Daughter of the Wing [ON HOLD]

<Chapter 4>

Slowly but surely, Tora began to integrate and become a proper member of Dragons Edge. The other riders accepted her as one of their own, even Snotlout who took slightly longer than the rest. The dragons especially loved her, keeping her company in the stables.

Hiccup had suggested that they build Tora her own hut, but the girl had refused. The stables were warm and the dragons comforting. It felt like a home now to her.

Every night, Tora would read the atlas, trying to remember something. She felt like it was right there, flittering at the edge of her mind. So close, and yet so far. The not knowing was driving her crazy.

"Argh!" She threw the book across the room and glared at it. Instantly, she began to feel guilty. After all, it wasn't the book's fault she couldn't remember anything! She didn't even know how old she was! The others had said that she looked around they're age, 17 or 18. It was what Tora was going along with for the time being anyway.

"The book say something mean?" Tora's head shot up to meet Hiccups smile. "Sorry, I wasn't really thinking" She mumbled guiltily and picked up the sprawled book, carefully placing it back on the table. "Look, Tora, I know it's frustrating for you. We all do" Tora nodded along, thinking about how they may understand and but they still wouldn't know. Not unless they went into her head. Still, it was nice that they cared.

"We'll figure it out Tora. We will find out where you're from and who your family is" Hiccup reassured her and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder. Tora met his eyes gratefully, "Thank you Hiccup" He nodded and left her to get some sleep.

One by one, the dragons made their way back into the stables and into their rooms. Toothless poked his head in and gave her a goodnight roar, making her smile. "Good night to you as well Toothless. And you Stormfly" She added as the Nadder poked her head in behind Toothless. The two dragons nudged each other and played for a few minutes before heading to their separate sleeping spots, Stormfly in the the stables and Toothless back with Hiccup.

Tora gave one last look over the book, trying to look for details she had previously missed, before giving up and putting it back down. Within minutes, she was asleep.

Tora was woken up by a loud hooting noise and dragon calls that echoed around the Edge. Within seconds, she had her staff in hand and was battle ready. She clicked two buttons on the staffs hilt, causing two slim blades of a strange metal to pop out. Tora had 'woken' up on the island with the staff on her back and had discovered the handy trick of its hidden blades when versing the Monstrous Nightmare. She hadn't found the time to tell the rest of the riders about it, leaving them to remain thinking that it was just an ordinary piece of wood.

A loud crash raised all the dragons heads, who then looked at her. Tora glanced at them worriedly and ran out the door to Hiccups hut, the place the noise had come from. She burst in, expecting to see her friends in trouble and was met by Hiccup and Astrids surprised faces. "I thought-I heard a crash?" She asked confused. Astrid rolled her eyes and pointed to someone, a boy younger than them that Tora had missed. "Nope, just Gustav the ever so silent"

"Righhhht" Tora clicked the blades back in and placed the staff on her back, "Well, I'll just-" "Who are you?" Gustav interrupted and stared at her expectantly. "Gustav, this is Tora. She's staying here with us" Hiccup saved her from answering. "You let a stranger become a Rider before me? That's so unfair!" The boy, Gustav, burst out. "Oh, I'm not a Rider. I'm just a, uh," she looked to Hiccup for help.

"A traveller! Friend of Rohan's" Tora nodded along with his words, wondering who in Thors name Rohan was. "Oh, ok then" Replied Gustav and went back to inspecting the hut. Tora gave Astrid a bewildered look who in turn rolled her eyes and glanced disgustingly at the boys back.

"Hiccup! Did you hear Gustav is-" Snotlout burst in followed by the twins and Fishlegs. He broke off when he noticed Gustav standing on the chest behind Hiccup. "Standing right beside you. Perfect" He quickly improvised. Tora smirked to see him so uncomfortable. She leant against the wall as the twins exchanged chat with Gustav and joked about his 'beard'.

"Ow!" He yelled and fell back against the chest, causing Tora to focus again. "Hey, what's that thing?" He asked, more to himself than the rest of them. Tora lent forward to see what he was talking about. Even she hadn't seen it before.

It was what appeared to be a cylinder, marked with what looked like runes. Gustav held it up to his eyes, causing the light inside to temporarily blind him. Hiccup reached out to stop him a bit too late, instead catching it from him before it hit the ground. Gustav stumbled around the hut with his arms outstretched due to the light from the 'sunsword'. Tora moved out of the way before he ran into her, moving to lean next to Astrid.

"He always like this?" She muttered. "Ugh, always. And here I was hoping we had ditched him back at Berk" The blonde replied disdainfully. The watched as he ran into Snotlout who shoved him away.

"Gustav, it's not a sun-sword" Hiccup lectured. "It's the Dragon Eye. It's very old and very fragile" Fishlegs added. "Nerds" Snotlout muttered earning a glare from the two girls. "It isn't just something to be touched" Fishlegs he told him. "Relax Fishlegs, I know what I'm doing" Reassured Gustav who then proceeded to run into the tail display for the second time, much to Toothless's annoyance. They all came tumbling down on the poor dragons head, making Tora wince.

Snotlout grabbed the stumbling boy by the head to stop him crashing into more things. "When are you leaving?" He demanded. "That's funny Snotlout, but I'm not leaving" Gustav replied and lazily removed the older boys hand, "I'm moving here"