A/N:
Thanks for joining me again (I know, long break, I'm back at it now). And thank you VigoGrimborne for sticking with me as a beta buddy, even after such a long break. After this, one more chapter until Meatlug sings.

Deadly-Bagel, hehe, "messages from the god(s)", lol! Oh, and you can thank VigoGrimborne for making sure I didn't go overboard in making Ruffnut too productive. It was his idea to have Ruffnut dwell on the fact that she hadn't even gotten anyone killed yet.

Dragonrider's Fury, oh, yeah, withholding food is SUPER effective. I recall, as a kid, the withholding of ice cream made me eat my veggies.


Untouchable

Hiccup drummed his fingers on the table at the Great Hall, his bowl of stew neglected and growing ever colder.

He recently heard the news that Frost had visited the dragon training class and promptly took off to seek out possible help – or far more probable, vengeance. It was evidence that she was still alive, so one might have assumed that this would bring some comfort… until one stopped and really thought about how Hiccup thought.

This was a feeling that Tord could sympathize with, having been in a similar position himself.

Several years ago, he had served as Admiral on a mission to sail to the Barbaric Archipelago and wipe out the dragons in service to the Holy Roman Emperor. In doing so, he had allied himself with a Norseman who had somehow assumed command over a massive Bewilderbeast, and the thought of such a creature luring in dragons for the capture had lured in Tord as well.

Tord came to realize how foolish he was, both in his mission and his methods, but when he had sailed home, he was met with only disaster after disaster. Half of all the people wanted him dead because he had allied himself with Drago, and the other half also wanted him dead because he ended up riding a dragon. He had been excommunicated from the Church and branded a heretic by the aristocracy, hunted down and on the run. The Emperor even dispatched a detachment to kill all of Tord's family "to purge the land of any remaining taint of evil".

His eldest son, at twenty years old, was the only one that Tord was able to save. He was unable to convince the lad to drop his vendetta against the actors who killed those he loved, and even if he hadn't made a fatal mistake in his own hunt, in one way or another, the dark path he chose to tread would have killed him in mind and spirit if not in body.

Tord recognized the signs. Frost was on a similar path. Dragon's didn't dwell on a matter, they didn't hem and haw and begin to commit one way only to have second thoughts and backtrack. They functioned differently, their thinking both far above and far below that of a human. They would instantly pick through every detail of everything they knew to arrive at a conclusion to act with finality.

Frost had accepted that she would not come back to her clutch because she did not want to allow her conditioning to destroy it, something that had implications more far-reaching than Tord had initially assumed. Dragons saw the mind more than the body, what something meant more than what it looked like. Eggs, hatchlings, adolescents, it was all the same in the eyes of a dragon, all of it would be brought to ruination if Frost was allowed to return. It would only be her clutch in danger as she was conditioned to destroy her eggs, so she had decided that she would deny herself any interaction with the clutch or the sire who would raise it.

Perhaps, as the hatchlings aged and were less liable to remind a dam of the eggs from which they spawned, the effects of Frost's conditioning might lessen. Perhaps, after a few years, when the hatchlings would be old enough to scatter and live on their own, Frost could safely interact with them.

Such ideas had been presented to Frost and promptly rebuffed. Dragons, being creatures that drank from nearby streams when thirsty, plucked fish from the sea when hungry, and mated when roused, were not creatures to plan long-term. They decided and acted only within the moment, which was why, when hundreds of dragons suddenly found themselves free of the Red Death's mind control several years ago, many of them drowned out their humiliating memories by drowning themselves.

Tord could understand why Frost handled the situation so rashly, to some degree, if only because he had seen his own son tread a similar path.

"Odin's beard, Firefly, you worry too much. Frost will be fine!" Tofa suddenly chimed in.

Hiccup gave her a sad, yearning, desperately hopeful look that made her shrivel up on herself. It was only a wishful platitude, not something she could claim with certainty, same as Tord.

The chief sighed. "The sad thing is that I can't say that it would be a good thing for her to come back. Even if she's somehow cured, and she returns, Vicious has assumed the role of the clutch's dam. Each day, her bond with those eggs grows stronger, and that's a great thing if Frost never returns, and a barrel full of Zippleback gas if she does. One of them would be driven off or killed."

He thumped his forehead on the table. "I don't even know who I would want to win that fight!"

Sending Vicious away for a while just to be safe would not be right, and she would not allow it. Moving the clutch was not an option either for the same reason. Even if all the dragons on the island maintained constant vigil to repel Frost, it would be doomed to fail against a dragon so capable. It was simply a matter of if Frost decided to come back and confront Vicious or not.

Hiccup tilted his head to give a hopeful look at Tord, who allowed his eyes to slide down to his lap.

Tofa looked at Tord out of the side of her eyes. "Wow, I pretty much set myself up for you to rub my face in the mud with some imagined prophecy from your imagined god. I suppose I gotta give you credit for passing that up."

Tord gave a halfhearted smile. "My god has no interest in the dealings of dragons. And what sort of man would I be if I spoke with certainty of a thing about which I am not certain?"

A thought suddenly came to mind, and Tord looked over at Hiccup. "I do have one thing to offer, if Frost does return…" He thought about it some more. "No, a bad idea…" He thought about some more. He shifted his gaze to the Terrible Terror on Hiccup's shoulder, knowing who's eyes were behind the Terror's, watching from the cave while brooding over his clutch. "Toothless, could I ask you to leave us for a moment, and allow Hiccup to decide what to share with you? I am shooting blind here, and I fear my advice could be harmful rather than helpful."

The Terror nodded.

"Good," Tord continued. "Hiccup, let me tell you about a king named Soloman, the wisest in all the land…"

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Frost flew, not casually but hastily, as fast as she could push herself, and yet it was never fast enough. She had lived her life on her wings, fleeing, chasing, fighting. There was not a single dragon on any of these islands who could hope to match the distance she could cover in a day, but she could never fly far enough.

She was methodical in her search pattern as she knew the layout of most of these islands. Her course was as efficient as any dragon could hope, and as much as she desperately wanted to get this over with, she forced herself to leave nothing to chance.

She covered not just the islands themselves but also the stretches of sea between, anywhere a dragon could possibly fly, her attention focused on any perceived by the sensor lobes around her head. Any projected thought, even the passive background hum that no dragon could ever truly silence, was laid bare before her.

The sun waned, and Frost pounced on some prey on an island and feasted before she found a secure spot to rest. The sun rose, and so did Frost for another day of streaking through the sky to see all that lay below. She saw many dragons but never the ones she sought.

The sun fell. Eat, sleep.

The sun rose. Fly.

The sun fell.

The sun rose.

Finally, she found what she was looking for. She did not bother ascending to dive in with the sun at her tail as her instincts insisted. There were only two sting-tail dragons. They were dangerous with their long claws, powerful bite, stinger tails, thick scales, and a burning fuel that clung like dung and burned like death. However, Frost had lived in their company for so long, seen them fly and fight. They were inelegant, unwieldy creatures that she was deft at handling.

The game was done, the chase concluded. They were stuck on these arctic islands, unable to fly the expansive gap to the great swathes of land across the sea. They were cornered, and they knew it. Frost would take what she wanted from them, even if it was only their blood.

She pulled up and flew alongside them, instantly identifying fifteen different ways she could kill them. Twenty-two. Thirty-one.

They did not respond except to continue flying straight. They felt pensive, and they knew that they could not win in a fight against Frost, not without any advantage of surprise, but they were not too concerned.

Frost screeched her fury at them. {You broke my mind! You will fix it now, or I will kill you!}

The nearest one simply flicked her head and snorted at her. {You cannot harm us.}

Frost snarled at that, determined to put the fear of death in them. Now that she thought about it, she would never trust these dragons to sting her and fix her mind. Why would they when placed in a position of absolute control over her? No, better to just kill them right now.

She angled in, claws outstretched, but at the last moment, she decided to wait. The land-striders were so sure that these dragons could somehow help Frost, and killing them would remove that possibility. It would be better to wait and feel out the situation–

Something was off. Frost recognized the signs of control.

In her mind, the projected thoughts of the great sea dragon boomed. {I THOUGHT I WAS BEING SUBTLE, BUT YOU ARE VERY PERCEPTIVE, SO I WILL BE MORE DIRECT. FROST, YOU ARE IN MY DOMAIN. YOU ARE FREE TO FLY AWAY, BUT AS LONG AS YOU REMAIN, I WILL NOT ALLOW YOU TO HARM THEM JUST AS I WILL NOT ALLOW THEM TO HARM YOU.}

Frost growled uneasily at that, her prey in her grasp and yet untouchable. She tried over and over to assault the sting-tails, but every attempt was effortlessly shaken off by the great sea dragon… until she grew tired of the game and prevented Frost from even trying.

It was infuriating that these dragons were being protected, and even more infuriating that she wasn't allowed to even feel the murderous rage that the sight of them should evoke.

Frost shrieked her frustration. {Great sea dragon, do you know what they did to me?!}

{YES.} There was some sympathy in the projected thoughts. {YOU HAVE BEEN HURT, YOUR MIND TORN UP BY THEIR VENOM AND THAT LAND-STRIDER, YOUR FORMER MASTER. IF YOU ARE WILLING TO APPROACH, I WOULD LIKE TO SPEAK WITH YOU SNOUT-TO-SNOUT.}

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Vicious curled up a little tighter around her clutch of eggs, laid her head down on her black paws, and let out a sigh of contentment.

A dragon typically wouldn't feel inclined to mate again until a while after their last clutch had grown up and flown the nest, so she couldn't entirely shake the feeling of this being too soon. Besides, the eggs were the wrong color, and they had the wrong scent.

It was good enough for her, though, and she didn't mind being around Toothless. On the outside, he was hard and strong, the result of a long history of fighting and not-fighting – or "games" as the land-striders called it. Carrying a rider around all the time and regularly pushing his limits to snatch animals or hollow tree logs from other dragons had developed his flanks and front end in a way that Vicious would never grow tired of looking at.

However, on the inside, he was a bit too soft for her taste, a consequence of his long-term exposure to land-striders. He had picked up some of their bad habits, like compassion and empathy.

He still felt concern for Frost, even though he accepted that he had to remain here with the eggs and let her figure things out on her own. Vicious never trusted the dragon. She knew that Frost was flying in turbulent winds, that she was trying her best to fight against her conditioning, but effort meant nothing next to results. Frost had been controlled since before she was old enough to mate, so her only experience with any clutch of her own was tainted from the start.

Vicious had made her thoughts very plain, and Toothless pushed back, the fool. Still, only one egg was smashed, leaving six behind, a minor loss, and from such a large clutch at that.

After a few years, the hatchlings would be old enough to scatter and live on their own, and maybe then Frost could safely interact with them. However, if she returned sooner, even after the eggs hatched, would she be able to control herself then? Would she deserve another chance? Vicious wasn't holding her breath, and she did not want to let some strange dragon wander in here and destroy these new lives.

That was assuming that Frost would return. Toothless clung to that hopeful optimism, but even he knew that was only wishful thinking.

Vicious knew from experience the grief and hatred that came with losing a clutch, the overpowering drive to seek out retribution. The land-striders in the hunting party that managed to flush out Vicious and smash her eggs so long ago were so proud of themselves. None of them made it back to their nest. Vicious had flown around that night and employed recklessly aggressive tactics to "convince" other dragons in the area to help wipe out the offending nest. Hundreds were killed, but it still hadn't felt like it was nearly enough.

Something startled her, and she barked and snapped. Her eyes landed on Toothless, eyes wide, tongue still sticking out to lick her face, and she relaxed. If even a small fraction of that loss and rage was felt by Frost, and it was in any way turned against the threat to her eggs, against herself…

Toothless started to pace again, a habit he had picked up from the land-striders, and Vicious was working on breaking him out of it. He stopped when he sensed that she was beginning to tense up in preparation to lunge and swipe at him. She had already nipped at him a few times for doing that.

Toothless gave her a sideways look and yawned. He then side-stepped to a narrower part of the cave and worked his front and back paws up both sides until he was stretched out above the ground. It was another habit he had picked up from land-striders, something they called "strength training", but this was perhaps an acceptable one. She had tried it once, and the strain set her entire underside ablaze almost instantly. Toothless lasted a while, and he chuffed when he noticed Vicious admiring the twitching of the fatiguing muscles along his belly.

He eventually dropped to the ground and sauntered over to Vicious to stretch himself out, hind legs pulled out behind, feeling better with some of his nervous energy burnt up. He nosed at the eggs, then nosed at Vicious, purring.

When he looked towards the empty mouth of the cave with worry, Vicious nipped him hard enough to make him yelp and give her a sideways glare.

A sire should be more attentive to the dam of the clutch.

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Frost glared venomously over at the sting-tail dragons that she wanted to kill. She knew that none could deny that she deserved vengeance, or that they deserved death. Unwilling to turn back with nothing to show for her efforts, with nothing else to live for, she followed them in their flight that seemed mind-numbingly slow compared to the speed she had maintained for the past several days.

They flew to a small island that was little more than a volcano with water lapping at its base on all sides. The ridge along the top gave way to a deep depression. It was so deep, Frost realized as they dove down into it, that it turned into a tunnel wide enough to accommodate their spread wings. The sunlight rapidly failed, but the floor and walls were scattered with algae and mushrooms that emitted a very faint glow, enough for Frost's large eyes to see by.

The sting-tails landed on a small ledge. {Flying would be easier and faster if you take the lead. We know where to go, but your eyes pierce the darkness better than ours, and we can all fly faster if we can follow your bright scales.}

Frost found a nearby ledge and made a show of licking her paws, patiently waiting for them to stop whining and continue on.

They returned the gesture, content to remain for as long as required. Frost snarled at them, but she spread her wings and dropped down to fly on, already impatient to see where this led.

As promised, they projected directions, down, left, through the large cavern, across the underground river that was lit from beneath with glowing crystal formations, past many nesting dragons, through a cloud of tiny dragons that glowed orange and received food offerings for the light they could always provide. Some of the mushrooms growing down here were enormous, larger and wider than any tree Frost had ever seen, sturdy enough to serve as dragon nests.

Even with so much space, even if the mushrooms were all edible and the lakes and rivers were saturated with fish, food and space would still be scarce. Life would be a constant struggle that would be survived by only the few who were strong enough to win fights over limited resources. This was not a place where dragons were meant to thrive but to simply survive, to continue their existence while hiding from the world.

Eventually, they arrived at a large cavern with a lake that stretched into darkness, even to her eyes. Laid out on the shore was the white, massive body that she instantly recognized.

Frost alighted in front of the great sea dragon's head and glared at her. {Do you realize what these sting-tails have done to me?}

The sea dragon let out a deep, rumbling chuff with a puff of misty ice. {IF THE MIND IS THE SEA, AND THE THOUGHTS ARE FISH, EVEN YOU OR A BLACK DRAGON CAN SEE ONLY SHADOWS UNLESS THAT FISH IS PROJECTED INTO THE AIR WHERE IT CAN BE CLEARLY SEEN BY ALL. I, HOWEVER, CAN DIVE DEEP AND SEE FAR. NOTHING IS HIDDEN FROM MY GAZE.}

Frost growled, nonplussed. {Then you see why they deserve to die?}

{I SEE BETTER THAN YOU, FROST. I SEE THE DISEASE THAT THEIR VENOM AND THAT LAND-STRIDER HAS INJECTED INTO YOUR MIND. I COULD COMMAND THEIR MINDS TO COMMAND THEIR HEARTS TO STOP BEATING, BUT IS IT MY PLACE TO CARRY OUT YOUR VENGEANCE? I AM THE ALPHA OVER ALL DRAGONS HERE, BUT I HAVE LEARNED THAT IT IS BETTER FOR ALL TO ALLOW DRAGONS TO LIVE THEIR OWN LIVES WITHOUT MY INTERFERENCE.}

Frost paced back and forth, agitated. {You do not have to kill them for me, but you do not have to prevent me from killing them myself.}

{KILLING THEM WOULD BE A THOUGHTFUL ACTION, THE RESULT OF A DECISION MADE BY ME. HOW WOULD ALLOWING YOU TO KILL THEM BE ANY DIFFERENT?}

Frost rounded on the sea dragon and glared up at her. {How is your decision to stop me any different?}

{IN THIS, YOU ARE RIGHT. YOUR CONTENTION WITH THESE DRAGONS HAS FORCED ME TO INTERVENE. THE FACT THAT I KNOW OF YOUR INTENT REQUIRES ME TO EXERT CONTROL, EITHER ONE WAY OR ANOTHER. EVEN CHOOSING TO DO NOTHING IS A CHOICE TO EXERT MY AUTHORITY. IT IS SOMETHING I HAVE LEARNED TO ACCEPT, THAT WITH GREAT POWER COMES GREAT CONSEQUENCES.}

Frost growled and sauntered along the shoreline for a drink, finding the water to be fresh. This was getting her nowhere at all.

An image of Firefly's dam, the one often referred to as Dragon Savior in times past, flashed in her mind. {I HAVE BEEN EXPOSED TO MUCH LAND-STRIDER THINKING. WHILE SOME OF IT IS FOOLISHNESS, SOME OF IT IS WISDOM THAT ONLY SUCH A CREATURE COULD CONJURE. YOU KNOW THAT THEY CAN SEE WHAT THEY NEVER SAW, HEAR THAT WHICH NEVER MADE A SOUND, AND KNOW WHAT THEY NEVER LEARNED. YOU SEEK VENGEANCE, BUT WHILE IT ALWAYS FEELS RIGHT, IT ALMOST ALWAYS CREATES UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES. YOU KNOW THAT YOU CANNOT GO BACK TO THE CLUTCH OF EGGS YOU LEFT, OR TO TOOTHLESS, OR TO THE LAND-STRIDERS WHOSE ALPHA YOU HAVE BEEN CONDITIONED TO KILL ON SIGHT. THE DRIVE TO KILL THESE STING-TAILS IS THE REASON YOU LIVE, BUT WHAT WOULD YOU DO WHEN YOU ACCOMPLISH THIS GOAL?}

Frost did not know what she would do. She had already been tempted by the idea of killing herself to end her tainted existence… until she settled on finding and killing those who defiled her life…

{YOU SEE, NOW. IF I CHOOSE TO LET YOU KILL THEM, I CHOOSE TO KILL YOU BY EXTENSION. A LONG WHILE AGO, I WAS DYING WITH TWO GAPING WOUNDS, IMPALED BY THE TUSKS OF MY ENEMY, BUT THE LITTLE YOU COULD DO TO HELP WAS ENOUGH FOR ME TO SURVIVE LONG ENOUGH TO RECOVER. HOW CAN I NOT RETURN THE FAVOR BY ALLOWING YOU TO SURVIVE AND RECOVER?}

Back then, Frost was still a thrall to Mast– to her former Master. The opportunity to help the dying great sea dragon was something he had never anticipated as it was something he hadn't known about. It was primarily an act of spite, rebelliously doing something that he would not have liked. There were several dead dragons nearby to provide large chunks of hide that Frost stretched over the massive wounds. She was able to absorb little bits of lightning from the clouds above, and that combined with her saliva made a foul-tasting sludge that she knew aided in recovery.

There was also the hope that the great sea dragon could heal Frost's mind – she knew that she was being controlled by the sting-tails and her former master – but it was all for nothing. The effects of the venom could not simply be washed away, and the great sea dragon was only partially conscious at the time, teetering on the brink of death.

Frost curled her claws to scratch at the rock of the shoreline as she glared over at the two sting-tails. They would never dare to leave the protection of this great sea dragon. By Frost's count, with how many she knew had died, there were no more sting-tails on the islands up here. She might find her way to the warmer lands and find other sting-tails, but they would not be the ones who ruined her life.

{Then I may still drown myself anyway, only without the satisfaction of having achieved some sense of justice over what happened to me.}

The sea dragon laid her enormous head on the shore. {THAT IS A POSSIBLE OUTCOME, BUT NOT A CERTAIN ONE, AND LESS CERTAIN THAN IF I ALLOW YOU TO KILL THEM. HOWEVER, I MAY BE ABLE TO HELP YOU, AND FOR THAT, WE WOULD NEED THE STING-TAILS TO LIVE.}

That got Frost's attention. She understood that some land-striders, at some times, could remember the future, and it was sometimes accurate. The ones named Confident and Butterfly were both respected among their kind as such specimens, and they were both so certain that there was some remedy and that it involved the sting-tails. However, they were both convinced that the great sea dragon would not be helpful.

Said dragon rumbled in thought. Frost could feel the resulting tremor through her paws.

{THOSE LAND-STRIDERS SAID THAT MY CONTROL IS LIKE ROLLING A LOG UP A HILL, BUT ONCE I LET GO, THE LOG WOULD ROLL BACK DOWN TO THE BOTTOM AGAIN, AND THEY WERE CORRECT. THEY ALSO KNEW THAT THE VENOM OF THE STING-TAIL DRAGONS MAKES PERMANENT ANY CHANGES IN YOUR MIND. HOW FASCINATING IT IS THAT THEY COULD BE CAPABLE OF MAKING EYE CONTACT WITH THE ANSWER AND STILL NOT SEE IT.}

That idea… possibly held some promise. It was disconcerting to think about it, though. All within the great sea dragon's domain could be affected by her at any time, but they could leave and be free from her influence. If the sting-tail's venom would make such an influence permanent…

Frost could fly around the world and still be conditioned according to the desires of this great sea dragon. She could think that she was free, and she could truly believe that her decisions and actions were of her own volition, but such confidence could also be a result of manipulation. She could be made an unquestioning thrall while sure that she was of sound mind, controlled by conditioning far more precise than the clumsy efforts of her former Master.

Now that the great sea dragon realized this potential, she could even employ some of his tactics, using Frost to fly freely but conditioned to lure dragons back to this domain. In this way, the great sea dragon's range of influence could extend as far as a dragon could fly, potentially reaching every other dragon in existence. In principle, regardless of intent, and even if the great sea dragon was the embodiment of altruism, she would just be another Master, replacing the old with the new, and Frost could never be sure of any decision she made… unless she was conditioned to not feel that way…

Or she could simply fly away, having gained or lost nothing. Her mind had undergone certain conditioning, but that was a known. The future, what the great sea dragon might do, was an unknown.

She realized now, after having had time to cool down and think over things, that it would have been an overreaction to drown herself simply because she could never lay eggs and see them hatch and grow. Life would be less fulfilling, but there could still be something found to be worth living for, such as continuing as Toothless' mate and enduring a few years away from him after each clutch, after which she could return and see her adolescents. It wouldn't be perfect, but it would be something.

She also recognized that this thought was implanted in her mind by the great sea dragon, and one day, she might appreciate that instead of resent it.

Privy to her thoughts, the great sea dragon let out a sad, rumbling croon. {YOU KNOW THAT I WILL NOT KEEP YOU HERE, AND THAT I WOULD PROTECT YOU FROM THE STING-TAILS AS LONG AS YOU ARE IN MY DOMAIN, BUT IF YOU ASK ME TO USE THEIR VENOM TO RECONDITION YOUR MIND, NOT EVEN I COULD KNOW HOW TO REMOVE PAST INFLUENCE WITHOUT CREATING MY OWN. TO SOME DEGREE, NO MATTER MY INTENTS, IT IS INEVITABLE THAT YOUR MIND WOULD BECOME AN EXTENSION OF MY WILL.}

Frost turned to the sting-tails with a venomous snarl, then back to the great sea dragon. {I doubt that either of those worms would want to use their venom for my own purposes.}

The great sea dragon rumbled in amusement, and the cavern quivered. {THEIR WANTS MEAN NOTHING. THEY KNOW THE CONSEQUENCES OF ACCEPTING MY PROTECTION. TO USE A LAND-STRIDER EXPRESSION, THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A FREE FISH.}