The Courtship of Toothless Chapter 14

When the sun rose, Stoick was standing at the base of the Nest, demanding to know what had happened the previous night. Hiccup and Astrid invited him upstairs, and used their sand table to give him a quick battle report.

"They may be down," he nodded, "but they're not out. They'll be back some day. But you've taught them a good lesson, and it looks like the dragons of Berk have returned to normal. I'm glad for that much, at least."

WE'VE GOTTEN THE RAGE OUT OF OUR SYSTEMS.
NOW WE JUST WANT TO EAT AND SLEEP

"What a rough life," the chief muttered as he stomped down the stairs. "Maybe I should become a dragon."

Hiccup was correct in his summing-up of the situation. Most of the dragons got up in time for breakfast, ate their fill, then returned to their resting places and went back to sleep for half the day. The early-afternoon stillness was finally broken by the twins, who were returning from a quick flight around the town and were looking for something to do. "Uncle Toothless! Will you give us a flying lesson?"

He was just waking up, and was still a little bit tired from last night's battle, but he couldn't resist their enthusiasm any more than Guana could. "Sure! Do you know how to do a barrel roll?"

"A what?" Young-girl-night-fury asked.

"Okay, follow me!" he called with a dragony smile, and sprang into the air. The twins followed, and so did Guana after a moment. He led them out to sea and gained some altitude. "Now, watch this!" He demonstrated a broad, slow barrel roll for them. The other three watched intently.

"That's not hard!" Young-boy-night-fury exclaimed. "That's easy!"

"Okay, then let's roll together, in a spinning triangle," he called to the twins. "Try and keep the same distance between each of us." Guana gained height so she could see them better, and watched as they formed a triangle and began barrel-rolling around an invisible axis as they flew. The little ones got the idea quickly; their flight paths would have resembled the stripes on a barber's pole lying on its side, if barber's poles had been invented yet.

But, as Toothless had suggested the other day, they quickly got bored. "Thanks, Uncle Toothless," they called, and dove away. He glanced up at the bottom of his roll, expecting to see two small Night Furies about sixty feet away from him and from each other. All he saw was Guana, sixty feet above him and flying upside-down, rotating with him around that invisible axis.

They flew that way in silence for several minutes, keeping perfect formation on each other as they rolled through the sky together. Sometimes he would glance toward her and find her looking at him. At other times, he saw her focused on their path. He never saw her waver or get distracted.

Then he changed their path; he rolled out into level flight, and began weaving from side to side. She mirrored his moves, passing just above him when she swung left, and just under him when she passed to the right. Future pilots would call this a variation on the Thach Weave, but she was swinging back and forth in three dimensions, not two. Our flight paths would be a work of art if anyone could see them, he thought. She passed close below him; he watched her and thought, Now that's a work of art. He felt something unfamiliar stirring inside him.

Oh, no. Not that, he thought.

Why not? She's a strong enough flyer now. She's female; I'm male; does anything else matter?

She hasn't been a dragon for two weeks yet! What if she isn't interested in me that way?

I guess I'll do something different, and let her make that decision.

He broke out of their aerobatics and headed for the cloud deck. She followed, flying on his wing. They passed through the murk and burst out into the sunshine above. This was Night Fury territory; most other dragons had no interest in flying this high. The clouds, dull gray on their undersides, were clean and white on top; the air was cold but fresh; there was nothing else in sight for miles.

They glided side by side, wingtip to wingtip, wordlessly, just enjoying the thrill of unfettered flight. He had done this countless times, and it never got tired. But it was always better with another dragon next to him, and the one next to him now...

He glanced at her, and caught her staring at him. Her posture suggested shyness, but the look in her eyes was anything but. He held her gaze, and found himself smiling.

"You're not a little shepherd girl anymore," he said softly.

"I know," she nodded. "I'm not a helpless little flight student, either."

"No," he agreed. "You're a Night Fury."

"I'm a Night Fury," she repeated.

"Do you know what's about to happen?" he asked, a bit nervously.

She nodded.

"I have to admit... I've never done this before," he said, even more nervously.

"Me neither. As a human or a dragon."

He slid a bit sideways, so that their wingtips just touched. "Are you sure you're okay with this? I mean, I don't want to force it on you."

She smiled. "I know you're not that type. Maybe it would be neat if I still had lips, so I could kiss you. But my lips were kind of a mess anyway."

They hesitated for a moment, then flung themselves toward each other, wrapped their wings around each other, and tumbled together from above the clouds until they were barely two hundred feet from the sea. They had to break out of their passionate embrace so they could pull out of their free-fall, but as soon as they were back in controlled flight, they joined formation on each other, wingtips touching, and glided silently through the darkening sky.

"That wasn't what I had in mind when I followed you and the twins into the air," she said softly.

"It must have been the formation flying," he said meekly. "I've watched other mating flights, and they looked like two dragons dancing in the sky. I guess there's something about flying together that way..."

"You can dance in the sky with me any time," she smiled.

"I think I will," he nodded. "You're an amazing dancer, for a shepherd girl."

"Night Fury," she corrected him firmly.

"Night Fury," he agreed.

o

When they landed in the Nest, New-night-fury and Night-fury-mother-of-twins both noticed how subdued they were. The pair exchanged a long glance and a lingering brush of wingtips before Toothless bounded into the sky to return to his own nest. After a few moments, she jumped off the edge of the Nest and followed him.

"I bet I know what they've been up to," Astrid said with a bit of a Night-Fury smirk.

Hiccup nodded. "I guess he's a fast mover in more ways than one."

"What are you talking about, Mom? Dad?" Young-boy-night-fury demanded.

"We'll explain it when you're a little older," Night-fury-mother-of-twins said. The twins groaned in disappointment.

The two adult dragons looked in the direction their friends had flown. Even to their keen night-adapted eyes, Night-fury and Lady-night-fury were already out of sight. "Good for them," Hiccup said quietly.

o

When Toothless realized that Guana was following him, he slowed down slightly and let her catch up. "Where are you going?" he asked.

"Home. With you," she answered quietly. "That's where I want to be."

"Rock ledges aren't as comfortable as the Nest," he warned her. "There aren't any friendly Vikings, and there aren't any little Night Furies."

"Sleeping on rock ledges doesn't seem to have done you any harm," she observed. "I can fly down and see the Vikings whenever I want. There are lots of other young dragons I can be friends with. And as for the little Night Furies..." She smiled at him shyly.

"Yeah. Soon," he nodded, slightly embarrassed and unbearably happy at the same time.

The nest was dark when they spiraled down into the cone; only the dim glow from the lava at the bottom shed any light. That was enough for the one dragon who was still awake to see Night-Fury and his lady-friend glide in and land on his favorite ledge. Nadder-all-blue-talks-all-the-time flapped over to greet them and see if they had any news.

"Welcome back, Night-fury! And you too, Lady-night-fury! We're always glad to see you visit! Are you spending the night with us this time?"

"She'll be staying a lot longer than one night," Night-fury answered, "but you've got her name wrong. She isn't Lady-night-fury any more.

"She is My-lady-night-fury."

Guana had gotten over the idea that Toothless could be cruel. But he had just done an unspeakably cruel thing to the blue Nadder. He had handed her the juiciest gossip the nest had heard in a year, but all the other dragons were asleep, so there was no one for her to tell it to!