Riders Dragons of the Archipelagos

XIII

Starfire stayed with James until nightfall, then they parted as they usually did. Star didn't plan on sleeping that night, she only did every three days or so, yesterday being the last. Some nights she'd just la under Elva and George's tree, and stare out over the ocean longingly, although she knew not what for.

Maybe she'd do that tonight, it wouldn't bother to do so. She began walking towards the tree from the house, following the path she'd made through the tall grass.

"I wonder if Toothless or Stormfly ever do this," she asked herself. She hadn't expected the two dragons to be so different from her, she'd at least expected to be able to communicate with them.

Once she reached the opening that marked the meadow around the tree, she was surprised to see a figure leaned up against its trunk. It was Stormfly's Rider, Astrid. Her blond hair seemed to glow in the moonlight. She still wore the same clothes she'd had on when she'd arrived. A blue shirt and a wool skirt, her hair looked slightly tangled, almost as bad as Cindy's when she awoke in the morning. Although Starfire didn't have hair, she still knew that was a bad sign.

Maybe I'll rest elsewhere, she thought, and turned to walk away. She made it about a step into the grass when she stepped on a twig that sounded like an explosion is the dead silence. Astrid whirled around, and their eyes connected, blue on blue. Astrid seemed to relax after a second, and gave Star a slight smile. Star fought the urge to turn and walk away, and instead, made her way towards Astrid.

"Where's Hiccup?" Star asked, Astrid's eyes widened as if she'd forgotten Star could speak, but she quickly recovered.

"Off with Toothless somewhere," she said.

"Stormfly's sleeping?"

Astrid nodded slightly, "It's crazy to think, that just two days ago, I should've died. And just yesterday, we came here."

"Why are you here?" Star asked, and nodded at the tree.

Astrid leaned against it, and sat down. She brought her knees to her chest, and shivered slightly. "I just needed some time to clear my head," she whispered. "Hiccup's used to this kind of stuff, I'm still trying to process the facts o Magic, talking dragons, people summoning lightning," she used her fingers to count as the list went on. "I guess the tree's just good for this."

"Do you know the roots of this tree?" Starfire asked.

"Aspen?" she said.

"Not that kind of roots," Star told her. "Its origins, its story."

"Oh," she said, "No."

"This is Elva, and James's fathers tree," Star explained. "His father was killed by Darman, and...and," A strange scent crossed Starfire's nostrils. She walked out into the clearing, Astrid followed close behind. Star stopped in her tracks, scenting the air.

"What is it?" Astrid asked, drawing a knife from her boot.

"Take off my saddle," Star said, and without question, Astrid began unstrapping the saddle. She walked it over to the tree, and hung it in the branches. Then she walked back to Starfire,

"Now what?" she asked.

Star kneeled down, "get on."

"But I just took off-"

"My scales are smooth," Star said. "Like leather, but hard as metal. You'll be more comfortable on this, than in that saddle."

"But-"

"Trust me," Star assured her. Astrid nodded, and climbed onto her back. "Hold on to the neck spike in front of you. Please do not impale yourself." And together, they began following the scent (Star did the following the scent part), and began tracking whatever was out there.

"So why couldn't I sit in the saddle?" Astrid asked as hey reached the edge of the forest. "I mean, this isn't bad, but-"

"Because James enchanted it," Star whispered. "Every time he rides me, he contemplates what he could've done better to prevent Elva and his father's death. He relives the night he watched his village burn to the ground, he wonders if he could've done anything different to prevent those events from happening."

"Do you believe he could have?" Astrid said.

"No," Star told her, "he did everything he could, fate decided what path he would take."

"I bet if it hadn't," Astrid whispered, "He wouldn't be the person he is now, and I probably would've died on that ship."

"Maybe," she looked back at Astrid, "The Fall would of ended very differently, that is for sure."

Astrid patted Star on the side, growing excited,

"Over there," she said quickly, pointing at a shallow indent in the mud. "Looks like a footprint."

Starfire bounded over to the spot in the soil, and Astrid jumped off of her. She began inspecting the print. It had three talon marks about six inches from the print itself.

"It's nothing I've ever seen," Astrid put her hands on her hips, "but it looks dragony."

"Dragony?" Star mouthed, then gave Astrid a strange look. "Really."

"Do you think it's Juniper?" she asked, ignoring Star's comment.

"No," Star said, and stepped beside it, "Her's is more..." her heart skipped a beat as she lifted her claw. The print was identical to hers, only slightly bigger, "That's impossible."