53. Making deals

"Hey! I thought we were going to eat!" Hiccup called as he followed his mother to the ocean, the nest's dragon's behind him. He stopped when his mother's dragon turned to him and Valka held out her hand to stop him.

"Oh, we are!" she told him and he followed her downwards motion.

He saw Seashockers chasing and herding a school of fish. He watched as the fish got sucked down and the Bewilderbeast that had been in the nest rose from the water and sprayed the fish into the air for the dragons to catch. Hiccup looked around in amazement, he caught Toothless' excited eyes and motioned for his dragon to go ahead. The Night Fury dove, catching an abundance of fish in his jaws, Hiccup just held on for the ride.

They hovered around for a moment just observing the feasting dragons around them. Valka once again motioned for Hiccup to follow her, he did so without complaint. They flew for a few minutes with no destination in mind.

"Where are we going?" Hiccup finally asked her.

"I want to show you everything I worked on," she told him with a smile, "There are some amazing places nearby that I wish for you to see."

"Okay then," he simply agreed. He liked seeing new places and discovering new things, the map of the archipelago that he had in his notebook was proof of that. New places and time to get to know his mother, it seemed like time well spent to him.

"I need some time," Storm called after Stoick who was almost outside of the hall.

"For what?" the chief asked her in annoyance.

"To take care of things," she told him as she passed by him, "Bring a weapon."

She walked out of the Meade hall, she went straight to the forge to find her helmet. Storm put on her helmet, but left it lifted up so her face could be clearly seen. When she left the forge she was greeted by the gang and their dragons, she smirked.

"Perfect," she said and turned to Fishlegs, "Can you fly to the cove and bring me my shield? The others will catch you up when you return."

Fishlegs hesitantly nodded and quickly mounted Meatlug and took off. The others were left standing there looking at her expectantly. She laced her fingers together and waited, because by the look on Astrid's face it was clear she had questions.

"Out with it," Storm finally prompted.

"Why did you tell Stoick to bring a weapon and why do you need your shield?" Astrid quickly asked with a panicked look in her eyes.

"I sent Hiccup on a mission. He didn't want to leave without a reason so I gave him one: look for the Dragon Rider," Storm explained with a shrug, "The thing is, the Dragon Rider has mostly been spotted in waters that are brimming with Dragon Trappers."

"Who is the Drago – "

"You sent my son into danger!?"

"He can take care of himself, Stoick," she rolled her eyes and turned to Eret, "Can I borrow Skullcrusher?"

"Sure… What for?"

"Shadow is not going to fly with him in the saddle," Storm said as she pointed to Stoick, she leaned towards Eret and whispered, "And leaving one of you without a dragon lowers the chance of you following," she finished with a wink.

"Okay," Eret chuckled as Fishlegs came back with her shield.

"And we found this island by mistake, I got caught in a storm and…" Hiccup trailed of as he looked up and saw his mother re-drawing his map in the snow.

He looked at her drawing in wonder, it was just like his map that she managed to replicate just with a glance. He gave his mother a smile, they were so alike. Hiccup couldn't help but feel hurt and cheated somehow… he could have had someone there for him if only she had come back. His smile fell for a second, but when Toothless dragged an icicle through Valka's drawing he smiled again and gave him mother a shrug when she looked at him in confusion.

The icicle got stuck on the dragons tongue and Toothless tried to shake it off without success. Hiccup laughed and Valka joined in. He folded up his map and went to help the Night Fury to get his tongue unstuck. He managed to free the dragon after a few tries.

"Come," his mother urged him again, "I want to show you one more thing."

Hiccup followed her once again as she took him to the far side of the nest, where the island itself wasn't covered in ice. Hiccup felt it as soon as they entered, a perpetual, strong updraft that made hovering in one place easy.

Hiccup unhooked himself from his saddle and let himself be lifted up, the only thing keeping him from flying off were his hands that tightly gripped the saddle. There were dragons already at this spot and Hiccup watched as his mother started to dance around on their wings. He laughed as she ruffled his hair and dropped from Toothless' wing onto Cloudjumper.

Hiccup strapped himself back into the saddle and motioned to the side with his head. His mother nodded and they got out of the updraft. They flew around the island for a bit, he heard his mother sigh.

"When I'm up here, I don't even feel the cold. I just feel…" his mother started answering his unasked question.

"Free," he finished for her. Valka gave him a wide smile and spread out he arms, enjoying the passing wind.

"This is what it is to be a dragon, Hiccup."

"It's all well and good to call yourself a dragon," he told her and unstrapped himself from the saddle and stood up after locking Toothless' tail, "But can you fly?"

He didn't give her a chance to answer as he leaped off from Toothless who looked at him with hidden annoyance. Hiccup glided through the air with ease, his flight suit letting him do so without a hitch. He turned mid-air to look back at him mother, but was startled when he found her flying next to him. She looked at his invention with interest. Hiccup smiled and turned around only to come face to face to a rapidly approaching mountain.

"Oh no. Toothless!" he called behind him to his dragon who did his best to reached the panicked human.

The Night Fury managed to reach Hiccup, shielding him with his wings. The pair crashed into the snow on the ground. Toothless grumbled as he stood up and unfolded his wigs, he panicked when he didn't find Hiccup there. The Night Fury frantically looked around the ground and huffed when Hiccup emerged from the snow unharmed.

"Man! Almost! We just about had it that time!" Hiccup laughed and flicked the snow off of himself, getting some on Toothless. The dragon sneezed and swiped Hiccup's legs from below him, making him fall back into the snow.

"Incredible," Valka said in amazement as she examined his wing suit after helping him up.

"Well, not bad yourself," Hiccup told her with a smile as she gently placed her hand on his cheek.

"All this time, you took after me," she whispered with sorrow, "And where was I? I'm so sorry, Hiccup. Can we start over? Will you give me another chance?" she removed her hand and stepped back, towards Toothless, "I can teach you all that I've learned, these past twenty years. Like…" she pressed into a spot behind Toothless' neck, making the dragon's back spines split in two, "Now you can make those tight turns."

"Did you know about this?" Hiccup asked the Night Fury as Toothless jumped around in excitement at this new discovery. The dragon burrowed into snow and jumped out making snow land on Cloudjumper's head. The larger dragon looked at the excited Night Fury and dumped the snow from his head onto the smaller dragon making the people laugh.

"This gift we share, Hiccup... it bonds us. This is who you are, son. Who we are. We will change the world for all dragons! We will make it a better, safer place!"

"That sounds great!" Hiccup agreed and Valka hugged him, "But… I won't leave the life I have, I can't leave my life behind. I can't leave my family – my sister – behind."

"Your sister…?" Valka questioned, "Stoick had another wife?"

"No, no," Hiccup chuckled, making his mother's bothered look melt away, "It's a long story. But I could tell you the gist of it if you want."

"I'd love to hear it. I missed so much of your life, of course you can't abandon it," she scolded herself, "But please, let me be a part of your life from now on."

Hiccup looked at the hopeful look on his mother's face. She had let him believe she was dead, that hurt like nothing he had felt before, but… she wanted to try. She was already trying. Hiccup had a chance to have a full family for the first time in his life and he wanted that. He smiled and fell into his mother's arms again.

"Gladly."

"Can't this beast go any faster?"

"His name is Skullcrusher, and if you stop fidgeting he will."

"The saddle is uncomfortable!"

"Because it wasn't tailored for you!" Storm yelled in annoyance, she took a deep breath and calmed herself down, "This was part of the deal, Stoick."

"It doesn't mean I like it," he grumbled, but stopped shifting around.

They had already been flying for an hour and Stoick's constant complains were getting on Storm's nerves. They had made a deal, well… Storm made Stoick promise to a deal: the chief calms down enough to stop yelling at every other sentence, then Storm would take him to where Hiccup was, but only if the chief flew on a dragon on his own.

They had at least another hour to go and then they needed to find Hiccup. Storm hoped he was somewhere near where she had circled, because if he wasn't… that meant that she had to spend more time with Stoick who had been whining at the smallest discomfort.

Storm heard Stoick shuffle and huff again. She exhaled and rolled her eyes.

'Hiccup, please be easy to find,' she thought to herself.