Eret needs a cuddle. That's just his permanent mood.
-HTTYD-
Eret had been... especially sweet and helpful lately. Not that he wasn't generally sweet and helpful, but Valka felt as though her words had hit home after the incident with the Triple Stryke. A year ago, she wouldn't have been prepared to offer him a second chance after seeing that, but he'd really, really tried to show her it had been an error in judgement, not a relapse back to his old, bad ways.
And, as he said, the Triple Stryke was completely fine after he came around. No permanent damage, though there was a lot of (very understandable) wariness toward the humans, and the dragon was only calm when near to the Alpha.
"Vali, you're gonna burn your face!"
Having successfully set his first fire (well, his first intentional one... there had been a few flame-related accidents), Vali kept leaning in too closely to investigate his handiwork, and Eret was trying to stop him.
It was a brief trip home, to eat and catch a few hours sleep and bathe off the residue of previous fights after they dropped off their newest rescues. Then it was back out to continue dismantling the new dragon-fighting system that had sprung up in secret.
"I know, I know, you want us to go flying! But humans gotta eat, so go eat your fish and we'll go flying later."
Getting bigger, stronger, capable of short independent flights and feeding themselves, Alva and Vali were still fond of being with their parents, but Valka thought they'd be safe to be left for short breaks soon. The nest as a whole was a safe place, and the other dragons would watch over them. Tripfire seemed equally aware, ever more antsy to go flying with Eret lately after doing her quiet time of always focusing on tending to her hatchlings. It spoke volumes about her growing trust that Tripfire even considered leaving them with anyone but herself, Cloudjumper, Eret or Valka. For a long time, she only ever trusted Eret, and wasn't a huge fan of the other dragons in the nest.
Valka got the feeling she'd met the first ever dragon who would happily start an argument with the Alpha. But, with time and patience, the female Stormcutter had settled alongside her human in the nest.
Her very stubborn human, who kept insisting he could treat his own wounds when Valka told him to stop messing with his arm. She wondered if he felt like he didn't deserve the help; Valka had been pretty hard on him after the incident with the Triple Stryke, and there was clearly a part of Eret that feared Valka would change her mind, turn him away.
"Stop fussing, would you? Letting you dress your own wounds almost killed you."
Eret stopped resisting at last as Valka re-wrapped his arm. The arrow had taken a decent chunk out of him, but they kept it clean and dressed as they knew stitches would only have broken when he was flying and fighting. Ideally, she'd have had him stop using it as much as possible, but that wasn't an option when they had the fighting rings to break, and Eret baulked at the idea of staying behind.
"I have a question for you."
Eret blinked.
"Ok, shoot."
"Now that there's a degree of certainty within the dragon hunting circles about who you are... what would you do if who we ended up against were those who are from your homeland?"
She could feel the tension her question brought him, though she knew Eret worried about that sort of thing all on his own. They'd only spoke about it a few times, because Valka knew what a leap he'd taken to side with her after what Drago did to his people to force their hand.
"I uh... I don't know. I don't know how they feel about it being me, and I guess my reaction would depend on theirs. I guess... I guess I'd ask you to be careful with them? I know that's easier said than done, but we didn't choose dragon hunting out of hatred for dragons, and if I weren't sure Drago would go and massacre my tribe for it, I really think I could get through to them. But for all I know, they all feel betrayed and I've been exiled from my tribe, and they are all quite prepared to kill me on sight. So yeah. I don't know."
Finishing with the bandage, Valka nodded.
"That was very honest of you."
"Why would I lie to you?"
"I suppose I wasn't expecting you to lie, but you didn't try to avoid the question like I thought you might."
Eret shrugged.
"It's a fair question, and a very real possibility."
They let the conversation fade as they ate, heading to take a bath while their stomachs settled before the dragons wanted to go flying. Eret joked he may as well have not bothered with a new bandage yet, and she applied a fresh one when they got out and re-dressed. Valka bade Cloudjumper to rest, since he was going on the rescue, and climbed up on top of Tripfire (with her permission) alongside Eret, watching Alva and Vali tumble through the air together, still getting the hang of four-winged flight but very capable of tucking their second set away and flying with two.
"What would you do if who we ended up against was Berk?"
After her question, it wasn't unfair of Eret to ask the same thing. It wasn't an easy thing to answer, though Valka still felt reassured by his warm weight at her back, his arms around her to grip the saddle.
"I... don't know. I doubt any still alive on Berk who remember me think favourably of me, and those that do likely think I died the night I was taken."
"Do you think they'd ever let you explain?"
"No. I tried for years when I lived there to make them see the truth. I doubt even my survival would convince them I was anything other than a traitor."
"Did you ever think of doing that? Going back and trying to show them proof? Proof like you surviving, like them being friendly?"
Valka nodded, felt Eret squeeze her gently.
"A few times, early on. Back when my son would have been young enough to grow up in a different world if Berk had understood. But then I started fighting the hunters, and Drago, and... I had to accept that people weren't capable of change else I'd have gone mad, I think. I was terrified when I met Mala."
"How come?"
"I was wounded in battle, and so was Cloudjumper. It made us incredibly vulnerable. Had they not been merciful to our plight, I doubt we'd have survived. But they healed us both as best they could, and introduced me to the Great Protector of their tribe."
Tripfire dipped, following Alva who had decided to try out diving all on her own and who was already showing signs of spinning out of control. Eret held tight, to both Valka and the saddle, until Tripfire evened out with Alva clutched carefully between her teeth, protesting loudly. When she was freed, she resumed flying normally and so Tripfire relaxed, looking for Vali who swooped down to fly alongside them again.
They headed home sooner than any would have liked, but they needed to rest, regroup and head back out for more rescues. Seeming less wary that Valka would turn him away, Eret didn't need encouraging to hold her as they slept that time.
It felt never-ending, but they'd taken out eight of the most central fight rings already, and there were only two more on the list. They'd have to sweep and check the smaller locations, but they were almost done with the big job. Until the next big rescue raids came along... sometimes Valka almost felt disheartened, as though she took down one only for two more vile people exploiting dragons to pop up.
But she only had to look around the nest, to see all the dragons rescued and happy and healthy. To look at Tripfire, and Alva and Vali, who'd only become part of their family because of her stubborn determination to keep going. It steeled her, as did Eret pulling on his armour even as he yawned, cramming yesterdays stew into his mouth cold and wincing, but he was much more useful to her when he wasn't hungry, he insisted. He spent a minute saying goodbye to Tripfire, who was disgruntled about being left behind again but understood why, before they were ready to go and up in the air.
No matter how many long it took, they would't stop. They couldn't.
"What are you doing?"
Eret quizzed as Valka knelt down, holding something out to all the Razorwhip dragons they'd pulled out of the fighting rings - a Razorwhip tail could cut through pretty much anything, and so they'd been dragons of choice for fighting because of the damage they could do to other dragons.
"I'm showing them that I can take them home."
The strange little bundle of dried plants confused Eret, but he waited patiently for the explanation while Valka worked with the dragons, who all seemed soothed and intrigued.
"How?"
"These are a gift from the Wingmaidens. When Razorwhips hatch, they are blind. Their first memories are all scent based, and they spend a lot of time out in the woods where these plants grow. The flowers only grow on Wingmaiden Island, and so these are the scent of home to Razorwhips long after they grow up and fly free. I promised Atali I would always bring rescued Razorwhips home."
After they'd been treated for wounds and given food and rest, they were all strong enough to make the trip. It was cutting it close for them to go without disrupting the season where Cloudjumper and Eret would be summarily executed by female Razorwhips, but if they didn't go now they'd have had to wait months. Those dragons deserved their safety back.
Eret would just have to be careful.
"Yes, yes! Big trip together at last, I know!"
Tripfire was thrilled, nuzzling Eret and bouncing almost as boisterously as her kids did about the prospect. Eret laughed as she did so, happy to be getting back on the familiar saddle with his dragon. Flying other dragons was fine, but he and Tripfire had a connection that just didn't quite exist with other dragons. Just like Valka and Cloudjumper.
Valka seemed to have forgiven him for the Triple Stryke incident, though Eret was still wary of upsetting her again. The Triple Stryke was doing well, calm enough to interact with other dragons - so long as those other dragons weren't much bigger than him, and playful juveniles sometimes upset him. But they were getting there. The Thunderpede wasn't built for the temperatures within the nest, but ideally suited to the environment on Caldera Cay. Mala had been more than happy to take him on, and they planned on visiting to check up on him soon.
But first, they had nearly a dozen Razorwhips to take home.
Alva and Vali were thrilled to fly alongside, though they had a little trouble keeping up sometimes, and got tired enough to take a break part way through so they made the second half of the journey on the backs of their parents.
Wingmaidens greeted them at the islands edge, and were thrilled to see the dragons they brought back.
"Where did you find so many?"
"Dragon fighting rings. We took out as many as we could find, and once they were strong enough to fly back, we brought these dragons home to you."
Forming bonds early on as most dragons did, the Razorwhips still remembered the Wingmaidens, cloaked in the same scales and welcoming them with gentle, comforting hands. Atali found them soon after, having heard she had visitors, and greeted both humans and dragons alike warmly.
"Oh, I see you have new members of your nest?"
Alva and Vali took a little convincing to let Atali stroke them, but once they did she was clearly more than alright in their books, ruffling wings and nuzzling hands as they rumbled happily.
"This is Alva, and he's Vali. A fair bit bigger than when they hatched, but Stormcutters are slow growers so we've got a ways to go til they're full sized."
Atali smiled.
"Come, come, we will get you some sustenance before we take the Razorwhips back to the forest. Thank you for returning them."
"I promised, did I not?"
"Very true Valka."
Plied with food and wine and bowls of fish for the dragons, Eret and Valka sat largely alone save for two of the younger Wingmaidens, not quite in their teens yet but old enough to be wearing vests made of scales so they could get used to the weight, the way they moved. Eret waited until they left to ask something that had just occurred to him.
"How do Wingmaidens get... yanno, kids?"
Valka rolled her eyes, chewing and swallowing more bread before she answered Eret.
"I believe they have an understanding with a tribe a few hours away, who offer their... help, to fulfill Freya's tasks, and also to take on any male offspring that may come along once they are no longer dependent on their mother for sustenance. They only need to replenish each generation, so most of the Wingmaidens need only bear a child once in their lives."
Eret nodded to himself.
"Maybe you should hook them up with the Defenders. Would make for a good team effort there. Have Atali and Mala ever met?"
"Not to my knowledge. They have very different ways of doing things. Mala's tribe do not fly on dragons, while the Wingmaidens have parts of this island only accessible by flight, so ingrained it in is their lives. And I... sorry, we" Eret tried not to smile like an idiot at how definitive the we was, even though Valka had to remember she was no longer alone "do things in our own way too."
"True. Still, it would be something between funny and terrifying to put you, Mala and Atali all in one place."
Valka laughed lightly to herself, raising the meat to her mouth rather than use cutlery; she didn't always use it before Eret joined the nest, and he realised why when the baby Stormcutters came along. It was hard enough keeping plates and bowls intact around baby dragons, or any dragons, let alone smaller things like utensils. Still, Eret had fallen in love with the mad, feral vigilante. Table manners weren't something dragons had either.
The Stormcutters were all napping as they digested their meal when the Wingmaidens returned, splattered with mud and a few scratches in places but all smiling, happy.
"Good reintroduction?"
"Very. They're reintegrating wonderfully. Thank you, again. It's lovely to have them home."
"You are very welcome Atali, and I am very glad to be able to reunite them with their own kind."
There was no denying the life Valka led, and the life Eret chose to lead alongside her, was tough. But they weren't as alone as it sometimes seemed, and when they had days like that one, where they got to take dragons back where they belonged and let them be safe again? He knew it was worth it.
-HTTYD-
I love Thunderpedes. They are so ludicrously shaped for flight and will 100% kick your ass, but are also the Gay Rights dragons.