Defying The Rules

Finding a Name

"So, what are you going to name him?" Hiccup asked, interrupting Thalos's thoughts.

Thalos shook his head. Naming the beast seemed pointless and childish. "I don't know." He replied shortly.

"When you look at him, what do you think of?"

"A dragon."

Hiccup sighed. "Think of him as a... a friend, not a dragon. What do you see?"

Thalos huffed and looked at the dragon. The beast stared at him intently, almost as if he knew what exactly they were talking about, and it was waiting for Thalos's answer.

He didn't see anything. It was just a dragon. Maybe a dragon that he cared for slightly more than other dragons, but a dragon nonatheless. How can you be friends with something that, if it wanted to, could eat you whole?

This was really rediculous. It was a dragon! "Shiny?" Thalos finally through out there.

"Do you think of "shiny," or a specific shiny object?" Hiccup asked.

"I don't know. A shiny star? This seems really pointless." Thalos was finding this a lot harder than he felt it should have been. No one has trouble naming a yak, or a sheep. They don't even have problems with naming a person. A dragon was different though. How? Thalos didn't know. It just was.

"Okay, "Star" is good. Do you want to name him that?"

"No. "Star" is a dumb name." If he had to name it, it might as well be a good name.

"Okay... What about Starclaw?" Hiccup suggested.

"Starclaw? That's-"

Before Thalos could finish his sentence, the dragon pushed Thalos's body with his head. Thalos looked at the beast. "What? You want that name?" He asked in a disbelieving tone. The dragon made a gurgling-type sound with its throat. Thalos sighed and shrugged. "Alright then." He turned towards Hiccup. "Happy?"

Hiccup sighed and shook his head. "You make it sound like that was physically painful for you." He said.

Thalos just looked at the dragon, then at Hiccup. "So, what are some ways to learn about him?"

Hiccup shrugged. "You can always try the eel and see what his reaction is. You can try lots of things."

Thalos nodded.

"You can try making a lot of noise. Remember when Gobber said it throws off a dragon? Maybe since this one is so big, it won't work." The scrawny boy suggested.

"Umm, alright." Thalos said.

"Well, I uh, should go. I have my own dragon to visit."

Thalos nodded at Hiccup. "Okay. I'll take you back on the raft." He said.

The two walked back down the cavern and to the water. When they were both on the raft, Thalos drove it to the beach. Hiccup got off, waved his thanks, and walked away.

After about five minutes of Thalos debating whether or not he wanted to go back into the cavern, he decided he would. He knew there were small eels in the river that he floated across in the cavern, because he had seen a few leep out.

The eels in this river seemed a lot less aggressive then most other ones. It could just be because they were small. Thalos didn't really know. He had heard of Vikings coming across massive eels that would jump on the boat and try to pull it down. Luckily, these small ones weren't one of those kinds.

It didn't take him long to grab one. He managed to even grab one on the raft as he was floating along the river. He kind of guessed the Xeno'jiiva would be afraid of the eels, because a Hideous Zippleback and a Night Fury was afraid of them. So, surely a Xeno'jiiva would be too...Or maybe because it was so big, it wouldn't be afraid? He really didn't know.

He made his way back to the dragon, hiding the eel in his tunic. Wait... what if it was scared, and then it ate him alive? His modivation and desire to test the dragon seemed to be dwindling. Or as Fishlegs would say, "Dwindling into single digits."

He slowly approached the dragon, who was laying down. "Hey, Starclaw..." He said carefully, walking closer.

The dragon got up and walked towards him. His nose was stretched out and his neck was lowered to the ground. He made a gurgling sound in his throat and started sniffing Thalos's chest. Clearly he could smell the eel, or at least smell something.

Thalos pulled out the eel from his tunic. He flinched when the dragon immediately took it and slurped it up. One can imagine how shocked Thalos was. The dragon wasn't afraid? He just ate it?

Starclaw continued sniffing around Thalos's body. "I don't have anymore." He said, opening his tunic coat to show him.

The dragon snorted and laid down in front of Thalos. The Viking hesitantly started petting his head. Starclaw gave a few pur-like sounds, so Thalos guessed he liked it.

So, was it the dragon's size that made him not afraid of the eels? Thalos sighed and shook his head. There was no way he was going to find out-Not unless he tried it on other dragons, and frankly, he wasn't willing to do that. He didn't want to have to look for a bigger dragon than the Xeno'jiiva. He would likely get eaten, and he wasn't particularly fond of that thought.

Thalos continued petting Starclaw. He looked around. He decided he would try and see if being loud did anything to the dragon. He picked up a large piece of broken crystal and started hitting it against the ground. The shrill sound hurt his own ears. The dragon looked at him and tilted his head, giving that look of, "What the heck are you doing small human?."

The Xeno'jiiva did start to get annoyed though. After Thalos kept doing it for a minute or so, he snorted and shoved the Viking, causing him to fall and drop the crystal.

Thalos cringed when he fell on his arm. Thor that hurt. The last thing it needed was to get more hurt. He rubbed his arm and looked at the dragon, a bit annoyed. Starclaw just snorted and looked at him.

Thalos sat down in front of Starclaw and looked at his magnificent features. One really could get lost in just examining Starclaw. His light blue, shimmering scales were particularly eye-catching. It might even be hard to beleive that this beautiful animal would be as horrible as a dragon. But... it wasn't horrible...

While Starclaw might be pushy at times, he had never eaten Thalos or attacked him. But, at the same time, if dragons weren't the merciless beasts that Vikings have thought for generations, then wouldn't have someone found out by now?

Starclaw laid next to Thalos, his head against Thalos's lap. It gave a gentle rumble in its throat and just laid there.

There was clearly more to dragons than what had been presumed all these years. How all they were different than Vikings thought, Thalos didn't know. All he knew was that there was clearly pieces of the puzzle that he was missing.