Hiccup smiled and laughed.
"There it is. The smile I fell in love with. Amoungst other reasons."
A few dragons came into the clearing, looking for the duo. Both Toothless and Hiccup recognized them and waved them over.
"Hey you guys." A young Nadder called.
"Hey what's up guys." Hiccup said back.
"We were just looking for you. Everyone has started gathering for the speeches. We just wanted you to know." The small group bound off back in the way they came from.
"Well I guess we'll have to get going soon." Toothless huffed.
"Yeah I guess so." Hiccup sighed.
"We don't have to go if you want. We could just leave." Toothless tried to convince him.
"As much as I do want to do that, we can't. This is our first time so I think that we'll have to make an appearance. It won't be that bad I guess." Hiccup shucked away the rest of his fish and stood. He stretched his back and shoulders before turning around. Toothless had got up and done the same. Stretching his back and flaring out his wings.
"Alright you ready Hiccup?" Hiccup turned around and climbed onto his back.
"Honestly let's just get this over with. I don't know what I'm going to say but, I'll figure something out. At least one of us thinks I can do that." He chastised his dragon.
"Like you haven't come up with something to say. Trust me, I knew what I was doing." Toothless followed a trail up a hill into a huge open area. Hiccup couldn't believe the sight. He could see for miles out over the ocean in every direction. On top of that, thousands upon thousands of dragons were packed into the area. Not a single square inch of the land wasn't covered. And in the middle was a platform, with a few dragons sitting on it. Toothless stopped near the edge of the hoard of dragons.
"Wow." Toothless gasped. "This is huge. There is no way that it was this big last time I was here. Was it?"
"When have you ever been here?" Hiccup asked.
"Hiccup you have to realize that I reached sexual maturity at ten years old. I was looking for a mate up until we met. I've been here more than a few times, Hiccup. I wanted to find a mate. I wanted to find another one of my kind. I wanted to have kin, I wanted a family. I want a family." Toothless confessed. Hiccup felt very small in that moment.
"I'm sorry." Hiccup whispered. Toothless closed his eyes and grimaced to himself.
"Hiccup, I'm sorry. That sounded bad. I do want a family, but I can't have that. There won't be any little me's or you's running around. We can't have kids of our own. That isn't our fault. Plus while I want a family, I don't know if I'm ready for one. I'm perfectly happy spending all my time with you. Besides that we already have all this kids we have to take care of." He chuckled to himself. "So don't worry about it, you're about all I can handle right now. I couldn't even imagine what we'd look like with hyper little kids around. Especially ones who would constantly be asking why one of their dads don't look the same. Not even close to each other. It would be like every day." That cheered Hiccup up a little. Toothless craned his neck around to look at him. "I want a family, but all I want you more. I want someone next to me at night. Someone who knows how to make my life better, even if they don't think it does. Someone who's unique and quirky, and can make me laugh. On top of that beautiful to look that."
"Good save." Hiccup laughed. Toothless bagan the journey up to the platform. "So a family huh? What makes you want to have one?"
"I don't really know. I've watched others have them, and they seem interesting. I never got to be a part of a family. I missed out on that whole experience. Even you got some semblance of it. Though I guess you're not the best example either. But you get what I'm saying. Though I've been thinking about that recently. Ever since we came here really. I made myself laugh when I thought about how being an alpha is basically being a parent. Which was funny to me. So it's like I've already fulfilled having a family." Hiccup laughed at Toothless' observation.
"In some odd way you're right." Hiccup chuckled. "We do things that parents do. We have to solve problems, break up fights, make sure they're fed. So if you're okay with that, I'd be happy to consider that a family."
"That sounds good to me." They continued up toward the center. Dragons cleared a path for them. Many had never been so close to a human before. Definitely not one like Hiccup. They could hear the whispering. Wondering what he was or who he was.
As they approach Hiccup could see that there were a few dragons sitting on the platform, mostly talking amongst themselves. The duo near the platform, spotting the Changewing alpha.
"I had a feeling you two were here." He said to them. "How's it feel to be the ones going up there?"
"Are you not going up there?" Hiccup asked back.
"No. I'm not looking for others to join me. Plus, we're allies, so anyone you get only strengthens me. The ones who are up there right now are like you. They lead groups that have a few different species and a good number of people under them. Much like you they are also trying to get people to move and switch clans.
Maybe you don't want this but here's some advice. Don't go after individual people. Don't look at someone and say, 'I want you'. Either go after everyone or go after the alphas like me. It's good to get individuals but if you can get whole groups all at once. Image how far your reach would be. But do what you think you need. If you think you don't need to grow and want to maintain. Say that. People like honesty and want to hear it. If you don't think that you could support more than you can't. But don't make it seem like you're a weak target. You do have the largest no the clans so let them know that. Tell them what you two did. Who you killed. If you want to put fear into people or even get them to come to you, I'd say that.
I don't have a clue what your going to say but I know that you mean well and that you'll do just fine."