A World Gives and Takes: Chapter 10
By morning both men nearly exhausted themselves playing fetch with the dragon. The beast grew more eager with each toss of the oar as though it spent a lifetime looking for someone with whom to play. During the intervals when they switch so the other could rest, Hiccup theorized the dragon got befriended by a sailing crew at sometime. When it head-butted their boat and pushed it around, it made an invitation to play. He thought the way they directed the boat seemed to satisfy the creature it found people with whom it could entertain itself. When morning light came, the dragon slipped below the surface and disappeared.
"I think it's nocturnal," Hiccup wearily stated as he lay on the floor.
Jack cleaned and pampered Biva while Hasna ate most of the last of the fish. Hiccup saved some for the boy and one other purpose. Then water got carefully rationed to the children, much to the impatience of the girl. Jack left Biva squirming on the floor while his diaper got rinsed in the ocean. The Viking examined his fishing gear.
"I think he… she is the reason why we haven't seen any other dragons since we got into the boat," Hiccup continued with his open pondering. "It was testing to see if the boat had people in it. Once we started steering, it knew if found people."
"Seems rather obvious now," Jack drawled while he twisted the length of diaper cloth to wring out the water.
"Now, yeah, but… did you ever hear Fishleg's hypothesis that some dragons are naturally disposed to friendliness? I think this might be proof."
"It's not proof. We don't know how or when it met other people or under what conditions. All we know is it doesn't look at us like food… yet."
The half-naked Viking frowned at the half-naked Earthling. The hot midworld conditions, even at night, made dispensing with garments a necessity. Hasna wore a wrap about her waist, but her upper torso also went unclothed. Biva dressed only in a diaper when it did not lay in the sun to dry, and at those times he traveled naked along the surface of the ocean. His nut-brown skin gleamed with the help of fish fat used to protect his skin. Jack finished laying out the diaper cloth across the back of the boat. He also fixed the craft on southern trajectory. Hiccup busied himself with fishing with the assistance of Hasna. Without understanding why, the Viking spoke non-stop to the girl. Jack knew and he decided to let the natural magic of mortals run its course.
Late in the afternoon Hiccup woke with a start. He threw his head in a wide arc in an seeming attempt to scan the entire horizon. When his eyes landed on Hasna sitting in the the bottom of the boat, in a shaded section, entertaining her brother, the man breathed a sigh of relief. Jack lay sprawled near the rear of the boat, one and one leg thrown over the bench, and purred a contented little snore. Hiccup stood and stretched.
"Hic-ah," Hasna said and smiled at him.
"Hasna," he rejoined in the warmest voice he could muster, and then smiled at her.
"Hic-ah, Beev evnu… sink-he," she told him.
"Aren't you the cleverest little girl?"
He hunkered down into a crouch before her and her brother who made a vain attempt to crawl from her lap. The smell of feces and urine met his nose. He waved his hand in front of his face.
"Stinky!"
Hasna laughed for a moment. After which she glanced down at her tog. Her face scrunched up.
"Sink-he. Beev sink-he vam," she rumbled with displeasure.
It took little effort to understand what occurred: in soiling himself as babes tended to do, Biva soiled his sister as well. Hiccup reached over the girl's shoulder and grabbed Jack's arm. He gave it a shake and Jack sat bolt upright.
"I never saw a hado'ih there," he burst as his eyes flickered.
"You're dreaming about Earth again, Jack," Hiccup intoned in a calm but firm voice.
Jack gazed around him in a rather bleery manner. He yawned. Then ran a hand through the tangle of hair gone wild on the top of his head.
"Give me a hand. We've got some washing to do."
"How long were we asleep?" Jack asked.
Hiccup looked at the sky and said: "Five hours at least."
"Gods, the children!"
The Earthling shot into a standing crouch.
"Took care of themselves. Well, Hasna kept Biva from falling out of the boat at the very least."
Jack visibly calmed. Hiccup reminded him they needed to launder the children's clothing. Hiccup unwrapped the boy. Jack snatched the tucked edge of Hasna's skirt. He made a motion with his finger indicating she needed to turn in a circle and gently pulled on the garment. Following a few false starts, Hasna got the gist. Seconds later she stood as naked as her brother. She glanced at the two men. Neither reacted. Jack leaned over and kissed her on the forehead. The men then went to work cleaning the garments.
Following a meal of fish and a few sips of water at sunset the boat rocked. Instead of eliciting screams and yells, tense expectation grip the passengers. They waited. Moments later the familiar outline of the dragon's head rose from the darkening waters. Hiccup stood and grabbed the oar. The creature did not paddle outward to await the throwing of the oar. Instead, it stretched out its long neck until the head hung over the inside of the boat. Then it opened its mouth. Several dark objects fell out and landed with dull thuds on the rearmost bench. Jack reached over and grabbed one. His face went slack in surprise.
"Jack?" Hiccup inquired with the name.
"It's… my gods, Hiccup, it's a coconut," Jack half-whispered.
The dragon nudged the boat with its head.
"Better throw the co… whatever it is," the Viking suggested.
The Guardian stood while the dragon rose up in the water. Years of playing with children, woodworking, and helping Hiccup in the smithy left him with more than enough strengthened sinew. He cocked his arm back and launched the coconut. It soared through the air. The dragon darted after it.
"Nice throw," Hiccup complimented the man, but Jack already bent down to pick up another of the fuzzy looking orbs.
"Hiccup, these are coconuts," he exclaimed for a second time, and monitored his husband's reaction. After a few seconds he added: "They grow on trees… on land!"
"What?" The Viking blurted and almost tripped over the middle bench as he tried to jump over it.
In the meanwhile Hasna made a grunting sound and pointed at the returning dragon. Hiccup picked up the third of the four objects the beast dropped into the boat. He turned as the dragon swam up to them and returned the coconut Jack threw. Hiccup hauled his arm back and let fly with with one in his hand. The dragon made a spray of water as it flopped backwards and began its pursuit. Hiccup returned his attention to his mate.
"Jack, what are these things?" The Hallan asked and held aloft the fourth object.
"The fruit of a palm tree. They grow in the tropics," Jack excitedly explained.
"And…?"
"And that means land is somewhere close."
"The dragon could've found them floating in the water," Hiccup challenged.
Jack started to shake his head: "One or two, sure, but not four. Plus it peeled the husks off. This dragon knows what coconuts are and where to find them."
Hiccup did not appear convinced.
"So you'd rather believe the dragon spent the entire day swimming around looking for free floating coconuts before coming back here?"
The sound of one of the hard, round object landing in the boat echoed around them. Hiccup turned, waved the coconut at the dragon – whose head followed the motion – before he threw it back out to sea as far as he could. The dragon raced after it.
"Hic-ah!" Hasna burbled in glee at the display.
"Jack, why…," Hiccup began to say, halted, and watched the dragon look for the coconut. "Because someone taught it play fetch with 'em. Once it knew we'd do it with the oars…"
"The dragon went looking for it's preferred toy," Jack interjected.
Night crept up from the western horizon as the eastern one turned a dull gray. Clouds obscured the early stars. Both men looked skyward as the dragon returned after finding its quarry. It tilted it's head so the coconut could roll off its teeth. Hiccup caught it before it could land on the floor of the boat. Hasna giggle. Biva yammered. The Viking wanted to see if he could test the Guardian's theory, but he did not share a common set of actions, commands, and gestures with the dragon. His mind drew a blank. He turned to Jack as the creatures head and neck wobbled back and forth due to the chop on the ocean.
"How would you ask it where it found this thing?" Hiccup asked his mate and then threw it ten yards out into the water.
"I don't know," Jack confessed, and then he felt a pang of loss as he thought of how easy it would be to get IceSpike to concentrate on an object and lead the way toward it.
Even in the dim light offered by the sliver of moon and the stars not covered by clouds Hiccup could see the expression on Jack's face. Interacting with a strange dragon likely reminded the man of his lost dragon. Fear tried to creep into Hiccup's mind that Toothless might also be forever lost to him, but he roughly shoved the notion aside. Jack also tried to sidestep the emotions that wanted to take over and tear him apart. Images of his beloved woolly howl tripped through his mind. As much as he wanted to give into the grief, his training as a Guardian came to the fore. Lives depended on finding out if the dragon could show them where it got the coconut. The beast rumbled at them.
"Okay, Slick," Jack said and cleared his throat once. He held the coconut in his left hand, raised his left arm, and let it bow ever so slightly to one side. Then he swayed a little. From there he pointed at the coconut and then moved his armed in a slow arc along the west. "Where'd this come from?"
The dragon swam backwards in preparation for the chase. Jack stepped toward the edge of the boat. He did not throw the fuzzy dark sphere. He instead repeated his actions. The dragon swam back to the boat. It studied Jack with one eye and seemed either confused or intrigued by the man's actions. Jack repeated the pantomime. The dragon swam back out into the water.
"He's doesn't know what you mean," Hiccup muttered.
"Just give me a few minutes to work this out," Jack rejoined. He waved for the aquatic beast to come back to boat, and, amazingly, it did. It's head towered over them while the Earthling carried out the performance again. "Where did you find this?"
The dragon head leaned in closer. A strong smell of fish wafted from its mouth. It turned it's head so one eye directly faced Jack. While obviously intelligent animals, no one ever quite discovered the extent of draconic intelligence despite Fishleg's assurances Meatlug understood everything he said. Jack did not bank on that guarantee since they did not deal with a hotburple at the moment. For a fourth time he performed his routine. He held the coconut above his head, swayed the arm holding it, and then point to it before pointing out to sea. The dragon clearly studied him.
"Where?" Jack begged with the word.
For half a minute the creature eyed him. It then twisted its head and faced in a south easterly direction. The dragon faced Jack again, and once more looked to the southeast. Jack sighed in relief.
"That direction," he said with more confidence than he felt as he nodded in the direction the dragon indicated.
"You honestly think that dragon just showed where it found the coco… nut?"
"Yep. Watch."
Jack used his body sign language to again asked the dragon where the coconut originated. For a third time the beast faced the southeast before returning its attention to the boat. The Guardian smiled.
"Good boy!" He said in a high-pitched voice. Then the threw the coconut as hard as he could toward the southeast.
The dragon dove into the water and tore after after it. The beast actually created a small wake. Jack turned to his husband. A small frown rested on the face dusted with freckles.
"I thought you believed in the intelligence of dragons… or is that just Toothless?" Jack inquired in flat manner.
Hiccup appeared as though his mate slapped him. He stood up straighter as the effrontery assailed him. In the near distance the water splashed as the dragon went in search of the coconut. Jack reached down and grabbed one lying on the floor. Although he did not possess a lot experience with the tropics, he could tell the coconut he held recently got de-husked. He lifted it to eye level.
"The dragon knows where this came from, and he's going to take us there," Jack said, his words brimmed with real confidence.
Hiccup raised his eyebrows.
"What other choice to do we have?"
The Viking pursed his lips as the reality of their situation asserted itself. Jack's plan, Hiccup thought, might come from desperation, but at least he found one. The head topped with russet hair, now streaked with lighter shades of red by the sun, bobbed in agreement. The Guardian faced the approaching dragon and waited. When it got near, Jack lifted his free hand and held it palm facing outward. Then he closed his eyes and tilted his head downward. The wait began. Twenty-two second later, and he counted, a wet muzzle pressed against his hand. Jack gently rubbed the slippery scales. He missed IceSpike more than ever.
"Good boy," He said in a low, pleased voice. His arm ratcheted backward and heaved the brown, round object out into the dark sea.
"You've gotten good at that," Hiccup mused aloud.
"Learned from the best."
Jack could just see Hiccup's cheeks turn a slightly darker shade in the final moments of twilight as night sailed overhead. Out in the water the dragon flounced around in search of the coconut. Then he heard it and realized he heard it before. A gentle thrum rippled in the air and he could feel it in the soles of his feet.
"This one uses some form of echo location," he said mostly to himself. "Sound waves in the water…"
"Travel father and faster," Hiccup concluded the phrase Jack taught him over a decade before.
Later in the evening when the Viking took his turn amusing their new friend, he also enacted the trust ritual. The dragon responded in seconds, but he knew it came because Jack made the first overtures. As they played with the beast, he grabbed a reluctant Hasna who watched the proceedings from the safety of the prow. She put up a struggle even when the man lifted her from the floor. Jack stood next to them and rubbed her back. In his other arm he held Biva, and the boy watched the goings-on.
"This is part of the world, Hasna," he said in a bubbly manner. "They looks scary, but… well, they only look that way."
For second time Hiccup held out his hand. Jack encouraged Hasna to do the same and tried to guide her arm. The dragon came in close and paused. The long slits of nostrils on the top of its wedge-shaped head opened and blew out small puffs of atomized water. It leaned in closer to Hiccup and the girl. Hasna made worried noises and squirmed in the strong grip of the man. Several heartbeats later the dragon pressed its nose against the offered hand. Hiccup gingerly patted it.
"See? Friend," he told the girl.
Jack stopped rubbing her back and raised his hand as well. The dragon appeared a touch confused, but immediately shifted the large noggin and accepted the greeting. Jack leaned forward. Two small hands reached out and touched the dragon. The large eye opened, and it became clear it looked at the boy. Seconds later it closed its eye again. Biva gained the trust of the beast.
"Biva is friends with… with… Neptune," Jack said and announced his chosen name for the creature.
"Neptune?" Hiccup asked. "What kind of name is that?"
"God of the seas from old Earth mythology."
"Oh, well… okay, then."
Jack chuckled. Then he returned his attention to the girl. Although she continued to resist, he took her hand in his. He slowly moved it forward until it looked as though she reached for the dragon. The creature reacted as expected. It moved toward her. Hasna made frightened coos. However, the dragon soon pressed its face into the two hands. Jack began to pet the snout with the girl's hand. The dragon warbled a liquid sound. Hasna stopped struggling, and soon her hand worked of its own accord. She stroked the slick, smooth hide of the animal.
"Neptune," he told her. "This is Neptune."
"Nepta?" Hasna asked with uncertainty.
"Sure, Nepta," Jack replied.
"Nicely done," Hiccup whispered.
Hasna swiveled her head, looked at him while continuing to pet the dragon, and said: "Nepta, Hic-ah! Nepta!"
"Yep, Nepta," he agreed.
It seemed the dragon got a new name. The dragon appeared to enjoy the experience as much as the people. A reasonable speculation on the part of the men assumed it once befriended a sailor and they became quite close. The creature seemed starved for attention, and the four people lavished it on the dragon. Nepta, the name by default since Hasna could only pronounce it like that, made sounds neither dragon rider ever heard. The chalked it up to the fact Nepta roamed the deep seas and, thus, got equipped with different vocal faculties. The five creatures stood admiring one another for almost an hour. Even Biva seemed captivated by the sea dragon.
"Now, how do we get Nepta to take us to the island?" Hiccup asked.
Although he possessed more knowledge about dragons, Hiccup differed to Jack in the hopes the sea dragon would lessen the impact of losing IceSpike if, indeed, the woolly howl died. He rubbed the side of Nepta's face, the scales felt exceptionally smooth like rocks polished by moving water, while he waited. Nepta burbled an amazing array of noises.
"Thinking about that, and I might have an idea. Might not work, but… here, Hasna, got stand over there," Jack said as he set the girl down and pointed to where he wanted her to stand.
"Nepta!" She yelled while reaching out her hands.
It seemed children the world over quickly lost their fear dragons when confronted with a friendly variety. Both Hiccup and Jack watched her in amazement over the rapid transformation. Nepta lowered his enormous head and gentled butted the girl in the chest. She laughed and hugged the noggin as much as she could.
"Now, if that was a skrill or a whispering death…" Hiccup began to say.
"Stop right there. I got my fill of skrill way back when, and I thought you did, too," Jack interjected.
Hiccup laughed. He stepped backward and sat on the floor of boat while cradling Biva. The boy also tried to continue touching the dragon. He then reached up and snagged Hasna by the waist and hauled her backward. She shouted in defiance and frustration. A small steam of words in her native tongue came flying out of her mouth, and both men could hear the curses underlying it. Hiccup, however, did not let go. He watched with keen interest. Nepta rose ten feet higher out of the water.
"He's got be be at least fifty or sixty feet long from nose to tail," Hiccup speculated.
Everyone watched the Earthling as he pulled aside the canopy from the prow. He fished around until he found the rope tied to cleat. He jerked it free. The Guardian faced the dragon and held up the rope. The dragon eyed him in the darkness. The head kept twitching toward the hand holding the coconut. Hiccup leaned back and decided to enjoy the show. He suspected Jack's attempts to guide sea dragon would prove highly entertaining.
"Alright, so it worked," Hiccup replied as dawned colored the rim of the world a muzzy clay. Hasna continued to sleep curled next to him and Biva toyed with a coconut, an object he could not neat but tried nonetheless. "Although it was pretty pocking funny at the start."
A coconut landed next to Jack's feet. He again carried out the pantomime of a palm tree swaying in the in the wind. The dragon turned and aimed in a true southern direction. Jack threw the coconut where the beast indicated and braced himself. The boat jerked violently when the rope held in the long and likely venomous teeth of the beast snapped tight and pulled the boat forward. Nepta would drag them through the water for roughly five minutes before it returned for another round. During the night, Hiccup and Jack traded places so they could each get some sleep. Nepta, it appeared, either did not require or want to rest. His love of the fetch and pull game seemed in exhaustible.
Jack rubbed his throwing arm shoulder and said: "We just needed to work out the mechanics."
"I think Nepta liked pulling you into the ocean," the Earthling's husband rejoined with a smirk.
"Shut up," Jack muttered, but he also grinned. "Any water left?"
Hiccup's head swung back and forth. The children drank the last of it during the night as they watched the men coax the dragon into hauling them and the craft toward an unknown destination. The speed at which they traveled meant they covered roughly three hundred miles of open water. Several times an hour they checked their trajectory with the dragon, and Nepta gradually began to aim south. It seemed to know exactly where to go.
"You do know he moves at twice this speed under water?" The Viking repeated the calculation the made hours before, and he did it to annoy his mate.
"I know, I know," the Guardian grumbled and watched as the water glide under them. "Wonder how far we've got to go?"
"Well, if Nepta travels twice our speed and managed to get to the coconuts and back to us in a single day, then – I don't know – maybe we should be close. We've been heading due south for quite a while."
Jack nodded his head. The dragon hauled them along somewhere between thirty to forty miles an hour. For nearly ten hours, the entirety of the night, they moved at a steady if somewhat herky-jerky pace. The endurance of the beast impressed both men to no end. The children lost their fascination of the process by the end of the first hour. Fortunately, sleep became and priority for the two and they spent most of the night in that state. When morning came, the lack of food and water would be issue for them. Neither man wanted to contemplate what either child could remember of their ill-fated trip that brought them into contact with the Berkians.
Fifteen minutes later Jack raised his sore arm and pointed at the southern horizon, the western edge tinged in hues of peach and rose as dawn began to make an appearance. The even horizon line got broken by something in the distance, and that something also managed to attract clouds. Hiccup stood. He trusted Jack's better eyesight, but he scanned the area Jack pointed out. It took two more rounds with the dragon before he could finally discern the outline of land or an island in the distance. The man wrapped his arms around the thin chest of his husband, hugged it, and struggled to hold back tears. A lingering terror he would die at sea in the same manner as the children's parents took root in his mind. The sight of land finally gave him relief from the horrible images in his head.
"Yeah, I know," Jack quietly said as the boat came to a gliding halt in the water.
Nepta's head popped out water and he all but tossed the coconut at Jack. Jack motioned for the dragon to come closer. It did. Soon the Guardian encircled the scaly, wet neck of the beast and hugged it. Nepta rumbled.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you," Jack repeated non-stop for half a minute as he, too, struggled to find proper expression for the relief he felt.
Hiccup raised a hand and stroked the side of the dragon's face in a silent gesture of gratitude.
"Nepta," Hasna's sluggish voice intruded.
The men released the dragon, and Nepta stared at them for a few moments. Jack answered the look by retrieving a coconut and holding it up. The dragon backpedaled away from the boat in anticipation of another toss. Jack, buoyed by the sight of land, threw it as hard as he could toward the island. Nepta raced after it. Both men nearly fell down when the dragon snatched the line under the water and took them ever closer to the joyous sight in the distance. They seemed to move faster. Each ascribed the impression to their excitement at finding solid ground.
"You were right," Hiccup said as they dragged the boat onto the beach half an hour later. "There. Trees Nepta can get to."
Further down the edge of the rather sizable island they saw palm trees leaning over the water. Gray-brown oblong objects twice the overall size of coconuts nestled in the crown of large fronds. Jack nodded as he pulled the children from the boat. Hasna stood and ran her toes through the sand as though she never saw anything like it. Biva squirmed and wriggled in very dark and rather abrasive grains. Jack, himself, repeated Hasna's actions. His toes dug into the beach. He resisted the urge to drop down and kiss the sand as he saw in numerous movies on Earth.
Hiccup scanned up and down the length of the quay as his logical mind came into play. He immediately began to think about food, shelter, and water. In the background, Nepta splashed in the shallow water, holding himself aloft on long, wide fin-like appendages. It looked longingly at them. While Hasna teased her brother who could not move well through the sand, jack waded out into the water. It grew deep and soon he stood with his armpits getting soaked. Nepta floated toward him. He raised and arm. The dragon dropped a coconut from it's mouth. The man laughed.
The more practical of the two men, as his nature dictated, already selected small grove of fat, short palms they could use for temporary cover while they tried to build anything close to a hut. His eyes also looked for water trace. That remained a top priority for Hiccup. Without thinking about it, he scooped Biva from the sand, followed by protests from Hasna that her play got disrupted, and walked toward the edge of the thin forest of trees roughly fifty feet from the shoreline. In the distance he heard Nepta splash around as he gave chase to the coconut. Jack did the right thing, he thought: Nepta deserved a much bigger reward for taking them to the island.
Jack joined his mate half an hour later. The sun baked him and he yearned for liquid. The warm waters of the sea did not help his condition, but the Guardian wanted the dragon to enjoy some real play following all the work it did on behalf of the people. As he approached the trio lounging under a tree, Hiccup smiled at him.
"Ja!" Hasna yelled, ran a short ways, and then tripped in the sand. She got up, streamers of the dark grit rolling from body, and continued her trek. When Hasna reached the man, she grabbed his hand. "Wa! Wa!"
"Follow her," Hiccup suggested.
Jack did. For over twenty feet Hasna led him into the thicket. Soon they passed a stand of odd trees the man never saw on either Earth or Hall. Then the girl let go of his hand and ran to a small formation of rocks. Jack spied the discoloration on the jungle-style dirt. Hasna lifted a large piece of glass-like rock, and the man took note of that bit of detail. A trickle of water began to ebb from the surface of a stone through a crack. The Guardian wracked his brain to recall how water pockets formed on tropical islands. However, he dropped to his knees and scooted toward the small flow of water.
"Thanks, Hasna," he said before lowering his lips to the crack in the surface of the stone.
His body reacted nearly with violence as he began to drink and then sucked as hard as he could on the rock. Water filled his mouth. While it tasted oddly dry and felt warm, he knew it to be potable. For five minutes he knelt and drank his fill. Hasna giggled at him, and he could guess she witnessed a very similar act not long before. When Jack finished, mainly because he started to run out of breath, Hasna repeated his action in not quite as feral a fashion. The presence of an artesinal well sparked memories of program Jack saw on a television some forty-five years before about mid-Pacific atolls. One bit of information came to the surface.
"Come on, Hasna, we need to go tell Hiccup we're sitting on an old volcano," he told the girl.
"Hic-ah," Hasna said when she lifted her wet face from the well after taking over once Jack finished.
Jack replaced the stone over the bubbling crack, and it seemed like a good idea. Something about natural pressure rolled through his brain as he took the girl's hand for a second time. She led him back to the beach. They found Hiccup lying under a tree, a pile of discarded fruit rinds – something the Hallan's called plengs that displayed garish pink color but tasted like mangoes to Jack – lying next to him. Biva gnawed on one and pink juice rand down his face.
"Gonna get diarrhea," Jack warned, but it did not stop him from accepting the proffered fruit. "Gods, these are huge."
"Never saw plengs this big before, and I almost didn't think it was one," the supine man stated. Then he looked at Jack. "You and Nepta saved us."
"You're the one who figured out he wanted to play," Jack rapidly amended, "so it took both of us."
"And so far, so good. We got water and food. I'll try to catch some fish later."
"How far did you explore?"
"Not far once I found the spring," Hiccup said through a smirk. "Biva watched me drink and then repeated it. He's going to wet half the island when he finally lets loose."
Jack sat down in the sand under the shade of a stubby, broad-leafed palm. He used his teeth to bit into the pleng and peel away a stripe of rind. Just the juices alone made his stomach rumble. The Earthling greedily ate the entire fruit.
"Never tasted like this on Berk," he commented while smearing juice and pulp around on his face with the back of his hand. "Bet the don't last long once they turn ripe."
Hiccup propped himself up on his elbows. The shade and warm sand, coupled with the full feeling his belly, worked a form of alchemy in the Viking. He felt relaxed. Hasna leaned against him and her eyes closed. Biva played with a series of twigs and sand, and the sand stuck to every part of him coated in pleng. They made for a quiet yet joyous little quartet. Jack glanced at Hiccup, and he got a similar gaze.
"And now?" Jack inquired.
"We survive. Use our wits and figure out a way to get back home," Hiccup replied in a stern. His face then softened. "I'm probably going to fall asleep soon. Bet your asleep on your feet?"
Jack shook head back and forth and said: "Not really. This is… nice, but new… strange. I'm going to walk around for a while."
"Care to take the sticky one with you?"
"I'll dip him in the ocean and clean him up."
Hiccup chuckled, but Jack remained serious.
"What?" The Viking asked.
"We're still not out of it," replied the Guardian. "We don't know where we are. We don't know if any ships come this way. We don't know what's on this island and… now we've got children to look after."
"True, but that kept me sane," Hiccup remarked without pause.
"Yeah, me, too," Jack said through a sigh and nearly feared making the admission. "It was easier to worry about them than us, and – you know – it kind of felt… familiar."
Hiccup turned his head to the side and looked at the girl slowly drifting into a nap. He gazed at the Earthling before he said: "It's who you are, Jack. Guardian. Children. Sort of goes to the core of your being. Right?"
"Never like this, Hiccup. Protecting children from things that go bump in the night is one thing. Once I vanquish whatever is bothering them, I don't hang around long. Caring for Hasna…"
"Ja," Hasna sleepy answered.
"And Biva is all day, every day. It's more involved than looking after dragons," the brown-haired-now-sun-streaked-to-near-russet man quietly stated.
"Yeah, I guess it is, but we can't stop. Not after how we found them."
"I know, but…."
Hiccup waited for a few seconds and then prodded his mate: "Out with it, Jack."
"Ja," Hasna mumbled again.
"See… Hiccup…"
"Hic-ah," Hasna whisper and nuzzled up against the man.
"If I fail this time, it won't be that they can't fall asleep for a night or two. They could…" and Jack froze before he could say the word.
"It's part of being mortal, Jack. You know that… just like you know every time we fly against a raid one or both of us might not come back. Gods, we couldn't even go away and relax for a while without something trying to kill us," the Viking harrumphed.
"But we're adults and we know the risks we run," the Guardian countered. "Not them. I've seen it too often on Earth and here where kids are at the mercy of whatever is around them… good or bad!"
Hiccup sat up. Hasna rolled over and seemed to fall deeper into her nap. The native Hallan looked at the adopted son of his world. It dawned on him Jack faced a different reality with children: one where he could not depend on his powers to turn the tide. Jack, Hiccup realized, confronted the limitations and attending uncertainties that came with a mortal life. It arrived in the faces of two children who suddenly looked to him for real protection against a very real world filled with real dangers and threats.
"It doesn't take your Guardian powers to do right by them," the Viking rejoined in a solemn voice. "This is the world you never got to experience, Jack. The addition of these two makes it… more personal."
"Maybe, but we still owe them the best we can do. We took this on. They didn't ask," Jack reminded him.
"No argument there, and maybe that's what you're really afraid of."
"Of what?"
"Of life handing you a job you're afraid you might fail at," Hiccup said without any hint of judgment. "Gods, Jack, it scares the pocking wits out of me, too. I only got over trying to live up to my father a couple of years ago, and now it's like I'm right back to where I started when I first found Toothless. Now I've got to measure up to what he was both as a father and a chieftain!"
"He wasn't all the great of a father, Hiccup, to be honest," Jack muttered.
"At least he talked to me. Sometimes too much and didn't do enough listening," his mate returned with a touch of heat in his voice.
"You want to compare Stoick to The Man in the Moon?"
Their eyes locked. Both saw they verged on getting into a fight over a rather pointless issue. Hiccup felt his sense of duty and pride to Stoick the Vast try to egg him on. The absurdity of weighing his father against Elada hit him, and he shook his head.
"No, and I'm not even sure why we suddenly need to get into a debate or an argument," Hiccup conceded.
Jack sighed. He squatted and seized a sandy, sticky probably one-year old. Biva squealed in protest against being disrupted from his play. Jack held the boy out and studied the brown face and dark eyes. Biva squirmed, but he returned the gaze.
"Maybe it's 'cause you're right. I'm scared to death of letting either one of these two down or failing them in some way," the Guardian uttered.
"Well, at least I'm not alone in the club."
The two men glanced at one another. The moment did not seem or sound humorous in any capacity. Jack pulled Biva to his side and let his head bob twice. Hiccup wrapped his arm around the sleeping girl. He nodded as well.
