"I've just got so many questions running through my head right now. Seems impossible to even think straight right now." Hiccup held his head in his hands. Stoick chuckled in his throat.

"I definitely understand that. This type of situation doesn't come up that often, and that makes it more stressful than most other things. Never fun to run into situations that don't have a clear answer right away. Especially ones like you're in that don't even have the beginning of an answer. This is even a worse special case cause it could cost people their lives.

Maybe, if you haven't yet, ask yourself if there was a reason for them to come this way that you normally wouldn't think would be an issue. Maybe something like how much space you control. You said you did control more than any other of these groups. Flocks? Either way something as simple as that could cause an attack."

"I don't think it's a controlled area issue. Where we're positioned would make it pointless for other flocks to try and take it from us. Not to mention that it's nearly impossible to attack Helheim's mountain no matter what you are. If another normal group did try to attack us we could simply huddle inside and fire outwards. Which due to our numbers we could do with nearly no pauses between firings. Even if someone did get in they'd be shredded into pieces in seconds. Not to even mention that with how big we are it would take two or three of the other flocks to team up against us to even stand a chance.

One of the first projects I put in motion was to repair the giant hole that the previous alpha put in it. You can't even tell that something like that happened. But it just so happens that I was scared of something like that happening. It's actually how this part of the mountain was formed. As the Gronkles repaired the walls with their lava I figured out a way to make a huge platform. So what we did was fed the Gronkles that were repairing the walls with stone that didn't have a lot of metal in it. It was apparently easier for them to eat and regurgitate onto the edge of the wall building it up.

Then another set of our Gronckles at rock that had a lot of metal in it. Then on another island nearby we found a flat spot that was good enough and had them regurgitate the metal onto that area. Making a huge sheet of metal. Which I had like nearly two-hundred of my dragons fly here and set on top of the rest of the hole. I had intended to keep it just the metal cause I thought it was cool. But it turns out that it would get super hot in the sun and make things miserable in here sometimes. Even those who like the heat complained. So I set my Gronckles back to work and had them cover the sheet with an as even as they could rock. Now we have this nice big area where they can come up to and sunbathe, or look out over the sea or whatever. It also gave me a place to grow plants. Since it's hot here all the time I don't even have to worry about planting them at a certain time of year. The only thing I have to worry about are these overgrown snakes curious of my plants and eating them.

But I know that isn't what you're talking about.

Bewilderbeasts are different from the other flocks. They're like safe havens for dragons that have been hurt by humans. Dragons flee to them because nothing stops them. They're dangerous beyond belief, and even as numerous as we are. It alone could take us. When people think of monsters they think of Nightmares, and Nadders, The Night Fury…" Toothless dropped the chunk of meat he was holding next to Hiccup. He slowly inched his snout near Hiccup's ear.

"Damn right they do." Toothless growled. His pink tinged drool dripped onto Hiccup's neck and shoulder. Hiccup jumped but quickly recomposed himself.

"How do… Would you just sit down? You couldn't scare a kitten." Hiccup complained.

"What's that make you then?" Toothless chuckled as he took his normal place, wrapped around Hiccup's back. "You know one day you'll hear me coming up behind you."

"I doubt it. I don't have ears sensitive enough to hear you coming up behind me like that. Especially when you're trying to scare me." Hiccup huffed. Toothless pressed his snout into Hiccup's shoulder.

"It's not trying if I've never failed." Toothless licked sweetly at Hiccup's shoulder and neck cleaning up, or more accurately spreading out the drool that dripped onto it.

"Anyway Bewilderbeast are beyond anything that we, or anyone could deal with. Short of another. The only reason we're staying to fight is because this place is that easy to defend from. But it'll only last for so long. This is the little hill, out in the middle of the sea, that our flock will die on. And that's just how it is. A lot of our flock was born here. Or well, born on dragon island, and then brought here by their parents. Like most dragons born in these parts are. Because of that a lot of them also plan to die here. Now that there isn't a huge monster living here anymore. Also because this is their home, and like anyone who doesn't want to give up their home, they'll fight for it."

"Hey wait. Isn't this dragon island?" One of the human's asked.

"Uhm yes, but no. It's complicated. This is dragon island, yes, but we've dropped the name and just refer to the whole place as Helhiem's gate now. So the place I'm talking about is, or was The Rookery. Where dragons lay their eggs to hatch. But then there's a larger island that we all go to, to breed.

Which sounds odd I know but it kinda makes sense in the context that once dragons pair up they never split, or take another mate. So it's vitally important for them to find another that is perfect for them. So much so that there are some here that are beyond old and still haven't found a mate. So they all go to this island to have the highest chance at finding a mate. But it's just kinda become the place where everyone goes to breed and uhm, yeah. It's actually really nice there. It's all overgrown and it has a ton of hot spring pools and stuff. And tons of little hiding spots so that no one can simply walk in on you and your mate. And actually because Toothless alphas we kinda got a bigger spot in an area that's like reserved, I guess you'd call it that.

So then also because they all group up there it was decided by the other alphas from the other flocks that at the end of mating season they would allow anyone to switch to a different flock freely. Each of them, and us now too, make a speech to help persuade people to join your flock. The size of your flock kinda determines, like, overall power rankings among the other alphas, but also not really cause they didn't seem to care all that much about trying to grow their flocks super huge. So the speeches are mostly just 'if you don't think that your current alpha is doing very well you can come over to ours, and try us out.' Or even as simple as if you want a change of scenery. You don't have to state the reason you're moving flocks to anyone. So there's not a whole lot of pressure to have a reason ready. No one's testing them or anything like that.

So then, from what I was told, if you have a good year and your flocks grows a lot, you get to demand more space, more territory, and the others kinda have to comply. They can resist but it's more about survival then territory control. I'd guess there's fights between those flocks but none of the other alphas seemed to have any sort of disdain for each other so I don't know.

This obviously isn't an issue for us since we're not on the mainland and don't need to fight over or figure out territory borders. I think that was also a big reason that we over doubled our numbers. But also just the simple fact that dragons like safety. So finally having what's been deemed as the most safe place in the known world to be, by both dragons and humans. No horrible alpha to live under, and the rules we've established for our flock make us a pretty easy candidate to switch to.

But uh, yeah it didn't have a name. So I just kinda started calling it dragon island cause it made sense to me to call it that. Uh yeah, a little oversight on my part.

But it also wasn't at the time since they didn't really have names for everything. So it was just me and Toothless labeling everything so we knew where people were in relation to all the little islands and stuff. So yeah, I hope that answers your question."