Learning To Fly
Toothless's thoughts kept flying back to something that happened a couple nights ago after telling the pack that he and Moonbeam were a pair. He and she had walked together to speak with Jumps-At-Fire and ensure peace with her. Having someone in the pack secretly clutching anger to her soul-fire would have been bad. Fortunately, Jumps-At-Fire had not declared any anger or ill will toward them.
But she did look despondent afterwards, and that was chilling.
Was there anything he could do to help her? It was not his duty to try to change her, but... he could maybe help her change herself for the better. The best way to do that... as he saw with Hiccup's own problems and with the past hidden self-blaming Moonbeam was suffering from... was through understanding and acceptance.
He was very sure that Jumps-At-Fire was not rotted or intentionally cruel, and she did not deserve to feel so rejected and cold.
Maybe it was possible to help her see what was forcing her flight and what was making her act as she did. It was probably much more complicated than she just wanted to have fun with a willing male. Her past with her sire flying away and her dam teaching her strength through not trusting others... probably did much to chill her soul-fire.
Further, there was probably no one else who would say what she needed to hear.
Resolved to act, he nuzzled Moonbeam's cheek, waking her from her sleep up on their shared rock near his family's rock. She purred without opening her eyes.
"Burning-Star..."
"My dear mate, how are you?" he purred.
She yawned.
"Well and warm."
"Good. I want to tell you something."
"What is it?" she whispered.
"You might want to get up for this."
She did and glanced curiously at him, so he took a deep breath.
"I am going to talk to Jumps-At-Fire today. I want to help open her eyes to her problems, if she wants to accept help."
Moonbeam did not do or say anything for a few wingbeats without looking away. Then she leaned against his side.
"If you must do so for her as a packmate. I trust you on this. Thank you for telling me."
He licked her on the cheek in appreciation.
"Do you have work today?" he asked.
"Yes, I will help with the herding. The shepherds said there were some of the big wolves stalking one of the herds. We were going to find the wolves' den," she answered.
"Then I will help you with that after the talk, and I can practice flying more."
"You need to. Your flight is a little fouled."
He grumbled, not liking that he did have small problems making the new tailfin listen as it should.
"Still good enough to catch you," he said.
"You wish," she huffed.
She woke up Mystery.
"Sister-dam?" Mystery yawned, stretching her limbs.
"Wake up sister-cub!" Moonbeam purred.
"What are we doing..."
"We are going to drink water and then start the day. You and the other fledglings are going to the mountains for a hunt."
Mystery flew to her paws.
"Can I do the fade? I like hunting while faded!"
"If one of the other adults flames you, yes, you can!"
Mystery grumbled and jumped down from the rock.
He followed Moonbeam and Mystery up into Edoras for a drink of water. Moonbeam drank her fill, nuzzled his nose, whispered a pawful of very tender words to him, and then spoke to Mystery. Mystery then flew to the pack's slope while Moonbeam flew off toward several packmates who were about to depart. He watched them as they circled above, eventually departing for the horizon. Once they were gone, he went in search of Hiccup and found him by the forge.
"Hiccup, how are you?"
"Not too bad. You?"
"Well, and..."
Hiccup threw up a paw to interrupt him.
"I know what else you're going to ask. The wingsuit is coming along. Not finished yet."
"Can I see it?" he eagerly asked, tail swaying.
"Sure, come inside."
He stuck his nose into the forge and saw Hiccup holding up the false-wings with metal bones inside. They did not look very impressive yet, but he could see how they might look like wings. There was only one way to know if those false-wings could hold wind.
"Very good. I very much want you to fly with them soon!"
"Me too. I gotta wait for some help with part of the design, but it'll be done soon. A few days at most."
He stepped back out of the forge while Hiccup also came outside.
"What are you up to today?" Hiccup asked.
"I will be away today."
"Alright, mind if I know where... unless this involves you and Moonbeam..." Hiccup warily said.
He snorted and stuck a paw in Hiccup's face.
"Yes, I will be with her, but not how you are thinking... twisted human. I will go with her to help with her flock-protecting work... after another talk with someone else."
"Huh?"
He sighed and glanced at his paws.
"I am going to talk to Jumps-At-Fire."
Hiccup blinked.
"Oh. Okay. What for?"
"I... want to help her. She is very sad or upset that I have a mate now. I might understand her better than she does."
"Right? Is... is that really your business? I mean... are you going to try to change her?"
He grumbled, not entirely agreeing with that way of saying it.
"No, I am not going to tell her what she must do. I want to help her see her life-flight better, if she wants that help. If she does, then she can change her own life for the better. If not, then I will have done all I can for her."
"Alright then. Well, you know what you're doing. Hope it goes well."
"So do I. I can also tell you how the new tailfin is working."
Hiccup wistfully smiled and nodded.
"Yeah, I did my best with it, but it's not going to be perfect. Let me know if you feel any problems, and I'll do my best to fix them."
"I will."
He then flew off in search of Jumps-At-Fire, remembering that she had flown off to the Snowborne for fishing and for privacy.
There was no way to know how she would react to this. She might want to fight him, ignore him, or listen to him... or maybe all three of those together.
He arrived within sight of the river, and after a little searching spotted a dark shape resting a few hops from the river. He recognized the shape, a smaller female Night Fury, from above, and knew that it was her.
She looked up and visibly stiffened at his landing and approach on paw. Her narrowed eyes followed him until he stopped at her shoulder. He was not sure at first what to say, so he nodded at the water.
"Jumps, how is your hunting?"
She looked away and grumbled.
"I have not caught anything yet."
"Is the hunting not good?"
"No, there are fish, but I am... thinking much."
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"About what?"
He sighed and looked down at his paws.
"You know about what. I said that I am kin to you and want your life-flight to be warmer. That was truth."
"What more is there to say?" she calmly answered.
"You said that you would try to move on, but you did not sound like you believed it. I want to help you."
"Do you? How? What do you think you can do for me? You have Moonbeam now. Go be with her. That is... your place."
"What can I do for you? I cannot help you by doing what we were before. That will not help you or me. I want to talk with you, freely and with truth about your life."
She got up and walked to the edge of the water where she sat down, the river lapping at her paws. He did the same and again sat down beside her.
A long silence followed. He was not sure how to begin helping her to dig into her life-flight to find the hidden rot. It would not happen if she did not help it happen. Receiving this help would certainly be uncomfortable for her, and she needed to help the process start.
"Do you want me to talk with you? I will leave if you ask me to leave."
She sighed and rolled a paw against the sand.
"You want to talk? Sure... why not?"
"Okay. You feared bonding with me. Why?"
She snorted.
"You should know that. It is not safe to bond, and it hurts to remember... the past..."
This problem of hers almost certainly involved her lost mate, the one she had cared for.
"Will you tell me about him: your first mate?"
"He was stupid and twisted and I should not have trusted him!" she growled.
He stared into the distance, slightly surprised by that outburst against someone she supposedly loved truly. Maybe those were not her true thoughts on her lost mate. What she said... sounded like something someone else would have said.
"Yes, your dam would have said that about him. But what would you say about him? Truth only. Tell me what he was like... before you and he were together."
She hesitated for a very long time before answering.
"He was my age, kind, and warm in his soul-fire. We found each other, played and flew on adventures, and... were together before my dam knew about us. He was never threatening or... dangerous. He made me feel special and... wanted."
"What happened to him? How did he... die?"
She winced.
"He said that he flew out of a hidden world. That was probably why he did not know humans and... was not careful enough around them. He did not see a trap. My... dam was right about him and me..."
He thought about how to carefully answer that.
"That is false. Him not knowing the danger of humans is not a problem with who he was. That he died does not mean that he did not love you. That was not his fault or your fault."
"I know that. But love and trust is not... safe. It only ends with pain, loss, and tears," she whined.
"Is that all you can remember? You should know there is more than that."
She spun on him and growled freely, as if her soul-fire was sparked by something he said.
"I also remember my sire leaving us, and my dam teaching me to be strong!"
He saw the falseness in what she said, though she clearly did not.
"What she taught you is not strength! She taught you to never trust others and to fly alone in your life!"
She spun away and started pacing in the sand without looking at him. She also growled, hissed, and clawed at the sand while doing so, and he had not seen such feeling and anger out of her before.
"Tell me this: when we were still together... did you feel warmed that I enjoyed part of it? Did you feel warmth not only for yourself?" he asked.
She kept pacing without glancing at him.
"Please look at me."
Another long pause followed until she did look at him.
"I... did like... that you were happy with me, at first... and the pretend-bonding reminded me of... the little good I did have before..."
Was it as simple as she was trying to see her lost mate in him, while keeping distance so that she could not be truly hurt. She wanted something she could not have, so she pretended he was her lost mate. Maybe that was why she kept trying to... be with whoever would be with her.
Maybe there was hope for her, since she did want what would be naturally good in her life.
"You are not dead in your soul-fire," he whispered.
"Yes, I am."
"No, you are not."
She huffed and flicked an ear.
"Fine. Why not? Explain that!"
"Because you remember the good that you felt with him, and you wanted to try to feel that with me but without the danger."
She growled and rolled a paw in the sand, hopefully while considering what he said. It almost felt like she was fighting his offered help or trying to not see that...
"That might have lift... but I do not deserve to be that warm anyway. I cannot get a male to stay with me. I will only make mistakes. That is who I am."
Mistakes. Did she truly believe that she could only make mistakes. There was someone else who had told her that.
He stepped before her and snarled in her face.
"Is that you speaking, or your dam?"
She blinked and stepped back in open surprise as he continued.
"She must have been angry that her mate, your sire, left her. That was wrong of him, but did you ever stop and ask yourself if she wronged you also? Maybe she secretly blamed you since he was not around anymore."
She said nothing.
"Whether she tried to or not, she made her own hurts live in you! She hurt you!"
He growled and started pacing.
"Do not misunderstand me. You did some wrong also. It was wrong of you to use me... and anyone else you have been with in the same way. You also... got rid of your cub because you were afraid. You could have loved that cub, and it could have loved you as you were its dam."
She whined and shook her head.
"But dam was right... she knew more than I did... I had to listen to her... I had no choice..."
"No, you always had a choice. Telling yourself that you did not... is a way of hiding and keeping your eyes closed. You were still young and afraid, so you listened to her. That was still a choice. Even now, so many winters later, you still blame yourself. Why is your soul-fire doing that?"
"I do not know..." she whined again.
"It is telling you to grow. You make a mistake, you learn from it, and you do not make the mistake again. Be better than your own dam was! The mistake was not that you loved him! And I think you know that! You are very not bad or rotted!"
"How can you be so sure of that? You... you think you know me! You know nothing about me!" she snarled.
Her sudden flare of defensive anger suggested that he must be right.
"What was his name?"
She blinked.
"What?"
"Your mate... what was his name?"
"Why does that matter?
"What was his name?"
"He was... Glides-In-Light."
"If Glides-In-Light flew here and landed with us right now, if he were still alive to live with us in peace in this world where humans do not hate us, if he jumped at you and said that he wanted you back as his life-mate again, would you... go to him and be with him as you were?"
She shivered and looked away, visibly struggling with herself. She clawed at the sand underpaw and growled at herself.
Then a tear fell down her muzzle. She did not speak, but she did not need to.
He solemnly purred and whispered.
"You have your answer. You can be warm again if you just hunt that warmth and try to grow."
She stepped back and weakly sighed, all her strength and fire seemingly gone or dimmed.
"That is not a warmth I can have alone. He is dead, and there are none in the pack who will have me now. They have already decided what I am. Finding other dark wings... probably will not happen anymore. I never found any others not in the pack."
That was a fair problem. But, just as Moonbeam had pointed out to her, growing out of the past did not mean she must get a mate. Being free of this gnawing need was enough of a goal on its own.
She looked away from him and stared across the river without moving for a long time.
"What are you thinking?" he whispered.
She glanced at him, looking very wary before she answered.
"If I do want another mate... would you want to have two mates: two equal mates you are good to?"
He stepped back in surprise that she would even suggest that. On one paw, the idea of having her and Moonbeam was... not what he wanted or how families work. At least, having two females to one male was not how any of the families were in the pack.
On the other paw, this was a very different offer from what she had suggested in the past. This offer implied commitment and care from her. If he were to have two mates, he would do all he could to be good to both of them.
However, he had made a promise to Moonbeam that he would be hers only.
"No, I would not. My life is with Moonbeam. You should know that."
She grumbled and looked away.
"I thought you would say that," she huffed.
A very faint, twisted idea flitted into his thoughts as he saw her staring at her paws. He doubted that she was rotted enough to do such a terrible deed, but Moonbeam had warned him and Hiccup about twisted things that can happen because of desire for a mate, if the stories were true.
"Nothing will take me from her or make me want another. If someone hurts her and leaves me without her... I will find out if you did it... and if you did... I will kill you," he calmly said.
She stepped back from him.
"No... I said that I will not hurt you or her, and I meant that. She has never hurt me or been cruel to me. Hurting her would not let me get you."
He was pleased that she understood that.
"No, it would not. Do not ask me about that again. If you hear nothing else, hear this: you are not as hurt and rotted as you think you are. Yes, you did bad and made mistakes, but you know that you did bad and will not do that bad again."
He paused and solemnly hummed.
"I... do not blame you for anything... even what you did with me. Can you... forgive me?"
She glanced at him, her jaw slightly hanging open.
"Forgive you for what?"
He hung his head and exhaled.
"For... using you for pleasure before. Yes... we both agreed and wanted it... but it was still wrong of us and it only hurt us. I am sorry for not being in control of myself."
"You are apologizing for that? What?"
"Yes. I feel like I should. Can you forgive me?"
She blinked and looked very confused or even a little amused.
"I... do not think I need to, but... fine. I do not hate you for anything."
Pleased, he stepped away and stretched his wings.
"Good, thank you. I have said all I needed to say. Good hunting to you, Jumps."
She looked away from him and stared at the water.
"And to you, Burning-Star. I... need to think much about this."
He spun away from the river, jumped, and flew off in search of the herd, his kin, and the day's work. All the while on the calm flight on his own, he thought on Jumps-At-Fire's twisted problems. It looked like there was hope for her, leaving aside the nibbling problem that there were no other available males whom she could get to know or eventually be with.
And assuming that she could truly want such a life. Another possibility was for her to just not need a mate at all. It was not a life-rule that one must have a mate.
There was no temptation or desire for him to have another mate in addition to Moonbeam. He considered telling her about Jumps-At-Fire's offer, but he decided against it. There was no reason to make Moonbeam want to go kill her. Further, the offer was merely a question to touch his thoughts on the possibility.
But if Jumps-At-Fire asked him again or made him some other twisted offer, that might change everything and might force him and Moonbeam to confront her together.
Toothless slowly circled while inspecting the completed wingsuit which Hiccup was wearing for him to see.
"What'dya think, bro? Is this... dragon enough for you?"
Dark leather hide extended from Hiccup's wrists down below his belly. Another such wing extended between his legs down to the knees while dark fins went down his back. Hiccup also had a helmet which showed only his eyes, and the helmet also had small frills. There were no scales on the new furs, but these looked much better than normal human furs. This wingsuit made Hiccup look much more like a Night Fury!
He stepped in front of Hiccup, purred softly, and nodded with approval.
"The wings look good! We should fly with them now!"
"Just be sure to not hit me with your fire! This thing is not fireproof on the outside like you!"
Toothless held a paw to his chest in pretend shock.
"I am a Night Fury. I do not miss."
"Fair point..." Hiccup answered as he put on his dark helmet that covered everything except his green eyes.
"You still need a tail..."
"Yeah, I do."
"And the smaller tail-wings."
"What are those even for?"
"They make the wind scream in pain when I dive."
Hiccup shrugged as they walked outside.
"Not like I need to do that."
Toothless cried out for Moonbeam, crouched down to let Hiccup climb on, and then they took to the sky, flying high up above the plains outside Edoras. They quickly flew up above the clouds themselves.
He could barely hold in his flame at how eager he was for this. Hiccup was about to fledge... in a way!
He leveled off into a smooth glide above the clouds and then glanced over his shoulder. Hiccup looked ready and was holding his false-wings out to flutter in the wind.
"Are you ready to fly on your own?" he shouted.
Hiccup looked surprisingly worried and unsure of himself.
"Maybe we should take this nice and slow..." Hiccup shouted.
When have you ever been afraid of flying?
"What! Hiccup, it will be fine!" he barked in amusement.
He waited as Hiccup prepared to jump, slowly standing up on his shoulders and finding his courage. Hiccup started to stretch his wings again.
Then Moonbeam whipped up in front of him with a spin and joyful roar. She settled into a steady glide above them.
"Well, look who it is!" Hiccup shouted.
She toothlessly grinned down at them and glided closer.
"Hiccup is learning to use his wings!" he shouted up to her.
She tilted her head and lifted her ears; she looked very intrigued by this flight.
"Is he?" she barked.
"Yes!"
It happened before he had a chance to react.
She dove immediately above him, reached out with her forearms, and grabbed Hiccup, carrying him up higher into the air.
He was not at all afraid that she would hurt him, but it was still confusing what was happening.
What are you doing to him?
"Moonbeam, what are you doing?" Hiccup shouted once she leveled off into a glide.
Her forearms were wrapped around him, holding him tightly to her chest.
"Flying!" she barked back.
"With me?"
"Not for long, cub!"
Not for long? Cub?
Then she looked back upside down at him, crooned softly, and smiled toothlessly.
"I will not catch you!" she shouted.
Catch me?
"Fly!" she roared.
Then she dropped him.
Oh my gods!
There was no Toothless diving at his side. Panic was building inside.
The wind roared past him as he tumbled head over heels and struggled to breathe against the deafening wind. His head felt like it was going to burst as pressure built in his ears.
Tumbling.
Falling.
Unable to scream because he was breathless.
Lost in freefall.
And then...
His soul-fire burned brightly despite the fear.
It reminded him of something he had forgotten.
He was learning to fly with his wings.
They stretched wide and arrested his fall as the wind tore across his wings, pushing him higher as he glided into the wind.
He could not beat his wings or do anything more than angle himself toward the wind above a large, puffy cloud, but that was not a problem.
His wings did not fail him!
Total freedom and liberation!
His breath could have failed him and his soul-fire flown to soar like a star forever in the heavens.
Is this was it was to be dragon?
THIS IS AMAZING!
Then two other sets of wings, light and dark, were in the sky at his sides. The tips of their wings barely brushed against his. He could only spare a brief glance at each of them. Toothless looked worried while Moonbeam looked amused.
He held his falling flight as he passed down through the cloud and emerged in the clear sky high above the golden plain.
A bright bolt of purple fire flew past him and then exploded in a bright, warm flash. The heated air and pressure pushed him higher as he almost bounced off the small inferno. Several more such shots followed, keeping him aloft.
Yeah! It works!
Two loud roars were barely audible over the roaring wind.
It was hard to tell the passing of time over the elation and rush of the wind. Seconds, minutes, or hours... time was not.
He wished that he could soar freely as a dragon forever. This is where he belonged and deserved to be. Every dragon deserved to be in the sky!
However, the ground was quickly approaching. He was still flying very fast and had no way to slow his descent to a safe speed.
Uh, yeah, landing is a problem!
Fortunately, Toothless must have recognized this also because he immediately darted forward and caught him with plenty of room still to go.
Yep, no sloppy rescue maneuvers now!
They glided down onto the grassy plain and then alighted on a golden hill. Toothless gently released him onto the ground and then hopped back from him.
Hiccup got to his shaky feet, folded away his wingsuit after checking that it was undamaged, and stared at Toothless in amazement while struggling to find words.
"Hah! Hiccup has no words!" Toothless barked.
"Thank you for nothing..."
"Nothing? You looked like you needed catching."
"Yeah, fair enough... thanks for that. I need to think of some way to slow my landing so that..."
Moonbeam daintily touched down behind him and bounded closer.
"Moonbeam! What was that! You just dropped me!"
"Yes, my dear mate. What was that?"
She snorted and huffed at them as she sat back on her haunches.
"You do not know that ceremony?"
He turned on Toothless and glared at him.
"Is this one of the pack's secret ceremonies you never told me about?"
"Maybe, there are many I was told about."
Moonbeam laughed to get their attention.
"The ceremony is that every sire and dam takes their flightless cub into the sky after the cub grows its wings. Then they drop their cub."
It both made sense and was very terrifying.
"What if the cub cannot fly!" he objected.
"The cub will fly. The sire and dam can catch it if it is weak or falls," she answered.
Toothless hummed in thought, curious about something he had never gotten an answer to.
"When does a dark wing or light wing stop being a cub or a fledgling? I do not know the difference for the pack."
She purred at that.
"Dark wings and light wings are the same in this. They are a young-cub until they fly freely the first time. Then they are a cub until the first successful hunt on their own. They are named a fledgling when they have a true hunt. They are named an adult when they get their fire and are of mating-age, able to make a cub."
Hiccup thought about it and then realized what she had just done implied.
"Hey, wait a minute! Are you saying that I'm like your cub!"
She and Toothless laughed freely at that.
"Maybe you are! You are learning to fly!" Toothless roared with joy.
"It's more like falling with style," Hiccup muttered.
Then Moonbeam chuckled slyly and bounded over to Toothless's side.
"Think of it as practice. We will need to do that again in the future with our own cub!" she hummed.
Toothless purred in agreement.
"Yes, we will."
Hiccup groaned.
"Get a den, you two!"
"Why on the ground in a den when we have the whole sky to fly in!" Moonbeam barked.
"I like flying in the sky..." Toothless purred.
"You're hopeless!"
"Tell your brother that! He is very not hopeless!" she retorted.
Hiccup rolled his eyes.
"I'm going to not think about that. Anyway, very good rescue maneuvers. Any ideas how I might land safely on my own? I don't have four legs or big enough wings to slow down enough."
Both Furies grumbled softly with their heads lifted and tails swaying as they thought about it.
"That is a tail-twisting problem. You should have been born a dragon," Moonbeam grumbled.
"Yeah, I just don't want to break something or lose a leg coming down. Bro, any ideas?"
"Bigger wings?" Toothless offered.
Hiccup held out his arms, stretching his wingsuit out again.
"These are just about as big as I can make them. Any bigger and they'll probably be too heavy or cumbersome. Maybe I should start smoking pipe-weed like the Hobbits and Gandalf."
"Why would you do that? How does that help?" Moonbeam wondered.
"It helps them think or get new ideas," Toothless answered and nuzzled her neck.
Hiccup rolled his eyes at their display of affection.
"We should fly more later today, if you two are not going to be totally occupied..."
Moonbeam laughed freely at that, spun away from them, and took to the sky to fly back to Edoras. They both watched her white shape flying and spinning through the sky.
"She wants a cub very much, and so do I," Toothless purred.
Hiccup paused before speaking what was on his mind.
"Brother, I know it's your business, you two, if you want to start a family, but is it the best idea to be doing that right now? We don't know what's going to happen with the war."
Toothless sighed and nodded.
"I thought much about that and talked with her. We have peace now here in Rohan. I hope that there will not be more fighting, and I do not think that we will be fighting in a season-cycle when she probably has a cub. And there might always be another danger that would be a reason to wait more."
"What is life without a little risk?" Hiccup teasingly asked.
"You know nothing about 'a little risk', cub!"
"Cub! I'm a fledgling now!"
"What! You flew, yes, but what have you hunted?"
"I have brought down a mighty Night Fury!"
They both blinked.
"And then lifted it back up again..." Hiccup immediately added.
Toothless paced and grumbled, eventually looking back to him and snorting.
"Fledgling then. When will you be an adult?"
"Hmm, I can already hunt with fire-arrows and Inferno. Uh... about the other part..."
"Yes, how will I know when you are mature and ready to make..."
Hiccup interrupted him.
"Well, I'm already... old enough to... you know... do that. But there's also when I get my beard, if I ever do that!"
Toothless's jaw fell open.
"You will get face-fur? Will it be white like Gandalf?"
"Maybe someday, but not now. It will probably be red or dark brown... like my human father."
"Hiccup with a face-fur beard. That I need to see!"
"I'm sure you will."
Toothless chuckled as he crouched down to let Hiccup on his back.
"You probably do not remember this because you had too much of the beer, but that time when you marked my den in the Shire..."
"Just had to remind me of that. Thanks a lot."
"You are welcome. You said that it would be good for me to find a mate, you to find a mate, and for our young to grow up together as family. That would be good."
Hiccup shrugged.
"Yeah, I guess so, but finding someone isn't very high on my list at all. I've got more important things to worry about."
Hiccup rested beside Far-Flight, Sky-Dancer, and Breath-Of-Sky. Toothless and Moonbeam were fast asleep on the nearby rock they had claimed as theirs, their tails entwined as most of the pairs liked to do. Mystery also lay beside her sister. He had offered to rest with his parents and younger brother tonight, on the chance that Toothless and Moonbeam wanted the freedom to fly off together, which it did not look like they were planning on.
He grumbled, rolling over on the fur pelt he was rest on. Sleeping on the ground and under the stars was far less comfortable than being inside on a proper straw bed with blankets. But being around the pack which he was part of and responsible to was heartwarming in another way.
He and Toothless had practiced flight throughout much of the afternoon, and they had unsurprisingly learned that he was a natural in the skies with his own wings. Many months of practice and learning flight on Toothless's back had transferred over into his own experience because he had thought of flight as a unit: him and Toothless working together.
Even so, they had shared thoughts about how the wingsuit could be improved to give more drag for landing and a little more control in the sky.
Still have to think of something to do for landing. Using all fours helps a little, but that still hurts.
Another option he came up with was a large parachute. However, he didn't have thin enough fabric to make a large parachute. Further, there was not enough room on his person for both his wingsuit and the parachute at the same time.
I'll figure something out...
He gazed to the stars, and he knew that the sky is where his heart would always feel at home from now on. Despite all the flights he had been on with Toothless, there was something different about flying or gliding on his own power, more or less.
He closed his eyes and imagined Earendil flying forever in a sky-ship while bearing something like a jewel that glowed with the light of a star.
How did he build a sky-ship? That would be something to see...
Hiccup frowned, looking around the pack's slope and not seeing who he was looking for.
Alright, where is she?
He hadn't checked on Snowflame in several days since... other matters had been on his mind. Starlight was already fine, his wound having healed quickly after the injury. Snowflame's wound on her belly similarly had healed, but her wings, last he saw, still had visible marks. He wanted to check on her to see how she was doing. Lacking flight for now, she could not have gone far from Edoras.
He walked around Edoras for a while until he noticed a Fury and a woman up on the slope behind the Golden Hall. They were indeed Snowflame and Eowyn. Eowyn was leaning against a boulder while her plain brown dress and golden hair slightly whipped in the wind. Snowflame was sitting on her haunches and gesturing animatedly at Eowyn.
"Haddock! Welcome!" Eowyn greeted him when she saw him.
"Lady Eowyn, Snowflame, how are you both?"
"We are well. What about you? Do you like being Far-Flight's and Sky-Dancer's cub?" Snowflame purred.
He rolled his eyes while Eowyn chuckled.
"So far so good. I know they care about me."
"They adopted you, correct?" Eowyn asked.
"They did. What are you both up to?"
Eowyn and Snowflame glanced at each other.
"We were talking about life and what can be frustrating," Eowyn softly said.
"I think he just wants you to be safe," Snowflame purred.
"What if safe is not what I want? Your father let you fight alongside those you love."
Snowflame's ears fell.
"Yes, and I wish I did not... I was too slow... I should not have been in the fight..."
She also stretched out a wing to look at it. He easily saw the marks, prominent discolorations and whirls of thin wing-skin, where the arrows had torn through. They looked like they were healing well, though a few of the stitches were still there.
"Have you been flying yet?" he asked.
"Only a little gliding. Not true flying yet. My sire and dam want all the wing-holes healed before I fly truly."
Then she purred and chuckled.
"What?" he asked.
"I saw your flying-falling from here! That was funny!"
"Funny?"
"And amazing! I did not know you could make yourself wings."
"What is this about wings?" Eowyn asked, curious.
He sheepishly smiled.
"Oh, I made myself a wingsuit so I can fly also. Well, it's more like falling with style."
Eowyn shook her head.
"Master Haddock, you are very... peculiar."
"Yep, that's me. Have you thought about flight yourself?"
Eowyn and Snowflame glanced at each other before looking back at him.
"We might have been talking about it... but only after she is well again. There is no reason to rush," Eowyn said.
Snowflame purred softly.
He was very pleased that they were already eager to share the gift of flight when the time was right.
"But not with a... wingsuit!" Eowyn quickly added.
Toothless grumbled, not liking the look of only having one tailfin again. Hiccup was still working on making some improvements to the new tailfin. Being on the ground and not able to take to the sky was frustrating after so recently enjoying flight again.
But there was one very good thing that he could do while grounded. Most of the other adults and fledglings were working right now, and that meant that the cubs: Free-Flight, Nightfall, Tail-Hunter, and Storm-Chaser, needed to be watched and entertained. Lightning was of course in her den and doing much sleeping with Hunts-Golden-Light.
Moonbeam had eagerly volunteered to play with and watch the cubs while their sires and dams were away in the morning.
He was entirely happy to watch her as she played with them. She chased the pack of cubs around in games of tail-tag, and then she let them rest under her wings when they tired of the playing.
She was so happy, warm in her soul-fire, and wanting more good in her life. That much was obvious. How much of life changes from having a cub? His own sire and dam did not live all of that with him. But they did well with Breath-Of-Sky.
He chuckled.
Being a good sire and dam for the cubs is probably, as Hiccup would say, from learning while doing.
He eventually had the feeling that he was being watched, so he looked around. Sure enough, Alpha-King Theoden was looking at him. That felt odd since they had not had any true bonding time yet in the weeks that the pack had been in Edoras.
All that he knew of this human Alpha-King was what Hiccup had told him and what he saw at the bonding-ceremony. So he hopped to his paws and trotted over to him.
"Alpha Theoden," he bent his head in a sign of respect.
"Good morning, Burning-Star," Theoden replied, looking troubled.
"You feel twisted by something."
Theoden crossed his arms on his chest and looked out over the city and the plains.
"I think much of how different my realm is with you dragons living peacefully with us. Change is never easy, especially for those who are older and lived most of their lives knowing different traditions. There are some people who wish that your kind did not live among us."
That was surprising and slightly chilling to hear.
"Why? What have we done wrong?"
"Nothing, and that is what I tell those who have spoken in confidence to me."
"What can we do to help?"
"Probably just do more of what you are doing now. Live peacefully with us, help work with us, watch the borders with us, and join us at our festivals. There is nothing more that you can do to change hearts and minds over time."
Theoden then gestured with a paw toward Moonbeam.
"I hear that congratulations are in order. You have found yourself someone special."
"Yes," he purred, "Moonbeam is my life-mate now. Hiccup made me a new tailfin that lets me fly on my own with her and just fly on my own whenever I want."
Theoden slowly nodded.
"I understand. Your adoptive brother and friend is an honorable man. Would you please take me to see the new cub? I have not yet seen her, and I would greatly enjoy meeting her."
"Yes, follow me. I will take you to her and Lightning."
Theoden followed him through Edoras to the Lightning's den. That Theoden wanted to do this reminded him that Theoden was a good Alpha-King for his pack and a good human in general. The man carried no hate or great mistrust toward dragons, though it might be easy for him to approve of the pack considering what the pack did for him at Helm's Deep.
"You are a good Alpha-King, Theoden."
"I am glad that you think so. My rule was not so sound in recent winters."
That was strange since Theoden was a strong leader who had led his pack well.
"Why? Your pack looks strong."
"We are now, but I was under a spell that took away my will."
He stopped walking and turned toward Theoden in surprise that they had both experienced something similar.
Theoden was a thrall to something? Great sky-breath...
"What was it?"
"Saruman's influence through another who I trusted as an adviser. He was forcing me to sit idle on my throne as my people suffered and my lands burned. Even my son died while I could not act."
He hummed softly in sympathy.
"I... know how bad it is to be controlled by another and to hear their twisted whispering. There was a very big dragon in my old nest; that dragon could control others and make them hunt for it. I had to attack human packs and nests to help dragons take prey for the monster dragon."
"Could that happen again?" Theoden warily asked.
"I do not think so. There are not many big monster dragons in this world now; at least not as there were long ago. We would all fight those monsters if there are any. We Night Furies and Light Furies are harder for monsters to control. A monster could control one Night Fury, maybe two or three, but not a full pack of us."
"That is a relief."
They arrived at the den and saw that Lightning was sitting outside the den.
"Lightning! Warm winds to you."
She started in surprise and faced him.
"Burning-Star, warm winds to you. Who is the human?"
"He is Theoden, the Alpha of the pack. He wants to see your new cub."
Lightning slowly stood and lifted her wing, revealing her small cub at her side. Hunts-Golden-Light hopped to her paws and blinked her golden eyes very fast in surprise.
"Little one, look at them. Your kin and a good human," Lightning hummed and nuzzled her cub.
Her cub, still very unsteady on her paws, stumbled toward them, chirped, and yawned. Theoden silently gazed at the cub. Then he bent down and knelt before the wide-eyed cub.
"May I touch her?"
"Yes," Lightning hummed.
Theoden slowly reached out with a paw and held it before the cub, who eyed the paw and fingers in curiosity. Then she nipped at the paw.
It was good that newborn cubs had very small teeth.
"No, little one, humans are not for eating or biting..." Lightning grumbled.
Hunts-Golden-Light warbled and chirped, yawning widely.
"Come, little one, you need more sleep."
Lightning bent down, picked up her cub by her scruff, and carried her, tail thrashing, back into the den. She then curled up around her cub.
It had been a very short meeting, but that was unsurprising. New cubs, in addition to chewing on many things, did a lot of sleeping. And it was one more good interaction.
He nudged Theoden's shoulder.
"So, Alpha, what do you think about her?"
Theoden faintly smiled without baring his teeth.
"I think that Rohan needs more of that," Theoden whispered.
Toothless smirked.
I and Moonbeam are working on it!
"We do not have many cubs. One only about every ten winters."
"Why is that so?" Theoden wondered.
"Because we need much food and care when we are young. Life in the wild does not let us have many young and provide for them."
Theoden put his paws in his furs and nodded at the explanation.
"We can help with that, especially once the war is over. Our herds are large and there are many lands that can be yours. Fangorn is not too far away, and the mountains have numbers of deer and elk. I will do whatever I can for your kind."
They remained at each other's side, looking toward Lightning as she rested in her den.
Hiccup was in the forge shortly after dawn, still tinkering with the auto-tailfin in response to some of Toothless's feedback. The tail tilted his flight a little to the right of what was intended.
What is going wrong? I screwed something up here. Maybe a pulley is too long, a hinge is bent, or something came loose.
He fumbled with the auto-tailfin well into the morning without distraction.
"Hiccup, someone is here for you!" Toothless barked from outside.
He slumped in place and facepalmed.
Great, distractions. Love it. Let's see what the complaint is today. Why do we have to give so many cattle to the dragons? Can I get a dragon of my own to ride? Do we really have to dig pits for them to...
He froze when he saw Adney standing next to Toothless.
"Adney... hey there... hey there..."
"Good morning, Haddock. How did the flying go yesterday?" she smiled.
"I, uh, didn't fall."
"Yes, you did," Toothless huffed.
"Correction, I didn't fall because of anything that I did wrong. My gliding was perfectly fine, thank you very much."
Adney chuckled.
"That's good to hear. I knew that what we worked on wouldn't fail you."
Toothless spun on her, his eyes going very wide.
"You helped him make his wings?" he barked in surprise.
"I did. I've been helping him on that project for a while now."
He chuffed and nudged her shoulder. She did not flinch at all or show any fear.
"So that is what you were doing here. Good. I did not know that other humans have clever-thinking like Hiccup. He likes making things, like my new tailfin."
Adney's eyebrows lifted.
"What is going on there?" she asked.
Hiccup gently stroked the dark leather which he had removed to see the delicate inside of the auto-tailfin.
"It's the new tailfin that lets Toothless fly on his own."
"Right, you mentioned that earlier. Is something wrong with it?" she asked.
He frowned as he considered it.
"It has a mild calibration issue. It's either one of the pulleys or the springs that's out of whack."
She stared down at it and then faced him.
"So put it back in whack," she said.
"Uh..."
"What is a whack?" Toothless grumbled.
"It's not that simple."
She smiled.
"Sure it is. The problem is obvious."
"Really? How could you... know? What is it?"
"I trust that you'll figure it out."
Hiccup silently stared at her in total confusion and mild frustration.
"Anyway, good to see that you didn't die in flying or falling! I'll let you get back to your work. See you later," Adney cheerfully added.
She spun in place and ran out toward the stables. Hiccup walked out and stood at Toothless's shoulder as she hastily departed.
"What just happened?" Hiccup frowned.
"It looked like she was twisting your tail."
"Almost like I was talking to myself..."
Toothless's tail tapped against the ground as he thought about it.
"A female Hiccup? Great sky-breath... we do not need one of those."
"Thank you so much for saying that."
"You are welcome. Anyway, my tailfin!"
That reminded Hiccup what was important.
"The auto-tail, yeah, I'm getting closer to figuring it out. You might need to stay on the ground a little more until I find the problem and fix it, hopefully today."
"That is fine. I can be a ground dragon for now."
"One more thing. This tailfin, no matter how well I make it, will wear out and break eventually. It won't last forever."
Toothless stepped back and looked alarmed by that.
"But don't worry. I'll fix it whenever it starts to wear out. Just let me know whenever it starts not working as well as it should."
Toothless relaxed and purred softly in relief.
"I will. Thank you."
"I can also make a spare or two for when the first one gets out of whack."
Toothless blinked.
"What is a whack?"