Disclaimer: Dream Works and Cressida Cowell own the How to Train Your Dragon franchise.
My supposed mother was unfortunately, not at her den, giving me more time to dwell on the subject of my meeting her.
Feelings of uncertainty sank to the bottom of my heart. While my instincts told me that the female was indeed my mother from scent alone, the part of me that stopped and thought on things wondered if it was even possible. Why I would be able to recall anything from that far back was preposterous… for a human at least. Did my being a dragon allow me to pick out a memory like that?
I suppose it did not matter in the end; I needed to speak with the female both for both our sakes. Even I am not her child, she has been waiting here for far too long.
I guess it was not all too bad though, my best friend was certainly enjoying his new found freedom for just a while longer. "Look it me!" he hollered.
The other Night Fury zipped and darted around, flying circles around me like I had been some slow flying Gronckle with a stomach sickness. My newest friend attached my best friend's replacement tailfin following some directions I gave him a while back and he's been enjoying my gift since. At the very least, now he will never have reason to destroy what I gave him again.
I flashed him a grin. I hoped meeting the other female would work out as well.
My best friend then went and pulled off a weird stunt that effectively looked like he was gliding backwards and upside down at least for a short time. Oh how my best friend like to show off sometimes. I didn't even know a Night Fury could do such a thing and we certainly never tried it back when I steered him… at least not that I can recall.
My newest friend, the human, tapped me on the head a few times, making some sort of sound. I think he was astonished, but then again, this whole trip was a basically an endless spree of amazement for him whereas I spent a few days and got used to this stuff. I turned towards where he pointed.
The Alpha was below, lounging about in his usual resting spot, practically becoming another landmass connected to a tiny beach. He practically was, never so much as twitching his massive head as dozens of dragons perched atop his massive tusks. Even the Stormcutter was there along side… Oh, I felt so nervous seeing mother up there. What did I say? How did I introduce myself? Would she accept me?
Other, smaller dragons, the younglings, didn't seem to bother him either, essentially frolicking on the massive elder as if he was any other hillside. I will admit, I had no idea why he did that, other than just he allowed it. What were the elder's motives for such a thing? Did he desire companionship?
Massive eyes turned toward us, the dragon's massive wave rising from out of the sea. "You return. And not alone." As simple as a statement as it was, I suddenly felt very small with all of his attention right on me.
Other dragons noticed their master's attentions and diverted their gazes towards our direction. "A Night Fury returns?"
"The wounded flies! How can this be?"
"A human? Here?"
Their cries echoed their astonishment and surprise were not unexpected. They saw a dragon that had left their isolated and safe lands make a return, a dragon that had been thought to never fly again, and a human, a potential threat to our existence.
But what scared me the most were the looks on mother mother and the Stormcutter by her side. Their glares looked absolutely soul piercing, making me wonder if they both recognized my new friend for who he was; he was my old Alpha's servant after all.
Jumping off the large dragon's tusks, they leapt forward, my mother quickly dawning on her combat face and mounting atop the large dragon's back. The duo raced forward to us in a quick motion and I heard my human friend spout something, making a request to run. Seeing no other choice, I decided to drop to the surface, things were about to get complicated real fast and I needed to get the conversation on the ground in the first place.
The Stormcutter raced after me, going down in a swoop, planning to intercept, but my best friend got there first, tackling him in mid flight, but not hard enough to send them all flying.
"Stand aside!" snarled the Stormcutter, his massive wings beating to keep him in place just above the ground. "He is an enemy!"
"Not right now!" shouted the other Night Fury. "He was invited!"
"Invited!?" snarled the Stormcutter, landing He turned to me, an accusatory tone in his voice."By you? You have no right!"
The female got off of the large dragon and then spouted he angered cries towards my human friend, leveling her weapon forward with a threat.
He got off of me as well, setting forward, but behind my best friend. He held a paw up in the air, an awkward gesture and an awkward smile to compliment how I felt. I didn't want the conversation to get off like this.
Oh, I should have forced my new friend to be a dragon so things would be so much less tense if he was not human.
"We must talk!" I shouted, trying to muster up the courage. "He is here to talk!"
The Stormcutter snarled, leaning his body forward with the threat to strike. The Night Fury held firm. "Talk about what? He is a threat!"
"An end to conflict!" I said. "Please hear us!"
The Stormcutter glared and readied himself to strike. "No-"
"Let them speak!"
Everyone turned their heads towards the great Alpha, even mother, as if the sound alone transcended spoken word. The lesser dragons that stayed out of this conflict all got off of the great wyrm's massive tusks, as if a sacred, inviolable command was being brought up, well, all the dragons save the children who obeyed no one.
"Human is dangerous!" the Stormcutter argued, looking up at the massive maw. "Threat to security! More will follow!"
The giant dragon lowered his head, eyes focusing exclusively on us. "It is my will! They wish to speak! Let them!"
"Humans do not speak!"
"...They do..." I said offhandedly.
The Stormcutter looked at me incredulously. "More nonsense!"
"It is not!" argued the other Night Fury. He raised up his tail and showed him my shiny device. "My friend made this! He is human!"
The Stormcutter's brow narrowed once again, clearly disbelieving my friend's claims. To be fair, I have been rather insistent on the most bizarre and unheard of claims imaginable. Looking back, I probably wouldn't believe them either. "Prove it!"
I turned towards my human friend, hoping to glean his thoughts on the matter.
The two humans looked at each other, both appearing rather lost since they couldn't understand us. We must have all looked silly in their eyes, all raising our voices and having our bodies shift in displays of dominance and submission. I don't believe either of them understood the Alpha other than just a general understanding that he did not want want violence in his presence, but my mother still kept a close eye towards the human.
Unfortunately, my new friend was too preoccupied and unable to respond to me.
My best friend seemed to have made the decision for me however. His tail wagged a few times at the thought, clearly wishing that I showed myself for once. Giddy he shaked. "Will you?"
"I have to." I sighed. I really had no choice, especially since I knew I had to do it eventually. I picked at my retrains with my teeth, feeling I wouldn't need them for much longer.
My human friend turned to me and shouted in surprise. His brow furrowed into a confused state.
I bit at my restraints, trying to paw them off. If only I had human paws, this would all be easier. Trying to remove the hardened yak skin without damaging it was difficult, as my best friend tried to do once.
Mother noticed the sensation too and spoke something to the male.
He jolted back and then waved his arms a few times. I think he was trying to avoid blame, or maybe my mother accused him of something.
I let out a shrill cry, demanding the attention of my friend.
The human turned back to me and suddenly realized what I wanted him to do. He knelt down and undid the straps that held together my flying things as well as my false leg.
Mother's gaze stayed on the human, but her weapon was lowered. Maybe she realized that I came of my own volition now? I mean, certainly, I was not being held against my will if I all I had to do to display it was ask to have the things removed.
The other Night Fury meanwhile kept pounding his tail into the dirt, excitedly awaiting the human-me to return. The Stormcutter appeared to be skeptical, his eyes narrow into fine, yet dispassionate slits. And above them all was the Alpha Bewilderbeast, eyes as vast as the sun itself.
The bindings all came off one at a time, all fell slowly to the ground, unneeded until the journey home. My human friend took out something from them, heaps so cloth wrapped around something hard. I accepted the offering into my mouth, careful not to damage it.
The onlookers all looked at me curiously. I mean, this was strange behavior for a dragon.
"What are you doing?" wondered the Stormcutter.
My best friend answered for me. "A human thing!" he shaked. "Humans wears things!"
The Stormcutter only rolled his eyes, still not disbelieving things.
The humans in the group spoke among themselves, again with my mother asking questions but with my new friend fumbling to come up with answers.
Well, I was going to be adding far more questions by what I was about to do.
I turned my body around and headed straight for a nearby bush, someplace to hide. Human sensibilities of right and wrong were strange, but well, I was not going to show them myself until I was properly done.
Changing is a simple act, a decision that can happen if I wanted to assume human shape strong enough. I did not need to move, did not need to so much as breathe. I wanted to be human, and that was all that really mattered. Paws shifted into hands and feet, well, foot, wings retreated into my back. My tail rejoined the rest of my spine. It was so easy to think about, a near seamless change of one shape to another.
In my entirety, I was a dragon. I had the body of the dragon, the mind of a dragon. And I can just change that on a whim, discarding simple instinct for more complex reason. Concepts and ideas impossible for dragons returned to me all at once… the first of which was probably rather disgusting.
Eugh. I groaned and picked up my clothes and tried to wring them out. My clothes were covered in my own slobber. Just because I changed back to a dragon didn't mean that the things I did as a dragon reverted. I mean, I'm pretty sure my mouth normally had so much saliva, nor do I think it was ever this sticky.
Shaking my head, I decided it was best not to think about it, I had more pressing matters to attend to to. I strapped on my replacement leg since that was the most important thing; I didn't have three legs to stand on any more.
The humans behind spoke as I got myself dressed, now completely understandable, but in exchange, I could only hear Toothless and, well, the Stormcutter exchanging passive growls. "He'll be out any moment now. Just wait and see!" declared Eret.
I did not hear the female, mother making a reply, though I wondered if she was being skeptical of my latest friend. I mean, he is a dragon trapper by trade.
Oh, I hope that my mother would recognize me. I mean, Dad says she was separated from us when I ws babe. It's been years, way longer than I should have been able to remember. I think my being a dragon is the cause for that, especially since I really only had that inkling suspicion because of her scent being so vaguely familiar.
As I put my only foot into its boot, I silently prayed to Odin or whoever to take pity on me. There was no stalling it now, I know what needed to be done.
I stood out from the bush and then showed myself. I gulped and uttered the only words that I knew that could convey what I wanted. "Hey… Mom…"
The female stood still for a moment, her mask blocking all expression and her clothing obscuring everything else. But then the image of solidarity wavered as the rattle she held came crashing down. She edged forward and peeled off her mask, showing herself to me for the first time when I could truly appreciate it.
Her posture wavered,becoming more uneasy with every step forward, a if she was walking in some daze or trace. She only had this to say to me in a voice that sounded like it hadn't been used to talking for much: "... Hiccup…"
So, interesting thing, apparently infants, human infants have really good senses of smell and it was this detail I used to justify Hiccup able to sniff out Val from memory. If it helps you feel any better, magic is involved in messing up and restoring memories and dragon brains do work on slightly differently from humans.