First Contact Chapter 18
The first morning's language lesson had been interesting, to put it mildly. Varinn was teaching the dragons the names for the various kinds of dragon, and had been stunned to realized that half of the dragon types in his class were unknown to the humans and dragons of Berk when they created their Forge vocabulary. On the spot, he had to make up new words to name the Rumblehorns, Hotburples, Hobblegrunts, and all the other "new" kinds of dragons who wanted to know what to call themselves. He consulted with Agmundr, who was one of the language's authors; Agmundr had a knack for making up new combinations of sounds that were easy to remember, but Varinn had to write them down phonetically so they could be added to the Forge dictionary and taught to others. Fluff took over the writing duties so Varinn could keep the lesson going.
They were about to take a break when a tiny blue Terror flew up to Cloudjumper, chirping in his ear. "Dragon trapped," the Stormcutter growled. "West, far away. Bad trap."
Agmundr quickly told the dragons that the lessons were over until further notice, as Varinn grabbed the tool basket and climbed onto his back, and Fluff joined Valka on Cloudjumper. They shot out of the entry tunnel and were quickly up to the Stormcutter's full speed; Agmundr held back so they could stay together. Varinn's hair was blowing straight out behind him, Fluff's ponytail was whipping in the breeze, and even Valka's thick braids weren't immune to their mile-a-minute slipstream. Varinn was getting nervous about how he'd handle this emergency – what made a "bad trap" worse than an ordinary trap? – but it was hard to ignore the amazing sensations of flight. After all, it wasn't every day that he got to ride a Night Fury at high speed. It was a little strange that he could remember what Agmundr had looked like as a human, but he was adjusting to that, just as he was adjusting to the idea of riding a dragon without filling each moment with the terror of falling off.
It took them about twenty minutes to follow the Terror's directions, and they saw that they were none too soon. A juvenile Nadder had triggered a cable snare under a tree, but instead of catching his leg, the loop of heavy wire had somehow tightened around the young dragon's neck. He was desperately flapping to keep himself in the air so the noose wouldn't strangle him, but the trap held him at an awkward angle and his strength was fading. A Night Fury firebolt to cut the cable was out of the question; the tree branches blocked Agmundr's line of fire from above.
"Cloudjumper, as soon as your riders are off you, get underneath him so he can stand on you!" Agmundr ordered, and the bigger, more experienced dragon nodded. They came in fast and landed hard. The humans slid off their dragons' backs quickly and stepped aside so the Stormcutter could make himself a platform for the trapped dragon. As soon as the Nadder could put his weight on his legs, his wings drooped to his sides, exhausted. "Thank you," he gasped.
"Now we need way to –" Varinn's suggestion was cut off in mid-word by a horrible snapping sound. Fluff had stepped into a leg-hold trap that was meant to catch a small dragon.
She screamed and fell to the ground, trying frantically to open the trap. Varinn took a quick look at the dragon; the noose was still tight around his neck and had to be cut away quickly so he could breathe. He glanced back and forth from Fluff to the dragon, unable to decide who to help first. Valka made the decision for him. "I'll help the dragon!" she exclaimed. "You help your friend!" She climbed onto Cloudjumper's back; she couldn't untie or cut the wire, so she comforted the frightened young dragon and encouraged him to breathe slowly. Agmundr turned to follow Varinn as he cautiously stepped toward Fluff, alert for more traps.
"There's another one, right there!" Varinn shouted, pointing at a suspiciously flat patch of earth in front of him. "Agmundr, take that thing out!" The Night Fury launched a quick firebolt, which triggered a trap much like the one that held Fluff. Varinn jumped over it, reached Fluff's side, and knelt down. The trap held her left leg just below the knee. This trap had smooth jaws instead of teeth, but the wound was beginning to bleed.
Varinn tried to spread the jaws of the trap, but even though he'd gained some strength from his work in the forge, he couldn't do it. "Agmundr! Set your claws here and push down!" The dragon immediately saw what Varinn had in mind. The Night Fury pushed one jaw of the trap down while Varinn pushed the other jaw with both hands. In moments, Fluffernut was free; she rolled away, clutching her leg with both hands, breathing hard, unable to stand. The smith's apprentice and the former smith's apprentice kept pushing until they heard the trap's catch engage. It was set again; it wouldn't snap shut on their hands, or paws. They pulled those hands and paws away. Then Agmundr shot the trap and snapped it shut so it wouldn't catch anyone else by accident.
"I'll be all right for a minute," Fluff said, fighting back tears. "Help the dragon first!"
Varinn reluctantly turned back to where they'd landed, and grabbed his basket of tools. "Valka! Describe how the wire noose is held together!"
"It has two small metal plates, and two rivets," she answered after a quick look.
"Rivets! It'll take too long to dismantle it," he decided. "Agmundr, can you shoot that wire?" The Night Fury was already under the tree, taking careful aim as he built up a firebolt. He fired, the cable parted, and the Nadder was free. He half-hopped, half-fell to the ground, where Varinn easily removed the noose, now that it wasn't attached to anything. Cloudjumper and Agmundr spoke kindly to the dragon and helped him calm down; Valka and Varinn ran back to where Fluff was sitting on the ground, whimpering.
"You're not going to lose the leg," Valka said as her fingers probed the wound. "If that trap had teeth, or if we hadn't gotten to you so quickly, it might be another story. You've got a minor wound and a nasty bone bruise; I can't tell if it's broken or not. I'll clean it when we get back to the nest. You'll need to stay off it for the rest of your time here, and definitely see Gothi about it when you get home."
"Shouldn't I take her home now?" Varin asked anxiously.
"Please don't," Fluff answered through her tears. "If I'm going to be okay, I can rest here just as well as I can at home, and it's more peaceful here. The town needs you here, Varinn, keeping your promise to the dragons."
"If one-third of the team is injured, I don't think anyone would hold it against me if I took care of you first," he shot back.
"I can use the time to teach the King some more Forge," she answered. "If I was home, I'd just be a burden on everyone."
And a helpless target for Ruff and Tuff, Varinn added mentally. "Okay, we'll take you back to the Alpha's nest. Before we go, Agmundr, can you look down from above and see if there are any more traps here?" The Night Fury nodded, took off, and slowly circled the area. In two minutes, he fired three shots, and two of those shots triggered leg-hold traps; the third hit an innocent flat patch of ground. He also spotted a camouflaged pit trap. Varinn and Valka threw large rocks onto it until the camouflage collapsed, revealing a net inside the pit. Varinn's belt seax made short work of the net. Once they were satisfied that they had made this area safe for dragons again, they climbed onto their dragons (Fluff rode with Varinn on Agmundr because the Night Fury was easier for her to mount) and returned to the nest.
The King wanted to hear their report as soon as they got back. "Berk is definitely sending their best to help us and to keep the terms of our agreement," he decided. "Nadder, are you going to be all right?"
"Yes, Great One," he answered. "No thanks to the humans!" Then he realized that three humans were sharing the flat rock with him. "No offense," he blurted out. Agmundr translated from dragon to Norse for the humans' benefit.
"None taken," Valka replied.
"You all right?" he asked Fluff.
"Yes," she answered. "No thanks to humans." Varinn inwardly heaved a sigh of relief. If she could be sarcastic in the middle of her pain, then she was probably going to be okay.
"Good. You stay home from feedings until pain stops. We take care of you."
"Thank you, Great One," she replied. "Maybe I teach you Forge after feeding?"
"No," the Alpha decided. "You rest today. Maybe you teach me tomorrow." He nodded, swaying his huge tusks majestically, and the royal interview was over. The dragons took the humans back to their favorite ledge, where Valka cleaned the dirt out of Fluff's wound and bandaged it. Then they sat in silence for a few minutes.
"It never occurred to me that this job might be dangerous," Varinn said at last.
"Believe me, I'm going to watch my step for the rest of the week," Fluff nodded. "That's assuming I take any steps at all."
"I'll bet you're sorry you volunteered to join this exchange team," he said quietly.
"Not really," she answered, just as quietly. "You saw how many traps there were. You probably would have stepped in one, if I hadn't found one first, and the nest needs your legs more than it needs mine. Or maybe one of our dragons would have stepped in one."
"I'm not sure that's the right way to look at it," Valka commented. "You need your legs, too. Try standing up and putting a little weight on it." Fluff struggled to her feet, but was unable to stand on the injured leg. She leaned on Agmundr so she could sit down again.
"Now what am I going to do?" she asked. "The rest of you are going to be busy with language lessons and dragon rescues, and I'll just be sitting here, useless. Isn't there something I can do?"
"Yes, you can rest and get better, so you can return to being useful," Valka said firmly. She looked around. "Besides, I have a feeling you aren't going to be completely idle." She was right. By ones and twos, dragons were approaching her from all over the nest, wanting to talk to her. Some were Forge students; Agmundr translated for the others. They were concerned about her injury, and they thanked her for being willing to take risks for the sake of the trapped dragon. The one she remembered best was the three-legged Snafflefang whom Valka called Lump. "You one of us now," the dragon said.
Varinn and Agmundr were a little late coming back from the feeding celebration that day. Valka and her "dragon of the day" had their lunch almost half-cooked by the time they returned. Varinn was carrying two straight, stout sticks, about four feet long, each with a fork in one end.
"You made me crutches?" Fluff wasn't sure how she should react. "I appreciate the thought, but I'm not a cripple."
"You'll get around with these a lot better than you will by limping," Varinn told her, "and it will be easier on your bad leg."
"I don't want to tell the whole world that I can't walk normally," she fussed.
"It's just until your leg heals," Valka cut in. "The dragons won't care if you use them, I won't care, and I know Varinn won't care, so why not use them?"
"You've never been proud before," Varinn added. "Please don't start now. You love helping people when they need it; why won't you let us help you when you need it?"
She sighed. "All right, I'll try them." Valka helped her stand up, and Varinn cut the crutches to the perfect length. She walked back and forth on the ledge a few times. "I guess this is easier," she admitted. "Thank you for thinking of me, Varinn."
"No problem," he answered.
She sat through the afternoon's Forge lesson, feeling useless and frustrated, while Varinn and Agmundr did all the work. She tried to figure out how she might teach some Forge to the Alpha, but realized that they had no way to communicate with each other except for the Forge that he already knew. How could she tell him what a new word meant? How could he ask questions? Without a bilingual dragon like Agmundr, or a bilingual human like Agnarr, it couldn't be done. So she just sat.
That evening, while Varinn and Agmundr were obeying an informal request from the Alpha to teach him the names of the important dragons in his nest, Valka sat down next to Fluffernut. "Are you looking forward to going home at the end of the week?" the younger girl asked.
"How should I answer that?" Valka replied. "This nest has been my home for longer than you've been alive. I am home. I'll be going back to a place where other people live, a place that's my husband's home, a place that used to be my home, but now...?"
"I thought you were excited at the thought of seeing all of Berk's dragons," Fluff said.
"I am. I desperately want to see all the changes that have happened because of the dragons. I want to meet those dragons, too – especially the ones who are related to me. But visiting isn't the same as living there. I'm sincerely glad that I can come back here for one week a month. My feelings might change once I'm back in Berk, renewing old friendships and rebuilding my marriage. But for now, I'm not ready to completely let go of this place."
"Then why leave at all?" Fluff wondered.
Valka sighed. "There is such a thing as duty, Fluffernut. Maybe 'responsibility' would be a better word. I have a husband, and he has the right to live with his wife. I have a son, and he has the right to know his mother. I can't be selfish and do whatever I please. My life is tied up with other people's lives; I have rights, but so do they, and I can't ignore that. Now that I'm finally able to be there for the ones who love me, I have to go. Especially because Hiccup has gone to such great lengths to make it possible.
"Don't get me wrong, Fluff – I love Stoick and it's going to be wonderful to be with him again. But it's also going to be strange. Like I said, I'm probably going to feel like a newlywed all over again. This nest is safe and familiar, and all the dragons love me here. I'd be less than human if I didn't want to stay in a place like this. We all have our safe places where we'd love to spend our whole lives, but life doesn't let us do that."
Fluff cleared her throat. "Is this a prelude to another talk about how I'm supposed to prepare myself for marriage, whether it's good or bad?"
Valka smiled. "I hadn't planned it that way, but I guess I could transition from one topic to the other. The best advice I can give you is, 'Stop worrying.' The only thing that worrying will do is ruin a good night's sleep. Unless Berk has changed a lot, I'm sure most of the boys your age are nice and pretty sensible."
Fluff barely nodded. "But there are one or two who aren't, and those are the ones I worry about."
"Would I be guessing right if I thought one of them might be a son of my brother-in-law Spitelout?"
"Very good guess," Fluff said heavily, "and he's my biggest worry."
"Wow," Valka said. "Like father, like son. I think I might have a heart attack and die from not-surprise. But he can't be the only one your father might pick for you! What are the chances that you'll wind up with him?"
"Based on the way my life has gone so far, I'd say a hundred per cent," Fluff said sadly.
"Well, your father isn't picking him for you tonight," Valka decided. "Rest that leg and get some sleep. Tomorrow is another day."