After a short flight, they landed in the clearing from earlier and Toothless dumped Hiccup back onto the ground before rushing off to retrieve the green dragon skin. "Ow. Toothless, why'd you-" and she was back, skin in her mouth. He examined the dangling hide. "Is that how you did it?" She nodded. "Is it a dragon thing?" She tilted her head to the side as if she didn't quite understand the question. Truth was, she didn't know how to answer it without giving away what she was, and that part of the secret was for the day after tomorrow.

She dropped the skin into his outstretched hands and lowered herself to the ground again, motioning with her tail for him to get on. He mounted up, settling behind her ear plates and gripping them tightly. "I'm ready." It was a good thing he braced himself, because Toothless leapt into the air without holding back.

For a few fleeting seconds, he was terrified. The wind hurled him around and he clung to Toothless for dear life, not quite daring to look down as she climbed higher and higher. Whistling rang in his ears and some ridiculous part of him wondered if he'd ever hear anything else again. The rest was too busy trying to keep him on her back and not on its way to a reunion with the ground.

And then it was finished. The whistling lessened enough so he could hear himself think again, and the wind decided to just pull at his clothes. He eased his grip on the ear plates and looked around.

There must have been at least a hundred feet up. The trees weren't too far below them, so he could make out some individual trees, but it was high enough that they just looked like masses of green. Toothless warbled a question at him. "I'm fine, love. I'm more than fine actually," he replied, looking around more attentively. "This is amazing!"

The whole sky was painted in warm colors, bright and strong. The sky grew bright from the dark purple to the east, lightening until it lost all the blue to the red that halted just above the ball of molten white. It was as if someone had drawn a line across the sky, because everything above that line was red, while everything underneath it was an almost yellow orange. A few clouds littered the line, adding dashes of dusky purple to the border and letting the two colors mix along their edges, creating dozens of shades of orange.

The forest collided with the symphony of different shades and colors, giving the music of the sky a definite, black, and detailed ending. The light seemed to outline every needle, every branch in the firs as they scraped the heavens. Hiccup forgot to breathe.

A shift beneath him brought his mind back from the horizon as Toothless flapped gently to keep them aloft. He leaned forward and inched his arms as far around that sinewy neck as he could and held her as she glided through the sunlit canvas. The sun fell behind the trees as they glided back towards the castle and while traces of color still lingered, most of the sky adopted a deep purple with black creeping up from the east.

Hiccup rose from his position where he rested his cheek against Toothless' scaly neck when she chirped at him softly. They were almost back at the castle, and she didn't want him to miss the view.

And what a view it was. An earthbound constellation built of torches, lights from windows, and watchtower fires outlined the castle in its fully glory of turrets, balconies, and sturdy wall. As they flew closer, more of the castle became visible. The torches extended their halos of fire to the walls they were mounted on, making the rough stone gleam like polished marble. The windows illuminated the scenes within and he watched as one of the knights sharpened his sword, two of the younger servant boys had a pillow fight in their dormitory, and one of the seamstress's assistants stitching something.

Slowly, Toothless brought them close enough to hear the night sounds of the huge building. Guards complained about watch duty and Hiccup laughed at their somewhat witty remarks. Why didn't they ever talk like that around him? Probably scared they'd offend him somehow.

But then two more voices broke through the normal sounds of the night. A man and woman yelling at each other. And it sounded suspiciously Like Hubert and Clarice. They circled the wall and the conversation gained clarity. "How did I know I was supposed to be at the meeting?" Clarice seemed to have missed some important queen business again and was trying to defend herself.

"It was a meeting about the ball to celebrate the triple anniversary! I thought you'd want to be there!" Hiccup admired his brother for trying to keep some kindness in his voice. If Toothless ever disrespected him when he was only trying to be kind, he probably wouldn't have been able to keep his cool as well as Hubert.

There was a pause as Clarice took in this new information. "I'm sorry, but did you say ball?"

"Yes!" Now Toothless was interested. A ball would be the perfect place to unveil her human side.

But as she glided down into the balcony above the arguing couple, Hiccup pulled at her, protesting. "Toothless, we shouldn't eavesdrop on them. I'm sure we'll hear about it later." Reluctantly, she flew back up and landed in the courtyard next to the stables. Hiccup eyed the building. "Are you going to change in there?" She chirped her yes.

Hiccup leapt off her back and managed not to stumble on his left leg. Toothless reached around and nuzzled him in the chest before taking the green skin from him and darting into the stables. He turned his back on the building and felt his knees give out. "That has to be the most terrifying and the most incredible thing I have ever experienced." Toothless flew out of the stable and landed in his lap. He stroked her wings, just the way she liked at and whispered, "Thank you, Toothless." He walked back up to his chambers, Toothless tucked neatly in his arms.

There you go. It must be some unwritten law that all HTTYD stories have to have a flying sequence somewhere. And we got a glimpse into the married life of the other princes too!

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