All The Small Things Chapter 2
The tiny brown-and-green dragon lay on Fishlegs' nightstand, watching unconcerned as he sketched it (very roughly – Fishlegs wasn't much of an artist), measured it, observed it from all possible angles, compared its colors to the hues of familiar objects, and wrote it all down. As for Fishlegs, he was nearly hyperventilating with excitement. He was always fascinated at the discovery of a new dragon type, and this one had practically appeared on his front doorstep! It was also much smaller than any known dragon, and it was unbearably cute, too. He was working as quickly as possible, just in case the miniature dragon decided to fly away.
Flying away wouldn't be easy because Fishlegs had closed his bedroom door and shut the window. That kept Meatlug from flying out the window, but she was sound asleep and didn't complain. He had also inadvertently trapped a hornet inside his room when he shut the window, but the hornet was flying around the ceiling and, aside from its irritating buzz, it wasn't bothering him. His attention was entirely on the dragon.
"Okay, little fellow," he said out loud. "Now let's see how you eat." He picked off a small bit of fish from his supper platter and dropped it in front of the tiny dragon. It sniffed at the fish, cheeped at him twice, and turned away.
"Don't you like that kind of fish?" he wondered. "It's cod! I thought every dragon liked codfish! I never met a dragon who was a picky eater before. Well, let's see... where can I get some different kinds of fish?" He was still pondering when the hornet swooped down toward him and made him duck. Before he could try anything else, the little dragon took wing with a soft buzzing, fluttering sound. It intercepted the hornet in mid-air; there was a popping sound, a puff of smoke, and the insect fell lifeless to the floor. The dragon spiraled down, landed next to the dead hornet, and devoured it with audible crunching sounds. Then it flew back to its perch on Fishlegs' nightstand and began grooming itself.
"Oh...so you eat bugs?" Fishlegs asked it. "Well, that explains a few things, like why you didn't eat the fish, and how you get food if you live in the middle of the forest. Maybe that's how you got caught in that spiderweb – you saw a bug and lunged at it before you saw that it was stuck in the web. But how did you shoot this bug down? I didn't see you breathe any fire. Now you've got me curious!" He looked around to see if there were any more insects in his room, but saw none.
"Well, if I can't figure that one out, then I guess the next thing I should do is weigh you," he decided. He pulled out the balance scale that he usually used for weighing the eggs that the family chickens laid. He held one of the pans next to his night stand and coaxed the dragon to stand on it. It walked onto the pan willingly, but didn't lie down or relax, but stared up at him curiously. He set down the scale and pulled out the bag of silver and copper coins that he used as counterweights. He didn't have a lot of money, but he wasn't saving up for anything in particular, so that was okay. He started with his heaviest silver coin and laid it in the other pan of the scale. It wasn't enough; he'd need at least one more coin to match the little dragon's weight. He reached into his bag –
...and, with an excited squeak, the little dragon pounced on the coin.
The silver was twice as big around as the dragon's head, but the little creature was undeterred, although it was clearly startled when the pan of the scale hit bottom when the dragon landed on it. It picked up the coin in its mouth, fluttered awkwardly back to the nightstand, and nearly crash-landed from the weight of the silver. It set its prize down and sat on it, somehow looking very smug.
"Hey! Give that back!" Fishlegs exclaimed as he reached for it. "It took me almost a year to earn – OW!" The moment he touched the dragon and the coin, there was a quick flash and a popping sound, and the young man felt like he'd been struck by lightning. All his hairs were standing on end, his eyesight went blurry for a moment, his fingertip was red and sore, and he felt weak and tingly all over.
He fell down on his knees so he wouldn't fall headlong, and stared at the dragon. It glared back at him. "What did you do to me?" he demanded. The dragon just flicked its tongue at him, so he tried to think. "Is that what you did to the hornet? For a small dragon, you've got some real power!" He hesitantly reached for the coin again. The dragon growled and took the silver in its mouth. This time, there was no pop and no pain when Fishlegs touched the coin. He tried to take it back; the dragon clung to it, dug its claws into the wood of his nightstand, and lashed its tail angrily.
After playing tug-of-war for a few seconds, Fishlegs began to feel like a bully. Was he really going to take a coin away from a creature smaller than his own hand? Well, yes; after all, it was his coin. But the dragon didn't see it that way, and if there was one thing Fishlegs had learned from his friendship with Meatlug, it was that it's no use arguing with a dragon.
"Fine, you win," he sighed, and stopped pulling. "At least I know that your power has a shot limit. But how am I supposed to weigh you if you won't let go of the coin? That silver weighs almost as much as you do!" The little dragon relaxed slightly, but it didn't put down the coin and it didn't stop glaring at him. "Maybe I can take it back when you fall asleep. In the meantime, I guess I'll find some bugs for you to eat. It's dark out, so the bugs will come to my lantern. Feeding you might be the easiest part of this arrangement." He slipped out the door quickly before the miniature dragon could follow him, grabbed a lantern and a clay plate, and stepped outside. Fifteen minutes later, he returned with the plate half-covered with moths, beetles, and other insects that he'd slapped down and stunned when they flew around his lantern.
He set the plate on the floor where the dragon could see it. His tiny companion dove onto the plate and began devouring its contents. But the moment Fishlegs made a move toward the nightstand and the silver coin, it dropped whatever it was eating and flew back to protect its stolen treasure. After three failed attempts, Fishlegs gave up. He sat on the floor and watched the dragon finish off its meal, writing down notes from time to time. When the little dragon was done eating, it flew back to the nightstand, curled up around its coin, and fell asleep.
"Nope, I can't take my coin back while you're asleep," Fishlegs sighed. "I never heard of a dragon who liked money before. Maybe the Book of Dragons can tell me something." He slid his copy of the Book out from underneath his bed and began leafing through it. In the section called "Legendary Dragons," he found a reference to huge red flame-breathers who loved gold and other shiny objects so much that they would kill for them. But no one living could swear that he'd ever seen such a dragon, and of course, there was no mention of tiny dragons, money-loving or otherwise. Fishlegs gave up, put out his lantern, and went to bed.
He woke up the next morning to the usual sensation of Meatlug licking his feet. He had no idea what that meant to a dragon, but it made his Gronckle happy, so he didn't protest. The nano-dragon was still asleep on his nightstand, curled tightly around the silver coin it had stolen from him. As he got out of bed, it awoke and watched him warily. Fishlegs faced a dilemma; he had to open the window so Meatlug could get out, but he feared that, as soon as he opened it, the nano-dragon would escape.
"I'm guessing that you won't fly away," he thought out loud, "because that would mean leaving your 'precious' behind, and I think you won't do that." He opened the window. Meatlug buzzed out and made a beeline for the nearest feeding tray; she was hungry this morning. The tiny dragon watched the much bigger dragon leave, picked up the coin in its mouth, and flapped unsteadily toward the window. Fishlegs tried to block its way, but the leaf-dragon's heavy load didn't stop it from dodging his efforts, slipping out the window, and heading north toward its forest home.
"So I guessed wrong," Fishlegs called sadly, and waved to it. "Bye, little fellow. It was nice meeting you. Whatever you spend my money on, I hope it's worth it." He did his morning chores, repeatedly looking up to see if the leaf dragon had returned, then went to the Mead Hall for breakfast.
After breakfast, Stoick pulled Hiccup aside. "Over the next few days, when you and your friends are out riding on your dragons, keep your eyes open for a ship whose side-shields have an emblem of a crossed black sword and axe on a red background. If you see it, let me know immediately. I'm expecting them."
"Those are the Wild Men of the North, right, Dad?"
"Yes, it's time for their annual trading visit, and they don't like to be kept waiting."
"I'll tell you if I see them." Hiccup hurried toward the training ring, where the other dragon riders were waiting for him. He brought the others up to speed on what he and Astrid had found yesterday. Snotlout wasn't impressed.
"You can discover all the wimpy little sissy dragons you want, and I won't mind. Just don't discover anything more awesome than a Monstrous Nightmare, okay?"
Hiccup smiled as he glanced toward Toothless, who was napping near the doorway. "You mean, aside from the totally awesome dragon I already discovered, right?" Snotlout was trying to come up with a suitable comeback when Fishlegs took over the conversation.
"Aside from a bunch of numbers that Snotlout doesn't want to hear, here's what I've learned about these nano-dragons."
"Nanny dragons?" Tuff queried him. "Are you saying they're like goats?"
"No, nano-dragons," Fishlegs corrected her. " 'Nano' means 'very small.' Anyway, we know that they're weak flyers, they eat bugs instead of fish, and if you touch them and they don't like it, they have an electric power that can knock you off your feet."
"Huh," Hiccup commented. "That little guy sat in my hand for an hour or more and he didn't shock me."
"I guess he likes you," Astrid replied.
"Oh, yeah, that's the other thing we know about them," Fishlegs continued. "They like money, or silver, or anything shiny, I'm not sure which. I tried to use my big silver coin as a weight in my balance, and the dragon stole it. When I tried to take it back, that's when he hit me with some high voltage."
"A dragon attacked Fishlegs?" Tuffnut scoffed. "I am shocked – shocked!"
"No, Fishlegs was," Ruff corrected him with a half-hidden snort.
"I'm sorry, Fishlegs," Astrid said solicitously. "I know how hard you worked to earn that coin, and I remember how happy you were when you finally got it. Are you going to get it back?"
"That might be hard," Fishlegs answered. "The nano-dragon got away. He and my coin are somewhere in the forest. Finding him is going to be almost impossible with his natural camouflage, and even if we do find him, I can't think of a way to take my coin back without getting electrocuted."
"Electro-cuted," Snotlout mused. "That's a good word for them. They're electric and they're cute."
"There has to be a way," Hiccup decided. "We know pretty much where these nano-dragons live, and now that we know what they look like, we might be able to find them again. But I never heard of a dragon that loved silver before. All the dragons I've ever met love fish and neck-scratches. They've never paid any attention to money or other shiny things."
"Well, this one does, and he stole my biggest coin," Fishlegs said. "At least, I think it was a 'he.' It's hard to tell when they're that small."
"It's hard for you to tell, no matter how big they are!" Ruff teased him. "We all remember when you thought Meatlug was a boy!" Tuff and Snotlout snickered at the memory.
"Funny, I don't remember any of you telling him differently," Astrid said cuttingly.
"Anyway," Hiccup said loudly to cut off the argument that was about to start, "there's one other thing we know about them. Toothless doesn't seem to want them around."
"Who cares what your dragon thinks?" Snotlout scoffed.
"He's a pretty good judge of dragons," Hiccup retorted. "He was right about the baby Typhoomerang, wasn't he? Maybe there's something about that nano-dragon that would really be bad news. Maybe we should be glad that he stole Fishlegs' coin and left. That might be better than if he stayed around and did something really bad."
"Hey, that's a 'first' for the Book of Dragons!" Tuffnut said mockingly. "Fishlegs bribed a dragon to leave the village alone!"
"Uhh, that's not quite how it happened," Fishlegs protested. "It was more larceny than bribery."
Astrid was unconvinced. "We still don't know for sure if that dragon was bad news, or if Toothless was just jealous because you were holding another dragon, right?" She got no response. "Hiccup?"
Hiccup wasn't paying attention. He had cupped his ear toward the north. "I think we're about to get another chance to answer some of these questions."
A few seconds later, two leafy nano-dragons appeared over the training ring.
