Left In The Night

Chapter 13

Once the riders led the couple to the village, Zyrah and Ana led them to the village healer, or healers. It was a couple who worked together, Blasius and his wife Gyra.

"Blasius! Gyra!" Zyrah called out.

"Zyrah! Another practice injury to treat?" Came Gyra's voice from a backroom. Zyrah just rolled her eyes.

"Nope. Nothing for me today actually. I uh, I brought some visitors." The couple emerged from their locations within the house to the main room, taking notice of the strangers.

"Oh yes, please come sit." Gyra and Zyrah gave the couple a place to sit while Ana whispered something to Blasius, which she didn't catch.

"Want me to go get Hiccup?"

"Yeah go for it."

"Ah is the Berk chief still visiting?" Gyra asked, pouring a hot cup of yak milk for the woman.

"Yep, for the time being at least. Though I think their stay has been extended." After Gyra gave the woman something to drink, she quickly assessed her, and couldn't find any external injuries, but she could tell the woman was deeply troubled by something. The man, however, refused any checkup of the sort.

"Y'know, I never got your names," Zyrah remarked, suddenly realizing, taking a seat across from them. At that moment, Hiccup entered the house.

And the man spoke for the first time in a short while, introducing himself first.

"I'm Einar, and this is Ragnhild."

"We saw the seal. On both the sail and even your belt buckle." Hiccup commented, his eyebrows knitting together slightly, a comment that received an aggressive elbow jab to his ribcage from Zyrah.

"Subtle much?"

"Hey, I'm getting straight to the point. It hasn't been that long since Drago fell-" As soon as his name slipped from Hiccup's mouth, it caused a reaction from Ragnhild.

It was fear in her eyes.

Because Firewind had been able to escape the wrath and collateral damage caused by Drago, Zyrah couldn't quite comprehend the trauma it'd caused so many, not just Vikings, but dragons as well. And for the first time, she was meeting survivors of his reign.

"I'm sorry for him, he's had firsthand experience with Drago, and I haven't. So I'm kind of having trouble with this. But I can tell it hurt you, and I wanna help." She tentatively offered.

"That's kind of you, but I'm afraid my pain goes a bit deeper than what Drago has personally done to others." This had Zyrah and Hiccup side-glance each other.

Ragnhild turned to Einar, almost like she was nonverbally asking for permission to speak while fumbling with her hands. After a second or two, Einar nodded slowly, giving her approval.

"See... 16 years ago, which feels both like yesterday and an eternity at the same time, Einar and I... had a child together. But... the problem was when we started working for Drago in his army, child-rearing was forbidden. Getting married, and having children, out of the question." She pursed her lips as if reliving deeply buried memories. "But, I got pregnant anyways. And we knew the consequences if Drago found out. We'd be killed."

The air was heavy as Ragnhild continued her story.

"We ran away and brought our child into the world in secret, in the dead of winter."

"Gods... I'm so sorry."

"We gave her up. Two months after her birth."

"You gave her up... to spare her?" The couple nodded.

"We did. We had settled on a tiny island far away from where Drago was so he couldn't find us. Then as soon as the ice started to melt, we sailed away, looking for somewhere to leave her, in a village. We're far from sinless, but we knew that leaving her was the kindest thing we could do, at least in our desperation."

"We found an island, made our way up into the village, found a house, and left in the night. Here and gone, just like that. We never looked back." Einar finished.

"So... you don't regret that choice?"

"It left a lot of complicated feelings. But we couldn't show signs of weakness, so we pulled ourselves together."

"Wait, so if you left while you were still pregnant, gave birth, and then returned, how long were you away from Drago?" Hiccup inquired, raising an eyebrow. Ragnhild and Einar looked at each other, trying to think about that timeframe.

"About a year...? Maybe? Sounds right."

"How did you get away with that?" Hiccup asked, astonished at their claims.

"Lots of lying, manipulation. We had told Drago we were headed south based on some made-up rumors about a dragon colony. And on our way back, we managed to snag some dragons so it'd be believable. And since all our trips were done by boat, it was rather easy to fool him. Though that's not to say we didn't worry that he'd be suspicious. But we pulled it off." Einar said, crossing his arms and legs, and bore a smirk of confidence.

"What about after Drago fell?"

"Uh, that's kind of where we're at. For the first time since I can remember, there's no other purpose, not for me at least." Ragnhild said, her head slightly hanging in shame.

"Ragnhild suggested we try to find the daughter we abandoned." That got both Hiccup's and Zyrah's attention.

"What? Why?"

"Mother's instinct. I want to start over." Zyrah couldn't explain it, but her brain was telling her to leave the house. So she wordlessly stood, pulling Hiccup along behind her.

"Whoa whoa, Zyrah!" Hiccup exclaimed once they closed the front door behind them. Outside, where the others were waiting, all shared curiosity about the couple, but Rurik and Konall noticed the look on Zyrah's face.

"What's wrong?" Rurik asked.

"I need to get home."

"And why is that?" He demanded. She spun around on her heel.

"You know that feeling where you know something deep down but can't figure out why?"

"No?" Zyrah stomped her foot in frustration, turning around and heading back to their house, Blueheart on her heel.

"What's the matter with her?" Ruffnut asked.

"I don't know, but that couple must've said something. Maybe ask them more questions? I dunno. I'll go talk to her." He assured, "Konall, come with me."