A/N: This chapter has been a bit of a challenge to write, though honestly most times getting Hiccup and Toothless's POVs down is a bit of a challenge. I'm always having to ask myself "Is this something that works in Hiccup's world view?" and then if it is then trying to figure out how to describe it in his world view. Hopefully though I managed to pull it off, as this was also a chapter that I had in my head from the very start of LftM and have been working for a really long time to get to this point, so I hope ya'll enjoy it! (Also this turned out way, way, way longer than I intended or than any other chapter has been so far, like holy Hell where did all of this come from?)
On another note, I imagine the flying scene generally goes along to the songs "Earth" and "Venice Rooftops" from Jesper Kyd's "Assassins Creed 2" soundtrack, which is a bit fitting anyway since the original idea for this fic sprung up form when I was playing AC Brotherhood's "Leonardo Da Vinci War Machines: Flying Machine" mission.
On a related note, there's a bit of art that goes along with this chapter that was done a few days ago on my Deviantart.
http (colon) (slash) (slash) fav (period) me (slash) da84vv8
Learning from the Masters
A How To Train Your Dragon Fanfiction
Based off Le'Letha's "Nightfall"
Hiccup did not have words in dragon that went beyond anger and hate. There are many things he does not like, things that are dangerous or cause trouble or are simply not good experiences to him. At the forefront of his mind when thinking of not-good things are usually humans. There is an irony there, because he knows that his body is human, but it is only a skin. In his heart he is a dragon. The nest all know and accept him as a dragon, even when they noticed and knew he was first born human before he grew to be dragon.
He tries not to think too much of it, though there is always a sort of lingering fear that one day other dragons will stop seeing him as another dragon, that they might shriek in fear and battle-hate of him. He knows that his own nest will not. He is of their flock, their family! They know of all that he is and accept all that he is. Stranger dragons may see him differently one day, and he quietly fears that.
But for now, even stranger dragons see him as another dragon, so things are as they should be.
Mostly.
The all-wings cousin and loud cousin and rock-skin cousin are better now. They are able to fly as they should be able to, to fly away from humans! Even E-e-kTT's humans who have been good to dragons even if they tried to catch dragons first and for a while caught him and his Toothless-self.
But they did not hurt dragons. They caught them and let them free, and the catching-of-dragons was for a reason not to harm them even if it was unpleasant. The worst of harms was in catching some dragons that were mothers of nests and hatchlings still growing, but Hiccup does not think that E-e-kTT and his flock knew of this. It is a bad thing to have done, as hatchlings need their mothers very much, but in the end the mothers were let go to return and he shrugged it away.
One dragon remains though. It is the many-heads cousin that did not want to eat and slept and pained most. He and his Toothless-self had encouraged and persuaded the many-heads cousin to eat and rest as much as they could. Once the many-heads cousin was better, it could fly away with the rest of the dragons too! Hiccup had crooned friendliness and peace as he had searched for bad wounds that needed treating. He had tried to clean and stitch wounds shut so that they would heal and only leave pale scars against green scale-skin.
Still, the many-headed dragon had not gotten better as the others had. Many of the wounds were no worse than those of any other dragons, but as Hiccup tried to think of what he could do to ease the dragon's pain and see it heal, he had thought that maybe the many-heads cousin had been bitten by a pfikingr sharp-thing turned orangy-brown with death-of-metal.
Shiny sharp-claws that pfikingr make from metal are deadly in that they cut and swipe and leave bad wounds, but sharp-claws with death-of-metal are far worse. It is like the poison in the fangs of some dragons and snakes and other creatures. It is only a bite, but it slowly kills and cannot be stopped once it is in the blood. Hiccup can open traps and clean and stitch wounds to heal them. His clever human paws are good for saving his kin from wounds that would usually kill. He fights death away with his nimble paws so that dragons live longer and many of the nest have scars from traps he has undone and injuries he has tied shut.
He cannot do anything for death-of-metal that is also death-of-dragons except for try to keep it away from his kin, but he cannot always. Sometimes sharp-claws with death-of-metal still bite dragons, and for them, he can do very little of anything.
This time is much the same. He has tried to heal with his paws and sharp-thorn and thread, but even though the wounds that he has treated heal, the dragon is dying. He tries to make things right, but he cannot. Instead of flying away with the rest of the rescued cousins, the many-heads cousin simply lays down in defeat, weary despite that it has rested and eaten and been taken care of.
Hiccup does not like to admit it, but he feels helpless now. He whimpers this thought to Toothless, whining sorrow bad giving-up no no sad restless want-to-help upset no no but that is all that he can do. He has saved many dragon lives with his nimble paws, but this time they fail him. He hides them under dragon-claws that he made for himself, not wanting to see them. His human soft-claws are only as good as what they can do to help dragons, and right now they can do nothing, so he may as well have his dragon-claws to fight away anything that would hunt weak dragons instead so that the many-heads cousin can die peacefully.
The scratching of his claws as he paces goes mostly unnoticed, as in the early morning all of the pfikingr are sleeping. Only Toothless watches him, lightly knocking his dragon-boy off balance to stop his pacing and nosing into his smaller chest, purring sympathy reassurance love you sad yes regret good you love you good tried easy calm love.
Hiccup croons his appreciation, lightly scratching head-scales with his dragon claw gloves in a way that tickles his dragon-love's scales more than anything else. Toothless bats him away and furiously scratches the spot, shaking his head in mild but fond annoyance.
In the moment where he was let free, Hiccup ambles a few paces to the side of the many-heads cousin, crouching at its flank and chirping softly sorry sorry love you me here staying here dragon-cousin not-alone me here sorry love you love you Toothless-heart-of-mine.
There is nothing to apologize for. Toothless shakes it off as nothing. It is a good thing for dragons to stay with dragon-friends until the end. Hiccup is a good dragon. He won't leave the many-heads cousin alone to be afraid and hurting with only humans near it. He noses Hiccup in the side, rumbling soft laughter and praising no no good you good dragon staying here good you love you love you love you in approval, stretching out next to Hiccup so they will keep the dragon-cousin company together until it is gone.
They nest there alongside the dragon-cousin that they know is dying and cannot be saved, each keeping an eye and ear trained for any signs of danger or rousing of the pfikingr as they rest there. Toothless does not mind that Hiccup's attention is entirely on something else, soft-claws lightly petting too-pale green scales and muttering sad, resigned thoughts.
It is only when the pfikingr begin to wake and go about their daily routines that Toothless gets up and perches on top of one of the cages where he can see better, keeping watch so that Hiccup can focus only on keeping the dying cousin company in its last day, as it is quickly looking to be. After that, they will most likely go, now that there are no more dragons to protect from pfikingr who might be friends to dragons or who might not be.
For the most part, the pfikingr leave the side of the cave with the cages alone ever since they first rescued the dragons. E-e-kTT has made his flock stay away, they think, which is a good thing, that humans and dragons leave each other their own areas. It is a good, if not temporary, co-existence that is rarely enjoyed.
Even on the island that Uh strrrTT calls Buh-rrrKK, they have not seen this kind of truce. Often there is yelling and waving pfikingr things and sometimes throwing them that sends dragons scattering in alarm. Occasionally fire is spat because someone is startled or a fight must be broken up before either dragon or human can hurt each other for real because dragons and humans do not understand each other very well. There has been none of that here, except for the day when he and Hiccup found the paints that were E-e-kTT's and decided to play a game, and that is a game that they started first anyway so it is their own fault.
Here they have been mostly ignored, though there are many less dragons and less humans than Buh-rrrKK. If there were more of both, Toothless suspects that there would be many more problems than there are, so he is glad of it that there are few of both. Often, when dragons and humans who are supposed to be friends fight, it is them who are looked to to fix it if they are near. Dragons are easy enough to deal with, but sharp-thing waving humans are another matter entirely.
As the morning continues on, E-e-kTT sees them. Mostly, at first, he sees Hiccup crouched in resignation at the many-heads cousin's side, and then notices Toothless next.
Toothless still does not know what exactly to think of E-e-kTT, focusing on the strange human as he approaches. Even to a dragon, he is very different from many pfikingr that they know. He is clever in a way that they do not often expect, and that can be dangerous. But crows are clever compared to other birds, and E-e-kTT seems to want to be a bird. His Hiccup-beloved likes to think of E-e-kTT like a human with a crow's heart, and Toothless thinks that maybe it is because of that that Hiccup does not mind him as much as he does other humans. In that way, he is a little bit like Hiccup.
He is still not the same though. Toothless knows Hiccup is different. He has always known, even when Hiccup himself did not, but it did not matter, and that is why he had never drawn attention to it until Uh strrrTT had made Hiccup realize. Toothless still resents that day. He still remembers the pain it brought his dragon-boy, how much Hiccup started to hate himself. Internally he still winces sometimes when he remembers how Hiccup wanted him to bite away his human paws, convinced that they would hurt his dragon-kin, even though they have done nothing but help dragons and break traps in ways only human paws can do. Hiccup has not been all-himself since then, but they have tried to move beyond it to how things were, and Toothless and Cloudjumper and all of the nest still accept him as part of their dragon-family. They had known long before Hiccup had, but they had not cared. Hiccup is a good dragon. He has always been a good dragon, and he will always be a good dragon.
To be born in the wrong skin is not his fault. It is a true thing. Toothless knows he is only the best of dragons when they are the best of dragons together, him and Hiccup, two-who-are-one. He cannot imagine anything less than that, and if he and their dragon-family say that Hiccup is just as good a dragon as any of them, then it must be a true and real thing.
Hiccup is a dragon. That is inarguable.
Maybe the same can be said for E-e-kTT being a crow. Toothless would defend that Hiccup is a dragon if ever it were challenged, so who is he to challenge if E-e-kTT is a crow in the wrong skin or not?
He still does not trust pfikingr, even those that are friendly to dragons, but he thinks that maybe it is a good thing to know this one. He does not wholly think of E-e-kTT as a crow, even though he thinks of Hiccup wholly as a dragon, but if he is a human-who-is-a-crow, then it is another for Hiccup to see that he is not the only one born to the wrong skin. Toothless hopes then that it is something for Hiccup to see and think less along the lines that he is a wrong-thing for not being able to help the shape he was born with. It is not so strange and unheard of as they first thought of it to be, and he thinks that that makes Hiccup happier.
Toothless has never thought of it as a wrong-thing, but he knows that humans do. They do not see him as the dragon that he is, only the skin that he started with. Even E-e-kTT questioned once because even he saw the outside skin and not what was in Hiccup's heart, but when he was told and made to know, he accepted it without argument, at least. Toothless thinks even more that E-e-kTT must be the same then, even if they are still different in many ways.
As he's watching E-e-kTT, he knows that he is also being watched and thought of. He thinks that E-e-kTT too doesn't quite know what to think of him either. His body and his face doesn't speak of many things, so he is sometimes difficult to read even compared with most pfikingr who speak aggression when there is none and other signals that don't make sense, but his eyes are sharp and he tries to understand and speak to them in the way that dragons do, even if he still cannot speak it very well.
What Toothless can read is a sort of silent wondering of if it is alright that he approaches, but Toothless has no worry of him. E-e-kTT is clever, and clever can be dangerous, but E-e-kTT seems determined to be on good terms and friendly with them, as much as any pfikingr could ever be with a dragon. He is clever enough to respect that Tt-(click)-th-phuh-ss are formidable and strong together and that it is better for him if they are friends than if they were enemies.
Unworriedly, Toothless snorts and yawns in dismissal, looking instead towards Hiccup, though always he still keeps his head turned just enough towards them to see E-e-kTT in the corner of his sight.
Still, E-e-kTT leaves some distance and asks permission of Hiccup too, before coming closer and inspecting the dragon in his own way, careful of his movements and not showing any kinds of threats. It looks to Toothless as if E-e-kTT is searching for wounds that may have been missed or infections that have set into wounds, but the only thing that is found is a discolored leg that is pained when E-e-kTT presses on it. He knows enough of when Hiccup tends to wounded dragons that it is not a hurt that E-e-kTT meant to do only to hurt, but to find where the wound is that is causing problems.
He hears Hiccup hiss a sound of indignation, chattering under his breath don't-like leave alone resting annoying hurting you but the sounds go mostly unheard.
The two-who-are-one have seen it before, albeit not often, but they know it is the source of what is killing the dragon and that at this point there is nothing they can do to save it. Hiccup mourns and has already given up on the wound - there is nothing he can do - but E-e-kTT looks like he is thinking over an idea. Toothless cannot tell what kind of idea, but he doesn't think he likes the look.
Without anything to either of them, he gets up and walks away, calling for the attention of other pfikingr still in the cave, talking in human words with the kind of rhythm that he has heard E-e-kTT use to command the other pfikingr to do something.
The two of them do not like the activity that springs up, like the humans are jumping towards a fight and chasing something down with haste. Toothless sees the glint of a sharp-thing that one pfikingr picks up and another that starts to make tamed fire. There is a glance sent their way that Toothless knows now for sure that he does not like, a grim, calculative look in those sky-colored eyes. Below on the cave floor, Hiccup too notices and squares his shoulders defensively, crouched with a tension that is ready-to-spring in case something charges at either of them.
For a bit, nothing approaches, but they still wait and watch as pfikingr move about busily with a purpose that they can't be sure of and don't trust, until they all start closing the distance at once with E-e-kTT in the lead towards the dying many-heads cousin.
Deep in his chest, Toothless rumbled the start of a growl and rose partway to his paws, watching while he and Hiccup whistled and chirped to each other don't-like warning alert wary hunting hunting bad humans enemy maybe hunting could-be distrust caution.
Hiccup bared his teeth at them as he paced back and forth in front of the many-heads cousin, signaling with his quick, back-and-forth motions not-here stay away warning! and snarled no no no away bad too-close pfikingr enemy agitation alert warning you all away!
E-e-kTT seemed to understand enough and motioned for the other pfikingr to stop while he still came close, sitting down with some distance and setting out paper to draw what he wanted to say and probably could not very well. A slight motion indicated Hiccup move closer, and while the dragon-man did not particularly like to with so many humans so near, he closed the distance at least enough to see what E-e-kTT would draw to tell what he wanted, always still shifting his eyes to the pfikingr behind in case any of them sprang suddenly. Toothless let a growl be heard by them all to remind them of himself so that they would not think to hunt his smaller half as an easier target, satisfied to see them unnerved and to back off a little bit.
E-e-kTT drew the many-heads cousin quickly, indicating that their interest was more in it than in Hiccup and Toothless. He already knew that much. He knew already too without E-e-kTT saying anything that the dragon was dying from whatever wound had been done to its leg. He had not expected what E-e-kTT would suggest.
To use a sharp-thing and rip away the many-heads cousin's leg with it!
"Nuh!" he snarled, shaking his head furiously.
Even the idea of it made his stomach sick, like a bad-to-eat thing that he would need to throw it back up!
He knows that there are some wounds with bad parts that will not get better and have to be cut away, but he has only ever done so for small parts where there are already festering, open wounds that infection has claimed or bugs have set up home in where they should not be. He has never tried to cut away anything like entire limbs away. He knows without having to, from hunting prey with his kin, that it would most certainly be the death of dragons to do something so extreme. It would do nothing but cause the dragon even more pain!
He can think that because E-e-kTT knows the dragon is dying anyway that they can descend down and scavenge on the dragon before it has even gone. It would be a crow thing to do. Crows are not threats to live dragons, but they will eat off of anything dead, which the leg of the many-heads cousin is. He doesn't like the idea of it, showing his teeth and wrinkling his nose in clear distaste of the idea, but even more abhorrent is how E-e-kTT suggests to do it, to use a sharp thing to cut the dragon open!
He and Toothless do not mind when E-e-kTT does crow things. Crows are clever thieves and players-of-tricks and a nuisance, and many of them defending a territory can leave them with small wounds from claws and beaks when diving at intruders, but they are little more than pests.
But E-e-kTT is not all crow. Even if he is born in the wrong skin, he is still just as much pfikingr. There are times when Hiccup can almost forget that, when E-e-kTT is thinking and making things with his paws and trying to find ways to make wings to be more bird than human, but it never fully leaves his mind just as he never now fully forgets his own human skin.
Using a sharp thing to cut open a wounded dragon is a human thing to do, and he does not trust that. He will never trust the things that humans do, especially the things that they do to dragons.
He declares his thoughts on the matter clear as he can, yowling No dead dragon pfikingr do no kill enemy battle-hate fierce us fight defend protect! Pfikingr bad! No! Human go away! Won't-let-you! Defending protecting threat enemies-humans will-fight fierce! and bristling as he continues his agitated pacing between the cousin dragon and E-e-kTT's flock.
E-e-kTT tries to push his anger away with sounds of peace calm you-angry peace friendly no-harm but Hiccup ignores it with an irritated flick of his head, distrusting the words.
They are lies! Using a sharp-thing against a dragon will cause hurt and harm! They are promises that mean nothing, and Hiccup is no fool. He cannot trust such a claim. There is no truth to it. E-e-kTT still tries to convince him, reasserting calm no-threat easy you come here calm friendly and motioning, but Hiccup will have none of it.
Toothless moves between Hiccup and the cousin now, making more of a wall and ready to fight if they had to. Before they were not worried of a fight, but now they are ready for one if E-e-kTT or his flock try to start one. They do not think that he will, but they are ready for it all the same just in case.
E-e-kTT instead tries to talk to them more, saying that it is something that humans sometimes deal with too. That humans will cut away dead limbs when it happens, that it is a kind of helping.
It does not serve to settle his nerves. It sounds horrifying. He can think only of dragons losing wings and being unable to fly or losing tails and not being able to steer or fight as well or losing legs and paws and not being able to hunt. He remembers dragons with bad wounds from sharp things that he has listened to whimpering and crying in pain many times and for many days before they became better. He remembers more about other dragons who bled everywhere from large wounds he has tried to close and did not live.
He cannot fathom the idea of doing that to another dragon even if it is already injured. He can fathom it being a way to help even less. He does not know how humans can be okay with the idea of doing it to humans who are friends and who they are not hunting as enemies. He does not understand why it is a thing that should be done, even as E-e-kTT tries to explain it to him in human words that are spoken carefully and concisely so that he can make sense of them.
But E-e-kTT speaks of how they showed they wanted to help dragons before, and how he wants to help again. It is difficult to know, because E-e-kTT does not speak often with his body or his face, but right now he is showing with his eyes and body truth and silently bidding trust?
Hiccup gives up on pacing, instead sitting up rigid like stone and growling low in his throat, looking to Toothless for what he thinks and wondering aloud unsure don't like distrust bad bad no wary cautious hurting yes must-be yes? Agitated wary trap hunting lying maybe? Wondering you think?
Toothless hums and growls thoughtfully don't-know unsure distrust lie trick maybe wary caution careful love maybe could-be.
Still, Hiccup knows that he is at his limit of what he knows how to do in treating wounds and sickness. He drops his shoulders a little, mumbling reluctance sorrow helpless want-to-help can't. Trust maybe could help don't-know unsure helped dragons true. Maybe? He does not like the idea at all, but he knows that metal is a pfikingr thing and that pfikingr know many things about what they make that he does not understand.
Hiccup has a hard time putting into sounds and communicating that maybe a pfikingr like E-e-kTT will know a way to save dragons from death-of-metal that a dragon would not know. He briefly can think of his own human paws and the things he can do with them that no dragon in the nest can do, and that his paws are good for breaking traps that other dragons cannot do anything about. Despite his shape, Hiccup is a dragon. It both fascinates and frustrates him at times, but there are human concepts he simply cannot wrap his mind around even though he has a human's body. He thinks that maybe this could be one of those things. Maybe E-e-kTT understands things about wounds made by sharp-claws and death-of-metal that really could save the life of the many-heads cousin that Hiccup does not understand.
The thoughts are abstract, and he has to take a while to try and put them to sense, whining frustration at his own thoughts as he sorts through them.
Traps biting catching dragons hold not-let-go. Human paws break traps not dragon paws yes? Pfikingr paws clever smart fight pfikingr things good helping better maybe?
Neither of them like it, but the logic makes sense. Humans are good at crafting things that dragons cannot break. But Hiccup is both a dragon and somewhat a human, and both Toothless and Hiccup are two-who-are-one together. They can understand far enough to know that sometimes the best way to fight human things is to break and fight them the way only humans can.
Maybe could-be distrust still wary cautious ready-to-pounce defend maybe lying still Toothless agrees, feeling a little more comfortable as Hiccup turns and climbs onto his shoulders and tangles his paws into the straps of the fly-with. They snort at E-e-kTT in permission, but they also give him a look of warning. If he is lying, they will make sure that E-e-kTT and his flock know how much they revile the idea and that they can still be fierce enemies if their glimpse of given trust is betrayed.
E-e-kTT repeats that they are helping before they start. Hiccup and Toothless do not like any of it. They do not have sounds for something worse than utmost hate for something, but they feel it together in the way Hiccup fidgets restlessly on Toothless's shoulders, curling and uncurling claws around the straps of the fly-with, and tremble with a need-to-pounce even though they stop themselves from going through with it.
Seeing the pfikingr circling and pinning the wounded dragon down like a prey-thing is enough to make heat like a rising fire flicker in Hiccup's own chest, so much that he almost feels as if he could make blasting-fire of his own to fight away the pfikingr himself. He almost lets himself believe he can for a moment, but his body is still not dragon and he cannot make fire appear from his throat, much as he wants to.
His eyes follow all of the pfikingr at once, but they follow E-e-kTT most of all, watching him motion and talk to the rest of the human flock, coordinating what they should do and where to go. The worst is when he draws a sharp-thing and swings it down onto the leg, earning a cry of pain from the dragon, before they can think to do anything to get in the way.
The sight doesn't rise fire in Hiccup's throat, but it does bring a bad taste of bile to accompany the sick feeling in his gut, hissing bad not like hurting fury anger fierce want-to-leap no no no uneasiness bad feeling frustration hate disgust!, rolling with the pacing movements of Toothless beneath him so that they move together. He can feel the ripple of a tremble down Toothless's back and the quiver of his wings that speaks of the same, of horror enemies hurting killing bad revulsion. It is difficult to resist their instincts that scream at them to choose only between flying far away and leaving this place at their tails without coming back or to fight and chase away the sharp-thing wielding pfikingr, even E-e-kTT who is human that is a crow.
To only stand back and wait and trust that what E-e-kTT says is not a lie is unbearable and wrong. They should be either helping or fleeing. Pfikingr with weapons used on dragons are dangerous things. Hiccup has thoroughly learned all his life to stay very, very far away from them whenever possible. Even hatchlings know that they are bad.
But right now he has to ignore all of that. He wants for E-e-kTT to be telling the truth, not because he particularly cares for E-e-kTT or has a desire to trust him specifically, but because he wants for the many-heads cousin to survive. He does not want this to be another place where dragons are not safe and where pfikingr are angry killers of his kin and cousin-kind.
E-e-kTT works fast to cut away the dead leg and cover where he cut to stop where it is bleeding badly, burning the wound. When he has covered it to hold the blood in as best as can be done, E-e-kTT sends the rest of the pfikingr away so that it is only him and them. They feel a little better about this, but still they are leery and do not come too close, the image of him wielding the sharp-thing against a dragon still burned sharply into their memory like the scorch marks of a now-gone fire blast.
"Drakkkn nuh die?" Hiccup manages to voice, but not bothering to keep the unhappiness from his voice. He receives a shrug, E-e-kTT signaling don't-know, maybe. It isn't what Hiccup wants to hear, but it is the best answer E-e-kTT can give. Hiccup knows that bad wounds are tricky things. A last thing that E-e-kTT does is gives over a mix of fish and water and strong-smelling plants all mixed together inseparably. It was for the many-heads cousin.
While Hiccup was busy being unable to look over at the cousin dragon and its cut-away leg, bristling at it still long after the deed was done, E-e-kTT spoke to him again, but mostly in words that he barely could interpret. He understood some parts, that what they did was a Viking thing to do. Something Hiccup could not do because he was a dragon, and that E-e-kTT knows he could not do even if he had known how.
It is unthinkable to do such a thing to his fellow dragons. He would no longer be a dragon like them. He would be a terrible killer-of-dragon-family, a thought that haunts him more than anything else, but he tries to shake the thought away. He would never become such a thing, but he is reminded again that E-e-kTT is as much pfikingr as he might also be crow.
He wants the dragon to live. He knows that, and he knows not all things to help dragons heal are pleasant. If E-e-kTT is telling the truth and the dragon lives, he will be glad of it. In that moment, he thinks that maybe he understands what E-e-kTT was trying to say, that E-e-kTT did what Hiccup would not have the will to do himself. Because the dragon is not yet better, he doesn't know what to think for the moment, but maybe in a while longer he will be just a little bit thankful not to have had to do such a horrible thing.
For many days, Hiccup and Toothless do not leave even to fly or hunt. They can find food that the pfikingr bring in large rolling holding-things, though they try not to most times because pfikingr do not like being stolen from and can then be dangerous. For now, they ignore the thought of it, and the pfikingr do not bother them for taking food.
It is not that they do not want to fly or don't want to hunt. Flying is like breathing for them. It is as much everything they are as they are two-who-are-one. There is always the lingering desire in the back of their minds, and Hiccup occasionally can't help chattering want want want and watching the mouth of the cave and the sky with the need to go somewhere.
He tries to be patient though. He does not want to go far at all from the many-heads cousin until he knows if it will survive or not. It is weak, and it has barely woken, but it is still breathing longer than they thought it would. Any time a pfikingr comes too close for their liking, they snarl and lunge just enough to make them scatter away, and have gotten very good at making sure they know they are not welcome near the cousin.
The only one they let past is E-e-kTT, and only because E-e-kTT insists it is needed. He comes every day, sometimes more than once, bringing the fish-water-plant mixes and checking the wound where the leg was and wraps white strips that are like canvas but softer around it, all the while reassuring them that he is helping. These things Hiccup recognizes as trying to make wounds better.
What is strangest of all but not entirely unknown is E-e-kTT trying to make the many-heads cousin eat. There have been a few times when they have known dragons who did not want to eat after they were hurt, or sometimes ones too weak. Numerous times Hiccup and Toothless have crooned and pleaded for a weak dragon in their nest or that they have freed to eat. Sometimes they do, other times not. It is when they do not that worries him most, because he knows of a few that did not live because they did not eat.
E-e-kTT takes a hollow thing that is like the center of a rotted log where only the outside skin remains. It is barely too small to fit a paw through, but also small enough to slide into the throat of one of the many-heads of the cousin. Fascinated, Hiccup paced and whistled as he watched E-e-kTT pour the water-fish-plants through the center of it and into the dragon. The many-heads cousin protested in whines and squirms, but it ate, and over the days it grew a little stronger. He quietly marks the useful feeding-thing in his mind as something to take later, but after a few days, E-e-kTT gives it to him before he can take the chance to steal it anyway.
After many, many days, E-e-kTT pretending not to notice Hiccup as he works and letting him see and learn what he can about taking care of bad wounds, the many-heads cousin starts to recover properly, eating on its own and staying awake longer.
It stirs conflicted feelings. Hiccup hates what was done, even if it was necessary. He still feels mourning for the dragon whose leg is gone. All the same he is happy that the dragon itself is going to survive, and that what E-e-kTT spoke was truth. He doesn't know that he could ever do what E-e-kTT did even seeing how it helped, but he at least knows now new ways to try and help his kin in more ways than before. He knows he will use the feeding-thing at some point, even if he will never cut away part of a dragon in such a way.
Most of the time that E-e-kTT is not helping the dragon, he is working on his made-wings busily, and he is working on the tail. The more that the cousin recovers now, the more Hiccup allows himself to be curious and close some distance again, watching what E-e-kTT does curiously. He knows that E-e-kTT sees him, but does not act as if he does.
In the many days that he has left alone himself and Toothless and the recovering cousin, E-e-kTT has made many changes. The shoulders of the wings move a little bit and let them fold straight back to tuck in like when he and Toothless when they dive. The tail moves freely, even able to turn around and around and around without having to stop and turn the other way. Hiccup can't help being simultaneously confused and entertained watching E-e-kTT prop it up and spin it with a paw, wondering what good a tail that does not stop turning could be good for, and then wondering what a tail that turns so far could not be good for.
Not for the first time, he itches with a terrible need to have a tail of his own - a tail that will make him more of a dragon than ever, just as E-e-kTT will be more of a crow than ever, but still he is faced with the frustration that he does not know a good way to make a tail that will be like his Toothless-beloved's that he can call his own.
He wants a tail. He wants one so so so badly, and he mourns that he does not know he will ever be able to make a tail that is as good as his dragon-half's. He has rolled the thought over many, many times and tried to draw his thoughts but he cannot figure it out. Ultimately dejected, he returns to Toothless with a sigh, whimpering this frustration against Toothless's flank as he settles down to sleep and try to forget in dreaming that he is inevitably still lacking in so many things that make him just as much a dragon as his kin.
Across many days, E-e-kTT works on something new from the made-wings. He does not even look at them. Hiccup has no idea what exactly he is working on. There are hollow things like the feeding-thing but that he does not use for that, and there are ropes and threads and pieces of wood that he is carving. Hiccup thinks maybe that it is something else to add to the made-wings, but then perhaps it is not.
The hollow-things he makes so that they fit together at the ends when held together, but that come apart again as soon as they are released. Hiccup can't help whistling and tilting his head. They look almost like all the connected back-bones on skeletons of many long-dead things he has seen and that his flock have eaten from. He does not know exactly what E-e-kTT would need with a spine made of hollowed wood and metal pieces, trying to ask for some kind of indication, but E-e-kTT gives none. He shrugs as if he does not know what he is making, which Hiccup thinks strange, but if E-e-kTT does not know then Hiccup cannot expect him to explain it.
After a time, he gives up trying to make sense of it, and returns to Toothless so that they can go out to fly and hunt down some fish to eat. The many-heads cousin is much better, and he can guess that it will be able to leave very soon, which is a good thing. He purrs happiness at this, having thought before that it would not live. He thinks to thank E-e-kTT after they have eaten and returned again later, but for now they focus only on hunting and flying and the knowing that they will return to the great king's Nest soon away from traps and pfikingr where they belong to.
He thinks too of Buh-rrrKK and the dragons there and Uh strrrTT and the red-furred human alpha St-t-t-t-t-t-kk. He does not desire to go now, having been so close to humans this long again, but maybe after he has been away for a while and with only dragons he will go to check on how things are there, that humans and dragons have not gone back to being enemies and the dragons there are safe too.
He shakes these thoughts away as he feels Toothless shift into a ready-to-dive position, warning Hiccup with his movements to hold on. Hiccup shifts his weight to match Toothless and tangles his paws into the straps of the fly-with to swoop downward and at the water where fish are flickering just below the surface.
They dive and pluck fish out of the sea to eat for a good while under they are full and content, ready to stretch out and laze, and return to the cave where E-e-kTT and his flock have made into their nest.
The day after, E-e-kTT has something for them. Hiccup cannot help yelping and hopping-pouncing in delight, lighting up.
It is a tail!
A tail that is almost like Toothless's own!
It is not exactly the same, he notices, but it has the shape of the tail-fin. It lacks the length and thickness of Toothless's. There is no scale-flesh to it, only wood-metal bones that are just slightly wider than the ropes E-e-kTT's pfikingr used before for climbing, which is strange to him, and it attaches to leather pieces like the straps for the fly-with and rope.
E-e-kTT shows on himself first, tying the leather straps on. There is one strap that ties around his waist and another bigger one around his chest and shoulders, with a longer hollow piece of leather made there with clever ties along his back and over one shoulder. A rope coils up through the leather like a snake through a small tunnel, and its head dangles over his shoulder and down his cheset to bite onto the waist-strap in the front with a little metal fang. The tail sits too high for being what Hiccup considers a proper tail like Toothless's, resting up more towards his back and the top of his legs, just beneath where his fin would be, and there are side-spines just a little higher than the tail fin.
At first he does not see what makes it a good tail for flying, but then E-e-kTT shows hanging onto a branch above the ground and unhooks the metal tooth of the rope on the waist-straps, putting his feet on the side-spines and pushing the tail out to be longer, the rope moving so that only a knot keeps it from completely disappearing through the back-leather-hollow and instead letting the tail extend out. With no tension from the rope pulled tight to the straps, the wood-metal hollows easily separate and reveal the length of the freed rope. With the side-spines at the tailfin-base that his feet are on, he shows turning it so that it can steer like a proper tail.
Dropping back down, E-e-kTT pulled the knot at the shoulder to shorten the tail again, the wood-metal spine pieces fitting back together again to make it stand out stiff, and hooked it to the waist-strap, so that it would not get in the way of walking.
Even with being freely given it, Hiccup simply could not get the made-tail away from E-e-kTT and onto himself fast enough, finding out from a little bit of E-e-kTT's help that it fit quite well under the scale-skin on his chest and still worked just as well.
Having it simply felt like a right-thing as he finally got it all on himself and secured how it was supposed to go, turning and turning and turning to see and looking to Toothless in delight, purring and yipping elation excited ecstatic mine tail mine! Like you! Like you! See? Dragon tail mine there see there look-at-me there all mine like you! More-than-happy overjoyed best thing tail mine dragon tail flying want want want try-it! You me we us! Flying together! Want-to-try!
Toothless rumbled a purr and pressed his nose against his Hiccup's chest, teasing in agreement silly you love you! Dragon tail good better you dragon yes always happy-for-you heart-of-mine tail yours now good good good! Yes yes flying us good together flying better try-it yes of course.
They do not forget that E-e-kTT is there - they never forget when a pfikingr is there - but this is a different kind. They cannot overlook the one who helped Hiccup with one of the few things he has always more-than-wanted, that he has needed, to be a better dragon like all of his kin and like Toothless especially. It would have been just as well if they had figured it out all on their own, but they are not thankless for such a wonderful gift. That it is not exact to Toothless's tail does not matter, it is very close, and Hiccup knows he will toy with it and give it his own personal flare to make it even better in time.
He manages to quell some of his excitement over it for long enough to look back at E-e-kTT, unable to put to his limited human words how much something like this means to him, a dragon who has never had a tail of his own. It is a gesture he will never, ever forget.
But he does his best to try, to lower himself and duck his shoulders and his head down, chirring sounds that are both happy and humbled at once, showing with his gestures and his eyes gratitude.
E-e-kTT only acknowledges him with a slight nod, and maybe the tiniest hint of a smirk in his eyes if not on his mouth or in sounds.
E-e-kTT turns then to get his own made-wings, which have their own flare. Before E-e-kTT used leather, but this time the webbing of the wings is canvas and there are crow feathers covering the wood skeleton of the wings, and there are curled wood pieces that look like the crude silhouette of a head and beak. E-ek-TT croaked a quick sound at the crow-partner of his and made for the opening of the cave, looking back and motioning come on with a flick of his head and paw.
They didn't need to be invited twice, Hiccup leaping onto Toothless's shoulders and the two of them racing outside and towards the sky, following E-e-kTT who was already climbing up the sides of the rocks towards the top of the cliffs where the wind was best. E-e-kTT waited at the highest point with made-wings outstretched waiting until finally a good wind pulled under his wings and took him skyward, Toothless launching after him into the updrafts.
Soon they are high above the ocean and island. E-e-kTT is still getting the hang of his wings, but Hiccup wastes no time in leaping off of Toothless's back to give his new tail a try, catching the wind under his own. Getting the rope unlatched from the leather strap while flying is a little bit of a trick at first with his wings outstretched, but they are high enough up for him to risk falling a little ways, and he folds them in just long enough to settle his back paws onto the spines of the tail and loosen the rope from the waist-strap.
The first time he opens his wings, he loses purchase on the tail and snarls in frustration as it whips upward and limp behind him, falling into another dive to try and correct it. He manages a little bit better and figures out the angle to push his feet against it to keep it from slipping away again, and tries tilting it to one side to turn. He turns a bit too much, more used to using his whole body to steer and get where he needs to go, and almost falls into a dizzying spiral.
He corrects himself with a wobbling turn the other way, almost going too far the other way and having to adjust back and forth until he can steady himself again. It is not a difficult adjustment to make, but it is strange and new, and he isn't sure how to move just yet. He tries a little more delicate turns at first, getting used to where the wind and his new tail want him to go. It feels almost like learning to fly all over again. It is different, but not bad, and Toothless is always close in case he has troubles he cannot correct on his own.
It doesn't take him long at all to adjust to this new way of flying all the same, dipping and turning and feeling through how much just having this new tail changes how well he can move. In almost no time at all, he is swooping and diving and flipping around to go another way. It is not the same as what Toothless is able to do, but it is so much closer than he could ever do before, and he whoops in joy of it. It is everything he knew he was missing before.
He twirls and twists and rolls in the air, chattering to his Toothless-love joy flying good tail good love-it yes yes look-at-me me dragon better dragon joy happiness yes yes yes! and laughing with the pure bliss of it.
Toothless warbles laughter in his throat and rolls his eyes, buffeting Hiccup with a gust of wind that sends him spinning off-balance for a ways, following Hiccup in his fall and using his own tail to twirl around with ease.
Yes yes flying better you silly you mine!
They level out, but before long, they are almost pounced and scatter to the sides when E-e-kTT and his crow-partner dives between them and further down still, causing both dragon and dragon-man to shriek out indignation! Careful you watch-out startled alert!
E-e-kTT catches the wind from his own dive and swoops back upward, twisting to avoid Hiccup but almost clipping as he passes again. There is a short, sharp crowing sound that they do not understand as they do either dragon or some human sounds, but they think that it is a mocking-taunting sound and a glance that almost speaks of challenge before E-e-kTT swoops away from them. As they are focused on E-e-kTT, the crow-partner briefly swipes claws at Hiccup's head as she passes too, following E-e-kTT.
Hiccup and Toothless glance at each other. It is not the kind of challenge like a fight or of alphas, but maybe a teasing-playing kind of challenge.
A game of flying-chasing!
It is something they decide that they cannot resist now. A game would be a good thing. It would be a challenge that Hiccup could focus on as a way to try his new tail and all that it can do.
With that one look at each other, they decide they will pounce at the bait and play. Toothless announces his own participation with a shriek and beats his wings to catch up, seeing that E-e-kTT is looking and waiting for them to leap after him before chasing after the fastest wind currents.
Toothless moves to get ahead of E-e-kTT and cut off his path while Hiccup chases from behind, sweeping wide around and then arching into E-e-kTT's path. They immediately see E-e-kTT turn to avoid him, steering the same direction as Toothless, but then quickly switches his whole tilt and angles his tail to dart underneath Toothless's belly.
Hiccup sees, and angles himself up to chase a current higher, then a sharp dip downward towards E-e-kTT. E-e-kTT turns sharply with his tail, turning all the way around in a partial dive, but Hiccup is close behind him, angling himself to match E-e-kTT's movements and stay close to his tailwind. When E-e-kTT sweeps one way and then the other opposite way, Hiccup is close behind, not letting any feints fool him.
He sees Toothless below them and gaining height, moving to where E-e-kTT cannot dive down away from him like he has been doing. When E-e-kTT moves to turn one way and get away from flying between them, both Hiccup and Toothless move in unison to block his way so that the only way he has to fly is forward.
E-e-kTT grows wise to their tactics and folds his wings back just enough to lose some height and lightly lands on Toothless's back for but a blink, swiveling around and springing off in the other direction as they are going, snapping wings back out as soon as he is clear of them. It is as surprising as it is a clever move, but something they realize they should expect of a crow to do, and they are not going to let him get away with too many others without being caught first, each choosing a way to turn to pursue on each side.
Hiccup especially tries to catch up, though his wings are shorter and it is harder, but he knows the winds better than E-e-kTT would, and manages to navigate the best air streams to match pace. Cheekily, he falls into a downward roll onto one of the made-wings and sends him into a spin, a fun trick he has pulled on Toothless in their own flying-chasing games before until Toothless grew wise to the trick. E-e-kTT does not know of it though and it works, causing him to spin-dive towards the ocean far below.
He manages to control the spin and correct it before too long, and by then Hiccup has caught up again, laughing a dragon's laugh as he flies upside-down on his back feeling smug with himself.
E-e-kTT side-dives towards him to knock him off balance, but Hiccup easily rolls away to the opposite side through the air, more agile than ever. It starts that way and becomes a game of swooping, banking, and twisting in the air at each other, trying to knock into the other and avoid being knocked into, with neither really doing more than grazing past. Hiccup comes closest to a proper hit, but E-e-kTT rolled away with a quick snap of his weight to one wing and dove back towards the island, cawing-taunting.
Hiccup, of course, follows, determined to be the winner of this flying-chasing-catching game. E-e-kTT pulls his wings back a little ways and lands at the top of a peak, sprinting a little ways and then leaping down the edge to dive. It is easy for him to get settled back with his paws on the bird-tail, with the made-wing's long stiff spine, but Hiccup's tail is one that he knows would fall behind him and that he could not correct easily without room to fall, so he swoops upward over it first before angling to follow.
They dive down for a space in the rocks, E-e-kTT angling his swoop into a side-flying between it since his made-wings are a little wider. Hiccup doesn't need the same amount of room, seeing an advantage and a chance in his smaller, better-gliding wings, chasing closely.
The wind between the rocks is just as good here, channeling like a funnel through the narrow pass of mountain, so they do not risk falling so long as they stay in the higher parts. Hiccup manages to catch up and briefly swats the top of E-e-kTT's head as he goes, laughing yowp yowp yowp and taking the lead through the rocks. There are some sharper turns that he barely manages to make, but with the tail it is easier and he once again purrs satisfaction good joy tail good happy!
E-e-kTT has a little harder time moving around the tighter places, but with a glance back Hiccup sees him making turns with pushing off rocks with his legs, though it is costing him some height in flying. Toothless still follows them, keeping watch on his dragon-boy and E-e-kTT as they fly, and Hiccup thinks of a trick they know that would help E-e-kTT.
He calls back Toothless-love here c'mere you fire-flying yes do showing trusting unconditionally that Toothless's fire will never hurt him. The black dragon catches his cue and sends a blast just under him that explodes in the air, the heat from it catching under Hiccup's wings and sending him a little higher and faster. He knows that E-e-kTT sees but they show again what they know, so that it is understood what they are trying to do before they try it for E-e-kTT too.
He seems to understand and rides the heat of the next blast like he saw Hiccup doing, riding the wind and fire-blasts up higher until they cleared the cliffs and caught better winds that take them upward, going up up up up until they are very high and flying wide circles. E-e-kTT pulls his wings back and stalls for a moment without wind under his wings, facing up, and tilts back into a fall, folding only one wing in to spin.
Hiccup and Toothless follow until he levels out and merely drifts, letting the wind do all of the work. Hiccup himself turns over onto his back and simply glides, purring contentment. He thinks that maybe E-e-kTT is feeling good too, if he can read the crow-man at all. He cannot imagine anything less. Flying is the best thing.
They fly for a while more and simply drink in the wind around them pushing them this way or that, but they inevitably have to land before long and take a rest from it. E-e-kTT goes back to pretending as if they are not near, though at the moment Hiccup cannot find it in himself to care about being cautious, stretching back against Toothless's flank and humming-purring in satisfaction.
Toothless thinks he may be happiest of all. It has been a very, very long time since Hiccup has seemed all at-peace with himself since Uh strrrTT shattered Hiccup's knowing of himself as a dragon and made him too aware of his differences and the skin he was born with. It is hard to remember a time when Hiccup purred so much, and harder still to remember since the flying-rock hurt his wing and trapped them on Buh-rrrKK among enemies-who-are-not-enemies and dragons stinking of the sickbackwrong dragon-eater Queen. That a human is the one to restore Hiccup's security in being a dragon is ironic, but not altogether bad, though maybe he is wrong in thinking of E-e-kTT as a human when he seems as much a crow born in the wrong skin.
Toothless rolls to his side and catches Hiccup in his paws, rolling them over playfully and purring in return of his now always-purring dragon boy yes yes silly you! Happy good love you silly you! and rolling all the way over so that he has Hiccup between his paws and can pin him with his throat and rub their together-dragon-scent all over, crooning happy delighted happy-for-you dragon you always always good dragon mine Hiccup-heart-of-mine love you yes yes content you better good dragon always.
Hiccup purrs gratitude love you love you joy content better dragon me good tail like-you love you love you in return, nuzzling against Toothless's jaw and settling comfortably. For a while, all he can do is lay there, sleeping-but-not-sleeping, and let's his thoughts wander. He thinks of one last thing that he would have if he could, and can't help tentatively exploring in a bit of a playful way fire still no fire E-e-kTT can maybe you think?
Toothless rolls his eyes, cuffing Hiccup lightly with his paws and fondly scolding already? and shaking his head no no see fire crow you? No see crow no fire.
Hiccup laughs with a small bit of remorse, but he figured it had been a thought worth sharing. Of course a crow would know about tails, but not fires. He has never seen a crow that breathes fire. It was a silly thought.
Sorry sorry silly know-that gratitude tail good still love love yes good better like-you happy grateful joy happy me content yes love you love you.
It grows dark as E-e-kTT inspects his made-wings to see that they are all still good and Hiccup and Toothless muse about returning to the nest. They have been gone a very, very long time. They do not regret being away for so long, they are wanderers and it is not the first time they have gone away for some time, but they miss home and their kin now, and Hiccup can go back feeling better than he has for a very long time. He can meet hatchlings that were still eggs last time he saw them and show his new tail to hatchlings that he knew from before and show it to dragons who have all known him for as long as he can remember and have seen him grow and boast what a better dragon he is now.
He has wings, and a tail, and clever paws that free his nest-mates that no other dragon has, and he always still has Toothless. They are the best of dragons, and all the better now together. E-e-kTT now has his made-wings that he sought to make with the help of dragons, so they have repaid him for saving trapped cousins. Earlier they saw the many-heads cousin leave. There is nothing left to keep them here, but maybe they will come back to visit just as they do with Buh-rrrKK, even though here there are not dragons to check up on and see that they are getting along with pfikingr and safe.
Stretching themselves out luxuriously, Hiccup climbs into Toothless's back. For now, he will let the larger dragon fly for them, but once they are in the air and close to home, he will most definitely try out his new tail again.
They approach close to where E-e-kTT is sitting with his made wings, not needing to do anything more to draw his attention, the crow-man looking up and waiting to hear what they wanted. Hiccup took a moment to think of his words, a little bit frustrated with his lack of human ones to say all that was in his mind.
"(click)-uudt KKrrr-oh ooo-mn." He chirped out sounds that were good grateful you good happy thanks-to-you grateful good you again and bowed down low to show the meaning of his sounds. E-e-kTT seemed to understand. Hiccup almost felt bad in it (almost), but indicated with a glance and a few words, "Drakkkn kkko."
It didn't seem to bother E-e-kTT, the crow-man merely nodding and motioning go ahead.
"You've helped," E-e-kTT dismissed simply, glancing at his made-wings. "This is good. You two are good. Thank you, for helping."
Both can't help but purr. They are always glad to be told what good dragons they are. They take a last, long stretch before going to fly, seeing out of the corner of their eye E-e-kTT stand up and walk to the edge of the rocks where Hiccup and Toothless take off from. Hiccup rubs his cheek along Toothless's head scales in affection, excited to return to the nest and show his nest-mates his newest addition of a tail, already his mind at work thinking of ways to work on it to make it even better.
Toothless interrupts his thoughts with a curious warble that is like what-is-that? that draws his attention. Below, most of what they see is the faint glimmer across dark night time waves, little more than lines that are fine like spider web threads, but there is also a glow of flame, becoming big and bright and forming a ball. A smaller light they figure out is a tame-fire in pfikingr paws moves away from it and makes another fire-ball that steadily gets bigger, and another.
Once many fires are lit, they hear a short bark of pfikingr words and the fire-balls launch off the deck of the ship below, arching through the air. Hiccup and Toothless swerve to be well out of the way of them and whirl around, seeing the fire-balls fly through the sky and hit the forested shore of where E-e-kTT's flock have been calling home, setting the trees ablaze.
They shriek out an alarm call, knowing exactly what it is.
It is an attack!