"Why are you and the other dragons here?" Fishlegs asked, looking at Evergreen. "Is something wrong? You all tend to avoid the cove completely unless there is a problem."
[We heard Alpha's call.]
Fishlegs tilted his head and glanced between Hiccup and the dragon. He had heard of the call and the roar from his lessons with the Elders. The lessons, though involved and detail oriented, served to let Fishlegs know the history the nest dragons knew. Training with the elders of the Changewing nest gave Fishlegs the history they knew. Sadly, they did not have enough time with the elders of Toothless' to learn much and Toothless' aunt's version of history had been skewed by her bitterness. What Fishlegs had been able to learn from all of them taught him how an alpha bond worked and the difference between an alpha's roar and an alpha's call.
The Elders, apparently, had failed to mention that Hiccup's call was becoming more powerful. Fishlegs hoped that was more they elders were not used to humans being unable to hear said call than an intentional omission. Before Toothless' aunt, Fishlegs would have never doubted. After, he worried and he knew he should speak to Lorekeeper and the other elders but he did not want to disappoint them or hurt their feelings.
His gaze fell back on Hiccup as the teen shifted slightly. Astrid had told Fishlegs that if she had an issue she needed someone's opinion on she went to Hiccup. She never gave details and Fishlegs would never pry, but she did say Hiccup aided her many times over things she faced. Fishlegs knew had to tell someone of this worry, before it caused him to explode. He vowed to find Hiccup later and ask for some private counsel. He had a moment to wonder what that would cause his friend and alpha to feel since it had not been that long ago that no one asked Hiccup's opinion on anything.
"It has gotten stronger?" Old Wrinkly asked, pulling Fishlegs from his thoughts.
Fishlegs saw Hiccup's brow furrow and Astrid's eyes narrow. Toothless, Stormfly, and Moondust stared at the original rider with varying looks. Toothless appeared thoughtful. Stormfly's eyes were slitted and her crown rattled slightly. Moondust not only had her eyes narrowed, her upper lip was curl just enough to show the tips of her top teeth.
Old Wrinkly sighed. "I had the same ability when Link rested in my soul," he said. "My nest's dragons often spoke of it and how strong it got before Link chose to move on."
Fishlegs inwardly groaned at the look of horror that crossed Hiccup's face. He knew exactly what that comment did to his friend and alpha. He wished Old Wrinkly had not mention it at all, even though Fishlegs knew it had to be said.
Old Wrinkly pointed his finger at Hiccup. "Don't you dare, my so many great grandson," the man said. "Link moving on was something I always knew would happen. He did say his offer was to aid me in stopping the fighting during the Days of Chaos. I honestly thought he would have gone onto his ancestors right after the last Tusked-king vowed to stop fighting and joined the peace treaty we fashioned with all the Leviathan size nest leaders."
"Leviathan?" Hiccup questioned, sounding as intrigued as Fishlegs felt.
After all who went to the Hatchery described the Bewilderbeast, Fishlegs had been racking his mind. They had to place it into a class so it could be recorded in the new Book of Dragons. Fishlegs just did not know if placing it in the Tidal class would benefit such a massive dragon. He had the same problem with the Red Death. Though the one Hiccup ordered killed had not been a dragon but a tyrant, Fishlegs knew there were probably others of said tyrant's kind out there. While he hoped and prayed those still followed Civility Laws, Fishlegs also knew it would dishonor everything he was and all he had learned if the species was not recorded alongside the others.
Bewilderbeast shared common traits with the Tidal class and the Red Death shared traits with the Stoker class but Fishlegs felt their sizes compared to the other dragons should factor in where they went. Even the Submaripper Hiccup promised to take him to later, looked like a vole next to a bear if one compared the sizes between the two.
The word Old Wrinkly intrigued him. Leviathan sounded big. It sounded as if it would do justice to those massive dragon species, even if the individuals Vikings have physically met did not give their species the same justice. Fishlegs did not lump Link in with the other two as no Viking could physically meet a dragon's soul. Well, no Viking except Hiccup and even he had to have help.
He made a mental note to ask Hiccup later, when he told him of his worry over the Elders ever acting like Toothless' aunt, if they could add Levaithan as a class until itself and move the Bewilderbeast, Red Death, and even the one Ringfire spoke of, the one she called a Land-sleeper, to the new class.
"Yes," Yngvar said, breaking into Fishlegs thoughts. "Bewilderbeasts and Foreverwings were given their names long before I was born and I'm technically a month older than him," he added and gestured towards Old Wrinkly, who snorted. "Also, the one you defeated, young Hiccup, was known by a different name back then but it was long and confusing to say-"
"Only to you, dear brother," Kaja said. "The rest of us had no issues with the name."
Yngvar snorted. "Who ever decided to let that mainlander name a dragon species anyways?"
Old Wrinkly rolled his eyes. "Has your old age caused you to forget so much? Said dragon species came from the volcanos of his homeland."
"What was the name?" Hiccup asked.
"Dragonus Gigantus Maximus," Old Wrinkly said.
Gyda and Shadowfire choked and had a small coughing fit. Everyone looked their way. Gyda waved her hand. Fishlegs heard Hiccup grunt and glanced back to find his friend staring at the mage with narrowed eyes. He heard Gyda sigh and turned back to find her pinching the bridge of her nose.
"Back home," she said, "a… version of your tales was written instead of shown in those images you saw. That written version had that name though it was called Seadragonus Gigantus Maximus. The written version also called it Sea-dragon for short. It was described as a rather cruel dragon that played with its food before it ate it."
Fishlegs blinked, noting she paused when she said the word version. That made him wonder what those future people did to the tales of this time to make her unsure what to call it. He frowned then.
"You said the humans took the name we decided to call that tyrant," he said. "Why would the written version make it a sea dragon if it lived in volcanoes?"
Gyda shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine on that one," she said. "I only know the written version came before the images you all saw so it could be said the ones who wrote the images switched things around from the written version. I couldn't tell you the exact reason though."
[Your time has strange humans,] Onyxwing muttered.
Gyda and Shadowfire snorted.
"Anyway," Yngvar said and everyone's attention returned to him, "I like Red Death better than that long, uncomfortable name."
"But it doesn't account for the other colors," Kaja stated.
"Other colors?" Hiccup asked. "There are other dragons like that fallen queen that just have different scale colors?"
"Yes," Brynja said. "Red, green, blue, and purple."
[So, we could potential meet a Blue Death?] Shadowfire asked and Fishlegs wondered why there was amusement in the dragon's tone.
Old Wrinkly sighed and shook his head. "Unfortunately, I highly doubt that. The fighting that happened during the Days of Chaos killed many of those massive dragons. I believe only a few actually survived the wars."
[Well, that's sad,] Shadowfire said. [I kinda hoped we would.]
"Dare I ask why?" Gyda asked, looking up at her son.
Something Fishlegs wondered as well. The Red Death was enough. Fishlegs worried what a blue colored one would do. Shadowfire snorting had Fishlegs looking up at the dragon.
[I would name it Blue Screen,] he said, causing his mother to groan and rub her head as if she was warding off a headache.
"Only you, my son. Only you."
Kirika: Howdy. And true. Still, I guess it is the questions that give birth to the stories we write and read, so, it's cool there are those in the HTTYD franchise.
NighshotShadowFury: No, I'm not. I am just explaining why this version of Astrid doesn't always hit him then kiss him more than she already has and more than she did in the TV shows and movies. Hehe, we'll get the differences and Gyda asking about that barrier as we go along.