As I type this authors note, I recently painted my nails a sparkly silver colour and I'm hoping to manage not to get it all over my keyboard.
-HTTYD-
They must have spent a good half an hour of just standing around awkwardly before Toothless had convinced them all that the two humans were no threat. They were confused by the saddles, though not so much by Tripfire - Eret suspected he was right that the two dragon colonies had interacted before.
"Wow, they really are all bigger than him. Guess living off seal and fish is good for them, huh?"
"Yeah. And they'll need to be strong to survive the terrain. Imagine trying to climb the nearby mountains when it snows too hard to fly. These guys are gonna have an easier time than Toothless."
Hiccup nodded.
"Good point."
After a little while longer, Toothless turned and indicated they could follow him. They went, very aware of the big Night Furies that stayed behind on guard as they walked. Hiccup was obviously starting to struggle with walking in the cold after standing for a while, but he limped along without complaint. After a fairly brief walk, they came to the mouth of a cave. Eret squinted, then shook his head.
"We aren't gonna be able to see in there. Hang on."
He dug in his saddle bag for a chunk of firewood, which Toothless helpfully lit so they had a torch. Hiccup stuck close to the light and warmth it gave off, and Eret heard squeaks and squeals as they ventured in deeper. Some of the Night Furies shrunk back slightly from the heat and light... or perhaps it was the humans they weren't sure about. One walked up and sniffed at Eret, letting out a low crooning sound.
"Uh, do I stink?"
Eret raised an eyebrow, and Hiccup looked over before his eyes widened.
"Yes! You had the baby Furies all over you when we camped. You must smell like them now."
"Oh yeah. Guess that can only help our case right now."
A couple of twists and turns took them even deeper, and the sounds Eret suspected were of a nursery faded as they moved away from it, the smell of dragon growing stronger and stronger.
"Ah. These will be the leaders then. Bow your head Hiccup."
He had more experience with varying colonies than Hiccup, and Hiccup had never had to bow to Toothless. Hiccup inclined his head just as Eret did, before they raised their eyes to take in the lead couple.
"Titan Wings, you think?"
"Nah. Not big enough and there's no different features, these two are just really well fed. And older, judging by the tendrils under the jaw."
There were at least six on each side that Eret could see on one, and seven on the other. Nothing particularly gave any of them away as male or female - only Valka could tell them apart, having met Night Furies in her youth before Grimmel happened to them. A lot of dragons were tough to tell anyway. Stormcutters were rare in that the females were typically a little smaller than males, though their variety in colours was usually a much better indicator. Except with Alva and Vali, he chuckled to himself.
Hiccup squinted to see the tendrils, and nodded.
"Yeah. Wow. These guys have been hidden away up here for a while then."
"Looks that way."
Toothless headed right on over and started dragon-chatting away with the two leaders, who eyed the small, svelte Night Fury with a saddle with a degree of confusion. They did seem to recognise that he was the Alpha dragon though, and both gave a small dip of the head to Toothless.
"Hey bud, you wanna let these guys know we're not a threat?"
Toothless nodded to Hiccup, then turned back and warbled at the two much bigger Furies. They shot wary looks at the humans, but the other Furies with them seemed to back them up. At least, they weren't incinerated on the spot.
"We good?"
Eret asked, and Toothless gave a short nod.
"Alright. Good. So... do we tell them right away about Grimmel, or do we work on gaining their trust a little first do you think?"
He asked Hiccup, who tapped his hands against his thighs a couple of times while thinking.
"Hmm. Maybe we should set up camp for a night and then see in the morning? You said sleeping around dragons helps them trust people, right? Definitely worked on the female."
"Good call."
Hiccup got Toothless to ask if they were allowed to stay for the night, and though the dragons clearly thought it odd, they agreed. Tripfire had been awfully patient the entire time, and Eret made a note to give her some extra smoked salmon as a thank-you-treat. She knew how important it was to win over the Night Furies, after all.
Some of the other dragons were sniffing at Toothless, investigating his prosthetic tail fin and eyeing the saddles the dragon wore. As they headed back out of the cave system, they were ushered to an empty spot, which seemed to be their assigned camp. Eret set up a little fire to warm the chilled spot, and Hiccup sat down with a groan before he started removing Toothless' flying gear. Tripfire huffed when she realised she'd have to sleep on her belly or side as there was nowhere for her to perch, but she perked up when Eret gave her some fish and a little chin scratch.
"It's only temporary, but it's important to their survival for the dragons to trust us. So I know it's tough, and I really appreciate you being so good about it."
Tripfire cooed, nuzzling him before she started fussing around to try and find somewhere to sleep. They set up their little camp for the night, Toothless obviously undecided about whether or not to go and join the dragons but he settled on curling up next to Hiccup's bedding. Once they'd both popped outside to relieve themselves, Hiccup took off his prosthetic and huddled up by the fire to warm up. Eret made sure they both ate and drank, the tea seeming to help Hiccup warm up from the inside.
"You really lived up here?"
"Yeah, it does get pretty cold at night but when you live in reindeer skin tents huddled up with half your extended family, you keep warm enough."
Hiccup nodded, and didn't try to argue when Eret offered him one of his furs to sleep under. He didn't have the baby Night Furies for extra warmth, but Eret was more concerned about Hiccup not freezing to death than being cold himself. The fire had done enough to warm their little space that he wasn't too cold to sleep, and that was good enough for him.
"Feels a bit like you're trying to be my dad. 'Stay warm, make sure you eat up!'."
Eret snickered, shaking his head at Hiccup's comment. He had a feeling there was a deeper sentiment than Hiccup's tone implied, so he made sure to answer more seriously.
"I'm not trying to be your dad. I'd never try to replace Stoick. I realise that since I married your mother, that might sound odd, and I don't know how much of this she wants me to say or you want to hear, but... something almost happened between us once, and then she put the brakes on because she was still married. It wasn't until she thought he was dead that anything happened, and it wasn't even right away. As soon as I realised he'd survived Drago's attack, I expected she would go back to him, and to you. And I'm sure she thought about it, but you have to remember they hadn't seen each other for twenty years, and they were different people by then. And I knew the whole time we were together, and before, how important you were to her. One year for Snoggletog, I even bought her parchment to write her letters to you."
Hiccup turned over and sat up, looking at Eret across the fire.
"You did?"
"Yeah. I can't tell you how proud she is of you, how happy she is to see how you grew up, and how guilty she feels for being no part of it. And I'd never try to come between you, but I do hope things between us won't always be awkward, cus I know it wears on her. Especially now she's pregnant, and she's terrified you'll feel replaced."
Valka was not going to be happy he'd said all those things, but Hiccup appeared somewhat receptive for the moment.
"I don't feel replaced, but I guess I am kind of jealous that she's gonna be around for the baby in a way she wasn't for me."
"She wanted to be. She really, really did. The first few months at the nest, she kept trying to get Cloudjumper to take her back to Berk. But then I guess she felt like she could help the dragons, but she couldn't help you grow up to be your father's son. How did you feel when you first realised you couldn't kill a dragon?"
"Alone. Scared. Different."
"And how would you feel if not being able to kill a dragon almost got your dad, or Astrid killed?"
Hiccup's face clouded, and he let out a deep sigh.
"Powerless, and like I'd betrayed them. Which was the last thing she felt that day, when we almost died because she couldn't hurt Cloudjumper."
"Yeah. And this was after years on Berk being an outcast, when she didn't join in fighting the dragons, and when she was worried she was going to have to stand by while you grew up to be a dragon killer like Stoick. I'm not saying she made the right choice, but I also don't know if I could say she made the wrong choice either. I don't think there was a perfect choice for anybody, but she knows you grew up to be an amazing man anyway, and there are thousands of dragons still alive because of her, and she fought Drago's take-over long enough that we were able to beat him."
There was silence save for the fire crackling and the dragons breathing for a couple of minutes, before Hiccup sighed again.
"Yeah. And part of me gets that, but I guess I'm still processing losing my dad and gaining my mom in one day, and there's never been a good time for me to slow down and think a lot til now."
"We've got a good few days out here, and if you wanna shout and rage at me for replacing Stoick or whatever, do it. Get it off your chest. Hel, cry like a baby, I won't tell anyone. But no, I don't want to be your dad. I would like to be your friend, when you're ready for that. And... I really want you to be able to see the baby as family, even if you can't quite see them as a little brother or sister."
With Valka away much of his life, and Eret definitely not Stoick, plus the twenty year age gap, he expected Hiccup would struggle to see them as a sibling. Especially since if he and Astrid had kids any time soon, they'd basically be growing up together. But he did hope Hiccup would reach a place he was able to bond with the baby, and not simply because it would crush Valka to feel torn between her two children. He did genuinely care for Hiccup - he was brave, inteliigent, kind and thoughtful.
"Astrid keeps saying I need to give you a chance, and I hate that she's always right."
Eret laughed.
"Yeah, Valka's always right too. She was even right that I should give dragons a chance. Changed my whole life. After she saved my life first, entirely against my wishes."
Hiccup raised an eyebrow.
"What do you mean?"
"Oh, when we first met, she kept insisting on treating my wounds and trying to talk me in to liking dragons. I was not very receptive, but she managed to convince me anyway. Tripfire helped."
His dragon gave a rumble of agreement, curving her tail round to flick him playfully. Eret chuckled and batted her away. Hiccup yawned, and wriggled back down in to his covers properly. Eret followed suit, unsure if they'd made any real progress but feeling as though they'd said a few things that needed to be said anyway.
"Night Eret."
Eret smiled to himself.
"Night Hiccup. Sleep tight."
He couldn't help it, and he was pretty sure he heard Hiccup let out a little snort. It took a little while for him to fall asleep, still missing Valka's presence next to him, but Tripfire nearby was quite comforting and he managed to drift off eventually.
Hiccup was still asleep when Eret woke up, though he woke with quite a start when he found a Night Fury standing very close. It wasn't a full grown adult, but definitely well into it's adolescent stage. Tripfire was watching the dragon very closely, shuffling nearer to Eret on her belly. He rubbed his face and sat up properly, patting his dragon reassuringly.
"It's ok girl, they're just curious."
Toothless stirred nearby, stretching his forelegs out before shaking off his sleepiness and getting to his feet. The adolescent was about his size, maybe a little bigger, but old enough to feel the Alpha's sway and they gave a little head bow of deference to the dragon leader. Hiccup began to wake not long after, blinking in confusion as he took in their surroundings.
"Oh, yeah. Night Fury cave."
Eret built the fire back up, then put his boots on to head out and answer natures call before he headed back, watched but not attacked or interrupted by the Night Furies throughout the caves as he went in and out. Hiccup was sat by the fire, reattaching his prosthetic.
"Hungry?"
Eret asked, and Hiccup nodded.
"Yeah. You weren't wrong about the cold making me hungry."
"If you need to, yanno, pop out, go ahead, I'll get breakfast going."
Some tea and smoked yak later, the two of them got to tidying up their camp. Hiccup seemed to be managing the cold a little better that morning, and Tripfire was ecstatic to get out and stretch her wings. Toothless didn't need to worry about flying out to fetch breakfast, as what seemed like half the colony had decided to bring him a fish when they got outside.
"Do they realise he can't eat all of that?"
Hiccup laughed as Toothless licked his lips before digging in with gusto.
"Probably, but nobody wants to not bring the Alpha something."
"Is that an eel? Do these guys eat eel?"
Hiccup asked, pointing to one that was about a foot long.
"No, no. Lamprey. It's fish. I've eaten eel, they're nothing like that except in looks. A lot of the fish up here are that sort of shape. Just be glad they didn't bring him a pile of salmon sharks, we'd be here all day."
After a few blinks, Hiccup shook his head.
"I'm not even going to ask."
"Hey, it's edible and they sometimes wreck the nets so that's all we'd get."
Hiccup gave a nod.
"Yeah, makes sense but I'm in no rush to try it. So... what now?"
"Well first, Toothless has gotta have breakfast. Then I guess we just go mingle with the dragons, get them used to us so they'll trust us. Sound good?"
Nodding again, Hiccup dug into his bag for a piece of jerky to chew on while Toothless was working through his pile of gifted fish. Tripfire dropped down, much happier now she'd had a flight and some breakfast herself. After he realised he wasn't going to finish the pile himself, Toothless kindly offered to share with Tripfire, who happily joined in and seemed very taken with the lamprey herself.
"Alright then. Once Toothless is done, let's get to work."
-HTTYD-
I know lamprey probably weren't called that in HTTYD-time, but it feels like a minor detail that I don't know what fish species were called a thousand years ago.
