup had spotted a storm approaching while they were talking, but hadn't thought it would arrive so quickly.
"We had better head over to the island over there" Hiccup said, gesturing towards the landmass not too far from them.
"Ookayy" Astrid said lazily.
"Well you can sit here in the storm that's about to hit if you want" Hiccup laughed.
Astrid huffed good naturedly.
Toothless interjected with a warble as he shook off the curtains of sleep; readying himself for another brief flight.
Hiccup jumps onto Toothless, and extends his hand to Astrid, who takes it and slightly hesitantly clambers onto the onyx dragon's back.
The storm hits just as they take off, instantly drenching both teens. The rain pours down, limiting their vision to a few feet in front of them.
"Fly slow bud!" Hiccup shouted through the noisy pattering of the rain.
"Ow" Astrid complained as she felt the rain begin to turn to hard, pebble-sized lumps of hail as it hammered down. Astrid noted that as she was holding onto Hiccup, she was protecting him from the majority of the hail, 'Great, now I'm being used as a human shield'.
"AHHH! HICCUP! HICCUUUP!" Astrid suddenly screeched as she felt talons wrap around her arms and shoulders and pull her up and away. Hiccup whirls around, and sees two scaly legs reaching through the fog and rain and holding Astrid.
A shriek is heard above them as the dark silhouette peels off into the storm, Astrid dangling from it's grip. "That's a Deadly Nadder" Hiccup mumbled, recognising the call.
"Come on Toothless" he said, his expression steeling, "Let's get her back".
The fact that this was how Hiccup had been taken from her life all those years ago was not lost on her, and now she was being taken from his. She could feel her eyes beginning to tear up as she hit against her dragonian captors feet. The small silhouette of night fury and rider soon vanished into the storm, any hope she had of being saved diminishing.
She turns her attention back to the dragon abducting her.
Two scaled, turquoise, lanky legs extend from a milky white underbelly. The talons fastened around her pauldrons themselves were a dark grey and denting the metal.
Astrid by this point was fairly certain that her kidnapper was a Deadly Nadder, and she was silently thanking her dragon training lessons back at berk.
Abruptly, she is dropped onto a hard stone cave floor. She had been so focused on admiring her captor that she hadn't noticed the approach of the imposing sea stacks through the rain. She lies on the floor where she had been dropped, shoulders sore from being clamped in the Nadder's grip. Her clothes soaked through, she lies in her own personal puddle of water. She looks around her: to her right is the cave entrance with the Nadder still standing in, curiously watching it's bedraggled catch. And to her left is a pile of branches, grasses and other assorted foliage in what can only be described as a nest.
Her kidnapper gently nudges her with it's horned snout, as if to check she is still alive. Astrid slowly and wearily gets up, is nudged again by the Nadder and topples into the nest.
'Huh, it's actually quite cosy in here' Astrid thinks to herself. By her head she spots a half eaten fish, cod by the looks of it. She grabs it, and shuffles back away from the curiously approaching dragon. She again gets up, but now sees the Nadder's attention is on the fish in her hand.
"Do you want this?" Astrid asks, holding the fish up towards the dragon. In the blink of an eye, the fish is snatched out of her hand and gobbled up. Astrid hastily draws her hand away, breathing heavily. 'Wow, I was too close to losing my hand there.'
'Yeah, but you didn't, did you? Maybe it won't kill you if you can continue giving it reason not to' she reasons with herself. So she picks up a bone from the floor of the nest, and trying not to think what it could have been from offered it up towards the dragon. But all the bone got was a sniff, so she chucked it behind the Nadder back towards the mouth of the cave.
She was then too busy searching the floor of the cave to see the dragon perk up, turn around, dart back for the bone and return. But upon failing to find any more food on the floor, she looked up, right as the bone was dropped in front of her.
Astrid looked confusedly up at the dragon, who looked expectantly back at her. Reaching down, Astrid picked it up again and threw it back towards the cave mouth again. And just as before, the Nadder retrieved it and placed it at her feet.
"Well look at you" Astrid laughed, "You can fetch a bone". After this display, she remembered how she had with Hiccup's guidance, befriended Toothless only an hour or two prior.
'Uh yeah, but that was 'With Hiccup'!' Her thoughts exclaimed.
'I've done it before, I'm sure i can do it again" she reasons with herself.
'Ok fine, but if you lose your hand, your arm or your life, then allow me to say a pre-emptive 'I told you so'' her doubtful side sarcastically retorts.
So she cautiously reaches out her open palm towards the dragon, turning her head away. At first, the dragon just stared bewildered, trying to process what this weird little human was doing. But then seeming to get that it is a display of trust; the Nadder places it's head against her hand. Astrid's heart races, she'd done it! And without Hiccup too.
'Wow' Astrid thought 'This is the most beautiful dragon I've ever seen', gently stroking the dragons snout. 'Hiccup named his dragon, so I'll name mine too' she chuckled to herself.
"How about i call you... Stormfly? You like that name?"
The newly christened Stormfly squawked, almost as if in agreement to her newly chosen name.
Without a second to spare, toothless comes barrelling into the cave, both rider and dragon set on saving Astrid. Hiccup vaults off of Toothless' back and draws his sword in one smooth motion as toothless charges up a plasma blast behind him.
But Astrid and her captor are just standing beside each other in the far corner of the cave, looking shocked at their sudden appearance. Astrid's shock turns to amusement; though the the Nadder raises it's tail threateningly, stepping in front of Astrid.
But Astrid nonchalantly ducks and walks under the Nadder's legs to stand between the two hostile parties, hands out each way to calm them.
"It's ok, it's ok" she laughs, "This is Stormfly". Upon hearing her name Stormfly lowered her spiked tail and nuzzled into Astrid's outstretched hand.
The bewilderment on Hiccup's face was priceless, and even Toothless looked confused, his head cocked to one side.
'How... How had she managed to tame a wild Nadder? That quickly?' Thoughts whizzed through Hiccup's head, and he was slightly jealous, not that he'd show it.
His visible confusion melted into a warm smile as he congratulated her, and they watched as Toothless trundled over to meet Stormfly.
The two dragons circled each other warily, heads low to the ground. But then they both stop circling and stand next the each other, and they sniff towards each other's rear ends.
Sounds of disgust and disapproval emanated from over where Astrid and Hiccup stood, before giving way to laughter.
However the two dragons now facing each other seemed on friendlier terms, with Stormfly giving a happy chirp and nosing underneath Toothless' head.
"Ok ok" Hiccup steps forward chuckling, "We're all friends now. But we should get going back now."
Astrid ambles over to the ledge outside the cave to where the storm is just passing, revealing a sunset made primarily of deep purples streaked with bright magenta.
She leans, arms and legs crossed against the cave mouth, watching the sunset.
Hiccup walks over to stand beside but slightly behind her, keeping a respectful distance.
"Beautiful", she whispers.
"Certainly is" he agrees, but while Astrid's gaze is directed at the sunset sinking below the horizon, Hiccup's is fixed on something else. Or rather, someone else.
'She's gotten even more beautiful since I've been away' his thoughts say in a dreamy way as he admires her.