I knew I had a long way to go before I got caught up on sleep. Three hundred sixty three days or so, to be exact. But I could catch up later. I stirred with a quiet groan and opened my eyes. Looked around. There was a hearth about ten feet from my head, giving off a warm, yellow glow. A table was near my foot, on my left-hand side. Nobody was sitting there, so Astrid must have gone back home. And there was a Night Fury named Toothless, breathing rhythmically, fast asleep directly to my left. His breathing sounded like the bellows in the armory. Bellows I was planning on using today, if my head felt good enough.

I sat up gingerly, taking the scene in. It was a little slice of life, when nobody has anything pressing to do, where time should just stop because everything was perfect. Or as close as you could get to it. My left knee was still wrapped and burning slightly. My head was still ringing just enough to be aware of it. And Toothless still hadn't awoken. But he was breathing, and compared to last night, it sounded stronger.

I took a deep breath, feeling the world melt away. Stroked Toothless on his cheek. He sighed with a low murmur. I smiled. I couldn't prove it, but you know that feeling you get when you are just absolutely sure of something? That was how I felt about Toothless. Somehow, I just knew deep down he was gonna be fine. And don't call me optimistic, but I felt like our lives were on-track to returning to normal.

I knew I was gonna waste away to nothing if I just sat here and moped about what had happened to us. And it was ironic that I thought there was nobody to blame in shooting me and Toothless down. Gobber apologized last night, but how could he tell? For all anyone knew, Toothless glowed blue, just like the Flightmare. And from a distance, it was probably difficult to tell them apart within a few seconds.

Using the edge of Toothless's rock as leverage, I hoisted myself up, grabbing the crutch along the way. It was a T-shaped staff that only came up to my waist, something I could lean on without tiring my right leg out too much.

I took one last look at Toothless before heading toward the door. Opened it. Looked around for about ten seconds, trying to get used to the sunlight's glare. And sneezed. This always happened to me when the sun was out. But my head didn't start ringing again, so I figured it was a good sign.

I was hungry, so I hobbled my way to the great hall for breakfast. The stairs weren't gonna happen, so I took the back way, up the incline we used for carting materials to and from the docks. Walked inside and grabbed a smoked salmon. Sat down by myself, and didn't care one bit about being alone. If someone joined me, that was fine too. I began eating, relishing the taste of food after what seemed like an eternity. I knew I lost a day after that nightmare about Toothless, and I hadn't eaten since supper the night before.

Nobody joined me, which was fine. I got to eat my meal in peace. Finished, and took the plate and mug to the back for washing. And walked out. Just like it was another day, except I was missing half a leg.

I got to the armory without much fuss and saw a small bucket with a sheet of parchment on top. The parchment had only one word: "Hiccup." Looked inside. The bucket was half-full of scrap Gronckle iron we had lying around from other things, like the multi-purpose shield I made for myself or the kazillion swords we made for people here. I got to work heating up the coals with the bellows, which was much harder on only one leg. I noticed how much it sounded like Toothless breathing.

I had made several pegs for myself in the past, so this was nothing new. In fact, Gronckle iron was easier than standard iron to manage. Cleaner melting, ridiculously strong after being forged or casted. There was a huge difference between Gronckle iron and standard iron when it came to strength. I tossed the scraps onto the coals and waited for them to get orange-hot.

The only problem in working with loose scraps was getting the pieces to fit together cleanly. Over the years, the best solution I found was to get the iron just below its melting point and hammer the scraps together one-by-one. That's not to say this solution was easy, mind you. It was just the easiest solution I had found so far. I made a mental note for some research and development, trying to figure out how to fuse scraps easily.

After four heat-hammer-cool cycles, I finally got a long piece that was going to serve as the foot. I heated one side in the fire beneath the coals and bent it into shape by hammering. Next, I heated the foot again and took a small poking rod. While the iron was still glowing, I stuck the rod into the foot slightly and pulled gently downward, making a group of jagged points for better grip on surfaces. I knew I was gonna tear up the inside of any house I walked into, but I figured with dragons around, it wasn't anything compared to what they could do.

I had started on the "shin" of the peg when I heard Astrid's voice.

"Hiccup, whatever you do, just don't turn around," she said. It sounded like she was trying to be serious, but I heard a hint in her tone that said she had some kind of surprise for me.

I put the Gronckle iron scraps back on the coals knowing they weren't going anywhere and blatantly defied Astrid's orders. I turned around, hopping because my crutch was about ten feet away. And found two deep yellow-green eyes staring directly at me.

"Toothless! Hey, bud!" I leaned forward and caught myself on his neck with a hug. Toothless grunted happily as I wrapped my arms around him. I pulled away, and he licked me in the face, saying he was okay. I fell backwards into a sitting position, where Toothless nosed into my chest with a short whuff, knocking me onto my back. I didn't mind one bit, knowing he was gonna be fine. Scratched him underneath his chin. He murmured in contentment with his eyes closed.

"How'd you get him over here?" I asked Astrid from my back. Toothless began rubbing into my shoulder with his snout, asking for more attention. I stroked the top of his head, getting a low rumble from him.

"Brought him some fish and kept one in my hand. He followed me wherever I went."

"Did you get any gifts from him?"

"No, thank goodness." I noticed Astrid was concealing a fish behind her back. She produced it and held it near Toothless's head.

Before my dragon did anything, I said sarcastically, "Oh, great." Toothless grabbed the fish out of Astrid's hand, bit it in half and swallowed, looking at me in excitement.

"All I'm gonna say is that I get revenge from a couple days ago," Astrid told me with a grin.

Toothless's stomach sucked in with a gagging sound. His eyes lost focus just as his mouth opened, spilling the back end of the fish onto my chest. Astrid laughed.

I rolled my eyes and tossed the fish at her feet using my thumb and forefinger. Astrid jumped, but didn't try to retaliate. "Thanks, bud," I said, stroking Toothless's cheek. And I meant it this time too. He closed his eyes and rumbled softly.

I rolled back to a sitting position, Toothless backing up slightly to give me room. Stood up with a grimace because I used my left leg in a kneeling position. It was still on the mend, so no peg for a little bit. Hopped, turning around and grabbed the scrap iron off the coals. And started pounding away.

It felt amazing to just be in the armory again, working on something. Producing something. And Toothless was as calm as ever, just watching. I thought it was curious he had an attention span this long when I was in the armory. If I tried to get him to watch anything else, he'd wander off in a huff within ten seconds. His tranquility here was the reason he was the only dragon allowed in the armory.

After the "shin" of the peg was in a rough shape, I looked at Astrid and said, "So, I've been thinking about your uncle."

"Oh, really?" she said daringly. "For how long?"

"About five seconds or so." I gave her a small innocent grin.

"What about my uncle?" Astrid asked. She had a tone that said she didn't like where this conversation was about to be headed.

"I think he really was fearless," I said without giving her a chance to think too much.

"So you believe he didn't ruin my family name?"

"No, not at all. I just don't know how anyone's gonna convince Berk about that."

Astrid shrugged. Telling people a fact was one thing. Getting rid of a pervasive rumor was almost not worth the effort. And when three teenagers were the only people who actually knew the truth, it was gonna be about as hard as getting the Berserkers to honor a peace treaty. Probably not gonna happen. "Maybe we don't have to," she said.

"What do you mean?"

"I can live with knowing the truth. Their opinions don't matter anymore, not when it comes to my family name."

"You're okay with that?"

She shrugged. "I guess. I just don't wanna go around town right now trying to convince people about it. Maybe some other time." I was about to say something when Astrid interrupted me. "And no, I'm not talking to Snotlout about this."

I paused, almost thinking Astrid could read my mind. "Uh, well, I think he's gonna forget about it soon anyway. At least until Arvendole's Fire comes back."

"And I say we let him deal with the Flightmare." She had a tone that sounded almost sadistic.

"ASTRID!" a woman's voice shouted. Astrid flinched in surprise. "Why are you in there with a Night Fury!?"

I spun around too quickly. Lost my balance and fell because I forgot about not having a left leg. I grunted and tried to grab onto a hammer, like it was gonna hold my weight. It went flying and slammed into the wall, causing Toothless to jump slightly and growl. I looked up, toward the vista, to find an upside-down Astrid talking to her aunt.

Astrid started to say something, but her aunt cut her off. "You don't realize that dragon burned this place down? And where's Hiccup? He should know better than to have a dragon here."

"Does she seriously think I'm invisible!?" I shouted from the floor. I didn't care if she flew into a rampage. Toothless was gonna protect me anyway.

I got up with a groan and grabbed my crutch. Hobbled over to the vista. And gave a flustered sigh. "What do you need?" I asked tersely.

"I need to know why you let a dragon-"

I cut Astrid's aunt off, saying, "You don't need any swords or shields?"

"Do not interrupt me, young man!"

"Look, if you need any supplies, let me know now. If you don't, please leave. As you can see, I'm very busy here. And you should know better than to surprise me when I'm working," I said. I knew the part about being busy was a lie, but with the blatant disrespect Astrid's aunt showed, I didn't really care right now.

"Your father is going to know about this!" she said threateningly.

I said flatly, "You go tell him." She stormed off with a huff. "Good riddance," I mumbled under my breath, rolling my eyes in irritation. I looked at Astrid and said, "I'm sorry, but-"

"Don't be sorry, Hiccup. When she gets on those streaks like that, nothing's gonna stop her."

"Does she do that often?" I asked.

"Not really, unless Arvendole's Festival is happening. If she goes off on one of her rants, I just take Stormfly out for a flight." Astrid paused with a shocked look on her face. She was staring at two people in the vista. "Uh, Hiccup?" she said.

"Great," I mumbled. Astrid's aunt had made good on her threat to tell my dad. She had that I-told-you-so look on her face.

"Hiccup, did you attack her?" my dad asked, pointing at Astrid's aunt. "She says you jumped through the window and tried to choke her."

Astrid nearly fell down laughing. I couldn't help breaking into a small grin.

I took advantage of Astrid's aunt telling a blatant lie just for a little bit of attention and ran with it. "Ab-so-lute-ly," I said sardonically. Even a deaf person would have been able to tell I was being sarcastic.

My dad grinned slightly and said, "Well, in the future, just make sure to use the techniques I taught you. And if that doesn't work, I think Toothless could help." He winked surreptitiously in my direction. I watched as Astrid's aunt turned her expression from confident to flabbergasted within a second. She kept switching her gaze between me, my dad and Toothless.

"Got it," I said.

"As for you," my dad said, turning to Astrid's aunt. "I don't appreciate you accusing my son of doing something he'd never do. Why did you lie to me?"

Her eyes widened fearfully, and her mouth opened and closed without making a sound.

"There's a reason Toothless is allowed in the armory," my dad told her. It sounded like he had picked up on what Astrid's aunt was actually complaining about. "And if you have a problem with that, you come talk to me about it." My dad turned away from her and began walking toward the great hall. Astrid's aunt stood there in shock for a few seconds before slowly shuffling away from the armory.

"I think I'm gonna finish this peg," I said, breaking the silence that had filled the void around us. I didn't have a lot of steps left. Just connect the two sides with pegs that could move up-and-down in slots and spring-load the two pieces. I didn't like making springs this small, so I just grabbed some that were already made. They were cast iron, the only part of this peg that wasn't Gronckle iron.

I heated the top of the foot section, where it was gonna overlap with the shin and dug out two pits for the pegs to fit. The pegs were pretty easy to make, and I welded them to the bottom of the shin using molten iron and made sure they were straight. Filed them down and fitted the springs on them. I also tipped them with small ball bearings to keep them from slipping out of the slots.

This last step was probably the hardest part of the entire process. I had to get the pegs into the slots, while keeping the springs loaded and in place. On top of all that, I needed to put a layer of Gronckle iron around the pegs to keep them from slipping, but I couldn't let the slot covers attach to the pegs. Overall, it was pretty tricky, but it wasn't like I was gonna use a whole bunch of iron for this step.

"Mind if I watch?" Astrid asked.

"Sure, just be careful," I said.

I put the peg on the anvil and had a small stone beaker of molten Gronckle iron next to it. All of this had to be done within two or three minutes. If I couldn't finish within that time, the iron had to go back into the fire.

I coated one slot without too much trouble with the molten iron. The second slot got the iron stuck to the peg, which was a minor inconvenience. I finished the cover as best as I could and reached for the smallest file I could find. Cut through the misplaced iron and reapplied it with no trouble. Success.

I stood and hopped over to the barrel of water we kept in the center of the armory. Slowly dunked the peg, listening to the occasional hiss from hot iron. Pulled the peg out and put it on the anvil. The stone beaker went back on the shelf, next to the bellows.

"You made that look easy," Astrid said, eyeing the newly formed peg I had made for myself.

"I try," I replied, wiping my brow with a small rag.

I looked at Toothless, who was curled up and asleep in a corner, near my little study. It was gonna be at least a couple more days before I could wear the peg, thanks to my knee. Which meant at least a couple more days before flight. I just hoped Toothless would understand.

"Stormfly's getting impatient," Astrid said after a while. "I'm gonna get her some chicken, and then we're going for a flight. You can join us if you want."

"Wish I could," I replied. "I can't even use a peg for at least another day. Not while my knee is healing."

She shrugged. "Well, I guess that's okay. But I know of at least one person I can trust to have my back."

Before I could say anything, Astrid gave me a quick kiss on the cheek and left. I stood there in shock, as usual. And Toothless was looking at me with a teasing expression.

"All right, let's see what's behind this," I mumbled. I was at home with Toothless, getting ready to unwind for the evening. I untied the strings holding the leather scrap to my left knee and peeled it back. The ointment between the leather and my knee pulled away in small liquid ropes as I took the leather scrap off. Toothless padded over to where I was sitting and immediately sniffed at my knee. He must have seen the gash that rock had created. "You're not gonna like it," I warned.

But he did it anyway. He took one swipe at my knee with his tongue before I could do anything to remove the ointment. Toothless jumped back with an irritated roar, using his teeth to get rid of the ointment coating his tongue. I thought he looked hilarious with his eyes crossed toward his snout, as if he could actually see the stuff coming off his tongue.

"Told ya," I said to him. I had a small washcloth in my hand, and I used it to gingerly remove the excess from my knee. I figured it was gonna take Toothless a while to calm down after that little surprise, but in the end, he could do a better job at healing me than anything else. So I just had to wait for him to decide it was safe again.

After a few minutes, Toothless must have decided that taste was gone from his mouth. He slowly approached my leg as I was lying on my front. I had a few scraps of parchment in front of me, writing information about the Flightmare. We already knew which direction it came from. I was gonna add why it follows the same path. How to stop it. What it can do. I was gonna compare my notes to Fishlegs in the future. When I could actually walk.

I felt Toothless swipe his tongue across my left knee. He was cautious at first, making sure he didn't get a foul taste again. This time, it didn't seem to bother him. There was a little bit of pain every time his tongue met my knee, but it wasn't anything I couldn't handle. He worked into a rhythm, making sure to take his time healing my knee. It was just another one of his little quirks that made me thankful to have met him on that first fateful day.

My plan tomorrow was to make a cushioned support for my peg to attach to my knee. I didn't know about Toothless, but I was itching to get back into the air. And I wanted to be there by tomorrow evening.

I quickly became tired, so I pushed the information about the Flightmare off to the side and laid my head on my pillow. I couldn't get up and down the stairs well, so I was staying near the hearth again tonight. And so was Toothless. I watched Toothless pad over to his rock and char it, just like he did every night. He looked at me as he curled up. And closed his eyes. It didn't take long for me to fall asleep, listening to him breathing.

Author's note: Thanks to everyone who favorited, followed and/or commented on this story. It was a lot of fun to write, and I hope you enjoyed reading it. As always, comments, suggestions and reviews are most appreciated. Thanks for reading!