The process is finally going to begin. And … of course the wingmen didn't come up with a more elaborate plan. They're two blockheads and a dragon. In fact, the dragon may be the smartest one of the lot.

Berkian Eddur - 2

Winter in Líf's Holt

Chapter 12 - Trap

I have come to realise that the greatest trap in our life is not success, popularity, or power, but self-rejection.

― Henri J.M. Nouwen

"So; you're smiling."

Ruff's voice broke into her thoughts like thunder. Granted, it didn't take much these days for her thoughts to … wander. But Thor and Odin, who knew that he could make all her skin tingle like that, or that his arms were so strong that he could carry her around without really feeling it?

Or that she could make him kiss her that hard and get him panting with just a few words?

She should have been annoyed at it, too, really. He'd just grabbed her, put her down on the stair, kissed her silly and told her to go to bed. It was … well, she wasn't one of his dragons, to order about, and she wasn't a little girl to order to bed because she wouldn't go. Astrid couldn't muster enough anger to stay that way, though. Had it been Snotlout, one of her brothers, heck, even Tuff or the chief, she would have gone for a joint and bruised, if not broken. Hiccup hadn't even been trying to manhandle her, certainly not in a show of power. When he'd first pulled her off her feet, it had been a very, very good thing; she didn't quite want him to know how wobbly her knees had gotten. When he'd walked across the room and put her down on the stair, it had evidently been as hard for him as it was for her to get out of that embrace.

A still writhing, fearful part of her gut told her that he was also a man of the world, now; that he'd tasted of the fruit offered by Freya, and her mother always said that once a man had bitten into that fruit, there was no sating his desire for it. She had offered, and stoked that fire; it had nothing to do with her, and any emotions he had.

She stamped it down savagely. Hiccup could do many things - many, many things, she was discovering - but lies were apparently still beyond him. Even when he had a helmet that covered his whole face and fully-body armour, he gave himself away in a thousand little ways that had led her to find him out in only five days. And the earnest way in which he looked at her when he told her he was going to make the obvious more obvious just … it was all Hiccup. Big green eyes and long lashes and awkward body twitches and fluttering hands. Stolen glances and his wobbly, sideways smile.

She didn't know when she'd noticed these things. Maybe she'd always known them, maybe she'd noted them in passing when they were children pretending to pillage and getting caught in the storage barns. Or maybe in the arena, just before he left, when he couldn't quite look at her in the eyes, and she'd missed how he used to look at her through his lashes like a shy child every time he tried to speak to her, and how she hated that he was avoiding her when before she had been the one avoiding him.

Avoiding him. And for such a stupid reason, too; and now look at her. Ah, Urd, Skuld and Verdandi had had the last laugh after all.

Still, Astrid couldn't pinpoint the exact moment in which she'd catalogued every little movement of his face when he was worried, or sad, or happy; or shy. Ruff had been right. He still was her adorable, shy Hiccup, his every single expression important, and maybe…

"Oi, we've lost her."

Astrid jumped, her hands idly holding onto a linen sheet she was supposed to be scrubbing but was only being drowned in the river. Judging by how numb her fingers were from the frigid water, she'd been staring into nothing for …

Oh, Ruff was going to be unbearable, wasn't she?

"She's been lost," her mother laughed to her right, great slapping noises telling Astrid without looking that one of the dirty sheets was getting a good wallop. "She's just starting to realise it herself."

"Shut up," Astrid answered, much to her own chagrin as it start both woman on a laughing fit.

"Never thought I'd see it; Astrid Hofferson, greatest warrior, basher of skulls and holder of the title of 'Nut Cracker' after you almost took Snotlout's knob off with your bow and arrow, and there you are sighing like a dairy maid." Ruffnut cackled gleefully. "Now you can never make fun of me again for falling in love with my husband! I have my revenge!"

Astrid laughed, flinging freezing water at the other girl.

"So that was your plan all along! You didn't care to see me happy, you just wanted to even the field!"

Brunhilda laughed uproariously at them both. "Oh, you girls remind me so much of me and Val - she was the same as you are, daughter. Never a look at a man, till Stoick suddenly shot up five feet and grew a whisker. Then we had to start slapping her out of it."

"Hiccup's mother?" Astrid asked, blushing for no apparent reason and getting a wet sock to the face by Ruff, which made her throw her own wash in the basket, sopping the rest and launching at Ruff in much the same way her brother usually did. Woodnut had been given to Birdfeet Ingermannn today, Fishleg's expecting cousin, and all of them were enjoying an unusual wash day on a Thor's Day, because of all the extra work with the guest huts. Pockets of other women littered the river, all in their usual spots, and everyone was carrying the linen from the guest houses in addition to their own, in accordance to the roster Astrid had created herself. She had to admit, housework or not, it gave her a certain thrill to be able to boss people around; one of the perks of being Hiccup's promised, apart from the obvious, which was getting Hiccup all to herself.

"You can't beat me, I'm the queen of this!" Ruff cackled, and suddenly they were twelve years old again, rolling in the mud and pulling each other's hair and laughing. Ruff tried to buck her off, but didn't manage until she made some rather lewd and suggestive comments about imagining someone else's body against her, which made her skin suddenly flush. Ruffnut had her a choke hold a moment later, crowing about wobbly knees.

"And believe you me, little virgin," Ruff said with triumph. "You haven't felt anything yet! Wait until the first time you touch Valhalla - or well, the first time Valhalla touches you." And then a jeer. "Unless it's happened already and that's why you're all staring off into nothing!"

"Hardly! And not for lack of trying!" Astrid laughed as she tried to fight Ruff's hold off. Brunhilda burst out laughing again, flinging the large sheet on a branch they had wrapped a worn cloth around earlier.

"Aha, I knew my daughter wasn't one to back down from a challenge!" she laughed. "The boy's still being a little bit shy on you, then?"

"Yes!" Astrid laughed, finally managing to flip Ruff over, only to be flipped again and ending in the same position. "But!" She groaned with exertion but was unable to get the taller girl off. They were both mostly weak from laughter anyway. "But he's also gone achingly noble on my ass."

"Oh, you wish!" Ruff said. She got an elbow in the gut.

"Says he messed my honour enough at the dance, and won't risk me showing signs before we're wed." Astrid replied with a frown thrown over her shoulder.

"Well…" Astrid blinked and looked around, Ruff also peering around her head at Brunhilda's astonished tone. Brunhilda came up to the basket, taking another large linen and dunking it into the river before she began rubbing the soap on it. "He didn't want, though you offered?"

Astrid shook her head, looking at her mother intently as she seemed to think.

"And you're sure it's not … you may not like this, darling, but he … was interested, in you, yes?"

"Oh!" Astrid said, and she could feel her face going up in flames. "Yes, yes he was." She laughed in relief. "He actually came back out to kiss me silly and make sure I knew. Said he wasn't going to take chances with me misunderstanding anymore because he didn't want to quarrel."

"Well!" Brunhilda laughed.

"Kissed you silly, aye?" Ruff said into her ear. "Look at her colour! I think 'Valhalla' has touched her already!"

"Not like that, you dirty minded whore from the gutters of the mainland!" Astrid laughed back, elbowing her again. Ruff bumped her hips into her side suggestively, and Astrid finally threw her off, managing to get her flat on her back in the mud with a splat. The linen Ruff had been working on would need another washing. "My shift stayed on, and his hands stayed on top of it!"

"Aha!" Ruff said, pulling Astrid down in the mud with her. "So his hands WERE involved!"

"Shut up!" Yes, so what if she could still feel his hot, open palm everywhere? She hadn't really expected him to react like that when she'd goaded him about the whole mothering nonsense - to be honest, she'd barely recognised her own voice, but that was his fault for being all alluring. And she wasn't about to tell anyone, but she had liked it a great deal. She'd had to sit there and calm down before she could trust her legs to take her up the stairs.

Who knew? Hiccup the alluring should be his new name, never mind this Negotiator nonsense. Although he could negotiate himself into her bath tub whenever he-

ACH!

"Lookit her face!" Ruff was laughing helplessly, and Astrid slapped her own blazing cheek, yelping as the cold mud made contact. "Well, whatever you did, it worked, because he's going around smiling now, instead of with thunder on his head. And to think he'd asked Fish to look up stuff about breaking engagements and the lot…"

The river suddenly didn't feel cold enough to reflect the emotion that rushed across her skin, and she swallowed hard. Astrid turned to look at Ruff, who suddenly was extremely white.

"Shit, sorry, that wasn't supposed to … Fish is going to be so mad at me…"

Astrid bit her lip, the joviality of the afternoon completely vanished. Looking up things to break the …

She shook herself. No. No, Hiccup wasn't a liar, and he wasn't a cheat, and he had looked at her so honestly and earnestly that she would be a fool to think ill of him before she even asked. Maybe it was before, when they'd quarrelled. He had a right to be angry and do stupid things, just as she did. She'd not listened to him, hadn't she? Went around assuming madly horrible things about him before she gave him a chance to talk to her. Well, she wasn't going to do it again. She threw Cami another prayer of luck; she owed her that much for giving her perspective.

"It's fine," she said, firmly, taking up her linen again and somehow actually feeling fine. It was a strange state of being, after so much doubt and worry and anger. She felt fine to believe that he had been honest that night, kissing her like that because he wanted to, telling her he liked that she owned him, looking at her over blushing freckles. And that voice of his, after their second kiss, that made her toes curl. There was still a bit of writhing from that coiled, doubting serpent the bottom of her belly, but … the rest of her chest, there was some strange, solid thing that kept it in check.

With a jolt, realised that she trusted him. It put a smile on her face.

"Astrid?"

She turned to her mum, who was also looking at her in mixed worry and curiosity.

"It's really fine." Astrid said. "I don't know why but … I don't think he meant to hurt me with it."

Brunhilda smiled. Ruffnut looked terribly relieved.

Astrid nodded, going back to scrubbing the new sheet. Well, be that as it were, she told herself, there was no reason why this little tadbit couldn't be added to her questions once 'later' came around.

=0=

Wolftooth could honestly say that this didn't happen often. He had always been confident in his ability to judge and rule; it had never been a question for him.

He had always known that he was a smart Viking, a very smart one, and he ruled with his head accordingly. His son in turn had shown great promise to have the same kind of high mental qualities he valued in himself, and he'd taught him to hone them.

Then, of course, they had been hit by the Hiccup in the works. It was rather amusing, really, to think that he, Wolftooth, was rather stupid. He had been planning to give Stoick a hard time here - he had really, really not appreciated his fellow chief for scaring his son away from home merely because he had brain. So, what, was it that because his boy couldn't swing an axe at firebreathing beasties, he was useless? He had not appreciated the insinuation at his own rule, and had been fully intending to make him squirm in his seat by offering Hiccup a place in the UglyThug tribe; not seriously, of course, but just to watch Stoick go as red as his beard, and then admit it later over a keg and watch him feel horrified and guilty. Wolftooth did not appreciate Hiccup's brains being tossed and belittled in the slightest.

When Madfoot had approached saying he would like to try to convince Hiccup to join the UglyThug clan, he had, of course, been more than a little wary of what the slimy sleazeball had in mind . He had also learned to keep his enemies close. Madfoot was a dangerous son of a troll, and he wasn't about to let on that he didn't trust him. He'd warned the other chiefs, and seen whether he could let things run their course and use them as an excuse to bring Madfoot low; he could execute him for treason, place his much more malleable son in his place and be one problem lighter.

He hadn't expected that kind of blatant yak-shit to begin flying around the Mead Hall; nor had he expected it to escalate to the point where Hiccup's right to throne or to live were called into question. And somehow Hiccup's relationship with his son had also been bent out of shape with this business, and that was a pity. Dogsbreath was reserved and quiet like his father, which meant that it was relatively difficult for him to be approached by people who, as a rule, punched each other in the face to say 'hello'. That Thuggory boy and Cattongue - pardon, Hiccup - had been doing wonders for the boy's interaction and integration with the archipelago's elite leading class. Now he often joined his father's table; he obviously was no longer welcome on the young heir's conquested bench in the Hall. Wolftooth felt for him; he himself had had his own difficulties and scrapes while he mingled with the other chiefs, and Stoick had been, in his case, the one to help bridge the gap with the others. The man was smart, smarter than his bulk would suggest, and so much more like his son than he believed. It had been what made Wolftooth so angry at him in the first place, to throw his son away like that.

The talks today had been stiff and stilted, and they spoke of the little things that everyone could agree on easily with unspoken agreement. He was looking forward to tomorrow night, where he could share a mug with Stoick in Hall for the mid-week communal meal of the chiefs and talk this out like friends instead of village heads. It reallys was a rotten situation to be in, but politics were politics; he honestly just knew that with Stoick, friendship, respect and good trading conditions went hand-in-hand and were as much a requirement as the trading goods. Wolftooth sighed. It would have to wait till tomorrow - and honestly, he did want his friend back.

"Father?"

Wolftooth looked up from his keg of steaming honey-water to find Dogsbreath standing at the entrance of their guest hall. At home, they were some of the few people who lived in a stone dwelling, with rooms divided by stout walls and oaken doors. The wood would never have withstood the gale winds of UglyThug island. As a result, however, these … communally open halls, with little to no room for privacy were a little stifling to them all. Especially when he had spotted at least three generals who would lose their title - if not their head - as soon as they made it home.

"What is it?" He waved Dogsbreath in, not at all happy to see how damp his son was, but pushing it aside. Blasted Berk - if it wasn't hailing, it was raining or snowing. At least on their island, they had windy plains and snow, and they came at predictable intervals. Here it could be a sunny day one moment, and the next you're soaked through because a rogue cloud was passing by and decided to piss on you, just because.

"Father," Dogsbreath said, and his son's very serious tone put him on the alter. The boy walked into the room, and opening the door further, brought in Sleet, daughter of Madfoot, who he was holding very firmly by the upper arm as if she was trying to get away. The girl was white as a sheet. And trembling.

"We have a problem."

=0=

He'd had to trust Toothless completely when they went in search for the right rocks to feed Meatlug. The meeting today had been unbelievably long - and anything but boring. Everyone had been there; Cami, him, Thuggory, Dogsbreath … and it had not been a walk on the beach, either. Hiccup wanted boring back. There were too many disasters happening at this Thing. At the rate they were going, they were going to talk right through Snoggletog and then keep going till the ice broke.

So they'd gone rock-hunting at night, and Hiccup could say with great relief that at least, they'd found the damn things. Between his still-throbbing leg, the messes that were happening at these meetings and lows and highs (admittedly, very high highs) with Astrid, it was definitely one of my most trying times he'd lived through bar the weeks that had come before the Red Death landed on Berk. Honestly, even that first Winter, out in the cold and snow, in that dingy hut with Toothless and dying of hunger; it hadn't been as … heavy as this one. Back then, he'd been responsible for his own life and his dragon's. Now he felt like he was carrying all of Berk with him - if he made the wrong decision, it wasn't just his own feet stepping into the bear trap, but everyone else's.

He had agreed with Fishlegs that they would meet at the very crack of dawn the following day. The Thing had already been going for a week, and was technically almost over. However, the topics didn't seem to be drying out, and now, with this new emergency…

He sighed, steering Toothless in the dawn's pink and golden light towards the area they'd flown over yesterday. Meatlug was buzzing away behind him like a giant bee, and Fishlegs was not in a talkative mood, either too tired or too thoughtful. Hiccup himself was in no mood to chatter; he didn't have time to think on the new crises when he was still dealing with an old one.

Toothless gave a growl, and Hiccup almost sighed in relief. He signalled to Fishlegs, who bent down to pat his gronkle, and they all began to descend towards a glade sheltered from the wind by several high rocks. Hardy berry bushes lined the sides, covered in snow and sleeping out the Winter.

"Man, how I wish I could hibernate, myself," he sighed as he dismounted. His companion gave a grumble and nudged him with a wing joint. "Right, bud. We wouldn't be able to go flying if were both snoring." And then a jeery sort of grin. "Or kiss Astrid. But we're not talking about that in front of other people and making fun of poor one-legged men now, are we?" Toothless gave a snort and nudged him again before he trotted away to go investigate whatever had caught his attention on the other side of the bushes. Meatlug landed straight down the middle, looking around the snow covered rocks with an air of faint excitement.

"She got really jittery when I told her that we were going to make the shiny iron," Fishlegs said with a headshake and a pat on her cheek, which she returned with a hearty lick. He chuckled and wiped his cheek. "You should have seen her this morning. Woke up the whole house three hours before dawn with her rattling harness."

"I'll bet Ruff was really happy about that," Hiccup replied, leaning on a rock and trying not to snicker.

"Oh, threatened to skin us alive five times. That's not too bad; I start worrying when she starts muttering and looking my way while cooking." Fishlegs rubbed his head sheepishly. "I care for her, but she gives me the willies sometimes, when she looks at me with a scowl while chopping rabbit's heads off."

Hiccup shuddered with him in sympathy. "I know what you mean. When Astrid says she's going to kill trees while waving an axe at you, you see your life flash before your eyes." He chuckled to himself, some much more pleasant memories warming all the threats to seem almost like endearments. It was a far cry from the indifference she used to have for him before he left. He still didn't know what changed, but … he really hoped it didn't change back.

That was a sobering thought. He wasn't going there ever again. He still couldn't quite believe that Astrid Hofferson, the most beautiful woman in Midgard, was looking his way, in that manner, and admitting that she cared about him, but he honestly didn't care what'd changed that.

"Anyway, Meatlug actually likes making the metal for us. Though to be honest, if I could spare her the trouble…" The sweet-tempered gronkle gave him a lick, and he laughed, patting her head. "It makes her a little ill, you see, before she throws all the metal up."

"Throws it up?" Poor Fishlegs looked really worried as he glanced at Meatlug, who gave him a puppy-eyed look of adoration. Hiccup contained a snort. Some of the bushes - or rather Toothless behind them - were not that nice.

"I've checked over the years that it doesn't hurt her teeth, but it actually seems to remove the bad ones and leave the good ones alone. I was worried about that for a while… So, Fish` - you can keep the secret of the stones for me, or do you need to look away?" Hiccup looked at him sheepishly. "Half the blacksmiths of the archipelago have been on my case about the metal's secret, and I really don't want to give it up. It will give Berk a good trading edge."

"Well, you know I can keep secrets," Fishlegs said with a scowl and folded arms. Hiccup blinked at him. "It's why you had me look for all those documents, didn't you? And you knew I wouldn't tell!"

"Oh, right, your search on the laws!" Hiccup said with a sigh, brushing his hands on his britches. "I was hoping to ask you about that a little later, but … have you found anything useful?"

"Yes, yes I have," Fishlegs said, voice dripping annoyance. He dug into Meatlug's travel bag and brought out three rolled pieces of parchment. Hiccup took them up eagerly, running his eyes quickly over the content intently one after that other. Close to the end of the last scroll, the frown that had been developing on his brow lightened completely as he gave a crowing laugh of triumph.

"Fishlegs, you're incredible!" he said, petting his friend on the back. "I had missed this completely - where did you find it!"

"What?" Fishlegs looked at what Hiccup was pointing on the parchment. "Oh, that was a sub-clause on a very old scroll, actually. I think it may have even been the original treaty of the allied clans … why? I wouldn't have thought…"

"This fixes everything!" he said in delight, carefully folding the scroll up and tucking it into his (once again) new tunic. And he really had to complement Astrid on how well her embroidering abilities were coming on. Those night furies looked much less like dogs this time - not that Hiccup would ever tell her he'd thought she was embroidering Odin's wolves on his other tunics…

"I wouldn't have thought that one was what you were looking for, considering," Fishlegs huffed. "And honestly, Astrid deserves better!"

"...Astrid?" Hiccup asked, stopping short in his whirling, elated thoughts about how he was going to apply this new tadbit of information to the next meeting, discretely and with the least possible fanfare… probably have to involve his dad there and have him talk to the clan head about it… then he should possibly inform those two before he did anything, so they'd be forewarned and not go do anything stupid … she'd been threatening to have the whispering deaths dig under all the sheep pans of the island and that would really not go down well with anyone…

Well, except the whispering deaths. They loved a good sheep now and then. Though they oftentimes ignored them in favour of some nice sandstone.

"Yes! Astrid! The one you're betrothed to, and who you're looking to break the engagement with!"

"What!?" He asked, completely taken aback. "I have no intention of- these are not for me!"

Well, admittedly, at one point, they had also been partially for Astrid. If she had shown to be reluctant to keep their contract, he would have presented her with Fish's findings and asked her to chose which one was most advantageous to her. But she really, really, wasn't looking like she wanted to break their contract last night. More like she wanted to break his resolve on her maidenhea- no, no, he wasn't going there.

"Ahem, no, not for me," he finished lamely to a rather sceptic looking Fishlegs.

"Oh?" he said archly. "And who would they be for, then, some other person who is unwillingly engaged and also happened to live in the vicinity of this village and / or archipelago?"

"Yeeees," Hiccup replied leadingly, folding his arms in an equal stance. Fishlegs narrowed his eyes at him.

"Are you telling me you're serious, and not pulling my leg?"

"I'm the one with the handle," Hiccup replied, gesturing towards the peg-shaped base. Fishlegs snorted, then schooled his features. "You're telling me you don't know?"

"Should I know?"

"Yes! It's about …" Hiccup slapped his forehead. "I can't tell you if you don't know. It's politics, and I'd get your wife into trouble."

"My wife?!" Fishlegs began to hyperventilate and Meatlug came up to rub her snout against him. "You mean Ruffnut asked you for those and -"

"NO!" Hiccup said, waving his hands urgently. "They're not for her, but she knows and I can't tell you." He sighed, suddenly tired. "Look, it's nothing bad, ok? Not for you at least. Ask Ruff, she'll probably tell you if you straight up ask."

"So, she's been keeping secrets…" he said, sounding disappointed. Hiccup waved his hand in dismissal.

"Not her choice, Fish. Like I said, Politics, and if you show her that you know already, she'll probably tell you." Hiccup paused, resting against a boulder. "She's probably been dying to tell you. But … she couldn't. Just tell her I told you everything. She'll tell you then."

Fishlegs still looked put out, so Hiccup sighed tiredly. He really, really hated this sort of thing; really.

"They're for Tuff," Hiccup said at last. Fishlegs blinked. "His clan are roping him into something that's downright cruel and fairly pointless. And we're trying to get around it so he can be with Cami." Hiccup scowled. "And that didn't sound vaguely over-emotional and right out of a sappy saga. Gods, the air of Berk is doing strange things to my head."

Or the smell of Astrid's hair. He hadn't known she used honey ointment when she washed it until they'd started sharing the ba- not going there.

"I think it's not Berk's air… just Astrid," Fishlegs told him shrewdly.

"Ack," he replied eloquently. The bushes on the far side shook again, and Hiccup glowered at them. "You are not getting any salmon this week!" He sighed again. Thor and Odin, everyone thought it was a good idea to make fun of him. And just why had Astrid sewn these pants so tight? She'd had his measurements down perfectly for the suede trousers, but this leather one certainly wasn't giving him any room. At least this blue tunic was decently long enough to hide his … whatever. "Let's get on with it, shall we? I still have to get back to the village to check out Clover and Stormfly, and I heard Grugg say that his nightmare was also acting up around Hoark's; all aggressive-like. I've never been out and about much in the Winter, so I'm guessing this is normal dragon behaviour that I missed, but I'm not comfortable letting it just get by." He shrugged uncomfortably. "And I've been getting enough glares from the general populace of the village for the dance fiasco. Astrid forgave me, but apparently they didn't." He shrugged, a little sadly. "This … is Berk. I guess I should have expected no less after the whole 'hero' thing wore off."

"I'm sure it will pass," Fishlegs said, though he didn't look convinced himself. "After all, you only brought up a bogus excuse not to dance with your promised and went out hopping with another girl ten minutes later."

"Thank you for summing that up," he intoned. "And it wasn't a bogus excuse; and the 'hopping', as you put it, really didn't help any." He shook his leg out. "This mother of Loki still hasn't healed."

It was true. Despite the excruciating pain, the stupid sore hadn't closed yet, and worst still, it had expanded to the point where the irritated skin was beginning to redden around his stitches. He'd have to get Toothless to do that again soon if the situation didn't get any better, and even though a part of him still hated to admit it, he couldn't wait for this stupid Thing to be over, at this point. Astrid was so good as this sort of thing, with her (surprisingly) gentle hands… and now that she'd said the word 'mother' in that tone, he wasn't sure he had a problem with it anymore.

In fact, saying that word in that tone gave him all sorts of ideas, and suddenly the horror he'd imagined for years of Astrid surrounded by tiny children didn't look so bad if he thought the children were his, and given willingly…

"... looked at, really, have you taken it to Goethi?"

"Huh, wha?" he blinked, rehearing it in his head before nodding. He could not avoid Fishlegs giving him a look with the - ack, the wiggle-brows. "Yes, yes, it's been looked at. I honestly know I should stay off it and leave it uncovered to heal, but that won't happen till the Thing is over. I'll just have to buck up and stop being a…" he smirked to himself. "...wuss."

"Oh well…"

"Now, this is the list of rocks we have to find, in those proportions." He handed Fishlegs the parchment. "Seriously, don't let anyone see that. It's coded so it looks like rock strata, but there are a couple of blacksmiths who would kill for it - I know, they tried - so guard it, ok? And don't give it to Gobber! I wouldn't mind him knowing, but he can't keep a secret if… well, sort of. He kept me being… me, and all, but that was once. For the rest, he can't seem to go tell someone fast enough when he knows he shouldn't."

"I get it, no showing to people or leaving it laying about." Fishlegs diligently looked over it, then folded it carefully inside his tunic. "Now, soap-stone first?"

"Yeah, with a little bit of lava rock. Those are the the two we need the most…"

=0=

I have failed the Bachdel test rather badly till now...