Frozen/HTTYD Chapter Eighteen

[afterandalasia]

Chapter Eighteen

Just flying, just letting Toothless test his wings again, had been one thing. This time they didn’t hold back. The stacks became pale blurs around them, the sea a blue-grey smudge below, and all that Hiccup cared about was ducking back and forth between the limestone pillars, Toothless’s tail snapping from position to position and his wings extending and furling to weave between them with inches to spare. Elsa might have screamed, but she was still holding on and that was good enough for now, and for one moment the exhilaration burning through him was of being completely free.

They wove, dodged, and he could not even look behind him to see whether Astrid was still in pursuit or not. There were enough sea stacks to make a fair maze, rather than a linear course, and they flitted between them like a shadow, dodging in and out of the weak sunlight.

Another stack; they whipped around and had to pull up short to avoid bumping into Astrid. “What the-” she started to say, but Hiccup just gave her a jaunty wave and disappeared off into the stacks once again. Laughter bubbled from his lips, and he didn’t care about the pain in his leg or the ache in the base of his skull.

“Fishlegs!” he heard Astrid shout, above the whistle of the wind. “Cover my right. Ruffnut, Tuffnut, get over here. Snotlout, come round to the landward side.”

So that was how she was going to play it. They took another corner so fast that the rush of air from Toothless’s wings knocked loose small rocks, and whipped so low over Ruffnut’s head that Hiccup could have reached out and snatched her helmet. He glanced up to see Astrid above the stacks, now, directing the others with shouts as his dare became a challenge that she simply could not resist.

“Snotlout, get to the landward side or so help me - left! Left! Fishlegs, cover that Thor-damned gap!”

Another turn bought him almost barrelling into Hookfang’s flared wings, and Toothless had to twist and roll back in mid-air - not an easy trick of the tail, either - to avoid him. Hiccup tried to take them right, only to find the twins blocking the way, then turned left to see Fishlegs. He was just about to dive through the last gap when a shower of fire spewed down, and Astrid dropped into it with a triumphant smile.

“So, how did I do?” she smirked.

“Not bad,” said Hiccup, with a nod of approval. “But on the other hand, you forgot about this.”

He snapped Toothless’s tail shut, and they dove.

On the land, Astrid’s trap might have worked, although he supposed that he could have gone upwards and tried to escape them that way. Astrid’s curse was cut off as the water surrounded them, but it was barely seconds before they burst to the surface again in a larger clear area behind Astrid. Toothless screamed in triumph, and then they shot upwards with the others following behind.

Hiccup was still laughing as they levelled out above the stacks and waited for the others to join them, at least until he realised that Elsa’s head was pressed to his shoulder and her hands were still wrapped tightly around him.

“Sorry,” he said. “Vikings can get a little... competitive.”

“Competitive,” she said to his shoulder blade. “I will avoid that word.” Slowly she raised her head, and he looked round to see her peering down at the top of the stacks. “Can I wait on the ground?”

Astrid and Stormfly were the first to rejoin them, Astrid shaking her head in something between frustration and admiration. “How long have you been doing this, again?”

“About three moons,” he called back. It was an understatement, really, not enough to describe three moons of flying every night, learning every shift and tensing muscle that it took, until it felt as if he could see through Toothless’s eyes as they flew. To Elsa, he said: “Are you sure? We’ll... probably cool it down a bit now.”

“I am sure,” she said.

He settled down on the largest nearby stack, and Elsa’s hands shook as she slid off from behind him. When she met Hiccup’s eye, she gave a weak smile, but it didn’t stop him from regretting that he had shot off like that. “Maybe we should try the Gronckle next time, huh?”

“I think I will stay with the ground.”

“Here,” said Fishlegs, landing beside them. The Gronckle moved far differently, slow movements in any direction rather than Toothless’s broad, powerful sweeps. Seeing them fly in the open air was far different to whatever they might have managed inside the arena. The two Gronckle hatchlings had wormed right up against him, but now he scooped them out of his lap and held them towards Elsa. “Why don’t you take care of these guys? I think this is a bit fast for them as well.”

“You are sure?” she spoke mostly to Fishlegs, but her eyes flickered down to Meatlug all the same. Meatlug sniffed her, then grunted approval and huffed to the hatchlings. They took off from Fishlegs’s hands and flew over, Silversnap somewhat less steadily than Skyfire and bumping into Elsa. Her smile became a little more true as she caught them. “Heiva, vaaku.”

“All right,” said Hiccup, feeling relieved beyond words once he saw Elsa relax once again. “I’ll see you later, all right? Don’t... wander off.”

That was enough to make Elsa laugh and glance around them. Even this stack was barely twenty feet across. “I will try,” she said seriously.

He spread Toothless’s tail, and they took to the air again, rising up to where the others hovered in more-or-less a ring above them. Fishlegs and Meatlug were not far behind. “All right then, folks,” he said, not sure whether he should be treating this like a lesson or something else entirely. “What say we get some flying practice in? Just see what these guys can do?”

“As long as you don’t dive off again,” said Astrid.

To be fair, he probably should stop doing that, at least whilst the others were trying to follow. “Now, all of your dragons were in pens for a while, and though they should have some of their strength back, but they might not be at full fitness. So-”

“Yeah, yeah,” said Snotlout. “Where are we flying to?”

Hiccup sighed. “How about we just... see where the air takes us, hmm?” And hopefully that would cover for the fact that he hadn’t much thought this through.

It was strange having other people flying as well. Hiccup was so used to flying alone and at night, just him and Toothless, that he did not really know what to do when people started shouting conversation at each other through the wind, or when Snotlout flew too close and he and Toothless had to roll aside to avoid the Monstrous Nightmare’s wing.

“Hey! Snotlout, remember, you’re sixty foot wide now! Come on!”

“Are you calling-” Snotlout seemed to remember Hookfang mid-sentence, and lowered the fist he was shaking. “Oh, yeah.”

The flight turned out to be for about as long as Hiccup could put up with the bickering before turning them around again. They were taking it gently, even if Hiccup had to force them to keep to a pace that everyone could stick to, and he could already hear Snotlout grumbling about the Gronckle being slower than the rest of the dragons. It was a relief when the sea stacks came back into view, and he craned his neck to remember which one of them Elsa was on.

It was the glitter of magic that caught his eye. She was making snowflakes for the hatchlings to chase, as she had made them for Toothless not that long ago. It felt like a lifetime, though. The sound of wings must have caught her attention; she looked round, the snowflakes fading from the air, and was pulling her bracelets back on as she rose to her feet. The buffeting wind from the wings of the dragons whipped her hair about, and the Gronckles set down against it.

“Need a ride home?” Hiccup called.

Elsa glanced around her, then smiled as she replied. “It might help.”

“If you want to take the Gronckle, I won’t be insulted. It’s a smoother ride,” said Hiccup, pointing his thumb towards Fishlegs. To be fair, he probably should have checked with Fishlegs before doing the volunteering, as the other boy looked round with wide eyes.

All the same, he set down to retrieve the hatchlings, and when Elsa smiled Fishlegs went red and offered to help her onto Meatlug’s back once again. Judging by the gentler take off and the fact that Elsa didn’t seem to be clinging to Fishlegs quite so badly as she had to Hiccup, it had probably been a better move than just swooping off on Toothless without warning.

He was the last one to dismount again when they reached the arena, partially so that he could see the others safely down and partially because he suspected he was going to fall off. Mercifully he did not, although he was very grateful of having the cane and could not help the sensation that he had taken his legs off without realising it. He gave his left a good shake, and did not dare do the same with the right.

“Hey, Elsa,” called Tuffnut abruptly. Hiccup winced as he turned. “How did you do that cool...” he waved his hands vaguely in the air, as if trying to keep a drunk person upright. “You know. The snow thing. Can you do it whenever you want?”

Hiccup had managed to turn the conversation away from Elsa every time that it had come up, something for which she had admitted that she was grateful. Unfortunately, it seemed that Tuffnut had not taken the hint. With a sigh, he turned to say something, but was surprised for Elsa to reply first.

“I can usually control it. But I prefer not to use it around people.”

“Oh,” said Tuffnut, looking disappointed. “Pity.”

“Why?” Elsa stepped cautiously round Meatlug.

Tuffnut was squatting and straightening up and windmilling his arms, and to be quite honest Hiccup wasn’t sure that he wanted to know why. For now he stood aside and watched as Elsa frowned, toying with the trollwort bracelets again.

“I don’t know,” said Tuffnut. Ruffnut took the opportunity to sweep one foot out from under him, and he landed on his backside. Not that it seemed to trouble him too much. “It’s awesome. That magic stuff.”

“You are not afraid?”

Tuffnut pointed over his shoulder to Barf and Belch. “Eh, you seem smarter than those guys. And they haven’t set us on fire yet.”

“Aside from that one time,” said Ruffnut.

“Oh yeah, there was that one time. But we started it.”

By now, Elsa was wearing that mildly confused look that a lot of people tended to get when faced with the twins. “Oh... thank you,” she said.

“But yeah, you should totally do that ice armour thing again sometime. That was awesome. It looked all shiny and stuff as well.”

“I...” she glanced down at her hands. “I do not know if I can do that again.”

“Oh.” Tuffnut looked disappointed, but got back to his feet again. “So, what could you do?”

Elsa gave Hiccup a frightened look, and he walked over. “All right, Tuffnut, back off. Let her be.”

“I’m just asking!” Tuffnut protested. “It was cool! Like, could you make it snow?”

“Yes,” said Elsa.

“In there?” said Tuffnut, pointing towards the arena.

She looked over to it, then back to Hiccup, biting her lip just for a moment. He leaned over and put his hand on hers, but she snatched it away again so fast that they barely touched. He knew better than to be insulted. “You don’t have to do this.”

Elsa frowned. “Maybe I do,” she said quietly. Her hands clenched and relaxed, but still shook slightly she slipped off the trollwort bracelets and put them into Hiccup’s hand. They were looking ragged and worn, far more so than they should have been just from being taken on and off for a few moons. As she did so, sparks of ice appeared in her hair, and the air around them grew slightly colder. She carefully skirted around them all as she walked over towards the arena.

“This,” said Ruffnut,” is going to be amazing.”

The others went to follow, dragons hanging back a little, but Elsa turned as she reached the doorway and cautiously held up her hands. “No. You should not follow. It is not safe.”

“How about we wait in the doorway?” said Hiccup. It would be wide enough for all six of them to stand abreast, if the dragons stayed back. Even he had not seen too much of Elsa’s magic, and if he was honest with himself then he was curious as well. Elsa hesitated for a moment, looking troubled, then nodded. “All right, bud,” said Hiccup, patting Toothless’s head. “You and the others stay here, hmm?”

Toothless huffed, and Hiccup followed the others to the entrance to the arena. He couldn’t walk as fast as them yet, but they were dawdling anyway, and Astrid stopped at the top of the slope.

“Want a hand?”

“No, but a foot would be good,” he replied. He took a careful step with his left, making sure that he had grip, then slid his right down alongside it. Well, it wasn’t the fastest way, but it worked. Perhaps he could talk to Gobber about getting a set of steps put in at the side of the slope. The others were already waiting in the entrance, but they parted for Astrid and she elbowed Ruffnut along far enough for Hiccup to stand there as well.

Elsa had walked almost to the far side of the arena, but even from this distance Hiccup could see the nervousness in her expression as she looked at them. Taking a deep breath, she raised her hands to chest height, rolling them over one another.

A blue spark formed between her hands, then swelled to a ball of light. “Woah,” breathed someone, and Hiccup couldn’t even have said if it was him. Snowflakes glittered around it, huge and bright blue, fading away as they fell from her hands. The light seemed to become more solid, as Elsa’s hands moved to almost cup it instead, then with a flick of her wrist she threw it up into the air above them.

It went straight through the metal struts of the roof and burst apart into a shower of light, bright blue-white points that became snowflakes and began to fall softly around them. They were fat and fluffy, and Hiccup could not help holding out a hand to catch one in his palm. It lingered for a little longer than was normal, but melted away all the same.

Frost crept in tendrils from Elsa’s feet, creeping through the old cracks and weaknesses in the floor of the arena, curling up the sides. Within moments the snow began to settle in a thin layer all around her, but her eyes were on the sky even as Ruffnut was the first one to take a step into the arena. The snow crunched beneath her boots.

“Definitely amazing,” she said.

Her words did not break Elsa’s reverie. As Snotlout bent to pick up a handful of the snow, and the others started to grab at it as well - unable to believe, perhaps, that it was real - Hiccup picked his way over to Elsa, carefully stepping over the streaks of ice. It was cold in the arena, but only just cold enough to snow rather than the horrific freezes that Berk had some winters, and he could only faintly see his breath.

“Hey,” he said, as he got close to her. Elsa looked around sharply, but he saw the tears in her eyes before she could blink them away. Hiccup frowned, and went to touch her shoulder, but she shied away from him again. “What is it?”

“I have not...” she put a hand to her throat for a moment, breathing deeply, before she could manage a reply. “I have not done this since many years. I used to for my sister.”

There was the pain again, making her look away and reach up to wipe a tear off her cheek. Hiccup shifted so that he stood between Elsa and the others, even if he wasn’t really the best person to try to block lines of sight. “I’m sorry,” he said quietly. “I didn’t know...”

Elsa shook her head. “I did not say.” The snow seemed to be heavier around them, settling in Elsa’s hair and on her shoulders. Hiccup reached up to brush off his own shoulders, though there was probably nothing to be done about his hair. “But it is better.” She looked around, and Hiccup turned to see that Ruffnut was already trying to stuff snow down Tuffnut’s shirt, and Snotlout was forming a snowball with a calculating look. “It is better if I remember this.”

Toothless padded down the slope and sniffed at the snow, then patted it with one paw and, with a huff, wandered in.

“Well... they aren’t scared,” said Hiccup. This time when he put his hand on Elsa’s shoulder, she did not pull away, though she did look warily at it. “See? You’re not in danger here.”

“I am not worried about my danger,” she replied. Hiccup frowned. “I am a danger.”

“You’re not-” he began.

“This isn’t everything,” said Elsa. She looked down at her hands, pale and slim and perfectly normal, with nothing strange about them that Hiccup could see. He had held them enough to know that they were rough, and seen the scars on the back of them, but there was nothing that marked them as magical. “My power is more than this.”

The air that chilled around her, the ice she had flung at him, the ice armour that she had worn. Of course, there had been the spikes that ripped a dragon apart as well, and Hiccup could see why she could fear that. “The winter can be harsh sometimes,” said Hiccup. “It... doesn’t mean that we’re afraid of it.”

She looked at him warily. He was trying to think of something else to say, another sort of reassurance, when a snowball clipped his ear and splattered against the wall behind him. Hiccup turned to see a momentary guilty look on Snotlout’s face, before he tried to hide it and look nonchalant.

“Hey!” said Hiccup. “Guy with a cane over here!”

Snotlout turned away, just in time for Astrid to smash a particularly large snowball into his face. That was, at least, a sort of vengeance.

“So,” he said, holding up the bracelets, “do you want these back?”

She shook her head. “This will disappear if I do. I think your friends are having fun.”

“Yeah, we could probably leave them to it for a while.” Toothless stuck his head into a particularly large snow drift, snuffling around, then raised his head slowly as Skyfire pounced on his tail. “Do you mind if I sit on a table?”

When she did not object, he crossed to the nearest table and turned to shuffle backwards onto it. It was easier to sit on things that required him to shift upwards instead of sit down too far. The twins had apparently decided to throw snowballs at Astrid, occasionally pausing to smash them into each other instead. Astrid ducked two thrown snowballs, flipped over the nearest table and dodged down behind it. On the far side of the arena, Fishlegs was starting to roll up larger balls, possibly heading towards a snowman.

“This could keep them busy for a while,” said Hiccup. He laid the cane on the table beside him and reached out to catch some of the soft flakes still drifting down. They clumped together at the gentlest squeeze of his hand. “We don’t normally get snow like this. Normally it’s either specks, or so thick you can’t see your own feet.”

Snotlout sauntered over to the table and offered to join Astrid and help her defeat the twins. In response, she swept his feet out from under him, stole his helmet, filled it with snow and jammed it back on his head all in under a second. He yelped and tried to roll away.

“You do not mind the snow?”

“Well, we’re more used to it,” said Hiccup with a shrug. “Snow isn’t exactly a novelty around Berk.”

“They... is that why they are not afraid of me?” Elsa looked up shyly from where she stood beside the table. Barf and Belch had stuck their heads in through the doorway now, and were snapping at the falling snowflakes. Fishlegs propped his first ball of snow, about eighteen inches high, into place, and set about rolling a second one.

Hiccup shrugged. “Maybe it helps a little. But... people won’t all be afraid, you know.” He gave her a smile. “This isn’t Arendelle. Maybe we’re made of sterner stuff up here, maybe we’re just idiots.”

A snowball slammed into the wall not six inches from his head.

“For example, Tuffnut just threw a snowball at someone who rides a Night Fury. Toothless!” he caught the dragon’s eye, then gestured in Tuffnut’s direction. Toothless bounded across and tackled Tuffnut into a snowdrift, the two of them vanishing into a puff of snow with a grunt and a scream respectively. “But no,” Hiccup turned back to Elsa again. “It’s not just about it being snow. Some people aren’t going to be afraid whatever happens. And once that starts, it will only spread. Besides,” he added, with a wave to the three-sided battle that Astrid, Snotlout and Ruffnut were now waging, “you just need to see the good in things.”

“Thank you,” said Elsa softly. She watched Skyfire and Silversnap jumping in and out one of the smaller drifts. “I... will remember this.”

It was approaching evening by the time that the war was ended - Astrid, naturally, the winner - and Hiccup called a halt to the chaos. By that point, Toothless was starting to nose around in old barrels in a way that almost certainly meant that he was looking for food, and the other dragons would probably be starting to get hungry as well. “Come on,” he said. “Let’s get the dragons down to the beach, see if we can get them hunting again.”

Meatlug, at least, should remember; it had only been a few moons since she had been fully wild. Toothless had been eating fish from the pool in the cove - probably very depleted now, but hopefully not completely barren - but couldn’t exactly go flying off to feed without Hiccup. The others varied from six moons to Stormfly’s three years.

“Cool,” said Ruffnut and Tuffnut, almost at the same time. Ruffnut added: “Do we get to see them?”

“Do we get to help them?” said Tuffnut.

“I think they’ll be able to do it themselves,” said Hiccup. He glanced around the snow-filled arena - and it was still snowing gently, even now, just in their little patch - and then up the wet slope out, and made a decision. “All right, we’re going to fly down to the beach.”

Fishlegs stepped to Meatlug and slung his arm across her shoulders. “In front of people?”

“Yes,” said Hiccup firmly. “I think it’s time that we started to show people that we can control them.”

Hopefully, of course, they would actually be able to control them on the way over there. He waved Toothless over, brushed some snow off the saddle, and slid into it. Great, a cold backside, just what he needed.

“Come on, let’s get going.”

Hookfang and Stormfly had refused to go into the arena again , but were waiting outside, Hookfang sleeping and Stormfly grooming her scales. The snow melted away as Elsa put on her bracelets again, leaving behind a pervading dampness that wasn’t really all that difference from Berk’s usual state.

“All right,” said Hiccup, as Toothless took off and banked around to face them again. “Now, we’re going to take this slow and steady, and-”

“We know!” shouted Astrid. She settled herself on Stormfly’s shoulders, and added something not-quite-audible about a cushion. “No screaming, no crashing, no crapping on people. We get it.”

“Stop taking the fun out of it!” replied Tuffnut.

Hiccup sighed. This time, he didn’t have to prompt before Fishlegs invited Elsa to join him on Meatlug, just wait for everyone to get airborne before leading them out and around the promontory that separated the rest of Berk from the arena. Toothless looked over his shoulder.

“I know, bud,” said Hiccup quietly, patting his head. “But someone’s got to keep an eye on them.”

He saw people pointing and staring as Berk came into view below them, and glanced over his shoulder to make sure that no-one was on the verge of falling off, or bucking around wildly. To his relief, everyone looked fine. It even looked oddly... impressive, seeing them all flying together like this. They swooped around, staying slightly wide of the land itself, until they settled down on the beach by the lower defences.

There were people down here as well, something which Hiccup had not expected. He cursed beneath his breath as he dismounted, glancing round to the others. No sign of his father or Gobber, either. It was probably the first time in years that he was relieved to see Spitelout appear one of the towers, hauling around a bucket that was probably full of nails. He looked them over, nodded, and continued about his business. The defences were being fixed, though nobody was bothering to put too much effort into them now that there seemed to be a tentative peace. Hiccup didn’t think that they were needed at all, but not everyone trusted the dragons. It would take time.

He slipped off Toothless’s back, and the others dismounted as well. “Take off their bridles,” he added, and was faintly amazed when they actually did so, instead of rolling their eyes and asking why he was the one giving the orders. There was a lot riding on that few weeks of knowing Toothless before the other dragons had come into play.

“All right, guys. No, sorry, I mean the dragons,” he said, as the humans looked round and the dragons other than Toothless ignored him completely. Hookfang had set about nibbling at a set of claws, and Meatlug was licking her hatchlings despite the fact that they were in Fishlegs’s arms. With a sigh, Hiccup stuck his fingers in his mouth and whistled.

That, at least, he could do. A sharp, loud whistle cut through the air, and all of the dragons perked up to look at him at the same time.

“There we go,” said Hiccup. He waved towards the ocean. “Go on, go catch yourselves some dinner.” Dragons ate fish, that much he definitely knew. He had even offered Toothless the choice between fish and mutton, both raw, and Toothless had pounced on the fish and sniffed the mutton curiously before eating it anyway. The dragons looked at him. “Go on. Go fish.”

Silence.

“You do realise that they probably don’t speak Northur?”said Astrid.

Hiccup put one hand to his forehead. “Thank you, Astrid, I never would have thought of that.” The words had been meant for the humans, the gestures towards the ocean for the dragons. “Come on, guys.” He waved more pointedly. “Get yourselves some dinner.”

“Maybe they think you are sending them away,” said Elsa.

The words took the wind from his sails. Hiccup scanned the rag-tag line of dragons in front of him - all different species, all held captive in the arena for so long, probably not even having age in common like their riders did. Meatlug was, indeed, giving him a singularly doleful look.

“You’re right,” he said quietly. “Come on, bud.” Before this could seem like a bad idea, he got back into Toothless’s saddle.

“Are we going riding again?” asked Fishlegs.

Hiccup waved them back. “No, you guys stay here, I’ll go with them.” He strongly suspected that this was going to end up with him getting wet. “Maybe they’ll figure it out if Toothless and I go along too. Elsa, do you mind waiting with these guys for a while?” she shook her head, still watching him with that expression which meant that she thought he was going to do something stupid and was probably right. “Great. Astrid, if you wouldn’t mind asking my father to get a good fire going, I’ll see you when I get back...”

He didn’t wait to explain, or to field the questions which he could hear everyone start to shout after him as they took off. At a call from Toothless, the other dragons followed, and Hiccup found himself with a whole train of dragons as he made his way out over the open see.

It was cold. Not cold enough to really snow, today at least, but nearly there, and his damp clothes from the snow in the arena stuck to his skin. Hiccup shook his hands out and tried not to shiver as he led the dragons north-east again, to the areas where the fishing boats didn’t tend to go. Of course, that had been because of the dragons and the unending fog, but he was hoping that some of it was going to be engrained still.

A shoal of fish was a dark shadow beneath the surface. Hiccup had been on boats enough in his life to know what one looked like, even if his trips had not exactly been meant for fishing. Vikings didn’t miss the chance for a free meal. That Toothless licked his lips meant that he had spotted it as well, and as Hiccup banked them to hover above it, he hoped that the other dragons would do the same.

“Come on, Toothless,” he said, nudging towards a dive with his knee. He didn’t want to shift the tail fin until Toothless began to dive, otherwise it could get difficult. “Let’s go.”

Toothless chirped at him questioningly, looking back over his shoulder, and Hiccup nodded down towards the ocean again. For a moment, he could have sworn that Toothless smiled, and then he felt the bunching of muscles which meant that he was ready to dive.

A snap of the tail, a tilt in the air, and then Hiccup bent down and clung to the saddle as Toothless streaked down towards the water’s surface. Hitting it at this speed was like a cold slap, and he held his breath as Toothless shot down, turned in the water, and propelled himself back towards the surface with a great pound of his wings. They broke the surface, Hiccup gasping for breath as he manipulated the tail again, Toothless snapping down fish with appreciative crunches. The water crashed and broke as the other dragons took the hint and started plunging down into the water around them, going down longer than Toothless, longer than Hiccup could have hold his breath.

“Thanks, bud,” Hiccup said, wiping water out of his face. With a tilt of his body, he added, “Go again?”

Toothless shrieked, and plunged down so fast that Hiccup barely had time to work the tail. This time it was easier to hold his breath until they broke the surface, and they barely hung in place a moment before dipping down a third time. It became a rhythm, dive after dive for fish, Hiccup clinging to the saddle and spitting out water and not even really feeling the cold with the rush of the whole thing. It was only when Toothless finally cut a lazy circle upwards, rumbling and flicking water off his flaps, that Hiccup noticed the ache from clinging on and the fact that he was soaked to the skin with seawater.

He pulled seaweed out of his hair and laughed to himself. He wasn’t sure whether feeding Toothless with plain barrels of fish was sounding like a more sane idea, or a more boring one. Whether by some cue from Toothless or of their own accord, the other dragons joined them one by one, shaking water from their heads and flicking it off their wings with each stroke.

“You ready to head home?” Hiccup shouted. Stormfly actually shrieked in response, and he laughed again. Doubtful that they understood him, but for a moment he felt like a dragon. “Come on, Toothless.”

Toothless gave a little wiggle of his body and glanced at Hiccup over his shoulder. Berk was a smudge on the horizon, the mountains a ragged blur. It had taken them about an hour to get here at Meatlug’s speed, if Hiccup’s guesses by the position of the sun were right. It wouldn’t take Toothless that long.

“Go on then, bud,” he said with a grin, flattening himself down to the saddle. He opened Toothless’s tail.

With a shriek, Toothless seemed to jump forwards in the air. Hiccup had to hold on tight against the speed, the force of Toothless’s wings against the air, raindrops stinging his forehead and his hands. The sky was a grey blur and the sea a blue one, and Toothless rolled laterally in the air apparently for the sheer joy of it as they closed the distance to Berk. The others would be behind, perhaps at their own speeds or perhaps all together, but for a moment it did not matter because there was just Toothless, and him, and the sky beneath their wings and their muscles fighting at the air. He knew they weren’t his wings, not really, but somehow they felt like they were, and when Toothless screamed and fired into the air Hiccup might just have whooped too.

They landed behind his father’s house, and Hiccup stumbled off, still giddy and windswept and grinning like a loon. He almost fell over before remembering to get the cane off his back and actually use it, and even Toothless gave him a head-cocked, uncertain look.

“I’m all right, bud,” he said, patting Toothless on the nose. His hand was shaking slightly, just from the thrill of it all. “I’m good.”

They hadn’t flown that fast since the Red Death, and never before it either. Weaving through the stacks had been nimble, but not that fast, and Hiccup suspected that even this was not as fast as Toothless could go. That he still had speed left in him, enough that Hiccup would not be able to bear it. Well, not yet, anyway.

He heard the door open and Gobber appeared round the corner, mug on his left arm. “Where in Thor’s name have you been?” he said, eyeing Hiccup up and down. It was getting darker, the world pooling blue and fires burning from windows.

“Fishing,” declared Hiccup. He went to walk to Gobber, but one leg felt like jelly and the other one wasn’t behaving at the best of times nowadays, and he staggered into Toothless instead. It took a moment to compose himself and get back to walking normally again. “We just stopped off for some dinner.”

“We?”

“I took the others.” Hiccup waved at the horizon. “They’re coming. We went ahead.”

Gobber reached over and picked a scrap of fish skin off Hiccup’s shoulder. “I see. And were you planning on doing your own laundry, as well?”

That was enough to make Hiccup look down sheepishly at himself. He was soaked in brine, and spattered with bits of fish skin and gut as well for that matter. He flicked a small shell out of his tunic and gave Gobber an apologetic look. “I will?” he offered.

But Gobber just gave an unimpressed snort. “Aye, sure. If you’re anything like your father, you’ll have no clothes left by the end of it. You,” he said, slinging one arm around Hiccup’s shoulders to steer him towards the front door, “are going to be learning how to clean that leg of yours instead, because I doubt you want it rusting on you.”

He hadn’t even thought of that. Hiccup gave his foot a look as if it had betrayed him.

“Now let’s get you into some clean clothes and in front of the fire. I’m sure that your father will be dying to hear the explanation for this one."

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