First Contact Chapter 7

The implications of Hiccup's unexpected offer left Valka feeling almost breathless. Become a dragon? Become a Stormcutter? Finally be able to talk to Cloudjumper and understand him, and fly with him... and probably a whole lot more? She felt Cloudjumper's eyes on her. He couldn't read Norse runes, so he wouldn't know what the Night Furies had suggested to her, but he knew they were discussing something intense. He had shown her such kindness, so many wonders in the sky...

At last, she shook her head. "I can't do it, Hiccup. For one thing, I'm still a married lady, and I still love that big lunkhead of a man I married. I can't run off with a dragon, any more than I could run off with another man. For another thing, the nest needs my fingers and my opposable thumbs. Humans built the traps that are plaguing us, and only my human hands can free the dragons from those traps. They need me, and they need me as I am. Thank you for the offer, but I can't accept it."

Hiccup gave Cloudjumper a quick summary of what they'd said. His face fell for a moment. "If she can be happy, then I'll be happy," he finally said.

Full-of-surprises had a thought, which she wrote on the ground:

WHAT IF I GAVE YOU A
DRAGON'S EARS AND
THROAT, SO YOU CAN
HEAR AND SPEAK
DRAGON LANGUAGE?

"Now that's a tempting offer," Valka said thoughtfully. "I'd finally be able to talk to them, and there wouldn't be any down sides to that at all... except that's a waste of your Power. If you really want to use it, then use it to heal that poor Hobblegrunt's eyes, or one of the other serious injuries in the dragons here. I can think of much better uses for your Power than just helping me talk."

Full-of-surprises thought about that. She wanted to do something nice for her grandmother, but there was no arguing with Valka's logic. That was when Hiccup burst out, "I've got it! We can help her talk to the dragons without using your Power, Full-of-surprises! We can teach her, and them, to speak Forge!" He motioned for the Stormcutter to join them; he wasted no time in doing so. Hiccup wrote in the dirt for Valka, and simultaneously spoke to the Stormcutter –

MY OLDEST CHILDREN AND THEIR
HUMAN FRIENDS INVENTED A
LANGUAGE THAT BOTH HUMANS
AND DRAGONS CAN SPEAK.
THEY CALL IT FORGE.
WOULD YOU LIKE TO LEARN IT?

Both his mother and her dragon friend went wide-eyed and nodded "yes" immediately. Hiccup went on.

IT'S A SUBSET OF DRAGON SOUNDS
THAT HUMANS CAN HEAR AND MAKE.
WE'LL START WITH NAMES, WHICH
ARE ALWAYS KIND OF LONG.
HERE'S HOW TO SAY VALKA:

He demonstrated the string of grunts and growls that literally meant "mother-lost-found." She copied him, as did the Stormcutter. Hiccup looked up at the bigger dragon.

MOM, HIS DRAGON NAME IS
STORMCUTTER-BROWN-LIKES-
THE-FEMALE-HUMAN.
HERE'S HIS NAME IN FORGE

The big dragon's Forge name meant "Stormcutter-friend-to-woman." They both repeated it a few times, to make sure they got it.

NOW, HERE'S THE IMPORTANT ONE

He let out a soft, rumbling croon.

THAT MEANS I LOVE YOU

The Stormcutter brought his big horned head down to Valka's level, and they looked each other in the eye, as though they'd never seen each other before. Then, the dragon spoke.

"I love you, Valka."

Her eyes watered, she reached out to him with both hands, and answered, "I love you, Cloudjumper." She threw her arms around his head and hugged him tightly for what seemed like ages. It seemed to Hiccup that the dragon's eyes were somewhat moist as well. Then they turned to Hiccup, and they were both talking at once in their native tongues.

"You've turned this nest upside-down, Night Fury, and you aren't leaving until you've finished the job by teaching us all of this language!"

"Hiccup, I will pay any price, give you any gift, promise you anything, if you'll stay and teach us how to really talk to each other!"

"Whoa, whoa, slow down!" he exclaimed. "We'll teach you everything we know, for as long as we can. But we have a nest to run, and so does Toothless. We can't stay here much longer than a day or two."

"Unacceptable," the Stormcutter burst out. "You can't just give us a few words to say to each other, and then leave! That's cruel."

"Can your daughter stay?" Toothless asked him suddenly. All the dragons looked at Full-of-surprises; so did Valka after a moment, when she realized that her granddaughter had become the focus of everyone's attention.

"Stay here?" Full-of-surprises asked, dismayed. "By myself, with no other Night Furies? Is this one of those practice-becoming-an-adult things, Dad?"

"Think of it as being the center of attention for a wonderful person and a wonderful dragon," Hiccup answered with a smile. "You like being the center of attention, right?"

"Make that two dragons," came a voice from behind them. It was the blinded Hobblegrunt, who was swinging his head from side to side, homing in on the sounds of their voices. "I want to learn this new language, too! I want to thank the human for what she's done for me. I think there might be others, too."

"I know I'm curious," exclaimed Rumblehorn-green-and-red-walks-into-walls, who had been listening from a distance. "The human female is as much a part of the nest as I am, but none of us have been able to talk to her. In eighteen years, not a one of us has had any idea what's been going through her mind. I'd like to know."

"Hiccup, what are they saying?" Valka asked him.

THEY ALL WANT TO TALK TO YOU.
WE'RE FIGURING OUT HOW TO
GET YOU A TEACHER

"Please work something out! I really want to learn this language," she nearly begged him.

"Dad, how long would I have to stay here?" Full-of-surprises asked.

"Are you in a hurry to leave?" Hiccup asked her. "Are you still nervous about the big guy who's in charge?"

"Not so much, but that could change if he wanted to sit and talk to me one-on-one. I just... oh, I hate to admit this... I'd miss my family." I'd miss Young-teacher, too, she thought, but it'll be a cold day in a Fireworm nest before I'll admit that.

"Then we'll keep it down to just a few more days," Hiccup decided. "When we get home, we'll send your older brother or sister to take your place; you can come home as soon as they get here. Then maybe I'll send Agnarr with another Night Fury after a few more days. I'll bet Fishlegs and Meatlug will want to spend some time here, too. My mom and the dragons here will have Forge tutors for as long as they want them, but nobody will have to stay away from home for very long, unless they want to stay. Does that sound fair?"

"Very fair," boomed a huge voice. It was the Bewilderbeast. "I've been listening. When you told us your story, you mentioned the language that the younger Night Furies invented, but I saw no benefit in it for us. Now, I do. The woman has the same right to be heard as any dragon here. I might even wish to learn this language myself."

Hiccup turned and bowed. "As you wish, Great One. The Forge language was always meant to break down the walls between humans and dragons, wherever they might be."

"And so it will, New-night-fury. You should be proud of your children for such an achievement."

"I assure you, Great One, I am proud of them."

"Good. Soon, I will speak to you in more detail about some of the things you told me about. For now, it is meal time. Please feel free to join the rest of the dragons in our celebration." He let out out an unusual warbling basso call, and instantly, dragons from all over the nest were flocking to the exit tunnel. Astrid landed next to Hiccup.

"Man, did he have a lot of questions! I hardly had a chance to ask any of my own. What's going on here?"

"He said it was meal time, and all the dragons seem to know what that means. I think we ought to join them." She and Toothless nodded, and the four of them joined the swarm of dragons that were streaming out of the nest.

The Alpha had called it a celebration, and that was no exaggeration. He left his lair via a submerged tunnel, found a school of fish, and literally blew them into the sky. The great flock of dragons swooped and dove, snatching fish out of the air and swallowing them until they could eat no more. No one went hungry; a few of the bigger dragons (including Cloudjumper) filled their gullets and flew back to the nest to feed the injured dragons, and then came back for their own meal. Everyone was laughing and shouting and showing off their flying tricks. The Night Furies had never seen anything like it.

"I wish there was a way to do this in our own nests," Toothless said with his mouth full.

"If the King is willing, maybe we could send some of our dragons here every few days, so they can all experience this," Hiccup answered.

"It makes me wonder if the Mother could have been a queen like this, if she'd wanted to be," Astrid added. Then she edged over close to Hiccup and whispered, "Look down at your daughter!" Full-of-surprises was playing some kind of game with the baby dragons, batting fish in the air with her nose and swatting them with her tail. It wasn't clear whether she was making it easier or harder for the babies to get their fish, but judging by their happy squeals, the babies were loving it regardless. She kept playing with them until she realized someone was watching her; then she pulled up and acted like she'd been catching her own fish all along.

As they returned to the nest, Hiccup pulled up next to Full-of-surprises, who was watching the Alpha far below them. The biggest dragon was cruising along the surface, looking up contentedly at his subjects. "Do you think that, maybe, big dragons have their uses?" Hiccup asked her.

"I admit, that was kind of cool," she said. "As long as I don't have to get too close to him, I guess he's okay."

They spent another day and a half in the Bewilderbeast's nest, teaching Forge to Valka and a growing crowd of dragons, and speaking privately with the King. Or not-so-privately, in Full-of-surprises' case; the King respected her extreme nervousness and allowed her mother to keep her company during her royal interview. Hiccup and Valka spent a lot of time on their own, talking and writing about him, her, Berk, Stoick, dragons, Vikings, and a few dozen other subjects. At last, the time came for the Night Furies to return home.

"In three or four days, another Night Fury will get here, and then you can come home," Astrid reassured her daughter. "In the meantime, remember – you're doing something very, very important here."

"Take a little time for yourself when you need it," her father added. "Go flying, or make some new friends. Just be careful of human traps. Remember, this isn't Berk."

"Thanks, Dad," she replied. "I guess I'll be okay for a few days."

"I know you will," he smiled. The scene was about to turn mushy and embarrassing when Toothless landed next to them. "Hiccup, it's your turn to say goodbye to the King."

He landed in front of the huge white dragon and bowed deeply, wings outstretched. "Great One, thank you for letting us stay here. We came to learn, and we'll be talking for weeks about the things we learned."

"You gave far more than you took," the Alpha replied with a faint smile. "You've found a way to knit my most mysterious subject closer into the nest, and that is something priceless to me. You and your family will be welcome here any time, and not just for language lessons."

"Is it possible that you might visit us some day?" Hiccup asked hopefully. "I'd love for my nest and my dragons to share a feeding celebration like the ones you hold here."

"None of us knows the future," the Bewilderbeast answered kindly, "but two Alpha dragons have visited my nest, so it would be polite for me to make a return visit someday. We shall see." The farewell was over; Hiccup flew back to the rocky shelf where the other Night Furies waited. His mother was also waiting, with her Stormcutter friend close by.

"Hiccup," she asked quietly, "when are we going to see each other again?"

IT WON'T BE EIGHTEEN YEARS.
WE KNOW WHERE YOU LIVE.
ARE YOU SURE YOU DON'T
WANT TO VISIT BERK?

"Maybe someday, but not today," she said. "Cloudjumper and I have a lot of catching-up to do, and I'm just not ready to face that part of my past yet. When I'm ready, you'll be the first to know." She flung her arms around his thick black neck and hugged him. "Oh, my son, my wonderful son... this isn't how I thought you'd grow up, but you've made me proud and happy anyway."

"Thanks, Mom," he said in Forge, with a bit of a lump in his throat.

Cloudjumper cocked his head. "Thank you, New-night-fury, for making my friend happy, and for teaching us to talk to each other."

"Thank you for taking such good care of my mother for all these years," Hiccup replied. "Just bringing her here probably saved her life, never mind all the other things you've done. You'll get a very friendly welcome if you ever visit Berk."

"Or Dragon Island," Toothless added.

"Hiccup, there's one more thing," Valka added. "The next time one of your dragons comes here for a visit, could he bring me some hand tools? I could be a lot more effective at breaking up those human traps if I had something better than sticks and rocks to work with."

I'LL SPEAK TO GOBBER ABOUT
MAKING YOU A TOOL BOX.
BUT I HAVE ONE BIG QUESTION.

WHAT SHOULD I TELL DAD?