The 'Dragon Master'

Trading Talk

Shadow flies off, knowing I shouldn't be around humans when I'm in this state. I'd never harm a dragon, that would go against every moral I've set for myself all my life, but humans are a completely different matter. Human lives aren't as important to me as the life of a dragon. Dragons can be tricksters, thieves, kidnappers... but in the end, you can at least see them for who they really are. They don't find reason in faking who they are, so they don't. While I admittedly don't follow this same rule, it's only around humans, who do find reason in faking personas.

I look around for the markets, hoping to find it at last. Lily still needs her dietary rocks. Hm... I should've asked Fishlegs if he knew a good place to find them. He does ride a Gronkle, after all.

I hear wings beating next to me. "What are you looking for?" Thankfully it isn't someone dying to know who I am, or at least not someone so would force me to reveal my secret. "The markets," I reply to Hiccup. "I came here to find something that would help one of my dragons, they've gotten sick."

He nods, frowning slightly at the last part. "If I show you where the markets are, will you answer a question for me?" I cock an eyebrow. "Ask away," I cautiously agree.

"Have you ever seen another Night Fury before?"

I pause, wondering how to answer this question. The truth is, there's a Night Fury back at my sanctuary. I hatched Nightshade from an egg a week or two after I started building the sanctuary up. I was astounded to see a Night Fury hatchling staring up at me with wide green eyes when it cracked open.

But should I tell Hiccup? I trust that he wouldn't harm Nightshade and even if he tried to I could handle it, but if word got around that Night Furies were in my sanctuary, I'd get even more visitors. Great.

"I've seen plenty of dragons in my time," I choose my words carefully. "I suppose it's possible that I've seen it but couldn't identify it as a Night Fury from what I saw."

After a moment he nods slowly. "I just hope Toothless isn't the last of his kind, you know?" He sighed, petting his friend. The dragon only rawked sadly, clearly hoping the same thing.

"Believe me, I know," I reply. "I tried searching for other Night Furies once, but no matter how many islands I search I haven't found anything concrete enough to say that Toothless isn't the last of his kind."

I have. But I can't let him know that.

Hiccup nods. "The market is just down there, but you already have an audience," he told me, pointing downwards. I sigh audibly when I realise he's not lying.

People have already noticed me and are shouting out to me and Shadow, causing him to snort out a little smoke at the extreme attention he's never really had nor cared for. "Not a fan of them?" Hiccup asks. "It's... not exactly how we work," I nod. "So which dragon got sick?" He questions.

"A Gronkle hatchling. She only hatched just over two weeks ago. It isn't anything serious, just a stomach problem. Plenty of Gronkles pick it up after hatching."

"Did you say you have a Gronkle hatchling on your island?!" Fishlegs is beside me in a second. "There's a Titan Wing back there who hatched three eggs a day or two before I came here to help with that Death Song," I reply, resisting the urge to laugh at his overexcitement.

"Aw! I bet they're so cute! Oh I wish I could meet them!" He rambles enthusiastically. "Unfortunately I'd have to erase your memory if you did, so there isn't much point," I remind him. "Seriously, how do you erase people's memories?" He asks. "Indirectly," is all I say.

Shadow swoops downwards and lands in the markets, the crowd parting for us as we walk. Whispers and rumours start buzzing around about us, mostly false guesses at who I am and where my island is located. These people will do anything for a good gossip, clearly.

I look at different sellers, who are all trying to get me to trade with them. I don't understand why out of the dozens of others around here I'm the one who seems to be considered the wealthiest or something. Maybe they heard about the gold I was given.

Finally I find someone who has limestone with them. They're claiming that they will trade rocks, minerals and gems that are perfect for Gronkles, so I head straight for them. They seem shocked that out of all the traders I could go to, I chose them.

"Do you have any limestone?" I ask, causing the murmurs around me to hush. "Of course, sir," the trader answers, causing me to force back a chuckle. While most people would be offended to be called the wrong gender, I just find it amusing.

They pass a full sack over and I check inside to make sure I'm not being conned. Sure enough, it all looks like limestone. I reach into my pockets and pull out a few gold coins. These are only rocks to most people, so this should be fine. "Will this be enough?" I question, opening my palm.

Their eyes widen but I'm not bothered right now to negotiate prices any lower. I need to get Lily her treatment so her stomach doesn't start acting up again. "That's more than enough," The trader nods after a moment, taking two of the three coins I'm offering and gesturing to the sack. I nod appreciatively as I pocket the remaining coin again.

"Thank you," I say before tossing the sack onto Shadow's offered back and climbing on myself. Chatter erupts through the markets again as people wonder why I came here just to collect a few rocks and why I offered so much for it.

"Say hi to your dragons for me," Hiccup says to me. "Of course," I nod before Shadow rawks a goodbye and turns to fly back home, though first we make a detour.