686Chapter 28: Lost And Found
Lost And Found
"A dam never forgets..." Sky-Dancer whispered.
Toothless froze and stared at her deep green eyes which were so similar to his own. Everything else fell away and did not matter.
His wings and tail were stilled and forgotten.
Silence echoed between him and her.
There were no memories of her. He had been too small when he was apparently left alone, abandoned in the nest by his sire and dam.
Seeing her did not spark any great warmth in his soul-fire. He did not know her.
But was there a knowing that was not in thinking? Would scent know when his memory did not? Scent was a way that other dragons in the nest had known their kin from those that were not kin. The wind was flowing from his side, carrying none of her scent to him so far. On the other paw, she had scented something about him that she clearly knew.
He was not aware of slowly walking to her as his legs trembled. He looked down on her wide green eyes since she was slightly crouched lower than him. She was staring up at him warily, fearfully, and hopefully.
No one else moved.
Then he nosed closer and took in her scent.
Night Fury, just like him.
Female, different from him.
Something else like him.
Known deep inside.
Trusted completely.
Fish from her belly.
Safe under her wing.
Echos of purrs and licks.
A known voice.
Familiar.
Familial.
Lost and found.
His dam.
Were they his tears dripping down his muzzle, or were they his dam's as she rested her chin on his hung head?
Was the purring and rough nudging on his neck his sire assuring himself that his firstborn was real?
Was the whining on his other side his blood brother he had never known?
He could not tell or think clearly.
It was not a time for thinking.
Hiccup leaned against a rock and wiped away his tears as he beheld the reunion.
Sky-Dancer, Far-Flight, and Breath-Of-Sky seemed eager to smother Toothless in nuzzles, purring, and then licking.
All of which made sense, given that they were making up for years of not being there.
Oh, Toothless, look at you now...
All three of the new Furies danced with swaying tails around Toothless.
Then Toothless's father, Far-Flight, apparently had enough of gentleness and leapt fully at Toothless, knocking him onto his side and then pouncing on him. Toothless bellowed in joy as he gently beat at Far-Flight in his defense. Far-Flight beat back the pawing and started licking Toothless across the face.
Hah, revenge! Hope you like it, bud!
"Sire!" Toothless cried.
"Burning-Star, you lived!" Far-Flight bellowed and resumed the licking and leaping attack until he fully pinned Toothless on his back. Then he finally stepped back from his son. Toothless rolled onto his paws and wiped his face cleaner after he sat down on his rear, tail still swaying wildly.
"Look at you! So big!" Sky-Dancer pranced around him, brushing against his wings and his side as she inspected him.
"Your wings! You are fast and strong!" Far-Flight added with a bellow.
"My big brother!" Breath-Of-Sky hummed.
"Your long tail and..." Sky-Dancer froze.
They all froze and stared at the end of Toothless's tail and at the missing tailfin.
"Your tail!" "What happened!" "No! Bad!"
All three of them jumped back to look more closely at and nose at the tail. Sky-Dancer then licked the old scarring while whining softly.
"I lost it in fighting with humans," Toothless solemnly explained.
Far-Flight and Sky-Dancer both snarled and clawed at the dirt.
"If I ever find the human who did that, I will tear it apart myself!" Far-Flight growled.
"And I will flame it and eat its heart!" Sky-Dancer snarled, teeth bared.
Toothless blinked and warily warbled without looking over toward Hiccup.
"There is no need. The human who downed me is... gone. I... got rid of it."
Far-Flight gently bumped Toothless's shoulder and purred with approval.
"Good. I knew that my firstborn would be a great fighter."
"I was, but I learned more ways also," Toothless shrugged.
"More ways?"
"Yes, I learned that humans are not only our enemies."
Far-Flight and Sky-Dancer then appeared to remember that they were not alone there, and they glanced over at Hiccup. Hiccup waved a hand at them and gave him them all a wary smile.
"You, Hiccup human, how do you know Burning-Star?" Far-Flight barked.
Hiccup again heard the name, thought a moment, and realized the obvious.
"Burning-Star? Is that his name? Sounds like it, a real name," Hiccup groaned.
Sky-Dancer stood beside Toothless and put a wing over his back while nuzzling his neck.
"Yes, we lived on a ledge in the nest where we could watch and guard the island. He was born in the last of the light before true dark. There was one very bright star burning in the sky. We named him for that and..." she went silent.
Her ears fell as she warily looked over at Far-Flight. He similarly hung his head and looked like he had lost all his previous vigor. They both whined softly and stared at the ground.
"Sire? Dam?" Toothless whispered.
Far-Flight weakly answered.
"I do not know what happened to us. You were not even a full season-cycle old when we... needed to fly away. It was like we were thought-thralls to a Monster we could not see. Something much stronger than the nest-Monster's thinking-control. The skies went... twisted around us. Then we were in these skies and..."
"And we could not fly back..." Sky-Dancer whimpered.
"We failed you... we were not there..." Far-Flight gasped.
Toothless rubbed his neck against Sky-Dancer's while purring to her.
"No, it was not your fault, dam, sire."
"Yes, it is. If we had cared more or been stronger..." she whispered.
"No! It was the Enemy we fight against! It made you do that!" Toothless snarled.
"Enemy?" "What?"
He looked between them, purring softly to them both.
"That is a story for the whole pack to hear, but it is not your fault, sire, dam. You did not want to leave. And it turned out well for me..."
"How can you say that? You lost a tailfin!" Sky-Dancer cried.
"In a way, I did. But I have another one..." he again shrugged.
Their jaws fell open. Even Breath-Of-Sky looked confused.
"What?" "What?" "What other tailfin?"
"Hiccup, will you join us?" Toothless asked him.
Hiccup came forward at the invitation. Toothless stepped away from his parents, stood behind Hiccup, and rested his chin on Hiccup's head.
"Will you tell us what happened after you found me downed in a net? After some dangerous human, probably a very big fighter, shot me from the sky?"
Hiccup warily faced Sky-Dancer, Far-Flight, and Breath-Of-Sky. The two adults were staring with narrowed eyes while Breath-Of-Sky's eyes were wide with eagerness. He knew that this was a tenuous situation since he didn't want Toothless's parents angry with him. Further, they were certainly the very Night Furies who had plagued Berk decades ago and had definitely killed people in the raids.
"I... uh... see, I lived on an island that the dragons raided for food. I wanted to... kill a dragon to prove myself to my tribe, to my pack. The best dragon of all to kill was a Night Fury; that's what the pack called a dark wing like you. It was after a raid that I... found him in a net in the woods. I went to kill him..."
Both of Toothless's parents snarled and pawed at the ground with their claws out. Breath-Of-Sky gasped.
"... but I did not. I realized that I'm not a killer, and I let him go instead."
They blinked in amazement and then stared at Toothless.
"And Burning-Star did not kill you! Why not?" Far-Flight barked at Toothless.
Toothless hummed softly, nuzzled Hiccup's head, and then stepped a pace away.
"Because it would have been bad of me to hurt him after he let me go and did not hurt me. I pinned him, but he looked as afraid as I had been. I looked at him and I saw myself. He was also afraid and alone as the only one of his kind in a way. He showed me that he was different from other humans, and I wanted life different from the way that had always been."
Toothless huffed and tapped the ground with his tail.
"But I was grounded. Hiccup, you saw that I could not fly. What did you do for me?"
"I built him a new tailfin that takes the place of the lost one."
"You can do that!" Sky-Dancer jaw fell open in amazement.
Toothless smirked.
"Human paws are very powerful! The new tailfin he made works if he is on my back. We learned to fly together. He saved my life. He even flew with me from his old pack and nest to keep me safe. That is why we flew through twisted skies and came here like the whole pack."
Sky-Dancer's and Far-Flight's eyes were now wide open in amazement as they stared at Hiccup. Hiccup thought that had to be good, or at least better than any open hostility. Breath-Of-Sky moved first by bounding over to his side and nuzzling him, also letting his approval be known with his loud purring and thrashing tail.
"You are a good human!"
Sky-Dancer then stepped forward, her ears and frills lifted as she crept forward. She sat down before him and was at a loss for words for a long time.
"You were... there for him when we were not. You help him fly now. You are kin to us."
She bent down to the ground before he could answer her, and then she left a slimy fish at his feet. Her wide, innocent green eyes were irresistible, as much as he felt like vomiting without even having eaten anything yet. She nudged the fish toward him with a paw and glanced down to it and then back to him.
He knew that there was no chance he could get out of taking a bite.
"Why me..." he sighed as he picked up the fish.
Toothless gave him a purr of sympathy, knowing that Hiccup did not normally eat raw fish or partly-gone fish that had been in a dragon's belly. But, just like the trusting ceremony he and Hiccup had shared, this sharing of food was an important display of kinship. That his dam was willing to name Hiccup as kin was very, very good.
Resigned to his fate, Hiccup bit down on the fish. The bite of fish made him gag, especially with how slimy it was. Somehow, he forced it down while shivering and almost retching.
Hopefully the fish would stay down.
"Ugh, and to complete the ceremony, Toothless, catch."
He tossed up the rest of the fish, and Toothless mercifully snapped it out of the air, much to the amusement of the other Furies.
"We should tell the pack when all are back here! We will let them know that we found our lost cub!" Sky-Dancer declared with a loud purr.
"Yes, we should. You will be part of the pack now, Burning-Star!" Far-Flight added.
Breath-Of-Sky hopped over and hummed at up Toothless.
"I like having a big brother!"
"And I like having another little brother," Toothless answered with a gummy smile.
Then he bent down and nudged Breath-Of-Sky's forehead.
"Another brother? A human can be a brother?" Breath-Of-Sky warbled while also practicing his toothless smile.
"Yes, they can," he smiled at Hiccup.
Sky-Dancer again stepped up to Toothless's side and nuzzled his neck with a soft croon.
"We will tell the pack tomorrow when more of them are here. Will you stay with us and talk much now?" she hummed.
"Dam, there is nowhere else I would rather be..." he answered with a very deep purr.
Hiccup rested with his back against a tree. He silently watched as Toothless sat under his mother's outstretched wing while sharing quiet words with his parents and his little brother. Breath-Of-Sky looked like he wanted play also, but he was very eager just to get to know Toothless.
They had all been talking for well over an hour and would likely keep going. They had many years of catching-up to do.
He eventually got to his feet and wandered through the trees. It was so amazing and good that Toothless had just found his family. Even so, something was bothering him, deep down.
He is so happy now. He found his kind, his parents that he thought were gone, and his little brother that he never knew about.
He blinked.
Kind of wish I had that too. Fly to some strange island and just... find my mom not actually dead and out there living among wild dragons. And dad... I wish he had been so excited to see me. Maybe he just wouldn't appreciate me unless I almost died, was lost, or something...
The twigs snapped underfoot as he wandered, lost to his thoughts. In all the time, many months now, away from Berk, he had not yet lived around many other humans. Further, he knew that he wasn't going to see his father again, and his mother was long since dead. It was as though he had no remaining human family of his own.
As if he had one before either.
He eventually found his way through the trees to the clearing sheltered up against the mountain. There, he leaned against a tree to watch. The young Furies were gathered there in play, as usual, while being watched over by their mothers and a few males he did not recognize.
I don't know.
A pair of the males noticed him and started for him, walking slowly with their tails swaying and their eyes fixed on him. He wasn't truly afraid of them, but he was still attentive of them since Toothless was nowhere nearby.
Okay, be friendly Furies...
The larger of the two, the one with yellow eyes, walked directly in front of him and huffed in his face.
He wondered how to greet him, and decided to huff back.
Then the male snorted and sat back on its haunches.
"The good human."
"I do not see any other humans around here, so yeah, I must be the good one," Hiccup pointed out.
"True."
"What is your name?"
"I am Hunts-In-Deep-Waters. I heard from my mate about you, Hiccup," the Fury answered.
Hiccup searched his memory, but he could not recall who Hunts-In-Deep-Waters was paired with.
"Who is your mate?"
"Lightning," the Fury answered with a very warm purr.
"Yes! I met her. I did not know that dark wings have cubs. Instead, I thought you guys... er, your females had eggs."
I wonder why the Furies are different like that.
Hunts-In-Deep-Waters looked confused by something, but the Fury eventually ignored it.
"That is twisted of you to think," Hunts-In-Deep-Waters huffed.
"The cub will be your first, true?" Hiccup continued, thinking that asking more about his family would probably help to build some trust.
"Yes, it will be our first. It was a long flight before I caught her, but I did..." Hunts-In-Deep-Waters purred again.
"You know that she let you catch her," the other male teased.
"You think that, you pile of waste. My shadow does not scare me..." Hunts-In-Deep-Waters huffed.
A playful snap at a neck followed along with a snarl by the other Fury.
"Excuse me, I don't know you..." Hiccup asked the new Fury.
The brilliantly blue-eyed male backed away from the playful fighting and then warily regarded him. This one had kept more of his distance and looked more reluctant.
"I am Growls-At-His-Shadow," the Fury grumbled.
Hiccup thought there must be a reason behind that name, but it felt improper to ask about such a thing. The meaning behind some names was very obvious, but others might have hidden, personal reasons.
Plus, he did not want to get a big Night Fury angry with him in any way.
I remember this pair. That's a plus.
"Dreamcatcher is your mate, right? Your cub is Tail-Hunter."
"Yes, they are," he curtly answered.
"Your cub is very playful and friendly. I like her."
Growls-At-His-Shadow huffed while Hunts-In-Deep-Waters purred in apparent approval. Then Hunts-In-Deep-Waters's ears lifted as he spoke.
"I have heard some of your story, you and... Toothless. The whole pack has been talking about it. I do not know what I should think about you."
"You should not think anything about me. Just judge me for what I do, not for what I am or what you think I am."
"You are a human. We know how dangerous humans are. You are fighters and killers," Growls-At-His-Shadow countered.
Hiccup frowned.
"I know also. Do I ever. But humans are not only fighters. If all I knew about dragons was what I saw in raids, I would think that you are all monsters that like killing and burning stuff for fun."
"We do like killing our enemies and burning their dens."
Hiccup took a deep breath and tried to not think about it. There was still a part of him that was morbidly curious though.
"What do you mean?"
Growls-At-His-Shadow bared his teeth.
"My mate lost a brother to humans. I knew him and called him my kin. I found the nest where they took his body, where they tore it apart for his hide, claws, teeth, and bones. I saw his head hanging from one of their big dens."
Hiccup wilted, trying very hard to not imagine how that had happened.
"I'm sorry... They didn't understand what he was."
"Why they did it does not matter. Do you know what I did? I started hunting that nest, one human at a time. Killing them and eating them," Growls-At-His-Shadow finished by licking his lips.
"I..." Hiccup recoiled and stepped back in alarm.
It was a shock to hear that a dragon had specifically targeted and hunted humans out of revenge. He knew that some dragons would and did eat humans, but Night Furies also...
Hunts-In-Deep-Waters stepped forward with a deep purr and sat down between them with a glance toward the other Fury.
"And we know that hunting the humans made them hunt us more out of fear. They make more cubs than we can, so that is not a fight we can win over many life-cycles. You know that, Growls."
Growls-At-His-Shadow snorted.
"Our kinds have been enemies as long as we have memories and stories. All the stories tell about how humans hunt us to take our hides and our heads. You and Lightning do not know pain as I do or as my mate does."
Hiccup knew he should not have been surprised that dragons had stories or that those stories about humans were not good ones.
Somehow, learning about and hearing that confirmation was like a knife in the heart, and it also helped him realize that his mission was not as simple as showing humans that dragons are not monsters and were amazing creatures that could bring people together.
The dragons also have to learn to trust and be able to forgive past offenses. The obstacle to peace was not only on one side.
Peace would never be possible as long as either side thought of themselves as oppressed victims of the other side, regardless of whether or not either side was more guilty.
Hiccup weakly sighed.
"I don't know what to say to that. The world we came from was stuck in old ways. Not all traditions are bad, but the fighting, dragons and humans as enemies forever, helped neither side. I want peace now."
"You would have us stop fighting so that humans can kill us off!" Growls-At-His-Shadow barked.
"I want both sides to stop fighting, and that needs one side to act first. I don't know if anything could change the world we came from, but we don't live there now. This world doesn't know you as monsters: not like the world before did," Hiccup answered.
Hunts-In-Deep-Waters huffed and looked over his shoulder toward the pile of cubs.
"We have not told the cubs much about life before. There is no reason to bring the hurts of the past into the now. We will tell them some about humans once they become adults and get fire, but they do not need to know before then."
Growls-At-His-Shadow interjected, "Because we will not see other humans. The nearest two-legged things are many suns of flying from here. We are safe up here always."
Growls-At-His-Shadow then turned back to the cubs and wandered over to them.
"Hunts?" Hiccup whispered.
Hunts-In-Deep-Waters stepped closer to him.
"Yes, Hiccup?"
"Is all that true? What Growls said about hunting humans and revenge and... all of that?"
"I believe him. Dreamcatcher said that she lost a brother. Both of that pair are very angry at humans for being monsters to them. And they have not felt the worst of humans."
"But revenge helps no one! It just makes the hate last even longer..."
"Maybe so, but it does feel good to get revenge and kill those who are a true danger. If she had not been carrying Tail-Hunter, they might have gone to get revenge on humans here and..." Hunts-In-Deep-Waters didn't finish his thought and instead silenced himself.
"And then the humans who are hurt by that will feel the same thing and will hunt you more, as you said," Hiccup explained.
Hunts-In-Deep-Waters chuffed.
"I know, and that is why I am glad that we are safe now. These ranges are cold, but they are safe from humans."
"Is that what you think of my kind: that we are monsters?" Hiccup whispered.
Hunts-In-Deep-Waters bent down and stared into his eyes. The Fury's bright yellow eyes were wide with curiosity.
"Growls spoke well that I and my mate have not been hurt my humans. I lived alone before I flew to these skies. I found her here, and we became mates last season-cycle. We do not know humans, but I think you are a good one."
Hiccup smiled back at him, remembering to do so without baring his teeth.
Hunts-In-Deep-Waters purred back to him and then calmly strode away toward the lake, likely to rest with Lightning.
His departure left Hiccup feeling slightly troubled as he watched the cubs at play.
He wasn't sure why he was so bothered other than possibly because of how content the Furies appeared to be to remain where they are. Bringing them back out of this hidden world of theirs would be dangerous for them if there was actual fighting. And there was the possibility that they might not be greeted with trust by the humans and others of Middle-earth.
The pack was living in peace away from any true dangers right now.
At least, they were surviving.
Toothless was still talking to his parents and little brother when he returned to the hot springs.
I might as well practice. Not like I have anything better to do.
Hiccup retrieved his bow, string, and quiver of arrows.
Alright, where to do this? Probably not in the forest. No reason to spook anyone. Actually, I probably want someone to watch me so it's not a surprise to them.
He waved over the nearest Fury he could see. It was a familiar one too.
"Windripper!"
The near-adult bounded over to him from where he had been resting.
"Hiccup! Why did you call me?"
"I wanted to let someone know that I will be practicing shooting."
Windripper barked in surprise as his tail started swaying.
"Shooting? You have fire?"
Hiccup chuckled at that and took a moment to imagine himself breathing fire. It was a very amusing image.
"Nope. I use a bow."
"A bow. What is that?"
"This."
Hiccup strung the bow, knocked it, and pointed it at a mound of dirt.
"It is a... spine-thrower?" Windripper warbled as he stepped closer and nosed at the bow.
"Basically, yeah."
"I am close to having my fire. I can shape the fire-air, but there is no spark yet!" Windripper growled and pawed at his own throat.
"Sorry, I can't help with that."
Windripper ruffled his wings.
"I will grow into having fire. You will not. That is bad. You smell like a dark wing, but you will not have fire or wings."
"Yeah, I'm a human, unfortunately..."
Windripper thought about it and then curled his tail around and flicked the fins.
"You made Toothless a new tailfin. Maybe you can make yourself wings and fire."
Hiccup considered some of the more fanciful ideas he had toyed with in the past. Giving himself fire was something he had no idea how to do. Flying, on the other hand...
Flight with a wingsuit could be fun, but there is no way I could control the tail and fly like that at the same time. Locking the tailfin doesn't really work well. Rescue maneuvers could be very sloppy if something went wrong.
"Anyway, I wanted one of you Furies, dark wings, to be here watching me. That way you all know that I'm not trying to shoot any of you."
Windripper snorted and sat down next to him.
"Do your shooting. I want to watch how a human shoots spines."
Hiccup stared across the clearing at his target, a patch of bare ground on the dirt. He fitted an arrow, drew the bow, aimed, and took a deep breath as everything around him faded. He thought only of old hunting lessons in the woods.
Tension while holding the drawn bow.
His sightline down the arrow.
His hand trembling as he held on.
Not ready to let the arrow fly on its own.
Not ready to let go.
What was he waiting for?
A gust of chill wind briefly picked up.
He blinked, having lost track of time, and realized that he had at some point loosed the arrow after all.
The arrow was embedded in the bare patch, exactly where he had been aiming.
All was silence save for the faint breeze.
Why was his hand still trembling?
Was there a tear on his cheek?
"Was that a good shot?" Windripper warbled.
"Yeah, yeah it was."
He wiped his cheek dry and retrieved another arrow from the quiver. The tear had definitely been because of the cold, gusting wind.
Hiccup finished practicing his archery, put away his bow and arrows among the supplies, and then strolled back to Toothless and family. His warm cloak ruffled in the faint breeze as he walked, his steps crunching the frosty ground underfoot.
It was very cold this far north. Every gust brought a chill wind that whistled through the pines. However, the ground became greener and warmer as he walked and came closer to the hot springs.
Hmm, must be around a volcano for the ground to be warm here...
There were no Furies resting on the warm shores. In the water, however...
Toothless and Breath-Of-Sky were standing upright in the bubbling water while batting at each other with their paws and growling in play. It was an amusing fight given their difference in size: Toothless being twice as big as his brother.
Far-Flight and Sky-Dancer saw him standing on the shore and then swam over to him. Sky-Dancer hauled herself out first, shook herself dry, and then bounded over to him.
"Hiccup, you should join us in the water!"
"Yeah, I'd like to, but it might not be safe for me."
"No, why not?" she warbled.
"Because it is very cold here, and I'd be wet after I get out of the water. Humans can't stay as warm as you dragons."
"Are you cold now?" she asked in concern.
"A little," he shrugged.
She immediately hopped closer to him, stood next to him, and held a wing out to block the little wind.
"Better?"
"Yes, Sky-Dancer. Thank you."
She nudged his head while purring.
"Thank you again for saving Burning-Star," she hummed.
"Well, most of him..." Far-Flight added.
Hiccup considered telling them the truth, that he had been the one who shot Toothless down, then and there, but their vicious words from before were a little too ominous.
Maybe we can tell them the truth when we're sure they won't immediately kill me...
"It was the best decision of my life," he whispered.
"Burning-Star told us much about you. He said that you were much like him, alone in your nest-pack," Sky-Dancer said.
Oddly, he felt none of the emptiness that the memory of being useless to his tribe normally brought. They were not his tribe anymore.
"I wasn't a fighter like them. That I was different was probably why I could accept that... Burning-Star was not a monster."
Far-Flight bobbed his head while humming.
"And we are very glad that you did. Very little is worse than a sire and dam thinking that they... lost a cub..."
Sky-Dancer hung her head and stared at her paws, so Hiccup reassured her.
"It wasn't your fault."
"I know we should think that," she whispered, "but it still hurts now. He could have died so easily."
"So don't think about the past; no one can change it anyway. Just be there for him now since that's all you can do."
"We will," she answered.
Far-Flight then stepped closer and nudged his shoulder.
"And we want to know you better also. You are the only good human we know."
Hiccup was about to answer that kind offer when Toothless and Breath-Of-Sky hauled themselves from the water and shook themselves dry, flailing their wings to fan themselves off.
Breath-Of-Sky then hopped toward him.
"Hiccup!"
"Who is that?" Hiccup grinned.
"You!"
"Oh, right, me. Been having fun with your brother?"
"Yes! I wanted a brother or sister for many winters!"
Far-Flight and Sky-Dancer huffed and solemnly hummed.
I wonder what that's about. Maybe it has something to do with why the Furies don't have many kids...
"Well, now you have one! Hope you don't wear him out..."
Toothless rolled his eyes and knocked into Breath-Of-Sky's shoulder.
"He cannot! I am bigger and stronger!"
Breath-Of-Sky hummed while thrashing his tail.
"But I have done more playing!" he stuck out his tongue.
Hiccup laughed that such a teasing gesture was universal; he definitely had not taught the Fury that.
"Little one, the sun is going to hide from us soon. We should get ready to sleep," Sky-Dancer hummed.
"Okay, dam!"
"Burning-Star, will you rest with us tonight?" Sky-Dancer asked.
"Yes, dam! I will. We are... kin..." Toothless whispered.
"Good."
Then she spun on Hiccup while purring to him.
"You will sleep with us for warmth," she declared.
"How can I say no to that?" Hiccup chuckled.
Hiccup lay at Toothless's side under a wing while Far-Flight, Sky-Dancer, and Breath-Of-Sky rested around them, covering them with their wings to help keep everyone warm. It was a beautiful, peaceful night filled with warm purring from the Furies with him and from the rest of the pack.
He almost could not accept that something so good had happened to Toothless. To them both. Toothless's parents had been alive all these years, but in a truly different world. They had been brought to Middle-earth the same as himself and Toothless and all the other Furies here.
Even the memory of being made to take another bite of raw, partially digested fish was not a bad one at all. As an act of bonding to build trust between himself and Toothless's mother, he had to do it.
Far-Flight and Sky-Dancer had naturally spent more time with Toothless than with him so far, just as Toothless had been with them almost all afternoon. That was completely understandable of them.
And as he listened to their purring, he knew that he would have plenty of time to get to know them better.
Maybe even as family in a way.
The pack would be told the truth after a few more members of the pack returned from their hunts within a couple days. There was at least one person, one Light Fury in particular, he was eager to meet.
But that would wait for later.
"And everything is green there?" Tail-Hunter warbled, her head on her little paws as she stared at him.
Hiccup smiled at the cub and scratched her neck. He had been telling the cubs stories about adventures on the mainland down in the warmer reaches. The Shire had great appeal to the cubs and even the adults who were listening in.
"Yes, it is very green. The fields have many plants the small humans eat, and they also have many pigs..."
"Very tasty..." Toothless interrupted.
"You would think about that... As I was saying... pigs, sheep, chickens, even fish in the rivers..."
"Those are all prey? Good eating?" Free-Flight wondered.
"Yes," Toothless purred, "One of the best things about humans is that they grow far more food than we can find out here. They make food be instead of only finding it."
Free-Flight, Storm-Chaser, and Tail-Hunter shuffled on their little paws and flicked their ears.
"There is not always much food here," Storm-Chaser then warbled.
"It is cold when we are not in a pile!" Tail-Hunter added while pawing at Free-Flight's tail.
"The lands in the south are warmer also. I remember sitting on my back with the sun on my belly. So much sleep-wanting and warmth," Toothless chuckled.
The three cubs were taken with inspiration, rolled onto their backs, and looked up toward the sun. The sun was hidden low on the horizon and gave no warmth. They all gave sad warbles.
Hiccup could not let that disappointment remain, so he bent down next to them and started giving out belly-rubs. Toothless joined in as well when the joyful peals of laughter started echoing.
"No! Tickles!" Free-Flight thrashed.
"Feeling it yet? No remorse!" Hiccup teased as the scratching intensified.
Toothless licked at Storm-Chaser's belly until she was a breathless pile of quivering cub. Then, with her defeated, he lunged at Tail-Hunter and closed his maw around her tail. She hissed and kicked at his head to no avail.
The cubs were swiftly defeated.
Several roars then echoed over the trees as a flight returned. The cubs immediately recovered themselves and rolled to their paws.
Hiccup watched from Toothless's side as the rest of the Furies dove down into the clearing, their recent catches in their paws or maws. Several of the Furies he recognized from before, but there were some others that were new.
One of the males bounded over to the cubs, dropped a thin deer at their feet, briefly nuzzled Storm-Chaser, and then settled down to watch over the cubs.
That must be Starlight. The cubs are really hungry and...
Hiccup was unable to look away as the cubs started feeding, tearing through the hide with their teeth and claws and quickly disposing of large chunks of bloody flesh. They occasionally shoved at or nipped at each other with their bloody jaws.
They had been quivering piles of thrashing Night Fury cubs just moments before. Seeing this feeding and their small displays of violence were reminders that they were not tame, and that they had a wild streak in their hearts.
Toothless snorted as he looked over at them.
"I only had fish when I was a cub. There were no large land-prey that did not go to the monster."
"You never took anything from the Vikings when you were grown?"
"No... Never when they could see me," Toothless purred.
"Wait, are you saying that you did take some food?"
Toothless had a very smug grin, as though he was quite pleased with himself.
"They never saw me take food. Maybe from moon-cycle to moon-cycle, but I only..."
"There they are! Over there!" Mystery shouted.
Hiccup and Toothless stiffened and glanced to the side toward the trees. There were two white Light Furies walking from the treeline. The much smaller Fury, Mystery, they knew. The larger one they did not know.
She was an adult the same size as Toothless and with the same purple eyes as her younger sister. Her eyes were narrowed almost to slits, her ears were flattened to her head, and her white wings were slightly spread. There was an old scar that streaked down her chest.
Hiccup gulped as he realized that she already didn't like him.
Okay, maybe a suspicious one...
She blinked and froze midstep. Her narrowed purple eyes never left him as her growling filled the silence.
"What is this? Why is it allowed here?" she hissed.
"Hello Moonbeam!" Hiccup cheerfully began.
"It talks? The captor talks?" she barked.
"Captor? What do you mean?" he kindly asked, wanting to understand her objections to him.
She then glared at the riding equipment and ropes on Toothless's back while snarling.
"Hiccup does not keep me trapped. I am not his thrall," Toothless objected.
"You look like one. You are wearing a riding-with thing. Do you have a mouth-closing thing you wear also?"
Toothless wrinkled his nose at her and growled also. He did not like what she was saying or how hostile she was being without any provocation. It was also very disappointing that she was being so cold to Hiccup. He had hoped that she would be friendlier.
"He is my friend. I like him flying with me. And his being on my back helps me fly when I could not. He made me a new tailfin."
"What?" she growled in confusion.
"Look at his tail!" Mystery pointed with a paw.
Toothless lifted his tail for Moonbeam to be able to see the false-tailfin. She stared at it for a while and then huffed derisively.
"Did it cut off your tailfin to ground you and make you need it?"
He flashed his teeth and did not try to hide his growl of anger.
"No! Why do you hate him? He has done nothing to you!"
"It is a human. That is enough of a wrong. They are monsters."
They said nothing, settling instead for staring at each other and growling, gently pawing at the ground with their claws and teeth unsheathed.
Then Hiccup stepped between them and turned his back on Moonbeam.
"Toothless, let me talk to her, please?"
"Hiccup, what are you doing?"
"Just trust me."
Toothless blinked and reluctantly settled down. Hiccup then turned to face her as Toothless gave a cry of alarm and lunged forward.
And Hiccup stared into narrowed purple eyes just inches from his own. She had lunged at him, though she had not touched him.
A very faint snarl and parted jaws followed.
Toothless hissed something at her that he could not clearly hear.
Deep, primal fear screamed at him to run and hide and pray that she could not find him.
He took a breath of hot air and closed his eyes, telling himself one thing over and over.
She was a person just like him and Toothless. Whatever bad things had happened in the past must have tainted her opinion of humans. He could now help her with whatever was troubling her or making it hard for her to trust him.
As long as she did not kill him first.
The silence stretched out until...
"What is so twisted about you?" she warbled.
He released the breath and opened his eyes. She had stepped back and was sitting on her hindquarters. Her eyes were now wider and her ears were lifted. Her tail was not swaying though.
"I trust you dragons, you dark wings and... light wings. I know that you are not monsters," Hiccup answered.
Toothless rested his chin on Hiccup's head. He gave a soft purr of reassurance while still glaring toward Moonbeam and growling freely.
"And I know that my human friend and brother is not a monster. Have you not heard our story?"
"Some of it. I do not know how much to believe," she answered.
"Your pack Alphas told us that we should talk to you and hear your story. It was something about humans," Hiccup whispered.
A haunted look passed through Moonbeam's eyes for an instant, and then she bent down to nuzzle Mystery's forehead.
"Sister, you should go feed. There are catches for all the young."
"Okay, will you ever tell me the story?" Mystery warbled.
"When you are old enough, little one."
"The story is a mystery?"
"Yes, just like you! Go, sister."
Mystery pranced away to find an unclaimed piece of the several catches.
"And when you are strong enough..." Moonbeam whispered.
Hiccup sat back against Toothless's chest while Moonbeam still sat on her rear. He knew that this story would be painful and could reveal a part of life that he had never seen before. For all that his old tribe on Berk were accomplished dragon hunters, most of the fighting was in self-defense. Even the nest-hunts were ultimately out of self-defense, proactive self-defense.
"You want to know how bad humans are?" Moonbeam softly asked.
"Can be..." Toothless corrected her.
Hiccup put a hand on Toothless's neck.
"Toothless, let's just let her talk, okay?"
Toothless reluctantly nodded.
Moonbeam gave Hiccup a curious glance before she closed her eyes.
"I was ten and one winters, and Mystery was only one winter. She did not have flight or any words yet. We, my sire, and my dam were living in a cave-den away from humans and by the ocean. My sire and dam had left our hidden range to birth her in the above where there is more food and less fighting. We left behind the thought-voice of the Alpha of that range. Most of our kind would not do that."
She paused before continuing.
"We never hunted humans or took their prey. It happened very fast. They appeared in the cave and attacked us."
Hiccup winced, knowing what must have happened. A raid by a group of prepared hunters had killed her parents. She and Mystery had...
"Dragons attacked," she added.
"Wait, what?" "Dragons attacked?"
"They were big, red, hunter dragons with tusks on their jaws and stingers on their tails. They had mouth-closing things on their heads and human-rope-things on their backs. They were trapped-thralls. One of their tusks scratched me in the fighting."
She snarled as she stared at the saddle.
"My sire and dam fought them with fire and power-light, and they drove the hunter dragons from the den, but my sire and dam were stung. They became weak and could not fight or fly. I had no fire yet to help them in the fight. My sire told me to grab Mystery and flee the den, so I did. I was safe up in the sky when the thrall-dragons came back with a human."
"What!" "What!"
"It was a male human wearing a dark wing's hide, with white head-fur, and a... spine-throwing thing in its paws."
Hiccup was stunned speechless by that information.
A bad dragon rider or someone like that? Was he hunting Furies? Gods, who could be that grisly? Good thing we never met him...
"I watched that human kill my sire and dam. They could not even fight back."
Her voice was completely neutral, empty of all feeling.
"I... I'm sorry..." Hiccup whispered.
Moonbeam tilted her head slightly and stared evenly at him. Then she bared her teeth again.
"So what? What does saying those words change?"
He winced in heartfelt pain at what had happened to her. He barely knew anything of the pain to lose a parent in war, though it was nothing like losing both and seeing it happen. His own being an infant when it happened meant that he didn't remember it at all or feel the pain of his mother's death.
"I cannot change what happened. I can only work to try to make sure it never happens again."
"Will you? What do you think you can change?" she softly hissed.
"The whole world," Hiccup simply answered.
Toothless purred softly.
"I believe it. He changed the whole world, chose a different way, when he became my friend."
She blinked and huffed.
"He changed the whole world? You had to flee his nest-pack for safety, yes? They were not changed, so he did not change the whole world. Humans cannot change!" she growled.
Toothless snorted. Her thinking was very twisted by the bad that had happened to her. She could not even see what was right before her. Hiccup was proof that humans could change and learn.
"Do you not see that Hiccup changed?"
"He did not change," she barked.
"What?" Toothless warbled in confusion.
"Huh?" Hiccup wondered.
She glared at Hiccup.
"You are a small human, and you use things to help you be stronger, yes?"
"Well, yeah, I make things to help with my being smaller, but how is that relevant?"
"You must use Toothless."
Toothless instantly snarled and stepped toward her.
"Take that back! You do not know him!"
She did not retreat; rather, she snarled and stepped toward him while flashing her teeth and claws.
"I will not take it back! What are you going to do? Bite me? That is hard to do when you are toothless..."
He so wanted to lash out at her for that twisted-speaking. Instead, he stepped back and sat down between her and Hiccup. Her words had a lot of bite. Plus, striking a member of the pack would not help with his being accepted by the pack.
"I know far more humans than you do, so my words hold more wind than yours do," he groaned.
"Your captor-rider is a human. Even if he is good to you, which I doubt, he is not all humans."
"How many humans do you truly know?"
"Enough to know that I should hate them."
"But why? What good does that do to anyone?" Hiccup objected.
"It is fair. There is no need to change the world as you say. We are safe now away from humans."
"I would not be so sure about that. You are far from humans, yes, but there are other dangers," Toothless explained.
She snorted.
"What other dangers?"
"That is something we would tell the full pack eventually. You are not as safe here as you think you are," Hiccup answered.
Moonbeam glared for a while, got off her rear, and slowly walked up to him. Her purple eyes were no longer narrowed, though she did not purr either. Toothless stood next to Hiccup while softly growling in warning to her.
"Fine. I can almost believe you do not want to do us any bad. But I will be watching you."
"Please do. I will not do anything bad."
"So you say. You also look very much like the human that killed my sire and dam. It was very... small also."
"It was?" Hiccup whispered.
"Small and with white fur on its head. I will never forget that or what your kind took from me and my cub-sister."
"Do not judge them all for what one did," Toothless implored her.
"Neither should you. You seem to think they are all like your human, or that they all can change. We should always be free of them," Moonbeam calmly answered.
Without saying anything else, she wandered off to join her sister and to watch over the other young.
"Well, that was... disturbing to hear about," Hiccup muttered after she was gone.
"A dragon hunter who was hunting Night Furies and Light Furies?" Toothless growled.
"I didn't know that anyone even did that, or that he would have dragons hunting with him. Did you recognize those red dragons with stingers?"
"No. Dragons that hunt other dragons would not be allowed in the nest. Other than the Monster... anyway."
"Well, whoever that grisly hunter was, we will never see him. He'll probably think that he hunted every Night Fury and Light Fury in the world, if that is what he was doing, but he couldn't come here to Middle-earth."
"What would he want with one of us though?" Toothless wondered.
Hiccup tried to think of possible reasons, easily discounting that of capturing a Light Fury. The grisly dragon hunter had not taken prisoners, so it probably wasn't that reason.
"I do not know or want to know."
"True, neither do I," Toothless sighed.
They both stared after Moonbeam as she sat with her sister and the cubs. She occasionally broke up small fights for food and nipping contests among the cubs who, while playful, could be somewhat violent and needy regarding food.
Despite that, she looked more at peace as she watched over them while they ate.
"Bud, we should... go back to your family."
"Yes, we should. The ceremony will be tonight."
"Hope it goes well. Bud, will the pack trust and accept me?"
"Why would they not? You are just being yourself. That should be enough for them to know you."
"But what if that isn't enough? What do we do then?"
Toothless grumbled.
"I need you for flight, so the pack must keep you around if they want me to stay. If they still refuse you, then I will... I will tell them I will not stay here. Telling them that should be enough."
Hiccup frowned.
"It better be."