Fabric and Leather

Four days later...


Hiccup was not entirely well, but he had enough energy to walk to the forge. And if he didn't, well, he was going anyway. It wasn't far, and he'd get there eventually.

He'd had more than enough of being in bed. He was bored out of his mind. He didn't have enough energy to fly, but he had some, and the forge was as good a place as any. It wasn't his room, or his bed, and that was enough.

When he arrived, the forge was empty. But shortly afterward, Gobber caught him trying to sharpen one of the tools used for sheep shearing and nearly knocked Hiccup across the room.

"What're ye doing? You're not supposed to be out of bed, Hiccup. Does Stoick know you're here?"

"Dad does not know I'm here, but I'm not staying in bed. I'm well enough to stand upright."

Gobber shook his head, his trailing whiskers twitching with his irritation."You can't lift a hammer, not right now, anyway. You can't even hone a blade properly. You're going to do more harm than good. Go back to bed."

"No. There are things I can do. Where are we on saddles? Who needs one?"

Gobber muttered about stubborn vikings and Thor, and pushed Hiccup to the desk he used in the back.

"Go sit back there, and don't cause any trouble. I mean it. Stay out of my way and I won't tell Stoick. But if he finds you here and starts bellowing about it, you're on your own."

"Gobber-"

"SIT. There. NOW."

Hiccup rolled his eyes and went back to his desk.

Was the forge always this big? His desk seemed farther away.

Gobber didn't see him collapse onto the low bench, but he heard the noise.

"Told you so."

"Ok, Gobber," Hiccup replied.

Hiccup picked up charcoal and flipped through the drawings on his table. Counting backwards, he realized he hadn't been at the forge, or out of bed, for nine days. No wonder he didn't recognize some of the drawings. He hadn't seen them for so long, it was like looking at someone else's work.

He was soon engrossed in altering one of his designs, wondering what he'd been thinking when he'd drawn the straps in that configuration. He redrew the saddle, added a storage compartment on the side where there was empty space that could be made useful, and was about to show it to Gobber when he heard voices from the next room.

"So, what would you use then?"

Astrid?

"Well, that's a mite tricky. The trouble is, you have to join the two sides such that the strengths of one won't harm the other."

What was she talking to Gobber about?

"Right. And if the stitching is too small, it'll pull through the fabric."

"Exactly," Gobber replied. The way he rolled his words through his throat meant he was drawing on years of knowledge to figure something out. He practically chewed on words while he was thinking.

"What if someone needed to add a piece of wool or something to the underside of a saddle?"

"Why would someone need to do that? Something wrong with Stormfly?"

"Oh, no, not me. Not for me. I'm just wondering, because, uh, we were flying yesterday and it seems like it might make a difference in, um, the way the saddle would fit."

"Nah, nothing like that. Between the leather of the saddle and the dragon hide, the fabric wouldn't stand a chance. It would wear out before you got home the first day."

"Ah," she said. "What do you use to join things to leather, out of curiosity?"

"Well, usually sewing anything to leather requires special needles."

"Needles? Like Nadder quills?"

"Nah, not strong enough. You need metal. But Astrid, if your saddle needs repair, bring it in. We'll fix it."

"Oh, no, my saddle is fine."

Hiccup couldn't see Astrid, but he could see Gobber leaning on the large work table, tools and scraps stacked behind him. What on earth were they talking about?

He wanted to go in the room and ask, but he had a feeling he'd learn more if he didn't. Maybe Astrid was up to something….

"Why don't you tell me what you're trying to make, Astrid, and I'll see what I can do to help you out?"

"Oh, no, like I said, it's not something for me. I'm just...curious."

Hiccup could hear in her voice that she was lying.

So could Gobber. Astrid was many things, but a good liar was not one of them.

"Well, not much else I can tell you, then. The best way to figure out how to join two different things is to try different options once you have the two things what need to be joined."

"Right. That makes sense. Thanks, Gobber." Astrid ducked out the side door and left in a hurry.

"What was that about?" Hiccup asked when he was sure Astrid had gone.

"Well, I don't rightly know, to be honest," he said. "She was asking about joining fabric to leather, but couldn't tell me for what. She'll be back for some help, though. Sewing leather is always tricky."

Hiccup leaned against the table, frowning.

"Joining leather to fabric."

"Aye. That's what she said."

Hiccup turned and went back to his desk, taking a few extra sheets of paper with him.

What was Astrid trying to do with leather and fabric?

And if he asked, would she tell him?