When Ava saw even just that small smile on his face, she smiled bright at him and laughed, knowing there was no way he could keep that frown on his face long. She gasped lightly and laughed more as he began to nuzzle his face against her like they woudl when he was in his dragon form, her cheeks turning a cherry red before giving in and doing the same to him, nuzzling her face against his playfully, giggling all the while. She stopped to look back at her father, smiling and nodding when he said he was going to go tell the villagers the good news and that they woudl likely want to celebrate. In most viking villages, or at least the one she had been in for so long, a celebration meant a huge bonfire, drinking, dancing, and singing.

And from her memories she now had back, if things were still the same after so long, it would probably be like that if the village was going to celebrate not only herself begin alright, but the healing of the sick that had happened today as well. She wasn't the only one to escape death today after all. All the sick, including her mother, had as well. It was surely going to be a night of celebration. Her mother had smiled at her father and took his hand momentarily to pull herself close to him and kiss him before signing she would stay here with their daughter and the dragons. Funny how she could understand the signing now, but then again those memories of her lessons from her mother were back, so maybe it wasn't so funny after all.

Ava couldn't help but feel happy, relaxed, relieved, and so many great emotions all at once as she stood there. Everything was fine. Everything was good. And she hoped it stayed that way.

...

That night, just as Ava thought, there surely was a celebration. The men had brought in large branches, setting them up and soon the bonfire was raging, giving everything and everyone a slightly orange glow. This was the first time her walking out of the house sense she had been carried in there unconscious and so she was happy to just be getting outside into the cool night air. She stayed beside Blizzard(whether he be in human or dragon form you decide XD) as she approached the fire and spotted the other teens standing around it, chatting away. Rubbing the back of her head she smiled at them, "Hey guys, I didn't miss anything, did I?"

“Nothing, unless you count you and your dragon going missing.” Calder noted as he picked up a mug, one which his nadder bumped out of his hand- trying to get her beak into it. He shoved the dragon lightly and when she thrilled he poured the remaining liquid into her open maw. Not like there was actually much left in there with the way she had been knocking into it “but that’s old news.”

“We thought you were dead.” Mag whispered, afraid to say it any louder than that “they were saying that your father appeared last night upon Blizzard’s back with your corpse…”

“But I knew it had to be a lie.” Arvid boosted “obviously your dragon wouldn’t have allowed anyone else on his back so the whole story had to be a load of bullarky.”

Darby rolled her eyes and then smiled “who’s your friend Ava?” She said with a glance at the currently human, Blizzard. In the firelight his hair easily looked more blonde than white- taking away the main feature that would immediately draw a connection between him and his mother. “Did you pick him up on your recent journey?”

"Actually...." She gave a nervous laugh, "My dad did bring me back on Blizzard. And, from what my family was telling I could have very well died. Its a really long story though..." She smiled at them, "But believe me, Blizzard didn't like it. It was kind of just that he had no choice but to let my father ride him."

She sat down on one of the nearby logs and looked over at Blizzard, unsure whether or not to say it actually was Blizzard or not, but then figured it might be best to not let them know just yet that this boy with her was actually her dragon, "This is...Brandt. I found him by himself on an island. He's not much of a talker." She lowered her voice, though she knew he could still hear her, "He's got a short temper and tends to bite people."

Whens he said that, she looked over and gave him a slight grin before looking at Calder's nadder. After the dragon had gotten what was left of the drink in his mug, the dragon had curiously went over to she and Blizzard, tilting her head to the side. Smiling, she reached her hand out and went the dragon approached, Ava petted it and began to scratch it on its head before looking over at them again, "Kind of like Calder when he bit Arvid over that wooden sword. When we went off on the shore lines to find the elder's lost terror." Well, that was one way to tell them she had her memories back.

Blizzard had shown disinterest in their discussion by glancing towards the fire where Vikings were dancing, though by this point in the night many were more staggering about with boisterous laughter- hanging off one another and cheering. He grinned broadly until he took note of Ava’s poor choice of a name for him. Was that all she could come up with on the spot? Geeze, he was glad she hadn’t been the one to name him. He narrowed his eyes as she whispered to the others but decided to let that one slide. Wouldn’t do him any good making a scene. He gave the nadder a look and let Ava entertain it.

“That was like a hundred years ago,” Calder grumbled and added under his breath “and Avrid is clearly too big of a buffoon to use a sword.”

“Hey!” Arvid immediately protested, springing up from the log in challenge “Give me your sword right now and I’ll show you just how… unbaffoonish I am!” Calder looked ready to draw the weapon when Mag gasped, hand flying to her face.

“You remember that?!” She grabbed for Ava’s shoulders, bouncing with excitement without pulling Ava to her feet. “You remember something!” She squealed until Darby shoved her aside with an air of curious demanding.

“What else do you remember?”

Boys would be boys. Clueless as ever of course, going on to bicker with each other, trying to show each other up. It was only when Mag said something that they seemed to realize what her saying that had meant. She blinked in surprise when Mag bounced up and down in excitement before being shoved aside by Darby asking what else she remembered. Ava smiled brightly and shrugged, "Well, I remember the day you all got your dragons. When we were five. The dragons got back from their mating season and you each picked out your favorite Hatchling. And then there's the time Darby broke her leg jumping from a tree on a dare Avrid gave her. And the time Darby got back at him by shoving him into a Monstrous Nightmare...that wasn't pretty. And well....everything else. I kind of remember everything."

She grinned and patted the nadders side before the dragon went back over to its rider. She looked out to all the drunken adults that were dancing about and laughed slightly as some of the tripped over themselves in their unbalanced dancing, "Seems I missed the part of the celebration where everyone was actually sober." It was mainly the older adults that were all drunk, though there were quite a few young adults that were tipsy. That wasn't surprising to her though.

Looking over at them again she smiled once more, "But, at least everyone is happy. And well. Everything is finally back to normal."

Double post

“Wow. How did that happen?”

Blizzard smirked at Darby “it’s part of that long story she mentioned.” Which he didn’t think this group was privy to. Before he could really say as much in a manner that even Arvid would understand the tempo of the instruments had changed and a sort of hush went over the assembled villagers as the chief lead his wife into the fire light and they shared smiles. Hiccup started to sing, long use to the stares it earned him as he held Castiel’s hand and gradually the speed of the song began to pick up as did the pace of their dance and though Castiel could not sing a word she didn’t need to- the way she glowed as the two moved through steps only known to them said what her voice could not.

Not even Gobber’s singing could ruin that, in fact it was taken in good nature with Hiccup’s laughter. The beat kept going and others joined in kicking their feet and twirling- one woman was tossed skyward and her drunken partner caught her, the pair spilling to the ground as others bumped mugs and sang. It didn’t seem to matter if some of them were making up the words when they were all having such a good time. “Oh god my parents are making fools of themselves.” Darby mumbled with rosy cheeks.

Arvid smiled broadly at the girl “that sucks cuz.” He turned his gaze to Mag and grabbed her hand “let’s dance.” Pulling her away from their small group despite her obvious flush of embarrassment. No doubt she probably wasn’t very graceful.

Blizzard watched this all with a silent sort of fascination. He would probably never get over the strange things humans did.

Ava watched with bright eyes and a happy mile as her parent walked out and her father began to sing a song and took her mother by the hand, the two twirling around and being as happy and loving as ever toward one another. After all these years, it was such a happy and warm sight for her to see her parents doing such things. It made her feel at home and it made her feel warm inside. Everything was just perfect. And it didn't take long for her to realize the song they were singing was the one she and Blizzard had sand when in the forest on their way up to Berk. Thinking that, she turned to looked at Blizzard with a bright smile and a laugh.

He seemed so fascinated in all the people dancing around and very soon, he was going to be one of those people because Ava had stood up with a giggle, taking the dragon boy's hand and dragging him over to the Bonfire, "Come on Blizzard!" She said laughing and very soon, the song was picking up and she was laughing and dancing all in all as she moved and twirled with him, enjoying herself for the time being.

To be honest having two legs was STILL a strange affair to Blizzard, it didn’t matter how many times he changed to this form it probably always feel weird. Dancing was awkward for him- he had never done so before but they could look any worse than any of the other Vikings here when they were such an unruly bunch. He hadn’t a clue if they were doing it right but he still liked swinging Ava around. Liked grasping her hands and holding her in general. Liked doing this with her.

Astrid knew who the chief’s daughter was dancing with, after all she had already seen this form of his once when Ava had first returned. It was a bit… strange. She couldn’t imagine dating a dragon even if Hiccup had understood them as though he was one and she had been in a relationship with him for a time. It just wasn’t really the same, was it? She took a swig from her mug and looked to the man as he approached after the dance. “Hiccup.” She greeted “Blizzard really likes Ava.”

“She’s his rider.” All dragons shared a special bond with their riders.

“He’s also a human.” Hiccup was smart so Astrid was pretty sure he didn’t need to spell it out anymore than that. Assuming he was even worried about it.

Ava continued to laugh and enjoy herself, glad Blizzard hadn't been unwilling to dance with her, and not only that, but he seemed to be enjoying it just as much as she was. She wasn't much of a dancer either. She wasn't graceful like her mother, but was more clumsy like her father. But she didn't care. he just enjoyed spending this time with him and having fun danging with him. By the time hr father and mother had stopped their dance, the people still continued dancing, singing out unknown lyric, whistling, or even humming the tune over and over again. When Ava was finally worn out, she continued to giggle and move to sit back down on the log, still laughing and trying to catch her breath at the same time, "That was the mot fun I've had in a long time. It was great."

As she sat there giggling, she looked over to see where her parents were. Her mother was off to the side, signing things to Valka and Valka speaking back, the two causally chatting in that way. Her father was a little ways away from her mother and grandmother, speaking with that woman that had been the first to approach she and Blizzard upon their arrival to Berk and whatever the woman was speaking to him about, she didn't seem happy about it ad her father's expression was neutral to every thing she said. She was curious to see what the woman was saying, and from the woman every once and a while glancing over at her, Ava had a feeling it had to do with her.

Oh well, if it was anything important that had to do with her, she supposed her father would let her know later, so she didn't think too much on it right now and instead looked over to Blizzard again, the two sitting by themselves as the other teens either drank from the mugs or danced, "Blizzard, whats it like....being two things in one?"

It was the most fun he had in quite awhile too- at least with anyone -but he wasn’t going to say it aloud. He stretched his legs out as they sat and watched embers rise into the cold night sky. Usually he felt a bit odd when he was a human, like he was somehow out of place: a dragon masquerading as something else. Flightless and soft bodied it was as if his essence was peeled away and only his soul remained beneath this fragile flesh. But he was content with her, even like this. If anything he might feel closer.

He tilted his head at her odd question though, the words somewhat relating to his thoughts. “I’m not two things… I’m a dragon.” Of this he was sure and he sounded confident of it. After all he was born as such and he had never doubted it. “Sometimes I just look human.”

It was at that point that Hiccup approached them, “hope I’m not intruding.” Hiccup understood that his daughter wasn’t a little girl anymore and probably wouldn’t want to spend every moment with him and Castiel but her friends were all else where and the only company she was keeping was that of Blizzard. “Having fun?” He asked as he sat down on the log.

At Blizzard's confident answer, Ava just smiled softly at him. She supposed he was right. He was born a dragon, had mainly been in his dragon form when they were younger, aside from a few rare occasions, and even now with them being older, the most she had been around him he had been a dragon. This, him actually in his human form, was rare and he probably thought of it as nothing more than a costume to fool the humans around him. He was, and always would be, a dragon. She didn't know why his answer saddened her slightly, but either way, she didn't show it. No, if anything she was kind of happy he felt so proud of himself as a dragon. he knew who and what he was, and that was a rare thing for someone his age.

She was about to speak again when she noticed her father approaching and looked up at him with a smile, shaking her head, "No, dad, you're not." Well, maybe a little. But, who could really blame him? He had just gotten his daughter back and she sure wasn't going to be some bratty teenager that always griped about their parents and never wanted to be around them. Because, in truth, she loved being around her parents. She could guess that that it would be times like these, when she was in a deep conversation or thought, that she wished her parents might have had better timing.

She simply smiled though as he sat next to her and asked her if she was having fun. She nodded, "Yeah. It was so good seeing you and mom dancing again. And everyone else here seemed to enjoy it as well. Everyone is just as happy and close to one another as they were when I was a child. Its nice that things haven't changed much."

What she said wasn’t necessary true but everyone was so enthused to see her back and to see their chief and his wife happy again- in a way they hadn’t been in years. “Ava, I was meaning to apologize. I shouldn’t have been so quick to shoot you and Blizzard down.” Maybe this wasn’t the place to discuss this but with everything that had gone on earlier, this was the first chance he got. He rubbed at the back of his head ruffling his already messy hair. Guilty over the whole ordeal. “And I wasn’t completely honest. Yes it was a long and dangerous journey but the real reason I didn’t want you two going was because we had just gotten you back Ava… I wasn’t ready to lose you again.”

Blizzard stared at their chief for a moment before standing to his feet “I’m going to get something to drink.” He announced before leaving the two alone to have their awkward moment- with too many words- humans did that: overcomplicated things.

Darby handed him a mug with a small smirk, mistaking his air for that of being overwhelmed. “This must be weird for an outsider. All these dragons, living together with us.” He took a long swig and snorted. “Of course.” She continued “living alone on an island, all these people must be weird too.”

Arvid stepped over then, clearly he had been listening. “Weird in general, what did you eat? Birds? Bug? I bet you scrounged under rocks for food.”

“I eat whatever looks appealing.” He warned but it seemed an empty threat in this form.

Ava watched as Blizzard left before she looked down slightly when he said his explanation for not letting her go and honestly, it made her feel a little guilty. He had been worried about losing her or her getting hurt and what had she done? She had went off anyway. She had gone despite his wishes and on top of that, had gotten hurt, almost killed, over it. She frowned deeply, looking down at her hands and twiddling her thumbs, "And I guess I just kind of made you worry more, huh? I probably should have thought things through better before just running off like that. I just.....I was worried No one else had a dragon as fast as Blizzard and I know if we waited too late the people who were sick...even mom....they would have..." She trailed off, not even wanting to voice what might have happened if they had come back with the flowers too late.

She looked over at him, "And...as close as I might have come to dying...I don't regret it. Because everyone is better. Mom is well again. And I'm back and safe. Honestly, if I had a choice to go back and do it over, I would have done the same thing. Well, maybe tried to avoid that dragon better. But I would have gone after the flower either way."

Smiling slightly at her father, she shrugged her shoulders, "Guess you weren't expecting to have such a rebellious daughter?"

It seemed an odd reaction but Hiccup couldn’t help but chuckle before smiling fondly to assure her that he didn‘t mean anything bad by his sudden laughter- he wasn’t mocking her decision just her wording. “Yeah, maybe next time avoid that dragon.” Recovering some of the seriousness of before he clasped her by the shoulders and looked her in the eyes. “I never said what you did was wrong. You and Blizzard WERE the most sensible choice but I let my own fears get in the way of that. Had I been in your shoes I would have done the same thing.” Hiccup had no doubt of that- he’d given his own father many near heart attacks and now… well he truly understood what he’d put Stoick through.

“That’s why I wanted to apologize. I wanted to explain that to you but you were already gone. Every bit as stubborn as I ever was.” He added with a laugh and hugged her “I’ve missed you so much.” He admitted softer “and regardless of what I was expecting, you could never disappointment me.”

“But…” He drew back “that’s probably enough of me embarrassing you, don’t you think?” He got to his feet and thoughtlessly brushed himself off, glancing towards the sky. “It’s a really nice night for a flight.” He suggested offhandedly before turning to rejoin the masses. Immediately engaged by several of the villagers who offered him drinks and cheery words.

Ava smiled at her father when he said he would have done the same thing and that she was probably every bit as stubborn as he was when he was her age. That made her feel a little better about all this, and while she till felt bad for worrying him, she guessed that's just what parents did. They worried about their kids whether they were in real danger or not. She just wasn't used to it quite yet. While she did have her memories back, especially the memories about how much her parents had cared and protected her, she had still spent the majority of her life living in a village where the people she thought were her parents had cared little to nothing about her safety. So, having parents now who would not only worry about her in such a way, but also put themselves in that same danger to save her. It would take a while more before that feeling of surprise they would actually do that for her settled.

She hugged her father back tightly, laughing along with him, "I missed you to dad." The fact that he stated she could never disappoint him, well, it meant the world to her. After most of her spent constantly disappointing those around her, that unconditional acceptance was something would definitely cherish.

She watched as her father stood and nodded with a smile, looking up at the sky as well. The stars were shining brightly, the moon full, "Yeah, it is a good night for a flight. Maybe me and Blizzard will go out flying before bed." She watched him walk off and when he joined in with the crowd of people she stood up herself, walking over to where Blizzard was speaking with the others and he didn't look too happy. She managed to hear the remark about eating whatever looked appealing and knew that thing certainly were going downhill as far as him socializing went. She laughed nervously as she approached, "I think that's enough chatting Brandt. I think this cool air might be getting to you." Without, she took him by the arm and looked to the others, "Where he was from it was very warm, so the chill makes him grumpy. I'm going to take him inside for now."

And with that, she dragged the dragon boy off, holding back her laugh as she whispered to him, "You're not too threatening in this form, Blizzard. That, and I think those too might just be too dense to know what a threat is." Leading him back to their house, she walked inside, "Let's go for a flight, huh? It's pretty clear weather tonight. Might be fun."

Blizzard slammed his mug down on one of the barrels and turned his gaze to Ava as she grabbed a hold of his arm and started to lead him away with poor excuses that fit into her withstanding line about him. Explaining things when they were out of ear shot, He scowled though. They'd understand the threat when he had them in his mouth but he could see where Ava was coming from- with these stubby human teeth and flat fleshy paws it made it hard to be taken seriously. It was no wonder these vikings often carried teeth that were bigger and sharper than their own on their person. Still... he was about to argue that he was a dragon and could take a puny human any day when they walked inside and the waft of warm air made him shudder. Spirits! How did humans deal with these drastic changes in temperature?

It took him a moment to realize what she said and he discarded his tunic and dropped his pants. Honestly he could probably use some rest before doing anymore flying- he'd been too stressed before but an evening flight had appeal too great to refuse. "Fine but you better hold on tight, this time." He kicked off the shoes and transformed, misjudging the space and overturning the table in the process. He folded his wings snugly to his sides before strutting towards the exit, barking for her to follow as the returned to the snowy night.

Blizzard seemed unhappy with all she had said about his interactions with the other humans of the village, but she had expected that. Blizzard was in all not the most social person, and with him being of an almost complete dragon mindset, he probably didn't pick up on many of the cues the other humans gave off when he spoke to them. He could disagree all he wanted but that was what she saw when she watched him. But, if he disagreed with what she had said, he didn't voice his opinion. He merely began to suddenly undress at the mention of flying, causing her to quickly turn and her cheeks to turn a bright cherry red before he was even able to get his tunic all the way off, "Alright alright, I'll hold on tight. Just warn me next time you decide to undress." She was sure he was done undressing and changing into his dragon form when she heard the noise of the table tipping over.

Quickly turning now, she moved to push the table upright again and put the items that were on it back into their proper places, She couldn't help but laugh though as he pridefully walked to the exit, barking at her impatiently to follow, "I'm coming." She set the last few things on the table before rushing after him, laughing as she stepped into the snow. Once they were in a space they could fly off, she waited for him to kneel before climbing up and settling herself. She leaned forward, preparing herself for his take off, grinning, "Let's do this."

That was the enthusiasm that he loved to hear, washing over like warm surf on a summer day. It sent tingles down his tail and stroked the fire in his body to a hotter flame. He wiggled as he sunk lower to the ground- training narrowed eyes to the sky and then he launched. The wind sang around them with whistles as air streamed off his body and over Ava’s back. They accelerated into the sky and he snapped his wings open as he altered their course, angling his body and flying donuts around a natural spire of stone until they had almost hit land and he pulled up again, skimming past the tops of the trees with such speed that the snow was flung from their canopies in a dazzling display.

He roared, challenging the sky with his youth and shot across the coast line. When he circled around he sent a flock of sheep scattering but not without grabbing one in his paws, flying away from the frightened creatures with a prize. He lifted over the town at a slower speed with an air of smugness. Not noticing another dragon lifting up on the currents over the sound of a celebration below until it suddenly squawked, startling he dropped the sheep and the nadder dived down to make the save.

Blue scales rose ahead them and upon the nadder’s back was Calder, with the sheep tucked easily beneath one arm, standing up and smirking at Blizzard’s look of surprise though it quickly boiled down into annoyance where Blizzard was involved. The boy laughed “Oh, I thought we were doing a little dragon racing. What with the sheep and all.”

Ava had a huge grin on her face as Blizzard took off, enjoying the thrill and excitement of the flight. It was an amazing feeling to be able to fly up so high and see things from a bird's eye view. And how fast Blizzard flew make it feel like she was actually riding the strong winds of Berk themselves. She laughed with glee, holding on tightly as he dove down, scaring a flock of sheep, only noticing a few moments after they had pulled up that he had caught one of the poor creatures in his claws, "Blizzard. You're not going to eat it are you? If you're that hungry I'll catch you some fish from the bay and--" She was cut off with a gasp as a Nadder squawked below them, surprising both she and her dragon.

Blizzard had dropped the poor traumatized sheep, but Calder's dragon was quick to fly down so he could catch it, holding it under his arm. She straightened in confusion and curiosity, wondering why he was here. She looked down at the annoyed Blizzard for a moment before looking back to the young man in front of her, tilting her head to the side and speaking, "What are you doing here? Last I saw you and your Nadder were drinking by the bon fire." Which was true. Had he followed them when he saw them fly off? Maybe, which was disappointing somewhat as she thought they had gotten away without anyone spotting them.

But, when she heard him say something about dragon racing, she perked up a little. She remembered them well now. Her father used to race in them when she was still a young child. Her mother would hold her in her lap and point out each other the dragons and their riders, while her grandmother woudl explain the rules of the game to her. It had been quite a thing to see, and she was sure it was really something to participate in. Thinking about that, she smiled brightly, "Dragon racing? Sure. Let' dragon race." And with that, she had Blizzard fly a few quick circles around the Nadder, seeming to frighten the dragon slightly and distract Calder enough to where she could grab the sheep from him, laughing, "Try to keep up! First one to get the sheep to the Little Isles wins!" And with that, she and Blizzard were off.