Bonus Chapter
Life with the Night Furies Chapter 25

A/N
At some point on July 7, 2018, "Lightning and Death Itself" received its one millionth view. One million views, for a story I wrote? Inconceivable! That's a major milestone, no matter how you look at it. I am very, very grateful to all my readers who have made my story into a big deal. As a special thank-you gift to all of you, I offer this fluffy little mini-chapter. There isn't much plot or character development here, just something fun to read.

The first portion of this chapter came into being as the beginning of the "The Next Generation" story arc, and it was about Night-fury-young-teacher. But that story arc went in a different direction than I'd originally planned, and so did Young-teacher's destiny. So I set those paragraphs aside, wondering if I might ever find a use for them. As of today, I know what they're for. They're for you. Enjoy!

o

In the dim light of the Dragon Island nest, Night-fury-cave-flyer was surrounded by her friends, as usual. There hadn't been any young Night Furies in that nest in the decades before Toothless finally found a mate, so just her presence made her special. Add the fact that she was quite intelligent and clever compared to other dragons her age, and it was no wonder she couldn't lift a paw without drawing a crowd. A popular game among her peers was to try and stump her with hard questions.

"I thought of one!" a two-year-old female Grapple Grounder exclaimed. "Suppose there was such a thing as an all-powerful god-dragon, who could do anything he wanted."

"Okay," Cave-flyer nodded. "What about him?"

The Grapple Grounder continued, "If that dragon can do anything, then he must be able to create a fish that's too big and heavy for himself to lift. But if he can't lift it, then he can't be all-powerful. Figure that one out, if you can!" A few other dragons nodded their approval.

"Umm... why?" Night-fury-cave-flyer replied. "You're starting with a contradiction. If this god-dragon is all-powerful, then there can't be a fish too heavy for him to lift. The whole question is impossible, so there's no need to try and figure out an answer."

The other young dragons turned to each other in surprise. "She's right!" "I didn't think of that!" "How does she do it?"

On a nearby rock shelf, Toothless and Guana were casually listening in on the discussion. "She's showing off again," Guana fussed.

"She's earning their respect," Toothless replied. "If the other dragons think she can handle any problem, then they won't hesitate to ask for her help in solving real problems when they're older. She's laying the foundations for her future as the head Night Fury of this nest, and I'm behind her all the way."

"You don't think that daughter of yours is capable of doing anything wrong!" she complained.

"That's not entirely true," he answered. "I've seen her do plenty of wrong things, but I don't think she needs a tail-smack for something like this. For one thing, I'm thankful that she isn't having a childhood like Hiccup did. Among the humans, if someone seems unusually intelligent while they're growing up, they often get mocked and bullied. Hiccup told me that's exactly what happened to him. He's glad that the dragons treat their peers better than that, and I'm glad that they're treating our daughter better than that."

"Okay, that's true," she admitted, "but I still worry that she'll become proud if she starts thinking she's better than the others."

"If she ever abuses her position, I'll be the first to swat her silly," Toothless said firmly. "That's the up-side to all the young ones following her around all the time. She can't get away with anything without it becoming known to the whole nest, and that includes me. But she's finally outgrown the disaster-prone stage... I hope... and she's starting to settle down into the role of an adult Night Fury, solving problems and taking care of the nest. We want to encourage that."

"Is that why you let her keep her adult-name even though it didn't apply to her anymore?" Guana asked.

"That's part of it," he nodded. "But mostly, she'd just come within half a scale of throwing her whole future away. She made the right decision at the last second, even though it could have caused a war. It was her first adult-sized test, she was under a lot of stress, and I wasn't sure how close she was to crumbling under it. The last thing I wanted to do was discourage her by taking her name away! Maybe 'Cave-flyer' isn't the best name for her anymore, but she likes it, and I couldn't be so hard-hearted as to take it back, especially when she earned it fairly."

She had to smile. "You used to be such a dogmatic, hard-headed dragon! Now you're just a big black cream puff. Wherever your children are concerned, you're not a bit like the Night Fury who gave me such a hard time during my flying lessons."

He smiled back. "I'm not sure what a cream puff is, but if you're saying that parenthood has mellowed me, then, as you might have said during those flying lessons, I plead guilty as charged."

"You're even starting to talk like a human!" she exclaimed. "We ex-human Night Furies are ruining you!"

"I can think of worse reasons to change," he grinned. "And you ought to be thankful for that! If Hiccup hadn't half-ruined me at the outset, you and I might not have made it through those flying lessons, and we wouldn't be together today."

"I'm thankful," she smiled, and snuggled up against him. They watched as all the young dragons took wing and played a game, racing while flying the tightest circles they could fly around the biggest rock spire in the nest. Cave-flyer was winning when she suddenly slipped a wing and skidded sideways. A young Nadder cut inside her and won the race.

"I can't believe she did that!" Toothless exclaimed. He pulled away from Guana and prepared to fly. "I know I taught her better than that! Maybe she needs a refresher lesson in tight turns."

"She doesn't need anything of the kind," Guana answered with a smile. "Didn't you see how quickly she recovered after she skidded? She did that on purpose! She let the other dragon win."

"Why would she do that?" Toothless didn't get it. He could be as competitive as any other male.

"Because she doesn't want the others to think of her as the best at everything," Lady-night-fury explained patiently. "She wants to be one of the group; she wants to fit in; she wants to not discourage the others because they can never beat her at anything. Besides, did you notice who that young Nadder was?"

"Yes, that's... oh, now I get it!" Toothless' eyes lit up. "That's the little brother of Nadder-green-follows-New-night-fury! He's still broken up over losing his big sister. Do you think Cave-flyer let him win so he'd have something to feel good about?"

"Exactly," she said. "She's showing us, and anyone else who cares, that she knows that there are more important things than winning."

"In other words, I was right! She's starting to act like an adult Night Fury."

Guana thought about that. "Well, when you put it that way, then yes, I'll agree with you. But I still don't want to see her getting proud and full of herself."

Toothless grinned. "I don't think you have to worry too much about that. There are too many dragons keeping a close eye on her. If she starts getting out of line, then aside from you and me, I'm sure that Night-fury-makes-one-heck-of-a-bang will straighten her out in a hurry! He really likes her, so he's got a vested interest in seeing her become a sensible adult, and he won't take any nonsense from her or anyone else."

Guana watched the dragons flying all over the nest. "Tell me something," she said thoughtfully. "Do you think Bang really likes our daughter? Or is he just doing his duty to the Night Furies?"

"He likes her," Toothless said firmly. "Maybe you didn't notice, but when she changed her mind about joining the cave-nest and the Red Deaths started getting angry, he was the first one to close ranks with her, aside from you and me. It may have started with duty, but I'm sure it's real now. Does that ever happen with humans?"

"All the time," she nodded. "The tribe expects every Viking to get married, and most of them get little or no say in who they get paired off with. It's common to exchange your wedding vows with a total stranger. But most of them wind up happily married." She smiled. "I know I did!"

"You're special," Toothless grinned, and fluttered his tail fins along her flank.

She quivered. "So are you," she smiled back. "Want to go for a nice long flight together?"

"That's a silly question," he beamed. "Do you think we can leave Cave-flyer in charge while we're gone?"

"If she's as grown-up as you think she is, then she'll handle things just fine," she assured him.

"And if I'm wrong?"

Guana fluttered her own tail fins along his side. "There's a first time for everything. Let's go, while the moon is still rising." Two dark shapes rose out of the volcanic cone and quickly became invisible against the nighttime sky.

o

A/N
This story achieved another milestone on January 24, 2019, when "darksilver reaper" became the 1000th reader to hit the "Follow" button on this story. Thank you!