The red-eyed dragon landed in the courtyard of the late Red Death's castle and the three passengers slid off its back and onto the cobbles below. The man undressed from his skin and tied it around his waist before turning to someone at the other end of the courtyard. "Sir Cloudjumper," he said, bowing to the man with a simple red tunic and a dragon skin draped around his shoulders. "Where's Prince Hiccup?"

"He is in the library, as usual," answered the man. "Why don't you help the guests to where they'll be staying while I alert the prince? They'll meet in the throne room for discussion in two hours."

"Two hours?" asked Hubert under his breath.

But apparently the man heard him because he laughed. "It may take that long to get him out of the library. He's hardly exited the room ever since I gave him free reign in there." The elder prince smiled. That was his brother, alright. The Cloudjumper said, "Joseph will show you to your rooms."

"Alright," Joseph said, grinning. "Let's get you guys settled."

Hubert looked over at the boy in mild shock. It was as if someone had flipped a switch on the boy the minute they landed in the castle. Back when he was delivering the message, the boy had been like you would expect of any servant: stiff, formal, and never crossing boundaries. Now he was practically running through the hallways, telling the three of them to keep up.

Mark ran after the boy with absolutely no hesitation, and as a result was the first to see the rooms where they'd be staying. "This," Joseph pointed to one of the doors on their right, "is where you'll be hanging, Mark. Hiccup hopes you like it." The servant opened the door and poked his head inside.

Well, it was better than the servant's quarters, that was for sure. The bed was larger with a modest headboard and a small table beside it. A desk was pressed up against one wall and a corner of the room was screened off with the wardrobe close enough that you didn't have to come all the way out into the open to grab what you wanted to wear.

Joseph grinned at him, staring around the room. "Just get unpacked and meet me out in the courtyard when you're ready. Hiccup really wants to see you."

"Thanks," replied the servant.

The blond's grin grew. "Call me Joey. Everyone does." And he slipped back out of the room.

While Hubert was trying to wrap his mind around Joey, Cloudjumper was trying to remove Hiccup from around his latest project long enough for the prince and hopefully future king to go and see his brother. But Hiccup clung to his flight suit plans. "Just let me finish this calculation and I'll go."

Finally Cloudjumper gave up and simply watched him finish calculating the drag that the helmet he was currently designing would generate and how he could adjust the wing flaps to compensate for it. The minute he put down the pencil to reach for a different book, Cloudjumper swooped in and grabbed his hand, pulling him up out of the chair and stating that he had to go settle the matter of succession with his brother and he could come back to this later. Hiccup decided not to put up a struggle and followed the man out of the room.

"So," asked Hiccup when he got his head out of invention-land, "who did Dad send?"

"Your brother Hubert, Mark, and Sir Gawain, I believe," replied the other man. "I told Joey to get them set up in their rooms. They should be meeting us in the throne room shortly."

Hiccup rolled his eyes and whined, "Great. Now Mark gets to laugh at how ridiculous I look in that huge chair. My feet barely touch the floor."

Cloudjumper laughed under his breath at the image, but was quick to jump to tradition's defense. "That is where your ancestors always met with ambassadors. It's tradition." Hiccup was about to complain that tradition didn't do anyone much good, but then he remembered one particular tradition involving an arrow and a wedding. That shut his protests up as they entered the throne room.

The room was beautiful, and rather like the great hall at home, but with a few extra touches. Huge windows bordered the top half of the room, with a balcony running all the way around the room. Two beautiful staircases led down from the balcony on either side of the room. Dragons decorated every surface, with many types that he recognized and some he did not. But perhaps his favorite part of the room, and the part that made him feel the most out of place, was the throne.

It was unlike any other piece of furniture he'd ever seen. There were no legs, no arm rests, no definite back. It flowed up from the ground in the shape of a great coiled dragon, the wound up tail and body serving as the seat. But it was a round seat, with the back coming out of the middle so that, if he wanted to, he could face any direction and still be seated. The circular chair was also big enough to hold several people. Imagining his mother sitting there with his grandfather was easy. Perhaps one day he would also share the seat with his children. Then he realized what he'd just thought and blushed to the tips of his ears. He distracted himself by focusing his attention back on the throne.

The back was the dragon's neck and head extended upwards, with flames shooting out of the dragon's mouth and topping the whole thing off spectacularly. The neck was smooth, in a scaled pattern so it was comfortable to lean back on, although a taller king might have had trouble with the spines on the head poking into the back of his own cranium. Hiccup would never have such problems, and he wasn't sure if he was happy or depressed about that.

Toothless bounded in through one of the doors as Cloudjumper pushed him down onto the chair. She hopped up beside him and pushed her nose underneath his hand. He laughed and scratched her in her sweet spot just underneath the chin. Then the doors to the throne room opened as Joey let in the three people who would help Hiccup decide if he would return home or start something new and incredible right here.

Please welcome Joey! Possibly my favorite character from that anime after the two spiky heads. We only have about two chapters left in this story, period. I hope the throne was understandable, it's not your conventional chair. And sorry, but skinchangers are rather like blue eyes. Both parents need to have the gene for their kids to be skinchangers. So Hiccup has a 50-50 chance of having dragon kids, but neither he nor his brothers can do it themselves.

Please keep reviewing! Stick with me 'till the bitter end!