This far north and nestled on furs within a blasted opening in the side of a cave, Hiccup only knew it was morning because Toothless got restless and began shifting. As things calmed down right after the Red Death battle and the making of the Berkian nest, Toothless began asking for morning flights, most of the time before the sun fully rose. He did not always ask for these flights, but usually if he was feeling anxious or just energetic right after he woke, he did ask. It seemed he wanted such a flight now, since Hiccup felt a wingtip slide across his face twice.
Toothless was considerate enough not to nudge him off the furs every human brought with them on this trip. He sometimes did when they were in Hiccup's room and Hiccup took longer than Toothless wanted in getting up. Hiccup still disliked the smell of his own floor at the break of dawn. Hiccup suspected that the fact Astrid also lay in the sleeping den had a lot to do with Toothless' restraint. She did have her head upon Hiccup's chest, her arm was around his waist, and her leg was thrown over both of Hiccup's after all.
Hiccup's eyes opened after the third pass of Toothless' wingtip. He found his brother staring at him and Astrid, a gummy smirk crossing his muzzle. Hiccup glared at him, not entirely ready for his brother's sass this early in the morning. Toothless' face shifted to one of pure innocence, marred only by the teasing gleam in green eyes. That was until a double tailfin smacked gently against the top of his head.
Hiccup looked over Astrid's arm and found Moondust curling her neck so she could stare at Toothless with a half-exasperated, half-amused expression. Hiccup knew the only reason Toothless did not warble at her in protest was because his sons still slept curled one to either side of Hiccup and Astrid and the third laying at head of both. Moondust's eyes found Hiccup and he gave her a grateful smile. She returned it with the gummy smile she learned from Toothless.
[Wakey, wakey,] Toothless' father bellowed. [Time to eat.]
Hiccup groaned as Sandblast's paw collided with his head, one of Sliverfire's horns cracked against his arm and Astrid's elbow dug into his gut as they and Spikestorm gave hisses in protest to the sudden noise. Astrid buried further into him, her arm gripping him tighter. Hiccup curled his head so he could whisper to her.
"One day you won't get so rudely awaken and can continue to sleep upon me."
"I'll hold you to that."
Hiccup smiled as he worked his arm out from under her and worked to extract himself from her grasp. She sent a playful glare but accepted he wanted to stand and let him go. Hiccup placed a hand upon Toothless' back, right near where the wing membrane ended, to keep himself steady as he lowered his free hand to Astrid. She snorted softly but took his hand and the offered up help up.
The ones in front of the sleeping den woke in varying stages but all made room when three eager younglings bolted out of the sleeping den and into the common room. Toothless warbled sharply. All three younglings froze then looked over their wings at their father. Toothless stepped out of the den and used his wing to point at Fishlegs who sitting with his back to a tumbled over Meatlug and rubbing his foot, all the while staring at the younglings. The younglings chittered.
[Sorry, Elder Fishlegs,] they chorused.
Fishlegs curled his finger, calling them closer. They shuffled over, standing with bowed heads in front of him. Since they were not on a rise in the landscape, like they had been when Hiccup welcomed them into the nest at the Hatchery, they were at eye level with the sitting Viking teen. Fishlegs reached over and with a curled finger to their chins, lifted each lowered head.
"I accept your apology," he said softly.
Hiccup knew his friend wanted to brush off the incident but ever dragon parent in the nest had asked the humans to never okay or dismiss something their young was corrected upon. Especially when a youngling accidently harmed a human by being a bit rough or overeager.
Were the nest fully dragon, the younglings would have just gotten a grumble from the adult they rushed by, but since the nest housed humans, ever youngling were being taught to respect that and take care not to hurt the humans. No one, human or dragon, wished for a nest member to have to recover from broken bones or gashes cause a youngling forgot humans were not as durable as dragons.
The three younglings chittered. Since Fishlegs gave a blanket okay for any young dragon to do so, they nuzzled him. He, in turn, scratched all of them. They cooed in delight and their tails wagged.
[Your sons call him an elder?] Toothless' mother said, standing next to the entrance of the den at the back of the common room.
She padded closer, looking from Toothless to Fishlegs and back again. Toothless tipped his head.
[He is training with the Elders of the nest to join their ranks when he is older,] Toothless said, as Hiccup, Astrid, and Moondust stepped out of the den and joined everyone in the common room.
[Then your aunt would love to meet him,] Toothless' mother said.
Fishlegs stood and helped Meatlug roll back to her paws, not because she really needed the aid, Hiccup knew. Fish would more let someone hit him with a burning iron bar than to not aid any dragon. Once Meatlug stood straight, Fish looked over to Toothless' mother.
"He aunt is an elder of your nest?"
Toothless' father laughed. [She is the oldest dragon currently living in the nest,] he said. [She is actually my grandfather's aunt, but we have lost the human way to say that.]
"Great grand aunt," Gyda supplied.
Hiccup blinked, finally noting that she stood with Toohtless' father and Shadewing just outside of Shadewing and Haizea's sleeping den. That Haizea was no where to be seen, Hiccup suspected she was in the den with the egg. Hiccup did wonder why Gyda was over there, but guessed she woke up and one of the Night Furies had a question or questions for her. Gyda would move away from those sleeping if she was needed to speak, something she was slowly, slowly, teaching Ruff and Tuff, along with other things. Hiccup did not envy her the ice blocks she held to her head at the end of the day after dealing with those two.
[Great grand aunt,] Toothless' father repeated then snorted. [You humans use many words to express yourselves.]
"You have no idea," Gyda replied with a grin.
[Given from when you come from, I expect not.] Toothless' father looked at the other humans. [I also suspect you all would wish a flight around the nest, but only after you all eat.]
He warbled and ten dragons, a mix of Night Furies and Ice-shooters of varying colors entered the common room. Six of those dragons deposited piles of fish upon the stone floor by dropping them from their mouths. Hiccup was grateful four held what looked like old netting in their mouths and had fish piled in it. The four laid the netting at his feet and all four bowed to him, wings spread somewhat as there were others close by.
[We did not believe you or your human flock members would enjoy fish dropped from our mouths, my prince,] a white Night Fury with blue eyes said, its voice female.
[And Alpha gains a new title,] Shadowfire said in a sing song voice.
[So, you can sing,] Toothless' mother said, looking up at Shadowfire. [The Tall-singer elder asked me to find that out for him. Tall-singers have a ritual amongst themselves where they try to find who the best singer is for the season. He wanted to know if you would like to compete.]
Shadowfire blinked and looked to Gyda and then to Hiccup. [Can I, Mama, Alpha? Can I, please?]
Literally Nobody: I'm glad you like Toothless' father. It's fun writing him. He is an honorable leader of his nest. As Haizea told Hiccup, you know a leader by the nest they lead. Yep, Shadewing and Haizea will have a hatchling soon. This book wasn't supposed to be this long. The characters decided it should be though. Hiccup and Toothless are my favorite characters in the entire franchise and I love a brave and wise Hiccup. He's still that fifteen year old boy though and I hope I show that.
Kirika: It's kinda a throwback to the other sleeping pile in the Great Hall during that snowstorm. And I think the new chapter answers where Hiccup and Astrid are.