Ch. 20- Gem the Dragon

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"There," I pointed at a distant island, ending the conversation.

"This island? Star, are you kidding me?" he asked bewildered.

"Nope, why?"

"This island is full of Speed Stingers! It's not safe!" He stopped Toothless from going any closer to the island. I had Violet turn to face them, and we just hovered.

"Hiccup, it's perfectly fine. I've been here plenty of times. Besides, we'll be landing right by the cave. Then we'll go in, and bam! No worries about the Speed Stingers."

He looked wary, but agreed, "If you say so." Okay, so he kinda agreed, but close enough.

I led him on the other side of the island before landing beside a cave. I hopped off of Violet and walked calmly to the entrance.

"Star, are you sure it's safe?" he asked, cautiously.

I turned to see he wasn't even off Toothless yet. He was that worried. I wondered why. Speed Stingers weren't that bad. Nearly impossible to train without separating them, but not that bad.

"Yes, I'm sure. Now hurry." I rushed everyone in the cave and picked up a torch I left lying around. "Vi." As told, Violet lit the end on fire, and we went further into the maze.

Hiccup stayed close behind. Violet ran ahead then would run back, so she was in and out of sight. At first, Toothless stayed by Hiccup, then he ran off to play with Violet. Whenever they reappeared, they would jerk their heads, wanting us to hurry up.

"How deep are we going?" asked Hiccup, after an hour.

"Relax. We're almost there. It's pretty deep. You remember that lake we flew over that seemed to glow?"

"Yeah. Wait, we're going there? It's in the middle of the island!"

"Yup. It'll be worth the walk, trust me."

"If Gem is in the lake, why didn't we just go there?" he asked, like a complaint.

I turned my head to look at him, still leading the way. "I thought you wanted to stay away from the Speed Stingers." He didn't respond. "I mean, Speed Stingers aren't that bad, but I'd rather avoid them if I can. Besides, I love these caves. They have this feeling about them. Can't you feel it?"

He visibly relaxed and admitted, "Yes."

I smiled and took his hand with my free one. "Truth be told, I also think this is great bonding time. Just the two of us."

He smiled at me and tightened his grip on my hand. "Yeah, it is." We walked for a few more minutes before he noticed the absence of our two Night Furies. "Where are Toothless and Violet? They should've been back by now."

He was genuinely concerned about the safety of our dragons, probably his more so than mine, but whatever, so I decided to ease his mind. "Relax, Gem's room is right around this bend. Toothless is probably there with Violet, safe and sound."

He relaxed at my explanation but sped up his pace. Whether it was to see Gem or Toothless, I still have no idea.

Less than a minute later, he pointed at the glow coming from around the corner in the otherwise dark cave.

"Is that it?" he asked.

"Yup, it is. Come on, I bet Gem is waiting." I dragged him along, running around the corner. I hadn't stopped to see Gem since before my year and a half trip outside the archipelago. I wondered if she still remembered me.

We ran into Gem's spacious room to find Toothless, Violet, and Gem goofing around and chatting.

"See? Told you they were fine," I teased, dropping his hand and running up to Gem. She dipped her head down for me to wrap my arms around (well, as best I could), so I knew she remembered me. "Hi, Gem. Sorry it's been so long." I stepped back to look at her as I finished. "On the bright side, I found my family! And they accept dragons! You already met big brother's dragon, Toothless, but this," I paused to run back and pull Hiccup closer, "is my big brother, Hiccup. Big brother, this is Gem."

Gen sniffed him, then he slowly raised his hands to pet her. She closed her eyes and purred. She loved to be pet, and trusted me not to bring anyone untrustworthy around her. Hiccup stared at her in awe as he walked around the part of her outside the water.

"She's incredible. Does she ever leave the water?" he asked, seeing her lower half in the water. Gem was a long dragon, but only as thick as Meatlug. She was a mix of crystal blue and grey with hints of pink on her tail and head.

"Yes, but rarely. I've only seen her completely out of the water once."

"How long is she?"

"Hmm, you're seeing about half of her now."

He studied her for another minute, calculating. He even glanced at "So about the length of three Night Furies?"

I looked between Violet and Toothless then back at Gem. "Yeah, right about. Do you recognize her from the Book of Dragons?"

He looked up at me and smiled. "You remember reading that?"

I nodded, "Yes. You fell asleep a few pages in, but I finished it. I don't remember reading about a dragon like Gem, though. Do you?"

He shook his head. "No, and I thought we had discovered every species of dragon in the archipelago."

"Quick question: I don't actually remembering you reading the Book of Dragons. When did you read it, or have you not read it?"

"I didn't read it until after I met Toothless, but that was when I was fifteen. I couldn't bring myself to read it before then, and I mainly read it to learn more about Night Furies."

"What did you learn about Night Furies?" I asked, sitting on a wooden crate that was upside down. I used it as a chair whenever I came. Another crate was filled with detailed journals of my years away from home.

"Nothing from the book. I had to learn it all on my own," he chuckled. "I learned everything about training dragons on my own."

"Oh, right, you guys just made peace with the dragons," I recalled.

"About a year ago, but yes." It was silent between us as he studied Gem some more.

"Everything I know about her is in my journals," I whispered, partly hoping he wouldn't hear it. Sadly, the echoing room was not on my side.

"Really?" he perked.

I nodded. "Yes, everything about every dragon I came across is. Even the ones outside the archipelago."

"What's it like at the Great Beyond?" he asked.

"What?"

"Outside the archipelago: the Great Beyond," he clarified.

"Oh, right, it's similar to outside the archipelago, but some islands are not exactly viking. Some parts of their culture is different, too. Other parts are the same."

"Did you find other islands that are friendly to dragons?" he asked.

"A few, maybe I can introduce you to them someday."

"That would be awesome!" he cheered.

We spent the day with Gem, playing in and out of the water. Hiccup glanced at my journals often, and I knew he wanted to read them. Gem gave us a ride to the outside under the wall, where we played out in the sunlight till dinner. We ate some fish in the large lake before going back to the cave, where we had to handle the dim glow of the water as out light source until morning.

We played around with Gem some more before having breakfast, then lunch. We let Toothless and Violet play with Gem on the outside as we walked back through the tunnels, my journals in hand. We took turns carrying the crate, but otherwise had a relaxing walk.

I smiled, having a rare feeling of peace. It was my turn to carry the heaving crate of journals, but I did my best to keep up with my brother's quicker pace. My breath was heavy, and my fingers ached. I had not been carrying the crate for very long, though, and I especially did not want to burden my brother with my lack of strength. I let out a huff a shifted my grasp on the crate.

"Want me to take it?" offered Hiccup.

"No, I got it," I assured, kinda hoping he would still take it.

He didn't. "Okay."

I had no right to get upset over it, but I found myself slightly annoyed, anyways. After a few more struggling minutes and jerky shifts of the heavy crate, it was taken out of my hands.

"Here, let me."

I smiled, relieved at the loss of weight in my arms. I stretched my aching fingers. "Thank you."

"No worries, we should be almost there." Sure enough, I saw the sun's light a few minutes later. I no longer struggled to keep up my brother's fast pace and instead passed him in my eagerness to see Violet. It wasn't until Hiccup asked, "So, how do we get to the lake from here?" did I remember the other hour long hike we had ahead of us.

I grimaced, pointing to the right, along the mountain. "That way. The lake is about an hour's hike that way. All we have to do is follow along the base of the mountain. Not too hard. The terrain is easy to travel across, even with the crate."

"Well, lead the way."

I started walking around the base of the not too tall mountain. I mean, it was huge, but not as tall as the one on Berk or Sapphire Island. It was honestly one of the smallest mountains I had come across in my journeys.

The walk was quick, even with the quick break we took about halfway through, and we were soon saying our goodbyes to Gem.

"Until next time, Gem," I whispered, hugging her. I pulled back to let Hiccup have his turn. He pet Gem.

"Don't worry, Star. I don't think next time will be too long. I'd like to learn more about Gem. Fishlegs certainly will."

"Big brother, they can't find out where Gem lives. She doesn't like people," I reminded.

"She did fine with Toothless and me," he reasoned.

I shook my head. "No, Hiccup. At least, not yet. Please?"

He sighed but agreed, "Fine. Not yet." After another minute of goodbyes, he asked, "You ready?"

Gem purred her goodbye, seemingly smiling at us. I smiled back and climbed on Violet. "Yeah, I'm ready. Bye, Gem. See you later."

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