All of Toothless' sensing lobes flared away from his skull. His eyes dilated to the point he knew no one would be able to see any green. Moondust remained pressed against him for a few heartbeats then she sat back. Her gaze fell away.
"I am sorry," she whispered, sounding disappointed, unsure, and embarrassed all in one.
When her wings flared, Toothless' mind caught up with what was going on.
"Wait! No, please don't leave. Please stay. What did you mean? What choice?"
He suspected. He hoped. He had to know. He could not assume. He would not be that male.
Moondust stared at him, copying his one eye fully opened, one eye half closed look. "I have admired you for a while, Toothless," she said.
Toothless slowly closed his eyes and just as slowly opened them. His heart raced as if he had performed every aerial trick he knew and a few Hiccup and he were developing together.
"I have felt the same," he whispered.
"You have admired yourself for a while now?"
Toothless huffed. "Funny."
Moondust giggled but her lobes dropped, flattening against her skull and her gaze felt to the ground. "Did that male and what he did to me prevent you from seeking more?"
Right then Toothless wished he had hands like his brother. He had seen Hiccup lift Astrid's chin when she fell into the same posture as Moondust. He settled on telling her the truth and hoped it would get her to look at him again.
"In part, but because I didn't want to remind you of what happened. That male was wrong and did something no dragoness should ever have done to her, even the ones who don't care about wing-covers. I didn't want to you to hurt more if my advances brought up bad memories."
Moondust sighed, eyes closing. "And now that you know how… how I feel?"
Toothless cooed. "If this is what you want, if I am what you want, Moondust, we're going to do this right," he said softly. "You deserved to be treated like a queen."
Moondust snorted, eyes opening and head shaking. "I'm not a queen. I'm just me."
"You're a queen to me," Toothless whispered. "Do I go find your flock leader and our alpha?"
Moondust took a deep breath. "Yes."
Toothless closed his eyes for half a heartbeat. He opened them to find Moondust staring at him. He gave her a gummy smile. "Let's go find them together."
They headed for the Fireworm cave. As much as he wanted to place his wing over her, he did not. He would not until he had permission from Gyda and Hiccup. He was adamant that his courting her would start correctly and honorably. She deserved nothing less. Just as they entered the cave system, Toothless groaned.
"I am never going to hear the end of this."
"End of what?"
Toothless grunted as they passed by the place where all the shiny things the humans had found, and cooed like excitable hatchlings over, had been. "I may or may not have teased Hiccup and Sharpshot relentlessly about Astrid and Sneaky."
Moondust laughed, a trilling sound that Toothless knew he wanted to hear again and often. "Yes, you are in for it."
They reached the tunnel up and Toothless paused, looking over at her.
"You'll defend me, right?"
"Does Lady Alpha and Sneaky defend your brothers when you start?"
"No. They usually just laugh."
"Then I shall 'just' laugh as well."
Toothless stared at her, opting for the look Gyda had deemed his puppy-eyed look. Moondust snorted and regard him with her version of his gummy smirk. The urge to scoff at her and nuzzle her yanked Toothless in two different directions. He settled for grunting and walking up the tunnel. Her giggles followed him moments before she joined him.
"May I ask what prompted you to tell me how you felt?" he asked as they curved around a bend in the tunnel. "Not that I mind at all.. I'm just curious."
"Lady Alpha. She spoke to me while you stood against that male."
"What did she say?"
"'Moondust, I am not telling you what to do, but men can't read our minds. If you want Toothless, you have to tell him and tell him in a way he can understand. Gods bless them, but sometimes men can't get simple concepts.'"
Toothless snorted. "That sounds like something she'd say. She had poor Hiccup so confused the night she told him how she felt. She finally had to do that suffocating lip thing over and over before he understood what her words meant."
"As protective as you are of him, I'm rather surprised you let her near, considering the tale you gave us the night we all met."
"I did worry at first. Her first meeting with me..well, first in our time… which is more confusing to say then to think about." Toothless grunted. "Anyway, that night when she sought him out, I did not like her. I wanted her as far from him as possible. He had other ideas, so I flew with it and used it to teach her."
"What changed your mind?" she asked as they exited the tunnel and traversed to their left along a straight corridor with many tunnels branching off of them. "Elder Gyda giving all of you back your memories?" she added as they turned right into another tunnel that curved upward.
"No. We didn't get our memories back until a moon cycle after Hiccup woke up. Before I remembered that she was the first of his kind to actually ask to join him on our side of Gyda's barrier, it had been her apologizing and following Hiccup's order that moved me from dislike to being okay with. It wasn't until she told Stoick off that I knew she would be the perfect mate for Hiccup and Gyda giving us back our memories only reinforced that."
"What did she tell Stoick?"
"Stoick asked her what pushed Hiccup into getting the other dragons and flying after everyone and why the other human younglings followed him." Toothless sighed. "The question came right after a moment we all feared Hiccup would die. I only remember the entire conversation because Hiccup did not die and I awoke from what I realize now was me dying as well."
Moondust crooned sadly. Toothless stopped on a flatten section of the curving tunnel as it crisscrossed with two other tunnels. He leaned over and rubbed his head against Moondust's cheek. She returned the affection.
"I was scared when you collapsed beside Alpha's sleeping nest," she whispered.
"I wish I could give you assurance it won't happen again, but I can't. I know the bond between Hiccup and I will kill us both when he dies and I've accepted that my life will not be as long as normal." Toothless sighed, moving away and staring at her. "Before we continue, Moondust, you have to know that. I'm sorry, I should have spoken about this already. If we go though with this, if you still want me to court you and if that courting leads to a mate-hood, I'm not going to live as long as you."
"I know," Moondust whispered. "Elder Gyda already explained. I still want to continue."
Toothless nodded his head. He had another question for her if this courtship did end in a mate-hood, and he had no reason to believe it would not, but he would wait until that day to ask her.
"Then we'll continue," he whispered.
"What did Lady Alpha tell Stoick?" Moondust asked as they started walking again.
"She told him it was the right thing to do. Something he had forgotten or lost in his shortsightness about what Hiccup should have been. And if it had been her in Hiccup's place, she would have only came to get me, Gobber, and a couple others out but would have left him to die."
Moondust hissed. "Wow. How did he take that?"
"His muzzle turned the same color as Sharpshot's spikes. He sputtered and hissed. I wobbly moved to stand in front of her. I thought he would hurt her and I would not allow that. He set back when I growled at him. Neither of them talk about that now but I think he realized she would be a good mate for his son then too."
"Oh, Nest Protector, Wind-shrieker, greetings."
"Hello, Tiny-fireglow flock leader," Toothless said as they paused upon entering a cavern, the same cavern where the first met the Fireworms.
Toothless honestly loved that the humans could speak the Common Tongue now. Learning human words was always an exhilarating experience. Learning their names for dragons even more so and he found he was beginning to like some of their names over the ones the dragons gave a species. This was one of those times. It was so much easier to think Fireworm than Tiny-fireglow. It was still expected that a dragon would use a dragon name though. Toothless wondered if that would change as well as dragons and humans continued to live in the same nest together. He hoped so. It would easier to say some of the human names for dragons as well.
"Are you going to seeing Alpha soon?" the Fireworm who bowed to Hiccup that day asked after Moondust added her greeting.
"We are heading to speak with him now," Toothless said.
"May I accompany you? I have to speak with him as well."
"Sure. May I ask what you need to speak with him about?"
The Fireworm sighed and her entire body flickered, though a green color instead of the usual color a Fireworm glowed. "It is time."
Kirika: Ah, so you noticed what I'm doing. Hehe, good.