Author's Note:

Hello all and welcome to another chapter. This one is set not long after Valka first takes Snotlout in and is on the shorter side. Thank you for the follows and favourites and I hope you enjoy the chapter.

I own nothing.

Silly Faces

Despite having been a mother, Valka was finding it hard to rear Snotlout.

It wasn't that he himself was a particularly difficult baby but she was limited in terms of resources in the Sanctuary, people didn't exactly trade with her so she had to make or find everything she needed herself. The dragons also had to deal with the new human in their home.

Cloudjumper had been entirely confused to begin with, dragon hatchlings were very different from human babies and he was not accustomed to being woken in the middle of the night. Initially, he had not been impressed at all but he eventually become used to it and would sometimes hover over the crying boy, trying to comfort him. Strangely enough, the other dragons warmed up to him with ease, perhaps they instinctively knew he was a baby and naturally wanted to care for him. Some had tried to be helpful and had delivered partly digested fish, the same way they would for dragon hatchlings, but they eventually seemed to realise that a human baby couldn't actually eat something like. Valka had to admit that the looks on their faces when they first saw her feed him were priceless as they had no idea how to respond to it but they eventually got used to that as well.

The real difficulty was how full on it was, she had no one else to help her so she had to look after him the whole time, in the village she had other mothers and woman, as well as Stoick, to help her with Hiccup, letting her take at least a short break. In the Sanctuary, it was literally just her and she had resigned herself to that fact until the dragons surprised her once again.

She'd just put Snotlout down for a nap when a dragon had come in wounded.

Since arriving, she'd slowly found herself tending to injured dragons as she learned more about them little by little. For most things, the dragons could handle themselves but occasionally an injury happened that was eased more with her assistance.

The dragon in question had been a Nadder and he'd received a large gash in his leg, it wasn't life-threatening by itself but it had a high chance of infection if left undealt with. Dragon saliva was very good at cleaning wounds but Valka wanted to put some sort of dressing on it as added protection just in case, the Nadder hadn't been keen on the idea and had been very jittery until she'd finally convinced him that she was trying to help. Eventually, the wound was neatly dressed and the dragon nuzzled her in thanks, Valka laughed then suddenly froze when she realised she'd left Snotlout far longer than she'd planned, she hurried back to her cave, hoping that the boy was still asleep and found a sight she couldn't quite believe.

A female Monstrous Nightmare was sat in front of the cave keeping a maternal eye on her hatchling and a very awake Snotlout.

Instead of crying because she wasn't there, Snotlout was gurgling happily and waving his arms as the hatchling pulled what could only be called funny faces at him. The boy seemed to be loving this game and Valka couldn't help but think of an older brother entertaining his younger sibling, the similarities were so striking it was unbelievable.

The Nightmare hatchling pulled yet another silly face and Snotlout squealed in delight and the hatchling gave his own little rumble that could only be laughter, behind her, the female Nightmare gave a rumble of her own and her hatchling pouted before nuzzling Snotlout and scampering over to her. Snotlout immediately began whine and Valka hurried over and picked him up, instantly settling him. The adult Nightmare rumbled at her softly and Valka found herself speaking without thinking, "Thank you."

She received another rumble and the dragon mother shepherded her hatchling off, leaving them be. Sitting down on one of the cave's stone ledges, Valka's mind considered what happened, even as she tended to Snotlout.

Snotlout must have woken up while she was occupied with the Nadder and the Nightmare had stopped by with her own hatchling to look after him until she returned. Then the hatchling had even played with Snotlout, keeping him happy and entertained and apparently enjoying himself in the process. They'd looked so like playing brothers it had been uncanny, she'd accepted that dragons were far more than Vikings believed already but it seemed they were well beyond even her expectations.

She smiled, perhaps she could trust the mother dragons to keep an eye on Snotlout even when he was awake, they'd already done it without her asking and the interest of the hatchlings might mean he wouldn't be as lonely as she feared.

She'd look into it.

The next day, Valka could only smile when the same hatchling scurried into the cave, closely followed by his mother, and gave her a hopeful look. She simply pointed to the bundle of blankets where Snotlout was lain and the hatchling immediately scurried over and peered in.

Soon, Snotlout's happy gurgles sounded throughout the cave as the Nightmare resumed the silly faces from the day before and Valka's smile grew wider.

PS-So can anyone guess who the Nightmare hatchling is? Please let me know what you thought and I'll hopefully update soon.