HTTYD: Dragon Girl

Chapter 11: For Real This Time

As the days go by, I learn more and more from Brightwing, though I feel like I've known it all along.

Her lessons help me in dragon training. Except instead of them training me to be a better killer, it's more like I'm training them to be my friends. I learn that dragons love the smell of grass, that they love it when you scratch under their chins, that they like chasing the reflective lights off of my weapons more than they like the weapons themselves. In no time, I've risen to the top of the class-- and the food chain.

Keegan is the only one who isn't impressed with my newly-outstanding performance. It's clear he wants to be the one to ace the class and kill a Flaming Drakon in front of the whole village. I've stolen his thunder.

But I don't want to kill the Flaming Drakon. I don't want anyone to kill it. Sure, the dragons look fierce, and they've killed a lot of Vikings, but we've killed our fair share of them, and the only people who have died are those who tried to pick fights with the wrong beasts. They're only trying to stay alive, like any wild animal. If the rest of the village could only see the other side of the dragons...

I think these things as I hurry through the woods to see Brightwing, carrying my latest dragon-flying prototype. I'm not as careful as I probably should be, though, and crash through a set of bushes to see Keegan brandishing a spear at me, though he lowers it when he sees it's only me. I must have come across him training.

Keegan glances down at the saddle in my arms, confusion obviously present on his face. I try for a smile, though it probably looks more like a pained grimace, with how freaked out I am to have run into him. "Hi."

Before he can ask me what I'm doing, I dart into the foliage and hide. I hear Keegan try and follow me, but I've hidden too well and he eventually gives up.

That's not the worst run-in with Keegan I have today, however. While I'm testing out my equipment with Brightwing, the ring on my belt that connects me to her bends, leaving me stuck firmly to her. It's too stiff for me to fix without my tools, so I'm forced to wait until nightfall and do the unthinkable-- I sneak Brightwing right into the heart of the village.

By some miracle, no one notices the dragon attached to my skirt, and I manage to slip Brightwing into the forges. She takes up nearly all the space, though, and can hardly move without causing some kind of loud noise. I resolve to scooping up the necessary tools as fast as humanly possible when I hear Keegan's voice outside the door. "Astrid?"

"Hide!" I whisper uselessly, since Brightwing can barely fit past the shelves, much less hide behind them. I wonder if I can just ignore him.

No, I can't do that. He'd just open the door himself, and then he'd see Brightwing and I'd be in huge trouble.

I open the door just barely wide enough for me to quickly squeeze through and slam it behind me. "Oh, hi, Keegan!" I say, trying to sound nonchalant. "Wha--what are you doing here at this time of night?"

"I could ask you the same thing," Keegan says, crossing his arms skeptically. "I don't know what's going on with you, but you're acting weird." He takes in my riding gear. "Well, weirder."

I hear Brightwing snuffling around inside the workshop, and the string on my belt pulls tight. Oh, gods, no...

I laugh nervously as Brightwing's movement pulls me against the door, then off the ground. Keegan's eyes narrow, and I act fast, yanking the door open and mounting Brightwing. Keegan throws the door open, but by the time he does, Brightwing and I are long gone.

Mood Music: Test Drive

The wind whips the flyaways from my braid as Brightwing glides above the sea. We're doing it. We're flying. For real this time.

"Okay, let's try this," I say to Brightwing. "Gently for now."

Brightwing makes a noise of confirmation. She flies out, away from the cliffs, away from the safety we've been practicing at until now, over the open water.

Surprisingly, this isn't as terrifying as I imagined it would be. "Yeah!" I shout. "Woo-hoo!"

Brightwing gives me a cheerful chirp, but it's quickly cut short by her running into a weird rock formation in the middle of the water due to my distraction.

"Sorry!" I tell her quickly.

She slaps me in the face with one of her ears disgruntledly. "Yeah, yeah, I get it," I say crossly. I glance down at her tail brace, which seems to be holding up pretty well. It holds her injured tail fin stiff so she can stay airborne, but allows her enough maneuverability that she can move her tail freely by herself. "Let's try going up."

Brightwing complies. Higher and higher we climb, up into the clouds. "This is amazing!" I cry, overcome with the exhilaration of being this far above the ground. "The feel of--"

The ring on my belt suddenly pops out of its hook. "No!" I scream, fumbling to reconnect it, but I'm not quick enough. The solidity of Brightwing's body disappears from beneath me, and my stomach flips as I plummet through the air.

"Brightwing!" I cry out. She squawks and dives after me, but by the time she catches up, we're so close to the ground and falling so fast that there's not much I can think of doing to save us.

Nevertheless, I clamber onto Brightwing's back, and she throws out her wings as air resistance. I scream madly as the sky seems to try to rip the skin off my face.

Some buried instinct crawls its way up to the surface of my mind, and suddenly, I know what to do. I clutch the top of the saddle and nudge my toes into Brightwing's sides. She tucks her wings in and dives according to my instruction. I wait, then nudge her again. She pulls up out of the dive an instant before we hit the ground. Then I maneuver her through the maze of trees until we emerge over the sea once again, where the sun gleams on the water like the most beautiful tapestry. I marvel at the beauty before me, the sight of which would be unattainable without Brightwing. Can this really be worth changing our entire culture for?

Maybe the view isn't. But the opportunities it presents?

I think so.

But it isn't all unfamiliar. It seems like something I somehow know, something from... my past.

I lean down to whisper in Brightwing's ear. "What do you know about me?"

I'm sure that if she could reply, she would.