All The Small Things Chapter 1
A/N
Very small gold coins can have enormous value, depending on what you buy with them. Very small dragons can cause enormous problems, even if they're very, very cute. Hiccup suddenly has to deal with both. This story takes place in the "Riders of Berk" time frame. Rated K-plus to be safe; the language is all K.
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"Hiccup? I, umm... I need your help."
It was unusual for Astrid to ask anyone for help, ever. She made a point of being as self-reliant as possible. Even if she found herself in a situation that she clearly couldn't handle alone, asking for aid felt like an admission of failure somehow. That meant she almost never looked for assistance, and if she did, it was never for something trivial.
Hiccup set down the awl he was using to engrave some fancy artwork into the blade of the sword he was forging. "What's going on?"
Astrid slipped into the forge, as though she was afraid someone might see her there and figure out that she was asking Hiccup for help. "I was throwing my axe in the woods, like I usually do. I had to pick some new trees to throw it at, because I'd almost chopped the old ones down with axe strikes. Anyway, I missed somehow, my axe flew into some thick undergrowth, and..." She took a deep breath. "I can't find it."
Hiccup looked puzzled. "Can't Stormfly help you find it? She's got a great nose; she should be able to sniff it out for you."
She shrugged. "Like I said, it's really thick undergrowth. She can't fit herself in there. We tried; she's sure it's in that thicket somewhere, but she can't get close enough to track it down. It will be dark in a few hours, and if I leave my favorite axe in the woods overnight, it'll get rusty. I might not even be able to find it again if it stays out there too long. Will you help me find my axe?" She took another deep breath. "Please?"
Hiccup smiled. "Anything for you, fair lady! This is a good time for me to take a break anyway. Gobber isn't here, so I can't ask if it's okay to quit early, but I'll make it up to him tomorrow if he doesn't like it." He shrugged off his heavy leather apron and hung it on its peg in the wall, and followed close behind her as she led him into the forest that covered the northern half of the island. The shadows were lengthening as they approached the thicket where Astrid had lost her axe.
Hiccup stopped short. "Whoa! Astrid, you didn't say anything about thorn bushes! Those thorns look nasty."
She glared at him. "If finding it was easy, I could have done it myself!"
"If you'd told me there were thorns, I could have brought my leather apron and gauntlets from the forge! But I see what you mean when you say Stormfly can't fit in there. Those saplings are growing so close together, they look like a man-made hedge. It's a good thing I'm thin."
She smiled mischievously. "Why do you think I came to you for help?"
Hiccup looked from side to side and found a gap in the briars. He got about three feet before he had to turn aside, then turned in the other direction. "Never mind about – OW! ...about finding your axe," he called over his shoulder. "I'll be – OW! I'll be lucky to find my own way out of here!"
"Can you see my axe yet?" she asked.
"You know, you could follow me in and help me look," he called back. "Two sets of eyes are better than one, and your leather skirt ought to protect you from the thorns."
"My skirt doesn't cover all of me!" she retorted. "Why should I risk getting all scratched up?"
"Uhh... because it's your axe, not mine?"
"Hiccup..." She began to lose her cool, then stopped. "Oh, all right." She followed his path, and while the thorns snagged her wool top a few times, she didn't get scratched up nearly as badly as Hiccup did.
"I see something," he suddenly exclaimed. They were only ten feet apart, but the undergrowth was so thick, she could barely see him.
"Is it my axe?" she asked hopefully.
"No, it's some kind of huge bug that's caught in a spider's web," he answered. "I never saw a bug that big before."
"Hiccup, we aren't here to look at bugs!" she burst out. "Look for my axe before we lose the daylight!"
"Oh, all right," he muttered. "Still, I feel bad for the bug. It's too big for any spider to eat, so it's just going to hang there until it..." She heard him catch his breath. "Oh... my... gosh. Astrid, get over here! Quick!"
Something in his tone of voice said this was more important than just an interesting bug. She went as quickly as she could, ignoring the occasional thorn prick, until she was standing next to him.
Dangling from a ruined spiderweb in front of them was the smallest dragon she had ever seen.
Even a newly-hatched Terrible Terror was bigger than this tiny creature. Its body was about the size of her thumb, and its neck and tail were each as long as her pinky finger. It was brown, with green belly scales and rows of dark-brown spots on its legs, back, and horns. Its wings were a darker green and delicately veined; they looked exactly like the leaves of a tree. Its forehead ridge and tail spines also looked like leaves. Its eyes were large, considering the size of its head, and they were bright and expressive. It was still alive, but it was clearly weak from struggling against the web fibers that had entangled it.
"I've never seen anything like it," Hiccup said softly.
"I'm not surprised," she nodded. "Being so tiny, and with that kind of natural camouflage, you could be looking right at it and not see it, especially if it lives in this thicket where no one has ever gone before. Is it a baby?"
"It's hard to tell," he said with a shake of his head, "but its proportions make me think it's full-grown." He reached toward it with a finger; the tiny dragon snapped weakly at him. "Hey, take it easy, little guy! I'm trying to help!" He brought his open palm up underneath the dragon until it was lying in his hand. It stopped struggling and rolled over on its side.
"It must be exhausted," Astrid observed.
"I've seen a dragon in that position once before," Hiccup said softly. "That's how I found Toothless, when he was tied up and helpless and he thought I was about to kill him. This poor guy must be thinking the same thing. Luckily for him, he's just as mistaken as Toothless was." Slowly and carefully, he stretched and pulled the strands of spiderweb that held the little dragon, first freeing its wings, then its legs. The tiny reptile rolled right-side-up, fanned its wings, blinked its eyes, and cheeped at him.
"Fly home, little guy," Hiccup urged it. "You're free now." But the miniature dragon seemed content, nay, determined to stay in the palm of his hand. He tipped it; he blew on it; he spread his fingers apart; but the dragon clung to one of his fingers with all four legs and showed no interest in going anywhere else.
"I think you've made a new friend, like it or not," Astrid commented. "He sure is cute. The girly-girls in the tribe are going to go crazy when they see him."
"I never trained a dragon this way before," he nodded. "I'll have to tell Fishlegs about – Fishlegs! Can you imagine what he's going to say when he sees this tiny little beauty?"
"He is going to completely geek out," she decided. "I'm pretty sure there's nothing in the Book of Dragons about dragons like this. We've found something totally new!" She paused. "Speaking of finding things, do you think we can keep trying to find my axe? It's starting to get dark."
"It's going to be a challenge with this guy in my hand," Hiccup said absently. "Hey, little fellow! Maybe you'll ride on my shoulder instead?" He tried to encourage the miniature dragon to walk off his hand and onto his shoulder. The dragon didn't budge. It blinked expressively and squeaked.
"He might not be as big as other dragons, but he's just as stubborn as any of them," Hiccup said resignedly. "Okay, let's start looking." Pushing vines and branches aside with only one hand was hard; he made slow going. After a few minutes, Astrid grew impatient and found her own path through the undergrowth. It was getting dark, and they were on the verge of giving up for the night, when Hiccup suddenly exclaimed, "Here it is!" He couldn't untangle it from the thorns and vines with just one hand, so he stepped aside and let Astrid work it free.
"Thank you for helping me, Hiccup," she smiled, and kissed him on the cheek. He blushed, then glanced down at the dragon to see it had any reaction to her kiss. Dragons could be possessive; if this one was thinking of Hiccup as its personal property, it might not appreciate Astrid's affection toward him. But it was cleaning its right wing with a hindclaw and paid them no attention. They made their way home, and got to the Mead Hall just as the sun was setting.
Toothless was waiting outside the door, watching for his human friend. Hiccup ran up to him and held out his hand with the little dragon. "Hey, bud! What do you think of this?"
The Night Fury glared at the mini-dragon and sniffed it, being careful not to inhale it. Then he snorted vigorously; it looked like he meant to blow the creature away. The dragon clung to Hiccup's finger, folded its wings back, and hissed at the much bigger dragon.
"Toothless, go easy!" Hiccup admonished him. "He's no threat! Look how small he is!" Toothless was unconvinced. He growled deep in his throat.
"Is he trying to tell you something?" Astrid asked.
"Maybe," Hiccup shrugged. "I remember when he tried to warn me about the baby Typhoomerang, and I didn't listen. It turned out he was right; that baby was bad news. But this little guy... how could he possibly pose us any danger? I think Toothless is just being jealous." He turned back to the Night Fury. "Relax, bud. I can't ride this guy, or do much of anything with him. You're still my number-one friend, and that's never going to change." Toothless grunted and snorted at the little dragon again. The little one backed away until its tail went up Hiccup's sleeve, but made no attempt to flee.
"Well, as long as you aren't actually trying to kill each other, I guess I'll accept that." Hiccup held the Mead Hall door open for Astrid with his free hand.
Inside, the evening meal was in full swing. No one paid the pair any attention as they walked inside. But as they took their fish platters, the Mead Hall worker who served them saw the tiny dragon in Hiccup's hand. "What is that?" she asked, curious. The dragon faced her and blinked. "Whatever it is, it sure is cute!" she exclaimed. That got the attention of all the young people and most of the women in the Hall, so the men had to see what all the commotion was about. The evening meal was quickly forgotten as everyone crowded around Hiccup.
"Oh, it's adorable!"
"That's the cutest thing I've ever seen!"
"Look at how bright its little eyes are!"
"Where did you find it?"
"We found it deep in the forest," Hiccup explained, "in a place where people probably never went before. I set it free from a spider's web, and now it's kind of bonded to me."
"Can I have it?" a little girl asked.
"I don't think it will go to you," he replied. "It really likes me. Besides, people don't own dragons, so it isn't mine to give away."
"It's not a real dragon," the girl's mother commented. "Is it?"
"It may be very small, but I think it's a real dragon," Hiccup countered. He noticed Fishlegs making his way through the crowd and added, "But let's ask the expert."
Fishlegs took one look at the little dragon and gasped in wide-eyed delight. He bent down to look at it up close, with a huge smile on his face; the dragon cheeped at him. "Hiccup... tell me everything about it. I mean everything!"
Hiccup related the story of how he and Astrid had found the miniature dragon deep in the forest and rescued it. Astrid added a few details as Fishlegs listened rapturously.
"Do you think he'd sit on my hand?" Fishlegs asked hopefully.
"He's kind of glued to me," Hiccup said, "but you're welcome to try. I almost hope he does go to you. My hand is getting tired from holding it in the same position for hours." Fishlegs held his hammy hand right next to Hiccup's. The miniature dragon sniffed him, sniffed again, looked up at Hiccup, then sauntered over to Fishlegs' palm. He curled up and watched the humans lazily, the picture of complete unconcern. Hiccup shook his hand and wiggled his fingers, grateful to have both his hands free again.
"I guess he thinks you're good enough," Hiccup said casually.
"What are you going to do with him?" Astrid wondered.
"I'm going to take him home and find out everything I can about him," Fishlegs answered without taking his eyes off his tiny passenger. "I'm going to write it all down in the Book of Dragons. I'll finally have a page that's all my own, without owing anything to Bork the Bold! Thank you, Hiccup. You've made me very, very happy."
"You might not want to get too happy too quickly," Hiccup cautioned him. "Toothless acted really jealous when he met this guy. Meatlug might react the same way."
"You could have a dragon fight on your hands," Astrid added.
Tuffnut added, "Hey, if they fight, can we watch?"
"I don't think Meatlug would fight anybody," Fishlegs decided. "She's a lover, not a fighter. This little guy doesn't look like a fighter, either. We'll be fine. Now, if you'll excuse us, I've got some serious research to do!" He picked up his half-eaten supper plate with his free hand and nearly ran out the door.
"He's taking that little dragon back to his house," Astrid noticed. "If the mini-dragon and Meatlug do get into a fight in his bedroom, they could do a lot of damage. Maybe even burn his house down."
"He's a pretty good judge of dragons," Hiccup said offhandedly. "If he says they won't fight, then they probably won't fight. Maybe we were worrying over nothing."
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A/N
The tiny dragons in this story are patterned after this sculpture, which I found on deviantart dot com. Thank you to "dragonsandbeasties" for the inspiration, and for your beautiful ideas and artwork:
www dot deviantart dot com slash art slash Leaf-Dragons-396764240
