Hey everyone! @astrid-foreverythingelse again! This ended up quite a bit longer than I thought it would, but since I have it all finished now I figured I would post it all instead of making you guys wait for a third part. So here's the second and last part to Wild Life! See Part 1 (along with the request description) here if you’d like!
~~~
“Will we get to see Windshear next time?” Zephyr said, disappointed.
“Maybe, sweetheart. Windshear is very sensitive, though,” Astrid explained. “She doesn’t like anyone but Heather.”
“Don’t worry, honey, you’ll get to see some more big cats today. I promise,” Hiccup assured her. “But right now, we need to check on Eret and his favorite animal.”
Nuffink gasped. “The rhino?”
“That’s right, bud, the Northern White Rhino!”
As they pulled up to the next enclosure, they quickly found Eret under the shelter with the large rhino, tending to wounds on the docile beast. Eret turned at the sound of tires crunching across the gravel, and a smile crossed his face. “Well, if it isn’t the Haddocks! How are we doing this lovely morning?”
“Just fine, excited to show the kids around the sanctuary,” Hiccup explained, helping Zephyr out of the Jeep. “Would you mind- Woah, Nuffink! Slow down, bud!” he cried as Nuffink slipped out under Zephyr and rushed to the fence, eyes wide with wonder and legs bouncing with excitement.
“What’s his name, what’s his name?!” Nuffink cried.
Eret laughed and guided the rhino closer to the fence, allowing his audience to take in his full glory. “This is Skullcrusher, our second-newest resident. He’s a Great White Rhino with many battle scars, but he’s quite mild. Very protective as well. He only uses his strength when he needs to.”
“What happened to him?” Zephyr asked, catching up with her brother.
“Well, you see, some hunters tried to get ahold of him. This horn of theirs,” Eret said, tapping Skullcrusher’s front horn, “can catch a hefty price as many people believe it has medicinal benefits.” At the tap of his horn, Skullcrusher turned his head towards Eret and affectionately bumped his head against him. Eret chuckled and pet the animal as he continued. “This big guy has survived many an attempt to capture him, but he suffered some severe wounds. We brought him here to fix him up and hopefully send him back soon.”
“You’re gonna send him back to the wild?” Nuffink asked, sounding disappointed.
“That’s the hope,” Eret said with a smile. “Not all of these animals are meant to stay here forever. The ones that we can send back, we do so gladly. They belong back in their home.”
Astrid and Hiccup stayed back at the Jeep while the kids had their mini lesson with Eret. Astrid leaned closer to Hiccup. “Should we tell them why he’s named ‘Skullcrusher’ or just let that one slide?” she asked with a devious smile.
Hiccup’s eyebrows furrowed and he shivered slightly. “Alright, kids, time to move on!”
“Already?” Nuffink complained.
“I know, bud, but we’re losing daylight. We still have four more animals to go!”
“Who’s next, Momma?” Zephyr asked, jumping up into the Jeep.
“Well,” Astrid groaned as she helped Zephyr up, “it’s sort of two animals in one.”
“What does that mean?” Nuffink asked from Hiccup’s arms.
“I don’t think you’ll believe us until you see it,” she replied.
The two children tried to pry out the answer from their parents through the entire short drive to the next enclosure, but their parents only answered with, “You’ll see.”
They pulled up to the enclosure entrance right behind another vehicle, finding Ruffnut and Tuffnut unloading packages from the back of the car.
“New menu today?” Astrid asked as Hiccup unloaded the kids.
“Hopefully the last new menu,” Ruffnut replied. “We’re running out of food to try out on them.”
“They definitely earned their name,” Tuffnut added sarcastically.
“What name?” Nuffink asked.
“Nuff! What’s up, little man?” Tuffnut cried, starting an odd and over-complicated handshake with him.
Zephyr scrunched her nose in confusion before shaking her head and turning to Ruffnut. “Yeah, what name?”
“Barf and Belch,” Ruffnut said. When Zephyr only responded with a bewildered look, she added, “Yeah, that’s right. Barf and Belch. Want to know why?”
“Not really,” Zephyr said, clearly disgusted.
“Yeah!” Nuffink cried at the same time, clearly interested.
Tuffnut laughed. “They just hate everything we give them to eat. They’re super picky. We can’t find a food to give them that they won’t, well... Barf up or belch for hours on end after.”
“Want to see them?” Ruffnut asked. She and Tuffnut gathered their bags of goodies with Astrid and Hiccup’s help before leading the family into the enclosure. Nuffink and Zephyr hesitated, having never actually entered an enclosure before.
Astrid turned around. “It’s okay,” she encouraged, “You have to come in to see them. We have them sort of... Locked away.”
Zephyr and Nuffink shared a look before shrugging and following the adults.
“What kind of animal are they anyway?” Nuffink asked.
“A cobra,” Tuffnut quickly replied.
“Woah, cobras. Cool.”
“Not cobras. One cobra,” Ruffnut corrected.
“But you said-”
“You’ll see,” Hiccup and Astrid snickered simultaneously.
They came to a smaller enclosure that almost resembled a very large shed. It wasn’t until they walked inside that the kids realized the top of the shed was open, hidden by a thick canopy of trees. Immediately inside the door they stepped into what appeared to be an observation room overlooking a dense forest space.
“Wait here, we’ll get them to come out,” Tuffnut said. They dropped all their goodie bags but two and disappeared behind another door.
“Where did they...?” Zephyr began.
“You’ll see,” Astrid and Hiccup echoed.
Tuffnut tapped on the glass from within the enclosure, startling the children for a moment. He laughed and waved before walking off with his twin sister towards a small cave structure. They each threw a piece of meat in front of the mouth of the cave and waited, calling out the animal’s names.
They didn’t have to wait too long before a cobra with two heads slithered out of his hiding place.
Nuffink and Zephyr’s jaws instantly dropped. Zephyr scrubbed her eyes with her fists and took another look, not believing what was in front of her. Nuffink looked overwhelmed with all the thoughts running through his head as he tried to riddle through the scene unfolding in front of him.
“Pretty cool, huh?” Astrid asked.
“How...” Zephyr started, so many questions flooding her brain that she didn’t know where to start.
“We’re not sure how he’s survived so long with two heads. It’s unheard of,” Hiccup began. “Naturally, once people heard that an animal like that existed, it was a race to get to it first. And not everybody cared if they brought the animal back alive or not.”
“Somehow he managed to escape every time,” Astrid continued. “He was very lucky that a merciful man found him. But by then Barf and Belch had so many wounds and scars that he was barely alive. The man tried to nurse him back to health, but wasn’t experienced with caring for animals. He was wealthy and widespread enough to have some international contacts that knew of us and we gladly took him in.”
“We built this special enclosure just for him so we could keep him out of sight,” Hiccup said. “When people ask, we just tell everyone it’s an open enclosure waiting for a new animal. We’re afraid that if anyone knew he was here, it’d be dangerous not only for him but the staff and other animals too.”
“Well then why is there glass in here, Daddy?” Zephyr asked.
“Well, it’s not everyday you have to care for a two-headed animal,” he explained. “Barf and Belch really only allow Ruffnut and Tuffnut into their enclosure, but we had to be able to study them and learn how to take care of them. So we built this observation room that wraps around the entire enclosure.”
Tuffnut and Ruffnut turned and waved to the family as the rare snake enjoyed his new meal option, the children staring wide-eyed and gape-mouthed into the enclosure.
~~~~~
“What’s next, what’s next?!” Nuffink cried, bouncing in the backseat of the Jeep.
“Nothing as exciting as a two-headed snake, but we just have a few more animals to check on,” Hiccup teased. “Would you like to visit Great Uncle Gobber?”
“Uncle Gobber lives here?” Zephyr asked.
“He may as well,” Astrid playfully muttered. “No, sweetie, he likes to take care of Grump. Grump is a Bornean sun bear.”
“What’s that, Momma?”
“Well, you know those silly little black bears with the really really long claws and tongues that you like so much?”
Zephyr giggled. “Yeah!”
“That’s what Grump is!”
As the family pulled up to the next enclosure, they found Gobber scratching his head and staring at an unmoving mass of black fur on the other side of the fence splayed out haphazardly across a rock. Gobber shook his head before turning to greet the Haddocks. “Zephyr, Nuffink! Enjoyin’ the tour?”
Nuffink nodded excitedly. Zephyr, on the other hand, had her eyes glued on the bear. “Is... Uncle Gobber, is he... Is he dead?”
Gobber laughed as he closed the distance to the Jeep, scooping up Zephyr and carrying her to the fence. “Not at all, lassie, far from it. Dumb bear is jus’ lazy as a dragon after too much dragon nip.”
“Dragon nip?” Zephyr asked with a scrunched nose.
“Here we go again,” Hiccup chuckled, bringing Nuffink over to join his sister with his wife following closely behind.
“Dragons exist!” Gobber cried. “They steal ya’r legs! But only the left ones,” he added to Zephyr, who replied with a giggle.
“Yes, Gobber, we know. And then they disappeared underneath the earth never to be seen again, right?” Astrid teased.
Gobber glared at Astrid as Zephyr turned her attention back to the bear. “Uncle Gobber, are you sure he’s okay?”
He laughed and whistled before yelling, “Ay! Grump! Git up, already!”
Nothing.
“Grump!” Gobber growled.
Grump’s eyes flickered open, followed by a large yawn that left his tongue hanging out of his mouth. Just as Gobber opened his mouth to sarcastically praise the lazy beast, he lifted his body just enough to flop back down onto the rock with his backside facing the humans.
Gobber scoffed. “Lazy animal.”
“Uncle Gobber? What happened to his claws?” Nuffink sheepishly asked. When the bear lifted himself up momentarily, the children got a better look at his injuries. What claws were left were chipped or broken off, and they could make out thin breaks in his fur that indicated healing gashes in his skin.
“Well,” Gobber sighed, “Probably another animal or some hunters got ahold of ‘im. He made it, though, doin’ jus’ fine now. But ‘e’ll have to stay here for the rest of his life.”
“Why’s that?”
“He’s got no claws to defend ‘imself now, and they not growin’ back too good, either. Then again, ‘e probably wouldn’t defend ‘imself even with the claws,” he added with a grumble. “Bear’s got too lazy to care. All ‘e does is sleep and eat!”
The children continued to watch Grump closely, searching for signs of life, as Gobber turned to Hiccup and Astrid. “Have ya shown ‘em your animals of choice yet?”
“We’re going to see Stormfly next, and then Toothless and Luna are last,” Astrid explained. “We figured we’d round out the day with our own animals.”
“Who are they?” Zephyr mused back to her parents, eyes still glued to the lazy bear.
“Well, they’re the animals Mom and I work with the most. They take best to us, like everyone else has their favorite animals that we visited today,” Hiccup explained. “They’re enclosures are right next to each other, so we can visit both of them at the same time. Stormfly and Toothless get along really well, and so do Toothless and Luna.”
“What kind of animals are they?” Nuffink asked.
“Do you want to go find out?” Astrid asked, aware of the day’s end drawing near.
Nuffink looked up to Gobber. “He’s really not going to do anything, is he?” he asked, gesturing to the bear.
Gobber shook his head. “Not a lick.”
Nuffink jumped away from the fence. “Yep, let’s go!”
~~~
Hiccup stopped the Jeep at a dividing fence between two enclosures; but unlike the other enclosures the kids saw that day, the entrance to these straddled the intersection of the dividing fence and the outer fence. Astrid climbed out quickly, falling into a pattern she obviously was used to. Hiccup encouraged the children out of the Jeep and brought them to the fence. “Wait here,” he smiled as he followed Astrid into the enclosure.
“Stormfly!” Astrid called. “Come here, girl!”
Hiccup knelt next to the fence opposite the kids as a hush fell over the trees. Everyone stayed perfectly still, patiently waiting.
Hiccup sensed the apprehension in Zephyr and Nuffink growing at the gentle padding of paws drawing nearer. They scanned the tree line fervently while keeping a nervous eye on their mother.
“Come here, girl, it’s okay,” Astrid encouraged, the smile on her face evident in her voice as well. She carefully lowered herself to the grass, reaching out a steady hand. “I see you, Stormfly, come on out.”
Nuffink and Zephyr looked around, now confused as to where their mother saw the animal.
“Daddy... Where is she?” Zephyr whispered.
Hiccup gently hushed his daughter, smiling as he pointed to the trees directly in front of Astrid.
Astrid turned her head at the quiet interaction behind her. She waved at her children before turning back to the ghost in the treeline. “It’s okay, Stormfly. That’s my own pack. They’re safe.”
Nuffink and Zephyr carefully scanned the treeline again, frustrated that their parents saw something they obviously did not. Suddenly, Zephyr gasped quietly. Nuffink looked at her confused and tapped her arm. Zephyr wrapped her arm around her brother and pointed at the trees just off to the left of where they were standing.
The face of a wolf with unusual coloring was watching the family carefully, eyes shifting every so often between the three figures by the fence and her usual caregiver in the grass. Her face was mostly white fur, but a start black patch ran down her nose, and another covered from the middle of her head across her right ear and eye, down her right cheek, underneath her chin, and up across her left cheek, disappearing behind the side of her face. She slowly emerged from the shadows of the trees, silently approaching as if she were gliding over the grass rather than stepping on it. Her head cocked to the side in curiosity, eyes locked on the children as she walked in a confident line towards Astrid. As she stepped away from the brush, her body of black fur could be seen, interrupted only down her spine by the same white color that dominated her face. The white fur on her back seemed to jut out in either direction like spikes, and continued from the nape of her neck until it mixed with the black in her tail.
The wolf nuzzled her head along Astrid’s shoulder, eyes still locked on the children with a curious tilt. Astrid combed her fingers through Stormfly’s fur and looked back to follow her gaze. “Aren’t they beautiful?” she whispered to the wolf. “I’m so proud of them. And they love animals just like me.”
Stormfly turned her head to sniff Astrid’s cheek. She licked Astrid’s chin, making her chuckle. “You can meet them, it’s okay. Go see Hiccup.”
Stormfly hesitated at first, looking back to Astrid but taking a few steps towards Hiccup and the kids.
Astrid laughed. “Go on, I’m coming.”
Stormfly seemed content with that response; she turned towards Hiccup and trotted his direction as he held out a welcoming hand. “Hey, there, Stormfly,” he said, scratching behind her ears. “Long time, no see, huh?” He looked to Zephyr and Nuffink, who were now frozen with fear. “Come here,” he encouraged, “put your hand right up on the fence, flat, just like this.”
Hiccup laid his hand flat against the fence, which his children cautiously mirrored. As Zephyr and Nuffink placed their hands against his, he slowly used the opposite hand to guide Stormfly to the fence. Hiccup and Astrid watched Stormfly closely as she sniffed their children’s hands through the fence, ready to react if they needed to.
But the gentle wolf - just as Hiccup and Astrid anticipated - simply nuzzled her nose against the children’s hands before gently rubbing her head against the fence.
Zephyr’s mouth dropped open in awe, while Nuffink laughed and daringly stuck his fingers through the openings in the fence.
“Hey Hiccup,” Astrid called out as she approached her family. Stormfly perked up at the sound of her voice and sauntered over, weaving between her legs. She gestured to the enclosure next door with her head as she reached down to scratch behind Stormfly’s ears. “I think someone’s getting a little jealous of all the attention over here.”
Hiccup rolled his eyes and stood, turning around to find a black jaguar bouncing excitedly on the other side of the fence. The children looked quizzically at their mother first before following their father’s gaze. Hiccup held out his arms. “Hey, bud! Did ya miss me?”
He walked out of the door in the fence, planning to step into the jaguar’s enclosure. The jaguar, however, seemed a bit too excited to give him that chance as he pounced on his entrance. Hiccup placed his hands on his hips. “Toothless,” he chided, “step back.”
Toothless growled playfully and gave Hiccup a wide berth to enter the enclosure, seemingly bowing his head in shame as he sat back on his haunches.
“Toothless?” Zephyr asked her mother, who was now sitting on the ground leaning against the fence with Stormfly curled in her lap. “Why Toothless?”
Astrid chuckled. “You’ll see. Poor little guy.”
Zephyr raised an eyebrow but didn’t question further.
Astrid sighed. “Come on, girl. Let’s go say high to Toothless.” Stormfly looked up at her caretaker before standing and stretching, patiently waiting for Astrid to follow suit. She walked along the fence, waving to her children to follow from their side as well. Finding a better spot in the corner of the fence separating the outside world from Stormfly and Stormfly from Toothless, she sat down and let Stormfly curl up again in her lap. Zephyr and Nuffink turned their attention back to their father as he entered Toothless’s enclosure, stepping past the point where the dividing fence intersected with the outer fence to get a better look.
Just in time for the black jaguar to pounce on their father.
“Daddy!” the children cried as the big cat wrestled their father to the ground, opening his mouth and closing his jaw securely around their father’s shoulder.
Or so they thought, at least.
Hiccup was laughing the whole time, through the tackle and pounce and bite. “Toothless!” he laughed as the jaguar nawed on his shoulder. “Stop scaring my kids, you useless cat!”
Toothless purred happily as he burrowed his head along Hiccup’s neck.
“I know, I know, I missed you too! Can I get up now?” Hiccup requested. He arched his back so he could tilt his head back enough to see his children (be it upside down). Nuffink’s eyes were open wider than his mouth somehow, but Zephyr’s eyes were full of tears as she clutched the fence separating her and her father.. “Zephyr, baby, I’m okay! It’s alright! See?” He freed his hand to point to his shoulder. For further evidence, he pulled at his shirt collar to reveal the smooth, intact skin.
Toothless started licking Hiccup’s face, attempting to steal his attention back. “Agh! Toothless!” Hiccup cried as Toothless started soaking his shirt collar. “You know that doesn’t wash out! I just saw you yesterday! What is your problem?”
Astrid laughed from the other side of the fence. “He’s showing off for his audience!”
As Hiccup continued to struggle with the jaguar, Stormfly lifted her head and let out a warning bark towards Toothless. Toothless immediately jumped up like a child being caught in a forbidden act and looked around for the source of the noise. Eyes falling on Stormfly staring intently at him, he sheepishly rolled off of Hiccup and bounced in a circle as his caretaker got back to his feet.
Hiccup jogged over to his children. “Deep breath, Zephyr, I’m okay!” He knelt down in front of her and let her inspect his shoulder closer. Nuffink leaned in curiously to see the proof himself. “See? I call him Toothless because he doesn’t have any teeth. And he never closes his jaw hard enough to hurt me. He looks big but he’s pretty young. He just likes to play.”
Zephyr released an amount of air the Hiccup didn’t realize her little lungs could hold for so long. “Oh... Okay,” she breathed.
“That’s awesome!” Nuffink exploded, jumping up and down. “Well, not that he doesn’t have teeth. But that you wrestle with a giant cat!”
Hiccup laughed. “Jaguar, yes.”
As if on cue, Toothless pushed his head between Hiccup’s legs, curiously sniffing at the fence and the children behind it.
“See? They’re little kids, just like you,” Hiccup said. “Only they’re better behaved,” he added under his breath.
Zephyr giggled and Toothless cocked his head at the new sound. He leaned forward and sniffed the fence again before lifting a paw to swat playfully at the metal, making the rest of the family join Zephyr in her giggling.
“Hey Toothless? Where’s Luna, bud?” Hiccup asked, almost as though he knew the answer.
Toothless looked from Hiccup to the open space behind him, and then back again.
“Go get her, bud!”
And with that, the jaguar took off and disappeared into the trees.
“What happened to his teeth?” Zephyr asked after a moment.
“He was extremely malnourished,” Hiccup explained, watching the trees where Toothless disappeared. “We’re not sure if his teeth rotted because of the malnourishment, or if he was malnourished because he was missing most of his teeth. The few he had left by the time we got him had to be removed because they were so far gone.”
“That’s sad...” Zephyr thought.
“How come he listens to Stormfly better than you?” Nuffink accused.
Zephyr laughed as Hiccup threw Nuffink a playful glare. “Well, he’s not a baby, but he’s still young. He’s probably as big as he’ll grow, but he’s also only a few years old. Stormfly is an adult wolf who lost her pack. She got really depressed because of it and wouldn’t take care of herself. She came to us because of the injuries she suffered, but she stayed because every time we tried to release her, she would just lay there and not do anything. We put her in the enclosure next to Toothless just by chance, but she made quite the unique bond with him.”
“Honestly, we should have seen it coming, based on her history and his age,” Astrid added. “With Toothless being so young, she naturally grew to look after him. And Toothless took to her almost instantly as a mother figure. We actually bring Toothless into her enclosure quite often now to let them bond while we can supervise. Which is why they still have separate enclosures. That, and because of Luna.”
“Who’s Luna?” Zephyr asked.
“Well, hopefully we’ll get to show you,” Hiccup said, turning back to the trees. “She’s an albino leopard. But she’s an amazing hider. And she doesn’t come out often. She was a pet to an exotic animal enthusiast who abused her pretty harshly.”
“Well, where is her home?” Nuffink asked.
“Here,” Hiccup said.
Nuffink rolled his eyes. “No, Dad, where is her pen?”
Hiccup smiled. “Here. With Toothless.”
Toothless bounded out of the trees excitedly, running up to Hiccup and knocking him over. Hiccup hit the ground with an audible oof. “I hope that means you found her,” he said, a little winded from the fall. “Because if not, that was just rude.”
Toothless bounded back to the trees and back again, as if coaxing Hiccup to follow. Once Hiccup stood and started moving his direction, Toothless sat back and watched the trees where he came from.
“Luna,” Hiccup gently called. “Hey, girl, you there? It’s Hiccup, it’s okay.”
It took a few minutes of encouragement from Hiccup’s end, but eventually a white face slowly emerged from the lower branches of a nearby tree.
“There you are!” Hiccup happily said. “You can come out, it’s just my family. No big crowds today, alright?” He pulled something from his pocket and held it out towards her. “Do you want some fish? I know it’s your favorite.”
Luna bounded down out of the trees carefully, eyes on Hiccup until she spotted the children behind him. She hesitated for a moment, but then a light breeze drifted the scent of the fish piece in Hiccup’s hand her direction. Hiccup knelt down to be closer to her level. She continued out of the brush, her eyes never leaving the children as she sniffed Hiccup’s hand and accepted the gift. As she carefully took the fish with her teeth, Hiccup allowed his hand to drift down her jaw and scratch under her chin. When she seemed to accept the gesture, he lifted his other hand to pet her head and down the back of her neck. “Good girl,” he whispered.
Zephyr leaned over closer to her mother and softly asked, “Why do they get to share a yard?”
Astrid shrugged. “Honestly? After we got Luna here, she kept finding a way to sneak in. See that enclosure over there?” Astrid pointed to the fenced-in area on the opposite side of Toothless’s enclosure. Zephyr nodded. “That was Luna’s. But every day when we got here, somehow she would be in Toothless’s enclosure, snuggled up next to him, just snuggling the day away. We still can’t find exactly how she did it. But we noticed that after spending all that time with Toothless and seeing how much he trusted your dad, we finally had a caretaker that could get close to her and, well, actually take care of her. So we gave up and let her stay with Toothless. He obviously didn’t mind.”
The attention seemed to be too much for Luna; she froze from the moment Zephyr asked her question until she stole away back into the trees again.
“Aww,” Nuffink said, pouting out his lower lip.
Hiccup stood and brushed off his knees, walking closer to the children again. “I’m sorry, bud. Like we said, she doesn’t like people.” Suddenly, Hiccup’s face bursted into a smile as he shared a look with his wife. Astrid raised an eyebrow. “How about we make it up to you, Nuff?”
“How’s that?” Nuffink asked, cocking his head to the side like a curious animal. Toothless mirrored the motion behind Hiccup.
“Would you guys want to play with Stormfly and Toothless?”
Nuffink and Zephyr shared a wide-eyed look.
“Of course!” Nuffink cried.
“Can we, Daddy?!” Zephyr asked at the same time.
Hiccup glanced back to Astrid, who was already standing and walking back towards the treeline towards a makeshift gate that was obviously added to the fence after it was built. Toothless, no longer paying attention to Hiccup, bounded over to the gate and sat on the ground inches from the opening, recognizing the movement.
“Come on,” Hiccup smiled, slipping out of Toothless’s enclosure and opening the gate to Stormfly’s. Once the opportunity was actually given to the two children to follow, they hesitated. Nuffink took a deep breath and willed himself to follow his father. Zephyr, not wanting to be outdone by her little brother, sort of stumbled in after him.
Astrid waited a moment to open the gate for Toothless, carefully watching Stormfly’s reaction to the children. Already semi-acquainted with these new humans, she curiously trotted over to them. Zephyr and Nuffink hid behind their father as the wolf approached them. Hiccup knelt down to the ground and held a welcoming hand out to her. She nuzzled her head against him with her eyes on the children, head cocked to the side and eyes scanning their bodies as if analyzing them. As if she sensed their apprehension, she lowered her head and closed her eyes, taking a careful step towards Nuffink.
He pulled back for a moment, finding himself leaning into Zephyr’s chest. Stormfly stopped moving and dared a glance at the children. Seeing them frozen in place, she instead lifted her head and slowly approached them, gently sniffing the air. As she drew closer, she first sniffed Nuffink’s chest, and then Zephyr’s hand that was perched on his shoulder. Nuffink started breathing quicker, alerting Stormfly to fear rising in him. She slowly leaned towards him until her head rested against his chest, and then lifted her muzzle to comfortingly lick Zephyr’s hand. The two slowly relaxed, and Nuffink found himself moving to the hug the soft fur of the wolf’s neck. Zephyr let her own fingers dip into the fur of her head and slide down Stormfly’s neck, repeating the motion again and again.
Satisfied with how the two did with Stormfly, Astrid chuckled as she opened the gate for Toothless.
And he was not at all so careful with his approach.
Bounding towards the family, he tackled Hiccup again, who let out a surprised yelp. Zephyr and Nuffink gasped, and Stormfly expressed her annoyance with a huff.
“Not again!” Hiccup groaned.
Stormfly released herself from the children’s grasps and sauntered over to Toothless and Hiccup, barking at Toothless again. He reluctantly stepped away from Hiccup and sat in the grass. Stormfly huffed at him, to which he lowered his head so far he was nearly laying on the ground.
Which Stormfly took as the perfect opportunity to lay over top of him.
Toothless huffed and laid defenselessly under the wolf, despite the fact that he could easily overpower her being twice her size. Stormfly gently bayed to the children, encouraging them to come closer and meet the overly-energetic animal she was currently perched upon.
The children laughed and approached the two animals, Toothless happily watching from underneath Stormfly.
As Zephyr and Nuffink interacted with the animals, Astrid joined her husband still sitting on the grass. She leaned her head on his shoulder and sighed happily. “We did pretty good with those two, didn’t we?”
Hiccup chuckled. “Much better than I thought we would. And it seems like they like animals as much as we do.”
“Shouldn’t be too hard to get them into the family business then, huh?”
Hiccup smiled and kissed Astrid’s hair. “Not at all.”