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❛ ᴋʜᴀʟᴇᴇsɪ. ❜ ° . ༄
- ͙۪۪˚ ▎❛ 𝐅𝐎𝐔𝐑 ❜ ▎˚ ͙۪۪̥◌
»»————- ꒰ ᴜɴʙʀᴇᴀᴋᴀʙʟᴇ ʙᴏɴᴅs ꒱
❝ YOU'RE THE BEST! ❞
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A dragon's instinct is, perhaps, better than a human's. When flying at top speeds, they have to make split-second decisions that can affect the course of their route. Unexpected trees, sudden drop-offs or rising hills, even the threat of foul weather are all taken into account throughout the dragon's flight. Trusting this impulse is extremely important for their safety, and doubly so when they are carrying a rider. Likewise, it's important for the rider to rely on— and even blindly follow— their dragon's reflexes.
Of course, some rider-and-dragon pairs are more in sync than others. Take Snotlout and Hookfang, for example: while their bond was as strong as any other, their conflicting personalities often led to. . . interesting results, today's being an uncontrolled path through the forest. The Monstrous Nightmare crashed through the trees relentlessly, forcing his rider to take several limbs to the face.
Astrid, on the other hand, had a much better relationship with Stormfly. However, the headstrong Viking often tried to be in control and call the shots. This lead to her dragon making her own decisions, which often startled her rider. In this case, the Deadly Nadder chose to go down, rather than up as Astrid had instructed. Although the blonde let out a startled scream as she was flung into the air, she landed safely on her dragon's back on the other side of the broken tree. Astrid had come a long way from her early dragon training days, and she could willingly admit— to her dragon, at least— that she was wrong. She let out a relieved breath as she conceded, "you were right, Stormfly. It was down. I almost died!"
Snotlout's indignant reply was lost amongst the trees as a third type of pair sailed over the forest without the chaos of the group below. Daenerys had known her dragon the longest, considering she was the one who'd hatched him. She trusted Drogon with her entire being and would willingly put her life in danger if he thought he knew better. Up in the sky, she only heard the loudest of her friends' bickering as faint shouts. She enjoyed the peace and quiet with just the sound of the wind for company.
Spring had finally arrived on Berk and she couldn't be happier; the flowers were blooming again, the chill had receded, and it was perfect flying weather. Dany closed her eyes and flung her arms out on either side as Drogon sped them forward with slow, purposeful flaps of his wings. The sun was warm on her face as were her dragon's scales beneath her.
Her first flower crown of the season was perched on her head in a bright burst of purple and green— her favorite color pairing. The leaves fluttered dangerously in the breeze, but ultimately stayed put due to the hairpin that held them in place. Every year, as soon as she could, she ditched her heavy winter boots to run barefoot. Her freed feet curled on Drogon's scales to help keep herself in place, which she found was easier when she didn't wear shoes.
Her peace didn't last as long as she would have liked it to as Astrid and Stormfly suddenly appeared in front of her, bringing Drogon to an abrupt stop that left them hovering in midair. The blonde gave her an amused look. "Enjoying yourself while we're out here training, are you?"
Dany's expression became guilty as she completely missed her friend's joking tone. "Sorry. It's just. . . you know Drogon doesn't do small spaces—"
"Relax," the other Viking said lightly. "I'm only messing with you. Hiccup's going to look for Fishlegs but he said he'd meet us back at the Academy. Want to fly back together?"
Dany smiled happily and nodded as she and Drogon turned around to go back the way they came. Even after more than a year of knowing everyone, she was still getting used to having so many friends— especially ones like Astrid, who actually asked her to hang out. Stormfly looped around Drogon playfully as the girls ribbed about Snotlout and the twins' carelessness.
🏹🏹🏹
When everyone had regrouped at the arena, the last thing they expected— which, really, should have been the first thing, considering Hiccup's affinity for them— was the introduction of a seemingly brand-new dragon species. The tiny dragon was almost bat-like, with wings longer than its body and a sharp, pointed snout. Its horns curled above its ears, whose deadly points matched its talons. Its scales shimmered with red and gold as if the dragon itself was made out of fire.
Fishlegs was clearly the most enthusiastic about the discovery as he exclaimed, "this is so exciting! It's a whole new species!"
Tuffnut leaned closer to the dragon as he examined it critically. "Doesn't look like a flaming squirrel to me."
However, the boy seemed to not have heard him as he carried on brightly, "we have no idea what it's capable of! There's no telling what it might do."
The tiny dragon, curious about its new surroundings, made chittering sounds as it crawled around on the ground. Tuffnut crouched down to look the creature in the eye. "Flame. Do it!"
Like most beings, the dragon chose not to listen to him and lunged forward instead. His sharp teeth latched onto the teen's nose, causing him to yelp in pain. "Ah! Get it off! Get it off! Get it off!"
His sister laughed at his reaction— at least until he managed to free himself of the dragon, who landed on her face next. He chuckled as Ruffnut flailed around. "Hey, that is funny."
Hiccup sent the twins an annoyed look at their antics. The dragon grew tired of terrorizing the siblings and returned to the brunet's arms as he insisted, "come on, you guys. This is serious. We have to figure out what to do with him. He's hurt."
"He's hurt?" Tuffnut demanded as he pointed to his red nose.
"He's just really scared," Hiccup said, scratching the dragon between his horns. "He'll settle down."
Fishlegs wasn't so easily convinced as he reminded them, "um, new species, remember? We actually don't know what he'll do."
Astrid looked around at the group as she pointed out, "well, somebody's gotta take him home."
Almost all at once, they turned to look at Dany, who had the most experience with dragons. She felt her skin prickle as their gazes landed on her, their expressions varying from hopeful (Fishlegs) to indifferent (the twins.) Since she was so new to having friends, she was still concerned about them liking her. She didn't want to say no and disappoint them, even though she thought that keeping an unknown dragon was a bad idea. So, she let out a sigh of defeat and held out her arms. "Oh, alright."
The group dispersed, leaving just her and Hiccup in the ring as he transferred the dragon into her hold. Her eyes stayed trained on the creature as she spoke up hesitantly. "Um, Hiccup?"
"Yeah?"
"You. . . you know that this is probably a baby dragon, right? And its mother will be out looking for it? I mean. . . wouldn't it be better if we just. . . put it back?"
Hiccup gave her a reassuring smile. "Maybe, but shouldn't we at least study it? And besides, we can't leave an injured dragon out by itself." His tone became pleading as he added, "come on, Dany. It's just for the night! We'll figure it out in the morning."
The girl let out another sigh as her gaze lifted to look at him for a second before it fell back to the animal in her arms. His hopeful, earnest expression was one that she knew she couldn't say no to, no matter how much she disagreed with the idea. Out of all their friends, the last person that she wanted to let down was Hiccup; she'd be crushed if she was the cause of his disappointment.
"As long as it's just for the night," she agreed reluctantly.
He beamed at her and stepped forward as if to give her a quick hug, only to stop short and settle for offering the dragon a last scratch instead. "Thanks, Dany. You're the best!"
As she watched him fly off on Toothless, she felt the bubble of warmth expand in her chest as she replayed his last words in her head: thanks, Dany— you're the best!
She decided that, whatever happened that night would be worth it. Drogon, however, had other ideas. When she climbed onto his back, he refused to even lift off the ground. His wings stayed folded by his sides and he remained in a comfortable position with his feet tucked underneath him. Dany understood why he was reluctant to bring a baby with them; if— when— the mother came looking for it, they'd certainly be in danger, but she'd made a promise! She couldn't just. . . abandon it now.
The blonde placed a gentle hand between her dragon's shoulder blades as she spoke to him: "I know this isn't ideal, bud, but it's just for the night. I couldn't say no— you saw how happy Hiccup was! Come on, don't be like this."
The large dragon remained unmoved. She could've sworn that he'd fallen asleep— or perhaps turned to stone— if he had not started a tantrum, which he rarely did. He relaxed his neck into a slump, causing her to fall face-first onto his scales. The baby dug its claws into her shoulders and squawked indignantly.
Dany winced as she sat up straight again and shot her dragon an irritated look. "Really? I thought you were more mature than this, Drogon."
He merely shifted unevenly so that she became unbalanced on his back. Her tumble to the ground was only painful in the moment and thankfully there was no lasting damage. Her tiny charge was even more displeased with this and let his annoyance be known by the burst of flame that licked at her neck. She grumbled with her own frustration. "Yeah, yeah, I know. I'm not happy about it either."
Drogon now faced away from them with his great head resting on the ground. She could just picture his eyes being closed as he pretended to be asleep so he could ignore her scolding. She crossed her arms and glared at her impertinent dragon. "Fine. If you're going to be like that, then we'll just walk."
The girl turned away from him and made her way towards the entrance of the dragon training ring. The long way back home was daunting and unpleasant, but she didn't have any other choice. At least the baby pulled his weight as he occasionally flapped his wings to speed them on their way, but even like that they didn't get very far— Dany felt herself being lifted into the air without warning.
Drogon had changed his mind once more and had swooped down to pick her up carefully with his talons. It seemed that, as much as he disagreed with her about keeping the baby, he was still unwilling to desert her entirely. Still, after all of his insolence, she certainly wasn't pleased and kicked her bare feet in the empty air with an exasperated, "really?"
🏹🏹🏹
When she got home, Rhaegal and Viserion were equally cautious around the newcomer. Even the latter— who was the friendliest of the three— only sniffed at the baby curiously before he moved as far away from the dragon as possible. Dany let out another sigh (the second of what she was sure would be many of that night) as she put him down.
Although she was against naming dragons that she wasn't going to keep, she decided that she had to call him something besides referring to him as 'the baby.' She tried to think of a name for him as he explored the area, though her brainstorming session was interrupted by the arrival of her father as he stepped out of the cottage.
Randolf had clearly just finished his most recent project as he was still wearing his apron, which was similar to the one that blacksmiths wore. Despite this precaution, sawdust still clung to his rolled-up sleeves and other bits of exposed fabric. His shoulder-length light blond hair was pulled back into a low ponytail to keep it out of his face while he worked. One of Dany's favorite things about her father was that he always smelled nice due to the wood he worked with; it could be oak or maple or hickory, but there was always a mixture of lingering scents from whatever was in his shop that day.
His expression softened upon seeing his daughter and he shifted the tray of raw meat— which he had brought outside to cook— into one hand so that he could take out a block of wood from his pocket with the other. He gave it to her when he reached her by way of greeting, earning a smile of thanks in response. "The dragons are still here?" he remarked with surprise. "They're usually out hunting by this time."
Dany tucked the wood into the pocket of her vest as her smile became sheepish. "Well. . . I might have. . . brought home a friend."
"The mysterious Hiccup boy that your mother is now convinced exists?" he guessed with amusement.
The girl shook her head, still confused as to why her father thought she'd made him up. "No. A dragon friend."
She pointed to the baby, who was steadily encroaching on Rhaegal's space. It was a rather amusing sight as the he kept backing away from the much smaller creature, as if it were an eel rather than a dragon. Randolf's lips pressed into a thin line. "You do know that's a baby dragon, right? Why isn't it with its mother?"
(Sigh count: three)
"Hiccup found him in the woods and thought he was injured. Since he's a new species we wanted to study him before we put him back" she explained.
"Ah, I knew this Hiccup was involved," the older man said, though his tone had become serious. "Dany, if you wanted to learn more about the dragon, you should have just observed him in the woods. You know it's not a good idea to separate the baby from its mother."
Her gaze fell to her feet guiltily. "I know, and I tried to tell him that— believe me. But everyone wanted to keep him safe and he needed to stay with someone. . . I couldn't say no to all of them. It's only for the night," she added imploringly.
Randolf was still wary, knowing that this situation could result in disaster, but he conceded. "If it's just one night— but he's staying outside, I won't have him in the house." His voice softened as he added, "and I know this is hard, but you can say no, my little dragon. If they're true friends, they'll respect your opinion, even if you disagree with them."
"Thanks, dad," the girl said gratefully. She'd known that her parents would come around; they could never turn away a dragon in need— she just had to convince them first.
Her father went over to set up the fire to prepare their dinner and leaned back on his heels as he looked around for Drogon, who was usually responsible for starting it, if he was around. "Drogon! Come on, boy. Let's—"
He was cut off when a burst of fire shot into the hearth and ignited the tinder. The baby dragon had gotten there first, which earned him a few words of praise from the blond man. "Looks like he beat you to the punch, although that's not a very good dragon name. What about Ignis, since you were so quick to ignite our fire?"
The newly-christened Ignis chittered happily, apparently approving his name. He scuttled over to where the blond man was still crouching and butted his head against Randolf's leg. He chuckled in response and scratched the dragon's head. "I'm not against dragons, you know," he told the baby. "I just want you to be with your mother. She's bound to be worried sick about you."
🏹🏹🏹
Feeding time proved to be another interesting event for their guest. Since the brothers usually did hunt for themselves, Dany wasn't sure how much fish to give them, but she placed a basketful in front of each of them. Although such a large amount would cut into their stores, it seemed as if their dragons refused to give up on their protective watch and wouldn't be leaving the house anytime soon.
Curious about how the new dragon would feed, she placed a fish in front of him and stood back with her notebook at the ready. Before her dragons could even start on their meals, the baby leapt onto the first basket and, in the blink of an eye, devoured all of it except for a few bones.
"Whoa!" she exclaimed, before jotting down the event in her notes. "You certainly eat a lot more than what it looks like you can!"
Rhaegal growled with annoyance as Ignis stole his meal. Before he could move onto the next one, however, Drogon bared his teeth and snarled furiously at the baby, who yelped and ran to hide behind Dany's legs. If she hadn't been watching the dragons as closely as she had been, she would've been convinced that Drogon had scared Ignis unprompted.
🏹🏹🏹
Dany was exhausted the next morning as she and Drogon flew to the dragon training ring. She was certain that everyone was already there and waiting for them, but after staying up all night monitor the baby, she'd gotten a late start. Ignis clung to her back as usual, so she'd shifted her bow and arrows to her front as she'd done the day before. A newly carved dragon statue rested in her pocket while she'd tucked her journal against her side, underneath her belt. She hadn't even had time to craft herself a flower crown for the day; she'd sped out the door with only a few bites of breakfast once she'd woken.
Sure enough, the group turned their half-expectant, half-impatient gazes on her as soon as Drogon landed on the stone-covered ground. Hiccup's face brightened at their arrival, though she chalked that up to being around the baby dragon again, rather than her. "Oh, good, you're here!"
He made his way over to them, only to rush the last steps as Dany uncharacteristically stumbled on her dismount. He steadied her gently before he immediately pulled his hands away. "Whoa. Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," she managed to get out before her face split into a wide yawn. Unfortunately, the brisk air from their flight had done nothing to wake her up. "I was just on baby watch the whole night— the dragons didn't like him." The blonde paused to bring out her statue. "But I did use the time to make this."
He took the tiny, carved replica of their newest species from her and admired it with awe. The face had excellent detail, with the horns curving exactly as the baby's did in real life, and the narrow snout was similarly proportioned to the body. The tail, however, was a bit too fat and clunky to be a perfect copy. She seemed to notice that his attention stayed on that area and smiled self-consciously.
"I was falling asleep by the time I got there," Dany explained.
"It's still incredible, though," the boy said with admiration. "I certainly couldn't do this. Hey— did you draw him?"
Fighting back another yawn, she took out her notebook and handed it to him, allowing him to flip through her numerous dragon sketches to the most recent one.
"Hey, that's not fair! Why is Hiccup the only one who gets presents?"
The Targaryen startled when the worst morning breath imaginable wafted across her face. She only needed to turn slightly to know that Tuffnut had unceremoniously invaded her space to rest an arm on her shoulder while he looked at what she'd brought. Dany grimaced at his unwelcome close proximity and sent Hiccup a pleading look of help me!, but the boy was too enthralled by the dragon designs to notice. The baby dragon on her back squawked with annoyance and dropped to the ground to scuttle away from the noisy intrusion— not that she could blame him.
Tuffnut took the statue from the brunet to examine it carefully. "What's this? Is it some sort of-of Targaryen relic? It seems to be an animal of some kind. If you were going for yak, you're waay off. You've got the horns, but yaks don't have wings. Is it a diseased yak? Oh, wait! I know! It's a raven-yak hybrid—"
Daenerys gingerly removed her creation from the blond's grasp. "It's neither, actually. It's supposed to be—"
Before she could correct the boy, Snotlout decided to take the figurine from her hands and hold it up as if to admire it. "Whatever it is, babe, I think it's great. It's the best. . . thing anyone's ever made!" He turned to show it off to Astrid, who was the only one to notice the girl's discomfort, as Dany was simply too tired to bother with standing up for herself this morning. "Would you look at this? It's—"
It was now the Hofferson's turn to hold the statue as she plucked it from his fingers. "Oh, just let it go, Snotlout. And you—" She went over to Tuffnut and shoved him so that he stumbled several feet away. "—you know Dany likes her personal space, so back up."
The blonde gave her a grateful look as the dragon statue was returned to her possession. Her fingers traced over the edges of the carving as she mumbled, "thanks, Astrid."
"No problem," she replied brightly, though her eyes flashed angrily towards the two offenders. "Someone has to keep these boys in line. And the statue is clearly of the baby dragon. Good work, Dany."
Tuffnut compared the carving to the dragon itself. "Well, I don't see it— I still think that it's clearly a terrible rendition of a raven-yak hybrid."
Snotlout looked extremely put out as he huffed, "she doesn't seem to mind it when Hiccup gets all up in her business."
Dany felt her face warm at his unintentionally astute observation and she set her eyes firmly on the ground. Thankfully, the boy in question had been too interested in her notes on the dragon to pay attention to the antics of the rest of the group. Hiccup scooped up the baby and placed him on the table that had been set up in the middle of the arena. "All right, let's figure out what you are."
Fishlegs, who tended to keep out of the more chaotic moments, moved forward eagerly to be closer to the dragon. "Oh, this is so exciting!" He extended a hand to the blonde, who was still holding her figurine. "May I?"
She handed it to him while she used her other hand to cover her yawn, but afterwards she sent him a grateful smile for his consideration. (This, of course, prompted exclamations along the lines of "hey, no fair!" from the boys who had first been interested in her work.) He marveled at the similarities between the art and its subject. "Such intricate detail around the face. And the horns— they're really well done, Daenerys. The wings make it look as if he really can fly. This will be really helpful for documenting the new species and learning all about it."
Tuffnut frowned and crossed his arms. "Nope, still don't see it."
His sister punched him on the arm. "You're missing the worst part of what he said, bro! We have to learn."
He immediately made a disgusted face as the realization set in. "Wait, learning?"
Ruffnut let out a sigh of relief that turned into a scoff, as if she'd been worried that her brother had gone against their pact of avoiding everything that would be beneficial to them. "No, thanks," she added smugly.
"There's nothing in the Book of Dragons that looks anything like him," Hiccup commented as he flipped through the pages of the book he was holding.
Normally, Dany would be just as excited as Fishlegs to add information to their source of knowledge, but she merely closed her eyes and allowed the warmth of Drogon's scales to seep into her back. At least the baby would be gone tonight, she told herself. She'd never looked forward to resting more.
"We even get to determine what it's called. . ." Fishlegs said nervously. "That is. . . that is a really big responsibility. I don't know if I'm ready for that."
"I am!" Snotlout bragged as he jabbed a thumb towards himself. Astrid ignored his boasting and began to take measurements. "I'm gonna name the snot out of it."
"Great," Daenerys murmured to her dragon. "At this rate, it'll be called something like Snorty McSnotface."
Drogon let out a huff of amusement that made his sides expand as he puffed out the warm air. She was relieved that none of the other teens had heard her snide remark as they continued to take notes. Snotlout practically danced around them as he shouted out nonsensical names based on whatever they were measuring at the time.
"Twenty inches for the wings."
"That's a big wing span. . ." Hiccup commented brightly.
Snotlout barged in with: "Bigwing! Bigspan? Bigwingspan!"
In a formal tone, Fishlegs asked, "may I have the honor of administering the claw test?" He pulled out the scroll he kept with him and unrolled it. Ignis sliced through it easily. "Look at these talons. They're razor-like."
And again, Snotlout added: "Sharpclaw! Razorfeet! Razor-sharp-claw-talon-feet!"
Even Tuffnut wasn't impressed by the boy's suggestions. "Hold on. Is he serious?"
Hiccup wrote this new information down on the next clean page in the Book of dragons. Dany's journal was open on the table in front of him and he'd left enough space to add her drawing above the words he was writing down. Fishlegs' warm arm settled on his shoulders as he continued eagerly, "you know what's next, don't you?"
"No, not really. . ."
"Only the single-most important test to determine a dragon's reaction to eels!" The blond didn't wait for him to respond. "The eel reaction test."
Fishlegs reached into the basket of eels, which caused all the other dragons— except for Drogon— to scatter. Ignis backed up for a second, then gently inched forward and sniffed the eel before he took its head in his mouth and swallowed it. The boy couldn't contain his excitement as he exclaimed, "he ate it! He ate the eel!"
Snotlout pushed his way between them. "Eeleater! Come on, that's perfect."
Hiccup ignored him as he approached the larger boy. "Fishlegs, has there ever been a dragon who wasn't afraid of—"
He shook his head. "Only Drogon, but not even Daenerys knows what species he is. We're in uncharted waters, my friend."
The brunet grinned at the large, spiked dragon who was lying especially still due to the girl who was resting against him. "Hear that, Drogon? You've got competition now!"
Drogon was not pleased with this information and shifted his head to face away from the group with an indignant huff. The movement caused Dany's eyes to open as Ignis let out a happy, chittering noise as Hiccup pet him between the horns.
"Now we need to get it to fly," Fishlegs said thoughtfully.
"Maybe if Torch saw Toothless fly." Hiccup turned to where his dragon had elected to perch himself on a nearby rock outcropping as he stared off into the distance. He'd been acting strange ever since they'd found the baby dragon, but had mostly returned to normal after last night. It seemed as if he were back to being agitated by the baby's presence, though. Still, he called to the Night Fury despite his odd moodiness. "Toothless! Let's take a ride, bud!"
His dragon's ears flicked in response, but he refused to move from his guard position. They could hear him give low, rumbling growl in protest. Even Drogon's presence— which would usually make the smaller dragon all but beg for the calmer one's attention— wouldn't make him come down to the arena.
Snotlout laughed at the Night Fury's unusual disobedience. "So much for the dragon trainer. We've got this." He hopped onto Hookfang. Ignis' attention focused on them, causing the boy to grin smugly. "Watch and learn."
The Monstrous Nightmare suddenly took off at high speeds, taking his rider through an uncontrolled route that had Snotlout screaming the whole time before they looped back around and landed in the academy once again. "Okay. . . your turn. . . But don't think you have to live up to that."
He hopped off his saddle as Ignis warily made his way to the end of the table. The baby flew in a little circle before he landed. Then he patted his wings on the ground in a strange pattern. Since all the dragons she knew could fly easily, Dany pushed off Drogon and took a few steps towards the group curiously.
"What's he doing?" Ruffnut sounded extremely unimpressed by the dragon's efforts to follow Hookfang's example.
"I think something's wrong. . ."
"Oh, man!" Tuffnut exclaimed. "We broke him."
"Maybe he can't fly," Hiccup offered.
Daenerys frowned as she watched the baby. "I've never heard of a dragon that couldn't."
She felt the weight of several eyes on her at one as her gaze stayed trained on the dragon in front of her. Before anyone could contest her statement, sparks began to fly out of the dragon's mouth. Most of the teens lifted their hands to protect their faces from the heat and they squinted against the bright light. Ignis began to spin around, faster and faster, until the pressure from his sparks lifted him into the air. He used his wings to stay in flight as he circled the entire arena. When he got to the top of the dome, he spun around in a blaze of light until he whirled to the ground. A spiraled burn mark— just like his flight pattern— was left on the stone below them.
"You. . . are one incredible little dragon," Hiccup breathed out as he jumped into the boy's arms.
"Whoa. . . look at that burn mark." Ruffnut pointed to the design under their boots (or bare feet, in Dany's case.)
"Huh. . . and look at this burn mark." Tuffnut shoved his smoldering arm in his sister's face.
"Did you see how it flew?" Fishlegs asked eagerly. "It spun like. . . like a typhoon."
"And he came back just like a boomerang!" Astrid added.
Snotlout returned to his previous role of spitting out names: "Hotspinner! Flaming-Comebacker!"
"No. Typhoomerang."
"Typhoomerang? Nah, I don't get it."
As the group split up for the day, Dany scooped Ignis up into her arms. Hiccup watched her curiously. "What are you doing?"
"I'm. . . going to put him back," the blonde answered slowly. "You promised that it was just for the night, remember?"
He gave her a pleading look. "Come on, Dany. Now that we know more about him, don't you want to keep him for a little longer?"
She pressed her lips into a thin line as the desire to cave rose within her. But, her father's words echoed in her mind: if they're true friends, they'll respect your opinion, even if you disagree with them. And she was quite sure that Hiccup was a true friend, or at least, she hoped that he was. So, she replied, with a firm shake of her head: "No. One night, that was supposed to be it. He's making Drogon uneasy and he really shouldn't be away from his mother."
"Okay," the brunet agreed with surprising readiness. Then, he added: "he can stay one night with you, and one night with me."
Dany sighed at the boy's insistence, but she knew how stubborn he could be. And besides, she was still practicing saying no to her friends. "Fine. But tomorrow he really should go home. We don't know what kind of havoc his mother is causing right now."
She gently transferred Ignis into Hiccup's hold. Their arms accidentally brushed as she freed her hands from the baby, and she pulled back abruptly. Her face warmed, though the boy didn't seem to notice the unintentional contact. He scratched the dragon's head affectionately before they parted with their traditional goodbye:
"See you tomorrow?"
"Yeah. See you."
🏹🏹🏹
Dany found out the next day that Hiccup had a similarly difficult night with his watch over Ignis. Toothless had been unusually misbehaving in a way that he couldn't understand, which lead him to a decision that he hadn't wanted to make: Hiccup had felt forced to put the Night Fury in the cove due to his unpredictable behavior.
She frowned at him from where she sat perched on Drogon's back. "I don't know if that was the right move," she said finally. Perhaps a person with more tact would have tried to cheer the boy up as he was obviously feeling down about the whole situation, but Dany had never backed down from stating her opinion, especially when she believed in it strongly. "It. . . kinda sounds like he was just trying to protect you, like Drogon was with me."
The brunet avoided their eyes as he focused on petting the dragon he was holding. As much as the girl's words made sense, he would feel terrible if he'd come to the wrong conclusion and had penned Toothless up for nothing. Luckily he was saved from giving her a response as Snotlout cut in with his typical obnoxious perspective. "Yeah, but what if he doesn't? Then you won't have a dragon to ride. And if you don't have a dragon to ride, then you can't be the leader of the Dragon Academy! Ha!"
Astrid shot him an annoyed look. "Then Dany or I would take over. Do you really want that?"
The Targaryen hid her smile as she ran her fingers over her dragon's scales, pleased that Astrid had included her in possible leaders. The dark-haired Viking's expression soured at her response. He fell into a grumpy silence as he tried to come up with a reply that would insult the Hofferson but flatter Daenerys. Before they could suffer the misfortune of hearing something that would surely wind up as just flat-out rude, the twins returned from. . . wherever they'd been. (The group had all learned the hard way to not ask questions.)
Tuffnut seemed extremely happy with whatever their outing had resulted in. "You guys will not believe what we just saw."
"Excuse me," Snotlout cut him off, raising his hand to get their attention. "We're having a power struggle."
Hiccup rolled his eyes at the boy's antics. "We're not having a power struggle."
The twins' excitement couldn't be dampened as Tuffnut continued enthusiastically: "The whole forest. . . ultimate destruction."
"It was beautiful," Ruffnut said in awe. Her eyes stared off into the distance as she pictured the scene. "The whole thing was torched."
"Torched. . ." As the final word rang a bell in his head, brunet looked down at the dragon in his arms. Since Dany hadn't mentioned that the baby had a name, his father had renamed him based on the similar trick he'd pulled with Randolf. His expression hardened at the realization. "Show me."
He went over to Drogon as everyone geared up for the ride. The large dragon— who was as picky as Toothless was when it came to riders— crouched down and extended his wing so he could climb up behind Dany. The blonde obligingly shifted her bow and arrows to her front so that he would be more comfortable. She was grateful that, since she was sitting in front, the boy wouldn't be able to see the pink tinge that had rushed to her face as he wrapped his arms around her waist. Like her dragon, Dany was only comfortable— and even that adjective was a little too generous— with certain people being close to her, but if anyone was on that list, it would definitely be Hiccup.
Thankfully, she didn't have much time on the. . . pleasant unease (which was so unlike yesterday, when the boys had crowded around her unexpectedly) as the devastation that the twins had described appeared before them. They weren't kidding when they'd said ultimate destruction— full-grown trees had been felled, just like when Drogon landed in the forest. Except, unlike those times, the trunks of these trees were scorched and black. And, in the very center of the wreckage, was an eerily familiar spiral pattern— just on a much larger scale.
Drogon's nostrils flared at the sight of the burn mark, as if he were saying I told you so. Dany patted him between the shoulder blades with mildly resigned recognition; she couldn't defend her case now, certainly not with the boy (who was her main argument) sitting right behind her. They landed just one the edge of the shape to take it in from ground level.
"Just like we said. Ultimate destruction!" Ruffnut said as they took a few steps towards the design.
"We've seen that burn mark before," Hiccup realized.
Astrid frowned at its size. "Not this big. . ."
Fishlegs was the most nervous out of all of them as he eyed the imprint warily. "You know what this means. Big burn mark. . ."
". . .big Typhoomerang," Dany finished (there was a hard-to-miss smugness in her tone.) "A mother Typhoomerang."
Their gazes lifted to the sky almost in unison. A much larger version of Ignis— or Torch, depending on who you asked— flapped her massive wings above them. Her scales were more of a solid, bright red than her son's and most of the. . . cuteness had been lost (or, at least, from what they could see based on how far away she was.) The jet of fire that streamed from her mouth to aid in her flight was so hot that they could feel its lingering effects from the ground.
While Tuffnut looked ecstatic, Hiccup sent the Targaryen an apprehensive glance. "Save your I-told-you-so for later, okay?"
She gave him an affronted look in return. "Do you really think I'd be that petty?" At his unimpressed silence, she sighed with defeat and allowed, "yeah, okay."
(This also meant that she was right about. . . oh, Gods— Toothless!) "That's what Toothless was trying to tell me!"
Dany couldn't resist crossing her arms and muttering, "really?" to her dragon. (Boys, honestly!)
Fishlegs eyed the baby in his arms anxiously. "Whatever gets between that mother and this baby. . . is gonna get fried!"
He tossed Ignis to Tuffnut, and the baby went down the line as everyone was reluctant to hold him. Hiccup caught him as Snotlout passed him over. The shorter Viking was very much on board with running, which became even more apparent as he exclaimed, "just leave it and let's get out of here!"
For once, Snotlout actually came up with a decent idea. Dany held out her arms to take Ignis. "You guys can go, I'll—"
Her offer was cut off by the dragon giving a loud squawk at the sight of his mother. The larger Typhoomerang's gaze zeroed in on them instantly, and she bared her teeth in what was surely a furious growl. Ignis, unaware of what danger his mother posed to the group, flapped his wings with excitement at the prospect of seeing her again.
Hiccup quickly set the baby on the ground. "Go, uh. . . go home to your mama."
At the sight of the dragon barreling towards them with her mouth aflame, the teens scattered into the forest. Daenerys didn't bother with trying to outrun a dragon, so she hastily climbed onto Drogon's back in the hopes of distracting her from her friends. They pushed upwards into the air with one great sweep of his wings and followed the two Typhoomerangs— and a very stupid boy— towards the cove. She was pleased to see that the new species wasn't the fastest they'd ever encountered, so Drogon could keep up with her rather easily.
When they were hot on the mother's tail, she gave her command for her dragon's fire. "Drogon, aldrnari— but carefully!"
Drogon let out a stream of hot, orange flames that licked at the other dragon's back. The adult Typhoomerang was momentarily distracted, but her main focus was on her baby and she wouldn't be deterred from getting him back.
"We have to get in front of her!" the Targaryen called to him, though how she would do that, she had no idea. If only they could get her up in the sky, then Hiccup would have enough time to get to a safe place. They were too close to the ground for her to even go underneath the mother to get her to notice them.
They were nearing the cove now, and the boy shouted for his dragon as he ran right off the edge. The girl pulled her dragon up short as the Night Fury faced off with the Typhoomerang. Toothless seemed to give Drogon a nod of appreciation for looking out for his rider until he could; at that, the larger dragon promptly turned around and headed back for Berk.
"Drogon!" Dany scolded him. "What are you doing? We have to go back and help them!"
Her dragon let out a soft roar— almost a reassuring sound— but kept on his path. Similarly to a bond between a dragon and rider, there was a certain understanding between dragons themselves. While Drogon understood how much his mother cared for the boy (even if she wouldn't admit it herself), he also respected the other dragons that they flew with, and he trusted Toothless' ability to protect his own rider.
When she saw that her dragon wouldn't be listening to her anytime soon, she sighed and gave her traditional pat between his shoulder blades. "Alright, Drogon. We'll do it your way."
She leaned back against Drogon's warm scales and closed her eyes to enjoy the feeling of the fresh air brushing against her face. While she would have liked to stay and help Hiccup with the Typhoomerang, she understood that Drogon knew his own limitations— he wasn't a dragon made for combat, after all.