Italics mean Dragons speaking

The next day Toothless came by himself. With a little bit of prodding I got him to tell me his story. When he was finished I was speechless. Humans and dragons living together? There was no way I could believe it. Toothless spent a good twenty minutes trying to get me to, but had limited success. While I could believe that Toothless lived with the humans, the idea of a large flock of dragons living with humans of their own free will was a bit on the far-fetched side, and until I saw it there was no chance of me believing it. When he saw that further discussion would be futile, Toothless began asking me about my own life. I had just finished telling him about moving here last summer when the two humans came in with their usual load of fish.

"There you are, Toothless!"

Hiccup set down his buckets and scratched Toothless behind the ear. Toothless gave a sigh of content as he leaned into Hiccup.

Does that feel good? I asked with some amusement.

Oh, yeah.

My gaze wandered until it rested on the other human, Astrid. She was watching the two, her face showing the barest hint of sadness and envy. Maybe she didn't have a dragon to be close to. Not like that was my problem. When she saw that I was watching she shrugged, came over, and dumped out the fish with a little more vigor than usual. I cocked my head at her. Well, you don't need to take it out on me. Astrid caught my movement and a tiny smile tugged at her mouth. Slowly, her hand reached for me. This time I did not snap or growl. As she was about to touch me Hiccup came over with his buckets. She snatched her hand back, picked up her buckets, and went off. Hiccup, unaware of the moment he had just interrupted, watched her leave before shrugging and dumping his fish. People. I began eating. Toothless came over and looked at my breakfast hungrily.

Don't even think about it. I said, snapping up the fish.

And if I do?

I will rip your other tail fin off and shove it down your throat.

Toothless chuckled. A little feisty, are we?

Go get your own breakfast.

I think I'll do just that. See you later.

Over the next few days I noticed that Astrid seemed to become increasingly agitated, probably because whenever she was there Hiccup and/or Toothless was there also. Both Hiccup and Toothless seemed to be unaware of it. Males. Finally, about a week after I had woken up in this place, Astrid managed to find a time when no one else was around. I could tell she was uneasy by the way she approached me. Taking a deep breath, she tossed a large fish in front of me. I wasn't that hungry, but I ate it anyway, figuring that it was a nice gesture. Astrid came up closer. I did nothing, but merely watched her. Not like there was much I could do, anyway. Slowly, hesitantly, she reached out. Her hand stopped an inch or two away from my nose. I looked at her, then back at her hand. I knew very well that she was leaving the choice up to me, and I would be lying to say that I was entirely happy with it. I could see, though, that Astrid just wanted a close bond, like that of Toothless and Hiccup. Well, I wasn't going anywhere for a while. After a few moments of hesitation I pressed my nose against the palm of her hand. To say that she looked surprised would be an understatement. After staring for a while she gently began rubbing my nose. I sneezed. Astrid laughed softly, then moved to my side and began scratching my neck. That did feel good. I rumbled in content, and Astrid laughed again. She had a nice laugh.

"I'm glad you like it."

I caught the sound of Hiccup talking and laughing. Astrid must have heard it too, because she stopped, looked up, and ran off.

From the way Astrid acted I could tell that she wanted to keep our newly-formed relationship a secret. As she had gained my trust, I didn't mention it to Toothless when he came to talk, which was often. After two weeks of confinement, I was starting to get a little crazy from not being able to do anything.

So how long am I supposed to not move? I asked in an off-hand way, hoping for at most another week.

I don't know, but Hiccup said something about maybe three months.

THREE MONTHS? If I was starting to go crazy after two weeks, I would be stark raving mad by three months.

Don't worry. I'm sure Hiccup will come up with a way for you to move around.

I hope so, or I'll go insane before the month is up.

Soon after Toothless left Astrid came. She stopped a little ways off, and I cocked my head. Why was she so hesitant? It wasn't like I was going to bite her hand off. Suppressing a grin, she came over and began scratching me. I'm sure she had no idea how wonderful it felt. After a while she stopped and sat down in front of me. I regarded her with interest before shifting uncomfortably. If Toothless was wrong and Hiccup didn't come up with a way for me to move I might end up just dragging my wing everywhere, despite the likelihood of injuring it worse.

"You're tired of not being able to move, aren't you?"

I stopped moving and stared at Astrid in surprise. Pretty observant, for a human.

Over the next week Astrid came whenever no one else was around, leaving when she heard someone approaching. Between her and Toothless I was able to keep my mind from dwelling on the fact that I was stuck. Like Toothless had said, Hiccup did indeed come up with a way for me to move. It involved lifting my broken wing onto Toothless' back.

This is so humiliating. I grumbled as we began to slowly move toward the exit.

At least you're moving.

I guess you have a point.

When we finally made it outside I stopped and gasped. Toothless hadn't been lying. There were dragons and humans everywhere, and what's more, no one was trying to kill anyone else.

Wow.

Told you so. Toothless said smugly. We ventured down to the cluster of buildings. Both people and dragons started noticing us and began to come closer. I slowed down, nervous. Two humans were OK. More than that, and I became very uneasy very fast. One particularly bold little human came up and reached out to touch me. I backed off, forcing Toothless to do the same.

It's OK, he said, they won't hurt you.

Will everyone want to touch me? I was fine with Astrid, but the idea of all those hands poking and prodding me sent crawlies up and down my spine.

No, just the young ones. They won't hurt you.

Not too comforted, I stood still and allowed the youngster to touch me. He giggled and ran back to a group of other little humans, who were soon clustered around me, touching me before running off and giggling as the first one had. I bore it as best I could, resisting the temptation to snap at them or show them why the name Toothless wasn't a fitting name for a Night Fury. A Monstrous Nightmare had to pick that time to come up.

Hey, Toothless, who's your girlfriend?

Shut up. I could tell there was no love lost between the two. The Nightmare turned to me.

You know, you could do way better than one-fin over there.

I had already lost most of my patience, and this guy was really getting on my nerves. If you don't shut up I'm going to rip out your heart and feed it to you.

Brave words for one who can't even move without help. The Nightmare put his face close to mine.

Back off. I growled as I snapped at him.

"You leave my Hygelac alone!" a very large and very threatening Viking yelled as he brandished an ax in my face. Astrid came in between me and him.

"Calm down. She's just not used to all the people."

"What's her name?" one of the younger humans asked. Astrid looked at Hiccup, who shrugged.

"Her name is Midnight." she said after a few moments. Midnight, huh? That wasn't such a bad name. Most definitely better than Toothless or Hiccup. The name was repeated a few times in the crowd, and everyone regarded me with new interest.

Let's head back. I said, trying to keep the nervousness out of my voice. With a glance at Hiccup and a growl at the Nightmare Toothless helped me back. Hiccup and Astrid lifted my wing—which, thankfully, no longer hurt—from Toothless' back, and I settled down, feeling better after the walk.

Tomorrow we'll go someplace with better company. Toothless said, his humor sounding forced.

Will you do me a favor?

What?

Rip that Hygelac's head off for me.

Toothless chuckled. Next chance I get. See you tomorrow.