Toothless smiled a bit.
"Thanks Hiccup. I wonder how long it'll be before something like that could happen?" Toothless asked.
"I wouldn't worry about it too much, big guy. As long as we can get this alliance with my dad to hold, I don't think we'll have to worry about humans coming after us. Maybe we can get them to create some sort of protected area that our future hoard can live safely in. Like maybe they'll help protect Dragon Island, or The edge, and The breeding grounds. We can put something like that in our request when the alliance is formalized."
"What does that mean? Formalize the alliance?"
"Well basically we'll eventually sit down with my dad and make a deal. We'll write it down and make sure that both us and them get what we need out of our alliance. We'll make a copy for both of us so if one is destroyed somehow the other can prove that we made the deal."
"Oh, that's smart. But what do you think that we bring them that will make our side worth it for them?"
"Well you have to realize that there are things that we can do faster than they can. Even just a few Timberjacks will help a ton with cutting down trees. Having a Gronckle or two help Gobber in the forge. Having Seashockers or another species help find fishing spots as they move around. Then the obvious thing of basically every dragon having some sort of fire. Plus if the idea that everyone has their own dragon, they could use them to get around faster. Flying is much faster than walking, believe it or not."
"Oh, I see. I never realized that something as basic as flying would be considered helpful."
"Yeah, you just have to think about what each of you is good at. Some are more obvious than others but that doesn't matter. And not everyone has to do a job for them to accept that the dragon's are working. If Timberjacks are working, Nadders don't really need to have a job like that. They can be used for a more general purpose. They can be the dragons that people grow up with and create bonds with. So that would be our part of the agreement.
There's would be to give us protection. A secondary place to live. The ability to help make those fake wings and things for our injured.
Then we would agree to combine and share the territory we both have. Making it one big territory."
"That's pretty thought out." Toothless commented.
"Sort of. I've been thinking on it since my dad showed up. If there's one thing that I learned about my dad before leaving. It's that if you show or give him something interesting, he'll want to know more. While he may not show it, or look like it, he's very smart. So when we went to Berk that one night and I asked him for advice, then told him that I'd let him see Dragon Island. I baited the hook with that. So then father like son he was too curious not to take the chance to learn something new. So now that he's this deep in and being shown all these new things, there's no way that he'll let this new information not be used in some way. But because he can't use the information in a way that'll hurt us, his only option is to use it in a way that'll help him and the humans of Berk. Which benefits us because as long as our deal works out people will naturally become more interested in us, in the dragons, and the way they can help us will become better as well. Imagine a group of people who only treat dragons. Whether that be illness, wounds, fake parts. And it'll all come from my dad being who he is. Even now, look over there." Hiccup pointed. They both watched as Stoick was standing in front of Skullcrusher with his head in the dragon's mouth looking at his teeth. "Now who does that look like?" Hiccup asked.
"Oh gods, now there's two of them." Toothless shivered.
"Hey, what's that supposed to mean?" Hiccup laughed.
"You know he turned his perception of us around pretty quick. It's only been, what? Ten days and he's already sticking his head into places it shouldn't be."
"Don't get it wrong, he's no more trusting of dragons than he was the day we left. The only difference now is that he has no choice but to trust those around him. Though you're probably right about his perception. But he's really had no choice but to look at things differently. I told him that you guys aren't dangerous like he thought. Though I'd probably also say that he thinks we're dangerous in different ways now. Before like basically everyone, he thought that dragons attacked for no reason. Not taking into account how coordinated the attacks were. They think that dragons are simple creatures like livestock with unending aggression. So to suddenly have to face us, and see that dragons aren't mindless has him scared. He hides it very well but if you know what you're looking for you can see just how much he's questioning right now. To learn that dragons live in nearly the same way as him, can talk and have language like him.
And one day he'll have to face that he's killed parents, and brothers, sisters. It'll weigh on him like all the deaths caused by him do. But in this case, with us, it'll make him stronger. More informed. He'll look at the past as a mistake and wonder how many dragons were in front of him trying their damndest to warn him. Those who got close enough to him to try to tell him that they were being forced to attack, but would never have been able to get through to him.
If our alliance goes well, our biggest priority will be to make both sides understand that this is to be a new era. One where we must forget the past and focus on the future."
