How to train your vessel - Book one

Apidae

"Ho there, travelers. Feel free to settle in any empty hut, much of their inhabitants have long left this old town and the king and queen care little for taxes. Sit on a bench if you need rest after your journey, they might be metal but I assure you they are quite comfortable. Oh, and for your own sake, don't listen to anything Zote says."

Stoick quickly picked one of the larger houses near the town square and helped move Toothless's sleeping stone, since he was obviously going to be out of it for a while, then started work on setting down the great hall nearby with Gobber and Valka. Fishlegs was more than happy to buy a map of Hallownest from a friendly couple near the town square, making sure to avoid a short old bug who had 'annoying' written all over him. Quirrel summoned all of the riders after letting them get settled in for a few days. 

"Follow me, I need to show you something."

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"Do I want to know why there's jellyfish everywhere? Or what you did with that Night Fury?"

"They aren't jellyfish, just distant relatives created by my teacher... I'm very sorry, the Night Fury had to be euthanized."

"That's what I get for asking questions, way to go Snot."

After treading through fog for about an hour and a few minutes they came across a large building surrounded by an acid lake, which Fishlegs happily marked on the map. Inside there were many large and small panels rapidly detailing information and research on various topics ranging from geology to aviation. Most rooms in the part of the archives Quirrel took them had skeletons of extinct and living dragons alike, even dating back to the first dragons and the relation between Bone Nappers and Armor Wings, knowledge that vikings had never had the means to obtain. Answers to questions humanity never knew to ask laid bare on diagrams and notes of great minds Quirrel seemed to know personally.

Quirrel brought them to a room filled to the brim with facts relating to a strange substance called 'void' found only in Night Furies and a place known as 'the Abyss' that existed deep below Hallownest. Hiccup and Fishlegs immediately started reading this 'Monomon' characters journals and battering Quirrel with questions. Which he happily answered while Ruff, Tuff, and Snot finally listened when someone said not to break anything. Something told them this 'void' was way out of their league. Astrid sat down with Stormfly, the bee, and the Light Fury while flipping through a small book about the testament Night Furys made to evolution and hybridization, apparently having the ability to cross-breed with any dragon to improve physical and magical abilities at the cost of the child's connection to void. Whatever the Helheim that meant, though it became clearer as she actually paid attention, and the 'Night-Nadder' was pretty damn impressive.

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With little to do in her masters absence, Platinum snuggled up to a still recovering Toothless reading a book on void and dragon magic. The book was the first volume of a ten book series, and written in the easiest terms of anything the massive rooms data had to offer, clearly something meant to be understood by a fairly young Night Fury. Toothless flipped through the books spells as if he knew them like the back of his hand, even skipping a few chapters entirely while Platinum struggled to keep up with some of the easiest hexes. Eventually just being given the book as Toothless skipped to book seven.

"You're really good at this, aren't you?"

"Thank you! I actually found this place as a short-wing, the magic in this room drew little me right in!"

"That's funny."

"uh... Why?"

"The magic you skipped, you did it because you already knew the spells, right?"

"Yes."

"Most of them were very good attack spells, like eldritch blast and mind sliver."

"...Care to elaborate?"

"If you had this kind of magic ever since you were a short-wing then that would make you impossible to compete with when you matured and got access to more magic to use more complex and powerful spells. Plus you skipped six whole books while I'm still fiddling with mage hand over here."

"Well, I guess?"

"You said at the bewilderbeast sanctuary that you weren't very exceptional in a fight, but here you are flying right through many powerful spells I likely haven't even heard of."

"I CAN EXPLAIN!"

"The sanctuary was the first time we met since I helped Valka and my master kidnap Hiccup, you had no reason to trust me with anything about your past before or after him. Besides, I could tell you were remembering something you didn't want to. You don't need to explain anything if you don't feel good about it. Open up to us at your own pace as long as you do open up."

"...Please lead with the comforting words next time."

"Hey, I never ruin your fun, do I?"

"W-well... No-"

"That was my mandatory 'fuck with you' for the day T."

Quirrel again asked for everyone's attention and lead them through more of the archives about void magic; halls labelled rituals, then conjuration, then constructs, and into a room labelled vessels. The drawings and diagrams in this room depicted many differing versions of the Wanderer and the bee, all of the research being attributed to a 'Pale King' that might have experimented with void constructs a little too often. Astrid walked up to a table covered in papers and other data about vessels meant to contain honey. 

"Hey bee, I found something for you." 

She called, picking up a picture of a yellow vessel. Drawing Quirrel's attention as well.

"Wait, bee isn't his name, is it?"

"That's what we all call him"

"Don't you think he should have a real name?"

"I probably shouldn't have been trusted with naming Stormfly when Hiccup started training dragons, actually I'm a terrible choice for anything involving other people in general."

"...Apidae."

"What?"

"It's the name of the largest family in the Apoidea, with over 5,700 species of bees. That's what his name will be."

Apidae gave a happy expression and hug to Quirrel, before sorting through some books and lists detailing the types and ingredients for the many unique honey's only his vessel-bee subspecies could create. He soon produced a mortar and pestle from his liquidy-void body, then ground up and re-absorbed some healing herbs he'd traded honey for with Gothi. A joyful little buzz over to Toothless later and he held out a jar of light green colored honey in front of the sore alpha, who gratefully licked it all up after a cautious taste-tester. 

Toothless stretched his rejuvenated body while Quirrel left to grab some copies of books on honey vessels, honey, special plants, other materials, and support magic. Books that Apidae happily absorbed into his void and refused to stop reading the entire walk home.