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Salutations Selective Searchers Seeking Suitably Satisfying Stories

(Now repeat 6 times)

In response to Mana's review, Draccus Grimborn is entirely made up.

As to suggesting Tuffnut might wake up and be delusional—more so than usual, anyway—well, just read:

Chapter 8

The Treejumper Colony

Tuffnut woke up the following morning. The first thing he saw was Windshear's face right in front of his.

"Whoa!" he said groggily, "Razorwhip! This is the best dream ever! I can almost reach out and—I can reach out and touch it!" For he had reached out and was touching it, "So cool—no, so cold—cold, hard, metal scales—the perfect protection from gigantic explosions!"

"I kinda like this guy," Windshear said.

"Oh, yes, I Tuffnut Thorsten take you, whatever your name was, to be my—oh hey, Heather! Hey Sis! Look at this beautiful metal dragon I am about to take for my wife!"

"Wait—what?"

The women just looked at Tuffnut in amusement. Tuff's face screwed up in contemplation. "Hey—what are you two doing in my dream? This is my wedding and I don't recall inviting you!"

Ruffnut snorted, "You getting married? HA! That'll be the day!"

"And marrying a dragon? You surprise me, Tuff. I never thought you were that kind of guy," Heather sniggered.

"Well I guess anything's possible in a dream," Tuffnut replied casually.

"Only problem is this isn't a dream," Ruffnut said,

"Hey, Father Haydn! You've got a marriage ceremony to perform!" Heather called to Hiccup, who mysteriously went deaf.

"Wait—this isn't a dream? But then that means—AUGH! RAZORWHIP ATTACK! HELP! IT'S GONNA KILL ME ALIVE!" Tuffnut screamed as he dashed into the woods behind him.

"Tuff, don't run that way, that leads right to a bunch of—" a loud cry of pain rang through the air. "—nettles," Heather winced.

"You know, Snotlout, I'm flattered you offered to help patch me up," Tuffnut said as Snotlout pulled a nettle out of his face. "OW!"

"You're welcome, Tuff,"

"I AM VERY MUCH HURT!"

"That should do it," Snotlout announced, "now, just tilt your head this way and stay still—" he quickly tied a bandage around his head.

"MFFPHHHD?" This was the only sound Tuffnut could make because the bandage around his head kept him from moving his mouth.

"Don't worry, Tuffnut, it'll come off with the rest of your bandages." Snotlout said benignly, like a nurse to a child. "Meantime, you won't be able to talk,"

"MFEPHDSLKGSDKL!"

"Now don't use that kind of language with me, young man, or I might just turn your head into mutton for real!" Snotlout said with pompous sternness. Tuffnut could not speak but he was thinking of revenge.

Sitting on Toothless, Hiccup shook his head.

"Next time we take a trip, let's leave those clowns behind,"

"I heartily agree with you, Bud,"

They followed the coast of Ireland for three days. From their position they could easily see the coast of England to the East. Shamrock was their guide and was impatient and intolerant with anyone who wanted a break. Even Toothless, normally the fastest and strongest flyer of them, had to tell him to slow down a little, at length threatening to tie Shamrock to Meatlug and have him tow her through the air. Meatlug was willing to do this but Shamrock got the point and went slower.

Perhaps he flew so swiftly because he no longer was carrying the weight of a human. Heather was now riding Windshear. While Snotlout had patched up Tuffnut's nettle wounds, the rest had been transferring Heather's flight gear from Shamrock to Windshear. This had called for a lot of adjustments, owing to the size and build differences of the two dragons. It did not help that Windshear was so excited to try this new experience out that she nearly tore the saddle apart with her tail spikes. In the end, mostly thanks to Hiccup's inventive skills, the new arrangement was rather crude looking but as good as they could make with what they had and the time they had. Once in the air Heather and Windshear took to their new circumstances like ducks to water.

Much of the coast was rocky. There were lots of tall and steep cliffs that went down into the sea like hundreds of giant pillars stuck together. On top of the cliffs were long green grasses that grew in every direction except straight up. Shamrock explained that the Treejumper colony lived in a network of caves in some of the cliffs. When Hiccup translated this for the others, Snotlout looked confused.

"I thought we were looking for Treejumpers! I haven't seen a single tree all day! What's up with that?"

"He says the interior of Ireland has some woodlands and that's where the original nest was."

"What made them move?" Ruffnut asked.

"Humans," Hiccup said grimly, "several centuries ago, they wanted to build a village right where the original nest was, so they drove the Treejumpers out. The dragons chose the caves on these cliffs because they hoped no humans would want to settle there. It's a common story for a lot of nests,"

It was a few hours after this conversation when they suddenly were compelled to stop and hover. Another Treejumper was flying towards them. This dragon was considerably darker green than Shamrock and slightly shorter. It flew up to their group warily and looked completely flabbergasted.

"Where the heck did you all come from?" She demanded, for it was a she-dragon. Unlike male Treejumpers, she had horns.

Shamrock had been hovering behind Hookfang, but now he flew to the front of the group. He examined the Treejumper for a minute and said "Don't you recognize me, Cherry-Rose?"

The Treejumper's eyes widened. "Why bless my dandelions! It's Shamrock-17! Where have you been?"

Shamrock sighed. "I forgot how much I hate that name. Just call me Shamrock, all right? I've been all over the place and decided I'd stop by for a visit. And these are my friends. They're just passing through and need a place to stay for the night,"

Cherry-Rose clearly wanted to find out more but only said "You had best all come with me then," she said, "I'll take you to the Matriarch,"

"How's she doing?" Shamrock asked.

"She's as fun and dangerous as ever. I'm sure she'll be pleased to see you again! And your mother too!"

"Somehow I doubt that," Shamrock mumbled, "Lead the way,"

"Shamrock-17?" Astrid asked as they followed the two Treejumpers.

"He was 17 days old when he jumped over his first tree," Hiccup explained, "Treejumpers include those numbers at the end of their names—except for Shamrock because he always hated it that way,"

"Who's the Matriarch?" Fishlegs asked eagerly, "Is that what they call a Beta?"

Hiccup put the question to Shamrock, then translated the answer for everybody. "The Treejumper Matriarch is the leader of the nest, but has no powers like a Beta does. She's their equivalent of my Dad,"

"So Toothless could take over this nest?" Snotlout asked eagerly.

"In theory yes, but why would he want to?"

They flew down towards the cliffs. Following the coastline they went around an exposed projection of rock and, when they turned inwards, they saw a multitude of Treejumpers flying around in front of them. The sight reminded Heather of cliff dwelling birds, while it reminded Hiccup of how his Dragon Sanctuary used to look, a reminder that made him smile sadly. The Treejumpers were mostly hunting. They would jump off the cliffs and dive into the ocean, then come shooting out of it and fly up to their caves with a fish in their mouths. But now they became aware of visitors. The sight of strange dragons was nothing new. A handful even recognized Windshear. But seeing humans on their backs was so unheard of that nearly the entire flock emerged and flew over to them.

"Are they going to attack us?" Fishlegs asked nervously.

"Not at all," Hiccup called back, "If they were we'd already be fried to a crisp. They just want to have a look at us and make it clear they have the advantage if we want to attack." Indeed, upon closer inspection, they could see the Treejumpers looked more curious and intrigued than hostile.

Now from one of the caves emerged what was clearly the Matriarch, for the other dragons moved out of her way at once. She was a large and elderly dragon with drooping eyes, frayed horns, and a head that seemed to be too heavy for her neck to hold up for long. She glanced over the group without any sign of surprise.

"Well bless my tail with love and luck! In all my seasons I've never seen such a sight as this, and I've seen quite a lot," she said, "who are you and what brings you to my oceanic oasis?"

"I reckon you remember me, Matriarch," Shamrock said, "You always said you never forgot a face,"

"Especially one like yours, Shamrock-17 who dislikes his number," the dragon replied with a laugh, "I admit 17 days is not as impressive as 4, but it is still respectable. We had a 103 last year. Almost celebrated all summer when he finally got over the tree. I would ask who the rest are, but how about we talk this over in my cave? Assuming we can all fit!"

They did but just barely. Had they brought Gobber along he would have had to stay outside. Hiccup remarked, in his usual dry tone, that he hoped nobody was claustrophobic, so Tuffnut tried to give the impression he was having a panic attack, much to the Matriarch's surprise and amusement. He only stopped when Astrid threatened to not throw him into the ocean. This threw him into a snit because he had been hoping she would.

They mostly let Shamrock, Toothless, and Hiccup do the talking. The rest of the humans talked amongst themselves in low voices.

"This is just like regular diplomacy," Astrid remarked, "everybody gathers yet only the leaders talk. The only difference is it's with dragons."

"Please. Hiccup's not the leader," Snotlout snorted, "He doesn't have the charisma or the strength!"

"Maybe not but he's got the brains," Fishlegs said, rather sharply.

"He's also got the ears!" Hiccup called back to them.

"So what happens now?" Heather asked Astrid in a much softer tone.

"They'll talk, probably make some kind of deal, then either we leave or stick around for the rest of the day. Personally I'd rather we kept going. I want to put more distance between us and that attacker,"

"Oh come on, Astrid, we lost them a long time ago! And if they do show up again, I'll protect you!"

"I don't need your protection, Snotlout."

"Are Vikings always this noisy?" asked the Matriarch.

Hiccup shook his head. "Sadly, no, Matriarch. Aside from him and those two, these ones generally knows when to be quiet,"

"Yeah, if you think that's noisy you should have been there last winter!" Hookfang said loudly.

Toothless and Shamrock ignored him and went on with their brief explanation of what had happened since Shamrock had left this nest. The Matriarch was a very attentive listener and was so delighted by what she heard she had absolutely no qualms with letting them stay for the night and urged them to get as acquainted with her nest as they possibly could.

"By all means stay a few days and rest!" She said eagerly, "We don't get company out here very often, especially from humans—thank the grasses and flowers! My nestlings will love you if you stay a while! Just don't try to make any join your own nest, Beta," she added sharply.

"I promise you I won't do that," Toothless said with a smile. "But while we'd all love to stay a while, I don't think we should stay past dawn. We've still got to get to Iceland and who knows how long our search will take."

"What are you searching for?" the Matriarch asked.

"A Stormcutter,"

"Well then don't go to Iceland! No, no, no, you want to go to Greenland if that's what you're looking for. We've heard stories that there are lots of cold loving dragons living up there!"

"Greenland, you say?" Toothless turned to Hiccup, "But didn't Midnight say Iceland was where we should look?"

"No. She told me what lands were beyond Ireland, and I inferred that since it had the word 'ice' in its name Iceland would be the logical place to find a Stormcutter. Have you seen any Stormcutter's yourself, Matriarch?"

"Now that you mention it, I have. It was about a month ago—maybe more, maybe less; I never forget a face but I'm forgetting time all the time in this scattered brain of mine. But yes, we did see a Stormcutter, and it was heading northwest."

"Was there a person riding it?"

The Matriarch closed her eyes and stayed silent for a while. "There was something on its back. A dark shape, I can swear to that. But I cannot swear to anything more."

"And you say Greenland is more likely than Iceland to be where it lives?" Hiccup asked as he examined one of his maps.

"I will say this: I know for a fact that Greenland, contrary to what its name implies, has more ice on it than Iceland does." She suddenly shook her head, "but you must want to talk it over with your friends first! And you must all be tired and hungry! Come! Let us get some fish and rest! That is what life should be all about!"

"Can we trust her?" Astrid asked. It was about an hour later, after they had gotten the fish and were taking the rest. It had been the first opportunity they had had to talk over the unexpected development. Only Shamrock was missing, for he had gone off to reconnect with old companions.

"I think we can," Hiccup said, "she's got no reason to lie to us, and she knows these parts better than we do. In any case, according to my maps, the two places aren't too far apart. If Greenland does turn into a false lead, it's still about a day's flight to Iceland."

"Perhaps we should split up," Heather suggested, "Have half search one island and the rest searching the other one,"

"No," Astrid said at once, "We're safer in a group."

"Are we?" Hiccup asked wryly, glancing at the Twins, who had gotten into a fistfight.

"I've noticed nobody here has asked me what I think!" Snotlout said loudly.

"What do you think, Snotlout?"

Snotlout puffed himself up, as if he was about to make some life changing announcement, and then deflated and said "I think we should try this Greenland place,"

"Fish?"

"As long as we see lots of dragons, I'm impartial!" Fishlegs said excitedly.

Hiccup looked at the two women in the circle, who both nodded. "Then Greenland it is. But we'll probably need to stop in Iceland to take a rest, so we can do some searching there, just in case.

"What's that noise?" Ruffnut suddenly asked. They all listened and heard a sweet and rhythmic sound wafting through the air.

"Sounds like the Treejumpers are playing," Hiccup said. He looked out of the cave and saw there was still a lot of daylight left. He knew Astrid wanted to get going, but they now had a longer journey ahead of them. The dragons could do with another day off. "All right, guys. I've got a letter to write, but the rest of you go enjoy yourselves."

"All right!" the Twins shouted. They instantly leapt onto their Zippleback and shot out of the cave. Snotlout and Hookfang were right behind them.

"Just don't hurt anyone!" Hiccup yelled after them as he pulled out some parchment and a charcoal stick.

Fishlegs asked Heather if she wanted to go observe the Treejumpers with him. She was so impressed that he said this without stuttering or blushing that she accepted the offer.

Hiccup pulled out some parchment and began writing. Astrid watched him, clearly wanting to talk, and he was aware of this, but he finished his letter first. "So how does this sound? 'Dad. Have complete stage 2. All are safe and well. Stage 3 has shifted eastwards,' by which I mean west, as you know, 'so the journey may take a little longer. I am confident we shall be successful.' Suppose you intercepted this, could you decipher what I'm saying?"

Astrid considered a moment. "I don't think so. What's stage 2?"

"Stage 1 was to reach the Bog Burglars and Stage 2 was to reach Ireland. Dad and I arranged that before we left. And Stage 3 was what came next. It'll be Greenland now, but our unknown attacker won't know that,"

"You think,"

"That's the best I can do,"

"Then why are we staying here for now? We should move on before they catch up to us!"

"We're staying here because the dragons could use some rest. And in all honesty, Astrid, I kind of hope they will catch up to us at some point. Then we have a chance of capturing them, instead of being like sheep fleeing from an unseen wolf. And we're as safe here as we can be anywhere else. Can you imagine some assassin trying to sneak into a dragon colony?" he added with an amused smile.

"And what if they lead a troop of Dragon hunters here?" Astrid countered. Hiccup's smile faded. "Exactly! We might be putting this entire colony here in danger by staying here instead of moving on!"

"That's a possibility, I know, but it exists no matter how long we stay here. There's always been the possibility that Dragon hunters might find this nest. It's that way with every nest."

Astrid leaned back against the wall of the cave. "I know I might be worrying too much, but the fact remains someone attacked you. They knew where you were. It seems clear to me someone's been spying on us. What else do they know? How do they know? What are they up to? For all we know Berk could be attacked and destroyed while we're sitting here playing with Treejumpers!"

Hiccup looked at her and saw a woman worried about the family and home she had left behind and could not protect. He chose his next words carefully. "Astrid, I've thought of a lot of that too. But Berk isn't exactly helpless, even without us. And if it makes you feel any better, I did ask Bertha to send some Bog Burglar Riders to Berk now and again while we're gone, just to check on things. I think Berk is as safe as it ever is—maybe even safer since the Twins aren't there now." He added with a grin. Astrid visibly relaxed at this news and smiled back. It made his heartbeat skip a little when she smiled like that.

Fishlegs was engrossed in watching the Treejumpers but it was becoming a little monotonous for Heather. It was like watching ducks in a pond. At first it was charming and beautiful but after a while her mind began to get bored and focus on other things. But Fishlegs was unaware of that.

"Look at that one!" he exclaimed, "He's got green stripes on his back! They must help him blend in with his surroundings."

"How do you know it's a 'he'?" Heather asked, wondering if she really wanted to know the answer.

"Oh I always refer to dragons as male unless I know otherwise," he replied, "I used to refer to them as 'it,' but after Hiccup came back that didn't sit right with me. I felt that calling them 'it' was degradation. And in this case, I think only the female Treejumpers have horns"

"Have you always liked dragons so much?"

"Oh yes! They're fascinating creatures!"

"Wasn't it hard back when you were at war with them?"

She could see she had touched a sensitive topic, for Fishlegs hesitated before answering. "Sometimes it was. I've always loved reading and getting books on Berk has always been, well, pretty hard. One of the few books we did have was the Book of Dragons, and I practically memorized it. At first nobody minded—know your enemies and all that—but once I got older and it became clear I wasn't cut out for fighting, people started making fun of me for it. Or telling me to shut up whenever I wanted to point out something,"

"That must have been hard," Heather said quietly.

"Yeah," He shook his head, "Berk has always valued brawn over brains. I'm not saying we don't encourage thinking or anything, no civilization like that could last long, but our knowledge was expected to be either used for a trade or to fight. And since I was no good at fighting what good were my statistics and observations and pieces of trivia? And then one day out of the blue Hiccup came back and suddenly, after we got some issues sorted out, my knowledge turned out to be useful after all."

"That's wonderful," Heather said genially.

"I used to be the second worst Viking on Berk, and now there are rumors going around that once Hiccup becomes Chief I'll be his right hand man!" Fishlegs laughed, "I wouldn't mind that, if it helps him."

"And it helps you out too."

"I don't care about that so much," Fishlegs said glumly. He saw Heather's curious look and, after some more hesitation, said "we were good friends when we were kids. But like me, Hiccup wasn't cut out for fighting. I still don't understand how he could eat so much and work in the forge for years and still be thin and have wimpy arms. But anyway, Hiccup was the prime target for ridicule from everyone, so to save myself I more or less severed ties with him."

He looked at the ground shamefully, "and it didn't improve a thing for either of us. I was still bullied and he got it even worse. I should have stayed friends and we could have suffered together. Maybe he would have shown me Toothless during those days in Dragon Training. Maybe he would have asked me to come with him when he ran away," he added, more to himself than to Heather. Heather was unfamiliar with a lot of these events and found his story a bit confusing, but she said nothing. "But anyway, ever since he came back I've been trying to make amends for the past. And he's taught me to toughen up and be proud of what I can do. And I like to think we're good friends now and he trusts me,"

"He does," Heather assured him. "He told me so earlier."

"I hope you trust me too," Fishlegs added, rather abruptly.

Heather was taken aback at this. "I…I trust you as far as I can, Fishlegs, but we haven't even known each other for a month yet!"

Fishlegs was a little hurt by this, though he tried to hide it. "That's very true."

Heather tried to assuage him. "But I certainly want to trust you, and given a little time—"

"How much time do we have, exactly?" Fishlegs asked, "What happens once this excursion is done?"

Heather once again had a difficult time answering him. "We'll keep in touch! I'll send letters, or maybe Queen Mala will make me the first 'Ambassador to Berk'! Assuming Serene doesn't get it instead. She's been begging Queen Mala for ages to let her go to Berk," she added in disgust to herself.

"Who?"

"Oh, Serene. She joined the Defenders shortly after I did. She's a good fighter, speaks several languages, and she's good at reading people, especially men, but something about her just gives me the creeps. Come to think of it, she's the one who first accused Hiccup of stealing the Dragon Eye."

"Interesting. Well, I sure hope the Queen makes you Ambassador! I'll give you a proper tour of the island if she does," Fishlegs said, "Maybe introduce you to my father too. I'm sure he'd love to meet you." He would probably also love to see Fishlegs bring a woman home for a change.

"Just your father?" Heather asked.

The young man's smile faded again, "My mother died last winter,"

"Was that in the battle with Drago?"

"No, no. On Berk we lose on average 8 people to sickness every winter. Last winter my mother was one of those 8."

"I'm really sorry, Fish,"

"Yeah," he sighed, "I sometimes wonder if I'm only indulging in all this reading and research to distract myself,"

"Everybody does that when they suffer a loss. When I joined the Defenders I dedicated everything I had to serving them, so I didn't have to think about losing my island and my family…or remembering being locked in a cell," she looked at him uncertainly, "have you ever been imprisoned, Fishlegs?"

"No. Hiccup, Astrid, and Snotlout have, and Stoick's locked the Twins up a few times, but I've been very lucky."

"I'm glad to hear you know how lucky you are. Imagine being stuck in a closet all day and night, starving and sick with worry, knowing that at any minute you could be killed or tortured…"

"Were you ever—?"

"No, thank Thor," she said shakily, "Look—can we talk about something else? What are the Treejumpers doing right now?"

"They're…" he turned to take a look and all at once his expression brightened up. "Look at the third cave from the right, two caves down! I think the hatchlings are flying for the first time! Look!"

A large dragon, evidently the mother, was circling in front of the cave in question, and a small group of little dragons were at the entrance, shifting their weight nervously and flapping their wings. One of them finally leapt out into the air and began to pump his wings furiously as he fell. And suddenly he was air born and making his way along the cliff face. Fishlegs and Heather cheered at the sight.

"But what happens if they can't stay up?" Heather asked. The answer appeared when the third hatchling tried to fly. He plummeted and for a horrible moment they thought he was going to fall to his death, but a Treejumper some distance below caught the falling hatchling and tossed him back up to his hovering mother.

"The big one looked like he was just throwing a ball with his teeth," Heather remarked. Fishlegs quickly jotted her words down in his journal.

The Riders were compelled to inhabit several caves for the night, as no cave was large enough for everyone to sleep in comfortably. Snotlout had hoped to have Heather or Astrid in his cave, but instead he got to share it with Hiccup and Toothless.

"Wonderful," he grumbled to Hookfang. He watched Hiccup talking with some Treejumpers and saw them all laughing. He wondered what his cousin was saying that was so funny. In fact, he was uncomfortably aware that he was the only one in the cave who could not understand Dragonese. For all he knew they could be insulting him. Being unable to understand what they were saying also gave him the feeling of not being needed or wanted. In fact, he had felt this way quite a few times on this trip. If they wanted to know any traveling tips everyone turned to Hiccup. If they came upon dragons, everyone turned to Hiccup or Fishlegs. If they were in danger and needed a plan everyone turned to Hiccup or Astrid. It was always turn to Hiccup for guidance. Why was it never turn to Snotlout to guidance? Sure, he loved to goof off once in a while, and did not mind other people taking the heavier responsibilities, but he felt like he was being ignored and left out, like his own talents were not being acknowledged by the others, even though Astrid often insisted they were supposed to be a team. And he did not like it.