Hiccup wondered if being an alpha wasn't as hostile as he thought. He knew that the amount of people you had and where your territory was, and how large it was, is important. It was a sign of power, and ability to lead. He expected to lose quite a few people to the others this year. Being new and unknown except for those in his home. On top of that he was very different, and from what he learned, dragons don't like different. He began to feel anxious that he would lose a significant portion of his people.

"Hey are you feeling okay?" Toothless asked him. "You've kinda got a thousand yard stare going on right now."

"Oh. Sorry. I was just thinking about something."

"What's that?"

"I was just going over numbers in my head."

"Worried that everyone is going to leave us?" Hiccup looked away. "That's what I thought. Don't worry about stuff like that. There will be those who leave us. But people leave for many reasons. Just look at what happened when we took over. You gave people an out and some of them took it. We didn't lose that many. So now we've given those who stayed a chance to see if they like you and I lead. If they don't they may leave, but even if they don't they might stay. We have the advantage of living where we do. But somethings are out of our control.

You want to know the number one reason dragons move from horde to horde?" Hiccup nodded. "Because they want a change of scenery. Who leads and how they do it rarely matters. It isn't not important. Someone who doesn't know what they're doing could hurt the ones they are meant to protect. That puts people off. But I think that over the last almost year, we've grown very well as leaders. We've organized and keep in fighting as low as we can. We have done well to overcome issues that we've faced. Right now we're in a great spot. We still need to see how our freeze goes, but we lived through one just by ourselves. We'll just have to scale that up. Make sure our stokes are filled and we regulate how people eat. Or if we have some brave souls who will fish during the freeze.

The scope of what we've done is crazy. And we should be proud. Those who want to leave, let them. They have that right, now. What I think we should prove here today is, we can lead a group. We should be taken seriously and our achievements will back us up. With that we've already made a 'lower alpha' friend who stands with us, and if we need him to speak with for us, than we'll let him. He is a valuable asset to us and he, from what I can tell, stands with us no matter what. But don't bank on that either. If he thinks that under someone else, he and his people will be safer than so be it. Everyone here is looking out for number one, themselves." Hiccup nodded, taking in all he could. He knew that Toothless was right. He'd seen how this has gone before. He needed to trust what he said and believe in himself.

"Hey you two." The Nightmare stepped up to them. "We're about ready if you guys are." Toothless looked at Hiccup, and Hiccup nodded. "Alright then. Well come with me, we're going to decide who goes first this year."

Toothless and Hiccup joined the rest of the group in a small circle. "Well everyone." The Nightmare said. "Another year has successfully gone by. Another mating season that promises strong kin. Plus a new addition to our group. And a whole heap of new dragons." He looked over to the pair. "First I would like to congratulate our new alphas on there great feat. And the countless lives they've saved. I think that they should have the honor of going first." Hiccup waved his hands out in front of himself.

"Thank you, but we don't want that. I don't really know what to say so I was hoping that we could watch some of you first." The others of the group chuckled.

"Well I guess we'll have to decide who goes first than." The others agreed. "Shall we do it the normal way? Or does anyone have a new way to choose?" The group mumbled and spoke, conversation going back and forth until they figured out who would go first. The group nodded and slowly began to walk off the platform.

"Hey you guys." One of the Nadders called. "He's going first so you need to clear off with us." Toothless and Hiccup joined the rest of the alphas at the front of the crowd. Hiccup watched closely. He noted how the Zippleback spoke, and looked around. What he said and his unique ability to speak to more of the crowd, using both his heads. Hiccup wondered how his voice was being carried out to the very edge of the huge group. He noticed the power that he commanded with his speech and was worried that he wouldn't match up. He finished with a few quick statements. After he finished the crowd cheered and right after that a low murmur ran through them. Hiccup didn't really listen to what the ones near him said. But he knew what they were saying, discussing amongst themselves.

The Zippleback stepped down off the platform towards them. Hiccup noticed that he seemed almost drained, like he put everything he had into that speech. The other alphas congratulated him. Allowing the crowd to settle, the next to speak made their way to the platform at their convenience. When the crowd went silent the Nadder who went up began to speak. After she finished, they began to ask if Hiccup wanted to go up, but he wasn't feeling confident.

As the numbers dwindled his turn was coming quickly. Before he knew it, it was his turn to go.

"Are you ready Hiccup?" Toothless asked.