Between Waves and Clouds

09 - In-between two worlds

The first thing Nuffink did when he got back to his drakkar was going through his belongings to find where he had put the blue gemstone. It took him a bit of time to find it, and when he did, he stared at it with relief and fascination.

He noticed again how similar it was to Frost's eyes. Pouncer had to nudge him to break the spell this gemstone had on him. The viking put it in his pocket, determined to have it on him the next time he saw Frost. After all, he didn't know where he was going to see him again. It could be the following day, or several days later.

Several days... It reminded him he had planed on staying longer in the frozen lands of the north, but he had to tell his family since he had said in a previous letter he would soon be back to New Berk. The sun was still shining in the bright sky, though his exhaustion and his sandglass were telling him he should have been sleeping for a long time.

He considered for a few minutes weither write his letter and send the air-mail first, or sleeping first. He decided to write the letter first. No one was going to blame him for reporting his night and day, the dragons certainly wouldn't grudge for oversleep. Especially Ruffrunner.

So the young viking took paper and charcoal and started to write even if he didn't really know what to say. He started with his newest discoveries about the Pricklebites and the huge ice-breathing dragon he had finally found a name for, Winterwind.

He didn't hold back from pouring his excitement about the impressive dragon, and ended up using it as an excuse for staying longer. He wanted to tell them about Frost, but he doubted his parents would believe him if he pretended to have met a merman. He also knew they could misunderstand if he told he had met someone and wanted to get to know them better.

Well, it was the case, but it was because Frost was a merman that he was curious. He wanted to know more about the sea people which, until then, was only known as tales and legends. Nuffink had always been someone curious, about everything, not just the dragons, so could he be blamed for wanting to study the mermaids ?

He didn't mention it at all in his letter, only talking about the Winterwind and saying he wanted to stay a few more days to study it and see if he could find other specimens of this specie. Though he knew that, from this day on, his journal would no longer contain notes about dragons, but about mermaids, and he doubted it was a good idea to mix them in the same notebook.

It was safer to dedicade another book to this topic, one he could hide if necessary. Once the letter was done, rolled up and scelled, Nuffink went to the hold and searched for a steed. He knew the Terrible-Terrors hated too cold weather so he had brought with him only the minimum, meaning two, and had made sure they were comfy and warm inside the hold. The first had left about a week ago, and the remaining one was impatient to get back to warmer and calmer weather.

Nuffink had made sure they were warm and had enough food. It was obviously only because he had been taking good care of the Terrors that said dragons had not tried to escape and get back to the south. The fact they had been able to play with the Night Lights had helped maintaining their well-being as well.

After a quick play of hide-and-seek in which the tiny beast had made fun of the viking, he finally managed to grab her and tie his message to her paw. She immediatly understood what it meant and couldn't be more happy. Nuffink chuckled seeing her sudden good mood, he scratched her chin and belly to keep her docile so he could bring her to the bridge. She barely paid attention to the biting cold as she was released.

The tiny red and orange dragon swirled around the young viking and quickly left towards south, her instinct leading her to New Berk. Nuffink looked at her departure with a slight smile, then he yawned and stretched his arms. He spotted the Night Lights piled up for the night on the other side of the bridge. The three were sound asleep, Pouncer had his mouth opened and was drooling while Ruffrunner was snoring louder than usual, it must had something to do with Dart's tail pressing on his throat.