Dragon Rider (httyd)

6

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"This is Sonia and Adlea's house." I said after we stopped in front of a small, well designed wooden house.

"It's a nice place." Astrid commented.

"Yeah," I nodded. "They designed it themselves."

"Good on them." She said. I gestured for to to keep following me.

"Vidar lives here." I pointed at the next house that was about fifteen metres from the previous. "Then, this is my place. You can stay here while you're visiting." I said. "Or, with the girls if that'd make you feel more comfortable."

"Here's fine." Astrid said, putting her hand on my arm.

"Okay." I said. "Wanna look inside?" She nodded yes, then followed me in.

The inside of my house is fairly simple. There's a loft where mine and Toothless's beds are. Downstairs, there was a cooking stand and two desks; one with bits of metal and parts for building and the other with papers and ink bottles scattered over it.

"Its a bit of a mess. Obviously I wasn't expecting guests." I said, sounding a bit flustered.

"It's nice. It looks homey." She said. She walked over the tables. She picked up one of the papers.

"I'm trying to make Toothless a better tail fin. Maybe even one that he won't need me to control for him. But I haven't quite figured out how yet." I explained the sketches.

"They look good." She said. "You made the first one for him. You can do this too."

I smiled. "Someday."

I showed her the rest of the house then we went back outside. The sun was starting to set, the sky was lit up with vibrant colours.

"Every night, we try to meet at our fire pit to eat, discuss the day and what we've accomplished in the day. You'll meet Vidar and Adlea there." I told her. She nodded in response.

"What's for dinner?" She asked and I laughed.

----

"Here, Astrid." Adlea said, smiling sweetly at her. From an onlooker's perspective, they could have been sisters; same blonde hair, same light eyes, same fair skin. Even a similar shaped body, not that I payed attention to that or anything.

"Thanks, Adlea." Astrid said, taking the wooden plate that was being handed to her. It had mutton and carrots on it. Astrid brought her plate over and sat next to me. Vidar sat to our left and Sonia and Adlea across from us. The dragons all ran off somewhere and we could hear them loudly playing.

"Today the Nadders got here. I spent the day put out fires, so to speak, around the island between the islanders and the migrators. Everything seems fine for now, but I'll be up tonight to keep an eye on it." Vidar said, then shoved a mouthful of food in his mouth.

"The islanders are what we call the dragons who live here. Some of them stay permanently and others come and go." I explained to Astrid because she looked a bit confused. "And Nadder flocks migrate every year. We happen to live on one of the stopping points of a small flock." She nodded.

"I spent most of the day working in the garden. I started drying some fruit today as well. They should be ready in about a month." Adlea said.

"Good, Adlea." I said. "That will be perfect for longer trips away and easy packing." Adlea smiled proudly.

"I," Sonia said, bring the attention to herself, "I patrolled the island in the morning. Then spent some time with the sheep and helped one give birth. Oh, yeah. There's a new set of twin babies." Sonia smiled wide, showing that she was missing her right lateral incisor.

"That's great, Sonia!" Hiccup smiled back at her. "Im excited to meet the new little ones."

"How many sheep do you have?" Astrid asked. Sonia looked at her like she's forgotten she was there for a moment.

"We have two males, Snow and Ice, and four females, Pine, Oak, Mist, and Stream. And and new babies, born to Ice and Pine, I was thinking they'd be Cray and Fish. Both male. What do you guys think?" Sonia said.

"I like it." Vidar said. "We all know you like crayfish." Sonia laughed.

"That I do." She responded.

"It makes her sick every time, though." Adlea said to Astrid while laughing and Astrid chuckled along with her.

It was nice to see everyone get alone. Someone from my old life and the family I'd brought together. We all stayed up way later than usual. We talked and got to know each other. Astrid told us all about how Berk was. About the dragon problem and the food situation, which was always, to say the least, a bit of a problem. There were too many people, and not enough food, and even less of it when the dragons would take it.

The moon was almost at its highest point when we finally parted ways to sleep. I let Astrid sleep in my bed while I set up a mat of sorts on the ground in the main space. Toothless joined us and slept on the loft on his stone pad with Astrid.

It was selfish, but part of me didn't want Astrid to leave. Part of me wanted her to stay here with us. But I also knew that she wouldn't. She had a home and a purpose back at Berk. And the only reason she's come with me was because she had a few days before she had to go back to Berk. So as much as I wanted too, I wouldn't ask her.