Azalea curls up with Toothless in the late sun after sketching him. Why she always ends up like that, I don't know. I make the last adjustments to the new rod and add it to the tail. I try to wake Toothless so I can put the tail back on, and he grumbles, flicking me away from his tail and toward Azalea. He eventually bats me so hard that I fall onto her. She opens her eyes
"What the heck, Hiccup" She raises an eyebrow
"Toothless" I sigh and stand up "Batted me onto you"
"Oh" The faintest trace of sadness flickers over her eyes, even a bit of longing
"Sorry about landing on you," I say
"It's okay." She shrugs, standing up and dusting off her skirt. The sun's setting, and she makes to fly off again "Before I leave..." She grips the front of my shirt and kisses me before she vanishes into the sun, her wings shining with invisible glitter.
Did she really just kiss me?
Does she like me??
Do I like her back???
Is Freya messing with me?
I need to find her
"Toothless? You up to find Azalea?" I ask. He perks right up at her name and I toss myself onto the saddle. He takes off in pursuit of her, and I spot the shimmer of her wings vanishing below a copse of trees. Toothless dives inward and opens his wings barely wide enough to act as a parachute just before we hit the dirt. There she is, perched in a tree, her arms coated in terrible terrors, laughing with them. I blink away a few spots in my eyes and she's gone, vanishing like the sun a few moments later.
Toothless yips at a small shrub, and a snake slithers out. I poke the bushes more, and they seem hollow. Shoving a tangle of branches away, I walk into a cave, torches flickering light over murals painted on the walls. One is smudged, with four long gashes like fingerprints running through it. But I can make out one main feature-A familiar face, with long wings attached to her body.
"Stay here no longer" A deep voice rumbles from deeper in "Human intruder" I scramble to exit the cave as loud footsteps thud toward me. But I'm thinking about that mural, and how eerily it resembled her. I mount Toothless and return to town, where I endure more of my father's lecturing. I don't listen but think about Azalea instead.
I'm laying sleeplessly on my bed, staring out the window. I close my eyes to sleep when an insistent tapping occurs. I look outside again, and there she is, standing on my windowsill, her wings shielding the moonlight from coming in. I pop the latch and open the window, letting her tumble inside.
"Hi," I say
"Hi" She grins and picks herself up "I got bored after I couldn't find any dragons to talk with"
"So, why are you here?" I ask
"Because I have to meet your father eventually" She shrugged
"Uh, maybe the morning is a better time" I suggest
"You're right" Her shoulder slump, and she moves toward the window
"You don't have to sleep outside all the time," I say
"Yeah, but it's nicer out there" She sighs "No walls, or constraints keeping you in, you're free"
"That sounds nice" I add
"Want to try?" She offers. We sneak downstairs and out the door, me holding a bedroll and Azalea just prefers the cold hard ground for some reason. Dashing into the woods, we stop by the same pond I found Toothless in, and we stop. Azalea opens her wings and flies a few laps before she dips downward and lands.
"I'll never not be amazed when you fly," I say
"Thanks?" She smiles, then hunts around on the ground for a good sleeping spot, eventually settling on a patch of grass a bit to my right, where she lays down and stares at the stars
"I haven't been here since before the Red Death," I say, looking at her
"That really big dragon that lived in a volcano?" She asks
"Yeah" I finish
"I heard about her from passing dragon flocks" Azalea adds "She was a kind ruler. But a bit strict when it came to food" In the rising moon, her face is angelic, the long shadows cast across her face by her eyelashes and the perfect arch of her lips. She's pretty and graceful, kind and funny. She's everything, and she's perfect. I scoot over to her and toss my arm around her shoulders, and she jumps a little at the sudden contact before she leans in a little more. "Can you hear it?" She asks
"Hear what?" I say
"That calling. The low hum that's asking us to follow" She points to the stars "The call that makes me want to open my wings and fly into the stars and find Asgard"
"I don't hear it. But I can see the stars above us and the sand around us, and you right next to me" I add
"I love you" She whispers
YOU ARE READING
The Whisperer
FanfictionAzalea is...Special. She is worshipped by her community as the dragon whisperer, the girl who can speak to the feared killers. Azalea's home is safe, she has what she needs, a community and a family that is safe from the dragons because she tells th...
