Chapter Text
Astrid really shouldn’t have come back to the woods. She got away by sheer luck that the Light Fury decided to be merciful. Yet that was exactly why she was here.
Dragons always, always went for the kill. She learned that in dragon training. Oh boy, was the concept of her training tough on its own. No sooner did she decide she wasn’t going to kill dragons, she finds out Mother Dearest had decided to sign her up for dragon trainer. Of course Astrid tried to tell her that she didn’t want to but her mother just wouldn’t listen. Like always.
Classes started within the next couple of days while her mom was on a voyage with Stoic the Vast, no doubt killing dragons and trying to arrange a marriage between her daughter and his son.
Speaking of that, Hiccup was in her new class.
That was..... complicated. Yeah, complicated was a good way to say it.
She found Hiccup extremely attractive. Everyone with two eyes could see was a handsome young man. Yet his pride was insufferable. He’d strut in like he was the nicest thing in boots and it made her stomach turn. With infatuation or disgust, she did not know.
Focus Astrid. Task at hand, remember? Task at hand.
She managed to retrace her steps back to the spot that she caught the dragon. The cut ropes of her bola were still there, tangled up. She picked up the rounded weight of one, looking at it thoughtfully.
“A dragon always goes for the kill,” she said quietly. “So why didn’t you?”
Maybe it pitied me? Maybe...
She wandered about looking for any sign of her missing dragon. She wandered for about half an our until something struck her odd. A small glint of light reflected off something and flashed in her eye. Squinting as she approached she found a series of small, translucent white scales. Picking up one, she’s amazed by the smooth, somewhat glassy texture. The were sprinkled just along the edge of a pit, fallen trees and a small pond at the bottom. The pit was deep and had small crevices only a human could fit through. The Light Fury may have stopped by to rest and flew off when it recuperated. Astrid looked back to the lovely scale.
A sudden blast of wind and a trill made her jump and duck for cover.
The Light Fury had flown up along the side before falling back down to the bottom and gliding to a stop. It yowled and tried again, hitting the side and slipping down. It pushed off the rock it crashed into and glided to the bottom of the pit.
It rested there, snarling and panting from the effort. Astrid quickly pulled out her notebook and sketched the beast. From her vantage point, she could see the full length of the dragon.
Rounded wings to reduce drag with that pattern; definitely semi aquatic. The spine down the back wasn’t made up of individual scales... unusual. Look at those teeny feet! Do all Light Furies have that? Maybe it doesn’t need big ones. Most likely female. Male dragons tend to have more head decorations....
The Light Fury let out a frustrated blast of plasma and cleaned her scuffed side before trying again. She flew up along the side but fell once again.
“Why don’t you just fly away?” Astrid said softly, watching the creature’s failed attempts.
She notice that something about the dragon’s tail flukes wasn’t quite right. It was missing on her right side. She couldn’t fly without equal balance. Astrid rubbed away the charcoal in her picture to make it match.
Setting her charcoal and notebook down, she admired the pearly creature. The Light Fury limped over your the pool and took a long drink before lying down. A movement on the pond surface made her little “ears” perk. A fish was close enough in reach and she dove beneath the surface and popped out with the wriggling fish in her jaws. She scarfed it down and dove back for more.
The pond was deep enough to submerge but there didn’t seem to be an entry point. Food would run out and the Light Fury would starve over time.
Should I do something about it? No! She let me live last time, but there’s no guarantee she’ll let me walk away again!
But... it is my fault she’s in this position. I grounded her permanently. With a ruined tail like that, there’s no way she’ll fly again.
While lost in thought, her charcoal had fallen down the side, hitting rocks along the way and making just enough of a ruckus to get the tired and more than a little cranky dragon’s attention. The Light Fury raised her head and stared at Astrid, pupils little slits. She didn’t attack. Just stared hard at her. Watching her.
Finally, Astrid backed out of the little stare off and went home.
She knew what she had to do.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
Food did run out for the Light Fury. She seemed to stress eat. That was one thing Astrid had in common with the dragon. There were no more fish to catch and she sulked about when she wasn’t trying to fly. Astrid waited a day before coming down into the ravine, fish in hand.
She at first scouted to see where the Light Fury was but there was no sign of the pretty thing. She climbed down through a small enough crevice and hid behind a rock, looking around. No sign of the Light Fury.
“There’s no way she could’ve gotten out,” Astrid said under her breath. “Right?”
Walking into the center of the clearing, she stopped at the edge of the pond and looked in. No fish and no exit. Where did she go?
A soft growl made Astrid turn on her heels and almost fall into the water. There were a pair of eyes behind her. No, not just eyes. The air around them seemed to be distorted. They circled her and as the did, the Light Fury seemed to just fade into view. No one ever mentioned invisibility in the Book of Dragons! Well, no one had ever met one and lived to tell the tale so maybe that was why.
The Light Fury stared her down, her haunches shifting as she either prepared to attack or run. Astrid shakily held out the fish she had brought for the Light Fury. For a second, the dragon’s eyes dilated but she stayed away, glancing at the ax on the viking’s back. Astrid carefully removed it from its holster, flinching at the dragon’s growl, and tossed it away. It hit the water with a big splash.
It’s ok, she could always make another.
The Light Fury looked at Astrid, to the rippling water, and back to Astrid. Her eyes dilated and she sat down, letting out a tiny clicking sound. Astrid held out the fish and let the dragon come to her. The Light Fury inched forward, her wings tucked and she opened her mouth. It was full of small, sharp teeth, some slightly crooked and uneven in a slightly endearing way. Funny how something so dangerous could be cute when they are docile. Astrid let the Light Fury’s teeth set around the fish and watched as she yanked it away and swallowed it whole. The dragon chittered and mewled out a little happy song, licking her lips and nodding her head cheerfully.
She really did look and sound like a beluga whale.
Huh.
The Light Fury looked down at Astrid and carefully leaned forward to sniff her.
“I don’t have anymore fish,” Astrid said, opening her hands to reveal that she, indeed, had no more fish.
The Light Fury sniffed for a moment and sneezed, crinkling her nose like something smelled bad.
Ok, rude.
She suddenly began to make a sound. It was gurgled and chuffing. Then it was gagging. She dipped her head down and dropped the front fish half of the fish at Astrid’s feet then sat back, licking her lips. Her eyes were wide and looked more cat-like than dragon. Astrid looked down at the gross thing and back to the dragon. The dragon looked back. Her eyes flickered to her and to the fish then to her.
What does she want?
Astrid picked up the fish, cringing at the slimy texture. Did the dragon want her to feed it to her again? Gross but ok?
She tried to hold out the fish to the dragon but the Light Fury pushed the food back to her with a tiny foot.
Oh. Oh no.
Astrid stifled a gag and looked at the half of the fish in her hands. It was slightly slimy with dragon spit. Gross gross gross!
She’d just pretend to eat the thing. Maybe that would get her out of this. She raised to to her lips high enough to cover her mouth and pretended to bite. She chewed and swallowed the pretend bite and for good measure, made a delightful, “mmm!”
The Light Fury was not impressed and she snorted disapprovingly. Astrid grimaced in disgust.
“There’s no way I’m getting out of this, am I?” she asked.
The Light Fury just stared expectantly, blinking with those big blues. Astrid sighed in defeat and hesitated as she bit into the fish. She tried to stifle her gag at the disgustingly slimy texture and bland taste that managed to make it even worse. Trying to not throw up the “gift” she swallowed and cringed at the unpleasant sensation of it sliding down her gullet. She shuddered in disgust and shoved down the growing queasiness.
The Light Fury cooed in contentment, ears perking.
Astrid weakly smiled. The Light Fury’s expression turn curious and slowly, her maw peeled back to show off her teeth. Slowly but surely the Light Fury made her best attempt at a smile. It was crooked and lopsided but very obvious that it was a best attempt.
Astrid couldn’t help but feel wonder and awe as the Light Fury mimicked her. She was more intelligent than any dragon she’d seen. Everyone knew dragons could be smart but this was something new. Sharing food as thanks, sparring her life when Astrid freed her, and performing human like actions.
Perhaps this beautiful creature was actually warming up to her! The thought was thrilling. The first viking to ever befriend a dragon! A friend.
Astrid raised her hand to pet the creature, somewhat affectionate from her musings. The Light Fury’s smile dropped and she turned tail and took off with a growl. She glided gracelessly down into the dirt and promptly began grooming her scales, the vain little thing.
As soon as she finished, she climbed into tree and using her tail, hung upside down and wrapped her wings around herself all snuggly.
Astrid carefully walked up, soundless on the powdery sand. Inches away, she raised her hand to try and brush her fingers along the membrane of her wing. The wings suddenly opened up as the Light Fury peeked her snout out of her wings. She look annoyed, eyes slightly narrowed and nose crinkled.
Astrid jumped and backed off, stepping away awkwardly. The Light Fury didn’t look away until Astrid was a good distance away, right by a large rock by the pond. When Astrid sag on the rock, the Light Fury pulled her wings over her face.
Best not to bother her again. Astrid stood up and made her way out of the hollow. She’d come back the next day after training.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Nursing a couple bruises from facing off against a Nadder in training, Astrid returned to the hollow. After embarrassing herself in front of Hiccup of course. They had crashed into each other while running through the maze Gobber had set up. She was too busy asking Gobber about Light Furies to really notice the Nadder chasing him and almost got them killed.
Using her shield, he swung and bashed the charging Nadder in the face. Without missing a beat, he turned and glared at her.
“Do you want to get all of us killed?! This war is ours too! Make sure you know which side you’re on!”
Well... he was nice enough to help her up so that’s something. Right now she just had to take her mind off it so dropping in to visit and feed the Light Fury again was a good idea.
“I’m back,” Astrid announced, plopping down on the rock to draw. She set down the fish she brought on the floor near the rock and pulled out her notebook.
Light Fury was sleeping in the same tree and Astrid couldn’t help but wonder if she had stayed asleep the whole time she was gone. Taking up her pencil, she began to scribble away. Eventually, she got bored of that and began to draw on her skin, imagining the war paint she’d use in a fight.
She began to draw on her arm a rounded head with big eyes and little nubs for ears and horns. As she drew, she felt a shadow cast over her shoulder a musical trill of curiosity and quiet chewing. She didn’t look over for fear the Light Fury would turn tail and run. So she kept doodling.
A goofy smile there, big happy eyes here.
The Light Fury behind her cooed and suddenly a big foot was planted right next to Astrid. She turned her head and looked up at the creature. Beluga looked back, eyes flitting down to the charcoal in Astrid’s hand and back to her face. She snorted slightly, bobbing her head slightly. Astrid could only guess what she meant.
Me too, please?
Astrid shifted to face the dragon, crossing her legs underneath herself. She almost pressed her hand to the dragon’s leg but a growl warded her off.
Ok, don’t touch her, Astrid noted. Only the pencil.
Careful not to touch the dragon with her hand as she drew, she traced a long line up the creature’s foreleg. It swirled at the end and more lines joined it as Astrid drew the charcoal up the dragon’s foreleg. It twisted and turned until each line formed a twining branch. She dotted little flowers and bulbs along the glittering scales and not once did she touch the dragon with her hand.
The Light Fury did not move an inch. Her big blue eyes watched Astrid intensely, glittering with wonder at what the small human did.
Astrid pulled away and smiled at her handy work. The little line had become a beautiful tree and Astrid felt a surge of pride for it. It looked good and by the way the dragon held her leg up to admire it confirmed that. She trilled and cooed, turning her head to admire every aspect, her ear-nubs perked like a cat’s.
When the Light Fury looked up, their eyes met. She did not look away. It was breathtaking to be so close to such a beautiful animal and for her to not run away.
Maybe... We can be friends, after all.
Carefully, Astrid raised her hand to touch the creature. The Light Fury growled softly and slightly tilted her head away, yet her pupils remained round.
Ducking her head down, Astrid closed her eyes and stretched her arm out slightly. After a moment all she could feel was the Light Fury’s warm breath on her palm.
Then cool texture of scales pressed to her skin. Astrid looked up carefully and let out a soft gasp. The Light Fury had closed her eyes and pressed her nose to Astrid’s open hand.
The girl didn’t dare to move, just staring up at the Light Fury with eyes lit up with wonder. The Light Fury pulled away after a moment, blue eyes gentle and kind. She looked down at her decorated leg and backed away, looking down at it as she walked. She went back to her tree, scaled up it, and admired the design on her foreleg.
Astrid decided its time to leave. The sun would set in an hour and she had to get back before dark. She slips out through the crevice and begins the walk home.
As she walks, she thinks about the Light Fury in such close proximity. Like the white whales from up north, curious and almost musical in sound.
“Beluga... not a bad name.”