"So, see you later." Toothless stood and stretched, turning toward the door as if he were going to leave.

"No, wait!"

His back turned to the cell, the Alpha smiled with satisfaction.

Cinder hadn't meant to speak. But he couldn't let Toothless leave. Somehow, he had to get out of this cell. If that meant talking, so be it.

Toothless watched the young male struggle with his thoughts. "What is it?"

For a moment, there was no response. Then, the small Night Fury spoke up.

"I… my name is Cinder." A good start, Toothless thought, mildly amused.

"Aren't you hungry, Cinder?"

Cinder glanced at the fish, their faces blank. "Um… no?" But even as he spoke, his stomach growled loudly.

Toothless cocked his head. "I didn't poison them."

"That's not… I don't… I know," Cinder muttered.

"Then why don't you eat?"

The small dragon mumbled something that Toothless couldn't make out.

"What was that?"

Cinder cleared his throat, purposely not looking at Toothless. "I… I don't like their faces." He clamped his jaws shut, embarrassed that he had admitted that he was a coward so quickly.

Toothless was too surprised by the statement to laugh. "What do you mean?"

"Well," the young Night Fury said, sounding exasperated. "They're all dead, someone killed them and they died and their stupid faces are all empty because they're dead."

"So…" Toothless said slowly, "you don't like fish?"

"That's not it! They taste great. I just can't… with the faces… you know?"

Silently Toothless considered this. A dragon who doesn't like killing his prey. Well, stranger things had happened. For example: he, a Night Fury, had let a strange Viking, the spawn of his sworn enemies, train and ride him, and he now risked his life regularly to make sure said Viking didn't get himself killed. So he wasn't really in a position to judge the idiosyncrasies of other dragons.

Maybe he should decapitate them for Cinder. Wait… what?

"How about this," Toothless said. "I'll take the heads off of those fish for you if you answer a few questions for me.

Cinder's stomach growled again, so he couldn't really say no. "… okay."

"Move them over here. Okay," Toothless lay back down on the floor, taking one claw and beginning his task. "How old are you, Cinder?"

Purposely not looking at the fish, Cinder puffed up and replied, "I'm nine and three-quarters."

"So you're almost all grown up." Truth be told, Cinder was a little small for his age, but Toothless had a feeling that the young dragon more than made up for it with attitude. "Where are you from?"

Cinder pondered. "I'm not completely sure. I followed Flame here from the island. It's a day's flight away from the mainland."

Mainland? Toothless remembered the map Valka had drawn in the snow about a year ago. Is that where all the Night Furies were?

Calming his thoughts, Toothless continued his interview. "Why did Flame bring you here?" He wanted to hear his suspicions confirmed by the young Night Fury.

"I was supposed to be a distraction, while Flame completed his part of the mission."

"And what was Flame's mission?" Toothless tossed a few headless fish back in the cell, and Cinder snatched one up, biting it in half.

Chewing, he responded with his mouth full. "I dunno."

That didn't completely surprise Toothless, but he had just wanted to make sure. "Are there no other Night Furies old enough to have come with Flame to be the distraction?"

"Oh, there are plenty," Cinder scoffed. "But Brann sent me, as a punishment."

"Why was he punishing you?"

"Because Ash- because he found out about the face thing."

What? Toothless hid his shock. Yes, Cinder's dislike for death was a little unusual, but hardly something worth punishing. "Did Ash tell Brann about it?"

"Yes… no… she didn't mean to!" Cinder was getting upset, but Toothless wasn't sure how to calm him down.

"Who is Ash?"

Cinder felt like there was a gaping hole in his chest. The pain he had felt seeing Ash after Brann had gotten to her welled up anew, and he squeezed his eyes shut tight.

"Cinder?"

"She's my sister." Cinder whispered.

"Where is she?"

"Brann has her."

"Is she alright?"

Cinder swallowed, barely able to say the words. "No… Brann broke her wings so she can't get away."

Toothless had never heard of anything so barbaric.

"How old is Ash?" he asked, afraid to hear the answer.

"She's only five," Cinder whispered miserably.

"Where are your parents?"

"They were captured and killed by humans a few years ago."

Oh. Toothless immediately felt overwhelmingly sorry for the young dragon. No parents, an unquestionably evil clan leader… there was a lot resting on Cinder's shoulders. And speaking of an unquestionably evil dragon… Flame had said that this Brann was Lightning's mate. Toothless had to stop himself from growling. Not if I have anything to do with it.

Looking out the window, he realized with a start that the sun had almost set. He hated to leave Cinder alone, but he didn't have much of a choice. "Cinder?"

"Yes?" the young dragon replied miserably.

"I have to go, but I'll be back tomorrow. I promise," he said firmly.

"Okay…" the small Night Fury tucked his face into his paws. Not wanting to disturb him, Toothless made a mental note to remove the ropes from Cinder's wings when he returned. Silently, he got to his feet and slipped out the door.

He stopped short when he saw the crowd of dragons before him. "What are you all doing out here?"

Embarrassed at having been caught eavesdropping, most of them immediately backed away and disappeared into the village. A few, though, stuck around. "We were just listening, Alpha."

Toothless supposed he couldn't be upset about that. But he definitely was not in the mood to deal with them right now. "Well, now there's nothing more to hear." When none of them moved, he shooed them. "So go away!"

Grudgingly, they flew off, leaving Toothless shaking his head on the steps of the jail.

Now, to find Lightning.

SHOUTOUT to my awesome reviewers and to The Muffin of Rage, because that username makes me unreasonably happy.