Chapter 5
Dragon Care
The Great Hall, a giant building made of stone and cement, stood atop the hill just east of the village. It served not only as a meal hall for lunch and dinner, but also the thingstead for her father's council. Sometimes both at once. In the back, chefs and their assistants bustled from sizzling grill to smoking oven, preparing a full blown feast so soon after a communal lunch. From the tizzy they were in, Hiccup could guess that they weren't done yet.
So rather than just sit in the hall and wait, she decided to take Toothless into the field adjacent to it. She scratched him behind the earflaps and his eyes fell half shut, clearly pleased. She moved on to the saddle, and loosened its straps for him. She then ran her fingers between the leather and his scales, picking out the debris that had gotten stuck. He didn't show discomfort over it, but she could imagine it was like a pebble in your boot. It wasn't too bad today, mostly leaves and pollen, some dirt, even an odd feather.
"Caring for your Night Fury, Lady — sorry, Hiccup?"
Her heart skipped at the sound of Kiefer's voice and she spun around, the dress flowing around her as she moved. He strode into the field, leaving her dad on the dirt path to the Great Hall. Her dad merely watched, but his face wasn't hard with concern. Instead, his lips pulled up slightly, as if he wanted to smile but dared not. She didn't care what he was hoping for, if she was going to talk with Kiefer the last thing she wanted was for him to watch. Her eyes narrowed. He must have caught the hint, as he turned and took an interest in the cooks.
"So what's his name?"
"Huh?" She looked around; Kiefer was already beside her. He smiled a charming smile for her, sending a wave of grasshoppers skittering in her chest. He motioned at her dragon and she remembered his question. "Oh! Kiefer, this is Toothless. Toothless, Kiefer."
Kiefer fixed his eyes on the ground just ahead of her Night Fury and slowly extended one hand. Toothless glanced between him and Hiccup, then leaned forward and pressed his nose into Kiefer's palm.
"Glad to meet you, Toothless." He smiled again and rubbed the dragon's flat nose. "I suppose you're named after the male's retractable teeth, huh?"
"Wait, what?" Her eyes widened and she looked at him as if she had to confirm he wasn't joking. "It's only the males?"
"Let's just say it's part of their mating habits." He crossed around to Toothless's right side. He spun an outstretched index finger in a circle and Toothless apparently understood. He tilted his head and Kiefer inspected three little musk frills under his jaw. "Hmm. I'd say he's about sixteen… Maybe seventeen."
"Really?" Her eyes dodged between the two of them. "He's my age? I expected him to be more like, I don't know, Dad's age or something."
"He's a young guy, certainly." He pat Toothless's shoulder. "Probably been out looking for some ladies, haven't you, boy?"
Toothless cooed and nuzzled her dress, as if to say he already had a lady. His nose caught the back of her good knee and she started to fall, but she managed to reach out and catch herself on his head.
Kiefer lifted his hand off the draconic shoulder and brushed his fingers against his palm, frowning. "Where's your scale smoother?"
"My what?"
She looked up from her affectionate dragon and found Kiefer had his hand out like he was expecting something.
"Your scale smoother." He pantomimed petting Toothless, but she could only give him a confused look. He reached into a satchel at his side and pulled something out. "One of these."
He held up a mitt made of knitted leather.
"Wow." She took it from him and turned it over. The palm was flat, thick, and very rough, almost like sand. "What is it?"
She caught herself before he could answer with what she would figure as a justifiable snark. "Okay, it's a scale smoother. My bad. I mean, what's it do? How do you use it?"
"Like this."
He put his hand into the mitt and pressed it into Toothless's shoulder. In a quick, short burst he swept it along his back. Her dragon reacted immediately, his eyes widening and then falling half shut in a look of contentment. Kiefer scraped it along a couple more times, drawing out a soft croon as if Kiefer was scratching a troublesome itch.
"See? You press in firmly, but not roughly. It smooths out the bad scales so he can get a better bite on the air. He'll be able to make tighter turns, fly faster…"
He pulled off the smoother and held it out to her. "Here, give it a try."
She took it and slipped it on; it was still warm from his hand, giving her weird tingles up her arm. She took a breath and tried to focus on the dragon in front of her. Kiefer moved aside and watched as she put her mitted hand on Toothless's shoulder. She brushed along his hide a couple times before Kiefer interrupted.
"A little harder." He stepped up behind her and took her hand. He moved her hand to her dragon's shoulder again and pressed it in as he guided her in another sweep. She had trouble paying attention as his warmth enveloped her and a scent of leather and something beyond that tickled her nose, sending the crickets in her chest into a jumping frenzy.
Toothless crooned again from the added pressure and Kiefer nodded at him. "See? You like that don't you, boy? Now, notice here —" he moved her hand, " — there's a loose scale, right?"
Indeed, one of the scales wobbled under the mitt. It felt so strange compared to the tightly fitted scales beside it. How did that feel for him, she wondered? Was this why he scratched sometimes?
"A new scale is growing under it," Kiefer said, "so it'll fall out on its own in time. He'll find it irritating until then, so it's best to help it along."
He twisted her hand around. The far side of the mitt, opposite the way she was sweeping, had a corner, which he now used to pin the scale and pluck it out. Toothless woofed in relief.
"Felt good, huh?" He let go of her hand and stepped back, leaving her cold and weirdly disappointed. He motioned at her to continue. "Go ahead."
She concentrated again, even though the memory of his scent was still vivid, and pressed the smoother into Toothless's hide. He stretched and crooned against her hand, and she couldn't help but grin at his reaction. She gained more confidence as she continued.
"Does he not have any good pumice deposits around?"
She looked over her shoulder; Kiefer was stroking his wing. He saw her looking and nodded at it.
"When you do the wings, make sure you only do the meaty leading edge. The skin on his wing is very sensitive."
"He does get a bit sore when people touch it." She looked over her dragon. His scales swirled in a subtle grain, like that of wood, from nose to tail — the same way as she'd been sweeping. But on his wings, it flowed from his shoulders to his wingtips. "So, when I do the wings, I just follow the grain?"
He smiled again. "Exactly."
She ran her bare palm over the scales she had already smoothed and marveled at how much nicer they felt. That was great by itself, but it's going to help with his flying, too? The wings would probably do the most good, then, so she moved on to them.
She smoothed along the leading edge up to the first joint, then along the top. She motioned at Toothless to raise his wings and started on the underside when she caught Kiefer out of the corner of her eye, watching her every move.
Suddenly very self conscious, her movement became stilted and slow. He obviously noticed.
"It's okay, you were doing fine," he said. "I'll let you know if you need to change anything."
She nodded and did her best to ignore the fact that his handsome eyes were following every flick of her arm, every sway of her shoulders. It proved to be a difficult job. She couldn't help but wonder if he liked what he was seeing, and yet strangely worried that he might not.
Damn it, why did he have to be so good looking? Astrid was right about that jawline. But it was those eyes that seemed so brilliant a blue, so enticing. Not to mention his Night Fury. That flight suit was also sharp — his shoulders really filled it out — and she could just imagine how tight his muscles were, how they flexed —
She had to look away to hide a rapidly growing blush.
Gah! What was she thinking? He was a foreign diplomat! He wasn't going to be here long. Even if he did court her (oh, how alluring of a thought!) what would she do? Would she have to abandon her village to go back to Mesa del Cadre with him?
But she liked Berk. Then again, what were her options, here?
Fishlegs? … Meh.
Tuffnut? … Have you met him?
Snotlout? … Now you're just being gross.
That pretty much left foreigners, and her dad kept suggesting sons of other chiefs. She really ought to expect to leave. But at least those foreign men weren't interesting enough to even consider, giving her time to stay. But Kiefer…
She stole another glance as she finished this side of Toothless. He still watched with a little smile, pinching his chin in thought. He certainly had something those other foreigners didn't, and it wasn't just that he rode dragons.
He followed her as she made her way around to the other side. She put the smoother to Toothless's shoulder once again — then stopped. There was a bevel on one side of the palm, the same side she had been sweeping toward. There must be a reason…
Perhaps . . . yes, it would keep the smoother from skipping. It would make each sweep cleaner and easier. The mitt had an opening on the other side, so she just had to turn it around.
Kiefer nodded his approval when she did so and she smirked. She went back to her dragon's scales.
After watching a few sweeps, though, Kiefer took an interest in Toothless's saddle. He glanced over the pedals with an arched eyebrow, then followed the lines back to his prosthetic fin. His brow gathered into a dark scowl.
"What happened here?"
"It was an accident!" Hiccup said quickly, afraid of what he might be thinking. "He crashed. I . . . I made the tail for him so he could fly again."
He perked up at that. "You made this?"
Her heart lifted in relief. "It took a few tries, but yeah. At first I tried a simple rope with the fin, but it needs some fine control. So, the pedal system. Left controls the angle, right the spread. I have to read his needs and position the tail so we can fly."
"Fascinating." He tilted his head. "That sounds like an amazing synergy between rider and dragon. I'd love to see it."
She gave him a grin, but then went back to Toothless's wing.
"Maybe after I'm done I can show you."
