While the two Night Furies began to bond, the other dragons and riders were becoming fast friends.
On the morning of the second day of the Berkian's visit, Astrid wanted to learn about Zyrah's prowess and skills with her sword. After she approached the teen with the suggestion, Zyrah led her to the village's training ring. Konall, Lightbolt, and Stormfly followed, watching from the safety bars overlooking the ring, in a similar layout to the training ring on Berk, but much bigger.
"Sometimes we equip the dragons with specialized armor, so they can spar for practice. And sometimes we ride are on our dragons to test our skills for battling on dragons."
"And have you actually participated in an active battlefield on your dragon?" Both Zyrah and Konall shook their heads.
"As long as we can remember, Firewind's never faced any huge conflicts or battles with other tribes. It's pretty quiet out here. It's mostly for fun at this point." Zyrah explained, attaching her sword sheath and belt to her leather overshirt. She pulled her sword from its sheath, twirling it around, flexing her wrist.
"She's actually quite handy with that sword!" Konall commented from above.
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah! Her parents gifted her that sword around the time she and Blueheart met, and it was like she was born swordfighting."
"Oh, now you're fueling my ego!" Zyrah called out.
"Like you're gonna deny it?" As soon as Konall finished his comment, Astrid made her calculation and without warning, she charged at the 16-year-old, holding her ax above her head. Zyrah froze for a few seconds before dodging the blow and rolling to the side, holding up her sword in defense as Astrid gave a second attack blow.
"WHOA-" Zyrah shrieked as she dodged the attack by diving to the side. Oh, it was on.
Zyrah quickly recovered, running up on Astrid's side and swiftly striking Astrid's waist with her elbow and ducking another swing. She held her sword up, parrying Astrid's axe, and then springing herself back up with the strength of her thighs.
It was back and forth for a little while, and Astrid was quickly figuring out Zyrah's defensive strategy. She was rather agile, using her size as an advantage to dodge attacks, and often stood on her toes that allowed her to sprint, adding on that she could also be light on her feet.
Meanwhile overhead, Konall watched the pair spar. It was a nice change to see her practice with someone unfamiliar to her, and vice versa. He also noted how aggressive Astrid tended to be, bringing on intense blows.
Upon hearing footsteps coming up the path, Konall turned to see Hiccup and the others join him.
"Hey, guys!"
"What's all the clanging?" Fishlegs inquired.
"Oh, Astrid challenged Zyrah, so they've been sparring for a little while. It's nice for me."
"Really? Why's that?"
"Eh, usually it's me or her brother that spar with her, so it's nice to see her spar with someone new."
Meanwhile, Astrid thought she finally pinned Zyrah, but the teenager had one last trick up her sleeve, when Astrid turned briefly to wave at Hiccup and the others, Zyrah kicked at the woman's legs, knocking her off her feet, and knocking her axe out of her hands in one swift motion.
The air was silent as everyone processed what just happened.
"How in Odin's name did you pull that off?" Astrid exclaimed. Zyrah shrugged.
"Just took advantage of your distraction and went for it." She held her arm out to pull Astrid up, and she accepted, impressed with Zyrah's quick thinking.
"Y'know, not too many can take me down in a spar." She commented, throwing a glance up in Hiccup's direction. Zyrah scoffed.
"I can't take too many people down in a spar, anyway! Guess I got lucky."
Later on, Fishlegs approached Zyrah with a certain eagerness she recognized. He wanted to learn more and study Blueheart. And she understood why; while she and Hiccup had become fast friends, alongside their dragons, he too wanted to learn more about the female.
So the three riders made their way to the great hall, with Toothless and Blueheart, and broke out the original Book of Dragons from Berk, and a new notebook Hiccup made purely for Night Furies. And Fishlegs began to share the stats he'd observed from Toothless and learned from Hiccup over the years.
"Check it out!" The rotund Viking said, opening the Book of Dragons to the Night Fury pages. Immediately, Zyrah saw original notes scrawled in charcoal which had since been partially annotated.
"'The unholy offspring of lightning and death itself-... Never engage this dragon. Your only chance, hide and pray it does not find you' Damn. That's hardcore, I never imagined Berk feared Night Furies so much." Zyrah observed, resting her face on her fist, grazing her finger over the written text.
"Well, y'know, you fear what you don't understand," Hiccup replied with a shrug. Next to them, Blueheart perked her ears up, making her way over and peeking over Zyrah's shoulder to read the book.
"I suppose so."
"Firewind never shared the same fear?"
"Not the fear, but the lack of understanding. Blueheart is the only Night Fury to have resided here since our island was settled and made peace with dragons. There were so many stories I grew up listening to about the sheer power and mystery behind Night Furies," Zyrah turned her head, rubbing her hand on Blueheart's scales in wonder.
"Even after five years of being with her, she still shows me something new."
"I can say the same about Toothless. Actually, lemme ask you something; can Blueheart separate the spikes down her back?" Zyrah blinked in response.
"What?" Gleefully, Hiccup sprung out of his seat to Blueheart, and with Toothless watching, he pressed his two fingers where Blueheart's spine began, the same place where Valka showed him with Toothless. She shuddered in response, and thus, her spines split down the middle.
"Oh, my gods- wh-. How did you do that?" Zyrah exclaimed.
"My mother showed me that. It helps with agility and being able to make tight turns."
"Whoa... We gotta test this out, girl! That's so cool!"
"It is! And it's also good to know that both genders can do that!" Fishlegs enthused.
For the next hour, the three exchanged notes and observations, adding to their island's dragon manuals. There was one thing that they had yet to observe.
"How fast can Blueheart go?" Zyrah shrugged nonchalantly.
"Pretty fast, honestly. She's faster than Lightbolt. What about Toothless?"
"I'd say also faster than a Skrill. But question is, are males faster than females? Or vice versa?" Behind them, Blueheart snorted, smoke puffing from her nose. Toothless glanced over in confusion, raising what would be an eyebrow.
What's the laugh for?
Oh, nothing. Blueheart would keep her knowledge of females being faster than males to herself, for now.
YOU ARE READING
Left In The Night
Fanfic(REVISED) Even with Drago gone, the aftermath of his reign opens old wounds. Leaving Zyrah, the unwanted child of two of Drago's former hunters, to uncover her history. And her beloved female Night Fury brings Toothless to his roots. A/N: This fic...
