That night, Toothless flitted from chair to table, to bed, back under the covers, and back out again, warbling quietly to herself. Really, it was a miracle she didn't wake the boy. But she felt that, if she did, he deserved it. It was his fault she couldn't get to sleep in the first place and was now doing the dragon equivalents of pacing and muttering. What was she supposed to get him for his seventeenth birthday, not to mention their anniversary?

There was very little she could do as a dragon that she hadn't already done. She couldn't hunt for him like a regular dragon, he didn't like meat and preferred to help her if she did want to hunt. He heard her singing and admired her flying daily, so those wouldn't be a treat. Scales were also out of the question. She'd given him that present the day before the rug ordeal.

She paused in her frenzied flying and sank into the memory of that day. Soft candlelight, delicious food, and the sort of sweet intimacy she'd only ever dreamed of. An intimacy that hadn't been likely when she and her father lived far from other settlements, due to their ability to use magic and their dual forms.

Wait! She lifted off her perch. That was it! She'd go ask father for his opinion on the problem! She slipped out of her green skin and hid it in the cubbyhole in the bottom of her wardrobe before opening the biggest window. She wrapped the night fury skin around her body and moments later soared through the opening, into the sky, and hopefully on her way to a solution.

The ocean bulged upwards before the swell of water ruptured and allowed the huge beast entrance to the air. The white behemoth breathed deeply before preparing to dive back down again. He looked up and admired the sky. Nowhere else could you get such a clear view, free of trees and manufactured light. Tracing the dipper with his eyes, he almost reached the end when something flashed across the last star. Could he have simply counted wrong? No, there it was again. Stars winked in and out of sight, outlined by a shape in the sky.

The swim forgotten, the bewilderbeast fixed its eyes on the sky, determined to identify this thing that blocked out the stars. If it was a threat, he would dive again and wait for daybreak. But then, and the patch crossed in front of a particularly dense group of stars, he caught the whole outline. He knew only one beast with such splendid wings.

Roaring a delighted greeting, the bewilderbeast kicked toward the shore, throwing the ocean around him into turmoil as his motion created waves that crashed into the beach. Once his head rested on the shore, the beast shrank and he climbed out from beneath the white cloak that enabled the transformation. Winding it around his waist, he looked back to the sky to locate the patch of dark, his daughter.

Instead, a figure ran out of the wooded coastline and crashed into him. "Daddy!"

He brought his strong arms around his daughter and held her in a gentle squeeze. "It's good to see you, my little night fury." He looked down at his greatest treasure bound up in her black skin. "How have you been, little lady?"

She smiled and looked up into his wrinkled but still strong face. "The plan worked. I escaped with the green skin you smuggled in with the sheep cart."

"And where are you staying? Are you safe there?" he asked as he brushed a lock of long dark hair back from her eyes.

She blushed and looked down. "That's actually why I came."

They retreated to their small house and she told him the story of how she realized that she needed someone to help slay the Red Death and free the others as well. But very few trusted magic users, especially those who could change form. So she'd found Hiccup and bonded them together, permanently. He balked at the thought of the marriage. "Daughter, do you realize what you've done?" His voice rising, he grabbed her by the shoulders. "This is not something you can undo. You've traded one master for another, and this one can't just be escaped from! You're his until one of you dies!"

She gently removed his hands from her person and looked up at him, smiling broadly. "But I don't want to escape from him. I love him, Daddy." She eased the somewhat shocked man into a chair and sat down facing him. "He's nothing like the Red Death, he's the opposite. He's sweet, he worries, he's gentle, he cares…Dad, I've only been a dragon around him but he treats me like a person."

"Can he protect you?" asked her father. "If the Red Death comes for you…"

"Then he and I can work something out. His mind is amazing. He can solve almost any problem you give him, as long as he has some hope."

"And when he doesn't?"

Her eyes hardened. "Then that's when I give it to him. I truly am a wife to him, the way Mom was to you."

And she knew she had won over her father. The man's shoulders relaxed and he got up to put some hot water on the fire for tea. "Alright. When I meet him, which will hopefully be soon," he glared at his daughter until she gave a nod, "I will give the two of you my blessing after I make my own assessment. But what did you want to see me about?"

She scratched the back of her neck nervously. "Well, his birthday and our anniversary are coming up, but I don't know what to get him for either day. I've already used up my options."

"What do you mean?"

"I've done all the things I can as a dragon. Flying, hunting, scales, there's nothing left I can give him that I haven't already."

"Why not give him something from a different form?"

She looked at him sharply. "What do you mean?"

"Well, he's only seen one of your forms. What if, as a gift, you showed him a different one? With the chain magic about to break, the only thing that could force it into action was if you lost the cloaking skin I sent you. A little jaunt into a different form won't affect it, as you proved tonight." The look on her face was priceless. It felt good to know he still had a sharp enough mind to mentally outpace his daughter sometimes.

Then her expression changed to joy. "Yes, that's perfect! Once Hiccup knows I can be human, he won't give up his dream of having a family!"

"Hiccup?" asked the man.

"Yes," she confirmed, blushing. "That's his name."

Her father laughed. "Then what does he call you? Sneeze?"

She straightened. "Milady Toothless, thank you very much. And I happen to like it."

He laughed even harder at that. "Well then, you'd best return to your Hiccup, Milady Toothless. But come and see me again when the chain magic wears off, and bring your husband. I want to make sure he knows how to make you happy."

She turned back to her father, halfway through her transformation. "He knows how to do that, Father. Believe me." And she flew off into the night, leaving the man chuckling. She hadn't lost a single ounce of that attitude.

Enter another character! And you won't know this one unless you saw the second movie, or any of the previews, really. What did you think of my choice?

Please review, you guys are great at it!