To The End - A Tuffnut Love Story (HTTYD)

4. Different From the Rest

As she watched Ruff run off, Iris frowned, a hint of sadness on her face. Noticing this, Tuffnut felt his heartbeat quicken; he wanted her to smile again, but he didn't know how to make her. Thinking quickly, he recalled what his sister said just before leaving; who cares how they work?

Finally, he had an idea. "Hey, Iris," he started, "how do you know that it's what's under the skin that makes the fire?"

Iris looked over at him, her smile back in place. "Well, if it was the skin itself, this island would burn up on every windy day," she explained. Her tone was much less confident than it was before, and it surprised Tuff a bit.

In fact, the more he thought about it, the way she brought them out to play with fire was quite unexpected as well. Still, he smiled down at her and responded, "that's so cool! You must be really smart, I never would've figured that out."

Iris's eyes seemed to glow at the compliment. Seeing that she was feeling much better now, Tuff decided to bring it up before he forgot. "I definitely didn't take you as the mischief-causing type," he explained with raised eyebrows.

Iris smiled and began to walk back toward the village. "I'm not really," she told him, "I always have been a bit more childish than the others, but not mischievous."

"You just acted so tough and serious earlier," Tuff pointed out.

"That's because I was working," she told him.

As they arrived back, Tuff saw his friends all sitting around a fire laughing to his right. But to his left, Iris walked toward the beach and for some reason, that seemed way more interesting to him.

Iris laid down on a bed of long, packed down grass. It rested in a short pit in the sand and fit her perfectly. "Is this where you sleep?" Tuff asked.

"Some nights, yes," Iris replied as she got comfy.

Her dragon sibling walked over and laid beside her. It used it's wings to bury itself in a blanket of sand. When a bit of sand was sprinkled onto Iris's face, she swatted at the air and hissed loudly at the dragon. The dragon moaned lazily, to which Iris responded, "well you're the one who got sand all over me. Again."

Tuffnut was fascinated by the interaction, "do you understand what it's saying?"

Iris turned to see Tuff, who sat criss cross beside her. "Yes, I understand what she is saying," she responded, emphasizing the word, 'she', "everyone here speaks a little dragon, that's how we communicate so well with the wraiths." There was a moment of quiet before she pspoke with a smile, "tell me about one of your adventures."

Tuff grinned wide and immediately launched into a story. He only found it fitting to tell her about how they met the wing maidens. By the time he'd finished the story, Iris was fast alseep. Tuff looked into her face and smiled sweetly; he'd never felt so attracted to someone's presence before.

"Tuff, what are you doing?" Ruffnut's voice came from behind him. When he turned to see her, she continued, "everyone's going to sleep, come on." With one last glance at Iris, Tuffnut got up and left to go sleep with his friends.

***

The riders sat on the sandy ground the next morning among numerous wraiths and dragon people. Iris walked over to them and sat beside Tuff with a small smile. "You all look well rested," she observed.

"We are," Astrid answered politely, "thank you for allowing us to stay the night."

Iris raised her eyebrows, "oh my, don't thank me, thank the wraiths; they're the ones in charge." There was an amused smile on her lips.

"This is all so much to take in," Fishlegs exclaimed, "just when I thought we'd seen everything."

"I could say the same about you and your dragons," Iris complimented, "Tuffnut has told me all about it."

"Yeah I did," Tuff confirmed with an ecstatic smile, "and by the way, you listen way better than these guys."

Iris smiled in amusement as the other vikings shot him annoyed looks. "Well, I'd love to stick around, but I have work to do," she paused when she noticed Fishlegs's curious excitement, "feel free to join, if it interests you."

Fishlegs gasped slightly and stood immediately, "I'd love to learn about your tribe's daily routines."

"If you don't mind," Hiccup began, "I'm very interested in the wings you wear."

Iris grinned, prideful once again, "Fishlegs, you should find the man Grout; he'll gladly to walk you through our ground procedures. And Hiccup, Mora's daughter is getting her first pair of wings today. You could ask her if it's alright to watch how they're made."

But Astrid frown and looked at Hiccup, "shouldn't we be getting back to Berk?"

"I sent a terror mail last night to my dad," Hiccup admitted with a shrug, "I told him we might be a while this time."

"Iris, are you sure we're not intruding?" Fishlegs asked shyly.

"Quite," Iris responded firmly, "we're all just as curious about you as you are about us." She then smiled at the group, "feel free to explore."