After about an hour of reflecting over what I could have done better in the raid, I desperately tried to go back to sleep but I was wide awake from the events of before. These vikings still had to eat, even though Hiccup thought they could use a little less feeding… I had to make a living somehow! In which case, I got off my warm and comfy bed, grabbed my equipment, took my father's sword and set sail around Berk. Usually I liked to fish a bit farther away from the island but I felt lazy that day.

All around Berk I dropped my lines and nets. Sometimes I was lucky and stayed for a little while more and sometimes I was unlucky and moved spots regularly. After moving away from a barren spot, I sailed into the rear-most part of the island and saw a cove with a rather large cave in it, flooding with water. Two things stuck in my mind as I saw it, one, I could have a better chance catching some more fish and two, maybe there were gemstones inside the cave I could probably take home. Without sparing a second, I sailed right into the cove and dropped my lines and nets. Over and over I dropped them, but I didn't even get a single minnow.

"I guess the fish don't like the spot here today…" I grimaced and stared into the cave "But this little adventure may not be a total waste." As I began to row into the cavern, I felt a sudden stop in front of the landform. As hard as I tried to row into it, the water seemed to have been too shallow to pass through any further. I sighed and decided to find a torch that my parents kept inside the boat just in case we were going to fish overnight. Not that they lasted very long but it still offered a bit of light. Taking the flint and steel and striking it away from the boat as I possibly could, I managed to light the torch.

I then realized that I didn't have any mining equipment if I did find any gems, not wanting to go away, however, I decided to just see if there were any in there and come back later to mine them. Making sure the sword was on my hip, I hopped into the water. In hindsight, it was a stupid move as that part of the water could have still been deep. The water can seem nice and gentle, but it can also be a deceiving cruel mistress. Thankfully, the cold water only reached up halfway up my knees. It was a shame my shoes and feet got wet, but I figured it would be well-worth it if I found something like a diamond.

Hearing the rhythmic slosh and splash from my walking and occasional drips from the stalactites was calming but I couldn't find anything.

"Please" I prayed "Please help me find something. I don't want to go back empty-handed from here."

Loki must have been the one who heard my request because as I ventured further into the cave, the torch became more useful as the sunlight couldn't reach into it anymore. The reason I said that Loki must have heard is because I saw a long blue tail resting in the water. The tail would have been alarming enough but as I looked more closely at it, I saw that the end had a fin, like a fish tail. Scauldron! I reached and drew my sword in response. Cautiously, I tracked the tail to the body and discovered the dragon on its side, almost still. Is it dead? I asked myself as I looked at its face, the answer was made clear to me as I saw it's belly rise and then fall. Must be sleeping then… Wait! Is that- I put the torch closer to its chest and walked slowly to it, nearly hitting my head on the shaft of a spear sticking out.

This has to be the one I threw my spear at! It must be! Careful not to set the shaft on fire, I put the torch near it and looked for the runes of good fortune my father carved into it. Sure enough, they were there, it even had his insignia. How is this beast still alive! It should have died of its wounds days ago! What's driving it? Is it an instinct with a will to survive… or is it something else? Are the gods giving me a chance to finish it off? A chance to avenge my parents' deaths again? If that's the case! With my free-hand I firmly grabbed onto the shaft. I will gladly do so!

"This is for my parents, you vile beast!" I shouted as I tried to plunge the spear further into him.

The scauldron opened its green eyes, locking them with mine; as it tried to fire a stream it soon let out a shriek and slammed his head against the water. His belly heaving over and over, breathing rapidly. I would have finished the job but as soon as it locked eyes with me… I felt like he had shared a similar pain with me.

Scauldrons are social dragons, they swim with a pod… but this one was all alone… He was separated from what was most likely his family… just like how I was separated from mine. Assuming he was separated by an enemy, either natural or by people, he would have been in the same boat as me. Then the spear, he received a wound at least near the heart, just like I have, albeit an emotional one, but it still hurt. I took a second look at the dragon and saw that he was only about thirty feet long, adults are normally sixty feet long… Therefore, a teenager. He was resting from his wound, just like how I rested from mine... He's just like me!

My breathing quivered and I fell onto my knees. "I-... I can't do this…" I took a look at the spear. If I heal this dragon and it attacks me or disturbs my fishing, then so be it! I'll finish him off then, but I can't bear to strike it down now! I placed my hands firmly on the shaft once more and slowly began to pull it out. Obviously, the dragon began to shriek in pain and whipped its tail at me "It's okay! Hold still!" I tried to reassure, but he wasn't having any of it. As far as he knew, I was trying to hurt him even more. Through his whips, I still managed to slowly pull the spear until his tail finally slammed into me, making me rip the weapon out. The force of his tail whip was so strong that I flew into the cave wall, making me drop my torch into the water. I opened my eyes and at first I saw nothing but only heard the screeches of terror and pain. As my eyes slowly adjusted to the dark, I could see that he had a heavily bleeding wound with the blade out. I didn't know what to do, I had nothing to stop the bleeding… all except the clothes on my back!

I desperately took my shirt off and ran to the dragon, shoving my shirt into the wound to act as a gauze to stop the bleeding. The scauldron still thought I was trying to hurt it and raked his front claws into my back over and over again. It was time for me to let out my own painful shouts. The claws stopped almost as soon as they started and the dragon fell almost limp into the water. It must have fainted. While the pain on my back was immense, the Scauldron must have been in worse shape as the spear was stuck inside it for a few days. After maybe ten minutes of applying constant pressure, it felt like the bleeding had stopped, or at least slowed down enough that it would stop on its own. I didn't have anything else on me that I could use to help and I felt dizzy from losing so much blood myself; I had no choice but to go back to the village for medicine. I hobbled over to my boat and somehow managed to row to the docks. I collapsed as soon as I stepped onto the wood.

I woke up back in my bed to a delicious smell. I looked at my chest to see that I was bandaged up and as I sat up, I winced at the pain but fought through and stood up. I saw a silhouette of someone standing near a fire under a large pot.

"Dad…?"

The figure looked back and as I began to fall, the person caught me. It was Gobber.

"Thank Thor you're up, lad." He gave a sigh of relief," you had all of us worried."

"Us…?" My mind wasn't working at its best so I had a hard time doing or saying anything.

"The whole village. Myself and someone else on the dock had brought you to Gothi who was able to heal you. She scribbled that it was best that you stay home for a few days to rest."

"A few days? But at that point-"

"Yes, at that point, dragon training would have started."

Wait, why am I so concerned about learning how to kill dragons even though I just tried to help heal one… No, I just couldn't kill it that one time because it was wounded! I want to kill it in an actual fight! Yeah, that's probably it! I began to ponder "When does it start, exactly?"

"...Tomorrow morning, but you can come in when you're all better. I can give you a crash course in the dragons I've taught about."

I shook my head "That's not the same as being taught on the actual day though…"

Gobber sighed "Arne, I'm not going to stop you if you want to come tomorrow but I strongly recommend that you rest until you're in better shape. If your wounds open back up, then things might go from bad to worse."

"I'll take my chances. I'm going to dragon training." I stated.

"If that's what you want... Anyway, here you go."

Gobber gave me a bowl full of delicious-smelling yak noodle stew.

"My own recipe, aside from a few medicinal herbs that Gothi gave me for you. It should help the healing process; who knows, you may be ready to fight dragons tomorrow in the morning."

"Wait- we're gonna fight dragons tomorrow? Which one?"

Gobber sat quietly "I think I've said too much… Anyway, eat your soup. It's gonna get cold."

The taste was exquisitely savory, firm and non-soggy noodles just flowed with soup, the carrots, soft, yet also firm and a bit crunchy for a nice change of texture. Between bites, I began to imagine what kind of dragons we would be fighting. I knew there was going to be a chance to fight a monstrous nightmare, it might be the same one that the chief beat the living yak dung out of.

"Slow down Arne, the soup's not going anywhere."

From a mouthful, I managed to swallow everything, gasping for breath after. "Sorry" I breathed "It's a bad habit of mine…" I paused. "You know, that's one of the last things my mother said to me when we were eating salmon stew the night before…"

He gave me an empathetic look "I'm so sorry Arne… Frode and Thyra were good people... and always kept my stomach happy with their catches." He patted his belly with a slight chuckle to lighten the mood "They made the whole village happy. I know Stoick always complimented them and always asked how they could catch so much large fish. They would always say-"

"It's a family secret." I gave a slight smile.

"Aye. You don't suppose you can tell me, can you?"

"Not for all the yak noodle soups in the archipelago, Gobber."

"Worth a shot. In any case, it's almost sunset, I'd better make some final touches to the arena before tomorrow." He stood up "See you tomorrow lad, make sure to eat all of that soup. You may need all the medicine Gothi gave you if you plan to come."

"I'll do my best, but this looks like a lot of food."

He grinned "You should have seen the pot when it was actually full. You took too long to wake up and I got hungry. Decided to have a few bowls."

The house was quiet again, other than shoveling spoon fulls of soup in my mouth. Maybe it's because I was told it had medicinal herbs in it, but almost immediately, I started to feel better. The pain felt like it was fading away… Though I still wondered if I should retrieve my spear from the cove, however, after thinking it over, it was probably best not to. I barely came out of that place alive, who knew if that scauldron was going to blast me or not if I came back. Besides, I still had my dad's sword.