-
Tuffnut held a hand out for Ska'i to climb aboard Stormfly, and they took to the sky.
Once again, peace fell upon everyone as they reflected and recovered from the adventurous events of the strenuous day.
"Well," Astrid brought up in her usually cheerful voice. "We got what we came here for, and we're still alive. I'd say that was a successful day!"
Everyone nodded, but Snotlout griped, "Sure, 'successful.' I just want to go home!"
"The last ship was about a little over fifty miles away from the cluster of wrecks, from where we tackled the first riddle. It was honestly amazing how our dragons were able to hear us from such a long distance," Fishlegs noted.
"Or maybe they were searching for us," Astrid gave Stormfly a loving pat.
Fishlegs concluded, "Either way, it's going in the Dragon Handbook."
Ska'i Malamalama
The ride home was spent in such stillness, it was almost as if once everyone was reunited with their dragons, they fully mentally checked out. Ska'i couldn't force herself to stay awake any longer, allowing herself to doze off behind Astrid on the back of Stormfly. And not even a minute later, was when they finally reached their home of Dragon Edge. Converse was scarce, as everyone seemed to be on autopilot and took their dragons to the stables to power through a quick pat down, and basic care for them.
Ska'i made to join them, but Tuff gently waved her off, insisting that he and Ruffnut "got this." If she was feeling more awake, she might have felt even more excluded than usual, because she doesn't have a dragon. Yet. But he was a lot more thoughtful than what an outsider would see. Her cave was a lot further than everyone else's house, and he wanted to make sure she got enough sleep.
Without protest, she complied, giving him a sleepy nod in surrender, and made her way down the beach to her dwelling. She didn't even bother avoiding the crabs as she stumbled toward her bed, and crashed on it, not moving for at least half the day. When she did wake up, the time of day had turned to near dusk, with about three more hours of sun left. If Ska'i was being honest with herself, she didn't want to get out of bed, until tomorrow morning. But her stomach protested in great anger at that thought. So she powered through her fatigue that stubbornly lingered, stretching before she made to heave herself up from her bed.
Before she did, the sound of a shuffling foot that shoveled some sand from the entrance, rose above the soft creases of the waves. Instinct immediately made her on high alert, but it was only Tuff, and with ease, she allowed herself to relax. Then came the smell of dinner wafting through on the nightly chill of the ocean breeze, which caused her stomach to growl even more ravenously.
Tuff chuckled, "Seems like this delivered dinner, made its cue."
Ska'i smiled, "Indeed it did, right on time."
He'd brought what turned out to be a few lamb shanks, that had been set over some Gronkle-burning coals, and soaking in a type of wine for a couple of days. They devoured it in what seemed to be no time, along with the loaf of rosemary garlic bread that was as big as both their heads put together.
"Fishlegs outdid himself, this time," she commented.
It was a nice time, them finishing up their dinner, sitting on rocks right outside of her cave opening. Then her eyes spotted a bright, orange bit of light falling from the sky. With a puzzling tilt to her head, she murmured, "Wait. Those aren't stars."
Tuff followed her gaze, then explained, "Ah no, it's not. It's a Fireworm migration."
As if that was supposed to help her understand anything.
He went on to explain to her that they were basically miniature fire dragons, who could set fire to anything they touched, or landed upon. "Yeah, they used to rain on this island during their migration season, but we were skillfully able to reroute them."
With raised eyebrows and an an impressive look on her face, she turned to him, when he noticed the rest of the Riders were coming onto the beach toward them. As they approached, they could hear them overviewing the events of the day. It was more like a barrage of unanswered questions.
"Who wrote those riddles?"
"Who made those traps?"
"Who made those rings on the rocks, and put them there?"
And how?"
They'd reached Tuff and her by now, and one by one, began to settle onto some other scattered rocks and amongst the sand. Hiccup and Fishlegs made weak little genuine hand gestures, and so did Astrid after a second. Meanwhile, the others barely acknowledged their presence, and the discussion didn't stop.
"Are all the stones going to be in clam shells?"
"How did Nadig get that map, in the first place?"
Ska'i shook her head, "That part was never clear."
"I wonder if he did that on purpose," Tuff mused.
"Pretty purposely tactful, if he did," Ska'i conversed.
"We could speculate it was on one of his travels," Tuff pitched.
"Well. I do know one thing," Hiccup confirmed, a deep, serious tone to his voice. It was severe enough for dread to begin to leak into Tuffnut's voice. "What's that?"
There are more stones," Fishlegs finalized.
"And we can't be the only ones, hunting them down," Astrid added.
