Mettanna
Hiccup threw on his Elven cloak and his shoes, tweaked his prosthetic, straightened his hair that hung down past his shoulders, and groomed his beard. He was ready to go.
Alright, how long for you?
"My lady, are you ready?"
"Are you saying that I'm taking too long?" Adney asked from the other side of the room.
"Did I say anything at all like that?"
"No, but you were thinking it."
He knew without looking that she rolled her eyes at him. Over three decades of marriage let him learn at least that much about her.
"Well, I just don't want to be late. You know how important today is for everyone."
She threw on her long green dress that left her shoulders bare, tied her hair up in a bun, and turned to him, holding her arms out at her side.
"So, what do you think?" she asked.
He looked her up and down while stroking his beard, as if wondering. Even at fifty-two and having had four children with him, she was as beautiful to him now as when they had wed.
"My lady, I think I shall have to dance with you later tonight."
Her eyebrows lifted.
"A dance? You've gotten better at that. What kind?"
"Both," he grinned.
She rolled her eyes at him, but she also stepped over to him and stroked his thick, full beard. Then she kissed him, so he kissed her back.
I could get used to this... eventually... nah... probably never will.
"I might have to dance with you too. We'll see," she chuckled.
"Yeah, depends on how much ale there is."
"So tell your brothers to not drink it all!"
"After what happened last time, not going to be a problem!" he laughed.
They locked arms, left their home, went next door, and knocked.
"Are you up?" he shouted.
The door slid open from inside. Toothless hopped outside and stretched his limbs and wings. His pendant, as always, hung from his neck, but he bore nothing else on his person. Moonbeam similarly loped outside and stretched, rolling her neck and wings.
"We are up! Are you ready to fly?" Toothless asked.
"In a minute or two. We should make sure everyone else is ready."
"Yes, I think the youngest are up at the Golden Hall."
Hiccup laughed.
"Some father you are! Doesn't even know where your kids are!"
Toothless grumbled and glared at him.
"Where are yours?" he barked.
"No idea either!"
Adney and Moonbeam laughed freely at them, but they didn't care.
"So, anyway, race you to the Hall, bro!"
"You cannot win!"
"No?"
He leapt on Toothless's back, holding tightly to his neck, as Toothless gave a bellow of surprise.
"Now I will!"
The battle began and ended very swiftly with Toothless holding him down by a paw. They fought, punching at each other for a while. Then they froze and glanced together to see that Adney and Moonbeam were shaking their heads at them.
"Men..." "Males..." they both said as one.
"We should probably go," Hiccup proposed.
Toothless agreed and let him up, becoming more serious now that they got their tussle out of the way.
"Alright, we should get them. Only our last ones should be here right now. The others already flew ahead or said they will be there."
"Sounds good."
"We will be waiting for you!" Moonbeam purred and nudged Adney, offering her bare back.
Adney climbed on, and Moonbeam gently leapt for the sky, settling into a peaceful glide above Edoras.
He gently punched Toothless's shoulder.
"Don't want to keep them waiting too long, or she might be too tired to fly with you later!"
Toothless punched his shoulder.
"Not a problem!"
Together, they strode through Edoras and past the clearing where a bonfire was already lit with a pair of hogs turning on the rack. This celebration would happen in two main places on the same night.
They entered the Golden Hall together and only briefly had to look for those they were searching for. Hiccup went straight over to his youngest son, Erandur, now sixteen winters old and with the greenest eyes of his four children. Toothless greeted his eleven winters old son, Rheviamenel, who had the darkest color of his four children.
"Father." "Sire."
"We are heading out. Are you both ready to fly?" Hiccup asked.
Rheviamenel's tail started swaying as he spun away from the table.
"Yes! To the caves!" Rheviamenel shouted and bounded for the door.
"Rhev, wait for me!" Erandur cried and started running after him.
Hiccup and Toothless chuckled in amusement.
"They're eager."
"They should be," Toothless agreed.
They both sighed as they looked around the Golden Hall together. This was the evening of the ceremony held on every anniversary of the new peace. It was within these very halls, thirty-two years ago, that King Theoden had made a pledge of peace to the Fury pack in front of many of the people of Edoras. So much good had come from this very place through the years. Laughing, tickling, riddling games, drinking games, hearty meals, dancing, music, and showing off babies and cubs. The tapestries had been added to on the walls.
One of the tapestries depicted Helm's Deep under siege from the ground as a dozen lightning-wielding shadows dove in defense from the sky.
Hiccup rolled his eyes every time he saw that tapestry.
Eh, it's a little embellished, but every good story deserves to be!
Toothless gently slapped him with his tailfin as he started for the door.
"Alright, mister bossy!"
Toothless mouthed something unknown but which was probably offensive.
Once outside and on the stone steps of the Hall, they saw that Rheviamenel and Erandur were already aloft, gently gliding below Moonbeam and Adney.
"Let's not keep everyone waiting," Hiccup said.
He glanced back at Toothless's tail.
"Tailfin good?"
"Yes, it is."
Toothless offered his bare back, and they took to the sky, floating higher on the afternoon wind that blew in from the west. Toothless joyfully roared to everyone else in the sky and turned for the west. They all soared above a seemingly endless expanse of golden grass, with their flight set for the distant mountains and hidden caves that were so familiar now.
Hiccup closed his eyes so he would not see Erandur and Rheviamenel doing their freefall stunts for fun. If he didn't see it, he could not scold his son. Anyone who would try something like those stunts in the sky was crazy!
He let his thoughts wander to everything that had happened over the last thirty-two years.
Theoden had passed in peace of old age. The former King and Flame-In-The-Night had eventually shared the gift of flight. The entire pack had turned out to pay respects to his tomb, the same one in which his son had been laid to rest.
King Eomer had married a lady, Lothiriel, from Dol Amroth and had a son, Elfwine. King Eomer Eadig's rule was becoming known as a great and fruitful one for Rohan.
He thought about how many Furies, Night and Dawn, he had helped deliver without tragedy. Some of the births had been more difficult, but it seemed that a little help and the knowledge of simple medicines did a lot to prevent any grief or loss of life.
The pack had flourished and gradually started spreading further while remaining wary. The pairs started having more cubs, every five years or more frequently instead of ten years, because of the abundance of food and care they were now given. Several pairs, those who preferred living more on their own, now lived permanently and in secret on Tol Fuin, the Dark Isle.
As usual whenever he thought about the work of protecting the pack and building the peace, he felt a cold grimness in his heart. There was still danger even now, over thirty years since the end of the War. None of the pack lived on Tolfalas even though Gondor had built up more of a naval force and was willing to try to protect the island. There was still too much danger from trappers and smugglers. Discontents from Dale and Gondor and even raiders from the eastern lands had, through the years, attempted violence against anyone in the pack they could find. None of that had yet reached so far as the Glittering Caves though.
The Rohirrim were very protective of the pack.
He had found the time to help forge a lightweight armor from Mithril for the Furies after all. That armor protected the vulnerable throats, necks, and softer bellies while not overly burdening the dragons at all in flight. That protection had been crucial in several incidents, mostly in the Eastemnet, involving raiders from the eastern land of Rhun. It was almost impossible to down a thus-protected Fury as long as it stayed aloft and struck from afar. The worst injuries received were when arrows had torn through wings, but those injuries were easily sewn up with proper care.
His and Toothless's journeys throughout Gondor and even up to Dale and Erebor had been both discouraging and hopeful at the same time, oddly. Gandalf's words that the work of building a better world never ended and was never truly finished were so true. There was no idyllic time when that mission would be completed. Rather, it had to be done day by day, stone by stone, by never giving up or stopping. Embracing stubbornness was, at least in this, the answer.
He held up a hand to block the direct sunlight. Doing so, he glanced at Narya. The red gemstone verily burned from within as with a secret flame.
But there was no magic in the ring. No great magic anyway. Turning his thoughts to it always helped lift the cloud and the lingering shadow within. He didn't know if that was an actual power of the ring, or just his own expectation that the ring would help comfort him. Maybe there was no difference.
His thoughts also briefly flew to those who had a place in his heart and were gone now: Gandalf, Frodo, Bilbo, Galadriel, Elrond, Jumps-At-Fire, Dreamcatcher, and the other Furies who had departed across the sea. He could not know what Valinor was like, except in flighty dreams of white shores and a far green country under a swift sunrise. He was sure that, even though he was technically a Ringbearer, he would never make that journey himself.
Toothless suddenly adjusted his flight, banking slightly to the side as Moonbeam and Adney winged closer. Rheviamenel and Erandur were at her other side.
Seeing them and their other children was the main part of life that always helped keep at bay the darkness from his heart.
The valley of Helm's Deep came into view up ahead. Toothless remembered this place from so long ago as the place where he and the rest of the pack had first flown in defense of a human range. It was a flight which had held off an attack by... more enemies than he knew how to count... and which had saved many human lives. It was that flight which proved to the people of Rohan that the pack was worth trusting and giving a chance of peaceful together-life.
He saw wings in the sky above the valley.
Wait, is that them? Yes!
He roared aloud in joy when he saw five very familiar and loved packmates. These ones were clearly distinguishable by their color.
He raced forward as fast as he could with his other brother on his back. Moonbeam did the same at his side while the other shapes turned for them with echoed cries of their own.
Breath-Of-Sky, Mystery, and their three Dawn Fury children, Light-Of-Aurora, Eclipse-Of-Sun, and Sunfall-Gale flew toward him and cried aloud in welcome and joy while brushing wings. His brother's children were a chaotic mix of light and dark stripes, swirls, and spots, just as was true for his own cubs.
They all dove for the ground within the walls of Helm's Deep's courtyard. It was not so easy to touch down there because the landing place was filled by many people already.
Hiccup looked around at the dozens of Rohirrim families and, especially, children who were gathered together outside the entrance to the Glittering Caves.
The caves belonged to the pack now, and only known humans were allowed inside. It was only respectful to allow for some places where people will not go. Rohan and the pack were two different groups, neither having claim on the other. They were two packs who lived in peace, provided for each other, and protected each other.
Toothless and all his kin touched down before the caves and then spun to face each other. Hiccup hopped off his back and went to Adney after she similarly dismounted from Moonbeam.
He bounded toward Breath-Of-Sky and tackled him.
"Brother!" "Brother!"
Growling in play, tails fighting with each other, and playfully snapping at each other's noses, they greeted each other. Then, the greeting finished, they rolled to their paws, turned toward Moonbeam and Mystery, and purred to them.
The sisters, ears lifted in amusement, were shaking their heads.
"Brothers..." they both sighed.
A horn sounded to announce their arrival. He had only a few wingbeats of peace before more people came bounding out of the mouth of the Glittering Caves. Their voices and forms were so familiar and warming to his soul-fire.
His first daughter, Morning-Star, and Hiccup's first daughter, Zephyr, ran out first. Morning-Star's mate, Fire-Singer, who was Flame-In-The-Night's and Snowfall's third cub, followed after them with their first cub, a male named Tinnufain, which was the Elf-speak for Dusk-Cloud, and their second cub, female Glamrenlaer, for Echoing-Song. Zephyr carried her own first cub, Ogmund.
Next out were his first son, Firenmellon, for Human-Friend, and Hiccup's second daughter, Heohera. Firenmellon was almost purely white except for his dark paws and tail. Firenmellon's mate, Hunts-Golden-Light, and their two male cubs, Mallenbrethil, for Golden-Tree, and Lhirgellui, for Song-Of-Triumph, followed.
Then came his daughter, Elenath, for All-Stars-Of-The-Sky, and Hiccup's son, Orvyn. Elenath was dark with many spots of white, which had sparked the idea for her name.
Rheviamenel and Erandur ran toward them to greet their nestmates and packmates.
He purred very deeply as he bounded over to stand with Hiccup and Moonbeam while Breath-Of-Sky dashed over to Mystery. Together, he and his human brother greeted their cubs, who were not truly cubs anymore. Then their cubs ran off together, bonding and greeting each other. They had reached the ages when they were living more away from Edoras and even the Glittering Caves, preferring to live in other villages and be closer to those they held close to their soul-fires.
That made these chances to have them all in one place together all the more warming.
But there were others who did not dash out to greet him or Hiccup.
He nudged Hiccup's shoulder, and Hiccup nodded in agreement without anything being said. They both understood.
Together, they strode into the Glittering Caves. The way all sounds echoed around them, the flash of lights from the crystals in the walls, the pools of water that formed from the stream flowing out from the cave, the deep depths that packmates and their human kin had explored, all of it was dear to them both and familiar.
Packmates dashed over to greet them with nuzzles and news. As warming as it was to meet them again, they were not who he and Hiccup were truly here to see.
They arrived at one of the small pools a short distance inside the mouth of the cave. This was a place that they both knew deeply in their soul-fires.
Their parents, Far-Flight and Sky-Dancer, slowly got to their paws and walked to greet them. They were getting older, at over eight tens of years, and their scales had turned grey in places. They were not flying as much anymore, but their thinking was still as sharp and biting as it had always been. Their last two cubs, and his and Hiccup's last sister and brother, were Kindled-Dream and Esgalnaur, for Cloud-Fire. They both gave much of their time tending to sire and dam now.
Just as he and Hiccup also did when they had time away from sire-father duties or other duties for the pack.
"Sire, dam..." he purred and nuzzled their noses.
"My cubs," Sky-Dancer warbled.
"Good of you to join us," Far-Flight softly said.
Hiccup held Far-Flight's head and rubbed his chin.
"Father, of course we would."
"We would not miss this ceremony," he added with a purr.
"You will be telling the story, yes?" Far-Flight asked, his ears lifted.
Hiccup nodded and answered.
"We will. It's our story and also yours."
Far-Flight and Sky-Dancer huffed and purred.
"Good. We like the story, and we can watch you and the cubs do more flying together after," Sky-Dancer proposed.
Hiccup shrugged.
"Maybe, but we might want to sleep afterwards. It will be a big meal!"
Sky-Dancer chuckled.
"Burning-Star, you should not drink so much!" she barked.
He rolled his eyes and covered his head with his paws at the memory of what happened. He had forgotten that happy-water-beer-ale was thought-twisting... and had enjoyed too much of it... with amusing results.
"Dam, that happened three winters ago!"
"And I remember it like it was yesterday!" Hiccup grinned.
"As do I..." Moonbeam groaned.
They all laughed at the continued flight-fouling that they so enjoyed. He secretly enjoyed that their soul-fires were so warmed, not that he would admit that to them.
Hiccup groaned while leaning back against Toothless's side under the starry sky outside the caves. It had been a very big meal of pork, fish, and various vegetables. There had also been several barrels of ale, mostly drunk by the humans. The feasting and talking had lasted into the evening and even after the sun fully set.
Everyone was settling down now to rest around the bonfire within the repaired Deeping Wall. The ground had been covered in stone, filled with pools and trees, and was now a proper entrance to the Caves and the hidden world within. Tents were set up throughout the courtyard for the families who came to visit.
He and Toothless did not go to sleep. They merely rested together by the warmth of the fire. Not only did they both have something they needed to do soon, but they also preferred to be awake so they could see their families.
He gazed at his own children: Zephyr, Heohera, Orvyn, and Erandur, and Toothless's children: Morning-Star or Elaur as she sometimes went by, Firenmellon, Elenath, and Rheviamenel. They were all gathered together with each other and, for those who had them, with their own children and mates while whispering, talking, teasing, and laughing with each other. Far-Flight and Sky-Dancer, tails entwined, rested beside him and Toothless while Breath-Of-Sky, Mystery, their children, Kindled-Dream, and Esgalnaur lay close by.
There were so many memories from throughout the years. Watching the children come to know each other, bond, have fights, forgive, go on adventures, share the gift of flight, and grow up... all of that was so dear to him, to them both.
He had spoken with every Night Fury and Dawn Fury, once they came of age and size to be able to carry a human, and impressed upon them the importance of only giving flight to someone they could trust to not try to use them for anything. That warning, while having proven to be rather unnecessary in their cases so far, hit especially close to his own heart.
He saw Moonbeam and Adney resting together as a white wing lay over his wife's shoulder. The two had become very close friends, as would naturally happen given the nature of their relationship. They watched each other's children almost daily, at least they did so back when children needed watching. Now they were starting to take turns watching grandchildren of both kinds. And of course, Adney was the only one, aside from himself, whom Moonbeam ever allowed to fly with her.
He also beheld the youngest Furies whom he had watched grow into adulthood. Tail-Hunter and Storm-Chaser had become very close sisters. Tail-Hunter and Free-Flight were resting together along with their two children and human friends. Windripper, Snowflame, and family were in Ithilien with Eowyn and Faramir, and those two adult Furies helped to guide the members of the pack assisting on the ongoing repairs at Minas Tirith and Osgiliath, even now so many years after the devastation.
Toothless, at some unspoken summons, stirred, got to his paws, and gently nudged his shoulder.
"Huh?" Hiccup grumbled.
"It is time."
Hiccup groaned and got to his feet, stretching as he did so.
"Yeah, you're right. Let's do this."
Toothless lifted his head and, with his pendant glowing faintly in the night, roared a summoning call that echoed off the walls of the valley. All the conversation ended as people eagerly got up from where they had been sitting and then approached the low fire. Some of them stumbled toward the fire.
Toothless sat down beside him. Hiccup could hear the whispering voices as children pointed at them in awe.
"The black rider..." "Burning-Star..." "Dragon whisperer..." "Night rider..." "Amazing..." "He's one of them..."
Everyone settled down, and both he and Toothless looked over the audience, mostly of humans but also with many Fury adults, fledglings, and cubs intermingled. Much of the pack was present, this being the one event each year which brought everyone together, save for those living far away on Tol Fuin, in Ithilien, on necessary patrol, or performing other such duties. Everyone was eagerly gazing at them.
He had done this many times before, and it had become easier with more practice and learning on the job. Then he subtly glanced at Toothless and took a deep breath after which he stared at the stars. It always seemed to him that a single star burned brighter than the others, though maybe he was only seeing what he hoped to see there.
"This is the night of the peace. It was a night that helped to change the world forever," he began.
Toothless picked up the tale.
"But the story does not begin in Edoras or in Rohan. This story began in a very different world, far away beyond the horizon, the sunset, and the edge of the world itself."
Hiccup continued.
"The story that we will tell you started in a world where dragons and humans were not friends and family."
Gasps of surprise and alarm went through all, even those who knew the story.
"No," Hiccup continued, "that was a world where dragons were used as weapons, as creatures that lived to serve other beings that controlled them. But not all dragons wanted that. Some of them wanted to be free. One dragon and one human met each other and, through two acts of mercy and courage, changed the world forever by making a forbidden friendship and becoming family."
Toothless hummed and took over.
"But that human and that dragon were brought to a new world by another Enemy that wanted to control dragons and use us. That Enemy could not think that dragons would not want to be his servants or that we would want to be free. He also could not imagine that dragons could be shown mercy and be adopted as Children of Illuvatar. The Enemy made a mistake and brought two very different types of life together in peace."
Hiccup looked around the fire at everyone attentively listening.
"And the change that happened here in Middle-earth did not happen because of one special person, not even two, but rather... change happens through the choices of many people going about normal life by loving family, children, spouses, and friends and by trying every day to make the world just a little better than it was before," Hiccup softly said.
Toothless chuckled.
"As a small Hobbit said years ago, people have many chances of turning back and giving up, but remember that there is good in the world and that the world is worth fighting for. An Elf also said that even the smallest people can change the future," Toothless purred.
Hiccup glanced at Toothless, and Toothless smirked at him. They both looked out over the captive audience that was breathlessly waiting for the story to begin in earnest. They saw their own families and the complete strangers among the Rohirrim.
Hiccup glanced one more time at Narya, saw the flame dancing within the gemstone of the ring of fire, and began.
"In Rohan, there were no dragons when I was a boy..."
The End