The New Nest Chapter 1
"Please be careful out there."
"I will, Mom."
"It's time, son."
"I'm ready, Dad."
Scenes like this had been played out countless times since the dawn of humanity, and they would continue to be played out for as long as humanity existed. When a family's firstborn son left home to set out on his own, it was always exciting for the son and wrenching for the parents. This scene was unique because neither parents nor son were human, although the parents used to be.
Night-fury-makes-one-heck-of-a-bang had been informally invited to start a new dragons' nest on the island of the Meathead tribe. That tribe's chief, Mogadon the Meathead, was unaware of this. The invitation had come from Mogadon's son Thuggory, who was much more given to thoughtful planning than his father. Thuggory had seen the benefits of the Bog-Burglar tribe having dragons to protect their island against raiders, and he wanted those benefits for his own tribe. Mogadon, on the other hand, was an old-school dragon slayer who wanted no part of the changes that Chief-night-fury, the dragon-chief of Berk formerly known as Hiccup, was spreading across the Barbaric Archipelago.
So, when Bang was putting together his team to establish a nest on Meathead Island, a crucial part of his mission was to keep his nest's existence hidden from the Meatheads in general, and their chief in particular. He had had a lengthy talk with his father about that. "How are we supposed to hide ourselves from Vikings who have lived on that island all their lives, Dad? Dragons can be hard to hide. We're kind of... you know... big."
"Didn't Thuggory show you the perfect place to start your nest?" his father reminded him.
"Yes, he did," Bang replied, "and I'll admit – for a human, he has a good eye for where a dragons' nest should be. It's in a remote corner of his island. He says it's a place where Vikings never go because there's nothing there and it's too difficult to get there, and I can readily believe it. It can't be seen from offshore, either. But it only takes one curious child, exploring the island to see what he can see, to blow our cover."
Hiccup smiled. "My son, I know you're ready to lead a nest, but you don't know everything yet. When you scouted that region from the air, didn't you notice the thick belt of thorn-bushes that completely surrounds that nesting area?"
"Yes, I did notice that," Bang answered testily, "but how does that... oh." He hit himself in the head with his wing. "Dragons can fly over thorns. Humans can't. Rule Number Five, right?"
"Right," his father nodded. "Can you recite the Seven Rules again for me?"
Bang looked annoyed. "Are you schooling me like a hatchling? In case you didn't notice, I'm not a hatchling anymore!"
"Oh, I've noticed," Hiccup said. "But you still don't know everything. Humor me."
"Fine," the younger dragon sighed. "The Seven Rules of leading a dragon's nest." He took a deep breath and recited.
"Rule One: Don't try to do everything yourself."
"Rule Two: Keep all the dragons aware of your plans and goals."
"Rule Three: There is no shame in avoiding a useless fight."
"Rule Four: Don't ask more of your dragons than they can give."
"Rule Five: When you're dealing with humans, try to think like a human."
"Rule Six: There is no Rule Six!"
"Rule Seven: When you have to fight, fight to win."
He paused. "How did I do, as if I didn't know?"
Hiccup smiled again. "I'll give you a 'D' for Dragon-leader. I've said it before and I'll say it again –"
Father and son chorused, "You'll do fine; you just need a little more experience."
A shadow flitted across them. They looked up to see Toothless and Night-fury-cave-flyer arrive from Toothless' nest, along with a handful of other dragons who wanted to join the new nest. They landed and joined the rest of the dragons who had set themselves apart. Twenty-three adult dragons wasn't a big nest by anyone's standards, but it was a start, and their numbers would grow over time. Besides, Gronckle-beige-with-small-bumps and Raincutter-gray-with-blue-stripes were bringing their hatchlings along as the beginning of the new nest's next generation.
To the Berk Night Furies' surprise, one of the new dragons was Nadder-green-the-drama-queen. She didn't seem the type to join a new and possibly dangerous enterprise, and Mother-of-twins said so.
"I want to make a new start," Nadder-green told them. "In Night Fury's nest, everyone knows me, and I know what they all think of me. In a new nest, maybe I can do something to earn a new name, or at least earn a new reputation."
They all looked at Night-fury-makes-one-heck-of-a-bang for his reaction. Bang just shrugged. "As long as you do what's expected of you, I have no objections to you joining us." His mother looked unconvinced, but she wasn't the one who would be responsible for the new nest and its inhabitants.
Cave-flyer and Toothless stood apart from the others. "Are you sure about this?" he asked her.
She rolled her huge green eyes. "Daddy, we've been through this! Just because we haven't mated yet, that's no reason for me not to join him today. He needs my help and support now, not when I finally come into season, whenever that might be. I know he's the one for me."
"I just want to be sure that you're sure," her father said. "You were sure about joining Night-fury-new-beginning in the cave, and you changed your mind at the last moment."
"Don't remind me," she said with a shiver. "But even if I do change my mind about joining Bang in his nest, this decision isn't irrevocable, like that one would have been. I can fly back home if I have to. But I like Bang and he likes me. We work well together. We'll make a good couple when the time comes."
"As long as you're sure," Toothless nodded. They rubbed noses and joined the other Night Furies. Bang greeted them happily. "Are you ready for this adventure?" he asked.
"I've always loved adventure," Cave-flyer began, "but setting up housekeeping on a human island? Without the humans knowing about it? This is going to be the most awesome thing under the sun!"
"Maybe not," Bang corrected her. "A big part of my plan to keep ourselves hidden is that we won't be under the sun. We're going to be nocturnal dragons; we'll do our fishing and our patrolling at night."
"The dragons in my father's nest have always been nocturnal," she replied. "We won't have to change anything. Chief-night-fury, how come your dragons do their fishing in the daytime?"
"We're on a day schedule for one reason," he answered. "I have to interact with the Vikings on a constant basis, and they do most of their living during the daytime, so I have to do the same thing. Otherwise, they'd constantly be waking me out of a sound sleep to fix some silly problem that they're having with property lines or fishing-boat nets, and I'd never get any sleep. That means Mother-of-twins has to be on my schedule as well, or she'd never see me when I'm awake."
"That would be bad," Astrid cut in.
"Anyway," Hiccup went on, "that meant that we raised our young dragons on the same schedule, and the other dragons adopted that schedule while I was the Alpha. Now, Full-of-surprises is the Alpha, but everybody stays on the day schedule because that's what they're accustomed to."
"So the dragons from your nest are going to have to readjust?" Cave-flyer asked.
"It will take them a few days to make the change, but they'll be fine," Bang reassured her. "Dragons function better at night than in the daytime anyway. Switching schedules once is still better than some of the humans, who change their own schedules by an hour twice a year for no apparent reason."
"Humans make no sense," Cave-flyer exclaimed.
"You're telling me?" Bang replied. "One of my rules for running this nest is, 'When dealing with humans, think like a human.' Dad, I don't care what you say – that's just unnatural! How can a dragon think like a human?"
"I don't seem to have a problem doing it," Chief-night-fury said mildly.
"Could that be because you used to be human?"Astrid asked pointedly.
"Umm... maybe," Hiccup admitted.
"Could it be because you've been dealing with humans all your life?" Cave-flyer wondered.
"I guess that's possible," the chief admitted again.
Bang nodded. "Or maybe it's because you –"
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Hiccup exclaimed. "No piling on! This isn't about me!"
Astrid frowned. "Well, you're the one who was telling our son to do things your way."
"Yes, I am the one who was doing that," the dragon-chief replied. "And I wouldn't dream of being that egotistical, that self-centered, unless I was sure that doing things my way would actually work." He glanced around at the other Night Furies. "Does anyone want to suggest that there was something wrong with the way I ran this nest as the Alpha?"
They were all on the verge of vehemently agreeing with him when Toothless objected, "Yes, there's one little thing wrong."
"You think there's something wrong with the way I ran things?" Hiccup said, surprised. "Why didn't you say something a long time ago?"
"There's nothing I need to say to you," Toothless said matter-of-factly. "You were as good an Alpha as I've ever seen, and you're keeping your Vikings in line quite nicely as well. Your methods work very well... for you. The problem is that you're expecting Bang to do things just the way you do them, and that probably won't work, because Bang isn't Chief-night-fury. He has to find his own path to success, and if you constrict his path with arbitrary rules and regulations, he'll never find it."
"You mean I don't have to follow the Seven Rules?" Bang said with the beginnings of relief.
"Your father's Seven Rules are good principles that have served him well," Toothless nodded. "Those principles will serve you well, too. But I think you'll do better if you consider them to be more of what you'd call guidelines than actual rules."
"How come you never made my sister obey the Rules when she started her nest among the Bog-Burglars?" Bang wanted to know.
Hiccup hung his head. "I knew she'd never listen to me anyway. You always used to listen to me."
"Sometimes," Astrid chimed in.
"Dad, I've always listened to you, even if I didn't always do what you said," Bang assured him. "If I can be half the Alpha you were, then I'll be doing great. But I think Uncle Toothless is right – I'm not you, and if I try to be you instead of being me, I'll fail all around." At his father's crestfallen expression, he added, "But I promise I'll always follow Rule Six, okay?"
Hiccup brightened slightly. "Well, I guess that's better than – hey, wait a minute!" All the others laughed as they realized what Bang had just promised.
"Fine," Hiccup sighed. "I admit it, I've been kind of overbearing."
"Kind of?" Astrid echoed him.
"Okay, I've been miserably overbearing, but can you understand why I'm doing it?"
"It can't be because you want to make your son unhappy," Cave-flyer suggested.
"No, it's because I can't stand to see him go!" Hiccup burst out. "For years, my family was growing, and I was loving every moment of it, but now, it's shrinking. Six and Thing Two are off with the Bog-burglars, my mother and my nest-brother went away to the hidden cave forever, I hardly see Full-of-surprises anymore because I'm busy with the Vikings and she's busy with the dragons... and now my first son is moving out to start his own nest. I could not be more proud of him, but at the same time, I hate to see him leave."
"Were you setting him up to fail so he'd have to come back home?" Toothless wondered.
"No!" Hiccup exclaimed. "I'd never want him to fail. I just wish that, somehow, he could succeed here."
Astrid rubbed up against him. "Hiccup, everything that you're feeling, I'm feeling too. I'm his mother, remember? I laid the egg that he hatched out of. I was the first one he greeted when he hatched. I taught him to fly, to fish, to fight... everything. I'm the one who gave him his name! And now that he's grown, I'm just as sorry to see him go as you are. But, even if it wasn't necessary to spread the Night Furies out as a protective measure, he has to go because his new nest is part of your grand plan to make peace with all of the Vikings. Remember your grand plan? Well, it's working, and now it's time for the next big step."
"No, I haven't forgotten," Hiccup sighed. "It's still a good plan, and I know it has to be this way." He glared at Toothless. "But the next time I come up with a plan that means splitting up my family, tell me it's a stupid plan that will never work, okay?"
"I think I told you that anyway," Toothless said mildly. "Besides, if I really said that, you'd never believe me, because you and I both know that your plans are usually good ones."
"And that brings us right back to today," Chief-night-fury said resignedly. "What will be, will be. Night-fury-makes-one-heck-of-a-bang, call your dragons and gather around." The new Alpha did so, with Night-fury-cave-flyer standing proudly beside him. Night-fury-full-of-surprises, the dragons' Alpha, joined them.
"I'm going to keep this short," Full-of-surprises began. "You don't need a speech to tell you that you're setting out on an endeavor that dragons have never done before. You're going to live near humans, without letting them know that you're there. You're going to protect them as they sleep, and none of them will ever know about it. There's nothing in it for you except a nice new place to live, some seas that haven't been picked clean of fish by other dragons, and the knowledge that you'll get a much warmer welcome from the humans after Thuggory becomes their chief. In the meantime, if you need backup for a really big job, you know we'll help you in any way we can. But Night-fury-makes-one-heck-of-a-bang is your Alpha now. He's won multiple battles, he's my brother, and he's a Night Fury! He will do well, and so will you." She turned and looked back at Chief-night-fury. "Did you want to add anything, Dad?"
He thought for a second, then shook his head. "No, let's not drag this out."
"Okay, then," she said. "Big brother, take charge of your flock! They're all yours now."
Bang counted noses once more, to make sure he wasn't leaving anyone behind by accident. The nine baby Gronckles had to ride on other dragons' backs because they couldn't fly that far on their own, so Bang distributed them on the backs of three mother dragons who knew what it meant to care for babies. They shared a TrueSight with their loved ones (it took a while for the Night Fury family), and then they were off in a great flapping of wings.
Chief-night-fury stood on the edge of the cliffs and watched them go. Astrid joined him. When the departing dragons were no more than dots with wings over the ocean, Hiccup said, "Part of me hopes that he'll do the best job ever, and part of me hopes that he'll have to come back. Why am I so ambivalent when I know this is for the best?"
"When our first eggs hatched," she began, "I know you promised yourself that you'd be a better father than your own father was. Today is the proof that you've kept your promise. If you'd been a terrible father, then either our children would have flown away from us the first chance they got, or they would have stayed here forever because they couldn't function without us. But they didn't do either of those things. They stayed with us until they'd learned everything we could teach them, and now they're headed out to learn the things that we can't teach." She snuggled up against him and whispered, "I'll miss him too. But the sight of our son flying away like this means that we've done our job as parents. He's ready for this, and you're the main reason why. You could not have been a better father to our children."
He quivered for a moment, wrapped a wing around her, then put his eyes back on the faraway flock. "That makes me feel a little better. Thanks, Astrid."
They stood together, side by side, and watched until the departing dragons had flown over the horizon.