Soon afterwards, the Hobblegrunt and Raincutter gave Hiccup some space. Hiccup quickly returned to work on Toothless' harness, with Toothless and Dances-in-rain watching intently. Soars-through-flame lay down against the Raincutter's side, gazing at nothing with his blind eyes.
"What human do?" asked Soars-through-flame, not for the first time. The fledgling Hobblegrunt's scales shifted from purple to yellow then back to purple, his nostrils flaring as he sniffed around.
"Human things," Dances-in-rain replied. Works with long clever paws. No understand. No-teeth understand?" She trilled, looking to Toothless expectedly.
"Rrr," Toothless went, choosing his words carefully. Dragonspeak was perfect for communicating dragon things, but communicating human things with it was far more challenging. "Human-thing broken," Toothless said. "Human heal human-thing. Human-thing let No-teeth fly."
Hiccup looked up for a moment, looking thoughtful. Then Hiccup looked back down, still doing something with that 'rope' of his, while Soars-through-flame's scales shifted to a pale blue.
"Human ride No-teeth?" the Hobblegrunt trilled. "No-teeth captured by human?"
Toothless just barely stopped himself from growling. "No," he chuffed, before crooning reassurance. "Fishbone good human. Fishbone best friend of No-teeth. No-teeth want fly with Fishbone."
The Hobblegrunt's scaled turned back to purple. He almost spoke, but Dances-in-rain spoke first: "Fishbone name of human?"
Toothless tilted his head slightly. "Name from me," he said. "No can say human name."
Dragons didn't get the hiccups, so there was no direct translation for 'Hiccup' in dragonspeak.
"Human names strange," the Raincutter said, purring in understanding. "Nest human name we no can say. We name her Dragon-in-soul. She look human. She dragon inside."
Toothless purred. "Fishbone dragon inside also," he said. "Fishbone fly like dragon with No-teeth."
Indeed, Toothless sometimes wondered if Hiccup wished he was a dragon. Why else would he have built his own pair of wings, hidden within the outer-skin he wore? And why else would he insist on trying to glide on his own with them, when Toothless was always willing to share his wings?
"No-teeth grounded," the Hobblegrunt said, turning blue again. "Bad human hunters ground No-teeth?"
"Rrr," Toothless went, as pain flared briefly where the fin should have been. Really, Toothless didn't want to go into that. These dragons might take it the wrong way, after all…and it wasn't really their business besides.
"No. Different human ground No-teeth," Toothless said. "Then Fishbone make No-teeth fly. No-teeth fly with Fishbone." He looked back to his human, purring his gratefulness.
Hiccup, by this time, seemed to have finally finished repairing the rig. Toothless watched Hiccup look it all over, and then Toothless watched him tug on a few parts of it. Hiccup stood up then, clearly satisfied.
"All done, bud," Hiccup said. "Ready to get this back on?"
"Yes yes!" Toothless warbled, as the other two dragons also stirred. He rushed over to Hiccup's side, practically itching to be up in the air. "We fly soon, yes!"
But before Hiccup or Toothless could do anything, a great rush of wings sounded from outside.
Toothless growled quietly; his legs tensed, his wings slightly opening. The flock had returned from feeding, and their King would surely be somewhere nearby. He seemed to mean well, unlike her…but he was still an alpha, and he still had far too much power over other dragons. He'd even made Toothless fall asleep, leaving his Hiccup completely undefended in an unfamiliar nest!
"Fire-tooth, come. Chatter-snapper, come." It was the King's voice, carrying as only an alpha's voice could.
Toothless growled a little louder, enough for both other dragons to take note. Not since her had he heard a voice carry like that, and he didn't like it one bit. Nor did he like the low melodic purr which accompanied that voice, worming through Toothless' ears and enticing him to relax.
Dances-in-rain crooned worry and reassurance. "No-teeth no need fear. King good alpha," she said.
"Shining-scales, come. Smells-many-scents, come."
"He alpha," Toothless replied sullenly, prompting the Raincutter to croon louder. "Too powerful. Wrong." Then he looked at Hiccup, his heart quickening. "We go quickly. Please," he crooned, meeting his human's eyes. He needed to be out of here, and he needed to be far away from the King's reach.
Hiccup nodded, his expression serious. He began attaching the harness quickly and wordlessly, Toothless making all the right movements.
"Dances-in-rain, Soars-through-flame, come."
Both dragons obediently trotted off, the Hobblegrunt leaning against the Raincutter once again. "King good alpha," Dances-in-rain warbled, before leading her friend out of the lair.
Toothless stared after them as they left, as Hiccup busily secured the rigging. It was just so wrong, for one dragon to have so much power…and the dragons here just accepted it willingly!
"No-teeth, come."
A sudden calm came over Toothless. His legs relaxed and his wings drooped. The nest's alpha was calling him, and of course he would obey. He wondered why to obey for a moment, but the alpha's continuous low purr quickly smothered his doubts.
He backed away from Hiccup — Hiccup looked worried, but that could wait — and he turned to answer the call and…
…no! Nononono! No! Toothless roared loud enough for his Hiccup to flinch, trying and failing to drown out that oh-so-enticing sound. He shook his head madly, thrashing against the alpha's phantom grip.
"You no trap No-teeth!" Toothless snarled, his heart hammering inside of him. "No-teeth not come!" He didn't know if the King could even hear him, nor did he care. "No-teeth free! No-teeth serve no alpha!"
But even as he fought, he felt his resolve wavering. This was an alpha; alphas were to be obeyed. And that purr was so enticing and promised so much contentment and purpose if he followed it and—
All at once, it went quiet.
Toothless blinked, slumping to the ground. He could still faintly hear that dreadful purr, and he thought he heard another command, and a shameful traitorous part of him still wanted to obey. But the King sounded quiet and distant now, and Toothless just stubbornly remained in place.
His ear-nubs felt warm, Toothless realized — like there was something covering them, something soft, like someone had—
Hiccup.
Toothless blinked again and looked up, properly taking in the sight before him: Hiccup — his Hiccup — right by his face, covering Toothless' ear-nubs with a thick bundle of furs. Hiccup's serious expression morphed into a gentle smile, his eyes looking straight into Toothless' own.
"Thanks-to-you," Toothless purred, letting their foreheads meet. Clever human. Clever, clever human.
He'd gotten the furs from his dam's fur-nest, Toothless supposed. Toothless would never have even thought of something like that…but of course his clever and caring Hiccup had.
Hiccup pressed into Toothless' forehead reassuringly, allowing Toothless to relax a little more. Then the alpha's sounds ceased, and Toothless relaxed all the way. They maintained their contact just a little longer, then Toothless slowly pulled away.
"We go. We fly," Toothless said.
A faint noise pricked his ears, and he spun towards it.
"Is…everything okay, son?" Valka asked.
Toothless half-lidded his eyes. "No."
Valka had just walked through her lair's entrance, carrying that strange curved stick that she always seemed to carry. Cloudjumper sat next to her on his haunches, glaring at Toothless and rumbling annoyance.
Hiccup walked around to face them. He placed a hand on Toothless' head, wearing a clearly-forced smile. "Well, everything was great," he said. "Then the King tried to call Toothless over, and Toothless really didn't like that, but we figured it out." He went back to Toothless's side, busily securing the remainder of the harness.
Cloudjumper tilted his head a little. "King call No-teeth. Why No-teeth no go?"
"Not my alpha," Toothless snarled. "No-teeth have no alpha."
Cloudjumper crooned, his hard eyes softening slightly, while Valka sighed and shook her head. Hiccup patted Toothless' head reassuringly, having just finished getting the harness in place.
"Wait, Hiccup. Please," Valka said, stepping forwards. "The King brought fish back, for those who can't fly. He was just calling Toothless for feeding; that's all.
"King bring fish for grounded," Cloudjumper rumbled. "King bring food for No-teeth. No-teeth not hungry?"
Toothless hissed at that. As a matter of fact, he was hungry. But that giant had no right to control him like that, alpha or not! "No-teeth not grounded now. No-teeth fly with Fishbone." He turned slightly, putting himself between Hiccup and them.
"No-teeth not eaten. Fish for No-teeth," Cloudjumper said. He tilted his head the other way, suddenly purring amusement. "No-teeth scared of King? No-teeth no can face King? No-teeth wish to flee?"
Toothless' eyes widened at that. How dare he!? He showed his teeth and growled, though neither Cloudjumper nor Valka seemed the least bit concerned. "No-teeth not scared," he said.
"Then No-teeth come?" the Stormcutter replied, looking almost smug. "Fish for No-teeth?"
"Rrr," Toothless went. He was not some frightened hatchling, and he would not let this dragon see him like that…nor would he let himself be shown up in front of his Hiccup's no-good dam, who also now seemed amused. And now that he thought of it, he had been planning to show the prosthetic to those other two dragons…
He looked to Hiccup, who promptly shrugged his shoulders.
"Up to you, bud," Hiccup said levelly. "Want to go eat?"
Toothless considered it for just a moment longer. "Yes. Fish," he chuffed, motioning to the saddle.
He let Hiccup climb onto him, and then he prowled steadily towards one of the openings. He could fly now; he didn't need to take the long way around like before! He crouched down low, carefully getting both himself and his Hiccup out into the nest. He pushed off, spread his wings, and flew.
—
The nest felt exactly as they'd left it: alive with activity, dragons of various shapes and sizes and colors busily flying around. Dragons churred and warbled and nipped at each other's tails, while others happily wrestled and rolled around on the ground. Others dozed merrily, not reacting at all to the bustle around them. It was loud and chaotic in the best way, and Hiccup couldn't help but grin at the sight.
If anything, it looked even better from the air.
This was what a dragon nest should be — not that oppressive and terrible pit where the Queen had ruled, bringing war, death and misery to so many. No wonder Toothless disliked alphas, having lived so long in that horrible place…
Hiccup patted his friend's back. "You okay, Toothless?" he said.
Toothless warbled without looking at him, focussed as he was on the King.
The great Bewilderbeast was facing away from them. He stood at one end of the nest's wide shallow lake, and Hiccup and Toothless quickly flew over him. There, Hiccup saw a large pile of fresh fish on the ground in front of him, with a number of smaller dragons busily digging in.
The King looked up at them and chuffed, gesturing down with his eyes. This time, Hiccup noticed, he refrained from using that Queen-like purr.
Toothless slowed to a hover, Hiccup accordingly adjusting the tailfin with no thought needed. Toothless then set them down, landing just a little away from the ongoing feast.
"Oh, wow…" Hiccup went.
He saw the Raincutter and Hobblegrunt almost immediately; they swallowed down fish side-by-side, the Hobblegrunt's scales a rich yellow. He saw a Nightmare, lopsided and limping with a withered wing, picking out fish after fish while smirking in contentment. He noticed a Nadder with part of one wing straight-up missing, who was still managing to look haughty as it claimed its meal. A Terror then emerged from the fish pile, chirping with wide and happy eyes, wings held tightly and unnaturally on its back.
The little Terror laid eyes on Toothless and chirped again, and feasting dragons immediately went still and quiet. All but the Hobblegrunt looked towards Toothless, gesturing with their heads for Toothless to join.
Toothless crept forward hesitantly, in a way that had Hiccup thinking back to one of their very first encounters: Toothless, trapped and hungry in the cove, sniffing and creeping towards a fish held out in Hiccup's hands. Then Toothless glanced up at the King, and immediately froze.
Hiccup brought himself low, just above Toothless' head. "It's okay, bud," he said quietly. "We can go if you want."
The King rumbled slowly and loudly ahead of them, as though in agreement. He then crooned, in a manner that almost sounded like an apology. Toothless warbled back at him, relaxing just slightly.
Like they're talking, almost…
His mother landed next to him on Cloudjumper, before he could take the thought any further. The two dragons looked at each other and exchanged a couple of noises. And then, just like that, Toothless seemed to decide.
"Mrrr," Toothless went. He straightened himself, looked to Hiccup, and then looked off to the ground.
Hiccup, after a brief hesitation, nodded. "Alright bud," he replied, climbing off the saddle.
Toothless purred in his direction, before turning his attention to the fish pile. He marched towards it steadily without looking back, the dragons in front of him making a range of encouraging noises.
"That queen really left a mark on him, didn't she?" Valka said, coming to stand next to Hiccup. Hiccup hadn't even noticed her approach.
"She…ah…left a lot of marks," Hiccup replied. "On a lot of people."
Toothless reached the fish pile, moving in to take his first piece. He found one and swallowed one with his head held high. The feast resumed in earnest, Toothless just one dragon out of the group, with the King silently looking on.
"Enjoy, bud," Hiccup said quietly, sitting down to watch.
His mother sat down next to him; Hiccup looked away, resisting the urge to make another biting remark. Really, he'd have preferred to be away from here, and away from her. He still needed to find and talk to Drago, and since she didn't seem willing to help him with that…
An awkward silence descended between the two of them, and Hiccup sighed. At least Toothless seemed happy now, swallowing his meal with wide and playful eyes.
"Uhh…so," Hiccup said, wishing to break the silence. "What happened to those dragons?"