Ch. 8- Here We Go

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I landed were we left Amber.

"This is where we left her." I was kind of nervous about coming back. What if Bard forgot about me? What if he doesn't like me after I left him? I was always full of what if's.

Amber crawled slowly out of the cave. Violet bounced over to her joyfully. Soon they were chasing each other. "Hey, Amber," I said, petting her head. "I'm going to go find Bard. Be back soon."

I went straight for the village and did my best to remember which house he lived in. I ended up standing in the middle of the pathway like an idiot.

"Star? Starfire?" I turned around and saw a boy, about nine years of age. "Is that really you?" he asked, a giant basket next to him.

"Bard?" He was like half a foot taller. He nodded three times, eyes still wide from shock.

"Starfire!" he yelled, running up to me and giving me a hug. "Star!" he started to sob.

"Its okay, Bard. It's alright. Calm down, bud. Calm down."

He gasped and pulled back. His eyes wide as if he was realizing something important suddenly. "Star, you need to get out of here! Now!" he picked up his basket, used a strap to carry it on his back and grabbed my hand, running towards the nearby forest.

"What? Why?" I got no response, only heavy breathing from running with the heavy looking basket. "Bard, what is going on?" I asked, halfway to our dragons.

"Do you remember Shark?" he asked, frantically, searching for something in the distance.

"Your older cousin? Yeah. Why?"

"He demanded that when you showed up again, y'all would be married. Whether you like it or not."

"WHAT? WHY WOULD HE DO THAT? I HATE HIM!" I screamed.

"Shush! Someone might hear! Come on, you can stay with Amber and Violet. I'll be there as much as I can. I almost always am anyways."

"Really?"

"Yeah, of course. I love flying and playing with Amber. She's my best friend," he said, pulling me towards our dragons.

I already knew that. "Glad to hear. I feel the same way about Violet." He already knew that.

"Amber!" he called when we got there. Two dragons turned to the source of the sound. Violet dropped the small tree they were playing with to greet Bard. "Violet! Hey, girl. Long time no see. I'm happy to see you, too." Violet was excited to see Bard- to say the least. "Violet! Haha, Violet! Nice to see you, too."

"Come on, Vi. Get off Bard." When Violet finally obeyed, Bard brushed himself off. "Wanna race, Bard?"

"Yeah! It's been a while since we had our last race!" We raced to our dragons, and Bard told me of an uninhabited island nearby. We were to race around the mountain and back.

"Ready," I started.

"Set," Bard said, grinning at me and Violet.

"GO!" we shouted together, zooming off the Earth.

Violet, being smaller and faster, being a Night Fury and all, quickly went passed Amber and Bard. Changewing dragons were fast but still slower than a Night Fury.

I stood on Violet's back, careful of the wind, and walked back, one step away from her tail fins. "Hey, slow poke! Catch me if you can!" I shouted at Bard before sitting back in Violet's saddle. Within five minutes, Violet was going around the mountain, going slower so Amber and Bard could keep Violet sight.

"Vi, let's let them win this time, okay girl?" I asked her. She slowed down slightly and within thirty seconds of the end of the race, Bard and Amber went past us.

"We win!" Bard cheered, jumping off Amber and to me. "Thanks for letting Amber and I win, Star."

"'Letting you win?' You think I 'let you win'?" I asked him, playfully.

"I know you did. Thank you, Star," he hugged me once more before turning to Violet. "I missed you, Vi." He held out his hand, an inch from Violet. After a few seconds Violet closed her eyes and closed the distance. When a dragon does that, you know you've earned his/ her trust.

Dragons are wonderful, intelligent creatures.

When Violet opened her eyes and pulled back, Bard hugged her, again.

"Oh, it's so nice to see you both."

We hung out and chatted until Bard had to go home soon before dark.

"I'll see you tomorrow. Bye, Star. Bye, Vi. Bye, Am," he said before walking off.

My eyes followed him until they could no longer see him. Violet nudged me before I gathered wood to make a fire for her to lite.

Amber, Violet, and I caught some fish before eating it- me cooking it before eating- and went to sleep.

Violet and I spent weeks there. Playing around with Bard and Amber daily. Bard spent many of his hours with us- according to him it was normally the same amount of time he spent with Amber.

We flew around and did small tricks and flips for hours on end. We made a couple of short fishing trips daily to get food for our dragons, and as they ate their food, Bard and I ate the chicken he got from his village.

On the couple of hours a week Bard was not with us, Violet and I did extreme tricks- ones that could severely injure or possibly kill me if I messed up. I didn't dare get any dangerous possibilities in Bard's head. Amber usually watched from a short distance or followed- again by a short distance.

I slept in the large cave with Amber and Violet on the chilly nights. With a new blanket Bard gave me, the dragon's warmth, and the slowly dying fire to keep me peacefully warm, I slept safely through the dark filled hours of the ever lasting nights.

I sat on a nearby cliff one morning, waiting for Bard to finish breakfast with his family and come play.

I waited until nine, then decided he must've been put to work when he never showed himself through the thick bushes of the neighboring forest.

"Violet!" I called. "Bard isn't here yet, wanna go for a quick flight?"

I received a bouncing, excited dragons who nearly forced me on her. I laughed in response to her predictable actions.

"Okay. Okay. Patience, Vi. Patience." I hopped on and we took off to the sky, Amber staying to wait for Bard.

We enjoyed a peaceful flight until we got bored and started doing tricks.

We started with flying quickly through a maze of sea stacks, then having Violet flying high into the sky. I threw my hands above my head (although horizontal to the clouds and ground since we were going straight up). Feeling the dampness of the watery clouds pass my hands, a laugh escaped my smiling lips. Violet flew so high it was hard to breathe. I pat the side of her head twice and jumped off.

I let my arms relax by my sides as I plummeted head first towards the deep blue ocean. I screamed, closing my eyes in pure delight. Violet was falling a foot away from me, in the same position as me but with her tongue hanging out of her mouth.

As we neared the ocean Violet turned around and I grabbed her saddle before she opened her wings and started flying. The tip of her wings and tail gently hit the ocean. I screamed in delight. "That was awesome!" I shouted, punching my arm in the air. "Good job, Vi!"

She zoomed faster towards the island Bard lived on, Sapphire Island. Sapphire island, where the surrounding ocean were the same color of the blue gems found all over the plentiful island. Where the sun shone at that perfect angle most of the few summer months to make the surface shine.

Violet made a sharp turn near the base of a mountain when a wild dragon came from no where and knocked me off of Violet.

"VIOLET!!!!!" I screamed. Ignoring the wild dragon, Violet dove after me. I felt her wings wrap around me protectively and then us collide with the ground before darkness crept over me.

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I woke up on the cave ground. Not unusual. I sat up and looked around. The memories of our crash came rushing to me all at once.

"VIOLET!" I shouted, ignoring the painful echo as I jumped up. Violet came bouncing over to me, licking me. She seemed happy to know I was alright. "Vi," I mildly complained, "you know that doesn't wash out!" I heard a voice laugh. "Bard!"

"Its about time you woke up," he smiled. "I was worried about you."

"How long was I out?" I asked.

"About two days," he shrugged, staring intensely at the ground.

"Two days!" He nodded. "I've haven't gone that long without flying in... since I met Violet. Wanna go for a ride, Vi?"

I was met with silence. Bard looked between the ground, Violet, and me, a sad look in his eyes. Amber left the cave. Violet just gave me her sorrow filled eyes.

"What?" I asked softly.

"Star," Bard began, slowly, "When y'all crashed, Violet landed pretty hard. It- it kinda tore half her tail off."

"Wh- what?" I stuttered. "But she can't fly without her tail." Realization hit me like a giant wave as I understood all the sad eyes I retrieved a couple seconds ago. "Vi- No! No. No. No. No. No! No! NO! NO! NOOOOO!!!!!!" I screamed, holding my head in my hands.

"Star, calm down. Please," Bard begged.

"But Vi- oh Violet I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry, Vi." I racked my brain for a way to allow Violet to fly again. A fake tail! "Bard! We have to make Violet another tail! She has to be able to fly again; she just has to!"

"I don't know, Star. We'd have to do it at night, and I need my sleep and we'd have to be quiet-"

"I'll do whatever I have to," I said quickly. "Anything for Violet." We exchanged smiles before I turned my attention back to Bard. "I'll work under the cover of night, you will get your sleep- you are a growing boy- and I will make sure Violet flies again- with or without me."

Bard nodded silently. "Okay. Tonight, I'll show you where the blacksmith is, and you'll be able to make some noise but try to be as quite as possible, okay?"

"Okay," I agreed.

We ate dinner that Amber and Bard caught and waited until sunset before heading out. I waited on the outskirts of his new village, my face hidden under the hood of my black cloak, until he climbed out his window and led me to the blacksmith before leaving. I knew how to work in here- thanks to my years of needing to work to earn my one week's keep- and quickly got to work.

By dawn I had just finished my project and dashed out of there before many people woke up.

I ran to Violet and Amber before putting the tail on Violet. Too excited to wait, she jumped into the air, having me clinging to her tail for dear life while holding the tail open. Once I fell off, the clothe tail closed shut and Violet also came tumbling down. Luckily, we were only a couple feet off the ground and were above a small pond, but it still hurt.

Slowly, day by day, night by night, I made contraption after contraption to keep Violet's tail open while I sat on her back in a special saddle. I used my right foot to maneuver her tail this way and that so she could fly in different directions (Like Toothless' gear in HTTYD 1). She couldn't fly without me, but it's not like she did much flying without me beforehand.

In a matter of three weeks, we had mastered the art of flying with half of an artificial tail and the foot and tail positions.

And not too long after that, Violet and I were back to searching the archipelago.

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