Even though, Tyrfähl gave me the permission to keep her here until I can safely take her back, it was clear that he still sees her as a human would a dangerous animal and rightfully so doesn't like her staying in his home.
To be honest, I really lucked out here, because I'm pretty sure any other Skrill would have just ordered me to throw her out or just outright threatened to kill her. I can probably argue that she doesn't know of the gate, so there was little risk they would actually kill her, but it was still a stroke of luck that Tyrfähl was the one to answer.
When I got back Astrid was still passed out. I trusted her character based on what I saw of her in the movies, but after this talk with the older Skrill, I still checked her reactions, breathing and smell, looking for any indication that she was just faking it.
I heard you can tell it from how eyeballs move and that some dogs can smell that, but I don't know how to do it, so I just did every test I could think of. In the end, I wasn't sure, her breathing was soft and even, her heartbeat stayed just over sixty, but nothing obvious came up, or I didn't know any obvious giveaways.
A few minutes passed as I sat there thinking about what to do with her, however, I got nowhere with that since I remembered that this world was unlikely to be a pixel-perfect copy of the movie, because there is no way the film makers would off a core character like Astrid.
'I hope it all just ends up well and good. I just want a mate and some peace... Wait. That's not what I... Never mind, I just need to learn some better restraint and there will be no problem with those instincts.' Thinking that, I snuggled around Astrid and flipped her onto my wing before covering her with the other.
>A whole evening in torturous stillness later...<
She finally began to stir awake and I swear I felt a vein pop on my forehead when I head her first words.
POV: Astrid
I woke up with a mild headache and could feel my clothes stiffly hugging my body. 'Where is it? Where am I?' I had a hard time moving as something heavy was laying on top of me. "Odin's beard, why is it so heavy?"
Before I could do anything more, I felt something grab my shoulder and yank me out from under this... something. Or a dragon as it turns out.
It didn't throw me anywhere, but simply stood up and went out of the cave we were in. As I began to wonder where it was taking me...
"Whaa!?" I shouted instinctively as it tossed me forward into the lake. Some water got into my mouth and I coughed it out, desperately trying to stay afloat with hair in my eyes.
After calming down, it finally dawned on me that there was no waves and I was in a small lake. I even found a rock to stand on, so I moved my hair to the side and couldn't help, but call out. "Toothless?"
POV: Zoya
Hearing this name, all of my annoyance melted away like snow on spring. I didn't even realise how tense I was until I heard this confirmation from Astrid. The last vestige of my logical mind raised my tail lazily and swung it gently to the side.
Fortunately, Astrid caught that movement and deflated a little before going through a whole tapestry of expressions. "Oh...Oh! Wait! How?"
'Well, that's that, but what do I even do with her. Letting her tame me is definitely out the window, but I don't think I can just carry her all the way to Berg so I will need to let her sit on me at the very least-.' And I am interrupted once again.
"I can't believe there is another one! We've been exploring all the islands we could find for over five years now. Hiccup will literally lose a leg when he hears about this and I even found the island-... Oh no, my notes!" 'What notes?' I got curious at the mention of these.
And my curiosity was rewarded, as I discovered that although there were several additional symbols like þ or æ mixed in, the language used was still Modern English. 'That means we can probably communicate, at least somewhat.'
"Ugh, the map is completely useless now. Thankfully, most of what I wrote is still somewhat readable and the weird text... well, I couldn't read it anyway, but it looks roughly the same." I looked over her shoulder to read what was written there.
'Coordinates? And what is that? Friþstōw? Oh, wait, that's Old English, I think.' Right now, I was really regretting not learning that, but nothing I can do now. 'Maybe I will even learn it at some point, since it's clearly still present here.'
The rest of the notes she carried were mostly about her itinerary, but I learned from them that Berg was roughly Northeast from here. 'It's like, what, four hundred oriens? How did they even get this far south? I can do that in four to five hours right now, but how did Stormfly get all the way here, with Astrid no less.'
*Grumble...* 'I suppose it's high time I finally eat something today.' I was about to take off when I remembered about my promice to Tyrfähl and caught Astrid with my paws, careful not to scratch her. "Hey!" She scolded, trying her best not to loose any more of her notes.
'Good thing there aren't many metallic components in her leather armour.' She wasn't heavy, but I noticed the difference anyway. It's not like she is light either.
When I reached the large lake I put her down and jumped into the water to get myself a fish. In the end, I had to get one for Astrid as well, when I realized why she was looking at my fish so intensely. 'On second thought, it might have something to do with the size of the salmon that I fished out... Whatever.'
Since I'm now grounded, because of Astrid I decided to go on a walk to the cliffs. "Wait for me, dragon." She called out to me after I started walking away. 'Good thing she is following me, but can she call me something else than: dragon?'
We took a lot longer than I expected. This was mostly, because Astrid couldn't keep up, even though I was just walking. It took me a while to realise it was a middle of a night and the waxing gibbous moon can do only so much.
"Where are we going, dragon?" I knew I was going to need to communicate with her somehow anyway, so I just scratched a sentance in dirt. 'Dragon this, dragon that. God, is it annoying.'
Astrid looked at what I did and then at me confused. "What's that?" 'I can't deal with her really.' I went behind her and pushed her to the other side of my message. I even pointed at it with my claw to make sure she actually tried to read it this time.
She still looked confused, but it looks like she at least tried. "My name... My name is Zoya." There was a moment of silence as she digested what she just read and the meaning of those words. Until it clicked. "You can write?!"