As I spoke with my mother, the ever-intimidating dragon king was having a heated conversation with Azalea. When he backed down, I couldn't tell if it was because he was finished talking or Azalea had argued out of it.
"Hiccup, don't you dare ever get kidnapped by your mother ever again!" She practically pounces on me
"How'd you know?" I ask
"I figured your weird dragon love had to come from somewhere. Also, he told me" She gestured to the dragon king
"You spoke with him?" Valka asks
"Yeah," Azalea grins "He talked about the raid when we were both taken from Berk. Two Vikings with souls like a dragon's."
"You have more than just a dragon's soul, though" I tease. With an eye roll, Azalea unfolds her wings and takes off...To come crashing down again.
"There-Are-Icecicles-In-My-Wings" She gritted her teeth as she tries to pull them out
"I'll get them," I say, then grab one of the three ice shards protruding from her wings. They slide out seamlessly, and the holes are not bleeding, but are still big and look painful. my mom is still dumbstruck she even has wings
"C-can I touch them?" Valka asks Azalea. She doubles over to keep from crying out but gives a nod. She brushes her fingers along the purple cartilage and sees the full glory of Azalea's wings. "They're beautiful" She whispers
"Thanks" Azalea groans "Ugh, they haven't hurt this much since my last crash landing with a knife"
"Crash landing with a knife?" My mother and I ask
"I didn't know I could speak to dragons at the time and I was still learning how to fly. I was trying to cut the bola around a falling dragon when I crashed with the knife, and it stuck in my wing" Azalea groans, then tries to straighten her left wing. With an ear-piercing screech, she gives up and tries her right with the same result.
"All the dragons are spooked..." Valka asks
"I just said some very bad curse words" Azalea explains "Extremely bad" She manages to stand upright, but her wings trail behind her, limp and useless, two rag dolls attached to a lonely string. Making a face, Azalea walks to the ledge of the cliff and sits down.
"We're going out for feeding time, you want to come?" I ask her
"No. It isn't the same without my wings" She sighs. Then Toothless takes matters into his own hands and just scoops her up after I mount, and we take off. She clung to my waist as we dipped and dived, laughing her head off. When we get to a cliff face where great gusts of wind travel up from the sea, Azalea jumps off Toothless and onto the wings of another dragon, and she strokes the head of the dragon before she lays down, stretched out. She's a cat, laying lazily in the sunshine. She stays astride them and eventually joins Valka aboard Cloudjumper.
When I'm showing my mom my map, Azalea is staring out against the skyline, watching the sun sink very slowly into the sea. She joins us as we fly back, but she's covered in a blanket of sadness.
She slinks into a pile of dragons that eagerly welcome her warmer than any Viking ever did. I wonder if she'll stay here, with the dragons that treat her like family. A large Nadder opens its wings when she arrives, and it looks like she was going home to hug the dragons like family. It makes me so sad to see her sad...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I curl up with the dragons, and when they all fall asleep, I weep silently for ages. I lost my wings and now I have an ever-looming threat-Drago Bludvist, who I learned about from the dragons.
"Azalea?" Hiccup calls out "A-Are you crying?" I clamber out of the dragon pile and curl up next to him, still sobbing my face off
"I have to make a choice, Hiccup. An impossible choice" I stutter. But a rattling boom echoes through the place first
YOU ARE READING
The Whisperer
FanfictionAzalea is...Special. She is worshipped by her community as the dragon whisperer, the girl who can speak to the feared killers. Azalea's home is safe, she has what she needs, a community and a family that is safe from the dragons because she tells th...
