Come Darkness, Come Light

Chapter 16 - Amity Island

*Same goes for you, little human.* He responded quietly.

I let go of him and turned around before I could change my mind, marching over to my mom. She put a hand on my shoulder and guided me forward deeper into the forest, sending Toothless a brief smile as we left. Neither of us spoke for a while. We simply focused on making our way inland. I felt cold, empty, and utterly alone, but I locked those feelings away. This was a mission—a weird mission, but still. I needed to stay on task.

My mom finally spoke once we were well out of sight and ear-shot of the dragons. "We need to go over a couple things, Hiccup," she informed me.

My eyebrows furrowed and I glanced over at her. "What things?"

She adjusted her satchel slightly. "Well, for one, you need to walk on two feet at all times," she advised. I couldn't help the small laugh from escaping, and I shook my head, looking ahead of us. All I could see was an endless amount of trees. "And second, you need to remember that other humans can't hear if you use thought-speak," she added.

"So basically, be less dragon?" I giggled. She told me that I was different than most kids, but I didn't think about it much. She and I had differing opinions of what was normal.

"Pretty much," she admitted, holding back a smile.

"I can do that," I shrugged. In all honesty, I wasn't sure how I would act when we got there. This was all so unfamiliar. But I didn't want her worrying.

I lost track of how long we were walking, but eventually I heard...something. I paused, trying to identify the strange noise. My mom noticed my confused expression and nudged me forward with a laugh.

"That's just music, Hiccup," she told me. "Pretty, isn't it?"

I continued walking, much more wary knowing we were close. I had to admit that the music was oddly pleasing to listen to, though. It reminded me of when my mom would hum subconsciously when she was making clothes or something of the like, except this was much louder.

When we got close enough, I could hear many different voices, as well as see big tents set up all over the place. We were nearing the end of the forest. I gulped, my hand moving down to rest on the handle of my dagger, which was secured against my hip. There was a mixture of shouting and laughing and singing. To my surprise, no one sounded angry. I thought humans were always angry...

"Come on, Hiccup," my mom encouraged with a small smile, walking backwards towards the tree line while gesturing for me to follow. I bit my lip, glancing over my shoulder in the direction we'd come from. I wanted more than anything to run back to Toothless. But I also trusted my mother, so I took a steadying breath, turned to face her, and strode forwards.

We made our way out of the forest and between two tents, and were immediately met with a bustling crowd. Humans...everywhere! I clung to my mom, taking in my surroundings with wide eyes. She kept still, allowing me to process. There were men and women and...kids! My jaw dropped in shock at seeing humans that were my size or even smaller. My gaze followed a small group of them that rushed by, screaming happily and lightly shoving each other. A man passed directly in front of us, carrying a tiny human on his shoulders. I tilted my head at the odd sight. Across the clearing, there was a big platform with a few people on it, holding what I think were instruments. That's where the loud music was coming from, and the woman in front was singing. A few humans were gathered in front of the platform to listen, some even dancing. The tents were full of different items—food, clothing, art...all sorts of things. My mom had told me about markets and how if she gives them furs, they give her something else in return. This must be the same thing.