Dragons: Gift Of The Light Fury

Chapter 2: New Traditions and New Tail

New Traditions And New Tail

A group of small children were building a snow Gronkle the next morning. Being the youngest in the village, they barely had time to learn about the whole dragons-are-enemies thing before Astrid stepped in so they got on the best with the dragons aside from the teens. Their playtime was interrupted as the smell of something delicious wafted through the air and Hiccup walked by carrying a tray of something.

"Lavender, milk and honey!" he called cheerily. "Get your lavender, milk and honey! Come on – come get a frothy, delicious cup of cheer!" Hiccup spotted his friends and raced over. "Hey, you guys – try this tasty new beverage I made for the holidays." The relaxing scent of lavender reached Tuffnut's nose.

"Wow – what's that smell?" he grinned. "Can't be you!" he added, shoving his sister over. Hiccup smiled and began to pour out a mug of the drink.

"It's a concoction I came up with – lavender, goats' milk and honey from the mainland," he explained. Tuffnut suddenly felt a little sleepy.

"Whoa – if I drink that I might just fall asleep on the spot," he yawned. Hiccup growled slightly.

"Would you rather taste a punch in the face?" he hissed as Ruffnut took a sniff at the beverage and smiled – the drink sure did smell good and seemed like it would be a nice one to have when relaxing just before bed. Snotlout walked up to his cousin.

"Hiccup – it sounds delightful. I'd love a mug," he grinned. Hiccup smirked at Tuffnut as his cousin took a swig. "Wow – that is seriously relaxing," Snotlout added, finishing the drink in one gulp and yawning slightly. Fishlegs then entered the scene.

"Yum! What is that?" he asked, bashing Tuffnut out of the way. Hiccup's face lit up again.

"Oh, do you want to try some?" he offered. "I thought I'd share some out - it's a family recipe." Snotlout suddenly collapsed behind him, having fallen asleep. Fishlegs took this the wrong way.

"Actually, I have suddenly and inexplicably changed my mind," he stammered. Hiccup shrugged. Their loss.

"Well, you don't know what you're missing," he smirked. "I bet Astrid will love this." He headed to the forge as Ruffnut inspected a snoozing Snotlout.

"Is he snoring?"

***

"Astrid?" Hiccup called.

"Yeah, I'm in here, Hiccup!" Astrid called back from inside the store. "Coming!" Hiccup walked over to the workbench where Astrid was tinkering with something and offered her the lavender milk.

"Happy holidays," he greeted. "From me to you, mi' lady," he added with his trademark smile. Astrid smiled back and took a mug from the tray – whatever it was it smelt delicious (better than her attempt at yaknog the previous year...to say it hadn't ended well would be an understatement).

"Thank you, babe," she joked. Hiccup chuckled before glancing at the workbench.

"What're you up to?" he asked. Astrid paused from taking a sip of the drink and turned to her fiancé.

"Well, you're gonna think I'm crazy but..." she sighed. "I couldn't stop think thinking about what Tuffnut said last night. Starlight can't come and go like the other dragons and that's just not fair," she trailed off before turning to her latest contraption. "Anyway, I was up all night and I think I've found a way to fix that." She demonstrated with a lever on the thing she was working on. It was a similar shape and colour to Starlight's intact tail fin but this one had a series of cogs attached to the lever which looked as if it would fit snugly in between two flaps of skin that made up the fin.