THE TRANSLATOR, httyd.

the translator, twenty-six.

"you and your father nearly died that night, all because I couldn't kill a dragon." valka concluded her story, and elina sat there, pondering in thought. hiccup smiled sadly.

"yeah, it runs in the family."

valka lowered her gaze. "it broke my heart to stay away, but i believed you'd be safer if i did." hiccup was taken aback, his eyes deep in thought. elina knew of valka's past; or, well, the general gist of it. when elina told her about her story, valka had told elina that she had a son called hiccup, but she was never told her son's last name.

when elina had met hiccup that day, she thought hiccup was a very common viking name. after all, her parents told her that their great-great-grandfather's name was hiccup the hole (since he had a hole in his right arm from being stabbed by a dragon by its claw.)

hiccup hesitantly asked, "how did you survive?"

the three of them walked together. "oh, cloudjumper never meant to harm me. he must've thought i belonged here... in the home of the great bewilderbeast!" elina immediately remembered the alpha species. if the red death was the queen of all dragons, elina was sure that the bewilderbeast would be its king. something about the bewilderbeast made elina feel a sense of calamity. 

elina walked to the edge of the cliff, watching as the giant, white dragon lay there with a stony expression on his face. great spikes protruded from his body as a stream of waterfall ran behind him. half of his body was buried in the water as dragons flocked around the alpha, landing on the small patches of meadow. hiccup smiled in amazement.

"with his icy breath, this graceful giant built our nest. a safe haven for dragons everywhere." 

hiccup frowned. "wait, that's the ice-spitter? he's responsible for all that destruction?" 

valka immediately corrected him. "he protects us. we all live under his care. and his command. all but the babies, of course..." elina watched with a grin as the babies swarmed her and toothless, who had bounded towards them in eagerness. 

"oh my gods, who's that?" the baby dragons crawled over elina, who had gotten knocked to the ground by their force (honestly, she was probably best friends with the ground by how many times she had been knocked over). 

cloudjumper snarled at the baby dragons. "back off, kits," he warned the babies, who instantly darted away from toothless and elina. hiccup grasped elina's hand and pulled her up. "who listen to no one!" valka laughed as the dragons moved onto the bewilderbeast instead, who grumbled in annoyance, muttering, "i hate children."

the bewilderbeast raised his head to look at the two intruders, and elina felt an urge to bow to the dragon. even toothless bowed towards the bewilderbeast (albeit reluctantly). however, elina simply watched as blue eyes pierced into hers. as if drawn to the dragon, elina took one step closer to the edge of the cliff. hiccup followed her, excited and amazed at the magnificence of the creature.

elina gently reached out her hand to touch the bewilderbeast, and to valka's surprise, the bewilderbeast let elina touch his forehead. "it's been a long time since i met someone like you," the dragon commented. elina didn't really know what to say as a response, so she just replied cheekily, "i'm one of a kind, i guess." 

valka's eyes widened. hiccup exclaimed, "woah, he quickly warmed up to you!" elina shrugged. 

"probably the dragon blood in me." valka furrowed her eyebrows, confused. 

hiccup, who knew of chameleon's blood transfusion, laughed. "or the fact that you can speak dragon."

valka shook her head. "what?" she chuckled. both hiccup and elina looked at each other, both agreeing that they probably shouldn't scare hiccup's mom away in the first hour they just met.

"oh, you don't want to know," hiccup rolled her eyes, a grin on his face. the bewilderbeast, seeming to agree, puffed a jet of snow at hiccup. elina laughed as hiccup tried to remove the snow from his hair, leaving elina to stand behind him and pick out the snow on her tiptoes.

valka commented, "he likes both of you." after a moment, she continued, "you must be hungry."

"yeah, yeah i could eat," hiccup agreed. they both looked at elina, who just shrugged.

"good. it's feeding time." cloudjumper's amber eyes widened as he heard the word 'feeding'. toothless popped his head from under cloudjumper's right wing, making the dragon roll his eyes and walk off, unamused by his antics.

"why doesn't he like me?" toothless whined. "i'm a perfectly lovable dragon!"

chameleon just snorted a jet of smoke in his face then turned her heel to follow elina. "yeah, totally," the dragon snarked.

elina followed valka to feed the dragons. "oh, so this is how you come in," elina said sarcastically, still remembering how she nearly drowned, again. (seriously, how does someone nearly drown so many times in their lifetime?)

valka laughed apologetically. "sorry, lina. the thunderdrum didn't notice you were there." elina just smiled to show there was no bad blood between them. 

they hopped on their dragons and went to the surface over the ocean. "h — hey, i thought we were going to eat," hiccup said, befuddled. 

elina just smiled. "trust the process, hiccup."

elina had always found valka's way of fishing to be much cooler than hers, but not everyone had a bewilderbeast. while she and the dragons had to go fishing to stock up for fish, valka simply just put her hand above the surface of the water, causing the bewilderbeast to rise up to the surface and bellow loudly.

he sprayed fish in the air, making chameleon happily gulp the fish down, causing elina to swing unsteadily upon the dragon, trying to hold on to her excitement. "ahh!" she could hear the laughter coming from hiccup and valka as she was pulled in different directions. when the rampage finally stopped, elina shook her head to remove the dizziness as chameleon had a mouthful of fish.

elina spat her hair out from her face again. "ugh," elina groaned. hiccup just chuckled at her, leaning closer so they shared a kiss. elina quickly moved away, both suddenly aware that hiccup's mother just watched them kiss.

"uh... you're okay with this, mom?" hiccup asked what elina was thinking, and valka just grinned. 

"i've known elina for years, hiccup," valka smiled. "and if she isn't the perfect match for you, i don't know who is."