New Berk was a paradise. Certainly more welcoming than the old island that used to be the home of the Hooligan tribe. The climate was a lot more varied, which they were thankful for, but deep down, every single Viking man, woman and child knew that there was something missing from their little paradise: their dragons.

None knew this more than their chief, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III. He had been the first Viking, that he had known of, to train a dragon, but in the end, it had been his decision to send them away to live in peace in their own hidden world. Did he regret his decision? No, of course not. Even though Grimmel had not been the first enemy they had faced, his actions had shown Hiccup that the dragons would never be safe living with humans. And, as much as he wanted to, it wasn't as if he could go and live with the dragons either. He had first-hand experience of what it was like in their home, and even though it was spectacular to behold, he knew that the dragons there would never accept humans into their haven. It had been a painful decision, but he knew it had been a necessary one.

It had been a year since he had sent the dragons away. Since then, there had been another massive change in his life. Now, he was a married man, and he couldn't be happier. Astrid had certainly made dealing with the loss of the dragons more bearable. Of course, she had been deeply saddened by it as well. Just like he had shared with Toothless, she had had a special bond with her dragon Stormfly. The same could be said about anyone on New Berk, but she was different. Normally, she would never appear vulnerable, always choosing to wear a brave face, but she had practically broken down for a week after losing Stormfly. Hiccup had had to comfort her, which, along with his duties as chief, had managed to distract him from the pain of losing Toothless, while simultaneously helping him deal with it.

Since they had arrived on the island, the Berkians had been busy. Gobber, Hiccup's old blacksmith mentor and friend, had set up shop and was making anything and everything the modern Viking could want, from forks and spoons to swords and maces, with Snotlout maintaining his position as a weapon tester. Eret had been appointed by Hiccup as the captain of the guards, so he was busy most days training the next generation of warriors, with help from Astrid, of course. Fishlegs had become the town historian, a fact he loved reminding his fellow Berkians about, especially if it involved dragons. Valka was more of a free spirit, usually taking it easy but still helping out wherever she could. And the twins…. still had all of their limbs, surprisingly.

Even though they had spent six of the past seven years on the backs of dragons, they were still Vikings. They knew their way around a ship. When they had arrived, this island was surrounded by tall cliffs on all sides, which didn't make getting to the sea an easy job. The biggest project right now was an attempt to rectify that. It was currently unfinished, but the idea was just crazy enough to work. Hiccup, being the inventor that he was, had decided that instead of having to work down to the water, they'd bring the water to them. He called it a "ladder canal". Essentially, the idea was to have multiple sectors filled with water at different levels. As you go down, water gets drained from the sector you're in until the water level is the same as the next one. You move forward to the next sector and the cycle repeats until you're at sea level, with the opposite being true for going back up again. Currently, this gigantic construction project was about half way to being finished, with only five of the ten projected sectors being finished, but Hiccup wasn't deterred. He was thankful that so many Vikings had been willing to help out. He hadn't even needed to order them to.

Of course, he knew that it would still be a challenge to send out a large fleet all at once, but he didn't see much need for that anymore. Most ships would only need access to the sea for fishing, supply runs, or the occasional cruise just for the fun of it, the latter of which was of the most importance to him. He hadn't told this to anyone except Astrid and Valka, but the first thing he was going to do once the ladder canal was complete was set sail for the entrance to the hidden world. He needed to see Toothless again.

The Hidden World was a paradise. Certainly more welcoming than the surface world that the humans call home. The variety of dragon species that lived here was far beyond that of what had been seen on the surface. However, there were a lot of dragons living down here that missed only one thing from the surface: their humans.

Toothless was one such dragon. He felt it more than any of the others. If it hadn't been for Hiccup, he wouldn't even be here right now, let alone as the King of all dragons. He agreed with Hiccup when he had sent them away to live here, but that didn't change how much it had hurt. For the first few months, he had had to intercept many a dragon trying to fly back to New Berk, and convince them not to go, despite every fibre of his being urging him to do exactly the same. It had helped him move on, of course, and he had now fully embraced his role as the Alpha, with the help of his mate. The Light Fury, whose name was Raseri, had been there by his side through the whole year since the dragons and humans had gone their separate ways. She knew how much his human had cared for him. He appreciated the company, and it seemed the other dragons were wise enough to accept her authority as well as his own.

The other Berkian dragons were also a big comfort to him, although he'd had to stop them from leaving more times than some of the others. Especially those that had flown with the dragon riders. Stormfly was an especially tricky one to keep an eye on. She had even once made it as far as the base of the great waterfall before he had finally caught up with her. But, when she wasn't busy trying to reunite with Astrid, she was just as playful as always. Of course, she had her own responsibilities to deal with. Three of them, to be exact. Mating season had come and gone, and she now had a batch of eggs ready to hatch. She expected the time to come within the next couple of days. As for the others, they each had their own mischief. Hookfang had started more fights than the Night Fury could count, most of which he'd had to break up, and Barf and Belch seemed just as eager as their former riders to blow things up, which Raseri had to put a very quick stop to. Meatlug was much more restrained, especially considering the young Gronckle called Fishmeat that she had been busy raising for the past year. He had left the nest about half a year ago, but he still came around for a visit every so often.

Raseri had been less than subtle about wanting to start a family of their own, but Alpha duties had kept him busy enough. But, once the dragons had fully settled in to life underground, his daily routine became less busy, so he had finally relented, and just like Stormfly, Raseri now had three eggs waiting to hatch. Fury eggs take longer to hatch than most species, so she was confined to their nest for the time being, meaning he was back to being quite busy again, but neither one of them was complaining. They couldn't be happier. But, deep down, he felt oddly sad. He didn't think it was right for him to have a family without allowing them to meet Hiccup. He vowed that, one day, when they were strong enough, he'd take them to the top of the waterfall and hope that Hiccup had the same idea. One day…

Well, this was an interesting idea! I absolutely adore the HTTYD franchise, so it was nice to write this short little story. I experimented this time around, and I managed to tell the story with no dialogue, so I hope it's still an enjoyable read! Before anyone asks, I don't plan on continuing this one. This was simply me filling the gap between the dragons getting sent away and Hiccup and his family reuniting with Toothless and his family from the end of The Hidden World.

By the way, the Light Fury's name Raseri is the Danish/Norwegian/Swedish word for 'fury', and those three languages are the three modern languages that are most closely related to Norse, so there's a fun fact for ya!

I'll be back next week with the next chapter of The Lonely Dragon, but until then that's all from me! Ciao for now!

OnTheSpectrum