Astrid looked up at the glowing Dragon ahead of her. She wasn't afraid, not one bit. She knew from the time when she had just turned five that this was her destiny. To bring down the dragon who disgraced the Hofferson name. Here she stood, barely 15 fulfilling that destiny. She looked at the glowing dragon with determination. Her eyes connected with the dragons`, when memories of last time came flooding back to her.
Gobber had just ran, well, hobbled quickly, back to the forge. Little Astrid Hofferson, who had just turned five, looked at the dragon who had just killed her uncle. Blood hot with the need for revenge, she was about to charge. When suddenly, someone called her name, and a hand pulled her behind the rock. Her blue eyes met forest green. "Hiccup?" So this was who was going to stop her. Not an older Viking who would tell her she wasn't ready, but the chief`s son, and her best friend, Hiccup. Hiccup was a smaller boy. He was thin and looked frail, but Astrid knew better. He had just become an apprentice to Gobber as a blacksmith. Even though he was a month short from the age of five, Hiccup was smarter than half the population of the isle of Berk and his thirst for knowledge continued to grow.
Astrid regarded the younger boy with confusion. Why would he do that? Did he know how important this was to her? "Astrid," the boy began "I know what you`re going to do. Please, don't go out there!" He pleaded. Astrid sighed, "You don't understand, that thing killed my uncle. I heard people saying something about a coward. The Hoffersons are not cowards!" she exclaimed. The boy sighed and shook his head. "You`re not a coward, not fighting doesn't make you a coward. As for the revenge, revenge gets in your head and makes you do stupid things." "How would you know anything about revenge?" The blonde spat with fire in her eyes. Hiccup directed her attention to a monstrous nightmare distracting another group of Vikings. This wouldn't have been anything out of the ordinary, but the dragon had a long, painful looking scar that ran across it`s eye. Whoever did that, must have been skilled in order to get so close. "See that dragon?" Hiccup asked. "Yeah, so?" Astrid huffed. "That`s the one that killed my mom." Hiccup`s voice was nearly at a whisper as he avoided Astrid`s eyes. He then looked into them again. "After my mom was killed, my dad went after the dragon. He got too close, I almost lost him too." His voice cracked but his face showed no emotion.
This was not at all what Astrid had expected. "I… I`m sorry." She whispered. Hiccup stared into her eyes and said with authority "Don't go after that dragon. Just wait ten years until you've trained. Understand?" "Sure" Astrid said halfheartedly. "No, say the words, I understand Hiccup" The boy demanded. "I understand Hiccup." She said sarcastically. The boy smiled halfway and said "Come on, I know a path to my house. Lets go before we`re carried off." Astrid smiled and followed him. Even though the boy wasn't much of a Viking, he did get two things from his dad. Stubbornness and, later he would learn, leadership. But that would take many years, dragons, badly calibrated inventions, disappointments and discoveries to discover. For now, all they could focus on was getting home safely and a plot for revenge.