Lair of the Dragon

[Fern and Nima]

DATE & TIME : August 9th, early morning; 4 am.
WEATHER CONDITIONS : Chilly in berk, freezing in the mountains.
CHARACTERS INVOLVED : Fern and her new dragon.
PREVIOUS THREADS ? Nope.

Berk's village lay still.. It was early morning, not even a single ray of light shone over the horizon yet. The land was chilly, yet it was starting to warm up just a little. But the place where one viking would go would be frigid cold, so she was dressed in layers of shirts and leggings. Soon the sun would rise, the villagers would rise and another day would start. And this one viking would not be among them.. Not here, with them, anyway.. No, not today. For she was preparing to make a journey.. To the mountains, way on high. In her kitchen she was packing her nap sack full of food, bread, some meat, a few pieces of raw chicken, and fish. It would not taste good together, but some of it wasn't for her.. She also had packed together some certain grass, or what vikings knew as dragon nip. Among her belongings was a bucket, filled with water.. a lid placed on top. Perhaps it was not the wisest to carry a full bucket of water up a mountain, but she figured she had to drink something over the long journey.. So in her pouch she also buried a wood cup to help her drink from the bucket. At last she grabbed a sword and shield. Despite this being a hopeful bonding, she needed to be prepared should the dragon turn deadly and think her a threat. In this case, if she happened upon a nadder, a shield would be very helpful against their poison spikes.

Finally she was ready. The dark village lay unprepared for another dragon, yet it was her dream, her destiny.. She was determined to bond with one, and she wouldn't return until she had her own dragon. Her dream? A deadly nadder. A beautiful creature, they were by far her favorite dragon, despite not being at all rare. She found their beauty, strength, and deadly antics exciting to think about. Yet a shiver ran down her spine at their deadly spikes, and the thought of one being thrown at her. The fact was was that she had studied the deadly nadder, yet never interacted with a real one or many other types of dragon for that matter.. Would books and brains be enough to keep her alive? She could only hope... and hopefully her viking training thus far would be helpful as well.

Legs carried her at a steady run towards the mountain, but she soon slowed as she realized even this part of her journey would be lengthy. At a brisk walk she went towards the mountains, and after about a half hour she arrived at the mountains base. And so the climb started.. After getting a ways up, fear gripped her.. Yet she continued, as vikings knew how to struggle through their fears so often.

Hands struggled to keep a grip on the rocks, though she wore rope wrapped around them to protect her hands. She also had a rope around her, should she fall.. While about twenty feet off the ground within fifteen minutes, she placed the rope around a jagged rock that stuck out of the mountain. It seemed sturdy enough, so she tied the rope in a knot. It was a trick knot, one that would tighten if one fell but would come loose if pulled from the upwards angle too harshly. So her careful climb continued, feeling a bit more secure with the rope.. But fear still gripped her strongly as she climbed.

It was about an hour later when she was a good distance off the ground, perhaps forty feet off the ground.. and had happened upon a ledge. The ledge was not big, but it held her weight and she collapsed on it, exhausted, resting for a moment. She took the time to jerk the rope, causing it to come loose and the rock it had been attached to to crumble and fall to the ground, a few bigger rocks following it.

A shiver went down her spine as she watched in horror the rocks slide below.. Even a few smaller rocks closer to her fell with them, however the ledge was sturdy enough that she was secure.. for now. The whole rock-slide was a reminder of how simple life was, and how quickly it could be taken away... For a few moments, she caught her breathe, before she decided to keep moving, this time attaching her rope to a branch above the ledge. It seemed sturdier, but who knew really. She just hoped she didn't fall, for the sake of her own skin.

As she climbed up the mountain, she thought briefly of her ancestors.. How many of them had climbed this same climb? But it was a mistake to daydream, for she accidentally grabbed a rock that was delicately balanced in the wall of the mountain, waiting to slip.. And as she grabbed it she felt the rock crumble beneath her hand, her legs slipping on the rocks that were caused to slide beneath her. Falling about three feet, she caught herself on a large rock, clinging to it and breathing heavily. "Damn."

Catching her grip back on the rocks, she continued on-wards and up-wards.. It took her another hour to get to the second ledge, where she took out her water and her cup and drank thirstily.. Just then she noticed the sun was starting to rise over the horizon, color from the clouds and skies pouring out over the landscape to paint a picture that took her breathe away. The simple oranges and pinks that poured over Berk and painted the clouds, the sunlight stretching out slowly while stars still rested on the navy blue tips of the skies.. While the lower half was growing in color, the upper half of the skies were still navy blue.. yet slowly giving way to daylight. Watching in a trance for a moment, she smiled at the simple beauty of life. "If I can tame a dragon, I can see these sights whenever I want.." She said softly to herself. A smile came to her lips at the thought, she took out a piece of bread and ate it a moment.. Only she didn't realize just ten feet above her was a bigger ledge.. and a cave... and that from that cave... She was being watched...

[Fern and Nima]

The mountains sat as per usual, the caves filled with mighty beasts and roars that fell silent as the morning came.. Everyone knew dragons attacked and hunted at night, when they had the best opportunity. However many years ago some of their own kind had betrayed them.. Had gone array and befriended the ones who had shed so much blood three hundred years ago. It could all be blamed on one dragon, a trapped and foolish night fury. Yes, the stories were true.. Fallen injured and released from some form of pity by the human, he had been one of the few of his kind. Legend says that his tail fin had been blown clean off, yet somehow this night fury had befriended a human, thus changing dragon and dragon-kind.. forever.

Why he befriended the human was not understood by many wild dragons, for one it was seen as a betrayal. From the mountains caverns sat the refined beast, her claws large and sharpened, her sharp beak clenched closed. As she thought about the legend, the one who had caused humans to start befriending dragons, and the dragons who had betrayed their own kind to be with them.... and had not only been their "friends" but had bred and made offspring that knew only of human comfort and flying with a sparse little creature on their backside. The dragoness snorted at the thought of it, though lately she had been lonely she hadn't thought twice about going down to see the humans.

Today seemed like any other at first, yet quickly as the night progressed, the dragoness knew something was off. Something was wrong today.. Something she hadn't expected.. A human.. was in her midst. Her careful, silent clawed talons crept her ever closer to the edge, where she first spotted the measly human, creeping up the mountains side. Her purple scales were well hidden, for she knew she was on a ledge where humans, with their short necks, could not see past the ledge.

Backing slowly into the cavern, a low rumble left her throat as she waited otherwise silently. Her spikes were perched forward in attention, she knew she had to be alert. Her black pupils dilated in the sunlight as it came over the horizon, she peered over the mountain and saw the human slipping. Fool. These mountains were not made for humans. These mountains were sculpted, lived in, and made home to dragons.. How dare this girl come to her cavern and sit there, thinking she could do what she wanted.

Slinking slowly to the darkness of the cavern, the dragoness knew she had gone unseen. She could still see her as she climbed onto a ledge just below her. Wings silently spread, clawed hinds lifting her off the cavern with a mighty roar as she threw flames into the air, whirling back to look at the human.

Her eyes were filled with fierce anger, yet there was one thing that stopped her from firing at the human as she hovered.. The human.. showed no fear... Not of her, at least. Instead, the human seemed to be in a trance, looking at her and staring at every inch of her. The diva of a dragon could not help but crack a soft, dragon-like smile. "Foolish girl, I could kill you with one flame.. One spike off my back. Why don't you fear me?" Upon no answer, she looked perplexed and slightly annoyed, if not angered a little more. "I said, why don't you fear me! Do you fail to understand, stupid girl?"

Finally she grew tired of waiting for an answer and was about to fire when she saw the girl, cowering behind a shield. She had a sword, which made the dragoness's spikes raise in alarm.. Yet as she watched in alarm and curiosity, she saw the girl shove the sword aside, away from her, and move away from the sword, still holding her shield in front of her.. Yet curiously she would peek from behind the shield, still trying to seem to.. admire.. the very dragon who hated her kind.

[Fern and Nima]

Having struggled to catch her grip and survive the fall, she had made a good recovery out of perhaps some luck or good grace from Thor. After having caught her grip and gotten back onto sturdy ground.. or, at least, sturdier.. She backed against the wall of the mountain. She needed a break, she figured.. So as she sat there, on the ledge, she breathed heavily from her encounter of nearly falling... having quickly realized that had she not caught herself, it could have been deadly for her. It was only then she thought she heard thunder, but she ignored it.. It was always raining somewhere in Berk. But upon closer inspection, the clouds were small and sparse.. And completely white and empty of rain.. The rest of the skies were clear, from what she could tell.. For a brief moment, a shiver passed through her as she realized with excitement it had not been thunder, but a dragon...

But before she could dwell on it she felt a rush of wind, and at the same time heard a roar and saw a shadow come over her, flames thrown at the air in sparks of rage.. Or at least, she could only figure it was rage since the dragon seemed so set on setting the air on fire around her. She stood, slowly, eyes raising and a hand shielding her eyes from the sun. The dragon seemed to be angry, and as Fern squinted at her a smile came to her lips, though she was careful to hide her teeth. She didn't want to appear like she was snarling creature.. which she assumed some dragons might mistake a smile for.. after all... who knows what that could bring.

As the dragon seemed to be getting angrier, she grabbed her shield and sword, putting her shield in front of her and lowering her body behind it... Sword was held out, yet as she heard grumbles and growls she gasped and realized the sword might be a bad idea.. Tossing the sword aside, and kicking it to a corner out of arms reach, she peeked out from behind the shield to look at the dragon, who seemed to be staring at her. "D-Don't be afraid! I'm not here to hurt you." Despite not being afraid of the dragon herself, the fact that she could see the set of teeth and the sharp, poison spikes which seemed perched and ready to attack did send fear down her.. Perhaps not fear of the dragon herself but fear of what she could do to her. She moved further away from the sword to show she didn't plan on using it. Every so often she would peer from behind her shield, as the dragon hovered..

Finally she did a bold, and possibly stupid thing.. She lowered her shield. "I'm not afraid!" She yelled at the dragon, growing a bit angry, and despite her fear rising by the moment she told herself she wasn't scared. She had to play a part, a brave part. She looked at the dragon, her eyes drawn to the dragons teeth and eyes. Eyes locked a moment, she quickly looked away. She pulled out a fish. "Fish.. mmm.. yummy.. dragon likes fish." She said softly, holding the fish in front of her. She smiled, yet forgot to hide her teeth.. and held out the fish to the dragon..

[Fern and Nima]

After having shown herself, and made her body ready for attack, something had made her hesitate. Some curiosity about the human and her seeming stupidity. Humans didn't often wander up here, and when they did they certainly didn't just stare at the dragons... Or at least, that's what the dragoness assumed. After having shown herself in what she thought was a good, ferocious entrance, the girl.. showed no fear. Instead, the girl just stared and looked at every inch of her. Though the dragon liked the attention, she would not allow herself to trust this attention as a good thing. For all she knew the girl could be plotting to kill her. And as she held the sword her alarm was raised and she growled at the girl, defiantly daring her to try and stab at her.

Yet as the girl put away the sword, a change of expression on her tiny face, the dragoness looked perplexed. Her fiery eyes examined the girl as some sort of foreign words were spoken. The dragoness narrowed her eyes, not in the least understanding. "Is this your way of growling, little girl?" Came her angry roar as she grew angered that she could not understand.

Another ramble of sounds came from the girl, this time louder then before. The dragoness growled in annoyance. Yet just then the girl took out a fish, something the dragon was not fond of. A snort was given to the girl, defiantly she said, "You expect me to eat that? I will take nothing from your claws!" And as she looked back she saw a flash of white.. Teeth.. A mighty roar followed suite, the dragoness had had enough.. She threw spikes, aiming them just above the girls head. "Scared yet?" The dragoness taunted. "You should be!"

With that the dragoness flew off back to her ledge, landing on her hinds with a thunderous sound. Wings were still spread, ready to fly off should she need to.. Her spikes were raised, her breathe thundering out of her nares. She brooded a moment, before she saw movement. The girl, with a hand on her fired spikes.. before she climbed towards her. Folding her wings, the dragoness shuffled back into the cave and into the dark, where she thought she could be alone. Only soon she heard the humans calling, saw her shadow in the corner of her sight.

"What do you want, pest?" She demanded with a roar. Many roars followed from further in the cave, and not just echoes. Other dragons, all her friends.. Yet she gave a grunt to them to back off. This was her battle. Her eyes were on the entrance, but the girl was gone. Only then she realized the girl was making her way towards her in the dark. Spikes raised, she showed her teeth. "Back off, I'm warning you!" She growled as the human stopped a distance away.

[Fern and Nima]

The sword had been in her hand, and while she had held it she felt slight power... yet still, she was powerless over the dragon.. Which the dragon seemed to remind her with a growl. As she spoke to the dragon the dragon grumbled and growled back with a series of sounds... which sounded to be honest like rumbling thunder as if the thunder had a voice of its own. As she took out the fish, she felt a rush of air blown around her, a loud sound coming from the dragon.. Trying to piece together what the dragon was trying to tell her, she only knew it wasn't a good reaction. Yet she was fascinated by the sounds and appearance of the dragon, she was taking in more about the dragon now.. How she moved, how beautiful she was.. Even admiring the grumbles and growls.. And while she was doing so she smiled, and hiding her teeth was forgotten a moment. It took that one moment for things to go sour.

In an instant a mighty roar sounded and the dragons tail whipped around, sending spikes flying towards her. Instinctively she ducked, cringing as she heard the rocks crack as the spikes pierced them. The dragon flew off, and Fern stood breathless, fearful.. Yet her eyes followed the dragon above her, where she saw her tail disappear on what seemed to be a ledge.. "A cave... There.. has to be.. a cave.." She said to herself, it was true, a dark cave was not her favorite place, but she could only assume that was where the dragon had disappeared to.

And so, after examining the deadly spikes with a hand hovering just over them, she climbed up the rocky slope and came to the ledge. A roar met her ears as the dragon spotted her, she made her way closer, despite hearing roars from what she knew to be other dragons, more then likely lurking somewhere in this very cave. Yet she heard the dragon respond to the roars, and they stopped.. Fern couldn't help but feel a little good.. Had the nadder signaled them not to hurt her? How wrong she was.. How she didn't know the nadder was prepared to battle, but just wanted her all to herself. As she looked at the nadder, she was growling with raised spikes and Fern looked down in response.. pulling out something from her pouch. A mirror. She showed it to the dragon, who seemed suddenly entranced.. The dragon peered this way and that to get a better look at the object she was holding, and finally Fern had a plan.. She put away the mirror.. A loud growl met her ears.. And she pulled out chicken.. "Maybe you'll like this better then the fish..." She said softly and tossed the chicken towards the nadder. Hopefully her plan would work.

[Fern and Nima]

Firing at the human had felt good to the dragoness, she figured she had taught her a lesson. The human wouldn't dare bother her again! Yet how wrong she was. The human, after having examined her lost spikes, was on her way to see her again.. "Will she ever have enough!" She grumbled to herself as the human came into sight of the cave, making her way towards her. As she told her to back off, the human didn't listen. An angry roar followed, the dragoness was roaring and growling, preparing for battle and what-not... For the dragoness was prepared to fight. Her spikes were raised threateningly, she was getting ready to fire and this time.. she wouldn't miss. Yet something again stopped her, as the human reached into a strange thing on her body and pulled out something shiny...

And that's when she saw it. Herself! How beautiful she was! She stared into the tiny piece of glass, tilting her head this way and that to view all angles of herself. "Wow, I look good today." She said softly to herself.. All else was forgotten, she forgot that she was angry, she forgot that there was a human here.. All she wanted was to keep staring at herself.. As she stared she preened her scales, putting them in place, then examining them in the mirror. Yet suddenly.. It was gone. Anger filled her and she raised her spikes, yet suddenly there was an enticing scent.. And as she looked down some good looking chicken was tossed towards her. It wasn't like the chicken she knew, it smelled entirely differently and much better. She couldn't know that it was cooked, thus why it smelled so much better.

Grumbling at the human as she snapped out of her vain self, she said to her, "Okay, I'll try the chicken.. But I still want my shiny thing back." She said then looked down at the chicken and pecked her beak at it, taking it and tossing it in the air, catching it in her beak and hardly chewing it before swallowing. The taste fresh on her tongue, she greedily took another piece, repeating the same method of eating. Finally she looked back to the human. "Maybe.. Maybe you're not so bad." She said to her, then cracked a small dragon-like smile. Taking the final pieces of chicken in her beak, she chewed and swallowed them, before she realized the girl might be hungry. Having a piece of meat hanging from her beak, she dropped it.. Nudging it towards the girl. It was still attached to the bone. "Well are you going to eat it or not? If not I'll gladly have it." She said, staring at the food. She was still hungry, but she supposed the girl might want some so.. Perhaps she should let her have this piece. Besides, it wasn't that big of a piece. Only a scrap.

[Fern and Nima]

Well this had been an interesting day thus far. From climbing a mountain and by some grace of Thor surviving a near fall to her death... To hearing thunder and finding that it was not thunder at all, but the dragon of her dreams... To being attacked by the dragon of her dreams and following her into a cave. Stupid, perhaps, but she was determined to bond with this dragon. This had to be it. This had to be her dragon. So she stepped into the cave and faced the roaring, angry beast.. And soothed her with a mirror.. The mirror was honestly not all that big, maybe half a foot wide and a few inches tall. But it was enough to entice the dragon, to get her attention and soothe her nerves, or so it seemed.

It was then that she had an idea to use food to win the dragon over. She had read somewhere Nadders were picky eaters, and that most liked chicken. Putting away the mirror, the dragons reaction was obvious and she thought for a moment they were back to square one, but she had a little faith in Thor's plans and reached into her pouch. She pulled out the chicken and tossed it to the dragon, who stared at it with a growl before eating a piece.

She got a better look at the dragon, after realizing how close she was to her.. Purple scales, with blue scales mixed in, great yellow eyes.. Long, deadly horns and a beautifully scaled body with sharp claws. She watched the dragon a moment, watching her carefully, yet with a heart that was in her throat.

The way she ate made Fern shiver, it was like she was starving for food and playing with it at the same time as she tossed it in the air, swallowing it with hardly chewing... bones and all. She ate another piece fairly quickly, and their eyes met as she ate the final piece, yet had some left over.. A bit that was held in her beak, perhaps caught on it, covered in dragon drool.

What happened next surprised Fern, the dragon tossed the half eaten piece of meat to her, nudging it towards her. Their eyes met, and she cringed at the thought of eating the drooled on piece of meat. Yet she took it in her hands, chewing off some of the meat. The dragon looked to her, she could have sworn she heard what sounded like a purr, a soft rattle of delight.

Slowly, carefully, she reached out her hand.. The purring had stopped, a soft growl was heard.. She put her hand down, sighing, only then did she feel a cold, wet nose against her sleeve, nudging at the back of her hand, sniffing it as she nudged it. Eyes widened, breathlessly Fern raised her hand slowly upwards, looking into the dragons eyes.. All fear melted away as the dragon nudged her cold, wet nose into the palm of Fern's hand, her small eyes closing.. Ferns eyes closed as well, she smiled and moved closer to the dragon, wrapping her other arm around her head... "I've waited so long for this.. My very own dragon... mine.." She looked up at the strong dragon as the dragon lowered her head against her shoulder. "... my precious girl.. My Nima.. I'll call you Nima."

[Fern and Nima]

What a long day it had been, and the dragon was tired.. tired of fighting with humans, tired of being alone.. Yet here was a girl, bold enough to be here.. bold enough to want to keep her company, even follow her to the cave.. And show her a beautiful object that showed her.. herself.. her beautiful self. And now, chicken! Her favorite. And admittedly she hadn't eaten a good meal in some time, since unlike most nadders didn't raid farms. Nadders had some respect for humans in that aspect, she supposed. And perhaps the fact that she hadn't raided the farm, the place humans called home.. Berk, was it? Maybe that had earned her some form of respect in the girls eyes. She had shown her a mirror, but she had also taken it away... but then she had given food.. No dragon she knew freely gave away their food. In that moment the girl had earned some form of respect from the dragon, something in the dragoness softened.

As she ate she contemplated wanting her mirror back between all this. As she ate her eyes met the girls. Maybe this girl wasn't so bad, maybe humans weren't all bad.. Maybe some were good, like this girl... So as she looked back to the girl, she offered her a piece of meat and watched as she picked it up. She would gladly eat it if she didn't want it, but the girl seemed.. grateful? And with that she ate some, the dragoness purred a soft growl of delight as she ate the chicken. A tongue ran over her teeth, grabbing bits that might have been caught.

Eyes went back to the girl, their eyes met a moment. Her purring had stopped, for the girl had stuck out her odd claw like hand towards her.. The dragoness stood entranced a moment, was the girl trying to.. be her friend? Then the girl put her hand down, dejected, and the dragoness finally softened once more. She closed the distance between them, nudging at her sleeve, and at her hand.. She sniffed the claw like hand, which had no set of claws on it. Harmless enough.. She cracked a dragon-like smile and watched her as she reached her hand up.. Eyes widened a bit, the own girls eyes seemed wide open as well.. Closing her eyes, the dragoness nudged her hand against the girls, feeling relieved that she could feel the touch of another. A rush of emotion went through her, she blinked as the human rushed against her.. speaking sweet nothings.. Though she understood none of it, the dragoness heard what the girl would call her from now on.. Nima. She lowered her head to the girls shoulder, emotion getting the better of her. "My girl. Mine. I'm.. not alone anymore... and neither are you."

[Fern and Nima]

Her plan had worked, and it had turned out to be much more emotionally tolling then she had expected. She felt the tears of joy rush to her eyes as the dragons cold nose melted into her hand, the rush of breathe puffing into her face, blowing her hair back.. As she rushed to the dragons side, she felt a bond forming.. An unbreakable bond, or so it would seem.. between dragon and human.. A friendship, from a tale as old as time.. She had done it.. She had tamed a dragon.

She smiled as she felt the dragons, whom she had decided to call Nima, strong jaw upon her shoulder, tucked close against her skin. She felt her heart beating fast, her stomach upset perhaps from the whole emotional moment or perhaps from the half eaten chicken she was digesting. Either way, she felt joy and relief all at once, as well as an incredible sense of security among many other emotions. She looked to her dragon, the dragon seemed to rumble again, this time it sounded more like a purr then a growl.

As Fern looked up at her, her wings folded and Fern smiled to her. She knew the next step was riding her.. The final step.. Riding her dragon home.. She watched as Nima breathed slowly.. Fern was still smiling giddily as she slowly moved to her side..

Her breathe caught in her throat as she said softly, "It's okay, Nima.. It's time now.. To go to your new home.. Only you gotta take me there... You ready, girl?" She said softly, continuing to soothe her dragon as she jumped up and slung one foot over her back... Her other foot found its place on the other side, she laid hunched over her dragons back a moment before straightening.. Grabbing two spiked horns, she gave gentle pressure to her dragon, whose breathing increased and wings spread as she started to make her way slowly out of the cave.. Faster, faster, faster the dragon known as Nima went until she jumped off the cliff, and they were falling until..

She pulled on the spiked horns, they twirled and she clung to Nima's neck for support.. Nima dove, and Fern struggled to hang on.. Finally as she pulled firmly on the spiked horns, Nima seemed to have steadied herself with one graceful spreading of her wings.. Figuring out that she could steer Nima by using her horns for now, she sighed happily as she took a moment to look around herself. The wind blew her hair back as she took in everything, the mountains, the sea, the island.. The village of Berk in the distance....

Finally she was flying over Berk, she put pressure on Nima's horns to tilt her head downward.. And down they went.. The plummet was exhilarating, and Fern found that without much guidance Nima landed in the middle of the village, her purple scales shining in the sunlight. "We're here, girl." Fern said softly to Nima, though she may never understand, "Welcome home."