Happy birthday wishes to Electrostorm21, who said a great present would be another chapter. So, here it is. I do hope your birthday was an awesome one.

"Son, she has to face the judgement of her flock and her alpha."

[I know, sir, but…does it have to be exile?]

Toothless stared at his brother and did not like that Hiccup hunched his shoulders as if trying to draw wings not there around him to hide. Hatchlings did that when terrified. Hiccup should never feel fear, not when his flock surrounded him.

That Hiccup protested the judgement did not surprise Toothless. He had actually figured Hiccup would. Hiccup forgave others even when doing so made no sense to anyone around him, human or dragon. Pinpoint had threatened to kill Astrid and that purple Tiny-fang had shot at Hiccup, yet Toothless watched his brother give mercy to both and then ultimately forgive both. Hiccup even welcomed both into the nest. Both should have been exiled at the very least, outright killed at the most, but not with Hiccup around.

What did surprise Toothless and caused every instinct to protect his brother to rise, were Hiccup's own actions, like the hunching of his shoulders and the wringing of his hands in circles around each other. Watching him, Toothless got the impression Hiccup saw this trial and was reminded of something in his past. Something to do with the humans and how they treated Hiccup before. If those humans had held a flock trial against Hiccup, Toothless was not sure how he would react. He knew he would want to become the feared offspring of lighting and death but also knew it would cause Hiccup problems and ultimately make his brother sad. Something Toothless never wanted Hiccup to feel, ever.

"Son, why are you defending her?"

Hiccup's gaze flicked to Onyxwing before turning back to Father.

[I know why she acted as she did,] Hiccup said softly, bowing his head.

Toothless shared a look with Shadewing and Spitfire. Both were as confused as he felt. How could Hiccup know their aunt's reasonings and thoughts for her actions? Toothless knew his brother was special and had a mind that would confound even the most intelligent of dragons, but there was no such thing as mind readers.

[She probably loved her brother very much,] Hiccup continued.

Toothless' sensing lobes twitched, realizing what Hiccup was getting to. He shifted his gaze from his brother to his aunt to see her reaction as Hiccup went on speaking.

[Onyx, he.. he told me what her brother did for my ancestor. I know it must have hurt her badly that he gave his life for a human that wasn't flock. That wasn't even a part of the nest.]

Toothless' eyes narrowed. Aunt flinched as Hiccup spoke, but otherwise gave no indication that Hiccup's words affected her.

[She, she let bitterness take over. I know that. My blood father did the same thing. When Mom was taken he….he stopped being my father. He became my chief. He…pushed me aside in his grief. He pushed me out. I..I wasn't a son then. I was a nuisance. He didn't even know what that did to me or what that made the tribe to do me. Not..not until later.]

Hiccup wringed his hands in a tighter circle around each other. Toothless alternated between watching his brother for signs that he needed to step in and offer comfort and watching Aunt to gauge her reaction. Toothless blinked not sure if what he was seeing was true. There were tears pooling in Aunt's eyes. That had to be a trick of the light seeping in through the holes created to keep the cave system from being completely dark.

[She did wrong. She lied. I know that.]

"Son," Father began softly, "she has to face the consequences of her actions."

[I know, but not exile. Please.]

Toothless watched Father sigh and sit down, shaking his head. That seemed to cause Hiccup to fear something more because he began speaking again.

[She can come live with us if she has to be removed from the nest.]

This time Toothless sat down and shook his head. He also felt like cracking his skull against the cavern wall as well. Leave it to his brother to decide that.

"You would take her into your nest knowing what she has done here?" Father asked.

[Yes,] Hiccup said, straightening and Toothless saw his eyes brighten.

Toothless groaned. He just knew his brother's mind was racing through idea after idea to make this work.

[We would make sure she has a great den. We can even place her away from the humans if she wants. She doesn't have to come near any of them at all.]

Father sighed. "Onyxwing, what are your thoughts? She is your daughter."

Toothless curled his neck so he could see the dragon in question. Onyxwing stared at Hiccup for several heartbeats. The look on his face was one of remembrance, amazement, and sorrow. Toothless understood the last two. For the most part anyone who encountered Hiccup's depth of forgiving dragons and humans had only one reaction, amazement. The sorrow, Toothless knew, lay in the fact Onyx's daughter faced a life without the support of other dragons. No honorable nest would take in an exiled dragon. The first threw Toothless a bit and he could only guess Onyx was once against comparing Hiccup to Old Wrinkly. Toothless wished he would stop that. Hiccup was one of a kind.

"I think my daughter, and everyone here needs to know, that my son lives on in Hiccup."

That caused a reaction from Aunt. She jerked and her eyes widen, while her sensing lobes stood away from her skull then flatten.

"You lie."

[He's telling the truth,] Hiccup said turning to face Aunt. [When Onyx told us the story, I held him in comfort. A white light flashed and I found myself, Toothless, Onyx, and Silent Knight on a grassy field with a Night Fury I had never seen before. He called Onyx father and said he chose to do what he did and that he was at peace.]

"Hiccup and Onyx are both telling the truth," Toothless said. "Uncle needed to speak to Onyx about his choice and Silent needed to speak to Hiccup. That's what Silent said was the reason they took a risk and did whatever it was they did to put us in that field."

"But.. Silent is a Way-guard," Shadewing said. "Only Wind-shriekers can hear him."

[He said that in that place I could hear all beings.]

"Prove it."

Hiccup stared at Aunt then held up his hand, palm facing her, and turned his gaze. Toothless wanted to smack his brother with his tail. Given the fact that dragons could hear Hiccup's alpha side and feel at peace when touching him, that gesture should not be used on a dragon that treated him like the humans did before they learned the truth. Toothless knew Hiccup would not go for that idea. It did not lessen Toothless' irritation that Aunt was receiving it right now though.

"What are you doing, son?" Mother asked.

"He's giving my daughter a choice," Onyx said softly. "To touch him or not. He and his intended did this to me earlier. Go on, daughter. Place your muzzle in his palm. I did and I heard my son's voice and felt his love. You should be able to as well."

Toothless saw Aunt scoff but move and all but shove her muzzle against Hiccup's palm. Toothless coiled, ready to pounce and thrash Aunt for the disrespect. Hiccup should not be shoved about like that. A keening, shrill cry of sorrow froze Toothless however. He watched Aunt's wings fall. He saw tears cascade from closed eyes.

Hiccup turned. Toothless watched his brother slide his hand along Aunt's cheek as he stepped close and knew before Hiccup lifted his other arm what his brother was going to do. The keening cry became more grief-stricken as Hiccup embraced Aunt as if she was the most precious thing in the world.

Toothless' rear end hit stone. His head shook though he did not know if it was in awe or in resignation that Aunt had just received Hiccup's forgiveness. What Toothless did know was that the world did not deserve someone like his brother. He was not sure he deserved someone like Hiccup.

Electrostorm21: That's okay. Modern technology is a grand thing so I understand. And yes the 'grand thing' part was sarcasm. Happy birthday. I hope you have a great and enjoyable one. Aww, shucks, now you got me blushing. Thank you. I am honored and humbled that you think my skills as a writer are that good.

Literally Nobody: I do too. Hehe, Hiccup and Astrid became my OTP as before that it was a tie between Jagged Fel/Jaina Solo and Luke Skywalker/Mara Jade. I also don't see either Hiccup or Astrid being with anyone else. Hehe, I love knowing I can still surprise my readers. I love the twins too. And as I said, pay attention to them. I'm curious to know what your guess was. Viggo was an excellent opponent against Hiccup. I am worried I won't do his character any justice. There a few women villans in the game side of HTTYD. There's one in SOD, one in Dawn of New Riders, and one in Titan Uprising. At least I think that's one's a woman. They said she. I haven't met her yet. That's a good point. I know Grimmel's is white, but it could have been black before he got old. Have a good day/night as well.

Don: Welcome and thank you for reading and reviewing. Thank you. I am honored you think my world building is that good. Gyda doesn't know about HTTYD 3. She left 'our' time between the points when season 6 of RTTE ended but before anything about HTTYD 3 dropped. The parts of 3 I'm seeding into the story are parts from the trailers. 3 is a part of the HTTYD universe and I pull from all points of that universe to write, but I'm trying to be careful not to spoil things for my readers who have not seen the movie yet.