A/N:
For those guys, or girls, that do not like to hear/read/talk about things like 'those times of a month' for women or 'those nights' for men and other such details about human biology, you might find This Particular Discussion uncomfortable. It will be noticeable when it starts and it ends with a time skip.
If you wish skip, you have been warned.
(AND THIS IS FICTIONAL DRAGON ANATOMY BASED ON REAL LIFE BIRDS, I WILL BE DELETING ANY COMMEN LIKE: it actually doesn't work like this for women... YES, I KNOW, DEAL WITH IT)
Now, have a nice read.
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We chatted for the rest of the day and Devyn led us on an impromptu tour of his favourite flying spots.
Obviously, as we are talking about a Skrill with, what can only be ADHD, ninety percent of those places were... not places, but wind tunnels keeping the storm wall stable.
Jokes aside, they were really good picks even for my training..., mostly. Some were just weird. For example, he took us to a donut shaped inselberg on a peninsula and was really obsessed with flying through it back and forth.
I thought it was just some trick he liked to do so I wanted to try as well, but Caniyo started to scold Devyn using some really 'colourful language', as primary school teachers liked to say and dragged me away by my tail, in flight mind you.
This was very uncomfortable and I was quick to make myself vocal about it. 'After all, everything it takes is just one wrong bite and I will be at risk of joining Toothless's club of asymmetric dragons.'
"I am so sorry about that! I didn't scratch you there did I?" She apologised and in all honesty, I couldn't blame her. Skrills have no tail fins there so it's normally no problem.
"I'm fine, just please don't ever do that again. Like most dragons that do sport them, if lost we are nothing more than fancy lizards. How do you guys pitch your flight without those anyway?" Gylfi seemed completely clueless about this topic as well and his lecture for Caniyo got stuck in his mouth.
"Anyway Gylfi, where is Devyn?" I asked, looking around for the prime troublemaker.
"I believe he chose to stay behind and mourn the loss of his rock." Gylfi said with his usual neutral tone, but a hint of annoyance and smugness shined through..., I think? 'It's hard to read him clearly.'
>A few days later...<
Like we agreed upon on our first day, we spent most of the time we had during a day on my flight exercises with some chatting in between the moments I wasn't panting from exertion.
There was also some sort of a hidden agreement between Caniyo and Gylfi, to ignore Devyn and they kept hard at it for almost three days. 'I still don't know what was it about that rock that got him into so much trouble with them.'
Don't get me wrong I can see that what he did was apparently very rude, I can deduce that much from Caniyo's expressions, but that doesn't narrow it down for me much.
When it came back to me two days later, I decided to ask her about it when we were alone for once, since Devyn and Gylfi went to play, as in, go have a playfight with their lightning.
"Hey, uhm, what was it about that rock from our first day, the one that Devyn took us to, that you guys reacted like this?" I asked casually, not really suspecting any big reason behind it.
"..." I turned to her, hearing her go silent. "You ok? Sky to Caniyo?"
"Y-you really have no idea why?" She stammered in disbelief, which made me quite self-conscious for a moment so I just shyly nodded.
We both stayed like this for a good while until she asked me again, this time seeming almost incredulous. "You really have NO idea what he did, flying through there?" I was getting slightly anxious trying to think of a possible answer, but came out blank. "Nope."
Another moment of silence and clear internal struggle from Caniyo's side, she finally asked. "You really don't have to answer, but... how old are you?" "Huh..."
I wasn't expecting that question and almost blurted out my age from my previous life, but only opened my mouth slightly before closing it. 'I mean I am probably not that far off. I checked, that time on the first day that I have an almost the same pattern of nubs as Toothless in the second movie, just different shape.'
'I should probably dragonify?... whatever... it a little, and then the backstory... so I mean twenty three is good right? Toothless was the same age as Hiccup so it should be fine.'
After some deliberation that in hindsight might have looked like me being conflicted whether to tell her, I finally answered. "Twenty three, I think? I stopped counting after my fifth year in the cage, but there was this guy..." 'Shut up, you didn't plan that part yet you blabbermouth!'
Caniyo stayed still in what was probably silent shock, though I had yet to learn she would be shocked in the first place. "You had your first egg,... right?"
I was completely confused, so I stopped my backstory weaving and admitted to that. "I'm completely confused now. No, I don't remember laying an egg, please explain."
"Wait your parents didn't tell you about that?" She asked, more in disbelief than shock. "No, can you please clue me in on what you are talking about." She squirmed a little, but relented and started slowly. "Ok. Huu, I can't believe I'm doing it. So did you have The Talk already or not?"
'Oh, I finally get it! But wait, I can't tell her that, I need that info! Think, think Zoya and do it fast.' "Oh, uhm, no. They mentioned it, though. Something about it being important, but for later and... you know... later..." I looked slightly away from her.
Caniyo just sighed, I'm not sure if it was in relief or resignation. "Yes, that. Most dragons have it roughly the same, it's just the length of the cycle that differs. You are supposed to have it like a year of two before it first happens, tradition and such. You guys are more from the south and coastal so you should have had it... at twenty? The first period I mean."
"So like, for starters, I don't know the cycle for Night Furies, so I can't help you there. The thing I know is more or less the same is that the first egg will be smaller than a normal one and you really shouldn't get it fertilised, because it isn't meant to be and no proper dragon comes out of that. I'm warning you, in case you had your first cycle delayed, due to... that, so just don't." I just kept nodding and making mental notes.
"What else? You will by either moody or hella moody when that happens so just stay at your nest when you can, sleep all the time, get some fruits or something sweet and just be a lazy shut in. That's what most do to not annoy themselves and others." 'OK, that is actually quite similar...' And here I was wrong.
"It will last like a week or two and you will be done for at least a year, up to twenty. Once again that's just the average, you will figure it out. Oh and don't leave the egg. Eat it, smash it, just don't leave it. Apparently, we have huge emotional backlash from smelling our own rotten eggs." 'That's... hardly similar...'
She mentioned a few other tips and tricks as well as what might happen before during or after based on how other dragons do it, but it was all just a hypothesis so I just left it in the back of my head.
>Two moons later...<
And just like that the winter went with nothing new or surprising happening, only the last storms lingering over the seas. The violent winds of the spring already chasing them away and kicking up the water from the waves, leading to frequent and thick fogs.
Most surprisingly, there was no snow during winter, at least not on this island. I asked, but all the Skrills just said that they didn't like snow. "It leaves too much water when it melts." Or so they said.