The Courtship of Toothless Chapter 8

"To be honest, Guana, you might be the most exasperating pupil I've ever had!"

They'd been at it for days. The flying lessons weren't going too well, and they both knew it. Still, Toothless' comment seemed awfully blunt.

"How many pupils have you had?" she asked angrily.

"Five, so far," Toothless answered as he sat down and faced her, ignoring her anger, grateful for the change of subject. "Hiccup was a delight to teach. Once he got the idea that he could trust his new reflexes, he soaked up everything I could teach him, and came back for more. I actually had to hold him back a few times.

"Astrid fought me tooth and claw. She was willing to learn, but she was trying to do it her way, which didn't work. When she realized that Hiccup was leaving her in the mist, she got serious and made up for lost time. At least I could understand her motives – she was struggling to come to terms with her new life, and was trying to do something in an old, familiar way.

"I've given some lessons to Young-boy-night-fury and Young-girl-night-fury. They listen to the parts they want to hear, and ignore the rest. I expect that from them; they're still young and they think they know everything. Astrid tells me human children are like that, too.

"But you... you've got the talent, you've got the desire, you've got all the building blocks to be an awesome flier. The guidance Hiccup gave you was good; you've picked up no bad habits that I have to break you of. You're doing almost everything I tell you, and when you do, it works perfectly.

"So why won't you keep your eyes on where you're going?!"

"Am I really that bad, Toothless?" she demanded. "I haven't crashed all day!"

Toothless rolled his eyes. "That's like a Viking thinking he's a great sea captain because he hasn't run his ship aground all day. I asked you to pluck a branch from the top of a tree and bring it to me; you almost hit another tree, and you dropped the branch. I asked you to fly around me in a circle five times; if I could have drawn your flight path on the ground, it would look like the pattern I drew for Hiccup the first time I met him! Why is this so difficult for you? You act like you've never seen trees before!"

"But everything looks so different from the air!" she protested. "I've never seen the tops of the trees; I've never seen ocean waves from above; everything looks different now! You don't understand what a dream-come-true this is for me! There's... there's just so much to look at, and I feel like I've never seen any of it before!"

Toothless hid his face behind his tail fins; he didn't want her to see his exasperated expression. What could he do to make things better for her?

"All right, we'll try one more thing before we quit for the day. We'll take off and head south. Follow me." He bounded into the air; she sprang off the ground and quickly caught up with him. They were flying about half a mile up.

"Are you comfortable up here?" he asked.

"Yes, I love it up here," she replied. Suddenly, her path wavered; then she corrected with her tail and resumed flying straight as an arrow.

"What was that about?" he demanded.

"I thought I saw a wild boar down there," she said apologetically.

Toothless sighed deeply. "That tail-correction is a learned behavior, not a reflex. You're doing very well at that part of flying, at least. Okay, now. Close your eyes."

"The way I did with Hiccup?"

"Yes, very much like that," Toothless replied.

"But I thought Hiccup said it was a bad idea when he taught me that."

"Hiccup taught you a skill, and then turned you loose," Toothless explained. "I'm going to teach you a skill, and then teach you how to use it and control it. At least, I'm going to try. Please close your eyes." She did so, very reluctantly.

The next five minutes passed in silence, except for Toothless occasionally saying something so Guana would know he was nearby. She flew as straight as a ruled line, with no wavering whatsoever. When a gust of wind blew her off course, she compensated without looking, and stayed on the course she couldn't see. It was a remarkable performance, and it frustrated the daylights out of Toothless because it showed what she was capable of doing, yet could not seem to do.

"Okay, we're coming up on Berk. Open your eyes; we'll land in front of the Nest." Her landings weren't as smooth as Toothless', but they were already better than Hiccup's. Hiccup was the only dragon in the Nest when they arrived.

"Astrid is out rounding up the young ones," he explained. "They'll be back in a few minutes. How are the flying lessons going?"

"Frustrating," Guana and Toothless chorused.

"Oh," said Hiccup. "Well, don't get discouraged. It took Astrid a long time to figure it out. You'll get it right."

When Astrid returned with the twins, Toothless asked Guana to stay behind with them. "I need to talk to Hiccup," he explained. Then he turned to Astrid. "Please – no diving lessons while we're away this time, okay?"

"All right," said Night-fury-mother-of-twins innocently. "I'll give her a fire-shooting lesson instead. Is that okay?"

"NO!" screamed Toothless in panic; Astrid laughed at him. She and Guana were deep in conversation by the time the two male dragons took off.

They quickly found that they'd become a trio; Young-boy-night-fury had taken it upon himself to join them. "Isn't it getting close to your bedtime?" Toothless asked good-naturedly.

"I'm a Night Fury," the little one shot back. "We're supposed to fly at night."

"Are you supposed to listen in on other dragons' private conversations?" his father asked.

"If it's really private, I'll go back," the young dragon said. "But I'm going to be a grown-up Night Fury some day, and I'll have to help dragons solve all their problems. How am I supposed to learn how to do that if I can't watch you in action?"

"He's got a point," Toothless agreed.

Young-boy-night-fury continued, "I don't know everything that's going on, but I know Guana has a problem flying, and I know you're trying to help solve it for her. A flying problem isn't too personal for me, is it?"

New-night-fury glanced at Toothless and saw him nod. "You have to promise not to say a word about this to anyone."

His son stuck out a paw. "Night Fury's honor! I promise!"

"Okay." Hiccup turned to Toothless. "I take it Guana still can't keep her eyes on her flight path?"

"It's totally maddening!" Toothless burst out. "I had her fly with her eyes closed, and her flight path looked like something you used to draw in your forge with a straightedge. She's got amazing potential, Hiccup, but she keeps looking around at things! Trees! Ocean waves! Wild boars that aren't there! She wanders all over the sky, and then she just says, 'Everything looks different!' I could tear my scales out, it's so frustrating!"

"Hmmm," Hiccup said quietly. They flew in silence for a minute.

"Are you thinking, Dad?" Young-boy-night-fury said at last.

"I was, before I got interrupted," New-night-fury replied, with just the tiniest bit of irritation. They flew through the darkening sky, almost wingtip to wingtip.

Suddenly, Hiccup exclaimed, "That's it! Everything does look different to her! Toothless, when she was human, she was badly burned on her face and head. Doesn't it stand to reason that her eyes might have been injured as well?"

Toothless' own eyes went wide. "I never thought of that!"

"Me neither, until you said the part about how everything looks different," Hiccup went on. "She's spent her entire life looking through a glass darkly. When Astrid transformed her, not only was she healed of all her obvious injuries; she got a perfect set of Night Fury eyes as well. Guana is seeing things as they really are, for the first time in her life! I'd be distracted, too, if I were in her shoes. Well, dragons don't wear shoes, but you know what I mean."

"That makes so much sense..." Toothless began. "Thank you for thinking of that!"

"Unfortunately, while it explains the problem, it doesn't actually solve anything," Hiccup replied.

"It solves more than you think," Toothless shot back. "I'm going back to my nest to check on things, but tell Guana that tomorrow will be a busy day."

"I'll tell her," Hiccup nodded. Toothless peeled off and winged northwards, as father and son returned to their home in Berk.

"What's he going to do, Dad?" Young-boy-night-fury asked.

"I have no idea," his father replied, "but I know him, so I know it's going to be good. I also know it won't involve roaring, fighting, or shooting fireballs at anybody. We Night Furies prefer to solve problems without violence if we can. That way, if we ever do have to use force, it's doubly effective because the others aren't used to it."

"Oh." The young dragon was silent and thoughtful all the way home. For him, that was unusual.

o

Toothless returned early the next morning. "Rise and shine, Guana! We've got some flying to do!"

Guana stretched and yawned. "Why so early? I haven't even had breakfast yet."

"Do you want to learn to fly, or don't you?" That got her moving. They were soon headed out to sea. She glanced back every few minutes; Berk was getting smaller and smaller, and no other land was in sight. The last of the treetops disappeared over the horizon. She'd never been completely out of sight of land before. It made her a bit nervous.

"Hiccup and I had a breakthrough moment last night," Toothless began. "I think I know how I can teach you without all those distractions. We are now in a place where there are no distractions." He began flying in a broad circle; she followed him closely. There was nothing to see except the sea far below and the murky, featureless clouds above.

"Okay, keep flying in that circle," he instructed her. "I'm going to fly about a mile away. When I stop and wave my tail, fly toward me in a straight line." She nodded. He glided easily away until he wouldn't have been much more than a black dot with wings to a human onlooker, but her Night Fury eyes could see him easily. He hovered and waved his tail back and forth. She turned and flapped toward him, not sure how fast she should try to go. As she passed him, she saw him smiling.

"Now fly in a circle around me, five times, like you did in the cove," he ordered. She did as he asked. His smile grew.

"Did I do okay?" she asked nervously.

"Unbelievable," he answered. "Your line was straight, your circles were circular... You're like a different dragon when there's nothing around to take your mind off your flying."

"Does that mean I have to avoid all living things if I want to be a good Night Fury?" She didn't like the sound of that at all.

"No, it just means that there's no problem with your flying. The problem is with your eyes, specifically the way they used to be. Hiccup realized that your eyes were partially burned, along with the rest of you, and you couldn't see clearly before. Now you can see what things really look like, and that's what is distracting you."

"Is that what's happened to me?" she exclaimed. "I just thought Night Fury eyes were better than human eyes."

"Our eyes are better in some ways," Toothless nodded. "Our night vision is far superior, and we can see better at a distance. But Astrid says she can't see colors as vividly as she used to, and Hiccup says he can't focus on very small things at close range like he could before. I think dragon eyes are better for dragons, human eyes are better for people, and any perfect eyes will be better than the ones you've been living with, up until now.

"The novelty of clear vision will wear off, somewhere in the future, and then you won't have to worry about distractions so much. In the meantime, you'll just have to learn to make yourself pay attention. If your eyes wander anyway, you'll eventually run into something head-first, and that will help you learn."

"I'm not a disappointment to you?" she wondered, amazed.

"No," he smiled. "You're not. It's a lot easier to be patient when I know what the problem is. We can thank Hiccup for that.

"But now, it's time for you to learn something new, now that there's nothing around to distract you. You were complaining earlier about how you haven't had breakfast yet? We just happen to be out at sea, and your breakfast is somewhere right beneath you. It's time you learned how Night Furies get their food when there aren't any obliging Vikings around."

He taught her the basics of fire control, let her launch a few firebolts into the empty sea for practice, then explained how to search the ocean for signs of fish. When they found a school, he let her take the first shot. Her aim was off, and only one stunned fish floated to the surface; the rest of the school dove deep and escaped. That one fish was a good-sized tuna, far too large for them to swallow whole.

"You won't be trying this today, but watch what I do so you can try it later. It can be a little hazardous if your timing is off." With that, Toothless swooped down and plucked the fish out of the water with his forepaws, narrowly avoiding being knocked out of the air by the waves. "Now we'll fly back to the cove and enjoy our breakfast."

"How do we know which way to go?" she asked nervously. "I can't see any land."

"A dragon always knows where the nearest land is," Toothless replied confidently. "I know which way to go. You pick a direction, and we'll see if we agree."

She'd spun around in so many circles, she had no idea which way would be best. So she did something that seemed to give good results for her: she closed her eyes. After a moment, she turned almost completely around, opened her eyes again, and said, "That way."

"Excellent," he beamed. "Let's go!" They flapped eagerly; tuna was a rare treat, and Guana was excited at finally having done something right. When they landed, Toothless used his claws to tear the big fish into smaller strips, which they took turns swallowing.

"You picked a good fish to catch," he said between bites.

"I think any fish would taste great to me, because I helped catch it," she replied. "I feel like I'm finally starting to be a dragon, instead of just a human in a different body."

"That's an interesting thought," Toothless remarked. "You've already spent a lot of time in the air today. How do your wings feel?"

She flexed them experimentally. "I was starting to feel a bit tired before we landed, but I'm fine now," she decided.

"Good," he said. "As soon as we finish this fish, it will be time for your first big adventure."

o

A/N
It may interest you to know that, when I created the plot point of Guana having trouble with looking all around, I had no idea why she had the problem or how I'd resolve it in the story. I got to the point where the three dragons are flying at night and wondering how to help her, and I drew a total blank at how to proceed. I got up and paced back and forth, thinking as hard as I could... and when the idea of her injured eyes hit me, I think I pumped my fist and yelled, "Yes!" Hiccup's excitement at figuring it out is a perfect mirror of my own excitement at that moment.