ArtreyCroght: Thank you so much! That means a lot. I think just going with the flow and not thinking too much helped me write a bit better.

silvertreebranch: It makes me so happy you're enjoying. Thanks :)

Guest: Awe, haha. Yes, I'm back for a bit.

StarDust333: Your suggestions helped me move through this chapter quickly, much appreciated.


A tiny Terrible Terror dragon swooped over a bright seashore just as the sun burned pink and seeped its warmth over Dragon's Edge island. It only flapped once on its long sweep to the pauldron of a green-eyed Viking who had coincidentally emerged from his high cabin into the sunlight of his balcony.

"Hey there, buddy," Hiccup greeted. He smiled down into the Terror's expecting eyes and gingerly noogied its snout with his fingers. The Terror's nostrils vibrated and its tail swayed, obviously liking the gentle attention.

Hiccup chortled when the little Terror's breath heated his fingers. He then grabbed the rolled parchments crumpled in the Terror's sharp talons and roved his eyes over the contents of the first message.

Understanding it was no longer needed, the Terror launched from Hiccup's arm and sailed back to Berk.

Hiccup scanned the letter again, sighed wistfully, and made a weak smile to himself. Light conversation from Snotlout and Fishlegs floated to his ears from below. Hiccup bent over the wooden railing of his cabin and saw his companions at the island who had seemingly congregated at the dragon stables.

A new, more nasally voice oscillated in between the group's banter, belonging to Gustav. Gustav had been more reserved than normal on the group's flight to Dragon's Edge, and that memory made Hiccup concentrate on Gustav's faint words below to hear if they carried any apprehension about his first morning with the others on the island. Though Hiccup and the Riders all knew of Gustav from an early age, they were all still strangers to the fourteen-year old, in a small way. To make things complicated, they weren't exactly in Gustav's age rage anymore, either. Training him to be one of the Riders wouldn't be so simple. Hiccup tapped the parchments from Berk on his chin, lost in thought.

Toothless slowly weasled from Hiccup's cabin then, awake from his preferred sleeping spot that was right alongside his master. Hiccup didn't flinch when Toothless' head grazed his elbows with his smooth scales and then nestled in Hiccup's palm that absently petted him in a morning greeting.

Toothless yawned pleasurably at his master's touch with a hollow sound, and then he looked to Hiccup for a lead on what they would be up to for the day. A quick observation of Hiccup's bent brows told Toothless that there was something bothering him on the ground. Toothless looked just there and bared his teeth.

Toothless scoped the faraway grass below for a hiding Dragon Hunter. Those hunters had always been Hiccup's top concern. The bandits also reeked of coal, so Toothless went to work on sniffing for the smoky scent in the air. Toothless couldn't sense a hunter within five miles, and Hiccup still looked restless. Exasperated, Toothless growled.

"What's the matter, bud?" Hiccup said with a confused smirk. Hiccup rubbed behind Toothless' ear and grinned when he got a cheerier-sounding warble from the Night Fury.

"That's much better!" Hiccup cooed. Hiccup then descended a ladder towards the group below. Toothless flew to the grass and bounced after Hiccup's metal peg-leg.

After all of the dragons finished their feeding and after a modest breakfast of pulled meat, yolky fireworm larvae, and berries were well settled in everyone's stomachs, Hiccup addressed the group at the central cabin's mealtable and shifted the conversation from their separate experiences back on Berk to the new order of business on the Edge.

"Okay gang. So, first things first: this place is a mess."

Gustav and the others grunted or smirked in solidarity.

"We should start with...assigning jobs for who's going to clean up what."

"We need to start with carving my new 'S'. Pronto."Snotlout insisted.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah; we've also got some rebuilding to do. The storms out here were...pretty nasty."

Astrid began to speak, but Ruffnut spoke just then.

"Shouldn't we start with talking about what we're actually gonna do here from now on? We could find more dragons, or more of the world's...'secrets'?" Ruffnut leaned her eyes towards Hiccup in light humor, but just like for the past few days on the Edge, she didn't exactly smile.

Hiccup lip twitched back at her. Ruffnut had somehow remembered his angsty little rant to Ruffnut that happened outside her bunk on the morning they had found Astrid and Tuffnut being... unusual.

"You're not wrong, Ruff. But I think a bit of cleanup will help us start on a fresh slate. Plus, Gustav here can get more familiar with the camp. We'll talk about plans for the Edge at dinner."

Ruffnut gently arched her brows and teetered her head in reluctant approval. "Okay...but wouldn't it be better to do all the talking we want before we wear ourselves out all day? Just sayin'." She yawned and blinked sluggishly at her (literally) licked-clean plate, waiting for Astrid to say something Hiccup would care to listen to.

Tuffnut, always at his sister's righthand seat at the mealtable, crossed his boots the other way on the table. His helmet-hooded eyes swept once from Ruffnut to Hiccup.

Hiccup felt disappointed to dismiss Ruffnut's suggestion, a emotion that slightly took him aback since the Twins' suggestions were usually unimportant enough to brush off.

"Not that it's a bad idea, Ruff, just, we sorta kinda thought a whole plan for today already? By we, of course I mean Astrid and I." Hiccup bothered his lip between his teeth as he pondered about how to make Ruffnut feel heard while allowing room for Astrid to give orders for the cleanup.

"We'll have plenty of time to rest after we clean up," Hiccup said, "so there'll be space for everyone to think about what they want to share about the future of the Edge then. And, congrats on your graduation in...sorry, what was it again?"

"Underwater basket weaving," Ruffnut said. Ruffnut's brighter tone of voice relieved Hiccup.

"You can't be serious," Snotlout said.

Ruffnut didn't sport Snotlout a glance "Like you did anything over these past months that didn't involve failure."

"Did so!"

"Like what?!"

"You happen to be looking at the first Jorgenson to become a certified scrollkeeper. Suck on that."

Ruffnut scoffed. "So that's why my mail kept getting screwed up with Fishlegs'?"

"You read my mail?!" Fishlegs crowed.

"Obviously. But then I got bored. Ugh, it's always that same girl: Heather, Heather, Heather, Heather--make it stop."

"Shut up!" Fishlegs groaned, already showing color in his portly, blonde-stubbled cheeks.

"Don't tell her to shut up," Tuffnut croaked. With a sprinkle of alertness in time for his first joke of the morning, he clarified, "just glue her mouth shut and call it a day." He chuckled and Snotlout cackled.

Ruffnut released a rumbling belch from her gut, making Tuffnut and Snotlout wince in digust at the stench of half-digested eggs that flew in their faces.

Hiccup shook his head at Astrid when she shrugged helplessly at him. Apparently, nothing about his friends had really changed. There was some comfort in that, but not much. He removed the letters for the group from his belt, with some struggle, and prepared to present them.

"Hiccup's scratching his nuts!" Someone blurted.

The table exploded in laughter, all except for Astrid and Hiccup. Gustav looked proud of himself.

Hiccup ignored everyone's sudden eyeballs, his throat dry and his face paling. "I actually wasn't, Gustav?"

"I just saw you!" Gustav guffawed.

Hiccup's fingers curled, and then Astrid's knee nudged Hiccup under the table to not give Gustav the time of day. Hiccup agreed with a discreet look, noting to himself that Gustav was obviously searching for some approval among them.

"Snotlout, you're cleaning stables." Astrid cut in, not minding Snotlout's deafening groan. "I'll scout and make sure we're the only ones on the island. Fishlegs, get Meatlug to rearrange the rock garden and all the defense towers. Tuff, Ruff, you can just focus on the boar pit if you want and clearing the debris. Also, find the Night Terror flocks and convince them to be our natural protectors again. The rains must've spooked them and ran them away."

"What do you want us to do? Persuade them with words?" Ruffnut said. "Newsflash, Astrid, they don't talk."

"Be creative. Gustav, you're going to be with Hiccup, doing construction on any damage to the camp. You'll find all the tools you need in his place. Plus, he's gonna show you around the island before you start your training."

Gustav, alarmed at the sudden seriousness that fell over the Vikings, nodded slowly.

"You heard the lady, get to work!" Hiccup called. "And take your mail on the way out." The table quickly dispersed and Hiccup was left alone with Gustav.

Hiccup walked with him to his cabin, and finally talked to him there. Hiccup sighed for another time that day, drumming his fingers against his folded arms. Gustav blinked up at him, looking too innocent-- with the freckles to prove it.

"Gustav, if you're going to be one of us, you have to start acting a little more mature."

"Whaddya mean?" Gustav said.

Hiccup kissed his teeth. "That 'joke' wasn't funny!"

Gustav thought, and then chuckled. "Oh, yeah. That was funny."

"But definitely not mature."

"But everyone was laughing!" Gustav looked incredulous, and then defensive. "Ruffnut burped."

"Right, and it was really gross, but, what I'm trying to say is, Gustav, the only reason you got away with it was because I let you off the hook. The others, well, might...not." Hiccup cocked a brow to Gustav.

Gustav looked understanding, and suddenly couldn't meet Hiccup's eye.

"This is from your mother," Hiccup said, unfolding to Gustav the letter he read that morning. "I think she and I can both say that being here is a huge priviledge that you shouldn't take for granted. You should read this."

Gustav accepted the letter curiouslyand tucked it in his vest.

Hiccup took Gustav by the shoulder and approached his toolshed.

"C'mon," Hiccup guided. "Let's grab some hammers and get to work."


Outside, Astrid heard her name called once, and she turned with her unsheaved axe to Tuffnut, who had stayed behind a certain distance from his disappearing twin.

"Watch yourself out there," Tuffnut said with a short nod.

"Yeah," Astrid said, nodding, mainly because she didn't know what else to say to that random and completely unecessary comment. She would be perfectly fine, like always.

Tuffnut's face lost its serious form, and a hesitant smirk appeared on his face. "Y'know, I never ate fireworms. Not bad." Tuffnut grinned as he slowly pedaled towards his assigned direction.

"I couldn't find any bird eggs," Astrid confessed. "Usually Hiccup makes breakfast, so he would know where to find them."

"Don't worry about it! See ya, A. Meet me after dinner?"

"No problem," she called. In Astrid's weak smile back at him, she had the feeling she should take his words about her cooking as a compliment. Her stomach felt stuffed with warm feathers as she twisted her axe in her grasp.

Out of nowhere, a chicken scurried past her ankles. Astrid jumped with a curse at Tuffnut's pet, Chicken, who sped past her.

On Astrid's solo path, Tuffnut's words of safety felt like a blessing she was willing to let cover her through the corridors of trees she peeked through for strangers. On cue, there was a rustle of leaves in a berry bush that caused Astrid to white-knuckle her axe. With a thumping heart, she approached where the sound came from.

Hi! Hope you liked it. Please review, and let me know if I'm going in a good direction. :) Until next time.