After two weeks my ankle is doing much better. After the first week was through I was able to walk around a little with the support of my dragons, then as the second week progressed I grew less reliant on them all. I still feel bad for Mercury since she had to drag me around everywhere. I let her have the next two weeks off of patrol duty as thanks.
Now that my ankle is healed, I've been back on the patrols with my dragons. We monitor the island regularly to make sure that nobody can discover our location and, if they do, they don't leave with either their life or their memory intact. Thankfully the latter is often what happens. While I will kill and have been known to not think twice about it in some cases, I prefer not to take lives when I have the choice.
So far we've only got one new inconvenience, which was that same idiot redhead from a few weeks back just before Volcana's eggs first hatched. He was with the same dragon and telling the exact same stuff as last time, except he also kept remarking about having déjà vu.
We quickly put an end to his prying again.
A few days after I was healed up Lily began having stomach problems. I took the baby Gronkle to the clinic and checked her over just to make sure it wasn't anything serious. In the end it came out as something young Gronkle would sometimes pick up. Nothing a little granite and limestone wouldn't fix.
She seems to take to her new diet quite well, which was very helpful. "Good girl, you'll be all better before you know it," I tell her with a smile. She rawks happily, spitting a little puddle of lava onto the work desk she's perched on. In surprising unison, we look down at it, then to each other, hold each other's gazes for a moment and then laugh.
I continue feeding her this special diet for a few days before I realise I'm out of limestone. Great, this means I'll have to go collect some more and the closest island I know of that can supply me with decent granite is... oh this will be fun.
Berk. I have to go back to Berk so soon after my previous little stunt. Everyone knows now that I'm the so-called 'Dragon Master' from legends that are scarily accurate. I used to be able to just slip in and out as I pleased, though that's never going to be the case anymore.
I sigh and head into the stables, where most of my partners are curled up in their pens. They rawk out their greetings to me as I pass and I return it politely. I finally come across the dragon I'm looking for.
"You feel like a little trip to Berk, Shadow?" I ask the dragon. My Monsterous Nightmare roars out his agreement and I smile at him and his loyalty. He was one of the first partners to join me in my sanctuary and he's been nothing short of wonderful in all the years I've known him.
I pet him happily and mount up. "Hopefully this will just be a day trip," I announce to the other dragons. "I'm going to trade on Berk. I need more limestone for Lily. You know the basic procedures. I'll hopefully be back before it gets dark." With that, Shadow and I glide out of the sanctuary.
The flight to Berk is uneventful as usual and I can't help but yawn boredly. Shadow joins in, then starts whining for dragon nip. I chuckle and give him some, which he nibbles on contentedly. I suppose we'll have to buy more dragon nip as well now.
When I finally see Berk appear in the distance, I pull up my mask in anticipation of my recognition. It won't be long now, though hopefully my use of a more common dragon will help me out.
No heads turned when a Monstrous Nightmare landed in the village. I looked around for the marketplace, but couldn't see it anywhere. I have two options; I can try and find it myself and risk recognition or I could ask around and save time as well as bring forward the inevitable.
"It's the Dragon Master!"
There goes my choices, I guess.
I sigh quietly. As Shadow realised I'm not happy with all the attention, he decided to light himself on fire. I'm glad I made his saddle out of fireproof material, or I would be toast right now.
The other people around me started backing up slightly. "Easy, boy," I tell Shadow, who extinguishes his flame. "Sorry about that," I say to everyone. "When we've been here before he's not exactly used to attention."
They seem to relax after that and continue rushing at me, shouting questions. "I'm not here to be interrogated," I snap slightly. "I'm only here to collect supplies. May I ask where the markets are?"
"Why do you need to go to the markets when you've already bought my heart?"
I scowl at Snotlout, who has joined the small crowd forming around Shadow and I. "A Monstrous Nightmare, great choice. But not as great as Hookfang."
"Are you forgetting what I'm capable of?" I arch an eyebrow. "Or do you need a reminder?" Hookfang laughs at this, knowing full well that Snotlout can't exactly deny this. That dragon is something, alright.
"So why don't you come to my hut? We can talk about Nightmares and other stuff," he attempted to flirt. "I would accept, but that would honestly be a nightmare," I retort, earning a few chuckles.
"Snotlout, who are you annoying now?" I hear a familiar voice sigh. "Someone who's more than happy to have an excuse to get away from him," I reply. Shadow doesn't even wait for my confirmation and flies straight over to Fishlegs, hissing at Snotlout and giving a look of pity to Hookfang.