A/N: Hi all! It's been a while… sorry… school… but I am determined to see this through to the end. If I take too long to update, you can review and tell me so… I am guilt tripped pretty easily…
Also, a huge, huge thank-you to AtlasSky, who made the amazing and adorable cover art!
*WHAT? Oh, come on! Really?* Hiccup turned to his dragon. *Please tell me you didn't know this.*
*While the expression on your face is hilarious, no, I didn't know. I would have told you,* Toothless assured him. He eyed the two Nightmares. *Newtsbreath and Hookfang could have told me. Or you.*
The Chief's dragons just looked at them smugly.
*Well, this changes things,* Hiccup huffed. *Not sure what yet. But things.*
*Wake up early and come outside tomorrow morning,* Cloudjumper suggested in a gentle but amused voice. *We'll be up as always, and you can talk.*
Hiccup nodded once. He knew his mother was up early every morning, he just hadn't suspected that her dragon was too.
*Bring us some fish,* Hookfang requested, giving a yawn and resting his head on his paws.
Toothless perked up, mischief dancing in his eyes. *Heyy Newtsbreath, you know Snotlout's dragon Fireworm?*
Hiccup groaned and laid down on the straw and closed his eyes, confident that if one of the Nightmares moved to attack, Toothless would protect him… and if he was too busy teasing and bickering with them, Cloudjumper hopefully would.
Hiccup dozed for a few minutes before he was roughly awakened by a rush of cold air as the door swung open.
"Hiccup! There you are!" Valhallarama stood in the doorway, Stoick a few steps behind her.
Hiccup took a moment to mentally switch back to Norse. "Hi. A Gronckle blew a hole in the wall. I put out the fire, but it was a bit drafty so we came in here. I guess we could have gone up to my room, but we didn't." Hiccup closed his mouth as he realized he was babbling a little, unsure what to say to his mother.
Toothless stretched, arching his back and flapping his wings, then followed his Viking nonchalantly out the door. With a few gently screamed words from Stoick, Newtsbreath and Hookfang slunk after them.
Hiccup went up to his room and got in bed, waiting for ten minutes before Stoick left to attend to Chiefly things, and Toothless was able to sneak in and crawl onto the bed.
Hiccup didn't have any trouble waking early the next morning. Despite Toothless' warmth, Hiccup tossed and turned, waking up every hour or so. When it was actually time to get up, Toothless grumbled a little, but followed Hiccup down the stairs, yawning.
Hiccup sat on the front step, while Toothless curled up next to him and fell back asleep. Hiccup leaned into the warm reptile and they waited as the sky grew lighter.
Soon Hiccup heard the flapping of giant wings, and Cloudjumper landed in front of his stable, Valhallarama leaping down from his back.
Hiccup gently shook Toothless awake and then walked a little shakily towards the pair.
"Good morning, Hiccup," Valhallarama said, a slightly confused expression on her face. "You're up early."
"Um… Yeah…" Hiccup fiddled with the edge of his tunic.
*Good morning!* Toothless warbled, hopping up next to Hiccup and wiggling his tail. *Did you catch any fish?*
*No fish. Sorry,* Cloudjumper apologized.
*Then we'll catch fish now!* Toothless decided. *Let's go!* He turned and bounced a few steps before flapping in the direction of the beach.
"Uh, Toothless-" Hiccup protested, but Cloudjumper followed after giving a chuckle.
*Hurry up, you two!* Toothless called.
"I think they want fish," Valhallarama said.
"Uh, yeah." Hiccup followed his mother and they headed towards the beach.
Toothless flew back to them after a minute, a suspiciously playful glint in his eyes. *So, how many fish can Cloudjumper catch?*
"I don't think we'll be at the beach too terribly long," Valka said, turning to Hiccup. "Cloudjumper doesn't catch many fish, he's quite large and scares most of them away before he is in the water, but the ones he does catch are big enough to feed the whole family a meal."
"Okay, sounds good," Hiccup replied, glancing at the small blue dragon.
*You're no fun either,* Toothless grumbled. *Okay, then, Hiccup, how many fish do you think I can catch?*
Hiccup let out a huff and glared at Toothless, who grinned back gummily.
*It's rude not to answer a question,* Toothless said in a sing-song voice.
"You can be really annoying when you feel like it." Hiccup muttered.
*But you love me anyway,* the dragon chirped. Hiccup glanced at his mother, who was watching them with fond amusement.
Toothless landed on Hiccup's shoulder and stared into Hiccup's eyes when he turned his head. *Talk. You've both been very clever with your answers. Just admit it already.*
Hiccup looked at his mother, who now had her brow furrowed and an uncertain frown on her face, then back at Toothless, who wore an unrelenting expression. He looked around and saw they had arrived at the beach, and there was no one else around. "Fine. Mom, I know you speak Dragonese, and I speak it too."
Valhallarama's eyes widened and she froze for a moment. "What are you talking about?" she said, her eyes darting back and forth between Hiccup, Toothless, and Cloudjumper.
The Stormcutter landed on the beach. *I only found out last night, Valka. I told them you speak it. You can speak freely,* he said soothingly.
Valhallarama gave a nod and turned to her son. "Truly? You speak it? For how long?"
"I've been studying dragons for the past few years, I guess," Hiccup said. "It's weird that I didn't know until Cloudjumper told me."
*I suspect Newtsbreath and Hookfang had fun keeping it a secret," Cloudjumper noted.
Valhallarama took Hiccup's face in her hands, her eyes searching it in astonishment for a moment before she let out a joy-filled laugh, pulling him into a hug. "All this time, you took after me!"
*Well, he sure didn't seem to take after the Chief,* Toothless snorted.
Valhallarama ignored the dragon and pulled Hiccup down to sit next to her on the nearest bit of driftwood. "How did you learn it? How exactly have you been training Toothless? What other dragons have you spoken to? Tell me everything."
"Er…" Hiccup's head was still spinning a little, but he managed to answer. He began slowly, but words were soon spilling out of his mouth, telling his mother about dragon-watching, imitating the sounds they made until he could understand them, studying the language, and he talked about Toothless, how he had found him in the cave, how he had been named, how the first few days had gone, visiting Wild Dragon Cliff, fishing, and everything leading up to the conversation with Cloudjumper.
Toothless perched on the log next to his Viking and frequently interrupted to add his input. When Hiccup had reached the end of his tale, his mother had a smile on her face.
"So, um, do you think I've been doing the right thing?" Hiccup asked, glancing at her.
"Hiccup, I couldn't be more proud. You're making a difference, one dragon at a time."
*I don't know where I would be if you decided to yell at me like a proper Viking,* Toothless crooned and nudged him.
*If I could even scare you with yelling in the first place, you would have put on your innocent face and been perfectly obedient until the first raid came around, then when you were determined to be too docile to lock up you would have escaped the moment the door opened.*
Toothless laughed. *Yes. But then I would have found out about my mother, all the other mother dragons and dragons my age would have left the cliffs, and I would be left to the mercy of the new Shortwings fighting each other for dominance.*
*True,* Hiccup said with a nod.
*I don't think anything anyone could have done would have scared Toothless into respecting them. He's too strong-willed,* Valka said, and scratched the dragon under the chin.
*I don't know, Dad's yelling is pretty impressive,* Hiccup said.
*Oh, maybe he could have scared him into submission, but Toothless would have found a way to escape.*
*I guess you would have,* Hiccup agreed.
*No Viking will take my freedom without a fight,* Toothless pushed out his chest and lifted his head, but the effect was a bit diminished by his purring as Valka continued to scratch under his chin.
*Admirable. I'm afraid I wasn't so self-assured when I was taken from the caves,* Cloudjumper said.
*You? Shy and vulnerable?* Toothless said.
*Believe it or not, he was,* Valhallarama said. *Let me tell you how I came to speak Dragonese…* And so she began her tale.
*As you can imagine, I was never very Viking-like. Much like you. But I wanted to prove myself, to be more than just a housewife, and so I joined the initiation program with my friends. When I saw Cloudjumper, I had a feeling, as if this was the dragon I was meant to have. In reality, I suspect I was taken in by the lack of massive teeth jutting out haphazardly from his jaw.*
Hiccup snickered, recalling his similar decision in choosing Meatlug.
*When the others saw I had a Stormcutter, they were all quite impressed. And when he woke up, I tried yelling at him. He was a little afraid, but not truly intimidated. My mother yelling at him was much more effective. My father, on the other hand, was more gentle, sometimes giving him fish and meat, and he was a little less timid around him, yet not aggressive. I kept thinking about this, and I watched him when he thought I wasn't looking. I saw him play with the other dragons, and listened, and realized that if I tried hard enough, I could learn it and maybe he would listen to me that way. But I wouldn't get very far if he wasn't willing to help me, and I couldn't ask my mother to yell at him for that. So I tried being kind to him, and being shy as he was, he responded. Working together, I managed to learn Dragonese, though I wasn't fluent until a year after the Initiation Test.*
*What did your friends think?* Hiccup asked.
*I never told them. I suggested being kind once, but they laughed at me. They said only yelling could control dragons, there was no way anything else could tame the likes of Stoick's Nightmare.*
*Did your dad know?* Hiccup wondered. *He's the one who suggested I try to come up with an alternative training method.*
*He did, did he?* Valka said. *He thought I should do the same. But I wasn't much of a warrior, and not the daughter of anyone of particularly high rank. It wouldn't have gone well. And I didn't think anyone could change.*
*What about now?* Toothless asked.
*I still doubt it, unless we have something that would really convince people to open their eyes and see another perspective. Hooligans are a stubborn lot.*
*Positively pig-headed,* Cloudjumper put in.
The four were silent, pondering as the waves crashed and the seagulls gave taunting cries.
*How about this,* Hiccup said slowly. *We'd need to get Meatlug and Fishlegs in on it. But why don't we use our small sizes to our advantage?*
*How so?* asked Cloudjumper.
*Everyone- except father- thinks that Toothless is rather small and about as unimpressive as a Shortwing can get. But they haven't seen his wingspan, or seen him fly.*
Toothless chuckled to himself. *It'll be funny to see all their jaws drop.*
Hiccup nodded. *Yeah, so if you do the big reveal on Thor'sday Thursday, make yourself look as scary as possible, show off a bunch, and catch the most fish…*
*If you win the award for Most Promising Dragon, they might just listen to what you have to say!* Valhallarama was thrilled. *And perhaps if we can ease Stoick into the idea first…*
*I'll probably get exiled if they find out I speak Dragonese, though,* Hiccup said.
His mother smiled. *No, I managed to convince Stoick to change the law… Just in case someone happened to learn it and could eavesdrop on the dragons' plans for the raids, of course.*
*Oh, good,* Hiccup sighed in relief.
*You didn't think I wouldn't leave myself a way out if I was discovered, did you?* she gently teased.
*Fishlegs and Meatlug can help too,* Toothless said. *Fishlegs doesn't speak Dragonese, but he can still join us.*
Cloudjumper nodded at that. *If Meatlug is obedient, catches a respectable amount of fish, and looks fierce enough, then people might realize it is possible to train a dragon without yelling and intimidating even without learning a new language.*
*Fishlegs is pretty terrible at intimidation,* Toothless chirped.
Valka clasped her hands together. *Wonderful! Toothless, we'll have to train you a bit, make sure you can be as impressive as possible. Cloudjumper can help you with flying technique- you do have similar wing shapes and both have tailfins of a sort.*
*You think… you think we can do this? We can convince people to train dragons differently?*
*It's the best chance we've ever had. And if all goes well, the dragons will see what is going on, and that will be the end of the raids. No more fighting, no more deaths or flamed houses, just peace, and teamwork.*
Valka looked out over the ocean, the rising sun reflecting off her eyes, and a serene smile on her face. When Hiccup thought about it, he had to smile too.
A/N: Thank you all! What did you like? What could be done better? What is your name? What is your quest? What is your favorite color?
