This is where I belong ||httyd fanfic||

39. The talk with his son

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"Look who came to see his father," said Juliane, holding Alvis in her arms at the doorway to the Great Hall, even though he was a little too big to be held. Juliane hadn't changed all that much, her hair was still the same and she was still as rebellious towards her father, although he was a bit more lenient with her now. She wore a furry vest that only reached down to her abdomen over a long sleeved blue tunic, and a navy blue skirt lined with fur and extensions over the back over simple rope wrapped pants and boots.

She was with her dragon, the Changewing that had taken her hostage eight years ago, who she had now named Violet, and the two normally worked as assistants at the Dragon Hospital. Violet was a relatively peaceful dragon, it seemed, and really loved flowers, which, along with flowers, contributed into the choice of her name. On their off hours, the two were frequently called upon to babysit Alvis while his father was working on new construction projects around the village and his mother, now the head teacher at the Academy, was teaching her classes.

"Go say hi to your daddy!" Juliane said, setting Alvis on the ground.

"Daddy!" Alvis rushed through the door and into the hall as fast as his little feet would carry him. The hall was filled to the brim with large banners that hung from the rafters with designs of dragons and their riders, each one made by a different family on the island. There were torches that lined the hallway, ready to be lit once the ceremony started, and large amounts of light shone through the large open windows that would soon be closed. He ran across the long rug that extended right through along the numerous rows of chairs that were brought in once the tables where people normally ate had been pushed aside into the center ring. Standing there, right before the fire pit in front of the largest banners that depicted the Night Fury above the symbol of the Silent wolf, was his father. Alvis made it all the way to the front and jumped right into Hiccup's arms, the man just catching him at the last second.

"Hey son!" Hiccup said, swinging his son in his arms. Seeing that huge smile on his boy's face only made Hiccup calmer in the face of his big moment. More than that, though, he was all the more grateful he had made the choice to save that unhappy child he was so long ago. He was relieved every time he saw Alvis's face to know he had the boy that became his son here on Selardalr with him and not laying on the cold ground somewhere, dead. In a lifetime of disappointment, sorrow, and loneliness, Hiccup had found he had things now that could truly make him happy and proud.

"You're pretty excited today, aren't you?" Hiccup asked.

"Totally!" Alvis shrieked, waving his arms about. "My dad's gonna be the chief! I get to come to the ceremony, right?"

"Yes you do, son," Hiccup said, cradling him down the steps while Alvis wrapped his arms around his father's neck. The feat of carrying a person would have been a difficult task for the old Hiccup, so the small hint of astonished pride he felt was only natural.

"Hey, dad? When you become chief, does that mean you can tell everybody what to do?" Alvis asked innocently.

"Well, that is a part of it, but I don't just boss everybody around for no reason." Hiccup said.

"But being chief means you can do whatever you want, right? Because you're in charge and everybody has to listen to you." Alvis asked again.

Hiccup understood that Alvis was young, and from the eyes of youth, that seemed to be what being a leader entailed. It was an enticing thing to think about for children, who knew nothing of the tenants of chiefdom until they were old enough to gain a broader understanding. But youth or not, such thoughts only reminded him of his cousin Snotlout, who would have indeed only cared about getting his way all the time. Hiccup knew from the beginning, based on how Harold led and the lessons he gave to him that being chief itself was a big responsibility. The benefits of the role weren't supposed to distract one from that.