The dramatis personae will be updated with new dragon names for known species.
Astrid took a deep breath but remained upon Stormfly's back. She did look towards Toothless.
"Go with him," she said softly
Toothless snorted as if that was a foregone conclusion. Hiccup shook his head, turning around. He stopped short. The male Changewing rescued from Outcast Island had the attacking Changewing on his back. The male had his bared fangs a hair's breadth from the other's exposed neck. Hiccup quickly looked to the royal pair. Both stared at him and not their son. Hiccup opened his mouth only to have the queen speak before he could.
[You are an honored guest here,] she said, [and you are an alpha in your own right. He is young and in training, but we do not attack without cause. Your honor guard members did not offer harm.]
"But I didn't explain what they were to do," Hiccup said. "I should have remembered that three hundred years of war makes both sides jumpy. How was he to know we use our weapons as tools from time to time because we have no claws?"
[Precisely because you have no claws,] the king said. [A warrior guard has to be observant and calm in any situation. That was neither.]
Hiccup frowned. The queen tilted her head.
[My son's actions upsets you?]
"No. Yes." Hiccup sighed. "I'm not really sure, ma'am. I know about training and teaching but that just seems… well, I really should have explained and he thought he was doing the right thing."
[Sometimes what is thought right is wrong,] the queen said softly, [and what is thought wrong is right. The young one has a chance to right this offense against you and if he is smart he will remain in his training. If he is not, he will be placed elsewhere. A warrior guard has to have sense.]
Hiccup grimaced. The queen's comment did not mean the same, but they and his nervousness over this whole thing brought comments he had heard most of his life to mind. Too often villagers walking by or stopping by the forge would say the same thing, especially after one of his screw-ups. The lad has less sense Odin gave a common yak and should be placed somewhere secure during raids or he will destroy more than the dragons. Then his father started to listen and had him shoved into whatever house or building was nearby. That prompted those same villages to say something different. The lad should have the smarts to stay where he is put, too bad he don't. Odin preserve our poor chief.
[Alpha who saved my son,] the king said, yanking Hiccup from his memories, [you command a mage?]
Hiccup blinked, glancing at Gyda before looking back to the king. "She said I'm her liege lord but only in regards to her magic." Hiccup shrugged. "She's one of my closest friends."
The king tilted his head and trilled something that sounded questioning. Sharpshot chortled and nuzzled against Hiccup's head.
[Yes,] Sharpshot said, [he is always like this.]
Toothless warbled something that had all but the bonded dragons blinking. The royal pair shared a glance. The daughter stared at Hiccup then looked to Toothless and trilled. It sounded as if she was seeking clarification for whatever Toothless said before. Toothless replied with another warble. Hiccup turned away, heading over to check on the progress of the saplings.
[You do not demand to know what was said?] the queen asked.
Hiccup faced her. "I trust my brother," he said smiling. "If he feels the need to speak in the Old Tongue I don't mind. I actually like the sounds and the fact they will still use them. If it's something I need to know, he'll tell me. He always does."
The queen stared at Hiccup and then shook her head. [How did all of this come about?] she asked.
"I'm sorry, I don't understand the question."
[How did a human become an alpha that commands the loyalty that young Spike-thrower showed? How does a human act like a dragon and understand honor, wisdom, care, compassion, and trust?]
Hiccup blinked. He glanced down, noting how close Fishlegs and Snotlout were then looked over to the young Scauldron before facing the queen again.
"Um, may we get the splint upon the Scauldron and get him back into the water? I'll tell you the story after that. I dislike knowing he's in pain and out of the water."
[Scauldron?] the king questioned before anyone else could speak. [And earlier you said something about the Scaulding-spitters being in a Tidal class. What does that mean?]
"Scauldron is the name humans gave the Scaulding-spitters," Hiccup said.
[Just like a human to name something without knowing its real name,] the Scauldron said.
Hiccup looked over his shoulder. "Before Gyda's magic allowed us to understand the Common Tongue, we couldn't ask the dragons," he said. "We didn't even know we could talk to them." He turned back to the king. "Tidal is the class we placed dragons like the Scauldron, the Thunderdrum, the Sand Wraith and others that primarily live in or right near the water and don't use fire as their primary breath attack."
[Thunderdrum? Sand Wraith?]
[Deaf-bellower and Sand-spitter,] Toothless said.
The king blinked. [Dare I ask what the human name for my kind is or what class we were put into?]
"We call your kind Changewings because you can hide by changing your scales to mimic whatever you are standing by," Hiccup said. "And until now you were in the Fear class but we're gonna move you soon."
[Move us?]
"My friend, Fishlegs, and I are rewriting the Book of Dragons and changing many things about the class system and what dragon goes into which class."
[I see,] the king said blinking. [What class will you put us in now?]
"Mystery," Hiccup said then frowned. "Though even that isn't a good name now that we can actually learn about the dragons from the dragons themselves, but," Hiccup shrugged. "We don't know what else to call it."
The king chuckled. [I actually like that name. It sounds intriguing and we Illusion-scales are very intriguing and mysterious.] He said that while winking at Hiccup. [What are the other classes?]
Hiccup glanced to Snotout and Fishlegs to measure how close they were to being finished. He looked back to the king. They had the time to answer that question though nowhere near the time to tell the story of how the Berkian nest came to be.
"Strike, Stoker, Boulder, Sharp, Tidal, and the two new ones, Mystery and Tracker."
"Saplings are ready, Hiccup," Snotlout said just as Hiccup closed his mouth.
Hiccup blinked when many of the close standing Changewing guards glared at Snotlout.
Kirka: Hehe, Hiccup and Astrid's non-verbal way of communicating has always been something I loved about them, but Astrid also understands he is trusting her to keep that young Nadder from causing an incident and hasn't asked anyone else to do so. She'll still speak to him about all of this later when it's just them and their chaperones, but she knows that right now she can't go against his wishes. That would cause a different incident than the Nadder retaliating against insults or attacks upon Hiccup.