"If I wasn't the person I am now, it would be the person I want to be. I find all the dragons beautiful and to see them hurt makes me sad. It's why I try to make sure that when I make decisions it effects as few of my dragons as possible. It's why we spend so much time training to get stronger, and why those who are the strongest lead my teams. Like Color's team, who you met when Toothless and I visited initially. She, being a Changewing is naturally very dangerous. But she's also extremely smart and has a natural talent to lead. When I select a leader I allow them to make their own team. She selected the first four of her group herself. Since then I've worked with her, and the other leaders to slowly add more people to their groups. Those who I believe would help round their team out or add a new way for them to monitor each village. Specifically adding the Whispering Death to their team. They've dug a number of tunnels under Berk, allowing them to easily travel, hide out, and monitor Berk safely.
I want you to know that the tunnels under Berk are perfectly safe. They were specifically instructed to ensure that the structural integrity of the cliff face wasn't compromised as they created the tunnels. But had it ever come to it, I could have had them sink Berk into the sea. But that would have been a very last resort. Like if a war or something had broken out between us and I thought we wouldn't be safe hiding in the fog of Dragon Island. Mutually assured destruction."
"That's a dangerous game to play Hiccup." Stoick warned.
"Yes well, much like any leader would, I saw a threat and made a plan to deal with it. At least you're not the Berserkers, like I told you before they're basically not even allowed to leave their harbor. That group is lead by a Skrill named Spark. I'd describe him and his group as ruthless. But they have to be. They're basically in a constant battle with the Berserkers.
Most other people don't really like him and his group. They think he's mean and nonsocial but he's a good guy under his exterior. He just has to be the bad guy so often that it can be hard to turn if off for him. But he's good to his group and does his job at Toothless and I's discretion. Which is all we can really ask for from them."
"I definitely don't envy any of those groups." Skullcrusher commented. The other dragons hummed their agreement.
"As you shouldn't. It's not as glorious as many people think it is."
"So you'd say that you have a good read on your people?. If I was to ask you to send someone as a representative of your people who would that be?" Stoick asked. "An ambassador in other words." Hiccup took a moment to think, he rolled a few names around in his head but landed on two.
"There are a couple of people who I think would make good ambassadors. Firstly Care. He's this big, old, mean lookin', scars all over, Nightmare that has taken it upon himself to help as many people as possible. He lost his family a long while ago and now he uses the flock as his family. He's looked up to by a lot of the younger dragons wondering what they should do. The issue being, because he lost his mate he's slowly dying and eventually the heartbreak will kill him. He's fought it for this long but it gets worse the longer you fight it. I think that having the flock as his replacement family is helping slow it down, but it's an inevitability that he will die to his broken heart."
"That can happen?" One of the humans asked. Hiccup nodded sadly.
"Yeah." Hiccup whispered under his breath. "It's uhm, probably a dragon's biggest weakness. When two dragons decide to be a mated pair they mark each other. As you can see on me, Toothless has marked me. A big bite that is unique to each dragon. It tells others that you aren't available. It also messes with their body and mind. When they mark their new mate it's like they fall in love all over again, and now you're locked in. Dragons only ever get one mate. Lose it and that's it. And if your mate dies it breaks your heart. A deep pain that grows over time until it becomes too much and it kills you. It's also not uncommon that the surviving mate will up and disappear after a while." Hiccup paused. "We've unfortunately found a few people after their disappearance. It's very hard to see what some of them do to themselves before dying. Horrible self mutilation like finding ways to cut or pull their wings off, blind or deafen themselves. Slashing themselves open so that there's pain somewhere else on their body they can focus on." He paused again and took a deep breath. "If there are going to be dragons on Berk, maybe consider helping them at the end, be there for them and if needed, do what needs to be done, for their sake."
"Asking me to kill dragons right after I said that I wouldn't anymore."
"Like I said before, if this really happens and there are dragons living on Berk, there are going to be things that you see, and do that will forever change you. You're going to stick your hands into places they were never meant to be."
The group of humans looked around to each other, all of them thinking the same thing.
"That means both ends then, right?" One of them finally spoke up.
"Yes, that means both ends. The chances are very low that you'd have to be on that side of them but it can happen and they'll need you. So you just kinda have to viking up and do what needs to be done."