Disclaimer: I don't own How To Train Your Dragon, nor any of the characters
"Hey guys!" Astrid called to her fidgeting friends as she walked towards them. "We've got work to do. The Chief wants us to train everyone to be dragon-riders so they can fly home, with the damage done to the boats." She made it sound easy and they all knew it. Snotlout almost wanted to make a bragging comment despite, but backed down at the last second from her own stiff face.
"How are we going to do that? I mean the dragons are coming back, but there was nothing in the books I read about training them," Fishlegs managed. The boy's tactical head really had come in handy, but experience was definitely not his teacher. Nor was innovation, apparently, as his confused look lent itself to the Gronkle next to him. Hiccup had been there to guide the dragons into each of their respective hands when he took them out, and they hardly listened initially to their new riders until they got in the air. Hiccup...
"Well can't we just go around putting our hands on their heads?" Tuffnut asked.
"Are you kidding! Only Hiccup managed that!" Ruffnut shot back
"Well what about Snotlout?"
"Well what about Astrid?"
"Shut it!" Astrid yelled, stepping between the two. What about me...
"It won't stay in my hand, Hiccup. What's wrong with it?" She had asked the boy.
"Huh. My guess is it remembers you. From training, I mean." He had told her. "Go get some fish from the market. This should cover it, I think."
"What is fish going to do? And wait, which training?"
"That time you hit it with your ax stuck in my shield. Surely you remember that."
He had been right. The nadder had taken the fish eagerly, even from her hand, and was a lot more tolerant of herself after that. Where was the pesky thing anyway? First the fish to lure them, and then the hand to 'bond' with them... but what then? A flock of Deadly Nadders landed not to far from them, inspecting the remains of the humongous dragon that Hiccup had killed. It wouldn't be too hard after that. The trust would be the more difficult thing. The dragons had been quite accepting, except in Astrid's case, and that shouldn't be too much of an issue with the number of dragons that would probably be around soon.
"Hey, kids!" someone called from behind her. "The Chief sent us over to get us prepared for going home. You have any idea what he meant by that?" Astrid smiled, and she heard Fishlegs fidgeting his fingers in uncertainty. The twins just shrugged, and she didn't even give Snotlout enough time to start his bragging about riding a nightmare.
"Yea, I do. We're going to need you guys to get some fish. Lost of fish. Think you can do that?"
"Shouldn't be a problem, but whatever for?" another one asked.
"Dude, isn't it obvious what it's for?" Ruffnut said as monotone as possible, pointing behind her. Tuffnut could only agree. And somehow that itself had become a fight. Their zippleback behind them, catching on to their games, and to the distaste of the others, started trying to pry the duo apart. She turned back to the gathering crowd in front of her, and spoke again.
"Start gathering fish everyone! Catch as many as you can, however you can, and bring them back here. Once you've done that, we'll get started." Smiling, as some of them didn't get the message, she looked back out to them. "You are going to be flying home on the back of a dragon!"
- - - - -
"All right, Teacher Astrid, now that everyone's out and fishing, how are we going to teach them to fly?" Snotlout asked in his natural jeering voice. Teacher Astrid? Who is he kidding...
"They aren't really flying. All they need to do is to be able to steer, and that comes naturally to any good strong burly viking like yourself, doesn't it Snotlout?" Astrid snickered, smiling slightly. The twins to his left had somehow managed to catch my smile for the trap it was.
"Of course it does, Astrid. I'm the best there's ever been!" pffft!
"Then you won't mind teaching them that at all, I should think. After all, you are a self proclaimed natural." And then he was snared, trapped by his own pride. "Ruffnut, Tuffnut, you two take some fish once we have some and bring them over to that area under those rocks" Astrid continued, pointing away from the deathly beast's tail. "Give them one fish, and try to coax them into moving there. Fishlegs and I will get the other Vikings to bond with the most easily trusted dragons there with some more fish. From there, Snotlout will go through rotations of going through the basics of flying, and then have them experiment with flying but don't let them go home on their own. We'll have everyone leave in several waves tomorrow with one of us leading the way. Everyone got that?"
"Yes, ma'am," Fishlegs responded attentively. His gronkle snorted, enthused like him for some reason.
"Alright, then, everyone get to it. The first fish are coming in now, it looks like. You two 'Nut's ready? And I swear if you two start fighting at all, I cannot guarantee you'll live to regret it. Got it?" Intimidation was an understatement, if one was to look at her face.
"I'm, uh, I'm going to go rest over there... with my nightmare... yea." Jeez, am I that intimidating?
"Hey, uh Fishlegs?" Astrid asked, sitting down next to him. The big kid was practically sweating. "What... what made you always be kind to hiccup?"
"Well... um, he," Fishlegs sputtered. He had never been the most confident, but he had been kinder. "It just never seemed worth it. To make fun of him. I mean I'm not exactly mentally viking-like either. He's the closest thing I had to a friend."
"Have to a friend. Don't go giving up on him yet. And you have the rest of us too. It's... just we have … a real viking way of showing it." Astrid smiled lightly. "I mean, I'm not really going to kill the twins if they get in a fight." He still looked unsure. "You got that?" she asked again, punching him lightly in the arm. Somehow, he cracked a slight smirk, and she smiled back.
"Yea, I... I think I got that, Astrid." she started getting up. "Thank you, for... for this."
"Your welcome. Alright looks like the twins have a few heading over there now. You ready?
"Do I have a choice?"
"Nope. Come on. Watch, learn, and you'll be fine." She smiled again, daringly. It was going to be a long day.
- - - - -
"Well well well, how's the training going?" Stoick asked as Astrid closed in on his boat. It had hardly changed throughout the course of the day, but somehow the mast had been repaired. Toothless and Hiccup rested on the charred deck as she climbed aboard, practically jumping over the side. It hardly needed an answer as the dragons filled the sky, darting here and there with the vikings hanging on atop their backs.
"We're managing it, Chief," Astrid replied, peeking past him at the unconscious boy. "How's Hiccup doing?"
"He'll live..." the chief sighed, "Most likely. Though we'll have to get that foot of his off, it looks like. It's badly infected."
Disbelief filled her mind. Sure, battlescars were the pride of any Viking, but... but not crippling ones. Sure they made the best stories but... they lost their capability. She somehow managed to walk over to his side, his attendants doing their best to keep him in check. His foot was... even worse than it had been.
"You... you don't have to call me Chief, you know... not after all... after everything you've done..." She turned around to see him walking up behind her. The burly man was even more exhausted than her, a great deal simply from the emotions of the day. Vikings and strong emotions typically didn't mix well, unless it was anger or rage. "You're all vikings now... and... you can just call me Stoick... I think I'd prefer that from you, Astrid. If you don't mind, that is." He couldn't be thinking straight... could he?
"Of course... Stoick. I can do that..." He looked at her, and firmly placed a hand on her spiked shoulder. Physical pain was nothing to a Viking, after all.
"Yes, well, You look tired. Do yourself a favor and get some sleep." Removing his hand, she noticed the dots left from her shoulder pads had been. "I'll let the others know they can take a rest." She only nodded, laying up against the side of the sailing ship. She stole one last look at Hiccup and Toothless before settling in for the night.