Heavier Things

Days became weeks after Hiccup left Astrid the drawings, and in that time he saw very little of her. They were both consumed with dragon practice.

The dragons who were nearly grown were ready to be taught basic commands for flight training. This year, though, they were being led into a new pre-training program that Astrid and Fishlegs had designed. Hiccup, Astrid, Fishlegs, Snotlout, Ruffnut and Tuffnut each took a small group of dragons, all different breeds, first to various places in Berk, then to smaller islands offshore. Each group worked independently, because the young dragons were far too easily distracted in larger groups.

It was very basic training - commands, rewards, and then new commands, with the teens and the adult dragons working together to try and control the chaos.

The training schedule kept them all busy from sunup to sundown, and though the days were getting shorter, they were still long enough that Hiccup fell into bed and into a deep sleep almost immediately.

After a few weeks of the new program, Hiccup could see the difference. The young dragons understood the rules, they grasped the commands, and they were as eager to please the adult dragon watching them as they were to please whichever viking had fish to offer as a reward.

Finally, the young dragon class entered regular training, and Hiccup went back to the forge to help Gobber. There weren't daily battles anymore, but there was no shortage of work for them, between maintaining dragon riding equipment, making saddles, repairing older weapons, and sharpening various tools.

One late afternoon, when the sunlight sliced through the forge in angled blades, Hiccup was finishing up a design at his desk when he heard someone come into the forge.

He was about to call out to whomever it was when he realized that whomever had come in wasn't moving. The forge was too crowded with tools and equipment for anyone to move about without making noise or running into something.

He'd definitely heard the door open, but now… silence.

Whoever it was, if they were trying to get the jump on him, it wasn't happening. He slid off his low stool, and silently moved along the wall to peek through the doorway into the main work area.

He expected to see Tuffnut, or maybe one of the younger kids, sneaking in to take something or to scare him, but to his shock, it was Astrid.

She was standing in the middle of the room by the fire pit, her head tilted, listening to see if anyone else was in the forge. Once she figured she was alone, she moved toward the wall of equipment they used for working with softened metal.

Hiccup watched from his hiding place as she picked up various tools, hefted them in one hand while holding her axe in the other, then put them down, one after another.

This was easily the strangest thing he'd ever seen her do. And he'd seen Astrid attack trees and rocks with no provocation.

What was she looking for?

He thought about stepping into the room and asking her, but clearly, she'd wanted to be alone. So he watched. And tried not to feel guilty about it.

He hadn't seen her for more than a handful of minutes since dragon training had begun. He watched her braid swing over her shoulder as she lifted a pair of tongs, and noticed her frown as she roamed around the forge. She picked up a hammer, and then a larger mallet, held them alongside her axe, then put the tools down.

She looked the same, as strong, beautiful, and fierce as ever. But also puzzled. What was she trying to do?

Hiccup lost sight of her when she went into the storage room where they kept the older weapons they didn't use much anymore. When she came back into the forge, she had four large swords across her arms.

After dumping them on the table with a loud crash, she froze. When no one came to see what was going on, she relaxed, and started lifting them up like she had the forge equipment, one after the other, always with her axe in her other hand.

Some were too large for her to lift one-handed, and others were simply too long for someone of her height to wield easily.

Each time, she'd lift a sword, or in one case a spear, and balance it in one hand while holding her axe in the other.

It looked like she was comparing the weight.

This was enormously puzzling to Hiccup. Of course the swords she'd chosen weighed more than her axe. She had to know that. She'd chosen the largest swords they had, the ones he and Gobber had trouble moving about sometimes. Why was she comparing them to her axe?

Hiccup watched as she made a few more trips into the storage area, trying spears, crossbows, a set of old metal spears, more swords, and at one point, the shovel they used for cleaning the fire pit.

The longer he stood there, the more confused he became, but after watching in silence for that long, he couldn't reveal himself. It would be obvious that he'd been spying on her, and, well, she was armed.

Very heavily armed.

Watching her go through most of their tools one by one, Hiccup thought about the weapons Astrid trained with, and why she might be looking for something bigger. She had a bow and arrows, a sword, a smaller sword, a spear made of lethally sharpened wood that was perfect for tossing, and her aim with all of them was legendary. He'd sharpened all of them at one point or another, and he'd seen her use them.

Hiccup used to watch her train when they were younger, and it never ceased to amaze him how strong and how fearless she was. She was as fluent in weapons as he now was in dragons. There was nothing she couldn't accomplish with an axe in her hand, no weapon she couldn't master after brief instruction.

With a huge thump and a slightly larger growl of frustration, Astrid put the last of the weapons down onto the table along with her axe. She put her hands on the edge of the table, leaned on them and glared down at the pile of bent and sharpened metal in front of her.

What was it she needed? If he could figure it out, he could -

Then Astrid picked up a smaller sword and paired it with her axe in one hand. Wrapping her hand around both the sword hilt and the axe handle, she tried swinging the axe with the added weight alongside it. She managed a few swings left, right, and above her head before she lost her grip and the sword clattered to the ground.

Astrid jumped back, startled at the noise. Hiccup had startled as well, but managed to keep himself hidden. The sword had masked the sound of his leg scraping the ground, and Astrid didn't give any sign that she knew he was there.

Thank the Gods. She'd be furious. And a furious Astrid was terrifying. He knew from experience.

Moving quickly, she gathered up the swords she'd taken and brought them back to the storage room. She cleaned up after herself - which made Hiccup smile - and picked up her axe.

As she moved toward the door, though, she stopped. Her back was to Hiccup, so he couldn't quite see what she was looking at. He tried to picture the room he was in nearly every day of his life. What did they keep by the door? Leather straps for saddles, and chains of assorted sizes, and….

Chains.

He heard the soft clink of metal and knew the sound instantly. Astrid was trying to wind a chain around her axe.

Why? Was she planning a kidnapping?

She turned, and then, he understood. She'd wound a long, broad link chain around the axe head, crossing the chain over itself three or four times, then hooked the ends onto her fingers. Keeping the chains taut, she placed her other hand atop the fingers holding the links, and began to swing the axe again.

This time, she maintained her grip longer. The axe spun, flew over her head, behind her, then in circles past her shoulders.

Hiccup smiled. He understood what she was hunting for, now that he saw her practicing. He knew what he could do to help.

She just had leave first.

Except he didn't want her to go. This was the longest he'd seen her in nearly two months. She was exactly the same, yet everything was different.

Eventually, she unwound the chain, breathing faster, her face shining with exertion in the dim light of the forge. She hung the chain up back where it had been, and quietly closed the door behind her.

After waiting a few minutes to make sure he was alone, Hiccup threw some wood onto the embers in the fire pit, and go to work.