Astrid brought her Nadder to a hovering halt as she watched Tuffnut and Dreamcatcher turn back around and swoop towards the Edge. And then take another turn and resume gliding towards Berk? And then back towards the Edge… No, the Timberjack wasn't turning exactly. It was gliding in circles.

"Whats going on?" Astrid shouted. Tuffnut shook his head in response. Finally, he reached a hand far out over the Timberjack's shoulder. "The air is warm here, and blowing upwards!" Tuffnut shouted.

Astrid pulled Stormfly back so that she could watch Dreamcatcher from a distance. The dragon was slowly rising higher into the air without ever twitching a wing. "He must use the air currents as lift and then he can go higher without using as much energy!" Astrid proclaimed excitedly. Hiccup would be so excited to hear about this!

Hiccup… Suddenly all excitement about her discovery was drained out of the moment. Astrid watched Tuffnut slowly rising in lazy circles and after some thought she guided Stormfly to follow him. It took a bit of coaxing to get her dragon to stop flapping its wings, but soon they were also slowly gliding in an upwards spiral.

The trip continued like that, gliding for miles until Dreamcatcher found another upward current. The path they followed was a zigzag and took much longer, but this mode of transportation would leave her dragon with much more energy at the end of a long journey.

It occurred to Astrid that no other dragon she had ever flown with had been able to detect these currents the way Dreamcatcher did. Even though she spent countless hours in the air, she had never noticed the way the air seemed to pull up or down in some areas. Sure she noticed what direction the wind pulled in when it came to normal compass directions, but it was rather eye opening to see how much this dragon utilized up and down the same way she utilized east and west.

Astrid cringed at how much she wanted Hiccup to be here. To see this. There's no doubt that he'd be absolutely fascinated and scribbling notes as fast as he could. Trying to figure out how to put this into his new battle plan. But that was the old Hiccup. The new Hiccup was too busy sorting out village matters to even fly his own dragon. Let alone observe a new one.

The way Astrid wanted Hiccup was different from the way she wanted Tuffnut. She wanted her old friend back. Her excited buddy who shirked duties to explore new islands. In a way it dawned on Astrid that what she wanted was for Hiccup to stop being so responsible.

She also wanted Tuffnut though. She watched as he slid out of his saddle and lay on the Timberjack's back. Since it never flapped, there was no movement to knock him off. She watched his dreadlocks tumble in the wind and his bold chest rise and fall. A soft smile played on his face and she wondered if he was falling asleep in the afternoon sunlight.

She wanted them both. She wanted to have her cake and eat it too. She wanted to stay best friends with Hiccup and have him throw all of his responsibilities out the window, and she wanted to introduce him to this changed Tuffnut. She wanted old Hiccup and new Tuffnut. And she wanted them to both be at ease with each other.

Astrid felt the cold sting of the wind on her face and realized that she had been crying. She knew that old Hiccup was gone forever, and the village would never accept Tuffnut, no matter how much he changed. They were vikings, and it wasn't easy to change a vikings mind. Astrid realized she would just have to try anyway.


A/N: FINALS ARE OVER! 3

The SkrillRider: Hahahaha I would bet she has! In a way I'm trying to make her more machine than human. I know people like this, and I can even be like this myself sometimes! You'll see a lot of growth in her soon. *evil plotting fingers* Soooooon...

DragonRider015: Thanks! I'm still surprised at how easy and fun she is to write for!