On the Edge of Mystery: Chapter 36 - A New Dawn

         Once we had all gotten back to Berk, we were all worn out and sleepy.  So, we all bid each other, “Goodnight,” and went back to our homes to go to bed.

         My family put up our dragons and gave them some food for the rest of the night.  Then my sisters and I bid our parents, “Goodnight,” before heading upstairs.  We took turns getting ready for bed, and then finally got in bed.  I put on my normal golden brown outfit.  It is the one I use the most, but it is the one which is more comfortable as it is “broken in.”

         For Elsa, it took barely the time for her head to land on the pillow before she was out like a fire.  Asvord took slightly a bit longer than Elsa, but she too was out quickly.

         For as much as I have gone through these past couple of days… I could not fall asleep.  I did everything.  Count sheep, count yaks, count the stars… I just could not think of anything.  I think that is my probably.  Because there is hardly a thing on my mind right now, I cannot sleep.  My mind had been racing with mystery and worry and a bunch of other things.  To finally be at peace, is a change.

         I thought to myself, “I know I wanted to have a mystery to solve, but this was probably my most intense and hard fought mystery.  Though when I think about it now, it wasn’t much of a mystery per say as the others I have had.  I know I stopped Dagur and Hari from working together.  We found that other lens that works with the Dragon Eye -guess that will be the next thing on the list to find out about- But this mystery was more of one thing leading to another while I was doing other things.  Yet, this had to be my most challenging to date as it was so different, my friends, family, and I had to handle this completely different.  Guess this will continue to happen as I get older.  Although, as much as things get older, things still stay the same; just in a different form.”

         I am more awake now than I was on the trip back from Fortress Island and Mystery.  Trying to think of something else, I got up out of bed and eased my way through the room, downstairs, and out the door.

         Walking towards the stables, first, I thought I would check on our dragons.  Entering the stables, I saw that every dragon is asleep… expect guess who?  Fredrick.  He is just curled up in his stall, with his eyes open.  His eyes still look tired, but they are still open.

         Going over to my dragon, I whispered to him, “I guess there is a point where you will get so tired, worn out, and sleepy from the day, that you are too tired to even sleep.  Even the master of sleeping and napping whenever I stop for something, can’t even sleep.”

         Fredrick gave a soft snort.

         “Would you like to go out for a late-night flight?” I asked Fredrick.

         He stood up, stretched his legs, and walked over to the stable doors.  I followed him over and opened the doors for him.  Fredrick walked out, I did as well, and then I closed the doors.  Not bothering with a saddle, I figured I would not need the saddle as this is just a pleasure flight.

         “I don’t think you are wanting to do any high-speed flying, now, hmm?” I questioned.

         Fredrick shook his head.

         I mounted my dragon and decided to see what Annabeth and Cazi are doing.  Arriving within a few minutes, I dismounted Fredrick and walked up to the house.  Knowing that Cazi’s and Annabeth’s rooms are on the second floor, I might wake the whole house if I tried to knock on the door.  I instead went over to the corner of the house where their rooms are located in the front, and climbed up the side of the house.  As soon as I got to the window, I tapped on the shutters, and opened them.

         I heard some stirring and then entered the room.

         “Cazi?  Annabeth?” I softly asked.

         Cazi’s bed is on the right and Annabeth’s is on the left.  Annabeth’s bed is empty.

         Asking Cazi about this, she replied at first in a groggy tone, “Hi, Jarl.”

         “You can’t sleep either,” I stated.

         There was enough light from the moon I could see her face.  Cazi’s eyes were still closed.  All she replied with was a moan.  I think I did wake her up.

         “Where’s Annabeth?” I questioned.

         Stretching, Cazi opened her eyes and answered, “Where would you think she would be on a night where she can’t sleep?”

         “Yeah,” I answered.  “I had a hunch about that, but I wanted to check.”

         “Sure,” Cazi replied, rolling over.

         “Sorry to have woke you,” I said.

         “Mmm-hmm,” came her only reply.

         Exiting the same way, I came in, Fredrick was hovering right near the window.  All I had to do was hop on.

         “Good boy,” I patted Fredrick.

         What Cazi meant by what she said is that Annabeth should be near where Annabeth first arrived on Berk.  As she has done in the past, Annabeth goes there when she either cannot sleep, think, or is lonely.  From what she has been through, it could be all three.  At least if I go there, she will only be two of those three.

         Fredrick all but coasted over there on the wind, so the time was a few more minutes.  Annabeth would usually be on the beach looking west; but this time, she is on a nearby cliff next to the harbor, and still looking west.  The moon is halfway done setting, yet still shown enough light for me to see Annabeth.

         Anora is about five or so yards back, curled up, and asleep.  Annabeth could have already been here for a while, for Anora to be asleep.  There was no wind, yet there is always a light updraft of wind from the current in the ocean here on this particular harbor sea stack.  This sea stack is a part of the isle and is “built” into the side of the isle, it just acts like a sea stack.  The updraft is making Annabeth’s purple locks flow in the wind

         Stepping off my dragon, I stood still for a second before advancing over to Annabeth’s left.  Annabeth did not say a word and barely moved her head to notice me coming over.  We stood there in silence for what seemed like an eternity, yet was only about a minute.

         “Nice night, isn’t it?” I asked.

         Annabeth replied, “Hmm-mhm.  Yes, it is.”

         More moments of silence started to come.  I was trying to think of something to say.

         Annabeth instead said, while she continued facing forward, “I finally know what happened to my birth family.”

         I slowly answered, “Does… this disappoint you?”

         “Because I found out I was a Berserker,” she responded.  “Not really.  Well, I mean, after not knowing what you are and feeling like an adopted Berkian for this short amount of time I have been here to finding out you are a Berserker, the thought of being related to Dagur the Deranged cross your mind several times.  And when it finally did come true, it still shocked me.  Oh, yak ribs did it shock me, yet I got over it quickly.  I find that strange if I were a Berkian, but not because I am a Berserker.”

         I questioned, “So is it better to know for sure one way or the other, or to not know at all.”

         “You’ve got a point there,” she said.  “I can finally be at peace with knowing who my family was, my real family, and is… even if that family is Dagur.  Regardless of his evil tendencies, I feel in my heart I need to know him; know him as a brother.  Staying with him for that brief stent showed a side of him I never knew.  He was actually kind to me.  I use the word ‘kind’ loosely as we are talking about Dagur here.”

         I chuckled.

         Annabeth continued, “But still, with all of his gruffness and deranged-ness, I still saw a brother in him.  I started to feel as if I could trust him with my life.  Now to say that about Dagur after all that he has done to Berk, seems not right but not wrong in a way.  Does that make sense?”

         “Being around two sisters and how they tend to word things, yes that makes sense,” I responded.

         This time Annabeth chuckled.

         I added, “I actually know what you are feeling.  Thinking that my father was dead for so long, it is still strange in a way that he is alive and well…”

         Annabeth interjected, “It is almost like you are getting to know someone else a part from who they were before or the last time you remember them, in your case.”

         “Exactly,” I replied.  “It is so great to have him back.  I got back someone I thought I would never see again.  I will try to cherish every moment I have with him now, because I don’t know if he will be taken away from me again.”

         Annabeth gave a light chuckle, “But you aren’t the one related to Dagur.”

         “That is true,” I agreed.  “So there are differences.  But getting back someone you thought you had lost forever and knew you had once loved, is glorious in its own right.”

         I paused, “The feeling you have of being at peace with Dagur being your brother is because that void inside of you not knowing about who exactly was your birth family, is finally filled in.  Even if Dagur is still Dagur.  You can make this a good or bad thing; it is up to you.  But as some advice, I would try to make the most of getting back a family member and trying to connect with them to spend time and enjoy their company.”

         “But because of Dagur being Dagur,” she returned.  “Something will have to change if we are to truly connect as brother and sister.  Dagur will need to change.”

         “Yes, he will,” I repeated.

         A minute or two of silence passed before Annabeth said, “I’m sorry.”

         “Sorry for what?” I asked.

         Annabeth looked at me, so I did the same to her; she said, “I am sorry for basically throwing you to the way side like you were something unimportant.  I treated you so unfairly after all that you have done for me.  I needed to find out more information, but could there have been another way to spare you that grief?”

         “There probably could have been,” I responded.  “But you did what you thought was right in the moment.  We all try to do that.  Sometimes what looks like the wrong or bad choice on the outside, if we actually try to understand it from the others perspective, we should be able to see why they did what they did.”

         After that, about five minutes had almost passed after I said that; Annabeth asked, “Did you mean what you said, back there?”

         I echoed, “Did I mean what I said about what, back there where?”

         Annabeth sighed with a smile and looked up at me, “Did you mean what you said about not wanting to feel the emptiness you felt when I walked away from you, even though I had an ulterior motive behind what I did?”

         I simply stated, “I meant every word of it.  Your ulterior motive was a pretty good one.  As much as it looked like I should have given up hope, I there was as much that I should not have given up the trust.  Because we did make the pact that if you were ever in trouble, you would not be wearing locket.  It took nearly every ounce I had to keep hope, but something was telling me that if I would just keep trusting you like I have been always, things would be alright.”

         “I was hoping you would say that,” Annabeth replied.  “Even though it was hard to follow me in what I was doing sometimes there at Fortress Island, I meant when I said the exact same thing for you.”

         Annabeth paused and then hugged me, nearly looked like she was about to cry, “I don’t know what I would do without you.  Cazi is my sister and friend, but out of everybody, you were the one that was always there by my side when I needed help.  Thank you.”

         I answered, “I don’t know now what I would do without you.”

         I pulled her back from our hug to look at her face.  She was in fact crying; so, I wiped her tears away with my right hand.  After I had done that, we look into each other’s eyes.  There was a moment of doing that before…

         We kissed.

         I could not tell you how long we kissed as I was not paying attention to time; it could not have been too short, is all.

         Once we had stopped, slowly pulled back, the first rays of sun shine could be seen out of the corner of my eye as the sun started to raise.

         All Annabeth did was smile.

         Not a word was spoken.

         We started to walk back to Berk… with my right hand in her left.

         Our dragons were fast asleep, but noticed we had started to return to Berk.  So, they got up and followed us.

         It took several minutes now to go back to Annabeth’s house.

         When we arrived, I said, “It is a new dawn.  Both literally and figuratively.  I am looking forward to what the future holds.”

         We looked at each other again and I kissed her again.

         This one was considerably shorter, maybe just for the fact I was actually paying attention this time.

         When we slowly pulled back from each other, all we could do was smile… then I yawned.  Annabeth just laughed, though she yawned too.

         “Good nig- er,” I said.  “Good morning.”

         Annabeth chuckled and answered, “Good morning.”

         “I mean what I said about the future,” I replied.

         Annabeth nodded, “I can’t wait.”