Whispers of Another World

Chapter 37: United Apart

   Alaya woke up well past noon, as did the Riders - even Astrid.  They all slept deeply for a while.

   On the downside, now it was time for Hiccup to discover that Toothless had borrowed his secret tail to help with a mission he'd refused to go to.

   On the upside, Alaya now knew exactly what to say about being kicked out after a long night of sleep.

   So, after a nice bit of breakfast, the Riders (excluding Snotlout) headed for the arena - where Amber and Dewdrop had confirmed Hiccup was, scribbling furiously in his little notebook.

   Toothless came in first, rushing up and knocking Hiccup over, licking him vigorously like a puppy that had just seen his human for the first time in three months.

   "Hey!  Toothless!  Stop that!"  Hiccup snapped harshly, shoving Toothless away.  Toothless ducked his head, looking like a kicked puppy.  "And you stole the tail!?  I thought you didn't want this!"

   "He did once he realized you were making a bad decision..."  Astrid said.  

   "What?  What was my bad decision!?"  Hiccup snapped.

   "You were willing to let dragons get captured by the Hunters just because you were mad at me, frankly for a mildly stupid reason.  Learn some empathy, Hiccup."  Alaya said.  

   "No, I couldn't help you because you're not a Dragon Rider."  Hiccup said.

   "Who says?  I'm a Dragon Rider whether you like it or not, Hiccup.  What are you gonna do, blast me out of the sky during a mission?  Hurting another dragon that has nothing to do with your anger in the process?  Get a grip on your anger, H, it's not doing anyone or anything any good.  I'll keep my distance, and maybe someday you'll tell me why you're really angry."  Alaya said.  She knew Hiccup wasn't mad at her for the Dragon Eye thing - not anymore.

   Before it was a possibility Hiccup was having an off day, hadn't slept well, and was hungry and thirsty, and that's why he was so mad.  But even then he wouldn't let dragons suffer for something he saw as a mistake.  He was angry at her for something else, something deeper - she just had to give him time until he was ready to tell her what that was.  

   She'd done this before, with Allen, a couple of times - like when she'd knocked over the curtains, which had resulted in her accidentally breaking his clock.  He'd used the fact that she'd knocked over the curtains as a cover-up for his real anger, but when she gave him space and time, eventually he'd came around to admit it was because the clock she broke was from their grandma - someone they'd seen only once a year.  Alaya had then spent hours brainstorming on the phone with their grandma until they thought of a way to make it better.  Then, Alaya would facetime with her grandma and help her pick out a clock.  Her grandma had bought it then sent it to her, and from there Alaya had painted it in ways she knew Allen would like, let it dry, then sent it back.  

   Alaya smiled as the Riders conversed about something, her heart lifting as she relived the memory.

   Grandma came through the door, laughing as the three of them - Allen, Terry, and Alaya rushed to give her a hug.  Allen playfully shoved his siblings back, then gave Grandma a massive hug.  He shifted aside, and Terry and Alaya followed suit.

   As Grandma moved into the living room, smiling as she named the ornaments on the tree (who's they were, where they were from, and the names they'd been given), Alaya noticed Allen was shifting uncomfortably, looking up at the stairs.  Alaya gave her brother a questioning look, and Allen quickly put on a smile.  Alaya shook her head.  She could see right through him.