The next few weeks are chaotic… in a good way. Things are really changing in Berk for the better. Now that there's no need to raid our village for food, we Berkians seem to have come to an understanding with the dragons; we don't attack them, and they don't burn our entire existence to the ground.
My father had to leave for a few weeks to attend some diplomatic-trading-sanction meeting thing and left me with the responsibility of 'dragon-proofing' the island. Gobber and Astrid have been hugely helpful. Gobber and I are good at making stuff and Astrid… she's great at bossing people around. We make a great team.
"Good morning, Chief," she jokes as she barges into my home without knocking.
"You do know I'm not actually chief, right?" I say, slipping on a boot on my one foot.
"Technically, you are while your father's away." She shrugs. "And you hate it." I roll my eyes and dig around the cluttered table for a design I spent half the night working on.
"Not that I don't love your company," I mumble, "but why are you barging into my house unannounced at this hour? If you don't mind me asking?"
"Do you want me to leave?" she teases, taking a step toward the door. I shake my head and pull out a chair for her, which she takes haughtily. "The men had some questions about the stable's roof, something about a missing column and structural collapse or something."
"Well that's not at all alarming," I mutter. I hand her the blueprints and point at the sketch. "See, it's right-"
"I'll just tell Gobber to take care of it," she says looking down at a small piece of parchment. "Also, the twins have managed to set the fire-prevention system on fire, and wanted to know if you could maybe, and I quote, 'design one that's more fire-proof?'"
"H-how did they do that?" I stammer. "You have got to be kidding me."
"They literally just went, 'What do you think happens if the thing that's supposed to set out the fire catches fire?' and then they set fire to it." Astrid laughs as I bang my head against the table. "Oh, come on, Astrid," she starts in a hilariously offensive imitation of my voice. "They want to help. How badly could they possibly mess this up?"
"I'm glad to see you're enjoying yourself." I slap her arm playfully and take a look at her list.
"I already took care of it," she answers.
"Thanks. Let's see. Silent Sven's sheep are missing again?"
"Yes, but Snotlout and Fishlegs are looking for them right now. A Gronckle accidentally broke the pen. Sven didn't say anything, but his hand gestures weren't all that polite."
I shake my head and look down again. "Okay, well, please just tell Gobber to take care of the whole collapsing stable thing; I'd go myself, but Bucket and Mulch have yet another dispute I need to settle."
"What's up with him?" she points at Toothless, who is pointedly glaring at me from the corner of the room.
"Don't acknowledge him, he's being a big, spoiled baby," I say mildly irritated. "I understand he's upset, but it's not like I'm happy to be super busy!"
"He's restless because you have no time to fly him," she reckons. I shrug. "I'll take care of it." Toothless perks up and immediately runs out the door to wait for Astrid. She stands and nods her goodbye, but I grab her hand to stop her.
"Oh, and Astrid, one more thing," I say. "Thank you."
"Oh, don't thank me." She waves an arm dismissively and smiles. "Knowing that you would be absolutely hopeless without me is rewarding enough."
