How to View Your Dragons Chapter 7
The dragons watched Hiccup's image on the flat panel as he sat with his head on his drawing desk, idly rolling his drawing stick up and down, mentally a thousand miles away.
"I know that look," Toothless said. "He's thinking."
"What is he thinking about?" Meatlug asked.
"That's obvious!" Sizzle exclaimed. "He's thinking about how everything his people know about Terrible Terrors is wrong, just like he said."
"Actually," Stormfly cut in, "I think he meant that remark about all dragons, not just you and your kind."
Hookfang shook his head. "He's probably thinking about that wild ride you took through the rocks together, and how close you came to dying. Humans worry about dying a lot."
"It could have been both of those things," Toothless nodded, "and probably a few other things as well. The room looks dark, so this must be nighttime. He can't sleep."
"The poor thing," Meatlug said sadly. "That's one problem that we dragons never have!"
"Especially you Gronckles," Hookfang smirked.
Then Hiccup heard footsteps. "Dad! You're back!" he exclaimed, desperately trying to hide all his drawings of Night Furies and artificial dragon tails on his table. "Gobber's not here, so..."
"I know," the chief growled. "I came looking for you."
"Why did he have to go looking for him?" Meatlug wondered. "I mean, how many places in that village would Hiccup be hiding? Didn't Stoick know where to find him?"
"Stoick really didn't know his son," Toothless said simply.
A tense exchange followed. "Why is Hiccup's father sounding so threatening?" Stormfly wondered. "Shouldn't he be glad to see his son again when he wasn't sure he'd be coming back from that last voyage?"
"Shouldn't he be glad to see his son again," Barf chimed in, "when he wasn't sure Hiccup would even survive Dragon Training?"
"Shouldn't he be happy to see his son," Belch added, "when he's amazed that Hiccup is doing well at Dragon Training? It doesn't add up."
"So let's talk about that dragon," the chief finished menacingly.
"Oh, I see what's happening!" Sizzle burst out. "Stoick is talking about Hiccup doing well in Dragon Training, but Hiccup think's he's talking about his friendship with Toothless!"
"Thank you, Captain Obvious," Hookfang snapped.
"You really had me going there, son!" Stoick laughed. "All those years of the worst Viking Berk has ever seen!"
"Ouch," Toothless said, as though he was feeling Hiccup's pain at that comment.
"That was really harsh," Meatlug nodded.
"And he's laughing about it!" Stormfly added. "Does he have any idea how cruel he sounds? Does he even care how Hiccup feels?"
"Apparently not," Toothless answered. "No wonder Hiccup wanted to be my friend! At least I never judged him, like his father did."
"And everyone else he ever knew," Stormfly added sympathetically.
"With you doing so well in the ring, we finally have something to talk about." Stoick sat down and leaned forward eagerly.
"So... what is Hiccup going to say?" Sizzle wondered.
"Very little, I hope," Meatlug answered, "if Stoick's idea of a father-and-son talk is about spilling a Nadder's guts and mounting his first Gronckle head on a spear. That's really tasteless." Stormfly nodded in agreement. Meatlug was correct; they just stared at each other in awkward silence for a few seconds.
"Stoick could say something," Stormfly noticed.
"Hasn't he said enough?" Hookfang retorted.
"He doesn't know how to talk to Hiccup," Meatlug realized. "He's never sat down and talked with his own son before! All he knows, all he cares about, is killing dragons. Nothing else matters to him, not even his own family."
"He doesn't care for his own son?" Belch marvelled.
"He does, in his own inadequate way," Toothless cut in. "See?"
They watched as Stoick said, "Oh, I brought you something. To keep you safe. In the ring." He presented Hiccup with a helmet.
"The horned mark of cruelty to dragons," Hookfang snarled. "Only dragon-killers wear helmets like that!"
"My rider was the most zealous dragon-fighter in the group," Stormfly realized, "and she never wore a horned helmet. What's up with that?"
"You're right," Barf nodded. "That doesn't make sense."
"Hookfang, doesn't your rider still wear his horned helmet?" Meatlug asked mildly.
"Yeah, well, he's too thick to realize how tasteless he is," the Nightmare muttered.
"What does that say about my rider and his horned helmet?" Meatlug demanded, suddenly angry.
"His horns aren't big enough to threaten anybody," Hookfang smirked.
"The chief is trying to protect Hiccup by giving him that helmet," Stormfly said as she tried to defuse the growing tension. "He doesn't want anything bad to happen to him. Maybe he does care about his own son."
"Then why didn't he give Hiccup that helmet when he started Dragon Training?" Meatlug rebutted her. "That's when he needed to be kept safe in the ring! Or even before that, when he kept having run-ins with dragons all over the village? Why did he wait until now, when he didn't need it so much, to give him that stupid-looking helmet?"
"Is it stupid?" Sizzle asked. "I mean, we have horns on our heads, so if the Vikings wear horns, does that mean they want to be just like us?"
"That's actually a good question," Stormfly nodded. "They hate us with a passion, but they copy us everywhere they can! They have wooden dragons on the fronts of their houses and the bows of their ships, they have dragon pictures on the sails of their ships, they have a metal dragon hanging over the fire in their big hall..."
"...with a sword through it!" Hookfang reminded her.
"It's like some kind of twisted love/hate relationship," the Nadder went on. "They wanted to kill us or drive us away, but if they succeeded, it would have left a big hole in their culture. What would they be without us?"
"Don't worry about that," Hookfang said condescendingly. "I'm sure they would have found someone else to hate."
"Going back to the helmet," Toothless interrupted, "I think I know why Stoick waited until now to give it to Hiccup. It's because the helmet isn't just for protection. It's also a symbol of being a real Viking, and the chief didn't think Hiccup deserved it until now. Hiccup had to earn it by being a successful dragon fighter."
"Even though he wasn't actually fighting us?" Meatlug asked.
"None of them seems to know about that except Hiccup," Toothless said.
Stormfly nodded. "That makes sense, in a Viking-twisted kind of a way. That's why Hiccup was sincerely thankful to get the helmet. Remember, at the beginning, when he said, 'I just want to be one of you guys?' He's done it! Getting that helmet was a promotion from being a nobody to being an actual member of his group. This is the first time since Stoick walked into the room that Hiccup actually relaxed a little and looked like himself."
"Ahh, your mother would have wanted you to have it," Stoick went on. "It's half of her breastplate." Hiccup winced and pulled his hand away from the helmet.
"What was that about?" Meatlug wondered.
"I have absolutely no idea," Toothless said, "and if Hiccup's expression means anything, then I probably don't want to know."
"Matching set," the chief said, tapping his own helmet. "Keeps her... keeps her close, you know."
Sizzle looked away from the flat panel. "Does that mean that Hiccup's mother is... is...?"
"Probably," Hookfang said dispassionately. "A lot of humans got hurt and killed in that war, too. It wasn't just the dragons who found out we were mortal."
"So the man's mate is dead," Meatlug thought out loud, "and he wears a personal part of her armor on his head so he'll remember her? These Vikings are absolutely warped!"
"Wear it proudly," Stoick finished. "You deserve it. You've held up your end of the deal."
"You were right, Toothless!" Stormfly burst out. "It was a reward! It was a sign that he was being promoted!"
"And Stoick really didn't want to protect his son until he'd proven himself worthy," Meatlug finished. "I'm sorry, but I have no respect for that Viking Alpha at all. The more I learn about him, the less I like him."
"He's the chief of the village we live in now," Toothless reminded her. "You have to respect the office, even if you don't like the man."
"Grrr... I suppose you're right," the Gronckle snarled.
Hiccup feigned sleepiness, and Stoick agreed that it was time for sleep. The chief's exit was marred by crashing into a pile of scrap metal just outside the forge, but he looked fairly happy. "He couldn't wait to get out of there!" Barf commented. "He was just as uncomfortable as Hiccup!"
"It's like Meatlug said," Toothless replied. "He doesn't know how to talk to his own son."
The scene suddenly changed; they were watching the training ring again. "These sudden scene changes are kind of hard to follow," Sizzle complained. "Couldn't they do a fade, or some other kind of transition, to warn us that a change is coming?"
"Since when did you become a film critic?" Stormfly wondered.
It was another dragon-training session. Meatlug was circling the perimeter of the ring, looking for someone to attack, briefly pausing to gaze longingly out the portcullis to the freedom that lay beyond. A series of flimsy wooden obstacles were set up in rows on the floor.
"Those obstacles would be easy to knock over!" Stormfly commented.
"They'd be even easier to set on fire," Hookfang nodded.
"I think they were just there for the Vikings to hide behind," Meatlug explained. "They weren't even very good hiding places; I guess they forgot that Gronckles can fly overhead and look down!"
"Humans seem to have trouble thinking in three dimensions," Barf agreed.
"You weren't looking down just now, Meatlug," Toothless pointed out.
"I didn't need to," she replied. "I was in no hurry to find them. They couldn't hide forever; I knew they'd have to come to me sooner or later. I just didn't want to be taken by surprise."
"Was that strategy working for you?" Belch asked.
"I'd taken out four of the six Vikings so far," Meatlug said, "and they hadn't hit me once, so I guess it was working pretty well."
Barf shook his head. "Letting them come to you? Those are terrible tactics! Ambush attacks are better, and they're a lot more fun, too."
"You think that way because your heads can't take a beating," the Gronckle answered. "Gronckle heads can take anything a Viking can dish out; then we get to make the counter-attack and... POW! One less Viking for the Northland! Or, at least, that's how we used to do it."
Hiccup found himself cowering behind the same obstacle as Astrid. "Stay out of my way," she snarled. "I'm winning this thing!"
"Good. Please. By all means!"
"She's confident, if nothing else," Hookfang commented.
"But look!" Barf noticed. "Hiccup just looked away from her and away from the dragon, and saw that his father was watching him!"
"For the first time ever, Hiccup has a real chance to do something right with his father watching!" Meatlug nodded. "If he wins this fight, then he'll impress his father."
"But if he wins the fight, then he'll anger the female that he wants to pair off with," Stormfly realized. "No matter what he does, it's going to be wrong in the eyes of someone he cares about. He's in a no-win situation. That's why he suddenly looks so discouraged."
"So... what did he do?" Belch wondered.
"He made his choice," Meatlug said simply. They watched (and cringed) as Astrid charged, screaming a battle cry and waving her axe... and stopping short in shock at the sight of Meatlug lying limp and unconscious on the training-ring floor. Hiccup was standing next to the dragon, minus his helmet, shield and weapon, looking embarrassed that he had achieved every dragon-fighter's dream.
"Chin-rub?" Toothless asked Meatlug.
"Chin-rub," she nodded. "The D-spot again. It was totally painless. In fact, it felt kind of good."
"No!" Astrid screamed, slamming her axe onto the floor and then flailing the air aimlessly with it. "You son of a half-troll, rat-eating munge-bucket!"
"I'm not sure I understand all those words," Sizzle complained.
"It means she's angry," Hookfang translated.
"Thank you, Captain Obvious!" the Terror shot back.
"Watch it, fire-squirt," Hookfang warned him. "Respect your elders."
Hiccup tried to escape, but Gobber held him back; then Astrid threatened him with her axe, which still looked sharp even though she'd just hit the stone floor with it.
"Quiet down!" Stoick shouted. "The elder has decided." Gobber set Hiccup on his right hand and Astrid on his left.
"The elder has decided what?" Hookfang asked.
"She decided who was supposed to kill you in the ring, I think," Meatlug said apologetically.
"Oh." Hookfang thought about that for a moment. "So... where's my rider? Why aren't they giving him the chance to kill me? Wait, what am I saying?!"
"And where are our riders?" Barf and Belch chorused.
"I shot their shields and sent them running in a panic," Meatlug explained. "Just like I eliminated my own rider. I guess that disqualified them. It was easy; none of them was a real threat to me. Although, to be honest, I'm glad Fishlegs wasn't any good at fighting us. It made things a lot simpler when we became friends. I didn't have to forgive him for beating me up or anything like that."
"There's something to be said for a friendship with no baggage from the past," Toothless said. "But sometimes we have to take the friends we've got, even if we do have to do a little forgiving along the way. After all, there aren't many perfect humans."
Gobber held his hook-hand over Astrid's head. The elder shook her head "no." The crowd murmured its surprise.
"Are you sorry that your rider didn't win?" Hookfang asked Stormfly.
"Hardly!" she snorted. "If she had been the winner, then either she or you would have been killed in the ring, Hiccup never would have found our nest, and we'd still be at war with the Vikings. This was another one of those moments where our entire future turned on one simple decision, and things never would have changed if that decision had gone the other way."
Gobber reluctantly pointed down with his good hand at Hiccup. The elder pointed at him, smiled, and nodded slightly. The crowd broke into excited cheers as Hiccup realized that he had completely alienated the girl he liked best. The other teens mobbed him; Fishlegs hoisted the smaller boy onto his shoulder with Snotlout's help and paraded him around the ring as Stoick pumped his fist and shouted, "That's my boy!"
"That's quite a change from the way he used to treat his son," Barf muttered.
Belch added, "All Hiccup had to do was beat up a few of us, and now his father thinks he's some kind of hero."
"Paws! What are you thinking, Toothless?" Meatlug asked.
"I was thinking," Toothless replied, "that, no matter what Hiccup did, he was never happy. When these moving pictures started, he desperately wanted to be a Viking and a dragon killer, but he always failed, he made people angry at him, and he wasn't happy. Now, he wants to be a friend to dragons instead, but everyone else thinks he's the Viking and the dragon killer that he wanted to be before. They'd be even angrier if they knew the truth, so he has to hide the truth and he's still unhappy."
"There's no pleasing those humans," Sizzle said snidely.
"In this case, he had a good reason to be unhappy," the Night Fury corrected him. "He was living a double life. He was my friend, and he had to keep that a closely-guarded secret. When we weren't together, he acted like a dragon-hater because that was what everyone else expected of him, but it was a lie. That kind of conflict can make anyone unhappy. I hate seeing him like that. Play!"
"Yeah, yes," Hiccup said, making an unconvincing show of being enthusiastic about his victory. "I can't wait. I am so..." The scene jumped to the cove. "...leaving! We're leaving. Let's pack up. Looks like you and me are taking a little vacation. Forever."
"What brought that on?" Meatlug burst out.
"I guess all that unhappiness, and the strain of living a double life, really got to him," Toothless answered. "He couldn't pursue his chosen mate without losing at dragon training and disappointing his father, and he couldn't please his father without defeating and alienating his chosen mate. He really couldn't win... so he chose not to play anymore."
"Where was he going to go?" Sizzle wondered.
"I honestly have no idea," the Night Fury said. "He knew that I could provide all the fish he'd ever need, so maybe he thought we'd fly away into the wilderness and live there, just the two of us."
"Can a human live without other humans around?" Hookfang asked.
Toothless shook his head. "Again, I don't know. They're pretty resilient, and he was used to getting along without much support from friends or family anyway. But humans need to stay warm in the winter, and I couldn't help him very much there. If a piece of my flying rig broke or wore out, how could he fix it? Who would fix him if he got hurt or sick? Running away probably wasn't such a great idea, especially in the long run. Maybe it was a good thing that your rider messed up his plans, Stormfly."
Hiccup opened his basket to make sure everything he wanted was there, then panicked when he realized that Astrid was sitting on the rock next to him.
"And how, exactly, did she get into the cove without you noticing her, Toothless?" Hookfang demanded.
"She was very, very quiet," the Night Fury said with a hint of embarrassment, "and I wasn't expecting anyone else but Hiccup. I figured he was bringing me my daily meal in his basket, the way he always did. I wasn't checking the area for intruders."
"Sloppy," Hookfang said dismissively. "She could have cut your head off."
"She didn't know I was there, either," Toothless protested.
Sizzle added, "That's probably because she wasn't looking for a dragon in that cove, just like you weren't looking for another human."
"In fact," Stormfly said, "if you include Hiccup, all three of them were sloppy. But she's got her throwing axe. I'm not sure I'm going to like what happens next."
"Oh, I think you're going to like it just fine," Toothless said archly. "Your rider? Not so much."
"I want to know what's going on," Astrid was saying. "No one just gets as good as you, especially you!"
"I see fear in his eyes," Meatlug said sympathetically. "He's really afraid of her!"
"I think he's afraid of what will happen if she finds out about me," Toothless corrected her.
"I'd say it's both," Stormfly decided. Astrid grabbed his riding vest; then she heard a sound and slammed him to the ground.
"Stormfly, you didn't pick a very nice person to be your rider," Sizzle said quietly.
"She changed," Stormfly said, "and from what I'm seeing, I'm very glad she did." They watched in stunned silence as Astrid twisted Hiccup's wrist, threw him to the ground, kicked him, and dropped her axe-handle on his abdomen. "And that's for everything else!"
His cry of pain roused Toothless. When she saw him, she threw Hiccup to the ground again, but this time she was trying to protect him from this unknown monster that was suddenly roaring and charging at her.
"Run for it, skinny lady!" Hookfang cheered. "Now you're gonna get it!" But Astrid didn't run. She drew back her axe for a decapitating strike... and Hiccup leaped at her, wrestled the axe out of her hands, and threw it aside.
"Huh?" Hookfang couldn't believe his eyes. "Where did he get the muscle to do that?"
"He was motivated by panic," Toothless explained, "and she wasn't expecting him to do it, so he surprised her. At least, I think that's what happened."
"Now she's the one with fear in her eyes!" Barf grinned.
"And Hiccup is protecting her!" Belch nodded with a matching grin. "Instant role reversal!"
"You just scared him," Hiccup was saying.
"She scared you?" Stormfly and Hookfang chorused.
"Funny, you don't look scared, Toothless!" Sizzle added with a grin.
"I scared him?" Astrid asked in shocked disbelief. "Who is 'him?' "
Hiccup nervously made the formal introductions between the dragon and the dragon-slayer. "Astrid, Toothless. Toothless, Astrid."
Toothless snarled at her, "If you ever lay a finger on my human friend again, I'll..."
"You'll what?" Hookfang asked.
"It was an open-ended threat," the Night Fury explained.
"Did you follow through on it?" Meatlug asked him. They watched Astrid's face harden as she turned and ran.
Toothless had to chuckle. "Hoo-boy, did I ever!"