Thanks for the reviews! I'm not going to give anything about the plot away *evil laugh* – but I'm glad you're interested :)
Annnnyway, here's chapter 8. I uploaded it so fast because I wanted to :) and because, you know, last chapter was the end of part one and this is the beginning of part 2. And because I wanted to do an author's note thanking you guys for the reviews but I forgot when I uploaded chapter 7.
Part Two
The Legend of Puff
Chapter 8
"I didn't go out where I couldn't touch the bottom, honestly, dad." Jackie looked up at his father with wide, innocent green eyes. "I didn't."
"I should hope not," Hiccup said, laying down his pencil and look his son in the eyes. "What were you doing in the water anyway?"
Jackie shrugged his dripping shoulders.
He was soaked from head to foot, his bright red hair plastered down with water. He had come home with the story that he had been caught in the rain. It was a plausible tale, believable in all its details except for one little thing.
"It's the clearest day we've had in months," Hiccup pointed out.
Jackie had then admitted to playing around the small pond that lay, still and shallow, in Honah Lee, the place where he and Puff went every afternoon. A few more questions and he revealed that he had built himself a boat.
"Why would you do that?" Hiccup asked.
Jackie shrugged again. "I - just thought it would be fun."
Hiccup sighed. "What you have to realize, Jackie, is that it's not summer anymore - or even autumn. Winter is coming on, and if you fall in the water in the dead of winter, the cold might be too much for you."
Jackie looked down at his toes.
"Sorry," he mumbled.
"Was it fun?" asked Hiccup.
Jackie looked up. "What?"
"Sailing. In your boat. On the pond."
Jackie brightened considerably. "Oh, yes," he grinned.
"Well," said Hiccup, "You might be able to do it again, if your mom or I come along. Does that sound fair?"
"Yes, sir!" Jackie smiled.
Hiccup stood.
"Do you want to come with me?"
"Where are you going?"
"Up to Gothi's. No, not that -" he said, as Jackie turned pale - "It's not because anyone is sick. I want to thank her for tending to Honah Lee for all those months."
"Yeah, I want to come."
"Go change, then," Hiccup said, "And meet me outside in ten minutes."
Father and son climbed the long, winding trail out of the village and along the sea. They walked in a happy silence, and then Jackie asked, "How are you going to thank her, dad?"
Hiccup looked at Jackie in surprise. "I was going to give her this letter," he said. "Why do you ask?" "No reason." They walked along quietly for a few more minutes, and then Jackie peered over at Hiccup again. "Can I hold it?"
"What?"
"The letter." Hiccup was puzzled. "Why?"
"No reason," Jackie said again.
Hiccup handed the paper over, and Jackie smiled, as if at some secret joke.
"What's so funny?" asked Hiccup, a hint of laugher in his voice at his son's expression.
"Nothing," Jackie said. "Nothing."
Hiccup wondered at it, but dropped the matter from his mind. A few weeks later, though, Hiccup had just finished a letter and sealed it, when Jackie popped up eagerly.
"Can I deliver it?" he asked.
Hiccup handed over the letter, with a curious look at his son, and Jackie was out the door in a flash.
It became a regular pattern. Whenever Hiccup had written a letter, Jackie would ask to deliver it, or hold it. It was so common that Hiccup began to call him his paper-boy.
It stuck, and he was Jackie Paper from then on.
It was puzzling, but there was so much more to think about that Hiccup didn't get a lot of time to work it out.
His daughter, Honah Lee, was recovering fast, and soon she was well enough to leave her bed and come downstairs.
Who knew such a sweet, pretty little child could also be such an annoyance, getting into everything, spilling things and getting dirty. Nobody minded, but it was still a lot of work to keep up with her, especially since she wasn't allowed outside yet.
And then, there were the affairs of his tribe. Hiccup was the chief of the village, and every dispute, every event, had to be resolved and approved by him.
And so winter was slipping into spring before he found out what Jackie was up to.
One evening, Jackie came to him, quite worried, holding Puff in his arms.
"He's sort of feeling sick, I think," Jackie said.
Hiccup's heart skipped a beat, but a quick inspection revealed nothing to worry about.
"Just a little cold or something like that," Hiccup assured his son. "Absolutely nothing serious. Has he been eating anything out of the ordinary?"
Jackie gave a guilty start.
"Maybe," he said.
"Jackie? Do you have something to tell me?"
Jackie took a deep breath, and hugged Puff tighter.
"Sealing wax," he said.
"What?"
"The stuff you put on your letters. And string, too, when he can get it."
"What!"
Jackie put on a defiant face. "He likes it," he said.
Hiccup laughed.
"Is that why you've been taking my letters? So you can pick the sealing wax off and give it to Puff?"
"Yes."
Hiccup laughed. "Well, I don't think it's been doing him much good. How about only once in a while, okay?"
Jackie nodded, thanked Hiccup, and turned away, to re-join Honah Lee and Toothless in play.
Hiccup turned to his desk, snatched up a piece of paper, and, grinning, began to scrawl a poem that was forming in his head.
Puff, the magic dragon lived by the sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land called Honah Lee;
Little Jackie Paper loved that rascal Puff,
And brought him strings and sealing wax and other fancy stuff.
