one

SHE FELT LIGHT AS A FEATHER AND FREE AS A BIRD. Suddenly she saw someone. A woman smiling down at her.

Wake up. Wake up.

Alora’s eyes fluttered open and her mind felt fuzzy. She wasn’t comprehending what was happening, that she knew. All around her was blue and fluffy white-shaped—

Clouds. They were clouds! Which meant. . .

“I’M FALLING!” she exclaimed, finally coming to her senses.

Never in her entire life has she screamed so loud (at least, that’s how she felt).

“I’m gonna die. I’m gonna die. I’M GONNA DIE!!!”

Okay, I’m gonna stop you right there.
I know what you're thinking. How is it that a girl from the modern world found herself falling from the sky? To be honest with you, at this point in time I'm still trying to figure it out. But like any great origin story, mine is a mixture of weirdness and chaos.
Now I honestly could bore you with all the details of how I laid my foundation but I would much rather get straight to the story.
So let's fast forward to a few weeks later. . .

Alora huffed as she scribbled her recent memory. The Dragon Riders had kindly accepted her into their group, despite the fact that they were in the middle of an on-going battle.

The brunette girl could never exactly wrap her head around the fact that she was stuck in the Viking era where dragons existed and that she hadn't had a decent shower in the last few weeks.

Her memory was scattered and she could only remember small fragments from the bigger picture. The only thing she knew was her name and age. That was it.

For the past few days all she’s been doing is writing things down and training with Astrid (which was like training with a greek goddess).

She had also found herself situated at the bottom floor of Hiccup’s hut since she found herself more comfortable there than anywhere else. She would've loved to room with Astrid but she was too hardcore for her. Alora prefered the peace and quiet.

She found herself talking to Fishlegs and hearing him geek out. She stayed clear of Snotlout. And surprisingly, had some intellectual conversations with the twins. . .when they weren't trying to prank her.

It was hard at first to get accustomed to their ways and their somewhat itchy clothing, but she found herself starting to get used to this way of living. After all, she was someone who could adapt quickly to a new environment.

Though she couldn't remember why.

Just before she got too deep in thought, Hiccup tapped her on the shoulder as a reminder to eat something.

"Okay. I'm going. I'm going."

"Just looking out for you, that's all."

"Aw, is the Little Prince worried about me?"

"I should’ve never told you about my dad," he muttered.

After hearing he was a Chief's son, Alora felt the need to come up with a nickname for him. In fact, she had nicknames for everyone.

Astrid was—

"Hey Artemis!"

Ruffnut and Tuffnut are—

"Thing One, Thing Two."

Fishlegs was—

"How's it going, Blondie?"

And Snotlout—

"Stark, stop flirting with me!"

She didn't actually know why she called him that, but it just felt right.

Then there was Heather—

“M’lady.”

"You skipped breakfast," Astrid said. "And lunch. I'm surprised you remembered dinner."

"Well you can thank your royal highness over there who decided to intrude on my thoughts."

"I did not intrude, I merely stumbled upon them!" he told her, walking inside the clubhouse. "And would you stop calling me that?"

"Nope, can't do that."

Hiccup groaned in annoyance. He looked at Astrid for backup, but she shrugged her shoulders and continued eating.

“So Aly,” Astrid started.

Okay, so I changed my name from Alora to Aly. Not the best idea for a name, but then again, I was young and stuck in a foregin land where no one knew my name. So of course I was going to reinvent myself. . .in my own dorky way.

Alora’s wooden spoon hovered above her bowl.

“Yeah?”

“When do you want to start training again?”

Flashes of screams and loud roars popped into her head.

“You know,” Hiccup told her, “we could use you out there.”

“She doesn’t even have a dragon,” Tuffnut said. “And last time I checked, Dragon Riders have dragons.”

“He does have a point,” Fishlegs told him.

“Okay, so then we’ll go out there and tame a dragon!”

“But what if I don’t want to?” Alora asked. “Hypothetically speaking of course.”

“Well then hypothetically speaking, we’d be leaving you here. Alone. And defenseless,” Astrid told her.

Alora hung her head low and slid her bowl away from her.

“You know what, I’m feeling very tired now. I think I’m gonna hit the hay. Toothless?”

The magnificent, elegant beast looked up and its piercing green eyes stared back at her. She smiled as it removed itself from the area it was curled up in and followed her back to the hut. On occasion the poor dragon would have to listen to her say her thoughts out loud. Over time, they had started getting to know each other. But Alora did that with every dragon, sitting outside their stables and ranting about her day.

I feel like maybe I was a little bit too comfortable in the stables, but oh well.

“So Toothless, what do you think I should do? Should I try to tame a dragon? Or just focus on hand-to-hand combat with Astrid?”

The dragon purred in response as she petted the top of his head.

“Yeah, I don’t know either. Maybe a good night's sleep will help me forget about all of this.”

If you don’t know me by now, you know that I don’t have a “good night’s sleep”.

There were screams of terror raging all around her. People were running as fires broke out left and right. She could feel their fear. A couple held her in their arms before putting her inside something. Then a woman appeared. She held her tightly as she walked around the area which appeared to be her home. Suddenly a little girl showed up in front of her making funny faces. She laughed and then—

Alora shot up from her makeshift bed. She scurried over towards her parchment and started writing again. The little girl was new. Everything else was old news. Everything was still blurry, that didn’t change. But for some reason the little girl was as clear as day.

After she wrote down her findings, she couldn’t go back to sleep. Well, rather she wouldn’t. She knew if she closed her eyes again the nightmares wouldn’t only appear again, only more in detail.

She learned that the hard way.

So she laid down on her bed, eyes wide awake staring up at the wooden planks of the second floor. She could hear Toothless’s soft grumbles, which meant he was at ease. But at the same time, she could hear Hiccup’s loud snores.

She really hated his loud snores.

She could hear the soft winds blow, the crickets chirping, and the other wild dragons that passed over their little oasis. The mixture of sounds combined was something she didn’t want to get used to. Alora knew that at some point she’d have to leave. So as much as she loved it, she had to refrain herself from getting too attached.

Because that was her reality.

She knew she wasn’t from here. But she just didn’t know where here is. . . Or where home was.