The next day goes by in a blur. Citrine and I sleep far away from the others, with her camouflaging to avoid us being seen. I would've liked to get in some flight time in the darkness while everyone else sleeps, but I find I'm much too tired to do so by the end of the day, so I let Citrine take me to a cave to sleep instead.

So far we've been practicing manoeuvres, working out special tricks to do with our own unique dragon partners and all kinds of other stuff. Gothi's still slightly suspicious of me, but she's not acting on it other than the occasional knowing stare.

Now the sun is setting and Astrid has called us all together for a night task we all have to participate in, though apparently I've got a special job to do for it. We all huddle up while she prepares to explain.

"There will be times when you can't rely on your dragon to be there to help you, so today we will be going through the forest in the dark without equipment and without dragons."

Groans are heard all around. "We've done this already! Why do we have to do it again?" Snotlout complains, referring to a time when I was at the school on Berk and they went off for some training on Dragon Island. I never knew what it was exactly that they did, but I guess this is it.

"Because you will go with a member of the A Team," Astrid replied with a smirk. "We've done this before, so we have to make sure none of the team get into trouble and don't know how to handle themselves. We can also use this to assess if we have any cheats."

"Why is she looking at me?" Gustav asks, noticing Astrid glancing in his direction. "Snotlout, you and Gustav will go together," Astrid announces. "You don't need to be right next to him the whole time and you're not leading him, you just need to observe and intervene if something happens."

"Oh come on!" Snotlout whines, but Astrid has already moved on. "Fishlegs, you're with Gothi, Ruff, Tuff, you're with Bucket and Mulch, Hiccup, you're with Spitelout and I'll take Sven. Remember, you only get involved if you have to. This practice is for the A Team tonight. First one across the forest to the campsite where Artemis, Heather and the A Team's dragons will be waiting wins."

"Wait, do we get to use our dragons this time around?" Hiccup asked. "Yes, but they can only get involved if they have to as well," Astrid confirmed. "If anything happens that you can't handle alone, send out a warning signal and Artemis and Heather will come check it out. Is everyone clear?"

Nods and a chorus of positive confirmations replied to Astrid's question before Astrid took Heather and I to the campsite she'd set up on the other side of the forest, the A Team's dragons all following after a quick goodbye to their riders.

I find myself struggling to stay awake as we fly. "You okay?" Heather asks from atop Windshear, flying a little closer. "I'm fine, just tired," I reply. "I'll be fine."

We get there quite fast, but it wasn't soon enough for me. Citrine set me down next to where Astrid and Stormfly were lighting a campfire and nudged me gently. "Can we play for a while?"

"Sure," I agree, taking a seat on a log. "What do you want to play?"

"Hm... maybe Would You Rather?" She asks, causing me to chuckle. "Alright. Would you rather eat only eels for the rest of your life, or never eat again?"

"Never eat again," she replies instantly, shuddering at the thought. "Would you rather live in human or dragon form for the rest of your life? No switching between them."

"Dragon," I don't even need to think about it. "Would you rather..."

We go on and on for a little while before Heather walks over and hands me a plate of cooked chicken. "Thanks," I say to her. "Smells great."

"Hope you like it," she smiles before looking at the campfire while she eats her own chicken, watching the flames flicker and burn. "So who have you been talking to while I've been cooking?"

"Citrine," I answer, petting her muzzle gently. She purrs in approval like a large, scaly cat. "She wanted to play Would You Rather. Almost all my partners have one game that they can't get enough of and for her it's this one."

"Would you rather play alone with me or invite the others to join in?" Citrine asks me. "If you want to play as well, she says you're all welcome to," I translate for Heather's sake.

"Thanks, but I think I'll pass," Heather said, starting to eat. "I'm starving, so I need to use my mouth for eating and not for talking."

I chuckle before realising I have a slight problem. If I eat, I have to remove my mask, but Heather's right there.

As if sensing my hesitation, Citrine wraps her wings around me. "Thanks, Citrine," I remove my mask and smile at her, then try a small bite of chicken.

"Mm... you're a really good cook," I tell Heather honestly. "Much better than me." "Thanks," she replies. "I try to cook when I can. It's pretty relaxing once you get the hang of it. Do you cook?"

"Rarely," I reply. "I don't usually have the time for it." "Do you ever have time for anything other than taking care of things around your sanctuary?"

"Lately I've had some new business that I've been dealing with a lot so I'm out fairly often for a change," I admit. "But I've had to make up for all the missed time. I'm pretty behind schedule back home. It's my fault, I'm not working hard enough lately. I've been kind of lazy."

"By lazy do you mean not doing any work at all, or working all day but then stopping earlier than usual?" She asks with a knowing tone.

I decide to stay silent on this one, placing more chicken into my tongue.