Merida freezes and then sighs, shoulders slumping as the possum swiftly runs away. "You did it again."
"What?! Oh, come on! I am a master of stealth!"
"Yeah? Well, Master of Stealth, your 'unsuspecting prey' jus' took off!" Merida yells back as she slowly releases the tension in the string and packs her arrow and bow away.
"Technically, it was your prey, and what are you doing?"
"With the way you're crashing through the underbrush, there isn' going tae be any prey in four hundred yards. I'm going tae go check the snare line."
Toothless falls into step behind her as she leads the way. She can hear the crackle of leaves and twigs snap with every step he takes and she rolls her eyes in exasperation. He's lucky she managed to catch so much earlier; otherwise she would have been angry, and rightly so.
Out of the corner of her eyes as she weaves her way around the trees, she can see that he's staring at her. It's not a stare of admiration (or else she'd deck him) and it's not a bit judgmental (which gives him brownie points). She's quickly come to associate that focused, almost hypnotized gaze with endless questions and a curiosity that rivals a cat's. He wears that look a lot, and right now it's combined with a little lost puppy face.
"Yeh want tae know about Hiccup?" she guesses.
He jumps. "You know something? How is he? He hasn't…"
"No, he's one o' sixteen Tributes still alive. You know," she continues as she approaches an empty trap, "you can just ask me when you want tae know about Hiccup. You don't have tae go through spendin' time with me for me tae tell you. You're Hiccup's friend. Yeh deserve tae know what's going on with him.
"I mean…" She lets out a hiss of triumph when she spots a nice-looking rabbit in her next snare. "I know we're nae exactly friends. I brought you tae Rapunzel's because, well, you had caught me sneakin' off and you were a friend of Hiccup's – a brother, more-like – and that was where we were all goin' – tae see Hiccup. But yeh don't have tae feel obligated tae stay with us. I understand, it's Hiccup you're here for, not me."
She turns around when she doesn't hear anything, hands still busy working the critter free.
Toothless has stopped just on the edge of the clearing, eyes staring again. But it's not his usual stare. It's unfocused, like he's retreated deep into himself and is staring inside rather than outside. It's…a little creepy, the intensity, and she returns to resetting the snare and getting the rabbit ready for its journey to her family's stomachs.
Then she continues on down the snare line and Toothless follows, still thoughtful and still very loud.
When she reaches the edges of her town, where the chain link fence is, it's dark, but she can just make out Toothless's silhouette a couple of feet behind her and catch sight of his face in the dimming light.
"So…I guess I'll see yeh tomorrow," she says, more as a goodbye than anything else. She isn't sure how to interpret Toothless's continual presence throughout the afternoon, but she knows where they stand – on opposite sides of the chain link fence, her in the District 8 town and him deep in District 7's unfathomable forest where only Hiccup could have found him. "Just so you know, I won't be able tae get tae the forest. I can meet you here, but tomorrow's one of my late work days. It's too dark tae do anything except go home when I get out o' that pit those days."
"That's fine," Toothless assures her, speaking for the first time in several hours. It makes her look at his face, and her eyes widen when she realizes he's doing his trademark stare – at her. "I'll see you then."
"Yeah," she agrees once he's turned around and started disappearing into the dark trees. "See you then."
The next day, he's actually waiting for her and when she approaches, he beckons her just inside the forest where a large number of rabbits, squirrels, raccoons, and even a badger, all freshly killed and just waiting to be skinned and eaten – or salted, a practical side of her says as the rest of her stares in breathless incredulity – are lying in one of those coarsely-woven District 7 baskets.
He gestures her to it, inviting her to take it.
"See? Master of stealth. I'd like to see you do better, Merida."
She smirks. "Challenge accepted. Next holiday, you, me, right here. At dawn."
"Deal."