14. × Silent Fury ×

A/N:

I wasn't going to ask, since it's just my pass time that I chose to share with those interested, but since I already did, I have a question. Old English that I made a reference to in chapter 12 was originally ment to be written in Anglo-Saxon Ruthorc, a runic alphabet used since II century CE and it's usage was still recorded in XVIII century CE in southern Norway.

ᛞᚩ᛫ᛄᚪᚹ᛫ᚦᛁᛝᚳ᛫ᛁᛏ᛫ᚹᚪᚹᛚᛞ᛫ᛒᛖ᛫ᚪ᛫ᚷᚣᛞ᛫ᛁᛞᛖᚪ᛫ᛏᚩ᛫ᛁᚾᚳᚪᚱᛈᚪᚱᚫᛏᛖ᛫ᛁᛏ᛫ᛁᚾᛏᚩ᛫ᚦᛁᛋ᛫ᚠᚫᚾᚠᛁᚳ᛫ᚹᚻᛖᚾᛖᚠᚢᚱ᛫ᛁ᛫ᛞᚩ᛫ᚢᛋᛖ᛫ᛟᛚᛞ᛫ᛖᛝᛚᛁᛋᚻ?

Do you think it would be a good idea to incorporate it into this fanfic whenever I do use Old English?

This question is the exact same one in Modern English just in both alphabets, I find this choice more thematic, but do let me know, if you want to share. (Futhorc only for Old English)

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POV: Zoya (back to the present)

We didn't spend much time talking. Mainly, because I didn't fancy working as a night light and partly, because Astrid went to sleep shortly after. She did, however, end up talking about the main crew a bit and mostly confirmed to me that, at least to some extent, her views on others are similar to what the movies led me to believe.

I must admit that I enjoyed listening to her talk like this and there was also a little something in me that cheered at the news that their speech seamed to be only slightly less family-friendly than the film. I heard enough 'legends' about sailors' curse dictionary, I didn't want to test, if vikings had a share in it.

On this positive note, my day ended with a pleasant storytelling session from Astrid and tomorrow I will have to take her off of this island. 'I wouldn't want to overstay my welcome. I will probably visit in a year or two.'

Since I couldn't just sleep on a cliff, much less a squishy human with still damp clothes, I went on to figuring out how to transport her to that alcove, like when I fished her out of the sea. 'Carrying her is not a problem, but how to not wake her up in the process?'

My tail was swishing behind me, slightly brushing the ground. 'I mean, the only way I can currently think of is on my back. Carrying her with my mouth is out, she would drag on the ground and flying with her in my claws is out, because I can't ascend smoothly enough with this much added weight.'

'However, this doesn't make me capable of actually putting and keeping her on my back. I can just use my wings for the latter and walk back, but...' The noise of my tail brushing the ground was getting quite loud. '... I'm an idiot. Just use the tail, Zoya.'

After some time, I managed to find a good position, in which Astrid and I would feel comfortable.

The walk itself was quiet. I never noticed, because I rarely walked anywhere after 'relearning' how to fly, but there are no large animals on this island. It's probably logical since it's a dragon sanctuary, but it still made me feel like I was walking through a garden rather than a forest.

Apart from that, nothing interesting happened, so I just laid Astrid in the alcove after getting back, heated the rocks around her and went to sleep. It won't keep her warm the whole night, but the sun should rise in two or three hours. Plus, only humans leave fires. I don't want to alarm any Skrills unnecessarily.

POV: Astrid

When I woke up the sun was already high and some rays of light finally reached the small lake right outside the cave. "Huh...?" 'Did she bring me back?' The Night Fury from last night was nowhere to be seen. '...or Zoya, I should say.'

My bed on Berg is not exactly the softest thing I slept on, but rough stone is way too out of my comfort zone. Literally, every bone in my body was either sore or straight out groaned when I tried to stand up. 'I should probably thank Zoya for letting me sleep on her wing last time...'

As I left the cave and approached the water a thought struck me. 'Why did she even allow me to do that in the first place?' At first, I ignored it, because I got so used to dragons on Berg, but she clearly wasn't tamed, so this should have been odd.

I got even more confused when I remembered how she reacted to my question about her ability to read and write. She had exceptional, for a dragon, dexterity in her paws and that's even compared to Toothless. 'Honestly, she is probably better with her claws than most humans are with their hands...'

'Which makes her all the more mysterious. It was said, in that book about dragon-hunting, that Hiccup always read before meeting Toothless, that Night Furies are the smartest dragons out there, but this level of intelligence makes Toothless look silly.' I complained internally while washing my face.

'I don't know how old she is, but she is smaller than Toothless, though her tail is a lot longer and-... huh. There she is.' I thought finally noticing a literal dragon hanging by its tail from a tree over my head. 'Yeah, and she definitely has a thicker tail. Take away the legs and she is a snake with giant wings.'

Now that I started looking for them, the differences were quite obvious. While her tail was thicker than Toothless's, her paws were slimmer along with her waist. 'Does a dragon even have a waist? Nah, to Fishlegs with those questions. But she is slender overall when compared to Toothless.'

'This also got like ten times more embarrassing to think about, after she told me she can write... I will go for a walk.' Not like I knew where to go. I just left through the only flat path leading out. 'I will ask her about all this stuff when she wakes up.'

>Some time later...<

POV: Zoya

I slept like a log. As it turns out, hours of absolute stillness or at least constant vigilance make a number on your body, human or dragon. Taking aside the fact, that it was nearly impossible for me to fall asleep there, I still had to be careful not to roll onto her accidentally.

I may be light among dragons and it wasn't rare for a dragon way heavier than a Night Fury land on someone and not crush them in the movies, but I do weigh under one ton and that's plenty to crush bones in my past life, even while being gentle.

'On the other hand, there being a branch that can hold me, no matter how thick, gives me some confidence.' I uncoiled my tail and slid into the pit, looking for Astrid. 'I love the fish here, but they can't be that bad in the sea or on other islands and I love my sleep more. Watching over a human twenty-four seven is way too much.'

However, my peaceful morning was clearly not to be as my heart almost went on early retirement when I saw an empty alcove. 'Oh no. I have to find her, at least before the Skrills do.' I was about to run into the forest and look for her blindly, but stopped myself the moment I understood what I just thought of doing.

'Did I just really think of looking for her like a human?' I just stood there like a statue for a good minute. 'OK, new rules. No sleeping indoors. If this is what happens to me after a day of sitting around a human I know nothing, but what is essentially gossip, about, then I am not risking anything more.'

With that out of the way and with a ferocity of an enraged beast, I went after her scent. I was not angry at Astrid. I was angry at myself. It's been four months since I got here and most of that time went to training, which while helpful, was also exhausting and often boring. So a mere thought of me disregarding that effort was truly... infuriating.