AN: This is 3-4 years before the first film. Camicazi and Hiccup are both 12.

As Stoick and the other representatives got off the ship, Hiccup awkwardly followed behind them. He'd been on treaty-signing trips with his father before, but it was always either the Berserkers or the Uglithugs. He'd never been to the Bog Burglars' island, and was dreading the thought of it the entire trip there.

"Hello, Bertha..." Stoick said without much enthusiasm to the big-boned, intimidating woman at the dock. "Stoick..." she nodded, before glancing down and noticing the weedy, small boy behind the Hooligan chief.

"This is Hiccup, I presume..."

"Aye..." Stoick answered, rolling his eyes without even looking at his son. Bertha chuckled, saying "his name isn't a deceptive one, at least... shall we?"

Hiccup sat alone at the dock as Stoick, Bertha and the others walked away. His father always hated it when he stepped outside without being watched, since it usually meant that disaster was soon to follow. But he couldn't sit here all day. He had to get into the village eventually. So, after about five minutes of silent panicking, he stood up and walked into the currently empty village square.

"Great... a whole day stuck on an island full of terrifying warrior women... what could go wrong? OW!"

He picked himself off of the ground, rubbing his head as he noticed the small, bent pipe that had hit him on the floor. "What the..."

Hiccup looked up to see more pipes getting thrown out of a blacksmith stall right in front of him. He picked up the ones on the floor and slowly walked over to the stall, putting his ear to the door to hear some fumbling and grumbling inside.

"Uh... excuse me..." he said as he slowly creaked the door open, only for the noises to suddenly stop. "Ugh..." he slowly walked into the stall, the pipes in his arms and his footsteps on the ground being the only noises as he lay them all on the table. "I'm uh... I'm just gonna leave these here... AAHHH! Oh, Gods!"

He was taken off his feet, landing hard on his back as a hooded figure stood in the darkness above him. Hiccup went wide-eyed, terrified at the sight of this figure and not knowing who or what it was.

"Well, well, well... what have we here..." the figure revealed herself as she stepped into the light and removed her hood. She was about 12, not a year's difference older or younger to Hiccup, but was at least a head shorter than he was. She was thin, for a Bog Burglar girl, and over her yellow shirt she wore a sleeveless fur vest that was clearly too big for her, just like Hiccup's. Her hair was a messy blonde, and was clearly as untouched by human hands as an Amazonian rainforest.

Hiccup was initally at ease with the girl's seemingly less-than-intimidating appearance, before she pulled out a long, shining sword and pointed it right at him. "You know... you've got a cute face, for a boy at least... I think I can fix that for you..."

"N-no, no! You uh... you can't hurt me!"

"Oh, really!" the messy-haired girl snapped. "Let's test that, shall we?"

As she brought the blade closer to his face, Hiccup shrieked a little higher. "Uh... n-no, I said that wrong... um, well... without a doubt, you can hurt me. Trust me, it's actually be pretty easy. I don't do well with pain. I stub my toe, I'm pretty much done for the day, you know what I..."

"Get to your point before this sword's point gets to you!"

"Okay, you can hurt me but you shouldn't..." Hiccup snapped. The girl brought her sword away a bit, saying "and why would that be?"

"Because I'm the son of the Hooligan chief and therefore a political ambassador..." Hiccup answered, crossing his arms with a smug grin on his face as he got up. "Unless you want to disrupt this treaty signing and cause all-out war between our tribes, I suggest you leave me be..."

"Hm... you make a good argument, for a boy at least..." the girl said, before her eyes went wide. "Hang on... the Hooligan Chief's... Hiccup?"

"Uh, yeah. Great name, I know, but... it's not the worst. See, parents believed that a..."

"No, no. I'm... look, I met you once before..."

"Really?"

"Yeah... we were, like, six... you know... Beserker Island? When you went swimming with Dagur..."

"Well, we didn't really go swimming." Hiccup snarked. "He was trying to drow... whoa... wait, you're the one who..."

"Who broke his nose and saved you! Yeah!" the girl said excitedly as she unsheathed her sword. "I was not expecting to run into you of all people today..."

"And your tone of voice implies that you're not dreading every second of it, so win-win..." Hiccup shook her hand. "And you are...?"

"I am Ze Great Camicazi..." she answered proudly. "Heir to the Bog Burglar Tribe, master swordswoman and the most cunning and talented burglar in the entire Archipelago… at your service…"

"Hm... is it okay if I just call you Cami?"

The two sat talking in the forge, watching their parents signing the treaty outside. Hiccup wasn't interested, being too busy drawing in his book, while Cami was sharpening her sword as she observed Stoick.

"So... are you absolutely sure that Stoick is your dad?"

"Are you kidding? If we didn't live in the same house, even I'd refuse to believe it..." Hiccup scoffed as he kept drawing. "We barely make eye contact. And... and when we do, there's always this... this... disappointed scowl... you know, like, somebody skimped on the meat in his sandwich..."

"Ha ha HAA HAA ha... oh, man... I can really see your old man being like that..." Cami laughed, before straightening herself up with her fists clenched, trying to mimic Stoick. "Excuse me, barmaid! I'm afraid you brought me the wrong offspring! I ordered an extra large boy with beefy arms, extra guts and glory on the side! This here, this is a talkin' fishbone!"

Hiccup remained straight-faced, before saying "ugh... well, I wouldn't be surprised if that were true..."

"Oh no, come on. I'm only messing..." Cami said, affectionately hitting him on the shoulder. "See, Hiccup, here's the thing... there's the Viking way, and then there's your way. And your way makes grown men, like your dad, feel a little... well... uncomfortable..."

"Uh-huh... and speaking of uncomfortable, I'd like a new conversation, please..."

"Well okay..." Cami said with a brow raised. "Any girls back on Berk catch your eye?"

"Wait, what?" Hiccup quickly closed the book he was drawing in and put it behind his back. When he was able to process her question, he cleared his throat and said "to be honest, everyone at Berk either hates or flat-out ignores me, so I pretty much like to return the favour. That applies to both genders, by the way..."

"And what about this girl?" Cami said suddenly, holding up the book opened on the page showing a drawing of a young girl their age. Hiccup went wide-eyed, reaching behind his back frantically as Cami said "don't bother checking. It's the same one..." in a sing-song voice.

"Gods..." he scoffed under his breath. Cami flicked through the pages, many of which had multiple pictures of the same girl, before saying "so, what's her name?"

"Ugh... Astrid. Astrid Hofferson..." Hiccup sighed. Cami nodded, saying "hm... very interesting... I'm gonna assume you haven't talked to her..."

"You assume correctly." Hiccup snarked.

"Pft... typical boy..."

"In my defence, Astrid wouldn't come near me if she was on fire and I had the last bucket of water in the entire Archipelago..."

"Well, I think you're pretty cute..." Cami said, pinching Hiccup's cheek patronisingly. Hiccup chuckled, saying "for a boy, at least?"

"Yep." Cami said with a grin. "But that's saying a lot... hell, I'm not even interested in boys anyway... but this Astrid girl... whoo... if this picture's as realistic as it looks..."

"Great. Well, I can't wait to get home so I never have to speak of this ever again..." Hiccup snarked under his breath. Cami, sounding somewhat disappointed, said "alright... let's write about it, then..."

"Write?"

"Yeah. You know, like letters?"

"Letters?"

"Yeah... I've had more fun with you today than anyone else on this boring heap of rock..." Cami said. "I wanna keep in touch..."

"Cami... you wanna keep in touch... with me?"

"Sure. Who wouldn't?" Cami laughed. Hiccup chuckled weakly, before saying "well, pick a number... OW!"

Cami punched him on the shoulder, saying "piece of advice, Haddock. If you depreciate yourself, you're just letting others depreciate you..."

Hiccup smiled, rubbing his probably-bruised shoulder as he said "duly noted... alright... let's give this pen-pal thing a shot, then..."