Dragon Rider (httyd)

3

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It took a couple minutes for Astrid to properly situate herself. At first, she uncomfortably had both arms wrapped around my waist, then after a short while, changed to holding me with one hand and holding the other high in the air.

"This is better then I remembered!" She spoke loudly and excitedly. I just smiled. The memory of all the feeling I used to have for her came rushing back. I'd thought about it sometimes over the years, but I'd forgotten how I felt. And now I wondered how I could have forgotten.

We flew for a few hours; until the sun was starting to be swallowed by the ocean. Astrid was asleep with her head on my shoulder and her arms around my waist. Toothless was started to grumble at me that he was done.

"Let's stop there, bud." I said, pointing to a small island in the distance. Toothless hummed and dove down a few metres before shooting back up excitedly. Astrid lurched awake.

"Wha-!" She yelped, gripping onto me tighter.

"Sorry, we're stopping for the night. Toothless got a little too excited." I apologized. She reached forward and patted Toothless's head.

"You scared me, boy." She said. Toothless warbled happily back at her and she chuckled. "It's almost like he knows what we're saying."

"Oh, I'm sure he does. I only wish he could talk back." I said.

We flew low around the island, checking for any dangers. We saw a small flock of Nadders on the far side, so Toothless let out a call to indicate we were landing and that were not there to fight. They looked at us then went back to preening and chirping to each other.

Toothless landed us in a small clearing surrounded by trees. We set up a fire quickly, and Toothless went right to sleep. I sat in the grass and leaned against Toothless, feeling the slow rise and fall from his breathing. Astrid sat a couple feet away and leaned against a log she'd dragged closer to the fire.

"I can't believe that you came with me." I said. "We're practically strangers!"

"I've known you since we were kids, Hiccup." Astrid said, rolling her eyes at me. "No one changes that much."

"Oh really? For all you know I could be part of a cannibalistic tribe and I'm taking you there to eat you." I said in a sarcastic tone.

"Oh, yeah, for sure." She replied in the same sarcastic tone. Then shook her head, disgusted. "What parts of a person would you even eat?" She sounded like she was meaning for that question to be rhetorical.

"Probably the meaty parts." I shrugged casually. "The thighs, upper arms..." I paused. "The butt."

"Ew, Hiccup." She said. I put my hands up defensively.

"What?! The butts meaty!"

"Maybe, but still. Gross." I laughed at her scrunched up face. She rolled her eyes again and was obviously trying not to laugh.

"So," she said after we'd collected ourselves. "You live on an island. Are you alone there? Is there a village?" She stretched her legs out then tucked them back into a cross like before.

"Yeah, it was just me. Then over the years a few more like-minded people joined me. There's four of us now." I explained. It was weird talking about my people with someone who wasn't them.

"Oh, wow. Only four? I can't even imagine what it would be like to only have three people around."

"Yeah, I understand that. When Vidar joined me, I'd been alone for two years already at that point. So it was nice to have the company. Then about a year later, we found Adlea and Sonia."

"And all of your agree about dragons?" Astrid asked. She sounded as though she was having a hard time believing it.

"Yeah. Vidar had left home for a similar reason as me; he didn't want to kill them. And the girls were kicked out for other reasons, but they came to understand how we felt and even feel that was too."

"Wait, what do you mean, they were kicked out?" Astrid asked, shock showing on her face.

"Oh, I see how that sounds. They're not dangerous. I mean, they are, but they aren't a threat." Astrid looked at me with confusion written all over her face. I signed. "They're lesbians." I said.

"Oh!" She said. I could see the gears turning behind her socked face. "Um," she stumbled over herself a bit. "I guess that not bad. At least they're not a danger."

"Yeah! We were a bit shocked at first too. Neither of us had ever met someone like them, but we soon realized they were like we grew up hearing. They're cool." I said. As a child, we were told that homosexuality was weird and wrong. Especially because they can't have kids. That was always a weird concept to me; mostly because I didn't give a shit about what other people were doing, as long as it wasn't hurting anyone.

"With only a few people there, how do you have defences? You must be at risk of attack all the time." Astrid asked, changing the topic.

"Y'know all the dragons we free? They come with us to the island. It's crawling with wild dragons. They usually keep away from the houses, but sometimes they'll come around to check us out. We don't bother them and they don't bother us." I said, shrugging.

"Wow, I can't even imagine. It must be amazing."

"It is," I was speaking excitedly now. "Since it's the beginning of summer, the trees will be blooming and it will smell like flowers all day. And sometimes when the wind blows, flower petals fall from the trees like snow. It is so beautiful."

"It sounds like it. I can't wait to see it." Astrid said. She threw another branch into the fire. "Tell me about your people."

"You'll get one well with Sonia. She's very much a warrior like yourself. Sonia very quickly got into dragon riding and is really good and coming up with fighting tactics using dragons. Adlea is a soft soul. She's quiet and loves watching the dragons but she refuses to ride one. At least not unless it's with Sonia on hers. She took in an injured dragon that can't fly because its wings were shredded, and they garden together. We don't see her much, though. Vidar is cool. We're pretty similar. Helikes building things and learning and exploring."

"They sound great." Astrid said. "Now, can I ask about your leg?" I looked down at where I had a metal prosthetic at ratchet to where my leg ended mid calf. "I don't want to pry if that a sensitive topic, though."

"No, it's fine." I said. I reach down an detatched the prosthetic and tossed it to her. She yelled and threw it back then glared playfully at me. I laughed at her and reattached my leg. "So, about four years ago..."