Progress was quick, but it took it's toll on both Hiccup and Kage. They had finished the roof and the floor early, and Kage started working on the trough whilst Hiccup mended his wounds.
"I have no idea how you do this." Hiccup spoke.
"Do what?" Kage asked puzzled.
"How you can work this hard so constantly and not get worn and tired." Hiccup explained.
Kage thought about it for a while. In his early childhood he had been surrounded by people whom were close to his strength. He had always been just a little bit stronger, but had never had any real advantage over them. For the first time in his life, he was way out of his companions' league.
"I do get tired, but I have been trained not to heed to it." He answered finally.
Hiccup thought about this.
'He must have had some training.' He thought.
"You have an interesting house plan." He noted.
'He is a strange one.' Kage thought.
The rest of the tribe were warriors. They didn't concern themselves with such fine things. They were not inquisitive, but Hiccup, he wanted to know everything.
'There might be hope for him yet.' He mused.
"It is different from yours, yes." He answered.
"But why do you have different wood for the walls? Yellow Wood is softer than the Black Wood." Hiccup persisted.
"Exactly. The yellow wood is just what I need. I'm not going to make wooden walls, I'm making paper walls." He replied.
"Paper walls?" Hiccup asked.
"Yes. Paper is similar to what you use to write on, but it is softer and whiter. It makes a beautiful finish to the home." He answered.
"I see, but we use animal skins to write on, how do you make the paper?" He sounded truly interested.
"You break the wood down into little chiplets, and then soak it in water, when you dry it in thin sheets, it's paper." Kage answered.
Hiccup thought about it, it took him a while to wrap his head around this new process. He left soon afterwards. Kage was along on the hilltop, to the one end was the vertical cliff face that looked down on the village, and to the other the gentle slope the headed towards where the rice paddy would be. Kage smiled at himself. He was thinking ahead, something he had not done in years. In his line of work it was best not to think ahead, it only created more things that were never done, more goals that would never be reached. But he felt safe to let his mind wander for now, his test was still far in the future.
He worked until late that night, pulping trees and laying out sheets upon sheets of paper. He only caught three hours of sleep before the sun woke him for the day. He worked hard and had completed half the walled by the time Hiccup came by with breakfast.
"Did you sleep at all last night?" Hiccup asked when he saw how far Kage had come.
"A little. I still have much to do." Kage answered.
They continued working throughout the day, and by two they were done with the walls.
"Anything else?" Hiccup asked as he slowly lowered himself to the ground near Kage, moaning from the pressure and friction sores.
"Not for now." Kage teased.
They had lunch, and Kage set off to explore the island.
Gobber was working hard in his shop. Business was good as always, and he was steeped in sweat. He took the chance he got during a break between appointments to steel a glance at the sky. What he saw worried him. Dark clouds were coming in from the east, a storm was brewing. He left the shop and headed for Stoick's house.
He found Stoick melding an argument between neighbours.
"This better be good." Stoick told Gobber as he came up the stair to the porch in front of the house.
"We have a serious storm brewing." Gobber said pointing at the dark clouds with his hook.
"This early in the season?" Stoick asked as he followed Gobber's hook to the horizon.
"Yes, and it looks pretty bad." Gobber reinforced his statement with a vicious swing of his hook that almost caught one of the bystanders in the eye.
"We'd better consult Gothie." Stoick ordered, already heading in the direction of her house.
And so it was. Gothie informed the two that there was indeed a severe storm on the way. They headed back to prepare.
"This is a bad omen, Gobber. I can feel the gods' unease. Something else is coming as well. Make sure our armoury is well protected against the storm, we may need it soon." Gobber wanted to answer, but Stoick was already on his way up the hill to Kage's house to inform him.
"That Stoick has a one track mind he does." Gobber talked to himself as he walked to the armoury.
Kage emerged from the house as Stoick reached the small plato on which his house was built. He looked at the man as he walked up to him.
"Evening, Stoick." He greeted the chief.
"Evening, Kage." Stoick greeted in return.
He forgot about the clouds for a moment as he stared at the strange house in front of him. The thin, white walls were never found in Viking architecture and it stunned him. He looked at the workmanship on the fine roof linings. They were covered in the smallest wood ornamental statues, carved from the stumps themselves. The floor planks were flat and fitted into each other perfectly. It was beautiful.
"She's quite a beauty, isn't she?" Kage asked, seeing the look on Stoick's face.
"She is indeed." Stoick answered under his breath.
Remembering the reason for his visit he added. "We have a storm coming. Are you sure she'll hold?"
"She will, she was built not just for looks. The corner poles are half way sunk into the ground." Kage replied.
The conversation digressed to other topics for several minutes before Stoick headed back down the slope.
"It is very early for the first to be coming, this might be something else, but I can sense the trouble. This is not just a storm." Kage said out loud.
