Between Waves and Clouds

07 - N'Ice to meet you

The sun was shining bright in the white sky, the thin layer of clouds turning almost blind, just like the snow blanket on the toundra and the numerous icebergs.

A white dragon was soaring into the sky, reaching his top speed. On his back, a young viking was clunging the saddle while laughing. Nuffink had ridden Pouncer for a few years now but he still could be amazed by his speed.

Making profit of the calm weather, they had left behind the journal and the studies to take a break. Nuffink looked behind them and noticed Ruffrunner was just behind them, he could almost compete with Pouncer's speed, which was a deed seeing how much the white Night Light was training with his rider and the fact that Ruffrunner had never been trained nore ridden. Though, despite all his efforts, Pouncer couldn't fly as fast as Dart.

It was something Nuffink had always noticed about the three siblings, they were much alike, but also very different from each other. Each had their strengths and weaknesses. Among them, Dart was the fastest but was constantly distracted and was a scaredy-cat. Pouncer was the braver and his cloaking camouflage was the most efficient and lasted longer. As to Ruffrunner, he a really bad camouflage, but his shots were dreadfully strong and acurate, plus it was obvious that he would become faster than Pouncer if he was trained.

This day was not a day of exploration and studies, but a day of playing around and taking a break, and it started with a race between the siblings. Nuffink wanted to let them enjoy their day as they wanted, letting them drag him anywhere they wanted, but he also wanted to train them and test their abilities. He had decided so because he had noticed the dragons were getting very distracted, the havoc they had made back at the drakkar during the 'night' proved it.

They had squalled and fought like nasty hatchlings and had made a mess of the material. Nuffink even had to send one of them into the cold waters to retreive a box they had thrown in it. Needless to say Nuffink had had a restless night. Unlike the dragons, it had really tired him, so he wasn't as energic and awake as usual. He had started the day already exhausted and couldn't manage to properly stay awake even if he was keeping himself busy.

Hense, when the dragons finally decided to land on an ice floe large enough to build five hutts there, the viking decided to take a nap. It worried the dragons, who whined and looked waryly at him as he was setting some furs on the ground. He reassured them with a smile and a few strokes.

''Don't worry, guys, I'll just sleep for a little while. Go ahead, have fun.''

He wasn't sure if he was giving them the permission to go as far as they wanted or if he was asking them to leave him alone. Maybe if was both, still it didn't change the fact that he layed there and closed his eyes.

The ground was cold and a bit wet, though it couldn't be less uncomfortable than the hold of the drakkar. He used a rolled up fur as pillow and wrapped himself into two others to keep him as warm as possible. Hopefully his scaled armor was efficently shielding him from the cold wind. He got as comfy as he could and saluted the dragons a last time. He heard Dart whirr and felt Pouncer giving him a shy lick on the cheek, making him smile. Then he heard their footsteps geting away, but not too far away. They weren't leaving him alone. Though he was exhausted and already drifting into slumber, it warmed his heart.

* * *

Nuffink woke up when he felt something nudge him. First, he didn't pay attention. Assuming it was Pouncer or Dart, since Ruffrunner was never interacting with him, he kept his eyes closed and tried to get back to sleep, but he was nudged again. Well, the something actually shook him. He frowned, puzzled, and even more when he heard a voice.

''Hey ?''

He didn't know this voice. The tone seemed slightly less deep than his, the voice sounded soft but worried. It was a young man, a teen or maybe a young adult in his early twenties like him. It sounded younger than him, though.