The Courtship of Toothless Chapter 15
Every year, in the dead of winter, something stirs in the hearts of dragons across the Northland. No one knows what starts it; it seems to happen at a slightly different time each year. It moves from west to east, and any dragon who has taken a mating flight that year finds its call irresistible.
This year, it was the day after the Vikings' Snoggletog holiday when the feeling began to spread. "I think it's almost time," Night-fury-mother-of-twins said to her mate.
"I'm sure you're right," he nodded. "Kids, remember – if your mother and I take off without any warning, you have to behave yourselves for two weeks until we get back."
"Are we getting a baby brother or a baby sister?" Young-girl-night-fury wanted to know.
"We'll find out when we get there," Night-fury-mother-of-twins smiled patiently.
"What are you going to call him?" Young-boy-night-fury demanded. "You can't call him Young-boy-night-fury – that's my name!"
"Then I guess you'd better do something really great, or something really dumb, so we can give you your adult-names," New-night-fury grinned. "Your sister could be Night-fury-bumps-into-Gronckles –"
"Hey!" she squealed.
"...and you could be Night-fury-thinks-he's-an-adult-already," his father teased him.
"Dad, that's not funny!" Young-boy-night-fury protested.
"Kids, don't worry about the names. We'll work it all out," Night-fury-mother-of-twins said. "Just remember – you need to behave! Both your grandfathers are going to be keeping an eye on you, and I don't want to hear a bad report when we get back. No dropping mud bombs on freshly-cleaned Nadders from a thousand feet up –"
"I didn't do that!" the girl objected. "I just watched!"
"But I thought Night Furies are never supposed to miss," her brother grinned.
"Son, that would have been a good time to miss," their father scolded him. "She was furious! It took her a day to get all the mud out of her scales! I made you apologize, but I'm not sure that was enough. If you ever do anything like that again, you're cleaning her up! Anyway, just try to behave."
"Please," their mother added with all her heart.
It was early next morning when the great flight of dragons arrived over Berk. "Come with us!" the leaders bellowed and trumpeted. "Come fly with us! Come lay your eggs with us! Come away with us!"
"You were right," New-night-fury said to his mate. "Let's go!"
"Bye, kids!" Night-fury-mother-of-twins called over her shoulder as they rose into the sky. "Remember, be good!" Dozens of other dragons were taking flight all around them. They joined the crowds and settled into the rhythm of a long flight. But they couldn't just flap along with the others. As their nest's Night Furies, they had to keep order. So they casually made their way around the flock of dragons, listening for conversations that were starting to heat up, watching for fights that might break out. Those things rarely happened on egg-laying flights, but nothing was impossible, and they had to be ready for anything.
"Are you going to lay twins again?" asked an aging Nightmare who was probably on her way to lay eggs for the last time.
"No," Night-fury-mother-of-twins said mischievously. "I've already done that. I'm going for triplets this time!" That set tongues a-wagging all over the flock, which was what she wanted. No one could dwell on past wrongs or present grievances if they were distracted by a really interesting rumor.
In spite of the hundreds of dragons who were taking part in the great flight, they found that they were the sole Night Furies to be seen anywhere, just like last year. This year, they expected they would soon have company. As they passed over Dragon Island, they could see streams of dragons rising to join them from the volcano's three exits. Hiccup and Astrid strained their eyes to see who was coming.
"There they are!" she exclaimed. "Rising out of the cone!" Among the blue, brown, red, and green dragons, they could make out two black ones, flying close together. The two pairs of Night Furies quickly formed up into a wing of four.
"Toothless!" Hiccup almost shouted. "You're flying with us this time, bud?"
"I kind of have to," he said, sounding embarrassed. He glanced over at Guana, who was deep in girl-talk with Astrid. "You and I have flown together in training, in fun, in battle, in anger... but this time, it's really going to be special. I've been waiting all my life for this."
When they got to Lovecraft Island, they found themselves much in demand. With the Viking Wars over, more dragons were alive this year than in years past. The island was crowded; prime egg-laying space was at a premium, and very few expectant mother dragons were willing to give up their space to another. The four Night Furies quickly persuaded all the males to get off the shoreline and rest on the heights, which freed up a lot of space for the females, but there were still a few who would have to wait their turn. It took all of a Night Fury's tact and patience to keep everyone content.
"Where'd you get that idea that your nest doesn't need you anymore?" Hiccup teased Toothless.
"I'm glad I was wrong," the older dragon nodded.
The island quickly settled down into the quiet hubbub that always preceded the chaos of hatching dragon eggs. Females from different nests, who hadn't seen each other in a year, renewed their friendships; males flew out to sea, caught some fish, and brought them back for their mates; several dozen sea birds quickly realized they were not wanted here, and flapped away in search of a resting place that wasn't full of overprotective, fire-breathing reptiles. Night-fury and New-night-fury kept an eye on the whole situation when they weren't checking up on their mates. Night-fury-mother-of-twins and Lady-night-fury were off duty, for obvious reasons. They lay on the rocks next to each other, waiting.
Fate favored Astrid first. Hiccup returned with a mouthful of mackerel for her, and found her beaming with delight as she considered a freshly-laid black egg, drying in the pale sunlight. This quickly set off a mini-stampede among the dragons who were hoping to see twins again. They wound up being disappointed; Night-fury-mother-of-twins didn't earn her name this year.
"I didn't get to come here last year – I couldn't find a mate," a young Gronckle mother-to-be said to New-night-fury as she returned to her nesting place. "But I heard all about it. I was so hoping to see two Night Fury eggs this year!"
"You'll get your wish," he answered her with a wink. "Be patient."
"Oh, that's right!" she exclaimed.
A little after midnight, Guana cried out softly. Toothless had been flying patrol around the island, but his sensitive ears caught that sound in the stillness, and he swooped down to land next to her. Astrid was already at her side, encouraging her and letting her know that everything was going to be okay. He heard, rather than saw, Hiccup spring into the air to take his place on patrol. He felt like he ought to be doing something.
"Would a little light help?" he asked nervously.
"Yes, it would," Night-fury-mother-of-twins answered. He spat out a small firebolt onto the rocks, then sheepishly realized that Astrid or Guana could have done the same thing. Still, it was nice that they let him do something useful.
A few seconds later, there it was. Her egg. Their egg.
He plopped down onto the rocks beside Guana, with the egg between them, and rested his head against hers. "After all those long, lonely years, when I'd dream of flying to this place and seeing a sight like this..." He sniffled and blinked back tears. "I never thought it would really happen."
"Dreams come true in all kinds of different ways," Lady-night-fury said softly. They lay side-by-side in the night until morning came. He was breaking his own rule about no males sleeping in the egg-laying areas, but no one gave him a hard time. Most of them were more interested in the egg. Night Fury eggs were still a novelty to the dragons. Now they had two of them to look at, like last year, but this time there were two proud mothers instead of one.
The next three days dragged by for Toothless. Aside from bringing fish to feed his mate, he had almost nothing to do. Most of the female dragons had laid their eggs by then, and were waiting patiently for them to show signs of hatching. The males, like him, had nothing to do except go fishing. Some humans might consider that to be a slice of heaven on earth, but to the dragons, it got boring really fast. Toothless did have one activity that never got tired for him – he kept circling back to take another look at that egg.
The boredom ended abruptly near the end of the third day. A school of small sharks swam into the lagoon, and couldn't find their way out again. Their dorsal fins were easy to see as they knifed back and forth through the lagoon's still waters.
The female dragons went into panic mode. "Our little ones!" "They'll eat our eggs when we roll them into the lagoon!" "They'll eat our babies when they hatch!" "Somebody, get them out of there!"
Hiccup landed next to Toothless, who was peering into the water. "Could those sharks really be a threat?" he asked nervously.
"They might," Toothless replied. "The warm water will probably kill them in a few hours, but we've got a lot of upset females who can't wait that long. What do you think?"
"I think it's a bad day to be a shark," Hiccup answered firmly, and Toothless nodded. They didn't have to discuss a battle plan. They knew each other too well.
Both of them quickly climbed a mile up, then rolled over into full-speed dives, side by side. The agitated females heard that familiar rising whistle, times two, and all conversation stopped. They watched their Night Fury males plunge out of the sky and launch full-strength firebolts into the waters of the lagoon from low altitude. Those fast-moving firebolts penetrated deep into the water before exploding.
The double blast was loud as a Thunderdrum egg hatching, and it showered everyone on the island with spray. When the mist had settled, they could see eight small sharks floating on the surface, either stunned or dead from the concussions. To the dragons, it didn't matter. Hiccup and Toothless both spun, rolled in, and grabbed two of the floating sharks with their front paws. A handful of young Gronckle males, who wanted to look heroic in front of their mates, joined them in removing the offending fish from the lagoon. Sharks were not considered good eating, so the dragons just carried them half a mile offshore and dropped them back in the sea. They returned to the island to many roars of applause.
"Well, that was exciting," Hiccup said offhandedly.
"We still fight well together," Toothless commented. They landed next to their mates. "Is everybody okay here?"
"We're fine, just a little damp," Guana answered. "But now I see what you meant when you told me I had to be ready for anything. I won't neglect my fire practice again."
"You can take that thought away with you, if you want to," Toothless said softly, "but you don't need any more teaching moments. You're not my student any more. You're a Night Fury, and that says it all."
As the sun rose the next morning, eggs were beginning to hatch all over the lagoon. A mother dragon would roll her clutch into the lagoon as soon as the eggs began to rock, and less than a minute later, she would be rewarded by a series of underwater explosions, clouds of bubbles, and tiny newborn dragons bursting to the surface. Sometimes the mother would be a little too slow getting their last egg in the water, and the resulting blast would startle everyone on the island. Baby dragons hatched with the mental capacity of a human toddler and an infallible sense of who their mother was. As soon as a father dragon saw his eggs hatching, he would swoop down from the heights and join his mate at the waterline. Parents and child would meet at the water's edge and bond by rubbing noses, in a touching scene that had been going on for as long as dragons had existed, and would continue for as long as dragons continued to exist. Then the father would flap away in search of fish to feed his new family, while the mother would gather her flock and receive the congratulations of her neighbors.
Astrid and Guana lay on the rocks and waited. Hiccup and Toothless circled nervously in the air.
The sun was past its zenith when Night-fury-mother-of-twins looked up and called, "It's time, Hiccup!" Their egg was beginning to rock back and forth. For some reason, Night Fury eggshells weren't as tough as other dragon eggs; they would not survive being rolled down the rocks into the water. Nature had thoughtfully provided the Night Furies with an alternate way to move their eggs: retractable teeth. Astrid pulled her pearly whites in with a muted "snap," picked up the egg in her jaws, and carried it to the water's edge. She dropped it with a "plunk," Hiccup landed next to her, and they waited.
"Is something wrong?" Guana fretted.
"If it's a girl, she's probably being late on purpose," Hiccup commented. "Females do that a lot." Astrid swatted him with her tail. A moment later, they saw and heard the submerged blast they were waiting for. In the time it took them to let out the breath they'd been holding, a tiny black head poked above the water and drew its first breath.
"It is a little girl!" Hiccup burst out. He desperately wanted to greet his daughter, but he knew she would swim to her mother first; that's just the way these things worked. The little dragon dog-paddled to the shore, making a beeline for Astrid.
"Welcome to the world, you little beauty," Astrid smiled as she rubbed noses with her newest child.
"Ma-ma!" the tiny one said.
"That's me," Astrid sighed. "I never thought I'd be the motherly type, but... here I am."
"Your own mother is a classic example of the motherly type," Hiccup thought out loud. "The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, even if the apple got turned into a Night Fury."
"Pa-pa?" the tiny dragon asked, looking all around.
"That's me," Hiccup sighed, feeling like he was turning to mush. He bent down, and the tiniest Night Fury scrambled over to meet him and rub noses with him. "You've got your mother's eyes," he told her. She was still too young to understand him – that wouldn't happen for a few days – but she trilled delightedly at him anyway.
After a moment, Toothless bounded into the air and loudly announced, "Dragons of all kinds, we've got a brand new Night Fury! Congratulations to New-night-fury and Night-fury-mother-of-twins! It's a girl!" All the dragons within a hundred feet of them crawled or flew over to meet the new arrival. The sudden stampede made Guana nervous; she curled up around her egg to protect it. That was when she felt it vibrating.
"It's moving!" she exclaimed. "Oh, my gosh, it's moving! It's time!" She did what she'd seen Astrid do, picking up the egg with teeth withdrawn... and stopped. The dragons who were lining up to congratulate Night-fury-mother-of-twins were completely blocking her path to the water. She tried to roar, but with an egg in her mouth, she wasn't loud enough to be heard over the commotion.
Toothless had been gliding down to join her, but when he saw her predicament, he flapped and turned his glide into a power dive. Roaring at the top of his voice, he swept through the crowd of dragons at low altitude; the other dragons saw him swooping at them and quickly scattered. In his wake, he left a clear path from his mate to the water's edge. Guana galloped toward the water, and got moving so fast that she couldn't stop in time; she skidded off the rocks and splashed into the lagoon.
Her first priority was to let go of her egg, which sank swiftly. Then she turned and paddled back to the shore, where everyone was staring at her. She climbed out, shook herself dry, ignored the curious stares of the other dragons, and turned to watch the waters where she'd dropped the egg. Toothless curled around in a tight turn and landed next to her.
"Were you re-enacting the start of our relationship, when you splashed into the cove?" he asked with a trace of a smile. "Or are you trying to upstage our little one before he can make an entrance?"
She was about to answer when a muted blast and a burst of bubbles from the water drew her attention, and everyone else's. She held her breath...
...and there he was, breaking the surface, taking his first breath, then paddling for all he was worth, straight toward her.
"It's a boy!" she exclaimed.
"A son," Toothless sighed. "I've got a son. After all these years..." He was so moved at the thought, his mate had to prod him with her wing to remind him that his son wanted to rub noses with him, too. There in front of him was a tiny version of himself, less than a foot and a half long, looking up at him with adoring green eyes and calling him "Papa." It was all he could do to keep from weeping. Night Furies aren't supposed to cry.
When he took flight to tell all the dragons the news, his voice failed; his mouth flapped open and closed, but he couldn't make a sound. Hiccup had to take a break from admiring his daughter to leap into the sky next to him. "What Night-fury is trying to say is, he and Lady-night-fury just became the proud parents of a very handsome baby boy."
As Guana sat, a bit nervously, with her newly-hatched son between her paws, what seemed like an endless line of dragons filed by to admire him and congratulate her. Toothless landed next to her and basked in the congratulations the others offered him.
"Could somebody nip me and see if I'm dreaming?" she asked him.
"You've come a long way in a short time, my little shepherd girl," Toothless smiled. "And you've brought me a long way with you."
"I am not a shepherd girl!" she corrected him, stamping her foot petulantly. "I'm a Night Fury!" Their tiny son squeaked and stamped his little foot, just like his mother had done, which made both parents laugh.
A few minutes later, the two male Night Furies took off together. They both had hungry young ones to feed, and their mates could benefit from a meal after a long, emotionally draining day as well. They glided low, looking for fish. A small flock of male dragons followed them at a distance, hoping the Night Furies would stun an entire school and leave most of the fish behind, easy pickings for the fathers of several hungry new families.
"How are you doing, bud?" Hiccup asked.
"Hiccup, my friend, when you shot me down and then cut me loose, if I'd had any idea where all this would lead... I think I would have licked you instead of roaring at you."
"That would have been kind of gross," Hiccup winced, "but I appreciate the thought. We've been completely bonded together ever since then, in amazing ways, in staggering ways."
"You said it," Toothless replied. "You made me a new tail and learned to fly with me..."
Hiccup: "And you used your Power to give me and Astrid a new life..."
Toothless: "Then you used yours to heal my tail and give me the gift of flight again..."
Hiccup: "Then you taught me how to fight, and get along with dragons, and become loved and admired and accepted..."
Toothless: "Then your mate used her Power to make me a mate..."
Hiccup: "And the two of you paid us back by saving our children..."
Toothless: "And now I'm a father! I have a son! Could you and I possibly be knit closer together?"
Hiccup looked thoughtful. "Well, in a few years, our children will be mature and looking for their own mates. In human terms, my friend, I think you and I are destined to be in-laws."
They flew together in silence for a few seconds. Then they both saw signs of fish just below the surface. They pulled up into a tight loop, swooped down, and fired at the same time, throwing up twin columns of spray. Stunned fish began floating to the surface by the dozen. They were cod, and it was a big school. The two Night Furies each chomped and swallowed a few fish to feed to their children, then grabbed some more in their paws to bring back to their mates. Behind them, the other males pounced on the remaining fish.
They flew back to the island, where Astrid, Guana, and two newborn Night Furies were waiting for them. They glided wingtip-to-wingtip, glancing at one another every few seconds. They said nothing. Nothing needed to be said.
Some friendships will always be far beyond the feeble ability of mere words to describe.
THE END