Dragon Whisperer (HTTYD)

10 - Hard Questions

"There! Now lemme see it with my own eyes."

Hiccup tore the scarf off his head that was serving as a blindfold and tossed it to the side. It landed on a black scaled leg, which shook it off. He was laid out with his belly to the floor, cradled by his dragon's forelegs and head. Even though Hiccup's eyes had been closed in concentration for quite some time, the meager gray light from the open window was barely enough to make out most details of the bedroom. Rain and thunder had moved into Berk and were there to stay, so he decided to do some drawing inside and Toothless was happy to participate in this impromptu experiment.

In the dim light, Hiccup could faintly make out the adornments that littered the walls of his little haven. Above his bed hung his original saddle and tailfin, tattered and charred. Across the room, just next to the opened window shutters that shed the rain while allowing in the meager light, above the flat slab of basalt stone that was the only bed his dragon would accept, his old and charred flight harness was nailed to the wall. Looking that direction was a mistake, though, as a bolt of lightning had him seeing spots for a while.

As his vision recovered, his largest drawing ever, hung between the two "beds", started to come into focus. That project was what had kept Hiccup sane in those first couple weeks after waking from battling the Red Death, back when he couldn't walk for long on his prosthetic leg before requiring rest. She was the gargantuan dragon queen that dominated the minds of all the dragons in the area. The drawing commemorated the victory he and Toothless brought the day she was killed. The perspective was from right next to her head as she dove after the dragon and rider duo. Hatred poured out of every detail, from the eyes squinted in rage to the claws stretched out to take them out.

Toothless was drawn in ahead of the Red Death, body curled, wings extended under his belly and whipping in the wind, plummeting with his back towards the ground as he shot the fireball that killed the beast. Hiccup was pressed down low, hands gripping the saddle, with a knowing smirk stretched across his face.

Actually, Hiccup had also done his best to draw some subtle hints of confusion and uncertainty in certain details of the Red Death, like the set of her jaw, the crossed eyes, and dilated nostrils. He let the viewer draw their own conclusions without comment, but secretly regretted that they killed her. Hiccup's greatest success in life all started when he chose to spare a life any other Viking would have taken. They all thought dragons were pure evil until they learned about the Red Death. Then, they assumed the Red Death was pure evil, but who could know for certain? Maybe if Hiccup had the luxury of time, he could have gotten to know the great creature better and figured out some mutually beneficial compromise?

He didn't dare try to draw the Red Death happily coexisting with the Vikings and Dragons as he knew exactly how everyone would take such an implication. Toothless would be seriously offended and that alone was sufficient reason to avoid such things.

Finally, Hiccup turned his attention to his newest creation, sprawled out underneath.

"Not bad," he drawled out contemplatively.

This was his fourth drawing today. He was starting to hear some of the unspoken words from Toothless and had decided that blindfolding himself and trying to draw using the visions from his dragon's own sight would be a great way to test and strengthen his receptivity. After emotions, visual imagery seemed to be the next thing Hiccup started to faintly detect - specifically what is seen at the moment. He could not yet receive memories projected from Toothless, but his reception of the basic senses at the moment was getting stronger.

Now that the Night Fury wasn't occupied in providing his eyesight for his rider, he huffed at the finished drawing. It was the scene from when Skullcrusher was introduced to Berk. Stoick had his hand placed on Skullcrusher's snout as he greeted the dragon. However, Hiccup could sense Toothless' disapproval over one detail. Skullcrusher stood there with his head level and joy WAS written all throughout his posture, but the reality is that he was really so nervous and scared while Skuf had his hands on the dragon's maw to help Stoick gather the courage to touch him.