I Own NothinggnihtoN nwO I

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Chapter 13

Day

When Toothless found out that Hiccup and Astrid were engaged, he pounced on them and started licking them like crazy. Stormfly was just as delighted, but she only gave them one lick each and did not pounce on them.

The rest of the Riders were, of course, overjoyed at the news, though several of them shouted "well it's about time!"

Half jokingly, half seriously, Snotlout got down on his knees and begged Astrid to reconsider, saying she was making a mistake by not marrying the world's best Viking, and offered her a biscuit as if it was a flower. Astrid responded graciously and magnanimously, saying she did not want to marry the world's best Viking.

"And you can't marry the world's best Viking because that would mean marrying yourself, which isn't really feasible," Hiccup whispered to Astrid.

"What do you see in that one legged fishbone anyway?" Snotlout wailed. "What has he got that I don't?"

"He's not a fishbone," Astrid replied, her arm wrapped around Hiccup's shoulders protectively, "to use his own terms, he's a marginally physically impaired Dragon Trainer," And then she punched Snotlout in the face.

"She punched me! She still loves me! Just wait guys, she's only engaged! I'll win her yet!"

"He's going to be one sad and lonely man if he keeps telling himself that," Hiccup remarked to Toothless, who grinned.

Snotlout abruptly changed tactics and intentions. "Say, Heather…I'm a sad and lonely man. I could really use some comforting—" at Heather's command Windshear extended her tail spines and pointed them at him, "—from my own thoughts, yeah, I could really use some comforting from my own thoughts, I'll just go sit over here."

"It does pay to have a dragon handy," she commented.

"So does this mean Astrid's the Dragon Queen now?" Tuffnut asked.

"That's right," Astrid said imperiously. "And now that I am Queen, there will be some changes in court policy. I hereby decree the Boar Pits shall be filled in." She was in a humorous mood.

"This is horrible!" Tuffnut gasped, "Hiccup, don't marry her! She's gonna make Berk normal! Don't do this to us!"

"Sorry guys, but a King needs a Queen," Hiccup said lightly.

"But Hiccup, I thought we were all true Disciples of Loki! You can't do this to your fellow Disciples!" Ruffnut wailed.

"Sorry Ruff, but I switched to being a Disciple of Freya,"

"TRAITOR!"

"I'll let you shoot off fireworks at the wedding."

"You will? But we don't have any powder!" Tuffnut said miserably.

"I'll get you some more." Hiccup promised. When in China he had written down the process for producing that combustible powder, and he still had the formula in one of his journals. To preserve Berk, the Twins had never been informed of this.

"Really? Ok, we're good,"

"Humans," Hookfang scoffed.

"They're an odd species, all right," Meatlug agreed.

The only ones who did not give them any congratulations were Valka and Cloudjumper, and that was simply because they were not present. Nobody had seen either of them since they had parted earlier that day, or more correctly the day before, for it was well past midnight before anyone went to sleep.

The next morning Hiccup rose early to go on a morning flight with Toothless. He had planned to ask Astrid to join them but she had looked so peaceful in her sleep that he just could not bring himself to disturb her.

"Astrid looking peaceful? That's a rarity," Toothless laughed when Hiccup told him this. "How many punches has that shoulder of yours taken?"

"Not as many as Snotlout's face!" Hiccup laughed back, "Our children will be the most dangerous kids in history."

"Already making plans, are we?"

"Yes! And whether it's two kids or twenty, I'm going to make sure they get the childhood I never had!"

"Shall we start choosing dragons for them? Make sure they're dragons with strong hearts. If those hatchlings turn out to be anything like you, they're going to be pulling crazy stunts all the time and making the rest of us sick with worry."

"Do I make you sick with worry?" Hiccup asked innocently.

"YOU KNOW VERY WELL YOU DO!"

Even after riding on a dragon for nearly a decade, Hiccup found flying as wonderful as it had ever been, or perhaps it was because he was in such a good mood. Certainly he had reason for it. Even overlooking his engagement, the sky was cold light blue, the snow lay about in undisturbed piles, the bright and radiant sun reflected off the giant walls of ice, throwing its beams in every direction, and the air felt crisp and refreshing. It was a morning where one might step outside, take a deep and satisfying breath, and go off to conquer a mountain or some other massive undertaking. On mornings such as this, Hiccup felt that he would be the greatest Chief Berk ever had. He might have bidden even someone like Adoncia a 'good morning' had she come by. Speaking of which, ever since they had left Iceland they had not seen a single hint of her, which was gratifying but also a tad unsettling.

They had been flying for a little while when Cloudjumper and Valka caught up with them. Despite Astrid's words the night before, Hiccup was still not at all happy with what he saw as Valka abandoning him. Still, he was in a good mood and recalled how much he had tried to urge others to put the past behind them and move on.

"Good morning!" she called, "did you sleep well?"

"When I actually slept," Hiccup called back. He did not have to behave like a son around her, but he could at least behave civilly.

"Did you have a lot on your mind?"

Hiccup whistled cheerfully. "Oh yeah,"

"Are you going to tell her?" Toothless asked quietly. Hiccup thought a moment and shook his head. "Not yet."

They flew around in circles for a little while before gliding over the frozen landscape. The air was beginning to rise, which created such powerful uplifts that the dragons almost had no need to flap at all. The uplifts were so powerful that the humans had trouble staying on them.

Valka was clearly enjoying herself. Hiccup could see she loved flying as much as he did. And as he was in a good mood and these uplifts were too good to pass up, he felt a bit theatrical and crazy. So he pulled a lever and jumped off Toothless.

"Oh not again," Toothless groaned. Valka screamed and Cloudjumper recoiled in shock. Seconds later Hiccup was pushed up by the air so he was gliding level with them. He looked perfectly relaxed, as if he was floating on his back in a lake and not several thousand meters above the earth.

"How's this for traveling?" he called to his mom.

"How are you—does your father know about this?" she shrieked.

"Yeah,"

"And he lets you do it?"

"Relax, Mom, I've been perfecting this for years. The only thing to worry about are the—"

At that instant the current of air he was floating on either collapsed or shifted. Either way, he went into free fall.

"Hiccup!" Valka screamed. Toothless, who looked more bored than worried, turned his tail and went into a dive. With perfect ease the two reconnected in midair and made their way back up to Cloudjumper. He and his Rider looked flabbergasted.

"As I was saying, the only thing to worry about is when the air changes on you."

"And falling to your death! That sounds pretty worrisome to me!" Valka shrieked.

"Oh, I had it under control. I let myself fall a little bit first." Hiccup grinned. "Free fall's fun when you've got a way to stop it. You wouldn't believe the things it does to your stomach!"

Toothless looked wearily at Cloudjumper. "You wouldn't believe how many near heart attacks I've had since he first got this idea."

"Then why do you put up with it?" Cloudjumper demanded.

"It's called brotherhood. Look into it sometime,"

They landed on one of the higher places in the nest and commanded an excellent view, according to Valka.

"Well, it's not the top of the Matterhorn, but it's pretty nice," Hiccup remarked.

"You're in rather cheeky mood," Valka commented. "And to think, the last time I saw you, you were a small and frail baby and now…"

"Please don't gesture to all of me," Hiccup interrupted.

"Oh. Well…now look at you." Her face fell. "And where was I the whole time? You took after me, and to think the whole time I assumed you'd be better off without me. If I had known…"

Hiccup's smile faded too. "Until I met Toothless I wished you had. It's not easy growing up with one parent gone and the other largely absent,"

"Did you and Stoick—"

"He took your disappearance hard, and he didn't know how to raise me and run a tribe at the same time. And I wasn't much of the model Viking, so, yeah we grew apart after a while." He suddenly felt he did not want to say anything more. If anything, he wanted to defend his father. "He's doing well, you know,"

"Oh?" she asked, trying to sound disinterested and not fooling anyone.

"He's as tough a leader as ever."

"I'd never expect him to be otherwise," she said quietly.

"He's never remarried either."

She looked a little touched but shrugged it off quickly. "Of course, without a body, I was probably never marked legally 'dead,' so marrying another would be—"

"Incredibly distasteful to him," Hiccup cut in. "He talks to you in Valhalla all the time when he thinks nobody else is listening,"

Valka turned away so he could not see her face.

"If he knew you were here nothing would stop him from flying here himself,"

"He rides a dragon too?" Valka asked disbelievingly.

"Yeah, a Rumblehorn named Skullcrusher."

"That's a very 'Viking' kind of name," Cloudjumper commented scornfully. "It would be undignified for a Stormcutter, but it sounds quite appropriate for a Rumblehorn,"

"Oh he thinks it's very dignified, believe me," Toothless said.

There was a long silence that nobody knew how to break.

"I know why you're bringing up him up," Valka said at last, "and I've already been debating this, believe me."

"All right,"

"But just when are you going to return to Berk?" Valka asked, "It doesn't have to be anytime soon, right? There's so much here I can show you! You don't have to go back to Berk yet; stay here a while!" She approached him carefully, "I—I want to make up for my absence!"

Hiccup's attention was caught by the movement of dragons down below. The nest was waking up and everyone was sunning themselves or going for breakfast.

"Mind if we get closer to them?"

Valka looked uncertain. "I don't know…they're not used to humans except me…"

"Relax," Hiccup said, "I've lived with dragons for years. Watch this." He hopped onto Toothless. They flew downwards and over to a group of Typhoomerangs. The dragons looked up in surprise at the sight and growled, but Hiccup raised his hands and began speaking to them. Within minutes he was at home with them and the dragons were completely at ease with him and Toothless being in such close proximity.

Valka's mouth fell opened at the sight. "They didn't do that when I first joined the nest!"

"You were the first human in our nest and knew nothing of our ways," Cloudjumper said comfortingly, "clearly your son has more experience than you did back then,"

"And how did he get that experience?" Valka said sadly.

"I have no idea,"

The other riders had emerged from their cave and were moving to join them. At the same time Valka and Cloudjumper came in from the other direction.

Hiccup looked very much like a grandfather sitting in a chair with his grandchildren, except the grandchildren in this case were more than five times his own size. "Good morning! I've made some new friends! This one's Torch and this one's Scorch, and this one's Porch,"

"Porch?" Snotlout exclaimed.

Hiccup shrugged and smiled. "Their mother intended to name her hatchlings Scorch and Torch, but laid three eggs and couldn't think of any better rhymes."

Valka was flabbergasted at how relaxed he looked. Astrid, who was sitting very close to Hiccup, was delighted by her expression.

They spent a few minutes mingling with the Typhoomerangs, when suddenly one of them lifted its head and uttered a cry. The others instantly responded and spread their wings. What followed was a dizzying display of movement. The dragons spun around in large circles as they rose into the air and flew away.

"So that's why the word 'typhoon' makes up part of their names." Fishlegs said excitedly. "Quick, where are my notes?"

"We've gotta train Barf n' Belch to take off like that," Ruffnut said in awe.

"But where are they going?" Heather asked, following the small flock with her eyes until they disappeared over the horizon.

"It's feeding time for them." Valka explained.

They moved onto some of the other dragons who were sitting around the lake. The Bewilderbeast was easily visible at the other end, and he raised his head as a way of greeting them. Then they came upon a small group of baby Scuttleclaws, a dragon species similar to the Nadder, only instead of spines they had elongated knobs rising out of their backs. The babies at once gathered around Toothless.

"Well hello there!" Toothless said in surprise. The babies started making squawking noises and sniffing him.

"Looks like someone's a father! What have you been doing behind our backs, Toothy?" Hookfang teased.

"So does that mean we're all aunts and uncles now?" Meatlug asked.

The babies looked adorable, with big round and inquisitive eyes and heads that seemed to large for the rest of their small bodies. They started to climb on Toothless. At first he did not mind and tried to tolerate it, but then two started to have a fight on top of his head. When he tried to break it up they all climbed on his back and started trying to pin him to the ground.

"Hiccup, I could use a little help here! Stormfly? Astrid? Hiccup's mother? Someone?"

"Sorry Bud, you're on your own!" Hiccup grinned. The humans were 'oo-ing' and 'awe-ing' at the sight of Toothless being overwhelmed by the hatchlings, and the other dragons were just as amused.

"Ooh, you just wait till I get free and I'll—" And then a baby bit him in the tail. "YEOUCH!"

The humans were rolling around in the snow because they were laughing too hard. Of the dragons watching, only Cloudjumper did not look amused nor join in the teasing.

"Undignified," he muttered sternly.

"Oh, come on, Cloudjumper," Valka laughed, "They're just babies. You know they only listen to their mother! Speaking of which—" For a large purple Scuttleclaw had come over. She screeched and at once the hatchlings rushed over to her, and she began to scold them for wandering off and tormenting strangers.

"Thank you very much," Toothless moaned. "My poor tail…"

"The Unholy Offspring of Lightning and Death itself is no match for a bunch of babies!" Snotlout sniggered.

"We're all just one big happy family of humans and dragons!" laughed Fishlegs. At these words Hiccup stopped laughing. So did Stormfly.

"Yeah," he said dryly, but so quietly that only Astrid heard him. "We're one happy family." Stormfly did not speak but looked away from the group after shooting a dirty glance at Windshear.

In the afternoon Hiccup was washing his face in the lake. Toothless had been licking him again before running off to get revenge on those baby Scuttleclaws.

"You know," Valka said, joining him. "I'd always imagined you'd grown up like your father: a tall, muscular man, wild with weapons, always ready for a fight, and very stubborn. That's how your father was in the old days," she smiled sadly at the memory, "whenever I felt troubled about it—and I did many times—I always assured myself that Stoick would take care of you. I thought, since you were all he had left, he would dote on you."

Hiccup snorted.

"I also assumed he raised you to hate dragons. What good would it have done for a woman who lived with dragons to come claiming to be your mother? I thought you would reject me at once. The truth, Hiccup—I was scared to meet you. As the years passed I often wondered what you'd become, and I was too scared to find out how correct I was. I'd often hoped maybe you had taken after me, but I'd always assume Stoick would have it be otherwise. It was one thing for a woman to like something nobody else did. They just called me silly, a dreamer, a child at heart; nobody took me seriously when I said maybe dragons were kinder than we give them credit for. Everyone assumed I'd grow out of it—and Stoick didn't care. He was too happy to be married to me. He just dismissed my thoughts as a small eccentri—eccentri—"

"Eccentricity?" He noticed her Norse had improved considerably since she had started using it again, but every now and then she had trouble.

"Yes, that's the word. Anyway, he didn't listen to me when it came to dragons. I thought you wouldn't either. I couldn't bear the thought of returning to be rejected outright by you. And the longer I delayed, the more likely it seemed that would happen if I returned. So I delayed even more. It was a system that fed itself. And when I finally got the courage to face you, I heard you were dead!"

"Well, thankfully you heard wrong," he replied as he dried himself.

"Yes," Valka laughed. "So…how'd you lose your leg?"

"Have you ever heard of the Red Death? The dragon who controlled the nest at Helheim's Gate?"

"Oh yes, I know about her alright." Valka's eyes narrowed. "Wait a minute. 'Controlled?' But that means she's—" She looked from Hiccup's leg to his face and the pieces came together. "You killed her?"

"Well, technically it was Toothless, but it was my plan. Don't you know dragons aren't so fireproof internally?"

"Yes. So what did you—" her eyes widened. "Toothless shot something down her throat? That's—a bit too simple, actually."

"He also put holes in her wings and tricked her into making a nose dive. So she smashed into the ground and blew up from the inside out."

"And your leg?"

Hiccup tensed up as he remembered. "The tailfin caught fire and failed. We tried to fly away but ran into the Red Death's tail. I fell off. Next thing I knew I didn't need my left boot anymore."

"So how did you—"

"Build a new one?" he smiled. "Simple. Toothless had some Gronkles produce metal, which some Nightmares and Nadders heated up, then I had more Gronkles beat it into the shape I wanted. That was the first leg, anyway. I've perfected the design a lot since then."

"Very impressive," Valka said. "You seem to have quite an eye for inventing and building,"

"Dad put me to work in the forge."

"With Gobber?" she suddenly laughed, "Does he still believe in trolls?"

"Hey! Trolls exist!"

"Really? Have you ever seen one?"

"Well—no, but that doesn't prove a thing!"

"I imagine they don't steal your socks anymore," Valka laughed.

"Guess there's some good to losing the left leg, isn't there?" Hiccup chuckled.

"Speaking of which, has Gobber lost any more limbs?"

"Just the leg and the arm, and he's got some fake teeth,"

"Oh. He had all his teeth when I knew him."

"Perhaps you'd like to see him again?"

She looked away uncertainly and sighed. Further conversation was interrupted by Cloudjumper storming over and shouting that Toothless had stepped on his tail. Toothless was right behind him claiming it was an accident. Hiccup resolved the issue by telling Cloudjumper to stand on the Night Fury's tail. Cloudjumper decided to take the moral high ground and not stoop to such immature levels.

Toothless rolled his eyes at this. "Good, my tail's been through enough already today." He turned to his human, "So have you asked her about what we came for?" Fishlegs had told them last night what the Dragon Eye could do, and they were both very eager to see it firsthand. At the same time, Hiccup was not quite certain how to bring the subject up.

"Have you wondered why we've come here in the first place?" he asked at last.

"As a matter of fact, I have," his mother replied.

"The fact is…well, to be honest, we came here to find the Dragon Eye,"

Valka at once looked alert and wary. "I should have guessed." she mumbled.

"Well we weren't looking for a woman we believed dead!" Toothless exclaimed.

"So, you took it?" Hiccup asked.

Valka did not answer, which he took to mean 'yes.'

"After it was stolen," he went on, "the Defenders of the Wing accused me and threatened Berk if I didn't hand it back. I got them to agree to a joint effort to retrieve it—both to protect Berk and to get the answers to some…personal questions."

"What questions?" she demanded.

"Drago confused the two of us when he was alive. He thought that Cloudjumper had died from his wounds and I'd replaced him with Toothless. I wanted to know who the first Dragon Rider was."

"And what are these Defenders doing in return for this?"

"Visiting Berk and hopefully changing their minds that we're turning dragons into mindless slaves,"

"I doubt they will," Valka said mournfully, "people don't really change,"

"Hiccup did," Toothless pointed out, "the day he found me in the woods, he changed."

Hiccup smiled faintly at the memory. "I didn't really change, Toothless, at least not the way you mean. That was when I realized what I really was and stopped trying to fight against it. I gave up trying to change and started to accept myself for what I was."

"That still counts as changing. And Berk changed too!"

Valka looked skeptical. "Have things really changed? Or is everyone just pretending to go along with it and paying lip service? A dragon may shed its skin but it's still the same dragon."

"And friends may become enemies and enemies may become friends," Hiccup retorted. "That's part of my life in a nutshell."

"Perhaps you are taking her words too literally," Cloudjumper hinted.

"You're right, and we're getting off topic. So, Valka, I'd like to know something: why'd you steal the Dragon Eye? Actually, a better question first: how'd you even know about it in the first place?"

"A newcomer—a Snow Wraith—who'd escaped from some Dragon Hunters told us about it, and the plans he had overheard. The Bewilderbeast sent us to take a look. We realized what a danger it posed to us and other dragons, so we took it."

"And now I've come to get it back," Hiccup mumbled, "Life just loves ironies,"

"Hiccup, don't you realize what that Eye could do in the wrong hands? Or did the Defenders not fill you in on that part?" Valka asked, first earnestly and then scornfully.

"Do you think I'd just leave it lying around like a toy?" Hiccup asked sharply.

"The Defenders of the Wing lost it twice in one night. And why should you worry about it? It's safe now. Just tell the Defenders that and ask them to be satisfied."

Hiccup frowned. "And just give up and let them accuse me of failing? Of lying to them? Of breaking my half of the deal? They'd be justified in attacking Berk in that case!"

"And this is what happens when you get involved," Valka said, shaking her head, "you got yourself into a situation and now have no good way out of it. You should have just stayed at home and told the Defenders to take care of their own affairs. That's what we've been doing here."

"How was stealing their device taking care of your affairs?" Hiccup asked sharply.

"That was to protect our nest!" Cloudjumper snapped.

"Well, I suggested this trip to protect my nest! They threatened to destroy Berk if I didn't hand over the Eye and I wasn't in the mood for another war! We'd already seen enough of that!" Hiccup retorted.

"Like I said, that's what happens when you get involved." Valka replied.

"'They who in quarrels interpose will often get a bloody nose,'" Cloudjumper added sagaciously.

"Pardon me for saying so, but we only got involved because you got involved first." Toothless pointed out.

"To protect our nest!" Valka insisted, "We had to get involved because we knew the Hunters were planning to steal the Eye!"

Hiccup smiled icily. "Ah, yes, 'A Chief protects their own.' Tell me, did Dad get his catchphrase from you or did you get it from him? Of course, it's never explained who actually qualifies as 'their own.'"

Valka was at first amazed and angry at his words, but she tried hard not to let it show. Instead she tried to speak calmly and deliberately. "Hiccup—you're young and an idealist. You think just by talking you can make everything better, but you can't! There are always evil men who only want to further their own ends! There are always people who want to fight, not for any God or honor or loyalty, but because they love fighting or hate the opposing side too much! Kings spend years making deals and treaties, and break them without a second thought a month later! You can't stop any of this, and you only hurt yourself and those you care about when you try to! This is what I mean by people don't change! It's better to just look after your own island and let the rest of the world take care of itself."

"And when I look over at another island and see people are starving and freezing and being treated like slaves by their corrupt rulers, I should do nothing? When I see humans butchering dragons to satisfy old feuds and bloodlust, and dragons being forced to attack settlements by tyrannical Betas, I should do nothing?" Hiccup retorted.

"Well—sure, there's a limit to how long you delay intervening, but—"

"I got involved in trying to end the war with dragons because my conscience told me it was the right thing to do! I've gotten involved with finding this Dragon Eye for the same reason. Never mind all the curiosity, the diplomatic questions, the dangerous information, or the matters of honor: I came looking for the Eye because the Defenders came to me and I felt they should have it back! And keep this in mind, Valka: you stole the Eye. You got involved and put the Defenders in a situation, and they in turn came to us. So if a war breaks out over this, which is possible—like you said, some people love fighting—then everyone who dies in it will be on your head. Just like all who died at the end of the last two wars because you didn't want to get involved that time."

Valka looked him over sternly. "I never imagined when I gave birth to you you'd speak to me like this," she said coldly.

"And I never imagined I'd speak to you at all, so I guess we're both getting surprised," Hiccup retorted.

"He's gone against a lot of expectations." Toothless said proudly while Hiccup was speaking.

The humans and dragons just looked at their counterparts on the opposite side for what felt like ages, as if each could make the other back down simply by not blinking.

Valka was the first to finally speak. "Have I really done more harm than good by not getting involved?"

Hiccup could have gone through the list in his head, but only said "Yes."

"But you've done a lot of harm too in doing the opposite,"

Hiccup's voice suddenly turned hoarse. "Yes."

"So who's done more harm?" Toothless asked.

"You have, by being direct participants," Cloudjumper said, "the events that happened by our nonparticipation would have happened regardless."

Valka sat down on the ice. "This feels really messed up,"

Hiccup nodded numbly. "But since we can't seem to avoid trouble either way, I suppose it comes down to a matter of choice."

"I suppose so. So if I told you where the Dragon Eye is, and if you brought it back safely, what then?"

"The Defenders will take it somewhere safe, I imagine. Then we all go home, I guess." He privately wanted to have a look at the device first and examine its contents, but he kept that to himself.

"How safe can they keep it? Don't forget, they lost it twice in one night,"

"I've been wondering about that too." Hiccup admitted. "Nevertheless, I'm sure they'll be much more careful this time." And if they were not, he might just take it himself to keep it safe. "But the best way to protect the Eye for now, I think, is to ruin those Dragon Hunters so much that they can't possibly hope to steal it. You know, smash the bridge into so many splinters the repair crews can't hope to reuse the timber."

"Nice poetry. But what if they cut new timber and build a new bridge?"

"We'll take care of that if or when the time comes," Hiccup said firmly. "I'm not leaving without the Eye, Mom. I've got my own nest to protect, and the deal was to bring it back. Look, is your concern only that the Eye does not fall into the hands of anyone who'd misuse it?"

"Yes," Valka said after thinking over his words very carefully.

"That's exactly what the Defenders want too! Everybody here just wants to keep the Dragon Eye safe! We should be working together on this, not arguing! So how about this: we'll return the Eye to the Defenders as proof that we found it and kept our side of the deal. Then we will all assist with hiding it for the last time. We could drop it in the middle of the ocean, or perhaps into a volcano. Then we all get what we want!" Yet in his heart he was upset all of the Eye's information would be lost with it.

"The Dragon Hunters will try to stop you," Valka warned.

"What else is new?" Toothless asked.

Valka cocked her head to one side, much like Hiccup sometimes did. "Why did you agree to this deal at all? Why not just brave the Defenders to do their worst?"

"I didn't ignore the threats the Defenders made because I didn't know enough about them. For all I knew they had a thousand members or a dozen. I wasn't going to dare them to fight Berk straightaway. So I agreed to do this little favor for them to put them in our debt and asked Dad to do some digging to try and work out how formidable these people really are. I've been essentially stalling for time so we can learn more and figure out if they're better as friends or foes, or not worth bothering about. That was one reason, anyway."

Valka suddenly laughed. "Well, if you can get the Eye, I guess you deserve to have it!" Cloudjumper snorted as well.

"What do you mean? Where is it?" Hiccup asked. Valka pointed behind them. He and Toothless turned around and saw the gray expanse of the nest's lake.

"That's a problem," Toothless said.