Stoick turned back around and looked out over the sea towards Berk.

"First an unknown threat and disappearing dragons, and now this." Hiccup huffed. "What are we going to do? They aren't going to be reasonable, even for you."

"If they wish to remain citizens of Berk they will be." Stoick handed Hiccup's monocular back to him.

"Dad this isn't some scouting mission with a personal invite from the alpha, the leader. This is an attack and I doubt I'll convince many people otherwise."

"You think they'll make it through the fog and rocks?"

"I doubt it, but an attack from those who are meant to be allies doesn't look good from any distance."

Stoick sighed deeply. "No I suppose it doesn't. Even if we've never had the chance to show the alliance to them. And without my ship here we can't even meet them halfway."

"Yes well, that ship saved a generation from war. Even if it hasn't started yet."

"Don't think I'm disagreeing son. It's just inconvenient now that this has happened. Suppose we can't just fly out there either can we?"

"That many, that close? Even with dragon armour you'd have a hard time getting close. And even if you did, I doubt whoever's on those ships right now cares who lands on deck. Shoot first ask questions later even if it is clearly you." Hiccup paced. Stoick pinched the bridge of his nose.

"We'll have to figure out something. Preferably before they begin to smash my ships into splinters."

"We just need to figure out a way to get you onto those ships without a dragon." Hiccup continued to pace around.

"How well can he hold his breath?" Toothless asked.

"What? You want him to swim to the ships?"

"Not him per se. But I know a Seashocker who could do it. Or a Scauldron if need be. Come in from below and help him up onto the deck. Less likely to get anyone hurt." Toothless explained. Hiccup pondered on it for a second before turning to his dad.

"So, how long would you say you could hold your breath for dad? For a bit? For a while?"

"I don't know, son. I don't go around holdin' my breath. Wait, what? Why?"

"Well Toothless has a good idea but it kinda hinges on you being able to hold your breath."

"You want me to swim out to the ships or something?"

"Or something, yes." Hiccup smiled.

"Oh gods." Stoick wiped his face. "What is this idea?"

"Well basically you'd ride on one of the sea fairing dragons and have them bring you to the ships. You'd be underwater for a bit while you got close. Safer for you and whoever is the one bringing you there. Probably Black and Blue. Then you could just use one of the ladders on the side of the boat to climb on." Hiccup explained.

"As much as I hate that idea, it's probably better than trying to fly and land." Stoick sighed again. "Just tell me what I need to do."

"Well I suppose the first thing would be meeting Black and Blue."

"You're gonna have two dragons bring me there?"

"Oh no. Black and Blue are a Seashocker. They have two heads. And I'll warn you now. They don't agree and damn near anything. They'll agree to help, I know that but getting them to agree on how is going to be interesting." Hiccup mounted up onto Toothless. "I suppose we should head on down to the pools. See if they're even there right now."

Stoick and the others mounted up as well.

"We're headed down to the pools." Toothless called to the other dragons. "Don't land in them unless you wish to burn your rider." Toothless took off without another word and the other dragons quickly joined. The trip was short and as they approached the fog became hot and thick. Making seeing nearly impossible outside of a few feet in front of them. The only indication of anything was when their dragons landed with surefooted thuds.

"Be careful." Hiccup called out. "Do not fall in the water. Come to my voice." Hiccup dismounted. "I'm over here." Hiccup called to the humans.

"Hiccup, what is going on?" Stoick called back while slowly tiptoeing towards Hiccup's voice.

"I call these the hot pools." Hiccup said. The group of humans got no further answers until they were grouped up around him. "So like I said, these are the hot pools. They used to be mostly separated but with some work we got three of these in this little area now. We have a team of Scauldron who heat them for us. These pools are for the dragons to bathe in. We have a schedule for each species so everyone gets a chance to bathe and helps with overcrowding. But they're much too hot for you guys. You'd get nasty burns the instant you touched the water. So no messing around here." Hiccup turned to Toothless. "Would you guys mind finding Black and Blue for us? You can bathe afterwards." Toothless nodded.

"Sure and I'll see you in there." Toothless licked Hiccup from chest to chin.

"Maybe. Might see if we can't find a smaller pool and have someone heat it up just a bit for the humans. Probably been a while since they've properly bathed.

"You could say that again. Have them wash those furs they wear too, just as bad as they are." Toothless chuckled. "We'll send the brothers your way when we find them." The group of dragons disappeared into the fog.

"So what do we do now, Hiccup?" Stoick asked.

"We wait. And while we wait I'm gonna see if there's a Scauldron close by who can warm up some water in one of the smaller pools nearby for us. Something a good bit cooler than these ones." Hiccup nearly instantly disappeared into the mist, his pale scales blending in nearly perfectly. The group of humans sat around confused. Not sure what to do until Hiccup came back. "Alright, so I did find someone who'll get some water going for us." A standard seafoam green and yellow Scauldron arched its head down. "Okay so there's a small pool nearby that we'll use. It'll probably be a bit warm already from the run off of these pools but if you guys want it warmer then just tell this one to heat it up a bit. I've already informed them to keep it under control since obviously you guys can take the heat we normally have. So just follow this lovely girl and get to bathing. I'll catch up once I have Black and Blue in tow." Hiccup smiled even though no one could see it. The party left and Hiccup waited for the Seashocker to find him.