Dark Despair (Book 2: Together Forever)

Trillium

Astrid's POV

"Astrid! Heather! Welcome back!" Mala greeted us.

We flew down to the Defenders of the Wing island.

"Mala! How are you?"

"I'm wonderful! How are you? We feared you'd been captured when you didn't show up last month. But, you'll be happy to know that there've been sightings of two Night Furies and a Light Fury recently. They've been sporadic and across numerous different islands. However, they haven't come this far West yet."

"Really?" I asked, stunned.

"Yes. I've met with our allies to ask for their help with your search. Apparently one of the Night Furies is male and he seems to be leading them and the markings are almost identical to those in your picture."

"Mala, the other two dragons are they male or female?" Heather asked.

"They are both females."

"That's strange behaviour. Don't furies usually mate for life?" Heather asked.

"They do. Most dragons do. They find their soul mate or someone else and when their mate dies they never find someone else. So why would two females follow him?" Mala said.

"Unless... He isn't mates with either one of them and they're just friends." I thought aloud.

"I think you're right. I have a hard time thinking that they would follow a male around if he was mated with one of them."

24 hours later

Heather, Windshear, Stormfly and I were training. Our usual workout would take us far less time to do because we are constantly on the move, so when we are on the Defender's island we take as much time as we wanted to get a good workout. We'd been slowly teaching Heather how to speak Dragonease, while I started to master it. 

We had just finished our routine so I decided to ask Heather where we should go.

"I'm thinking we could head East because that's where Mala said Hiccup had been spotted." She said.

"What do you think, Windshear and Stormfly?" I asked our dragons.

"It's worth a shot." Said Stormfly.

"I agree."

"East it is."

Streak's POV

I saw my mate slowly glide down into our cave. She had tears glistening in her eyes.

"What's wrong?" I asked her. She stayed silent. "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to. Just know I'm here for you."

She looked me in the eyes, "Thank you. But, I do have to talk about it. Are the hatchlings here?"

"No, they're out playing."

"Good." She stayed quiet for a minute, "I was 11 when it happened. My parents had been raising a Night Fury hatchling for two years. Her name was Eclipse. She never told me where she came from, just that she had no family and friends."

I cocked my head sideways. This had happened 14 years ago and it still seemed to haunt her.

"I had a sister. Her name was Mist. I loved her and protected her at all costs. My parents died when she was eight, fourteen years ago. A year later the king tried to put her on a patrol and I knew there were hunters in the area so I volunteered in her place. I went out with a Thunderdrum."

She stopped clearly dreading the thought of what happened next.

"We were ambushed by the Fury Killer and I was shot down. The minute I hit the ground I was unconscious. He took me onto his ship and I woke up in a base. Heavily protected. The hunters told me they'd captured and killed a female Light Fury in the same area. The only other Light Fury in that area was Mist. They killed her. It was at that moment that I changed my name."

"Your real name isn't Peace?"

"No. My name was Trillium. I changed my name because I promised myself to bring peace to dragons like my parents said I would. They said I was a sign that peace was coming. I hope that Eclipse is still out there, alive. She was like a sister to me. If I ever see her again I'll change my name back, but until then I'm Peace."

"How did you escape the hunters?"

"The hunters made a mistake. They thought I was asleep when they brought food in. Usually, they drop a smoke thingy into the cage to make us fall asleep, but they didn't wait long enough. They undid the muzzle that kept me from shooting them and with the door wide open I flew.

"I nearly didn't make it out. I was so sleepy from the smoke and I hadn't eaten in days. But, I managed. I flew to an island where I ate and drank and rested before flying farther. I was trying to find my way back to the Haven, to find Eclipse. But I never did. I eventually found Delta and Astrid and they sent me here."

"How long were you at the base for?"

"Four years. I was searching for Eclipse for two. I think it was for Eclipse that I stayed alive. Most dragons living at his base survived a year at most unless you are a Deathgripper then you are enslaved."

"Well, Peace-Trillium, I'm sorry you went through that."

"It's not your fault. I give you permission to call me Trillium when no-one else is around."

"Okay, Trillium. What set this off anyway?"

"You won't believe me, but it was Delta, she reminded me what it was like to have a younger sister."

I had a suspicion start to rise, "Why now all of a sudden?"

"Because Delta is with egg."

She took off.

"Trillium come back here, now!"

She turned her head with playfulness written all over it, "Who's Trillium?"

I smiled. I didn't care that she hadn't told me everything before now. I understood that she had lost a lot and it felt better to keep it inside. I was just glad she'd finally told me. I was glad that we had this amazing family together. I was glad for her being in my life. I was glad that after everything that'd happened to her she could still smile. And that it didn't matter to her whether she was called Trillium, Peace, or Peace-Trillium.

It didn't matter to me what she was called either because I love her for everything she is.