The next day started as a plain one, like many of it's predecessors. But it quickly evolved and escalated into something quite worthy of our attention.

As we all know, Septimus, or 'Sep for short, is a rather curious lad. As I have described before, he spends his days away from his infuriating sister and his bossy brother by exiling himself to the woods surrounding the little clearing. And although the three Romans all have the same blood running through their veins and love each other very much, they remain siblings. That means many, many arguments and disagreements and simply getting on each-other's nerves on an all-too-regular basis.

Hence, I can assure you that eleven year-old Septimus' temporary yet daily hermitages are all well justified. The young child finds a strange sense of awe and peace of mind when performing his exploratory occupations, much like our slightly older Hiccup, who needs a daily dose of flying as much as any dragon. And I fear, that much like any dragon, if Hiccup is to remain ground-bound for an extended period of time against his will, he will loose what little mental stability he possesses.

But I'm afraid we are straying far from the subject, I tend to get distracted. My apologies.

As I was saying : This day started quite casually, but quickly flew up to the top rankings of significance with five simple words.

" DRAGOOON ! IN THE FOREST ! " (1)

Septimus was frantically sprinting from the tree-line into the clearing with a mask of terror clouding his face. Hiccup, Marcus and Lucia rushed out, worried. They had been peacefully preparing supper while talking about the geography of the Barbaric Archipelago when they heard the little boy's cries and they rushed out to meet him.

Marcus, who led the charge towards the little Roman, stopped and kneeled down before his younger brother to meet his level, clutching his shoulders as if he would be swept away by the wind.

" What ?! What happened Sep ?! "

" Is he all right ? " Asked Lu, who was standing besides Hiccup, they had finally caught up with Marcus and the traumatized boy.

He was in shock and in tears, his speech was barely distinguishable and his mind was rocked and shaken like never before." I-I...I saw it...S-sleeping by a pond...I-I've never been so scared...I r-ran and-..."

" Sh-Sh-Sh-Sh-Sh-Ssssshhhhhh..." Reassured Marcus, running a reassuring hand through Septimus' hair.

Hiccup ran back to the house to equip his armour. He and Toothless had encountered a wild dragon before, and they were unlucky. He swore they would never repeat the same mistake ever again, he was taking no chances.


" There he is ! " Whispered Marcus, pointing at a sleeping blue figure by a small pond. Both he, Lucia, Hiccup and Toothless were hidden behind the considerably large bush. Their meagre concealment would have been utterly useless had the blue nadder not been completely asleep.

The pine trees around them swayed peacefully in the afternoon breeze, shielding them from the bright sun that floated high above them, shining down powerful rays of spring light. All was quiet, nothing could be heard but the trees.

" What now ? " Asked Lucia.

" Wait here. Don't make any sudden moves " Whispered Hiccup before fitting on his helmet and getting up from the bush. He walked slowly towards the blue dragon, who was curled up peacefully and snoring loudly. Hiccup clicked his tongue so as to wake up the nadder.

The dragon did indeed wake up, but unfortunately in a rather startled manner. The poor nadder jumped with a squawk and his tail tail tensed, four spikes shot towards Hiccup's general direction. Thankfully, none really hit the boy, although one did nearly miss and skim the helmet just above his temple. Toothless' heart skipped a beat and he flinched when he saw that spike ricochet against his beloved human's head. The night fury knew how fragile humans were, and he was thankful Hiccup wore the helmet whenever it was needed. But he didn't take action, that would ruin any chances of gaining that nadder's trust.

In the nadder's defence, he was totally taken by surprise. He was a naturally jittery dragon who had nervousness and hyperactivity issues, indeed, Hiccup had awoken him in one of his rare moments of peaceful sleep. The spikes were shot out of reflex, defence mechanisms took over regardless of the nadder's conscious will, which was also the reason for the poor aim. This nadder, was an excellent shot when concentrated, and took great pride of his (marksman) marksdragon skills. Believe me when I say that this dragon, though unnaturally twitchy, was absolute charmer amongst the females of his species.

So, the blue dragon was quickly on his feet and backing off, terrified. Hiccup, was trying to regain his balance, for the ricochetting spike had thrown his head to one side and caused him to loose his footing. He recovered his balance and took in a deep breath before staring straight at the dragon through the helmet.

The nadder stared back, unsure why this human hadn't simply killed him in his sleep.

Marcus and Lucia observed the scene unfolding before them with wide eyes, hanging mouths and held in breaths. They were too terrified to intervene, yet they couldn't believe this could possibly end well. But, to their even greater surprise. Hiccup took a step closer.

The nadder on the other hand, took a step back in response.

Hiccup reached up to slowly take off his helmet. He knew there was no possible way to gain trust by simply extending a hand. The hand was a symbol, a gesture of great and powerful meaning, it was the most important turning point. But it wasn't the indicator of trust, no, the trust was in the eyes. For the eyes are the window of the soul.

When he himself was pinned to that rock when he met Toothless, their eyes locked, and that's when both saw each other's fear, trust, meaning, longing, everything. Including the will to make a leap of faith and trust one an other with the power to kill, but choose to love.

And so the helmet was removed and dropped to the floor with a soft 'Thunk' .

The boy's green eyes met with the dragon's yellow eyes, the irises contracted and he cocked his head. They stared, traded information through silent communication, they meant things that cannot be written, cannot be said, cannot be worded. In those two seconds of connectivity the dragon's world was flipped upside down as it had been for Toothless and Hiccup on their first time. The dragon saw in the bright emerald green eyes of that human, trust, hope, change. And a will for peace.

Hiccup's hand slowly raised itself as he took a step forward. The dragon, stood his ground.

The un-gloved hand drew closer and closer as the nadder solemnly tilted his head forward, presenting his forehead. And then, they touched, and what was before mere hope for the dragon became reality. He met a human, and they refused to murder each-other.

After an eternal three seconds, the pair separated and stood before each other, still staring. Hiccup's lips twitched into a smile and the dragon answered with a low squawk. Before long, Toothless came out from behind the bush followed by the two hesitant Romans.

The nadder flinched, but did not move, for Hiccup held up a hand meaning 'Stay calm'. But the nadder remained nervous, for not only was he seeing two more peaceful humans following another dragon, but that dragon in question was a night fury. The most powerful and rare type of dragon in existence ( aside from alphas ).

But the nadder was prideful and swallowed his fears and stood his ground for the sake of something better. Indeed, within the first seconds of the contact with Hiccup, an idea sprouted from the back of the nadder's mind :

Maybe, just maybe, he didn't have to live as a lone wanderer. He could be part of something bigger, part of a family, have a cause.

I personally like to believe all intelligent beings need a cause, even if it is just to have fun and enjoy life. this nadder had been looking for such a thing for a long time, and now, there was a glimmer of hope that maybe he could find just that. That, is what motivated the blue dragon to follow the group back to the clearing.

In fact it revolved around one thing, as it had for Toothless and Hiccup long ago. Hope.


When they did eventually get back to the clearing, the Romans were staying far from the unfamiliar nadder. Septimus, came out of the the house and nearly died of terror when he saw the dragon, he was taken into a reassuring embrace by his sister as Hiccup ordered Marcus to fetch some fish from inside the house.

He did so and when he walked outside again with the fish in his hands the nadder's eyes narrowed and locked onto the food. Wild, or rather, all dragons aren't necessarily good fishers, Toothless is, but this jittery dragon unfortunately wasn't.

" Bring it to him " Suggested Hiccup.

Marcus, stopped dead in his already hesitant tracks. " What ?! "

" Feed him. He'll appreciate it, I'm sure."

Marcus stared at Hiccup, then to the nadder, then back to Hiccup. He gulped loudly and swallowed his fear for the sake of his pride and neared closer to the blue nadder. The dragon, understood the boy's intention, and quickly shot forward and snatched the fish from his trembling hands.

Septimus let out a yelp of fear for his brother, but it was mis-founded. For after that, the dragon merely stood there, fidgeting and shifting weight sporadically from one foot to another. Hiccup, silently motioned an open palm to the other teenager who nodded slowly and hesitantly. Despite his fear, Marcus nevertheless rose his shaking hand and put it up to the nadder's forehead, who had tilted his head in the same manner he did for Hiccup.

Marcus exhaled a nervous laugh accompanied with a smile. He was doing it, he couldn't quite believe it. His rational mind was screaming at him to wake up and realize that he was delusional, stuck, somewhere in that Jupiter-damned boat stranded in the middle of the sea. But he knew it was all real, it felt all too real :

The nadder's pulse transmitting to his fingers.

His warm scales.

The deep purr of acknowledgement emanating from his chest.

And the intelligence, trust, and hope, contained in those yellow eyes.

The Roman's surreal train of thought was interrupted by Hiccup's suggestion. " You should name him"

Both the Roman and the dragon turned towards Hiccup at once, although only one understood. " N-Name him ? "

" Yeah...I mean, he's probably gonna stick around for a while...So...Might as well name him."

" Ok..." Said Marcus, slowly nodding and staring back into the nadder's eyes, who in turn stared back, utterly confused. " ...Jitters..."

" Jitters ? " Asked Lu from several steps back, she wasn't very impressed by the name, that much was clear in her tone.

Hiccup rubbed the scratch in his now deformed helmet." How accurate."

Marcus laughed. And Hiccup walked closer to the pair, and addressed the dragon. " Look...I know you don't understand Norse... yet...But I'm Hiccup." He said, gesturing into his own chest. " This is Marcus, Lucia, Septimus and Toothless" He gestured to every one of them and Toothless gave a small introductory bow when his name was uttered. At this point, Hiccup wondered if Toothless was being courteous, or simply full of himself as usual. " And you..." Hiccup continued, pointing a finger towards the dragon's chest. "...We will call you Jitters."

The dragon answered with a short approving squawk and a celebratory wing beat


Hence, the first ever wild dragon joined the Drekians, though hyperactive, nervous and infuriatingly fidgety. Jitters, was a warm-hearted dragon, who was more than thrilled that his lone wanderer days were over. And although his own species would disapprove of his new-found family, he didn't care. After all, even the mighty night-fury was there with him.


(1) " TROOOLL ! IN THE DUNGEON ! " ( Harry Potter )

TADAAAA ! Another chapter, not sure how good it is but it gets the story moving on. Next chapter will be recapitulation and detailed description of the following events, not a direct retelling, otherwise it'd get impossibly repetitive.

I hope you enjoyed. Don't forget to tell me what you think.

Rant Over !