First Contact Chapter 6

Finally, Valka spoke. "I'll have to think about that. Going home, that is. I'd resigned myself to never seeing Berk again; I don't know how I'd handle it. And if I bumped into Stoick... I just don't know. I'm not ready."

Hiccup turned to the Stormcutter. "She's undecided about going home again. For now, she's reluctant to go."

The bigger dragon whistle-purred in relief. "I'm glad to hear that. I just want her to be happy."

"What are you two saying to each other?" she asked nervously.

I'M TRANSLATING WHAT YOU
SAID. HE JUST WANTS YOU
TO BE HAPPY

"Okay. Tell him I want him to be happy, too. So... what do we do now?"

SHOULD WE GO BACK
TO THE NEST?

"Probably. The others will be wondering where we've gone." She gazed at him speculatively. "Would it be all right if I rode on your back?"

YES, IF IT'S OKAY WITH
YOUR BIG FRIEND

The Stormcutter was surprised when Hiccup asked him. "She's never wanted to ride any of the other dragons. That's always been something special that she just did with me."

"Stormcutter, you sound jealous!"

For a moment, the big dragon's eyes blazed with anger. Then he forced himself to settle down. "Am I acting jealous? That's ridiculous, isn't it? A dragon, attracted to a human! Impossible!"

"It's not so ridiculous," Hiccup replied softly. "My oldest daughter fell in love with a human. He's been transformed into a Night Fury since then – by accident – so now there aren't any... obstacles... to..." He turned and stared intently at his mother for a few seconds.

"Why are you looking at me that way?" she asked nervously.

"Anyway, don't feel bad," he quickly said to the Stormcutter. "Feelings are what they are. Besides, she's my mother; I'm not going to take her affections away from you." Then he wrote –

WE WERE JUST TALKING ABOUT
HUMANS AND DRAGONS AND
HOW THEY RELATE TO EACH
OTHER. HE DOESN'T MIND IF
YOU RIDE ON ME A LITTLE

Valka hesitantly climbed onto her son's back. "Are you going to take it easy on your mother with a nice, slow, sedate, peaceful flight?"

NOT A CHANCE

"Great!" she exclaimed with a smile, and tightened her grip on him. "Now you can really show me what you've got! Hit it!"

With a delighted roar, he sprang into the air and flew straight up, beating the air back with his wings as he gained altitude. He could hear the Stormcutter laboring behind him, trying to keep up, but even those extra wings couldn't help him. Hiccup climbed until he was almost into the cloud layer, then rolled sideways into a hammerhead turn and plunged straight down in a rolling dive, whipping past the Stormcutter who was still climbing. He pulled out fifty feet above the water, still moving at full speed, then glided down until he was throwing a rooster-tail of spray behind him. He fired off four quick firebolts in a row, and zigzagged around the columns of spray that they raised when they hit the water. Valka let go with one hand, raised a fist in the air, and let out a whoop of delight.

He glanced back and saw the Stormcutter gliding downwards, far behind him. Hiccup made a big loop-the-loop and came out about ten feet above the bigger dragon. Valka looked down and saw her beloved Cloudjumper just below her, looking up with eyes that seemed a bit sad. "Hiccup, this was amazing and fun, but I think I owe him some loyalty." She stood up, jumped off Hiccup's back, and landed lightly on the Stormcutter, who turned away while she was still on her feet. She balanced nimbly – she obviously had practiced flying like this – and exclaimed, "Don't worry, Cloudjumper! You're still my special dragon friend!" Hiccup made no attempt to overtake them, but followed at a polite distance as they returned to the nest.

He found his mate, daughter, and best friend settling down for the night, so he joined them in the tangled black heap that they usually formed whenever there were more Night Furies than sleeping spaces. Valka leaned against her big friend, who wrapped a wing around her, and they soon joined all the other dragons in sleep. Hiccup and Valka slept restlessly, though.

o

The next morning, it was Astrid's turn to have a private audience with the King. He wanted to know more about her laying twin eggs, and he had many questions about how she had made the transition from humanity to dragonhood, seeing how she had been the most reluctant to embrace her new nature. Hiccup, Toothless, and Full-of-surprises had a quick meeting to decide how to spend the morning.

"Let's just mingle," Toothless suggested. "We're curious about these dragons, and they're curious about us. We don't always have to have a plan, Hiccup, especially when nothing is going wrong. Sometimes it's okay just to wing it."

Hiccup shrugged his wings. "Fair enough. We'll probably spend the whole day here, and head back home tomorrow, so you're right – we're in no hurry. But while we've got a moment together, let's compare notes. What have you learned about this place so far?"

"It's definitely peaceful, aside from being under siege by dragon trappers," Toothless answered. "It must have something to do with the Bewilderbeast and how he runs things. I don't remember hearing a single fight break out all day, not even a pushing match. If we lived here, we'd probably be bored out of our minds. There's nothing for a Night Fury to do here except eat, sleep, and fly."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Hiccup sighed. "When this whole thing started, I was talking about how nice it was to do nothing, but there's something in us that needs to do what Night Furies do. I'd get restless in no time if there weren't any problems to solve or fights to break up. Speaking of problems, I've got a big one."

"Let me guess, Dad," Full-of-surprises chimed in with a grin. "You're hungry?"

"Aside from that," he grimaced. "Do you see the human lady?" They both glanced at Valka, who was examining the blinded Hobblegrunt, and nodded. "Toothless, do her eyes look familiar to you?"

Toothless took a long look at her, looked away for a moment, gazed at her again... and his mouth fell open. "They look just like your eyes when you were human! Is she your kin?"

"She's my mother."

Silence.

"Wow, Dad. That's intense. I thought your mother died a long time ago."

"That's what we all thought, Full-of-surprises. She got carried off by a dragon – that Stormcutter – and she's been here ever since. Now I have to decide, and she has to decide, what happens next. Do I go home or stay here? Does she go home or stay here? Does her Stormcutter friend go with her or stay here? Where is Dad going to fit into all this? Man, this is complicated!"

"I noticed you all staring at me a moment ago," Valka announced as she walked over to join them. "Are you talking about me behind my back?"

NO.
WELL, YES.
WE'RE TALKING ABOUT OUR FUTURE

She sat down on the ground between Hiccup and Toothless. "Before you talk about me any more, can you introduce me to your friends?"

THIS IS TOOTHLESS,
THE DRAGON I WOULDN'T KILL.
HE TRANSFORMED ME AND
TAUGHT ME HOW TO BE
A NIGHT FURY

She nodded at him. "I'm pleased to meet you, Toothless. Why the name?" Toothless opened his mouth and snapped his teeth into his gums. She nearly gasped in delight. "Retractable teeth! Incredible! The two of you must have some stories to tell! And who's this?"

THIS IS NIGHT-FURY-FULL-OF-
SURPRISES, MY DAUGHTER

Valka hesitantly reached out and stroked the young Night Fury's nose. Full-of-surprises nervously let her do it, going cross-eyed to keep focused on her hand. "Your daughter? That means... she's my granddaughter! Hiccup, you've made me a grandmother? I thought I'd never see my family again, and now I'm looking at my first grandchild?"

YOUR THIRD, ACTUALLY.
HER OLDER BROTHER AND SISTER
ARE WATCHING THE NEST
(AND THEIR LITTLE TWIN SISTERS)
WHILE WE'RE AWAY

"Five... five young Night Furies, and I'm related to all of them? This is unbelievable! You need to bring all my grandchildren out here so I can meet them and start spoiling them. Is that your mate, talking to the King?"

SHE'S NIGHT-FURY-MOTHER-
OF-TWINS, BUT TO ME,
SHE'LL ALWAYS BE ASTRID

"I even have a daughter-in-law!" She hugged herself in delight, then stopped. "Wait. Your children are watching the nest? Are you saying you're the Alpha over your own nest?"

YES, WITH MY MATE,
AND TOOTHLESS RUNS A
BIGGER NEST WITH HIS MATE.
I GUESS I WAS DESTINED TO
BE A CHIEF OVER SOMEBODY

She gazed at him proudly for a moment, but then she had a thought. "Don't you have Queens to rule your nests?"

THE LOCAL QUEEN WAS A LAZY,
MURDERING CANNIBAL, NOT LIKE
YOUR KING AT ALL. THE THREE
OF US TOOK HER DOWN FOR KEEPS.
THAT'S HOW I LOST MY LEG

"I was wondering about that. There are so many injured dragons here, I almost didn't notice it."

Full-of-surprises leaned forward and slowly wrote some runes of her own.

WHY DON'T THE DRAGONS
USE THEIR POWER TO HEAL
ALL THESE INJURIES?

Valka was startled. "I thought you were a naturally-hatched Night Fury! How did you learn to write Norse?" Hiccup answered that.

WE RAISED HER BILINGUAL.
SHE ASKS A GOOD QUESTION

"Hiccup, there are just too many injuries," she said sadly. "Besides, the older, wiser dragons have already used their Power, and the young ones who haven't used it yet are the ones most likely to get fooled and caught by the trappers."

SPEAKING OF DRAGON'S POWER,
MOM, YOU REALLY SEEM TO LOVE
DRAGONS. HAVE YOU EVER
CONSIDERED BECOMING ONE?

That thought stopped her in her tracks. She looked at her son the dragon, then at Cloudjumper, then at all the other dragons that surrounded her. Become a dragon? She'd never really thought about it, but...

"Flying would be amazing... and I could finally talk to them and understand them! But I don't know that much about Night Furies yet. I don't think I could commit to becoming one. Do you still have your Power, Hiccup?"

NO, I USED IT TO HEAL TOOTHLESS'
TAIL. ASTRID USED HERS TO
TRANSFORM TOOTHLESS' MATE.
BUT MY DAUGHTER HAS HERS

She looked over at Toothless. "You must be one very well-loved dragon, if all these other dragons are using up their Power just for you." Toothless looked away, embarrassed; Hiccup nodded firmly.

AS FOR BECOMING A NIGHT FURY,
WE'VE GOT PLENTY OF NIGHT FURIES.
I THOUGHT YOU MIGHT RATHER
BECOME A STORMCUTTER

Again, his written words stunned her like a blow to the head. Become a Stormcutter? A powerful, four-winged flier? An intelligent, clever dragon who directly served the King of the Dragons? A long-lived, popular resident of the Nest, second in authority only to the Alpha himself?

She glanced over at Cloudjumper. Her big friend hadn't joined the conversation, probably because he couldn't understand what was being said and written. He was quite fixated on her anyway; he seemed desperate to know what she was thinking and what she was planning.

If I was a Stormcutter, I could talk to him and understand him, she thought. I've wanted to communicate with him for so long... Then, with yet another jolt, she realized that, if she joined his species, she could do a whole lot more than just talk to him. His kind was rare. She hadn't seen a female Stormcutter in at least eight years.

His intent gaze suddenly took on a new meaning. She closed her eyes and shook her head, but she couldn't evade the truth any more. She forced herself to admit something that she'd known in her heart for eighteen long years, but had never allowed herself to believe. He isn't just a protector or a provider. He isn't just my special friend, even though that's all I've let him be.

He loves me.