This is a fanfic and I make no money from this. Original copyrights belong to Dreamworks and Cresedia Cowell
Chapter 18
Stoick and Valka slide from Cloudjumper's back. The Vikingg chief stumbles a bit, trying to find his legs, as he approaches the twinned Shadewings. "Hic... Hiccup?"
Kari snorts at hearing him use his old name. "She likes bein' called Kari now," Valka explains.
The chief stands corrected, an embarrassed glow hidden behind his beard. "Kari, is it?" Seeing the 'beast' nod, he sighs. "I dinna' know if I can take this all in... My son is gone, and is now this..." He pauses, barely stopping himself from tossing out his usual anti-dragon rhetoric. "This Dragon... I canna' deny, ya' helped fight off yur' friends, but you did all this!" He waves his hand at the ruined homes and terrified people, huddled in the few remaining structures.
Astrid steps forward, Azurestorm following her new pet closely. "Chief... This IS Hiccup, this is not the same dragon responsible for what happened. I mean look at her, she doesn't seem very eager to kill anyone here."
Kari sees Astrid for the first time, up close. The cloth covering her eye, slips revealing an empty socket. With a coo of distress, she leans into the blond. "Astrid? I'm so sorry."
Astrid at first seems confused by the black dragons reaction, but quickly begins rubbing her head, then readjusts the cloth. "It happened the first night of these new raids." She takes a moment, "One of your blasts, struck my axe and my face caught the shrapnel." Kari sits silently, stunned by the lack of anger in the blonds description. "I knew something was wrong, I've never seen eyes that red, that angry. I knew it couldn't be you, not really. You would never act against the village, not that you didn't have reason to." She turns to look at the chief, her right hand resting on Azurestorms neck and her left on Kari's head.
Stoick shakes his head slowly, then turning to the rest of the village, "These... Dragons...," he pauses unable to believe he is about to utter his next words, "Just fought off twice their number! Just like Vikings from the old eddas!" He turns back to the gathered dragons, "I dona' suppose we have time ta' celebrate?" The dragons of the ice-nest all look to Kari and Tannlaus, confused by the humans. Kari nods to her father. Raising his hands in the air, "Tonight we feast!! T'morrow, We take the fight to them!" Another shout of approval from the village causes the dragons to grow nervous and skittish.
"The two-legs want to feast to our victory!" Kari explains, calming the dragons around her. She looks at her friends and finds Ruffnut and Tuffnut playing with their newly named "Barf and Belch". Snotlout and Volcus have found a lost mead keg and have started to celebrate early. Kari approaches and looks to her cousin, then to Volcus, "You seem to be getting along?"
Volcus blinks his huge yellow eyes, "I like this one. He isn't very bright, but he makes the funniest noises." Then without warning he spits a tiny dollop of saliva on Snotlout's trousers, making the teen shout in alarm before jumping into a nearby water trough.
Kari looks at the big dragon, "I admit that is kinda funny, but he is my cousin... " Seeing the look of disappointment on the Flametongue, she sighs, "Okay! But no permanent harm!" She warns, bringing a happy grin to the bigger dragon. Stepping away she chuckles as she hears her cousin shout out, "Oh! not again, stupid dragon!" followed by a 'splash'.
"Hiccup?" The femine voice catches her attention. Astrid takes a step back when Kari growls. "Sorry... Kari?" This visibly causes the dragon to relax. Azurestorm nuzzles up to the blond, "Does he have a name?" Astrid asks.
Nodding, Kari scratches, She Azurestorm. Azure tilts her head, "What is that? You do that with Ryder a lot... And she seems to know what you mean."
"It's called writing. Not everyone can do it in the village, but Astrid can. I just told her your name."
"Azurestorm?" Astrid reads aloud. "Your a girl too?"
Hearing her name come from the blond before her, makes Azure 'squawk' in joy. "Can you teach me?" She asks looking at the Shadewing. "It would be nice to talk to this Astrid... She knows where the best fish are hidden, and she seems to like flying almost as much as I do."
"That would be a good idea." Tannlaus says, silently approaching the gathered dragons and humans. "You can't be everywhere, and who knows when we might need to understand each other."
Kari looks at the former arena dragons in confusion, "Are you planning on staying here? What about the ice-nest?"
Gypsum is the first to reply in the affirmative, "We like these humans," she says the word as though trying to see how it feels. Nodding, "Yes... These humans are still hatchlings, but maybe with them we can show we aren't all bad."
"Well then, I guess introductions are in order." Kari coos getting the gathered teens attention. Then with deliberate care scratches Snotlout... Volcus, Astrid... Azurestorm, Fishlegs... Gypsum, Ruffnut... Tuffnut... Vomi... Mita. With a look at her mate, she ends with Kari... Tannlaus. She reads aloud what she wrote so the dragons can follow. A quiet scratching catches her attention, and she sees Azure trying to copy Astrid's name in the dirt. Each of her friends try to copy the symbols, which brings a shocked silence to the gathered crowd.
"Oh... I kinda liked Hookfang. It sounds so tough, but I guess Volcus is cool too." her cousin comments.
The twins begin bouncing around, "That is so much cooler than what we were calling them." Tuffnut exclaims. "I mean Barf and Belch are kinda cool, but we get a dragon named Vomit... That is so much better!"
Kari looks at her writing, then shrugs in a not so dragon way. "No sense correcting them, they'll go with that regardless." When she gets to Fishlegs and Gypsum she sees the big teen rubbing her ears affectionately, like one would a pet dog, "Who's a good boy. You are, yes you are."
Bumping her snout into the excited boy, she scratches into the dirt, Girl. Fishlegs goes blank for a moment, then with a gasp and squeal. "Who's a good girl...."
Chuckling she and Tannlaus begin to weave their way around town. Kari pointing out places that meant something to her, her old home, a small crawl space she used to hide from her cousin, the forge. From inside she can hear a hammer banging away on metal. Pushing at the door meant to let wagons into the shop, she slips in quietly with Tannlaus closely following. Inside she finds Gobber the Belch, hammering at a shapeless piece of metal. Craning her head she can see the older man had been crying. She gently nudges him, causing him to stumble back, only to be caught by her tail. With gentle care, she tugs and turns at the stone mallet attached to his arm, removing it then carefully placing it on the wall where it belongs.
"Oh, Thor... It is you... Isn't it? What 'ave I done!" Gobber once more breaks down, wiping at his face with a dirty rag, making him look even more pathetic than before. Sniffling for a moment, he pales further when Tannlaus joins her side. Pulling himself together, Gobber stands before to twin Shadewings. "Go on then..." He closes his eyes, with chin up and chest puffed out. The silence is broken only by the quietest of scratching. A gentle coo makes the blacksmith crack open an eye, expecting to be blasted to smithereens. Instead he finds the large black Night Fury watching him from a distance, and the smaller one sitting on its haunches, its head brushing the roof of the smithy. She coos again, bringing Gobber's attention to a scribble on the forge floor. The smith carefully moves around to get a better look, "Forget? Wha' tha' supposed ta' mean?"
Kari rolls her eyes, before smacking her former mentor with her tail, and making him read her makings again.
"Forgive!" Gobber looks into the dragons amethyst eyes, "Yu're forgivin' me?" Kari nods slowly. In the light of the forge, she is shocked by his appearance. His once humor filled eyes, now hide in dark sockets, his face is sunken and withered. She glances at a nearby table, where several plates of food sit cold and uneaten. "Oh Hiccup! I dinna' deserve it. Not after..." The old smith sags, looking for all the world like a man many years his senior. Shaking her head she waddles forward, herding him into a small back room he had a cot set up in. "I'm sorry Hiccup..." His normally boisterous voice is a whisper, "I found yur' message when Astrid did..."
Kari presses her head against his back, a gentle reminder she is still there. He turns suddenly and wraps his good arm around her neck. Tannlaus growls quietly, silencing when, Kari looks to him with a shake of her head. The old smith pulls away from the sudden hug, "I'm sorry Hiccup... Ya' never heard it enough, but I love you, lad." Turning away, "Thin' I'll get some shut eye... Gonna' have a big day ahead o' me."
Kari leads Tannlaus out of the forge, "He seemed nice..." Tannlaus offers.
"He was basically my second father."
A confused look comes to Tannlaus face, "You mean, he was the one that hurt you so badly!?" Kari steps between him and the forge. With a deep sigh, "You've already forgiven him haven't you?" Nodding Kari sits quietly, her eyes catch the swirling lights overhead. With a tone of finality, "Come... You showed me your life... Let me show you mine." With a jump and pump of his wings, Tannlaus becomes airborne. He sends a quiet coo of his own. With a smile, Kari quickly gets up and joins him.
The once thick clouds have moved on, leaving the sky sparkling like a tapestry of diamonds against the inky blue-black. The wide ribbon of purples and greens dance over the soaring dragons as they begin an aerial dance. Swooping back and forth, the Shadewings dart in and out of the standing sea stacks. Moving at a blistering pace, the pair touch wingtips to the surface of the sea, sending a glittering trail in their wake. With a happy roar, Tannlaus suddenly pulls into a climb. Not to be outdone, Kari quickly moves to join. Their climb seems to last forever, the stars never getting closer, but the sea falls away to vanish into the dark. Against the cloudless skies the twinned streaks of black move together to start the oldest of dances.