How To Find Your Family (HTTYD Fanfic)

Ch. 18- The Cove Day

Ch. 18- The Cove Day

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Hiccup and I weren't the last ones to arrive at the cove. We were second to last. Can you guess who was last? If you guessed the twins, Snoutlout, or even Fishlegs, you were wrong. Much to everyone's surprise, Astrid was the last to arrive.

She rode confidently in on Stormfly, who eagerly ran off to play with the other dragons once Astrid hopped off. She walked up to us with a simple top and loose leggings. We stared.

Her smile faltered at our stares. "What?"

Fishlegs recovered first. "Nothing, it's just that, well-"

"Did you do something with your hair? You look different," noted Tuffnut.

Astrid rolled her eyes. "I'm wearing an old set of clothes my brother wore when he was our age."

Tuffnut scanned her over. "No, that's not it."

"What took so long?" I asked. "I don't think I've ever seen you show up last- anywhere."

"I usually don't, but my parents needed help with something before I could start getting ready," she explained, smiling.

"Cool. So, you up for a swim?" I asked.

"Am I? You bet I am!"

"Last one in is a two hundred year old dragon egg!" Snoutlout declared, jumping into the water fully dressed. I watched as they all cheered, jumping in fully dressed behind him.

"What's wrong, Star?" Hiccup asked.

"You swim in fully dressed- like that?" I asked, apparently loud enough for the entire gang to hear.

"Yeah, why? What do you wear while swimming?" he asked.

"A shirt and shorts," I admitted, uneasy.

"Okay. We don't do that here. Swimming in your clothes is fine, trust me," he encouraged, jumping in behind the rest. Even the dragons had beat me into the water. I sighed, hating the weighed down feeling of swimming fully dressed. But I didn't want to miss out on the fun, so I sucked it up and jumped in, squealing at the sudden coolness of the water.

We spent a couple hours playing around in the water before we got hungry and decided to break for lunch. We laid our blankets together (since everyone brought one), overlapping them at the edges. Then we tossed all our food in the middle and took handfuls of whatever we wanted. Everyone had packed lunch for their dragons, so the dragons munched peacefully nearby as we ate.

We laughed over little things, like the twins goofing off or a memory they shared. I loved learning about what I had missed during my absence, but I also longed to have been there. As I listened on, I wished more and more that I had stumbled upon home just a year or so beforehand, for that was when all the excitement really happened.

"What about you, Star?" Fishlegs asked. "Any cool adventures you care to share?"

I thought it over. "Nope. Nothing I haven't already told you."

"You've only told us a few stories."

"Oh, come on!" Snoutlout complained. "You lived out there in the Great Beyond for ten years! With no one but your fire breathing dragon- a Night Fury, at that- and you're telling us nothing exciting happened?"

"Yup."

"Don't be like that, Star. Surely one more exciting thing happened while you were out there," even Hiccup pushed. He sounded like he truly wanted to know more of my time away from home, and I didn't want to disappoint him.