Author's Note: Two milestones. The first is an interesting one. Last chapter, we hit 180,000 words for this story… which was about how long the original draft was. We're about 5 chapters away from the end. This story got quite a bit of expansion.

The second is that sometime around Sunday, this story passed 30,000 views!

'What do we do now?' Toothless was wondering what his brother had in mind. 'They were the ones you said were most likely to have been able to change, once.'

Toothless had already reminded Maour of that, but best to be sure he kept that in mind now. He recognized that it would probably be good for his brother to have some human company on the island, but that was a huge level of trust to place on these three teens right now. The consequences far outweighed the gain if they turned out to be malicious and betrayed the pack.

As for the teens, that wasn't at all certain either. They thought they had an idea of what Maour would tell them. Toothless was certain they knew next to nothing about dragons except to kill on sight. The idea of dragons being intelligent and capable of communication would be a shock to their minds, not to mention the eventual details about Maour's personal life now, which were sure to slip out eventually. That was part of the first big problem. Things would need to progress gradually.

'Maour?' Toothless could feel Maour shift in the saddle. No matter how out of it he was, the tailfin always moved like it was a part of Toothless.

"Myrkursprenging, Myrkursprengja, and Eldurberg,"Maour muttered.

Toothless wasn't sure what his brother meant by that. They were three of the Furies in the nest, all between the ages of fourteen and eighteen, from two different families. 'What about them?'

Maour spoke. He seemed troubled. "I don't trust Fishlegs and the twins very much right now. But I think, in time..." He trailed off. "This can't be a coincidence. It's too perfect. Two troublesome siblings, who love to prank. They're silly but have a serious side that shows up when needed. I didn't know that last part applied to Ruff and Tuff, but now I think it does." He sighed. "And someone who loves or at least enjoys the pursuit of knowledge. Someone who is gentle, but capable of being fierce."

Maour paused for a moment and when he continued his voice was quiet. "And a teenager, alone and scared. A sarcastic streak, but intelligent and kind. A bit too sarcastic if he isn't careful, but who tries to not set himself above others. Not naturally inclined to violence, not as a first resort at least, but capable of it in the defense of those he values." He patted Toothless's neck. "It feels like fate that we ended up brothers when we're so similar. Not identical, but we share a lot of the same traits. That kind of thing is weird enough. But this? There are about twenty Furies in the pack. Somehow, three Furies closely match the personalities of three Vikings who want to know what I know. Who might be able to accept all of this. Who don't really want to go back to Berk. This can't all be a coincidence! So I have to see how far this goes. I don't know how far it'll go. But I have to see." He sighed again, exhausting all of the air in his lungs. Toothless listened without objecting, thinking that his brother needed to air his thoughts more than he needed to have a conversation.

After a moment, Maour continued. "But we have to go slowly, and very carefully. Introduce all of this gradually. First, we need to tell them what Berk should have been able to hear. Then, we'll introduce what you and I can do. We won't say anything about our home, or the Furies there. As far as Fishlegs and the twins are concerned, the only Fury inhabitants of where we live are you... and Cloey, because they know about her too. Once we're sure they can be trusted absolutely, we'll swear them to secrecy, and tell them about this place, but not locations. We can bring the Furies like them out to meet them, without saying why. If they bond, we can try to get the pack to accept them." He stopped. "Although, I'm not sure how they'd live on our island without at least partial night vision, like what I have thanks to... the link." He seemed thoughtful.

'Maybe they can link with their respective Furies if it goes that far.' Toothless considered that. 'If Cloey and I can teach that. I think we can, but neither of us has tried. And even if we could, it takes months of having the link open to develop that. We can't let them link until the pack has accepted them, because once they link they can use each other's senses, and that would let them see how to get to the island.' This was going to be really hard to manage. But if Maour wanted to try, it had to be done. 'But we'll do it. You are right, we have to try.'

Maour smiled upon hearing his brother agreed with him. Toothless was right, it would be complicated and difficult, but it needed to be attempted. When they got home, right on time, they both immediately went to their side cavern and collapsed. They needed the rest. Especially given what was coming.

The next night went by mostly as normal. Near midnight Maour got a chance to talk to Cloey and Shadow in private. Toothless had gotten Von to come with him fishing that night, though as he couldn't fly on his own, that involved some running.

Maour addressed both of his adoptive parents, who were lounging around the main cave. "You both know how my life was back on Berk, right?" That had come gradually, as various parts of his life before here had come up in conversation. Shadow had actually expressed interest in meeting Fishlegs, once, intrigued by the idea of a human who studied dragons even while afraid they would tear him limb apart.

'Yes. Is there something the matter?' Cloey seemed worried.

"No, not exactly. It's just something that happened on Mahelmetan yesterday. Fishlegs and the twins showed up. Apparently, they found a few things I left behind and set out to find me. They managed it, by sheer luck. They traced me as far as Mahelmetan. Luckily, the trail they followed won't help anyone else in the future. They came alone."

'Are they still there? What did they want?' Shadow sounded intrigued.

"I talked to them, and they want to know what really happened those months on Berk. They know there's some massive truth I learned, but they don't know exactly what it is. You remember the condition the Nótt Furies added to the deal that made me a member of the pack? I think Fishlegs and the twins might in time be candidates for that. But there are a few issues in the way." He waited for their response to that.

Cloey was first. 'I don't know how regular humans would be able to adapt to life here. They can't even talk to us.'

Shadow seemed to understand the solution to that. 'Not if they have a link with a Fury.' He stared at Maour appraisingly. 'From what you've said about them, I think Eldurberg, Myrkursprenging, and Myrkursprengja are fairly close matches. Was that the plan?' He seemed fine with the idea.

Maour was relieved. "Yup." He explained his and Toothless's plans for slowly bringing the teens into the knowledge, with each step of the way carefully handled so that the level of knowledge they held didn't exceed how trustworthy they were. Cloey and Shadow added some refinements to the idea. In short time, they came up with a detailed plan that prompted Mour to retrieve a parchment to write it all down so he wouldn't forget. They would need to present this idea to the pack before he and Toothless did anything.

That was also new. Gone were the days where he had to make every decision with only himself or Toothless to help. This involved the safety of the pack, so everyone would have a say. Not the worst change, especially given he trusted the people involved.

Later that night, Shadow requested that the pack meet for a proposal. Like before, all the Furies were in attendance. Myrkursprenging, Myrkursprengja, and Eldurberg had already been informed about how they could potentially accept new riders. At first, they dismissed the idea as nonsense. But after thinking about it for a few minutes, all three of the Furies had begun to grow excited by the idea, albeit for different reasons. It seemed the Myrkur twins liked the idea of human partners in their endeavors, while Eldurberg wanted to study more humans up close. In the end, all three of them had agreed it was a good idea. Cloey had asked them to stay silent about this until they were called on in the meeting, which they had also readily agreed to.

Maour and Toothless knew this, and as such had one less thing to worry about as they stood with Shadow on the pillar in the center of the cylindrical cave. Once all the Furies were there, Shadow stepped forward.

'My sons have something to propose. After hearing of it and discussing plans and risk management in detail, Cloey and I support them and ask for you to hear them out.' He stepped back, and Maour and Toothless nervously stepped forward. Toothless began their prepared speech.

'Last time we were all here, my brother was accepted into the pack. As a condition of that, the Nótt Furies specified that if my brother proposed other humans he was sure were worthy of the same honor, the pack would vote on it.' Toothless paused at the end of that statement.

Maour saw Nóttleiðtogi, standing with his family. The Fury in question was shaking his head with a resigned expression. Maour knew Nóttleiðtogi was certainly regretting that now more than ever. But there was some time before Nóttleiðtogi had to get anywhere near any of the teens, and Maour wasn't going to give up on helping the Fury anyway. It would work out. At least none of the teens was being potentially paired with a Nótt Fury.

Toothless continued once the discussion had died down, saying, 'That is a good idea for the future. As it happens, a few of the less hostile villagers from the same island Maour came from-'

That was as far as he got before the entire cavern erupted in a chorus of barks, roars, and snarls.

After a few moments, the noise died down. Nóttskarpur stepped forward, now standing on the edge of her family's ledge. Her voice was loud and clear. 'My family is not paranoid,' and at that she nodded to Maour. 'But that does not sit right with any of us. Explain, and do so quickly. This does not look good for Maour.' Her tone was not threatening so much as worried.

At least it was Nóttskarpur speaking, not Nóttleiðtogi. But Maour knew that if Nóttleiðtogi wasn't convinced by the truth, they could be right back where they had started, all the trust he had worked to build gone.

'Yes, explain!' One of the Myrkurs yelled. 'We're not stupid either.' The Eldurs nodded in agreement. In matters of trust, it seemed they deferred to the Nótt family.

Luckily, Toothless kept his cool. 'It is unlikely that they would be near here. Especially given they should not have been able to find us at all.' He bowed his head. 'The fault lies on the shoulders of my family. Specifically, myself, Cloey, and Maour. We each did something that helped these few humans track us.'

'What?' Nóttskarpur asked carefully.

Toothless shrugged. 'Cloey and I were seen by a few humans in a village about a week's flight from here, with Maour. Maour gave a human in that same village information about his old home in exchange for what we needed to find you. And at the island we sometimes visit, Maour produced a bit of shaped metal to be sold, one that only he knew how to make.'

A moment of silence.

'That's it?' Now Nóttskarpur sounded confused. 'Those are the only mistakes made? I don't think that's enough.'

'It shouldn't be,' Toothless agreed. 'But these three young adults went looking, and happened by luck to find all of these small clues. The trail is even now gone, as they have the metal thing, and they were the only ones smart enough to make the connection anyway.'

'So no others can follow this trail you describe?' One of the Eldurs asked with a hint of relief.

'No.' Toothless laughed. 'And none would be smart enough to anyway. Fishlegs came. Without him, the average intelligence of the island he and Maour came from is lower than that of a Terror.'

There was a general laugh, again more relief than actual humor. Maour was just glad that the pack seemed to be ready to take Toothless's word for it.

Well, almost the whole pack. 'And how do we know they did not share their conclusions with others?'

Maour answered that. "Because they told us so, and didn't want to be followed. They would have been dragged back to Berk if Fishlegs' mother knew what he was doing."

Nóttskarpur growled. 'You spoke with them.'

'To ensure that exactly what you were all worried about was impossible,' Toothless immediately countered. 'Maour made sure that no one else could track him. That was the first priority.'

'So no other humans from that island will show up looking for Maour? Or looking for us?' One of the Murkurs asked, unusually serious.

'Not by anything Maour or I did,' Toothless confirmed. 'These three are the only ones.'

"And the only ones I would even try to speak to," Maour added. "They seem willing to listen. That was what Toothless was going to say."

"How much did you tell them?" Eldurfjall asked worriedly.

'Nothing they did not already know, which is barely anything.' Toothless growled. 'As of now, they are no threat. Are you satisfied with our explanation, Nóttskarpur?'

Nóttskarpur nodded slowly. 'Bad luck that cannot be repeated. As long as that is the truth, I am satisfied. As you two gain nothing by telling us their affiliations, I must assume it is the truth.'

That was something Maour hadn't even considered, but if it helped relieve suspicion, he was fine with it.

Now they were back on track. Toothless continued in a neutral tone of voice. 'We left them with a promise to return and explain, though that is dependent on what the pack decides to do now. Maour and I think they might be worthy to be considered for induction into the pack, in time. We seek the pack's approval on how we plan to go about educating them of the truth and informing them of this offer, to ensure maximum safety, and that none of this is done in secrecy. We would be happy to consider any changes made to the proposed plan in the interest of safety.' He nodded to Maour.

Maour proceeded to describe the plan that he had formed with Toothless, Shadow, and Cloey, along with some last-minute additions from Von. That took a while, as it was detailed in what would and would not be told at each stage. Indeed, the humans in question wouldn't even be aware of the possibility of bonding with a Fury or being accepted into the pack until it was sure that they were trustworthy enough to even know of the existence of other Furies or the pack itself. Furies survived by secrecy, and this plan was the embodiment of just how complicated safely unraveling said secrecy could be. All Furies agreed that it was worth doing if it could be done safely, for reasons as diverse as the families.

The Nótt supported it for defensive reasons, though that really only meant Nóttleiðtogi and Nóttskarpur supported it. Any trustworthy increase in the size of the pack was good, in their eyes, and this was a safe and controlled way to determine trustworthiness. At least Nóttleiðtogi was not trying to stop the process out of fear.

The Eldurs supported it as a matter of increasing knowledge. They seemed ecstatic to learn of Fishlegs, a human who shared their love of knowledge, one who would be available to question at length. Maour was of the opinion that while Fishlegs would probably bond the most closely with Eldurberg, he would be well-liked by the entire Eldur clan. Maour didn't expect Fishlegs to be adopted as he had been, but he and the twins would probably be inducted as members of the families of their Fury friends as he had originally been.

The Myrkur supported the entire idea of trustworthy humans as something to liven up the pack. They also were intrigued by humans so much like themselves. They loved the fact that Ruffnut and Tuffnut apparently were going to set out on a pointless voyage of adventures, as some Myrkur Furies were known for doing the Fury equivalent, flying off randomly and not returning for years on end.

And of course, the Svartur family was fully behind Maour and Toothless.

However, that didn't mean the families didn't have changes to make. Between them all, in a very rapid debate, the Furies as a pack hammered out what exactly could be told to the humans at what points in time to preserve the safety of the pack. Most of it went smoothly. There were two major items though, that merited attention. The first was that at the point in time that the humans were considered trustworthy enough to be informed of the offer, the pack would interview them personally. That ended up having some interesting complications, but at a suggestion from Von, they were resolved.

The other item was much more complex, and the Furies debated for quite a while about how it would be handled. Maour and Toothless were the experts at this particular problem, given the subject matter. They eventually convinced the Furies that it would be safe if carefully handled. If they got to that point, Maour and Toothless would accompany the humans and their 'bonds', as the term was decided upon for referring to the other half of a linked pair, personally. They had their own reasons for pushing that point.

Finally, the pack voted unanimously to accept the final version of the proposal. Maour and Toothless were charged with the entire procedure, though they both had to report to the pack every week with any potential concerns. They were to leave the next night, to keep the promise they had made to Fishlegs and the twins.

When the pack dispersed, much later that night, Maour and Toothless headed back to the family caves, along with the rest of the Svarturs.

'That worked out fairly well,' Cloey noted. 'But are you sure these new humans can be like you?' She nudged Maour. 'That's a high standard.'

Maour laughed, a bit embarrassed. "Not that high. I really don't know. But we need to find out, which means giving them a chance.'

'You got lucky,' Shadow remarked. 'The Nóttl family would have opposed it on principle if they hadn't already said it should be allowed.'

"Nóttleiðtogi's plotting backfired," Maour agreed. "But he knew this was going to happen eventually once he figured out I was being honest." Thus Nóttleiðtogi's intense need to work on his fears. But Maour didn't mention that.

They reached their main cavern, and stopped walking, standing around, not yet ready to go back to the normal patterns of night.

'And thank you for supporting us,' Toothless added, nuzzling Cloey and then Shadow. 'You didn't have to just because we're family.'

Maour followed suit with a hug for each of the Furies in question.

'In that case…' Shadow mused. Maour and Toothless both froze.

'Just kidding,' Shadow finished with a purr. 'I trust both of you to be very, very careful.'

'It would be hard not to,' Von remarked quietly. 'With such complicated rules for every step of the process.'

"I'm just glad they let us do it at all," Maour admitted. "I was worried they would not."

'But we already said it could happen, and we made a good, careful plan.' Shadow warbled in confusion. 'Why would it not happen?'

Well, when it was put like that, Maour's fears felt silly. But with Vikings, stubbornness meant even good plans would be shot down if some of the people involved didn't want it to happen. The Nótts definitely fit that description, but they were Night Furies.

"Vikings argue for the sake of arguing, and obstruct if they don't like what the plan is supposed to achieve," Maour admitted, summing it up. "I'm not used to everyone being reasonable."

'Or intelligent,' Toothless added in an amused tone. 'You're definitely not used to not being surrounded by idiots.'

"That's a bit much," Maour mumbled, "but yes."

'Dragons generally hate uncertainty,' Shadow interrupted. 'So as long as we know what will happen and approve, we're happy.'

'Yup.' Toothless sighed. 'But I could have done without so many rules and restrictions.'

"All in the name of safety," Maour quipped. Really, he was fine with so many restrictive stipulations to any kind of contact with the other teens. It made him feel better, to know that he was being as careful as possible.

Toothless and Maour slept soundly, and the next evening set off, back to Mahemletan and the teens, making the night-long flight once more.

By now, Maour was definitely getting tired of this particular trip. Going to Mahelmetan every time he needed a forge was not convenient. He was thinking more and more seriously about building a forge at home. But it seemed that they would be coming out here for the teens for a while anyway. That project could wait a bit longer.

Maour was more than a bit surprised and amused to find a fairly elaborate if only partially completed fort in the middle of the woods. It seemed to be intended to have a roof and four walls, but only two of the walls were done. It was made entirely of dead branches and tied together with various plant life.

He and Toothless sat outside the structure and watched the sunrise as they waited for the three teens clearly visible inside to wake up. Ruffnut was the first up, and she kicked the other two awake when she saw Maour and Toothless sitting outside.

"Ow, what'd you do that for?" Fishlegs whined as he curled up around his knee. He stopped when Maour laughed. "H- uh, Maour?" He stared at the clearly visible black dragon sitting beside him. "And Toothless, I assume...?" He seemed to be controlling his fear fairly well.

That gave Maour hope. He remembered that they had learned Toothless's name from his notebook.

"Correct. Well, I promised to tell you what I could, but do you want breakfast first?" Maour gestured to a pile of currently raw fish heaped by him and Toothless. He had decided this might be a good way to get the day started.

The teens watched in amazement as Toothless pick up a fish, flash-cook it, and handed it to Maour.

"Well, who wants some?"

Maour talked as the teens ate. He told in detail about the events following him shooting down Toothless, elaborating on how he and Toothless had become friends. It was interesting to see what surprised them, such as when they learned of some of the events that had gone on under their noses, or on other parts of the island, that they never knew about. Fishlegs in particular was petrified by the progression of Astrid's madness.

In all of his talking, Maour made sure to leave out information specific to Night Furies and the identity of Toothless's mother. He simply referred to her as another Fury and didn't tell them any of her names. That would come later. Nothing he said referred to where he lived now, or the existence of any of the other Furies. That would come much later. By the time he was done talking, it was past noon.

Then, it seemed, it was time for questions, though those had also been asked throughout the story.

"You mean Snotlout was trying to kill you this whole time?" That was Tuffnut, sounding disturbed that the person he had hung around had apparently been attempting murder... and he had no idea at the time. Maour nodded.

"Since at least as far back as that night he followed me. Who knows what he might have done if our door didn't lock."

Ruffnut shivered. "And Astrid was also going to kill you, for a completely unrelated and crazy reason. Geez, why didn't you leave sooner?"

Maour had been anticipating this question. "Toothless and I wanted to free the other Fury first, and try to do something to convince the village with the Nightmare I was supposed to fight once they captured one." He grimaced. "Things didn't work out as planned." He nudged Toothless. "But we got pretty lucky in the end. No one got badly hurt or died, except for the Queen."

Fishlegs spoke up. "So all dragons are like people, except Terrible Terrors?" He seemed fine with that idea. "Even the ones we fought in the arena..." Maybe not so fine with that.

Maour was no stranger to that guilt. He put a hand on Toothless's prosthetic tailfin. "You shouldn't feel guilty. If Toothless doesn't blame me for this, then none of the arena dragons would have blamed you." He wasn't at all certain that was true, but the arena dragons weren't around to argue, and he didn't want Fishlegs or the twins to carry guilt for something they did unknowingly.

As he and Toothless left that evening, leaving the teens with enough fish to last a few days if dried, they discussed the teens' reactions. They agreed that they had handled the information well. In a few visits, Maour felt he might be able to bring up the concept of the link. He had danced around that whenever it had come up, only shortly describing what it entailed for both of them in the beginning. That was information for another day. Things were starting well.

Well, but boring.

'Do I have to stick around next time?' Toothless sighed. 'They can't hear me.'

"Next time, if I remember correctly," Maour pulled out the much-edited piece of parchment and scanned it, "we get to tell them about the link. I can translate for you then." Things were going to go very slowly. But at least they would be safe. If at any point Toothless smelled something suspicious, or any of the teens acted oddly, the progression would be shut down. By that same level of caution, once they returned, they would have to give a report to the entire pack. Checks and more checks, all designed to be entirely sure that the teens would not betray them.

"And besides, Nóttskarpur will be coming from now on," Maour reminded Toothless. "Hidden and silent, but still."

'Why her, again?' Toothless chuffed, dipping slightly to catch an air current. 'Not that I mind her.'

"She knows our language, and she's a Nótt." Those really were the only two requirements, and Nóttleiðtogi was not a good option. So Nóttskarpur would be a silent shadow, watching, unknown to the teens. A second opinion to be sure Maour and Toothless were not blinded by hope.

Maour's prediction had been correct. Things went well… and were not very exciting. There was a lot of repetition of things he had already said, mostly because the twins weren't paying attention, and a lot of dancing around things he couldn't yet say, made difficult by Fishlegs' probing questions.

But the teens seemed to be entirely fine with all of this new knowledge, and even Nóttskarpur could not say anything bad about them, aside from remarking that the twins would cause havoc. As the Myrkurs already did that, it was not a problem.

Hopefully though, this trip would be a little more interesting. Today was the day that they brought in the Furies who were interested in meeting the teens.

Of course, the teens had no idea this was going to happen. They were under the impression that there were only two Furies. This was going to be interesting. Maour and Toothless flew to their usual meeting point, flanked by Eldurberg, Myrkursprenging, and Myrkursprengja, Nóttskarpur a silent shadow in the distance, wheeled around to approach from another direction and spy silently, as normal. The rest of them landed outside the now fairly elaborate fort. It had walls, a roof, and even a functioning door. All made out of dead sticks and plant matter. The fort had grown between visits, and even sported a flat roof strong enough to hold a Night Fury. They knew that because the twins had gotten Toothless to sit on it… and after it collapsed the first time, succeeded in rebuilding it strong enough to hold him. By now, it was pretty much an organic Viking hut.

As such, the teens didn't notice the extra Furies right away, unable to see through the now complete walls, and not awake to do so anyway.

That had its own opportunities. Maour and Toothless had always come alone before, at least as far as the teens knew, and today Maour and Toothless had decided to have some fun introducing the new Furies.

Fishlegs was the first up today. He stepped out of the fort, only to notice a Fury standing a few feet away, eyes closed. "Toothless?" He yawned and looked around. "Where… where's Maour?"

Then he noticed the Fury's conspicuously fully functional tail. "You aren't Toothless. Are you the other Fury Maour knows?" The sleepiness in his voice was rapidly fading as he realized something was different.

He was utterly bemused when the dragon, eyes still closed, shook his head from side to side. "No? Then who are you?"

After talking with Maour and through translation to Toothless, Fishlegs was confident in his interactions with dragons as people, and it showed. He didn't do more than flinch when the Fury opened his eyes to display pale red irises surrounding the black pupils. "Okay, so both the Furies Maour knows have green eyes. But clearly, Maour knows three Furies."

Ruffnut walked through the doorway. She stopped, mid-yawn, and stared. Finally, she laughed. "Cool, Toothless can change his eye color?"

Fishlegs pointed wordlessly at the full set of tailfins.

Ruffnut frowned. "Not Toothless, then." She seemed content to leave it at that. She took a step forward.

The dragon took a step back.

"Okay, that won't work. You try." She shoved Fishlegs forward. He stumbled to a stop a foot away from the red-eyed Fury, who hadn't moved as he approached.

"But he seems to trust me..." Fishlegs was intrigued. He also probably suspected this had been set up by Maour. Because who else would bring a Night Fury here?

The Fury started walking deeper into the small patch of woods and turned its head to look at him. It barked at him invitingly.

"Who am I to argue?" Fishlegs followed.

Ruffnut watched them leave in annoyance. She turned and yelled into the fort. "Tuffnut, get out here!"

Tuffnut appeared a minute later, rubbing at his eyes sleepily. "What?"

Ruffnut gestured to the forest. "A new Fury just led Fishlegs off into the woods. Should we do something?" She stared at her twin, who was now gazing over her shoulder, eyes wide. "Tuffnut!"

He spoke in a very concerned voice, a rare occurrence. "Don't move." There was a Fury behind Ruffnut, and it was staring at her and licking its lips.

Of course, she didn't listen and immediately turned around to see the Fury, who happened to have yellow eyes, staring innocently.

Then she turned back to Tuffnut. "Yeah, this isn't the first one either. Fishlegs wandered off with a red-eyed one."

Tuffnut's eyes bulged. "Did that one look like it was about to eat him too?" Behind Ruffnut the yellow-eyed Night Fury was standing on its hind legs, teeth unsheathed, and even drooling slightly, its mouth open wide right about Ruffnut's head.
Ruffnut whirled to find an innocent dragon staring at her neutrally, as the Fury had immediately dropped down and closed its mouth when she moved. "Wait…" She facepalmed. "The Thorston misdirection ploy? Number four?"

Tuffnut froze. "Exactly." He spun and pulled open the door to the fort he had just left, quickly looking inside. Then he turned back, his face disappointed. "No, not number four. The other Thorston wasn't waiting for the finishing scare."

That was when Myrkursprenging leaped from a tree to tackle Tuffnut, growling frantically… only to be very disappointed when Tuffnut's only reaction was to shout through the paw against his face, "Ha! Number five".

'Hey!' Myrkursprenging objected. 'They're not scared.'

Ruffnut nodded. "Well executed, if a bit slow." She turned to face the Fury behind her. "You shouldn't have let me see you at all."

Tuffnut wheezed. "And you," he battered ineffectively at the paw over his face, "should have pounced more ferociously. Can you do a screech?"

The Myrkur siblings exchanged an amazed glance…

'Organized pranking techniques?' Myrkursprenging asked.

'I am intrigued,' Myrkursprengja purred.

With that, both dragons promptly grabbed their respective twin, slinging them up and onto each dragon's back, and then taking off, the twins yelling in excitement the whole way.

Maour and Toothless stepped out from around the edge of the fort, where they had watched, unseen. "you think they'll be okay?" He knew what all three Furies intended. Eldurberg was just going to spend some time interacting with Fishlegs. Myrkursprenging and Myrkursprengja, on the other hand, had a litany of pranks and stunts they wanted to pull on the twins. A sort of trial by fire. Hopefully not literally. The three Furies had agreed to be back in an hour. Maour and Toothless could see the twins and the Myrkur siblings flying over the ocean now. Luckily the Myrkur siblings knew to stay relatively low, and on the unoccupied side of the island, so they would not be seen.

'Sure. Probably.' Toothless seemed to question his earlier words when the Myrkur siblings abruptly spun in unison and sent the twins plummeting into the ocean a few yards beneath them. 'Maybe.'

The twins popped up out of the water, cheering and laughing.

'They'll be fine. Much less dangerous than some of the time we spent together.'

Maour thought about that. "True." They had both come close to killing each other in the early moments.

'But I don't think they'll ever get as close as we are, either. That kind of thing needs to be built entirely on blind trust, no knowledge or stories of similar events to draw on. They trust the Furies, but a part of it is probably because they suspect we set this up. They'll be good friends, but I don't think it will go as far as siblings.' Toothless nudged Maour playfully. 'And I for one am fine being unique in that regard.'

Maour laughed. "Agreed. This is still good for them though."

'That it is. Are you ready for the hard part, when they get back?' Toothless was referring to the difficulty of keeping certain things secret, now that the teens would know they had hidden things from them. They would suspect more secrets now, and try to get Maour to reveal them. Before, they didn't know he was obscuring things. Now the precedent was set. Toothless was safe from that because Maour would have to relay any answers he gave, and the teens would prefer to just question Maour directly.

"Yeah. It might not be for too much longer now though." Besides, he had some pieces of information to distract them with. He'd use those carefully.

When Fishlegs walked back into sight, he was talking happily to Eldurberg, who was nodding occasionally. "Maour, I don't know who this is, but he's just like me!" Fishlegs took Maour's bemused expression as a cue to elaborate. "He knows things about all of the plants in the forest. He even corrected me on some stuff! No one knows as much as me usually. It's great!"

Maour wondered how that worked, when Eldurberg couldn't talk to Fishlegs. Even though Eldurberg by now understood Fishlegs when he spoke, it was still quite the communication barrier.

Maour and Toothless both laughed. Toothless questioned Eldurberg. 'What do you think of him?'

Eldurberg seemed entirely happy. 'He's just like you said. Crazy enthusiastic about all knowledge, just like we Eldurs are! And he's my age, unlike any of the rest of the Eldurs. He's kinda like my dad because they're both really enthusiastic about this stuff, except he isn't my dad, so it isn't weird being friends with him.' He nudged Fishlegs. 'He's cool. I hope this all works out.'

'So do we.' Toothless was distracted from Eldurberg when the Myrkur siblings and the twins dropped to the ground a short distance away. The twins were frazzled, hair standing on end, soaked, muddy, and exhausted.

Maour stared. "What did you two do to them? That question was directed at the Furies, by the way." He smirked as Ruffnut and Tuffnut dropped off their dragons to lay in the grass, unmoving.

'Do you really want the list? It's pretty long.' Myrkursprenging purred.

'But they passed with flying colors. They even helped test each other a few times!' Myrkursprengja pawed at Ruffnut excitedly.

Tuffnut sat up wearily, his eyes gleaming with a dangerous light. "Maour, you have Loki's gift, to bring us these." He patted Myrkursprenging condescendingly. "They're almost as good as Ruff and I-"

A bark, a brief struggle, and Tuffnut was upside-down, dangling by his feet from a nearby tree.

Ruffnut looked on passively, just as wiped out. "Hey," she added craftily, "pull some nettles under him for when he falls."

Tuffnut paled as the Furies moved to do exactly that. "I take it back!"

'Enough,' Toothless intervened, reaching up and grabbing Tuffnut. 'Didn't you already do this kind of thing?'

'Pranking is not a one-time thing,' Myrkursprenging retorted, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. 'But yeah, we did.'

Maour decided to move things along before Tuffnut tried to get revenge. "Ruffnut, Tuffnut. They say you passed their tests. They're pranksters like you, so they wanted to be sure you could keep up." Maour failed to suppress a smile as the twins immediately jumped to their feet, Tuffnut having just been dumped on the ground by Toothless..

"That's what I'm talking about! Finally, someone who can push us to our full pranking potential!" Ruffnut shoved her brother happily.

"Just in time too. We were getting rusty." Tuffnut pushed Ruffnut back.

Maour intervened with an offer. "Would you like to know the names of these Furies?" This should be interesting. None of the teens had ever heard a Fury's full name. Or even short name, for that matter.

All three teens immediately requested to know. Maour started with Fishlegs. "Fishlegs, this is Eldurberg." He turned to Ruff and Tuff. "Tuff, the one you rode is Myrkursprenging. Ruff, the one you rode is Myrkursprengja. Oh, and Toothless is also known as Svarturkappi." He figured now was a good time to tell them that.

"Uh, what?" Tuffnut had a dumbfounded look on his face.

Maour was very glad he had never told them his name. "Myrkursprenging." He laughed as Tuffnut sounded it out a few times.

"I thought they would have cool names, like Fiery Destruction: The Dragon! Something that speaks to their true nature." Tuffnut frowned as Myrkursprenging and Myrkursprengja stared at him.

What Tuffnut could not hear was what Myrkursprengja also spoke. 'My name means Dark Explosion, and my brothers' means Dark Blast. We got the names because our eggs hatched during thunderstorms. Both of ours, despite being years apart. They might prefer those names.'

Maour stared at the Myrkur siblings. "Seriously? That's actually... really convenient." He turned to Tuffnut. "Fury names all mean something. Myrkursprenging says his name means Dark Blast. Myrkursprengja is Dark Explosion. Myrkur means Dark, and it's a family name, like Thorston. They say you can use those."

Tuffnut and Ruffnut beamed in delight. "Blast! That is perfect." Tuffnut laughed. "I like your real name, now that I know what it means, but Blast is easier to say."

Blast, as Tuffnut called him, nudged his sister. 'Explosion's not much better. Good luck with that.'

Ruffnut seemed to be in deep thought. Or what passed for deep thought among the twins, usually. "I like Explosion, but it's still a bit long. How about 'Boom'? You know, the sound an explosion makes? Do you mind if I call you that?"

The newly-named Boom purred and nudged her side. 'Ha! What were you saying, Blast?'

"I take that as a yes." Ruffnut asserted.

Fishlegs was talking to Eldurberg during this. When he heard all Fury names meant something, he leaped at the opportunity. He quickly addressed Maour. "Don't tell me what Eldurberg's name means. I think he wants to show me himself."

Maour looked at Eldurberg questioningly.

'It shouldn't be hard. My name is simple, and he's smart.' Eldurberg led Fishlegs a few feet away into the forest. He held up one claw. Then he shot a tiny plasma blast at a stick. It immediately caught fire. He pointed at it. Fishlegs scratched his head.

"Blast, plasma, fire-" At fire, Eldurberg nodded. "Your name is fire?" Eldurberg shook his head at that.

A moment's pause.

"Is fire part of your name?" A nod. "Which part?" Eldurberg held up one claw. "The first part. Got it. What's the second?"

Eldurberg held up two claws and moved over to a stone that was half embedded in the ground. He tapped the two claws on it.

"Stone, rock-"

Eldurberg nodded at that one.

"So the second part is rock. Your name means 'Fire Rock'? Cool. Is fire the family part of the name?"

Eldurberg nodded.

"Do you mind if I just call you Berg?"

Berg was fine with that.

Toothless had watched the process of Fishlegs and Eldurberg deciphering Eldurberg's name in amusement. 'Were we that good at communicating without the link?' He considered it. They hadn't really had to communicate specific ideas or names. 'I guess we never really had a reason to do stuff like that.'

Maour laughed. "Yeah, we kinda jumped straight from 'mutual trust' to 'link'. I didn't even consider the possibility you had a name. And you trying to act out 'warrior' might have scared me away entirely."

'True. It would have involved teeth, claws, firepower, and a few very dead trees. You probably would have called me Leafkiller or something like that…. Wait, actually, I didn't know my name at the time, remember? So you would have had to name me anyway. And I'm glad you did.' He purred.

"Yes, because 'Toothless' is totally the name of a fearsome Night Fury."

'It's my name, so yes.' Toothless turned back to the three teens and their respective dragon friends. He addressed the dragons. 'So, you guys wanna come back next time we visit here?' The answer was an enthusiastic yes. 'Then feel free to hang around with them until sunset. That's when we've got to head back.'

Fishlegs moved towards Maour. "Uh, Maour, can I talk to you in private for a second?" Maour nodded, and they stepped to another side of the fort. Toothless and Eldurberg started a conversation back where everyone had been standing. The twins and the Myrkur siblings flew off to do who knows what.

"What's on your mind, Fishlegs?" Maour leaned against the wall of the fort but quickly thought better of it. Who knows what the twins had used to hold the sticks together.

"I think Berg and I will become friends pretty quickly. Same with the twins and their dragons. But what I want to know is, why? What's your end goal here?" He took in Maour's neutral expression. "Logically, the odds of the only three Night Furies you know besides the two we knew about being so similar to us are really low. So, I think you know more Furies than just the five we know exist." That wasn't an accusation, it was a statement of fact.

'Careful,' was a distant mental hiss Maour knew came from Nóttskarpur, watching from afar. He knew that already.

Maour shrugged. "Maybe. But why would I tell you? I've learned a few lessons about people not being what I think they are." He thought of Astrid, Snotlout, and even Stoick. "Of people who have their own goals, ones that don't keep the people I care about safe. I'm not risking that."

Fishlegs wilted. "I get that. But I'm not…"

At least Fishlegs understood. "I can't be sure yet," Maour continued quietly. "You, or the twins. In time. Not now." That was basically the pack's decision, but in phrasing it like this, he was only referring to a personal reluctance.

'Clever, but very close. Be more careful than that.' It seemed Nóttskarpur did not entirely approve.

"Is there any way we can help you be sure?" Fishlegs asked earnestly. "Any at all?"

"Answer me this," Maour challenged. "Knowing what you do now, do you plan on going back to Berk? The twins already weren't going to, but you were." It was a small way to figure out what Fishlegs really wanted.

Fishlegs shifted and stared at his feet. Eventually, he spoke. "No. I can't go back. Not knowing all of this is possible. But I don't have anywhere else to go." He considered that. "You did the same thing, didn't you? Left because of what you learned, no idea what you would do or where you would go. How did you deal with the uncertainty?" He had made his decision. Now he was trying to figure out how to deal with it.

Maour smiled. He knew that Fishlegs would have somewhere to go, in the near future. "I just pushed forward. It helped to have a friend with me. And it worked out better than I ever could have guessed." He would have alluded to some opportunity presenting itself in the future, but Nóttskarpur would call him out on that, and for good reason.

"Hopefully I get as lucky." With that, Fishlegs seemed to put the idea aside in favor of a more immediate concern. "Berg and the others will come back when you do?"

"Yes, they will." He and Fishlegs moved back to the front of the fort. He watched as Fishlegs and Berg wandered off. Toothless wandered over.

Maour smiled. "Fishlegs is pretty smart, but I think I'm keeping him in the dark. It's hard. He already knew a little too much to start with, and he can extrapolate from what he knows. If I did this with someone not from Berk, it would be much easier to keep secrets. They've seen bits and pieces of everything. Everything except the most important secret."

Toothless nodded. 'And soon, they might be ready for that. Assuming things go well with them and the Furies here. Or should I say, Berg, Blast, and Boom.' He chuckled. 'I'm going to start using those.'

Maour sat down next to his brother. "So now we just wait. Bring these guys together as often as we can manage. How do we know when they're ready?" Really ready, not just showing no signs of treachery.

'I think…' Toothless hesitated. 'Really, we don't. Something will happen, and we'll realize that they've been ready for a while.'

"Probably," Maour agreed. "We'll see." Personally, he didn't think there was much of a chance the teens would prove incapable of the level of friendship needed. Loyalty was a Viking trait. Berk had lost Fishlegs' loyalty, and never had the twins'. In both cases, a friend could acquire it easily enough, and would be far less likely to lose it.

But they would be extremely sure, and that meant going slow. The pack was right to be paranoid in principle. It would be that which Maour did not see coming that was prevented by procedures like the ones they had developed.

Still, he was pretty sure this would work out.

Author's Note: To the guest reviewer AmorEsMejor, first, thank you for taking the time to review as you read through the story. Not many who are catching up do that. Wanna know something really weird? I was doing the exact same for another story when I started to get your reviews. Also, if you get an account, I often respond to reviews, especially if they're questions!

Oh, and to the guest reviewer who says that bugs don't live this far North in reference to chapter 13… we don't know where Toothless was at the time of that story. The Queen sends raids far and wide (else Berk would be overwhelmed), and her control has no limit in distance.