Not Alone • httyd [2]

Three - How to Start a Dragon Academy

A day has come on the Ilse of Berk when the weather finally allowed a streak of sunlight to peak from the sky. The morning fog lifted hours ago, and now, only the occasional cloud passes over the blue sky, leaving Edge feeling renewed at the change in temperature.

Not having a dragon of her own, like her siblings and friends, she spends much of her time helping out in the village, and sometimes climbs to Gothi's hut to learn from the elder. The days pass by rather slowly in Edge's opinion, but she makes sure her time is well spent caring for animals and tending to chores.

On this particular day, Gothi has allowed Edge to take a break, only asking that she collect some tree sap from the woods outside the village. That quest seems sent from Valhalla, as she has not been exploring in the forest for a long while.

So, with her newly decorated leather chestplate around her torso, Hiccup's yak fur vest keeping her warm, and both her journal and treasured dagger stashed safely in the vest, she sets course for the forest. A sense of familiarity and nostalgia settles in Edge, and she smiles to herself, enjoying the feeling of being back.

Taking a while to wander along the forest floor, she collects sap from the trees Gothi requested of her, and soon finds herself merely trekking along a non-existent path, around boulders and over fallen trees.

A memory of several months prior makes Edge smile again, remembering Hiccup and Toothless in the cove, and the time she'd spent with them since, learning new things about Toothless, and dragons as a whole. Almost the entirety of the village is now on dragon-back, since freeing the dragons from the Red Death and bringing them home to the Isle of Berk.

Of course, apart from herself. And Mildew, an antisocial and grumpy elderly man living on a hill outside Berk village. Mildew in particular has an issue with the dragons being accepted into the Hooligan Tribe, having caused quite a stir in the previous days.

Edge has offered to help her best friend Hiccup settle the unrest between the Hooligans and dragons, but to no avail, no matter how much or little she helps, the chaos that dragons bring, keep raining down on Berk village. Edge adores the dragons, and wishes for them to stay no matter how chaotic.

Hiccup has tried to stop a few dragons from stealing food, which resulted in the plaza going up in flames. Chief Stoick reprimanded him as Astrid, Edge and Hiccup discussed the day of failure that same evening, telling Hiccup to get a handle on the dragons before Mildew causes too much of a ruckus.

It's now been a full day since then, and the dragons have blown up the stock of food that was supposed to be saved for winter, and eaten it all. Much to Edge's horror, she found all her friends' and siblings' dragons there, including Toothless. Then, they were about to lock up the dragons, but Hiccup stopped them, along with Edge, because her best friend had gotten an idea to utilize the dragons' natural routines to their advantage.

And this day is the day that Hiccup wanted to prove to Mildew and his father that dragons can be beneficial to the Hooligans. At that, Edge spots the sun high in the sky between some branches, panicking that she might not be there to defend her friends and siblings as they are tattled on by Mildew. She begins sprinting back to the village, knowing the path by heart, begging Odin to be kind to her best friend, knowing how harsh Stoick can be.

Making it back, she finds most of the Hooligans gathered by the old arena, listening to their Chief berate his son and the other teens. She gasps for breath as she slows to a stop near the entrance, and stumbles just slightly as she moves to defend Hiccup from his dad. But she doesn't make it very far before Gobber suddenly moves.

"You're getting a dragon training academy!" He shouts, sounding delighted at his own words. Edge stops in her tracks, laughing slightly in disbelief.

"Gobber! I wanted to tell them!" Stoick scolds his friend and advisor, as Hiccup and Astrid spot Edge approaching them. They share an excited look at the news, and embrace Edge as she gushes out excited words.