First Contact Chapter 15

The rest of Bang and Agnarr's week in the frozen nest was mostly uneventful. They were called to rescue a trapped Nadder on the fifth day, but it turned out to be a false alarm – the dragon had gotten her foot caught in an animal burrow of some kind, and just needed a little help to get free. The duo spent the bulk of their time teaching Forge to dragons and to the nest's one human resident.

Valka was an eager learner; she couldn't learn new words fast enough. This was mostly so she could finally talk to Cloudjumper. Agnarr noticed something else about her, though; she took special pains to look after him. She always offered him the first fish when their meals were ready, and she fussed if he didn't get enough sleep. He asked her about it one day.

She looked embarrassed. "Well, I guess I never got to finish the job I started, in terms of motherhood, and Hiccup doesn't really need a mother anymore, and he says you're a lot like he was – small, smart, and smith-skilled – and I suppose I... slipped into a motherly kind of thing with you, without meaning to. I'd never try to take your own mother's place, of course." She paused awkwardly.

Agnarr looked away to the furthest corner of the nest. "My mother was a weaver, or so I was told. My father used to be one of Dagur the Deranged's personal guards, back when Dagur was a boy. One day, when I was three, he disobeyed an order from Dagur to put a fellow guard's eye out. Dagur ordered that both my parents be sold as slaves to different owners, just to teach him a lesson. They were taken away in the middle of the night; I never saw either of them again. That was the beginning of the disgrace that my brother and I lived under, right up until the moment when the Night Furies took us away to Berk." He smiled at her. "Do you know how that feels – to be carried off by a dragon to a much better life?" He sighed. "Anyway, I don't remember much about my mother. I don't know anything about how to relate to a mother, or how a mother would relate to me. If it means being nice to me and worrying about me, then I guess I don't mind."

From that day on, whenever Agnarr climbed onto Bang's back, Valka would call, "Don't forget to wear your scarf!" and Agnarr would reply, "Okay, mom!" They would always smile when they said it, but they both knew it wasn't a joke for either of them.

Their week in the nest finally ended. Their relief party arrived late on Friday afternoon; the new exchange team consisted of Fishlegs, Meatlug, and Night-fury-six-shooter. Night-fury-mother-of-twins came with them to show them the way, and Stoick was riding Six. After they presented themselves to the Alpha, they spread out.

Stoick and Valka quickly disappeared into a side cave. They were followed by a stream of young dragons who wanted to find out what they were trying to hide. After a few minutes, the whole nest heard a loud, angry bellow, and the dragons flew and ran out of the side-cave in a panic. Stoick glared around the corner at them, shook his shoulders, and grunted.

"I told you we'd have more privacy if we stayed out in the open," Valka said impishly.

Bang shared a TrueSight with his twin sister. She saw rows of dragons, happy and eager to learn how to speak Forge so they could talk to Valka and to the humans who were shuttling in and out of their nest. She saw pride in how their invented language was becoming popular, mingled with exhaustion from long language lessons, and a leftover touch of embarrassment that he'd been shot down by the trappers and had to be rescued. She also saw relief that he could go home, love for her, Agnarr, and his parents, and a growing attraction for Night-fury-bi-xi. He saw enthusiasm for the chance to meet new dragons and tackle new challenges, some regret over having to leave Night-fury-faithful-brother behind for a week, and a bit of genuine awe after meeting the Bewilderbeast.

"For a Night Fury, this place is almost a vacation," Bang explained to her. "There aren't any fights to break up, and the King handles any arguments and misunderstandings that come up. You'll be on call in case of an emergency, which mostly means a dragon caught in a trap, but you'll spend most of your time as a Forge instructor. After some experience running a nest like ours, you may find this place to be twelve days north of Mindless and a few degrees south of Boring You to Death. It's located solidly on the Meridian of Monotony."

"If this kind of work has become part of what Night Furies do, then I'll find a way to do it and make it work," she nodded. "Thanks for the warning, though."

Fishlegs met up with Agnarr, or "tried to meet up with Agnarr" might have been more accurate. He had a hard time focusing on what the smith's apprentice was trying to tell him. He was in a constant state of distraction because of all the dragons swirling overhead – he was almost fangirling over them.

"Please pay attention! This is important!" Agnarr urged him.

"I can't believe all these dragons!" the bigger young man burst out. "I've never seen most of these types before! I brought paper and drawing sticks to add them to the Book of Dragons, but I don't think I brought enough paper! Look at them all!"

"You'll have your chance to draw them all, and ask questions about them, and even interview them if you want," Agnarr exclaimed, "but can you give me five minutes to explain about the traps? Just five minutes? Please!"

If Fishlegs was happy in his new environment, Meatlug felt like she'd found a new home. She flew back up the entry tunnel to the smaller cave that was full of dozing Snafflefangs, Hotburples, and other Gronckles, found an empty space on the floor, and expressed her satisfaction with the situation by falling sound asleep.

After a few hours, the first exchange team said their farewells and returned to Berk. Stoick rode Skullcrusher again; they were growing comfortable with each other, and the big Rumblehorn enjoyed his visits to the village with tasty fish and no traps.

"Do you think we can make this arrangement work?" Astrid asked her son.

"There's no question, the two nests can get along and work together," Bang replied. "But I'm starting to think I should avoid going into battle against humans. I do all the right things, but they keep getting the better of me." She wasn't sure what he meant, so he offered her a quick TrueSight and focused on his raid to blow up the trappers' raft. She took in a sharp breath.

"That's the third time you've gotten banged up by the humans – no pun intended," she said slowly. "Humans have a saying, 'Bad things come in threes,' and if that's true, then your days of bad luck in battle should be over. The one thing you don't want to do is become afraid of what might happen, and it sounds like you haven't let fear master you. That's good, son. But I'll tell you something even better.

"You've had one near-miss in battle, and you've actually gotten caught twice. Yet you're still here, flying next to me, talking about your next battle. How did that happen? Because you're surrounded by dragons, and a few people, who love you and will do anything to keep you safe. You've got friends, and that's even better than having good luck. Never lose sight of that."

"Yeah, like she said," Agnarr added. Bang nodded soberly.

Back in the nest, Fishlegs was still geeking out at the sight of so many unfamiliar dragons. When he spotted a big, owl-faced, four-winged dragon crawling his way, he just stopped and stared. It hadn't registered with him that the Night Furies had been teaching Forge to some of the residents here, so he was not expecting the dragon to speak to him.

"King say he want talk to you now."

He glanced toward the huge Bewilderbeast. "Uhh... uhh... oh, boy... how he understand me?"

"Night-fury-six-shooter say your words for him, say his words for you."

"Okay. I guess that works." He made his way down the river's edge and across the stepping stones to a large flat rock in front of the Alpha. He bowed clumsily and waited for Six to join them. Once she landed next to him, he said, "Uhh, I'm here, Great One. Is that what I'm supposed to call you?" Six translated for him.

"That is customary," the huge dragon replied with a trace of a smile. "Your friend, New-night-fury, has told me part of your story. I'd like to hear more. Please tell me about your first interactions with dragons."

"Uhh, okay," Fishlegs nodded nervously. "When I was a kid, we always thought dragons were bad. They were big and scary, they stole our food, and they tried to kill you if you got in their way. I wanted to be a dragon fighter when I grew up, so I could be a hero in the village, and get a girlfriend, and get the best seat in the Mead Hall, and all the other stuff that heroes get. I learned everything I could learn about dragons; I even read the Book of Dragons cover-to-cover, learning everything I could about them, when most people just use the Book to look stuff up. When my dad told me I'd been accepted for Dragon Training, it was, like, the happiest day of my life.

"The first dragon we ever faced was a Gronckle, and I wasn't afraid of her, until she shot my shield off my arm. Then I got scared! I knew they were big, but I'd never been shot at before. I realized that being a hero might be awesome and fun, but becoming a hero... not so much. From then on, I kind of played it safe. I knew I'd never beat Astrid to win the competition, but if I could just learn how to face a dragon and still be alive when I was done, that would be a lot better than being dead. Even after Hiccup and Astrid disappeared, I never tried that hard to win.

"I stayed that way with the other dragons, but that Gronckle… I think she figured out that I wasn't trying to hurt her. Pretty soon, I realized that she wasn't trying to hurt me, either. She always shot at me when she could, and she was a pretty good shot at close range, but she always aimed at my shield, never at me. There were a couple of times when she caught me off guard and could have killed me, but all she did was shoot my shield.

"There was one time when I got the drop on her, and I could have belted her a good one with my hammer. Instead, I slapped her on the side with my hand and yelled, 'Gotcha!' She just kicked me in the chest without even looking, sent me flying across the training ring, and then flew off to find some other Viking to pick on. It was like she was saying, 'Don't play games with me, Fishlegs. Maybe I'm not trying to kill you, but I'm still a dragon and you're not.' I learned my lesson, and I kind of respected her from then on. Of course, I still thought she was a 'he,' but that didn't change anything."

The Bewilderbeast considered that. "Did you ever wonder if dragons might be intelligent, based on how this dragon treated you?"

"I'd been so well-trained to think of them as monsters, I never stopped to think about them being as smart as me," Fishlegs confessed. "Looking back, the signs were all there, but I wasn't looking for them. It wasn't until we were turning the training dragons loose that I finally figured it out. Hiccup… I mean New-night-fury told the Gronckle I wanted to be friends, but when they opened the doors, I figured she'd take off through the gates and be free, because that's what a trapped animal would do. Instead, she flew over to me and sniffed my dragon-nip grass and checked me out. I really didn't expect that. I think that's when I finally figured out that she wasn't a tame monster, or a very big pet. She actually wanted to be my friend.

"That was the day that changed everything. All of a sudden, everybody in the village wanted to make friends with a dragon, and they all thought I was the expert because I did it first. All of a sudden, all that stuff I read in the Book of Dragons became really useful. And all of a sudden, I was kind of a hero in the village, like I always wanted to be, but I did it by being nice to dragons instead of fighting them." He took a deep breath. "Life can be weird, Great One."

"So I have noticed," the Alpha answered with a ghost of a smile. "Tell me more about your friendship with Meatlug." That was Fishlegs' favorite subject; the day was nearly done before he finally wound down. The King probably heard a lot more than he wanted to hear, but he certainly got all the details. Once the Alpha dismissed him, he searched until he found Meatlug, and they slept side by side until next morning, when the first of their Forge students finally found them and woke them up so the lessons could start.

Fishlegs turned out to be a fairly good teacher. His only handicap was that he kept getting distracted by the amazing new dragons among his students. "Focus, Fishlegs!" became Valka's catchphrase for the week. As the days went by and he began to catch up on his drawings and his entries for the Book of Dragons, he got less distracted and became more effective. Meatlug had no such problems, just the standard-issue Gronckle problem of falling asleep at random intervals, and her dragon students understood that. Because Meatlug was adequate as a beginning Forge teacher, Six accepted the role of royal language tutor, and the Alpha learned his first words in Forge that week.

Perhaps the students didn't learn as much from Fishlegs and Meatlug as they'd learned from Agnarr and Bang, but they made steady progress. Their favorite "exercise" was talking to Valka, which was the whole reason for them learning Forge in the first place. She was thrilled to finally be able to exchange a few words with the neighbors she'd known for nearly two decades. She and Cloudjumper practiced their new language with each other endlessly, on the ground and in the air, now that they knew enough words to actually say something to each other. The language barrier that had stood between them for eighteen years had been broken at last.

Cloudjumper probably summed up the situation best with four simple words. "You make me happy."

o

A/N
The next chapter brings Varinn and the other Terrible Terrors into the story. If you aren't familiar with them, you ought to read A Nadder's Mystery before the next chapter comes out.