The Voyager and the Rogue

Chapter 5

The other riders talked about their dragons as well, but even still, I didn't fully pay attention.

"That all being said... Laeli. We haven't really gotten to know your story." Hiccup finished, turning the attention on me now. Shit, now I had to talk.

"Oh... uh. Well, my story is going to sound a bit outlandish. And, honestly, it's not really... mine. It's more of my mothers, sort of." I started, scoffing slightly.

"Honey, we've seen the wildest things on our adventures, we've survived near-death experiences in some form or another, nothing can surprise us anymore," Ana assured with a smile. With a soft click of my tongue, I started my tale.

"Okay... well, in that case. It actually starts long before my time, and before my mother's time. In our culture, our goddess of Life is called Te Fiti, the mother island. She bears a heart that creates all living things. More than a millenia ago, Maui, the shapeshifting demigod of the wind and sea, ventured to the mother island, and he stole the heart. Beating any others who also sought the heart for themselves." The room was silent from just the beginning of my story.

"But as soon as he stole the heart, he was confronted by a fire demon, Te Kā. There was a great battle, and as a result, Maui, his magical fishhook, and the Heart were lost to the sea. One thousand years later, when my mother was just a toddler, ventured to the beach one day, and after saving a baby sea turtle, the Ocean came to life, and gave her the Heart."

"Wait, wait, wait, hold on... the Ocean is... alive? Like, a living creature?" Snotlout interrupted, absolutely dumbfounded. I nodded, confirming.

"Living like you and me. It's intelligent, and understands our emotions. A bit sassy too, when it wants to be."

"Is it the power of the Gods?" Ruffnut mused. I just shrugged. The Ocean being an active part of my life was never questioned, not by me, my sister, or my cousins.

"I don't question how it's possible, I've accepted it. The Ocean is a longtime friend of my family."

"Of all the things we've encountered, I can't believe you're shocked by the Ocean being alive," Zyrah teased Snotlout, who just rolled his eyes.

"Anyway, so the Ocean came to life and gave Te Fiti's heart to my toddler mother. But nothing came of it for many years, since my mother was the daughter of the chief, and she had duties to attend to, and she was far too young anyway. Though, she told me and my sister she was always drawn to the water since the encounter with Ocean."

"Wait wait, you mean to tell me after all this time, you're the daughter of the chief?" Nuffink interjected, green eyes wide. I was confused, I thought I told them?

"Yes...?" I hesitantly replied. "Had I not mentioned it?"

"No! Not even when you started learning Norse! You simply told us that you were sailing from the south and got thrown off course, which is how you ended up on New Berk." Zephyr reminded, equally as shocked as her brother.

"Oh. Well, uh yeah... I come from a long line of chieftains and voyagers," I explained.

"That does explain why you and Zephyr bonded so well." Astrid concluded.

"I'd have to agree." Hiccup chimed in.

"Anyway, Laeli, please continue."

"Um, okay. So... yeah, the Ocean gave my mother the heart, but she was far too young to even go about giving it back, and she had her duties to attend to. Her grandmother, my great-grandmother, did encourage my mother to keep a close tie with the ocean, though."

"But were there any consequences to Maui stealing the heart?" Fishlegs questioned.

"In fact, there were. Him stealing the heart caused a great Darkness, an unforgiving kind that killed everything in its path. It would target island after island, decimating our crops, sending our fish away, and slowly kill the island from the inside."

"My gods... that's horrible."

"Oh, it gets worse!" I replied with a sinister enthusiasm that was unlike me, I think I disturbed Zephyr and Nuffink with my tone. It was quite amusing to see their reactions.

I continued to relay the shortened version of my mother's adventure with Maui, their journey to Lalotai, the outrageous encounter with the giant coconut crab, Tamatoa, and their battle with Te Kā, but it was the part about my mother standing in the hand of Te Fiti that garnered jaws to drop. Considering the mentions of the Kakamora, and a giant singing crab. I was very much amused at how they were taking my story.

"So... Te Kā was Te Fiti the whole time, and your mom stood in the palm of her hand." Ruffnut reiterated, earning a nod of confirmation from me, and a whistle from Eret.

"Could you imagine? Standing in the palm of Odin's hand?"

"That's insane."

I finished with Te Fiti restoring my mother's boat, but the life within our world, our archipelago. Which ultimately allowed my mother to return home, and kickstart a new age of voyaging.

"Incredible..." Came Valka, the first thing she'd said since coming into the house.

"Oi, I'd reckon lass's mam sounds 'ike you 'iccup." Gobber remarked, scratching his scarred chin with his good hand. Hiccup just shrugged, though he wasn't denying the observation.

"Can't deny that."

"Oh, wait, so how did your parents meet?" Minden inquired, to which I had to chuckle, because their story was just about as chaotic as my mother's individual story.

I quickly explained how my father's childhood was disrupted by the passing of his own father, alleged drowning, leaving himself, his mother, and his elder sister. It was a normal childhood for the most part, up until he was a teenager when the Darkness dealt his island a heavier toll than previous islands. It utterly destroyed everything.

The village left in an exodus in an attempt to flee, but the very storm that caused my mother to end up on Maui's little rock island was the same storm that sent my father back to his home island, where he was forced to fend for himself for three years until my mother discovered him. He was a survivor.

"Fated." Astrid mused.

"In a way, yeah." I went on about their first meeting, the monsters they faced, to my father's injury, and eventually, reuniting with his mother, who had become a goddess herself, a goddess of the stars. It was his mother that had sent mine on her journey to save my father's life and to reunite him with his sister so that they wouldn't be alone anymore.

My mother and father made it back to Motunui, where they began courting and eventually married, and had Aihe and me.

"Seems in some way or another, the gods have a funny way of leading us down a certain path." Fishlegs remarked. Even though he was always enthusiastic about dragons, the desire of learning about anything he could was his drive, and he was full of facts to share. It was something I admired him for.

"Maybe we were all meant to meet."

"For us, the Norns choose our fate, they know every decision we make, who we meet, who we marry..." Ana chimed in.

"The Norns..." I repeated softly. The gods of the Berkian's pantheon fascinated me, though I still felt deeply connected to the gods of my culture; Papatuānuku, who we believed to be the sister of Te Fiti, Tāwhirimātea, who my parents believe brought on the storm that raged during my birth, Tagaloa, and of course, Maui, just to name a few.

For the Berkians, their beliefs centered around Odin, Thor, Loki, Freya and Frigg (two I often confused), Heimdall, and many more.

After a year on New Berk, their world and way of life never ceased to amaze me, and I knew there was a much bigger world to see.