"May I ask you something?" The Alpha whispered.
"Sure. Just be quiet."
"I know I shouldn't have been listening but…"
"Don't worry about it." Toothless interrupted. "Everyone here has heard us before. It's nothing new."
"That must be stressful."
"It was. Sure. But it's been a long time. I've had this same conversation with almost all the others. Ask me whatever you want, I'll answer them all the best I can." He sadly smiled.
"Well, I guess I'll get the big one out of the way first. What happened to him?"
"It's kinda a long story so I'm going to give you the reduced version. We were visited by a few different gods and we're fooled. Our first encounter caused us a lot of pain but granted him the ability to speak to us. Our second encounter was better and reversed all the bad things that had happened but added what you see now. Skin, teeth, internals. He's a dragon without a doubt. Just looks a bit different. But it's been hard on him. He's never confident in himself and it affects everything in our lives. I hate that." Toothless grumbled.
"What do you mean? Everything?"
"He's the Alpha. But it's been getting harder and harder to keep him there. Since we don't control them, many of the others are looking to take the spot. I won't let him fight so that means I'm defending his spot. The problem is that I don't know if I should. Without him being confident it's hard to justify it. And it's not like his change is new so I don't know what's wrong. Maybe he doesn't want to be here anymore." His eyes grew wide. "Gods. I know why. I'm so dumb. I should have figured it out earlier." Toothless wanted to slap himself.
"Uhm. You're going to have to explain it to me."
"His father is the leader of the humans who want us dead the most. His father is very well respected by almost all humans. He's known as a great leader, fighter, dragon killer, he's fair to his people. Hiccup grew up with this, told to him every day. I'm wondering if deep down, even if he doesn't know it himself, he thinks that he can't compare to his father. And I think that each day he disappoints even one of us it's a failure. He wants to be as good as the stories. He's reaching for something that's not possible to grab. And each time we were found and had to run or die, it moved that thing further and further from his grasp. But it's different this time. When we ran, he faught back and killed two of them while I cowered. I should have attacked with him. We could have done enough damage that they wouldn't come after us anymore. But now it's different. This home isn't temporary. These dragon follow our lead and we have a responsibility to protect them. They know where the dragons live. They've been trying to get here for hundreds of years and have never come close. But they try and try and they map and map all they can. But I fear that they catch one of us and they'll be forced to lead them through the fog. I fear for that possibility."
"Why? If his father makes it through then you fight. Right?"
"Yes we will fight. But I fear that if I or he kills him, I worry that it'll hurt him in a way that won't be recoverable. He may have a deep hatred for his father but he's still his kin. He may be relieved to not continuously be hunted for but he would lose his only human family. I just don't know how he'd react. And I don't know how I'd help. I can be there for him and be there to love him. But imagine all the mental stress he's in now and then add the death of his father. I hope that if that day comes he will be strong enough to overcome. If not, our road will become very long. But without the constant threat looming over us it'll be easier. But the best thing would be for it to never happen."
"I respect all of your thought. You must put a lot of work to try to keep him happy. It must be so mentally exhausting. How do keep it up? And how long?"
"I've been doing it since we first met. Hiccup is chaos. Even if he won't admit it. When he's not being self conscious about himself or freaking out about this or that, he's quite hyper. It's gotten him in some trouble before, and hurt, and wet, and laughed at." He chuckled to himself. "There was this one time where we were at our old nesting spot, and I was out doing something. Hunting probably. So, he had followed me out and way far enough away that I didn't even know he was there. He hid behind trees and made sure to stay upwind from me, at a distance where I couldn't hear him walking around. He knows how to hide from me and I'm not sure if it a good or bad thing. Either way, I had found a good target and was ready to strike when Hiccup got behind me and threw this stuff at me, which startled my catch. It was sticky and smelled sweet. He started to run as fast as he could, hoping that he wouldn't trip over anything. But since Hiccup is Hiccup, he didn't make it particularly far. Only about a hundred yards before he was eating dirt. As you expect I was on top of him only moments later, pinning him down. He squirmed under my foot, his tail lashing about unhappily. I flipped him over and landed the weight of my chest and head on his stomach. He could have gotten out if he wanted but chose not to. He got up on his elbows and laughed. He wasn't so happy when I told him that I was going to make him eat what threw at me. He opened his eyes and gave me this face. It was so funny I couldn't control myself. We sat there laughing for a long time. I commended him on his ability to stalk his prey, but he had to work on his getting away from danger skills.
So it's not all bad. It's just been a hard bit of time."
"So, how did you meet then. You two seem like a pretty unlikely pair?"
