Soul Of The Matter

Udana tugged on the rope keeping her attached to Toothless' tail, making sure she was safe before giving Hiccup the okay for their new manoeuvre. Her man, still a boy in many ways, nods from the dragon's neck, speaking a command and wrapping his hand in the straps. Toothless raises himself up, heading along the slightest of inclines to reach the maximum height.

Then they plummet.

Hiccup screams and Udana yells, both of them struggling to hold on as they turn completely vertical, Toothless beginning to spiral and make it even harder to stay on. Udana shouts at the dragon and they careen out of the dive, levelling out with a flourish.

'Great moves there, bud.' Toothless preens at Hiccup's praise, tongue lolling out.

'Yeah, fantastic.' The monkey dæmon scowls, holding tight to the rope as she dangles freely. Toothless' head appears in her vision, tilting at her in what must an awkward angle. 'Come on, bud, get me up.'

Hiccup leans back, pulling on the rope to bring her up to his lap. She holds onto his jerkin, allowing him to control the flight for a while. Udana is content to just watch the sunset over his shoulder, feel Toothless glide effortlessly beneath them.

'We should be getting back.' She mutters, watching the sky turn orange, then red, then purple.

Hiccup looks at the darkening sky and nods. 'I suppose. One more trick first?'

Udana smiles. Sometimes, she wonders how she ever Settled at all. 'Of course.'

Toothless roars.

Voriyarus scowls at Udana as everyone crowds her and Hiccup. The monkey blushes, pressing herself to Hiccup and burying her face in his neck.

'Come on, Yarus.' Astrid mutters, glaring at the chief's son. 'Let's go practice.'

Yarus jumps off her shoulder, flying in a wide arc around the other teenagers. Normally, this would gain the hawk stares and awed looks but the others are too busy cooing over the monkey. Oh, how Yarus would love to dig his claws into her stupid face.

They make it to the ring quickly, snarling at another viking walking the other way. The woman take one glance at their faces before scurrying off, probably to tell Gobber or one of the elders.

Yarus wants to release a dragon and beat it, to show they are still the best but Astrid knows that would only get them in trouble. Instead, they set up some targets, Astrid throwing axes and Yarus clawing at them until they are completely broke. One of the dragons roars from its cage but the hawk flies at it, shutting it up.

They practice with dummies and knives, destroying the dolls with satisfied grins. Gobber stops by briefly but merely adjust the targets and leaves again, probably to see Hiccup.

'Still the best.' Voriyarus smiles, resting on Astrid's shoulder.

She smirks, throwing her final knife and watching it land right it the bulls eyes. Yarus caws in unmasked delight.. 'Of course. Like that weakling could know more than us about dragons.'

Stoick pats Skullcrusher's head before heading towards Berk's main hall. Although he preferred to talk to his people from Gobber's shop, it was much easier if he could sit at a table and make notes about the really important issues. Some things just couldn't be dealt with in a blacksmith's.

'Speed up a bit, Stoick.' Visala says, trotting along beside him. The wolf nods at other dæmons as she passes them, stopping every so often to show them a sign of affection. 'We're going to be late.'

The chieftain smiles, grasping arms with a fellow warrior as they near the hall. 'The meeting won't start with us, so we can't actually be late.'

Visala shakes her head, entertained by Stoick's antics as always. 'Fair point. Have you got everything sorted from the last meeting?'

Stoick nods, going through the tasks he had been given in his head. He had fixed the Jorgenson's roof, helped Hiccup find baby dragons for the younger members of the village and had even managed to create saddles for half the population. 'All about.'

Visala raises an eyebrow. 'What about the next chief? Have you sorted that out?'

Stoick glares down at her and she bares her teeth in a challenge. They have had many arguments above this since Hiccup's coming of age. Each time, they have ended up on opposite sides of the room, refusing to speak to the other.

'No.' Stoick scowls, pulling on her ear as they enter the hall. 'But I will.'

Meghas jumps from wing to wing, laughing as each dragon moves to catch him. His human runs across scales below him, getting further away from him than he ever thought possible. But, the lynx must admit, it is easier to ride a dragon if you don't have to worry about pulling on a bond. Plus, flying means he doesn't have to think of Visala and Udana.

Valka jumps down beside him and he smiles at her, tail stretching out to brush her hand. 'We should go back soon.'

She nods, waving her staff in the air and causing all the dragons to turn in one great arc, each heading back to their nest. Meghas doesn't think there could be a more beautiful sight but Valka sighs as they fly. 'Do you ever miss her?'

Meghas stills, half collapsing on Cloudjumper's head. 'Who? Udana or Visala?'

She freezes slightly, evidently having remembered the second man in her life. 'Udana. Do you miss being a father?'

Meghas' reply is cut off as they fly into the nest, a dozen baby dragons rushing forward to pluck him away. He laughs as he is carried off to see what the babies had gotten up to today, while Valka visits the Alpha and injured dragons. One baby breathes a bit of fire for him and he cheers, congratulating the child and gaining a huge smile.

Later, when he finally sees Valka again, he gets to answer her question with a sad smile. 'Every single day.'

'Hand me a hammer, Kama.'

There is a small shuffling in the back of the room but Gobber's dæmon doesn't seem to be listening.

'Kama!' He says, a little louder but not loud enough to wake Hiccup who has fallen asleep at his work desk. The six year old has been left in Gobber's care for the day and managed to wear himself out. 'Hammer please!'

'Alright, alright.' The badger snarls, walking out and pushing the desired object in front of her. 'Keep your hand on.'

Gobber glares, moving the prosthetic experimentally. He has only had it a few months and it was still difficult to use. At least Hiccup and the other children think it's cool. 'I need to get this armour sorted before nightfall. If a dragon attacks-'

'-then we'll all perish, as usual.' Kama says, rolling her eyes and beginning to work the bellows. 'Everyone has armour, it'll be fine.'

'Not everyone.' Gobber points out, as Udana falls onto the floor. Hiccup barely stirs. 'Spitelout managed to get all his burnt so he needs new stuff.'

Kama shakes her head, picking Udana in her mouth and settling her back on the table. They both know the young dæmon will fall again.

'Spitelout can make his own armour next time. Gods know he breaks enough of it.'

Gobber pats her head and sits down at the anvil, hammer ready. Kama limps towards him, settling down and keeping an eye on the children.

Life is good for the blacksmiths.

Eret, son of Eret, leans over the dragon trap, checking the springs and the wiring. He frowns slightly, pulling out some tools and setting about to change the gearing. They need it to work a certain way, or else their new employers wouldn't be happy. Trepa crawls over his shoulder, getting a close look as he pulls on a lever and sees what happens.

Nothing.

'Ha.' Trepa grins, turning to shout to the Viking behind them. 'Another one down.'

'Thanks Trepa.' Voriyarus yells back. 'We're heading back now, need a lift?'

Eret shakes his head. 'There's a load of traps left. We'll stay and sort them out, just send someone to get us before nightfall.'

Astrid nods, flying away with both their dragons. Eret still isn't quite used to calling a dragon 'his' but Skullcrusher seems to like him.

'Have we done the one behind the waterfall yet?'

The gecko on his shoulder nods. 'We did that one three days ago. I think we just have the underwater ones left.'

Trepa's regretting not taking up Voriyarus' offer. It would be nicer to do the underwater ones when the sun was still high in the sky, not just beginning to droop. It won't be dark for hours but until then, they have nothing to do and no way home.

'I think we should just check the forest, one last time.' Eret says, standing.

Trepa nods, curling up around his neck. If he's happy, helpin all these dragons, then so is she.

Drago yells at his Alpha, an unintelligible roar that sends his soldiers running, scrambling over each other to get away. The Bewilderbeast nods, turning away from its master to call upon the dragons. Drago wants them attacking as many tiny isles as they can, to strike fear into the hearts of many and to make his conquering far easier.

'Having fun?'

Yuddha's voice is very different to his, smooth and light where his is rough and strong. The viper prefers to use her fangs more than her tongue, knowing that venom is more powerful than words.

'Almost.'

They both turn as dragons burst from the ice, heading off in a hundred directions. They will return, they are unable not to, and the sight of fire spreading in all directions is truly one to behold.

'Now I am.'

Yuddha smirks, one long fang sticking out of her mouth as she slivers down his arm towards the floor. They are stretched and she has no qualms about touching humans so threading her workers is easy. The weaklings just need to see the snake to be afraid.

'Have fun hunting.' Drago mutters as she reaches the ground, heading off to greet the drain trappers. He half hopes they haven't brought anything, wanting to hurt someone again, wanting his dæmon to hurt someone.

'Oh, I always do.'

The two turn away from each other, one facing the sky, the other the ground, identical expressions of malice and spite lining their human and serpentine faces.

Dragons don't have dæmons.

That isn't to say that dragons don't have souls. All dragons have a soul, some say it is found in the fire they breathe, in the air that catches their wings but most would say it is just caught inside them, like most animals. It is with that soul that an Alpha can control a dragon.

Toothless doesn't have a dæmon. The Night Fury has wondered, in the past, what it would be like to have his own monkey, hawk or whatever, keeping him company at all times, a true reflection of his personality.

But dragons don't have dæmons.

Udana scratches his back a lot and Toothless realises that he touches the monkey as much as he does her human. That makes him wonder, for a bit, if he really has a soul, because humans can't touch dæmons. But Hiccup tells him a hundred times that Dragon's are different, dragons are cooler, even if their souls are on the inside.

Toothless doesn't have a dæmon but Udana likes to pretend to be his. Hiccup joins in sometimes, both of them attaching themselves to him to symbolise the unbreakable bond. Then he flies them across the countryside, laughing as he tries to dislodge them. Man and monkey laugh to, clinging to scales as if it's the best game they've ever played. Toothless thinks that just playing with them is the best.

Dragons don't have dæmons, but Toothless has Hiccup and Udana and that's good enough for him.