I ambled slowly into the blacksmith forge, ready for a new day.
I was exhausted from lack of sleep, but Gobber needed me. He just didn't have enough hands to do all the work himself.
I yawned widely, rubbing sleep from my eyes and grabbed my rust-colored apron from its hook by the door, only to discover Gobber wasn't here yet.
I decided to take the extra time to work on my latest invention.
I quickly set to work, adjusting levers here and there, pulling knobs and twisting strings.
I heard Gobber noisily entering the forge and hastily reached for the curtain. I didn't want him to think I'd been wasting time with my useless inventions.
I clutched my newest creation without realizing it as I reached for the shabby, tattered red curtain that concealed my workshop from the rest of the forge.
But Gobber himself yanked the curtain roughly aside and he stared down at me for a few seconds.
"I thought you'd be in here! What are you doing here so early?"
I swallowed. "Just working on some stuff. But I heard you getting up here, so I thought to come out here instead."
Gobber glanced down at my creation. "What is that, Hiccup?"
I tried to swiftly hide it behind my back. No one, not even Gobber, was allowed to see my inventions. They were private.
"Uh, no!" I said quickly. "I mean, it's not that good, and-
Gobber snatched it from me with embarrassing ease and inspected it. "Brilliant! What does it do?"
"Well, it shoots, like this, see?" I explained patiently, pulling a lever on the side.
There was a click, but nothing came out.
Gobber looked at me sympathetically. "Maybe you instead ought to-
"I haven't filled it yet," I interrupted him, detesting his pity. "I was designing a fire-proof net, actually made of dragon skin so no dragons could just singe it and leave, you know?"
I finished my explanation and dropped my head, feeling shy.
Gobber was about to laugh, I was sure.
But instead, the blacksmith grinned at me. "That's brilliant."
Blushing, I shrugged, set my invention down and started hammering away on a sword.
"You're headed for great things one day, Hiccup," he told me seriously. "Headed for great things."
