It was late on the isle of Berk, long after the inhabitants of the small village bid farewell to the day and it's work, retiring to their own homes. Chief Stoick the Vast slept soundly in his house that sat high on a hill in a protective manner. He shared his house with his son Hiccup, the Pride of Berk as he was known, a 19-year-old who possessed an adventurous spirit that contrasted his somewhat gawky appearance and bewildered his fellow Vikings. This meant most of the future chief's nights were spent away, primarily on his adventure seeking outpost the Dragon's Edge far from his home and father.

It was one of the common nights Stoick was alone. Earlier, to escape the quietness of his home, he had supped with his villagers in their hall, drank his fair share of mead, and even had a friendly challenge with a few. He now laid fast asleep contently in his bed, that is until someone began pounding on his door. He instantly awoke from the jarring sound. His immediate wakefulness could be blamed on a lifetime of late night dragon raids on his village, (that is until Hiccup alongside a befriended Night Fury, laughingly named Toothless, showed him that humans and dragons could live in peace). Stoick rushed to the door, axe in hand, with the thought that only someone with an emergency would come to him at such an hour. To his surprise when he opened the door he saw two of his villagers shrouded in darkness calmly asking for entrance into his home, they had proposition for the chief.

A half an hour later Stoick sat across from his visitors, the roaring fire between them highlighted the shocked expression that settled on his face. After a long pause, especially for a well experienced and versed chief, the larger of the two visitors broke the silence. "We know this is a lot to take in and think about. It is for us as well. It's not a decision to be taken lightly."

Clearing his throat, the chief finally found his voice.
"Why is it that you have come to me in the middle of the night to request this?"

The smaller one quickly answered, "We didn't want anyone else to know that we came to you. We believe this to be a private matter." A pregnant pause hung in the air, "There is also something else to consider."

"What is that?"

"Our honor, your honor and that of your son's"

"And what of our honor?" Stoick asked calmly but with an edge.

The smaller spoke again, taking a deep breath before doing so, "We don't want to be heavy handed especially toward your son, he truly is the pride of Berk for all he has done, but what else are we to do, Stoick?" Their concern cresting in their voice. "A decision must be made, you know that to be true, but we don't want others to think we have forced it on you and Hiccup and that we're using this as a means for advancement; that would put neither of our families in a positive light.'

Stoick could only nod his head in agreement stroking his bright red beard while trying to grasp all he had heard and all that was being requested of his family. The two visitors could sense his desire to be alone with his thoughts and soon after brought the conversation to a temporary close, escorting themselves out ..

Sleep was now long forgotten for Stoick. He sat staring into the fire as it slowly dwindled to ash and the sun peeked over the horizon. Finally coming to grips with what needed to be done, he called a Terrible Terror he named Envoy from his room. Hiccup had trained Envoy especially for his father to send 'terror mail' to him at The Edge. In moments like this Stoick was very thankful for his son's ingenuity and forethought. He quickly wrote a note to Hiccup, attached it to Envoy, and sent him on his way. As he watched the small dragon fly in the direct of his son he could not shake two questions he had for himself: How was he going to tell Hiccup, who relished in his temporary freedom before chiefdom? And how was he going to take one more step on the path of his son becoming more of a man? Hiccup was his only child and family after all, and watching him grow older filled him with equal parts pride and dread, and though he was the bravest of Vikings and strived for the best in all things there were times he questioned his strength to simply let go.

Less than a day's journey by dragon away, Hiccup was just beginning to stir awake as the sun light poured in through his window. He let out an annoyed groan as his eyes began to open. Yesterday's long flights to the surrounding islands for numerous training exercises, suggested and provided by the astute Astrid Hofferson, left his body tired and sore. Even Toothless who loved early morning flights lay unmoving on his rock slab. If it wasn't for the hollow feeling in Hiccup's stomach, reminding him of his skipped dinner last night he would have considered staying in bed till noon. Drawn only by the encouragement of his appetite he sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. "Come on Bud, it's" -yawn- "time to get up."

Toothless emitted a low growl, while he glared at Hiccup with half open eyes.

"And a good morning to you too."

If there ever was a dragon that completely understood sarcasm it was Toothless, who rolled his eyes closed in reply.

Hiccup stood with another groan. Muscles he didn't know he had were sore. He could have even sworn his metal leg was sore. How is that even possible? he thought to himself. As he climbed down the stairs from his loft with "OH's", "owwws", and grunts he could hear a muffled throaty dragon warble that was Toothless' laugh. "I'm glad you find my pain amusing. Well I'll be in the hall if you need any more laughs or breakfast. Though I don't blame you at all for not joining, you had a long day yesterday, Bud. Get your rest."

In the small hall, Hiccup found all his friends he shared the Dragon's Edge with except Astrid. By the sights and the sounds of the hall they were doing no better than he was. "Good morning" sighed Hiccup.

"Good? What's so good about it? My bum is so sore I won't be able to sit for a week!" Snotlout wasted no time in complaining.

"Idiot." Coming from a disheveled Ruffnut. "You're sitting right now"

"Well... that's only because… shut up, Ruff."

"Stupid." Ruff and Tuff chortled together.

"Can we please go one morning without extensive complaints from you about, well, everything?" Hiccup deadpanned.

"Nope. I mean I could but why?"

Just then an overly energetic Astrid burst into the hall, "What a great morning!"

She was met with unintelligible grumbles, more from her annoying chipper-ness than their discomfort. "Oh, come on! Yesterday wasn't that bad."

"And by 'Not that bad' do you mean totally sucked?" chimed Tuffnut. His pet chicken next to him clucked in what others would say mindedness, but of course not to Tuff who replied, "Huh, you can say that again, Chicken."

"Seriously Astrid? Yesterday was rather, well uh how do I put it, brutal" Hiccup said while mentally kicking himself for siding with Tuff against Astrid.

Fishlegs squeaked out, "I'm with Hiccup on this one."

"You can't say it's wasn't good for us and it couldn't have been that brutal. I mean, look at me, I'm perfectly fine." Astrid lifted her chin just a bit as she spoke.

Ruffnut mumbled, "And I thought me and Tuff were the crazy ones."

Hiccup couldn't help the shaking of his shoulder, evidence of his suppressed laugh. "Of course, you're fine. You're Astrid from clan Hofferson. You know, many have claimed that you're one of the toughest maidens Berk has ever seen. And I can attest to that claim even more so after yesterday." He teased her with a quick wink.

Astrid tried not to smile in return. She strived for toughness and knew she was but who doesn't like a little flattery every now and again, especially when it came from someone as remarkable as Hiccup. Now it was Astrid's turn to mentally kick herself for thinking him "remarkable". In the past several weeks she found her thoughts wonder toward Hiccup inexplicably in ways that went beyond friendship. Her friend Heather had, on multiple occasions, encouraged her to admit to herself the reality of what everyone else saw in her relationship with Hiccup; to admit he meant more to her than a friend. Astrid just couldn't find it in herself to make such a confession. Even now as he looked at her with concern in his eyes she tried to lie to herself that she didn't see what everyone else saw. Then it dawned on her, a few seconds later than it should have, that he was looking at her concerned.

"What?"

"Are you alright, Astrid?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"Well you just kind of stared off for a while there like you were really thinking about something."

"Uh, yeah. I'm fine. My thoughts must have run away with me I guess." Unwilling to answer further and wanting to avoid the curious look Hiccup gave her, she diverted her attention to the provisions for breakfast. She was relieved to find the fish basket wanting, giving her an excuse to leave before the crimson growing on her cheeks could be noticed. "Looks like we're low on fish! I'll go get us more since you all are recovering from my "brutality"."

Hiccup rolled his eyes jokingly as he watched her walk away in what he first thought to be a prideful gait but on closer observation (that he shamefully often gave Astrid) was an awkward stiffness. Hidden in her determined steps was the same soreness the rest of them felt. For as long as he could remember she was so unwilling to expose her weaknesses to anyone, except him on occasion. She often hid her own needs within the needs of others to appear stronger. He smiled to himself. He wouldn't tell a soul about the vulnerability he just saw in Astrid, especially to Astrid. He admired her desire to be the best, the toughest the strongest too much. The wheels of his mind then started turning figuring out how he could get her to rest for the day while protecting her pride. He wasn't quite sure how he was going to do it but he was up to the challenge; when it came to Astrid he was always up to the challenge.