Lost and Found: Family

Willow

Hanna burst into laughter. She would've fallen off Stonescale if it hadn't been for him roaring, "Hanna, stop! Calm down!"

When she finally got control of herself again, she spoke to the new rider, "Come on in, we have a lot to catch up on."

Hiccup followed his sister as she swooped down into a crack in the ice spikes. The three dragons set down in the sanctuary. The alpha had been woken by the commotion, and had raised his head to become eye level with them.

They all slipped off their dragons, and all six creatures bowed.

"Your majesty," Willow spoke.

"Ah, Willow and Marina. What a pleasure," the gargantuan dragon spoke in a voice so low it was hard for their human ears to make out, "You brought my special order?"

"Yes, straight from the tropical seas." Hiccup had no idea what she was talking about. Tropical seas? What were those?

"How lovely," the white dragon stuck his tongue out and laid the tip on the cliff where they were standing. Willow unstraped the giant fish from her dragon's back, and brought it to the alpha, where she laid it on his tongue. She backed away, and they watched as he curled his tongue around the fish and ate it. "Mmm," he said, "thank you, it was absolutely delicious." Then, he lowered himself back into the water.

The Riders and their dragons then entered the tunnel that led towards the kitchen.

"So, Hanna, what's going on?" Willow asked as they all clambered through the rocky tunnel.

"Well, Hiccup here, is my twin brother," Hanna explained.

"Wait, seriously?" Willow asked, "But, how did he get here? And why?"

"He flew here."

The group had reached the kitchen. Hiccup could tell Willow was also not expecting the forge to be there.

"But, how did he fly here? I've flown over Berk a few times in the past, and they aren't the friendliest to dragons."

Hanna looked to Hiccup and nodded.

"Well," Hiccup started, "I went out one night during a raid, hoping to kill a dragon. But not just any dragon, a Night Fury."

Willow's mouth dropped open and she looked towards Toothless. "A - a Night Fury?!"

"Mm hm," Toothless croaked, nudging his riders arm.

The Flightmare edged closer to him cautiously.

"A Night Fury? So they really do exist? I thought they were just a myth!" The Flightmare spoke slowly and sweetly. Hiccup much preferred this over the scream.

"Wow," Willow breathed.

"Well, I shot down a dragon that night, but no one believed me. I was going to kill it, but I couldn't. He was so magnificent, I had to let him go." Hiccup continued his story up to the present, and he could tell Willow was completely wowed.

"So you made him this tail? All by your self?" Willow asked as she examined his work.

"Yeah, this is just temporary though. I'm working on a new design, an even better tail fin, but I can't find the right fabric."

"Hm," the Flightmare whispered, "we might have something for you..."

"What do you mean?"

"Time for my story!" Willow exclaimed. "I don't remember a life with out Marina," she gestured towards her dragon, who literally beamed. "She was abandoned by her mother when she was born, and soon after, found me, abandoned at the base of a willow tree. She named me, and we lived together. Traveled the world, learned new languages. We discovered that there were other dragon riders, however few, out there. Many offered to take us in, but we loved traveling too much. We found a place up north, where Aurvandil's Fire is always glowing, and made it our base camp. We travel all over the world, trading with other riders and dragons. It's our way of life. I can't imagine a life without it," Willow told everyone, "This is the only thing I have left from my life before Marina," she gestured towards the necklace around her neck. It wasn't fancy, just a small, round bit of wood attached to a string. On the wood was a piece of fabric. It was pink with a yellow wave pattern going across it, "I made this necklace when I was young, out of the clothes Marina found me in." As Hiccup looked at the cloth, he could have sworn he'd seen that pattern before, but where?

When Willow finished her story, Hiccup couldn't help but feel a twinge of jealousy.  She had been everywhere.  Seen everything.

"Wow, it's mine and Toothless' dream to fly off the edge of the world someday. Have you ever done that?" Hiccup asked. 

"Actually, I've tried. Many times, in fact. But I've never found it. I just kept arriving back in the same place after a couple moon cycles. You know, according to my calculations, there is no edge of the world. I've been literally everywhere in the world, and I've mapped all of it. I - I think the world is round."

"What? How could the world possibly be round?" Hiccup asked, "Oh, wait, I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

"That's okay, I'm used to people shooting down that idea. Now, how does this tail work?" Willow walked over to Toothless, Marina trotting behind her.

Hiccup explained how the different positioning of his leg moved the tail and pointed out how that because the tail was always made of fabric, it was never fire proof. "Now, if you come over here you can see that I'm working on a new tail, but I don't have a thin enough and strong enough fabric to get what I want out of it," Hiccup led her to the forge and showed her the tail's skeletal design.

Willow stared thoughtfully at it. "You know, I think I have the solution to your problem," She said as she walked to Marina's one of many saddle bags.

"What do you mean?"

"Silk," Marina explained as her rider reached into the saddle bag and pulled out a stack of folded cloth.

"It's a foreign fabric. Quite strong and really thin."

"Whoa, can I see it?" Hiccup asked. Willow handed him the stack. He took it, but the ends of the slippery fabric slipped and the stack tumbled out of his hands.

"Oh, gods," Hiccup muttered as he scrambled to collect the fallen silk.

"That's okay, the touch is pretty weird, it takes a while to get used to," Willed helped him gather the fabric.

Hiccup muttered his thanks as he took the fabric and set it against his new measuring board.

"Hmmm," he muttered as he tested the fabric's strength. "Wow, this is perfect!"

"I can trade you for it, if you want," Willow offered.

"Sure! What do you want?"

"Well, Gronkle Iron is always on the high..."

"I have some scrap iron, if you'll take it."

"Yes! Gronkle Iron scraps for the silk!" Willow exclaimed as Hiccup handed her a bag of scraps.

"Ya hear that, bud?" Hiccup turned to his dragon, "Your new tail is on its way!"

"Finally!" The Night Fury hopped over to his rider.

"Hey, Willow," Hanna called over to her friend, "You think I fly good? You should see Hiccup and Toothless!"

Willow turned hopefully to Toothless, who turned hopefully to Hiccup.

"Maybe in the morning."

"What!? Come on, please?" Toothless begged.

"No, I'm going to work on this tail. As soon as I'm done, then we can fly."