Hiccup moved past his father and grouped up the dragons standing around.

"Would you guys go around and start telling people that Toothless and I will be making an announcement tomorrow morning?" Hiccup asked. The group collectively agreed and began to split up. Hiccup shouted his thanks as they disappeared into the mountain. He returned to Toothless and his father, along with a few of the other humans. "Alright, I have those guys spreading the word about our return and we'll be making our announcement tomorrow morning." Hiccup sighed. "At least we'll be giving them some good news. As much as our human support is only six humans, since we can't get more support from Berk. But having an alliance is good." Hiccup nodded to himself.

"Not so easy being a leader is it son?" Stoick put his hand on Hiccup's shoulder. "Even with two of yuh."

"No it's not."

"Let me give you some advice, kid." He pointed at Toothless. "And you beast. It's okay to not know what to do sometimes. Especially when it's a situation like this. You don't know what's going on and it feels like one wrong move will be the end. But from what I've seen you two are doing fine. Yes, your people are worried and confused, as they should be. But obviously they're still willing to listen, and even though the good information you have isn't a lot, it's something. From my time leading, what I've learned is, people can be beaten down, hurt, worried but if you give them that hope, they'll cling to it. It's not foolproof. But it helps."

"Thanks dad." Hiccup looked up and smiled. Hiccup stepped over to Toothless and pressed himself against his mate before shaking himself awake. "Okay well, I'd say you're all free to go and do as you'd like. Dad, would you show Gobber my forge?"

"Of course, son."

Oh, Gobber. I have a bunch of notes and things for designs. Feel free to look through them and make notes. And I think you're gonna like the metal we make here. I don't know how much I have on hand right now, but there's a big pile of rocks sitting there. Feed some of the rocks to the Gronckles and they'll spit up the metal we use. It's super light and surprisingly strong."

"Aye."

"Oh and don't worry if any of the dragons come check out what's happening in there. They know not to get in the way. They just want to see what's happening. Oh actually there's a Rumblehorn down there. She guards the forge for me. I don't know why she does that but she does. Would you make sure her plates are still tight for me? You'll understand when you see her."

"Yeah we can do that." Stoick nodded. "Let's go before he asks us to do more." The two large humans rushed away. Skullcrusher followed them.

"Where are we headed, Stoick?" Gobber asked while climbing down some ledges with Stoick. "Doesn't seem like a forge would be round here."

"He has a room for it. Pretty far below." Stoick paused. "Actually." He looked up to Skullcrusher. "Would you bring us down to the forge? It'll be faster that way." The dragon bowed and let the pair climb onto his back. The dragon rose into the air with a huff and slowly descended into the bottom of the mountain. The Rumblehorn landed and Stoick slid off his mount while Gobber struggled to not to fall.

With both men on their feet Stoick spotted the other Rumblehorn laying near the entrance to the forge. As they approached her eyes opened and she stood. The metal plates rattled as she shook herself awake.

Stoick stepped up to her while Gobber was hesitant. As Stoick approached the female took a defensive stance. Stoick paused and turned to Skullcrusher.

"Would you tell her we're here to help?"

The Rumblehorn didn't understand every word but did understand help and joined Stoick.

"These two are here to check on you. And the new one, from what I understand is the forge master from where the humans come from. He's been given full access to the forge." Skullcrusher explained. The female took a second but backed down and allowed Stoick to get in closer. "Are the binding hurting you at all?"

"They can get uncomfortable at times but I've gotten used to them." She answered.

"I'll let Hiccup know. So he can make it so that it won't get uncomfortable for you. You're going to have to wear those for a long time. I know that he intends for those who have to wear or have something replaced that they become a part of you. You shouldn't notice them at all, if possible."

While the pair of dragons were talking Stoick took the opportunity to begin checking on the bindings holding the plates to the female's body. While he wasn't an expert he checked if the straps circling the female's body were causing any sort of other issues. From what he could tell there wasn't and finished tightening the straps.

He gave Skullcrusher a thumbs up and he informed the female Rumblehorn that they were done checking her and that everything was fine. With that out of the way Stoick sucked his head into the forge and Gobber followed. A large room filled with tools and half made things filled the space. A fireplace, anvil, and every tool you'd ever need sat at the far end.

Both men began to slowly walk around looking at everything Hiccup had made. Tables and tables with notes and drawings, with everything from weapons to prosthetic parts for the dragons on or near them.

"This is what it must be like to live in Hiccup's head." Gobber joked.

"No kidding. Put his Night Fury in here and I bet that isn't far from the truth."

Gobber walked to the forge area and looked around. More notes and things littered a small desk. Raw materials in various piles. The master smith was stunned at this forge. To him it was no wonder Hiccup could create anything his mind thought up.

"Well I suppose this is all yours to use." Stoick commented. "A bit more spacious than what you have back on Berk huh?"

"Just a bit." The blonde smith picked up a few papers near him and began to read Hiccup's notes. "It's hard to believe that this is the same kid who we'd thought would die out here." He put the papers down and looked at his friend.

"Yeah." Stoick whispered. He cleared his throat. "Uhm, yeah it is." He chuckled. He gave Gobber a big smile.

"It's okay to be sad, Stoick."

"I'm not sad. What would I be sad about? Look around, he's everything I've ever wanted him to be."

"Well something is eating you. And it hasn't been a dragon so what is it?" Gobber asked.

Stoick looked around the room and at the two Rumblehorn laying calmly near them.

"I. I've, come to the realization that I will never truly understand my son. Everyone always said I'd be a good dad. And when Val got pregnant I thought I was ready. When she was there I was confident I could do it. But after she died, I just, I couldn't do it. And Hiccup not being the son I wanted, or I thought he was going to be. I wasn't willing to accept that he wasn't going to be like me. So I pushed him away, and big surprise Hiccup found a way to befriend dragons of all things. I mean, did anyone see this coming? Not to this scale but something, anything?"

"Would you have even accepted if someone had noticed? Even if he'd done it right in front of you, would you have accepted that he'd befriended one of them?"