Vhrooooooo!
Hiccup leapt out of his bed. Toothless was already up, ready to go. It was still dark out, but Toothless had his mouth open on a slow burn so his rider could see.
"Come on, bud!"
"Comin'," Toothless warbled as they dashed out of the room. Hiccup literally ran into Hanna as he navigated through the tunnels.
"What's going on?" he asked frantically.
Hanna looked at him with excitement in her eyes. "Willow's here!" she then dashed down the tunnel, Stonescale following behind her.
"Who's Willow?" Hiccup asked.
"Don't look at me!" his dragon warbled before taking off after Hanna.
"Toothless, wait up!" When Hiccup reached the kitchen, he found his dragon waiting for him.
"C'mon, slow poke!" The Night Fury roared as Hiccup clambered onto his neck. Hiccup still had no idea what the rush was for, but he took off at full speed. If it hadn't been for Toothless' Echo Location, they would've flown straight into Hanna, who was coming back up the tunnel on Stonescale.
"Forgot something!" She roared as the flew past.
Hiccup was so confused. Forgot what? And what did she need to bring for this... well, whatever was going on.
Vhrooooooo!
There was that noise again, like someone blowing through a horn.
"Let's go, Toothless!" They flew out into the night sky, only to be greeted by a blinding flash of light. Toothless roared in surprise as he tried to shake the blindness from his eyes. "Whoa, bud. Settle down."
When the pair could see again, Hiccup looked, but he couldn't find anything in the night. Suddenly, from directly above them, there was a banshee-like scream. Toothless quickly dove before looping back up. They were now directly in front of the owner of the scream.
Hiccup was staring at a bright blue dragon. He had never seen it before, but because of its roar and the fact that it was glowing, he knew exactly what it was. He staring into the eyes of a Flightmare.
Not only that, but this particular dragon had a rider on its back. A girl who looked about his age, with short, dark brown hair and brown eyes. She was wearing dark leggings with pockets, a light green tunic, and a brown jacket made out of a weird material Hiccup had never seen before, and she was holding an odd, round shell. There were also multiple bags attached to the saddle on the Flightmare, and what looked like a large fish strapped to the base of its tail.
"Who are you? Where are the people who live here?" The girl spoke to him. The Flightmare roared in agreement.
"What do you mean? I live here! And how do know Dragonese?" Hiccup asked. He guessed he should know by now; anyone who knew dragons spoke their language.
"How do I know Dragonese? I grew up speaking it," she told him, "And what do you mean you live here? There are only two dragon riders here, and they're both female."
Before Hiccup could respond, Hanna called from behind them.
"Willow!" She said as she flew up to them.
"Thank Thor you're okay, Hanna!" The girl named Willow turned her dragon the face the redhead, "For a moment I thought you and Valka had lost your territory to this rider and his dragon!"
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."