Hiccup glanced around. A chitter had him looking up. He gasped. A flock of at least seventy dragons hovered close to the underside of the clouds. The flock consisted of a mix of Nadders, Nightmares, Zipplebacks, and Gronckles, though there seemed to be more Gronckles than the others. All the dragons stared down at Hiccup and Toothless. Many seemed confused. Some seemed amazed. A few seemed angered. None gave any indication they were going to attack.
A lone Gronckle, dark gray with multiple scars that left white streaks in its hide, dove. It came level right in front of a now hovering Toothless. It glanced at Hiccup once before looking towards Toothless. Hiccup watched as the Gronckle began a series of chitters. Toothless responded with a warble and a toss of his head in Hiccup's direction. The Gronckle looked back up to Hiccup.
[He says you can understand me,] it said, its voice male.
Hiccup smiled. "Yep."
The Gronckle blinked. [How? How is this possible? Humans lost the ability to understand us.]
"A mage," Hiccup said. "She lives in our nest and gave us back the ability."
[I would say you were lying, human-]
[Watch your tongue,] Toothless warned with a slight growl. [He is the alpha of the nest.]
The Gronckle blinked again. His gaze shifted from Toothless to Hiccup and back again twice before landing on Toothless and staying there.
[You bowed to a human?]
[I bowed to my brother who gave the skies back to me after an accident tore my left tailfin off. I bowed to my brother who gave him a home in his nest. I bowed to my brother whose actions and orders resulted in the death of a fallen queen who forgot what it meant to be a dragon and almost destroyed all of dragonkind.]
Hiccup reached out and placed a hand on the top of Toothless' head. "Easy, brother."
[The disbelief is getting to me,] Toothless said. [I agree with your intended, brother. Everyone should know how amazing you are and everyone should understand why myself and the other dragons bow to you.]
"This is all still new, bud. He probably has never seen me before."
[I meant no insult,] the Gronckle said. [I have just never met a human that dragons declared their alpha. Myself and most of the dragons above us are from far to the north and we have little to no pleasant experiences with humans. We would not even have made this trip if some dragons who used to live down here had not said the Lava-dweller who blocked the wind currents was challenged and they were able to get free of her call. That it did not follow them, they believed her dead.]
[She is,] Toothless said. [Dead at my brother and alpha's order.]
[Uhm, how?]
[He ordered me to trick her in the skies. He ordered me to shoot her wings. He ordered me to dive in front of her. When she chased us and built her gas to flame us, he ordered me to flip and fire a bolt into her muzzle. It ignited the gas and when she tried to use her wings to slow her dive the holes I put there ripped more. She exploded when she hit the ground.]
A green and light blue Zippleback lowered, hovering on the Gronckle's left side.
[You fired,] the right head began, its voice female.
[The killing shot?] the left finished.
[On my alpha's order.]
Both sets of eyes blinked. A red-orange Nightmare lowered and hovered on the Gronckle's right side.
[When did you declare the human your alpha?]it asked, its voice female.
Toothless growled. [I know what you are doing,] he said. [I am the second son of a nest leader. I know the correct measures. Hiccup is my alpha and was my alpha long before the fight that ended that fallen queen's life. I may have provided the means, but it was on his orders.]
Hiccup frowned, wondering what that had been all about. Other dragons had asked about the final shot but Toothless had never explained with a biting tone in his voice or had to clarify when he declared Hiccup his alpha.
The Nightmare titled her head. [Why did you declare him your alpha?]
[He earned the title.]
[But-] the Nightmare began.
[Enough,] Toothless snarled. [Hiccup is my brother and he is my alpha. He is the alpha of the nest I live in. It was done according to the correct measures and without myself being forced. It would be best if you drop that line of questioning.]
"Toothless?" Hiccup asked.
[They believe you stole the position from me due to it being my flame that killed that queen even though I fired on your orders. And the Flame-skin seems to think you forced me to declare you my alpha.]
Hiccup's back straighten. He stared at the dragons still hovering before his brother. His eyes narrowed.
"I will never steal anything from Toothless and I will never force him to bow to me. I never forced those dragons in the nest to bow to me. I still don't understand their reasoning, but I have accepted that they call me their alpha."
Several chitters, chirps, and squawks caused Hiccup to look up again. All the dragons now looked shocked. He heard his brother's warbled laugh and looked down. The dragons hovering before them looked shocked as well.
[Now you see,] Toothless said smugly. [He is Alpha.]
Hiccup blinked, realizing his power had risen and coated his words once more. He did note that none of the dragons seemed frozen and Toothless did not act like he was.
[Forgive us, human alpha,] the Gronckle said. [We are still unsure, but we see you are different than most of the humans we have encountered.]
Hiccup stared at him in silence for several heartbeats. He took a deep breath. "That is to be expected. It has been a long war and even though that fallen queen's reach was not far, her actions caused a great deal of damage for both humans and dragons."
[You show wisdom,] a sea foam colored Nadder said, its voice male, as he lowered to hover next to the Nightmare. [And my fellow elder,] he added with a sideways glance at the Nightmare, [would do well not to provoke an alpha and his brother's wrath over something the Wind-shrieker has already stated happened properly.] The Nadder turned his head so that one eye stared at Hiccup. [If I may ask, the flock with us has traveled far and we still have far to go now that we know that fallen queen is truly dead. Would you know a place we can rest our wings until the sun rises again?]
Hiccup stared at the dragon in silence again. He did not care for the belief of the Nightmare, but he would not deny any rest to dragons if he could help it.
"Provided you all do not insult or harm any in my nest, you are all free to rest, safely, within its boundaries. I apologize but as all dens are taken, you and your flock may have to rest in the open. I give you my word that you will not be bothered by either the dragons or humans that live in the nest so long as you do not prove to be a threat to them."
The Nadder tipped his head. [Upon my life, human alpha, we will agree to your conditions.]
Kirika: Hehe, and the scolding would be that one: he did not let her join him and Toothless and two: that he jumped off his dragon mid-flight
Prince: /me glances up at the chapter Uh, them.