"Spring is the time of plans and projects." - Leo Tolstoy - Anna Karenina
Verdant
Spring had long since broken over Berk. The sheets of ice and compacted snow had finally melted and the trees' buds were finally blooming. No longer were the mornings freezing, and a fog-bank now regularly formed before dawn only to be burned away by mid-morning. The winds had shifted to be generally out of the southwest and brought with them tepid breezes.
This was also a special spring for the inhabitants of Berk. Dragons were everywhere, freely flying to and from without fear. Most of the people on the island had become accustomed to the creatures, especially since they became useful at catching fish and since there had not been any serious incidents with them. There were also a few more of the wild dragons that began spending more time in and around the village. The riders' services had begun to be more demanded as more people interacted with wild dragons.
The one remaining thing that would finalize the arrival of spring was trader Johann's annual appearance to trade wares and news from far-away tribes. He was already a little overdue, but the winter had been fiercer than usual.
Astrid was sitting at her desk at midday, pondering the most recent problems that had arisen. Stoick had assigned to her, as the head of the Academy, a room next to the training ring. Her office was filled with papers. She had to keep track of who was interested in which dragon, how much fish was being brought in compared to being eaten, who had filed complaints and what for, and other matters besides these. It was so complicated that she had to construct a system of filing and record-keeping due to the number of papers she had to keep. It was all incredibly frustrating.
On the other hand though, it was very rewarding seeing someone who just last year would have run at a dragon while roaring a battle-cry and swinging an axe now offering the peaceful dragons of the village fish or giving them a soft rub and scratch. Every such event was a reminder that the existing peace was preferable to the life that had been in the past.
For all the time she had to spend keeping records, teaching, and resolving disputes, she always made time for flying with Stormfly. The Nadder, and other dragons with human keepers as well, seemed to get fidgety and a bit grumpy if they went for an extended time without flying with their human.
Her work was interrupted by a knock on the door. She groaned and let her head knock against the table in annoyance. After a few moments though, she brushed aside the paper that had stuck itself to her forehead and got to her feet.
"Come in!"
The door flung itself open, and she blinked in surprise. It was always impressive to see how much weight he had lost over the winter. He would likely put some of it back on as the year went on, but she imagined that some of his weight loss was related to what had happened on Dragon Island. Having a dragon of his own, even if it was not one of the more energetic ones, also meant that he had to be somewhat more active than simply sitting around and reading books all day. Especially so since Gronkles were not the strongest fliers, and he had to keep off some of the weight to be able to fly with it.
"Hello Fishlegs."
"Hi Astrid, enjoying your papers I see."
She rolled her eyes and groaned.
"I don't know if enjoy is the right word. I don't know how Stoick does it, leadership and all. I am sure glad that I know how to write."
"Well, actually, I might be able to help a bit with it. I recently went back and read the Book of Dragons. Do you know what it says about Gronkles?"
She was a bit confused at where Fishlegs was going with this, so she shrugged indifferently.
Fishlegs continued, "It says, among other things, and I quote, 'Gronkles are most vulnerable at their wings. Hack off their wings and they are bulky, slow, and clumsy on the ground. Still extremely dangerous. Kill on sight.'"
Both of them shared a knowing, solemn look.
"It is the same for all of them; Nightmares, Nadders, even the little Terrors. All that this book tells anyone what to do is how to find and use dragons' weaknesses against them. To kill them. What do you think this does to the children, to those who want to learn about dragons and be friendly? We don't have anything good for them for right now."
"What are you suggesting, Fish?"
"The dragon manual we have is useless unless what we want to do is teach everyone how to kill them. We… we need to write a new Book of Dragons. One that actually teaches people what dragons are like."
She sat back down, deep in thought. Everything that Fishlegs had said was certainly true. And he was certainly passionate about the subject and also knew how to read and write.
"Well, Fishlegs, I agree with you. And I think you should be the one to write it."
He was stunned and balled his fists in excitement.
"Really Astrid! You think I should?"
She gave him an encouraging smile.
"Definitely, you should be the one to do it. Who else has the interest or the time to do it? Or can write well enough to do it? It should be you."
He could barely contain his excitement as a childish grin lit his face.
"Good, because I've already started on it… gotta go. Bye!"
Fishlegs was practically bouncing on his feet as he turned and ran out the door.
Astrid just smiled and shook her head.
He is really right. We do need a new dragon manual.
She spent a few more minutes in her office before hearing the sounds of activity outside. A couple people were yelling at each other about something concerning a dragon of one of theirs.
Her grin faded in exasperation.
Oh great, what now?
Almost no one seemed to fear walking in the forest anymore. The adults were consciously aware that they do not need to fear any of the dragons that they may meet in the forest. The children were generally eager to explore the forest now that it was safer to do so, even though their parents always forbid it with warnings about what they might find in there. Regardless, most people were either still at home or at the Hall at this time of the morning.
Had anyone been in the forest, specifically near Raven Point, they might have come across a rather curious sight. Two small black shapes were darting between trees and leaping over rocks as they chased after each other.
Hiccup fixed his eyes on the whiplike tail thrashing behind Toothless. Toothless had said something about how small Hiccup was even after the winter had finally passed. Hiccup really did not like that comment and had let Toothless know his displeasure by trying to pounce on him. Toothless had just stuck his tongue out, where had he possibly learned that from, and darted away from him.
Plus, it wasn't fair to say that they were truly tiny anymore. Apparently, a diet of plentiful fish combined with lots of sleeping was conducive to a hatchling growing very fast. They had both grown several times their initial size. His tail was strong enough to hang upside-down from, as odd as that feeling was. Most noticeable to him though, was how his wings felt both much stronger than before but still very light. He could fully extend them and hold them in place without tiring for a very long time. He quickly learned from watching Toothless that he could flap them simultaneously with every bound or jump and this would let him run faster and jump higher than he could otherwise. This discovery inevitably brought with it a very strange realization.
He would eventually be able to fly.
It was such a wonderful and strange thought. Wonderful, because his moments on Toothless's back had been the most awe-inspiring, liberating, and glorious moments of his life. Strange because it was not something that a human could ever experience firsthand, and because he knew that he would one day have to give that up when he turned back into a human.
If that ever happened, anyway.
Not many things could keep such melancholy thoughts out of his overactive mind. The pure, raw fun of playing dragon-tag in the forest with his best friend was one of those few things. Plus, it was also an act of slight rebellion since they had snuck out of the house early in the morning without being seen.
He saw Toothless's tail vanish over a fallen tree trunk. Toothless was still the slightly larger of the two and was definitely much better at jumping and... being a dragon. He could clear obstacles on the first attempt when it took Hiccup a couple tries.
"Toothless! You…"
"Grr, slow Hiccup!"
"I not slow!"
He leapt and extended his claws. They dug into the soft side of the fallen log and let him get a grip as he clambered up its side. His tail was also surprisingly helpful at climbing since he could wrap it around branches or knots in the trunk. In only a couple seconds, he pulled himself up on top of the log and craned his neck to look around.
Toothless was nowhere in sight. Hiccup extended his wings, preparing to jump down and use them to help him glide, when he noticed something familiar. There was something about the way that this tree was uprooted that seemed familiar somehow.
How do I know this place?
He looked to his left and froze with a jolt of recognition.
There was a rivet running down the hill, and it had clearly been caused by something very big crashing into the ground. That something had also knocked over several smaller trees before seeming to vanish over a small rise.
This was the place where he had shot down Toothless long ago. The place where all of this had begun.
Did Toothless know about this place?
Where was Toothless?
"Toothless, where you?"
There was no reply.
He stalked forward a couple feet onto the edge of the log and peered over. There seemed to be nothing there as well.
Great, now we are playing hide-and-seek too. Wonderful.
He extended his wings, braced himself, and jumped. It had to be only four feet down to the ground. He gave his wings one flap and easily touched down with his hind legs. He was only on the ground for a couple seconds when he heard a growl behind him at the same moment as a weight crashed into him.
They rolled forward into the valley cut into the hillside. Hiccup crashed onto the ground, belly down with Toothless sitting on top of him and his paws on Hiccup's head.
"Hiccup, what did you want to say?"
"Toothless, you silly."
Toothless huffed at him.
"I wonder where I get that from?"
Hiccup growled back at him.
"Let me up."
Toothless didn't move. So Hiccup put his plan into action. He pushed off the ground as hard as he could with this right-side limbs and rolled to the left. He slipped out from under Toothless and began running down the hill.
A soft roar echoed out from behind him. Toothless was in pursuit. The hunted had become the hunter.
Hiccup broke through a small bush and ran out into a clearing. About halfway into the clearing, he turned his head to look back at his pursuer. In doing so though his gaze was drawn to a very familiar rock formation.
'The strange Night Fury, whom he had just freed instead of killing, had pounced on him and was partly standing on his chest with its hissing jaws open in a snarl. It paused, glaring at him with what seemed to be clear hate. He was completely terrified. He was sure that the dragon was going to bend down, tear off his head, and feast.'
Toothless dove under the branches of the shrub and leapt out into the clearing. He pulled up short in surprise. Hiccup was just standing there, his shoulders slumped, ears lowered, tail completely still, and wings drooping at his side. For a moment, he was alarmed at the possibility that Hiccup saw danger. But he could not smell anything, and Hiccup did not look really afraid.
He glanced over in the direction where Hiccup was looking. And he distinctly remembered what had happened against that rock and in this very clearing.
'He felt his life-fire go cold and struggled against the not-vines encircling him. The two-leg male was standing over him with one of its sharp not-claws poised to plunge directly into his chest. There was no success struggling against what trapped him. He was sure that the two-leg was about to pierce his chest and cut out his life-organ as he had seen happen to other kin before him.'
Both of them stood still, lost in their memories of that terrifying encounter.
Hiccup finally lifted his head and looked to the other side of the clearing before bounding over there himself.
"Toothless! Look!"
There on the ground, as if they had not been disturbed since that fateful day, was a pile of moldy, weather-worn ropes. Ropes with clear slices where they had been cut with a sharp knife.
A strange suspicion came over Toothless. He could clearly remember the fall through the trees and the long and thin-clawed tree that he had crashed through when he felt the lightning-hot pain at the end of his tail. He looked up and saw the same tree on the hill they had both run down.
Hiccup just kept staring at the ropes. That decision he had made, to cut loose a captive dragon when he was alone in the woods, had been one of the stupidest things he had ever done. He wasn't even really sure why he had done it. Of course, he had thought that there was something… more… to the creature before him back then. Something about the way that it had looked at him had suggested fear and intelligence. Those were two things that he had been assured that dragons could not possibly have. Neither of which in any way gave him any assurance that it wouldn't kill him when he freed it, and he did so anyway.
He tore his gaze from the ropes and looked around for Toothless. There were many things that he needed to ask him but had not yet done so. Only, Toothless seemed to be missing.
Now where are you?
He walked away from the ropes and to where Toothless had been. He found the odd smell that seemed to follow Toothless around and noticed that it seemed to lead back up the hill.
That was another thing that he had gradually come to accept, but still found strange. Everything smelled sharper, more intense, and smells that he had never before noticed were now overwhelming.
He began lightly jogging after Toothless while wondering what he would say to him when they found each other.
Toothless, why didn't you kill me back then? Thanks for not killing me by the way. What a strange question to ask…
A couple more bounds brought him within sight of Toothless sitting at the base of a pine tree. It had clearly taken a massive impact sometime in the past and lost several large limbs. Toothless was standing near one of the larger branches that had broken away.
"Toothless, what…?"
He looked down and felt his breath catch in his throat. A nail of ice seemed to pierce his chest.
Tangled in the branches, dry, wrinkled, and torn halfway, was a leathery, black fin just slightly smaller across than he was long and heavily bleached by the sun and elements.
Toothless's lost tail-fin.
I did this...
He did this to his best friend, to another person.
Cautiously, fearfully, he glanced over at Toothless. His friend had his head bowed and his eyes closed. Neither of them said anything. Hiccup had no idea what to say or what apology would possibly be enough to make amends for what he had taken from Toothless.
He collapsed on the ground and moaned in shame and regret.
"Hiccup..." Toothless whispered.
"No," Hiccup only shook his head and repeatedly whispered.
"Hiccup, stop."
"I hurt you. I broke tail!" Hiccup shut his eyes and growled at himself.
Toothless lowered his head and growled softly into Hiccup's face.
"Stop!"
Hiccup went still and silent. Toothless shuffled over and lay down before him.
"I hurt you bad…" Hiccup opened his eyes and blinked softly.
"You were fighting like all two-legs. You did not kill me."
Toothless tipped his head to the side in curiosity.
"Why did you not kill me?"
Hiccup looked up and stared off into the woods.
"I told kin very bad. You not very bad. Told kin not have fear. You afraid. You alone. Like me. Toothless, why you not kill me?"
It was a question Toothless had asked himself many times. Any other kin would have killed the two-leg. It was they did to each other. But he didn't.
"You let me live. You were different from all other two-legs. I thought it good to let you live."
Toothless nodded at the old fin.
"Stop thinking about that. If you had not grounded me, we would not be..."
Toothless hummed in thought. What exactly were they? They had come from the same egg, but that was not because they had the same sire and dam. There probably was no word for what they were.
"Egg-mates."
Hiccup finally looked up, evidently confused by Toothless' last word since he had never heard that one before and it did not sound similar to anything else he had heard.
"What does word mean?"
"Means we from same egg. You should not be sad. My tail is good now and this," he huffed at the old fin, "is not now."
Hiccup knew that about them; that they would probably never have met if he had not invented the rope thrower and shot down Toothless. The past. Why was he hanging onto the past? Especially when that past was one of regret. Toothless was not angry about the old injury which he did not even have anymore.
So why was it so hard to let go?
"I sad I hurt you."
"Would you be happy if you never hurt me? Never touched my nose with your paw. Never flew with me. Never downed the fire-nest, kin-eating monster."
Hiccup paused before replying. He would indeed have been less disturbed if he had not hurt Toothless. Being ignorant of the amazing friendship that he would have lacked, he might indeed have considered himself happy in some way if he could have found some place in his own community. Maybe by building weapons to make up for his formerly weak stature.
Knowing what he knew now and having experienced everything he had experienced, would he rather that he never knew Toothless?
Impossible. Even considering what had happened to him and the strange life he was now relegated to.
"No, Toothless, I not happy if you gone."
Toothless crooned deeply and bumped against Hiccup's head with his own.
They waited in silence, simply enjoying each other's presence. The quiet was finally broken by a growling from Hiccup's belly. They each craned their heads around to face each other.
Hiccup grinned sheepishly, and they laughed heartily. That simple sound broke all the tension.
Toothless finally stopped rolling on the ground and spoke up.
"We go get… fish."
"I am hungry," Hiccup agreed.
They got to their feet and began walking back to the village. Hiccup looked up at the sky to guess at the time; it had to be well past noon by now. His dad would probably be upset if he was back at home and noticed that he wasn't there.
He and his father had spoken several times in the last few months. His dad had been quite impressed to see how he had figured out how to write. There was now a lot of paper with strange scribbles in the house.
He had asked for details regarding what had happened after the Monster was destroyed. It was very relieving to learn that no one from his class had died. After that, he had asked about what happened in the village. Specifically, he wanted to know how dragons were thought of and treated in the village. What his dad had told his was both encouraging and frustrating.
There was apparently a sizable contingent of villagers who remained absolutely adamant against the inclusion of dragons in the village. On the other hand, many of the children were friendly to dragons. It was progress on the whole though, so he could not complain much.
The main issue in his life was that there seemed to be a distance, an ever-present separation between himself and his father. His dad never volunteered information and seemed to avoid looking at him whenever possible. The horrible suspicion had crossed his mind that nothing had really changed and that his dad was still disappointed with him. A bit of reflection reminded him that the real reason almost certainly had to do with the fact that he had become a dragon.
How could he expect his dad to be comfortable with what had happened to his son? Even he wasn't at all comfortable with it, though it was not horrifying as he had first thought it would be. He definitely missed having the same fingers, fish was, despite being delicious, rather repetitive to have for every meal, communicating through writing on paper or on the ground was very tedious, and there was his whole Astrid problem.
They were still walking together when a question found its way into Hiccup's mind. It was something that he had desperately wanted to ask Toothless ever since he learned that Toothless was as much a person as he was.
"Toothless, where you kin?"
"What?"
"You not kin-fire-scale, not kin-spike-tail-like-bird, not kin-rock-belly. What kin you?"
Toothless rumbled at the question, surprised that he had never asked this himself. What was his kind called?
He did not know. There were no others like him. Plus, he lived apart from all the rest, wanting to keep as much distance from the Monster as possible. The others, who had probably never known anything else, had kept going back to the mountain where the Monster nested. He could not understand why. Maybe it had to do with the whispering and good, but dangerous, sounds and feelings that he heard and felt whenever he flew near the nest of fire.
"No name. What name do two-legs use?"
Hiccup looked up at the sky and pointed a paw at the sun.
"That no, small circle light yes. Time name?"
Toothless thought for a moment, trying to decipher what Hiccup was saying. When was the big sky-light hidden and the small sky-light flying high in the sky?
"Night."
"More, Toothless."
Hiccup bared his teeth and growled very convincingly. Then he relaxed and looked back at Toothless.
"Angry."
Hiccup thought about that and eventually shook his head.
"No, more angry."
More than angry? What other words were there?
Toothless offered a new word. Hiccup repeated the new word several times and asked for some examples and context before deciding that it worked.
"Night Fury name of us kin by two-legs."
"Night Fury," Toothless repeated.
It actually sounded rather nice. His kind was very hard to see at night because of their dark color. And as for the fury part, it was certainly good to be considered dangerous and powerful. Both were definitely true. The name warmed his liver.
"Night Fury, I like name."
Hiccup chuckled briefly before continuing.
"Toothless, where other Night Fury?"
Toothless almost responded when a long-buried memory forced its way to the surface. He stopped walking, his entire body going still. He clearly remembered it as if it had just happened.
He woke up against his dam's side, the warmth from her belly seeping into his scales. The cave was silent except for the breathing of his dam and fellow new-hatched small-kin under her other wing. It was hard to make himself move from his place. It was very comfortable. But he did like to arise earlier than the others. Being awake was always better than being asleep since he could do stuff and explore! This time though, he thought heard something else calling to him. Something whispering to him. He roused himself, stretching his jaws wide, slithered out from under his dam's wing, and stalked toward the cave entrance.
Dark. And rain. It was raining. Rain was always fun because it liked to make the sky-lights and sky-growls. As if there was a great sky-kin where no one could see.
He rumbled to himself, wondering where sire was. Had he imagined hearing sire whispering to him to rise?
Great, strong sire. Sire who told him stories, admired how strong his wings were and how strong a flier he would be, how smart he was, how many eggs he would one day be sire of himself, and who protected the cave from dangers.
Where is sire?
He walked to the cave entrance, stretched his neck toward the skies, and looked out. There were lights in the dark. They were slowly moving closer to the cave. He was very curious about these little lights. He wanted to know what they were.
Slowly, he walked outside the cave and climbed onto the rocks alongside the path to get a better view. Strange, upright, two-leg creatures holding long sticks in one paw and the lights, little fires, in the other paw came into view. They walked up to the path that led into the cave. He quickly noticed the four-footed, fur-covered predators that they brought with them.
Sire had told them about these creatures; had told his kin to run or fly away if they ever saw these predators. The danger they brought was not only from their teeth and claws, but mainly from the false teeth and false claws of the two-legs that the predators brought with them.
And he understood what was going to happen.
His insides twisted in fear. He roused himself after his mind went numb for a few moments, determined to charge back into the cave, warn his dam, and rouse his small-kin. He jumped up onto a boulder and spread his wings at the same time as the two-legs roared as one and charged into the cave.
He froze.
The next thing he knew was that several of the four-leg predators were growling up at him and climbing up the rocks toward him. Flashes of light and screams illuminated and echoed from his home cave. The largest predator was only a couple boulders away. He had to choose, and he was not strong enough to fight these monsters.
He turned his tail and began to run, pure fear driving him on. The panicked sounds of his dam ceased, and he felt something snap in his chest only to be replaced by an emptiness, an aloneness. But he ran on, his only thought being to escape the pursuing beasts, their snarling and yowling growing closer by the moment.
He approached the cliff. All his previous flights had been short, mere practice for when he would truly fly. Now he had no choice. It was do or die. Any moment, one of the pursuers was likely to sink its teeth into his tail and begin tearing him apart.
His life-organ was sure to burst from his chest with how hard it was throbbing. Body-lengths passed underfoot with every leap. The bounding and howls of the pursuers were terrifyingly close behind him. He planted his feet on the cliff edge and jumped. The ground fell away below him as his wings struggled to find hold in the air. Every angle at which he tried to beat his wings seemed to lose some grasp on the air. The crashing of the waves roared up at him from far below, ready to welcome him to an everlasting sleep underwater.
Every movement hurt his wing muscles. But...
He. Was. Flying.
The lament of the beasts behind him was slowly replaced by the peaceful lapping of the sea. Every flap was fueled by his grief and worry. He knew that he was alone. Sire would not have left them willingly. He had heard dam's death-scream. And his little-kin would have no chance of surviving. Going back would be to his death.
Where would he go?
Anywhere but here.
And he swore to himself that he would live. He would grow strong. He would be fast. Hopefully, he would find a like-himself-she-kin and be a good sire to many hatchlings.
Wherever possible, he would protect all kin from the two-leg Monsters.
"Toothless?" Hiccup asked again.
Toothless shook his head, breaking himself from the memory. He could not look up at Hiccup.
"No other Night Fury," he finally rumbled softly.
"What? Why?"
A hint of fire showed itself in Toothless's slightly-slitted eyes as he whipped around to face Hiccup.
"Two-legs killed them!"
He blinked and relaxed when he realized that he was snarling at Hiccup and Hiccup had stepped back from him in alarm.
Hiccup was heartbroken by what he had just heard Toothless say. Humans had killed Toothless's kind. Probably even his family. The humans had probably cheered at their deed and congratulated each other for their bravery.
He had no idea what he could say to that.
"Hiccup, I am sorry. I am not angry at you."
"Two-legs kill your kind. I hope not all. Very, very bad."
Toothless sighed.
"I never saw others. You are the only other one now."
Hiccup reflected on this sad news. There had only ever been one Night Fury in all the raids that he knew of. People had even once told stories that there was only one such dragon, sent as a special torment by Loki. The lack of other Night Furies made sense in a morbid way since because Night Furies were such powerful and mysterious dragons they would be especially hunted and prized as trophies. He really hoped that Toothless was wrong and that there were more Night Furies somewhere in the world.
"Toothless, that sad. I sorry."
"What? What bad did you do?"
Hiccup shrugged his shoulders.
"It two-leg saying. Means… I feel your sadness."
"I lost them many season-cycles ago. I am happy now."
Without saying anything else, they both resumed walking again in the same direction. There was a nearby place that they were both interested in seeing again. Shortly, they walked out onto a small ledge in a cliff wall. The gap opened out into a view of an idyllic cavity in the ground, a place seemingly completely isolated from the surrounding island. It looked no different from how it had all the months ago when they first met each other in this same place.
Their cove.
A soft purr came from Toothless as he reminisced about everything that had happened in the cove.
"Hiccup, we should come back here. This is a good place."
"Good, Toothless, I like here. Hungry now."
Toothless chuckled at him.
"You are the hungry one now!"
"And you Toothless!"
They began gently galloping back to town in search of their next meal. The only eventful part of the return journey was that Hiccup spotted what seemed to be an old net trap off the main path.
I guess they got rid of the traps in the forest. That is good.
The Berkian houses came into view at the same time as they both spotted several dragons soaring peacefully on the winds. Toothless looked up at them with an evident look of longing. Hiccup looked up with a more appraising eye. He noticed that one of the dragons seemed to be the Nadder that he had introduced to Astrid. The others did not look like any of the village's dragons.
He really wished that he got more time out to himself and Toothless. For some reason, his dad did not approve of him going outside much. He didn't understand why since he had already said that he would not try to let anyone else know who he was.
Suddenly, he was looking at red. Everywhere.
And there was a musky scent combined with the breathing of a full set of bellows behind it. He looked up into the grinning, toothy face of a Monstrous Nightmare.
Of course, he knew that dragons were not bad creatures. He knew that he should not be afraid of it, but he was. After all, one of his last encounters with one of them had not ended especially well.
There was also the primal fear that came from the fact that this creature could easily swallow him whole if it so wanted.
However, it just sniffed at him and huffed its fishy breath in his face before losing interest and hopping away from them both. He looked over at Toothless just in time to see Toothless relaxing. Apparently even Toothless was a bit uneasy with being so tiny compared to the other dragons on the island.
They resumed walking toward town. People came into view everywhere around them. Hiccup noticed that the farmers were plowing fields, sowing seeds, milking cows, and tending to other farmyard animals. That was something else that he had noticed tended to cause problems between the humans and the dragons. The farm animals always went crazy whenever they saw dragons nearby. Perhaps they remembered the raids of the past. It might also be mere instinct.
They were even aggressive toward hatchlings, as both he and Toothless had quickly found out. They had been forced to run at full speed to escape charging goats, and they gave the farm plenty of space since then. It didn't stop the farmers from yelling at them and chasing them away with pitchforks.
"There you are!"
Gobber was stomping toward both of them, an expression of amusement and worry on his face.
"I've been looking for you two all morning!"
He crossed his arms, real and prosthetic, and frowned down at the two hatchlings that were innocently grinning up at him. Gobber held his frown for a few more seconds before smiling as well and reaching down to pet the little dragons.
"Well, I'm glad you are safe. Come on, get up here."
Hiccup knew what was coming.
Oh great…
Gobber reached down with his good arm, picked up Toothless, and tucked him under an armpit. Toothless did not protest much this because this two-leg, whose name he could not understand, was always nice to him and brought him an extra fish. Hiccup was more exasperated and gave a soft chirp of annoyance when he saw Gobber's massive hand reaching down at him.
A few seconds later and Gobber was happily wobbling back towards Stoick's house, a pair of Night Furies in hand.
"You two are way too adventurous and curious you know."
Hiccup just groaned at him and flicked his tail against Gobber's side. Gobber hummed in thought while lifting an eyebrow.
"There is something about you two. Almost like you know what I'm saying."
"Hiccup, what is he saying?" Toothless asked.
"He say us smart," Hiccup answered.
"Astrid! I found them!" Gobber roared.
Hiccup's eyes went wide and he forgot to breathe for a moment. There was Astrid, walking toward him after just landing with her Nadder. Her hair was unbraided and slightly swept back from flying. She had a bit of a relieved smile on her face. Still, she looked rather different compared to how he remembered her. A bit older and more careworn. Despite this, he imagined a warm feeling in his belly as he looked at her. But the feeling was also tinged with sadness that she still did not know that he was alive.
"Where were they?"
Her voice seemed mellower, less high-pitched than he recalled it. Perhaps it was just because of his different ears.
"I think they were in the forest. I just saw them walking back to town. Good thing too, he's been worried sick about them."
She looked at the two little dragons in his arms and marveled at how quickly they seemed to be growing. She reached out and took from Gobber the one named Hiccup.
"Hiccup, be careful or she might hit you!" Toothless teased.
Hiccup squirmed in indignation and turned to glare at him.
"Toothless, you stop!"
Toothless laughed back at him.
Both Astrid and Gobber looked back and forth between the hatchlings and each other.
"Astrid, I swear sometimes I think these two are yapping at each other. Like they are actually talking."
She thought about the idea for a while.
"I've never seen anything like this. Of course dragons don't talk, that would be silly. I mean, Stormfly is rather smart and normally figures out what I want her to do, but talking, no."
"Maybe they can only talk to each other?"
"Gobber, you do realize what you are saying, don't you? If dragons can talk to each other like we can, then what does that make them?"
"Huh?"
"That would make them… almost like people."
Hiccup wanted to interrupt them right then and tell them the truth. But he didn't. He couldn't do so right now.
"I don't know about that Astrid. Also," he lowered his voice to a whisper, "be careful who ya suggest such things to. It could make people very uncomfortable."
"So? Why should I care what they think?"
"I'm just saying Astrid, if you go around telling people that their whole way of life was built on killing creatures that are actually people, they will get very angry at you. They don't like being shown that they were wrong."
She sighed.
"But we already have shown them that. And they are changing, slowly. What would it take for them to accept such a strange idea, if it is true of course?"
"I don't know if they ever will Astrid. Some things like pride are too deep in people to be able to change. Shall we head up to Stoick's?"
"Sure, let's go."
They made their way together up to Stoick's house and knocked on the door. Unsurprisingly, no one answered. They assumed that he must be out or otherwise occupied, especially since one of the first trading vessels of the year had pulled into port this morning, so they let themselves in. They dropped their respective dragons on their bed in Hiccup's room.
Astrid held out an accusatory finger in their direction though her smile remained kind.
"Now don't you two go wandering off now!"
Hiccup just nodded once before plaintively opening his mouth and chomping several times, miming the act of eating.
"Oh, you are hungry. We can fix that. Stay here."
She left to go fetch some fish for the hungry hatchlings without the thought crossing her mind that anything odd had just happened. Gobber followed her on his way back to the forge, his assigned task of finding the wayward little ones completed. He was humming some strange song about an axe, a mace, and a wife with an ugly face.
Toothless sprawled himself out on the bed as he did quite frequently. Hiccup was still wondering about something though. Neither he nor Toothless had interacted much with other dragons since the incident on Dragon Island. In fact, being just recently sniffed at by the Nightmare had been the closest that either of them had gotten to other dragons. Since he knew that Toothless could talk, he could not help but wonder about the other dragons.
"Toothless, you smart. You talk. Other kin talk?"
"No. Other kin are not smart enough, or I do not hear them."
"I not understand."
"Other kin show their ideas by doing, not talking."
Hiccup's tail swished back and forth while he pondered this new information. So not all dragons had language like Toothless did. What exactly did Toothless mean when he said that other dragons were 'not smart enough'?
They both heard the door open and shut softly a little bit later. That it shut softly told them both exactly who it was not. Sure enough, Astrid came back into the room a little bit later. A fishy smell followed.
They both hopped down from the bed and ran into the kitchen.
"Hey, wait up!" she shouted.
By the time she got to the kitchen, she found both of them pacing back and forth next to the table on which there was a giant cod.
"Well, I'll cut it up for you," she sighed in resignation to an unexpected messy task.
She had hoped that Stoick would be back by now, but he was not. She grabbed a knife and began filleting the fish.
Hiccup was fidgeting in nervousness. The tabletop also had a pad of paper and his pencil from the last time he and his dad had communicated.
It would be easy for him to show her the truth as long as his dad did not show up. Was he ready to risk it? He had no idea what her reaction would be. She might reject him in shock. He could get caught by his father after he had essentially said that he would not let anyone know what had happened.
He glanced up at her, seeing her happily humming away while carving the fish. Her hair hung down to her shoulders as she had foregone her traditional braid.
He made up his mind.
A quick leap onto the chair and from there onto the table left him standing right next to the paper and pencil.
She looked in his direction with a frown.
"Hiccup, you need to wait."
He deliberately looked up at her and stared directly into her eyes. Blue into green.
Astrid felt a strange tingling, a suspicion that something was very amiss here.
The dragon shook its head all while continuing to stare at her.
She dropped the knife and froze as she felt a notion beginning to creep over her. This tiny dragon was being too aware, too deliberate. Too intelligent. Almost as if it…
Very slowly, she reached out with a hand palm-up, and the Night Fury walked toward her. It lay its head on her palm, keeping its eyes on her the whole time. She was almost afraid to ask the question that had the potential to change her entire world.
"Do… you know… what I'm saying?" she whispered.
He inhaled once and then nodded sharply.
Astrid gasped and began to shake in excitement and shock. This baby dragon somehow understood her! It understood Norse!
Just when she thought that the situation could not possibly become any stranger, the dragon did something completely unbelievable. It walked a couple of feet away from her, reached down with a paw, and somehow managed to pick up a pencil. Then it looked at the paper.
Her mouth completely fell open, and she completely forgot to breathe, so great was her surprise. She watched in complete amazement as the hatchling held the pencil in a paw and proceeded to set it to paper.
Little Hiccup began to write.
It was incomprehensible! Impossible! Crazy!
It was happening right before her eyes.
The dragon stepped back from the paper, and she finally read what it had written.
Hi Astrid
She held her head with both her hands as she stared numbly at the paper. She could almost hear what remained of the old world crashing around her. The world of pride, training, spears, axes, and glory had all been founded on this one idea; that dragons were dumb creatures and monsters. At worst, they were true fiends sent by the gods to punish people for displeasing the gods in some way. At best, they were mere beasts whose simple lives and instincts necessarily caused death and destruction. Now they were kindly creatures, good pets that were useful to have around when well-trained.
But this proved all such thoughts to be woefully mistaken.
Dragons could be intelligent and could communicate even as hatchlings!
Might they be, as she had just recently wondered, people too?
Her voice trembled as she whispered her question.
"How… do you know… my name?"
The hatchling purred sadly and turned back to the paper.
I am Hiccup
"Yes… that is… your name."
He shook his head vigorously.
I did not die
She stared at the words without really seeing. It was too much for her to grasp. The giant inferno into which Hiccup and Toothless seemed to vanish blazed in her memory. The singular bolt of lightning reached up to the heavens through the fire. She had cried for the first time in what had been years that day. She had been present to give Hiccup as much of a warrior's send-off to Valhalla as was possible without a body.
And now this mysterious Night Fury hatchling, which understood human speech and knew how to write, was claiming to be Hiccup.
Impossible though it seemed, it just felt right.
Unholy offspring of lightning and death itself...
She started to feel very dizzy and light-headed.
Hiccup watched as Astrid steadied herself against the edge of the table. She looked over at him one more time before fainting dead away.
He winced as he heard her make contact with the wooden floor with a thump.
Ouch! Hopefully that doesn't leave a scar. Well, there were worse things she could have done.
"Hiccup, what did you do to her?"
Toothless dashed into the room and hopped up onto the table with him after looking down at the unconscious Astrid.
"I tell her I Hiccup."
But Toothless was already not listening. He had immediately noticed the half-filleted fish and had already begun stalking towards it.
Hiccup looked at the paper that he had written on; he couldn't let his dad see this. This would give it away for sure.
He grabbed the paper and began to crumple it up as best he could. Then he took it in his mouth and dashed off to his room. There was a whole heap of old, crumpled papers under the bed where his dad would never think or bother to look.
After depositing the traitorous paper under the bed, he ran back into the kitchen to hopefully get some of the carved fish before Toothless ate it all.
"Toothless, no eat all fish! I want fish!"
Toothless huffed down at him from on top of the table, his mouth filled with a giant slice of delicious-looking cod. He mumbled something completely incoherent and then slurped down his portion.
Hiccup rolled his eyes at this silly exchange. He then hopped back up onto the table and attacked what remained of the fish.
Between the exhaustion brought on from their play earlier in the day and the lethargy that was always induced after meals, they both collapsed right there on top of the table for a nap. Hiccup positioned himself so that he could keep an eye on Astrid in case she woke up.
Perhaps thirty minutes later, Astrid stirred again. She groaned and rubbed her head, wondering why she was on the floor. She looked up and saw Hiccup's tiny head resting on the edge of the table.
And she remembered everything that had just recently happened. It was impossible to tear her eyes from the tiny dragon on the table.
It was impossible.
Hiccup died.
People do not get reborn as dragons.
And yet…
Slowly, she got to her feet and inched closer to the table. She reached out to the little dragon and cautiously cupped its head in her hand. It immediately opened its eyes and stared directly at her. It blinked and closed its eyes while leaning into her palm.
She knew it had to be true.
"Hiccup?" her whisper was barely audible.
Hiccup blinked and looked at her.
"What happened to you?"
Hiccup got to his feet and shrugged his shoulders and wings in a motion that was completely Hiccup. It was his way of saying he did not know.
He walked back over to the remaining paper.
Don't let dad know I told you
"Why not, does he know?"
Hiccup nodded sadly.
He not want others to know
He paused for a moment before continuing.
I missed you Astrid
"I… this is… so strange… Hiccup. I don't know what to think."
We talk later, hide paper
She nodded vaguely and crumpled up the paper before shoving it into a pocket. She took several deep breaths to calm herself.
"Ok, I'll finish this fish for you two… wait, is Toothless actually… your Toothless?"
Hiccup smiled a gummy grin and nodded.
"Wow, you both lived. Now you are a dragon. And you have no idea how?"
Hiccup shook his head. Then he looked over at Toothless and began chattering away at him.
A suspicion came over Astrid as she looked at Hiccup apparently miming talking.
"Hiccup, can you actually talk to him?"
Hiccup nodded happily.
"And he talks to you? You know what he says?"
Yes.
She was right. Dragons can talk. Have ideas worth sharing.
Are people.
Could her Stormfly talk too?
"Wow, this... this changes everything. Can you talk to all dragons?"
Hiccup shook his head slowly and tipped his head to the side, as if to say he wasn't sure.
"Alright, I won't tell anyone else. What about Gobber though? He really misses you."
Hiccup pointed with a paw toward the crumpled up paper in her pocket. They would talk later.
She nodded once in understanding and returned to carving the rest of the fish. The next few minutes passed in relative silence as she focused on the repetitive task and contemplated the revelations of the past hour.
Toothless eventually woke up from his food-induced nap and noticed that Hiccup's preferred female was still in the cave-den. She was sitting with Hiccup on the ground at her side. Neither of them were doing or saying anything. He really ought to figure out what her name was. Hiccup had made some sounds that seemed to indicate her that first, unfortunate time that they met.
Hiccup had told her who he really was and this is the reaction she gave him. Confusion, a strange need to fall onto the ground and sleep, and extreme nervousness. It made some sense, considering how different Hiccup was now.
He hopped down from the table and walked over to Hiccup.
"Hiccup, what is her name?"
"No name kin talk."
"Make new name?"
Hiccup hummed in thought, trying to think of names that could be similar to Astrid. No words that he knew sounded even remotely similar. By combining portions of other words, he was able to say something that sounded somewhat close to how he figured Astrid would sound in dragon speech.
It was quite a bizarre experience for Astrid to see the two hatchlings, one of whom she knew was Hiccup, chirping and rumbling at each other and to know that this was a method of talking. It was so inhuman. She looked between the two dragons and could not see any physical differences other than that Hiccup was slightly smaller.
"Toothless," she whispered.
Toothless whipped his head around to look at her.
So it was really him!
"Do you remember me?"
Toothless just huffed at her and rolled his eyes while grumbling, as if to say 'obviously' or 'not interested.' Actually, what he did was very Hiccup-like.
They must be rubbing off on each other.
Their relatively peaceful interactions were broken by the sound of very heavy footfalls in front of the house door. The door flew open violently and Stoick marched in.
"Hiccup! Where are…"
Stoick saw Astrid sitting in the living room chair with both hatchlings at her feet. His mind immediately conjured up certain fears. Why was she here in his house? What did she know? Did she know who Hiccup really was? Had they been… talking? She was trespassing on his privacy!
"Chief, Gobber found them outside, and we brought them back here."
"I can see that! Why are you still here?"
"They were hungry, so I went and got a fish for them. Then they started getting sleepy so I thought I should stay here until you get back. Don't want them running off again."
He glared in her direction for a moment longer before relaxing. He gave a sigh of relief, convinced that she did not know the secret.
He was completely oblivious to the fact that Astrid relaxed as well.
"That's good. Astrid, why do you have a spot on your head?"
She raised a hand to feel her forehead and winced at feeling the throbbing lump next to her temple.
"I bumped my head today."
"Are you sure you are ok? That is a big bump."
She chuckled.
"I have had far worse in training. This won't even leave a scar. I guess I'll get going now that you are here."
"Right, thanks for, you know, watching over them."
She nodded curtly and walked from the house without looking back. She was supposed to go back to the arena to prepare for the day's training. In the past, she had run to Stormfly whenever she wanted to escape and be alone with her thoughts. However, this time she ran did not want to be anywhere near the dragon. She had to be away from everyone in order to think in peace.
Stoick watched until Astrid had closed the door behind her and then turned back to Hiccup. He was completely exasperated and a bit angry. What couldn't Hiccup just stay inside! He pointed a finger in Hiccup's direction and…
Hiccup was sprawled out on the ground, eyes closed and breathing peacefully.
Stoick sighed softly. Astrid did say that the two dragons had eaten and been playing. He would give Hiccup a talking-to as soon as he woke back up. He grabbed a mug, filled it, and went to his bedroom for an afternoon nap.
Hiccup opened his eyes the moment he heard the door shut. He groaned in frustration.
What is his problem? Why is he so angry all the time? I don't understand.
Toothless got to his feet as well, glad that Hiccup's angry sire was not there anymore.
"Hiccup, we sleep now?"
"Yes, Toothless. Sleep good."
And I'll think about why dad is being so difficult.
Together, they tiptoed into their room and crashed in the bed-nest which Toothless had since formed by dragging blankets into the right shape.
Hiccup reached a conclusion about ten minutes later. His father's continued anxiousness must be because of fear that people would learn who the baby Night Fury actually was. Thinking that he understood the reason behind his father's behavior helped him to let go some of his frustration with him.
It must be hard for him knowing what I am, at least until I can be…
That was still a strange thought. He had a strange suspicion that his father would find some way to do what he promised. His dad promised it and so it would be. He would be human again, as he was supposed to be. He and Astrid could work something out, and his father would truly have his son back again.
But it would also mean giving up much that he had gained. At worst, it would mean giving up the ability to talk to Toothless. He strongly suspected that only dragons could hear all the aspects of dragon speech. It just sounded far too different from anything he could remember hearing from back when he was human.
I'll have to think about that problem. There has to be a solution.