Chapter 19: Losing Myself Part 2
She had to admit it, when Conall didn't show up yesterday morning, she had been confused, and disappointed for not seeing him again. Hiccup had been angry to the point she decided to don't show up on the night with the hopes he did, so he could feel what it was like.
But he hadn't show up again. And this time, she was pissed.
She tried to be reasonable. Maybe things got worse on the farm and his family would need him there, full time. But if that was the case, he could at least sneak out and tell her so, couldn't he?
In that moment Hiccup had quickly made up her mind. If he didn't show up on the night or tomorrow. She was going to quit and fly away from there. After all, her deal with Conall was the only thing that hold her there.
She did not tell Toothless that, she didn't want him to get too excited. There was a part of Hiccup that wanted to just leave at that moment. She could have a day full of just her and Toothless, like yesterday, but every day. Just go back to the old times when it was just the two of them.
But a part of her wanted to see Conall again. Wanted to keep her little deal. To keep learning Scottish and talking to the boy about Berk. She loved talking about her village… what used to be her village, as much as it hurt not being there anymore.
It was stupid. But she did not want to leave these lands. Not yet.
And still, she was angry. She was furious. And Toothless could see it, of course, he took advantage of it and they had spent most of the day playing/training. Chasing each other around and engaging on little battles that Toothless always win.
Toothless said the anger would help her but as far as the day went, that anger was just blinding her mind. It sure gave her quite the fuel. Every time he took her down or made her fall, she would stand up on the instance and charge at him, screaming and the sword ready on her hand (with the sheath on, for obvious safety reasons).
Hiccup ran away from Toothless, trying to put some space between the two. She stopped hearing him and slowed down, stopping on a little spot on the forest, where the trees were more separated.
The girl looked around and shook her head to get her bangs out of the way. She listened carefully but there was no sound coming from the dragon. Just the birds singing, some branches rustling as squirrels ran through them.
Her breathe calmed down, her heart was still loudly pounding against her chest. She took a better grip on the sword, and slowly spun around, trying to hear anything coming from the dragon.
The day was cloudy but there was still plenty of light, light that would give away the pitch blackness of his skin. Yet, Hiccup couldn't see a hint of the dragon's scales.
"I know you are there, buddy." Hiccup said, her eyes desperately searching between the trees. She had to admit it, at least to herself: even when Toothless was her friend, and she knew he would never hurt her. He had a way to put her on edge when he chased her around.
The dragon growled, lowly and brutally, behind her. Hiccup gasped turning around quickly and preparing her sword for the attack. But it didn't come.
"If you are trying to scare me it's not going to work." She said, but it was a lie. And she knew he would know that. His hearing was good enough to hear her beating heart. Hiccup searched more intensely for the dragon, but she knew he wasn't there anymore. She began to turn around again.
"Come out," She said in a singsong voice, her fingers playing on the handle, "stop playing around," she licked her lips nervously, the fact that she couldn't see or hear him letting a bad, aching feeling on her chest.
"Come out already," she said, a sly smile reaching her lips, knowing the only way of making him show himself was by taunting him, "or what? Are you afraid you are going to lose?" the dragon roared behind her and she heard his paws heavily hitting the ground as he pounced.
Without looking and without thinking that much, Hiccup dropped to her left, quickly rolling back to her feet and stepping back. Toothless landed just were she had been and was now, furiously, calculating, looking at her with cold, sharp eyes.
Hiccup gave him a loop sided smile and played a little with her sword, inciting him to go for another attack. Hiccup may have not win any of their fights, but the girl learned fast, she knew her dragon and she knew his moves. And she might not be able to win, but she was getting better, and lasting longer each fight.
Toothless hissed and lowered his head, slowly walking around her and making her move around. Hiccup's calculating eyes followed him, watching every move. Her brain trying not to drown in her anger and attack blindly. That's how she had lose four times already that day.
But right now she was determined to get closer to victory.
Toothless watched as she was calming down, hopes for a better battle raised up. But he still wanted to see her attack, not just defend herself. Things had been funnier this morning when she just screamed like crazy and charged at him.
The Night Fury, snarled and ran at her but she just evaded him, jumping out of the way and rolling on the ground, back to her feet. But this time she didn't stepped back, she instantly ran towards him, grunting as she swung her sword at him.
The dragon dodged the attack and went out for a bite, but she moved away and swung her weapon at his neck. This time he barely made it out of the way, he snarled and attacked but she moved and attacked back.
It went back and forth, both attacking and both stepping back, just the necessary to avoid the other. Hiccup knew he was going easy on her, she had seen him toss around Vikings bigger than her like nothing with only his wings and tail. In that moment Hiccup remembered she had to watch out for those too, and not just his teeth and claws.
And Toothless seemed to remember he could use those too, because the next second, he extended his wing. Out of reflex Hiccup rose her right arm to protect herself from the hit, but she had no shield with her.
The wing hit her and sent her flying backwards, she landed roughly on her right side and slipped a little on the ground. Hiccup groaned, raising up on her elbow and looking back at Toothless to see how far he was.
He was not far, and unfortunately, her sword was at his feet.
"Oh come on," she muttered and quickly got on her feet to run away, the dragon roared behind her and quickly caught up. Hiccup ran as fast as she could, jumping roots as best as she could but one got her foot and she fell forward.
She rolled to her back to kick her foot free, she managed to do it with the first kick. But Toothless quickly appeared over her, landing on top and pinning her by the shoulders, roaring loudly at her face.
"Gee, you didn't have to scream," Hiccup said, her ears buzzing. Toothless huffed, blowing her bangs away. She sighed, "I need a shield."
"With that you gonna win?"
"Maybe,"
"Are ye alright?"
Hiccup froze at the worried voice and turned quickly to face the owner. Conall was standing, quite shocked, a few feet away from them.
"What are you doing here?" Hiccup asked him, the fury that had mostly faded off coming back to her. She tried to stand up but managed nothing, not even to budge the attention of the dragon. "Toothless, get off," she said and sat up as soon as he moved. "Shouldn't you be on the farm by now? You know… With your family?"
"Uh…" Conall's eyes moved from dragon to girl but decided that if they were taking it so calmly it must be normal, "No, I… I got a job on town."
Hiccup frowned slightly, "I thought your family didn't want that," she said, standing up and dusting her pants.
"Yeah, but I convinced them."
"Shouldn't you be on your job then?" Hiccup asked, crossing her arms and putting all the weight on a leg.
"I'm on break, so I figured I could come to see ye," he said and quickly added, "to the language thing."
"Oh," Hiccup said, "sure. How much time you've got free?"
"Two hours,"
"That much?"
"Yes, then the rest of the day until night," Conall said and slowly reached for the back of his neck, looking away, "Sorry I didn't come yesterday, I was tired. And I start early, so we can't see each other on the morning." He looked at her again, smiling nervously, "but I think I can come early on the night."
Hiccup's anger towards him faded away quite quickly after the short apologize. Now Hiccup was angry at herself for it. She wanted to be mad at him, why couldn't she be mad at him?
"Yeah, sure." She said calmly, an awkward silence setting in, "So what is your job about?" she asked before the awkwardness could set.
He said something on Scottish, too quickly for her to understand.
"Oh, come on!" she said, raising and dropping her arms quite dramatically.
"Ye should be able to understand that," Conall laughed.
"Not if you talk that fast!"
"Everyone talks like this, be getting used to it."
"Little steps Conall, little steps." She said turning around to get her sword back.
"Where ye going now?"
"I dropped my sword, I have to find it," Hiccup simply said.
"Oh… okay," Conall said and ran to her side, "I'll go with ye, I still have some time left."
Hiccup shrugged, "Sure," they walked in silence for a moment, Toothless growled a little at Conall but then just walked around them, going here and there, chasing off little animals. The girl frowned, feeling the stare of Conall haven't moved from her.
"What you looking at?" she said, maybe a little too harsh.
"What… happened ta yer hair?" he asked, squinting at the several leaves and twigs tangled in it.
When her fight with Toothless began she had been wearing her hair lose, just two braids holding it back, one at each side. After an hour of playing with the dragon, she had decided to pull it back into a non-intentional messy bun. To get it from tangling and getting on her way.
But the more she fought, run, dropped herself to the ground and occasionally hid on bushes, the dirtier and more tangled it got. Right now most of her hair was trying to escape the bun, with lose strings here and there.
"I was playing with Toothless," Hiccup said, hiding in her shoulders, a little ashamed for her hair state, "this tends to happen a lot." She released her hair and began to comb it with her fingers, taking off as many leaves as possible.
"Is… is this what you do all day?" Conall asked, reaching out to her hair to take a twig out of it, looking in confusion at the small stick.
"Sometimes, Toothless likes fights a lot."
"So he always takes you down like that?"
"He doesn't have to, but he thinks it's fun," Hiccup said, she wasn't a fan to getting decked every few minutes. At exception of sometimes, when their fight was more playful and Toothless would just lightly tap her head and loosely slash the air between them with his claws. Hiccup smiled, "Some days they are not as serious"
They reached the place Toothless and Hiccup had been fighting on, her sword was laying on the grass just were Hiccup had dropped it. She sighed slightly, remembering how easily she had lost it.
"I need a shield," she muttered as she walked to the sword and leaned down to take it.
Suddenly the dragon made an appearance from the trees, pushing Hiccup to the ground and taking the sword on his jaws.
"Hey!" Toothless gave a few steps away and turned to her playfully, "No, Toothless you know that's not a toy." She said, standing up but the dragon just stepped back and swung his tail side to side. "Give that back,"
Hiccup walked to Toothless, miraculously the dragon didn't run away, he waited until she took the sword so he could bite it harder and make her struggle.
"Give it-" she pulled from her sword until she forcefully took it from his mouth, "this is not a toy." Toothless purred sadly lowering his head as she tied the weapon back to the harness' belt. Hiccup looked down at Toothless, at his big round eyes and extremely dilated pupils.
She sighed, dropping her shoulders, and picking up a stick. "Do you want it?" she asked with a silly voice and shaking the stick over her head. Toothless mood was instantly lifted, "do you want it?" she asked again. His tongue lolled out, his paws drumming the grass in anticipation. "Go get it!" she shouted and threw the stick as far as she could.
Toothless shook his tail and ran after the stick with Hiccup lightly laughing behind. With no dragon on sign Conall got closer to Hiccup.
"Dragons play catch?" he asked, looking at where the Night Fury had disappeared.
"Some of them," Hiccup said and Toothless quickly returned with the stick, he snarled at Conall to get away, and then sat in front of Hiccup. The girl gave him pats of approval and took the stick back shaking it a little to get the drool out, "It's funnier when you are on a cliff and you can just those it off." She said as she threw it again.
She saw the dragon disappear between the trees and turned to Conall, he was still looking at the trees.
"So, what was your job about?" Hiccup asked him, speaking on Scottish and getting his attention back.
"Oh, right." Conall said, "I'm part of the deck inspection."
"The what?"
"Don't you have those?"
"I don't think so," Hiccup said, getting distracted by Toothless' new arrival. He let the stick at her feet, a tread of saliva following his tongue. She grimaced slightly but took it again and threw it.
"Basically our job is to inspect everything that traders put on deck. If it's on their ships is fine but if they plan to sell it, it's our problem." Conall said, Toothless quickly returning. "We make sure they don't bring anything dangerous or anyone dangerous."
"Oh, good boy," Hiccup said in her silly voice, reaching out her hand and the dragon left the stick on it, completely covered on saliva this time. She smiled none the less and petted his head, "That had happened?" she asked Conall on Scottish, turning her head a little to him.
"You'll be surprised,"
"And you are tired of doing that?" Hiccup asked, turning around and pointing him with the drooling stick.
"That's not the tiring part." He said. Toothless pushed Hiccup's hand gently and she returned her attention to him to throw the stick away. "We help to unload the supplies too, and since I'm the new guy…"
"They left you all the job," Hiccup concluded.
"Yeah, actually… I- I should go back,"
"So soon?" Toothless returned and began to jump around Hiccup, not letting her take the stick, "I thought you got more time," she said laughing as she chased Toothless.
"It took me some time to find you, I still have to walk back. and I haven't eaten, so I got to buy lunch."
"Okay, then see you at night?" she asked after finally getting her hands on the stick.
"On the usual," Conall agreed and left the two alone.
Hiccup smiled at Toothless and wave the stick over his head. The dragon took little jumps to take it, but Hiccup kept taking it away. She laughed at the dragon and weighted the stick on her hand.
"Okay, buddy. You ready?" she asked, and the dragon took a playful position. She took the stick with both hands and threw it with all her might, "catch!"
…
There was a good outcome with Conall getting a job. First off, no more morning lessons, so no more waking up early. Just when Toothless wanted to. And since he got early at night, they saw each other early and said goodbye early. And now they had more time to fly.
And now, since they saw each other on the middle of the day and with more time, they could walk around the forest and not being confined into the same meeting place.
Today's new place was a low cliff Hiccup and Toothless had found not long ago. Hiccup wanted to sit by the edge, but apparently Conall was afraid of heights. So, no edge.
They started the day talking on Scottish but at this point they had gone back to Norse. Conall had asked her about her life on Berk and she told him about her job there, it was a good talk until she began to rant about Gobber.
That's when she started talking on Norse. And when she started mocking the older Hooligan, mimicking his accent and his manners. Both teens laughed light heartily the more she talked.
Hiccup liked it. It filled her chest with lightness, and she finally felt like she could breathe. It was nice. Having a friend… if they could consider themselves friends.
Conall laughed slightly and sighed to calm down, looking off into the horizon. His eyes turned to her and smiled, returning his eyes to the view, "I see why ye like this."
"Yeah," Hiccup agreed, leaning forward and resting her elbows on her knees, "I've always like site viewing," she confessed, "and Berk had quite a beautiful view but…" she chuckled a little, "it doesn't compare to what I've seen on Toothless' back."
A soft breeze blew over the cliff and she smiled, "I always loved cliffs too, the cold air and the feel of the breeze have always been so enchanting but… never had I realized how grounded my life was until I took off with Toothless."
Conall looked at her, at her smile, at her calmness. His eyebrows got slightly closer, there was something about her posture that bugged him, "Don't ye miss it?"
"What? Being in a hot, closed place with an old smelly man constantly annoying me?" Hiccup said with a teasing smile, Conall couldn't help but laugh a little, "kinda," Hiccup shrugged. She did miss being on a smith and would give anything to return to that familiar environment.
"No, Yer village." Conall said and Hiccup's smile faded a bit, "Yer family, friends? Don't ye miss them?"
Hiccup stared at the grass, did she miss them? The village that never stopped looking at her as a nuisance until she began to act like them? The 'friends' she made that had ignored her her whole life until she became 'cool'? Her father… her father…
"No," she said coldly, but she was hiding something, and it was obvious on her voice.
Conall frowned and tilted his head to look at her better, "Really? Don't ye ever want to go back?"
"No," Hiccup repeated, turning away so he could not see the pain on her face.
Conall chuckled a little, trying to smooth the tension, "But they are yer village?"
"No, they are not!" Hiccup snapped, looking at him. He looked surprised, but the surprise turned to worry as Hiccup's eyes began to swell up with tears. Hiccup inhaled sharply, noticing this and standing up, "I don't want to talk about this."
"Hiccup, wait!" Conall stood up and followed her, taking her arm to stop her.
"Don't touch me!" Hiccup shook his hand off, giving a step away from him.
"I… I'm sorry," he said calmly, "I didn't know it was a touchy subject, ye talk a lot about them that I thought-"
"And have you actually heard anything I say?" Hiccup interrupted him, the boy didn't answer, he just stood there, looking at her. "I am not like them, I never was. My whole life I have been an outcast just because I couldn't be like them." Hiccup's voice got louder and harsher, the accent of her people showing slightly on her tone, "The whole village looked down at me, I was just trouble walking and the only place they wanted me to be was the blacksmith because at least I was useful there."
"The only time when I was considered one of them was when I began to pretend I was someone I'm not. When I'm with Toothless is when I feel truly like myself, and when they found out…" Hiccup's voice trailed off, remembering that last day on Berk.
Asher had not wait for any explication, the Vikings on the village hadn't wait to hear her part of the story when Asher told them about the dragon. Her father -the one who did know about her side of the story- didn't want to know any of it. When Toothless appeared, no one wanted to listen to her, when they saw how he responded to ger they got angry. They have done nothing against them on that moment but the look on their faces was one that had haunted her, village after village.
Hiccup shook her head lightly, "The whole Barbaric Archipelagoes probably wants me dead by now. I know a lot of Villages do, lots of Vikings are hunting me down for who I am. So no, I am not going back. Doing so would be a dead sentence," Hiccup hugged herself and looked away, remembering that the Vikings weren't her only worry. "For more than one reason," she mumbled.
They stood there for a very long time. Not moving and not talking. It wasn't exactly an uncomfortable silence, but it wasn't comfortable either. Hiccup didn't know what it was but the soft breeze and hearing the sounds of the forest helped her calm down. She blinked away the tears she had miraculously manage to keep in her eyes and took a deep breath.
"What are you going to do now?" Conall asked slowly, unsure if he should ask or not. Hiccup frowned slightly and looked at him, "You can't go back, where are you going now?"
Hiccup shrugged lightly and took another breathe, "I don't know," she said and looked back to where they were sitting a few moments ago, her eyes focused on the horizon, "keep traveling, I guess. Exploring the world… there is a lot more to see, I'm sure of that. I can't go back so there is just one place more to go."
Conall chuckled softly and Hiccup turned to him, he was smiling?
"Ye are a lot stronger than many people I know," he said, "most would have already given up or wouldn't even fight for it. Ye have, more than once." He smiled even more, "and I'm sure ye are not going to stop."
Hiccup smiled a little, "No, I'm not." She gave the horizon one last view, "we should go back, you have to go back to your job and I promised Toothless we'll go swimming."
"I thought dragons didn't like baths."
"They don't but apparently swimming is different," she said, not wanting to admit that it was so she could learn how to swim. They got moving, walking in a comfortable silence until Hiccup felt that his eyes hadn't move from her. She looked at Conall from the corner of her eye and confirmed that, indeed, he was looking at her.
Hiccup frowned and turned at him, "what?" she asked, throwing off Conall, he quickly looked away.
"oh, nothing." He said, a little bit of color running to his face, "It's just… ye are growing up a lot."
"oh," Hiccup said and looked at the top of his head with curiosity. When she and Toothless just arrived he was a lot taller than her, she hadn't even notice they were almost the same size now. Hiccup smiled exited, "Well, it was about time."
"Ye… said ye were sixteen, right?" Conall asked slowly.
"Yeah, why?"
"Nothing, it's just…" he looked at her, like if it was unfair, "yer two years younger than me and ye're almost my height and I'm tall."
Hiccup snorted, "You are not tall,"
"I am," he said offended, "are all Vikings like that? Too tall?" he said, making a line over his head.
"We are not tall," Hiccup smiled, trying to repress a laugh, "you guys are just tiny."
"We are not tiny!" Conall said, still offended, "ye are giants!" this time Hiccup did let out a laugh.
"Oh, and you haven't seen actual tall people," she said with a smile.
"There are taller people?" he said, half horrified.
"I'm actually kind of short," Hiccup chuckled, "I should be taller by now but maybe I'm just growing late." She shrugged, not giving it too much thought. Then smiled, knowing what would freak him out even more, "after all, my father is one of the taller ones on the village, and he is almost 7 feet tall," Conall looked at her horrified, "and I think my mother was quite tall too."
"Ye think?"
"I…" Hiccup hesitated, her happiness fading away quite quickly. She didn't really want to talk about it, and why would she tell him? She sighed, it was going to come up eventually, anyways. "I lost my mother when I was a baby."
"Oh," Conall said and dropped the subject immediately, thing Hiccup silently thank him for.
Suddenly, the bushes behind them shook, a deep growl was heard, and a black shadow jumped over them. Conall yelled and jumped back, stumbling over his own feet until he fell on the ground. His reaction quickly bringing back Hiccup's laugh.
"Hey, buddy," Hiccup said between giggles, "about time you woke up, how was the nap?" the dragon purred and nuzzled Hiccup, searching for her attention. Hiccup smiled and gladly gave it.
Conall sighed and stood up, dusting his kilt. Hiccup looked at him and gave him a you-got-scared smile.
"Oh, shut up." He muttered.
"I didn't say anything," Hiccup shrugged and turned to Toothless, "did I say something?" the dragon growled, closing his eyes and shaking his head.
"Ha, ha, ha," Conall laughed sarcastically, knowing fully well the dragon had done it on purpose. It wasn't the first time he'd done it and knowing Hiccup, she could have a part on it.
She laughed lightly, patting Toothless head in approval. Oh, she totally had a part on it.
"Why do you always get so jumpy?" she asked him, walking back to the village. Conall followed, getting to her side.
"There are dangerous things on this forest," he said warningly.
Hiccup rolled her eyes, "We have lived in the forest for more than a month and so far, the only dangerous thing in it is Toothless," Hiccup said, pointing over she shoulder at the dragon who was now getting quite interested on a butterfly.
"Hiccup, I'm serious." Conall said, "lot of people had gone lost in here. I'm honestly surprised ye haven't seen anything." Hiccup waved him off, "there is really dangerous creatures on here and some that are just annoying."
"Yeah," She laughed gesturing at Toothless with her head, "and I've got a combo there."
Conall stopped and took Hiccup's wrists forcefully, "there are people who believe a witch lives on the forest, a powerful one."
Hiccup got his hands off her and laughed a little nervously, "I believe in a lot of things, but witches are not one of them." Conall frowned at her, "look, I know gnomes and trolls exists, I used to chase them off when I was little."
Conall's angry frown turned into a confused one, "trolls?"
"Yeah, little, ugly things that like to wreak havoc? Usually comes at night?" Hiccup said, then added in a mumble, "they always took my socks."
"Oh, you men Tows."
"What?" Hiccup shook her head, "Whatever. I know a lot of weird things exist, but even then, in my experience, most of them are just dragons on disguise. Even the troll we thought was taking my dad's underwear was just a little Terrible Terror."
"Yes, but there are no dragons around her that can make those stuff." Conall insisted and something lighted up on Hiccup's mind.
"Or maybe there is…" a smile began to play on her lips but quickly died out, "nah, forget it. Toothless would have already sniff them out, we have circled the area a lot."
"Yer driving off the point," Conall said annoyed. "Da forest is dangerous, people have gone missing and people have seen weird things going on."
Hiccup walked backwards, freely opening her arms, "Well, I have never gotten lost in here and the only weird thing I've seen is a freaky dancing fire way far away from this forest."
"Dancing fire?" Conall asked on the same spot, then his eyes filled with a little bit of fear and he quickly got to Hiccup's side, "you saw a will-o-the-whisp?"
The girl's arm fell on her sides, "Will of the what?"
"Will-o-the-whisp," he repeated slower, walking with her, "they are this… spirit things. They manifest themselves as fire and just wander around the trees, searching for travelers."
Hiccup shrugged, "Toothless like to play with them."
"That's… odd…" Conall said a bit shaken and Hiccup laughed at the boy's reaction. "when did you saw them?"
"I don't know, few days before bumping into you?" she guessed, "don't worry it wasn't close from here. It's few days flight traveling." Hiccup rolled her eyes with a smile on her face, but the fact that another human had kind of the same reaction to her against the fire thingies let her a little comfort.
"Do not follow them," Conall said seriously, stopping on his tracks. Hiccup's laugh slowly died, she stopped walking and turned to him.
"What?" she asked, still with a smile.
"Do not follow them, will-o-the-whisps like to confuse lost travelers, make them think they are a lamp someone else is carrying and make them follow. If you do, they will guide you to the deepest parts of the forest and disappear to let you alone and lost."
Hiccup had gone completely silence, she frowned a little, and looked at Toothless who was silently watching the butterfly that had landed quietly over a tree.
"Toothless said they weren't dangerous." She said.
"There are tons of people who had gone lost on the forest because of them" Conall told her, "there is just a few who had returned, weeks after, saying they were following someone into the forest."
"Well, when I found them, they didn't exactly try to make me follow them," Hiccup said and started walking again, followed closely by the boy, "they actually followed me."
"Did they do something to you?" he asked, mildly concerned.
"Besides the terrible scare? Nah," Hiccup shrugged.
"You really should be more careful with what you find in the woods."
"Well, I did find Toothless in the woods and that turned out okay," Hiccup gestured at her dragon, who was now viciously hunting the butterfly. "They didn't seem so dangerous," she said softly with a small shrug, "I mean, yeah they are made of fire and they are kind of freaky but… Toothless was just playing with them… and they liked it."
They stayed in silence for a moment, then Conall said.
"Maybe it has something to do with the fact he is a dragon."
"Yeah… they do like fire." Hiccup agreed and looked at Toothless one more time over her shoulder, "Dragons see everything that makes light as their own, they like heat and are comfortable with it."
Hiccup's shoulders shook a little as she laughed, "there's these Monstrous Nightmares I meet months ago," Hiccup said and began gesturing, Conall looked at her, smiling softly as she talked. "they are dragons who can set themselves on fire, they sweat this… gel that can catch fire, it burns slowly so it can last a lot. I spread some of it on my sword and they loved it. It was almost if it hypnotized them."
Hiccup looked over at him and caught him staring at her again, "what?" she asked, and his smile suddenly dropped, he looked away quickly.
"uh, nothing… it's just…" he thought his words, then turned his head a little to Hiccup, not meeting her eyes, "Yer not… yer not what ye look like."
Hiccup laughed awkwardly, "what?"
"When I meet you, and until a few weeks back, you were always this… mean Viking girl, annoying and rude." He said and looked into Hiccup's eyes, "but… you are not actually like that."
"What makes you think I'm not?" Hiccup said playfully, crossing her arms and stopping her tracks since they were already too close to the town.
"When ye talk about da things ye like, about Toothless and other dragons, or yer life back on yer tribe… yer more… gentle… and happy." Conall said, smiling a little, "And ye definitely look better laughing than frowning."
Hiccup's shoulders shook with a nervous laughter, "uh, thank you?" she said, her cheeks feeling a little hot.
The Night Fury ran in front of them and both looked at the dragon as he was now being chased by the butterfly. Conall's eyes moved from dragon to girl as an idea formed in his head.
"Hey, I want to show you something," he said, getting Hiccup's attention back, "but not here and… not now."
"Wow, how specific,"
"It has to be at night, or it wont work." He said, walking backwards to the town, "I have to get back to work, meet me at sunset on the usual spot okay?"
Hiccup grimaced and side eyed Toothless, "sunset is reserved, we can't really fly on the day. All the night we spend on the air, you know that."
"Just one night," Conall pleaded, "ye wont regret it, I promise. Even Toothless would like this one." Hiccup thought it for a moment, knowing Toothless would not like the idea. But Conall had now gotten her curiosity.
Specially since he seemed so against being on the forest at night and now, he wanted to show her something at night. It ought to be good.
Hiccup sighed, "Fine, I'll see what I can do."
Conall smiled widely, "See you tonight!" he said happily and turned to run back at the town.
"Tonight? Why tonight?" Toothless asked, quickly running to her side.
"Oh boy," Hiccup sighed, knowing fully well what was coming.
…
Somehow, Hiccup managed to convince Toothless to go. He was annoyed they would see Conall for longer that day and even more annoyed at the fact they would lose time on the ground when they could be flying. He came along anyways.
They meet with the boy on their usual spot and they got to their usual language lesson and as the night began to set in, instead of saying goodbye, they walked together through the forest. Conall guided them to a small clearing with long grass that reached their knees.
"We missed a night of flying for this?" Hiccup asked, crossing her arms. Toothless huffed in agreement at her side.
"No, not for this." Conall said and turned to them, walking backwards into the clearing, "for this," he cleared out. As his feet stepped further in and his legs moved the grass, light began to illuminate his path. Hiccup's jaw fell and gave a little step back as the light began to raise in little sparks.
It took her a few seconds to realize they were fireflies. Hiccup laughed out loud at the beautiful scene in front of her, her arms lightly dropping at her sides. She couldn't stop smiling even if she wanted to.
"Come on!" Conall called them, still walking backwards.
Hiccup looked at Toothless, the dragon's eyes were sparkling as much as hers did. He gave her a gummy smile and let his tongue out. Hiccup laughed again and took a step into the clearing, her feet waking up the small insects, and making them take flight.
Toothless jumped inside and began to jump around the grass, making dots, and lines of light appear on the grass. It was beautiful. Hiccup walked slowly, calmly spinning around, seeing the fireflies go up to the night sky.
She caught up with Conall, looking around in amazement as Toothless raised more and more of the little insects, illuminating the small clearing. Hiccup couldn't get her eyes off the scene… and Conall couldn't get his eyes off her.
"Totally worth it," Hiccup said, looking at him with a smile, and Conall smiled back. Her eyes changed to the sky as the fireflies slowly began to get lose, flying on top of the trees, and into the forest. "This is beautiful," she said.
"Yeah," Conall agreed, though he wasn't looking at the sky too, "hey…" he said softly and reached out for her hand that got slapped away by an exited dragon who got between the two.
Toothless pushed Hiccup playfully and she laughed, stepping back from the dragon. With enough space he took a fight position, wagging his tail exited. "What? Wanna fight?" she asked, taking a fight position herself, "Bring it-oh!"
She couldn't finish as the dragon pounced at her and took her down. She laughed out loud as the Night Fury pinned her for a moment and then got off to let her stand and keep playing.
Conall gave a step back, "Hey, I… I need to go," he said, and Hiccup raised on her elbows to look at him.
"So soon?" she asked, they just had got there.
"I still have a long way back home, and it's already late."
"Fine then," she said and the impatient dragon headbutted the side of her head, hurrying her to stand up and fight. Hiccup giggled and patted his head, not fully putting attention to the dragon, "see you tomorrow?"
"You know that answer," he said and walked off.
"Don't follow any will-o-the-whisps!" Hiccup managed to shout before the boy disappeared on the trees. Conall laughed and shook his head.
Hiccup stood up and faced Toothless, "okay, you wanna fight?" she asked the dragon who didn't really seem to be taking it seriously, "you wanna fight?" she asked again, now in a silly voice that made the Night Fury pull out his tongue and take a playful position.
"Then come and get me," she said still with the silly voice and the dragon began to chase her in a playful manner, just jumping after her. They moved around the clearing until every part of it was untouched and the night was illuminated by the fireflies.
Still laughing and panting a little Hiccup dropped herself on the grass and the dragon did too. They stare off into the night sky that was now filled by either stars or fireflies.
It was beautiful. It was tranquil. It had a weird feeling, being surrounded by so much calmness and easiness, but at the same time, Hiccup's chest was filling with anxiety.
She had to say it, and she didn't know how to. She knew Toothless would turn against it. She knew he would refuse. She knew he would probably let her deaf after roaring at her face.
And she tried, she really did, to find a wat to easy into the situation. To try and calm him with the way she would say those words, but there wasn't a lot of ways she could say it. And the result was going to be the same anyways.
Hiccup closed her eyes, baring herself for what was coming: "I'm going to the town tomorrow."
There was no answer. She cracked open an eye and looked at Toothless, he was looking at her, with a not so impressed look.
"Is today your day to make bad decisions?" he asked her, slightly annoyed.
Hiccup squinted, "You are taking this way better than I thought, aren't you angry?"
"Just annoyed that you still make the same dumb decisions, but I knew you would want to go since a week ago," Toothless growled lowly, waving his paw to a firefly that had fell behind. "And you are still going no matter what I say."
"Well, you are right about that one." Hiccup said, quite impressed. A week ago the idea was just forming on her head. She looked up at the sky, some of the anxiety already lifting and flying away along with the fireflies.
A little smile grew on her face. Tomorrow was going to be a good day. She was sure of it now.
"Do you want me to bring you fish?"
…
The next day, just after Conall had said goodbye and went back to the town, Hiccup prepared herself: her nice clothes on, her hair partly pulled back, and her sword against her hip. She breathed slowly a few times to calm herself, said goodbye to Toothless when they were too close to the town, and walked there alone.
The anxiety that had flew away last night had landed on her again. But it wasn't so bad, she managed to ask where the market place was without people looking at her too weird. But most of the weird looks were directed at her clothes and weapon.
It wasn't really until that moment when she realized almost no one was holding a weapon, and most women were wearing dresses. It had been a long time since Hiccup didn't have the necessity to wear one and she wasn't going to spend the little money she had in something pretty that would be completely wrecked in a matter of days.
Unfortunately, the market place was close to the docks, and Hiccup ran on the danger of being seen by Conall. Fortunately, she didn't see him once.
First thing she did was buy fish for Toothless. The men selling them didn't seem to understand why she needed so much fish for, but money was money, and he gave Hiccup what she asked for.
Minutes later, Hiccup was walking up to the town with a bag filled with fish on her back and her satchel filled with fruit (just the one she hadn't seen on the forest, since that one was pretty much free), some herbs for tea, a thing she had spend a long time without drinking, thought she could live without it.
She was tempted to buy meat, but Toothless could get her that one, so it wasn't a problem or something worthy of her money. What was totally worth it, and she couldn't wait to taste it was the bread she bought. Just the smell coming from her satchel was enough to make her stomach grumble.
Another smell caught her attention and she turned to see a small wooden building with a sign on top. Now: Conall had taught her a few things on reading, but not that much. She knew numbers and a few words.
But Hiccup could bet her life on the fact that that place was a dinner.
Guided by her nose and stomach she walked to it and carefully went in, just in case she was wrong. She wasn't. the inside was filled with a lot of people, all sitting on tables, talking and laughing as they ate or waited for their food.
Hiccup smiled a little, the room giving her a weird sense of familiarity for some reason. She walked in and a girl shouted at her from a few tables away.
"Hi! Welcome!" she said, trying to sound cheery, but she just sounded really tired. "take that table over there, I'll go in a moment to take your order," Hiccup smiled at her and nodded, sitting on the table and patiently waiting as she looked around.
It wasn't until that moment she realized how small the place was, how they had forcefully fit more tables that should be possible, not letting a lot of place to walk. Most of the people were bulky and well build, making it more difficult to complete the task.
The place was really cramped, but cozy, familiar, and welcoming. Hiccup watched the girl walk out of a door at the back, a large trail on her hand, and quite gracefully made her way trough the tables to deliver the food.
Hiccup looked around, a small frown forming. That girl seemed to be the only one on staff. No, there was another person, but Hiccup hadn't been able to see her until that moment.
It was a short, old woman who moved less gracefully and slower around the tables as she picked up dirty dishes. Her eyelids seemed to be permanently fallen over her eyes in a way that made Hiccup think how the old woman was able to see.
And maybe she wasn't, because when she walked to Hiccup's table she literally walked into the table, bumping on it, and almost taking it down. The tray with dishes wobbled on her hand and she almost fell over.
Hiccup quickly stood up, looping her arm around the woman and taking the tray with the other. She knocked over her chair but managed to stop the woman from falling and equilibrate the plate on the tray.
"Oh," the woman said, just on that moment realizing what had happened.
"Don't worry, I've got you." Hiccup said, her voice a little forced for holding all the weight.
For loud as the scene had been and as small the place was, they had almost caught anyone's attention. Just the near tables that didn't bother to help. The woman got up to her feet and went on to take the tray, but Hiccup raised it up, out of her reach.
"No," she said a little awkward, "Let me… let me help."
"Oh, thank you, dearie." The woman said and hooked her arm around Hiccup's with quite a strong grasp, guiding her through the tables and into the kitchen.
Inside was terribly hot and it all looked like a true mess. There was a single woman cooking, the younger woman that had been serving the food was placing different dishes on her tray as the older one gave them to her.
"Just put them there, dearie," the old lady said, pointing at a pile of dirty dishes, and releasing the child. Hiccup did as tell and the woman wobbled her way to the cook, talking with a cherry tone, "Aila, I found someone to help you as a waitress,"
Hiccup quickly followed her, "What? No-" she could barely speak as the younger woman handed her a tray with a bunch of fully served dishes.
"Good," she said, obviously tired and relived, "table one, four, seven, and eight." She said as she pointed at each plate. Then took another tray for herself and left. Hiccup stood on the same place, not really knowing what to do.
The other woman, the cook, walked to Hiccup and for a moment she was worried the woman was going to hurry her, but instead she took the plates from Hiccup's arms.
"It's okay, sweetie," she said with an apology on her eyes, "mom, you can't just bring any girl in here and "hire" her like that!"
"She wanted to help," the old woman said, and the cook -her daughter- turned to look at Hiccup with a questioning look.
"I…" Hiccup trailed off, thinking this wasn't exactly the way she wanted to practice her Scottish, "I just saw her having trouble and helped," she shrugged slightly, the woman sighed.
"You can just return to your table, sweetheart," the woman said gently but hurriedly pushing Hiccup towards the door, "we'll attend you in a second."
Hiccup looked at the door and her brain raced, giving a last look inside the kitchen she quickly said, "But I can help you if you need to."
The woman stopped pushing Hiccup and stared at her, "really?" she said after a few seconds of silence.
"Yeah," Hiccup slowly shrugged, "just for today, I mean. I don't really have anything to do."
"See? I told you," the old woman said as the younger one eyed her up and down.
"How old are you?"
"I'm…" Hiccup stopped herself half a second, remembering what Conall had said, they didn't get jobs until they were way older that they do on Berk. Fortunately, she was tall enough to pass as an older teen. "I'm seventeen, almost eighteen."
"You don't look like seventeen," The woman said.
"I get that a lot," Hiccup lied with a short shrug. The woman looked at the kitchen, at the plates that were still waiting to be delivered and the ones that needed to be washed, to her mother, and lastly, to Hiccup. She sighed and nodded.
"Fine," she walked off and returned with an apron, "put this on and tie back your hair," she said, and Hiccup quickly did as she said. The woman gave ger back the plates repeating the same tables the other girl had mentioned, she took Hiccup's shoulders and turned her to the wall aside the door.
"Those are the tables," she said pointing at the small mapping of the dinner drew on a piece of paper. Hiccup's eyes quickly flew over the drawing.
"Okay, I'm going to repeat it to you," the woman said, and pointed to a plate, "table-"
"One, four, seven and eight." Hiccup said, looking at each plate.
"Yes," the woman said, a small look of awe on her eyes. "Well, go at it. If someone wants to order just tell them to ask the other girl, her name is Aila."
"Got it," Hiccup nodded and walked out, repeating the tables on her head to not forget it. She saw the other girl going from table to table, picking up the dishes from empty tables that were quickly filling up as more people entered the place.
"Hey! New girl!" Aila said out loud and pointed to a table with her chin, "clean that up, would you?"
Hiccup delivered her plates, took the dishes from the other table and swept it with the piece of cloth tied to her apron, and made her way back to the kitchen.
The old lady was quietly sitting on a chair and washing dishes, the other woman was crazily cooking, mixing the pot with soup, cutting bread and meat, stuffing sandwiches, and filling up bowls.
It was chaotic.
But at the same time, it didn't look that bad. There was a rhythm on what she was doing, her eyes were focused, her arms moved around without a problem, her hands quickly finding the knifes and spoons.
Hiccup didn't want to bother her to ask what she should do now. But she didn't have to. The woman put five new plates on another tray and called for Hiccup's attention.
She quickly took it, memorized the numbers and went out again. Hiccup delivered the food, picked up what was dirty, and cleaned the tables. She did her job as told and she began to think this wasn't actually that bad.
A few minutes later, she realized it was bad. At least ten persons had shout at her impatiently in just the first 30 minutes she was there, but you bet she wasn't going to drop out of it.
She gave her back at the costumers and dropped the nice expression she had been holding, she sighed tiredly and put on a neutral face before pushing the door to the kitchen.
Aila was sitting on a stool, quickly chewing on a sandwich and spooning some soup on her mouth. She swallowed and went back to work. It was at least the third time Hiccup saw her eating like that.
"Can't she just sit and eat?" Hiccup asked out loud, she didn't want to sound rude or demanding, but the way she was eating wasn't ideal.
"Usually she does," the cook said as she chopped some vegetables, "but there's too many people out there."
"Oh…" it was all Hiccup could say before taking the new tray that was ready for her. "What do you want to eat?" The woman asked her.
"What?"
"Yeah, I mean you came here to eat like… almost an hour ago," the woman said, barely looking at her over her shoulder, "Chose anything, it's on the house."
"Uh…" Hiccup thought and looked down at the tray on her hands, "The sandwich looks nice."
"I'll have it ready," the woman said and gestured at the door, "Go back there,"
And she did. She spent the next hour or so eating as she worked, going under the only rule of "swallow before going out."
It was a good job. As tiring and annoying as it was, it was good. She talked a lot in Scottish, the job was a nice kick out of the routine, and she got free food.
After three or four hours after Hiccup had arrived, the dinner was finally getting empty. According to the women on the diner, those were the busy hours. It was the time most of the sailors came to the deck and the time a lot of people decide to take brakes on their jobs.
Today had been specially filled up because a lot of ships from the outside came along with travelers and traders.
After all that, the place was rather calm. At night things would get a little crazy again, but the people from the farms got home early so they wouldn't walk the forest at night, and most people inside town rather going home. So nights weren't so bad.
Aila got on charge of the tables by her own again, and Hiccup went to help the old Lady wash the dishes to let her eat on peace.
Without realizing it, time passed, and the sun began to set in. It wasn't until Hiccup had to take a few boxes out on the back that she saw how much time she had been on town.
"I think I should go," she told the two older women, walking inside and taking off the apron, letting it on a table. "It's getting late and-"
"Oh wait!" the old Lady said, quickly getting on her feet and walking to Hiccup. She took her hands and she felt something cold touching her skin. The old woman smiled and patted the back of her hand before pulling away. Hiccup looked inside her hands and saw a few silver coins laying on her palm.
"What? Oh, no, no, no." Hiccup quickly tried to give it back, but the other woman took her hands and gently closed Hiccup's fingers around the coins.
"Keep them," she said with a smile, the door opened and Aila entered the room. She opened her mouth to say something but saw the scene and smile formed on her face. "Thank you for helping us… uh…"
"Hiccup," she said without thinking. All three women frowned at the estrange name, but the one in front of Hiccup quickly smiled again.
"Thank you Hiccup," she said, "and… if you want, you can come back again tomorrow, we'll pay you more than this."
"Like… like a job?" Hiccup asked astounded, "I… I can't." she gently pulled away from the woman's touch.
"Why not?" Aila asked her from behind.
"I… have other things to do," she said, rubbing her neck and looking away. Toothless would be more than pissed off if she accepted.
"You don't have to," the woman said gently, "but we can really use the help, at least on these hours."
"And you'll get money and free food!" the old lady said.
Hiccup looked at her hand, at the silver coins. There had been just for helping and she had got a few bronze coins from tips. If she stayed, she would get a good salary and the tips weren't so bad.
She had thought about getting a job, she missed it. But she was going to try and ask on the smith after she told Toothless about it. Hiccup was sure he would say no, and she was going to end up doing it anyways. But at least he would know about it.
"Let me think about it," Hiccup said lowly, taking her satchel and tossing the bag of fish over her shoulder before walking out.
…
"A job?" Toothless asked.
"I know it's not the best idea." Hiccup quickly said.
"No, it's not."
"But the pay isn't bad and it would be-"
"Just for a few weeks?" Toothless cut her off, "Like before? Like it ended up with us staying for months in there and people wanting to hurt you all over again?"
Hiccup stood in silence for a second, not wanting to answer that. Even less when he was right.
"I don't like Conall, but at least he doesn't want to hurt you. What if they do?"
"I know it's not a good idea," Hiccup said, calmly, "but with a few weeks in there I can make up enough money to buy supplies for longer times." Hiccup crouched, making herself smaller in front of Toothless, his eyes went a little wider.
"I have already plan this out: I gather money to buy clothes and other stuff I could need. I'm going to save it all in a bag that I can keep safe somewhere, and if in the future I need any of these I can just come for it and not go into a village."
Toothless growled, not liking the idea.
"It would be a very long goodbye for villages and humans for both of us. Just a few weeks working in there, then it'll be just you and me, bud. Traveling to the edge of the earth."
"What?" Conall said behind them, making her flinch.
"Hey!" Hiccup said without too much enthusiasm, standing up and turning around to him, "you are here."
"What was that about?"
"How much did you hear?" Hiccup asked hesitantly.
"Ye got a job?" it wasn't really a question.
"I still don't accept," She said, as if it would make it better.
"Where?"
"In a dinner?"
"No."
Hiccup blinked twice, "What?"
"Ye can't accept this," Conall almost yelled, walking closer to her.
"Why?"
"A dinner? Are ye crazy?" he did yell this time, "do ye have any idea of how many people are goin' ta see ye?"
"Hey, the only thing I know how to do that can get me money is helping in a blacksmith and that one is worse. They think I'm some short of traveler and you can't learn to work with metal jumping from town to town!"
Conall groaned, rubbing his face, "Okay, at least ye can stay hidden in the kitchen."
"Actually…" Hiccup stressed the word, thinking it might not be a good idea to tell him, "the job is as a barmaid,"
He looked at the girl between his finders with a blank expression for a moment that felt longer than it actually was.
"Okay, then: no."
"Excuse me?" Hiccup said offended, "You can't tell me what to do."
"I'm actually with him on this one," Toothless growled lowly.
"Oh, not you too!" Hiccup turned to the dragon. Conall looked at him, slowly understanding the situation. But not as slow as Hiccup would want to.
"It's two against one, Hiccup. Yer not taking it."
"I AM taking it!" She almost shouted, looking at the two, "do you have any idea of what is like to stay sitting on the forest all day?"
"I do," Toothless grunted annoyed.
"I'm not talking to you right now," Hiccup told him, harsher than she wanted to… No, you know what? She did want to." I'm sick of doing nothing, of just walking around the forest waiting until you show up!"
"I have a job to do!" he yelled, "I don't just 'work' for you."
"I KNOW!" Hiccup yelled at the top of her lungs, what seemed to scare both males, "but I want to leave this place, we want to leave this place, but we can't because I need the money! This way I'll win it faster and both will get rid of the other sooner!"
Conall stared at her, eyes open wide and a little taken aback. He looked… hurt. Then his face filled up with hatred.
"Fine," he said and tossed the bag he'd been carrying at her feet, the coins twinkled inside. "Do as ye want, I'm not helping ye anymore." He turned and stomped away.
"Wha… what?" Hiccup stammered, "what do you mean?"
Conall turned and she could swear his eyes were watering, "it seems ye already got what ye wanted, right? I helped ye, I thought ye to talk our language, I didn't get anything back and yer already got a job to do things by yerself."
"That's not-"
"Don't," he cut her off, "don't try to apologize, to excuse yerself or to whatever were ye going ta say, I don't care. Ye wanted to get rid of me? Done." He turned again, looking at her over his shoulder before leaving, "Goodbye Hiccup, I hope not to see ye around town."
Hiccup stood there, silent. As he walked away, letting her with a weird itching feeling on her chest.
"I screw up again," she muttered, her eyes fixed on the trees, just were Conall's back had disappeared.
"Screw up? Why?" Toothless asked, "You got a job, I still think is a bad idea, but it's the only option we have now. We will fly away from here sooner and best of all he is not going to be around anymore!"
"No… he is not…" Hiccup said, her eyes couldn't move from the trees. She sighed and sat down in there, forcing herself to look somewhere else.
"Fuzzy?" Toothless asked, now worried, "Are you okay?"
"I… I don't know." She said in a week voice, why was it affecting her so much? Hiccup looked at where he went. She shook her head slightly and sighed, "what am I doing?"
…
The next day she got up early and walked to where she guessed was his usual route to go from his farm to the town. And she waited and waited. Hiccup began to think she might not see him when she heard him groan.
Hiccup raised her head and saw he had stopped, looking at her with quite an annoyed face. She hesitantly took a step away from the tree she had been resting on.
"Hey," she said softly.
"What do ye want?" he asked harshly.
"I…"
Conall sighed and walked past her, "Shouldn't ye be working?"
"No…" Hiccup said, "I'm… I'm not taking the job."
"What?" he stopped and turned a little.
"I… I had been thinking and… It's not worth it. It would expose me to much and you are right, it's too dangerous, besides I… I don't want to lose you." Hiccup scratched her arm nervously and Conall completely turned to her.
"I know it sounds stupid but… since I left my home, I haven't made a lot of human friends, and the ones I have made didn't know about Toothless. I didn't stay long enough to know what they thought about it after they found out, but I think I can figure."
Hiccup raised her eyes to him, her voice shook a little, "You do know… you know about him and you don't see me as any other Viking I've meet, even the ones I haven't meet. And I… I don't want to lose that."
Conall didn't say a thing, but he wasn't angry anymore. Or at least he didn't look angry.
"I'm not asking you to keep helping me," Hiccup said, "You can just don't do it if you don't want to but… I think it's time I pay you back. Really, pay you back." she smiled softly and said, "I'll answer any questions you want. Not just for practice, not skipping information, and not ignoring questions. Whatever you want to know, I'll tell you."
A small smile dared to show on the boy's lips and Hiccup bobbled her head, "besides if you keep helping me to sell skins I'll give you half my earning, for… for your farm."
Conall chuckled and quickly tried to erase his smile, "I'll… see ye on the afternoon then," he said, not angry anymore and left to the town.
Hiccup looked at him until he got lost on the woods and out of sight, she moved her bangs out of the way and tucked a little string behind her ear. Toothless walked out of the bushes he was hiding in and stopped at her side.
"If you want him to be your friend, why did you lie?" He asked, tilting his head.
"If I told him the true, he wouldn't have accepted the apology," Hiccup said.
"So you are taking the job too?"
"Yes, just a month, I promise. Then we get away from here."
"Sounds like a plan," Toothless growled lowly, "not a good one, but a plan."