Sorry for the slight delay in the posting of this chapter.
Thank you to all those that followed, reviewed and Favorited "Dances and Dreams", I really appreciate it.
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Chapter 3: A New Dawn
Hiccup sat on the edge of a sea-stack overlooking the roaring surf below. The large limestone pillar on which he sat on was barren, besides a thin layer of moss on top of the stone. Toothless was curled up behind him, the black dragon's head looking at the still dark horizon, patiently awaiting the upcoming dawn. Hiccup leaned on Toothless's side and gazed off into the distance, finally a moment's rest.
It was a week since they defeated Drago and his bewilderbeast, and things seemed to finally be getting back to normal; or as normal as things could be after recent events. The cleanup of the village has taken all that week, the frozen docks were the least of their problems in that regard though. The docks were quickly thawed with dragonfire, in a matter of hours they were cleaned and ready for refurbishment. Many of the village's houses needed to be completely rebuilt, or repaired, a task that had taken the Berkians the whole week and is still ongoing.
The wounds and casualties were an entirely different matter. While the battle was victorious, it was far from bloodless, of the three hundred viking warriors that went off to face the invaders, a third was wounded or dead or dying. Among the injured was Snotlout, having taken the front lines in the battle, he has fought valiantly, but valor and honor are dangerous things on a battlefield. The young viking was still alive, but wounded gravely from the fighting.
The vikings that gave their life for berk have all been given a proper funeral, with Hiccup giving them their funeral rites, it was his first proper action as chief. On the other hand, the soldiers in Drago's army were not given such an honor; the dead invaders were buried in a mass grave in a field far from town.
On the day after the battle, celebrations were bountiful. The mead hall was roaring with laughter and true to its name, mead was flowing like a raging river to the tankards of the merry vikings. As Hiccup walked into the hall in the late morning to break his fast, he was cheered and firmly lifted by Gobber so all could see their chief and saviour. "A' least ye di'nt lose any mo'e limbs this time." The blacksmith said as he hoisted the young man on his spacious shoulder. Hiccup did not feel the urge to partake in most of the merriment that day, causing the soon-to-be-formalised chief to skulk into the shadows with Toothless and quickly finish his meal before surveying the village. He was on Toothless's back most of that day, creating a mental list of tasks that needed to be done, it was not until Astrid forced him to calm down and relax did he let himself stop trying to "be overly 'chiefy'" as she said.
It was only on the next day that the merriment slowed down enough to allow Hiccup, with Gobber's help and guidance, to have the townspeople start the , fortunately, was mostly dealing with tasks that required dragons, or knowledge of dragons, to complete. whether it was melting the frozen docks or relocating the dragons from the arctic nest to dragon island, he found the solace of being on the back of his friend and constant companion, Toothless, reassuring and familiar, more so than hi informal chieftainship.
Valka on the other hand, had 'difficulties' readjusting to life on Berk. It was not easy coming back from twenty years of self imposed exile, and even though her reveal to the people of Berk on the day after the battle sparked nothing but gladness, most did not really know how to react. Her life on Berk before she was taken by Cloudjumper was not ordinary, her respect of dragons in a village of dragon killers made her a sort of social outcast or taboo, despite Stoick being the chief. Fortunately, with the changed relation between dragons and vikings, her views were now accepted, and it was Freyda the Fierce, Astrid's mother and the closest thing Valka had to a friend before her 'kidnapping', that began to rebuild the bridges between the two. As soon as Hiccup revealed to the village who Valka really was, Freyda was at first bewildered, then ran to Valka and hugged her, apparently the slender woman meant more to Freyda than she thought.
The academy was something that was neglected through the first part of the week, but as progress was made on the village's repairs, many of the dragon riders voiced their opinion that it should be reopened and that Hiccup should go back to instruct them. The most vocal among these were the Thorston twins, which sparked an argument between them and Hiccup, the later claiming that he didn't have the time to instruct them. "Ooh! what if there was two of you!" Tuffnut called out during one of their feuds.
"Unfortunately there aren't, so you are going to have to teach yourselves," Hiccup replied, "unless you have another 'Dragon Master', as you call me, laying around. It was at that point that the realisation struck him and he ran off towards his house, sparking the question of "Was it something I said?" asked from the male twin to the female.
It was announced later that day that Valka would be assisting hiccup in instructing the dragon academy.
The rest of the week ran more or less smoothly; Hiccup and Gobber getting the village to focus on specific tasks, although the larger man was still apparently not the best at diplomacy. "By Thor, if tha plaza is no' repae'd' by sundown, you'll get to see wha' tha view is insayde a dragon!" he would shout pointing at his gronkle, Grump, when a tribesman did not do as instructed. This left quite a bit of fuming vikings for Hiccup to deal with as the evening fell. Despite Gobber's lack of tact, progress was made, and many of the villagers were constantly voicing their opinion that Hiccup should be formally sworn in into his role as chief. Hiccup refused this, using the excuse of not wanting to delay any needed work.
And so it was that Hiccup sitting on the sea-stack, looking at the colours the sunlight made as it rose above the foggy sea. The glimmering reds and yellows looked like flames in a godly forge, or from the torches of the halls of Valhalla. Hiccup let himself imagine his father in the light, feasting besides Thor or fighting the other heroes. A tear left his eye, he sniffed and wiped it off with his sleeves. Toothless's head perked up, sensing his rider's distress, and gave Hiccup a questioning look. "I'm okay bud." He told the dragon, patting his snout reassuringly.
The sun rose higher over the two as they lay in their own little world of calm. It wasn't until a blue nadder flew up and landed next to them did they return to the real world. Both the blue bird-like dragon and its golden haired rider looked glimmering in the morning sunlight. Astrid leapt off of Stormfly, landing smoothly on the mossy stone. Toothless's ears perked up as the sound of company awoke him from his dozing. The black, cat-like dragon got up, nearly causing Hiccup to fall backwards, and stretched his back, then walked up to Stormfly, leaving Astrid to sit by Hiccup.
"So this is where you've been hiding" She calmly said.
"Who said I was hiding." He tried feigning ignorance, a tactic that didn't usually work on Astrid.
Astrid gave him a interrogative look, and then sighed.
"Okay! I might have been hiding." Hiccup said coyly, "But I have a good reason to."
"Hiccup, you can't hide from this." Astrid rebutted sternly, "You are already the chief, its just a formality."
"But what will this ceremony accomplish?" He asked in reply, "Show everyone how inadequate of a chief I am? I am nothing compared to dad."
Astrid shook her head then put on a reassuring smile, "Hiccup.. your father was a great chief, and he would be the first to tell you that you will b.. "
Hiccup went to interrupt but was hushed by Astrid, "No Hiccup, let me finish. Stoick would have been the first to tell you that you would have been a great chief, better than him in many cases."
"But I'm.." He didn't get to finish his sentence as the blond cut him off.
"No buts Hiccup." She leaned in close to him, "You'll be a great chief, I know it."
"Besides." She added, "It's just a formality."
They sat together in silence for a while, leaning against each other, just watching the surf below and the two dragons fooling around beside them. Toothless and Stormfly have began a game akin to that of tug-of-war, one of the dragons somehow finding a piece of old twine rope and the two pulling on it, each dragon with a determined yet playful look on their faces. Hiccup smirked as Stormfly was able to sweep Toothless's feet from under him, making the black dragon fall onto his back.
It was not long before Astrid got up and pulled Hiccup to his feet. "Right," She said, "Wouldn't want you late for your induction."
"Yeah." He agreed with a sarcastically defeated tone.
As they got their dragons to stop their antics, they got on and began the short flight to the village. The two flew above the docks, where both viking and dragon were in the final stages working on repairing the warehouses, dry-docks and piers that were damaged by the freezing blast of Drago's bewilderbeast. They landed on the top of the hill that lead up to the chief's house; well, my house now Hiccup thought.
"I guess I'll see you at the ceremony?" He asked Astrid, getting off of Toothless.
"No doubt about it." She answered, still mounted on Stormfly's back.
Hiccup watched her as the light blue dragon flew off with a running start, the way her hair moved when Stormfly did that always mesmerized him. He walked in the opposite direction she flew off, towards his house. It was a short walk before he went through his front door.
The fire was burning warmly inside the pit in the center of the living room, keeping the frigid, late-autumn air out of the house. The smoke was spiralling up and out through the open chimney hole at the top of the roof, reminding Hiccup of how the dragon's moved in the arctic nest. Near the back of the room, lay Cloudjumper, looking out at them as he and Toothless walked in. His mother was sitting on a table, a mess of parchment, quills and inkwells in front of her, and the book of dragons lay open, new pages being edited and filled.
"I see Astrid found you then." Valka said in a happy tone, "I thought you were better at hiding.
"Uhh, yeah." He replied, his hand moving to grasp and the back of his neck, "I suppose I need to get ready for my induction?"
Valka just smiled faintly and nodded in reply, a look akin to that of pride spread across her face. Hiccup seemed to straighten up as he noticed this, and walked up the stair to his room with as chiefly a pose he could manage.
It didn't take him long to get dressed for the formalities later that day, but then again, he didn't have a very varied wardrobe. Hiccup wore a forest-green woollen shirt and dark brown leather breeches. He wore a belt made of steel chain-links, with his sword on his right hip. His boots were made of hardened black leather, the regular cold weather footwear. On his back was a fur cloak, made of grey wolf fur, making the him look much wider than he actually was, adding to the image of a viking chief. He didn't have his helmet, it was lost some time in the battle against Drago.
Toothless lay curled up on a stone slab near the edge of Hiccup's room. The Black dragon was watching Hiccup scramble around getting ready, his large green eyes darting back and forth as they followed him. He sensed Hiccups worry, he gave him a questioning growl, bordering on a purr. Hiccup stopped his scrambling, hearing Toothless's growl, and went up to the dragon, scratching Toothless's chin as he did so. Toothless gave hiccup a reassuring look, his head tilted sideways and his large green eyes comforting. "I know bud." Hiccup whispered to the dragon, "But I still don't think I can be chief, I mean, dragon trainer sure, but chief? I wont be able to handle it."
Toothless gave Hiccup a growl, a skeptical sort of sound emerged from the dragon's throat.
"I mean, its going to end in disaster, I wont be able to lead the tribe out of a torn sack."
This sentence was greeted with a disapproving sound from the nightfury that HIccup leaned against.
"You know its true bud."
Toothless just looked at Hiccup and shook his head slightly, giving him a purr.
Gobber stepped into the room at that moment. "Ye have bas'cly been a chief thi' past week." he told him, then put on a more lighthearted tone, "And no un wa' stuck in any sacks, well not for very long anyway.."
Hiccup turned himself to the newcomer, "Yeah, but I had you to help me, as well as mom and Astrid, and other people as well."
"Well, wha' makes ye think you won't have tha' from now on?" Gobber said questioningly "It's no' like we'a gonna abandon you like a lost orphan."
Gobber took a seat on Hiccup's bed, facing the young man, he sighed and said, "Hiccup.. You are no' ya father, no un is, Stoick was a great man, everythin' a viking should be, but that doesn' mean ya can't be jus' as great. He would'a been tha first to tell you that."
Hiccup stared at the floor for a moment, he put on a faint smile and then said "You know Gobber, you're sounding a lot like Astrid."
The blacksmith just looked at Hiccup with slight confusion, then shrugged. "Anyway," he then spoke up, "the reason I came here." As he spoke, he reached inside a leather pouch he had on him. He took out a helmet, it was made of glittering steel, you could see the ripples of darker and lighter alloys woven together. It was unlike that most vikings wore, it wasn't just a half-helm, it had a black visor that could be put up and down on the front and layered leather on the back. It would cover his whole head if he wore it, not just the top. There were two horns sticking out of it, like spikes sticking out diagonally up and back above his head.
"I ma'e this for you." Gobber told to Hiccup as he handed him the finely made piece. "I foun' tha helmet Stoick gave ya befo'e ya started dragon training five years ago, ya know, the one made from.. yeah. Gobber gestured with his arms.
"Anyway, I reforged it to fit you, had to add a whole bunch of steel to it." The smith said, "You've really grown since then."
"What are these ripples?" Hiccup asked quietly admiring the handiwork.
"Oh those? They are from a mix of metals I tried, gronkle iron as well as a few types of steel, ma'e et much lighter and as strong." Gobber answered.
"Thank you..." Hiccup almost whispered, "This is really made from the one dad gave me?"
The large viking just nodded, a sorrowful glint appearing then rapidly vanishing from his face. Gobber ran his head across his eye and sniffed. "Anyway lad, I'll see ya this evening."
The evening came quickly that day, too quickly for Hiccup's liking, yet his nerves still held at bay. As the sun fell below the sea, Hiccup found himself sitting outside the mead hall, watching Toothless bounding and gliding through the dark plaza, the dark dragon almost invisible in the moonlight. The full moon was out tonight, making Toothless stop at times and gaze at the white orb in wonder.
Valka walked out into the cold and called out to Hiccup, "It's time." she said, gesturing to Hiccup to come inside. Hiccup rose and walked into the large hall. Toothless, seeing his rider walk away, bounded towards the entrance to the mead hall and entered besides Hiccup. A rush of warm air hit them as they entered the fire-heated building. The roaring fire-pit in the centre of the gathering, piled high with pieces of oil-soaked timber. Around the burning pit was a crowd of vikings, either standing or sitting, gazing at the far end of the room. On the far end stood the village elder, a small old women who no one really knew how old she was. On either of the side walls were paintings of all the previous chiefs and heirs, the one of Hiccup and Stoick was was one of the largest and the most crowd parted as Hiccup, Toothless and Valka walked through. They walked around the fire, and as they reached the front of the crowd Valka went off and sat on a table with Freyda a larger and older version of Astrid, who was also sitting close by, Gobber with his tankard-hand replacing the usual hook or tongs and finally Snotlout and Spitelout, the remaining part of Hiccup's Family, attempting to look as important as they could.
Hiccup walked to the front of the room, Toothless following closely at his heels. He felt a chill originate at the back of his neck as he felt every eye in the room upon him. His heart began beating rapidly, his nerves on edge. It felt like an eternity until he reached the raised platform on which the elder stood. As he reached the elder, the short old women gestured for him to kneel down, he did so, both his knees on the ground, his head facing up and arms by his sides. Toothless sat behind him, his wings folded up and and a curious look on his face.
Hiccup relaxed as the attention in the room turned to the elder. Her staff was adorned in runes and feathers and colourful stones, slightly jingling as she moved it. She was drawing runes in the air it seemed, as though she was writing a message to the gods. The anticipation of the crowd grew, and Hiccup realised it was largely due to. Gobber was especially attentive, being the one of the few who could understand her scribbles and often acted as a translator to many of the tribespeople.
The elder began a chant, the way the fire played against her face and the enlarged shadow behind her gave the scene an otherworldly look, her flailing staff looked eery in the flickering firelight. The elder's voice was unexpected for a woman of her stature; it boomed loudly as the women chanted prayers to Odin and Frigga and all the other gods up in Asgard.
She finished up the initial prayers, burning a wooden talisman in the shape of an upwards facing arrow, a rune for Tyr and for leadership. The smoke coming off of the burning rune was sweet smelling to Hiccup, even though it was just normal pine, He inhaled deeply as the smoke drifted at his face. He let himself drift in the moment, not thinking about anything but the burning smell. Through the drifting smoke he saw Astrid at the front of the crowd, she was looking at him. Her braid was on her shoulder, and locks of her golden hair were slightly covering her eyes, causing her to need to move it out of the way. In her eyes was a look of admiration, he met those eyes, allowing himself to sink into her gaze.
It was the elder speaking to him that snapped him out of his thoughts. "Your hand." She requested firmly in a voice that he could just hear, making a stark contrast between her previous display of power in her voice. He gave her his left hand, then braced himself for pain as she withdrew a sharp dagger from her robes. She cut his hand, allowing a bit of blood to pour out into a ceremonial chiseled stone basin; she then did the same with her hand. "By the blood of men and gods, do you vow to lead this village and uphold its traditions to the best of your ability?" She said to him.
Hiccup, intently focusing on her voice answered, "I do."
The firelight danced of Hiccup's cloaked form, making the shadow behind him look as if it was cast from someone with the proportions of Stoick the Vast. Then the elder spoke again. "Do you vow by the gods in Asgard to guard your charge?"
"I do."
"An do you vow to bring Berk into a brighter future?" She finally said, her voice glad but faint.
"I do." Hiccup replied after a second's hesitation, butterflies fluttering in his stomach.
The elder dipped two fingers in the blood, then drew a sigil on Hiccup's forehead, a dot above an upwards-facing crescent and a line coming down perpendicular to it.
The room burst into cheers, vikings were on their feet clapping and swinging weapons they carry on their shoulders or hips in dangerous ways. Toothless perked up his ears at the sound of sudden cheering and did his best to put on a smile, his gums showing.
Astrid ran up to Hiccup, grabbing him in a strong embrace. Hiccup stumbled as he was set upon by the blond, but regained his two looked at each other's eyes, Astrid beaming at him. Hiccup returned a smile, his nerves and responsibility for a moment. He kissed her and she returned the gesture. They stood like this for a while, arms and lips intertwined, ignoring the increased cheers and catcalls from the crowd.
They broke apart as the head of Toothless came in between them. Hiccup patted the head of the dark dragon as he looked affectionately into Astrid's eyes, her head tilted slightly to the side. She gave him a smirk and held his hand tightly and affectionately.
It was then when Gobber put his arms, around their shoulders and yelled out in a cheerful voice, a hint of pride playing around in his tone, "Good on ya lad! Now, le' tha partey begin!"
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