When some things are revealed, the very foundation upon which worldview was build could be shaken, but some things must be said, acknowledged, understood, otherwise the consequences would be catastrophic.
Just to make it clear, italics in dialogues means it is spoken in Latin.
Proles Tonitrua enjoyed the day well after his morning flight, which had lasted all the way into the afternoon. And if not for the amused but stern bellow of Big from below, their flight could have stretched all the way into the twilight.
He followed Twig everywhere he could, inspecting everything he came upon with interest, now much more able to properly analyze items thanks to having memories of his whole life instead of but a quarter of it, especially some idle chat with crafters.
But as soon as the sun sank out of sight and Hiccup headed towards a very specific wooden den, Toni slowed to a stop with a pained expression.
He needed to tell about his past with the Blitz, and a sudden fear of revealing his past chilled down the dragon's spine. But he managed to restrain it, because if they don't know about that, they will be helpless when the time comes.e He could just leave with Twig if things got ugly, but that wasn't the desired outcome. Having an entire nest on their side increased their chances of survival, and even more importantly, Twig cared for this nest.
Those concerns however had proven themselves non-issues since he wasn't able to just tell about it, so he needed to relay information in a non-verbal way.
But how? He squinted deep in thought, unable to think of anything before Twig patted him on the shoulder with worried a expression, interrupting his brainstorm.
"You ok, bud?"
The dragon drooped a little, and then he nudged his human with a comforting croon. If it came to it, he would learn the humans' language enough to relay the information, despite how long it would take; it wasn't like Blitz would suddenly decide to fly into this restricted area. After all, there was no one to report what had happened.
For a while he felt like he was missing something, but he shuffled it away as he strode towards the wooden den where he was taught human tongue.
As before, he was assaulted by high-pitched voices of human hatchlings and groaned in aggravation, before reaching a more secluded part of the den, and thanks to wood between himself and noisy creatures, his ears stopped aching, he could still hear them very clearly though.
He sat before the human that pointed at drawings and pronounced words meaning them, and he got to work, further deciphering this language. Items were easy, but expressions were tricky, and from some reason Twig was amused and it made Proles Tonitrua a bit suspicious that what he was doing now was some sort of a joke. If that was the case, then revenge would be due, and he already had multiple ideas on the matter.
His attention diverted back to the older human, who looked at him expectantly after saying a word meaning some form of greeting. He reached towards the pictures but was interrupted by a noise of denial and twisted his nose in thought, wondering what this was about now. It didn't take him long to realize though: he had learned words for long enough, and now it was time to start pronouncing them.
He wracked his tongue trying to make sounds. But he just wasn't able to make some of the sounds, no matter how hard he tried, not even in the slightest.
Twig rubbed his chin and spoke up, which elicited a change in behavior from the human teaching him, and he started speaking words that Toni wasn't yet acquainted with. The words were strangely distinct from the others, and even Twig was visibly struggling with them. The dragon did his best to mimic it and was partially successful, and it seemed to make his human's eyes brighter and brighter with each complex sound.
"Maybe try different languages first? Toothless is having issues with… uhh, rhotic consonant specifically, the German one."
Ms Hofferson scowled.
"He needs to know Norse anyway, so there is no reason to divert."
Hiccup shook his head.
"Actually, I think giving him ideas on how to construct words could help with speaking Norse. It doesn't seem to work very well this way."
The teacher sent him a stern look, but he was immune to that now, years after finishing the evening school that each kid on Berk had to attend if they weren't taught at home.
"Do you want to teach him instead?"
Hiccup rolled his eyes and groaned in exasperation.
"This is getting really old, you know?"
"I am serious."
The heir just sent her a flat look, and it was the teacher's turn to roll her eyes.
"Fine."
What followed was set of words spoken in Danish, Swedish, Finnish and even some Arabic before huffing and looking back at Toothless expectantly.
He just shrugged. Toothless struggled with most of them, but some seemed much easier for him to pronounce, even if in virtually unrecognizable way.
"It kind of works," Hiccup said. "You tried latin yet?"
She scowled.
"I don't know it much, myself."
Despite that, she turned to dragon and spoke.
"Intelligis me?"
The dragon froze for exactly a second in surprise before his eyes glistened and he excitedly pronounced a sentence in flawless, fluent latin.
"Latine loqueris? Magna! Habeo tantum dicere..."
The pen hiccup held in his palm, occasionally used to scribe on his notebook, had fallen to the ground in the perfect silence that followed the dragon's short speech.
Then, his eyes rolled inside his head and he lost consciousness, his body saved from bruises by the night fury's lightning-fast reaction. Toothless nuzzled Hiccup's unconscious form in worry and sent another sentence towards the stunned teacher, snapping her out of shock.
"Licuit ipse erit?"
Grunhilda nodded mechanically, too shocked to speak for a while more.
Latin. Speaking. Night. Fury.
My Gods.
Hiccup groaned, waking. He already knew who he was leaning against from the characteristic firm yet incredibly gentle grip — and scales, of course.
He opened his eyes and glanced at the dragon curled around him with a smile which was returned in its adorable, toothless form.
"What happened?"
"You lost consciousness after I spoke in latin. Is that a human way of processing new information?"
Hiccup gaped slack-jawed at the dragon. The night fury gingerly secured his hold on his human, making sure that his delicate small head rested securely on his soft stomach. This time however, Hiccup didn't lose consciousness.
"Where did you learn that!?"
"Where did I learn it?" The human nodded, and the dragon squinted as if concentrating."Back with my...family."
Hiccup tilted his head like a curious dragon and asked in latin, albeit with a stuttering and heavy accent.
"And from where do they know it?"
Toothless looked away, and drawed breath just as Hiccup was going to speak, prompting him to stop.
"I need to talk about something very important with you. Could we...go somewhere else?"
Hiccup nodded and after they exited the orphanage — which also served as a school — the human mounted the troubled dragon. They flew to the cove, neither of them consciously choosing it, lead by their subconscious in search of a secluded and peaceful place.
After they landed and Hiccup dismounted, Toothless picked him up by the shirt and placed him securely between his paws, Hiccup using his body as backrest. Neither of them said a word for a few minutes. The silence was interrupted only by Toothless's whine, which earned the dragon a comforting rub on the neck, finally granting him courage to speak.
"I...I…"
"You don't need to-"
Hiccup tried to comfort him, but was promptly interrupted and shocked simultaneously.
"I was in the Blitz."
At the dead silence that followed night fury continued with closed eyes and pained expression.
"I was one of many setting human settlements ablaze, burning their crops, shattering stone walls of castles and cities, destabilizing the entire hierarchy they lived in, and killing as many as I possibly could without getting into danger, striking at deepest of night and from sky-high with speed of lightining. I was the death in the night, the harbinger of doom and reaper of every human, young or old, able or crippled, innocent or guilty."
Toothless inhaled, trembling slightly, his irises narrowing in guilt but eyes still forced to look at Hiccup, before continuing.
"But I don't want any harm to come to you, nor anyone in your town. We should have some time before Blitz discovers that this area is accessible. But I don't know how long; we must use all the time we can to prepare! This thing you shot me down with, how big is it? How many can be made and how fast? More dragons would come in handy too. Twig? Twig?!"
The teen shook his head and waved a hand, signaling that everything is okay. He felt quite dazed though.
"That is... a lot to take in. You say you were in Blitz?"
Toothless nodded, catching just enough words to understand their core meaning.
"And you want to help me."
Dragon whined.
"You are my best friend, Twig. I just want to keep you safe. I can't endure thinking of life without you."
Hiccup smiled broadly.
"Thanks bud, I- wait, Twig?"
The dragon made a show of mock-consideration before replying smugly.
"You kind of look like one."
Hiccup smirked and deflected. "You know what I named you?"
The night fury's eyes squinted in thought, the dragon humming and tilting his head. Hiccup was suddenly much less sure this was a good idea.
"Something mysterious, majestic, powerfull, unstoppable, Thunder? Wrrr, far too simple, maybe Nightking? Darkstar? Or-."
"Toothless."
The dragon looked at him for exactly a second in shock before pinning him to the ground and glaring down at him.
"Toothless!? I have teeth! What kind of name is that!?"
Hiccup smiled broadly, completely unconcerned by the vast array of very visible, very sharp teeth above his head, knowing very well that the indignant snarl didn't mean any threat towards him.
"The kind that everyone has here. I am named Hiccup."
The dragon's nose twitched as he cringed, Hiccup smothered a laugh down to a giggle seeing this.
"What does that even mean? I encountered the word several times, but without context it is only a meaningless sound."
Hiccup couldn't smother a laugh anymore, and the dragon's pupils further narrowed and his nose further twitched, making it truly impossible for Hiccup to stop.
"Huaea, Hiaee, Hiuee, Hiuuu?"
Toothless' attempts at pronouncing the word in norse send a even stronger wave of amusement through the teenager, so much so that he...
"Ha ha hic! Oh n- hic! Ooo! Go- hic! ds ha-hic! M-hic! Eee—hic!"
Toothless's look turned from thoughtful to curious and he sniffed at Hiccup's face. Then he outstretched one of his ears and moved it around his human's chest, armpits and neck, puzzled by the strange sound his human was making to his complete and utter humiliation.
"Toothless, get this ear out of- mmph! Seriously!? You stick it inside my mouth!?"
Look of deep and innocent curiosity on Toothless was the most disarming thing Hiccup had even seen.
"Fi-fine, it-hic! is, well, — hic! — cup, it — hic! — appens when someone gulp down too much — hic! — air."
"So you need to get it out? Maybe this will work..."
And of course Toothless had to kick him with one of those thick paws of his, knocking the air out of him painfully.
"Aahh, Toothle-hic!"
The dragon blinked and assumed his thoughtful pose again, complete with twisted nose, head tilted and left ear raised.
"Let's-hic! g-hic! to Go-hic! bber!"
Dragon only blinked, incredulous.
"Sorry, I don't understand what you just said. To who we should go?"
Hiccup was about to pronounce Gobber name again when he realised that Toothless likely don't knew this name anyway.
"Old guy from the — hic! — mithy, with only — hic! — alf of the — hic! — limbs and very... —uhhic! — direct approach to learning?"
"You mean Smelly?"
Hiccup grinned.
"That is accurate as well."
Upon climbing to the saddle Hiccup freezed in contact with another thought.
"To who you-hic! did hic! gave nick-hic! names as well-hic?"
"Bold is this female that you are courting-"
"I am not-hic courting — hic! —strid!"
"But you like her and she likes you, it is obvious to everyone with a nose."
"...nose?"
"You see Hiccup, when male and female want to mate with each other they have a very specific smell..."
"Aaa-hic!, shut—hic—up!"
The dragon was still completely incredulous, and Hiccup groaned again.
Not even a minute of flight seemed to take far, far longer than the actual amount of time. Finally, they dropped before the smithy, and its master looked out with a grin.
"How are you? Night fury bitten off rest of your leg already?"
"Very fuuu-hic!"
Gobber raised an eyebrow at the sound.
"So you are giving justice to your name, hic!"
Attempt at imitating hiccup was met with the most unamused glare teenager could possibly muster. Before hiccuping again to the amusement of both his friends.
"Okay lad, come here, I have juuust the treatment for ya'."
Hiccup slumped, but went in anyway, Toothless following suit.
Gobber started mixing ingredients of his 'treatment' in the pot. The dragon backed away from it with disgust and went wide-eyed when it was offered to Hiccup, before promptly snatching him up and motioning to leave.
"No- no Toothless, it — hic! — orks, works. It is embarrassing to — hic! hic! — when you are named Hic-cup!"
The dragon snickered and placed human on the ground just outside the smithy, sitting and tugging him with one of his front paws while looking warily at fuming blacksmith with pot emitting insufferable smell.
"I will NOT allow you to get poisoned with this... THING."
Gobber's mouth gaped wide open, Hiccup's eyes suddenly widened, meanwhile night fury simply snorted.
"What?"
They backed away from the shocked crafter after retrieving his terribly smelly liquid, Hiccup mumbling something to calm him down before they exited the pathetically small human earshot.
As they headed back to their wooden den, Toothless—no, Proles Tonitrua, he corrected himself— recalled the topic he failed to extensively discuss in the cove with Twi—no, Hiccup.
It needed to be discussed though, so he brought it up when they reached their destination.
"Hiccup, we need to get ready, Blitz could be here any night now!"
Teen shook his head, and the night fury inhaled to speak again.
"Why now? Why not years before? What has changed..."
They spoke simualtenously, glancing at each other.
"Red Death."
"Hungry One."
Hiccup rubbed his forehead and gulped down a lump in the throat.
"What we can do? Blitz shattered the most powerful nations into squabbering pieces, how Berk could hope to stop them?"
Toothless again assumed a thoughtful pose and listed all the reasons.
"First, Blitz was striking at softest targets available. Fortified cities especially had proven themselves too resilient to be worth the effort, and the coastal ones were sometimes able to feed themselves, and by that, weren't starved out or forced to fight with the others for food when villages were destroyed., Berk is on an island. Is it feeding itself from fish already to a significant extent?"
Hiccup nodded "Yes, yes, eight of ten meals is based around some fish, but what about defenses? Blitz managed to destroy heavily fortified targets."
Toothle—Proles Toni— ugh, why had that stuck so much!?
The night fury shook his head.
"Only when they take out defenders and war machines out to protect villages, or when visibly weakened by fighting with other humans. Otherwise attacking wouldn't be worth the losses, granted, Blitz could have cracked open any target, there were just so many easier ones that it never becomed priority. This thing you shot me down with..."
"It broke."
"But you have the plans?"
Hiccup fidgeted a little, anxious. The dragon nuzzled him with worry, and Hiccup sighed.
"I kind of burned them."
"Why would you do that!?"
"Because it is what maimed you? I don't want that thing I used to hurt you sitting around and reminding me of it."
The dragon lay his head on Hiccup's lap and purred deeply with big, adoring eyes.
"If I had to choose between being grounded forever and living as Hungry One's tool, I would choose to never touch the skies again, which isn't the case. I AM grateful for what you have done, and don't even dare to think otherwise."
Last line came with a teasing tone and a toothless smile, Hiccup grinned in return.
"Ooh and what will you do if I don't comply with this, Mr Bossy?"
The dark dragon promptly tugged his human to his chest with forepaws and laid on his side, despite Hiccup's legs kicking.
"You can't do that! I am not some...Teddy bear! "
Night fury again assumed his thoughtful pose, complete with tilted head, left ear raised, and wide, wide pupils.
"What?"
"Teddy bear."
"What?"
"I don't know how to say it in Latin."
Toothle-Proles Tonitrua grumbled before attempting to pronounce it, which elicited giggles from Hiccup, then ceasing those attempts and asking a question.
"So what is this 'unpronounceable-thing'?"
Hiccup's grin was suspiciously smug.
"A piece of fabric stuffed with feathers resembling a bear, that yooouuung children like to cuddle. Or very big ones."
In response, the dragon's pupils narrowed just short of slits, and the human was squeezed tighter by Toni's paws.
"I can understand why, it certainly feels nice."
"Toothless! Let me go! It's embarrassing!"
"My name is Proles Tonitrua. Not Toothless."
"Proles Tonitrua? It- it means..."
"Thunderchild."
Hiccup whistled.
"Now that is a name. How did you get it?"
Proles slumped.
"Because I was the very first night fury that hatched within the Blitz, used as a proof that it is alright to raise hatchlings even while in the middle of the intense war."
"Oh."
Silence weighed down on them both for next few seconds. Finally, Hiccup shook his head and spoke up.
"Just… just…to think that you sla, slau, slaughtered indiscriminately, I just… I can't imagine you doing something like that. It.. It is just, just, terrible!" Hiccup's arms trembled, his eyes wide and confused.
"Night furies had no reason to think of humans as anything else than monsters. What else they could have done? What humans would have done in the exact same situation; fighting someone without ever trying to communicate, all the wounds left to rot and worsen, and leading to this; elimination of what could be only perceived as existential danger that cannot be reasoned with. A fight for survival, continued existence. We or they," the night fury said, carefully separating himself verbally from the group, his tinge of fear of rejection rising to a painful stab.
Proles shook his head and released Hiccup, absent-mindedly stopping him from falling down by providing support when he stumbled.
"Hiccup, we need to prepare. Could you inform other humans? I will take care of the dragons. When everyone is informed, we can prepare some plan."
"Wait wait wait, are you planning to drop such a bomb without consulting the chief first?"
The night fury squinted, focusing hard on Hiccup's words and replying after ten seconds, just when the teenager made to speak again.
"You have alpha?"
Hiccup smirked.
"That fits him as well."
Dragon grumbled under his nose.
"Great, just great. Is it Big?"
"Big? You mean my dad?"
"No other human is worth this description. Let's just tell everyone about it, they need to know it anyway."
Hiccup folded his arms.
"It wouldn't bode well to go around the chief for someone that just got into a tribe."
Dragon snickered.
"Plus, he is very good at what he does, Toothless."
The night fury's wings drooped.
"Fine. Let's get and talk to him. And I have teeth!"
Soon enough they neared the Alpha...the Chief of this human tribe, spotting him from the air and landing right in front of him, sending Sven tumbling back by the gust of wind.
"Dad, we have something very important to tell you."
Stoick shook his head and motioned to reach Sven, but his way was blocked by night fury sending him serious look.
"Couldn't it wait? I have a manner to resolve with Sven."
"Hungry One was the only thing keeping Blitz out of this place. With her gone, there is nothing stopping them from razing every trace of humanity here to the ground. We must prepare."
Stoick looked at him with wide eyes just as Sven did. Dragon rolled his eyes.
"Hiccup said informing you is important, so, are you going to do something besides staring at me?"
"Toothless!" Hiccup scolded.
The night fury flicked his ear, slapping it into his human's hand.
Stoick shook himself and inhaled, looking at the dragon with a furrowed brow.
"Why... now... not... before?"
He visibly struggled with finding words in Latin, not like Hiccup that seemed to always have extensive vocabulary for each occasion.
"Hungry One left my memories in tatters, it took time for it to heal. I regained it a few days ago, and I realized that anyone here can speak Latin just today."
Stoick shook his head in bewilderment before turning back and heading straight to the central square, exclaiming through his arm.
"Come, you will tell me about it in our longhouse."
Soon they were back in their wooden den. Stoick sat at the table and looked pointedly at night fury.
"What? We need to get ready. Get more dragons; humans' ability to strike back is limited, and their ability to pursue nonexistent. And recreate that thing Hiccup shot down me with, preferably in large amounts and fast."
"Hiccup, translate for us. What do you think will happen when we tell this to the people?"
"They will be scared, and it will motivate them to get everything ready faster."
The teen rolled his eyes. He raised his hands and made a gesture of paraphrasing while modulating his voice to be haughty and aggravated.
"They will be mortified and it will get them to work harder."
"Or make them do something reckless. When can we expect the Blitz?"
"It is hard to say, since one of Starborns was reported to be here, they will most likely be avoiding this entire area. Discovering that Hungry One is no more is a question of a chance, of someone getting off course and stumbling upon some landmark and realizing that since they aren't forcefully brought before them, it is safe to pass now."
Hiccup rubbed Tooth—Proles Tonitrua's neck, but he shrugged it off.
"The faster we start, the faster we will have any sort of chance, we should-"
Stoick raised his palm.
"No."
"Wha-"
"What?!"
"People will go into a frenzy."
"And how is it-"
"A bad thing?"
Stoick rubbed his temples for a while before responding with a sigh.
"Some will try to escape, some will start blaming anyone they could, especially you, and some will simply won't believe. None of it will help us with preparations. Don't talk to anyone about it, unless I tell you so."
"But-"
"No buts, Hiccup. Do you trust me on this?"
Hiccup groaned but responded.
"Yes, dad. It is just..."
"The single most feared possibility, I know, but running in circles will not help anyone."
The night fury assumed a thoughtful pose, looking at the table with enough force to grind it to ash.
"So what are we gonna do now?"
"We still have some time before winter hits too hard to reliably work outside. You said that dragons will be important?" At a nod chief continued. "Good. Go and seek them out, then bring them back and train; we need more riders. When devastating winter hits, we will have all time in the world for drafting plans and crafting any sort of weapons and armors we may need."
Proles Tonitrua looked up. "Then let's get started, there is no time to lose."
There were things that she ignored before but could no more, nagging at her whenever her eyes laid on them.
A human grooming thoroughly his ensnared nocta furae—-her capturer!— with hot water that was warmed up in a metal contraption set on fire, the entire process taking so long that he was always late in comparison to his counterparts for flights and repeatedly scolded.
Another human, taking the harness off of his mount each time they prepared to sleep only to put it back on in the morning, performing the repetitive and seemingly senseless task time and time again, instead of just letting it stay on for multiple days like the rest of them.
There was even a human groaning whenever Pitch, who belonged to him and who was Blackhearted Moonlight's mate, made dirty looks at restrained nocta furaes. The human even scolded her for it when she did it repeatedly.
Then there was her own human.
His demeanor had changed. He no longer boasted about her obedience, and was doing everything in a slightly more respectful manner. Her leash wasn't pulled taut whenever he got impatient, but instead he waited for her to catch up. Whenever her restraints were added or taken away, it was done in a less rough way than before, and he even made sure they weren't secured in a painful way.
She didn't know what to think about it: humans showing kindness and good hearts without reason, to what were effectively nothing more than mounts in their eyes, even in such little gestures.
So she had just played along, smoothly performing orders and not using windows of opportunity to cause any trouble, meekly allowing her muzzle to be taken off and put on, for the leash to be attached and detached. And now she stared down at two straps meant to wrap around her mouth, connected by another pair further up her head and equipped with reins; her bridle.
Thankfully it didn't have piece of metal like horse ones had. If that had been the case, she wasn't sure she could have spoken properly; restrained jaw movement was one thing, but sticking something into the maw was entirely another.
The human wasn't sliding it onto her head, so she lowered her head into it by herself, rewarded quickly with a few scratches that she didn't react to in any way, still too unsure what to make out of this all.
The human vaulted onto her back and she jumped, startled, but she got herself under control quickly and started walking when the human nudged her. She went in directions her reins were pulled at, the weight on her back noticeable but not problematic in any way; in a way, it wasn't much different from carrying a tired fireling.
That night she was approached by Moonlight again. The dragon laid down, nearly touching her cage.
"I see that you now understand."
She sighed from her cage. It had its door open, a sign that she was considered broken in. The smallest tinge of anger flared at this thought, but it couldn't burn out the conclusions she reached.
"They are not as terrible as I thought," she said. "Still, they are showing kindness only when they have us restrained and serving their whims. It...changes very little."
Mater-Fulgur regained more confidence with each word spoken, but Moonlight quickly took it back.
"It changes everything. Because if they are not monsters, they can be utilized to our own ends, just like they now do with us."
The dragoness groaned. "Why I am even talking with you."
He tilted his head, amused. "Because I am the only person here that knows perfectly what you are doing?"
"And what am I doing?"
Moonlight snarled, his pupils narrowing in their crimson-red envelope at her.
"Really? You think I am so blind?"
"I am still waiting for an answer."
He rolled his eyes. "You manipulate everyone to get them under your sway and into the Blitz."
"I am persuading them, because it is the only logical thing to do. No one wants to stay this way."
"There is no difference, but it is not just that. You want them to do what you want, to think like you do and see the world like you do, to change it to fit what you want."
"And what do I want?"
"To get power in order to rid the world of entities that caused you great harm, to never worry about it again; humankind."
"I do it because I believe it is for the best for our kind."
"And isn't this what everyone thinks? That they are right, that they should act upon it or be used as tools by those that do? You have great talent in swaying others to your cause. And you utilize it to its fullest extent, gaining power and then remaking all you can with it."
Mater bared her teeth. "I am not taking advantage of them!"
He snarled and shook his head."Seriously, you consider yourself better than me?"
It was her turn to snarl. "I am not a rap-"
"You are murderer."
That cut her response short.
"You murdered," he said. "You murdered more than anyone ever, striked at unsuspecting families, snuffed out all of their hopes and dreams, mercilessly grinded them to ashes just because once you were hurt by someone remotely similar, doing the very same harm that came to you to uncountable others. You are just as blackhearted as I am."
Her eyes widened. "You say it as if...as if it is something to be proud of!"
Moonlight purred, purred!
"I just want you to truly understand what I do, to achieve this peace of mind that I have: That we are all equally blackhearted, and that there is nothing wrong with that. That there is no point in holding back to achieve what we want. Most creatures gifted with the bittersweet curse of higher thought never can admit it to themselves, and they suffer consequences of it. I have transcended it, and I want to help you do it as well."
Mater's heart hammered. "If this is some... weird way of impressing me, sorry, but I already have a mate, a genius that...led the Blitz through insurmountable odds and towards victory. Youou are n-nothing comparedr to him."
Moonlight standed up and gave a brief chuckle, completely unoffended.
"You know I am right. I see it in how shaken you are. How you stutter despite never, ever doing it before. Don't let guilt bully you, you did nothing wrong."
The dragon moved away in the silence that transpired, leaving the dragoness to deal with swirling vortex of emotions plunging her heart into the void.