Disclaimer: Last night, I had a nightmare: someone cut my hair and told me I didn't own HTTYD. It was terrifying.

Author's Note: Thanks for the reviews and great ideas! I have to warn you that this chapter will have some fluff. If you don't feel like reading it, that is your problem. Also, this chapter was heavily influenced by the track on the soundtrack called The Vikings Have Their Tea, written for solo violin, pennywhistle, and orchestra. I liked the whole idea of the dual octave thing and I decided to come up with an arrangement of it through this chapter. If you've never heard the song, .com/watch?v=I1cGZUMRHn0. Enjoy!

Everything made sense to Hiccup now. Astrid was the violist he had heard while he was playing for Toothless about a week ago. And what he had heard coming out of the dragon's nest made sense too! And what he saw in the ring!

A viola is slightly bigger than a violin but in the same octave. It has no high E string but it has a low C string which enables it to go four whole steps lower. It has a fuller sound and is often used as a supporting instrument.

Being a true music geek, Hiccup knew all about the difference in size between the violin and viola. Since a viola was bigger than a violin, one would have to stretch out the fingers further on a viola to get the same pitch as on a violin. But playing Hiccup's violin was the first time Astrid had experienced that small finger spacing, which was why everything had been so sharp.

"So, you're a violist." he said calmly.

Astrid shifted uncomfortably. "Yeah."

He said, "Are you any good?"

All she could do was shrug and say, "I'm okay, I guess."

Hiccup gave her a smile that he rarely gave. (Toothless was usually the one who received it.) He was so pleased. Now he saw why he had chased after her all those years. He had seen through her mask of stiffness and had realized that there was something special that she possessed something only a musician could have. "You, okay? I bet you're great. You're so modest, anyway. You're really tough with dragons and you brush that off like it's nothing."

Astrid turned pink and did something Hiccup had never seen her do before. She twirled her hair around her finger and began to ramble. "Oh, but it is nothing! You proved that being tough was the wrong way, so actually I'm really bad with dragons compared to you. But it's not like I tried to be like you and step out of my shell, break the ancient tradition of fighting dragons and be brave like you-"

He couldn't help but feel slightly pleased with himself: Astrid had called him brave!

Hiccup smiled and put a finger to Astrid's lips to hush her. "I'm not brave." He admitted, "I'm just curious. Anyone who is willing to show me a secret this big is much braver than I will ever be."

Astrid stuttered in protest and Hiccup silenced her. He raised his fiddle to his shoulder and his lips formed the words, "Play with me, Astrid."

He thought he saw tears of joy forming in her eyes, but thought it was his imagination. He was almost positive that he had been correct in his assumption when Astrid's voice quivered as she spoke. "Oh… what should we play? Nobody writes anything for a viola, so most of the time, I have to figure things out by ear." Astrid breathed.

Hiccup could scarcely believe it. "You figure out how to play things by ear?" Astrid blushed. (Author's Note: Of COURSE she has really good relative pitch! It's my fanfic!) "Don't be ashamed of it, Astrid! That's a grand skill! My dad would kill me if he saw me looking for sheet music, I mean, he hates me enough as it is," he added slightly bitterly, "so I have to write my own. Luckily, I have written a duet for viola and violin."

"You didn't." She said in disbelief as Hiccup rummaged through the pockets of his vest for the two-part score.

"I did."

Astrid studied the music. The score wasn't very complicated, as it was written at a tempo of andante, but it was full of grace notes. The bowings were very unusual, with many slurs and double up-bows etc.

As the blonde musician followed the notes on the page, Hiccup watched her fingers perform the melody with surprising accuracy for a sight-read. The sight made his heart flutter. He never thought that the girl he'd had a huge crush on for so long would be a musician, like himself.

"Well," said Astrid, "I haven't sight-read in a while: I was so busy with training… or more like, trying to beat you…" Her cheeks flushed. "Anyway… this might be a tad shaky. Can I count us off?"

"By all means: you're the one who starts the piece," Hiccup urged. As she put the bow upon the string and counted them off in three, nothing else mattered but the music she made.

Hiccup had never heard such controlled dynamics; piano with a crescendo to mezzo-forte and diminuendo to piano again. Her bowhold was more relaxed than his! She had such control over her instrument. Hiccup was so entranced that he would have forgotten to come in if Astrid hadn't given him a cue with her body.

Hiccup played the same melody in 3 that Astrid had played, but an octave higher, wishing his phrasing could be as accurate as hers and he rushed a tad. To get him back on track, Astrid counted out loud for him, as well as conducted.

Hiccup was so amazed that she knew how to conduct! He had no idea she was so knowledgeable when it came to music. Her phrasing was much better than Hiccup's, but when she played again, he noticed that his tone was much warmer, and hers was a bit too cold. Maybe someday they could help each other…

Then came the part of the piece in which they played together. Since it was the same figure they had played previously an octave apart, they just smiled at each other, gauging the ritard at the end off of each others' bow speed.

Hiccup put down his instrument and inched closer to the violist. "You play beautifully, Astrid." She gave an uncharacteristic giggle. The blue and green eyes met and were trapped until Astrid gasped.

"Oh, Woden! There's a war going on here!" She said.

Hiccup turned away and blushed. He had totally forgotten. "Right- then, let's get back to the arena before Ruff and Tuff start bickering again."