Starlight, Star Bright - The Story of a Fool, Through an Even Bigger Fool's Eyes

What with a stranger washing up on Berk and taking a special interest in his son and news of Outcast activity reaching his ears, Stoick the Vast is uncharacteristically uneasy. Sequel to 'To Be Loved the Way You Love Me'.

Chapter 4: Misfit

Ah. Yes. Some filler for everybody here, huh? Who likes filler? Hmm? There's a bit of it in chapter five, but chapter five also moves the story ahead a bit :D This one does, too, but in a much smaller way xD but chapter five brings Toothless into the story. I was originally gonna call this chapter 'Isolation' because Hiccup feels...you know...well, read. But then I decided it was too out there. So is 'Misfit' but still.

When I stepped out of the forge, into the late winter sunset, I nearly walked right into Astrid, who was standing just outside the back way, looking at her axe.

"Whoa!" I raised my hands in surrender, taking a sudden step back. "S-sorry. Didn't see you there."

And then I realized how stupid I sounded. Of course I hadn't seen her there. The door was closed.

She took a couple steps backward, dropping her gaze back to her axe. "It's fine. At least you're polite about it." she offered me a smile and I fell into step beside her as she strolled past the forge.

"Where are you headed?" I asked her. I looked around for her Nadder, but Stormfly was nowhere to be found.

"Home." she replied shortly, swinging her axe around like she held nothing more dangerous than a leaf.

"Where's Stormfly?" I asked to make conversation.

"I think she's with Toothless," Astrid told me and a sudden and unexpected smile lit up her pretty face. "Funny, wouldn't you say, but I think he might like her."

"Wh—Toothless?" I demanded; my brain tried to produce a convincing mental image, but it only succeeded in disturbing me and probably scarring me mentally forever before my brain shut down.

"Ah." I said, officially disgusted. "Well, then."

Astrid looked away for a second, as if she sensed the subject was making me uncomfortable. "So, what's been going on with you? I haven't seen you around the village lately."

I glanced over at her. Does that mean you were looking? I wanted to ask, but I held my tongue.

"Oh, well," I replied, shrugging, "I'm still here. I'm ready to help you guys with your dragon training whenever you need it." I offered her a smile before dropping it, because it made me look overeager, like I wanted to help her or something. Which I kind of did. I mean, look at her. What kind of guy wouldn't be bending over backwards to do something for her?

Astrid smiled back, swiping her bangs out of her eyes and twirling her axe nonchalantly in her hands so that it caught the sunlight and gleamed for a minute from the bloodred.

"I'm actually getting better, now," she informed me happily, her blue eyes sparkling. "With the dragons, I mean. I'm pretty sure I don't know everything about them…" she rolled her eyes like the idea was crazy. "But who would?"

"Yeah, well," I shrugged, deciding to leave out that it was my life's ambition to find out everything about them. What kind of dork would I sound like then?

But she looked so passionately happy about this that I thought for a few brief seconds that she'd be one of the few people who wouldn't laugh at me for it. She ran her finger along the edge of her axe slowly, like she was lost in thought and after a few minutes of her frowning down at her weapon like it displeased her, she looked up and ran up the front steps of the nearest house. "Bye," she turned on the porch to give me a wave and a smile and then she disappeared in the house.

I walked back, towards Stoick's, my head full of thoughts about Astrid. Our friendship hadn't exactly gotten off to the most stellar of starts when I'd first arrived on Berk; seeing as I loved dragons and she had hated them at the time, we'd clashed a lot about that…and other things, too. We still did, sometimes, in fact. She had become a little more open-minded since I'd first met her, but she still insisted on doing things the "Viking Way" instead of the easier ways.

She called my way of doing things the "Hiccup way" and every time she called it that, I wasn't sure whether to just be pleased that she wanted to be my friend despite my ways or offended that she thought my ways deserved a new name. I pushed open the front door to Stoick's house to find him sitting up at the kitchen table, staring down at a few papers spread out all over.

"Ah, that'll never work," he muttered, rolling up the page he'd been looking at and tucking it away. "We'll have to find something new."

"What's wrong?" I asked, dropping into a chair.

"Maybe we could suggest to hold it on their island," Stoick suggested. He turned to me with hopeful eyes. "Do you think that would work?" then his smile melted. "No, no – we can't leave Berk for that long…"

"What's going on?" I demanded, a little louder this time, hoping to get and hold his attention. He rubbed his temples with his fingers, sighing something about the dragons.

"Nothing." he replied dismissively. "Just…a lot of work." he sighed again, looking down at his notes.

"Is it anything I can help with?" At times, there were problems that I figured out solutions to and I sometimes helped around the village with things besides dragons – those were the best days, because I often worked side-by-side with Stoick. He treated me like I'd lived on Berk for years whenever this happened and it was a feeling I liked but didn't often get.

Stoick rubbed tiredly at his temples. "No, no, I'm sure you can't. I just have a lot to organize for the Freya'sDay Fete."

I blinked. "The…the what?"

"The Freya'sDay Fete!" Stoick said, like he thought I was crazy. "You know, the Frozen Lucky Dip and the Smashsticks-on-ice and the wrestling competition and—

"No." I shook my head. "None of this is ringing a bell."

Stoick gaped at me.

"We didn't celebrate much on Outcast Island," I offered him half-heartedly.

He shook his head. "Of course you didn't. I should've known…" his eyes darkened for half a second and the feeling that I'd lived my whole life on Berk was suddenly very far away. There were a lot of things on Berk that they celebrated that I'd never even heard of on Outcast Island and with every one I learned about, the more and more I felt like the little oddball freak just suddenly stepping into a new role. A daughter trying to play dress-up in her mother's too-big high heels and lipstick.

"Freya'sDay Fete," Stoick explained, "is where we celebrate the end of winter and the coming of spring. The coming of hope and new life and second chances." he offered me a small smile and I blinked. I'd never heard spring described that way before. It was just another season in the year.

"But this year…." Stoick mumbled. "This year the planning is murder. I shouldn't think the Bog-Burglars will be too upset by the dragons – they live a bit farther south, I'm afraid, and the dragons never went that far south…they only stretched so far as to Outcast Island, I think…"

"But just in case," Stoick continued, "I think we should introduce them to the dragons carefully. Don't go charging through the festivities on Toothless or anything."

I chuckled at the idea, but at Stoick's stern look, I stopped, making it an awkward cough. "No, sir," I replied.

"Good." Stoick nodded. He turned back to the paper, flipping a few over and mumbling, "Oh, are you going to join in the competition?"

"That wrestling one you were just telling me about?" I squeaked. "I wouldn't last ten seconds—

"No, no," he interrupted, smiling. "The Smashsticks-on-ice. It's for all the children of the tribes. It should be fun." he offered me a smile and suddenly I felt that cold, hard wall again, a wall of isolation from the people of Berk, from my childhood on Outcast Island.

"I've never played it before," I admitted quietly. "I wouldn't even know what you're supposed to do. It sounds like a lot of fun, though."

"Well, maybe one of the other teens can show you sometime." Stoick said vaguely, looking back down at his papers. "We need all the help we can get. I can't bear to see Bertha grinning smugly at me as she wins yet another round…"

I grinned at his words, shaking my head slightly. "I doubt I'd be much help."

"Ah, you'd do me proud," Stoick said confidently, ruffling my hair and making me feel little again – but in a good way. "You'll prove to be a natural."

I blushed, dropping my gaze to the table. "Yeah, right. If I'm ever a natural at anything Viking…well…" I finished lamely.

Stoick stared at me for a second with a pitying expression on his face before he came around to my side of the table. "You should probably get to bed, Hiccup. You must be exhausted."

"I'm fine," I shrugged. Stoick clicked his tongue in an 'I'm unconvinced' manner before doing something unexpected and putting one arm around me in a hug. I knew I should've been used to hugs by now, but every time somebody pulled me into one, I still tensed slightly, expecting a strike on the face or an angry yell.

Stoick released me fairly quickly and sent me on my way upstairs. I looked around the empty room for a second, not being able to pinpoint what was wrong with it before I realized Toothless was missing. I sat quietly on the edge of the bed, waiting for him as I stared out at the moon.