First Friends

Chapter 31

On the way back to the village I realized I had another, bigger, issue to deal with: What to do with the Speedstingers once we got back to the village. We arrived at the house and I took an old boot I chewed on to think. An idea struck me. I called the Stinger that had helped me, and slipped my old harness on her. It was a bit snug, especially on her back where her fins stood up. I used a small knife and ordered her to lie down. Then I made a slit in the back that made it possible for the harness to fit comfortably. I looked back at her stinger and sat down for a moment to think, gnawing on the boot methodically.

Hm...What to do? What to do? I thought. I set the boot down and looked at her tail. I was thinking so hard I didn't notice I was looking down until my eyes focused again and I saw the boot. Somehow it connected, and I slid the somewhat soggy boot onto her tail. It wasn't very comfortable, but she put up with it. I lead her outside. "Run down to the docks and back here," I ordered her. She was gone and back in a flash, but the boot was in her teeth this time. "I'm guessing that fell off?"

"Yff," she said through the boot. I blinked a moment before it clued in what she said. I put it back on her tail and used a length of stretchy string and tried to tie the boot over her tail. She held still, and let me do what I was doing.

"Is that too tight?" I asked.

"No," she said. "It's not the most comfortable, but not in a bad way. It's different. Thank you." She bowed to me again.

"Great! Follow me," I said. I lead her to Gobber's and pulled out my notebook. I used my pencil and explained what I wanted him to do when he came over.

"Yer a little invent'r aren'tcha, Tiger?" he said, ruffling my ears I purred and licked his hand. "How many o' these d'ye need?" I looked back over my shoulder at the Stingers, who had all followed me. "Arright! I'll git right on it."

I gave him a rough interpretation of a smile, then trotted off. Hiccup and Toothless landed not long after I reached the door.

I pulled out my notebook again and wrote down a message. I tore the page out of my book and rolled it up as best I could. I slipped it into the strap on my old harness that was on the female, and she looked at me blankly, not understanding it. "Run that message to Mulch. He's got a hook for a hand and smells like fish."

"Yes, Leader!" she chirped, vanishing. Not long after that a surprised cry of "Thor Almighty!" was heard resounding through the village.

"Messengers?" Toothless asked me. I nodded, then looked up at Hiccup, hoping he understood.

He did and went down on a knee to hug me. "You brilliant cat, you," he said affectionately. I purred and nuzzled him.