Ch.19
A few days after Hiccup and Astrid had decided that Toothless had discovered a second Night Fury, Eletra began to grow sluggish. It would take more energy to fly than usual, and she couldn't even fathom performing aerobatics. "I'm going to stay here for now," Eletra said exhausted when Toothless entered the cave returning from a flight with Hiccup. "Eletra? What's wrong? Are you hurt?" Toothless asked concerned for his mate. "No, I'm not hurt, just really tired, could you please bring back some breakfast? I don't think I could handle getting it right now." Toothless nodded and left to find his mate breakfast. At the village, Toothless found Stormfly busily clearing a path to Astrid's front door which had jammed in the early morning snow. "How are you faring?" Stormfly asked taking a breath. "Quite well, have you seen Eletra yet?" Stormfly nodded, "briefly, she was hanging upside down at the time, I don't think she saw me. She looks like you. I didn't want to disturb her she looked asleep. Speaking of which how is she?"
"She's been doing great, adjusting to Berk fine, keeping her a secret from most of Berk has allowed her freedom to explore and familiarize herself without being asked a bunch of questions. Recently, however, she's become sluggish and tires easily. She isn't sick; I can still see the fire in eyes thankfully." Stormfly blasted the last bit of snow blocking Astrid's doorway and thought for a moment. "Make sure she keeps her energy and spirits up, oh and if she's hungry get her food." Toothless missing the hint gladly accepted the advice. " how've you been Stormfly?" Stormfly smiled "Fairly well, Aspen, one of my younglings is visiting me, I'm happy about that. My younglings all moved away or avoid me, so Aspen is visiting me is quite nice." Toothless agreed, "isn't she the reserved one that looks bit like you?" "yep. Astrid should be up any minute; you can stick around if you want, but won't be much to do. Hiccup should be around somewhere." With that Toothless departed, in search of a significant portion of food to swipe.
Toothless returned with a basket full of fish to find Eletra asleep. "why is she so tired?" He thought as he dragged the basket over to Eletra inside the cave. "Eletra, I brought breakfast" She stirred, opening one eye making an effort to move. "Thank you Toothless; I don't know why I'm so exhausted, I'll stretch my wings later today." Eletra ate everything in the basket before Toothless could get a chance. Toothless didn't mind as he'd eaten before his flight with Hiccup that morning. Eletra continued to be at a loss for energy for two weeks. She made an effort to move around and stretch every day but with the arrival of massive snowstorms on Berk elected to stay in the cave until she felt like moving. Then just when she was beginning to think the worst, her energy came back in mounds. She awoke early, before Toothless, which had become uncommon in the past few weeks, only to find snow filling the entrance to their cave. Feeling the need to stretch her wings, she quickly and quietly cleared away the snow and took to the sky.
The next day, Toothless left the warm afternoon sun by the forge to check on Eletra. He was surprised to find her not there, the cave was, however, not empty. Toothless noticed that the basket he'd neglected to return was carefully placed where he'd usually sit. The top edge of a fur hung over the side like it'd been stuffed in and was holding something. He moved closer and nudged the basket, nothing, looking inside the basket he saw the that the fur was covering something, but he wasn't sure what. Carefully he pulled off the fur only to jump back in surprise, his eyes completely dilated. Inside the basket was a single shiny midnight black egg. Toothless couldn't think, his thoughts were a blur, emotions, sounds, and feelings blended in his mind creating an impenetrable fog of sheer joy. After a few moments, his mind settled, and his thoughts once again flowed clearly. "I'm going to be a father!" Toothless was ecstatic. "I'm going to be a father," he thought again, this time worried. "how am I supposed to be a father?" Any doubts Toothless had melted away when he gazed at the egg again, his egg. Without a second thought, he carefully removed the egg from the basket to properly care for it. He breathed a small stream of heated air over the egg before allowing his body heat to warm the egg as he cradled it I his front paws with it resting against his chest.
"TOOTHLESS!" Toothless woke with a start and stared into the eyes of a very panicked, and very angry Eletra. "What happened to our egg!?" "Our egg" those words echoed in his mind, the joyous feeling he had upon finding the egg returning. "WELL?" Toothless was brought back to reality by the smallest of fireballs on his muzzle. "WHERE. IS. OUR. EGG." Toothless moved his head revealing the egg comfortably nestled on his front paws. "Whew, Toothless, do NOT do that again—ever." "Where were you?! You left our egg in a basket with furs, and I couldn't just leave it there." After another moment of tension both dragons gave in, and Eletra sat down next to Toothless who quickly relinquished the egg to Eletra. "why did you leave our egg alone?" Toothless finally asked once Eletra had situated herself with the egg comfortably nestled on her front paws. "I was going to get another fur, but where I went back to where I found the first one, the others were gone." Toothless nodded before asking the big question he'd overlooked so far. "when did it happen?" "Shortly after you left, it would explain why I was so exhausted the past few weeks. I'm guessing it'll hatch in about a week." Toothless was overjoyed, "I must thank Hiccup again for wanting to try that ridiculous flying suit of his." "I guess this cements that we're mates," Eletra said before glancing at their egg again.