Chapter Eight: Test Drive

Astrid shifted her position in the saddle slightly. She had been anticipating this for days – she was finally taking Toothless for a test flight. The system had been perfected; she just needed to check if the positions worked as they should.

"Okay, boy, we're going to take this nice and slow," she breathed. Looking at her cheat sheet, she checked the positions. "Position Three...no, Four." She shifted her left foot and the tail fin changed its position. She led Toothless into a steady flight, passing under an outcrop where seagulls had made their home. "Okay, it's go time, it's go time," she decided, leading Toothless into a speedy decent and they began to pick up speed. Everything was going smoothly.

"Yes! Yes – it worked," Astrid grinned. However, she didn't react in time to lead Toothless away from an outcrop and they crashed as a result. "Sorry!" she groaned, although because she still wasn't paying attention they crashed again. "That was my fault." Toothless retaliated by slapping Astrid in the face with his ear. His meaning was clear.

"Too right, it was your fault! You're the one controlling my flight pattern here!"

"Yeah, yeah!" Astrid snapped. "I'm on it! Position Four...Three."

She brought Toothless into a climb. The wind blew her bangs out of her face and made her plait stream out behind her. The feeling was exhilarating.

"Woo-hoo! Go, baby!" she hooted. "Oh, this is amazing! The wind in my... CHEAT SHEET!" she yelped as her sheet came loose from its clasp. "STOP!" The next thing Astrid knew, she was above Toothless and they began falling towards the earth.

It took some yelling and Astrid got slapped in the face again but somehow she managed to get back in the saddle. By this time, they were going too fast to stop, despite Astrid's efforts to bring Toothless to a halt. Astrid grabbed the cheat sheet from her mouth and tried looking at it but the wind caused the parchment to flap so much that it was a lost feat before she'd even attempted it.

"Scrap this," she huffed. Ditching the cheat sheet, Astrid bent down on the saddle, gritting her teeth as she saw the oncoming outcrops. She put all of her attention into flying and something happened...something clicked.

She and Toothless moved as one. As Astrid shifted her foot, Toothless seemed to already know what she wanted to do and where she wanted to go. As Toothless moved even the slightest muscle, Astrid seemed to already know his next move and shifted the tail fin into position accordingly. Astrid was using positions that weren't even on the cheat sheet. They eventually emerged from the outcrops. Test Flight: Success.

"YEAH!" Astrid cried in elation. Toothless expressed his own joy by setting off a fireball, forgetting that humans weren't as fireproof as dragons. "You've got to be kidding me..."

/\

Singed hair and clothes... how was Astrid going to explain this one to anyone? Hiccup was pretty much on her case as it was so she might have to wait until after nightfall to go back into the house so that she'd have a chance to clean up!

"Note to self, don't let Toothless let off fireballs like that when he's happy," she muttered, turning a fish over a small fire. Astrid and Toothless had made their way to a small volcanic island and had caught themselves some fish for supper. Next to her, Toothless regurgitated a fish head for his rider.

"No thanks," Astrid grimaced. "I'm good," she added, holding up her roasting cod. A squeaking made her look up. It was a small flock of Terrible Terrors – nothing too big, there was about four of them but remembering what had happened in Dragon Training to Tuffnut, Astrid gulped and the growling from Toothless wasn't helping. The tiny dragons tried to help themselves to his fish but only one (a red and green one) was able to grab the fish head from earlier. It squabbled with a yellow and blue Terror, eventually scaring it off with a blast of flame. Another Terror (also green and red) managed to grab a fish from the pile but this only resulted in a tug-of-war between it and Toothless. Toothless barely needed to try – he yanked the fish away and chuckled as he swallowed it. The Terrible Terror advanced and got ready to breathe fire...

...when Toothless shot a small fireball into its mouth, causing it to blow up like a balloon. Astrid couldn't help but smile.

"Not so fireproof on the inside, are you?" she grinned, tossing the poor thing a herring. "There you go." The Terror gulped it up and then settled down by Astrid's side, purring like a kitten. Something snapped in Astrid's brain. How could she have been so stupid?

"Everything we know about you guys is wrong!"

/\

Astrid flicked her pencil back and forth on her desk. She was at her private workshop behind the forge, not wanting to go back to the house. Hiccup had become more resentful to her than normal over the last few weeks and now she was struggling to grasp the idea of marrying him. How could she live with being the wife of the chief, struggling with the fact that her family name had been ruined for near to a decade now and having such a secret like hers all at the same time? To be honest she wasn't sure what was weighing more heavily on her mind right now but it seemed that as the days went by she was caring less and less about what had happened to her uncle.

"That was all in the past," she mumbled. "I guess it should just stay that way..." Something caught her eye. "Stoick!" she started at the sight of her chief and foster dad. "You're back!" She hastily hid her drawings. "Um, Gobber's not here, so..."

"I know," Stoick cut in. "I came to see you." This was a first, Astrid thought. Normally any time that Stoick paid the forge a visit he was looking for Gobber. Well, at least he'd made it back from the expedition safely. "You've been keeping secrets."

"I have?" Astrid pretended to be surprised - she knew she was keeping secrets but she couldn't let anyone else know that, especially Stoick.

"Just how long did you think you could keep it from me?"

"I don't know what you're..."

"Nothing happens on this island without me hearing about it!"

"Oh?" Astrid bit her lip.

"Now," Stoick glowered. "Let's talk...about that dragon." Astrid froze...the only thing that came to mind was Toothless.

"Oh, gods..." she breathed. "Stoick, I was going to tell you I just didn't know..." To her surprise, Stoick began laughing. Astrid played along. "You're not...upset?"

"What?" Stoick boomed. "I was hoping for this!"

"Uh, you were?" Astrid frowned. Clearly they weren't on the same page.

"And trust me, it only gets better! Just wait till you spill a Nadder's guts for the first time!" Oh, he was talking about her 'success' in the ring. Astrid grimaced and prayed to all the gods she could think of that it came out as a smile. "And mount your first Gronkle's head on a spear. What a feeling! You really had me going there, Astrid! After years of the worst Viking Berk has ever seen and not to mention from the dishonoured family..." Yeah, that made Astrid feel so much better. "Odin, it was rough, but all the time you were holding out on me! Oh, Thor Almighty!" Astrid had fallen into a small basket. "With you doing so well in the ring, we finally have something to talk about."

A silence followed. Astrid couldn't think of anything to say when suddenly, Hiccup burst in with an accusing look on his face.

"AH! Hiccup!" Astrid yelped instinctively.

"You know what? I have had it up to...!" Hiccup started to yell but stopped when he noticed that his father was in the room. "Oh. Uh, hi, Dad," he greeted. He nodded curtly at Astrid but his face clearly read 'You got lucky'. "How'd the expedition go?"

"Nowhere close, son," Stoick sighed. "But I hear you two are up against each other tomorrow!" Hiccup gripped his sword hilt so hard his knuckles turned white and Astrid could tell he was struggling to keep a scowl off his face. "Oh, I brought you both something," Stoick continued. "To keep you safe in the ring." He handed Hiccup a helmet and Astrid a multicoloured armlet.

"Wow. Thanks," Astrid breathed. She had never seen anything like it. Hiccup's face was one of awe – getting a helmet was the biggest honour a Viking could get.

"Your mothers would have wanted you to have them," Stoick smiled as Astrid slipped the armlet on and Hiccup admired the helmet. "The helmet's half of Valka's breastplate, Hiccup." Hiccup recoiled slightly and shot a grossed out look at Astrid who returned it. She couldn't help but feel slightly happy, though – this was the first time Hiccup had ever given her any indication that he could give her an opinion that his couldn't really tell anyone else. "Matching set – keeps her close," Stoick continued, gesturing at his own helmet. "Wear it proudly son – you deserve it." Hiccup nodded, despite himself. "That armlet's made of scales from your mother's first dragon, Astrid." Astrid did a double take. She suddenly recognised the scales.

"Deadly Nadder," she gulped, feeling slightly sick. The scales were neatly overlapped – a sure sign of a Nadder's vanity. Stoick chuckled.

"Smart girl!" he laughed. "Your parents would be proud – you're fulfilling that promise you made. You're fixing what your uncle broke." Hiccup turned his gaze away momentarily before he glanced up at Astrid again. He knew he should be proud of her – any Viking who was able to restore their family's honour was supposed to be one of the most respectable people in the tribe – but at the same time, he couldn't help but feel resentful. Astrid was taking away his one chance to prove that he was more than the scrawny son of the chief – winning dragon training would mean that no one from any other tribes could ever mock him for his size again (it was worst coming from the heir to the Berserkers, Dagur). Astrid removed the armlet and placed it on her desk before faking a yawn.

"I really should get some sleep," she said.

"Yes," Stoick agreed, ushering Hiccup out of the workshop. "Good talk."

"I'll see you guys back at the house," Astrid nodded. "And thanks for the...dragon-let."

"The armlet," Stoick nodded.

"Yeah, and the...um...breast-hat," Hiccup put in awkwardly. Astrid hid a smirk - underneath everything, Hiccup was still as much of an awkward teenager as she was.

"The hat," Stoick repeated. Hiccup raced off, followed by his dad. As soon as she was alone, Astrid put her hands on her hips and sighed.

As soon as he was outside, Stoick put his hands on his hips and smiled. Meanwhile, Hiccup walked a few steps behind his father on the way back to the house before turning back to the forge and glaring in the direction of Astrid's workroom. He would show her tomorrow that it would take more than a few fancy tricks to really defeat a dragon.


AN: Happy New Year, readers!