Cloudjumper let Toothless down in the large courtyard at the center of the castle, landing beside her. Jumping off the bigger dragon, Hiccup ran over to his wife and hugged her massive head as she crooned. "Are you still alright?" He asked. She nodded and bumped his chest with her nose. He laughed, then flinched and grabbed his wounded side. "Ow. Laughing, not a good idea." Something brushed his arm and he looked up to see that Toothless had wrapped herself around him and was looking at him like she expected him to collapse.
He was about to complain that he was fine when they heard soft laughter. The two looked over at a chuckling Cloudjumper, now a man wrapped in his skin. "That has to be one of the sweetest things I've ever seen." He smiled at them. "Let's get you two taken care of."
He led the two into the master suite where Thanatos had previously spent his time, on the first floor and not far from the courtyard, which was a good thing since neither was up to much walking. He pointed to the door on the right hand side and said, "Thanatos liked to have a separate room for bathing. You'll find everything you need in there."
Hiccup followed Toothless into the room and laughed when she gave him a look. "I'm just getting the bandage off." She rolled her eyes but let him remove the improvised bandage. When he finally removed the padded blanket, she whipped around and pushed him out of the room with her snout. He laughed. "Alright, I'm going." She closed the door with a wingtip and looked over the room.
Cloudjumper sat on the bed outside, waiting for the prince to exit the room. He smiled at the couple's antics before asking Hiccup, "Was there anything else you needed?"
"I don't know, some company, maybe."
Cloudjumper smiled and sat down next to the boy. "I can see why Toothless loves you so much."
The boy blushed. "She told you about me?"
He nodded. "Not much. She couldn't let the Red Death hear her, so we could only talk when he wasn't around. And she was only here for a few days. Still," he looked over to the boy and laughed, "she did tell me a fair bit about you."
Inside the bathroom, Toothless dove into the huge pool of clean water. She didn't know how it got there, she was just glad it was big enough for her dragon form. Perhaps the original owner of the castle had been a skinchanger as well. She frolicked in the water for a few minutes before settling down and scrubbing herself clean by rubbing every part of her body against the brushes inlaid on the edges of the tub.
Now she was almost certain that the person the room had been built for had been a changer. The built-in scrub brushes were perfect for someone with no hands, but the fact that a human-sized tub was in another portion of the huge room spoke to the truth of an owner with two forms. Either that, or the lord of the castle liked to keep large intelligent creatures as pets. She thought she'd go with the skinchanger option.
Once the grime and dust from the battle had been scrubbed clean and her wound stung like crazy from the soap, she hauled herself out of the tub and nosed the door open again. The two men stopped their conversation when she entered the room and Hiccup got up off the bed to have a look at her tail. The older man followed, and said, "Maybe we should take her to the infirmary. There's a few bandages and some salves there that might help, and of course the physician." But Toothless shook her head and then motioned from Hiccup to the bathing room several times. The other skinchanger laughed. "Of course, after Hiccup gets clean. Then we can tend to the both of you."
After the door shut behind him, Hiccup gingerly began to unwind the bandage over his abdomen. The gauze came away easily enough, and there was only a slight sting when he removed the pad over the wound. Then he walked over and inspected the tub. It was strange, with two metal fixtures at one end and a drain of sorts at the other. The two fixtures had nobs on the top, so he decided to give one a turn.
He twisted the one on the right to the left, and to his surprise, water flowed out of the tube under the handle. He put his hand underneath it and found that it was pleasantly warm. Leaving the fixture open, Hiccup let the tub fill with water while he hunted down some soap. Finally, he found some that smelled like lavender in a cupboard fixed to the wall and put the bar in a small dish on the side of the strange bathtub before putting a towel within easy reach and shutting the water off. He sat on the rim of the tub and removed his prosthetic and the rest of his clothes before slipping into the warm water.
Okay, he had to find the building plans for this place and find out how they made the tub. He was going to build one back home, because this was amazing. Then the sting on his side reminded him why he was currently in seventh heaven. He grabbed the bar of soap from the dish and began washing himself up, being extra careful around the wound. When he dunked his hair for one last rinse, he stepped out and a few minutes later, joined Toothless and Cloudjumper in the main room. Then the trio headed to the infirmary.
As they walked, Hiccup asked Cloudjumper, "Who originally owned this castle?"
The man thought for a moment. "It was King Thoren and his beautiful daughter Valka." He didn't notice Hiccup's slightly shocked expression as he continued. "I was actually the princess's flying tutor. She was a tiny little thing for the longest time, but then again, that's how all skinchangers are built. I didn't hear anything from her after she left with King Stoick though. Not even a letter. Here we are." He stopped in front of a rather plain-looking door. "Let's hope Gaius is in a good mood. He's our physician." And the trio slipped inside.
I know they basically just cleaned themselves off in this chapter, but I don't like skipping things in a story, even something this small. Besides, I used it to hint at a lot of the other stuff I'm planning. What did you guys think of the dragon bathtub?
This is now my longest story to date, going by word count. It's also third in popularity, thanks to you guys. Keep reviewing!