They landed in the cove, finding not only Toothless, Moondust, and Spitfire, but also the Scauldron pod leaders and their son. Hiccup quickly dismounted Stormfly, moving over to the water dragons. As he neared them, he wondered why they were this far inland.

[Greetings, honored land alpha,] the male pod leader said, still sounding as if he was drowning. [I noticed your brother here and thought you would be with him.]

"Sorry, I was in the village," Hiccup said. "Did you need to speak to me?"

[Yes. You have been a wonderful and gracious host, even letting us stay long after we aided in guarding your nest's waters, but we must leave now. We must head south as there is a festival for our kind we must attend.]

"Oh," Hiccup said.

He was a little disappointed. He quite enjoyed seeing the Scauldron pod swimming around the island and the fledgling Scauldrons leaping out of the water whenever he and Toothless had cause to fly over them. Still, he would never stop any dragon from going on their way, especially if they had to be somewhere else.

"You all will be missed," Hiccup said. "And you are all welcomed to return anytime. May I ask what the festival is?"

Hiccup noted the young male whose wing broke when he saved the Changewing princess cough and look away. His mother chortled.

[A game of sorts,] she said. [For all those who are youngling aged to show off while their parents meet old friends and the pod leaders discuss events that have happened since all the pods gathered last.]

Hiccup smiled. "We Vikings have something that is similar. The games sound a lot like our Thawfest and the adults meeting sounds like our Thing, which is where all tribe chiefs, uh, our version of pod leaders, meet and discuss different topics."

[Do young Vikings,] the mother began, slowly pronouncing the new word, [use these games to show off for potential mates?]

Hiccup laughed. "Some try but most mate-hoods in Viking society is decided by the parents and not the actual ones who end up in the mate-hood."

[An odd practice,] the young male said. [How does a Viking parent know those they tie together for eternity will actually love each other?]

"Eh, for some that is not a concern. For others they hope with time the couple become at least friends even if they never fall in love with each other."

The male looked from Hiccup to Astrid and back again. [She is your intended,] he began. [Did your parents and hers chose this for you?]

Hiccup glanced over his shoulder at Astrid and smiled. He turned back to the dragon. "They chose to form a contract for our betrothal, yes. Which betrothal is the human term for the time before a couple marry, uh, enter a mate-hood. However, she and I had already decided to court each other before that and both of us came to love one another during that courtship."

The young dragon shook his head. [I am not sure I will ever understand and now I feel pity for those humans whose parents have tied them to someone they could never love. I am glad though that yours saw the love you hold for your queen, honored land alpha.]

Hiccup smiled. "Thank you. I am glad they did as well." He bowed slightly. These dragons had earned more than just a tipped head to honor all they had done for him and his nest. "May the currents forever bring you home, honored pod leaders and heir to the pod."

All three water dragons laughed, a sound that had Hiccup wanting to clear his throat, much like he had with the Submaripper.

[You honor us even more,] the father said. [To learn the traditional deep-water parting is something most land dwellers do not try for. Thank you. May the currents forever bring you home and may the winds forever be under your wings, honored land alpha.]

The three then bowed, though none spread their wings, before shuffling back to the sea opening of the cove. They waded into the waves and Hiccup watched all them rejoining the pod he now saw in the distance. He smiled as the dragons, even the fledglings, all leapt into the air as one and dove so that a towering wave splashed straight up and straight back down.

[It seems today is the day for leavings,] Spitfire said, moving to stand at Hiccup's right side.

Hiccup turned. "You are leaving us too?" he asked, more than a little disappointed now.

With the Scauldrons he had grown fond of their play as well as their presence. With Spitfire, he saw her as another member of his family and he was honest enough to admit, he did not want any of his family to leave. Not after knowing his mother was out there and unable or unwilling to come home.

Spitfire sighed. [I have been away too long, alpha that my brother follows. I must return home and let my parents know I am still alive. I also need to see if my sister-in-law has laid her egg yet.]

Hiccup frowned and turned to Toothless. "Shouldn't you need to go too?" he asked. "Your brother said he'd tell your parents and if she comes back without you but tells them she saw you, I'm sure they'll get a bit annoyed and think you are avoiding them."

Toothless took a deep breath. [I should go see them. I do need let them meet my sons and I will need to formally inform them of my decision to bow to you and to court Moondust.] Toothless tiled his head. [I'm not going without you though, brother. I meant what I said. You fly with me or I don't. Besides, they need to meet you as well.]

Spitfire snorted. [You may want to rethink that whole only fly with him thing, brother. I highly doubt he would want to be a part of your mating flight with Moondust. Doubt she'd want him to be there as well.]

Toothless shot his sister a narrowed eyed look even as Moondust chose to stare up at the trees riming the cove's walls. Hiccup did see the female Night Fury's mouth moving even if no sound reached his ears and got the impression she was muttering under her breath. He wondered if she was muttering a prayer for strength or a plea for Spitfire to lose her voice.

[Funny,] Toothless muttered.

Spitfire chortled.

"She brings up a good point," Hiccup said and got two pairs of green eyes boring into him. He trudged on as he had been thinking of this exact thing since Toothless and Moondust's courtship began. "Well, she does. Don't look at me like that. I love that you want me in the air with you, Toothless but there might be times you need to fly on your own. What if I was hurt and you needed to get some help?"

Toothless grumbled in the Old Tongue and shook himself. Hiccup walked over and hugged his brother.

"We are team, brother," Hiccup whispered. "And we'll always be a team, but it's not fair that I can walk on my own and you can't fly on your own. We will always fly together, but if there are times you need or want to fly by yourself or just with Moondust, I won't mind."

Toothless laid his chin down along Hiccup's back and crooned. Hiccup just held him for several heartbeats then stepped back. Toothless lifted his head to allow the movement.

"Now, we should discuss this trip-"

"We all need to go on," a new voice said as wing flaps announced the arrival of more dragons.

Midnight Lupus: Ice Terrors and Terrible Terrors are actually two different species in this. Terrors breath fire whereas Ice Terrors breath ice shards. The name is similar because they are small like Terrors. That's why in the second book, Sage, the Terror Elder could not really tell Palewing actually carried eggs and just gave her the be careful speech cause it was a possibility. The Light Fury is shown using the same breath attack as Toothless and is said to be a subspecies of Night Furies. The dialogue is both a wonder and a curse for some writer, ie me to deal with. I'm still learning its quirks as I go, but for Hiccup, he is the son of a chief. He is a noble in his tribe, even if that tribe is a bit rough around the edges, he is still noble born. Plus he's learning how to lead dragons from a king so he's gonna be a bit formal in many things.

Kirika: Ha! Do you want to see Bjarte get killed? Cause Hiccup will go ballistic over Astrid, just saying :p