To Make a Memory
Chapter One: Cabin Fever
Hiccup is sick of it. Sick of being alone at home. Sick of having to cook for himself. [Heck, he is barely tall enough to reach the middle shelves in the food cellar!] Sick of having no one around and a father who never listens to him. He will prove to everyone that he could be a Viking too!
But right now? Right now, he is frustrated, angry, and most of all, lonely.
It is the middle of devastating winter, the storm outside is blowing fiercely against the wood. The entire house trembles slightly as it braves the ghastly storm. The adults are having a meeting in the Great Hall, discussing food rations and potential dragon attacks. Or maybe they are going over the town's defenses, Gobber's schematics strewn about the table that Gobber had been nice enough to show and explain each one in detail to him. This has been the fifth meeting this week, and considering it is Frigg's Day? Well, that would make it a meeting a day already, and it seems like it will stay that way for a couple of weeks [As usual…]. He feel restless, itching to do something or at least find something else to occupy his time. Whenever he feels like this, he usually goes to one of two places: The Forge or The Cove.
The Forge is an amazing place to work at, the metal shimmering hot to produce vibrant and beautiful colors only the sunset could replicate. Metal or iron piled up in clusters, separated only by a system that only he and Gobber could understand really. Weapons sharpened are hung on organized racks, ready to be taken back by their owners or claimed by a new one, while orders are piled in stacks or shoved into barrels to be done later. It is surprisingly fun to carve intricate designs into the metal, even if no one but Gobber really paid attention to them. Sometimes, he is even allowed to make the occasional dagger for someone, though Gobber usually takes the credit for that one. [Most people hate the idea of owning something made by Hiccup the Useless.] But due to the storm, Gobber has barricaded the place up good, and it would take weeks, if not months, to even find a possible entrance into the Forge in this kind of weather. By then, the storm will have died down a bit, and Gobber will have let him in already. So there isn't much point in going there at the moment.
Then there is the Cove, a beautiful and peaceful place, walled in by the stone cliffs around it. The trees above provide, amazingly enough, protection from the snow and ice. The small pond there usually had fish that will gently swim around unless disturbed, though it is most likely frozen over for now. He has a sneaking suspicion that the pond is connected to the ocean somehow; Otherwise, why would there be fish in a pond that probably didn't have any fish to start out with? He is afraid to check for any kind of underwater entrance though, since he is not sure he can hold his breath that long. There are rocks and tree roots in the clearing big enough where he can hide under and sleep comfortably for a while. The path to the Cove is relatively calm, and it will not take too long to travel down there and let loose some of his feelings. He has done it before, last devastating winter, so he is sure that he can make the trip again.
Mind set, Hiccup throws on a thicker jacket and wraps himself in his blanket. Getting down from his room is like every other routine he has done for the past years, giving him a sense of familiarity. He opens the door slowly, inching his way out so that there will less snow in the house that he will have to clean up when he gets back. He closes the door, the freezing winds roughly pushing at his clothes, and never looks back.