"I'm with him, who else?!"
Tuffnut's words were met with uneasy silence. He remained standing with his arms above his head for a second or two, but when it was clear that no-one was about to join in he slowly lowered them, and sunk back into his seat muttering something about them all being chicken.
Hiccup sighed. He didn't really blame his tribe for not being enthusiastic at the idea of leaving. But as far as he could see, it was their best option. Their only option.
He pushed off of the council table he was leaning on to stand tall, and started to speak again in a pained voice. "I know we all have memories tied up in this place, good and bad. And I'm not going to pretend that this is going to be easy. But look at how easily Drago managed to find and destroy the village."
The mention of Drago Bludvist sent a visible shudder through the Berkians assembled in the Great Hall. It had been over a year now, and they'd rebuilt and recovered – but how close they had all come to being killed by the tyrant was still icily fresh in their minds.
Hiccup took a steadying breath and continued. "And now Grimmel's managed to sneak in undetected and threatened to do the same. He's already succeeded in burning half the village to the ground, and there's multiple armadas headed our way. Even if we're able to defeat him – there's a whole world full of people just like him, just like Drago, waiting for the chance to take their place."
He looked to his left, where Eret stood with his arms crossed, keeping his eyes on the floor. His presence on Berk, on Hiccup's council no less, still attracted some suspicion from a handful of the older members of the tribe, despite Eret proving over and over again that he could be trusted. It was clear that at this moment, as they debated abandoning their home, his past was weighing upon him more than usual.
Hiccup briefly placed a hand on his friend's shoulder, which caused Eret to glance up at the Chief, his frown slipping into a surprised "O" at the show of solidarity.
"We can change the minds of those willing to listen," Hiccup said emphatically, meeting Eret's eyes before turning back to face the village. "But some people won't. I learned that the hard way." His father's face drifted through his mind, and Hiccup tried to ignore the familiar pang of guilt that often accompanied thoughts of Stoick. "They're going to keep coming here, keep fighting us, keep trying to take or kill our dragons, unless we do something drastic."
Now he looked to Snotlout, who still appeared to be vexed about Valka's agreeing with Eret earlier. "We're not running away." Hiccup said firmly. Snotlout had the good sense to look slightly ashamed of his word choice.
"If we can find this Hidden World, we can truly live in peace. And a life of peace is all that every Chief of Berk has ever strived for, my father included." Hiccup placed both hands onto the table in front of him, and leaned forward. "If you want to stay and fight, I will stay and fight with you. But there is another choice. This doesn't have to end in bloodshed."
The last of his words said, Hiccup sank into the Chief's chair behind him (he still had trouble thinking of it as his chair. In his mind, it would always be his Dad's). A low, uneasy murmur burbled up after a moment of quiet, as the people of Berk discussed what Hiccup was proposing.
After a minute or two, Astrid rose from her perch at the front corner of the table, and walked over to stand beside Hiccup. She squeezed the hand he had draped over the armrest, then let it go to whistle a long, piercing note to get everyone's attention. All talk died immediately.
"All those in favour of leaving Berk to find the Hidden World…?" She said simply, and without a second of hesitation she raised her hand.
A few other hands shot up immediately, mostly from the people he expected — his mother, Gobber, the gang (minus Fishlegs, who was still sprawled unconscious on the floor). But then slowly but surely, more hands were raised into the air. Until not one hand in the entire hall remained down.
They still looked unsure. Even Astrid, who knew him better than anyone. But they were willing to follow him, to believe that the latest of his crazy ideas was a sound one, though it didn't seem that way now. The thought strangely brought a lump to Hiccup's throat, but he swallowed it down and nodded.
"Start packing. We leave at dawn."