Chapter Text
• • •
No better way to form a connection with someone than by narrowly escapin' the icy cold grasp of a watery death together, right? It's, ah, also a good way to get a scoldin' and a week o' groundin' from yer parents, but alas.
Ah, but now we're at me favorite part o' the story. Or one o' them, at least.
THIS was the beginnin' of it all.
• • •
"Alright Fishlegs," Hiccup began as he strode into the arena, Toothless ambling behind him. The Night Fury gave a sniff towards the open stall his rider's friend was currently standing in front of, eyes softening with curiosity at something that could be seen huddled up inside. "What've we got?"
"Ohh, Hiccup, it's amazing!" Fishlegs squealed giddily, scampering up to the other teen. Sensing her human's joy, Meatlug wagged her tail behind him, though not completely understanding the source of his excitement. "I never thought I'd be able to study this dragon up close!"
Interest piqued, Hiccup gazed into the dark cell, where he saw a long, spiky shape curled up in the far corner. Pale, gleaming yellow eyes stared back at him, narrow with suspicion.
"Yeah, it'd... It'd be great if I could see it..." he muttered, rubbing the back of his head.
"Oh, right," Fishlegs shuffled to his dragon and spoke to her in a baby-voice. "Meatlug, care to introduce Hiccup to your new friend?"
The Gronkle gave a small roar, before toddling happily into the cell, keeping her stance low to show she posed no threat. The dragon inside turned its attention to her, head lifting up and whiffing at her, seeming a lot more welcoming of her presence.
Hearing the beating of wings outside, Hiccup briefly looked back to see a certain blue Nadder and her rider landing outside. Astrid brushed some windblown hair out of her face as she strode into the arena, both her and her dragon looking tired from a long few hours spent out on patrol. Seeing his friend, Toothless perked up and dashed over to Stormfly, bouncing up and down gleefully before rubbing his nose against her chin. The taller blue dragon purred, leaning into the affection and gently preening between the Night Fury's ears with her beak-like upper lip.
"Astrid!" Hiccup greeted his fellow rider with a small wave. "How was the reconnaissance mission?"
"Well, I think it's safe to assume those pirates won't be coming back for a second serving," she answered, cracking her knuckles and stretching her arms over her head. "At least not any time soon."
"Were you able to figure out how and why they came with equipment to deal with our dragons...?" he asked, thinking back to that chain Fishlegs said he and Meatlug had nearly been snatched with. They'd been weirdly prepared to deal with their dragons, for a couple of rogue pirates.
"I wasn't able to find out whether they were sent by anyone or not, but I did hear word from the Shivering Shores that'd they'd been selling off some of their old dragon-killing tools that'd been taking up space in their storage since peace was established..." she explained with a shrug. "If I had to guess, the raiders got their hands on some of it, and got cocky enough to think they could take a go at us."
Hiccup sighed, running a hand over his face. "I wish they would've just scrapped all that equipment to use for something else. Would've been really that hard to just... repurpose it instead of selling it off to the first buyer?"
"Well, you gotta remember, Hiccup, those guys don't have flocks of Gronkles to help them melt down all that metal in a day like we do," Astrid pointed out. "We may have convinced the nearby tribes to stop killing dragons, but they still aren't totally on board with the whole riding and living amongst them thing..."
"Right..." He conceded, a smidge displeased at being reminded of how even after a year he still had so much work to do when it came to convincing everyone coexistence was possible. It'd been hard enough to get their neighbors to a state of begrudging acceptance.
Sensing the subject was bringing his spirits down, Astrid looked around the room for something to change it, and noticed Meatlug currently trying to coax the new dragon out of hiding. "Well, all that aside," she took a few steps towards Fishlegs to get a better look at the Academy's new guest, but made sure not to get too close. "How's the new girl settling in?"
"She's still pretty anxious around people, but we're making progress," Fishlegs assured her, then made a come-here motion towards Meatlug to urge her and the new dragon over. "Bring 'er here, girl!"
Meatlug happily pranced back to her rider, then looked back to see if the other dragon would follow. Making a comforting crooning noise in her throat, she gently encouraged the shy winged reptile out into the open where everyone could see her. Out of the shadowed corner of the cell emerged a scaly blue paw, soon followed by another, and then out poked a bumpy, slightly spotted nose.
Astrid gasped in amazement next to him, and Hiccup himself lit up with awe at the creature that revealed itself. A quadruped dragon, with a long streamline frame similar to Toothless, but flatter built and slightly smaller in size. The faint wavy stripes her glistening, turquoise hide was patterned with were reminiscent of light reflecting off the surface of clear water, with white speckles dappled across the top of her wings, down her back, and sprayed on her forehead.
"She's beautiful," Astrid breathed, a smile rising to her lips as she marveled at the new dragon exploring its new surroundings, watching it tip-toe across the ground and nervously side-eye everyone in the room.
Hiccup squinted at her thoughtfully and lifted a finger to his chin, the dragon's shape reminding him of one he was certain he remembered from the dragon manual. The name was on the tip of his tongue... "She looks like a-"
"Sand Wraith," Fishlegs finished for him, pulling up the aforementioned book of dragons and flipping to a certain page, before showing it to Hiccup and tapping a finger to the illustration in the center. It was a rather exaggerated depiction, showing the dragon a bit more spiky and menacing than the real life version appeared, but it got every other feature else down nonetheless. "Masters of ambush who camouflage in the sand to await unsuspecting prey!"
"I remember I had a great aunt that lost a toe to one of those things," Astrid mused, crossing her arms and leaning in a bit to get a better look at the drawing. "Definitely not a fun thing to run into on a nice, long stroll down the beach... This girl seems sweet, though."
She looked to the Sand Wraith in question, who was currently crouched close to the floor as Toothless and Stormfly investigated her, exchanging shy nose-sniffs with the other dragons. Walking over to try and introduce herself, Astrid took a kneel a few feet away from her, extending a hand out in greeting. The sea dragon let out a small, anxious noise among noticing a human presence within her vicinity, and shuffled a few steps back.
Frowning at the dragon's fear towards her, Astrid withdrew her hand and propped it up on her knee. "It's okay," she tried to assure the winged beast. "No one here wants to hurt you."
"She's still pretty shaken from almost drowning on the ship," Fishlegs explained, clasping his hands over his torso. "It took a lot of time just to get Meatlug near her!"
"Yeah, I don't blame her," sighed Hiccup as he rubbed the back of his head, grimacing when the memories of that near-death fiasco came back to him. Something like that made him not want to take a swim in the ocean for the rest of his life. "Not to mention what those pirates might've put her through."
Figuring trying to earn the dragon's trust right now would prove fruitless, Astrid stood back up and went to give Stormfly a scratch under the chin instead, thinking maybe at least showing how the other dragons weren't afraid of her could help. "What do you even think they were planning to do with her, anyways?"
"Unless we manage to track them down and get some information outta them, there's no telling..." Hiccup said as he took the dragon manual from Fishlegs, setting it down on a nearby barrel to read more on the Sand Wraith. There wasn't a lot written down- understandably so, considering these dragons were noted to be pretty reclusive and therefore hard to observe- but he did notice how the dragons displayed on the pages were portrayed with much more "earthy" colors like browns and grays compared to the one in the arena with them.
"You know, for a dragon that's supposed to blend with the sand, she's awfully bright colored..." he pointed out, letting Astrid lean over his shoulder to get a look at the drawings herself.
"You're right," Fishlegs hummed inquisitively at his friend's observation, scratching at his chin. "Makes you wonder how she hunts..."
A loud, guttural rumble catches each of the teens' attentions, drawing their eyes to where the Sand Wraith was crowded by the other three dragons. She glances down at her stomach, then groans uncomfortably as she begins nosing around for something to eat.
"Speaking of which, our new guest sounds hungry," Astrid says, eyes scanning around the arena for anything that could serve as a dragon snack. She notices a basket of fish off on the far side of the room, and quickly goes to retrieve it.
"This should do the trick," she says with a small grunt as wraps her arms around the basket and hauls it up off the floor. She ignores Toothless and Stormfly's big, drooling faces and scoots around the two dragons to dump the fish out in front of the Sand Wraith, offering it to her. "Here, pretty girl! You need something to eat?"
The green-blue dragon's spiky frill twitches up with interest, pupils growing round when they fix on the mouth-watering pile of slimy, smelly dead fish. Still cautious of Astrid, she awkwardly side-steps towards the mound of food, nudging through it with her nose before snapping up a halibut with her sharp, jutted teeth. She tilts her head up to swallow, bottom lip quivering as she warbles in satisfaction.
"There you go," Astrid chuckles, crouching down to pluck another halibut from the pile after noticing the dragon specifically sought it out. She throws it over with a gentle toss, letting the large, flat fish land at the Sand Wraith's feet with a dull slap against the stone floor.
"See? We're friends," Hiccup encourages, standing beside his friend.
The new dragon leans down to accept the tasty offering, but stops when the spike over her left ear perks up and detects something outside the humans don't. Snapping her attention away from the fish and towards the entrance to the arena, the Sand Wraith becomes strangely alert all of a sudden, eyes wide and pupils thinned into slits.
Raising a brow at the dragon's odd behavior, Hiccup takes a step towards her. wondering what's got her so worked up. "Woah, girl, everything okay-?"
In an instant, the boy's almost knocked flat on his back by a whoosh of wind, created by the dragon's wings as she barrels by. He lands on his rear with a startled shout, and his eye fly to follow the Sand Wraith as she books it for freedom.
Toothless is already on her tail, swooping under the arena entrance behind her, but can only follow her as far as the cliff edge once she takes to the air. The Night Fury yowls sadly to her and bounces on his back legs, but his new friend is already disappearing off towards the main village.
Hiccup and his friends are quick to catch up. "What was THAT all about?!" exclaims Astrid.
"She- she's heading into town," stammers Fishlegs, already gripping onto Meatlug's saddle strap. "Anxious dragons and crowded places are never a good combination, Hiccup!"
"Then we're following her," Hiccup declares without a moment's hesitation, jumping onto Toothless' back. Astrid and Fishlegs follow, and just like that, the three are off in hot pursuit.
————
Her mind is racing as she soars over the unfamiliar rows of huts below her. It's all so cluttered, disorienting, all these new combined scents of both human and dragon wafting from the village. The only thing guiding her is that singular, distinct scent that easily stands out among all the others- earthy, musty like that of an old boat, with the distinguishing tang of saltwater. She doesn't know why she knows it, or how, but she knows she has to find it. Her instincts are screaming at her to, and a dragon never disobeys its instincts.
A vibrant Monstrous Nightmare flies out from behind a cliff, nearly comes crashing into her, and she screams when its massive striped wing whizzes past her head. The bigger dragon snaps its teeth at her flank as she scrambles to regain her balance in the air, but she pushes off its side and pays it no further mind.
So many. The presence of numerous dragon species all congregated into one place wasn't an unfamiliar scenario to her, but all of them roaming about freely and mixed together, instead of being locked away and grouped into cells by species? It was nothing short of bizarre. They all lived among humans, no less, and as far as her eye could see there was no dispute breaking out or fire razing the place to the ground. It was as if she'd stepped out of one world and into another.
Eventually, she rounds a towering cliff face, weaves between a few sea stacks, then finds herself gliding along a secluded shore of the isle. Where the scent was leading her. She's swooping over the pointed tips of pine trees, until finally it comes into view- a small clearing between the rocks, where she sees the pastures and crop fields belonging to what looks like a small farm.
As desperate as she is to follow that scent, she knows well enough to be cautious- humans often protected these little patches of land full of food and wooden buildings as fiercely as a mother dragon did her nest. She didn't want to get on the bad side of any inhabitants, so she lands on one of the cliffs overlooking it, giving the area a cautious once over.
Sheep and yak are grazing away at haystacks in peace, chickens are pecking around at the dirt in search of worms. Near the wood plank structure in the far corner, standing just outside the door, there are two humans. Both older males, one with a dark complexion with pale patches of unpigmented skin spreading from the center of his face, and graying black locs of braided hair falling down his back. The second one, shorter and burlier than the other with slicked, hay yellow hair and a jagged cross-shaped scar over his left eye. Both don beards nearly big enough to fully cover their chests.
They're just close enough for her to pick up on their conversation, though the meaning of their human sounds are lost on her. "Have you seen Addison anywhere, love?" Asks the taller one.
"Aye, think I saw her meandering off to the beach a while ago..." replies the shorter one. "She bett'r not be off gettin' her nose into trouble. She knows she's still grounded after that... stunt she pulled on 'er first day o' school!"
She sticks around a bit longer than she intends to, the Terrible Terror that came crawling out from the window behind them being a momentary distraction. The little yellow dragon rubs up against the ankles of the two men, purring like a cat. She can't help but find the sight bizzare. "Now, now, 'm sure our little girl's just fine, Heriolf. Have a bit more faith in her, she knows we're just lookin' out for her."
The Terror begins to gently nip at the laces of the blonde one's boot. "Sigh... Ya think it was a mistake? Signin' her up fer dragon trainin'?"
"Mmm, I don' think so. She had a bit o' a debacle on the first day, sure, but... 's Addison! She's always makin' a spectacle of things." The dark haired one bends down to scoop the little dragon into his arms, cradling it like an infant. "I think this experience will be good for 'er, takin' care o' a dragon will teach her some responsibility, help her mellow out."
"Still, trainin' a dragon- let alone becomin' a rider- is different than..."
The end of that conversation fades into the background as the scent steals her attention again, and she's slinking off through the cover of the trees to continue tracking the source. It leads her stumbling through a wooded path traveling through a crevice in the rock, over boulders and fallen logs, a terrain that a more marine-oriented creature like her isn't skilled at traversing.
She struggles to wriggle her way over a particularly steep mound of dirt, the soil much more dense and compact compared to the sand her claws were built for burrowing through. Once she clambers her way to the top, she almost immediately slips, loses her footing and goes tumbling down a steep slope.
Thankfully, her savior is a slightly lopsided pine tree that she manages to clumsily catch herself on the trunk of. With a disgruntled noise, she claws her way to about halfway towards the top, right where the prickly leaves won't poke into her hide.
The sound of moving water calls to her, drawing her eyes up until she spots the coastline up ahead. The sea was a deep blue against the setting sun, blowing in a chilly wind from the north, so much different than the crystalline waters and humid air she knew from back home.
Taking a small whiff of the air, she realized the scent was strongest here. Her pupils darted around, and finally-
She found it. Or more accurately, her. Over on the far side of the beach, seated on a wet pile of rocks, was a girl. Neck length, red-brown curls were parted just enough for her to see the swirling brand scarred onto the back of the child's shoulders, that unmistakable sigil that haunted almost the entire stretch of her memory. It clicked now, where she knew that scent- it belonged to the one that had saved her life. Despite the brand, this child was no danger, that she was sure of.
There was an odd thrum in her chest, and she looked down to where the exact same mark was printed onto her white underbelly. A feeling of unease filled her, seeing it there, a painful reminder of her past. But then she drew her gaze to the girl again, and that unease was replaced by something else- an incentive, an inexplicable drive to protect. A flicker of an image, a moment came to mind; those same bountiful red curls on a smaller figure, and a young voice babbling to her.
Cautiously and oh so silently, she let herself be guided by that drive, hopping down from her perch on the tree and creeping her way down the hill.
————
The ocean had always been Addison's source of comfort. Yes, even after she almost met her demise in it not even a week ago. It was what had delivered her safely to her father's fishing boat, after she'd been set adrift as an infant by, well, presumably whoever her birth family was. And when she'd grown up away from the main village, it had provided her company that another child couldn't. On nights where her tough exterior weathered a bit and gave way to the loneliness, the hushed sound of water rolling over itself and crashing together had been more soothing than any lullaby. It was hard to stay wary of it, even after such a traumatizing experience.
This tiny bay, this forgotten corner of the little world that was the Isle of Berk, it was her safe haven. Away from the main docks her father set out on his fishing expeditions from, and just a fifteen minute walk along a beaten path away from their farm. Not nearly as big as the cove off near Raven Point, the one Hiccup seemed to claim as his personal little training ground for himself and Toothless, but that was fine by her.
Not only was it a miniature paradise, it also served as a great spot to stew in rage. Which was exactly what she was busy doing, taking her frustration out on the small rocks scattered around her and chucking them into the sea. A "harumph" escaped her as she flung her wrist and sent a rather hefty pebble skimming smoothly across the surface, before it plonked into the blue to sink down to Odin knows where.
Heaving a sigh, she fell back onto the flat slate of limestone behind her, kicking a foot through the sand. "Stupid pirates, stupid Hiccup, stupid school, stupid everythin'..."
A low hoot sounded from behind her, and she glanced back to see a scruffy looking owl perched on the rickety dead tree looming above, ruffling his dappled brown plumage. Her pa's strange little friend that's hung around for as long as she could remember- she identified him by the toe he was missing on his right foot. An unusual type of pet for a farmer to have, but he kept pests like mice and rabbits away at the small price of an attic to build his nest in. Definitely not any more out there than literal dragons.
"Ugh, 's ridiculous Gunther, I'm tellin' you!" She ranted to the bird that probably wasn't registering a word. "Da an' Pa are thinkin' about pullin' me out o' dragon trainin' lessons before I even started. Just 'cause wha, I did what any one o' us would've done and tried t' fight back against invaders? Saved a dragon from certain death?"
She huffs and looks down at the waves lapping gently at her feet, lightly dampening the tip of her fur boots. Quickly realizing that the tide was coming in, she plucks them off and sets them on a dry spot nearby. "You know wha? Stupid classes didn't even sound all that great," she grumbles, pulling off her socks next. "I was stoked 'til I heard we was gonna be raisin' a dragon from a wee little baby. I mean, who KNOWS how long it'll take til we can actually fly on 'em? The older kids get their own, fully grown dragons, why can't we?"
She feels the water flood past her bare feet, and she exhales through her nostrils, some of the tension leaving her. Perhaps to most, taking a dip in the ocean like this in a place as ungodly frigid as Berk might've seemed like a free ticket to hypothermia. But anyone born and- well, in Addison's case just raised, on the island would tell you it'd take a lot more than icy water to take a Berkian down. She actually found the biting chill against her skin relaxing, helping to wash away all that pent up frustration and tension. Another way in which the ocean brought calm to her restless spirit.
Usually, in moments like this, her eyes would follow the sea to the farthest stretch of the horizon. Right now, though, they were trained on the evening skies, vibrant swirling shades of orange, yellow and red. A whole new world opened up to the Vikings of Berk with the introduction of dragon riding, and it felt her hopes of ever getting to experience it were starting to dwindle.
The scar on her back buzzed with an irritating itch, and she grimaced while reaching back to scratch at it. She wasn't looking forward to more of that sensation when the burn on her arm she'd gotten from Toothless' blast healed up. Right now, it just numbly ached under the bandages from the ointments and medicine Gothi had slathered it with.
Exploring the expansive realm of the skies wasn't even Addison's primary goal in becoming a dragon rider, though. She traced the shape of the back scar, fingertip following lines that curved into three distinct swirls. She'd never gotten a good look at the stupid thing herself, but it had always been there, reminding her of its existence every now and then with this occasional, annoying stinging sensation. Nevertheless, it was one of the last traces of Addison's past before being taken in, and one of the only clues she had to her enigma of an existence. Most thought it just a regular old scar. She believed otherwise. No normal scar could have such a distinct, symmetrical shape, right?
She laid back flat against the rock slab in hopes the cool surface of it would ease the tingling, folding her arms behind her head to use as a pillow and letting out a disgruntled sigh. A mystery I'll never be able to solve if I don't get out there, she thought. A ship can only take me so far. On a dragon's back...
Her mind continued to wander as she closed her eyes, letting the sounds of the ocean keep her grounded. The seagulls crying shrilly overhead, the waves bobbing up and down, the salty breeze blowing past. I guess raisin' a dragon from a baby would be better than nothin'... it would still be one annoyin' wait, but-
Her eyes fluttered back open when the feeling of the tide lapping a bit more aggressively at her ankles stirred her from the dozing state she hadn't even realized she'd begun to slip into. Sitting back up, she peered down at the water, noticing it move in an almost alive way as it slid back down her leg. She quirked a brow, but that peculiar sight quickly became the last of her concerns when she heard the sound of Gunther taking off. Her head snapped to where the owl was frantically flapping away into the trees, and that's when she spotted something big and blue in the corner of her eye.
She swiveled around, and had to catch herself from falling right off the rock. Just barely even three feet away from her, stood a dragon. A big, wild dragon covered in spikes and had intimidating, razor sharp teeth jutting out from its upper lip crouched on the boulder above her, and it was looking directly at her.
A gasp escaped her, and fourteen years of fearing these giant reptiles won out over new-era-of-peace common sense for a split second when her hand flew to the fish gutting knife at her belt. The dragon, immediately recognizing the motions of a human reaching for a weapon, scrambled back in alarm.
Instantly realizing her error, she yanks her hand away from the knife handle, opting to just hold them out in front of her when the dragon rears up on its hind legs and screeches. "Gah-! It's okay, 's okay, I'm sorry!"
The creature slumps back onto to all fours, but still remains in a wide, ready-to-bolt position as it eyes down the girl in front of it cautiously. Despite its obvious fear, there's a noticeable curiosity on its expression, pupils thinning and dilating as if it's trying to decide how it feels about Addison.
"I, ah..." She stammers over herself, eyes darting around for- well, she wasn't exactly sure. An escape route, some food to distract the dragon with... But then, she catches the sun reflecting off dragon's turquoise scales, and it suddenly clicks that she recognizes it.
"Wait a minute..." she starts, eyes lighting up with realization. "It's you! Yer the dragon from the ship- the one we saved!"
The dragon blinks at her, then lightly shakes out its wings and makes a low clicking noise.
The instinctual fear suddenly gone from her, Addison gives an elated laugh, eyeing over the creature she rescued the life of in its full glory. The dragon was even more breathtaking up close than in the dark lighting back in the sunken ship- the patterns painting its wings reminding her of the very shores she grew up playing on.
"Ohh, yer a beaut, aren't ya?" She chuckles, unable to tear her eyes away from the artwork that was this creature's scales. Sensing her pulse slowing, the dragon appears to relax a little, steadying itself on the rock better. "Ya look like one of them sneaky buggers I see hidin' on the beach now an' then. What did Fishlegs call 'em- Sand Wraiths? But yer bigger an'... uh, bluer."
It's true, the dragon's coloration stands out boldly compared to the brown and gray-ish Wraiths Addison was used to spotting on the shores every now and then. "I don' think I've ever seen one as vibrant as you before..."
As the Sand Wraith bounces down the left side of the boulder and begins to pace a slow, non-threatening circle around Addison, the girl can't help but observe how the dragon's colors shift in the late day lighting. Crystal blue wherever the sun hit, but dark greenish on the more shadowy spots. "Huh... actually, think yer more of a turquoise? Aquamarine? Eh, one o' those."
The big spiny lizard gets the courage to inch closer to her, and not wanting to spook her off, Addison stays as still as physically possible, only reaching out her hand palm-facing-up to let the dragon investigate her more if it wants. "Ya know, last I heard the dragon riders were keepin' you in the arena. Did they give ya the okay to go free? Ooor 's it a great escape yer pullin' here..."
The dragon shuffles so close that Addison swears it's going to let her touch it, and she feels her heart start to race in anticipation. She was just mulling over how much she wanted a full grown dragon to be able to travel long distances overseas with, and here this one was, coming right up to her like it was meant to be. Maybe-?
The magical moment is cut short by the sound of wings flapping in the distance, causing her new scaly friend to jolt and snap its head in the direction of their source- an approaching group of dragons. Addison recognizes the slim black silhouette of that front one in an instant; gliding just over the cliffs, heading straight this way, are Hiccup and his little band of riders. Well, just two of them this time, it seemed.
She clicks her tongue in annoyance, realizing that if Berk's heroes are here then the latter of her previous two assumptions must be right. She thinks quickly on what to do, if she should let the older kids come collect the dragon or if she should try hiding it. Seems like the beast has an idea already in mind, though, when it suddenly takes a nosedive into the waves rising up onto the shore.
"What the-" She holds her arms up to feebly shield herself from the cold water that gets splashed at her by the dragon's furious flapping wings. Once the abrupt onslaught ceases, she looks up again to find it totally gone from view, the only trace of it being the foamy ripples it left behind.
Her eyes try to search for it beneath the tide, and she swears she catches a glimpse of its blue-green scales in the sand. Then she hears the light thump of several dragons landing behind her, and she swivels around to see Toothless trotting across the grass towards her, Hiccup mounted on his back.
"Addison!" He calls to her. She quickly straightens herself when the chief's son addresses her, trying as best she can to not look like she was hiding the very dragon he likely came here looking for. She does catch the way his eyes avoid the bandages on her arm, though. "Hey, uh, sorry to bother you this late- but you haven't happen to seen a bright blue dragon pass through here, have you?"
Fishlegs raises a finger behind him. "Actually, I'd describe it as more of a cyan-"
"Fishlegs." Astrid sharply cuts him off.
"Uh..." Addison briefly glances back to where she saw the dragon disappear into the water, but then shakes her head and forces an awkward smile. "Nope! Haven't seen a dragon around 'ere all day. Not a one."
Hiccup quirks a brow at her suspicious wording, but after he takes a quick look around the surrounding area his shoulders sag in disappointment. "Yeah, no sign of it here either..."
Astrid points out towards the sea. "It's a tidal dragon, right? You don't think it might've went into the water?" Addison does her best not to visibly wince. Please don' check.
"Sand Wraiths are actually one of the few non-aquatic Tidal Class dragons," Fishlegs informs her. "They've been seen swimming on occasion, but overall spend a majority of their life outside the water, never straying too far from the beaches where they build their nests."
"Yeah, but it's bright blue- I mean cyan or whatever-" She argues. "Wouldn't a color like that be better suited for hiding in the shallows?"
"Uhhh..." The blonde boy taps his chin, considering her point. "I guess it's possible, but..."
"We'll do a lap around the coast just to make sure," declares Hiccup, making a circular movement with his finger to the others.
Addison snickers under her breath, spotting an opportunity. "Don'cha mean just to make shore?"
All that little wordplay earns her is a deadpan stare from the three other teens.
Seeing her joke fall flat on its face, she clears her throat. "Uh- s-so this dragon, wouldn't happen t' be-"
"The one we saved from the pirate ship? Yeah," Hiccup answers, fixing his posture in Toothless' saddle, looking ready to get going. "I... guess it's not the end of the world if she's flown off for good, we were probably gonna return her to the wild at some point anyway, but..."
"If she gets settled in an ecosystem she's not supposed to be in, that could be bad news." Fishlegs finishes for him, gesticulating wildly to emphasize the severity of this situation. "It could throw the balance of the local food chain all out of whack!"
"Right, right..." Addison nods along, only really understanding approximately three words of whatever they were yapping about. Then, she clasps her hands together and grins, silently hoping for the three to leave faster. "Well, good luck to ya's and yer eeko-systems an' whatnot. Best you all be off now, 'm sure that dragon couldn't have gone far!"
Stormfly and Meatlug take off first, and Toothless is next to follow, but Hiccup holds him back to linger just a moment longer. "Oh, your side, is it-"
Getting impatient, Addison waves him off with both hands. "Go!"
"R-right, later!" Toothless rockets off after the other dragons, finally leaving her in the clear.
"Gods..." Addison sighs, watching the riders fly away for a couple more seconds before facing the sea again. "Hey, they're gone!"
Receiving no response, she treads closer and crouches down just by the edge of the water, squinting for that sliver of the Sand Wraith's back she saw before. "Hello? 'S okay, you can come out now!"
...Still nothing. Feeling a bit daring, she wades a bit further into the cold seawater and prods her feet around in the sand, feeling for the dragon's scales or its spines, not really taking the possibility of it snapping her toes off into consideration.
"Huh..." When her search ultimately comes up empty, she slumps in defeat and scratches the back of her head. "Where'd she go...?"
She looks back out towards the open ocean, remembering that piece of knowledge Fishlegs shared about Sand Wraiths never straying too far from the shore. Did she swim off? She wonders. Fishlegs said they don' go too far out t' sea, but then again, that Sand Wraith seemed... different.
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