First Contact Chapter 9
As they flew home, Astrid edged over toward Hiccup. "This is the first chance I've had to talk to you since you met your mother again," she said. "How are you feeling?" Toothless and Rumblehorn-green-and-red recognized a personal discussion and edged away.
Hiccup took a moment to get his thoughts together. "Part of me resents the fact that she never even tried to come home, even though my head tells me she couldn't have done it anyway. Part of me thinks I've finally got a mother again and everything is going to be wonderful, even though my head tells me it isn't going to be that simple. Part of me is happy for Dad, and part of me knows they're going to have some issues. Part of me can't wait until she comes home, and part of me knows it's going to be very hard on her. I feel like every good aspect of this has a bad side, and every bad aspect of this has a good side... and I'm just confused."
"It's a mess," she nodded. "Are you sorry you met her again?"
"No!" he exclaimed. "The goods are going to outweigh the bads; I'm sure of it, even if it doesn't happen right away. I just... I somehow thought that, as soon as I found her, everything would be amazing. Life almost never works that way; I should know that by now. We all want an instant fix to all our troubles – the hidden treasure, the unexpected inheritance, the long-lost relative. Life is too complicated for that. There aren't any instant fixes. Right?"
"I think you're right," she nodded, "but even if she doesn't make everything better – even if she isn't the perfect mother you've fantasized about – just the fact that you finally found her is worth something, isn't it?"
"You're right," he agreed. She could sense a bit of dark cloud dissipating from above his head. They flew on.
o
Four Night Furies had set out on their voyage of discovery; only three came back, along with a fourth dragon of a type that no one in Berk had ever seen before. The dragons of Berk remembered the young Night Furies' recent trip, when four left and eight came back, but minus one of the two humans who had left with them. What had their Night Furies done this time? Most of the dragons took wing to greet their returning leaders, and hopefully to get an early clue about what had happened out there.
"It's okay," New-night-fury reassured them. "Nobody got transformed this time, nobody got healed, nobody is any different. We just left one behind for a few days, and brought back an extra one for a short visit. We'll tell you the story as soon as we've had a chance to grab a bite to eat. Green-and-red, would you like to join us?"
"I thought you didn't feed other dragons," the Rumblehorn exclaimed, surprised.
"Technically, we don't," Astrid replied as they flew out to sea, "but once we stun a school of fish, anybody can scoop them up. You've been on a long flight, and you're probably hungry, just like us, so feel free to grab some supper along with the rest of us. Toothless, you're acting like you saw something."
"I think I saw a big school of fish, about a quarter of a mile away to our left," Toothless answered. "They might be cod." They followed his lead and let him shoot the firebolt that stunned the fish, which were soon bobbing to the surface all over the sea. The four dragons ate their fill; then Toothless peeled off to return to his own nest, and the others returned to Berk.
They landed in the Nest, where Hiccup and Astrid shared TrueSights with their older children. That gave Bang and Six a head start on understanding what had happened in the other nest, and reassured Hiccup and Astrid that nothing had gone wrong in their absence.
"There wasn't any problem exchanging the young Night Furies in the mountain-lake nest," Bang began. "Night-fury-pu-lao is here with all kinds of stories to tell about his first real experience as a Night Fury, and I brought Chi-wen to take his place. I think Pu-lao was a little more mature than the others; Chi-wen probably has some more growing up to do, but he's taking his role seriously. I think he'll be fine."
"And what about Bi-xi?" Astrid asked curiously.
"She's with Aunt Guana for the day. She wanted to spend time with a lady dragon for a while." Bang sounded disappointed.
"I also stopped to check up on New-beginning and his nest," Six added. "He said they came to him with his first real Night Fury question last week, instead of just fighting and making him break it up. It was a simple question about who got the best sleeping space, but it was a milestone for him. They're starting to accept him as a leader in the nest."
"Excellent," Hiccup nodded.
Bang was overflowing with curiosity from what he'd learned from the TrueSight. "Now, Dad, what about –"
"Shh!" Hiccup ordered. "Not a word about her. My father has to be the first to hear about that."
"Oh," his son nodded. "I get it. My lips are sealed."
Hiccup glanced out at the dozens of dragons who were waiting semi-patiently to hear their story, so he turned and gave them a reasonably detailed summary of what he and his friend and family had been doing for the past week. He began by introducing Rumblehorn-green-and-red-walks-into-walls. "He's just one of many kinds of dragon we met, who haven't been seen in this area in years. Rumblehorns! Raincutters! Snafflefangs! Scuttleclaws! We even saw a Stormcutter, and he was really impressive!" That got the dragons talking. They'd thought many of their brethren had been hunted to extinction by the humans; apparently, they'd just found other places to live.
"But that's nothing, compared to the dragon who rules that nest!" That brought silence. Most of them could remember the Mother and her tyrannical reign over the Dragon Island nest. They much preferred the way the Night Furies ran things; the Night Furies were fair, kind, they didn't terrify you just by looking at them, and as far as anyone knew, they had never eaten anybody. The dragons waited for New-night-fury to describe this ruler. He had difficulty because there weren't any buildings in Berk that were comparable in size. He finally resorted to saying, "He's bigger than the Mother," and went on from there.
Carefully avoiding any mention of Valka, he told them about the nest hidden in the ice, the feeding celebrations, and the ongoing problem of the dragon trappers. Astrid added details here and there, and the Rumblehorn nodded in agreement to show that it was all true. It was late by the time they were done. For a few minutes, Stoick and a few other Vikings hovered around the edges of the crowd of dragons, but they could understand nothing the reptiles were saying, and the dragons made no attempt to get their attention, so they went to bed. Whatever Hiccup had been doing, it obviously wasn't too important; the chief could get his update on the situation tomorrow.
Stoick caught them lounging around the Nest the next morning, reluctant to get up and start their day. Bang and Six obviously had things under control, Thing One and Thing Two hadn't found any trouble to get into, and there wasn't any hurry for them to get moving, except a big, impatient human who wanted to know what his only son had been doing for the past week, and whether it would impact the Vikings of Berk or not. Hiccup yawned hugely, just to make sure his dad got the message, before he shuffled over to his sand table. Stoick had shown no interest in learning Forge, so the written rune was still the only way the Night Furies could talk to him.
THE DRAGONS' NEST WAS VERY
INTERESTING TO DRAGONS,
BUT YOU WOULDN'T LIKE IT.
THEY HAVE OVER 500
DRAGONS THERE
Stoick clapped his hand to his forehead in amazement. "Five hundred! They'd better stay there! Our waters couldn't feed that many dragons – the Vikings would go hungry again!"
THE NEST RULER IS A BEWILDER-
BEAST. HE'S EVEN BIGGER THAN
THE MOTHER, BUT TOTALLY
BENEVOLENT AND KIND
The chief tried to imagine something even bigger than the dragon that had almost annihilated his tribe, and gave up. "I'm glad he's a good one, but if he's that big, then he'd better stay there, too."
WE MET ALL KINDS OF NEW DRAGONS,
INCLUDING THAT RUMBLEHORN
WHO'S VISITING FOR THE DAY
Hiccup gestured with his wing at their guest, who was chatting with the Nightmares and Zipplebacks of the village. Stoick showed a bit more interest now. "He's a powerful-looking dragon. I've never seen one like that before. Are we going to have more visitors like that in the future?"
WE MIGHT, AND THAT'S WHAT I
NEED TO TALK TO YOU ABOUT.
WE FOUND A HUMAN IN THE
NEST, WHO'S BEEN LIVING WITH
THE DRAGONS FOR YEARS
"Willingly or unwillingly?"
UNWILLING AT FIRST, WILLING NOW
"But he'd like to visit Berk? By all means – we'll welcome him for as long as he wants to stay! He must be desperate for some human company after... how many years?"
EIGHTEEN YEARS, DAD.
THAT'S HOW LONG AGO SHE
WAS TAKEN AWAY FROM BERK
For the space of three breaths, Stoick the Vast turned to stone.
Then he stepped into the sand table, wiping out some of the runes with his bootprints, and took the dragon's face in shaking hands. In a voice that was nearly inaudible, he hoarsely whispered, "Are you sure, Hiccup?" The Night Fury nodded. "She's alive?" He nodded again. The chief hesitated, then threw his arms around his son's thick black neck for the first time since Hiccup had become a dragon. Stoick didn't speak; Hiccup might have felt a trace of moisture on his neck, but he'd never say a word about it.
At last, Stoick found his voice. "Take me to her." Hiccup remembered his mother's request to tell him, "Someday soon," and had to reject the idea – he couldn't do that to his father, not even for his mother. The dragon motioned for the chief to get out of the sand table, and wrote:
WE LEAVE AT MIDDAY, BUT WE
NEED YOUR APPROVAL TO TAKE
SOME VIKINGS WITH US
"Approved!" the chief exclaimed. "Whoever, whenever, wherever... consider them approved!"
WE HAVE TO PROVE TO THE NEST
KING THAT WE CAN REPLACE MOM
BEFORE HE'LL LET HER GO. I NEED
TO MEET WITH AGNARR, FISHLEGS,
AND VARINN. I HAVE A SPECIAL
WORK ASSIGNMENT FOR THEM
"I'll arrange the meeting!" the chief shouted as he turned and ran down the stairway. "They'll be here in half an hour!"
"That gives you half an hour to grab some breakfast," Astrid said lazily. "How do you plan to work this out?"
"I think I have to go back to the Bewilderbeast's nest with him," Hiccup answered. "Dad's going to demand that Mom come home immediately, and Mom may not be able to convince him that she has to obey a dragon. They're going to need a go-between."
"Hiccup, that's going to be a seriously intense confrontation between those two! Are you sure you want to get stuck in the middle of something like that?"
"I definitely don't want to," he replied, "but if I stay out of it, they might never get together again. Besides, I'm a Night Fury. We keep the peace in the nest. Dad is going to need some major-league peace-keeping if he doesn't get his own way, right away. If I'm not there to help handle him, then the Stormcutter and the other dragons will handle him the dragon way, and that's going to end badly for somebody."
"I suppose you're right," she nodded. "Should I go back with you?"
"I'm taking Agnarr, and either his brother or our son," Hiccup answered. "They'll be our first exchange team. They should be able to handle any problems the nest dragons get into, while Mom and I work with Dad. Thanks for the offer, but I want you here, watching the nest. The other Vikings may find some new kind of trouble to get into while Dad's away, and I want an experienced Night Fury on duty if that happens."
"Can I at least go fishing with you?" she fussed.
He fluttered his tail fins down her flank in a Night Fury caress. "Of course you can. You don't need my permission for that." They took their time about finding their breakfast; they were a little bit late for Hiccup's meeting with his three chosen human emissaries.
"Here is situation," he began, speaking Forge. "There is human living in Bewilderbeast nest who wants to come here, but Bewilderbeast will not allow it unless we can replace her. My plan is, each of you spend one week in her nest, work with dragons, teach them Forge. Night Fury from Berk will keep each of you company, and your own dragons can go with you too. Chief has approved this mission. Are you willing?"
"What do you mean by 'working with dragons'?" Agnarr asked.
"You rescue dragons caught in human-made traps," Hiccup answered. "You might also do simple doctoring of dragon wounds from traps. This is very important work for that nest."
"Is this the nest that Meatlug was trying to tell me about, the one with all the new kinds of dragons?" Fishlegs asked eagerly. When Hiccup nodded, Fishlegs burst out, "Sign me up!"
"Which Night Fury would keep me company?" Agnarr wondered. "I'm just curious; I'm willing to do it regardless."
"You choose," Hiccup replied in dragon language. He added in Forge, "Please decide before midday. We fly to that nest at midday." Agnarr nodded.
"Scrubby isn't big enough for me to ride yet," Varinn noted. "I'd have to get his mother's permission, as well as my parents' permission and Gobber's permission. And I'd have to ride a Night Fury to get there and back."
"Work with your sister to get Scrubby's mother's permission," Hiccup answered. "Humans' permission is not problem. Chief says so. Your turn is two weeks away, so no hurry. Think about which Night Fury you want to work with."
"I'll try it, if it's just for a week at a time," Varinn said, a bit nervously. "It sounds like heavy-duty stuff. I hope I'm good enough; I don't want to disappoint the dragons."
"You will be good enough, I sure," Hiccup reassured him. "One more thing. Agnarr, please make tool box we can leave at that nest. You need tools for taking apart dragon traps."
"I can do all that," Agnarr nodded, "but I've got to get started right away if I'm going to be ready to fly in a few hours."
"Go," Hiccup told him in dragon. "Rest of you, thank you." The meeting broke up; Agnarr left at a run.
Assembling a basket of hand tools was easy; Gobber, like many craftsmen, had at least two of everything useful, and three or more of the most common tools. The hard part, for Agnarr, was choosing which Night Fury he'd ride with.
"I think I'm going with Bang on this first trip," he finally explained to his brother. "We're supposed to impress a big, important dragon, and you're still learning about being a dragon; Bang has been one all his life. Once we've made a good first impression, you and I can pair off for the next visit."
"That's okay," his brother nodded, then smiled slyly. "It'll give me a little time alone with Six."
At midday, two humans (Stoick and Agnarr), two Night Furies (Hiccup and Makes-one-heck-of-a-bang), and one Rumblehorn met in front of the Nest. The men carried back-baskets of clothing and other necessities for a week-long journey, and Agnarr held a smaller basket full of hand tools. "Gobber won't be happy if I don't bring these back," he said.
"I'll take care of Gobber, as long as you can take care of the dragons," Stoick replied. "Can we hurry? I haven't seen my wife in eighteen years – I can't wait!"
YOU DO REMEMBER THE PART
ABOUT HOW SHE'S NERVOUS
ABOUT SEEING YOU AGAIN,
RIGHT?
"We'll be fine," Stoick answered. "As soon as we see each other, it'll be like old times again. Umm... how am I getting there?"
AGNARR WILL RIDE HIS FRIEND,
SO YOU'VE GOT A CHOICE:
ME OR THE RUMBLEHORN
The chief looked thoughtful for about half a second. "I'm not comfortable riding on my son's back. The big green scary-looking one won't mind if I ride him?"
NO, RUMBLEHORN-GREEN-AND-
RED-WALKS-INTO-WALLS WON'T
MIND
"That's his name? That's way too long, and it doesn't sound scary enough for a Viking chief's mount! I'll call him... Skullcrusher."
DAD, THAT'S NOT HIS NAME
AND HE'S VERY MILD-MANNERED
"What difference does it make? He can't understand me anyway. Son, can we please get moving?" Hiccup shrugged and explained things to the Rumblehorn, who also shrugged. Two humans and three dragons were soon winging their way eastward.
o
A/N
At some point on the day this chapter was posted, this story went over the 300,000-hit mark. To all my readers, I humbly thank you. This isn't any kind of record, I'm sure, but it's a big number, and I'm flattered that so many of you like my story.