Chapter Text
Viggo is a little surprised when the Frost Nadder lands in front of him with a saddle in her mouth. She chuffs at him as she drops it.
“What do you want me to do with this?”
He asks as he lifts it up, checking it over. It seems undamaged and still usable.
“I can take it back to the smithy I suppose.”
He turns and tries to start walking. Silverbreath screeches and blasts ice in front of him, causing Viggo to spin around.
“What do you want?”
He frowns. The Frost Nadder chitters and creeps over to him, bends down, and bumps his arm with her snout before settling on the ground in front of him with a chirp.
“Ah. I see.”
He gently attaches the saddle to the Nadder, making sure everything is snug, but not too tight. Then he hesitantly gets onto the saddle fully expecting to be tossed off and into a wall. But she simply rises, shifting a bit to adjust to the new weight. Silverbreath then takes off into the sky. Viggo holds tight to her horns, a little worried. He had not flown without Hiccup before. He does not want to fall off. Silverbreath lets out a huff and Viggo rolls his eyes.
“Don't give me that. You would be nervous too.”
She chuffs at him and lands in front of the hatchery where Duskclaw is waiting with the two baby nadders. Viggo tilts his head and thinks he might understand as Duskclaw takes off and lifts up both of her children. They are going for their first flight. And he has been invited. A spark of surprising warmth hits his chest as they climb.
Duskclaw soars higher than Siverbreatha and lets the small dragons go with a chirp. The babies struggle and shriek, flapping with little coordination. Silverbreath moves in and Viggo catches them both. He finds words of encouragement slipping out as he rubs their heads before passing them back to Duskclaw who flaps back up and drops them again.
It takes the babies two more times before they are able to control themselves in the air. The smaller which is a dark inky green almost black tests out a few tricks, spinning through the air. The other baby which is a sandy brown shoots out small magnesium blasts and then floats up momentarily on each small pocket of warm air. Viggo smiles as the two small dragons play in the air and croon as they truly experience the sky for the first time. The chief smiles softly at the sight.
The smallest Nadder begins to flag and Viggo opens up his arms. It comes to rest against his chest and he settles it safely on Silverbreath's back. The other fledgling flaps over to him and tiredly sighs as it also settles. Both are soon asleep and the adult Nadders chitter back and forth.
They land outside of the hatchery and Viggo slips off of the Frost Nadder. He places the two baby dragons on Duskclaw’s back. Duskclaws goes back into the hatchery and Viggo turns to Silverbreath. He reaches out to try to take the saddle off. Silverbreath snarls and hops back. Viggo takes a step back, hands open and tilting his head to expose his neck. He knows it is not quite right but he makes the hello chirp to the Frost Nadder. Silverbreath flaps her wings and steps closer to him and chirps. Viggo slowly holds out a hand. Then he closes his eyes and turns his head.
Rough scales brush his hands and Viggo turns his head back and opens his eyes. Silverbreath presses further shifting so that his hand is slowly moving across her snout. His fingers twitch and she growls. Viggo takes a breath a tries to keep his hand still. She chuffs and then keeps up her slow movements. He slowly raises a second hand and she bumps against that one as well. She breathes out a thin frosty mist onto his face and then presses against his chest.
Then she lets him remove the saddle. But she takes it with her before he can try to pick it up. Viggo wonders what it all means.
--
Hiccup smiles as he curls up against Ryker while watching his other brother face off against Ragner in a game of chess. They both had gotten quite good at the game and it is interesting to watch. Makir is moving his hands at Ida, making idle commentary about the game. Hiccup is pleased to find that he can understand most of the hand movements.
Dragons are in the rafters and mingling with the Vikings. Toothless is at Hiccup’s side while Spitfire is resting on Ryker’s other side. Silverbreath is settled beside Viggo, growling slightly when anyone breaks the invisible one-foot bubble around her. Anyone other than Viggo that is. Silverbreath allows Viggo to leave a hand on her snout and she is leaning slightly into the chief's side.
Hiccup smiles softly to himself as he relaxes into his eldest brother’s side. This is… perfect. He is not sure that he had ever been this happy. Or felt this safe. On Berk, there had always been an underlying fear that things would return to how they were before the dragons. With him being ignored or chased about. But here… they had missed him after one day. They searched when he had been upset. They valued him for being Hiccup. Not for being a dragon conqueror, not for being the son of the chief, and not for the potential buff Viking that people wished him to become. They valued him for being him. And Hiccup knows that he would not be letting that go.
He would fight to stay.
And he knows that his new family would fight to keep him.