Welcome to Class

Grub allowed a grin to settle on his face as he split wooden shakes for the roof. He always found such tasks to be relaxing and meditative. It was so relaxing, in fact, that he almost didn't feel wound-up with so many dragons around.

Almost being the operative word.

It seemed that this dragon training began with some repairs to their living quarters. For the next two weeks, all the students would be sleeping in the two longhouses that the Hooligans and Meatheads had used for their logging operations and inter-tribal gatherings. While structurally sound, they had suffered from some neglect and damage in the past few years and the roof needed minor repairs.

There were about twenty people milling about. Most of them were working on the longhouse, sawing and nailing to patch up the roof where it was starting to rot away. Grub could recognize only a handful. The Bog Burglar tribe, which occupied an island even farther south than the Greenbellies and Hysterics, was represented by two girls in their early and mid-teens. They were sisters who had introduce themselves as Gretta and Gerd. They claimed that the Night Fury, named Toothless, visited their island with Berk's heir and they had a chance to pet and ride it.

Surprisingly, the Bogs didn't send their heiress, Camicazi. In fact, very few of the tribes were represented by an heir. Grub supposed he could understand their reasoning. For all they knew, this whole dragon training event could just be a trick to draw out valuable tribe members and kill them all. Better to send someone more expendable, just in case. The Hooligans were a strange lot, no doubt, but Grub didn't think they would really be so malicious.

He would get to know them, eventually. What mattered for the moment was that there was work to be done. Grub hummed away as he split the wood. The cedar was very straight-grained and densely ringed. The froe, which he whacked with a wooden mallet to split off wide slabs, had a good, straight blade. With the split started, he twisted the froe as he worked it down.

SHHRK... SHHRK... SHHRK-CRACK!

Another wooden shake was coaxed from the waist-high round with a couple thrusts and twists of the froe. Grub kicked the shake out of the way and reached down to flip the log upside down, aligned the froe a hair under two finger-widths away from the flat edge of the log he was working, and gave it another solid whack with the mallet. The froe sank into the wood and started the split.

SHHRK... SHHRK-CRACK!

The sound of the fibers pulling apart, the feeling of the resistance suddenly giving away to break so cleanly, the smell of resin in the air... This was what life was all about! Grub always enjoyed working with his hands. That's one reason he decided these Hooligans weren't so bad. Astrid was no stranger to embracing discomfort with a smile. Fishlegs, almost as massive as Hauk and more timid than a squirrel, enjoyed the quiet serenity of carving, as displayed by his collection of little wooden totems and sculptures he likes to talk about.

As enjoyable as this sort of work was, It would be a lot more enjoyable if a certain Deadly Nadder would stop staring.

After getting him set up on this task, Astrid had mounted the dragon and took off. She recently returned, accompanied by someone on a black dragon, probably the one that was diving through the clouds, terrorizing its rider, shortly before his boat reached shore. Ever since they landed, the Nadder had been pacing around at the threshold of a comfortable distance away, eying him continually. Grub found himself flicking his eyes at the beast after every step of his task, keeping track of where it was.

Such a divided attention already cost him a couple skinned knuckles from a missed blow of the mallet. The dragon would occasionally take a hop closer, which invariably made him grab the froe or mallet with one hand and rest his other hand on the pommel of his sword. It would then slowly step back until he relaxed, then continue pacing around.

At one point, Grub got fed up with this behavior and chucked one of the shakes at the dragon. It used its horns that crowned its head to deflect the projectile, which was not surprising at all. He had seen those beasts deflect actual weaponry, like thrown axes, spears, and even arrows. Crossbow quarrels were supposed to be much better at securing a hit, being lightweight and higher speed. However, such weaponry was always expensive, rare, hard to aim at moving targets more than a dozen paces away, and cumbersome to use on the field. Also, hunching down to rearm a crossbow was hardly appropriate when fire-breathing beasts with sharp claws and teeth were swooping around overhead.

"Hey!" Astrid spun around from her conversation with the other rider, stormed up to where the wooden shake had fallen to the ground, and chucked it at Grub, who batted it away with the outside of his arm. "Not so fun on the receiving end, is it?"

Grub aligned the froe on the round as he reached for his mallet. "The next time your dragon decides to test my patience," WHACK! "I'll sling a stone at its eye, instead."

SHHRK... SHHRK-CRACK!

Astrid casually flipped her double-headed ax from hand to hand. "I dare you to try that. It's not like she's even touching you."

"It's not like I'm touching your pet, either. Tell it to leave me alone. My pet knows how to behave properly around others." Grub idly ran his fingers through the golden-red hairs on Rusty's head and back. The dog gave a joyful bark and leaned into his hand as he scratched behind the ear.

"Stormfly is NOT! A! PET! You need to learn to show the dragons a little respect if you hope to ever ride one."

Grub slowly shook his head as he aligned the froe and beat it into the wood. "I respect them, lass. I respect the death and destruction they can cause. Just tell your... dragon... to stop bothering me. I'm sure it has better things to do."

Astrid rolled her eyes. "Her name is Stormfly and you can ask her, yourself. They can understand us, you know. She can understand what you and I are saying."

"She can understand me, eh?" Grub chuckled bitterly. "Alright, Stormfly, how many Vikings have you killed?"

Astrid turned red and shouted, "That is hardly-"

"Four."

A casual, nasally voice drew both Grub's and Astrid's attention to the rider of the black dragon. He was wearing a black leather outfit and a matching leather helmet. One hand was resting on the Nadder's maw and the other on Astrid's shoulder.

Turning to her, he said in a quieter tone, "Mind if I handle this? Please?"

The girl relented, grabbing a hammer and a bucket full of finished wooden shakes to repair the roof, fuming all the way with some very inventive curses involving something about a half-troll, bread-eating, lunch bucket something or other.

Pity. The French traders almost never make it up this far to bestow proper profanity upon such a fiery soul.

The new rider pushed off of the Nadder's maw as he pulled off the helmet and ran some fingers through his shoulder-length auburn hair that had become unruly from the time spent in its confines. He walked over and sat down on a nearby shave horse with an ease of motion and confidence that just didn't seem to fit someone of such an unimposing stature. The confidence probably came from the fact that his pet dragon was trained to come to the aid at a snap of his fingers. As he settled himself down on the bench, he picked up a draw knife and a shake that was just split, secured it in the shave horse, and started to carve the edges straight and square.

"Well," he idly continued in a droning voice, occasionally flicking his green eyes over, "Four or five. Stormfly said it was less than the number of dragons on this island by about half. They don't count and do math quite the same way we do."

The boy seemed to be proficient with the task he set himself to, so Grub kicked a few more shakes toward his feet.

"And you would be..."

The rider turned with a smile and extended a hand. "Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third, heir to Stoick the Vast, whom you've probably seen wandering around, overseeing the repairs."

Grub grasped the proffered hand. "The so-called dragon master."

Hiccup frowned. "I am nobody's master. I'll take Dragon Whisperer, instead, because I am one of the few who can hear dragons speak, but please, just Hiccup is all I'll ever ask to be called. Some people like to call me Fish-bone, weakling, or runt, but..."

Hiccup winked.

"Then I'll start calling you Snotlout or Thuggory. Speaking of which, what's your name?"

Grub positioned the froe and gave it a solid whack with the mallet, smiling at the crisp, clean sound it made. "Grub Woolbottom, Greenbelly tribe. Shepherd of a flock of a hundred twenty sheep, goats, and yaks."

The Nadder had retreated a little farther away, shifting her attention between Grub and Astrid, who was on the roof of the longhouse, hammering nails into the shakes. Whenever Astrid worked a rotten shake loose and tossed it out of the way, the dragon jumped to catch it like a dog playing fetch.

Grub flicked a glance over at Hiccup. "Dragons talk to you, eh? Are you sure it's not your ego jabbering in your head?"

Hiccup grinned as he reached down to pick up his leather helmet and tossed it over. "See anything unusual about this?"

Grub dropped the hammer to catch the helmet and studied it for a moment. "The fur is on the inside, not the outside like on most clothing. Would get a bit damp and smelly, I bet. I'm guessing this neck guard goes under the coat, but, again, I bet the goat – no wolf, definitely wolf – hair on the inside would feel weird against your neck."

"What do you make of the eye protection?"

That was strange indeed. A stiff piece of boiled leather rotated up and down on a hinge. It was curved to the shape of the helmet and, when lowered, would protect the wearer's eyes, but would blind him by blocking out all light. It could be rotated up to allow for sight, but then why even have this eye protection in the first place?

Grub inspected the iron hinge and little latch that held the eye protection up or down. The look on Hiccup's face made him suspicious of something. He leaned over, reaching out a hand, and extended two fingers to grasp Hiccup's hand, rotating it around to see the sides of the fingers and the palm. It was an innocent enough gesture, gentle enough that it would not come across as any sign of aggression.

As suspected, there were thick calluses on the inside knuckles, a couple healing burns, and some lines worn into the skin on the outside of the pinky and index fingers. The widening grin on the rider's face removed any possible doubt.

"You made this yourself, lad? Nice job on the hinge and latch, there. The stitching is straight and even, too."

Hiccup chuckled.

"Oh, no, I didn't do that. I spend all my days smelting and forging large iron stock. I forge... war... hammers- yeah, I guess I'm not fooling you one little bit. Thanks, though, but it's not the workmanship I was trying to show off.

"I guess the eye protection is strange. You wouldn't be able to see a thing. Are you going to cut some holes or put some glass in there?"

"Nope. When I ride him-" Hiccup jerked his thumb toward the black dragon that was currently rolling around on the ground with little Gretta from the Bog Burglar tribe, scooping up leaves with his wing and throwing them into the air. The little girl would dance in the rain of leaves and then pick up a handful to toss above the dragon. Grub stiffened at the sight, but it was clear that she was having fun, laughing and giggling. Stoick was watching and seemed to be content to allow it to continue, so Grub figured he could just ignore it and let someone else take responsibility.

"He can share his sight," Hiccup continued. "Dragons are telepathic, ya know. Not "control your mind" sorta telepathic, but they can project thoughts to each other... sounds, images, feelings, anything between the ears, really. You will learn a lot more about that when I blindfold myself, hop on his back, and play catch, but suffice to say that dragons do talk, but not with words. Toothless can share his sight with me so that I can actually see the world around us through his eyes."

Grub grunted his acknowledgment and continued to split shakes. It all sounded like silly, mystical hocus pocus, but he decided to let it go for now.

Let the boy have his delusions.

"So, you can hear dragons and the Nadder wanted you to answer my question... on her behalf?"

"Yup." Hiccup winked. "But you're not fooling anyone, Grub Woolbottom of the Greenbelly tribe. You ask a simple question, but there's a deeper one behind that. You don't want to ask it, but you still seek an answer, one that involves more than just a number. Stormfly asked me to be her voice... to tell you a little bit about herself. It's..."

He trailed off, lost in thought. With a blink, he brought himself back to the present, pulled his foot back to release the shake from the shave horse, grabbed another to be squared, and secured it, locking it in place by pressing his foot against the pedal. Grub noticed that the rider's left foot was amputated, replaced with some strange-looking iron artificial limb, and internally smacked himself for failing to notice that before.

"She sees something in you, Grub," Hiccup continued. "She wants you to succeed, which is why she asked me to tell you her story." He fixed Grub with a hard stare and his expression instantly turned somber. "This is not a small thing she would casually do for anyone."

Grub picked up a shake he just separated from the wooden round and tossed it at Hiccup, who had just released a newly squared shake from his shave horse. It was a casual, but kind gesture to save him from bending down to get one from the ground.

"Fine, then. Tell me."

"She cracked her egg on dragon island. That's what we call the volcanic island where all the dragons that raided us were nesting. They were all controlled. Their free will was stripped away by the Red Death. They literally had no control over their actions."

Grub tossed another shake at Hiccup and kicked his depleted log to the side. It was getting too small to be of any use, so he got up and grabbed another one. Even though it was only a quarter of a round and hardly waist-high, it was very heavy for its size, attesting to its tightly packed growth rings. Excellent roofing material.

As he lifted the log, he squeezed out, "Red Death?"

"Oh, sorry," Hiccup said. "You'll hear more about it tomorrow evening. It was a very large dragon. I'm talking eat an entire family-sized house in one bite kinda large. I'm talking burn your entire fleet in a single breath of fire. It always stayed on Dragon Island, but sent the dragons out to raid the islands around here to bring back food for her. It controlled the dragons, somehow. It dominated their minds such that the dragons literally lost any sense of free will."

"So, that's how we're going to ride dragons? Use similar mind control techniques to tame them?"

Hiccup ground his teeth as he stared at the wooden shake he was working on, taking a deep breath.

"No. We'll get there, but back to Stormfly. Like every other tribe, we captured dragons and used them for training. Stormfly was one of them. Astrid and I actually trained against her. Well, that's what it looked like. The reality of it is, though..." Hiccup winked. "She was training us. We never caught on, but since I started conversing with the dragons, I learned the real story.

"You see, when a dragon is captured, it regains its mind and free will. There's something about our minds and what we passively project that overrides the Red Death's control. That's why a dragon raid never lasted too long. Any dragon that gets captured is exposed to us so much that they sorta 'wake up'."

Grub flipped his log and aligned his froe. "Uh-huh."

Hiccup casually leaned on the shave horse. "Try to imagine, if you will, what it would be like to wake up one day and realize that everything you had ever done in life was a hoax, forced upon you by some cruel beast for its own entertainment. If you can imagine that the dragons are another Viking tribe that was seduced by some enchantress or something, how do you think they would feel after waking up?"

Grub flicked his eyes over to the Nadder, which was still a comfortable distance away, but staring intently at him.

"I guess betrayed. Hurt, depressed, angry?"

"Pretty much. You're accurate in principle, but now multiply by the number of trees in the forest. They were frothing mad the day they were captured. I'm sure your tribe has observed the same. It takes a couple of days of just keeping them locked in a stone cell before they calm down enough to even allow you to feed them. Now, imagine this was you. Imagine that you just woke up to realize that not only you, but your entire tribe had their free will stripped from them and was forced to do slave labor, fighting and dying merely for the entertainment of the cruel beast that had dominated you for your whole life. This wasn't just menial labor. This was the worst sort of humiliation solely for the Red Death's entertainment. They were forced to the lowest depths of depravity. They weren't even cognizant of it at the time, but after getting captured and waking up from this mind control, they can't help but remember every, single, last, humiliating detail."

Grub flicked another glance at the Nadder. Its attention was no longer on him, but on Astrid, who had some nails in her mouth and was tapping a wooden shake into place.

"Alright, I guess I may as well. So, I wake up from a trance to realize my entire tribe is a bunch of draugr."

Hiccup grinned. "I like that. It's actually a decent analogy. Now, you wake up and realize that you have been captured by another tribe. They're not an enemy tribe, but you cannot communicate with them and they think you're still a draugr. In talking to your other formerly draugr cellmates, you learn that they regularly make their youth fight you in what we shall call draugr training. Sure, maybe you can kill the trainees. Maybe you can escape your confines. But then you will just become a draugr again, long before you can hope to claim vengeance against the Red Death. You will go back into that trance and degrade yourself, once again, for its entertainment. The only release from this trance is to be captured, like you are, or to die. What would you do?"

Grub thought on that for a moment.

"I'm assuming that, after waking up, I conclude that this draugr life is worse than death?"

Hiccup nodded. "There is no room for doubt and the degree to which this draugr life is worse than any death or torture is so great it cannot be measured or expressed in words. Also, there's no room for doubt in your mind that the Red Death is simply too big and tough for any living creature to destroy, even if all the tribes in the Archipelago were magically able to stop bashing each others' heads in and all cooperate in a coordinated siege."

Grub looked over and saw the Nadder staring at him, again. "I feel you're leading me to only one answer, which would be to do my best to train my captor tribe to become better at capturing or killing off my draugr brethren. If you cannot lop off the head, then bite the hand that feeds it. Perhaps it would die to starvation. If nothing else, I could spare some of my tribemates from this degradation. Is that what you're getting at?"

Hiccup nodded and turned back to his work. "Yes. Great minds think alike as that's exactly what the dragons did. One more thing I'd like to ask you. If, one day, the Red Death is destroyed and all your draugr brethren are instantly freed from the mind control, free to live their own lives, how would you feel? How would they feel? Would you feel regret for the lives you took while under the mind snare on principle alone because you were forced to do it? Do you think it would be easy to forgive yourself, deal with your past, and move on with your life? Would you expect or hope that the other tribes you've ravaged while under the mind snare could maybe, someday, come to forgive you?"

Grub stared at the Nadder, which had her eyes locked on him, body completely rigid and still. He let out a long exhale and said, "I…"

"I'm not expecting an answer, now," Hiccup quickly tossed in. "We're living in this aftermath today. You've noticed the dragon raids ceased two years ago? The Red Death was destroyed and all dragons were released from their draugr life, but that is a story I'll be telling in detail tomorrow night."

"I thought nothing could kill the Red Death?"

Hiccup winked. "So they thought."

Grub paused in his work. There was a little girl, not even in her teens, wrapped around the Nadder's leg. The beast was walking around with slow, exaggerated strides with her neck craned down and around to look at the girl as she enjoyed the ride with laughter and giggling.

"That's Tofa, by the way," Hiccup casually said. "She's the one person who can hear dragons without having to touch them. Well, I can hear Toothless without touching him, kinda. I'm hoping that, as I continue training, I'll become more sensitive, like her."

Grub rolled his eyes. "Riiiiiight."

"Anyway," Hiccup said as he stood up, "That's what Stormfly asked me to share with you. You think dragons are evil and that they only kill, destroy, and steal, and nobody can blame you. She certainly understands and considers it a sign of wisdom that you do not trust them. She has no clue what sort of evils you've seen, but she can see the echoes of it in your eyes when-"

"Are you finished?"

"What?"

It took Grub several unnecessary swings of the mallet to realize he was accomplishing nothing as the froe was already buried in the wood. He clenched his teeth and gave the froe a couple twists and thrusts, separating another shake.

"Grub, really, I'm sorry. I swear I wasn't trying to pour salt in the wound."

"It's fine."

"Right..." Hiccup pursed his lips. "I'm going to go check in with Dad, but I'll see if I can find someone to help you out."

"Send Hauk."

"Is he one of the Hysterics? I've been meaning to introduce myself to them."

"No, he's from my tribe, but the Hysterics came in along with us. He has been a good friend for many years and my apprentice for a couple. If you see someone who practically walks on his knuckles as much as his feet, that's him."

Hiccup nodded with a grin and turned to walk to the longhouse.

"And Hiccup..."

Hiccup turned around.

"Uhhh, you can tell the Nadder she has my sympathy. I can't imagine what that would be like."

"You can tell her, yourself, but it's not your sympathy she wants."

"What does she want, then?"

"Your forgiveness and, if it is not too bold to hope for, your trust."

Grub set his eyes to the froe in his hand as he shifted it into position. A swing of the heavy mallet drove it in. Hiccup was still there, looking, waiting for some sort of response.

"Well, I guess..."

SHHRK

"The highly improbable-"

SHHRK

"Is not entirely-"

SHHRK-CRACK

"Impossible."

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"And that's pretty much how my first ride with Toothless went. Desperately clinging to his tail for dear life and trying to figure out how to work the darn tailfin so we don't smack into a rock and die. And this guy-"

Hiccup reached a hand back and affectionately slapped the neck of the Night Fury against which he leaned as he sat by the bonfire.

"This sly, devious devil, after showing him that I can help him fly again, guess how he ends the ride? After all the fish I've given him and helping him fly and whatnot, how does- Toothless!"

Hiccup burst into laughter as his dragon gnawed on his arm with toothless gums.

"He tossed you in the lake!"

Hiccup spared a sideways glance at Tofa, who was sharing the same scaly backrest, as he batted away the dragon's head. His Terrible Terror, Dart, chirped as he shifted to balance atop Toothless' forehead. He was the one and only Terrible Terror Toothless would allow on him and only when he was in a good mood.

"We have got to work on your dramatic timing, Tofa. But, yeah, that was my first flight with Toothless."

Hiccup scanned the crowd with a grin plastered on his face.

This. Is. It!

Everyone had arrived. Finally! Almost every tribe in the barbaric archipelago was represented here with two Vikings from each, ranging from nine years old to Grub's elderly 25. Gobber was there to keep an eye on things and serve as the impromptu village elder. Hiccup also had support from Astrid as well as Fishlegs. Stoick had already flown back to Berk to resume his duties as chief after he was satisfied that the longhouse repairs were going along well. He had a joint responsibility with chief Mogadon of the Meathead tribe and, while they don't always get along, the desire to keep a working relationship between them was just as much of an incentive to oversee the repairs as his desire to make sure Hiccup had what he needed for this training.

Fortunately, the weather was clear for tonight, allowing for a nice bonfire outside. This would also help the students, since they would not feel trapped inside a building with a dragon. Some of them, like Grub, were definitely uncomfortable without a large bonfire or several paces between him and the nearest dragon. Spurred on by Tofa, Gretta and Gerd, from the Bog-Burglar tribe, developed a habit of hurling themselves at the snout of every dragon that landed on the island to wrap themselves around its maw in an awkward hug. Hiccup had warned them that this would be a bad idea with any dragon that wasn't from Berk, but the dragons that will be looking for a rider will be elsewhere for the next few days to "get the students ready to even be around dragons."

Hiccup had prepared some training and exercises for both Vikings and dragons and would be island-hopping quite a bit in the next few days to divide his attention between both parties. All the riders and their dragons will be pitching in to teach the students how to approach and work with the riderless dragons. Hiccup had even worked out with Toothless some things he could share with the riderless dragons to prepare them for the quirks and particularities of interacting with Vikings. It was exciting to think that Berk's dragons would be doing some teaching, too.

His straining eyes could barely pick out those sitting on the opposite side of the bonfire and he thought he might have made out Thuggory's scowl. Thuggory was only a year older than Hiccup, but almost as big as Fishlegs and more devious and mean than Snotlout and Tuffnut combined. Like many other Vikings, he believed in all that might-makes-right yak crap that Hiccup always rolled his eyes at, including splitting a rock with his forehead to prove… something.

Thuggory has always looked down on and despised Hiccup for being the heir to his ally tribe and not even having the decency to die and spare the world from such a weakling. However, he knew he'd get into too much trouble if he actually caused major injuries to Hiccup, but bruises, torn clothes, black eyes, and a broken nose were common symptoms to exposure to Thuggory. Dragging Hiccup's face through the mud seemed to be one of his favorite activities.

Dissuaded by the fact that even a sideways glare would turn Toothless on him, the brutish heir had been giving Astrid a hard time all day. Now that Astrid actually liked Hiccup, she was not shy in showing her support and Thuggory took that in a sour way. Hiccup had been working on keeping the peace. To his father, this dragon training was a tool to keep the peace by introducing dragons into other tribes. To Hiccup, though, this was an opportunity to confront some aspects of the Viking way. Mainly, the aspects that involved conquest and such. He saw these students as an opportunity to show them that kindness and compassion could accomplish what threats and conquest cannot. Besides, a dragon won't allow a slave driver on its back.

Not too long after arriving, Thuggory got a little lost in the moment and threw Hiccup to the ground. Toothless was all fangs and fury, but he heeded his rider's silent plea to stay back so Hiccup could deal with it calmly. However, Astrid was not so easily sated. She shoved her way right past the growling Toothless, Nadder in tow, punched Thuggory's nose in, and shoved his head into Stormfly's maw.

Of course, Stormfly would never bite down, even if Hiccup wasn't projecting his disapproval as vehemently as possible. Thuggory was scared to death. He was outmatched against a rider who seemed to have command over dragons, in his eyes. Hiccup rushed past Astrid to apologize and assure him that the dragons were peaceful. Astrid would have none of that "peace-mongering yak shit", as she called it, and simply yanked Hiccup out of the way because she wasn't done with Thuggory, yet. It wasn't until Toothless muscled his way in, heeding his rider's silent request, and forced Astrid back that the fight finally stopped.

It was terrible for everyone. Thuggory was close to working up the nerve to touch a dragon, Hiccup could feel it. Now, he was always casting leery eyes at all dragons, especially Stormfly. It was critical for Berk to have friendly allies with dragon riders instead of enemies who want to sack Berk out of spite for their dragons and Astrid was doing a lot more harm than good. Hiccup tried to explain this to her. They needed calm and peaceful students so they end up with calm and peaceful riders who would not betray Berk or the dragons. That cannot be done by fighting aggression with more aggression. If that requires a little ducking of one's head and turning the other cheek, then so be it. This was Hiccup's show to run and, no matter how unpopular the notion may be, he would not fight fire with more fire. "Fight fire with water," he would say, but Astrid's response was the icy shoulder.

He really wished she would just trust him more instead of shoving him aside to do things her way. He knew from experience that humiliating Thuggory like that will only worsen their relationship. A man cannot be trained the same way as a horse or any other animal. He cannot be beaten into shape like hot iron on the anvil. One must be subtle in changing a man's behavior or viewpoint. He must think he's doing things for himself, by himself, against all odds and opposition. One must slyly make the desired outcome look like what he wants to do. That was the game at which Hiccup has become the master as the runt of Berk and he had no desire to change the rules.

Hiccup liked Astrid, loved her, even, but if she was a threat to his game, how could he deal with her? Ask her to stay on Berk? Ask Stoick to give her orders that would keep her away from this class? No, that would be fighting fire with fire and only make things worse and many good people would get burned. Hiccup didn't know what proverbial bucket of water could douse the flaming Astrid. Well, he had an idea. Toothless would absolutely hate it, but what else was new?

Hiccup shook himself back to the present.

Focus. Objective thinking.

Helping the other Vikings feel comfortable around dragons was the goal for now and kicking off the training with some simple storytelling and show-and-tell around the bonfire seemed as good an idea as any. He had already passed around one of his older versions of the tailfin for people to see.

"And guess what this big oaf-" Hiccup stuck an elbow into his dragon's shoulder. "Decided to do to me after we 'land' in the lake?"

Toothless sprung to his feet, took a single leap backward, and coiled up his haunches, waving his tail in the air behind him. He started to pant excitedly with his tongue hanging out the side of his mouth. Dart, having been tossed off by this motion, sprang up and hopped in front of Hiccup, mirroring the Night Fury's stance.

Hiccup casually picked up Dart and idly brushed a thumb along the dragon's teeth. "Healing rib, Bud."

Toothless gave a dramatic groan as he flopped to his side.

"It's already healed!" Tofa declared. "Toothless says all his purring and slobber made it all better."

"So, you're saying we should try that, ourselves? Give a dragon some fish and hop on while it eats?"

Hiccup jerked his head toward the voice and recognized the speaker to be Hauk, who was sitting partway around the bonfire.

"What?! Oh, no nonononoooo. Bad idea. In fact, Toothless and I are terrible role models. Please don't imitate us too much. What I did that day was stupid. In fact, everything I had done after I cut him loose was just plain idiotic and don't anyone even try to tell me otherwise."

Toothless groaned as he craned his neck around to gnaw on his rider's arm again. He didn't project any specific thoughts, but Hiccup could feel the dragon's disapproval. Toothless never tolerated anyone degrading his rider.

"You know what I mean, Bud." Hiccup softly said. Turning to the others, he said, "We were both lost souls, I guess you could say. At that time, we both felt disappointment in ourselves and abandonment from those who had surrounded us. If any other person did what I did or Toothless was any other dragon, well, I think someone would have ended up dead. I actually have plans, Hauk, to show some do's and don'ts for approaching a dragon you've never met before. But please don't expect that anyone can try that with any dragon and get off as lucky as I did."

"Fair enough!" Hauk bellowed out with a chuckle.

Hiccup continued his storytelling about his adventures with Toothless in those first few weeks before killing the Red Death. A couple times, as the night dragged on, Toothless sprang to his feet and sprinted around, away from the gathered Vikings. He was as much a cat as he was a dragon, enjoying naps and spontaneous bursts of senseless rampaging throughout the day. Meatlug and Stormfly, who were very cooperative in keeping a distance from the more timid Vikings, got up and ran and grappled with him, too. Most of the students seemed to actually enjoy such antics... from a distance.

Before Hiccup got to the part in his story where he made his stand in the Kill Ring to try to show his tribe that dragons can be friends instead of enemies, Toothless shifted over to pin him on his back. Hiccup looked up at his dragon and let out the umpteenth yawn for the night. It was getting very late, after all, considering he had been working on switching from his regular nocturnal sleep schedule, which meshed so well with Toothless, to waking with the rooster. As if to make a point, Dart hopped down from his perch on Toothless' head and started licking his ear.

"Ah- Ewww, Dart! Toothless, I demand justice. Lick him! Lick him now!"

The Night Fury immediately complied and Dart leaned into the tongue and crooned in contentment. Hiccup gave them a goofy grin.

"I guess you have a point, though, Bud." Turning his head sideways to look at the others, he said, "To be continued, I guess. Hey, guys, we're gonna have dragons in the Southern longhouse, leaving the Northern one dragon-free. If you want to sleep with us, though, I swear on my life that no dragon here will attack you unprovoked. Toothless, Meatlug, Stormfly, and Grump are very kind and gentle dragons. It's the riders you need to worry-"

"Hiccup. That's. Enough." Astrid's cold, acidic voice cut him off. He looked over at her, but she barely spared him a glance before going inside. Her stride was smooth as butter, but tense as the rigging of a tempest-tossed sail. The fire was still raging within her. He could practically see the metaphorical spring winding tighter and tighter with every little taunt or jab from the students, every perceived injustice Hiccup would let go without retort in favor of keeping the peace. Astrid would always unwind that spring by chucking axes at trees, but the roof repairs kept everyone very busy. That spring was quivering with tension and was ready to unwind with explosive force at any moment.

Hiccup reached up to the Night Fury's maw. "Hey, Bud, can you gimme a-" Another cavernous yawn escaped his mouth. "Hand?"

The dragon grabbed the outstretched fingers in his toothless gums as he stood up and leaned his head back, pulling his rider up to his feet. They made their way into the longhouse, which was recently modified with larger doors to accommodate dragons. Hiccup was not surprised to see who chose to sleep here and who chose the other longhouse. There was hope that his conversation with Grub would have softened him up a bit, but it was clear to see that Astrid's spectacle pushed him back several steps.

Hiccup gave a weary sigh as he walked toward the longhouse and grumbled. "Vikings! If people like you, you're doing it wrong!"

Now that he was on his feet, the weight of all the activity and excitement from the day started to catch up. His last waking moment was spent collapsing on a blanket as Toothless curled up around him.

Hiccup awoke in the familiar and comforting darkness under Toothless' wing. His face was mashed against one paw and his arms were wrapped around the foreleg that was snugging him in tight to the dragon's torso.

He got up and set into the usual routines. Gobber organized people to stoke the fires back to life and get some food ready. There was no way it could have been coincidence that the tasks he gave Astrid and Thuggory kept them far apart. It will help a lot that, tomorrow, Astrid and Fishlegs would be rotating with the twins and Snotlout, taking turns participating in training and their regular duties on Berk, patrolling the island and various other tasks for which a dragon was particularly well-suited.

Perhaps asking Astrid to go back this morning would be a good idea. Perhaps she wouldn't completely hate him for even suggesting that. Perhaps one could flap his arms and fly like a dragon, too, and control the weather by sheer willpower alone.

As the morning meal was wrapping up, Hiccup noticed Toothless crouched low in a defensive stance, weight shifted back on his coiled haunches, tail pressed hard against the ground, wings half-unfurled, snarling at... nothing. Absolutely nothing at all.

He approached the dragon from behind and said, "What's wrong, Bud? There's nothing- ACK! Toothless!"

The dragon slapped him with the tail and shifted over to keep Hiccup behind him. Astrid came up beside him.

"What's up with Toothless?"

"He sees something!" Tofa cried out, pointing to empty space in front of the Night Fury. "Another dragon... she's right there! We can see you! You can't hide from a Night Fury!"

Hiccup wanted to see whatever Toothless was seeing with those sensor flaps crowing his head, too. He started to take a step forward, but stopped and dropped his jaw when the empty space in front of him was suddenly filled with a dragon. It was hardly larger than Toothless, a rusty-orange color, wide torso, flat white belly, four legs, and large teeth. It spit a little acid just in front of it and roared at Toothless.

Hiccup glanced back. "Hey, Fishlegs, that's a-"

"Ah... ch... cha... chaaaaann-n-n-n-n..." Fishlegs was too scared to talk as he literally quaked in his boots.

Hiccup groaned and slapped a hand to his face. "Changewing. Just... great. Hey!" He waved a hand at the dragon, focusing on projecting the telepathic equivalent of a tap on the shoulder. The Changewing locked eyes on him. "Hey, talk to us, pal. What's got you so upset? We want to be your friends, not enemies. If someone stole your egg, we'll help you find it. We learned our lesson about that last year. Someone probably thought it was a pretty stone and-"

A figure broke through the treeline from behind the Changewing, shouting, "Teaser! There you are! What in the frozen Hel are you- Woah, nononono. That's Toothless and Hiccup. They're friends."

"Camicazi?" Astrid whispered in disbelief.

The familiar voice of Thuggory shouted from behind, "Oy, only two per tribe allowed here. Cami makes Three. You gotta send her back!"

Hiccup groaned and slapped his face. "Great. Just... great."

"Let it go, Thug. She's probably a rider here to train us for all you know. See the rope around her waist and the Changewing's neck? That's probably her dragon."

That would be Grub. Hiccup kept his ear on the conversation behind him, but his eyes on the Changewing and Camicazi, both of whom were not making any aggressive moves, but seemed to be stunned as they took in the situation.

"Shuddup, Grub Woolbottom of the deceased tribe!" Thuggory shot back.

"The Greenbelly tribe is not deceased, but you will be if you dare to draw your weapon and say that to my face!"

"Greenbelly?!" Camicazi shrieked.

Hiccup chose the most inopportune moment to shift his attention from the pair in front of him to the Vikings that were gathering around behind. In a blur of motion, he just caught sight of Camicazi pulling something out of her jacket and winding her arm back. An instant later, he could see Stormfly lunging into Grub, who was burdened down with a large pot in one hand and a sack of food in the other. They were dropped to the ground as he tumbled from the impact to land back on his feet with his sword in hand.

The distinctive, high-pitched, shrieking roar from Toothless and a lower roar from the Changewing drew Hiccup's attention to see Camicazi sprawled out on her back under the Night Fury's paw. Meatlug and Grump, Gobber's Hotburple dragon, stood between the Changewing and Toothless, returning its roar with their own.

"Stormfly! Stormfly!" Astrid shouted frantically at her dragon. "Are you okay? Grub, back! Back!"

Hiccup whirled his head around to see Astrid pulling a knife out of the Nadder's torso, just behind the base of her neck. The blade had found a spot between the scales, but the cut would not be deep. Stormfly immediately sprinted over to join Meatlug in staring down the Changewing.

Hiccup ran up next to Toothless, who was snarling down at Camicazi. The poor girl was in shock at finding herself in such a situation. He put his fingers in his dragon's mouth, wrapping his thumb around the upper jawline, and pulling him off of Camicazi. Of course, he wouldn't have been strong enough to even budge the head a hair-width, but Toothless heeded his gestures.

"Toothless, back. Let her stand."

Camicazi shakily stood as quickly as she could.

"Cami, what is going on?" Hiccup demanded. "What are you doing here? Did you really ride that- Wait..."

Hiccup just started to put things together in his mind. Camicazi threw something. Stormfly slammed hard into Grub and a knife hit her.

"You tried to kill Grub! What is wrong with you?!"

Hiccup couldn't imagine what the crazy girl was even thinking! Sure, she always had a hot temper and would spend every moment of every inter-tribal Thing picking fights, but this was insane by even her standards. What, did she just plan to impress everyone by sticking someone with her knife and then… flying off into the sunset? Did she think she'd be the only rider at this event? Did she think Toothless would have become slower since she saw him last month? How deeply must she hate Grub to just strike out of the blue like that? It was low, even for a Burglar.

Despite all the escalations, Hiccup wanted nothing more than to ask how she befriended a Changewing out of all dragons. They have always been very reclusive.

Camicazi stood, panting through some deep breaths, pointed a finger at Grub and shouted, "That bastard's tribe attacked my people. He deserves death!"

Hiccup slapped a hand to his face.

"Great. Just... great."

Grub walked up, sword drawn, pointed directly at Camicazi, shouting, "Your bitch tribe thought we were easy prey after that raid that razed our homes. Those prostitutes deserved every arrow they got!"

"Vikings!" Hiccup threw his hands up in exasperation as he moved between them. "Gotta love 'em. Hey, I don't like you, so I'll kill you and that will make the world a better place! Look at me! I'm violent, therefore, I'm cool!"

Camicazi shoved Hiccup out of the way. Hiccup picked himself back up to hear the clanging of sword striking sword. He yelped and moved to rush in and break up the fight, but icy fingers painfully dug into his collarbone. He turned around to see Astrid looking none too pleased.

"Hiccup, This is not your fight. Camicazi hurt my dragon. You will not get yourself injured or killed for their sakes."

"But-"

"Let them kill each other for all I care."

Hiccup tried to pull free from Astrid, but she just dug her fingers in deeper.

Hiccup yelped. "Astrid!"

"If you can't keep yourself out of trouble, I'll do it myself!" She said as she dragged Hiccup away.

Behind them, shouting and sword strikes could be heard. Everyone was gathered around to watch, taking bets on who would kill the other. Hiccup cast a pleading look at Astrid, who just continued to drag him away and into the woods.

Hiccup sighed. "Just... great."


A/N:
Thanks for reading! This turned out to be quite long, so I hope I didn't put you to sleep. You probably guessed, but you can expect to see more Grub and Camicazi as we go on. Also, I dunno if draugr are a real thing in Norse mythology or just an invention of Skyrim, but I couldn't resist using such a term regardless.

Also, thanks JR 0 for beta reading this chapter.