"Hey, Astrid," Hiccup said with a wide grin, "Look who's here!" He gestured quite unnecessarily to the wild-haired, titchy blonde girl he'd just been hugging far too tightly. The chit had been enthusiastic while hugging Hiccup (far more enthusiastic than a stranger had any right to be, in Astrid's opinion), but as soon as she heard Astrid's name, all the warmth left her pale blue eyes. She scrutinized Astrid as if she were a fly in dung. Well, at least the feeling was mutual.
"Who is she?" Astrid asked irritably, returning the glare with her own, armor-piercing one.
It was probably for the best that Toothless decided to make his appearance just then. He and Heather trotted out of the trees, the dragon breaking into a sprint as he saw his boy.
"Toothless!" Hiccup cried. He threw his arms open to embrace the incoming Night Fury. The short girl, Astrid was pleased to see, looked startled to see an enormous black dragon charging toward her, but the moment was short-lived. Almost quicker than the eye could see, the girl had drawn one of the two swords on her back and was holding it in a defensive position. Astrid was almost impressed at the deftness with which the stranger handled her weapon. Almost.
"No, Cami!" Hiccup yelled, diving in front of his companion and pulling her arm down so she wouldn't attack the incoming dragon. Toothless came to a screeching halt an arms-length away from the pair of them. He looked warily at the blade in the girl's hand, a low growl emerging from the back of his throat. Hiccup quickly put a hand up in front of him. "Toothless, it's okay bud, really! She's a friend." To the newcomer, he said, "Put your sword away, now." Eyes wide, the girl looked from Toothless, to Hiccup, and back again. After a second, her face lit with delight.
"This is YOUR dragon?" she squealed. Quickly she sheathed her blade and reached out her arms toward the Night Fury. Once the weapon was out of her hands, Toothless dropped his offensive stance and instead offered her a smile. Of course that sent the girl into peals of delighted laughter. No one could resist Toothless when he made an effort to be charming. When Hiccup began to show her how to scratch Toothless under his chin, Astrid had seen enough.
"Hiccup!" she interjected. Both Hiccup and the newcomer jumped. "As much as I hate to break this up, I want to know what a stranger is doing on our island?"
"Oh, right," Hiccup replied. He took a few steps forward to get equidistant between the two young women. "Astrid, Heather, Toothless, I want you to meet Camicazi. She's the heir to the Bog-Burglar tribe-"
"And Hiccup's oldest friend," the girl, Camicazi, broke in. Astrid thought there was a little too much emphasis on the word "oldest."
"And Cami, obviously this is Toothless, my best friend." Hiccup continued, grinning at his dragon. Toothless cooed in agreement. "Heather, our newest dragon rider-" he gestured to the dark-haired shieldmaiden, who Astrid hadn't even realized had come to stand next to her, holding Hiccup's shield. Heather waved good-naturedly. "-and Astrid," Hiccup finished, pointing to her.
"I remember Astrid," Camicazi said coolly. She met Astrid's eyes with an almost predatory gaze. "I've been wanting to meet you for a while. Hiccup's told me so much about you."
"That's funny," Astrid returned. "He never said anything about you."
The two young women locked eyes for a second, the feeling of mutual dislike growing with every passing moment. Heather, picking up on the tension in the air, frowned and looked from one to the other. Hiccup, unfortunately, seemed too caught up in the excitement of seeing his old friend to notice. "Cami, what are you doing here? How did you find us?" he asked happily.
"Excellent question," Astrid agreed. Her eyes remained fixed on the other girl. Cami met her gaze just long enough to send her a withering glare, then noticeably turned her back on the other blonde. Astrid felt livid. How dare this girl act superior to her! As if she knew Hiccup better than she did! She was about to step forward and make the creature answer her, but was stopped by Heather's hand on her arm. When Astrid turned to face her, Heather looked concerned and questioning. Astrid didn't answer the other girl's unasked query, but did back off a little, acknowledging that now probably wasn't the moment for a challenge.
Completely ignoring the shieldmaidens behind her, Camicazi was replying to Hiccup's question. "My mom finally decided that we should try to re-forge an alliance with you Hooligans. We would have tried sooner but it took us FOREVER to realize those Terrible Terrors that kept showing up had letters tied to their legs! Our sentries just kept shooing them off! Who would have guessed that you'd actually trained the dragons? And that they could be messengers? Your dad said that was all you, Hiccup, did you really do that all by yourself? Because that's-"
"Cami? You think you can answer my question before asking yours?" Hiccup broke in. Snotlout muttered something about how he'd trained all the dragons himself and Hiccup just helped, but this was largely ignored by the group. Cami looked only slightly abashed.
"Sorry, Hiccup. Anyway, we showed up to Berk to find out what was really going on and I was all excited because I was going to see you again, and what do we find? Your dad says that you're not even there, that you've been living out here with your trained dragons and fighting all these evil guys all the time-"
"We don't fight all the time," Fishlegs interjected.
"Yes we do!" the twins chorused in unison. They then emphasized the point by tackling each other to the ground and punching wildly. This was also largely ignored by the group.
"ANYWAY," Cami said, anxious to finish up her story so she could hear some stories for herself. "Your dad said he'd send someone to get you to bring you back for the treaty meetings, but I just couldn't wait that long so I volunteered and here I am!" She finished with a wide grin for Hiccup that made Astrid fume.
"That's great, Cami!" Hiccup said excitedly. "I'd been wondering if you were ever going to come back-"
Enough was enough. "Why were you sneaking around on our island, if you have Stoick's permission?" Astrid interrupted coldly. The two heirs stopped for a second, but then much to Astrid's annoyance, burst out laughing. Fishlegs joined in, apparently in on the joke, but the rest of the group seemed as lost as Astrid.
"What's so funny?" she asked, even more angry now. Hiccup had to swallow a couple of times to catch his breath.
"S-sorry, Astrid," he said, choking down a last chuckle. "It's just if you knew the Bog-Burglars-"
"We ALWAYS sneak in," the little trespasser said proudly. "Our tribe is renowned throughout the archipelago for our stealth tactics and infiltration. You want to break in someplace, you call us." She folded her arms over her chest in a satisfied gesture.
"Awesome," the twins said with awe, apparently having given up the notion of tearing each other apart for the time being. "Can you teach us?" added Tuffnut.
"Oh please, she's not that good," Astrid scoffed. Camicazi, instead of glaring, only smirked.
"Oh yes, she is," Hiccup said. "She's the best burglar in the archipelago. I can't tell you how many times she stole something from me right under my nose." Camicazi's smirk deepened at Hiccup's praise, and Astrid narrowed her eyes in dislike.
"Something like this?" The Bog-Burglar heir drew the eyes of everyone in the circle as she held up Hiccup's shield again for everyone to see.
Heather started and looked down at her empty hands. "What? I was just holding that, I swear!" She looked at the smaller girl with respect. "How did you do that?" The rest of the group crowded around Camicazi, adding their own murmurs of surprise and admiration. Astrid grunted and held back; though privately impressed, her feelings only gave strength to her rising fury. She also could have sworn the other blonde flashed her a triumphant smile and a wink before turning her attention to her new admirers.
Camicazi handed Hiccup back his shield with a flourish. "You should keep better hold of your shield," she said, smiling. Hiccup laughed and shook his head.
"You've still got it," he replied, in such a fond, caring tone that it made Astrid's stomach drop unpleasantly. "But it's not just a shield." He turned away from the water, aimed, and fired a bola from the shield to wrap around a tree. Camicazi gasped in awe.
"That is awesome!" she squealed. "I knew you were going to invent some cool things, Hiccup! Can you make me one? What else have you made?" The girl bounced back and forth in excitement, examining the shield for other adornments. Hiccup simply laughed again.
"I don't know if I'll have time to make you a shield like that, Cami, but what do you say I tell you about it on a tour of the Edge?" He gestured to Toothless, who cooed and tilted his back in a welcoming gesture. Camicazi instantly dropped the shield back into Hiccup's hands and was on the Night Fury's back before anyone could so much as blink. Everyone was taken aback, but it took Hiccup only a second to recover with a laugh.
"I'll take that as a yes, Captain Cami," he said, hopping on Toothless in front of her. The two of them were already in the air as Hiccup deigned to call back, "We'll see you all later!" As they rounded a cliff out of sight, Astrid could hear laughter and happy shouting. As if her mood couldn't get any worse.
"Come on, muttonheads," she growled, taking off in the opposite direction, as fast as possible. She never looked back to see the entire group staring at her, wondering at the raw hurt in her voice.
Astrid ate little and said less all through dinner, preferring to glower at her food and feel miserable whenever Hiccup and Camicazi shared a smile. Most of the conversation was taken up by him, Camicazi, and Fishlegs reminiscing about adventures they'd had as children. Ordinarily, this wouldn't have bothered Astrid, who secretly thought stories about tiny Hiccup were completely adorable. No, the problem with these stories was that Camicazi seemed to know every single one, whereas Hiccup had never shared them with Astrid.
"Hey Fishlegs!" Cami said. "Remember that time we had you pretend you were a Beserker?"
Fishlegs and Hiccup laughed at the memory. "Of course! Didn't we say that I'd been set adrift as a baby and washed up on Berk?" Fishlegs said eagerly.
"Set adrift? As a Beserker?" Heather asked, eyes widening. Fishlegs and Hiccup returned the look as the irony dawned on them.
"I...guess... that's why we get along so well?" Fishlegs replied, his voice squeaking up at the end in awkwardness. He quickly moved to change the subject. "But that wasn't the best one. Cami, remember when we broke Hiccup out of his house right under Stoick's nose?"
"And stole his axe?" Camicazi said excitedly. The twins gasped in awe. "That was the best! We were pretending the house was a Roman prison and we had to rescue Hiccup from the evil empire!" All three of them laughed again.
"I forget why we had to rescue you, though, Hiccup," Fishlegs said, looking thoughtfully toward the young man in question. Hiccup rolled his eyes.
"I'd just gotten over the dragonpox and Dad 'didn' think I was strong enough to go out,'" he said, mimicking his father's burly voice. "Even though it was the only time all year that I was going to see Cami! To this day, I don't think he knows how I escaped."
"All thanks to Captain Cami, Terror of the Seas, greatest pirate and burglar in the archipelago!" Camicazi sprung to her feet and struck a heroic pose, which her diminutive stature made look so comical that the entire group except Astrid laughed hysterically.
Tuffnut recovered enough to ask, "You were a pirate? I've always wanted to be a pirate! Pillaging the high seas with my mountains of treasure, dashing good looks- Ow!" his reverie cut off with a yelp as Ruff elbowed him in the stomach, knocking out his wind.
Cami shrugged. "Well, we pretended I was, anyway. But Hiccup was still the best! He was the King of the Wilderwest, defender of the Island of Tomorrow."
"King of the what?" Snotlout snorted. "What kind of name is th-, ah, I mean, King Hiccup, good for you," he changed his mind mid-sentence with a nervous look at Camicazi. That was another thing, Astrid thought. Snotlout, Fishlegs, and the twins were all being weirdly nice to Hiccup tonight. Not that Astrid had a problem with people being nice to Hiccup, but it always seemed like their bouts of uncharacteristic politeness happened when Camicazi was in earshot. Astrid thought that was suspicious. The only explanation she could think of was that they all had a thing for the small shieldmaiden, and they thought being nice to her apparent best friend was a way to impress her. Not that they had a chance with her, she reflected sourly. It seemed like Hiccup had that area pretty well secured.
Fishlegs was replying to Snotlout's hastily retracted question. "We called the archipelago and all the surrounding lands 'the Wilderwest,'" he said, eyes gazing up in fond remembrance. "Hiccup became the king-"
"But only after he beat the enemy to the Island of Tomorrow," Camicazi broke in.
"The enemy being Sven's sheep, as I recall," Hiccup laughed. The other two old friends joined in, remembering. "I'd forgotten all about that. My dad was furious that they got out of the pen."
That comment made Cami's face alight with joy as she recalled something else. "Furious! Wasn't that our evil lord dragon?"
Ruffnut's eyes grew wide. "You kept an evil lord dragon? Where is he? I want to meet him!" She sprang up, as if looking around as if the beast was in the room with them. Cami cocked an eyebrow as Hiccup and Fishlegs laughed.
"Not a real one, Ruff," Hiccup explained. "We were at war with the dragons, remember?"
"Oh, right," Ruff said, crestfallen. She sat back down dejectedly.
"But you remember that big old ornery yak over at Sturlusson's?" Fishlegs asked. Snotlout shuddered and recoiled. "We named him Furious and made him our ultimate enemy." He pitched his voice lower on the last two words, making the title seem more dramatic.
"Guess you weren't too upset when he was eaten by a dragon then, huh?" Snotlout asked.
"Well, that was after-" Hiccup started, then paused and glanced over at Fishlegs. "Uh, after we'd stopped playing." Fishlegs reddened and ducked his head, obviously doing everything possible to avoid meetings the now blazing eyes of Camicazi.
It took Astrid a second to realize what the problem was. Then she thought back on her own childhood. The six of them had always been the only ones of their age in Berk. She, Snotlout, and the twins had naturally gravitated together, all being interested in one thing: fighting. Their games had always been contests of strength, weapons practice, or pretending to hunt dragons, all longing for the day when they could join the adults in battle.
Hiccup and Fishlegs had been different. They'd kept to themselves, preferring to explore the island rather than bash each others' heads. Astrid hadn't really known or cared about the two "un-Viking-like" boys until they were about 9 or 10. At that point, Hiccup had begun to pick up his reputation for being, well, useless, at least by traditional Viking standards. Snotlout and the twins started picking on him, seeing that the adults always turned a blind eye. Soon after that, Fishlegs had started hanging out with their group more and more often. Astrid hadn't thought much of it at the time, but thinking back on it now she realized Fishlegs must have wanted to distance himself from the "village failure" to avoid the damage to either his reputation or his person. By the time they were 12, Hiccup was left pretty much alone. The thought made Astrid squirm uncomfortably. Had any of them ever apologized for that?
She made herself break out of her thoughts. Glancing around the table, she could tell she wasn't the only one feeling guilty. The air in the room was suddenly tense. Fishlegs, Snotlout, and the twins were doing their best not to make eye contact with anyone, while Camicazi was glaring at anyone who dared. Hiccup, at least, seemed exasperated rather than hurt, but it was also apparent that he didn't know what to do to fix the situation.
After an uncomfortable beat, Hiccup stood. "So, Cami," he said, in an obvious effort to change the subject. "You want to come with me? I've got one more really cool dragon thing to show you, but I had to wait until it got dark."
The Bog-Burglar sprang up instantly, glares forgotten in the excitement of spending more time with Hiccup. She seemed to be a passionate creature, Astrid thought, holding hatred and love with equal vehemence. Hiccup smiled in relief as the tension eased from the room. "I'll take that as a yes," he laughed. "Come on, there's nothing better than a moonlit flight." The two of them left, arm in arm.
That brought Astrid's thoughts to a screaming halt. Moonlit flight?! "I'll show you moonlit flight," she muttered. Only Heather, who'd come to take Astrid's used plate, heard her and she seemed about to say something. Probably something to talk Astrid out of what she was planning to do, but Astrid wasn't about to give her the chance. Pushing past Heather, she left the clubhouse without another word to anyone, following the direction of the two heirs.
It didn't take very long to find Hiccup and Camicazi once she was on Stormfly's back. They'd only flown down to the beach, though Hiccup added a few flips and twirls which made the smaller girl hold (quite unnecessarily) tightly to Hiccup's waist. Before the sight made Astrid do something she might regret, however, the pair landed and Hiccup hopped off Toothless's back quickly, heading toward the dragon sentry watchtower. Astrid landed just inside the treeline nearby, reminding herself that this was not spying. Just, assessing a potential threat, she told herself.
Hiccup called up to the Night Terror on duty. "Hey, buddy! Can you go get Smidvarg for us?" The small dragon chirruped and took off.
"Smidvarg? Who's Smidvarg?" Camicazi asked excitedly. She dismounted Toothless and hopped back and forth in anticipation.
"You'll see in just a sec- there!" he said. He pointed out over the water to something Astrid couldn't see from her vantage point. She could see Camicazi squint in that direction though, trying to make out the small white dragon that Astrid knew was approaching. The girl squealed in delight when Smidvarg pulled to a stop just inside Astrid's view, hovering a few feet above Camicazi's head.
"Oh my Thor! Hiccup, is that a Terrible Terror? They look weird here!" Camicazi exclaimed. Smidvarg chirruped and did a backflip in the air. Camicazi's smile broadened. "Cute though!" Astrid couldn't even fault her for that one. Smidvarg was cute.
Hiccup laughed at the girl's enthusiasm. "Cami, meet Smidvarg! He's a Night Terror, not quite a Terrible Terror, although Fishlegs thinks they might be distantly related because they're both Stoker class even though these guys are nocturnal..." Hiccup trailed off at the blank look Camicazi was giving him. Astrid had to stifle a giggle as she recalled how many times she'd given Hiccup that exact same look when he was in dragon geek mode. He cleared his throat and changed the subject. "Uh, never mind. But here, watch this." He redirected his focus to the Night Terror. "Smidvarg, can you form up the Gang?"
"The Gang? What?" Camicazi seemed confused. Her confusion lasted only a moment though, as Smidvarg again flew out of Astrid's vision and voiced a trilling cry. Astrid didn't need to see to know that Night Terrors were pouring in from all around the Edge to form their large version of themselves. Camicazi's mouth dropped open. "Oh my gods, Hiccup, that is SO COOL! Did you train them to do that? You really must be the best dragon trainer in the world!"
Hiccup rolled his eyes and shook his head. "No, Cami, I didn't teach them that. It's their natural defense mechanism. Pretty cool, right?"
"Amazing!" Camicazi agreed. "Can they do other shapes or just that one?"
"Ask them yourself!" Hiccup said, gesturing up to the sky. "What do you want to see?" Camicazi gave him an astonished look, apparently having never thought that dragons might listen to her like they did Hiccup, but she quickly got over it. She asked Smidvarg to make a Monstrous Nightmare, which Astrid could only assume the Night Terrors handled with ease. The next few minutes were spent by Camicazi asking for different formations and squealing in delight each time they succeeded. Astrid didn't mind this interaction (at least, not too much) until she noticed the huge smile on Hiccup's face that appeared every time Camicazi cheered. It was abundantly clear that making her happy was bringing him so much joy. Once Astrid realized this, she rapidly lost patience with the entire scene. Weren't these dragons supposed to be on sentry duty? What about this shrimpy little girl had caused Hiccup to think it was okay to call them all over to play? Just as she began to contemplate stalking out and giving one or the other of them a piece of her mind, she heard Hiccup say, "Alright, thanks guys! You can go back to your sentry posts." Astrid heard a screech that likely came from Smidvarg, and then the beats of hundreds of tiny wings as the flock split up.
Camicazi stared at the sky until the last one had vanished from view. She had an awed expression on her face as she watched them follow Hiccup's orders and go. "It's amazing how they just understand us like that, isn't it?" she asked. "When we used to think they were just mindless animals who wanted to kill us?"
"It is," Hiccup smiled, a faraway look in his eyes. "Dragons are incredible creatures, just as smart as humans." Toothless warbled his agreement, which startled a look from Camicazi. "Smarter than a lot of humans, actually," Hiccup added thoughtfully.
"Here's looking at you, Snotlout," Camicazi said. Astrid caught herself chuckling at that one until she remembered who had said it. Hiccup laughed too, but did come to his cousin's defense.
"He's not that bad, Cami," he protested. "He tries really hard, his ego just gets in the way sometimes."
Camicazi snorted, apparently unconvinced. "With a head that big, I'm surprised that dragon can even carry him," she said coldly. Though Astrid wholeheartedly agreed with that sentiment, she was surprised at the venom in the other girl's voice. Hadn't she only known Snotlout for less than a day?
"Cami," Hiccup said, reprovingly. "It's mostly an act for him, really- and if you ever meet his father, you'll understand why he puts on that act. Deep down, his heart's in the right place. They all are," he added, referring, Astrid could only guess, to the other dragon riders. Why he'd needed to tack on that last comment, though, she wasn't sure.
Toothless had found a large beetle in the sand and started to chase it down the beach. Hiccup and Camicazi began to follow the playful dragon at a leisurely pace, forcing Astrid and Stormfly to carefully follow through the trees. Astrid thanked Freya for all the stealth training the pair of them had done in these woods, and reminded herself, again, firmly, that they were not eavesdropping. Just doing a little additional training. When they caught up with their targets again, Cami appeared to be arguing with Hiccup.
"You always defended them! Even when we were little!" the small blonde said hotly. It was clear she was trying to keep her voice below anything other than an outraged shout. "They beat you down over and over again, and over and over you tell me it's not their fault, don't blame them, they don't know any better, you deserved it, some other yak dung like that. Why won't you let me stand up to them?" She crossed her arms with a glare that would freeze Surtr himself.
Hiccup took in this speech with nothing more than a sigh. "We talked about this, remember? A lot's changed since you were here last, more than I ever thought possible. They're my friends."
Camicazi snorted, disbelieving. "I've heard that one before."
"No, you haven't," Hiccup said seriously. He waved Toothless over, who obligingly let the beetle go and bounded to his human's side. Hiccup set his hand on the dragon's snout, apparently for comfort. Astrid waited with baited breath for what he had to say. "Cami, listen to me. I'm not going to lie, those early years were... hard." He looked down and away, the pain in his voice catching Astrid off guard. "For a long time, my dad couldn't look at me without seeing my mother. He never told me that, but Gobber- you remember Gobber?" Camicazi nodded. "He's not very good at keeping secrets. Anyway, Dad left me at Gobber's shop or with the other kids as much as he could. It was too painful for him."
Camicazi hummed sympathetically, as if she'd heard some version of this story before. Astrid had not. For the first time, she really began to consider what life had been like for Hiccup, growing up as the son of a grieving chief. She listened intently as he began to speak again. "I really tried to get his attention, but I was just too small. I tried the weapons practice, and the wrestling, and whatever else we did as kids, but I always ended up making a fool of myself. You know how clumsy I was. No matter what, he always looked back at me with disappointment. So I got desperate," he continued, now with a chagrined quirk to his lips. "I tried inventing things that would do what I couldn't. I was reckless. I pulled bigger and bigger stunts without testing whether these things I was making were even safe, let alone usable. That got his attention, sure enough, but not in the way I wanted."
"But your inventions were so cool!" Camicazi broke in, unable to hear Hiccup abuse himself in silence. Hiccup shook his head.
"They were dangerous," he said flatly. "For myself, for the village, for everyone. Thank Thor they didn't work or I can't imagine how many dragons I could have hurt. I can admit that now; my dad was absolutely right." He sighed again. "But at the time I kept thinking I could do better. So I didn't listen. I didn't stop. And eventually everyone knew me as, well, you know."
Hiccup the Useless. Astrid hadn't thought of that nickname in so long she'd forgotten it had ever existed. It seemed so ludicrous now: Hiccup was a hero, who'd stopped a war and brought peace to Berk for the first time in nearly 400 years. She was appalled as she realized she'd used that name herself more than once, years ago. Never to his face, but maybe that was worse. She forced herself to listen again, face burning in shame.
"So yeah, Snotlout and the others started teasing me," he continued. Cami grumbled at that, muttering how teasing wasn't what she would call it. "They left me out, called me names, knocked me down. But it wasn't anything the adults in the village weren't doing already. They only learned from their parents, and they were kids. We all were. So I'm not saying they were right, but I never held it against them the way you did. I didn't take it personally. By that point, I was used to being alone."
If Astrid's heart hadn't already been broken by this story, that sentence alone would have done it. Everything their group had ever done to Hiccup came flooding back in a wave of nausea. It didn't matter that she'd never personally cornered him or taunted his efforts to fight. She'd never tried to stop it, had she? And to hear that the whole time he'd just been looking for his father's approval, when at the time they'd just thought him daft as well as weak... Astrid had never felt as ashamed of anything in her life as she did then. She fought to keep un-warrior-like tears from her eyes. More than anything, she wanted to run out to Hiccup and apologize for everything they'd ever done. She also realized with a start why the other riders had been treating Hiccup so carefully. They must have heard some part of this already and come to the same guilt-stricken conclusions.
"You weren't alone!" An indignant Bog-Burglar voice called Astrid sharply back into reality. "You had me!"
Hiccup smiled at her. "And you were a great friend, Cami. Still are, I hope," he said, elbowing the girl in the side. She scrunched up her face in mock annoyance as Toothless laughed in his dragon way. "But all that stuff, as bad as it was, it doesn't matter anymore. Everything's changed now. Everything. From the moment I met Toothless..." he smiled affectionately at his dragon and rubbed his head. The Night Fury crooned happily in reply. "We're all different now. I'm different. And so are the rest of the riders. I never called them my friends before, but I can now." Astrid fought down a shiver. She vowed then and there to spend her life making sure she was worthy of Hiccup's friendship. He'd forgiven them all for so much, and without a second thought. How can so much good exist in one person? she thought to herself. He's really something.
Camicazi took in the serious look in Hiccup's expression and saw the conviction there. Still, she didn't seem quite convinced. "Hiccup, I know they take your orders and fight with you, but is that really the same thing as friendship? I mean, they have to, as the chief's son. I should know," she said, reminding Astrid that she was heir to her own tribe. A flicker of doubt seemed to pass over Hiccup's face, but it only lasted a moment.
"No, Cami, it's more than that. They've risked their lives to save mine, on their own, every single one of them. Because let's face it, I'm pretty good at putting my life in danger." He chuckled slightly at that, but both Toothless and Camicazi gave him an exasperated glare at his disregard for his own safety. Astrid agreed with that sentiment completely. "They didn't have to come with me way out here, but they chose to. Because there's no 'us' and 'them' anymore. It's just 'us.' The Dragon Riders." He patted Toothless's head again, and the dragon warbled in agreement. "I know you haven't seen it yet, Cami, but please, just give them a chance. For me."
The other girl met his gaze for a second. Whatever she searched for there, she seemed to find it. "I'll try, Hiccup. For you," she said.
Hiccup smiled in relief. "Thank you," he said, with feeling.
Camicazi had an expression which Astrid couldn't quite interpret. It looked like she was both bemused and impressed. "You know, you're pretty good at that speech thing," she teased. Hiccup grinned back, happy to hear a lighter tone in his friend's voice. "You planning on taking that chieftain robe anytime soon?"
Hiccup snorted in amusement at the idea. "Are you?" he returned, teasing back. Camicazi made an exaggerated face of horror.
"No way! Camicazi, Terror of the Seas, pinned down on Bog-Burglar Island? It'd be a crime against Vikingkind!" she said dramatically. The two of them laughed as they began walking back along the beach toward the huts, Toothless trotting along behind. Astrid contemplated staying where she was until they left, so as not to be discovered, but the next thing Camicazi said made her change her mind. "Mom keeps saying she's discussing a bride price for me, but I think she's just saying that to scare me into behaving. I mean, married, me? Really?"
As Astrid began to creep along in the undergrowth, she could no longer see the other two's faces. She did, however, listen keenly to Hiccup's reply, and was relieved to hear the honest amusement in his laugh. "Ridiculous," he agreed. "I mean, would you even leave a husband alive long enough to marry him?"
Camicazi seemed to think about it for a second. "Hmm, well, if he promised not to talk to me. Or touch me. Or look at me. Or breathe my air, then I might let him live. At least for the first day." The pair of them laughed heartily at this. Then her voice took on a crafty tone. "What about you? Any beautiful Viking girls in your future?"
Astrid waited with baited breath, although she half expected Hiccup to just laugh off the question as Camicazi had. Apparently Camicazi expected that response as well, because when it didn't come, she stopped dead in the sand, causing Toothless to run into her snout-first. He growled lightly and rubbed at his nose with a paw. Astrid took advantage of the commotion, and the cessation of movement, to get a decent vantage point until she was able to see the pair once more. Hiccup was looking down and away, trying to avoid Camicazi's gaze, while the Bog-Burglar heir appeared not to even notice the dragon's antics behind her. "Hiccup Haddock!" she exclaimed, loud enough that Hiccup shushed her. She rolled her eyes but did speak a little quieter as she added, "There is someone, isn't there?!" Hiccup made a non-committal grunt and scraped at the sand with his prosthetic, a sign Astrid knew meant he was embarrassed. Her heart skipped a beat. He didn't mean...
"There is!" Camicazi said triumphantly. "Hiccup, you've got to tell me..." she trailed off as her eyes widened. "No, wait, you don't mean," she tried to catch Hiccup's eye but he turned to avoid it again. "It's not…? Still?" Astrid's heart was thudding so hard she was afraid Toothless would hear it. She felt frozen in place, suddenly terrified of what Hiccup would say and yet desperate to hear it. Hiccup himself said nothing at the moment, face still aimed at the sand, with no answer other than an unintelligible mutter. Toothless, however, cocked his head at Camicazi and nodded the answer to her question. The Bog-Burglar's eyes widened so far Astrid thought they might pop. "You're kidding me! Wasn't that ages ago?" More muttering. Camicazi tried a different question. "Does Stoick know?"
This seemed to finally be something Hiccup was willing to answer. He looked up and shook his head. Astrid was sure if it wasn't so dark, his cheeks would be flaming red. "No way," he said, voice strained. "I, uh, well, haven't, uh..." he rubbed the back of his head. "She doesn't even know, yet. We haven't, uh, talked about it." Astrid pressed a hand to her chest in an effort to remember how to breathe. She should not be hearing this conversation, but neither could she imagine leaving now.
Camicazi's look turned incredulous. "You haven't... are you kidding me?" She smacked Hiccup on the back of the head, no small feat for someone of her size, and glared at him. "You know what I think about this, Hiccup, but the least you could do is tell her how you feel by now! Nothing's going to change by just waiting!" Toothless growled in emphatic agreement.
Hiccup shook his head, still not meeting Camicazi's eye. "I know, I know, but there's the group, and I don't know how they'd feel about it, and then there's the dragon hunters, and what they're up to, and you know, we all rely on each other a lot so changing anything right now might throw it all off- ow!" He broke off suddenly as Camicazi smacked him with the flat of one of her blades. He rubbed the spot with an irritated glare.
"You were rambling," his attacker said calmly, sliding her sword back into its sheath. "And all those were just excuses."
Hiccup seemed to deflate. He finally turned his face up to look Camicazi in the eye. "I just, I want to get this right, Cami," he said. "We've gotten really close lately, and I think, I think," he swallowed hard. "I think if we take things slow and do it right, then we might have a really good chance of making things work."
Astrid's mouth went dry. For some length of time (which she'd lost the ability to keep track of), she could hear nothing above the pounding of her own heart. Needing to feel something solid, she clutched at the first thing she could find and squeezed with all her might. Unfortunately, that thing happened to be Stormfly's leg. The Nadder squawked in pain and fluttered backward, crashing through a few branches with enough noise, it seemed, to wake the Vikings back on Berk. The pair on the beach instantly stopped talking and looked in her direction, a split second after she'd dropped to the forest floor. She dared not move a muscle.
"Anything over there, bud?" she heard Hiccup ask. A second later the nose of a Night Fury poked its way into the undergrowth, not a foot above Astrid's head. She heard the Night Fury sniff, then make a questioning sound as he recognized Astrid's scent. Carefully, soundlessly, Astrid rolled enough so that she could face the dragon. He cocked his head at her, obviously unsure of what she was doing there. Slowly, she shook her head. "Don't tell Hiccup," she barely breathed. Toothless's eyes narrowed slightly. "Please." Astrid's panic began to rise as Toothless seemed to think about it. After a few seconds, or an eternity, the dragon's head retreated from view and she heard him trot back to Hiccup, crooning happily.
"Must not be anything important," she heard Hiccup say. A pause. "Really, Toothless would tell us if it was a threat. Probably just a wild dragon, we've got a lot of those."
"I suppose," came Camicazi's skeptical voice. Astrid heard a sword being returned to its sheath.
"Come on, we should get going anyway. Back to Berk first thing tomorrow. I'll take you up to my hut; I'm going to bunk with Fishlegs tonight." Sounds of creaking metal, gears, and dragon scales as the two of them mounted up on Toothless. Then with a burst of powerful wings, they were gone.
After a minute, Astrid slowly stood up and walked out of the trees, Stormfly close behind. She patted the dragon's nose in absent-minded apology for hurting her, then mounted up. A patrol duty sounded pretty good to Astrid just then. She had a lot to think about.