The Lost Boy V - Short stories

Homecoming 2

(after Book 4)

''Our ancestors were terrified of dragons because they didn't know them.'' Hiccup said.

Joke and him were sitting by a fire pit they had settled on the porch of the house, chilling in the evening while the kids and the Night Lights were playing in the yard. Both men rathered them to play outside because the dragons used to break a lot of furniture or set things on fire. Joke had taken use of the kids' distraction to talk to Hiccup about Alwine discovering Stoick's book.

No need to say Hiccup was now filled with the same worry as his husband.

''I tried to tell her Stoick changed along with the rest of the village, that he loved dragons too and even had one, but she didn't seem convinced. Maybe you can talk to her too ?'' Joke offered.

''I don't know, you've always been better at talking than me, I'll only be repeating what you already said.''

Joke sighed and leant a bit, resting his elbows on his knees while thinking. He didn't know what to do, and the simple idea of Alwine thinking her grandfather was some kind of dragon-killing monster was stinging. When they heard a high-pitched shriek, both men looked up to the kids and were relieved to see they were still playing. Alwine was riding Midnight's back, the black and white Night Light running after Duskstorm. Daylight was sprawled on the snow while Zephyr was packing some on him to create funny horns. Moonshine and Nightsky were both with Haldrik who was wearing a piece of wood on his face to look like the mask of a monster, he was trying to scare them off, making them shriek.

The mask gave Joke an idea.

''Hey, you remember when we were kids back in old Berk, how we used to put on a pagent at Snoggletog ?''

''Oh yeah, those were fun.''

''What if we brought the pagent back ? We can show the children of New Berk how humans and dragons became friends.''

Hiccup jumped to his feet, a beaming smile lighting up his face. ''That's a great idea ! But we've only got four days until Snoggletog. Well, three if you don't count Black Plague Friday, you'll be too busy.''

''Yeah, nothing would get done that day, everybody is just shopping and coughing anyway.''

Hiccup crossed his arms, thinking. ''I think we can do this. Let's talk to Gobber.''

Joke smiled back but it quickly vanished as they heard a roar echoing in the sky, making the five Night Lights instantly freeze.

''Time to sooth freaked-out parents.'' Joke teased as they could already see Toothless and Lumiverse looming towards them. He knew the Night Lights had sneaked out again from the Crescent Cove, they just loved Alwine, Zephyr and Haldrik.

* * *

It had snowed during the night, again. By the morning, the whole village was drowned under white, making the early vikings shovel and asking dragons to burn the snow. At the center place of the village, children were having snowball fights with dragons – mostly Terrible Terrors and Gronckles – while a group of teens found it funnier to hit the tall stone statue of Stoick the Vast. A ball hit the beard, another hit the joined hands on the sword handle.

''Hit his nose !'' A girl prompted.

Another ball landed on Stoick's eyebrows.

''Ha ! That's two for me !'' The boy of the group claimed, while a girl with short blond hair was giggling madly.

The third teen of the group, a taller girl with reddish hair, threw the next snowball but Gobber smashed it with his stone mace replacing his hand.