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Night and Day

Chapter 4:

Previously:

"Hop up. I'll run the rest of the way." Star's shaking had calmed considerably while Toothless had examined her wings. "We'll start flight lessons tomorrow."

Star climbed back up onto Toothless' back and held on as he began sprinting across the ground. She honestly didn't know if she wanted to learn how to fly. It wasn't that she was afraid of heights, she loved climbing as high as she could, it's just that she didn't trust her wings. About a year ago she'd fallen on her left wing and had broken it. Her mother had fixed it up and the wing had healed fine, but Star didn't know what would happen if she ever put actual strain on it. What if she started to fly and then fell like a rock? What if she broke her wing again like the last time she'd tried to fly on her own? Memories of falling out of a tree and flailing in an attempt to get her wings open to fly flashed through her mind and she shivered.

Toothless was acutely aware of the tension in the little nightfury on his back. Flying had definitely set something off in her and he wasn't sure what could be done about it. He'd have a talk with her tomorrow when they started her flying lessons.

Star held onto Toothless's back as he ran through the forest and back towards the village of Berk. She couldn't stop thinking about flying now that it was on her mind. Star had been envious of the dragons that would fly over her families little home, but she'd always been too little to even try to glide. Whenever Star had brought up flying her mother would always look worried. Star frowned slightly; no her mother had been more then worried. Her mother would glance around and wring her skirt nervously like she was afraid of something.

The little white nightfury shook her head. Her mother hadn't been afraid of anything! Star could remember many situations where her mother had had to face something dangerous and the elder woman had never even seemed concerned.

Star's sister had also seemed worried about Star learning how to fly though. They would both tell her she was to little to fly and since Star was still a hatchling and hadn't known any other dragons she had just believed them. Now though...the more she thought about it...it had seemed strange that her mother and sister had been so against her learning how to fly.

Star was deep enough in her own thoughts that she didn't at first notice when Toothless slowed. They were in the village before she knew it. Her thoughts stopped abruptly when she was suddenly not on Toothless' back.

"Here's the little white!" One of the humans of Berk had walked up behind Toothless when he had slowed down to walk through the village. The human, whom Star would later learn to be Snotlout, had picked up Star and was holding her up away from Toothless.

Star, in a flash of panic from being picked up by a stranger, let out a high pitch squeak. It was an instinctual sound meant to call for a hatchlings mother. Toothless, having already decided that he would be Star's protector, responded to the sound instantly and tackled Snotloud. The Viking was so surprised that he let go of Star and just blankly stared up at the snarling adult nightfury.

Toothless huffed at him and then retracted his teeth to pick Star back up. The little white had curled up into a defensive ball when she had been dropped. Toothless was still growling even when he had Star safely in his mouth.

"Okay buddy, I think they get it." Toothless' growling quieted as he looked up at his Hiccup. He let out a snort and then got off of Snotlout so that the viking could stand back up. Toothless let out one last warning growl and turned to walk towards the his home.

Snotlout dusted himself off once he was standing again. "What's got into him?" He asked with an awkward wave of his hand. He heard Hiccup chuckle and the dark haired viking just frowned at his cousin. "What? What's so funny?" Snotlout really was at a complete loss.

Hiccup shook his head and reached out to pat Snotlout's shoulder. "Would you let someone randomly grab your daughter?" Snotlout had only recently gotten married and his wife had even more recently given birth to a little baby girl.

Snotlout frowned. "Well no! But that's different!" He sputtered a little when Hiccup just chuckled and shook his head.

"Toothless is just being protective. The little white nightfury is probably scared out of its mind right now." Hiccup sighed as he looked around. "It's in a new place with lots of new people. Give it some space for awhile before you try to pick it up again." Hiccup wasn't sure if his cousin would take his advice to heart, but it had been worth a shot to at least warn him. "Otherwise Toothless might do more then just tackle you next time."

Toothless was now in a foul mood as he walked into his home with Star safe in his maw. He set her down for a moment so he could blast his stone bed with his flame. Once it was hot enough he picked Star back up and then hopped up onto the stone bed. She was saying something to him, but he was too busy getting her settled between his paws so he could lick her clean.

"Toothless?" Star had calmed down rather quickly when Toothless had picked her up after the human had dropped her. She'd been more surprised then afraid anyway. Toothless didn't respond to her even when they made it back to Toothless's home. "Toothless are you ok?" She asked when he set her down once they were inside. He still didn't say anything as he heated the stone slab and then picked her back up.

Star huffed when he started licking her back. She turned between his paws and put her own paws on the tip of Toothless's snout to get his attention. Star pushed at his snout and glared at him when he stopped licking and just stared back at her.

Toothless was rather surprised when the hatchling he had been trying to clean turned and pushed at his snout. He was even more surprised to find that she was glaring at him. He wasn't sure if her glaring was more adorable or interesting. "What?" His question just made Star huff again.

"I asked if you were ok." Star couldn't really hold the glare anymore so she settled back down between Toothless' paws.

Toothless tilted his head for a moment before chuckling softly. "I'm fine. Snotlout should not have grabbed you like that." Toothless shrugged and went back to trying to clean Star's scales.

Star squirmed as Toothless' tongue went across her back. She tried to push his tongue away, but he just ignored her. Star wasn't exactly used to this form of a bath. The little hatchling stopped squirming only when Toothless gave her a soft warning growl. Star just huffed again and held still as she waited for the older nightfury to finish giving her a bath.

"There," Toothless said once he was finished. Giving little Star a bath hadn't taken that long really; it had gone a lot faster once she'd stopped squirming. "Was that so bad?" He tilted his head and grinned at her.

The hatchling between his paws made a grumbling sound which made Toothless laugh. Star stuck her tongue out at him and curled up into a little ball.

Toothless smiled down at Star as she curled up to get some sleep. A soft hum started in his chest as he put his head down next to Star. His wings came around to cover his head as well as Star. Toothless closed his eyes and waited until he was sure Star was sound asleep before he allowed himself to fall asleep as well.

Mornings in Berk always started early; a viking had to get up early in order to get anything done! That's what was on Astrid's mind as she climbed out of bed with a groan. She rubbed her eyes for a moment and then glanced behind her at her still sleeping husband. She sighed and stood up to glare down at the sleeping man.

"Rise and Shine Hiccup!" Astrid grinned as she lifted a foot and kicked Hiccup in the side. She heard his trade mark 'why'd you do that' and chuckled. "It's time to get up. You have a new class to train down at the Academy remember?" Astrid was tempted to land another kick, but Hiccup sat up with a glare. "Not to mention you have to check on your apprentice at Gobber's shop."

Hiccup yawned and stretched. "I still don't understand why you have to kick me in the mornings." He threw off the blankets and carefully climbed out of the bed. "I'm the chief so you should be a little nicer." Without even asking, Astrid had already set his false leg down on the bed next to him.

Astrid grinned and shrugged. "I don't kick you that hard. You're just a big baby." Astrid leaned forward to kiss Hiccup on the cheek. "And as the chief's wife I get special butt kicking privileges." With that said and done she dressed and headed out of their bedroom to go down the the common room to make something for them to eat. Porridge was usually what they had for breakfast so she set about on making some.

Hiccup sighed and smiled fondly as Astrid dressed and then left. With practiced movements he attached his fake leg and stood up to make sure it was on correctly. He took one step and then another before nodding to himself.

Hiccup was dressed and down in the common room of their house by the time the porridge was done. "I think I'll ask Toothless if he and the little one want to come as well."

Astrid looked up at Hiccup as he came down the stairs and then sat down. "Are you sure Toothless will be ok with going?" She asked him as she handed him a bowl of porridge. "It's only been four days. After what he did to Snotlout Toothless is probably still really protective."

Hiccup rubbed the bridge of his nose and then shrugged. "Doesn't hurt to ask." He frowned a bit. "Any ideas on what to name the hatchling?"

The two were silent for a few minutes. "Usually the rider names their dragon." Astrid said slowly. "Maybe you could ask the village? Have a vote?" She knew Hiccup loved the whole voting thing.

Hiccup nodded and grinned. "Yeah, good idea Astrid!" He finished up his porridge and then handed the bowl back to her. "I'll go see if the two of them are up and then head to the academy."

Astrid smiled and shook her head as Hiccup stood up and went over to the door that separated the common room to the addition that had been added on for Toothless.

As per his usual Toothless was wide awake when Hiccup came into his room. The black nightfury lifted up his head to look at his human friend and grinned at him. Between his front paws the little white hatchling was curled up and still fast asleep.

"Hey bud." Hiccup smiled as he walked over and ran a hand along Toothless's jaw. "You want to come to the academy with me today?" He chuckled when Toothless looked down at the sleeping white nightfury. "You can bring the hatchling with you." Hiccup frowned for a moment and then knelt down so he could get a closer look at the little white.

Hiccup was trying to determine what gender the little white nightfury was as he stared at her. If nightfuries were anything like the other dragon species then there might be some physical differences between male nightfuries and female nightfuries; besides the obvious of course. He and the others had been calling the little hatchling 'she', but he hadn't known for sure what she was.

With a quick glance at Toothless to make sure he could touch the little white Hiccup lifted the hatchling's hind leg.

Star had been sleeping soundly when she felt someone grab her leg. Since the hold on her ankle was gentle Star didn't really feel the need to panic; it helped that Toothless was letting out a gentle rumble. Star did let out a disgruntled squeak for being woken up, but other then that she didn't move.

Hiccup, satisfied with what he found, nodded and let go of the little female's leg. "Well that's one question answered." He stood up and smiled at Toothless. "I'll meet you at the academy if you decide to come." He turned and headed out of Toothless's room to go outside.

"What was that about?" Star mumbled as she felt Toothless start to clean her face and the top of her head. She grumbled softly but was too tired to really move. The stress of the last few days had finally caught up to her and now she was feeling the exhaustion.

Toothless chuckled and just kept cleaning Star to help her wake up. "My Hiccup was just seeing what you were." He grinned as Star just continued to grumble. "Humans can't smell things like we can." He prodded at Star's side to get her to stand up. "So they have to look at things to learn."

Star let out a wide yawn and when she was prodded at she stood up. She felt Toothless shift next to her and soon enough she was being picked up and carried around in Toothless's maw.

"I can walk!" Being moved around was enough to wake Star up fully. "I'm awake, I won't fall over." Even though she liked the feeling of being carried around she knew she could walk on her own. She wasn't some fragile little hatchling that needed to be carried around from place to place.

As it was Toothless didn't put Star down until they were out of the house and at one of the food bowls. It was early enough that the early morning catch was just being dumped into the bowls for the dragons. Once there was enough fish in the bowl Toothless reached in and pulled out a couple for Star to eat.

"What are we doing today Toothless?" Star asked as the black nightfury set the fish down in front of her. She happily attacked the fish with gusto.

Toothless swallowed a couple fish of his own before answering the little white hatchling. "We're going to the academy today." That little tidbit of knowledge didn't slow Star down at all and he put down another fish for her.

Star finished her third fish before she responded. "Is that the place you were telling me about? Where people learn?" She shook her head when a fourth fish was offered to her. After having eaten so much in the past few days her hunger was finally abating.

Toothless nodded while he swallowed a few more fish. Once he was satisfied Toothless hopped down from the rim of the fish bowl and nodded for Star to follow him. "It is. I'll teach you the basics of flying while we're there." The floor of the arena was soft enough so that Star could fall without hurting herself. Other dragons with hatchlings often went there to help their hatchlings get used to humans. As much as Toothless disliked the idea of sharing the little white hatchling he knew it would be best for her to make friends with other hatchlings and young humans.

By the time Toothless and Star arrived at the arena part of the academy Hiccup had already warned the preteens not to crowd or attempt to pick up Star. Toothless was pleased with this preemptive move by his Hiccup and felt a little better about letting Star near the younger humans.

Star on the other hand felt very nervous when she spotted the group of preteens. Having grown up with just her mother and sister she was unused to so many humans in one place.

"You can't learn to fly if you hide under me." Toothless chuckled when he felt Star dart underneath him to hide behind one of his legs. She was just small enough to fit under him while he walked so long as she crouched down.

"Hey bud! We were just talking about you two." Hiccup waved for Toothless to come over. The older viking watched with curiosity as Toothless came over with the little white hatchling trying very hard to hide beneath him. This tactic failed though when Toothless sat down and pushed Star out from behind his forelegs.

Hiccup knelt down to get a closer look at the small white hatchling now that she was awake. With how nervous she looked Hiccup didn't try to touch her. "Hey there little one." He kept his voice quiet while he dug around in his pocket. Very slowly and with exaggerated movements he pulled out some of the grass from his pocket that all the dragons seemed to love. He held the bundle out to Star and held very still as he waited to see what she would do.

Very slowly Star scooted away from Toothless and towards the green stuff that was being held out to her. From the distance she was at she could tell that the grass smelled nice, but it wasn't until she was closer that she realized just how nice the grass smelled. Her nose touched the grass so she could get a good whiff of it. Within seconds she was rubbing her head against Hiccup's hand to get as much of the grass smell on her as she could. Star had never smelled anything like it before and it made her squirm with delight.

If there was one person that Toothless could trust with Star it was his Hiccup. He smiled happily when Star warmed up to Hiccup and began rubbing her head against Hiccup's hand.

"And that's what you do when you meet a young dragon." Hiccup said as he looked back at the group of preteens that were watching with interest. "You need to show the hatchling that you mean no harm. A little dragon nip helps as well." He scratched Star's head and neck and chuckled when she started purring.

Star was having a good time rubbing her head in the grass and getting all sorts of scratches and pets from the human. "That's my Hiccup." She heard Toothless say at one point as she continued to have a good time with the attention. Knowing that this human was the friend of Toothless made up Star's mind and once the man was sitting down she crawled into his lap.

Hiccup smiled and laughed as the little white nightfury crawled into his lap and rolled over so he could rub her belly. "Today I'll teach you how to introduce yourself to a new dragon. The first impression is important; especially if you want to become the dragon's rider."

"Hiccup sir," One of the younger girls asked as she raised her hand. "What's the nightfuries name?"

Hiccup looked over at Toothless and then down at Star who was purring in his lap. "We haven't decided yet. Since she's to young to have a rider I thought maybe we could decide as a group?"

The preteens all started talking excitedly as they tried to come up with names for the little white hatchling. Star at first didn't understand what was going on, but after a few simple names were directed at her realization hit.

"Toothless! Why are they giving me names?" Star asked in distress as she stopped purring and flipped back over in Hiccup's lap. "I have a name! It's Morning Star!"

Toothless shook his head and shrugged his shoulders as best he could. "They don't know that. I will still call you Star, but they need something to call you too." It was a tradition now for the dragons to have two names. Some dragons chose to keep just the name their human would give them, others liked having two names. Toothless himself had abandoned his dragon name when Hiccup had named him.

Star didn't like this idea at all of getting a new name. Morning Star had always been her name for as long as she could remember and she was pretty sure her mother had been the one to give it to her. "I don't want another name." she whimpered softly. Star looked at her claw for a moment and then reached out of Hiccup's lap to start scratching at the dirt in front of him.

"Call her Whitey!" "No way, name her Snow!" "How about Misty?" "Little Cloud!" Hiccup couldn't help but smile as all the preteens listed off the names that they could think of. A bump against his stomach caused him to look down. Hiccup's eyes went wide as he looked down at the ground where Star had been clawing at. After a few minutes more of the preteens talking about names Hiccup looked back up. "Those are all great names."

Hiccup lifted Star out of his lap and stood up. His movements caused Star's scratches to get brushed away. "She's a nightfury..." Hiccup started to say slowly. "How about something that has to do with night?"

The group was quiet for a moment before the young girl from earlier raised her hand again. "How about Star? Star's are white." Hiccup clapped his hands and nodded with a big grin. "Perfect idea! We'll call her Star!" And with that the group went back to their lesson.

By the time Hiccup made it home that evening Astrid was already home with a plate from the great hall for him. She'd spent the day training with her own dragon and then had gone out with some nets to try and get some fish.

"How did it go?" Astrid asked when she heard the door open behind her. She turned her head and did a double take. Hiccup was standing there with a perplexed and confused distant stare. "What? What happened Hiccup?" Astrid asked worriedly as she stood up and went over to her husband.

Hiccup shook himself out of his thoughts and looked at Astrid with a slight frown. "Everything went fine. Better then fine." He walked past Astrid and went over to sit down so he could eat his food. "I spent the morning teaching the class how to approach and introduce themselves to dragons. They practiced on the white nightfury." He rubbed his forehead and his frown grew. "When they weren't trying to meet the white nightfury Toothless was teaching her how to fly. I think."

Astrid watched Hiccup worriedly as he rambled on about what had happened at the academy. "Why do you look like you were forced to fight a dragon then?" She punched Hiccup on the arm when he didn't answer her right away.

"She can write." Hiccup said with a gasp of pain. "The white nightfury. She knows how to write." He looked up at Astrid with a bewildered frown. "And her name is Star."

A/N: Here's chapter 4. It went longer then I had planned, but the whole point of the chapter was for Hiccup to find out that Star knows how to write.

We all know night furies are smart. But how smart? Take a night fury hatchling and have humans raise it and I bet you money that night fury would be super intelligent.

Minor edit. Nothing serious. If you've already read this chapter the edit really doesn't change anything.