"To light a candle is to cast a shadow." ― Ursula K. Le Guin – A Wizard of Earthsea

Winter Nights

Play was very fun.

They chased each other around the house, nipping at each other's tails and pouncing on each other, for a long time. Toothless had been yelling and taunting Hiccup the whole time, except when he was the one doing the hunting. Of course, Hiccup had no idea what Toothless was saying, but it was clearly teasing of some kind.

Hiccup felt quite foolish at first while chasing after Toothless and knocking into various household items. But the playing took his mind off everything else that had happened. He was also quite proud of the fact that he had no difficulty running since the action seemed to work exactly as he had thought it would. He also remembered Toothless's advice and kept his wings closely tucked at his side.

Play was also very tiring.

He ended up completely sprawled out on the ground in front of the fireplace with his wings, tail, and legs all aching from the exertion. Toothless was also exhausted and stumbled over to where Hiccup had collapsed. He flopped down next to Hiccup and yawned widely.

"That was fun. I wonder when we will get more fish. I am hungry."

Hiccup opened one of his eyes and chuckled at Toothless in amusement.

How are you already hungry?

"Toothless eat fish?" he asked.

Toothless nodded.

"Yes, more fish."

Toothless looked away from Hiccup and off into the distance as he remembered winters in the past.

"Not all hatchlings get enough food," he mumbled to himself.

Hiccup wasn't sure what Toothless was saying, but it was clearly something sad. He deeply wanted to learn more about Toothless's life and dragons in general. There was so much that he could learn. With time, he was sure that he would.

"One sun-cycle... I will tell you everything, Hiccup."

Toothless lay his head back down on his paws and closed his eyes to fall asleep.

It seemed very intimate for him to have Toothless regularly sleeping at his side, and yet he did not feel at all awkward about it. They were two friends who completely trusted each other and took pleasure in each other's company. There had been a few occasions when he had slept under Toothless's wings back in the cove because he had not wanted to go back to the village or the weather had been bad. Toothless had been the one comforting and protecting him then. Now, it seemed that he was able to somewhat return the favor.

What must this be like for Toothless? To somehow be re-born, re-hatched actually, with his former human friend now his blood-brother, a dragon just like him. Toothless certainly did not seem terribly upset that he was a hatchling again.

Do dragons even have brothers? Do they know what a family is? Probably.

He now knew that Toothless was far smarter than he had once thought. Toothless had to have been taught how to talk by someone, most likely his parents.

I wonder where they are. How long has it been since he has seen them?

He felt Toothless's tail brush up against his own as Toothless shifted in his sleep.

His tail is not broken now. He… doesn't need me anymore.

Of course, he had already realized that he couldn't ride Toothless anymore. Toothless would be able to fly entirely on his own. But what did that mean for them?

A disconcerting thought came to mind.

He was afraid that Toothless would want to leave now that he could. Toothless was free of the dragon monster and obviously did not need him to work a prosthetic tail. Why would he want to stay?

Yes, he is my friend, but why would he stay? He only needed me to be able to fly before.

Toothless was the first person who trusted him, accepted him when almost no one in the village cared, came to his rescue in the kill ring despite the risk to his own safety, was now teaching him how to speak his language, and was in this strange situation along with him.

He took a breath to calm himself.

It should be a while before he can fly. I still have time to figure everything out.

He had no idea what the world looked like beyond the walls of this house. Except for being covered in snow, of course. What changes had befallen Berk since that day months ago? Was everyone else alive? What was the tribe doing to dragons now?

I'll have to ask dad when he gets back. It can't be that bad I imagine.

He finally lay his own head down to sleep as well, and his eyelids began to droop. Before he fell asleep though, he felt a faint pang in his belly.

Hmm, I hope dad comes back soon with more fish.

What am I going to do about Hiccup?

It was hardly the first time that Stoick had asked himself that very question since this morning. He had answered some questions in the Hall and assured the concerned that, yes, there were enough supplies to endure the winter and, no, the dragons were not going to start eating people because they were hungry. Thankfully there had not been much that was too difficult for him to manage and this let his mind wander back to the most important problem in his world.

How to truly get his son back.

Something bad changed him. Dark magic. Never thought that stuff was real.

As far as he was concerned there was nothing good that could come from the occult. His people had no need for such forces. They had the gods. They had their traditions. The tradition was that the use of sorcery of any kind not sanctioned by the gods was punishable by being Outcast or death if the Chief felt merciful. That a person should have such power over nature was… unnatural. Hence, he had secretly thought that there was nothing to the old stories.

Now I know better. It must be real.

Who could he possibly talk to? He could imagine it already, walking up to Elder Gothi and asking her if she knew of a way to magically change a person back from being a dragon to being a human again. She would hit him on the head with her staff and ask very inconvenient questions afterwards.

That plan would not work.

Gobber might be trustworthy enough to keep his mouth shut if he knew about Hiccup's situation, but there was nothing that the blacksmith could do to help fix the problem.

No, there is no one on Berk that can help.

No one on Berk.

But there had been one other person not from Berk who seemed to know something about dragons and had a strange power over them. Granted, he had been a madman, lost to ambition and dark forces of his own. That man had almost killed an entire gathering of Chieftains in a display of his force and unnatural control over the creatures. It was entirely possible that he was a sorcerer of his own upon second thought.

He closed his eyes against the memory. He was the only one who had managed to escape that day. He had known that no one would have believed his words that a man could have control over the dragons, so he had not told anyone the truth. To the rest of the world, the gathering had been ravaged by a dragon attack and there was nothing more to say about it.

No.

There was no help to be had from that monster, even assuming that he was still alive. It had been years since he had heard any news of that creature.

He looked around the walls of the Hall, seeing the portraits of the Chiefs who had come before and the lineage that they shared. Fathers were depicted proudly handing over their chair to a massive, grown son.

It seemed hopeless, but he had already failed Hiccup one too many times and was determined to not do so again.

I should probably go back now.

He put on his coat and once more braved the frigid winds swirling outside. He could not see anyone else out in the cold. That was fortunate since it would be strange for him to be seen carrying back a basket of fish when everyone knew he did not have a dragon to feed. Perhaps he could pass it off as being for the Academy or someone who does have a dragon though.

But the door to the storeroom was open.

Who would be out here now?

He walked in and shut the door behind him only to see Astrid standing at one of the barrels and sorting through the fish with a basket on the ground. He was only able to tell that it was Astrid underneath the winter coat and hood because of the golden locks drooping out across her scarf.

"Hi Astrid."

She jumped slightly in surprise.

"Chief, uh, good to see you here."

Stoick was not seen outside that often, and he rarely offered conversation.

"Well, I ran out of fish," he stated as he began filling up a basket.

"Same sir, Stormfly really seems to like cod and we have so much fish thanks to the dragons."

"Well, you did help a bit with teaching them. You're doing a good job leading the Academy."

Astrid blushed at the praise before tentatively continuing. There was something else that she had been meaning to bring up with her Chief.

"You haven't thought about getting a dragon of your own, have you Chief?"

He did not immediately answer.

"I mean, we have enough fish to feed several more and if you get one, then maybe more people would accept them. Plus, they are nice to have around."

What could he say to her? He would eventually have to tell the village about the two hatchlings back at his house. At least, there seemed to be no way to fix Hiccup any time soon.

I might as well tell her something now…

"Well, I may actually have a couple hatchlings already."

She blinked in surprise.

"Hatchlings sir… I... I didn't know that they laid eggs. I mean, of course they lay eggs, but I didn't know that any of ours already did. What kind are they?" she eagerly asked.

Why is she so inquisitive?

"Well, none of ours here did. They are Night Furies."

Her jaw dropped and she was struck speechless for a few moments as she tried to comprehend what she had heard. The fish that had been clutched in her hands fell to the ground.

"Night Furies," she whispered.

"Wow sir, you are so lucky. Night Furies are… amazing. I hope I get a chance to see them."

Stoick tersely nodded to her and picked up his basket.

"I'm sure you will Astrid. Keep up the good work."

He bundled himself up and left the storeroom. Astrid could not help but wonder though.

Where did he find Night Fury hatchlings? Did he find eggs somewhere?

There was no telling when or where Stoick could have found Night Fury eggs. They had never seen an actual dragon nest where eggs were laid. There had been no eggs in the mountain of Dragon Island as far as she had seen. And they had only ever seen the one Night Fury during the raids.

She couldn't help but chuckle at the thought that her Chief was now going to be training his own dragons.

How times have changed…

When Stoick got back in the early afternoon, he first deposited most of the frozen fish in the outside barrel where the cold would keep them indefinitely and only brought a couple of them in to thaw. He quickly noticed that Hiccup and his dragon were fast asleep in front of the fireplace.

I'll let them sleep.

He spent the next couple hours carving fish and brooding over the problem. There was no one on the island that he could possibly talk to, so he would have to discuss it with others. The next chance that would occur would be when trader Johan makes his spring stop on Berk to trade.

Johan travels a lot. He must hear some strange tales. Perhaps I'll invite him up here for some drinks and see if he knows anything.

It wasn't much of a plan, but it was all he had.

When Hiccup woke up, he immediately realized that he had a problem. An inevitable and very awkward problem. Yes, he was hungry, but that was not what was so concerning. Neither was it specifically his new body. In fact, he didn't even feel at all odd about it this time.

No, it was the dawning realization that he had to relieve himself.

Hiccup moaned aloud in embarrassment.

Oh gods… not this.

There were several outhouses that had been constructed around the village. The nearest one was not far away, but he wasn't sure that he could make it through the weather outside. He didn't feel nearly as cold as he used to in the winter, probably because of his now being a dragon and having scales instead of skin, but he had no idea how much cold he could safely endure. Let alone a full grown dragon in the winter, the idea of a hatchling wandering around in a snowstorm did not seem like a good idea on many levels.

None of these musings though, did anything to help his situation.

I better ask dad to help with this.

Hiccup got to his feet and walked into the kitchen, hoping that his dad was home. He had been asleep for a couple hours so surely his dad would have gotten back by now. There was a strange smell in the air. It was very musky and oily, with hints of fish and leather. Almost at the same time he noticed the smell, he also heard his father in the kitchen.

Is that what he smells like?

It was possible. Who knew how dragons' senses worked? There were many other smells in the house, all sharper than he remembered them being and some being completely foreign to him.

I wonder what they can tell just with smell. I guess I'll find out eventually.

He chirped to get his father's attention. As soon as his father looked over at him, Hiccup bounded back to the ash pile near the fireplace. Stoick got the message and knew that Hiccup had something to tell him.

Dad I need to go

"Go, go where?"

Hiccup face-pawed and then slowly, embarrassingly, wrote.

Outhouse

Stoick's face turned bright red. This was going to come up eventually. Most of the dragons in the village had been trained to do their business outside the village limits. Astrid and the other 'riders' were responsible for cleaning up the few messes that still occurred. Of course, Hiccup would not do his business just anywhere like an animal.

"Uh, ok. I'll take you. What about him?" He asked while pointing at Toothless. Hiccup thought for a moment.

Well, if I have to go, then Toothless will probably have to soon as well.

Now that he thought about it, he should definitely show Toothless where they would need to go for now. As long as he had known Toothless in the cove, the dragon had always kept himself clean and only relieved himself off in a corner of the cove. Toothless would definitely want to keep his new home clean as well.

He should come

"Ok, I'll take both of you."

Stoick still noticed a problem though. What could he carry them in? The idea of carrying his tiny dragon-son in his arms felt wrong. As if he was a pet. And yet, he did not want Hiccup to have to walk the distance to the outhouse through the cold. He looked in the closet where he kept extra supplies and found a large satchel that had once carried hunting supplies. It would have to do for now.

Hiccup meanwhile had gone back to the fireplace and woken up Toothless. He had no idea how to tell Toothless what they needed to do, so he just got his attention and gestured towards the door.

Stoick was standing by the door with a leather bag in his arms. He set the bag down on the ground.

Hiccup tipped his head to the side and hummed to ask his dad what the bag was for.

"I'm going to carry you two in this."

Oh well, it's not like I have a better option.

Hiccup nodded once and hopped forward into the bag after briefly wiping his paws clean on a cloth. His head could just barely stick out of the bag and allow him to look around, though the rest of his limbs were a tangled mess. He could only imagine how it would be when Toothless joined him.

What does Hiccup want me to do? Toothless asked himself.

Hiccup kept looking from him to the empty space in the not-basket.

He must want me to get in with him.

A moment later and the bag was filled with two squirming hatchlings, both with only their heads visible. Stoick almost found the sight cute, then he remembered who the heads belonged to and that he had a job to do. He put on his coat, grabbed the satchel, and went outside. It was not as cold as it had been this morning, but there was still no way that he would let Hiccup try to make his way alone.

Hiccup's eyes narrowed to slits because of how bright it was. Snow was everywhere. Understandably, there did not seem to be anyone else outside at the moment.

Despite the weather, there was something else that greatly excited him. He could see what were clearly feeding stations. Great, wide-open barrels off the main paths. That there were stations for feeding meant that there had to be dragons in the village, except for himself and Toothless of course. There also seemed to be giant perches on some of the houses and there were some stables that had to be recent constructions.

He couldn't help but purr in happiness at the thought that his people had changed!

Then he saw the small shed and the pungent smell that accompanied it. Having lived on the same island for all his life and there being a variety of farmyard chores during the summers, the smell had not been completely overpowering before. But now it was far more intense. Probably because of his new sense of smell.

Oh great.

Stoick opened the door and sat the bag down just inside.

"Ok, I'll be… outside while you… you know."

Then Stoick turned away and left the door only barely creaked open.

It was quite an amusing experience for Toothless. This was obviously the place where the two-legs dropped their waste. He had been sure that two-legs had to do something like this since there was never any waste just lying around in the village. But why had Hiccup brought him here?

It was a very embarrassing experience for Hiccup. Since his vocabulary was so limited, he had no way to tell Toothless what to do. He had to show him by example and walked over to stand over the hole. The fact that Toothless was watching while he did such personal business was beyond mortifying. But Toothless had to know for his own sake.

There was one positive thing that came from this experience though. At some point during relieving himself, Hiccup made a very reassuring discovery. He was indeed a boy.

His business finally done, he hopped aside to let Toothless take his place over the deep hole. Toothless obliged with an amused grumble and did not seem at all ashamed of what he was doing. Though Toothless apparently had no objection to observing him doing his business, Hiccup gave Toothless privacy by looking away.

For a moment.

His curiosity got the better of him, and he looked. He wanted to know if Toothless was also still a boy. He felt that Toothless was but wanted to make sure. A covert and very, very awkward glance revealed that, just like before in the cove, Toothless was indeed a boy. Hiccup gave a sigh of relief.

"What are you looking at Hiccup?" Toothless asked.

Hiccup just groaned.

Their business done, they both hopped down to the ground and walked over to the door. Hiccup pushed on the door with a paw, and the door slowly swung out with a creak.

Stoick was standing next to the entrance, still holding the bag in his arms.

"So… all done in there?"

Hiccup nodded once before a thought came to him. He reached out and began scrawling in the snow.

I am a boy

So is Toothless

Stoick had not really considered that potential aspect of Hiccup's problem. Now though, it was somewhat comforting to know that his son was still, despite being a dragon for now, a boy. He nodded gruffly and sat the bag down.

A moment later, Stoick was headed back to his house with a pair of bagged hatchlings in hand.

Toothless turned to Hiccup right next to him in the bag.

"Hiccup, I want fish. I am hungry."

As usual whenever Toothless said anything fish-related, Hiccup rolled his eyes. Toothless noticed this time and imitated the action to tease him.

"Yes Toothless, we eat fish."

Toothless purred when Hiccup told him that there was more fish waiting for them at the home cave.

It was quite disturbing for Stoick to hear Hiccup squawking, growling, and purring all at once. No different from any of the other dragons.

It was as if… Hiccup was losing himself. Truly becoming one of them.

He pushed that frightening thought out of mind and resolved to talk with Hiccup about it later after they got home and Hiccup could explain himself.

The first thing that Hiccup did when they got back to the house was to run into the kitchen and hop up onto the table while staring at the fish basket. Stoick brought the freshly carved fish that he had been working on earlier and set it out on the table.

"Hiccup," he asked, "what was happening earlier on the way back here? You were growling like a dragon."

I have to find some better way to talk than writing in ash. I hope that I can figure out how to hold a pencil.

For now though, he had no option other than to do as he has been doing. He left the remaining fish with a groan, hoped that some of it would remain when he came back, and bounded over to the remaining ash.

Talking with Toothless

Talking with a dragon, nonsense! Maybe they can make sounds to show when they are happy or mad, but actually talking, of course not.

"Don't be silly. Dragons don't talk."

Hiccup stood up on his hind legs using his tail for balance and held his front legs wide open while smiling a dragony smile. As if to say, look at me!

Stoick blinked and waved a hand in annoyance.

"You don't count. You… are not a dragon in here," he said while pointing at his own head.

I don't disagree with you there, dad.

I really can talk with him

Stoick just stared at the words, apparently deep in thought.

"Ok, say something."

Hiccup growled his own name.

"Now something else."

Hiccup growled Toothless's name.

"Those don't sound any different to me. It is just growling."

I hear them differently

Could it be true? Did dragons have a language other than that of beasts? Or was Hiccup only imagining what he wanted? He was sure that nothing he could say would convince Hiccup that he was wrong and his dragon was just chittering at him. Clearly, the dragon was happy to see Hiccup, but there was no way that it could actually be talking to him. That would mean that dragons were smart, as smart as people even.

He decided to deal with this troubling matter later.

"Hiccup, Gobber and Astrid might be coming by later. I told them about my new… dragons. We cannot let them know what happened to you. Don't let them know who you are!"

Stoick ended this on a desperate note and a slightly wild look in his eyes. Hiccup was confused and upset by this. Why shouldn't he let Gobber and Astrid know that he was still alive?

Why not?

Because I am your father and I say so! Because I am the Chief! Because what happened to you is unnatural! Because dead you are remembered well! Because…

"…it would be bad if the rest of the village hears what happened to you."

Hiccup's ears drooped. What his father said did make some sense. What had happened to him was very strange to say the least and people generally did not take well to anything new or different.

Still, Gobber and Astrid should know that he is still alive and surely would not hate him for what he had become. Would they?

He could easily imagine it. He saw himself writing on the ground to show Astrid that he was still alive and to tell her how much she means to him. And her repulsion at finding out that this dragon used to be Hiccup. Unless he could somehow be changed back he would never be able to hold her hand, to dance with her, to feel her lips on his, to...

He blinked and stopped his course of thought in embarrassment. He had to talk to them. He'd make sure they never told anyone, but they had to know. He would just have to make sure his dad didn't know about it.

So he nodded at what Stoick said and kept his designs secret. After that, his dad seemed to calm a bit and to regard the conversation as finished. As he had many times before.

Hiccup sullenly made his way back to the kitchen and hopped onto the table. He was very surprised to find that there were still a few slivers of fish left that Toothless had not eaten. In fact, Toothless nudged them towards him.

"Here Hiccup, you must be hungry."

Hiccup smiled at him and quietly gobbled down the fish.

Thanks Toothless.

When he looked up from finishing his meal, he saw that his dad was nowhere in sight. Perhaps he left the house again or maybe he had something else to do on his own.

Hiccup just shrugged his shoulders and hopped down from the table to head towards his room. If his dad had to be somewhere else... that was fine with him. It gave him more time to try out an idea that he had.

Writing in ash was not very effective. For one, it was messy. Secondly, it meant that he could only talk when there was ash on hand… on paw. He was determined to figure out how to write properly with a pencil and paper. And that meant practice as well as having a pencil and paper.

Plus, I can draw pictures to help learn more words from Toothless. It's perfect!

"Hiccup, where are you going?" Toothless called out to him.

Hiccup just continued on into his room and began nosing around looking for a pencil. He already knew where some paper was since he had never gone through all the paper that he had acquired for doodling or drawing.

Come on, give me something to write with… give me something to write with.

He eventually spied an old pencil among some of the rubbish in the side of his room and immediately bounded over to it. He held up one of his front paws and inspected it closely.

The fingers were uncomfortably short and single-jointed. The now-dull claw-tips slightly curled down at the end. However, it was the thumb that he was most interested in. It seemed to flex and bend in the same way a human's would. This discovery greatly excited him. Perhaps he could still do some of the things he had done before even if imperfectly.

This might actually work!

He considered how best to hold the pencil and settled on curling all digits around it lengthwise and grasping it against his palm. He grabbed the pencil and ambled over to the loose paper in the corner. The first try at writing his own name was truly horrible and took a full minute to write since his wrist didn't flex and bend the way he wanted, but at least it was barely legible.

I can't wait to show this to dad!

"What are you doing, Hiccup?"

Toothless hopped over and examined the strange object and the pictures which Hiccup had drawn. He stuck his nose into the soft flat surface that Hiccup had drawn on and wondered at the significance of the pictures.

Hiccup then had an idea that made his tail twitch in excitement. He could teach Toothless how to write! Then no one could deny how smart dragons were!

He bent back down and wrote out the runes which spelled his friend's name. He then looked at Toothless and set his other paw on the paper. He said Toothless's name while looking back and forth between Toothless and the paper.

Toothless was puzzled. Why was Hiccup saying his name but looking toward the two-leg thing?

Unless… maybe the pictures mean me?

They certainly did not look at all like him, unlike the other, much better pictures of him that Hiccup had drawn.

"What?"

Hiccup thought that he could recognize the new word. Toothless seemed puzzled when saying it. What Toothless was saying had to mean some type of a question.

The stupid language wall...

He needed to explain that each symbol means a sound and the series of symbol-sound pairs make a word. But the sounds for the human word that is Toothless's name are not at all like his dragon name. He was also very sure that Toothless's language did not have a written part. The idea of dragons writing words on the ground to communicate seemed quite silly. There was no clear way at the moment for him to be able to show Toothless how to write.

He grumbled his frustration.

I guess I just have to wait, as usual.

The rest of the afternoon passed slowly with him drawing various common objects or indicating previously-drawn pictures of dragons and asking Toothless for the correct words. For many human objects, he found that Toothless did not have a distinct word. Instead, he said the same words each time and Hiccup was sure that it partly translated as something like 'human thing'.

Toothless also had a simple way of distinguishing different types of dragons. All the different names had the common word kin but also seemed to have unknown, at least to Hiccup, modifiers. The only one he thought he recognized was kin-fire-scales. Toothless said this when he pointed to the picture of a Monstrous Nightmare.

That makes sense in a way.

Another question came to mind. What are humans in the dragon tongue?

"Toothless kin yes, Hiccup kin yes, fish kin no."

While saying this, Hiccup put his free paw on an old picture of himself.

"Kin no, what?"

Toothless considered the question. Hiccup was asking him what he used to be called. Two-legs obviously, their having no other features worth emphasizing. As for himself, he had always known that two-legs were smart creatures. They worked around all their weaknesses, such as not having claws or protective fur, by making or taking what they needed. They also built things that no other creature had the ability to make.

He told Hiccup the phrase for two-legs while indicating the picture that Hiccup was using. Hiccup was slightly amused to hear the word for legs in the words.

It is a fair description. We do have two legs after all.

Finally, after several more minutes of learning, Toothless yawned widely, his eyes drooping in a clear message.

"Toothless sleep?" Hiccup asked.

In response, Toothless hopped up onto the bed and burrowed into the blankets until only his tiny head and vividly green eyes were visible looking out over the room. He looked quite snug.

Oh well, suit yourself bud. I'm going to keep writing.

Hiccup held the pencil aloft and returned to his work while Toothless purred in contentment. Hiccup stared at the pencil in paw and down at the paper, fully determined to practice his penmanship despite his increasingly heavy eyelids. He tried to fight off the encroaching threat of yawns.

Only for a moment though, as he fell fast asleep a few moments later with his head resting on one of the early pictures he had drawn of himself and Toothless in the cove.

Stoick was lying on his bed, half-asleep when he heard the knocking on the door. It could only mean one thing. Gobber was here to see 'them'.

He groaned heavily and swung his feet out of bed. Not seeing Hiccup in the living room, he concluded that he must be in his room. He stumbled to the front door and flung it open. To his surprise, there stood Gobber and Astrid, both quite cold and obviously eager to escape the biting cold.

"Hello Chief, may we come in?" Astrid asked while shivering.

"Uh, sure."

He stood aside to let them walk in. They both gave a sigh of relief when they felt the warmth from the fireplace, and they sat down on the chairs in the living room.

He knew that this moment would come, but it did not help him feel any better about the inevitable meeting.

"Hopefully we did nae wake ya up from yer nap, Stoick," Gobber offered.

"No, I was actually just getting… wait, how did you know I was napping?"

"Well, just a lucky guess. Nae much else ta do inside anyway."

Stoick just nodded. It was certainly true. Everyone tended to spend a lot of time napping during the winter. It was a way to stave off the boredom.

"I guess you want to see them, huh?"

They both nodded eagerly.

Stoick gruffly got to his feet and began to walk toward Hiccup's room.

"I didn't know he found eggs. Where did they come from?" Astrid wondered out loud.

She gave a gasp and got to her feet before Gobber could respond. She made her way over to a corner of the room near the fireplace. There sat half of fractured black eggshell. She could not help but stare in awe.

"Oh, ya never knew, Astrid. Well, he didn't want me ta say anything, so I didn't, but he found that egg back on Dragon Island. Right after… well, ya know."

Astrid was stunned and wandered back to the chair. Stoick found a Night Fury egg after Hiccup and Toothless died? Something didn't seem right about that though.

"But, that can't be. It couldn't have come from Toothless. He was a boy."

"How do you know?"

"Well, Hiccup said so."

"I'm just saying Astrid, there's no other explanation. Ya know we've never seen another Night Fury."

"Wait, you said he found an egg, but he has a couple hatchlings," she persisted.

"I don't know, perhaps they are twins? Came from the same egg and all?"

"Maybe, it still seems odd though," she added.

"Well, I know there was only one egg since I brought it back here fer him."

Astrid was again stunned and a bit frustrated that such an important thing had been kept from her.

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"He didn't want me ta say anything about it. I think he was too…" his voice trailed off as Stoick walked back into the room. Both of their gazes were drawn towards a dark, leathery bundle in his arms.

Astrid gasped in amazement.

Oh my! That must be one of them!

Slowly, a tiny, triangular head rose from the bundle, yawned widely, and looked out over the room. Green eyes surveyed the surroundings and froze upon spying the two newcomers. Stoick bent over and placed the bundle on top of the table.

The bundle sprouted legs and got to its feet.

Astrid's heart melted at the sight.

A Night Fury hatchling. Its head looked a bit large relative to the rest of its body, its wings and tail were very thin, and it was very small, perhaps no longer than her axe. But none of this was the most surprising thing about it.

It was staring very intently at them. It was not just looking in their direction: it was staring at them as if it knew them but was still afraid.

Astrid slowly got to her feet, fearing a single misstep in the encounter that was about to take place. She walked toward the table as the tiny dragon padded toward the table's edge as if to greet her. She slowly extended a palm toward the dragon, trying to be as nonthreatening as possible.

"Hi there little one," she whispered, "I'm Astrid."

Her palm was directly in front of the hatchling's nose, and she hoped that, if the dragon was going to be friendly, it would touch its nose to her palm just as Stormfly had done on many occasions with her.

Instead, it raised a forepaw and placed it against her palm. As if it was shaking hands.

She gasped and smiled deeply while laughing heartily.

Night Furies are amazing!

"Wow!"

It was all she could say. Taking the gesture as a sign of trust, she reached out and picked up the hatchling at its armpits, its wings and tail going completely limp at her touch. It seemed to freeze as she drew it to her and held the hatchling against her bosom. She began stroking the soft ridges on its back. Then she looked up and over to Stoick who seemed to have gone oddly tense.

"What is this ones name?"

"His… name…"

"So it's a boy then?"

Stoick nodded before continuing.

"Yes, it is a boy. I… haven't really thought about names for them yet."

Them… oh right, there is another one.

"Where is the other one then, sir?"

"Probably somewhere in Hiccup's old room."

A far-away look came over Stoick's face as he looked down on the hatchling.

"Actually, I think I have a good name for him. I'm going to name him Hiccup, in honor of my son."

Neither Astrid nor Gobber noticed the smirk that flashed across the hatchling's face.

"And the other one, I'm going to call it Toothless. That was the name of Hiccup's dragon, right Astrid?"

She nodded solemnly before looking back down at the hatchling in her arms.

"Well, Hiccup," she raised a finger toward his chin, "you are very cute."

Her finger found its way under the dragon's chin and little Hiccup promptly sighed in pleasure and completely melted in her arms.

She chuckled in amusement.

Well, looks like that works on them too.

Gobber got to his feet and joined her at her side. He looked down on the hatchling in her arms and made a soft cooing sound, which was completely unbecoming a burly fellow such as himself, while stroking the dragon's limp wings with his good arm. She looked back up at Stoick who, true to his name, was looking on quite impassively.

"Sir, you are so very lucky. Be sure to take good care of them."

"No need to tell me to do that, I will."

Astrid looked back at the blissful hatchling staring up at her through drowsy eyelids. Then she reluctantly passed the hatchling off to Stoick who had moved forward to swoop up his charge. He carried little Hiccup off into the bedroom and put him on top of the bed before returning to the living room to see to his guests.

He looked at them somewhat sheepishly.

"So, yeah, I'm not sure where the other one is, but those are them."

There was no mistaking the amazement and childish grins on both Gobber and Astrid's faces. For the rest of the day, they were both a little bit more cheerful than they had been so far throughout the winter.

Hiccup was completely mortified.

Astrid had been there. His Astrid had been right there. Had been holding him against her chest! Had been stroking his back! Had seen his entire front!

Not that there was anything to see though.

And she had called him cute! That was completely unacceptable!

He had so wanted to talk to her, to write on the ground and show her who he really was. But he had not been in a fit condition to do so. He had also been afraid of what she would think or say.

Plus, his dad had told him not to let anyone know what had happened to him.

He sighed once, still hearing Toothless's rumbles from somewhere under the covers.

I'm not ready to face her yet.

He blinked several times.

Gobber had been there too. He had been more restrained than Astrid, but even he had been slightly giddy at seeing the baby dragon. At seeing him.

I wonder what he thinks of dragons. Maybe he has one of this own now. Astrid probably does after I showed her that Nadder. They seemed like a good pair.

Yawn.

I need to ask dad… about everyone else. At least… she is ok.

His eyelids began drooping.

Why am I… always so… sleepy?

He did not have much time to ponder this very important question as he fell fast asleep shortly thereafter.

He woke up several hours later to the absolutely glorious smell of roasting fish. He simply lay there on the bed for a while in a bit of a daze until he heard a door slam shut. Finally, he got up, stretched, and sniffed in the mouth-watering smell while his belly began protesting its emptiness.

Something, someone, nudged him in the back. By now, he was almost expecting something like that to happen and didn't even flinch.

"Hiccup, I smell fish! We should eat!"

No objection there bud.

They both hopped off the bed and turned to wander toward the kitchen. There was a plate with diced fish right there on the floor near the door. Hiccup felt his mouth beginning to water as they approached the fish. Strangely, Stoick was nowhere to be seen.

He must have just left. I really wish he would stay longer, I need to talk to him.

They both dug in while Hiccup kept wondering what the matter could be with his dad. Of course, Stoick would be disturbed at what had happened to his son. But was that a reason to ignore him? It was almost as though he didn't even want to look at him.

Toothless nudged him again and rumbled happily with his belly completely filled. The plate finished, Hiccup hopped over to the window and looked outside. The snow was falling again, and the wind was blowing a bit more fiercely.

Well, now what? What is there to do?

There was no going outside, and his dad had left the home to go do something. He flopped back onto the bed and resigned himself to more waiting. It was boring. Before this had happened to him, he could have doodled or planned new contraptions. With no better option, he lay on the bed in frustration until Toothless barked out to him from on the floor near the papers.

Hiccup looked over the edge of the bed and was amused to see Toothless trying to grab at the pencil and growling at the paper in frustration.

"Hiccup, what is this?"

Hiccup still had only a very vague idea of what Toothless was trying to say.

Well, there is always going to be that. I still have a lot to learn from him.

Deciding that learning from Toothless was better than sleeping, Hiccup hopped down onto the ground and took the pencil in paw to begin writing and drawing. Toothless stayed nearby, but he lost interest in trying to hold or use the pencil.

In this way, Hiccup and Toothless passed the winter, slowly learning how to speak roughly the same language, chasing after each other through the narrow halls of the house in fits of play, gobbling down an incredible amount of fish, and sleeping next to each other for many days and nights.

As is usual for Berk, the weather refused to break for over four months.