Disclaimer: I don't own HTTYD

A/N: I'm back! Did you miss me? Nah, probably not. I think I've gotten enough of this story hashed out to post the first chapter. One chapter per week! Then I'll vanish again.

The following stories are very loosely based on the School of Dragons expansion packs. The only real similarities are the names of the new characters and places. Also, I'm trying something new with footnotes. Whenever you see a bracketed number, like this (No.), there'll be a note at the end of the story with a nugget of info.

Skin and Bones – Chapter One

On a sea stack under the cold, clear autumnal sky – clear for now, at this time of year the weather could change on a whim – a lone dragon stood. Well, not entirely alone; there were other dragons nearby, fishing or flying just for the joy of it, but they kept a respectful distance. Nor was the dragon himself alone; he was accompanied, as always, by his rider. The Alphas of Berk were hardly ever apart, after all.

For now, none of the villagers had come seeking their aid or advice; their subjects' quarrels were settled and worries assuaged; Astrid had not yet sent word she needed aid with her own duties. The latter was unlikely to happen anyway, even on the best of days. So Toothless and Hiccup had some free time, and Hiccup wanted to use it to practice some new tricks for this years parade.

It wasn't so much a parade, really, as a…demonstration. The riders would take it in turns to show off their skills, sometimes with other dragons of the same kind in tow. Toothless and Hiccup were usually saved for the big finale; given that he was known for his 'dramatic flair', Hiccup was all too fond of ending the parade with a – sometimes literal – bang.

"Okay, so here's what I'm thinking. At the last minute, I'll lock the tail-fin in place and jump – well, it's more of a leap – forwards, and you pull a forward spin underneath me, and I land on the saddle. Got it?"

Toothless sighed. This was just the latest trick Hiccup had come up with, to 'spice up' their routine, as he put it. Inspired by his favourite trick of vaulting over rock arches, he'd taken to using Toothless' own body as an arch. Despite his protestations that the parade was not a competition, deep down Hiccup had just as much of a competitive streak as any other Viking. He just had the goodwill to lose gracefully…usually.

*How am I supposed to do a forward spin if my tail-fin is locked?* he questioned. Toothless made it a point to question all of Hiccup's crazy stunt ideas, in the hopes of leading him away from the more hazardous ones. His human didn't exactly have a death wish, and he was a bit more cautious nowadays, but some of the stunts he suggested would make Toothless' scales start moulting if they actually tried any (1).

"Because I'm going to lock it in the right position for you to spin, of course" Hiccup replied at once. "Let's try it. It'll be fun!"

*Fun. That's what you said about the vertical tumble, and look what happened there?*

"Hey, I didn't know the tail-fin was gonna get stuck. Besides, we landed in the ocean. It hurt a lot less than if we'd crashed on land…and that trick works."

*You threw up afterwards* Toothless deadpanned.

"Okay, so I got a little dizzy, big deal. C'mon, Toothless, please?" he pleaded, leaning over to meet the dragon's reptilian gaze. Toothless stared back evenly. He would not succumb…Hiccup snapped the tail-fin out, and that familiar swish-click made the urge to fly even stronger. The man knew it too, and grinned hopefully. Before he realised, Toothless had gathered himself to leap and soar, out of habit.

Might as well get this over with he thought resignedly, taking to the air. They cast about for a good tailwind to carry them for this trick. Once they'd found one, Hiccup – who sounded far too gleeful for Toothless' liking – asked "You ready?!"

*As I'll ever be* Toothless replied. First he flew up, as high as he could go in this stream of wind. Then he folded his wings and dived, building speed. They levelled out quite soon; Hiccup flicked the tail-fin into the correct position for a forward spin, engaged the locking mechanism – now for the tricky part. He crouched on Toothless' back, managed to stand up – the wind shoved at him from behind – and leapt...

Forgetting, unfortunately, that he still had the safety lines clipped to his belt. Toothless spun underneath him as planned, so Hiccup was yanked back by the stout ropes, then flipped over to dangle unceremoniously from the saddle. Toothless, without any way to disengage the fin from it's locked position, promptly dropped from the sky.

They managed to right themselves without too much panicked flailing, and regained their course. Hiccup slumped back against Toothless' spines and groaned. "Safety lines. I can't believe…" Toothless unhelpfully chortled at him. "Yeah, yeah, laugh it up, scaly" Hiccup riposted half-heartedly. He pushed himself up to sit properly in the saddle. "Let's go again."

*Are you sure about this?*

"Yep. Old Viking saying – if your head doesn't break the rock, keep bashing it until it does….I always took it figuratively" Hiccup explained, when Toothless gave him an odd look.

*That explains so much* the Fury deadpanned. *You know, we dragons have a saying too – if you're dumb enough to bash your head on a rock, let's hope the rock wins* (2).

"Ah, funny dragon" Hiccup smirked humourlessly. "Just start climbing, please."

*You're going to fall out of the saddle again, you know that, right?*

As they dived, Hiccup suggested, *Try spinning a couple of times, whilst you've still got momentum!*

They levelled out once more. Hiccup quickly unclipped the safety lines – there wasn't time to attach them to the saddle, he'd have to leave them loose. Tail-fin in position, locked, crouch on saddle, stand, leap—!

His leading foot came down on the saddle, and he dropped to a crouch again, managing not to lose his balance. "Yes!" Of course, then he got cocky and leapt again – and this time it went wrong. Toothless spun again, but Hiccup didn't leap far enough, and a crosswind knocked him off balance so he landed not on Toothless' back, but on the edge of his wing, just as he was twisting back onto his front…

The long and short of it was that they both plummeted. Hiccup sighed in annoyance. *Don't you dare say 'I told you so'* he warned Toothless, as the black dragon regarded him with muted amusement in those large green eyes. *Okay, I won't say 'I told you so'….whoops*. Toothless gave him a gummy smile. His other half glared at him, and he laughed.

Hiccup got back in the saddle, disengaged the locked tail-fin, and they were back to level gliding in moments. "That could've gone better" he grumbled. "I really need to find a way to let you engage the auto-tail more easily. Wish I could get it to work independently of your fin instead of in tandem, but there's no way to"-

*Is that a ship?*

The question jolted Hiccup out of his annoyed ramble. He followed Toothless' gaze and saw, bobbing in the waves, what certainly looked like a ship. With an opening like that, of course… "No", he said sarcastically, "It's a Shellfire." He got slapped by Toothless' ear-flap (he was leaning over the dragon's head for a better view) for that, but it was totally worth it. "Let's get a closer look" he decided.

It was only one ship; not a longship, one of the broad bottomed boats, like the Crashing Tide II. Only this one, as far as they could tell, wasn't covered in dragon proof metal. The sail was plain, but they didn't recognise the colours on the flag – red with two crossed white lines. There didn't seem to be anything untoward on deck; just sailors moving around crates, barrels and coils of rope.

"I wonder who these guys are" Hiccup said thoughtfully. They didn't seem to be up to anything, but their ship was pretty clearly heading into Berk's waters, and towards Berk itself… "Maybe they're just passing through. We can't go fire-blasting every strange ship that comes into our waters, after all. Let's see if they're friendly."

Toothless reluctantly dropped lower. As they circled the ship from this closer vantage point, the sentry in the crow's nest spotted them. He called down towards the deck; though they couldn't hear his words over the wind; and then gestured at them, indicating that they should land on deck. Naturally, Toothless balked. He had a strong distaste for boats in general, and didn't like landing on the decks of ships whose owners he knew, let alone on that of a complete stranger.

However, his rider apparently had no such qualms, and adjusted the tail-fin without thinking about it. Toothless nearly fell out of the sky. "Whoa!" *Toothless, what's the matter with you?* Hiccup demanded, as Toothless fought to stay aloft.

*You don't really expect me to go down there, do you?* Toothless demanded. Hiccup looked over his head at the deck; the sailors had cleared a space for them to land, staring up at them in barely concealed alarm. Yet they weren't aiming any weapons or shouting about bringing him and Toothless down… *It seems like they do. Come on, I know you don't like boats, but they're not attacking us. They might just want to talk*.

Toothless was still hesitant. He had a bad feeling about this, and it had nothing to do with his extreme distaste for sea-faring vessels. *I thought you trusted my instincts?*

*I do, but you trust me as well, don't you? It'll be okay, Toothless* Hiccup assured him. So Toothless landed reluctantly, warily, on deck, ready to take off again at a moment's notice. . The crew stared at him cautiously, keeping their distance, except for one man. He was tall and blond, with a neatly groomed goatee. There was a small metal cross hanging from a string around his neck, and a decorative metal guard on his left shoulder.

Perched on that shoulder was a purple Terrible Terror; as he approached the little dragon flew up to Hiccup and Toothless, climbing over the man and sniffing. "Aww, hey little guy" Hiccup smiled, reaching up to pet the little reptile, who snapped at him. "Yikes. Tetchy, aren't we?" he remarked, pressing his unbitten fingers into Toothless' skin to warn the snarling Night Fury away from biting the Terror back.

"Don't mind Leo, he's just taking your measure" the man remarked, as the Terror finished his investigation of Hiccup's armour and saddlebags. "Captain Harald, at your service. Welcome aboard the Albatross. To whom do we owe the pleasure?" he asked, offering a hand to shake. The crew didn't seem like they were going to attack, so Hiccup dismounted. "Hiccup Haddock, of the Hooligan tribe" he introduced himself, stepping forwards to shake Harald's hand. "Oh, and this is Toothless" he added, gesturing at his dragon, who was busy giving Harald and his men a death glare. "Don't mind him, he's just overprotective."

"Oh, I know how it is" Harald began, but he was interrupted by an exclamation by someone else on board the ship.

"Hiccup?!"

They both looked over at the man who had cried out. He was brown haired, wearing a cap with two black feathers stuck in it and a wide belt with various pouches hanging from it. He didn't look like a sailor…but for some reason he seemed vaguely familiar. "You're Hiccup Haddock?" he asked, eyes wide, staring at Hiccup. "Stoick's boy?"

Hiccup blinked in surprise; this man knew his father? "Um, yes, Stoick the Vast is my dad" he replied. "I'm sorry, uh, should I know you?"

The man looked embarrassed. "Oh, yes, I suppose you wouldn't remember me, would you? You were only a little boy when I left, and it's been – gosh, seventeen years now? But look at you! Somebody sure had a growth spurt – oh my Thor, your leg!"

"When you left? Left where?"

"Hiccup, it's me, Skulder! I left Berk to explore when you were ten years old" the man finally explained. The pieces clicked into place, and Hiccup's eyes went wide. Then he grinned. "Oh, gosh, I didn't even recognise you!" he exclaimed. "Toothless, this is Skulder, he's an old friend – well, acquaintance - of mine. Skulder, this is my best friend, Toothless."

Skulder goggled at Toothless, open-mouthed. "Is – is that a Night Fury? And you're riding him? How? Since when? And what happened to…?" he gestured at Hiccup's metal foot, without taking his eyes off of the dragon. He was reminding Toothless very strongly of Fishlegs. The dragon wasn't sure what to make of the man.

Hiccup chuckled. "Yes, he's a Night Fury. Pretty much everyone on Berk rides dragons nowadays. The war's been over for eleven years, and uh, it's a long story, but I basically lost most of my leg ending the war."

"Really?! I hardly dared hope…and you're the one who ended it? Well, colour me impressed. Captain Harald was kind enough to let me travel here aboard his ship – my own, err, sank, unfortunately. Still, this – this is incredible. All this time…" He trailed off and shook his head, looking dazed.

Harald cleared his throat. "As touching as this reunion is, I have to ask, would it be alright for my ship to dock at your island, sir?" he asked Hiccup.

"Call me Hiccup – and yes, that's fine. Toothless and I'll just go on ahead and let everyone know you're coming. So, uh, where are you from, anyway?"

"My homeland, Denmark" replied Harald, "But we've sailed quite far over the years. Never been this far north though. We're merchants, you see."

"Oh? What do you sell?"

"Mostly fabric; clothes, leather, rugs, that sort of thing" the captain replied with a shrug. "Though I'm afraid we sold the rest of our wares at our last port of call; all these crates are just full of his junk". Here he jabbed a thumb towards Skulder, who spluttered indignantly.

"Captain, it is not junk – it is my life's work!"

"Now, Skulder, I'm only kidding."

"You wouldn't happen to know a Trader Johann, would you?" asked Hiccup (3).

"Name rings a bell. Let's see…brown beard, sack for a cap, never shuts up?"

"That's the one" Hiccup grinned. He swung back into the saddle. "Keep heading on this course until you see a wall of green ice. Don't be alarmed, it's supposed to be there. We'll go give the Chief some advance warning."

"Stoick is still the Chief?" asked Skulder. "I'd have thought – I mean, you look old enough now to have taken over from him…"

"Nah, there was a change of plan" said Hiccup, "I'm not the Chief. I just married her."

On the way back to Berk, Hiccup inquired, "So what do you think of Skulder?"

*Is he related to Fishlegs?*

Hiccup chuckled. "You know, I think he might be, actually. Second cousins, or something."

Toothless gave a non-committal grunt. *Hiccup, what were you thinking?* he asked more seriously.

"What do you mean?"

*You let your guard down, back there. It's bad enough when you do that around wild dragons…you just shook that man's hand, what if he'd been tricking you?*

"…Well, someone sounds paranoid."

The dragon rumbled. *I'm being cautious. You should try it, sometime*.

"Toothless, I can't treat every stranger like they might be an enemy; that's a surefire way to make enemies. They didn't attack us, they let us land on their ship; and the captain doesn't have a problem with dragons. His own dragon seems to like him well enough" Hiccup reasoned, thinking of how the Terror had gone back to Harald's shoulder and stayed there.

*It's a Terror. They adore anyone who gives them free food* Toothless grumbled.

Hiccup sighed. Stubborn dragon. "I trust Skulder, and he wouldn't let just anyonesail him to Berk. He might have left, but he was always loyal to our tribe" he insisted.

*Are you sure about that? He's been gone for years, Hiccup – long enough that you forgot about him! Things have changed here. Maybe this 'old friend' of yours has too. Which reminds me; how were the two of you friends? He looks older than you*.

"Nobody has to be friends with people just their own age" Hiccup replied, "and you know, growing up, I never really…" He cleared his throat and explained, "Skulder is seven years older than me. He didn't want to fight dragons – everyone thought he was a coward, but I liked him; I guess because we were both outcasts, in a way. Born into the tribe, but not really part of it…Okay, look. If it makes you feel better, we'll keep an eye on them, but I think you're worrying about nothing. Toothless, it'll be fine. If worse comes to worse, I'm pretty sure all of us can take them on."

The black dragon sighed. Astrid wasn't going to be happy about this, he just knew it…

It wasn't long after that they reached Berk, the now familiar spires of Urchin's defensive barrier appearing on the horizon. Sentry towers had been built atop the two largest spikes, on either side of the entrance. They flew down to these first. "Hey, guys! Just a heads-up; there's a merchant ship heading this way, red and white flag. There's a familiar face on board; Skulder, remember him? I gave them permission to dock" Hiccup explained to the two watchmen on duty.

They looked at each other across the gap uncertainly. "Does the Chief know about this?" one asked.

"I'm on my way to tell her right now" Hiccup replied, oblivious to the fact that this wasn't what the man had meant. Dragons (and some humans) called out in greeting as they flew over the island, landing in the village square. Several children and hatchlings were there playing a game of tag, including Ebony, Helena and a few kids from the village, including Fishleg's son, Aegir (4).

Aegir's was a tragic tale. They had found the boy adrift at sea, around the time Selena was pregnant with Ebony. He hadn't been able to tell them what had happened to him; at first they thought he was simply too shy, only to realise that he was in fact mute. Fishlegs had taken him in and cared for him whilst they searched for his true family…and then they had found the shipwreck.

Hiccup, Astrid and the others had rescued the survivors stranded on a nearby island, but alas, Aegir's parents were not among them. Both had drowned in the crash, leaving their son stranded in a basket. Fishlegs had comforted the distraught child, and determined then and there that he would be Aegir's new family, if the boy was willing. Despite his grief, Aegir gratefully accepted; he'd been welcomed as part of the tribe ever since.

"Daddy!" Helena squealed in delight, running over as fast as her little four year old legs could carry her. "You're back, back, back! Yay!"

He beamed and heaved her up into his arms. "Hey, baby girl! Yeah, I'm back. Say, is your mummy around?"

"I'm right here, why?" Astrid asked from behind him. Hiccup set Helena down again – she and Ebony nuzzled Toothless before scampering off again – and explained, "You're not gonna believe this. Toothless and I saw this strange ship, and when we went to investigate they let us land on deck, and you'll never guess who was on board. Skulder, remember him? He left Berk when we were kids. He heard the war was over and came back with these merchants, they should be here pretty soon."

Astrid stared at him. Then she took his arm and gently but firmly steered him into the forge, where Gobber was hammering something and pretending not to listen. "Hiccup, let me get this straight. You saw a ship you didn't recognise, crewed by people you don't know, and you decided to give them permission to dock in our harbour…without consulting me first?"

Her tone of voice was beginning to clue Hiccup in to the fact that he'd messed up. "Err…I-I didn't think you'd object…Astrid, come on; we can't treat every stranger we encounter as if they're an enemy, that's just going to make us enemies. Besides, this way we can keep an eye on them" Hiccup defended. Even to his ears, it was starting to sound hollow.

Astrid rubbed at the bridge of her nose. "That's not the point, Hiccup. New ships that want to dock at Berk need to have permission from the Chief first. That's the protocol. It's always been the protocol; or were you not paying attention during those lessons? We've talked about this; you have to do as the chief says, same as everyone else, whether you're the Alpha or not. Just because you got away with disobeying orders when the Chief was your father, doesn't mean you'll get away with it when the Chief is your wife."

"When my dad was Chief, you used to help me disobey orders" Hiccup pointed out, half jokingly. Astrid glared at him. "Okay, okay. Look, I didn't break protocol on purpose…I just forgot. I'm sorry." He gave her a contrite, pleading look. "So can the Chief please not kick her husband out of bed tonight?"

Astrid rolled her eyes. She knew perfectly well that if she did kick him out of bed, he'd quite happily sleep upstairs with Toothless, or go for a midnight flight…she sighed. "The Chief will make a concession because her husband is an idiot. But it'll cost you…"

Hiccup smirked. "Oh. Well. I suppose I'm willing to pay the price…" he murmured, pulling her close.

*People can still see you, you know* Toothless grumbled, spreading a wing to block them from view of any ogling passers-by.

"So, ol' Skully's really back, is he?"

The couple broke their kiss and looked over at Gobber, who had apparently given up on being subtle in his eavesdropping. "Yeah, he is" answered Hiccup. "He looks really different, I didn't even recognise him. He didn't actually recognise me until I said my name" he explained. "He was pretty surprised to see Toothless and hear about the war ending. None of them seemed too bothered by the whole 'dragon riding' thing, though."

"That's another thing" said Astrid, "Hiccup, I don't want you telling them all of our dragon training secrets. We can tell them what happened, why things are…like this", she gestured at the village-cum-nest, "but no showing them the Book of Dragons, and…maybe Selena and Ebony should hide out in the cove whilst they're here."

"Yes, but then Helena would want to hide with them – or with Bunny, rather" Hiccup pointed out. "Astrid, I know you're worried, but really – when has keeping secrets ever got us anything but trouble? We didn't tell Dagur we were training dragons, and when he found out he declared war on us, remember?"

"Of course. I also remember that we told Heather all of our dragon training knowledge, and she took it straight to Savage and Alvin. And I know she was just trying to protect her parents, but…" Astrid blew out a breath. "I just want us to be careful. There are people out there who would take advantage of what we know, if they could."

"You're right" Hiccup sighed, "I'll tell Selena to keep herself and Ebony on the down low. For now, let's just welcome Skulder back to Berk. I'm sure he's looking forward to seeing everyone again…"

Word spread quickly, naturally, so by the time the Albatross sailed through the gap in the icy ring, pretty much all of Berk was at the docks to see the homecoming of one of their own. There were people who remembered Skulder – including Fishlegs, who was eager to introduce Aegir to his 'uncle' – and the younger generation, who wanted to know who this guy was, and why had he gone away for so long?

When the gangplank dropped, Harald was the first to walk down it. "My, you do know how to host a welcome, don't you? Ah, and you must be the chief of this fine village. A pleasure" he said smoothly, bowing to Astrid. Leo, the Terror on his shoulder, somehow kept his balance and managed not to fall off.

Astrid quirked an eyebrow. "Yes, I am. Astrid Hofferson, pleased to meet you. Welcome to Berk, Captain Harald, was it? I believe there's somebody we know aboard your ship?"

"I'm here!" exclaimed Skulder, clumping down the gangplank. "My word, it is you, Astrid. You look even prettier than you did the last time I saw you; I wouldn't forget a face like that!" he complimented.

In spite of herself, Astrid smiled. "Thank you, Skulder; it's good to see you again. Welcome home" she greeted.

"Thanks. It sure has changed a lot" he remarked, rather obviously, looking around at the ice spires and cave dotted cliffs. Harald gave orders to his bo'sun, who relayed them to the rest of the crew, and they moved off the pier up towards the village proper. Villagers crowded around, trying to get a glimpse of Skulder and Harald.

When they were on level ground once more, Toothless and Stormfly held off the press of curious villagers. They let a few people past though. "Skulder! Where in Thor's name have you been? It's been forever since we've seen or heard from you" Fishlegs scolded him. It took a moment, but then Skulder recognised the portly Viking.

"Fishlegs! It's so good to see you; and yes, I'm sorry I haven't kept in touch. I've just been so busy, and sending a letter is so unreliable…we really do have a lot to catch up on, don't we? I say, who's this?" he inquired, spotting a little brunette head peeking out from behind Fishlegs. "Hello there" he said kindly.

The little boy squeaked and hid. Fishlegs explained, "This is my son, Aegir – well, adopted son, actually. He can't speak, I'm afraid. Come on, now, don't be shy, Aegy. This is your uncle, Skulder" he said encouragingly, stepping aside and denying Aegir a hiding place. The boy blushed crimson, and waved a silent 'hello'.

"Terror!"

Skulder (and Harald, though he hid it better) jumped as a little girl's voice sounded from somewhere around their shins. They looked down at a little blond girl dressed in a blue tunic and leggings with a studded (round studs, not spikes) skirt and a brown coat and boots. She looked up at Leo with her eyes shining. "So cute! Wanna pet him!"

Harald blinked, and then gave a smile (that didn't quite reach his eyes), lifting the Terror off his shoulder. "His name is Leo. And what's your name, little girl?"

Helena gave him a baby-toothed smile. "Helena" she replied, pulling something from her coat pocket. A flake of fish. She held it up to Leo and chirped invitingly. The little dragon chirruped back at her and perched on her arm, delicately licking up the treat with his slender tongue. She beamed and stroked him, scratching between his wings and spines. After a few moments she got bored and handed him back to Harald.

"Aegir!" The little boy jumped. "Let's play hide an' seek" Helena decided, marching over to take his hand and tug him off. Aegir stumbled along helplessly in her wake, looking half nervous, and half relieved to be tugged away from all the grown-ups and the crowd and the dragons and just…everything.

The adults chuckled at the poor boy's predicament, called warnings to the youngsters to keep out of trouble, and moved on (5). It was a lot easier to make their way through the village with a couple of dragons clearing the way. For once Toothless and Hiccup weren't being shown obeisance on all sides; they'd explained they didn't want to overwhelm the guests, so all the dragons without riding partners were keeping their distance for now.

Astrid and Hiccup gave a quick tour and made introductions as they went. Needless to say, Skulder was quite surprised to see Valka, who came over with Stoick to say hello. "I've had a fair few adventures myself, but the things you all must have been up to whilst I was gone…!"

"I sent you letters about all this with Johann, didn't you get them?" asked Fishlegs.

"Well I got one or two, but it's so easy for them to get lost these days. Honestly, you fall out of touch for a few years…"

At some point, the news of Skulder's return had inevitably resulted in plans to throw a party to celebrate his homecoming. In the Great Hall, Skulder and Harald sat with the chief and her family as guests of honour. Harald's crew had caught up with them, but were scattered around, mingling with the villagers.

"Alright, now you have to tell me what's been going on" Skulder insisted, once food had been eaten and mead drunk. Harald indicated that he was rather curious himself.

So Hiccup described how he and Toothless had met and befriended each other; then Astrid helped explain the events surrounding the nest's discovery and the defeat of the Red Death, ending three hundred years of siege and bloodshed. From there they described how, after six years of peace, they'd encountered Valka and the infamous warlord, Drago Bludvist. Both Harald and Skulder had at least heard of the terrible man; neither were sorry to hear that he'd perished. "Good riddance. From what I gathered, a world under his rule would have been awful" said Skulder.

There were some things the Berkians didn't share, of course. Nobody mentioned anything about the heart bind, or finding more Night Furies, or the war with Adulfr. When Harald asked how they kept all the dragons under control, they explained that Toothless was the pack leader, and worked together with his rider. "Hiccup has a natural affinity for dragons" said Astrid, "and because of his bond with Toothless, they see him as a leader as well. It's why I'm the Chief and he's the Dragon Whisperer."

Skulder asked where all the ice had come from. That was trickier to answer; he and Astrid had argued over whether they should tell their guests about Urchin. Then again, how else could they explain a ring of green-blue ice surrounding the island? Hiccup glanced sidelong at Astrid, who twitched her eyebrows in a pseudo-nod. Go on.

"Okay, this is gonna sound crazy, but…you know how we said Toothless is the pack leader, the Alpha? Well, he earned that status by challenging and defeating another alpha dragon – the Bewilderbeast that Drago had used to control his dragon army. An incredibly rare Tidal Class leviathan. Except, it wound up taking a liking to me, probably because I was the first human to show it kindness.

"It – he – turned up just last year, looking for me…and then never left. Urchin's part of the pack now. He made that ice ring - it's a defensive formation. Made the harbour a lot bigger too. I'd introduce you, but Urchin's really shy, especially with strangers" Hiccup explained.

"Are you telling us there's a Bewilderbeast – as in, a dragon of legend – living here on Berk right now?" Harald demanded. He and Skulder were amazed…though Toothless, watching him closely, noticed that Harald seemed rather anxious underneath, as if he'd heard something he didn't want to hear. "This leviathan of yours isn't going to think we're a threat and attack us, is he?"

"Oh, no. So long as you don't do anything to upset him, he'll barely notice you're here" replied Hiccup. Harald visibly relaxed. Skulder, on the other hand, looked more excited than ever.

"This is incredible, simply marvellous. I don't suppose – I would like to see this Bewilderbeast, if possible, get some notes. I really am glad I came back – how fitting, that Berk should be the perfect place to build it!" he declared enthusiastically.

"The perfect place to build what?" asked Fishlegs.

Before Skulder could explain, there came the sound of boots running on stone, and two raspy shouts of "DRAGON HUNTERS!"

(1) Dragons shed their scales when they're young and still growing, but they often also shed them in times of stress. It's the draconic equivalent of a human's hair falling out or going grey due to stress.

(2) The dragons whose skulls were strong enough to actually break rocks never failed to be amused by human's believing that their egg like heads could do so as well.

(3) In the HBS continuity, the ending of RTTE S6 is not a thing.

(4) Now mentioned in passing in This Is Berk.

(5) Their parents knew that Selena was keeping an eye on them. The Vikings of Berk had a rather 'hands-off, free range' approach to raising their kids anyway, and the Alphas has made it explicitly clear that harming children would not be tolerated.