Hiccup was acting strange today. He had been all morning.
Earlier today, I'd been banging furiously on the roof of the house since first light, trying to get him out to go flying and he didn't answer me like he usually did. I kept banging until a very tired, very intense Stoick came out to tell me to stop. I hadn't meant to bother him. We'd gotten so used to living at the Edge that moving back to Berk was almost as hard as it was first moving in four human years ago when Hiccup and I ended the war.
Still standing in my spot on the roof, I grunted calmly down to Stoick, asking him why Hiccup hadn't come out yet. He'd gotten almost as good at communicating with me as Hiccup was. I suppose I had Skullcrusher and Thornado to thank for that.
"Hiccup's not here, Toothless!" he shouted up to me. "He left before you woke up!"
My eyes went wide, and my mouth sank in the shock. Hiccup never woke up and left that early, especially without me. I didn't understand, but Stoick was grinning a bit, knowing full-well why I was concerned.
"Don't you worry. He's in Gobber's stall. He's just getting ready for the visit. That time again, ha ha…"
Visit? What visit? And what time? I pondered what Stoick was talking about as I climbed down from the roof and quickly ran from the house and into the barely awake village. As I made it to the shack where Hiccup built the saddles and weapons, I think I finally realised what time it was when I noticed the unusual yet familiar crest that was positioned on a flagpole outside the shack.
I'd seen that flag before, not long after the dragons had first moved into the Hooligan village. It belonged to another tribe, a tribe that lived about a half-day's journey away from Berk. I remembered, about a week after the war ended, when Hiccup and Stoick went on a ship to this island.
I remember Hiccup being excited on that day, but I didn't know why. Back then, we weren't exactly as in-sync as we are now, so he never bothered to tell me. Not that it mattered too much back then. I just spent the night in the forge and hung out with Astrid and Stormfly until they came back the next day. Well, if this really was the time for that visit, then I'll almost definitely be taking Hiccup there, so I could finally see for myself what made him so excited back then.
So I went to Hiccup's main desk. He was there, but he wasn't working. He hadn't even noticed me as he frantically hurried around like a headless chicken, looking for things he had built or drawn and piling them into a box with no lid. When he finally did notice me, he went wide-eyed and nearly dropped the box on the floor.
He caught it just in time, and awkwardly stuttered as he said "Toothless! Aw, hey, bud!"
I grumbled lowly, before Hiccup patted my head and said "hey, uh… sorry, I can't take you flying today, bud... I gotta get everything ready."
Ready for the visit, no doubt. Though I thought that boats and ships had become just about obsolete since we dragons moved in, so I presumed I was taking him there anyway. With this in mind, there wasn't much need for a morning flight.
"Hiccup? Are you in here?" it was Astrid's voice. If anyone besides me was going to know about why Hiccup was so frantic today, it had to be Astrid. They'd recently become betrothed, which I presume means they were preparing to mate for life, so I doubted they'd keep any secrets from each other, or from me, from now on.
She kissed him on the lips as she came in, before glancing in mild annoyance at the box he was filling as she said "Hiccup… about, um… you know who…"
"Astrid, she's gonna love you. I'm 120% sure of it." Hiccup said comfortingly. Astrid sighed a bit, shrugging as she said "if you say so… hi, Toothless…"
She smiled as I let her scratch under my chin. It seemed she was almost as nervous about Hiccup's behaviour as I was, though I couldn't tell who she meant by "you know who".
Astrid sat on the chair next to where I was laying down, both of us looking at Hiccup as he added his prototype fire sword to the top of the pile. He sighed in relief, pulling out his notebook and ticking the last box on the page as he said "alright, that's everything important…"
Astrid scoffed, saying "is that a list of stuff to show her or stuff that you don't want her to steal?"
"Eh, both, really…" Hiccup said as he closed the lid over it. He leaned a bit to catch his breath, before saying "alright, I just gotta get home to clean up. I'll see you guys later…"
As he quickly ran out of the stall, Astrid shouted "bye! Love you!"
"Love you more!" he called back, nearly running into Spitelout as he ran back up to his house. I was about to follow him, but I heard Astrid sigh again. She pinched the bridge of her nose. She was frustrated, partly with Hiccup, but seemed to be even more frustrated with herself for being frustrated with Hiccup.
I slowly went up to her, stroking my head comfortingly against her left thigh. She chuckled a bit and stroked my ear. "Hey, you…" she said. "Don't worry about Hiccup… he's just excited…"
I knew he was excited, I wasn't that naïve. I wanted to know why he was excited.
"See, Toothless, every four years, the chief signs a peace treaty with the Bog Burglar tribe…" Astrid said. "Hiccup usually goes with Stoick there and hangs out with the Chief's daughter from that tribe, Camicazi…"
Daughter?! As in female?! No wonder Astrid was so worried. I remember what she was like with Heather for the first time, but she and Hiccup were betrothed now. Assuming that means what I think it means, she's not going to like the thought of Hiccup being with another girl on a completely different island. Great, now I'm going to have to monitor that boy around the clock to make sure there's no funny business.
"But this year, Toothless, the Bog Burglars are coming here…" Astrid suddenly said, causing my head to sink a little. If they're coming here, I suppose that means Hiccup and I wouldn't be flying today after all. "And that means Camicazi is too, and, well… if everything Hiccup's told me about her is true, then… then she's gonna be a handful…"
That suddenly explains why Hiccup had all his important things placed in a box with a tight lid. Still, I was anxious at the thought of meeting this girl, Camicazi. Initially, it was out of suspicion, mainly due to the fact that her tribe was called Bog Burglars, but then I had new motivation for anger when Astrid finished her sentence.
"But it should be fine. Besides, she and Hiccup are basically best friends."
Best friends? I thought I was Hiccup's best friend? I'd never even heard of Camicazi before this and suddenly she was Hiccup's best friend? I wasn't standing for this. I couldn't. I had to see who this Camicazi was for myself. She couldn't be a better best friend for Hiccup than me… could she?
"Well, I better see how Hiccup's doing." Astrid sighed as she got up and left me alone in the stall. I grumbled a bit, feeling slightly better with Astrid's mood. I didn't like seeing her unhappy, I never did, but I was just glad that I wasn't the only one worried about Hiccup. Or Camicazi.
But who knows? Maybe I was just worrying for no reason. After all, Camicazi was only going to be here for a day, if even that, so I still had Hiccup every other day. But I still wanted to meet her myself. Just to be sure.
