Privacy and modesty were not particularly strong Viking traits, and Snotlout and Hiccup were no exceptions. They had both stripped off, and Snotlout sat swathed in blankets while Hiccup coaxed the forge back to life. It was only a short time before the house was bathed in the heat and light of the furnace glow. After life returned to his limbs, Hiccup retrieved a small jar of ointment and crouched before Snotlout.

"Need to take leg off. Ointment will help heal. Will hurt."

Snotlout simply grimaced and straightened his leg. Hiccup couldn't help but draw a sharp breath as he saw the extent of the damage. Although the injury was not recent, the rough treatment it had received had caused the stump to split in several places and there were more than a few deep splinters. He undid the leather straps and carefully eased what was left of the prosthetic off. As he plucked out the splinters and daubed the skin with the ointment Snotlout made no complaint beyond occasional sharp breaths. Though Hiccup was not inclined to be sympathetic towards his one-time tormenter he could not help but admire the fortitude which his cousin was displaying.

"Done. Apply ointment each night. Most people would not be as brave"

"Huh. Not gonna lie, it hurt like blazes. I've got to be tough though, I need my people to look up to me."

"You think Vikings respect you being hard?"

"I know Vikings would never respect someone who is weak. I have enough issues being respected without seeming weak."

"Hard not the same as Strong"

"What's the difference? Words aren't always important to Vikings, we're a people of action."

"This I know. Think, Oak is hard, but when wind blows, it will break. Willow is strong, when wind blows, it will bend and live."

"What? Oak? Willows? Wind… Ohh. I get it. You think that if there is trouble and I am hard, I wont be able to deal with it and will 'break'?"

"Exactly. Smarter than you look."

Snotlout snorted and gestured to himself depreciatingly "It wouldn't exactly be hard now would it?"

Hiccup chuckled and found himself warming to this new person.

"You are different to what I expected, rumour says you are true to name; Loutish and ignorant."

"Don't forget arrogant. I am, I mean I was. I was all of those things, and not a good Viking, or friend. I'm a different person now, at least I try to be."

"What changed?"

"It's a long story…" he replied with a forced laugh. It was obvious that Snotlout was still no fan of introspection. Hiccup was intrigued however and gestured to the door which was rattling with the force of the storm outside.

"We have time. You talk, tell story. Is price for new leg. Deal?

"I don't really…"

"Deal?"

"I guess…"

Hiccup took measurements off the damaged prosthesis and began to draw as Snotlout began to talk.

It was intense. Neither wanted to back down. The only outward sign of the struggle was a tightening of a cheek here, and drawn down eyebrow there. The more astute bystanders were very careful not to interrupt the battle as they went about their business. All of them except for one anyway.

Gobber plopped down onto a bench with his meal in one hand and his prosthetic mug full of beer, cutting into the combatant's line of sight and ending a hard fought and unspoken staring competition.

"Now ladies, I thought you two might get on each other's nerves, but I didn't think you'd be so rude as to interfere with other people's meals. Why don't you save your antagonising for tomorrow and fight it out like real Vikings on the training field?"

Cami was about to bite off a stinging retort but before she could Astrid was on her feet.

"Fine! Noon tomorrow at the grounds? First blood wins."

"As you wish. You really want to lose so badly?"

Astrid seemed to choke and took a step forwards before she checked herself.

"Ha! As if you could ever win against a real warrior, you… you pampered princess!"

With that, she stomped off with a very dangerous look on her face.

"I wasn't always Heir to the Hooligans you know. The Chief is my uncle, not my father. He used to have a son, but he's dead now. He just… disappeared one day. At first, everyone was kinda relieved. He wasn't exactly a traditional Viking ya know? He tried to make up for it though, and he built all these things to make him better, but they always ended up doing more harm than good. We all picked on him, me more than anyone else. I was more jealous than anything else, I just couldn't understand why he wasn't like us. I thought I could do a better job, after all, I was big and strong and manly, all the things a Viking is. It wasn't until I'd been Heir for a couple of months that I began to realise how wrong I was. I wasn't good enough, I kept failing. There was so more to the job, and I was woefully unprepared for it. Disputes can't always be solved through brawn, and it took me a long time to realise that.
On top of that, there was Astrid to deal with. She's better at fighting than me, I don't mind admitting that now, but back then my ego just couldn't cope with the thought that anyone, let alone a girl, was better than the mighty Snotlout. So not only was I overcompensating for that, we both realised that she was almost certainly going to be my bride at some point, I mean, who else would the best fighter marry? I admit, I revelled in it, that knowledge, and she railed against it. And looking back, I don't blame her at all.
I've been trying to change, I really have. It's not easy, and I don't succeed anywhere near as often as I'd like to."

"Why did you start trying to change? What happened?" asked Hiccup, now genuinely curious.

"I guess… I guess it was a few things, like actually wanting Astrid to not hate me, but I guess the biggest wakeup call was losing my leg. I was…"

At this point, Snotlout seemed to choke up a little bit.

"Sorry, summat in my throat"

Beneath his mask, Hiccup couldn't help but grin. It seemed his cousin hadn't completely changed. Despite himself, he felt himself warming to the new Snotlout.

"Anyway. Yeah, my leg. It was sort of my fault. No, that's not right, it was entirely my fault. We were in a defensive line, and I broke ranks. I disobeyed orders. Damn near got Ack killed doing it too. I got cornered, and a Nightmare ripped my leg off. We killed it of course, but I still messed up bad. I had a lot of time to think when I was recovering, and that's pretty much it. Short of it is that I let my arrogance get the better of me, and it lost me my leg and nearly someone else's life too."

"Sounds like it made big difference. Don't think you insufferable fool the stories I hear say you are. Leg finished now, try on."

Snotlout eyed the metallic contraption warily, but shrugged and started to buckle it on when a chuckle from Hiccup stopped him.

"Wrong way. Turn around"

"wha? Ohhhh. Thanks."

After strapping it up correctly and standing up, he broke out in a delighted grin.

"I mean it! This is great, much better than a wooden stump. It almost feels like a real leg!"

Hiccup couldn't help but grin at his boyish delight, and found to his surprise that he almost liked Snotlout now. His cousin had certainly grown up.

"Fair deal for story. Meet me at training grounds tomorrow, we spar and I design new weapon. That axe no good."

Snotlout stopped mid-twirl to stare.

"How..? How'd you know I was after new weapons?"

"No one comes to see a weaponsmith for talking do they?" Hiccup replied with a laugh in his voice.

"I guess… I'm not too fussed about a weapon for me, I actually came about getting a new axe for Astrid…"

He settled himself down again, and they continued to discuss weapons and fighting styles for much of the evening.