Hiccup took his spot in the regular meeting area, waiting for people to show up. He sat with his eyes closed, trying to come up with answers to questions that were most definitely on the way.

"The woes of leading I see." The gruff voice of Stoick breaking the moment of silence. He sat next to his son and watched him for a moment. "You're gnashing your teeth. Should probably stop that before you have to make yourself some new ones." Hiccup stopped, having not even realized he'd started.

"I don't know what to do." Hiccup whispered.

"Walk me through it." Stoick crossed his arms and closed his eyes.

"More are coming."

"How many?" Stoick asked.

"I don't know. Any more is too many already. We can send some to that same place we sent others but that's not going to help as much as we need. I'm probably going to have all four big flocks living in a place meant to house half my own flock. There's going to be no room to do anything. People's moods are going to go further down and tempers ever higher. And with mating season starting it's just, I don't know. I'm worried that whatever's out there is just waiting for them to travel to Dragon Island. Use the neutral zone as a trap."

Can't do it anywhere else?"

"No. The island is perfect for them. It gives them everything they need for the few days they need it. From private areas, to perfect conditions for their eggs."

"Since when do they care about privacy?"

"Normally they don't. But they rarely mate outside of mating season, with a few exceptions. But for those few days it's meant to be just you and your mate in your own little world. Having experienced a proper mating season with Toothless I can tell you that it's important enough that I'm worried that it won't happen. It's a few days to reflect and remind yourself why you put up with the person you've chosen to be with for the rest of your life. No responsibilities, no worries."

"Sounds nice."

"If you have a mate. Otherwise mating season is a battle. If you didn't find them in the off-season I suppose. You mark your mate during mating season so it works out for those people. But if you didn't, you're probably fighting for attention to get a mate or at least permission from a female to sire children. It also gets more confusing with pairs that are two males or females or two different species. Then they have to decide who's doing what when it comes to having children. It all tends to work out but tempers flare around this time of year as they all get ready for it.

So you add that stress of everything else; something's going to give." Hiccup sighed.

"I see." Stoick hummed in thought. Meanwhile dragons began to take their places for the meeting, with Toothless sitting behind Hiccup signaling the start. Hiccup greeted them, and they bowed and grumbled in return.

"As many of you probably already know, we were visited by the other three alphas."

"Have they finally decided to come for us?" One of them asked.

"No." Another answered.

"I was told they'd been attacked." Yet another chimed in.

The group went around giving each other the information they'd heard, trying to piece together what was happening. It went on for a minute before Toothless growled low in his throat and huffed. The group stopped speaking and looked to their alphas.

"Listen to what we have to say." Toothless' voice was calm yet commanding.

"I don't know who said that they were going to attack us but that isn't true. But yes one of their flocks was attacked. The Bewilderbeast attacked the Changewing's flock at night. They were able to save about half of their people but the other half is gone. Killed or taken. Obviously they're spooked and this whole thing has become much more real for all of them. And in the wake of this attack they're fearing for their flock's safety. So as you can probably guess…"

"More?" The Nightmare leader said. "You can't be serious. How are we supposed to fit even more people here?"

"I have an idea in mind but it'll only help so much." Hiccup shook his head.

"Which is?"

"To send younger juveniles to The Edge with the nest mothers and hatchlings. At least then if something was to happen to us they would be safe. Or at least be somewhere where no one would look. It would weaken us here if we were attacked but at least they'd be okay."

"We'd still have to accommodate plenty of others wouldn't we? Why not just send their entire flocks to those islands?" The Nadder lead asked.

"It was just a thought. I don't have a full plan yet. This meeting was to let you all know what's happening."

"You wish to add more people to our home. With the freeze setting in, our ability to gather resources will slow. We surely can't support that many more. Do you even care for our flock's needs anymore?" The Nightmare lead looked Hiccup in the eye.

"You'll not question our loyalty to our flock." Toothless growled. "This is bigger than all of us. We need to work together for all of our safety."

"You preach safety but all we do is sit around for an enemy that doesn't show. Makes you wonder if they actually exist."

"You question if they exist? They attacked just the other night" Toothless reminded him. The Nightmare looked at Toothless.

"I'm not asking you."

Toothless stepped over Hiccup and used his leg to slide the human back then took his spot. "You'll be addressing me for the rest of this meeting."

With tensions rising another dragon entered the circle. Hiccup got up and greeted Spark.

"That bad?" He asked the Skrill.

"Bad enough." He replied calmly.

"What's he doing here?" The Nightmare asked.

"Spark looks over all our meetings." Hiccup explained.

"I'm simply here to be a reminder that any unwarranted attack on our alphas will be met with a swift shock from me. If you're going to attack, challenge for the position first, then Hiccup and I won't step in to defend." With a moment to spare he bowed to Toothless.

"What do you think of all this? Since you're so well informed, Skrill." The Nightmare asked angrily.

"I think we live in a better way than before, even as we are. Our previous alpha would have killed you already. At least these ones will let us speak our concerns before doing so." Spark looked at Hiccup. "I joke, of course."

"You act as though nothing is wrong."

"There's plenty wrong and I don't agree with everything they do. But the situation we're in wouldn't be led well by anyone, no matter how experienced. And at this point you must know, all of you must know that these two couldn't care less for just our flock. Their goal from the very beginning has been to help all of us. You all know that by now. You may not be happy at the moment, few of us are. But you act as though they don't suffer with us. You act as though they eat and we don't. You act like they sit up here every day doing nothing when in reality they worry about us more than you'd ever know." Spark paused for a moment. "Your anger is not misplaced, and justified even. But we must endure this. We make it through this and return to a normal life. Or as normal as getting involved with humans is." Spark chuckled. "I can assure you none of us would be doing any better and likely way worse."