Please Pass the Yak Butter

Hiccup's POV

The Snoggletog celebration had lasted late into the night and everyone except me and a few others were stone drunk. During the night I had become friends with the twins and Snotlout, as well as giving them some Snoggletog gifts. I gave the twins two sets of twin daggers that had the heads of a Zippleback craved into them, and gave Snotlout a large nugget of gold, dug out of the caverns of Mount Siren in the south; a land that was unexplored by Vikings but inhabited by pirates. I almost died there during a rock slide that caused the mine in the mountain to collapse. Some samples of Gronkle Iron I had were given to Gobber and to my father a pendant on a silver chain in the shape of a circle with a symbol of a pair of arms crossed over each other and the hands held a weapon, one with a hammer and the other with an axe, it was the symbol of a brave and trustworthy leader in the west. He took it with a proud smile.

The only one left was Astrid. Even-though I had already given her the axe head if my spear, I felt she deserved something better. And I knew what it was. So I asked to speak with her alone, and lead her out of the front door where she demanded to know why I dragged her out here in the cold. Hesitating at first, I told her about my encounter with a Flightmare and how it didn't freeze people with fright but with a spray of mist it disperses that paralyses its victims. Astrid sat with me on the steps of the Great Hall hugging her knees close to her chest, she stared blankly into the distance until her eyes overflowed with tears that ran down her cheeks. I thought it was too much so I start to move away, but Astrid grabbed my hand and pulled me back down and wrapped her arms around sat there for a few minutes, with her silently sobbing on my shoulder and me awkwardly hugging her. Eventually we let go of each other and said nothing while Astrid wiped the tears from her eyes; unexpectedly she punched me hard on the arm.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"That's for making me cry," She gave me another punch "That's for beating me in a fight"

I rub the sore part of my arm, sending her an annoyed glare. Then even more unexpectedly, she gave me a small kiss on the cheek.

"And, that's for everything else" Astrid stood up without another word and went back into the Great Hall, Toothless then appeared by my side with a smug grin on his face. "I'm thinking a spring wedding"

"Shut up!"

***
It was early in the morning and I was at the Forge, sketching out some blueprints for Toothless' tail fin. I was wearing a grey long sleeved tunic that I had packed in my saddle bag for spare clothes, and wore a black fur vest with green thread embroidery along the edges of the sleeve holes and neckline. The vest was a gift from Astrid, she gave it to me last night before I went home for the night, it fit perfectly and was warm against the bitter cold.

Gobber was at the grinding wheel, sharping a sword for a customer, while I was in the back room working until Astrid came in and knocked on the doorframe.

"Hey!" she greeted "me and the others are going to head up the mountain to have a snowball fight later. You want to come?"

It sounded like fun, so why not? "Sure," I answer "When is it?"

"An hour after lunch."

"Ok, I'll see you there"

Astrid waved a goodbye and left the Forge. As soon as she was out of the door I rushed behind the Forge and grabbed six planks of wood of about a metre and a half in length. All I need to do now is shape, sand, wax and paint them. If we're only going up a mountain for a snowball fight then what's the point of walking down it, acting like nothing happened after getting hyped from the game?

Astrid's POV

I didn't see Hiccup at lunch and we were already heading up the mountain. Before we left, i stopped by the Forge to get Hiccup, but he wasn't there so we went without him. Snotlout was blabbering non-stop about his going to beat us in the snowball fight, Ruff and Tuff each made a snowball and threw it in his face then ran up the slope with Snotlout chasing them. I hung back with Fishlegs, wondering where Hiccup could be. As we reached an area with trees and a surface that was flat we split up into teams, i went with Fishlegs while Snotlout and the twins teamed up. Fishlegs and i were building a barrier of snow, we were then stopped by a voice behind us.

"Sorry, i'm late," said Hiccup "Toothless wanted some fish, so we went to the market in the town square to get some"

"Its Ok," stated Fishlegs "At least we have you and Astrid on the team. You guys are going to kick their butts"

Hiccup smiled at that. "You guys need help with anything?"

"Yeah," i announced "Can you help me with this barrier while Fishlegs makes some ammunition?"

"Sure"

We finished our defence barrier and had plenty of snowballs to throw. Hiccup suggested that if he could hide in the trees then he wouldn't be seen and would throw snowballs at the other without them knowing where he was. It seemed like a good idea, but the only problem was that the trees had snow pliled on top of the and if he jumped from tree to tree the snow fall off and they would see him. Hiccup then came up with another idea and somehow called for two Terrible Terrors, he told them to take two snowballs each and hide in a tree. He then climbed up a nearby tree and waited.

Me and Fishlegs stood by the barrier, until i caught i glimpse of Tuffnut's behind, sticking out behind a shrub. I got up snowball and threw it at him. The snowball hit its mark and he collapsed on his side yelling out a curse. Me and Fishlegs laughed at that. A snowball hit my back and i spun to see Ruffnut standing five metres away, chuckling. After that, the fight got intense, snowballs were flying everywhere, but soon Fishlegs and i were cornered with no ammunition.

Snotlout was about to throw a snowball when suddenly a snowball flew out of the trees and hit the back of his head. He turned around to find no one and another snowball came from a different tree and knocked off Tuff's helmet. It was Hiccup to the rescue. More and more snowballs ambushed the opposing team and they were soon half covered and lying in snow. Hiccup came down from the tree along with the Terrible terrors, we all laughed at what just happened, so did the small dragons who shortly flew off.

The twins and Snotlout stood up groaning.

"Damn," exclaimed Snotlout "You play hard" I look to Hiccup and only see him smile.

"Well, i guess we better walk back down, to the village" said Fishlegs

We all groaned at this. All except Hiccup. "Actually," he started "We don't"

We all looked at him as if he were crazy. I watched as he picked something up from behind a rock, he brought over six planks of wood with curved edges and three racing stripes of different colours, one colour running down the middle of the board and another colour running down on both sides of the middle one. He handed one to each of us; mine had blue and orange stripes, Fishlegs had green and orange, Ruffnut got green and purple, Tuffnut -who was staring at it and looked on the verge of tears- had yellow and black, red and yellow for Snotlout and Hiccup had one with red and black with a picture of Toothless from a sky view travelling down the red painted stripe in the middle.

"Woah!" Tuffnut exclaimed "These are awesome!" His expression then turned to confussion."What are they?"

"Their called 'Snowboards', " Hiccup replied "When i was still on Berk, i got chased by some dragons and hid in shed. Until they blew it up and i landed on one of the wooden boards that was used to build that shed. I was sliding down the mountain slope on it and when i gained some balance on it, i started to do some stunts and thus, i invented a new sport called Snowboarding"

Hiccup gave us some advice before we went down the slope, saying that you have to be balanced, use your legs to guide the board and take it easy since it was our first time doing this. It wasn't easy controlling the board but i was managing. Fishlegs was screaming as we descended down the mountain and was lying on his stomach on the board, Snotlout was all over the place yelling out unintelligible things, the twins seemed to be doing alright they criss-crossed each others paths and were able to avoid rocks and trees. Hiccup was in front of us, having perfect balance and concentration, and i had a great view of his behind- For Odin's sake Astrid! Snap out of it! I shook the thought away and see Hiccup sliding backwards! He was smiling at us as he balanced himself on his board with his back facing the bottom of the mountain.

"Show off!" i shouted. He then went back to his original position and i went back to concentrating on my balance. Up ahead i saw a rock that was sticking out on an angle, and confidence consumed me as i turned to it and flew off it while doing a single spin.

"Not bad, Astrid." Hiccup called

We had reached an area of the mountain slope that was concaved shaped, as we went down and through it, Hiccup veered of course and he slid up the curved sides and off the edges perfoming stunts. He flew up sideways in midair with his right hand holding the side of his board with his feet still plated on it, he came back down and flew up the other side, this time twisting in the air. He landed on the ground then jumped up onto a fallen trunk of a tree and the board grinded on it while spinning. He came off and turned his head to face us, and saw we were all staring at him with bewilderment, shock and fascination.

He just chuckled.

Hiccup's POV

We skidded to a halt when we reached the bottom, i caught Astrid as she stopped her snowboard and fell forwards, Fishlegs came to a stop, shakily clutching the board for dear life, the twins rammed into each other but still shouted out in joy where as Snotlout stopped by colliding into a big heap of snow. Standing Astrid upright i went over to Snotlout and grabbed his legs that were sticking out and pulled him out; he looked like deformed snowman.

"That was awesome!" screamed Ruffnut "We need to do that again"

"Yeah!" agreed Tuffnut, then his stomack emitted a loud growl "But after we eat something"

So it was settled, we'd get something to eat and head back up the mountain again to practice snowboarding. We entered the Great hall, a few Vikings were there having conversations about there day. The gang and i fetched a bowl of stew, a slice bread and cup of water, we sat at a table near the back of the hall eating and talking. I asked them questions about Berk, after i left, turns out the food supplies were dwindling and they've been asking other tribes for food, Mildew the Unpleasant had vanished mysteriously one day; nobody noticed until Gobber pointed out they hadn't heard his 'Complaint of the day' for a while, searches for the Dragon Nest had been a failure as always, and Berk has explored some new lands and added it to their map. I asked Fishlegs if he was enjoying those books i gave him, and he began to ramble on about them.

"Hiccup, the books are amazing! Where did you get them?"

"The author of the botany book gave it to me and I wrote the book of dragons myself" I reply

"Seriously?! You've seen all these dragons?"

"Not just seen all of them, but trained them"

"That's incredible! Ruffnut, you need to see this"

Ruffnut just yawned and pointed to the behind us "Can you get the yak butter over there?"

Fishlegs got up and grabbed the butter while still talking about the book. "Really Ruffnut you need to read this," he rambled on while still holding the butter "There's so much information about them that Hiccup has learned that we could never have"

"Interesting. Pass the butter" said Ruffnut deadpanned.

"You don't get it do you? We could use this information to build a safer environment for Berk!"

"Fine Fishlegs. You have my undivided attention" she wiped her mouth with her arm and folded her arms in her lap.

"Great," Fishlegs dumped the butter on our table, out of reach from Ruffnut. "This book contains so much information on dragons that even I didn't know about!"

"No way!" exclaimed Ruffnut. I looked at the others and they were just as confused as me.

"Yes way," he continued "I gathered the statistics of the dragons from the manual, but this surpasses it"

"You're kidding!"

"I'm not. If we took the knowledge from the book, we'd be able to protect Berk more efficiently and wouldn't have to worry so much about the dragons"

"It would be useful" commented Ruffnut

"Yes, and if Hiccup is willing to show us how to train them, we can use them to help make a better defence system for Berk"

"Wait a minute. Who's 'them'?"

"The dragons" Fishlegs answered

"You have to be joking!"

"I'm actually not! I'll show this to Stoick and start planning on some adjustments, like tying eels to the pens of the sheep, or build supply sheds that won't burn easily. There'll be so much to do. What should I start with?"

"Start by passing the FRICKING YAK BUTTER!" she bellowed.

Fishlegs, petrified slid the butter to Ruffnut who eagerly took it and started to spread it over her slice of bread.

"Can you believe I have to get married to this guy?"

None of us said anything, we were all too shocked at what happened. I just sat there quietly eating my stew.

An hour passed and we had finished eating. Snotlout went home to get some beauty rest, the twins ran off to Odin knows where, Fishlegs hurried off to his house eager to finish the books I gave him, leaving me with Astrid. I asked her if i could see the map and the islands they've charted, she excitedly went to retrieve the map and at the same time my dad cam into the hall.

"Hey, dad" i greet "You done with chiefing?"

"Yeah it was a short day" he took sit beside me "What about you? What did you today?"

"Well, i was working on the blueprints for Toothless' tail until Astrid invited me to a snowball fight on the mountain, so that happened, taught the others to snowboard, came in here to have something to eat and right now Astrid's getting your map so i can see what new islands you've come across"

"Sounds like you've had a busy but exciting day" he commented

I nod. Astrid came back with a big piece of rolled up paper. We cleared the table and she placed the map on the table then rolled it out. I could already tell which islands were new to the map, because i don't remember them being there before.

"We found this one when we went for another hunt for the dragon, we decided to try to take a new route" she explained while pointing to an island that resembled a starfish and then pointed to another one that looked like a teardrop. "That one, Trader Johann told us about. We use it for resources" I wasn't surprised. I've been to that island, Toothless and i called it Sorrow island. Astrid contiued to explain the new islands and when she finished both her and my father looked at me with proud smiles, that was until i rolled the back up and took out thick folded piece of parchment. Placing it on the table, started to unfold it bit by bit until it was spread out on the table; the parchment was two metres on all sides, with mutliple islands, oceans and countries marked all over it. Looking at Astrid and my dad i saw that their jaws were dropped and stared in disbelief at my map.

"It's something, isn't it?" i remarked

"You've been to all of these places?" dad asked

"Yep. You could say i've been nearly eveywhere. Five years can do wonders"

"What's this island in the middle?" asked Astrid. She was pointing to a big island that was shrouded in fog and had a huge tree in the centre of it, and was marked as 'Paradise Santuary'.

"That's were i live" i state

"Really?"

I nod and folded the map back up and put in the inside pocket of my vest. My father was silent and i looked at him worriedly and curiously. "Dad? You alright?" I shook his shoulder a bit.

"Yeah, i'm fine" He gave me a small smile, but it didn't reassure me.

"Well, i better go," i say "Toothless is probably getting a bit worried" I wave a goodbye and head over to my house. When i entered, i saw Gothi petting Toothless who was sleeping comfortably on the floor. She had a Terrible Terror napping on her shoulders and blow smoke rings out of its nose. She looked up at me and smiled.

"Hello, Hiccup." she said? "How are you?"

"Good" i answer cautiously "You're speaking"

"Yes i am. First time in seventy years" Her voice was rough and course like sandpaper but was smooth and gentle at the same time. "You were right about these dragons, they keep the rats out and the warmth they produce helps my aching shoulders" I gave her a terrible terror one day when we were on a rare visit here, the dragon was slowly dying from poison and Gothi healed it. The dragon took a liking to her and since that day the terror has stayed by her side.

"Pardon for asking so bluntly, but why are you talking?"

Her smile fell a bit "My vow to my late husband was one of promise. He would understand, why i'd break it."

"You didn't answer the question"

She gave a small chuckle "You are observant. Then again, you always were. I haven't broken that vow to just tell you anything. I have broken the vow to offer you some advice. This choice you speak of, is difficult. Have you come to a conclusion yet?"

"No," I answer "it's frustrating. I never felt that I belonged on Berk while I was here, but now everyone is, treating me differently. Like I'm one of them. And, though the dragons took me in, I still feel like I don't belong, I don't feel at home. Even though they understood me more than the Vikings. It's so confusing"

"You are a unique boy, Hiccup. Different. You're not like the rest of us. We jump to conclusions of assumption, whereas you, you think, question, understand. You search for a reason. From the day you were born i knew you weren't going to be like us. Not because you of the fact you were born small, it was because i saw her in you. Your mother, in your eyes. She was an extraodinary woman your mother, caring, wise, gentle, yet fierce. Just like you. Valka, believed she could make Berk understand that dragons were not what they seemed to be. Unfortunately, she was not able to, and the consequences of her actions caught up with her. But, you have that power of change and hope in you. You never gave up so easily." she gave out a long deep sigh "What i'm trying to say is, don't make the choice come quicker than it's suppose to. Let it come to you. You will know when it is time to make it. I've rambled on long enough and i don't want to break my vow any longer than i have to, so farewell Hiccup, remember what i said."

Gothi stood up and walked out of the front door, leaving me with Toothless who woke up from his nap. "How was your day?" he asked

"Pretty good. Went snowboarding with the others" i replied

"Sounds like you had fun"

"Yeah. Want some fish?"

"You know i do"

The Dragons Nest

"My loyal subjects, do you bring me news of this so called 'Little Sparrow'?"

"Flamewing, has flown my Queen, along with his group with guidance of the human boy"

"Curses. Many times Little Sparrow has made my subjects turn against me. Send out another raid, i grow hungry. Razor, join them. And if you are to come across the human child, make sure to despose of him properly. I will not tolerate failure."

"As you wish my Queen. Dragons! Prepare to raid for the Queen!"

"I must'nt underestimate the boy, he was able to turn my most loyal servant against me. That Night Fury will pay for such a betrayal. If all my plans fail, then i shall have to put matters into my own claws. Starting with that human, who as costed me nearly all of my subjects. He is not to be fooled with. None the less, he is merely a child. Compared to me, he will not stand a chance."