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I had been having a lovely time in the caverns, despite my sorrow for Toothless and my worries for Hiccup, Astrid, and Stormfly. Oh, and Eret and Skullcrusher, too.

I had befriended Asla and Thrae's dragonets (my new cousins, though they referred to me as "Aunt" or "Auntie"), and they were the most adorable six year olds I had ever seen, full of energy and curiosity. The girl, named Astradh (which I found out later basically is another name for Astrid, or "Divine Beauty"), had almost the exact same personality as Astrid. She was a beautiful young dragon, a cyan blue with an ice blue star over her right eye that glowed when she was angry, happy, if something excited her, or just naturally in the dark. She was tough, like her older human twin, and wouldn't back down for anyone, except her mother, father, and grandmother. She even had the same color eyes as Astrid.

There were three boys, who were all triplets (they had hatched from the same egg, a very large one) and younger than Astradh by an hour. Each was blood red with darker patches on their undersides and on their ears. They each had three dark red stripes on their tails, and dark red spots around their eyes with brown freckles dotting their noses and cheeks. They all had brown eyes with a cream-colored galaxy around their left eyes. Beigan, the first triplet, had a spiral galaxy. Dagr, the second, had a barred spiral galaxy. Leifr, the third brother, had an elliptical galaxy. Thankfully I remembered these from science class in my life as a human. All of them had pure white on the underside of their wings and a bright red spot on their backs. Those areas would glow for the same reasons as Astradh. The triplets all had similar personalities, but with their own quirks and flaws. Beigan was a curious dragon, and he reminded me of Hiccup a little. Dagr was resourceful, but slightly overconfident and took a few too many risks, under the illusion that he could do things he couldn't. Leifr was a clown, loopy and hilarious, but, he was also tough, smart, and a little arrogant when it came to competitions. All three dragonets were competitive, and even more so when their older sister joined in.

I had been simply staring at the ceiling again, wondering why we couldn't just go back up to Berk, when the triplets tumbled over me.

"Auntie Paintsplash!!!," they chorused. Beigan shoved a pawful of wonderful smelling herbs in my face.

"We found this awesome new grassy-stuff outside," Beigan chirped excitedly. "And it makes you feel great.........." I was beginning to wonder if this stuff was closer to catnip or drugs (I.E., marijuana, meth; remember, I was human in the twenty-first century for thirteen years so I knew about this) in similarity when a yellowish haze started to cloud my vision, and I felt tired and happy inside. I got to my feet and staggered around.

"You...kids...really shouldn't be having that," I mumbled, starting to drool. My words slurred together and I'm pretty sure I looked drunk. I felt like it. "You dunno what it cud do ta ya......" The dragonets seemed more immune to it than I was, for I stumbled forward and smashed head-first into a wall. I could see Toothless, Asla, Thrae, Kohora, and Astradh walk into the cavern, but they were swirling around in my dizzy sight. I heard Asla say in an echo-y voice, "Beigan! Dagr! Leifr! Where did you get that dragon-nip?!"

Dagr looked up at his mother innocently. "We were just playing," he said. "Then we found this grass, and it made us feel good." Asla looked at me, and my cousin laughed.

"Well, you look like you just downed three huge tankards of mead!," she giggled.

Thrae nodded. "High as the clouds in the big blue sky, that's for sure."

I staggered into a stalagmite. " 'Shcushe meh, shuuur," I mumbled groggily. "Buuuuuuuut, I dooo behliv uuuur in ma way...." Then I crashed into it again. I shook my head and glared at it, going crosseyed. "Who ish thish tall gentleman?! He keepsh gettin' in ma way!" My kid cousins laughed.

"You're silly, Auntie Paintsplash!"

Then, my crossed eyes landed on Toothless.

"Mmmhrrm," I mumbled. I shakily stumbled forward, going pigeon-toed. I bumped into him and fell on my face. Despite this, I looked up at him, going even more crosseyed than before. "Uuur, ur kinda cute... wahn shumma dish......dish SHTUFF? It'sh amazing...." I held out a clump of dragon-nip to Toothless, and he shoved it away.

"Ah, no thanks, I'm good," he said, eyeing me warily.

"Aw, cum on," I crooned, and I sounded really high and stupid. "Uur too cute to NOT hav dish shtuff!"

Toothless gave me a horrified look and cringed away from me. "Uhh," he said. "What does that have to do with this?"

I batted my eyelashes at Toothless. Then I hiccuped, little golden bubbles floating out of my nose. I giggled as if I had been on crack for three weeks straight. "Heeheehee! Whoopsh, shilly-HIC!-me! Rrrm... I-HIC!-like you.......cumere, you-HIC!-you, you..........uhh-HIC!-.......um......HIC!.....dragon.................?" I staggered to my feet and promptly began to follow Toothless around, as if I was trying to get him to go on a date with me. Note to all readers: THIS IS WHY YOU NEVER DO DRUGS!

Toothless, after about ten minutes of this torture, hid in a small crack in the wall. I fluttered lopsidedly past it, calling in a high-pitched voice, "Toothlesh! Cum-HIC!-out! I know uurh here shum-HIC!-wair!"

Finally, Astradh jumped on me and pressed her paws to my head. A strange buzzing noise coursed through my ears and rattled my brain. My head suddenly felt cold, and the yellow haze dissipated from my eyes, which un-crossed. I shook my head and sat up. I smiled down at my kid cousin and ruffled her head.

"Thank you," I said. "That was horrible.....and not just for me." I looked at Toothless, who wasn't sure if he should come out yet. Then I looked back at Astradh.

Now I knew what her power was.