Chapter 2
Fishlegs' tirade stayed with Hiccup for several days. His friend returned constantly to the notion that Hiccup seemed to possess a secret resentment against everything around him, and that it wore on people's nerves. No one, the tree trunk-shaped Viking stated, doubted Hiccup's intentions for the welfare of the clan, but his attitude ran sour years before and only got worse over time. Each time Hiccup tried to defend himself, Fishlegs verbally tore another strip out of him. Rarely did the man act so forward with anyone, and that alone gave Hiccup pause and reason to consider everything he said. It stayed with Hiccup long after Fishlegs appeared to let it rest in the past.
"Jack," Hiccup said five days later as they sat eating their evening meal and discussed the ongoing problems with the waterwheel. "Can I ask you something?"
Jack simply looked up at him and nodded.
"Um, are you mad at me for banning Isemaler from the house?"
Jack felt a wave of shock roll through his body as the question hung in the air. He never expected Hiccup would raise the issue. As such, he did not prepare an answer he thought Hiccup might accept. To give himself a few more seconds to think, Jack took a swallow of his ale.
"Ah, I wouldn't say mad," Jack finally answered.
"Then what would you say?" Hiccup countered.
"I don't want to say anything that's going to upset you, Hiccup."
"Don't treat me like I'm sort of Mangler!"
Jack blinked and kept his face neutral.
"Like I just acted right now," Hiccup replied to the blank expression. "Look, I don't want this to turn into a fight, but we need to talk, Jack. We don't do that anymore."
"Because it turns into fights," Jack replied using his mate's words.
Hiccup nodded. They silently ate their meal for several minutes. Each tried to find a way to express what they felt and wanted to say without antagonizing the other. It seemed an insurmountable chore.
"Hiccup, I'm really not angry you banished him," Jack said when it seemed as though they would finish their meal in awkward silence yet again. "Actually, I kind of like the peace and quiet in the house."
"Me, too," Hiccup muttered.
"But your idea I care more about him than I do about you does make me mad."
Hiccup felt his hand curl around his spoon. He counted in his head to keep from saying what first popped into his mind. Since avoiding what he thought proved impossible, he decided on a different tact.
"Can you understand what it looks like from my position?" Hiccup carefully asked.
"Maybe… I don't know. It's hard to figure out how you view things anymore," Jack responded.
The Viking inhaled deeply when his felt his emotions start to boil. He thought about everything Fishlegs told him, and held tight to it. Hiccup took a moment to look into his anger and see the root of it. An argument as old as his relationship with Jack surfaced, and it stunned Hiccup. He glanced into the wary and watchful eyes of his mate. The expression unnerved the Viking.
"They cheated you," Hiccup slowly said.
"Who cheated me how?" Jack cautiously inquired and did his level best to not make it a question about the man sitting across from him.
"Noro and The Man in the Moon."
Jack's mouth fell open. He could imagine a whole host of answers, but that one took him aback. He blinked at Hiccup.
"Jack, how does forcing you… playing on your really intense sense of duty… to babysit and train Isemaler leave you any time to live your life here? If you can explain how that's fair to you, to me, then I'd really like to hear it," Hiccup stated his case without sounding exceedingly infuriated.
"Because… Hiccup, some things are greater than you and me…"
"Stop being a Guardian for one damn second!" Hiccup yelled and half-stood. "Just be you, Jack. Just be human for one pocking moment of your life! Just be with me and not… not… not with any of that. Can't you forget for one day your alive and real… and that I want it to be just us?"
It felt like someone opened the ash door on the forge while the bellows were in operation. A wave of heat washed over Jack as Hiccup's fury exploded out of him. He sensed the palpable rage, but mostly he felt the hurt emanating out of his mate. Guilt coursed through Jack, but he could not dodge the truth nestled deep within him. Jack resorted to banking on over three hundred years of living to guide him.
"Hiccup, I can't," he quietly intoned. "It doesn't matter what I look like here or anywhere. I am Guardian. I will always be a Guardian. I just can't stop doing that. It's not like there's a switch in my head I can throw to turn it on and off. It's who I am, Hiccup. You can't have one part of me without the other."
In an instant everything inside of Hiccup stilled. The anger melted away, the fury and rage subsided, and in its place he only found sadness. Something precious slipped out of his fingers, and he could feel himself losing hold of it. Hiccup looked at Jack, but he did not see the brown-haired mortal. He only saw an immensely powerful creature pretending to be human. He saw Jack spoke the truth, and it wiped away the last ten years of their life together because the truth exposed it as a sham. Hiccup realized he always knew what it meant, and now he forced himself to accept it.
"I can't do this anymore. I can't go on pretending we have a normal life when we don't. You're just going through the motions, Jack," Hiccup said and watched Jack's face fall. "I know you care about me, but I think it's in the way you care about everyone as a Guardian. That's who you are. I get it now… maybe I've always know, but I can't live with that. I don't want Jack Frost the Guardian: I want Jack, the flesh and blood man I fell in love with who deserved to have a life."
"Hiccup," Jack said the name with a fear lancing through every syllable.
Hiccup finished standing. He set down his spoon. It took every ounce of strength to hold back the tears and accept what the cool, rational part of his mind told him. He looked into the brown eyes he once thought of as so human and warm.
"We can't go on like this, Jack. It has to end. You can go back to Earth… or maybe just float around with Isemaler. I can't care anymore. It hurts too much. Maybe you should tell Aita you're ready to listen to the song because I think you really need to be a Guardian more than you need to be part of us," Hiccup flatly stated.
Tears streaked down Jack's cheeks as he listened to the dry delivery. Hiccup slowly shook his head. He felt devoid of any feeling. He saw the pain on Jack's face, but he did not trust it to be real. Over the years he heard so many times what Jack thought about his existence as a Guardian it completely obscured what the man thought about his life as a mortal. It made sense to Hiccup because he, himself, could not entirely separate his life from that of Toothless'. With that, he walked away from the table and toward the stairs.
"Hiccup," Jack whispered the name as he felt his heart breaking.
He never imagined they would reach this point. It always appeared he and Hiccup could find a solution to any problem if they just put their minds together. He understood what the Viking wanted, but he did not know how to divest the part that gave shape to so much of himself. Jack needed to acknowledge he would always be a Guardian. He could not lie to himself regarding the purpose around which his life centered. The fact he would return to it when Hiccup died, or more precisely when his physical being came to an end on Halla, became a future focal point. He knew the outcome of his life, as did Hiccup. Jack pressed his face into his hands as he wept and could not find a means to salvage the situation. He could feel the part of himself shaped like Hiccup begin to detach and tear away from him no matter how hard he tried to mentally hold on.
Hiccup stood in the enormous loft bedroom, one he and Jack expanded when IceSpike entered their lives and they realized the room could not hold two people, a night fury, and a woolly howl. At the time it seemed to encapsulate the method of their life: make room for huge changes and accept things would never be fully settled. Hiccup could accept the dragon that ultimately accepted the unique person of Jack. However, Isemaler became more erratic once Jack landed a dragon. Somehow the beast seemed a threat to the immortal. Hiccup tried to discuss it with his mate, but it erupted into one of their first long-lasting, real and very tense fights. For almost a year they hotly debated the issue until they finally agreed to just let it drop. Like the bedroom, it became a symbol for part of their life, but not a good one.
The Viking found an old tote bag he used to haul spare tail pieces when he, Jack, Toothless, and IceSpike would sneak away for a few days of relaxation. Of course, Isemaler tended to find them where they secreted themselves because no place on the planet could block him. As he grabbed clothing and other items he knew he would need, Jack felt a renewed ire toward the Hallan Spirit of Winter Joy. What at first seemed a perfect solution to Jack needing to fulfill his elemental role on Halla quickly became a complete intrusion. Bit by bit, week after week, Jack sought to train Isemaler in his duties and how to use the extraordinary power granted to him. Month by month it gradually consumed Jack until Isemaler became a permanent fixture in their lives, and one that took top priority. It dawned on Hiccup he violently jammed things into the pack and might break something, if not his hand.
Jack sat at the table staring into his bowl of soup with the soggy lumps of bread floating on the surface. He tried to retrace every day of the last ten years to see when they possibly could alter the present outcome. He remembered when Hiccup started to become severely agitated by Isemaler's constant presence, but it could not be avoided. Halla could not afford to a creature like Isemaler running loose and wild with such potent abilities. Jack marked the moment when the woodworking shop became his own, and he no longer needed Hiccup to help him organize and run the affairs of the shop. He could understand how Hiccup might feel as though Jack cut him out of part of his life. Finally, the moment when they discovered Gobber's lifeless body and Grump nowhere to be found seemed to carve a straight line to the last ten minutes of their life together.
"He was old," Jack whispered. "He needed to be at peace. His body hurt him all the time."
Jack knew about death from several perspectives. He recalled watching everyone he knew in mortal life on Earth slowly pass away. He often grieved for family and friends who did not know he could see them. The image of death both as a lightless void and an ever shifting personae would never leave his mind. He knew Aita, regardless of form, on too intimate a basis. Leiyís'axt warned him on several occasions to put aside the knowledge of death as a real figure somewhere safe and deep in him mind lest it drive to Jack to distraction at inopportune times. Jack tried to console Hiccup in the days after Gobber's death, but he sensed he failed in several important ways. Jack spoke about the inevitability of death; whereas Hiccup lived with the inevitability. From that moment on, Jack felt something hardened in his mate.
The footsteps on the stairs sounded dull and hollow. Jack noted the extra weight to the footfalls, and he feared the worst. The feet approached him, but he did not turn around. He waited for Hiccup to draw up alongside. When he did, Jack stared blankly at the overstuffed satchel. It seemed too real.
"I can't stay here," Hiccup told him in muted tones. "Too many… memories of things I don't want to remember anymore. The house is yours, Jack, for as long as you need it. I'll go to the dragon caves first and work something out later."
"You don't have to do this, Hiccup," Jack pleaded.
Hiccup shifted on his feet before he said: "How can I stay knowing you won't ever really be mine? I can't spend my life competing against things I'll never be and with what you won't give up. It's not fair of me to ask to stop being a Guardian when you can't do it, but… I… that's not how I imagined life with you. It's not a life. It's… just make believe."
"Please," the immortal hidden in Hallan flesh begged yet again.
"Will anything change, Jack?"
Silence reigned in the house.
"And that's why I can stay and live like this anymore," Hiccup said after an interminable pause. "I'll always care about you, love you in some way, and I'll always be your friend. I promised you that, and I'll stick to it. But this…"
He quit talking and started walking. Jack sat in the chair unable to move. Something in the center of his chest felt overly large and unimaginably heavy. It held him in one place. It paralyzed him. His eyes stayed glued to the bowl of cold soup. The door opened. Feet stepped out onto the porch. The door closed. Jack flinched at the sound. He cried without making a sound. He saw death once, Aita, in the midst of doing what it did. It left him rattled and shaken to the core. This, however, he could not describe. It seemed a wail that would echo to Earth and back got trapped in his chest. It robbed him of his ability to make a sound. Jack sat gasping for breath.
Barely a minute passed, although it seemed a small eternity to Jack, before he felt the slick and warm head of IceSpike slide into his lap. The broad scales along her head and back lay flattened against her hide. IceSpike made a cooing, almost a keening sound. Jack pushed the table away with strength he thought fled from his limbs. Then he bent at the waist and curled around the head of his dear dragon. He never fully appreciated the bond between man and beast, between Hiccup and Toothless, until the day the woolly howl pressed her nose into Jack's outstretched hand. A new bond got formed, and it informed Jack of much to which he remained ignorant during his first year on Halla. At the moment, it felt like IceSpike offered the only attachment he could find within the world. Jack wept, and the dragon comforted her rider as best she could.
Hiccup left the house and walked along the path past the Great Hall and toward the dragon caves. His movements felt mechanical, and it seemed certain to him they appeared that way. Halfway between the Great Hall and the cavern, he heard a very familiar sound: the rustle of wing mainsails as they angled and billowed to slow flight speed. The warble of Toothless echoed around his head. Hiccup stopped.
"Yeah, it's me, bud," he said in a small voice.
The night fury banked, tilted, and came to a perfect landing next to the Viking. Toothless walked up to him, and Hiccup could see the confusion on the winged beast's face. The human closed the gap with the dragon. He looked deep into the creature's green-yellow eye seeking solace. Toothless made his questioning gurgle.
"We're gonna go live in the caves with all your friends for a while," he told Toothless, and his voice quavered. "Jack and me… it's just not gonna work. He's a Guardian, and I respect him so much for what he's done… does on Earth, but that's not what I want or need. He cares too much about that, so I guess I have to start caring more about myself and you. It'll be okay."
As he spoke the last words, Hiccup raised his arms and encircled them around the sturdy neck of the one he considered his best friend. It did not take long before the emotions began to overwhelm him, and Hiccup's iron hold on himself began to break. He cried into the neck of Toothless. As always, the dragon unfurled his wings and surrounded his rider within the protective embrace. For over a year Hiccup lived with the fear he and Jack would reach this point, and it got worse the less Jack did to reverse course. Hearing the man say he could not disentangle himself from from his role as a Guardian, even though he did not perform the duty on Halla, finally caused the relationship to break. It also broke Hiccup at the same time because in spite of all he said he continued to desperately love Jack. The loss of his leg back in his youth meant nothing to how he felt at the moment. Once more, he became certain the dragon saved him again. In the closeness of his best friend, Hiccup allowed himself to feel the pain he held off for as long as he could.
On an island the size of Berk, it took less than a day for the residents to learn the news. For many it came as a shock, while some saw it as an inevitability. They argued Jack would forever be a disappointment to Hiccup because he did not hail from the island and did not look or act like a true Viking. Regardless of how much Jack contributed to the welfare of Berk, a small minority continued to view him as a complete outsider. No one appeared to know exactly what to think about Hiccup, and, thus, little got said. When word got out he kept himself sequestered in the dragon caves, it seemed logical to most everyone. No one seemed to know how to separate what they thought about their former chieftain from the creatures he taught them to love and respect. Hence, they gave him space and time.
On the second day after the split with Jack, Hiccup sat in one of the unused storage rooms he quickly converted into his quarters. Any who tried to help him learned to leave him in peace. He threw a dark, menacing glare at all but one who approached him. Valka, his mother, seemed impervious to his baleful glance. After the morning feeding, of which Hiccup performed his part, and the care of the injured, he went back to his room. His mother followed after ensuring no one happened to be near.
"Hiccup?" She quietly said his name.
"Just go away," he instructed her.
"No."
Hiccup gave her the look when Valka entered his room. She leaned against the doorway. Son and mother cast furtive glances.
"Well? Aren't you going to say it?" Hiccup glumly inquired when he could no longer stand the tense silence.
"Say what?" Valka calmly counter-questioned.
"That you told me so."
"I never said anything of the sort, Hiccup."
"Then what do you have to say?" He angrily pressed her.
She sighed, stared him in the eye, and said: "That I can't begin to understand what you're going through… and that I'm here if you need to talk or even want to yell at someone."
Her answer befuddled Hiccup. She stood wearing her sturdy, coarse woven coveralls that proved remarkably durable given the environment. The dull brown color hid the worst of the stains. The purpose they served spared her other clothing, usually her riding leathers, from wear and tear. Because of the effectiveness of the garment, most of the other workers in the dragon caves also commission a set for themselves. Her dark ocher hair, shot through with too much gray in Hiccup's opinion, got pulled into a tight bun on the back of her head. At the moment a baby terrible terror decided to use it as a perch. What should be a ridiculous combination befit her life's work and preferred station.
"Hiccup, what finally pushed you to this point?" Valka gingerly asked.
"A lot of things," he tersely replied, "and they got all twisted together."
Her eyes, so similar in color to her son's, did not appear judgmental.
"He… can't stop being a Guardian even when he isn't one here," Hiccup said in a hollow voice.
"But you knew what he was before beginning this relationship."
"I did, but… somehow… I thought there'd be more room for us… more care and time for me instead of… other things.."
"Isemaler?" Valka knowingly queried.
Hiccup felt his face grow hot and did not say a word.
She nodded and said: "I wondered how long it'd be before he caused a… complication."
"Complication? Mom, it's a pocking nightmare!" He blurted at her.
"Language, son," she corrected him as only she could do since Gobber's death. "Jack still can't make him follow simple rules?"
"How about he won't. Isemaler does stuff and Jack thinks we're just supposed to put up with it 'cause Isemaler is still learning to be whatever he is."
"Jack's overblown sense of responsibility again?"
Hiccup snorted in the affirmative.
"So where do things go from here?" She asked without giving her opinion on anything Hiccup said.
"Jack can stay in the house. I can't live there: not with all those… memories floating around. I'll figure out something after a while. Maybe I can build a small place near the dragon caverns," he told her what fragment of a plan he considered.
"Well, I trust you'll do what's right. You're your own man, son, but I'm here if you need to bounce words off of somebody," she said in the oddly comforting way only a mother could. "Oh, Tuffnut asked if you could stop by their house. Apparently one of them knocked the dragon door off its hinges."
"Sure," he agreed.
Valka gave him a small smile. He nodded. She turned to leave.
"Thanks, Mom," he quietly but firmly told her.
"It's part of my responsibility, Hiccup," Valka replied. "Don't forgot: I love you."
"Love you, too."
Valka departed as silently as she arrived. She also closed the rather battered door behind her even though he did not ask. Hiccup sat alone in his rocky chamber, a single tallow candle offered a thin yellow light that only served to deepen some of the shadows. He stared into those and tried to plot the course of his life. For the last ten years he always assumed it would involve Jack even when at his angriest. Now he needed to plan a solo life. The thought made him freeze for a moment, and tears edged down his face. It seemed painfully surreal to Hiccup he simply got up and left his home, but months – years – of feeling as though Jack did not fully invest himself in their relationship caused him to act. That and what he discussed with Fishlegs several days beforehand.
On the other side of the village Jack stood at his worktable staring at the pieces for an inlaid panel on a shield. It depicted a sheep in a Viking helmet charging at a group of marauders, and the image got based on a local legend. Jack did not believe the legend after seeing how docile sheep tended to act. However, the tale of the warrior sheep persisted. A customer paid, so he relented and created the design. As he worked throughout the morning, Jack started to hear the whispers. Both his and Hiccup's name came up repeatedly as people stopped by for various reasons. Some of the villages gave him a funny look, and a few appeared downright hostile. The clannish mindset of the people of Berk never escaped his notice. He thought back to the civil war and remembered anew just how mired they could become in their thinking. As a result, Jack kept to himself and worked steadily throughout the day.
"How are you holding up?" A friendly voice inquired later in the afternoon.
Jack turned to see Fishlegs watching him, and said: "I, ah, guess as well as can be expected."
"You know why he left, don't you?"
While others might be put off by the blunt nature of the question, Jack found relief at least one person possessed the bravery to address the central topic. He twisted his head to the side to see if Fishlegs' face could give him a hint as to the demeanor of the question. He saw only honest curiosity befitting their style of friendship.
"Hiccup made that exceptionally clear," he flatly reported
"I tried to get him to see this from your perspective," Fishlegs informed him.
"Thanks," Jack said, he meant it, but he did not sound entirely grateful.
The rotund Viking walked into the workshop and around a few pieces of furniture Jack assembled in a dry-fit manner to check for any defects. Jack watched his progress and could not figure out the intent of his friend. However, seeing as he did not appear to have any stalwart allies at the moment, he felt indebted to the man. The studied scrutiny of Fishlegs in the silence of his shop became awkward after a few moments.
"Fishlegs?" Jack asked with the name.
"Something doesn't add up," his friend began at a low volume. "First, he always knew exactly what you are, so his sudden focus on you're Guardian status doesn't make sense."
"It does, believe it or not. He wants me to forgot the reason why I exist on Earth while I'm Halla and… I can't do it, Fishlegs. I never stop thinking about, and Hiccup felt cheated because of it," Jack said and looked down at the floor where curls of wood lay scattered. "He's not wrong."
"But that doesn't mean he's right. I can't imagine how much worse it would be if Isemaler didn't have you around to at least reminded him to control his power," the Viking openly conjectured.
Jack shrugged.
"Do you honestly care more about what Isemaler does than your relationship with Hiccup?"
"Of course not, but… I do have a serious responsibility to Isemaler. It took me three hundred years to really learn to use my abilities, and he's only got me as a teacher for maybe sixty years at best," he refuted and explained.
"Ah, but didn't you say you couldn't really affect anything for the longest time 'til you got a more… I think subtle sense of control?" Fishlegs asked, and his incisive mind displayed itself once again.
Jack turned his head at an angle as he tried to divine his friend's ultimate meaning. Fishlegs repeatedly proved he did listen to what others said. The man leaned against the edge of the workbench. It squeaked as the weight of the Viking settled against it.
"Jack, did you ever think maybe there was a reason why the moon guy who made you left you alone for so long and in such a way where you couldn't harm anything as you figured out what you could and couldn't do?"
Jack's mouth fell open a small amount. How they traversed from the breakup with Hiccup to the means by which Jack learned about his powers almost baffled him, and yet he felt Fishlegs already reached a conclusion. It seemed the man wanted to lead him down a specific path of logic.
"Maybe you didn't," Fishlegs mumbled and then cleared his throat. "What I'm trying to say is I think all the time you spent alone you were supposed to spend alone so you could understand what you could do. As long as you're here, Isemaler doesn't need to rely on himself: he's got you to provide answers."
Jack scratched the side of his face with a blunt awl tipped with hardened gum he used to position and insert pieces of inlay. He began to see the thread his brilliant friend stretched out before him. He also saw how it connected to Hiccup.
"So… maybe Hiccup was right when he said it wasn't fair I got asked to train Isemaler," Jack said, but it came out as a half-formed speculation.
"But they did, so… what happens now?" Fishlegs abruptly turned back to the main issue.
"I don't know. I haven't seen him since Hiccup got him banished. It's kind of worrying me."
Fishlegs folded his arms across his ample chest. His eyes narrowed, and it always meant his mind worked on a problem. As the seconds rolled by, Jack started to get a bit nervous. He could not decipher the expression.
"He's right; Hiccup that is. You do care more about Isemaler than you do about him," the man told him.
Jack felt himself become instantly angry.
"Get mad if you helps, but so far I haven't heard you say one thing about how you think Hiccup is doing. I can tell you're upset, but I don't really know about what."
"You pile of dung!" Jack growled at him. "You don't really understand anything I… or him have gone through!"
"Considering I talk to both of you and keep your secrets, you'd be surprised how much I do," Fishlegs said without any hint of contrition. "But I will tell you this: Groanhilde said no the first three times I asked her to marry me. Know why?"
Jack searched his memory. His brain coughed out the relevant fact, but only in a limited way. He pondered the times Fishlegs showed up at the house depressed because first he fell in love with Groanhilde, but then over the times she refused his offer. As he racked his brain, Jack discovered he did not know the reasons why she denied his friend. A weird pang of guilt twanged in his chest, and it did nothing to improve his mood.
"I thought so," Fishlegs said in a disapproving manner, but then adjusted himself. "She refused to marry me because she said I was more in love with Meatlug and the devices I made, all the planning with Hiccup, and the drafting I constantly did than I was with her. It mad me angry at first, Jack, but then I began to see how she was right. It forced me to change how I lived my life."
"Oh, so you're saying Hiccup walking out on me is supposed to make me a better person?" Jack hotly contested.
"Emphasis on person. You don't need to be a better Guardian here because that's – not – your – job!"
"You don't think I'm a good person?"
Fishlegs actually leaned back a little from the hostility in the question before he replied: "No, I think you're a good person. I think you're a great person because of the way you care about others. It's probably what makes you a good Guardian, but it makes you a terrible… mate… husband to Hiccup. Sometimes he needed to be at the top of your list, but when was the last time you actually placed him there?"
If anything proved Fishlegs no longer feared Jack as an elemental immortal, the tenor and tone of his voice said it for him. He openly risked making Jack angry and did not appear the least hesitant about doing it. Jack, for his part, stared at Fishlegs with a few malicious ideas in his head. However, the tingling sensation of energy reacting to his silent summons did not materialize.
"Did you just come over hear to torture me? Make fun of what happened between Hiccup and me? 'Cause if you did, you accomplished your mission!" Jack barked at him.
"I came to talk to you as your friend, Jack," Fishlegs rejoined without backing down. He leaned harder against the bench, and it slid back by an inch. "Listen, I could see the mistake you were making, but it came too late because I didn't see what I was doing 'til it was almost too late with Groanhilde. By the time I got that fixed… I didn't know how to tell you, and I knew Hiccup already told you several times."
Anger and resentment warred in Jack because Fishlegs did, indeed, know some of the private history between he and Hiccup. That his friend also connected it to personal experience made it harder to dismiss. Jack almost started grinding his teeth.
"You are not a Guardian here, Jack, and you'd better get through your head if you want any hope of saving anything between you and Hiccup," the stout man firmly told him. "And you have to put limits on how much you're willing to be Isemaler's teacher. The sooner you shove him out the door and tell him to figure it out for himself, the better you'll both be!"
"I can't do that!" Jack half-shouted, and then remembered they did not speak in absolute private. He set the tool down for fear of throwing it his friend. "He has full power, Fishlegs, and he doesn't know how to control it. Think about that for one small second: do you want me to set him loose in full force and let him make up his own mind on how to use it?"
A look of concern flashed across the Viking's face.
"Did you forget that time when he started a brutal, deadly battle with just a snowball?"
"No, I didn't, but you didn't throw it!"
The two men glared at one another.
"You were promised a life here as a… living person… mortal, I guess, but look what they did to you? You've been made the caretaker of someone who, and let's be honest, really shouldn't have all that power yet. It's like those god people are punishing you for bringing something special… wonderful to this world. They're not letting you live: they're making you pay!"
Jack blinked at Fishlegs. He did not think for one second Hiccup would tell the man that particular piece of information. Speaking of the powerful entities of Halla tended to make Fishlegs very nervous, as though he feared they would become offended. However, his friend seemed to put that aside and spoke without fear. Moreover, it perfectly meshed with one of the last things Hiccup said on his way out the door. The logical and rational part of his mind felt as though it got caught in a snare. It managed to beat back some of the heated emotions in his chest.
Fishlegs did not stay much longer. He implored Jack to think about what they discussed. The man gave him one bit of hope in saying there might yet be time to salvage the relationship with Hiccup, but it required conscious and direct action while admitting to mistakes of the past. Fishlegs departed with a somewhat snide comment about needing to go home to take care of his wife. The quip left Jack aggravated, but also highlighted a specific point Fishlegs made. With his head in a jumble, he decided to close shop for the day even though he needed to complete some pieces. As he snuffed out the lamps, some of which he only lit a short while before, Jack realized he could not accurately recall the last time he left the workshop so early. That point, too, got add to the swamp inside of his skull.
The village did talk. They talked the next day when Hiccup returned to the forge and continued his work as the master smith. It became quite clear an invisible wall existed between the smithy and the woodworking shop. Hiccup and Jack only exchanged what information they needed to conduct business, but otherwise did not interact with one another. Fartbritches and Mouldy worked almost exclusively with one another and did their best to stay out of Hiccup's way. Hiccup focused on completing several pieces needed for the waterwheel and making new, stronger hinges for the dragon door at the Thorston compound. Using the heavy hammer on glowing steel helped dispel some of his frustrations and hurt. Jack only found solace and respite by pouring himself into the inlay work on the shield. It required a lot of his attention to make final small adjustments to pieces and hold them down while the glue took hold. An odd silence seized the workshops despite the activity of four craftsman.
"Oh, good, you're making them," Ruffnut's voice sliced through the clang of the anvil and the hiss of the bellows. "Smellied wants to know if you can make an extra set so we've got it just in case. And I think you know just in case means we'll definitely need them sooner rather than later."
"Subtle, Tuffnut, as always," Hiccup replied in a droll voice. "And I'm way ahead of you. I'm just finishing the knuckles on the third set of plates, and then all I need to do is roll and head the pins."
"You are one smart man," said the woman with an enormous blonde braid running her back. "And I heard you and Skinny are on the outs with each other. How'd that happen? I thought someone sewed you two together."
"Any chance you could be a little more delicate?"
"I could, but it'd take too much time, and Barf gets bored trying to keep Belch from eating the kids."
Several faces turned to stare in horror at the woman. She shrugged and did not seem put off by the sudden and intense scrutiny. She did appear to note the looks thrown at her. Ruffnut never gave up her manner of dress from their days at Dragon's Edge. On more than one occasion Hiccup heard her claim the protect gear worked better with children than with dragons. Hence, she donned a stiff leather vest over her heavy short-sleeved shirt. The matching leather skirt imparted a whimsical if demented aspect to her bearing. He yak-hide boots with the fur turned outward only completed the ensemble and bewildered a good number of people.
"Don't worry: he swallows them whole and we can get them out in time. If we didn't, Belch would choke to death," Ruffnut said as if none should worry over the situation, and she did not seem to care about anyone's reaction over where she placed her concern. "So what finally broke the razorwing's back with him?"
"It's really none of your business, and I don't feel like discussing it in public," Hiccup told her in a flinty voice.
"Probably 'cause one of you can't get pregnant, huh? The snot that comes out of kids does a good job at keeping a couple together… and I mean that physically as well!"
"You really don't know how to shut up, do you?"
"Just trying to help an old friend," Tuffnut said, and anyone within earshot knew she meant it. "So, ah, you think it's safe to go talk to Skinny? We need some repairs on furniture. Tuffnut's youngest started teething, and he's showing her how it's done on the chair legs. That girl is going to have one strong set of choppers by the time Tuff finishes with her."
"The word mental doesn't mean anything to you, does it?" Hiccup sarcastically asked.
"Like as in of or relating to the mind, or relating to the total emotional and intellectual response of an individual to external reality?"
"Like as in insane."
"Oh, the colloquial definition," she said with a wink. "I get where you're coming from, and I'll go easy on Skinny."
"He's over in the woodshop," Hiccup conceded the argument, or rather gave up since it would carry on far longer than he wished, and decided to let Jack deal with the woman.
"Thanks, Hiccup and send a message terror up to the manor when the hinges are done."
He nodded and went back to heating the pieces of metal while she strolled further into the workshop.
Jack overheard the entire conversation and steeled himself for the encounter. He found Ruffnut extraordinarily brave and a very capable warrior. She and her brother also displayed incredible deftness as dragon riders when the mood struck them. However, neither Ruffnut or Tuffnut thought like anyone else. Even worse, they understood one another when nobody else could make heads or tails of what they said. It came as a shock that either landed a mate. It stunned the entire community when Tuffnut and Bristlechin, his wife, invited Ruffnut and Smellied, her husband, to take up lodging in cobbled-together expanse they called Thorston Manner. Against every conceivable probability, the foursome actually made the arrangement work. It continued to work when the children started arriving. The village came to harbor a secret apprehension about Thorston Manner and its occupants, Jack included.
"Heya, Skinny," Ruffnut croaked at him and used the nickname he detested. "Now that you and Hiccup ain't a thing anymore, you'll have time to swing by and fix some furniture for us. Right?"
Jack stared at her for a moment and said: "What's my name?"
"Skinny."
"Then I don't have time," he replied and bent down to continue work on the shield inlay.
"Aw, come on, Jack. Don't be a spoilsport. I don't mean anything by it," Ruffnut said to him without an ounce of apology in her voice.
Jack ignored her.
"Gonna play hard to get, huh, now that you're a free man? You know, there are lots of Thorstons out there who aren't married, and I don't mean just the girls," she told him as if the news might be an enticing. "We might be able to find a fella that'll settle for you, but I ain't making any guarantees there'll be bliss in the bedroom."
Jack found her comments so offensive it left him speechless and unable to properly marshal his anger to aim it at her. When he looked up at the woman, Ruffnut winked at him as though she battered for a used wagon. It dawned on him for millionth time it never registered on her, or her brother, when they crossed a line and left it miles behind them. It robbed him of his self-righteous indignation.
"We've got lots of work for ya 'cause of all those little Thorstons running around… and the fact Barf and Belch live in the house, too. We got the idea from you and Hiccup," Ruffnut continued.
"A sheep, a wheel of the good yak cheese, and two drums of Barf's gas," Jack found himself laying out the price before he could think it through and reject the offer.
"Pretty steep, Ski… Jack."
"Accept it or no deal, and it's only for a day's labor."
"A day? There's more than a day's work in our place. We could keep you busy for a week!" The woman railed at him.
Jack bowed his head to check the alignment of the wood pieces. He heard Mouldy laughing in the background. It told him he thwarted Ruffnut before she could take advantage of his offer. Daft she might be, but not stupid.
"Okay, okay. Deal," she grumbled and then brightened. "So, what happened with you and Hiccup."
"It's personal and private," Jack said and it flew automatically from his mouth.
"You know we're gonna find out, so you might as well spill it."
He lifted his head, looked her dead in the eye, and said in as flat a voice as he could muster: "Hiccup wanted to burn your house down while you were sleeping, and I stopped him. He got mad and that was that."
"Really? Ya think you know a guy your whole life and then he goes and plans something like that. It's always the bossy ones who surprise you," Ruffnut said and did not appear put off by the blatant lie.
"It's the quiet ones, Ruff, not the bossy ones," Fartbritches informed her as he walked past carrying a bucket of slag to place out back for the lava-breed dragons to fight over.
"I don't know. You can never tell with the quiet ones: they don't say anything," she rejoined.
"Even after ten years you continued to amaze me," Jack muttered.
"And that's what makes the Thorstons so special! So, what day are you stopping by?"
"Give me two days. I've some orders in front of yours I need to finish first," he told her.
"Call it deal."
She spit in her hand and extended it. Jack did likewise. Ruffnut and Tuffnut remained about the only two who continued to use the age-old method of sealing a bargain. However, they considered it more binding than law and never reneged on a spit-shake transaction. Thus, they shook once in a solemn manner, nodded to each other, and released their hands with the contract made. Even though he expected his nerves and wits would be frazzled by the end of that particular future work day, he considered it a fair exchange.
"Okay, Skinny, see you on the third morning!" Ruffnut said as she wandered away from him.
"Bye, you hagfish," he loudly returned.
Several people laughed when Ruffnut scrunched up her shoulders. However, she did not throw another barb at him. In the past Jack routinely bested her during insult contests. She did not know he possessed over three hundred years of engaging with children and an entire other culture from which to pick a wicked taunt. Once she left, Mouldy stuck his head into the woodshop.
"Hiccup says not to use him in your arguments with anyone, and he says you know why," the man told him.
"Oh, really," Jack said and the request rankled him. "Inform Hiccup that his deal with that one lady only covered one house. Tell him I'm sending a visitor to the dragon caves."
"I'll tell him, but I'm not you guys' pocking messenger terror," Mouldy said in a huff and left.
A minute later he heard Hiccup start to swear, and Jack grinned in an empty but menacing fashion.
