The sun dips below the island's tallest cliff, and for a little while, the whole of the Edge is bathed in orange light as day begins sink into night. Down in the valley, a boy and his Gronckle bask in the sunset, Fishlegs muttering something into Meatlug's ears about massages and mudbaths. Elsewhere, the twins caw and cackle as they play a game, something involving boars, helmets and inevitable cracked skulls, while their Zippleback soars above them, filling the air with gas and the crackle of electricity. The other dragons have been safely put to bed, ready for a good night's sleep.

Hiccup hears none of this, his concentration locked into the map laid out across his table, a pencil in hand, furiously sketching lines across to different islands, trying to find a pattern in this mess. It had been a long day, with all of the riders rushing out to stop yet another dragon kidnapping, and they'd all come out of it exhausted and ready to relax. All – except Hiccup. Hiccup had gone straight to his hut and hauled out his map.

There had to be some kind of connection. There was no way that the islands Viggo was attacking could be random, right? If he can just stay up a little later, just work a little bit harder, eventually he'd find the answer.

"When are you going to stop this tyrannical reign of yours?"

Hiccup spares nothing but a scowl and doesn't bother to look up. "Not now, Snotlout."

The floorboards creek as Snotlout stomps in. "Yes, now, Snotlout," he says, mimicking Hiccup's voice with a nasty curl of his lip. "Can't you see that you're driving the dragons to exhaustion? Again?"

"We've been through this," Hiccup says, his eyes fixed on the map. "We have to figure out Viggo's plans. Our dragon's lives depend on it."

Snotlout waves a hand in front of Hiccup's face. "Uh, hello, Hiccup? We're going to die in the meantime," he says. "You didn't even notice that Astrid got hurt today."

Hiccup freezes, his hand hovering in the air. "Astrid got hurt?"

"Now he pays attention!" Snotlout grumbles, sticking his lower lip out and throwing his hands in the air. "Nothing about how Hookfang can't even stand, but oh no, Astrid's hurt?! For Thor's sake."

Hiccup hears none of it, already out of the door.

Snotlout sighs and stomps back off to his own hut.

Stupid, stupid.

It wasn't that deep, not really, but deep enough to soak the cloth and her hands with blood. It had been a rookie mistake, dawdling in front of the dragon, waiting for the perfect moment to strike instead of just getting out of the goddamn way, and Astrid had paid for it with a dragon's claw in her arm.

She'd managed to keep in the scream she'd wanted to let out and had kept it hidden all the way home, and all she had to do now was clean it and make sure that Hiccup didn't see.

"Astrid?"

…Which was easier said than done.

"Hiccup!" she says, forcing herself to put on a fake smile, and holding her arm behind her back. "What brings you here?"

In retrospect, it wasn't the best way to hide a wound. The bloody cloth hangs from Astrid's fingers, dripping into the bucket of water at her feet. At the last second, she tries to hide it behind her back too, but she knows it's too late.

"I know you're hurt, Astrid," Hiccup says, his voice low and his eyes filled with concern in a look that Astrid had seen all too often, and always made her insides turn to jelly.

"It's just a scratch." She drops herself onto the bed and sighs, moving her arm back over the bucket again. "I'm fine. You don't have to worry about me."

"But I'll worry anyway," he says, joining her on the bed.

He takes the cloth from her and wrings it out in the water, before taking hold of her injured arm. "Astrid, this isn't just a scratch."

"I was going to patch it up myself," she says, moving to snatch her hand away from him, but he holds on tight.

"Please, just let me help you."

Astrid sighs and stops struggling.

His fingers are gentle as he cleans the wound, feather light as they ghost over her skin, and she feels goose pimples prickling on her skin. She winces as he grips a little harder and his fingers freeze.

"Sorry," he says.

"It's fine."

A few more minutes pass in silence. Hiccup winds a bandage around her arm. They both hover in the awkward quiet, Astrid staring at her feet and cradling her arm, Hiccup wondering if he should leave.

"Do you… always try to hide it from me when you get hurt?" Hiccup says, quietly.

Astrid doesn't say anything, but from the way she turns her head away and refuses to look at him, the answer is clear.

"I just," she says, after a few long moments pass, "don't want to worry you. I can take care of myself."

"I know that. You shouldn't have to do it alone," he says.

"You've got bigger problems. You shouldn't have to worry about whether or not I'm hurt, especially when I can fix it myself, not when you've got the map and Viggo's plan to think about," Astrid says.

Hiccup groans, dropping his face into his hands. "Snotlout was right," he mumbles, his voice muffled.

"Right about what?"

"He came into my hut, yelling at me for obsessing over Viggo, working the dragons too hard and not noticing that you were hurt-"

"He was the one that told you? I'll throw him straight off a cliff."

"-and he was right. It's all my fault."

Astrid raises her eyebrows. "It's not your fault that I got hurt, Hiccup. Viggo was attacking."

"It's my fault I keep dragging you guys into danger, and it's my fault that I get so distracted that I don't realise that you guys are getting hurt."

"If you think anyone one of us is going to stop going out there with you, especially me, then-"

"I know," Hiccup says. "I just… I can't bear the thought of anyone getting hurt, of anyone dying, on my watch. Especially you."

Astrid doesn't say anything, she just stares straight back at Hiccup, willing him to say more.

"You almost drowned. I almost lost you when Viggo took the Buffalord dragon. I didn't even notice that arrow in your leg, and you were limping for days."

"None of that was your fault."

"If I had just been paying more attention-"

"None of that was your fault."

"If you died, I don't know what I would do."

There's a pause.

"You would carry on without me."

Hiccup's voice is barely above a whisper. "I couldn't."

"You could, and if it happens, you will," Astrid says, firmly. She's staring straight at him, her eyes bright and blazing. "You're going to be the chief. You have people to protect. You've got dragons to protect. Dying is a risk all of us take every day – it's an occupational hazard."

"You're right, as always," Hiccup grumbles. "Doesn't mean I have to like it."

For the first time since he'd walked into the room, a genuine smile tugs at Astrid's lips as she gives him a soft punch on the arm. "We always pull through, though. We Vikings are tough."

Hiccup grins, and his hand rubs where her hand had been, even though it hadn't hurt at all. "Just… tell me when you get hurt, from now on. I know you like dealing with things by yourself, but you don't have to."

"Will do." She presses a swift kiss to his cheek, before hopping up off the bed and heading towards the door. "Thanks for helping."

"Anytime," Hiccup mumbles, a little dazed from Astrid's affection.

"And Hiccup?" she says, hovering half in and out of the door.

"Mmm?"

"I don't know what I'd do without you, either."