Hiccups POV

We walked back to the village after a little more time in the cove. Merida seemed to immediately fall in love with Toothless; her eyes lit up like fire worms whenever he was near. The smile on her face was irreplaceable, so bright and full of life. Something that Gobber had said ran through my mind while watching them; the way Toothless had moved with her with ease; looking to her in a growing adorning way whenever she petted him or placed a hand near him. Almost child-like.

He seemed to love listening to her voice; maybe it was the accent but even when she laughed his tail swished quickly. I had never known him to be so besotted with someone. But I was glad; because if I was truly honest with myself.

He wasn't the only one happy to have her around.

"Yerl have ter show me how yer fly 'im" She said excitedly. Her horse walked beside her; she was feeding it something while stroking its mane

"Il take you sometime" I smiled at her happily. Her eyes grew wider and full of wonder

"Yer promise?"

"sure why not, as long as you show me how to ride a horse" I winked to her in a humorous way.

"I's a deal!" she said positively gleaming with excitement.

I felt quite proud of myself for once. I had managed to impress a girl and it was all thanks to Toothless; he was the best thing that had ever happened to me, he gave me this new found confidence and interesting persona; there was no way a girl like Merida would have wanted to spend time with me if it wasn't for him.

That thought sat in my head for a long time…

Maybe she was only interested in me because of the dragons…

I shook my head and tried to shake this horrible feeling of worry, last night we had sat talking all night without her wanting to run off and hide, we had played together when we were younger, even though I had no recollection of anything at all.

It was like a blank slate in my life, something I had blocked out, like a bad dream that had came and faded. But if that was anything to go on, I wanted to have nightmares.

I wanted to remember these play dates; it was a time before the bullies started, a time before I was cast aside. A time before my mother died.

And if Merida knew something about our time together, with or without my mother, surely that was something to go on. But taking all that aside, I tried to remember the girl as I did deeply want to know her, she was probably my first friend by the way my father spoke of her. This made me want to remember even more as back then, before the gang of bullies started and before I was deemed useless, Merida was in my life and she didn't judge me; maybe because she was too young or maybe because she had no choice but to play with me. Either way I was interested in remembering my little friend who liked me for who I was, not what I had done.

It was refreshing.

I was pulled out of my thoughts when Merida laughed slightly as Toothless nudged my side, bringing me out of my day dream.

"Woah easy there bud" I chuckled as he continued to nudge himself into my side. He was clearly doing this to impress our new lady eyes skimmed to hers in a short second, those huge pools of blue beamed back at me, like the sunset on the meridian ocean. Toothless nudged me again, nearly causing me to loose my footing.

It seemed so unlikely that Toothless, the almighty night fury, would become so fearless in front of this girl. He seemed to admire her, but was wary in himself, this was understandable though since she nearly tore my arm off a few days ago.

I tried to let my mind mull over the coincidence of the situation when I was pulled out of my thoughts by Merida's Mother who had glided herself over to us in a sharp manor. She wasn't too phased by toothless since she had greeted him this morning with the King. The king seemed very excited by the whole idea of dragons and men working together while his wife seemed skeptical, only warming up to it when toothless decided to bow to her in a formal manor. Sometimes he was too smart for his own good.

"Merida! There yer are lady! Come along, the firs' game o' the suitor challenge is startin' soon; we mus' get yer ready! Look a' the state yer in! is tha' blood!" Merida's mothers rushed over to her in a very lady like manor hustling about something that seemed exciting.

Oh no…

Here it came again, the sweaty palms, the rush of red to my face; my throat gathered a lump in the side of it.

All this time I had spent with Merida and I had forgotten about the one thing that was essential…

I was to win her hand in marriage or be humiliated in front of my entire tribe.

I had never even thought of the lines that were so solidly in place between the two of us. Now they seemed bigger than ever.

The politics of our tribes.

Merida looked to me in a moment of flurry. She seemed to be realizing the same thing.

"Oh Hiccup dear, yer father and his friend ar' waitin' fer yer in the black smiths" Eleanor smiled sweetly to me as I nodded flatly, my eyes flinging to Merida.

"I guess il see yer in there" she said; her voice weak. Toothless nudged me again but in a different manor, bringing me to my senses.

"Yeah erm..I will" I smiled before Toothless turned to gently butt Merida on her side.

"Yer be good now yer here, il see yer later" she told him scrunching up her button nose at him.

He purred in content before turning to me and pushing me in the other direction.

My feet started to respond then as both of us ran to Gobber's shop. All the time panicking and sweating.

I thought I was going to pass out.

How could I forget the main reason why she was here?! It wasn't as if it was a leisurely visit she was making. This was serious business and nothing could stop it from happening. Tradition was important to our clans, nothing would or could stop it from happening. I had to compete, even though there were other tasks I would of happily replaced it for. I was a first born. This meant I had no choice in the matter.

Just like Merida; I remembered most of the night before, how she had told me she never wanted this. In my head I knew she was a smart girl and would do the right thing for her tribe. But In my heart I knew that she was too strong a character to be told what to do.

I watched as people scurried past me whispering and giggling in small groups, and wishing me good luck. Toothless followed close behind just watching them pass me by.

He seemed pretty oblivious to what was going on. It was understandable, how much could one night fury understand in all this political madness.

"Dad?" I called out as I strode into the smithy; he and Gobber came into view both leaning against a work bench.

"Ah son, there yer are; are ye already?"

"Ready for what dad? I didn't even know a game was taking place today" Time seemed to slip by me these past 24 hours.

"Och Hiccup, have yer had yer head in the clouds? Its yer firs' chance to impress the Princess" My dad turned away from me for a second before picking up my old Viking helmet and placing it on my head. The weight of it made my head push down slightly.

"Err Dad, in case you haven't noticed, I'm not the strongest Viking around here"

"Well, yer still can stand a chance" He said, I looked to him in disbelief as he revealed in it himself. I just rolled my eyes

"yer hav' no choice Hiccup" He sighed as I nodded.

"Aye besides, yer been spending a little time wit' the lassie since she got 'ere, mus' mean somthan if she keeps comin' back for more of yer" Gobber winked at me smacking something heavy down onto the work bench. I huffed and looked to Toothless who had followed me to the door of the smithy and just sat looking in from the walkway.

"So since im being held against my will and forced to compete I might as well learn what I have to do; that way when I fail at least il know what I was meant to achieve" I said flatly, crossing my arms and leaning against the wooden shelf to the left.

"That's, the spirit!" Gobber cheered understanding my tone of sarcasm, my father who was completely oblivious just stood happily too.

"So what is this first task?"

"Ahh its easy this an, yer jus' need ter introduce yer sel to the princess formally and present 'er with a gift shown from yer talents."

"Great so why don't I just get Toothless here to throw up a fish in her lap?" I snorted leaning back.

"Och Hiccup use tha' brain o' yers. Now a've got ter go and seat Fergus and family within the stadium. Gobber, make sure he doesn't…yer know"

"Do somthin stupid, aye, a' gotcha"

And with a hard slap on my back my dad disappeared out of the door leaving me toothless and Gobber standing around in thought. I looked down to the floor shuffling my metal leg, lost in thought for a moment, I was unsure when the reality of the task at hand would hit me.

"So tell me about 'er then?" Gobber laughed under his breath

"What do you mean?" I asked my defences raising slightly.

"Yer like 'er don' yer, that why yer wearing tha' glum look; yer frightened yer not gonnea impress her"

"What?...No…I…I don't like her like that, I just met her! I'm more scared of not being able to offer her a gift worth giving and embarrass myself in front of everyone"

"Well it would nea…"

"Wouldn't be the first time yeah I know, but these people look to me in a better light than before; I don't need that…that shame again"

"I get yer laddie, but wha's the worst tha; can go wrong? Jus' be yersel, its worked for yer before"

"Oh yeah because I have such a large existent love life, full of girls wanting to throw themselves into my arms" I rolled my eyes to which Gobber laughed.

"Ah Hiccup, yer have soo much ter learn. All yer gonnea do is tell her about yersel and hand her a gift before the challenge begins at dawn. It's not like yer hav' ter tear down mountains just to see 'er"

"I guess you're right, but what do I have to give her?" I asked.

"Well, yer in the smithy, think o' bout it, yer have the head start Hiccup, she has nea talked to any other suitors except yer, wha' does she like."

Suddenly something lit up in my mind, like a switch had flicked into motion. I pulled up a memory from a few days ago…trying desperately to remember those intricate details…

"I have an idea…Gobber do you have any beech wood?"

Hello Guys, Just wanted to say a quick thanks to everyone whos liking the story and things, hope your all enjoying it id love to know what you all think, yes this is a joining chapter but the good stuff is coming up! promise! :) thanks fr being loyal readers and keep reviewing!