DVP – VI – The Calm

Hiccup quickly feel into the patterns and mindset required to work the smithy. Hammer this, heat that, stitch this bit of leather, put a new buckle on that strap. It wasn't a hard thing to fall into as often as Hiccup had worked the forge in the past, it came even easier to him than flying did.

Toothless had climbed onto the roof to enjoy the heat from both the forge beneath him and the sun on his spread wings. He would raise his head every once in a while to watch this or that dragon, but otherwise he simply dozed in the sunlight. He would sleep now since he and Hiccup would most likely be flying tonight.

It was easy for Hiccup to get lost in the routine of the work as the hours passed by. The sun was at its zenith and the growl of his stomach was the only thing that alerted Hiccup that he'd worked the morning away. Going to the back of the smithy, Hiccup washed his hands before coming back around to the front of the smithy.

Most of the Vikings who weren't out on patrol had stopped to eat before they returned to the work of preparing the village for battle so the yard in front of the smithy was empty. Hiccup stretched his arms above his head and turned to look at the sleeping form of Toothless draped across the smithy roof like an oversized cat in a comfy chair.

"Hey bud, wake up," Hiccup called up to the dragon. Toothless's earfins perked up as he raised his head, seeing his human up and looking ready to go somewhere Toothless half slid, half jumped off the roof to join him on the ground. Humming a greeting, Toothless nudged Hiccup to make sure his boy hadn't injured himself working the forge, snorting at the scent of burnt metal and fire where Hiccup normally smelled of the sky and leather and Night Fury.

"Yes, I'm fine," Hiccup said, sounding a bit long suffering as he recognized the Night Fury checking him over, "Let's go get some food bud, I'm [i]hungry[/i]," He finished as he moved to Toothless's side. The dragon murmured his agreement and crouched to make it easy for Hiccup to get in the saddle and situated to go.

Strapping himself in and setting his prosthetic foot in the stirrup, Hiccup leaned forward and urged Toothless into the sky. It was a relatively short flight to the half-filled mead hall, but it would have taken Hiccup far longer to walk there himself. Landing on the porch outside, Hiccup swung off Toothless's shoulders and scratched one of the dragon's favorite places behind his earfin, "Thanks bud, enjoy the fish!"

Toothless chirped in agreement as he made his way over to the huge bowls on either side of the mead hall doors that were filled with food for the dragons. A few other dragons were gathered around, either snapping up fish caught that morning or lounging in the midday sun with full bellies. Most present were waiting for their humans to finish eating and go back out again, but a few didn't have saddles and would stay around the village to keep watch and guard. Chirping a greeting to the other dragons, Toothless eagerly dug into the fish.

Hiccup waved as other Vikings called out greetings to him as he made his way to the cooks in the back of the Mead Hall to get his own food. Thanking them for the food and drink, Hiccup sat down at an empty table to attempt to empty his head while he ate.

He didn't have much luck as Astrid and the rest of his wingmates entered the hall and sat down with him after getting their own food. Perking up slightly as Astrid sat beside him, he offered her smile in greeting before he spoke, "How's the patrol coming?"

"Not good," She answered with a sigh, then took a long drink of her mead, "We haven't found anything along the coast. Either the storm washed all the traces or they've been here a while."

Hiccup grimaced at that. He hadn't thought of the intruders having been on the island for a while in the first place, which was worse than them having just arrived. That meant they had been here a while and none of them had noticed and that they had been waiting for the perfect time to attack.

"We'll show them!" Snotlout broke in, trying to impress Astrid still, "Nobody messes with our village and gets away with it!" Hoots of agreement came from the twins, while Fishlegs looked nervous, but in agreement as well.

"I'm going to sleep this afternoon so me and Toothless can fly tonight," Hiccup told his friends after the noise died down, "He's more likely to see them and not be seen-"

"So he can hit them where it hurts!" Toughnut finished for him, smacking a fist into his open palm with a grin.

"They'll never know what hit them!" Roughnet added on with a grin that promised trouble.

Hiccup rolled his eyes at their banter, but grinned himself. He was used to them finishing his sentences on occasion by now, they'd only gotten worse since the village had accepted dragons into their midst. Not that Hiccup minded too much, it was nice having friends besides just Toothless.

"You bet," Hiccup agreed with them, still grinning. The rest of the meal passed in relative silence, with a little small talk here and there but their minds were really on the still unknown invaders.

"Hey," Snotlout spoke up suddenly, "Has anyone seen that Riley-girl since she went up to the Elder's hut?"

There were startled blinks around the table as Snotlout reminded the group of the grief stricken girl. Glances were exchanged amongst the group as each one shook their heads. Hiccup frowned then, something wasn't right. He could understand preparations taking a while, but Riley had wanted the blood of whoever had killed her father, she would have come back to join the hunt.

"I'll go check on her," Astrid offered as she stood up. Pointing at Hiccup, she mock glared at him, "You go get some sleep. You're going to have a long night ahead of you."

"Yeah, yeah, I know," Hiccup answered with a small smile for his girlfriend, "I just gotta go talk to my dad first."

"What for?" Fishlegs asked, curious as to what Hiccup could need now.

"I'm going to see about having some other dragons and Vikings sleep this afternoon so there's other patrols up," He answered as he stood up as well, "Dragons can see better than we can in the dark so it makes sense to have them keeping watch at night."

It wasn't even hard to convince dragons to sleep during the day, especially after they'd been fed. Warm sun, full belly… They were out like a light. If they were roused at dusk and fed a light meal, they'd be good until midnight…

"Shifts," Hiccup said suddenly, "We need to work in about six hour shifts."

His wingmates blinked back at him, "Why six?" Fishlegs asked. They all knew they could handle longer.

"Because that way no one is ever too tired out if we need to fight and there are constant patrols that way," Hiccup answered as he gathered his dishes together to take to the staff in charge of washing dishes that day, "I'm going to find my dad, see you guys later!"

Similar calls followed Hiccup as he hobbled out the door. Astrid was on his heels and caught his elbow before he could get to Toothless, "Hey, be careful out there," She told him softly, before smirking and leaning in for a quick kiss, "Okay?"

Hiccup would probably always be surprised when Astrid kissed him even as he kissed her back. He smiled at her as she broke the kiss, "Okay," He agreed, "You too."

She smiled back at him, though the tender moment was ruined as the rest of their wingmates emerged from the mead hall and immediately started whistling cat-calls. Hiccup gave a sigh and rolled his eyes while Astrid just smirked at them.

"Well," She told them, "If all of you feel this good, maybe we should go do another patrol…"

The twins and Fishlegs quieted at that, but Snotlout only saw another opportunity to impress Astird as he stepped forward, "I'm definitely up for anything you want to do Astrid!"

He just couldn't get the fact that Astrid and Hiccup were together though his skull. Hiccup rolled his eyes, but wasn't too worried about Snotlout stealing his girl. Some days, Hiccup wasn't even sure if Astrid even noticed Snotlout's interest in her anymore.

"Then saddle up and let's go," Astrid answered, throwing a grin Hiccup's way as she strode towards a waiting Twitch, Snotlout hot on her heals. The others had started to follow when Astrid waved them off, "If you guys are done in, go ahead and catch some shut eye. We can handle things for a while."

The twins visibly sagged in relief, obviously going to take advantage of the offer Astrid had made them. Fishlefs fidgeted for a few moments before following the twins' lead to head home to catch some sleep. Twitch and Snotmare took off in a thunder of wings, heading first for the Elder's hut to check on Riley before they took up a patrol route.

Toothless appeared at Hiccup's side as the two dragons with their humans departed. He gave Hiccup a good sniff to inhale the rich scents of human food and human friends before turning to give easy access to the saddle. "Thanks bud," Hiccup told the dragon almost absently as he climbed onto the dragon's back.

He was always grateful for the Night Fury's assistance in getting around since it was harder for him to walk now. Hiccup didn't know how Gobber did it! Clipping himself in, the shift of his weight was signal enough for Toothless to lunge into the sky with a sweep of his wings. The dragon angled to head back to the forge, but Hiccup's shifted weight told him a different destination before his voice did, "Head for the house," Hiccup told Toothless, "You and me are going to catch some shut eye so we can fly at night," A smile warmed Hiccup's voice then, "You're eyes are the best for flying at night Toothless."

A slight vibration signaled Toothless's amusement at that true declaration. He angled his wings and Hiccup worked the leather tail fin while Toothless worked his remaining one. The directional change was effortless and smooth turning the pair towards the chieftain's house for the remainder of a short flight. Toothless back-winged and landed almost on the porch, then crouched to allow Hiccup to slid off.

The boy covered a yawn as he held the door open for Toothless to wiggle in, he hadn't realized how tired he was until he got inside. Only half awake, Hiccup plodded across the room to where his bed had been moved and flopped down. He blinked once, twice, before his eyes drifted closed and Hiccup fell into a dreamless sleep.

Toothless muttered a little as he circled twice on the pile of furs in the corner that served as his bed before curling up to sleep. He gave his own gummy yawn before the dragon's bright green eyes drifted closed and he too fell asleep.

My dear readers, I really don't have an excuse for why this took me so long. I had some serious writers' block apparently since I haven't been able to work on anything. I can only hope my muse is back for a good long while to see this through!