"That should be enough for her." Toothless exhaled as he stared at a pile of fish. He wanted to impress Raeya. He hoped this gift would make her happy. He woke up before dawn–before all the other dragons woke up–to ensure he would get the best fish when he went fishing.
He had to wake up Hiccup and Astrid a bit earlier than usual, much to the anger of he remembered correctly, it was something about disturbing Hagen, but he brushed it off.
It was annoying, the language barrier between him and Hiccup was. Toothless was close to biting his paw off when he somehow convinced Hiccup to let him use the automatic tail fin. His human started babbling on about something but Toothless was in the sky a moment later after Hiccup attached the fin.
He started gathering all types of fish for Raeya, quickly scanning the sea for the most scrumptious of fish. After about an hour of fishing, he slowly piled up a big pile of fish for her. It was sitting behind Hiccup's house, covered with shrubbery and chopped piles of wood. It was painstaking putting all that there to obscure the sight and scent of the fish, but necessary nonetheless. He even burnt some of the wood to overpower the scent of fish. He smiled when it worked.
"I hope she likes it." He thought out loud
"Of course she will. She's a dragon. Dragons love fish." Another side of him bickered.
For now he agreed with that side. However, as he looked at the pile, he couldn't help but feel something was missing from there.
"Trout, Mackerel, Cod, Salmon..." he started listing. He looked down in thought as he tried to remembered what he was missing.
"TUNA!" Toothless gasped as he bounded off into the air and out to sea. Unfortunately for Toothless, he just made a trivial mistake.
"So I don't understand the point of this Fishlegs." Kassandra said.
"The point is that you need to know all your different types of dragons if you plan to stay on Berk." Fishlegs responded.
"Can we hurry up? I wanna pet Meatlug!" Slug shouted. Slug was a 8 year old Viking with brown hair and brown eyes.
"Yeah! Let's pet the Gronkle!" Thorna, a young girl Viking sang with glee.
"Come one Fishlegs! Why is she even here? She doesn't even know anything about dragons!" another young Viking exclaimed.
"Yeah! She's stupid!" one sang in the back.
Kassandra snapped her head around and glared daggers at the kid, which prompted him to cower back.
"Now now guys. You all were just as clueless as she was when you first started here. It's not her fault she doesn't know." Fishlegs said to the future generation of dragon riders. They all mumbled and nodded their head in agreement after a moment.
"Okay class. You just stumbled into a dragon's cave. It belongs to a Monstrous Nightmare. What do you do?"
"Give it fish!"
"Speak to it!"
"Play dead"
"Run away!"
Fishlegs silenced them before it got out of hand.
"All wrong. You need to show it you are not a threat. Open palms, gentle movement, and a soothing voice." All the kids groaned their dismay at being wrong.
"Well aren't you suppose to run away from these beasts. Just one look and you are dead. Much like gazing into the eyes of Medusa." Kassandra spoke up.
The whole class looked back at her weirdly, as if she just slapped herself.
"Well I don't know who this Medusa is, but most dragons aren't deadly at all. If you approach them in a docile, non-threatening manner, they won't mind you. However, depending on what type of dragon you encounter, will determine how they react to you." Fishlegs explained.
"So you want me to calm them down when they have no idea what I'm capable of when I am most likely intruding on their space? That's odd." Kassandra asked.
"Well, when you put it that way, it seems odd. But don't overthink it." Fishlegs sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose. Ever since Hiccup asked him to give him dragon lessons to the younger Vikings, he couldn't have been happier. But when he asked him to give Kassandra lessens he accepted eagerly, not knowing how much of a pain she was.
"What? I'm just asking. Why would it make sense to calm them down when we angered them in the first place? Wouldn't that make them angrier?"
"Well we can't just talk to them! 'Oh hi Nightmare, I'm sorry for stepping on your land. I didn't know you owned this patch of ground. Let me just go around'. We can't talk to them so this is the only way to calm them down." Fishlegs said, slightly annoyed. He was starting to see how Hiccup felt when he was talking to Snotlout or the Twins, or when Gobber talked to them all.
"So why not just speak their language?"
"Because we can't. The only ones who can are the Draconians! So this is the only way we can communicate with them: with body language!" Fishlegs exhaled.
"Why not learn it?" Slug asked.
"Because it takes a lifetime to learn. I already asked Chris and Serenity. They said that it would take a lot of dedication and practice to even get the basics of it. And that it's very hard to even pronounce half of the words since human mouths aren't designed like dragon mouths. And considering that they only come to Berk half a year, it would take twice as long to learn it." Fishlegs groaned.
"That's not fair!"
"Yeah! I wanna learn it!"
"Why can't we learn Dragonese. I wanna talk dragon!"
A chorus of complaints soon rang out, with Fishlegs doing his best to quell the crowd. He scowled, looking for Kassandra, since she provoked the crowd before him. Unfortunately for him, she slipped out during the chaos.
Kassandra peered over the edge of the arena, sighing in satisfaction while watching Fishlegs be overwhelmed. She couldn't stand it. Being with a bunch of kids. If she was even considering being a...a dragon rider...she couldn't learn in a setting like that. She grew up with one-on-one training and she was gonna stick with it. Her father taught her solely how to fight while her mother taught her how to clean and every other thing a woman was expected to do.
"What are you doing?" a sudden voice asked.
She jumped slightly, snapping her head around to see Chris looking at her with confusion.
"Oh. Nothing. I was doing nothing." Kassandra timidly answered.
"That doesn't sound suspicious at all." Chris chuckled.
Kassandra sighed in defeat. "Well, I just wanted to get away from those children and that Fishlegs. I understand I don't know anything about dragons, but I don't deserve to be lectured like a child."
"Why don't you ask the Draconians. They seem to more about dragons than Vikings do. I mean, they are dragons so they would know about their own kind than any other person should." Chris suggested.
"You mean your parents?"
Chris frowned a bit. "Well, I do know that they are intelligent. However...I don't think they are my parents. I don't remember that they were and I can't imagine how they can be." Chris answered truthfully.
"I agree. How can beasts like them raise humans?"
"Maybe it's witchcraft?" Chris asked, smiling.
"Dragon witches. Well I'll be damned!" Kassandra chortled.
Chris looked at her thoughtfully.
"What is it?" Kassandra asked as she picked up on his facial expression.
"I don't think I've officially met you." Chris declared.
"Well, you did, but you don't remember. I uh...I am the one who gave you amnesia." Kassandra said hesitantly.
"Oh...well, I'm sure you didn't mean to." Chris answered.
"I don't know. I mean, how would you feel if you were grabbed unexpectedly by a flying beast and hoisted up high in the air, that close to falling to your death?" Kassandra asked.
Chris looked down in thought. "I guess it makes sense for you to act that way. I'd probably freak out and do something stupid."
Kassandra narrowed her eyes. "It wasn't stupid. It was smart."
"Windwalker told me you were screaming like a goat would." Chris laughed.
Kassandra scoffed, "and what would she know?"
"She knows a lot. And how does your dragon fair then?"
"My dragon?"
"The one with the blue and green eyes?"
"Oh... Oh! She isn't my dragon! No no no. Raeya isn't my dragon. I don't ride her. I would never ride her! I would never ride dragon!" Kassandra exclaimed.
"Well, even though she isn't your dragon, you don't know what you are missing. I just went flying today for the...I guess for the first time, and it was breath-taking, literally." Chris pointed out.
"Ha! As if I'd ever want to hit the clouds!"
Chris gave her a puzzled look. "Clouds aren't solid. You don't really hit them.
"Sure they aren't. That's as true as the Kallikantzaroi." Kassandra said sarcastically.
"What?"
"Never mind."
Chris chuckled. "You're funny. Come, let's walk. Tell me more about this Kall-kan-za-roh."
"It's prounced Kal-li-kant-za-roi." Kassandra replied.
"Then please, educate me then." Chris smiled as he began walking, prompting Kassandra to follow. Pretty soon, they were lost in deep conversation about Greek folklore.
One hour prior to that, Chris was sitting on top of hill with the rest of his "family". Everyone was in deep conversation, talking about things Chris didn't know. Things he didn't remember.
"So where's Windwalker, Tenor?" Re asked.
"She is hanging out with Rhyax again." Tenor remarked with a scowl.
"Tenor, what's wrong?" Serenity asked, noticing her dragon's scowl.
"It's nothing.."
"It's obviously not. What is it?" Serenity pressed.
"Well, Windwalker has just been hanging out with Rhyax lately." Tenor admitted.
"Tenor, Windwalker is just reuniting with an old friend. I'm sure they have a lot to talk about. I know that if I was separated from Re for a long time, I would feel that way too." Aurora reassured.
Tenor rested his head on his forepaws, having nothing else to say.
Just then, a couple of roars were heard nearby. The Draconians picked up their heads towards the source of the sound.
"Another dragon dispute it seems." Re commented.
"Yes, it sounds like it, but Toothless can handle it. He's the alpha here." Aurora asserted.
Serenity visibly tensed and looked worried. Chris picked up on her change of mood.
"What's the matter?"
"It's just...dragons shouldn't fight."
Chris looked at her oddly. "What do you mean they shouldn't fight? Everyone fights, especially dragons."
Serenity turned to look at her husband. "Well, they shouldn't. Fighting is nothing but conflict and dispute, and that leads to misery and pain."
She looked like she was on the verge of tears.
Tenor came over and nuzzled her shoulder. "Hey it's alright. This will soon pass and everything will go back to normal."
Serenity just nodded silently, not uttering not a word.
"Why does everyone have to resort to fighting?" Serenity asked to no one in particular.
"Fighting helps settle disputes. Sometimes fighting is the only way to resolve conflict." Chris mentioned.
Serenity looked up at her husband. "But when they are fighting, they don't value life. When you are fighting and arguing, you don't really care about the other person. You just care about getting your way. Nothing is valued in battle and arguing except winning."
"Not everyone thinks like that Serenity. Some people just want to use force to get their way and words may not always solve the disputes. We do our best to prevent fighting, but sometimes it is out of our control." Tenor explained softly.
"You said you only heal dragons, right?" Chris asked, deep in thought.
"Yes. That's all I do." Serenity answered.
Chris was silent as he contemplated the information given to him.
"What's the matter?" Aurora asked.
Chris looked up and noticed his family looking at him.
"Nothing, just trying to remember, that's all." Chris half-lied.
"That's good. The sooner you remember, the sooner everything will go back to normal." Re voiced.
Chris was focused on that one word his father uttered: normal. Chris then got up.
"I'm going to go for a walk. Maybe that will help me remember."
"Go ahead. Hopefully it will." Serenity responded.
Chris began walking toward the village. As he walked down the hill, he didn't notice Sylerion and Moonfyre walking up the hill, passing him. His mind was elsewhere. Many thoughts popped into his head. He also was replaying all the stuff he was told, from who he was before his amnesia to what just occurred right now. Through it all, one question took up a majority of his attention.
"How is any of this normal?"
Toothless huffed as he landed near Hiccup's house, back from a long session of fishing. It was painstaking to say the least, trying to find the perfect tuna for Raeya.
"Well at least I got one." Toothless said with a big tuna in his jaws. It was heavy and thick, and slightly put some strain on his jaw. If this wasn't the perfect fish, then he didn't know what was.
As he made his way to the back of the house, he heard a slight commotion. He picked up his pace and he dropped his tuna in shock.
A swarm of Terrible Terrors were currently devouring his pile of fish. His demeanor snapped. He roared at the top of his lungs as he rushed towards them.
"Get the hell away!" Toothless snarled, thrashing his head back and forth while flaring his wings.
The Terrors yelped in surprise and fear, swarming away and out of sight. Toothless tried biting at them but they were too many and soon, all that remained were the small scraps of bones, fins, and partly devoured fish that hadn't been finished in time.
Toothless looked down at his pile of fish. His anger quickly turned into anguish. He groaned in defeat, lowering his head. His ears picked up when he heard some movement behind him. His head whipped around and his eyes settled on a trio of Terrible Terrors that were trying to eat his tuna. Raeya's tuna.
His anguish turned back into anger as his eyes slitted. His piercing eyes settled on the group and when their eyes met his, they froze.
"I am going to end your life slowly, and painfully." Toothless glowered as he slowly crept toward them.
They whimpered in fear as they had nowhere else to go. Toothless looked down and assessed the damage. They had eaten part of its face and find, but overall the meat was still there.
"Hey Toothless." a familiar voice said.
Said Night Fury tensed as he turned around and was met by Raeya.
"Oh, hi, Raeya." Toothless greeted timidly.
The 3 Terrors all scurried out of sight when their alpha turned around.
"Oh was I interrupting something?"
"No no! It's just, those stupid Terrors ruined everything."
"How so?"
Toothless looked at Raeya and blushed a bit. "Well, they ate my pile of fish."
"Why would you leave fish unattended? Especially a pile of it? We both know dragons just love fish, even more so when they don't have to work for it."
Toothless sighed. "...because it was for you."
Raeya brought her head back slightly. "Me? Wait what?"
"I was planning to give you a pile of fish. So I woke up before dawn and fished for about 2-3 hours." Toothless admitted shyly.
"But how? You can't fly on your own."
"I had to wake up Hiccup and convince him to let me try out my automatic tail fin." Toothless said a she brought his tail around and flexed his tail fin, the prosthetic tail responding in tandem. "He made this tail so that I could fly on my own."
Raeya's heart swelled a bit. 'He flew on his own and went fishing for me?' she thought to herself.
"And now those stupid Terrors ate all the fish. I hid the fish and covered the scent, but I-" he stopped when he realized what went wrong. "I left the pile uncovered. I should've known better. You can't stop a hungry dragon from eating. Now all I have left is this tuna." Toothless said as he gestured to the slightly-eaten tuna.
"Why a tuna?"
"Because that's the one fish I left out in the pile. So I went to go get it but I left the pile uncovered. Now I understand how those dragons found my fish." Toothless sighed, shameful of his costly mistake.
Raeya slowly moved toward him. Toothless looked up and his eyes widened as she got closer and closer, until they were almost touching noses. They stared into each other's eyes. Blue and green meeting electrifying green. Raeya smiled slightly as she bent her neck around Toothless and latched her teeth onto the dead tuna. She raised her head and tossed her head back, letting the tuna fly in the air for a moment before it descended into her mouth. Raeya gulped down the tasty fish and smacked her lips.
"That was really good. Thank you for the fish Toothless." Raeya grinned. Toothless was speechless. After all that, she still liked it.
He was further speechless as Raeya did something he never thought she would do. She nuzzles him. It wasn't a long nuzzle, but like a short, grateful one. One you would give out of gratitude and happiness.
He quivered ever so slightly as he was nuzzled. He prayed she didn't feel that. He felt her scales rub against his lightly before pulling back quickly.
"Thank you Toothless. I really appreciate it." Raeya smiled affectionately before spreading her wings and taking off.
Toothless stood there dumbstruck as she flew off to somewhere unknown. He was stunned. She nuzzled him. She nuzzled him. He thought she was going to be disappointed. But the opposite happened! He didn't even notice when Hiccup came up to him and tried to get his attention, asking what was wrong.
Nothing was wrong. For Toothless, it was win. A small, unexpected win, but nonetheless a win.