Chapter Text
The gang is flying above the clouds. Snotlout is navigating the map they had found in the dragon lenses. Everyone is tense; the anticipation felt by both the humans and the dragons is the only thing fueling them to go forward.
“Are we there yet?” one of the twins asks, behind Hiccup. He doesn't bother to look back at where they are to tell who's speaking, And the wind masks any notable differences he would usually care to notice. He sighs and looks to Snotlout, who had taken up the role of navigator for today.
Snotlout, apparently also done with the twin's antics, looks back and gives them a dirty side eye. “I swear to Odin, Tuffnut, if you ask one more time, this will be your neck!” he holds up the piece of parchment in his hands and wrings it like a cloth. The resulting crinkles blend in with the previous ones he had left from clenching the paper the entire time the twins had started this whole charade.
“Snotlout, you're going to smear the charcoal again, we already got lost once,” Fishlegs scolds, holding his hands up and wrinkling his nose.
“Shut up , Fishface; we're almost there anyways, it's just a straight flight from here,” he hits the map that's sagging from its abuse.
Everyone stays relatively quiet after that, with so much time living with each other on the edge, even the twins know when not to push Snotlout's buttons. Either that or they just got their answer and are cooking up a new thing to bother all of them with. The latter is the more likely scenario, but Hiccup hopes to have faith.
Soon, they finally come across land. They spot a weird island Fishlegs deems as unsafe to land on and pass it by before the fog finally clears up to the biggest island they've ever seen. After some consideration, Fishlegs decides to land on the weird overhanging cliff and the gang settle for a few seconds before the twins leap off their dragons, giggling like children as they run off to explore, their dragon leaping after them with their tongues lolling out the sides of both their mouths.
Everyone prepares for the worst. The worst being the twins getting into their usual trouble and finding some sort of new and dangerous dragon, and then leading it back to camp. The best being them finding a new and dangerous dragon that can be tamed like they did with the Night Terrors.
The twins do indeed come back screaming, but a dragon is not the one chasing them. It's about three human-looking things, but with fur and masks. They carry clubs and crossbows. Another bigger version of them follows, carrying a gigantic battle axe the size of a dragon's torso.
While everyone is staring, the weird creatures start charging. The group struggle to figure out what to do while their dragons step in to make a wall the creatures can't pass.
The dragons blast the creatures away until they start running. The group lets them run away, the biggest one staying behind before following the others.
“Stay right there!” a voice shouts. They look to their right, where a girl dressed in red runs up to them. “You guys are newcomers,” she observes. “I would ask how you got here, but those dragons make it sort of obvious. However, I would like to ask you why you're here,” she puts her hands on her hips. I hope I'm being polite enough, I wouldn't want a repeat of what happened with the traveler, where I was really rude when we first met. If I had known what they would do for Mondstadt, I wouldn't have been nearly as rude. She thinks.
“Hello there, I'm Hiccup, these people are Astrid, Fishlegs, Ruffnut, Tuffnut, and Snotlout. Our dragon's names are Toothless, Stormfly, Meatlug, Barf and Belch, And Hookfang,” Hiccup says. “We just wanted to explore, and we came across a map leading us to this island. So, we figured we would try it out,” he finishes.
“Ah, I see. So you guys are adventurers! I might be able to bring you guys to Mondstadt, although your dragons might have to stay behind. The last dragon that was in the city destroyed some things so I'm afraid not many people would appreciate visits from unfamiliar dragons. I can possibly take a few of you to the city while others stay behind if you don't want your dragons to be alone, but I would rather introduce you guys all at once,” she puts her pointer finger on her chin.
“Mondstadt? What's that?” Ruffnut raises her eyebrows. The strange new person mirrors her expression.
“Well, Mondstadt is where I live, and also the nation of wind and freedom! I'm The outrider for the Knights of Favonious, meaning I patrol the area and keep adventurers like yourself from getting lost or attacked,” She explains. She feels like she's forgetting something.
“Well, I suppose we can split up, Snotlout and Fishlegs can come with me to Mondstadt and Astrid and the twins can stay here with the dragons,” Hiccup looks back as he speaks up. Astrid looks annoyed, but Snotlout and the twins are a dangerous combination no single person can handle, especially if it's them alone. And Fishlegs isn't assertive enough to handle Snotlout or the twins. With this new island and the new creatures we're probably going to come across, it’s better to keep a group that won't fall apart as soon as those three mutton heads are left alone.
Snotlout comes up to the red-wearing lady. “So, my lady, can I get your name?” He looks at her as he holds out his hand, lifting an eyebrow and bending over ever so slightly. All she does is cover her mouth as her eyes widen.
“Oh! That's what I forgot! I'm Outrider Amber!” She looks like she’s going to give herself a slap on her face before she decides to salute instead. “I can lead you to the city of Mondstadt, but I might have to warn you that the climate here is a lot warmer than you guys can probably expect; your clothes look pretty thick. I suggest finding a way to shed a few layers. Also, we might want to move somewhere else. This cliff is a primary spot for dates here, so if you don’t want to be disturbed, I could lead you halfway and we can figure it out from there.”
The group agrees and they all follow her while she leads them to a more secure spot. Once they’re now safely hidden, Amber warns them of hilichurls, the creatures that attacked them earlier. Hiccup wonders if the hilichurl situation with these people is like the situation with Berk and dragons, but leaves it for another time.
They arrive at the bridge for the “city,” Apparently this Island is large enough to be called a continent, it was large enough for villages of people to become large populations and become cities. The architecture of this place stuns them for a little, having just come from a decently large village themselves. Amber catches them up on the archons, or gods, that they worship here as well. It takes a little bit for them to wrap their heads around, but eventually they decide to let the difference in opinion settle for now when Amber tells them to not bring it up in the city. Apparently, they’re pretty serious about this ‘Barbatos’ character, and the other six gods of the elements.
Amber leads them through a marketplace. Fishlegs has to drag Hiccup away from examining the forge and talking to the man working there. They make their way to a building Amber calls the Knights of Favonius headquarters and make their way inside. They walk towards the right where a man with blue hair and en eyepatch waves to Amber after coming out of a door. He glances over at the three newcomers, seems like he wants to interrupt, but lets it go, walking out the building.
They go into the door the man just came out of and are greeted by a tall blonde lady who Amber introduces as Jean. From what they could gather, she's a stand in chief for a man named Varka.
They get registered and Jean asks them a few questions. They head back to their camp afterwards. On the way, Amber asks them if they plan on lodging anywhere. Apparently there are places made for people to spend the night. These people put a lot of effort towards adventuring. The adventurers guild we passed on the way, the amount of adventurers around, our kind of people! Snotlout thinks. There's gotta be lots of treasure If there's this many people exploring.
They arrive at the camp and Amber exchanges groups. Toothless and Meatlug cheerfully greet their riders while Hookfang looks directly towards Snotlout and goes back to sleep. Stormfly comes Over to Hiccup and Toothless to play fetch with a bone Astrid probably either found or had in her bag.
“So, what's the deal with the dragons?” Amber asks. She figured she would have more luck getting answers out of this group. The twins seemed like the type to never shut up, and she needed that if she wanted to know how dangerous these guys could be to Mondstadt. She could probably send a message to the Traveler via the adventurers guild, they were always telling her about how it's always nice to have a break between the nation's and she's pretty sure they're done with the war against the Abyss in Natlan. She's not sure finding out if a bunch of dragons and their human pals are friendly or not counts as a vacation, but she could always ask.
“Uh, we're friends?” The girl twin replies. It sounds like more of a question than anything else. Her hair bounces on her shoulder as she shrugs. Amber thinks her name was Ruffnut, but she doesn't want to mix it up.
“Why else would we be riding around on a bunch of dragons? We aren't forcing them, if that's what you're asking,” the boy twin jumps In. She looks at the pair and wonders how the Traveler is with their own quest to find their twin. Then she realises they're still waiting for an answer from her.
“Oh, of course not! I was just wondering where they came from, is all! I was wondering if they were just babies or something because the dragons we have here are not really that small. I was also wondering why you were riding them in the first place!” It definitely did not occur to her that the dragons could be completely innocent in all of this, much like Stormterror, or Dvalin, was with the Abyss. Another thing to figure out.
“How big are your guy's dragons?” Astrid, the girl who had the playful blue dragon that reminded Amber a little of Dvalin himself, spoke up. Amber thought for a little bit, trying to find something to compare his size too. Maybe trying to remember a smaller dragon would be easier.
“Well, I do know that when he flies over your head, his shadow lasts for about three seconds, but that's when he’s flying over the forest and things like that. I dunno how to really describe it though, I myself haven't seen him all that close and when I did I was more focused on staying on the ground and making sure everyone was okay during his attacks,” she puts a finger on her chin. “I bet you'll see him flying overhead soon though, ever since he got cured from the ailment that was making him attack Mondstadt, he's taken to patrolling the area more frequently. Maybe you can judge the size then! I might warn you to try and keep your distance though. Just to be safe,” she looks back to make sure they're following behind her before continuing down the road.
“Huh, like the Red Death?” Tuffnut replies, mostly to his sister.
“The Red-what-now?” his sister replies.
“Ya know, the one that we all fought the first time we rode our dragons, the super huge one Hiccup's dad wanted to kill after he found out Hiccup had befriended a dragon? Hiccup lost his leg to it!” He tries to jog his sister's memory. Amber can't help but be interested.
“Whoa, what's the story behind that?” She asks, genuinely curious now. Depending on the answer, she might have to give them a couple additional tallies in her mental list of things that make them friendly or threatening.
The twins delve into telling the story of how Hiccup made their entire village end a hundred year long war against dragons by making friends out of one. Their story is greatly exaggerated, but the Astrid girl jumps in to make sure the story is accurate enough. She looks at Amber knowingly.
Once all the storytelling is done, they come back up in Mondstadt. Amber is definitely going to need some sleep tonight. She was nearing the end of her patrol when she found them, and without a break She's been running all day.
They get registered with Jean, who then recommends the Dawn winery as lodging for the night. She apparently knew someone who talked the owner into letting them and their dragons stay as long as the dragons did so nearby the winery and not on or in it. The group heads back to tell them the good news.
Hiccup can't wait to sit down somewhere and just relax with the gang. Unfortunately, they haven't tried to train the dragons to not sit on roofs, a lot of vikings back home thought the dragons perching on roofs were cute so they had reinforced the roofing instead of putting the dragons through training sessions about where they are aloud to sleep. However, they would have access to a nice source of food and drink when they woke up so they decided to camp nearby instead. They set up on a cliff by the winery next to a statue of the seven, a unique statue that Fishlegs had pointed out. Amber had explained it to them before departing.
The gang sits by a fire they have made just to keep themselves and their newly ordered food warm. They share the information they got from Amber about this new environment.
When they're done creating a bucket list the twins had decided to make for this new journey, they finally settle down underneath their own Dragons. They all fall asleep with gentle breaths curling around them.
Amber walks back to Mondstadt when she hears fighting nearby. She's exhausted, but she checks it out anyway. She probably wouldn't go into the fight itself if it got out of hand. She just knows the nearest patrol routes of the Knights nearby and could fetch someone to help.
Almost all her worries go away when she sees the familiar blonde hair of The Traveler. They take care of the last Mitachurl before turning towards her. They run up to her while Paimon Waves, and both of their faces curve into excited smiles.
“Hello, honorary knight! Nice to see you again!” She greets, giving them a hug. They move towards Mondstadt together, catching up on the way.
“Paimon's hungry,” Paimon states, like it's a fact of the universe. Amber laughs with the Traveler as they turn right to order at Good Hunter.
Over their dinner, Amber brings up the topic of the newcomers to them.
“So, Traveler, there are some new people who ride dragons. They just arrived here, and they don't seem to have any idea about Archons or Hilichurls. I found it odd, but then I remembered how you arrived and decided to give them the benefit of the doubt. I'm still suspicious of them though, I just find it weird. Anyway, I know you have a lot of your plate, but if you wanted we could go to check on them together tomorrow morning? You seem to be able to read people with good or bad intentions pretty well, so it would really ease my worries,” she says while she's eating Fisherman's toast.
The Traveler nods while she talks. “They do sound fascinating. I would be kind of interested in meeting them, how big are the dragons?” Their eyebrows dig into one of their eyes as they look at her. They're probably remembering Dvalin , she reasons.
“They're relatively small. Big enough to ride on, but also small enough to probably fit through Mondstadt's gate. They all look unique too, although I think they all share the element of Pyro,” she looks to the sky to see the sunset. It paints the sky in a beautiful orange and pink hue.
“Hmm. Interesting,” is all the Traveler Says, looking down at the table. They push the extra slice of fisherman toast towards Paimon who accepts it gratefully.
“Paimon thinks it sounds cool, we should totally meet them,” she says before stuffing the rest of the food on her own plate into her mouth before diving into the toast.
The Traveler agrees and finishes their drink. Amber tells them to meet them in the morning the next day. She heads home while the Traveler And Paimon go to Angel's share to, ‘ask Diluc where to put our Teapot,’
When she gets home; she collapses on her bed and her eyes close. Her stomach is finally full and she's giving her body a chance to rest, so she falls asleep within minutes.