Oblation
Two figures marched across the Tundra's horizon, one dark and long and sleek, the other wobbling to balance against ground's heavy grip and the stinging winds. Nature won out for the seventh time as the man was knocked to his side, a string of curses falling from his mouth.
"I miss the sun."
The Night Fury ignored his human and continued to paw through the snow.
"I miss feeling my hands too."
Toothless favored Hiccup with a humorless look.
::I warned you about the cold...::
Hiccup had gotten to ride his shoulders for much of their journey, but as soon as they neared his Drove's territory Toothless had forced the human to start walking. Much like how Hiccup was nervous about exposing a dragon to his clansmen, Toothless had his own reservations about flaunting a rider.
Hiccup stuck out his lip and exhaled noisily. "I know..."
He would be fine; Toothless knew what happened to humans when over-exposed to coldness and Hiccup showed none of the signs. Complaints aside, his human fared rather well for travelling so far north. The sealskin purchased from the nearest human village kept his back warm while that ghastly beard they spent moons arguing over shielded his face. Hiccup passed his sleeping hours in the same village, often cradled by Toothless' wings and pressed against his fire cavity; it always managed to thaw any chill the human suffered during wakefulness.
A part of Toothless suspected the bond between them shared a part in Hiccup's comfort, as though his warming, internal flame could somehow spread to Hiccup.
"Are we almost there yet?" Hiccup trudged forward in a high-kneed march just to conquer the heavy snow.
::We are there::
Hiccup stumbled over a hard patch of ice.
"We are?"
He squinted ahead into the dark sky. The airborne Night Furies turned invisible against the night backdrop, but those grounded emerged as dozens of moving black mounds against a blue-white terrain. Their eyes shone like lanterns; pairs of green, yellow and sometimes white bobbed closer. It was beautiful and eerie and it never ceased to enchant Hiccup, the way Night Furies commanded the night.
Toothless nudged the small of Hiccup's back with his crown to get the boy moving again. He could sense the attention they were drawing—the attention they always drew.
The first meeting was awkward. His drove, thinking him dead and lost, were suspicious of his appearance and more so of his companion. The Blue Ones hadn't recognized Hiccup as a human for his paler color; the only humans they had been exposed to were rounded figures cloaked in furs with dark, wide faces. The Grey Ones argued over Hiccup's presence, claiming omens of good and bad came with him. Some of the Black Ones had the gall to suggest eating Hiccup.
The queerness of his tailfin and the saddle on his back sparked looks of damning and curiosity. It was his heroic story of defeating the Demon that saved Toothless' pride (and perhaps Hiccup's life). His family of countless Spells gathered at the height of the moon, prepared to judge Toothless as redeemable or not—for reliance on a human was nothing to smile upon—and that's when he revealed his tale. He admitted his weakness and enslavement, he spoke of his shame and unlikely rescue, he confessed his madness and daring in befriending a human.
Then he spoke of his slow climb to salvation...and it had seemed slow. Toothless would blame it on his connection with Hiccup, the way his mind would embrace experiences more than his senses would pick up his surroundings, but those two human years he spent travelling with Hiccup felt a lifetime next to his decades of enslavement.
The tale had captured the attention, scrutiny, and finally respect of the Drove. The Grey Ones bumped heads with him first, reinstating him as one of the drove. Then his brothers and sisters came—those that had survived huntings and primary. Only then, when he had the approval of the entire, did he allow Hiccup forward.
But the welcome of three days ago was not what Toothless had imagined for years and years (though in hindsight it should have been). It was this moment—right now. The reunion with this Night Fury, the one advancing in silent footfalls. Her scent invaded his nostrils before he even thought to look at her; it triggered an onslaught of memories and reactions. A shudder ran through Toothless' body and for a beat he swore he could feel the cold as a mammal would.
Toothless turned his head and looked at her.
Pale, yellow eyes gleamed back at him in the darkness. He had dreamed of those eyes—more so in his lucid moments away from the Demon, but they were always there niggling his mind, all throughout his enslavement. He wondered about them, wondered if they would narrow in revulsion or brighten in esteem upon remembering him.
::Go play with the Blue Ones:: he demanded of Hiccup in his lowest, most subtle tenor.
"Huh?" Hiccup mumbled, looking up from his feet. His wide pupils sucked in the starlight above and he focused on the dark shadow moving slowly towards them.
::They're behind you. Up the hill::
Hatchlings weren't hard to find in the midst of a Resting Spell. The shade of their scales and their restless movements could catch any light.
Hiccup didn't move as Toothless wished him to; he continued to squint at the approaching dragoness.
"Who's that?"
::Hiccup...:: Toothless warned. He lowered his voice and earplates as much as he dared. ::It's the female—::
"The—ooh..." Hiccup took a step backwards; his foot crunched rather loudly for someone whose weight could not compare to a dragon's. "Right..."
The human had that annoying, sly look on his face like he actually knew what was going on. Or it could have been the beard that annoyed Toothless.
He smashed his tail against the cold-crusted snow, agitated that Hiccup continued to linger. His impertinent human threw up his hands and chuckled.
"Going, going..."
Hiccup started clopping his way toward a cluster of bright blue hatchings. The clutch began chirping in excitement the moment they saw the Pale-Human-Who-Knew-Where-To-Scratch.
With his human out of range, Toothless allowed himself to relax a little. Females were dangerous. And this one...
He turned his attention on her again. The moon only half shone that night but it was enough to power the flare of her gaze and gloss her hard coat in a healthy sheen. Her scales were a shine lighter than his—bluer—and he could tell by her tailfins that her wingspan was longer. She faced him straight legged, mirroring his stance, and their heads were nearly of equal height.
Odd. He recalled her as being much larger in comparison in their last meeting.
She made the same observation.
::Your girth has expanded:: she rasped, low and thick. Toothless tried to keep his tail from twitching in reaction to the strength in her voice; her fire must burn hot to vocalize such a grated timbre.
He focused on roughening his own voice.
::Ah...yes. My maturing has accelerated because I...:: Toothless couldn't be sure why he hesitated. Perhaps it was because Hiccup hesitated when asked such questions. He pushed through. :: Because I'm bonded to a human::
Her nostril's flared, inhaling the fresh scent Hiccup left in his wake.
::And such things happen when one chooses to connect with a human?::
There was something in the way she said "choose" and "connect"... something questioning, bordering on degrading. Something shared by many of his age.
Toothless thrust out his chest and declared, ::Just this human::
His human was special. Ground any dragon who said different.
The female regarded him coolly but she made no remark to his comment. Instead, she noted, ::Your speech has altered::
Toothless, in return, chose not to comment on this. It had been pointed out to him time and again by other dragons. He couldn't hear it but somehow he was picking up human dialect and he didn't know how to stop.
::Where is He?:: Toothless asked. His drovebrother should have been the first to bump heads with him but his rival had yet to show his scales.
The very female they had once competed for sat on her haunches and curled her tail to her front.
::He brought me three heads of a hydra:: She sounded as though she were boasting for him, ::I found it worthy of selection. Then we engaged in primary for a moon's journey across the sky. He fought strongly and gave me many scars:: She lifted her maw as she said this. Toothless saw cracked scales and a thin line of grey raking down her throat and chest, dangerously close to the life streams of their bodies. It must have been a glorious primary. He would have expected no less from his drovebrother.
Which was why it did not surprise Toothless when the female finished with: ::And then I killed him::
Toothless lowered his earfins out of respect. ::He is with Ea now::
::His Vale was great and he had Good Passing:: she added. ::It was many Spells ago::
Many Spells ago...
Toothless tempered his voice when he asked, ::And so you are not beyond primary?::
The female snorted, his intentions all too clear, and replied, ::You are handicapped.::
Toothless had desensitized himself enough to let the statement slide harmlessly from his scales.
::And yet I fly.::
::You travel with a human.::
::You think that lessens my stature?:: He bared his teeth with the question. He was still healthy and capable and his companion did not dilute that.
::You were enslaved:: she stated again but this time her coolness had softened as did her voice.
Toothless snarled anyhow. He sensed several nearby TatqiqKivgaq tap into their conversation.
::And then I killed her:: he announced so guttural a human could have understood him. When he spoke of the demon, of the thousands she had enslaved, and how he had defeated her, he and his human companion, the drove as a whole bowed their heads in acknowledgement.
The female stared at him for a very long moment. Then her head dipped to reaffirm her recognition of his victory.
::I wished your drovebrother to defeat me:: she confessed. ::I would rather not wait until my scales fade with age and weakness to bear clutch::
Toothless' right earfin twitched. He made sure to leave out the human slang when he next said, ::I would bring you oblation of my greatest defeat...but I cannot carry it::
The female padded forward with snow sinking under her paws in quiet submission until he could feel the heats of their chambers intermingle in the small space between them.
::Shame of serpents:: she purred and she bumped her crown to his.
The contact shocked the breath from him. He could feel his gas chamber churning in his breast, swearing that he would meet no stronger female.
Toothless stared at her for a very long time. She did not blink. She did not turn away.
::Hiccup!:: he barked back towards his human. He never took his eyes from Her though. He never stopped seeking sincerity.
"What?" The mound on the ground called back. Hiccup had at least three hatchings crawling along his skins as ants would a tree. A forth chewed at his shoe.
::We're going back south:: Toothless said.
Hiccup sat up quickly. One of the hatchlings fell from his chest and landed in his lap.
"What?" he repeated, dumbly.
::We're taking the largest piece of the demon back here with us::
Toothless could hear Hiccup scrambling to stand up under the weight of hatchlings and snow.
"Oh...that sounds...really, really difficult."
:: But we'll still do it::
"Is this for her?"
Toothless continued to watch Her. Her eyes gleaned in the reflective snows and speckled under the stars. Her youth and power and strength sang to him.
::Yes::
Hiccup plucked a hatchling from his sealskin and set it back on the ground.
"Then I guess that's what we'll be doing."
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A/N: And we're back with the bros! I think this was the last one I had on DA, so that means it'll just be fresh material from here on out. I have been a bit distracted lately from RL and a slight Spartacus obsession but I'll try to be more on the ball with this.
I've re-uploaded the final chapters of Hitchups with a little snippet of unseen WaH story tagged onto the bottom. If you want to read Hiccup's first impression with Toothless' Drove go check it out :)
A big thanks to Sir Nick for betaing! Let me know what ya'll think. The female Night Fury may have come off as a bit harsh but dragon culture is quite different from human culture. Everything about her is appealing to Toothless.
Baby Night Furies crawling all over Hiccup FTW.
