Chapter Twelve - Hard Choices

The Scytheclaws were caged, and metal spheres had been clamped onto their stingers. Hiccup and his mother, with help from Cloudjumper, gathered a large pile of fish and a wild boar. The farmers had reluctantly donated a plump sheep and a yak to the experiments. If a Scytheclaw didn't eat those, they could still be cooked and served at the evening meal in the Great Hall.

The one chained up outside their cage glared at him balefully through one yellow eye, the other blinded by a jagged scar. Hiccup pointed at the boar carcass in front of it, snapped his fingers and firmly commanded, "Eat." The Scytheclaw twitched at the snap, but failed to devour the offering of pork.

"Let's try the fish," suggested Valka, pointing at it and snapping her fingers. "Eat!" she insisted. The Scytheclaw disdained to even glance at the pile of fish, much less try to devour it. "It doesn't make sense. They must be starving…oh, I wish I could've wrung Grimmel's skinny neck," she declared.

Hiccup wondered, "maybe it's the word we're using." He snapped his fingers and commanded, "Feed." This time was more promising; the Scytheclaw made an aborted lunge towards the meat, only to pause, as if confused.

The word began with 'F', then. Hiccup had a suspicion, and snapped his fingers once more. "Feast," he insisted - and leapt back in alarm when it lunged at the carcass, tearing into the flesh with ruthless abandon. "I guess we figured out which word to use," Hiccup grimaced. The success was short-lived; it coughed up most of the meat. "You've gotta be kidding me."

"I fear it might be too late. If they're accustomed to…a certain kind of flesh," she said delicately, "their stomachs might not handle new food."

"Or maybe this one just isn't a fan of pork," he suggested. "It might eat the yak or the sheep." Hiccup swatted away a fly, many of whom had been drawn to the corpses lying around. "I think the fish might be a lost cause, though."

"I agree. Cloudjumper, you can have it" she prompted, but the Stormcutter was reluctant to go near the Scytheclaw, though he was clearly tempted.

Hiccup pointed at the sheep, snapped his fingers and ordered, "Feast!" Once again the Scytheclaw lunged and tore it apart, only to spit the flesh out after a few mouthfuls. "I don't get it. Shouldn't all raw meat taste the same?"

Valka sighed. "Like I said, it might not be the taste." At that moment Stoick walked down into the training ring, giving the Scytheclaws a wide berth.

"Any luck?" he asked, eyeing the gruesome scene with some distaste.

"A little," Hiccup said optimistically. "I figured out which command to use…now we're just trying to work out what kind of meat it likes to eat."

His mother added, "unfortunately I have a feeling it has nothing to do with the flavour, but the dragon's stomach. It might not handle a change to its diet like this. If they can't eat any game or livestock, we can't feed them."

Stoick nodded. "Aye. Hiccup, Valka, I don't like to say it, but we might have to think about…putting the beasts down. For the good of everyone."

"No, we - how would that make us any better than Grimmel? It's not their fault he abused them into being his personal attack dogs. Dad, this tribe killed dragons for centuries, and that was wrong. You know it was. I don't want us to go back to those days just because it's a little inconvenient."

"I know, but you need to think about what's best for the tribe, and our dragons. The fact is, son, these Scytheclaws just don't belong on Berk."

Hiccup's eyes widened. "Wait - dad, that's it! They're not from the archipelago; all we have to do is find out where they came from, then ship them back, problem solved!" he declared. "I'll figure out the details later."

Valka reminded them, "that doesn't solve the current problem. Either their natural prey is other dragons, or it isn't native to this region - either way, we can't feed them, and whoever took them to their homeland couldn't either."

Frowning, he insisted "there's still one more thing to try." He snapped his fingers to get the Scytheclaws attention, pointed at the yak carcass and ordered, "Feast." It obeyed, only to spit out the first mouthful with a cough of disgust. "Oh, it's the fur!" he realised. "Yeah, that's gotta be it. Okay, next time we need to skin the prey. I need to talk to Mulch. Toothless, let's…"

He trailed off, abruptly reminded of his dragon's absence.

"Are you okay?" Valka asked in concern.

"Yeah…I'm fine. Uh, I don't suppose you and Cloud could give me a lift?"

Stoick suggested "or you could walk. Get some exercise, it'll do you good."

Hiccup grimaced. "But the farm's all the way on the other side of the village."

Needless to say, his father wasn't impressed with this. "You've gone soft."

Mulch wasn't particularly keen to give up more of his yaks, nor was Brunhild inclined to give up her sheep. "I'm sorry, Hiccup, but we need the wool and milk. Sven would tell you the same thing if he was still here," she insisted.

A bit disheartened, he tried to think of another solution. If it was the fur they didn't like, as opposed to the meat itself…maybe they could skin a boar. Only there weren't many pigs on the island, since their own dragons would occasionally hunt some. He asked around, but the farmers were all reluctant to sacrifice their livestock if they couldn't enjoy the spoils themselves.

"Why don't you get some feral sheep?" Gobber suggested, when he told his mentor about the problem. "They don't belong to anyone, so it ain't stealing."

"Good idea," Hiccup said gratefully. He flagged down a nearby Nadder, one of Stormfly's offspring, and asked him to find his dam. Stormfly, along with Astrid, turned out to be in the cove. As well as the other riders and their dragons, taking it in turns to spar with each other - or in Minden's case, practise wielding her walking stick like a quarter-staff. Hiccup dismounted.

Whilst the Nadders greeted each other, heads bobbing, Astrid gave her betrothed a kiss. "We couldn't spar in the training ring since it's occupied…did you and your mom have any luck with the Scytheclaws?"

"Sort of. We figured out which command makes them eat, but the first one kept spitting out the prey. I think it's the fur they don't like" Hiccup explained. "I came looking for you because we need to head over to Sleipnir Island and take some of the feral sheep there. None of the farmers want to feed their livestock to the Scytheclaws, and there aren't enough wild boars on Berk."

Snotlout demanded, "what, so we're gonna take feral sheep to feed those monsters? What happens when the flock on that island is eaten, do we raid sheep from other villages?" He paused and decided, "I'm okay with that."

Hiccup rolled his eyes. "Change of plan. We won't train the Scytheclaws; we can't keep them here, so we'll find out where the species is from, and find a way to send them back here. I'm hoping if Eret and his crew return to Berk, I can persuade them to take the Scytheclaws away" he explained calmly.

"That's a good idea," said Snotlout.

"You think so?"

"Yeah. It'll make them somebody else's problem."

That evening, Hiccup returned home to tell his parents, "we gave them two feral sheep each, just the meat and bones. They didn't spit any of it back up, so I guess it must've been the fur or wool they didn't like after all."

"Just so long as we can keep them fed without thinning our own flocks," said Stoick. "What about when they're getting hauled off aboard ship?" he asked.

Hiccup shrugged. "They'll have to make do with brined meat or…oh, maybe we could do that ræst thing. Something tells me they'd eat half-rotted meat."

His father warned, "if you start leaving perfectly good mutton out to rot you can do it far away from the village. So, listen. Your mother and I were thinking of going up to…up north. Where she was living. For old times sake," Stoick revealed awkwardly. "So you'll need to be acting-chief for a while."

"Okay…" he said slowly. "Is this your way of tricking me into chief lessons?"

"Don't be ridiculous," Stoick blustered. "What makes you think that?"

"Oh, I thought maybe you'd taken a leaf out of Gobber's book and decided to have me learn on the job," explained Hiccup. "Seeing as I have free time."

Valka admitted, "I thought it might help take your mind off Toothless."

"Aye. Remember when you first gave him that tail-fin at Snoggletog? You were moping about for days after he went off alone, fretting over him."

"Okay, first of all, I don't fret. Second, that was when I didn't know if he'd be coming back," Hiccup insisted. He picked at his food. "I suppose it wouldn't hurt to keep myself busy…I just hope Astrid doesn't decide to fly off as well."

To his relief, she expressed no such desire. The following day, after bidding farewell to his parents and their friends, Hiccup insisted on collecting the feral flock, to save going back and forth. "I'll ride with you and Stormfly," he told Astrid. She reminded him that as acting-chief, he had to stay behind.

"Oh, right. You may as well catch the whole flock; I don't know how many days we'll have to feed the Scytheclaws, so better to be safe than sorry."

The flock of sheep on Sleipnir Island were hauled back to Berk in nets, and penned in a spare field. They were unused to dragons and tried to escape at first. Brunhild and the other shepherds took the pregnant ewes and those with lambs into their own flocks, leaving the rest for the captive dragons.

Whilst they were eating, Astrid murmured to him, "seeing as you're home alone tonight, I thought maybe…I could come and keep you company."

Hiccup abruptly realised the benefits of his dragon and parents being away for several days. "I did say we ought to spend quality time together..."

Hiccup was in the forge when Snotlout came up to him. "I need a house."

"A house?" he repeated. "What's wrong with the one you're living in now?"

"I'm serious! I need a new house built for me and Minden to live in when we're married," Snotlout insisted. "It needs to be easy for her to navigate and look impressive on the outside, as befitting my status as the marshal."

"…Okay, one, I can't just order a new house to be built, two, Astrid is going to be the marshal, and three, why not just make your family house bigger?"

"One, you're the chief, two, Astrid's gonna be your wife, and three…I don't want my dad around Minden, alright?" Snotlout muttered. "Don't ask why."

Hiccup didn't need to. "I'm only acting-chief," he pointed out. "I don't have the authority to have a new house built; and even if I did, it would take a while. Astrid can be the marshal and my wife, but you're welcome to argue about that with her," he added. Snotlout suddenly looked less enthusiastic.

"Be honest; do you really want to be Berk's marshal, or are you just saying that because your dad is the current marshal?" Hiccup asked his cousin.

Snotlout scowled. "What else am I gonna do?" he demanded rhetorically. "I need a job, and everyone else has one. You're gonna be chief, Fishlegs has gone off to live with Heather, and the twins have that whole spy thing…"

"Okay…well, you're good at sewing, right? We could always use a tailor."

"I guess," he shrugged, "but Tuffnut's good with fabric too, and let's face it, they've got nobody to spy on. I don't know why Viggo even bothered trying to turn them into spies in the first place. Point is, I gotta do something else."

"You know we can have more than one tailor, right?" Hiccup asked, raising an eyebrow. "You could work with the twins instead of competing with them."

With a huff, Snotlout protested, "I want to do something different. Something I won't be second best at, like everything else," he declared, scowling. "Your mom said I don't need to be impressive, and maybe she's right, but I want to be. I wanna…I wanna make a mark, do something nobody else could do!"

His voice had raised, partly out of passion, but mostly to speak over the hammering. Once the noise had died down, Hiccup replied, "we're gonna need a blacksmith once Gobber retires. That's something you could do."

"Yeah, but you're Gobber's apprentice."

"I'm gonna be the next chief."

"Can't you do both?"

Hiccup gave his cousin a deadpan look. "I'm trying to help, y'know. Look, if you're wanting a job that you can show off with, you're gonna be disappointed. It's not about showing off, it's about contributing to the village."

"I see your dad rubbed off on you," Snotlout remarked jokingly. Then he sobered. "I don't wanna show off…much. But you're a better smith than me, so it can't be my thing, and I know that doesn't matter, but it does - ugh."

"I know what you're trying to say," Hiccup assured him. "Look, whatever you end up doing, you can make it yours. You gotta stop comparing yourself to people. At least think about it," he insisted. Snotlout nodded slowly, and left.

A week passed, and Gustav came to tell him, "chief, Eret is at the dock."

"Thanks, I'll be right there," Hiccup answered. Blackberry - Stormfly's son - scrambled to his feet and came over. The young Nadder had volunteered to be Hiccup's temporary dragon until Toothless' return. Upon reaching the docks, he greeted Eret. "Welcome back. Is everything okay down there?"

"Down-? Oh, in Vidareidi. Yeah, it's all good; we beat Ragnar, took his ships and his dragons. Speaking of which, where's Toothless?" Eret questioned.

"Oh, he went with Flare and Ripple to see their nest," Hiccup explained, "but I'm sure he's fine. Also, my parents went to visit mom's old nest, so I'm acting-chief right now. Did you come ahead of your ship, by any chance?"

Eret replied, "yeah, Thornado and I came on ahead. Why d'you ask?"

"It'll be easier to show you." They flew to where the Scytheclaws were being held. "We can't keep them here; they need raw meat, and there isn't enough to feed them. Before you ask, we've tried fish" said Hiccup. "They spit it out when we tell them to eat. Do you have any idea where they might be from?"

After a moment, Eret inquired "what d'you mean, when you tell them to eat?"

"They won't touch any food unless you say the right command, then they tear it apart. It's all Grimmel's fault. If these guys will eat raw flesh from a sheep or a boar, then they're not natural dragon-killers; that's just what he forced these ones to be. I think he must've done the same thing as Drago to that Bewilderbeast - condition them since they were hatchlings."

"Viggo said you wanted to try and train that out of them."

Hiccup shook his head. "It won't work; it's hard enough to get them fed. We're not going to kill them, and we can't set them loose in the archipelago. They don't belong here. They should be wherever Grimmel took them from, and I was hoping you and your crew would take them there. Wherever 'there' is."

"They're a desert species." Eret paused. "Viggo told me to tell you that."

"Of course he did."

"He said to let you know, in case you'd changed your mind about training 'em."

"Of course he did," Hiccup sighed. "I assume you interrogated Ragnar?"

"Yeah, Viggo did. He wrote it down," replied Eret. He gave Hiccup an envelope. "Apparently they're losing this war, and getting desperate."

Hiccup scrubbed his face. "I can't believe stopping Drago led to this…if Ragnar's side loses, it's only a matter of time before the winners try conquering the archipelago again. I don't want Berk to get dragged into a war, but I don't want to leave those poor dragons to suffer, either."

There was a pause. Eret offered, "for what it's worth, you did the right thing stopping Bludvist. This other emperor can't be as crazy as him…yeah?"

Hiccup didn't reply. Just then, the horn sounded; Eret's ship had arrived.

There was just enough room aboard for the Scytheclaws, and the dried or brined meat to feed them. Figuring out where to take them was another matter entirely; none of Eret's maps went south far enough to show anything resembling a desert. "I have some contacts who might have a better idea."

"Just so long as you get them somewhere they won't cause too much trouble," said Hiccup. "Thanks for doing this. I wish I didn't have to foist them on you."

Eret grinned. "Ah, don't worry, chief. I'd much rather be hauling dragons back to where they came from than taking them from their homes into slavery. It's just rather ironic we took out the bars," he added. Most of the dragon-trapping equipment had been stripped out of the ship, including the cages below deck.

However, Berk had spare cages in case of moving or holding hostile dragons. Six of these were placed in front of the arena pens, with large metal sheets to funnel the Scytheclaws into the cages. "Open the first pen."

They could hear the Scytheclaw thrashing against the metal plates, before it finally blundered into the cage. "Close it!" The raised door was dropped and latched into place. The cage and its occupant were then hauled off to the ship, whilst those plates and the next cage were positioned in front of the next pen.

Later on, Hiccup broke the seal on the envelope and pulled out the letter.

Dear Hiccup,

I hope this finds you well. I convinced Ragnar to cooperate (with help from Moonlight, of course). Included is a script of all he told me, word for word.

The gist is that the North Sea Empire is losing this war to the Holy Roman Empire, on account of its larger size allowing the army to access more resources and manpower. Or dragon power, as it were. As you'll see, the dragons are not afforded liberty even after the battles have been won.

I'm sure you already have your heart set on ending the suffering of all those dragons, but let's not underestimate how much time that would take. I suppose the only way to do so quickly would be to request an audience with the Emperor himself and persuade him it is in his best interests to cease conquering Europe and have his kingdoms live in peace with dragons instead. I doubt you could appeal to the man's better nature.

Much of what is needed to live alongside dragons on such a scale is already in place; feeding them and so on. I believe sending these dragons back to the wild is a step backwards; unless of course they wish to return.

However, there is every reason to believe the Emperor has no inkling of your people's existence; going to him directly would draw attention to Berk and her allies. You cannot fight an empire. If three countries are being brought low, three tribes won't stand a chance. Your only hope would be to negotiate and probably agree to, at the least, become vassals of the winning monarch. Which means paying taxes, and hopefully not forced conversions.

I don't mean to discourage you; I only want you to know what you'd be getting yourself into. Perhaps we can discuss matters further in autumn. I'll come and visit for your wedding. I trust you and Astrid won't mind if I bring the rest of the family along with me; Eydis has been talking of wanting to be Astrid's flower girl. She and her brothers are quite eager to visit Berk.

Yours sincerely,

Viggo Grimborn.

Ten days later

Hiccup did his best to keep his mind off Toothless' absence. He told himself that the Furies nest would be far away, that the trio would look out for each other, that one of them would come to find him if something happened.

That didn't keep him from lying awake at night, worrying about his dragon. It was close to dawn when Hiccup got dressed and snuck out to walk through Berk's forests. He wandered down a path as familiar as breathing, until he reached the cove and scrambled under the shield wedged in the rocks.

. Hiccup felt closer to Toothless just being here. He sat down with his back against a tree and closed his eyes, imagining Toothless was hanging from the branch above him, or dozing by the lake. Wings swept overhead. Hiccup opened his eyes. The dragon he'd been thinking of landed in front of him.

"Toothless!" He scrambled to his feet and rushed forward, only to be knocked flat by an overeager Night Fury. "Ha! Oh, I missed you so much, bud" he declared, as Toothless licked and nuzzled and coiled around him. He couldn't wipe the grin off his face, until he glanced up. "Is that…?"

His dragon hadn't returned alone. There were five Light Furies, including Ripple, and four Night Furies, including Toothless and Flare. Nine of them! He tried to not look them in the eye, so he didn't spook them, and noticed they had dropped rocks onto the ground; white or pale yellow crystals.

Gregarious as ever, Ripple bounded forwards to press her snout against Hiccup's outstretched palm. Then she barked a challenge at two of the other Light Furies, who had longer and frillier auricles but otherwise looked almost identical. They glanced at each other, then crept towards Hiccup cautiously.

"These are my brothers, Dash and Dart" introduced Ripple, without indicating who was who. "This is Hiccup. He not-will hurt you," she encouraged her siblings. He looked away so as not to unsettle them. A few moments later, he felt them sniff at his raised hand. His arm was aching.

When he dared to peek, the other Furies were also creeping over. They kept their distance, but Hiccup wasn't bothered by that. Toothless nudged him towards the unfamiliar female Night Fury. "This is my dam, Blaze" he revealed shyly, "and Flare's sire, Crescent." Hiccup bowed to them.

"It's an honour. Oh, this is amazing. I can't believe you got them to visit."

Ripple nudged him excitedly. "Not visit. Stay! Us live here, then we not-have to fly for days and days and days," she groaned, slumping against one of her brothers, who promptly shook her off his back. Hiccup choked up.

"You…they're gonna live here?" he asked Toothless. "With us? All of them?"

The black dragon nodded. "Why you-not in bed?" he demanded suddenly.

Hiccup replied, "I couldn't sleep. You gotta tell me everything, bud; what was the island like? Did you see any new species?" he asked eagerly. Toothless tore up a small sapling and used it to draw the island - "it is like a big pit" - along with the flat hill in the middle where Stella, the Nest Queen, resided.

"She is a Star-Giant, looks like a big Changewing" he explained. "She has lots of tendrils and glowing nubs all over her body." Then he dashed off and returned with one of the rocks. "They glow in the dark!" He exclaimed, shading the crystal with his wing. To his disappointment, it didn't work.

The other Furies were investigating the cove, or drinking from the lake. Hiccup was quite sure he could spend the rest of the day, or even his life, watching them. After all these years searching, hoping, to find more Night Furies, to discover Toothless' family…this was beyond his wildest dreams.

Crescent yawned, followed by Flare. "You sleep here," Toothless told them. "I will take Hiccup home." He motioned for Hiccup to climb on his back.

"Oh…it's alright, honest. I don't mind walking." He wasn't sure how they'd take him riding on Toothless' back. Flare and Ripple were used to it, but…

Toothless growled. "I not-can keep you a secret here," he insisted, only to cringe. Hiccup was confused, until he learned that Toothless had at first tried to keep their friendship a secret, for fear of his family taking it badly.

It transpired that he had spent most of his visit trying to convince them - with help from Ripple and Flare - that the Berkians weren't bad humans. Hiccup was relieved he'd come to his senses and gotten rid of the Scytheclaws; he didn't dare imagine what Blaze would do, if she'd learned the very dragons that killed her former mate and made her lose her hatchling were still here.

Besides, when he was on Toothless' shoulders for the first time in weeks, it felt right. They flew back home. Ripple was right behind them; she had insisted on coming, seeing as Toothless was her mate now, and anyway her brothers snored. Both Furies slipped in through the skylight. He dismounted.

"How'd the tail hold up?" Hiccup inquired as he took it off so Toothless would be comfortable. The leather bands had chafed a bit, and the paint had flaked off, but it seemed in good condition otherwise. "You didn't have any trouble?"

"No. I kept it dry like you said to," Toothless replied, before licking at the worn scales. He and Ripple arranged themselves on the stone slab. It was adorable, seeing them coiled around each other. Hiccup took off his own prosthetic and lay down, not bothering to undress. He'd just have a lie in…

Later that morning, Stoick and Valka rose for breakfast, but there was no sign of Hiccup. "Maybe he's gone out. It certainly wouldn't be the first time."

Valka decided, "I'm going to check on him." She crept upstairs, peered around the door to Hiccup's room, closed it again and stole back downstairs. "He's fast asleep, bless him; and Stoick, Toothless is back! So is Ripple."

"That's a relief." Stoick sighed heavily. "Ah, well. It was nice while it lasted."

"What was nice?"

"Him staying put on the ground long enough to fulfil his responsibilities," he explained. Valka gave him a reproachful look. "Am I wrong?" Stoick retorted.

She replied, "our son is very responsible, Stoick. Dragon or no dragon."

Hiccup woke and joined them downstairs. "Morning dad, morning mom. Toothless came home last night, and you'll never guess who came with him."

His mother answered, "we know Ripple is here. I peeked in on you all."

"No. I mean, her too, but it gets better," he grinned. "Toothless convinced his family and hers to come live here. There are eight more of them."

Their eyes widened. "Eight Furies? Oh, that's incredible!" Valka beamed.

"I know! There's Toothless, Flare, their dam, Blaze, her sire, Crescent, Ripple, her brothers Dash and Dart, their sire, Streak, and their dam, Ruffle."

Stoick asked, "are you gonna call a Thing and tell everyone the news?"

"Nah, when he wakes I'll go flying with Toothless, make a grand entrance."

His mother remarked, "you and him deserve some time together. You know, your father was saying how responsible you've been these past weeks."

"Aw, really? Thanks dad." He kissed his mother's cheek and left. No sooner had he stepped outside than Blackberry scampered over, chirping and rustling his wings. "Hey, you." Hiccup scratched him under the chin. "Listen. Toothless is back" he said slowly, so the Nadder could understand.

The young drake wilted. "I'm sorry. You've been such a big help when he was away. I'll make sure he says thank you" Hiccup promised. "You'll find a rider of your own someday," he encouraged. Blackberry cheered up and licked him. "Heh! Attaboy. Can you take me to your dam, and Astrid?"

Blackberry obliged. His betrothed was exercising, doing chin ups on a branch. "Good morning, milady. It's a beautiful day," he greeted her.

"What's got you in such a good mood?" she asked immediately.

Hiccup told her everything. "I want it to be a surprise, so don't tell anyone."

"I won't. I just…wow. After all this time; it almost doesn't seem real, does it?"

"Tell me about it. I was relieved when I woke up this morning and realised it wasn't a dream." He'd had several of those, and it was always disappointing.

Astrid wondered, "they're in the cove, right? Can we go see them?"

So they walked to the cove, and carefully peered into it. The Night and Light Furies were curled on the grass, snuggled up to each other and the crystals they'd brought with them. "What's with the rocks?" Astrid whispered.

He murmured, "they glow in the dark, apparently."

Whilst he waited for the Furies to get hungry and wake, Hiccup kept himself busy trying to sketch their nest and the Star-Giant Queen who ruled it. From what he'd gathered, the whole island was a giant crater. "Might as well call it like it is," he muttered as he labelled the rough sketch 'Crater Island.'

Perhaps one day he'd get the chance to see the island and it's Queen. Hiccup knew the dragons living there wouldn't be used to humans, and if some of them had gone there trying to escape from hunters, it was no wonder they were wary. Yet he felt there was hope. Flare and Ripple had come around, once they realised nobody was going to hurt or cage them.

He heard a noise behind him and looked over his shoulder. Toothless and Ripple were stirring at last. "Hey, sleepyheads. You wanna get something to eat?" Hiccup asked. Mentioning food got them moving more eagerly. It was the work of a few moments to get Toothless saddled up, and they snuck out.

They ran to the cove, dodging trees and leaping over logs. Toothless and Hiccup stayed back as Ripple jumped from dragon to dragon. "Wake up!" she chirped happily. "Us go and hunt!" Dash and Dart woke up, and then so did their parents, but the Night Furies moaned and swatted at her irritably.

Ripple jumped onto Flare's back, making her squawk. "Wake up, we hunt!"

At last she got all the dragons up, yawning and grumbling. They followed the pungent odour of raw fish to a recently filled feeding station on the cliffs. "It is not-same," she grumbled, but still muscled past her brothers for her share.

Hiccup stood back as the Furies crowded round and gorged themselves. He made sure to stand upwind. Blackberry landed nearby and chirped curiously. "This is Toothless and Ripple's families," he introduced. "Hey, bud, c'mere!"

Having eaten his fill, Toothless padded over. "Blackberry here gave me rides while you were away," Hiccup explained. "Say thank you." Toothless seemed disgruntled. "Don't be jealous. You'll always be my dragon, you know that."

Mollified by this and chin scratches, Toothless inclined his head graciously. "Thank you for helping my rider when I was gone," he told Blackberry.

"You're welcome, Toothless-Queen. May I have some fish?"

Toothless barked at the others, "follow me, we will go flying!" Hiccup swung back into the saddle, and they all left the feeding station to other dragons. They flew out to sea, and Toothless led the others towards the sea stacks.

"What d'you say, bud? You wanna show 'em how it's done?" Hiccup grinned.

With an eager smile, Toothless backflipped and plunged towards the ocean. They pulled up at the last minute, spraying water on all sides…zig-zagged through the sea stacks, left, right, right, left…flew towards the arch - Hiccup balanced on his back, and jumped over the arch as Toothless flew under.

He landed neatly in the saddle and they rejoined the rest of the Furies, who roared in approval, swerving around the pair like a flock of giant starlings. Hiccup revelled in it. Two and a half weeks without proper flying, and this was glorious. Toothless ascended, he and Ripple twirling around each other.

It was amazing to fly as fast as they could go and still be caught up, even overtaken. All nine dragons raced through the clouds. Dragon Island rose up on the horizon; Hiccup hadn't realised how far they'd flown. Blaze looked down and back-winged. "What is wrong?" Toothless asked worriedly.

She whined and perched on a sea stack. "This is where I lost you."

All the celebratory mood had vanished. Toothless landed in front of his dam and nuzzled her. "It not-is your fault," he insisted. "If you not-had dropped me, I not-would have met Hiccup, or become Queen. It not-so bad, see?"

Blaze sighed, and then nuzzled him. She looked up at Hiccup, sniffed at his cautiously outstretched fingers, and briefly pressed her snout to his palm.

They returned to Berk after that, swinging around wide and coming to perch on Raven's Point. Toothless hovered and roared; all over the village, people looked up at the cliffs, gasping and pointing up at the Furies. He landed on the steps of the Great Hall, letting Hiccup get down before flying up to the cliffs again. The villagers gathered, and he pointed out the most notable.

"That big male with red fur is Hiccup's sire, his name Stoick. The female with brown fur is Hiccup's dam, her name Valka" he explained, gesturing with his snout. "And the female with yellow fur is Hiccup's mate, her name Astrid."

Crescent hunched warily, pupils slitted. "Why do they keep staring at us?"

Toothless assured him, "they not-used to seeing so many dragons like us."

Dash had spotted something more intriguing than humans. "That is prey?" he asked eagerly, blue eyes fixed on the sheep grazing in a nearby field.

"No!" Toothless snarled. "You not-can eat the animals. They belong to the humans," he warned. "There are lots of fish to eat. You not-will go hungry."

He continued to tell them about the village and the humans, pointing out areas of interest like the forge and training ring, which humans were the most annoying, and which ones would give treats and scratches to any dragon who wanted it. There were sadly fewer of the latter than the former.

It wasn't long before they had their fill, and he led them to explore the rest of Berk. Other dragons approached to welcome the Furies, including Toothless' friends. "It is good to have more of our Queen's kind here," said Stormfly.

"Yes, now humans not-will think he is the best dragon," added Hookfang. The two of them snapped at each other, and Toothless pushed them apart.

"They will think us all the best dragons. Humans are odd," he declared. There were noises of agreement all round; his friends loved their riders, but everyone knew humans made no sense sometimes, even the gentle ones.

After he'd shown them around the whole island, and they'd returned to the cove, Toothless asked the others if they liked Berk. "It not-as big as ours," replied Blaze, "and we would need to get used to the humans…but it is a good nest," she assured him. "If this is your home, it is our home now too."

Purring in relief, Toothless nuzzled his dam, and then his mate nuzzled him.

"Hey, bud" Hiccup greeted, when Toothless came to find him much later. "Did you have a nice time with your family?" he asked pleasantly, without a hint of envy in his tone. His dragon nodded. "I'm glad. So I managed to get everyone to agree not to bother them. You'd think it'd be straightforward."

Toothless snorted. "Humans are odd."

"No arguments here. So listen; Astrid said she'd like to see those glowing crystals, and I thought it'd be romantic to have a picnic in the cove…do you think they'd mind?" Hiccup inquired. With a good natured roll of his eyes, Toothless offered to ask them. "Thanks, bud. I promise we won't be long."

So that evening, after Toothless had persuaded the others to play along and Hiccup had gotten everything set up, they found Astrid and brought her to the cove. "Keep your eyes closed," he insisted, helping her off Toothless' back. He led her forwards a few steps. "Okay…now you can open them."

Astrid peeked, and let out a gasp. On the grass in front of her was a blanket with a basket full of food, set in front of several crystals arranged into a heart shape. Fittingly, the crystals glowed pale blue and vivid green. "Oh…this is gorgeous. Look at you, being all romantic," she teased. Hiccup pouted, and she laughed. "I'm only kidding. It's lovely," said Astrid, giving him a kiss.

Unbeknownst to the two lovers, Toothless and his family were looking down from the edge of the cove. "Are they going to mate?" Ripple wondered.

Toothless pulled a face. "No. That is just a human courtship thing, it is called kissing." He nudged her and gestured with his snout; they slipped away to amuse themselves with other things, leaving the courting humans behind.