HUZZAH! I managed to finish it on schedule (Well, sort of)! Here's to hoping I don't cut it so close next time!

I'm using sco. Wikipedia .org 's Scots-English dictionary for the accent so that's really helped out. If you guys are having trouble reading it then say the word and if enough people agree, I'll use the pseudo-Gaelic accent most people are familiar with when it comes to written work. I really hope you guys enjoy this chapter.

Disclaimer: Technically, I own two characters in this one. Everyone else? Not a chance.

I stretched in the sunlight as he walked across the wooden bridge to the Training Grounds. It still had the iron cage on top of it. There had been much debate over whether it should be removed or not but after one or two incidents involving a rampaging dragon due to some poor guy's mistake made pretty much everyone agree it should be left on for safety.

I nodded at Ástríður as he passed her. She would be the one to man the gate so the others could be let out after the lesson. You see, the cage was also left on as a show of trust. True, the dragons couldn't get out once the gate was shut but neither could the humans. The gates only being able to be opened from the outside was a safety feature from when it was the Kill Ring. Then it was used to keep the dragons in. Now it is used to say something along the lines of "Yeah, ye cannna get out on yer own but neither can we. So we'll trust ye to nae eat us if ye trust us to nae imprison ye." Yeah, that didn't make much sense to me either but keeping an accidentally provoked dragon caged and away from the rest of the village proved to be a mighty good argument.

"Mornin', Hiccup, Toothless," I waved at the duo. "Morning, Arnbjörn," Hiccup called over his shoulder as Toothless nodded in his direction, "You think today will finally be the day?" I leaned against a wall, "A hope so. Then A can finally stop comin' to yer classes." The Dragon Whisperer look away from whatever he was working on and glared at me, "Ha, ha. Very funny."

"A ken. Aren't A just brilliant?" I return snarked. "Oh já," he returned to his work, "A real comedy genius." We both chuckled as Toothless just rolled his eyes. This had become rather habitual for us. A snark-off really is a good way to start a day.

We stayed silent for a time. I let my thoughts wonder to different things before curiosity got the better of me, "So, whit are ye makin'?" Hiccup looked back at me, "Huh? Oh. Nothing. Just tinkering." With the he went back to his work before making a vague motion with his head towards the gate. I nodded for some reason before settling into the wall. I was curious as to what he was making for Ástríður but I'd find out soon enough. Probably.

I sighed as I scratched the back of my head. I didn't really describe myself very well last time, did I? My hair (and beard) is a dark goldenrod/dirty blond color. It comes down to around my shoulders and my beard and mustache have been trimmed. Somewhat like Spitelout, I suppose, but a bit fuller. Of course, a lot of people had shorter hair and/or beard now. We found out the hard way that those and flying don't mix well (but that's another story). Almost everyone's clothing had also gone back a couple of notches although some people still managed the somewhat insane style and yet be safe. (How they did this only Óðinn knows). Of course, those who didn't fly dragons (for any reason) kept their normal hair length and clothing style.

I was snapped from my thoughts by the sound of people talking near the gate. I glanced to my left and saw, to my surprise, Spitelout walk into the Training Grounds. "Guid mornin, Hiccup, Toothless, Arnbjörn," he greeted. "Mornin, Spitelout. Finally managed to get away from wirk?" I asked Stoik's right-hand-man. "Aye. Stoik gave me the day off so A though A'd come here. It's about time A bonded wi a dragon."

"Well then, A hope ye hae better luck than me."

"Been havin' trouble?"

"Ye dinna ken the hauf o it," I didn't really feel the need to elaborate further. There was some idol chatter between us but we mostly kept silent as three more students came it. After the fifth one was in, Hiccup put away whatever he was working on and nodded towards Ástríður signaling for her to close the gate. He and Toothless walked out in front of us. "Alright class. Today's the day your going to learn about dragons. Specifically, how to befriend them. First thing's first: This is just a generalization. Each dragon has a different personality and will probably have a different set of likes and dislikes. However, what I'm going to teach you seems to be imbedded in the species as a whole so you should have no problems.

"Now that that's out of the way, the first thing you need to know is that dragons- all dragons- can understand every word we're saying. I'm not talking about reading your emotions through your tone either. They can understand Norse rather well but only after they've bonded with you. Neither of us are sure exactly how that works but it does.

"When you bond with a dragon, don't expect them to act like a pet or a horse. A dragon that you've bonded with should be your best friend. Someone you can count on no matter what happens. As such, you should treat them that way. That means that you have to cooperate with them. When you're riding a dragon, you aren't telling them where to go, you're making a suggestion with pressure for your thighs, you hands on occasions, and your thoughts."

"Wait a minute, did you say 'your thoughts'?" one of the kids in the class asked. "Já. Dragons have a telepathic ability. They talk to each other that way and can also hear our thoughts," Hiccup explained. "So, thay can hear any of wir thoughts at any time?" Spitelout pointed out. "No," Hiccup was quick to correct, "They can only hear the thoughts of the people they've bonded with or anyone who is touching them."

"Richt now?" Spitelout was a bit incredulous. "Já," Hiccup paused, "If you don't believe me then Toothless doesn't mind proving it."

"Whit dae A hae to dae?"

"Nothing much. Just repeat a sentence over and over in your head and touch Toothless. He'll then pass your thought onto me and I'll say it out loud."

Spitelout paused to think of something before cautiously touching Toothless. There was silence for a moment before Hiccup spoke while imitating a Gaelic accent, "A am gye impressed wi this. Tae think that dragons could dae this the hail time." Spitelout removed his hand and returned to the others, "Well, A'll be. Will wonders niver cease?" The boy who had spoken first spoke up again, "I still can't believe it." I interrupted Hiccup before he could begin, "Think o it this wye: When the dragons attacked wir village, the Deadly Nadders tended tae gae for the sheep, the Gonckles would gae for the heavier things, Monstrous Nightmares... well thay pretty much just attacked us, Hideous Zipplebacks would blow up buildings, and Toothless here," I glanced at and gestured to said dragon, "would blow up wir catapults."

As I said that, I glanced away from Toothless as I thought about all those times I spent weeks rebuilding them just for them to get blown up. I had done it so many times, for a while there I had building catapults on the brain. If you asked me to solve a problem, I'd tell you how to build a catapult. If you asked me if I had a spare sharpening stone, I'd tell you how to build a catapult. If you asked if I wanted to go to a birthday party, I'd tell you how to build a catapult. Really, my heart sank every time I heard "NIGHT FURY! GET DOWN!" as I new I'd have to rebuild the catapults. You probably can imagine how I felt the first couple of times Hiccup said he killed a Night Fury just to find out he didn't. Really, that was probably what stopped me from being that guy's legit friend when he had none. If you think it's a petty reason then you don't understand what I went through.

"Dae ye think thay'd be able tae dae that without some advanced form o communication?" I finished. "Good point," he said. "O course it is," I boasted somewhat proudly, "On ye gae, Hiccup." Hiccup nodded at me, "Thank you, Arnbjörn." I waved him off, "Naw problem."

"Okay, any more questions?" silence, "Good." And so the lesson continued. I didn't really pay much attention as I've heard it all a million times.

There was a surprisingly few number of questions from this group. After Hiccup was done explaining the basics, Toothless flew off through he upper gate to get the group of dragons that volunteered for today's class. We stayed silent for a time before Hiccup spoke up, "All right. Now that you all know the basics, it's time to try to find a friend. Mind you, these are just a few of the dragons out there. Ignoring there nest on the other end of the island, there's several dragons who fly around the village that have yet to bond with someone. Just because you don't form a bond here doesn't mean you can't ever." I knew those words were more for me than anyone else.

It was then that Toothless returned with the other dragons. There were five in total, just like the class. There was a Windwalker (a completely harmless baby blue dragon that makes a great medic), a Gronckle (I think you should know about those), a Sniffer Dragon (a small, pale aquamarine dragon that is great at tracking but not much else. Very friendly), a Deadly Nadder, and a Puff Nadder (very similar to a Deadly Nadder but has a long neck, paralyzing poison, and breathes superheated smoke). And interesting group today, to say the least.

I decided to stay back for now and just watch the others. This was a lot easier for us than it was for Hiccup due to these dragons already being open to the idea of a rider. The was it usually worked for when the bond was formed in the class was for one of the two to single the other out. They'd walk up to each other with the Viking scratching the dragon's neck or maybe offering a fish (sharing food just happened to be a major thing in both our culture and the dragons'). The viking would also talk to them and such. Of course, that's what happens physically. According to both Hiccup and my own observations, the real deciding factor happens on an emotional level.

Very few bonds were formed here, though. Most of them were formed in various places around the village. Some people fond that one of the dragons from their class would come to them while others fond that their dragon just kind of dropped by when they were alone to see what was going on or something. While those are the three most common ways, there are many more of them. Some of the stories can get rather bizarre as well (Really makes me wonder how many of them are true).

Out of all of them, only one seemed to be getting along well with a dragon. It was that kid who had asked Hiccup to elaborate on dragon's hearing out thoughts. He seemed to be getting along very well with the Windwalker. It's nice to see stuff like that happen from time to time. Best of all, if he does bond with him, we'll have ourselves another medic.

While I was looking around, Hiccup came up to me, "Aren't you going to go up to one of them." I glanced at him, "Nah. Nae yet. A'm curious tae see how the others dae. When thay're about done, A'll gae an talk tae them." He nodded and returned his attention back to the others. Spitelout seemed to not be having much luck. He wasn't having trouble getting along, it's just that the emotional bond wasn't there. Maybe I wasn't the only one with that problem.

Finally, I decided to go and mingle. I didn't feel anything right off the bat with these dragons but maybe I just needed to talk to one of them first. First, I decided to talk to the Gronckle. They can be rather amusing, really. Very loyal and friendly. Out of all the dragons I've seen, I'd have to say Gronkles are the most dog-like. That's not a bad thing though.

"Hey thare, Gronckle," I began somewhat sheepishly. Okay, step one: scratch them. "Ye enjoyin' yerself?" I think he nodded. "Guid. The day is a fine day," I swear, no matter how many times I do this it still feels awkward. Maybe when I actually find a Partner it won't. The dragon started to fly away, "Nice talkin tae ye tae." I sighed. Oh well. On to the next. I just nodded at the Puff Nadder. I've seen him before. The Deadly Nadder went just about as well as the Gronckle.

Well, it was the end of the class and today went just as well as every other day. Admittedly, I was disappointed as I felt that today was finally going to be the day. Maybe it would be but it certainly wasn't during the class. As usual, I stuck around and helped Hiccup clean up. "Don't worry Arnbjörn," he said cheerfully, "Today isn't over yet." I couldn't help but smile a bit, "Aye. That it isn't." He went back to his tinkering but put it away as Ástríður came over. "Well, I should be going. See you later!"

"Aye. See ye later," I called back before sighing again. Now I needed to figure out how I was going to spend this day. Maybe I'll come up with something on the way back home. Then again, maybe I won't. Hard to say really. Either way, I decided to head back.

Well, there you have it. It didn't cover as much as I originally planned but that's because I underestimated its length. I also barely managed to crack 2,000 words which is nice. Maybe I'll be able to top it next time around. Anyway, the two dragons in here that weren't in the film are from the books. You can read more about them if you Google "How to Train Your Dragon wiki". I'll probably be referring to it a bit for some variety in our dragons.

Reading this and giving constructive criticism would be nice. I wouldn't mind and "I like this!"s either though. Flames will be used to cook fish for Toothless though.