The others are approaching now, causing Plasma to growl, so I pat his side. "It's okay," I assure him calmly. "They're friendly."

Plasma allows the group to approach, though his only interests are me and, when he sees her, Adriana. The others seem a little surprised at how he's accepted the both of us completely, but not any of them.

"It's incredible..." Fishlegs gapes, reaching out to pet Plasma. Plasma growls warningly at him, startling him back, but Hiccup leads him back over and encourages him to try again. He really doesn't know when to quit, does he?

"Are they dangerous, or just irritating?" Plasma questions, making Adriana laugh a little. "They won't hurt you, don't worry," I assure him. Plasma reluctantly accepts the pets just to keep the others pacified, but he doesn't pretend to like them or even acknowledge them.

"You guys have kept any Morphwing stuff a secret, right?" Plasma checks, to which Adriana nods, taking the opportunity to playfully mess with him by petting him and softly cooing to him, much to his clear annoyance. No wonder she and Asher are such a good pair; they both love to joke around, even if it gets on other peoples' nerves at times.

"Do you guys think Nightling is nearby?" Fishlegs asks. "It's possible..." Heather agrees thoughtfully. "Maybe if we follow this one, it'll lead us to her?"

"Or an entire pack!" Hiccup lights up, eager to find the rest of the Morphwings. Plasma immediately growls at this suggestion, glaring daggers at the group. "Seems he's territorial," I comment. "Best not disturb him or any others."

"I would've thought that you of all people would love to find the Morphwings," Astrid notes. "I do," I agree. "But they clearly don't want to be found. They probably need to stay hidden. What's more important, their security or my curiosity?"

"Agreed," Adriana nods. "Pla- uh, this dragon won't want us to invade their home. We should leave him be."

"Do you just go along with whatever she tells you?" Heather questions, looking first at Adriana, then at me. "I don't really know what to say or do around here," Adriana admits. "So I'll follow her lead. I don't mind."

It seems Plasma wanted to give us a hand with covering our lies, because he provides a distraction in the form of moving away from us, flapping his wings in anticipation to take back off.

"Do you need me to come back and keep an eye on things? My eyes will give me away if I drop in as a human."

"Go on, it's okay," I assure. "You're all good to go."

"Okay. I'll let everybody know what happened here and I'll drop by in a few days if you haven't returned yet, just to be sure everything is still okay. Good luck here."

Plasma takes off, flying away into the night sky, quickly lost in the dark...

And then, right after him, Hiccup and Toothless, testing both their night vision and my patience.

"What is he doing?!" Adriana sounds a little alarmed. "They won't get far," I assure her, seeing that Astrid is already gesturing me over to her and Stormfly. I join them, watching as Fishlegs helps Adriana onto Meatlug. She's still clearly a bit worried, but Gronkles are pretty good for beginners to ride; they're slower and steadier, they bond easily and they're very protective. She'll be safe with those two.

Stormfly takes off after Hiccup and Toothless. Plasma has already noticed the pair and is growling warningly at them, trying to get them to leave. As predicted, they don't.

"Hiccup, just leave him alone!" I demand. "These dragons clearly don't like being followed!"

"I'm not going to hurt it, just watch it!" Hiccup waves off my clear dislike of the situation. "We keep losing our chances! I'm not wasting it again! There has to be a reason why they keep showing up, Artemis! There has to be a migration, or something destroying their home, or anything like that! We can help them!"

"They don't need help! Just leave the Morphwing alone!"

"Why is it that every time we find a Morphwing, we have to let it go without finding out more about it? I want to see where they live and make sure they're safe!"

"Does this look like an unsafe dragon to you? He's fine, but you have to let him go! He's not just some experiment or project of yours!"

"I'm not doing anything wrong!"

"Yes, you are! I know you mean well, but that doesn't mean you're not making everything so much more complicated! For once in your life, just drop it!"

Toothless seems to share my concerns, because he tries to fly downwards, though it's clearly a struggle due to his tail fin. Unlike the other dragons, he can't just go wherever he wants. Poor guy.

"See? Even Toothless knows how badly this will turn out," I sigh. "Just be grateful that they're showing themselves at all."

"But Artemis, what if we could bring them out of hiding? We could take care of them here on Berk and give them all the food and care they need! Maybe they'll trust us!"

"Or maybe they'll burn you to a crisp!" I argue, losing my patience. "You can't force anything on them! Good intentions don't bring about good actions! Think about what's best for them!"

"How could it be bad for them to come out of hiding?" Hiccup points out, then pauses as he takes in my glare at this comment. "Ah. Right, point, uh, point taken... but it's not like that for them! Nobody's hunting them! Nobody even knows they exist!"

"So bringing them to Berk and parading them around in the open is the best solution? Listen to yourself. You can't be selfish like this when it puts others in danger."

"Selfish?!" Hiccup gapes, waving his arms around dramatically. "Wha- coming from you?!"

"This is childish, Hiccup," I scoff, not about to get into such a silly argument. "I'm not discussing this with you. I'm telling you to leave the dragons alone. If they wanted you to find them, they wouldn't hide. Now either let Toothless land like a reasonable adult or I'll be the one to help him do it."