The Gronkle huffed at him and looked away. Hiccup knew how to befriend dragons. He shifted around and looked at the Gronkle's skin to see what it could tell him. He saw the normal claw marks from fights and their scars. He pressed his hand against it's stomach but it felt warm like the rest of his skin but not hot, like it should have been.
"When was the last time you've eaten rocks?" Hiccup asked. He huffed at Hiccup again. "Can someone fetch me a few good sized stones that we use to make Gronkle iron please?" Someone behind him volunteered. While they waited for them to return Hiccup moved on to a Nadder. He looked over the presumed female and inspected her spikes. As he was inspecting her crown one of the spikes fell out. He caught in and gave it a closer look. The appearance was odd, not pearly white as it should have been but yellowish. He squeezed it and thought it felt soft in his hand but thought it must have just been his hand squishing under the pressure. He took it in both hands and tried to break it and without much force it snapped like a twig. It surprised him and he dropped it.
"Someone go get Dusty please." He called out. Another voice volunteered and he moved onto a Rumblehorn. It was lying quietly, watching. The first thing Hiccup did was hook his fingers under one of the protective plates around its neck and pulled on it. When it easily pulled away from the skin it was attached to he stopped. "How long has it been since you've eaten properly?" He asked the Rumblehorn. "When's the last time you've been on dry land?" None of the group respawned to him. "Please work with me." He pleaded. "All I want to do is help." He started to look at another of the group when the rocks and Dusty showed up at the same time.
"What is it you needed, Hiccup?" Dusty asked as Hiccup grabbed some of the rocks. He watched as the hybrid placed the rocks in front of one of the Gronkles.
"Please eat." Hiccup said to the Gronkle. "I have these stones mined for my flock. I'm told they're very tasty." He stood up and waved Dusty over. While shuffling over to the Nadder, Hiccup called out for someone to get him Skullcrusher.
Hiccup picked up the spiked he'd previously broken and held it up for Dusty. The large brown Nadder took a piece into his mouth and bit down on it. His teeth easily shearing through the spike and was immediately concerned.
"Your colors are vibrant but dull. And you have a distinct lack of scars. But your crown is fully grown. How old are you?" Dusty asked the female. She didn't say anything to him either. "Please, you're in a very bad way. You must let us help."
"I will only speak to your alpha." The female whispered.
"Well that's good cause you've been talking to one of them the whole time."
"You're lead by a human? And you trust them? You must be corrupt by them."
"While normally I would agree with you. This one doesn't seem to want to lop off our heads. Very often." He chuckled. "Maybe during mating season when everyone wants to take off each others heads anyway. And the other one is a dragon. But he's more the watch and listen type. And between you and me, and Hiccup cause he's standing right here, he seems really angry all the time." He looked back at the Night Fury with squinty eyes. Hiccup also looked back and saw Toothless looking at something. Which was Stoick followed by his people slowly working their way down to them.
"Just so you know, Toothless hasn't been angry since the day he learned I'm the one who shot him down and ripped off his tail fin. And that ended up growing back, so did I really even do it? You are right though, he does look angry when he isn't smiling. Or being a smartass." Hiccup mumbled. "Well anyway, I'm one of the alphas here, and all I want to know right now is how long you were on that ship and the last time you've eaten properly. And I need you to work with us cause Dusty's right, you're not healthy right now. I shouldn't have been able to snap your spike in half like that. Especially one from your crown." The female's resolve gave way.
"I was on that ship for a long time. Too long. Two cycles of the moon maybe. That was the last time I ate well too." She curled a little into herself. Behind Hiccup a voice boomed.
"I'm here when you need me." Skullcrusher said. Hiccup jumped and turned around.
"How is it that even one of the largest dragons here is as quiet as a mouse when they're behind me?" Hiccup complained loudly. He placed a hand of the horn of the gigantic green dragon. "I believe that the female over there has plate rot. But like all of these dragons they refuse to talk to me. Try to get something out of her please. Even if it's just that she's hungry." The Rumblehorn nodded and began towards her. As he exited Hiccup view he spotted his father.
"Hiccup what's going on?" Stoick asked in his usual loud fashion. Hiccup took a couple steps forward so that he wasn't yelling back to his dad.
"These are the survivors from the ship. I'm trying to get them to work with me. At least two of them are sick and some of the others are refusing to eat right now. That nadder." Hiccup pointed. "Said that she was on that ship for two moons. And with how much Nadders need to eat to stay healthy. Well let's just say that even a house cat would put a fight right now. And that Rumblehorn, Skullcrusher is with might have plate rot. And if she does, we're going to have to pull off all of her protective plates, which is going to leave her very vulnerable. The Gronkles aren't eating rocks either. I've never seen one turn down a nice rock, much less the pile in front of them. And to be completely honest, we're lucky we've gotten this far. If I didn't have a Fireworm princess I don't know how well I could have warmed them up. We're lucky that ours was okay with working with dragons that aren't stoker class. Otherwise I don't know what we would have done. A fire I guess but I don't know how well that would have worked, and it would have been much slower to warm them up.
I'd like to continue answering your questions from earlier but I'm going to have to deal with this as much as I can.