My Name is Night

Prologue

A/N: Ok, I literally wrote this in like a half-hour, while procrastinating my homework. this part sucks and I know it. I'll edit it later. 

An auburn-haired girl checks over her shoulder as she carefully sneaks to the edge of the ship. With one last glance over her shoulder at the hatch to where her parents and brother are sleeping, she dives over the edge, trailing a rope fastened to the figurehead of the ship.

She only has to swim a few stokes before the waterfall's current pulls her along. Once she can see the faint outline of the rocky waterfall in the bright moonlight, she swims as hard as she can towards it, not wanting to be pulled over the waterfalls.

After dragging herself out of the water, she realizes that it's quite a bit colder than she thought it was. Shivering slightly, she wrings the salt water out of her waist-length hair before picking up the rope still attached to the ship and tying it to a large rock outcropping near the water's edge.

The reason for this rope is so she can get back to her ship. Swimming against the waterfall's pull would be useless. This way she can pull herself back to her ship and be back before her parents realize she's missing.

Tying one end of her other, much, much longer rope to a different, larger rock, the ten-year-old girl feels a twinge of guilt that's quickly chased away by her curiosity. She's Zephyr Haddock for Thor's sake and she's not going to stay on the ship all night just because her father told her to, regardless of whether or not her father is also her chief.

Zeph carefully ties herself to the rope, not wanting to fall the several hundred feet to the bottom of the waterfalls. Exhaling sharply, she jumps over the edge.

"Ow!" she hisses suddenly as she catches herself on a rocky ledge ten or so feet below where she jumped.

It only takes the super-fit girl a half-hour to lower herself to the bottom of waterfalls and into the ginormous cave that is the Hidden World.

A/N: I AM FULLY AWARE THAT THE HIDDEN WORLD CAN ONLY BE ACCESSED BY DRAGON! THIS IS MY STORY AND ZEPHYR IS A STUBBORN GIRL!

Giving herself a minute to just lie on the sand and rest, Zephyr stares up at the patch of starry sky visible at the top of the giant waterfall. Then she pulls herself up and, notebook and pencil in hand, sets off to explore.

After ten or so minutes of wandering around, sketching random plants Zeph sees a flickering light up ahead. Being her father's daughter, curiosity overwhelms her and she cautiously creeps closer, eventually hiding behind the leaf-thingy of a giant coral-thingy.

The light is coming from a campfire. And sitting at the campfire is a girl about Zeph's age with jet-black hair covering her face as she cooks what has to be fish over her fire.

It's clear that she's been here for a while.

There's a lean-to/tent looking thing tucked under another coral-plant-something (Zephyr make a mental note to ask her dad if her knows what they are). A small garden of glowing tubers and a few colourful flowers grows nearby.

The tent is a makeshift combination of furs, cloth scraps and wooden planks that look like they were salvaged from a ship.

Just as Zeph's wondering if she should come out of her hiding place, or slip away and continue exploring, she slips on something and tumbles head over heels into the clearing.

When she looks up, the mystery girl is holding a dragon-scale knife, "Who are you?" the girl's voice is hoarse, like she's not used to using it.

"Zephyr. Who're you?" Zeph slowly stands up, raising her hands to show that she's not a threat.

"Laila," the girl, Laila, lowers her weapon, and sits back down on her fur-covered log, gesturing for Zephyr to sit across from her.

Settling herself down onto the surprisingly comfortable log, Zephyr turns to Laila, "How did you get here?"

"What do you mean?" Laila asks, completely confused.

"How did you end inside a collapsed volcanic caldera in the middle of nowhere?" Zephyr asks as she looks at the girl across from her. Now that her hair is no longer blocking her face, her bright green eyes reflect the firelight, delicate bow lips curved in confusion.

"I live here. How did you get here?"

"Mom and Dad took us on a ship. Then Toothless and Stormfly flew us here."

"Really?" Laila looks at Zephyr with curiosity and respect, giving her the feeling that Laila understood more of that then she meant her to.

"How long have you been here? We were here five years ago and there was no sign of a human living," a smile curves Zephyr's lips as she remembers what prompted that first visit. After Toothless and his family visited them at Snoggletog, her mom had suggested that they go visit them.

"I don't know exactly, but I've definitely been here longer than that."

"Huh. Then how can you understand me? If you've been here for that long, wouldn't have forgotten how to talk?"

"I don't forget things. Ever."

"Really? I forget things all the time! But not as much as my brother."

"You have a brother?" the longing in her voice is clear even to the ten year old.

"Yeah. Two years younger than me and a complete mutton-head."

Laila smiles and laughs quietly, "Sounds like Ruffrunner."

"You know Ruffrunner?" Ruffrunner is the name of one the Night Lights, more specifically, the troublemaker Night Light.

"Yeah, his sister, Dart was the one who saved me when my ship crashed here."

"That sounds like Dart. When I was was five, she lead her brothers all the way to New Berk because she was bored."

"What's New Berk?"

"It's where I live. My dad's the Chief," There's something behind the pride in Zephyr's words, but Laila can't figure out what it is. 

"So you're brother will be-"

"I'll be Chief someday."

After a moments consideration, the raven-haired girl nods, "I can see it."

"Sometimes I don't think my dad can."

"Zephyr, I may have met you five minutes ago, but I can tell that your someone who's stubborn enough to hold her own against anyone, curious enough to learn everything you possibly can and understanding enough to help as much as you can."

Zephyr laughs awkwardly, "You got a lot out of that five minutes. And please call me Zeph, I only get called 'Zephyr' when I'm in trouble, usually when I deserve it."

Laila laughs as well, "You should go before your parents worry." 

"You could come with me," Zephyr asks, though she's already pretty certain of Laila's answer.

Laila shakes her head, "Thanks for the offer, but this is my home," she gestures around at her camp with it's little garden and tent.

Zeph stands up, and hugs Laila, "If you ever need help..."

Laila hugs her back, tightly, "I'll find you. And if you ever need help..." 

"I'll do the same," Zephyr pulls away, "Bye Laila."

"Bye Zeph," Laila murmurs as Zephyr walks to the edge of the clearing.

The auburn-haired girl gives Laila one last look before disappearing into the darkness.