Disclaimer: I don't own HTTYD

Chapter Eight

The diplomats had wanted to be with their dragons as they patrolled the island, but Hiccup said it would be better if the trappers saw their dragons acting without any human influence. However, he did offer to let them hear thought-speak. The trouble was that he didn't have a sure-fire way to let several people hear thought-speak at once, and he was probably going to get a migraine bridging the gap for all five of them.

"Yeah but, we don't need to hear all of the dragons, do we? We kinda just need to hear our own" Brenda pointed out. "Can't you just, y'know, do that?"

"Hm. Well, it can't hurt to try" Hiccup acknowledged. He paused and added, "I wonder if…right, Brenda, c'mere and put your hand on Shimmer - that's it, both of you close your eyes – okay, can you see her in your mind's eye? Good. Reach out to her in your mind. Shimmer, if you can see Brenda reaching out to you in your mind's eye, reach out to her…almost…there!" They both gasped as the connection was made. "Hopefully it'll be easier to keep the link going if we're both supporting it. Go on, Shimmer, say hello."

*Hello, Brenda* the Spike-Tail chirped. Perhaps it wasn't becoming of a warrior, or a dragon rider, but Brenda squealed in delight. Hiccup did the same with the other four, and they were just as ecstatic as their friend. Hearing their dragons' voices for the first time was incredible. More surprising still, even though they thought they'd only be hearing their own dragons, they discovered they could understand each other's as well.

"Maybe your dragon's telepathy is affecting you guys" Hiccup theorised, "which means the 'magic translator' might kick in, and you'll be able to understand the trappers." Nicole had apparently taught herself Norse during the months-long voyage there, and she was evidently a fast learner, given that she could speak it fluently enough for them to understand her (1).

"What I don't get is", Otto began, "if you can let people hear thought-speak, and you want to convince these trappers that dragons are intelligent, why don't you just let them hear thought-speak?"

"Oh, believe me Otto, if I could do that, I would" Hiccup agreed. "Really, if I could just snap my fingers and let everyone hear thought-speak, I wouldn't hesitate. But the last time people found out I could understand dragons, they tried to take advantage, force me to translate for them. I can do this for you guys because I trust you, but Astrid doesn't trust these people."

"It's a shame we can't hear them permanently" Margret sighed, petting Gurgle. She nuzzled her human and said *We've managed so far, right?*

"Remind me again why the dragons can understand us but we can't understand them?" Braun asked, "How does that work?"

"Good question. I think it's because dragons are telepathic, and their thought-speak doesn't sound any different to our speech. They hear us talking the same way they hear each other, but we're not telepathic, so we can't hear them. Although…if I can let other people hear thought-speak, maybe we are a little bit telepathic. It's just being…blocked somehow."


Leaving his apprentices and their dragons to get reacquainted, Hiccup and Toothless went to talk to Gonzales. He hissed viciously at them from behind the bars of his cage, and when the door was opened, sprang out and raced in dizzying circles around them, shrieking insults they couldn't properly hear. At last he wore himself out – in a manner of speaking – and stalked towards them, tail lashing. Hiccup wished they could have let him out sooner.

*No threat* Hiccup told him cautiously, even as Toothless bared his fangs in warning. *It's okay, Gonzales, we just want to talk to you. Can we call you that? Or would you prefer to be called something else?*

The small but dangerous dragon hissed suspiciously at him. *You're a human but you can think-speak how can you think-speak?* he demanded, all in a rush.

*Long story. Let's just say I'm no ordinary human. Just listen, please. I need to ask you about Nicole. You know, Nicole Stormheart?* Hiccup was about to continue, when suddenly Gonzales shrieked and dashed off at high speed.

*Where is my Queen where is she what have you done to her let me out of this trap you horrible human and Swift-Wing let me out right now tell me where she is!* he screamed, racing around the arena in search of an escape route.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Calm down!"

The Quick-Sting darted at them; Toothless only saw a blur, but he leapt anyway, and managed to bowl the smaller dragon over. Thinking quickly, he clamped his jaws over Gonzales' thrashing tail, pinning his kicking legs with both front paws. Gonzales screeched, *Get off me get off me get off me!* and tried to bite, until Hiccup risked pinching his neck and forcing him to go limp.

*You freeze us, and you will never get out of here* Toothless growled, even as he released Gonzales and returned to Hiccup's side. He kept his eyes on the Quick-Sting as Gonzales squirmed and sprang to his feet, panting.

*Nicole is fine* Hiccup told him straightaway, *She's not hurt. She told us how she found you, helped you when you were injured. Is that true? Is that what really happened, when you met her?*

Gonzales demanded *Why do you want to know strange human who can think-speak and mean Swift-Wing that I don't like?*

Toothless snorted at him. Hiccup explained *We just want to know if she was lying. Please, tell us what happened when you met her.*

*My name was Grigora I was hunting I was chasing prey I fell off a cliff and broke my leg I was abandoned by my pack and found by humans Nicole mended my leg she fed me she fought me and won she defeated and spared me and she leads her humans well and fiercely so I respect her and follow her as my new Queen with my new name.*

*And it doesn't bother you that she took you from your home? Or kept you in a cage?* Hiccup questioned.

*You kept me in a cage! Nicole-Queen let me out in her ship-nest every night.*

Toothless grunted in annoyance. *We let you out of that cage, and I'm regretting it* he commented. Gonzales hissed at him. *What about the dragons you've helped her capture? She uses your venom to catch innocent dragons!*

*I help my Queen any way I can I let her use my venom to catch dragons without hurting them they are not harmed Nicole-Queen is not bad!*

*But she forces the dragons she captures to mate, and then she sells their eggs and young. How can you turn a blind eye to that?*

Gonzales replied *Those other dragons are bad they fight Nicole-Queen she feeds them and gives them mates but they don't respect her so they deserve to be punished and have their eggs taken because their eggs are hers.*

As disturbing as it was, everything Gonzales said made sense. Quick-Stings were rigidly hierarchical and any dragon who disobeyed the pack leader or refused to submit was shunned, even attacked outright. The pack leader had absolute power over every other Quick-Sting, even the ones not yet hatched, and if Gonzales saw Nicole as his Queen then of course he would see the other dragons and their young as her subjects as well.

Toothless snarled at him, indignant and disgusted. *Calm down, Toothless* Hiccup urged, *We're not here to fight. Besides, it's all he knows.*

This changed things. Nicole hadn't lied about Gonzales; she hadn't forced him to obey her, he was clearly doing it willingly. The whole 'breeding dragons' thing unnerved him, but that was because he saw dragons as people in their own right. From Nicole and the trapper's point of view, how was what they were doing any different from breeding and selling sheep?

It was too late to stop the trapper's punishment. Hiccup regretted agreeing to it; he could tell it wouldn't help, would likely just make things worse. Part of his choice had been lingering resentment towards Nicole for taking his other half away, but it wasn't as if she'd known. Not to mention, he was in the yak stall with Astrid after that fiasco, and he'd wanted to show he could listen to her.

Was that right, though? It wasn't that Hiccup was an insubordinate renegade – okay, no, he was, but he (usually) had a good reason. He started to form a plan, one that Astrid would definitely not like. Then he hesitated. She had good reason not to like it; she was only trying to protect him. He appreciated that, but…he didn't want this. Day to day life was one thing, but when there was a problem he could help solve, and he couldn't act – it tore at him.

Toothless sensed his mounting frustration and nuzzled him lightly, even as the dragon kept a wary eye on Gonzales. *I'm okay, bud. I just feel…helpless. It's not that I don't think the diplomats are capable; I'm worried it won't be enough. Not if the wild dragons attack the trappers first. I wish I could prove to Nicole that you guys are intelligent myself. At least then I could be sure.*

*I know* Toothless warbled sympathetically, *but what else can we do? If she sees you, she'll tell Adulfr that you're alive.*

*But she's going to tell him anyway. At this point hiding is pointless. I think…I think we should let Nicole hear thought-speak* he announced, almost as fast as Gonzales (who was running blurred laps around them). Toothless stared at him.

"Just hear me out. The diplomats might convince some of the trappers, but if we don't convince Nicole it will all be for naught. She's their captain. And you heard the excuses the Icelandic chieftains gave, trying to explain away you understanding them; but it's a lot harder for people to ignore understanding you. I know it's a risk, but if I can prove to Nicole that dragons are intelligent and you can understand us, if I can just show her…isn't it a risk worth taking?" Hiccup asked rhetorically. "She ought to stop trapping and breeding dragons. She might even join us against Adulfr, if she knows there's a better way.

"I know it's reckless. I know I'm supposed to be laying low, that it's for my own good, but let's face it, that plan has failed. She knows I'm alive, she's going to tell people, they'll be after me again and – and I'll just have to think of another plan. If I can just talk to her, explain things, if there's even the slightest chance of changing her mind and I think there might be…I have to try."

*But what if she tells Adulfr that you can understand dragons?*

"To be honest, I'm hoping that if I can change her mind, she won't. But we can't control what she does. Besides…I think he already knows. Harald forced me to tell him I could understand you, and for all we know, he told some of his crew. If he did, and they broke Adulfr out of prison, they probably told him too. So she wouldn't be telling him anything he didn't already know.

"Believe me, if I thought there was another way…but Nicole didn't make a request, it was an ultimatum. She said she'd leave the archipelago in peace if she met me. Which means that if she doesn't, they'll keep trapping dragons here, and…and we can't defend everywhere at once. That's why I need to nip this in the bud, and this could be the only way to do that."

*But she might stay around and trap dragons anyway* Toothless pointed out, *We can't trust her, or her crew.*

"I'm not so sure. I mean yeah, they're enemies, but…Nicole hasn't really lied to us. She didn't lie when Astrid and the others were interrogating her, or about what they actually do, or about Gonzales. She got the reason wrong, but he really is obeying her of his own free will, she isn't forcing him." It was odd to think about, but this meant Nicole was the second human besides him to be a dragon's alpha. Not that she realised it, of course.

*Yes, but why do we have to let her hear thought-speak?* Toothless pressed. *Why take the risk? Just let your diplomats convince the trappers. That's what you're teaching them for, isn't it? To do this sort of thing when you can't?*

"But that's just it, Toothless!" Hiccup burst out. "It's not like I'm sick or anything – I could do something, but I'm not allowed. It's my own fault, I know, but you can't expect me to just stand by and do nothing. If I do nothing, Nicole will tell Adulfr that I'm alive. If I show her the truth, there's a chance she won't. Even if she does, he's going to come back anyway, I'm going to face him, so what difference does it make? Hearing you speak will convince her when nothing else would. Is it really so wrong of me to want to help and do my actual job?"

"Of course not."

Hiccup and Toothless jumped out of their skins, wheeling to stare up at Astrid and Stormfly, standing at the edge of the ring. Gonzales screeched at them. *Oh, shut up. They're friends* Toothless growled at him.

Trusting his dragon to keep an eye on their…guest…Hiccup slowly approached his wife, trying not to cringe. She and Stormfly hopped down into the arena. "Astrid! At ease, Stormfly. Um, hi! Hello. What brings you here?" he asked, grinning awkwardly.

"I came to tell you the wild dragons have been safely taken to the island" she explained. "Hiccup, listen" –

He held a hand up to cut her off. "I know what you're going to say. And you're right, both of you. It's stupid and reckless, and I shouldn't risk it."

She shook her head slowly. "You're right."

"Yes, that's what I just…" he paused as her words registered. "What?"

"Well, you're right about that last part, but…you're right about Nicole, and Adulfr too. I know you've been frustrated, and I'm so proud of you for trying...but being on the sidelines like this is driving you crazy, isn't it?"

"Crazier" he corrected, and she chuckled. He told her what he actually wanted to do, unsure of how much she'd overheard, and when he finished she considered it carefully.

"Just…promise me you'll be careful. Don't take any unnecessary risks" Astrid told him. Hiccup could hardly believe she was letting him do this. "Do you really think you can convince her?"

"Not like I'm good for much else!" He'd meant it as a joke, albeit a self-deprecating one, but she frowned.

"Don't say that. Toothless, if he says something like that again, sit on him" she instructed the Swift-Wing, who had walked over to join them.

*Will do!* he agreed at once, before looking over at Hiccup. *So what's the plan?* he asked. Slowly, a grin spread out across Hiccup's face.

"You remember when you and Astrid first met…?"


Nicole refused to scream. The breath was knocked out of her when the dragon – the Night Fury – first grabbed her, anyway. It hooked its short claws under her pauldrons and carried her away, before finally dropping her in the uppermost branches of a tall tree. Then the dragon landed next to, and sort of on top of her, making the whole tree creak and bend under its weight.

Panting to catch her breath, Nicole squinted up at her impromptu kidnapper. It was the male Night Fury, she realised, the one with the red prosthetic tail-fin. That mysterious black-clad rider was nowhere in sight. "Okay, I have no idea what's going on here, but I'm gonna climb down now." Nicole began to look for a way to do just that. The dragon growled and snarled. She looked up at it.

The dragon jerked its head back at its shoulders in a 'climb on' gesture. It was wearing a saddle. Was it offering her a ride? This is getting more and more surreal Nicole thought to herself. She weighed her options; climb out of the tree and risk the Night Fury snatching her up again, or get on its back and see if she could make it land. After all, if these al-Madjus (2) could ride dragons, how hard could it be?

So she climbed back up, and heaved herself up onto the dragon's back. Slipping her feet into the simple stirrups and grasping the arch of leather at the front of the saddle, Nicole instructed, "Fly down, dragon." It crouched ready to take off, raising its wings, coiled tight as a spring – or a catapult.

"Uh-oh" Nicole murmured, a second before the Night Fury launched into the air. It felt like her heart, stomach, and possibly also her liver, had all been tossed up into her throat before falling back to their proper places. The dragon ascended incredibly fast, powerful wings beating as it climbed and climbed and climbed. Nicole hung onto the arch with all her strength, trying to hang on with her knees like with a horse as well.

The launch knocked the breath out of her a second time – by the time she caught it, they were so high the island looked almost as small as it had on her maps. The very first thing she screamed out was "STOP!"

Sure enough, the dragon stopped. It hung in the air for a heart-stopping moment, and then it folded its wings and fell. It dropped like a stone for a few moments, snapped open its wings and veered back and forth, climbing and diving steeply like a giant, demented martin. Nicole prided herself on always being in control, but now she couldn't help but scream. She had never been so sure she was about to die. What is wrong with this crazy dragon?!

All her skill, all her knowledge and training meant nothing. No dragon had ever done this to her before, and she didn't know anyone who'd been carried off by a dragon and lived to tell the tale. There was bound to be a way to make the Night Fury stop, but what was it? How did these riders tame the beasts?

Yanking on the handhold, digging her heels in and shouting "Whoa, boy! Cease!" wasn't working. If anything, it seemed to make things worse.

"Bad dragon! Put me down!" Scolding it didn't seem to help much either. As if things weren't terrifying enough, the dragon started spinning and twisting like a dust devil. Sky became water became sky dizzyingly fast, and Nicole screwed her eyes shut, desperately clinging to the saddle. She couldn't even think of a way to make it stop – all she could do was hold on and pray.

The dragon roared, sounding almost frustrated, and she heard a whoosh as its wings spread once more. They slowed down so fast Nicole almost got whiplash, and then the Night Fury beat its wings and climbed, getting incredibly high impossibly fast. "Please! Stop! Stop it!" Nicole begged. What else could she do?

Her desperate pleas seemed to give the dragon pause, as it slowed in its ascent – but that was just the calm before the storm. It seemed the Night Fury had had enough of her on its back; it arched, beating its wings to invert itself. Nicole's feet slipped out of the stirrups despite her attempts to brace herself, and then the dragon twisted, throwing her off and letting her plummet.

"AAAAAAAHHH!"

Now she was absolutely certain she was going to die. Nicole always sort of figured she'd be killed by a dragon, but she never expected it to be like this. I know I'm a sinner, God, but I swear I won't sin – as much – if you spare me now!

Nicole regretting ever sailing to this accursed archipelago, or capturing this damn dragon…wait a minute. Suddenly, it clicked. She knew what the Night Fury wanted. What it had been waiting for this whole time. At the time she didn't know how she knew; she just felt it, as surely as she could feel a storm on the horizon even when the sky looked clear.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry I captured you! Please! Help me!"

Just when she was on the verge of praying that her inevitable death would be quick, the Night Fury swept underneath her. It caught her, knocking the breath from her one more time, and glided. Stunned, Nicole kept her eyes closed and panted, trying to catch her breath. Her fingers coiled around the arch and clung to it, lest the dragon change its mind and throw her off again.

After a while – she couldn't tell how much time had passed, still disoriented by all the spinning – Nicole felt cold dampness on her skin. The dragon crooned at her. It sounded so gentle that she suddenly felt the urge to open her eyes and glare at it incredulously. Yet the moment she did so, Nicole sat up, looked around, and stared in awe. They were above the clouds.

It was as if the dome of the sky was a crystal blue ocean, stretching out as far as the eye could see, dotted with puffy, wispy island clouds. The air was colder, but not so thin that she couldn't breathe. Even from the crow's nest of her ship, Nicole had never seen so far. In the ocean below them, sunlight danced and flashed on the green tinged spires of ice that ringed the Isle of Berk. Even from that great height, the island looked colourful and vibrant. It looked like a place where anything was possible. The whole sky felt like a place for dreamers.

She was flying. And it was like nothing like she'd ever experienced before.


The dragon hovered a moment more, then swerved and flew back down to the island. Now that he wasn't flying so erratically, Nicole found it much easier to hold on. They landed in a clearing on the southern side of the isle, where the black-clad rider was waiting. As soon as Nicole had scrambled off his back, the Fury pounced at the man and licked him like a dog eagerly greeting its master. The man chuckled, a warm sound, and pet the dragon affectionately.

Nicole stared at them warily. If she could get close to the dragon again she could incapacitate it and it's rider, figure out how to get that helmet off, and find out for sure if this really was the so-called 'Dragon Whisperer'. Fighting a deep primeval urge to run in the opposite direction, she edged closer to the Night Fury. It would be so much simpler if she had her darts, or Gonzales here.

But the dragon finished covering its rider in spit and turned to stare at her with unnerving intensity. Nicole froze. Behind her she heard a rustling sound, and turned sideways so she could keep the first Fury in the corner of her eye, as the second emerged from the trees. Surrounded, Nicole tried to back away, but the second Fury, the female, moved to intercept her.

"Where's Cateline?" she demanded, knowing that the female Night Fury must have taken her first mate and friend. Nicole was not accustomed to being the one getting cornered, especially when she had no weapons to defend herself.

Without removing his helmet, the man replied, "Somewhere on the island, unharmed. How was your flight?"

"Like you don't know" she spat at him. "That dragon of yours is a mad thing! I thought he was going to kill me. Did you make him do that?"

"I asked Toothless to scare you, not kill you. None of your crew have been killed by the wild dragons on this island" he informed her.

Nicole humphed at him. "Could've fooled me. That Triple Stryke was hunting Cateline and I" she informed him, "it wanted to kill us."

"I had a feeling she might not behave, which is why I asked Dagur to follow her and intervene if things went awry."

"You mean the yelling redhead? Your friend cut it pretty close. She was practically at our throats when he deigned to show up."

"I somehow doubt that's what happened, but I digress."

"Why are you still wearing that helmet?" Nicole asked. "I can barely hear you, and it's not like I don't know who you are. Hiccup Haddock the Third. Dragon trainer extraordinaire. Rider of the red-tailed Night Fury. Back from the dead."

"Exactly" he shrugged, "I'm a draugr. Decomposing from the head down. Hideous! It hasn't got to my hands, though." He wiggled his fingers.

"Is this a game to you?" Nicole demanded. He was clearly playing with her like a cat with a mouse. Perhaps there was still a chance to turn the tables.

"It's not like I have much else to do. Being undead is just as boring as it sounds."

She glared at him, unimpressed. "Okay, fine, I'm not a draugr. But I'm still not taking my helmet off. My wife will kill me. Sooner than Adulfr will try to kill me. I know he asked you to find out if I was still alive."

"Well, if that's the case, then why conceal yourself?" Nicole asked. "Tell you what, dragon lover. If you take off your helmet, I promise my crew and I will leave in peace. You'll never hear from us again."

The man stepped down from the rock he was perched on, and the dragons moved with him. "I'll let you leave in peace, if you swear that you won't breathe a word of what I'm going to show you to anyone else" he told Nicole.

She stepped as close as she dared with the Night Fury right there, and tried to meet his eyes through the slit in his helmet. "Is that a threat?"

"If I were you I'd go with it, or you will never get out of this archipelago. The Outcasts are pretty miffed about your trespass and they have quite roomy cells."

"Fine, I swear I won't tell anyone about…whatever this is. Now take off your helmet" Nicole insisted.

"I never actually agreed to do that" he pointed out mildly. When she gave him a death glare, he hastily added, "but I guess I could compromise." He pushed the visor of his helmet up, uncovering beard-rimmed lips. "How's that?"

"Hmph. Better, I suppose. But now you can't even see me." Sure enough, the slits in the visor for his eyes was now high up on his forehead.

"True, but the dragons can see you just fine."

"Oh, that makes me feel so much better" Nicole sneered sarcastically. Frustrated, she declared "I'll ask you one more time, Dragon Whisperer. What do you want?"

He hopped off the rock he was perched on. "To open your mind" he answered, "to show you the truth, and a better way."

Nicole stared at him incredulously. "What are you, a missionary?"

Ignoring her, he looked at his dragon and remarked "So much for being poetic." The dragon narrowed its eyes – not pupils, just eyes – and snorted. "No, you're right. That was bad, even for me."

The man looked at Nicole again. She was staring at him incredulously. "Toothless isn't that impressed by my attempts at waxing lyrical. Dragons can understand us. Everything we say; isn't that right, you two?" This last was addressed to the dragons, who bobbed their heads up and down. "Not that you always listen, eh?" The Furies shook their heads back and forth.

Nicole scoffed. "Do you really expect me to believe that? You've obviously just trained them to nod and shake their heads."

He looked from the dragons to her and back to them. "I told you she'd say something like that" the man remarked. The dragons nodded.

Turning to Nicole once more, he told her "You don't believe that dragons understand us. Fair enough. What if you could understand them? What if you heard them speak to you? Would you believe they were like us then?"

Nicole stared at him. "….You're insane."

"Yep! Madman with a dragon, that's me" he grinned at her. "Come on, Nicole. You've flown on a dragon. What do you have to lose?"

My sanity, the longer I spend around you. "I assume the sooner I play along with your ridiculous whims, the sooner I can leave. So hurry up and say what you want to say" Nicole declared impatiently.

"I just need you to hold still and close your eyes" he explained. Reluctantly, she acquiesced and heard him step closer, felt his hand on her forehead. "Okay. Can you see Toothless in your mind's eye?" he asked. When she murmured an affirmative, he instructed "Imagine reaching out to touch him. Picture that in your mind. Okay? Almost…almost…there!"

Nicole felt…something…and gasped, stumbling away from them. "Yeah, it feels a bit strange at first, sorry" he said apologetically. "Right, so, Toothless, Nicole. Nicole, Toothless" he introduced them. The dragon stared at her. She stared at it. Then, out of nowhere, it spoke. *Boo.*

She leapt backwards. Someone screamed – no, wait, that was her. The female Night Fury stepped forwards and spoke as well. *Don't be scared. I'm Selena, Toothless' mate. I didn't hurt your friend, by the way. I just put her down near some of your humans and came here to wait with Hiccup.*

Something hard hit her spine, and Nicole realised she'd backed into a tree. Her mouth opened and closed several times, eyes darting from the dragons to the masked crazy rider and back again. "I – you – they" – she glared at the Dragon Whisperer and all but yelled, "What is going on?!"

He looked at the dragons. The male – Toothless? – remarked *She's freaking out a lot.*

"Well, it is a bit much to take in. She's coping better than I thought she would."

Nicole couldn't believe her ears. "You…you did something. To me. Whatever it is, stop it! Get out of my head!"

"I'm not in your head! All I did was bridge the gap. I can't just turn it off; but don't worry, it'll stop on its own in a couple of hours or so."

Nicole shook her head, clamping her hands over her ears. "This isn't happening. It's impossible. I'm losing it!"

*It is happening, it's not impossible, and you aren't losing it.*

*Losing what?*

*Her mind.*

Desperate for answers, Nicole looked up at the Dragon Whisperer. The visor was still obscuring his vision, but he was facing her and looked concerned. "Are you alright?" he asked her. No, she wanted to scream at him, I am not alright!

"The…the dragons are talking. They're talking to me."

"….Yes?"

"But…their mouths…"

"Aren't moving" he nodded. "You get used to it. It's called thought-speak."

That jarred another realisation to the forefront of Nicole's brain. "You can understand them too!"

"Ah...Yes. I can. No, I won't tell you how."

*You're being sensible for once* Toothless noted. His mate, Selena, made an odd trilling, clicking noise that almost sounded like a snigger.

Nicole's mind was reeling. "I get it now. Dragon Whisperer. This is how you do it. The dragons…talk…with their minds, and you can use yours to control them."

Hiccup groaned. "I don't control them. I befriend and am polite to them. Selena, can you sweep the area, please?" he asked the female dragon pointedly.

*Sure thing!* she warbled brightly, taking off to circle above and check that nobody was coming towards them. Nicole watched her go, head spinning more than when the male…when Toothless had been throwing her about like a rag doll. She had so many questions.

"How…long have you been able to do this?"

He shrugged. "A while. I wasn't born with it. It just sort of happened."

"But why you? What you makes so special?"

Another shrug. "You tell me. I can't be sure, but I might be the first human to try and bring peace between humans and dragons. Perhaps the gods, or God, or the powers that be gave me this gift so I could do that better…or make things worse, it's hard to tell. But I can't be certain. The world's a big place. For all I know, there are other dragon whisperers out there."

"Okay…so why me? Why do all this? What do you have to gain?"

"I hoped to gain an ally. I took this risk to let you hear thought-speak because you're the captain; you have the most sway over what your crew does. I'm tired of making enemies, Nicole. I needed to change your mind. Besides, there's something you need to hear from Toothless himself." He gestured for the dragon to speak, in that strange way of theirs.

Nicole found herself pinned by his intense, slit pupiled gaze. *Nicole Stormheart, listen well. If you ever try and separate us again, if you betray us to Adulfr, I swear to the Moon and Sun and all the stars that I will track you down, no matter how far away you run, no matter where you hide, and I will make sure you regret it.* This threat was accompanied by a growl that shook her to the core. She knew that the dragon absolutely meant every word.

His rider swatted him on the nose. "Bad dragon! That's not what I meant. We need her to like us" he protested, exasperatedly. Toothless rolled his eyes.

"I…I…" Nicole couldn't seem to make her mouth work. The ground had shifted and fallen away from under her feet, and she'd fallen into a strange new world. Where dragons could speak and understand humans, and everything she'd been sure of before was crumbling away. "What happened between you and Adulfr?"

"Just a sec. Toothless" the rider said disapprovingly, somehow looking at the dragon despite his eyes being covered. "You know what I meant. Nicole apologised to you, didn't she? Now it's your turn. C'mon, bud. Do it for me, please?" he coaxed, scratching the Fury under the chin. Toothless' pupils widened and he purred involuntarily.

*Oh, alright* Toothless relented. He looked at Nicole again, gaze softened somewhat, and told her, *I'm sorry for flying madly to frighten you and make you feel sick. Although it's really your own fault for putting me on that boat in the first place. I hate boats* he snarled, shaking himself all over.

Hiccup gave a long suffering sigh. "Close enough. Now then, Adulfr…"

"Wait! Could you…could you take off your helmet, please?" Nicole asked. "I do know who you are, and – you expect me to trust you, but how can I when I can't even see your face? I don't even know why I've been listening to you."

"It's my naturally charming personality" he replied smoothly. Toothless swatted him with his tail-fins. "Or it's the dragon. But I am getting kind of sick of wearing this. What do you think, bud?"

Toothless hummed thoughtfully. *I think it will be alright* he said at last, *but I have my eyes on you!* he warned Nicole.

She nodded wordlessly, staring as the rider pulled off his helmet at last. He was youthful, with a shock of auburn hair and a beard that was little more than ambitious stubble. He rubbed his eyes, blinking after the darkness, and looked at her with green orbs that gleamed with kindness and trustworthiness.

"That's better. Hello, Nicole."

"…You're a lot better looking than your wanted poster."

He chuckled. Toothless moved behind him, and he sat sidesaddle on the dragon's back. "So. I'm guessing Adulfr told you that I killed his father, or that I ordered Toothless to kill his father, and that I'm secretly amassing a dragon army to…I don't even know. Take over the world? Why would I – or anyone, for that matter – want to do that?"

Nicole didn't disagree. "Your dragon did kill his father" she challenged instead, "there were eyewitnesses."

The Night Fury growled, reminding Nicole that although he had the voice of a man, now, he was still a dragon. *I did kill Hauke, because he tried to kill Hiccup first. I was only protecting my human.*

"We didn't even know Adulfr existed" Hiccup added. "Hauke had his men beat me up and then tried to stab me. He didn't exactly give the impression of being a family man."

"He was cruel; that doesn't mean he wasn't a father. Anyone can be a father" Nicole scoffed. "All it takes is them meeting a prostitute who hasn't counted the days between her monthly bleeding properly (3), and they never hear anything of it afterwards." Something in her tone and the bitter set of her mouth told Hiccup that this was more personal for Nicole than a mere remark.

"True; but surely you can see why I wouldn't have thought…" Hiccup cleared his throat and went on. "Yes, I – we – killed Hauke. His son could have challenged me to holmgang, to avenge him, and involved nobody else. Instead, Adulfr gathered an army to him, lying to them about who I am and what I do, and attacked my home. He captured us and ordered my best friend to be tortured, right in front of me. Toothless, show her."

The dragon lowered and stretched out a wing. Hiccup leaned over and traced his fingers along a scar in the leathery membrane. There were many scars; the Night Fury had been whipped, hard. "Adulfr does not care who he hurts, or what he has to do to get what he wants. Whatever he's offering you, it isn't worth it. If he's threatening you, we can help. Nicole, you cannot trust him."

She knew that much already. The way she'd grown up ('been raised' would be too generous a term) and her responsibility as captain had given Nicole a keen eye for what people said silently. She could tell Adulfr was bad news, but he had a silver tongue and persuaded her to join him, promising riches. At first she had believed Hiccup to be no different, manipulating her with his words, and in a way she supposed they were the same. Yet in others, so different.

For one thing, unlike Adulfr, the man watching her expectantly had proven what he preached. If she had not heard the dragons speak, she would not have believed it, yet try as she might, Nicole could not deny her own ears. She was quite sure that she was not mad; although not as sure as she had been. And if dragons could truly speak, and understand humans…

"They knew" she murmured, staring but not seeing. "This whole time, they knew what we were doing to them. They knew why." She looked at Hiccup, and he had to stop himself from smiling, when he saw the light dawn in her eyes.

*Coast is clear!* Selena roared down from above.

*Thanks, Sel! We'll be there in a bit!* Toothless roared back in turn.

Hiccup swung himself into the saddle properly. "Come back to Berk with me" he offered, "We'll talk to Astrid, figure something out. And Nicole? Thank you. For listening to me. And I forgive you for kidnapping my dragon. It's my own fault for being out there in the first place. I promise the flight won't be so bad this time." He held a hand out to her, asking her to trust him.

Nicole hesitated for only a moment, before reaching out to take his hand.


(1) Out of the ass explanation because I couldn't be bothered to go back and write in a translator.

(2) This is an old Arabic/Islamic word for Vikings from the west and north, which translates, rather fittingly, to 'fire-worshippers'.

(3) A reference to the 'rhythm method', an ineffective way of avoiding pregnancy by not having sex during ovulation, and a bit of backstory for Nicole.