There was fishy breath on his face and a dark shadow lay over him. The second he opened his eyes a rough tongue licked the side of his face. Even though he was waking up in an unfamiliar place, waking up to Toothless' face made it feel like home. "Glad to see you're feeling better," he said, scratching Toothless' chin. "Now get off me so I can get up."
Getting dressed had never posed such a quandary before. On one hand, he didn't want to offend his hosts by not wearing what they'd provided for him; on the other, he didn't want to offend them by having the garment slip off and expose him, with his luck in front of the whole castle. He figured they'd prefer his clothes to remain on his body in public, so he dug out his cleanest things and splashed water on his face. Toothless followed at his heels as he headed down the stairs.
The king and one of his sons sat at the table—rather, the king sat, and his son stood on a chair, stabbing for a piece of meat with a small knife. Hiccup stood at the foot of the stairs until Fergus caught sight of him and waved a huge hand toward the table. He took the chair at Fergus' right hand, opposite the triplet. At his side, Toothless rose on his haunches to see what food was on the table. Hiccup chuckled awkwardly and leaned on his head to push him down, but Fergus was looking at the wounds on the dragon's back. He asked a word, then remembered himself and snarled, one hand forming a claw.
"Yeah, the bear," Hiccup said, nodding. Fergus nodded too, swinging his wooden leg onto the tabletop and swiping at it with his clawed hand. He pointed to Hiccup's leg under the table, eager curiosity on his face. Fergus wanted the story—Hiccup was growing to realize the king loved stories. There was no way he'd be able to tell the tale of the fight against the Red Death with just gestures, though. After a moment of thought he held up a finger. "One minute," he said, and raced up the stairs.
He came back down with his sketchbook and dragged his chair closer to Fergus', nudging Toothless out of the way. He flipped to a blank page and tried his best to illustrate the fight, the chase and the fiery fall to earth; it was a long process, during which the other boys appeared, one of them draping himself over Toothless' head for a better view. At the end of the story Fergus looked to be all but overflowing with questions. He also looked at Hiccup with a bit more respect.
After he'd had a chance to eat something, Fergus led them out into the courtyard. Hiccup spent the rest of the day with the men of the family, not once seeing Merida or Elinor; he took a tour of the buildings, saw the view of the lake and the forests from the highest tower, went down to the lake's edge to let Toothless fish, even reluctantly joined the boys' sword practice. After that particular exercise, he'd be covered with bruises in the next few days. To give him a respite Toothless allowed the boys to climb on him and even rose into the air briefly before a spasm of pain in his wing forced him to land. The triplets tumbled off, grinning and cheering wildly. By the time they all sat to dinner, Merida smiling next to him, Hiccup felt he'd bonded with Fergus.
The next morning they walked down the stairs to an uproar in the great hall. Servants were sweeping and scrubbing the floor; others carried in benches or put new candles in the holders or rushed into the kitchen with water and bushels of food.
"What's going on?" Hiccup asked Merida, where she sat out of the way of the bustle with Elinor and the boys. Merida handed him a plate of breakfast and he sat to eat.
Before she could answer, Elinor turned to her and asked something. They conferred for a second, after which Elinor looked at Hiccup. "Big eat," she said, spreading her arms wide, then set one hand on Merida's shoulder. A feast to celebrate the princess' return, then. When they were done eating Elinor shooed them all out of the hall so the preparations could carry on unimpeded.
Merida grabbed Hiccup's hand and dragged him from the hall, Toothless following them to a lean-to where Angus stood munching. She saddled him and then swung onto his back, holding a hand down to him. "I don't know if this is a good idea…" Merida rolled her eyes and shook her hand at him until he sighed and took it, hauling himself up with much less ease. He didn't know what to do with his hands, putting them on his knees; then Angus wheeled and galloped for the gate, and he threw his arms around her waist rather than fall off. When he dared to glance over his shoulder, Toothless was flapping from the ramparts to the top of the highest tower.
Riding Angus was nothing like riding Toothless. On Toothless' back they were far above the ground; on Angus', the ground was very much a part of the process, and occasionally a painful one at that. They raced back into the forest that they'd so recently come out of, dodging trees and jumping over fallen logs. Hiccup was glad she was in front and knew when to duck; otherwise he'd certainly have been knocked off by a branch to the face. Only when Angus' pace slowed to a trot did Hiccup loosen his grip on Merida.
It was nice, being in the woods with her again. Especially now that they didn't have to worry about making it to DunBroch alive. The forest around them seemed friendlier, green light shining on them and the blue sky above. He tipped his head up to enjoy the warmth on his face, and then leaned too far backward and had to wheel his arms to keep from falling off Angus' back. He looped them loosely around her again, feeling a laugh ripple through her. "Maybe I'll keep holding on. Just to be on the safe side," he said. She looked back at him with a smirk, the sunlight golden on her profile; then she turned back, but for the briefest second he felt her hand rest on his.
The moment she dismounted from Angus back at the castle, Merida was caught by one of the women, who shook her finger sternly at Hiccup. Merida's laugh rang through the courtyard as she was dragged off. Hiccup wandered into the great hall, hoping to find his way back up to the tower where Toothless had been. As he passed through the hall, a group of men were hanging a tapestry of the royal family over their thrones; it had obviously been torn at some point and clumsily repaired. Already he knew that Queen Elinor wouldn't allow something to be displayed in that state unless it had some meaning. Maybe he'd be able to hear the story somehow.
Eventually he pushed open the doors and looked out into the open air. Toothless raised his head as Hiccup stepped out onto the walkway that ringed the tower. "Hey, bud. How are you feeling?" Toothless flicked his tongue out. The scratches on his wing were starting to scab; the other cuts were clean and dry and beginning to heal. "It all looks good. It's still hurting to fly, though, huh?" Toothless nodded, eyes closed. Hiccup stretched out his legs and Toothless rested his head on Hiccup's lap. He hoped their welcome wouldn't run out before Toothless healed.
He didn't want to think about having to go home. DunBroch was, so far, a fine adventure: not too easy, not too dangerous, with a noble purpose and worthy companions. It was understandable that he didn't want to give one of those companions up. She was strong, courageous, quick, stubborn, and proud, as good a hero as any in the old tales. That must have been why he didn't want to make the journey back without her: they complemented each other. When he thought (or overthought), she acted. While he looked for a safe escape route, she armed herself to defend them. They worked well together—they'd been able to communicate pretty well without knowing each others' language. She understood him, somehow; not just what he meant when he tried to say something, but what he was. She was a friend. That was why he didn't want to go away from her. Right? Friends didn't like to be so far away from each other for the rest of their lives. That was why his stomach felt hollow when he imagined not just the journey home, but all the days that would come after it, bleak without the blaze of her to light up the days. As he thought it, he knew that he hadn't felt this way about any of his friends, not Astrid, not even Fishlegs, when he left Berk. Even if he had been about to leave them forever, he wouldn't feel this…empty.
He shifted uncomfortably against the stone of the tower at his back. She was just different, he told himself. He'd grown up in Berk and had known everyone there since either he'd been born or they had, and she'd been something new and different, a person he didn't know. She was a novelty, like the dragons had been: exciting because he'd never seen them before, because they were a puzzle and a challenge to liven things up. Eventually, when he got used to her, she'd fade into the background. He might even get tired of her. Toothless snapped at a fly buzzing around his head, and a voice in Hiccup's said, You haven't gotten tired of the dragons yet. You love Toothless even more now than you did when you first found him. She's no different from the dragons. Who's to say you won't like her even more in the future than you do now? Do you want to spend the rest of your life wishing for something you can't have?