"I don't like the sound of that Hiccup." Stoick frowned and crossed his arms.
"These are the other alphas around us. The Changewing's flock was attacked by our lost Bewilderbeast." Hiccup explained
"Tell me what you know." Stoick stepped forward into the conversation proper. Hiccup went over what they'd been told already. "I see." He sighed. "Is this call the same as the one used by the dragon who used to attack us?"
"Sorta. All dragons can do it technically. But an alpha's holds much more power. They can use it to control their flock if need be. Toothless could control our flock if he had to, for example. Toothless and I will only use that as a last resort though."
"So what are we going to do about this Bewilderbeast?" He asked.
"That's what we're trying to figure out now." Hiccup said.
"So what should we do?" The Changewing asked. Hiccup began translating for his dad and Astrid. "I'm afraid it'll return and take more."
"I've never seen you so scared before." The Nightmare said.
"You'll be afraid too when it comes to take from you." The Changewing snipped back.
"They're right, you know. No one is safe from this. So we need to try to come up with something that'll help prevent this from happening again, and to others."
"You might have to abandon your territory." The Nadder stated.
"So what?, You can take it? I earned that territory fair and square."
"Oh relax, no one wants your territory. Too damn far away. Can't believe those other two idiots tried to take it from you in the first place." The Nightmare nearly laughed.
"You shouldn't laugh at them." The Nadder had a bit of sadness in her voice. "They were desperate, and out of us, his territory probably looked the easiest to take."
"Can I assume that's why there's only three of you here?" Hiccup asked.
"Yes." The Changewing said. "The other two tried to take my land and split it between the two of them. And now they're both part of my flock."
"And this is the first I'm hearing it?" Hiccup asked.
"Knowing you, you would have tried to figure out a way to get them to share." The Nightmare said.
"Well…" Hiccup was interrupted.
"It'll be easier this way." Toothless said. "Less fighting at the top."
"Still, we should have been informed sooner of this happening. We didn't even know two of us had been removed."
"No offense human, but matters like this don't apply to you." The Nadder said.
"What do you mean? I'm an alpha just like the rest of you." Hiccup's voice became stern.
"It's not about that, love." Toothless tried to calm him.
"Then?"
"It's about where we live and our numbers. Our home, humans call it Helheim's Gate." He explained for the other alphas. "Has always held the most powerful of the alphas. Leading the flock of Helheim makes you nearly untouchable. You know how defendable this place is and how easily we can attack out of it. We fought and killed for the best spot we could. On top of The Queen needing to be taken care of. We can all agree on that. The reality of our situation is we don't have to fight over things like territory or power. So the need to know who leads whom and who controls what isn't much of our concern.
To be fair though, being kept in the loop about who the current alphas are would be nice. Although none of you have lost your positions. Brit if there is a change in power do keep us informed." He looked to the other alphas.
"That is a reasonable request." The Nightmare alpha admitted. "I shall send someone if there is a change in power in any of our flocks."
"We thank you." Toothless nodded. "But now we should return to the matter at hand. Another attack from the Bewilderbeast. What are we going to do?"
"The way it attacked. I wouldn't even know what to do." The Changewing said. "It's not like it even attacked us really. Just took my people and left. There were no deaths, not a single cut even. And with the fog it creates. You can't see it. Like trying to attack Helheim? It uses the same kind of thing to protect itself. Do the humans know anything about them? They seem to know a lot about us."
"Not as much as we should." Stoick said and Toothless translated. "We know of their existence and have sighted them when traveling but we're as cautious of them as you seem to be. They're also so far away from human villages that we need'nt worry about them. What about you, Hiccup? Surely you have more about them." Stoick stroked his beard.
"I actually don't. Like everyone else, the closest one to us is too far away and too remote to study. We know how they live but that's about it." The group sat silent in thought. Hiccup wandered his way to the edge of the shelf and looked down over his people. Watching them moving around and starting their days. He sighed and returned to the group. "What if you moved your flock here?"
"And give up my land? Someone will take it over as their own." The Changewing complained.
"And if you don't do something, you won't have people to defend your land and it'll be taken from you anyway. You're the furthest away and so you're the hardest to come help. Plus with all of us closer together we become stronger. We could even create a plan of attack if it tries to come to the rest of us."
"Hiccup that would put a considerable amount more strain on your resources here, can you support even more people here?" Stoick asked.
"We could send more people to The Edge, but with fighting looking like the only answer. I don't know if we can afford to send people away. It would have to just be nest mothers and those too young to fight."
"You're not answering my question. What of my land?" The Changewing complained.
"You fear for your land more than your own people." Hiccup commented.
"You can only say that because you live here. What if I was to take this all away from you?" The Changewing asked. The other alphas stepped back a little.
"You could try." Hiccup shrugged. The group watched as Hiccup took a few steps in a direction where no one was. He reached up and suddenly grabbed and yanked as hard as he could. The Changewing decloaked and yelped in pain as he was pulled from the ceiling. Hiccup knelt down in front of him. "If you'd like to take my position and territory from me, you may try. Anyone can. But I only accept duels for change in power. Wouldn't be fair otherwise." Hiccup smiled.
"Now is not the time for fighting. Or changes in power." Toothless put a leg between the two. "Hiccup, back off." Hiccup returned to his position in front of the others.
"Yes, wouldn't want you to get hurt." The Nightmare chuckled.
"Are you alright?" Toothless asked the Changewing.
"I'll be fine." He grumbled. Toothless returned to his spot behind Hiccup. He gently placed one of his forepaws on Hiccup's foot.
"I didn't break that up for Hiccup's sake." Toothless said.
"Of course you'd have to support your mate in that fight." The Nadder alpha said.
"I'd support him either way. Humans can train themselves to see Changewings while they're hidden."
"They can? How?" The Changewing asked.
"It's our eyes." Hiccup answered. "Humans actually have worse eyes than most dragon species. But what we gave up in power, I suppose you'd call it, we gain in seeing details. When Changewing's cloak they don't actually turn invisible. They are able to change the color of their scales to match the surface they're on. But it's not perfect. Dragons tend to have a hard time seeing hidden Changewings because your eyes are nearly exclusively trained for movement and not so much changes in detail. In humans, their eyes are still trained on movement but because they're not as good they adapted to be able to more easily see breaks in color and transitions basically. So when Changewings hide, if it isn't perfect a human will be more likely to see it." Hiccup explained.