Stoick, Hiccup, and Gobber stood on the docks, expecting their visitors. It was the next annual visit for the peace treaty. Hiccup had begun to forget what the last time was like, "I'll bet that since I'm eight now, I'll remember better for the future." the boy thought, hopefully. He knew that his father and Gobber seemed to be looking forward to meeting up with Chief Oswald again.
The Berserker ships came into view and Hiccup felt excitement build in his stomach. The vessels docked, allowing the vikings to come onto the Berkian shores. Oswald smiled, widely, "My friends, we really should not have our only meetings be for this peace treaty." Stoick clasped Oswald's outstretched hand, "I agree, but we're both too busy to take any pleasure trips. They'll have to remain business." Oswald's smile faltered for a second and returned.
Behind the Berserker chief came Dagur. He gave a large grin after spotting Hiccup, but refrained from tackling him like before. To be nice-as his father kept insisting-Dagur acknowledged the two adults as well. "Hi, Chief Stoick and Gobber. How are you?" he asked, though his focus was still on the small viking and he bounced, slightly. The two large Berkians chuckled, "We're fine, Dagur. I don't suppose that you and Hiccup would like to go look around the island?" Stoick suggested.
Surprise was evident in the boy's face and a happy smile took it over. He turned from Hiccup to give an enthusiastic nod to the Berkian chief. Next, he grabbed Hiccup's hand and began galloping into the village. Stoick looked on, "He looks a bit different." he pondered, "I guess, it's just him getting older." Oswald shook his head at the sight of the two going off, "I wouldn't have let Hiccup go play with Dagur, if he were my son." he thought, judgementally. "Come on to the Hall, Ossie." Gobber told and the trio started for the building.
The two kids slowed their speed when Hiccup began to grow tired, "You're not exhausted yet?" he asked. "Nope. I've got plenty of energy." Dagur stated. He saw a heavyset kid coming over. "Hi, Hiccup." the boy said. "Hi, Fishlegs, this is Dagur. He's the Berserker chief's son." Hiccup informed the kid. Fishlegs paled, "Uh, are Berserkers really...um..berserk?" he asked, being unable to find a politically correct way of inquiring. Dagur laughed and he got his answer, "Depends on your opinion. Some of them seem pretty boring to me."
An idea popped into Dagur's head, "Hey, have you two ever done knife throwing?" They shook their heads and Fishlegs shrunk. "Well, looks like this'll be a new experience for you." Dagur looked at some trees that were not being utilized for anything. "Have any paint that we can use?" he questioned. "We don't use much paint. There's some right before you get to the Hall. We'll show you." Hiccup stated.
The three went to the Hall and Dagur found some small paint barrels. He took them back to the trees with the others and brushed some strokes on the trunks. Pointing to the stripes, he began, "So, you want to hit the different paint colors exactly as you planned. If you say yellow;left, you have to hit that color and so forth." Dagur ran away from the trees until he was about thirty feet away. He pulled out a knife that was on him, "Red;center." he called out. The blade flew through the air in a perfect line, landing directly where he had prophecized.
Hiccup and Fishlegs watched in amazement as Dagur called out several more shots, accurately. He came over to them, "Care to try?" Dagur offered his knife to Fishlegs. The boy trembled, "N-no thank you. I'm more of studier than blade thrower." "Yeah, if it's got nerd written all over it, that's for him." a familiar voice added. They turned to see Snotlout and through his peripheral vision, Dagur saw the two vikings shrink.
"Hey, Dagster." Snotlout said, excitedly. The older viking glared at him, "Don't call me that." "But that's what buds do." he protested. Dagur crossed his arms, "Then I really don't want you calling me that. Why'd you come over here, anyway? Just to talk trash?" The dark haired boy frowned, "No-well kind of. I still don't get why you're hanging out with Hiccup. Don't even get me started with Fishface. It's like you're scoping the whole island for the biggest losers or something."
Fishleg's bottom lip quivered, "Do you always have to say things like that?" Snotlout went over to him, "Like what? The truth? Get used to it, Fishboy, that's all you'll hear around from real Berkians. We don't accept failure. Which is just about all I'm seeing in this general direction." he flicked his wrist at the two. Dagur, practically, had steam pouring off his head and began to walk to the boy. Hiccup rushed to stop him, "I can handle this." Dagur gave the kid a disbelieving look, but backed down.
"Snotlout, have you ever thrown knives?" the Berkian heir inquired. Snotlout thought, "No I haven't. But I could if I wanted to." Hiccup gestured towards the trees, "Well, you have to call out where you're aiming first and then hit it with the blade." With an arrogant huff, Snotlout nodded, "Easy! Come on, gimme." he told Hiccup. The boy shook his head, "I don't have the knife. You have to ask Dagur." Timidly, Snotlout went over to the larger boy, "Can I have the knife, please?" he asked, as politely as he could. A smirk went across the Berserker's face, "Interesting word choice." Dagur saw Hiccup shaking his head, fervently, and he sighed, handing the knife over. "Mess it up and I'll mess you up." he promised.
Snotlout swallowed hard and looked at the tree, "Eh, I'll hit the right side of the green." He threw the knife, hitting a bush to the side of the trunk and blushed. "Easy, huh?" Hiccup laughed. "I said green! Bushes are green, nimrod." Snotlout tried to cover. The small viking rolled his eyes, "Sure. And if you had said blue, I'm sure it wouldn't have ended up there. Maybe in the water?" Snotlout marched up to him, fists balled and Dagur went between the two. "You want to fight my friend, you'll have to fight me first." The other boy stepped back and snarled at the two kids, "They're not worth the effort." And with that, he started to march away.
The Berserker heir cleared his throat, loudly, "You didn't return my knife. I didn't give it to you. Go on." he shooed Snotlout over to the bush. Grumbling, the boy searched through the foliage, scratching himself with thorns all the while. After a bit, he found the desired item and handed it back. Dagur grinned and accepted the blade. He then mocked Snotlout's prior gesture in flicking his wrist, signaling that he may leave.
"Nicely, done, brother." Dagur commended. Hiccup eyebrow rose, "Brother?" The Berserker nodded, "Yep, we're like brothers." he fiddled with the blade, "You never got a chance to try." "I'm okay. Let's try something else." Hiccup suggested, "There's a good swimming spot on the West side of the island." "That'll do." Dagur agreed and the three started their traveling.
Meanwhile, Oswald and the two Berkians were speaking. "How's Hiccup been?" Stoick sighed, "You see him. He's still so small. I'm really hoping that he gets bigger soon. It's hard enough to fight off dragons, trying to protect my vikings, without having to worry about him getting in the way and being eaten." Gobber rubbed his chin, "The lad does have a tendency to be wherever the trouble is. Not the best combination with his size."
Oswald gave a good-natured smile, "He'll be fine. He's still young, so even if he doesn't grow too big, he'll find other things that shall keep him safe. Just have some faith in him." Stoick sat back in his throne, "I'm trying." he paused, "How's Dagur been?" he asked, hoping to change the subject. Oswald's face was unreadable, "He's fine." Gobber leaned forward, "Is he still a little-" he made a circling motion on the side of his head with his finger. Oswald refrained from groaning, "Quite. This seems longer than a phase. What say you both?"
Gobber and Stoick looked at each other, "I don't know, Oswald. There might be something wrong with him." Stoick told. He thought back to when the boy looked at him, "Has he gotten into any fights? He almost looked a bit bruised today. Berserkers don't start dragon combat training this early, do you?" Oswald shook his head, "No, it's not until you're a teenager that you start to learn survival techniques. He does get in some fights, though. A daily occurrence, I think."
Stoick's brows furrowed, "Know who it is?" Oswald nodded, absent-mindedly, "Some kid named Amssun or something like that." "Who normally wins?" Gobber asked, intrigued. Oswald shrugged, "I, rarely, see the fights, but I think the other viking." Gobber's face dropped, "Huh, odd. Always figured Dagur would be good at fights." "He's good at driving me up the wall." the Berserker chief stated, under his breath.
As the conversation continued on, the kids were enjoying the waters. Dagur looked around bored as Hiccup and Fishlegs floated, peacefully. "How strong at swimming are you two?" he inquired. "Not that good." Fishlegs stated, he had been, barely, staying afloat. "I'm really not very good either. I can float, but not go too many places." Hiccup confided. Dagur looked at them, worriedly, "What if you get attacked by a shark? You need to be good enough to at least get where someone can help you."
Hiccup's face saddened, "How would I get better, though? My dad says 'just practice'." "Yeah, that works too. If you don't swim into a sea monster in the meantime. You have to prepare for the attack. I can be the shark and you two can be yourselves." Dagur told. Fishlegs, instinctively, began to doggie paddle back to the docks, "No thank you. Uh-it was fun hanging out with you guys. Nice meeting you, Dagur." he called from the shore.
"You too, Fishy." Dagur called back. He returned his focus to Hiccup, "It'll be easier if only have to go after you, anyway." "I don't know, Dagur." The Berserker gave him a "reassuring" smile and the small boy, reluctantly, stayed in the water.
Hiccup watched as the other viking sank into the water, hiding hikself from view. Nervousness found its way into the little Berkian as he waited for the "shark" to attack. He felt his leg being grabbed and pulled downwards. With a yelp, the boy was plunged into the water. He kicked and tried to swim up, but futiley. The light from the sun soon faded as he delved deeper into the icy liquid.
Hiccup held his breath as water threatened to enter his lungs and the pressure made him feel as though he was being crushed. Unable to withstand from breathing any longer, his miniscule frame went limp. Noticing this, Dagur brought him back to the surface and swam him to the shore. The boy, gradually, regained consciousness and choked up water.
"That's why we need to train for this. If I had been a shark, you'd be gone." Dagur commented. Hiccup glared at the boy, "Well, I don't plan on jumping into the sea on a regular basis. When would I ever need this?" he asked, angrily. Dagur frowned back at him, "I never said that you'd purposefully jump into a shark's mouth. You never know when you might be in water. Heck, you could get thrown into the sea by another viking! Don't say I didn't try to help, if you do."
Still frowning, Hiccup got up and went to the Hall. Dagur lagged behind him, "We could go get Fishlegs and train for if one of us gets taken hostage. We'd probably have to eat rotten fish heads." Hiccup stopped walking, "What's with all these weird training exercises? I don't remember doing them last time." "That's because we didn't. I know better now and you should too. You can't expect to become the best viking if all you do is wait for something to happen."
"As if I'll ever be the best at anything." Hiccup thought, miserably. Dagur saw the depression come over him and gave him a comforting hand on his shoulder. "You'll find something that you're really good at, Brother. Don't worry." The two saw their fathers shaking hands and Dagur gave Hiccup hug. Oswald smiled at Stoick and Gobber, "If you all ever need anything, send a message and we'll do what we can." "Likewise." Stoick stated.
With this, the ships set off for their course, fathers and sons waving goodbye.