~by Amanda Pizzolatto (alias Aurora Mandeville)
Merida slowly peeked around the tree. There, lying on the ground and moaning in pain was a white dragon. Merida was ready to draw her bow, just in case, though her hand rested upon the satchel that carried supplies. A wounded animal wasn’t going to take too kindly to aid, for fear of it being an attack. Merida nervously readjusted her bow, gave a look to Angus before letting out a breath and advanced slowly towards the dragon. The dragon paused in its moaning when Merida stepped on a stick. It scanned the area before its eyes narrowed as they came to rest on Merida. It let out a warning growl as Merida took another step closer.
Merida held out her hands. “It’s alright, I’m not going to hurt you.” She slowly opened the satchel and pulled out some medical supplies. “I want to help you.”
The dragon stopped growling, but watched her approach suspiciously. Merida didn’t pay attention to it, though she knew the dragon still didn’t trust her yet. Once Merida reached the dragon, she picked up the foot that looked to be hurting and clicked her tongue.
“Wowee, boy, that splinter is pretty big!” blurted Merida. The dragon let out a huff. “I know, I know, this is going to hurt a bit . . . well, quite a bit.” The dragon let out a huff as if to say ‘no kidding’. “Now stay still,” remarked Merida as she gently lifted the dragon’s leg to get a better look at the splinter. She let out a breath before working quickly to make the dragon as comfortable as possible before turning her attention to the splinter. She quickly pulled it out, the dragon only letting out a growl in pain. Merida quickly bandaged it.
“There, all done,” she told the dragon as she rose and patted its shoulder. “Now, you just rest a while. I’ll help you find a hiding spot and I’ll fish for ya.”
The dragon seemed to purr and nudged Merida.
“You’re welcome,” she whispered. “Now, let’s go find an appropriate place to hide ya. Won’t be easy since you’re all white.” The dragon huffed, but it rose to follow her, only to come crashing down again a moment later with a howl of pain. Merida rushed to its side to find out what else was wrong. “Oh, you poor lamb, you twisted your ankle too?” The dragon merely whimpered in pain as Merida very gently rotated the leg. “Yes, you did. Angus!” The huge horse galloped over, though hesitant to approach an obvious predator. “I’m going to need your help.” The horse seemed to eye her like she was crazy. Instead, Merida turned to the dragon. “And I’m going to need ya to not eat my horse. I’ll fish for ya, but no horse!”
The dragon nodded as if in agreement. It still took a little while for Angus to get close enough to the dragon so that Merida could lay the wounded leg across his back, but finally they went looking for a place large enough and camouflaged enough to hide a white dragon. Merida found a place near the ring of stones, a perfect place, she thought, as it would be easy for her to find later. Once she got the dragon all situated, she went out fishing and brought back a basket full of fish.
“Now, I don’t know if this is enough for ya,” she told the dragon as she dumped the fish on the floor, “but it should do for now.” The dragon nodded, though Merida wasn’t sure if the dragon meant that it was enough to fill its stomach. “Wait, can you understand me?” The dragon nodded again. “How is that possible?” The dragon looked at her oddly. “Oh, um, never mind. Well, I’ve got to get back home. I’ll bring you some more supplies tomorrow and I’ll see about fixing this place up a bit better. Thankfully, it’s going to start snowing soon. That should be able to hide you better.” Merida paused. “Which also means I’m going to have to store food for ya to last the winter.” She let out a breath. “This is going to take a while.”
When Merida finally left, the dragon was mostly fed and sound asleep. There was also the beginnings of a stock of food piled away in a sectioned-off part of the hideout. Merida had made the dragon promise not to eat any of it until winter came, and in turn promised to return the next day to get more food.
The next day, when Merida returned as she had promised, she found that the dragon had not eaten the stored food, as it had promised.
“Well, good, ya can keep promises.” Merida nodded with approval. “I’ll go and get ya some more fish to eat, and some to store.” The dragon nodded before curling up and closing its eyes. Merida turned to walk out of the hiding place, but paused and turned back around to the dragon. “Ya know what,” she began. The dragon raised its head in anticipation. “I should come up with a name for ya.” The dragon tilted its head. “Are ya a boy?” The dragon shook its head. “A girl then, huh? Wonderful! Now I’ll just have to think of something.” She paused for a bit before shrugging. “I’ll think of something while I’m out. See you soon!”
Merida thought long and hard as she caught fish after fish with her arrows. What girl name would be good for a white dragon? Merida’s own name meant pearl, but she wasn’t going to give the dragon her own name; that would be silly. She began to think about names that meant light, white, snow, or fire, but none of them seemed to fit. Then she turned to the names of the goddesses, but the only ones that really seemed to fit were Morrigan and Brigit, but of the two, Morrigan seemed more for a black dragon than a white one, due to the ravens that often accompanied her. Heck, it was known that on occasion, Morrigan would turn into a raven herself.
Merida gave a curt nod as she gathered the fish. Brigit it would be. She was a rather powerful goddess, a perfect name for a powerful dragon.
“Hey, how about Brigit?” blurted Merida upon entering the hideout. The dragon’s head popped up, then she relaxed a bit and tilted her head curiously. Merida quickly explained about the goddess Brigit to the dragon. The Dragon seemed to ponder for a few moments before nodding slowly while Merida prepared fish for storage.
“You like it?” Merida asked. The dragon nodded more confidently this time. Merida threw her arms around its neck. “Wonderful! Now you have a name! Brigit. It suits you. Well Brigit, let me see that leg.” The dragon rolled over ever so slightly, and Merida checked the leg, rebandaging it once she was done.
“Well, looks like you’re going to have to be off that leg for a while,” came Merida’s diagnosis with a sigh. “At least it’s not shattered. Looks like you’re going to be here a while.” Brigit purred and nuzzled her. “You like being here? Well, I like you being here too, Brigit. But there’s still a lot to be done to get you ready for winter. I’ll go get you some more fish for dinner and then call it a day, alright?” Brigit nodded and smiled widely.
It became routine; Merida would go hunting for fish in the morning and the afternoon. She’d give some to Brigit to eat and the rest was prepared for storage. While Merida prepared the fish, she told Brigit everything and tried her best to understand the dragon. They quickly became fast friends.
Days soon faded into weeks, then months, and falling leaves gave way to falling snow. When Merida wasn’t stuck at home worried sick about Brigit’s safety in a snowstorm, she was riding out to check up on her. But Merida needn’t have worried; she had insulated the hideout so well that Brigit was as snug as a bug in a rug. From then on, Merida only came to check the food supply. Brigit made sure it lasted as she hibernated for most of the winter.
When spring finally came around, Brigit was tired of the hideout and would follow Merida to the fishing hole. Merida would just feed her the fish right there. With Brigit’s help, she lugged the extra fish and that evening’s dinner back to the hideout. They kept to the same routine during the summer and autumn, but when winter rolled around again, Brigit had more stored up, though she still mostly hibernated.
Finally, when spring came back around, Brigit found that her leg had fully healed. In gratitude, she gave Merida a ride on her back, but seemed to make it fairly clear that she had to leave. They made tearful goodbyes and Brigit promised to return before she flew off north.
Merida spent a few days moping, and having told no one that she had taken care of a dragon, she merely explained, when asked what was wrong, that she had befriended an animal and the animal had left. No one pressed her for more information as they all assumed it had been a bear, and Merida made no comment to correct them.
One day, in late summer, Merida was out riding, enjoying some much-needed fresh air after being cooped up in the castle with the clan meetings, when she passed by the hideout. It didn’t look any different than when she left it, but it felt like she and Brigit had parted ways so long ago. She’d ducked into the hideout to reminisce on those days when she heard the faint beating of wings. As they grew louder, her eyes grew wider before dashing out of the hideout.
“Brigit!” A roar answered her as a white body knocked her to the ground and began licking her. Merida let out a squeal of laughter. “Brigit! Enough!” As soon as Brigit paused, Merida quickly jumped to her feet and gave the dragon a bear hug. “Oh, Brigit, it’s so good to see you!” Brigit cooed something before another roar reached Merida’s ears. “Ooh, did you bring your boyfriend?” teased Merida. Brigit snorted, causing Merida to laugh along with her.
Merida paused as the second dragon, a black version of Brigit, landed behind Brigit. The black dragon had not come alone; a figure rode on his back. She realized with a start what kind of clothes the figure was wearing.
“You’re a Viking?” she whispered, casting Brigit a worried look. But Brigit seemed completely relaxed, so Merida made no move to reach for her bow. Still, she couldn’t be too careful.
Merida watched as the figure dismounted the black dragon and pulled off the helmet. Merida’s mouth just about dropped open in surprise. Standing before her was one handsome fellow, lean and tall, with an intelligent look in his green eyes. There was a tiny braid in his auburn hair, but otherwise, it was allowed to hang loose around his face. It looked really good on him. Merida quickly snapped herself out of subconsciously checking him out. The clans would no doubt throw a fit if she ever let out that she thought a Viking better looking than her current options for suitors.
She noticed that he averted his eyes. Had he been checking her out too?
“Who, who are you?” Merida paused and let out a sigh. “Who am I kidding, you probably can’t even understand me!”
“Um, hi, I’m Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third, Chief of Berk,” said the Viking as he held out his hand.
Merida stared at him in shock. “Wait, you can understand me?”
“Um, yes, uh, I think we need to talk.”
“I think we definitely should, and I think you’d better tell my parents too. Come on.”
“Wait, what? Why your parents?”
“Oh, right, I’m sorry, I forgot. Let me introduce myself. I’m Merida Dunbroch, princess of Scotland. Now do you understand why you need to talk to my parents?”
“Thoroughly. Lead the way, your highness.”
Merida did lead the way, but not just to the castle; she also led the way to an alliance with Berk. But it was the dragons, the Nighfury and the Lightfury, that led the way to their hearts.
(Characters from How to Train Your Dragon and Brave)