Ahoy, everyone!

By the time this goes out, school will have started, so this will technically be the last chapter of this summer. In a certain sense, this is actually a good thing, because as I stated previously, I'll probably be able to get into a better schedule, which means more frequent and hopefully on-time updates. Probably.

I don't have a lot more to say about this one. I'd love to know which chapters, perspectives or storylines you like the most, as well as the least, though I'd like to think that I've only officially gotten the characters under way at this point. Conveniently segmenting into my next bit, make sure to favorite, follow and leave a review! Many thanks especially to those of you who have already!

I don't own How to Train Your Dragon.

The air in the room was thick and raw as if the house itself were holding its very breath, waiting anxiously for a sound, a tremor, a movement. Anything to betray the silence, the tension and anger that he knew had built up within him after three days of searching for his disappeared son, with no luck. They stared at each other for another moment, he leaning against the door catching his breath, his father standing there weakly, hands dangling limply to his sides. A log rolled back and forth slowly on the floor, before coming to a stop.

"Son…" He repeated, more anxiously this time. "Hiccup… My son!"

Before he could reply, Stoick rushed over and lifted him off the floor in an embrace strong enough to crush a Monstrous Nightmare's windpipe. He was so surprised and tired that he didn't have the time nor the energy to speak, or move, and so he simply let himself go limp for a minute, before starting to kick again as he squeezed him even harder. They both stayed that way for a moment, Hiccup listening to his father's vain attempts at holding back sobs, whilst he struggled to make his feet come into contact with the ground, as well as get even a sliver of air into his lungs.

Though it took another moment, he was eventually able to wheeze out, "D-Dad…" And his father suddenly remembered the grass blade-thin bone structure of his son and released him quickly.

Taking a deep breath, and trying to maintain a serious countenance, he slowly replied, "Hiccup… You're… Where have you been, son? What…" He glanced up at Syl for a moment, who was still standing awkwardly in the doorway, and took note of her scars, before frowning back down at him. "What happened to you two?"

"I can… E-Explain later… Dad…" Hiccup replied, still trying to make his breathing normal. "Toothless is… He's…"

Stoick's eyes widened. "Toothless? What happened?"

He nodded. "He… W-We were coming back and he… He's behind the mountain… North of the Village f-farm… Stormfly's there, too..."

He frowned, and took his attention off of Hiccup for a moment, pushing past Syl suddenly, and leaning out the door. He heard him yell something to two Vikings that happened to be walking nearby, and they ran off towards Gobber's workshop.

He turned back to them, frowning. "Alright, now you two better as 'ell start explaining, or I swear to the Gods I'll take away both of your flying privileges for the rest of your life, ya hear me?"

"But Toothless-" Hiccup replied weakly.

"Will be fine," his father finished, with a heavy sigh. "Gobber'll take care of him, Hiccup. You know that. Toothless might be an odd 'un out of the bunch, but he's a dragon just like the rest. He'll know what to do." He patted his son's arm as softly as he could, before narrowing his eyes again.

"As to you two, first of all, don't you ever do that ta' me again. It's hard enough knowing you go around doing these stunts in the air, Hiccup, never mind all the times you and your friends run off to do who-knows-what. I… I worry about ye', son. Just, please…"

He closed his mouth for a moment, thinking, then opened it again, but no words came out. Then he continued quickly, "Just… Be careful. You don't have to prove anything ta' me, Hiccup."

The boy's eyes widened at his father's comment. A few years ago, he would have given anything to hear his father say that, even if he didn't mean it. Maybe I should've gotten lost in the woods a lot sooner… He thought to himself.

The Chief's eyes flicked to Syl, and he pulled two stools from next to the fire pit, motioning for her to come over.

Hiccup saw her eyes widen, and she stared at him desperately, seeking an excuse to get out of there. She had known a moment like this would come, of course - they had talked about it in as great of detail as they had time for, of course - though perhaps not under these circumstances.

Slowly, she walked over to them, and took a seat, keeping her eyes locked firmly on Hiccup the entire time. Stoick's brows furrowed as he observed her scars, as well as the bandages wrapped around her head.

"Gods be merciful… Are you alright, Astrid? Do your parents know you're here, yet?"

"I-I… Uh…" She stuttered.

"No, we came straight here," Hiccup interrupted. "They might have seen her coming into the Village, though." He glanced over at Syl, who quickly gave him a relieved glance and mouthed the word 'thanks', before turning her attention back to his father.

Stoick grunted, bringing a hand up to her face. She flinched but didn't move.

"These scars… What-?"

"We were caught up in the storm and separated. Toothless and I had to-"

"Thank you, Hiccup," Stoick chuckled, "But I'd hear her speak first if you don't mind."

Hiccup opened his mouth to speak again, but then closed it, giving Syl a concerned glance.

This was it - the true test of her loyalty. She could blow it all right then if she wanted, just tell him everything in her fear, reveal his carefully thought out plan, and destroy any hope he and Astrid had at keeping their secret.

In that moment, despite everything she had done to them, Hiccup couldn't help but feel sorry for her. The situation she had lodged herself in was one he couldn't imagine being in himself. If she did tell his father, she would inevitably be thrown in a cell, as well as questioned and bargained off to her mother, perhaps in exchange for a peace treaty or oath of friendship. Though the implications of that were harsh, especially given the fact that her mother probably wouldn't even take her back at all, undertaking their plan was an entirely new prison in itself, he realized.

Even if she did tell him everything, she would at least know what was going to happen to her. Despite her obvious remorse and hatred towards her mother, getting caught didn't seem to be something she wasn't already used to, so she could anticipate what would happen, assuming her mother did take her back.

But if she chose to stay… There was no way of telling how long she would have to do this for. Here she was, expected to put up a facade as a person she had never even talked to for a completely unpredictable amount of time. It could take anywhere between a few days and a few months for him to figure out a way to bring Astrid back, assuming he ever did at all. He could understand why she had only agreed to do it for a day - in truth, he was surprised she had agreed to anything at all. But even if she did leave that night, where would she go? Sure, she could hide, but the island wasn't that big, and all of the boats he could think of were at the docks below the village, including even the smaller rowboats and fishing craft that weren't used as often. He could always find a way to help her off or even fly her back to her island if she was willing. Astrid wouldn't like that much, especially given the situation she was in, too, but perhaps if he could get her to understand…

Even if, by some miracle, she chose to stay and he found a cure, what then? It would only be the same process over again, only this time she would be kicked out when the real Astrid came back. Truly, there was no good reason for her to go along with them. Unless, of course, there was something he didn't know about…

She nodded back sternly at him and turned to Stoick. "We got caught up in the storm while we were on patrol. The wind was too much for Stormfly, and we ended up crash landing in the forest North of Raven's Point. I was thrown off of her saddle on the way and fell down through the branches, which scraped me up a bit. I don't think I broke anything, though, and I feel just fine. But the storm was just so bad… I got caught in a landslide trying to look for shelter, and Stormfly was still outside, but she didn't want to leave me…"

Hiccup breathed a sigh of relief, and continued for her, "Toothless and I were downed in the storm, too, and we found a cave to hide in near a beach. I spent the last two days looking for her, until I found her under the landslide, and dug her out. Luckily, I had some bandages with me, too, which have helped a bit, I think. Then we came back together, but something went wrong before we got here, and Toothless…" His mind wandered back to his best friend's sudden bout. "I'm not sure, but… I think he might be sick. I wanted to come back and get help, But… I didn't want to leave Astrid in the forest. I couldn't…"

His father frowned at him grimly. "Ye' should've come back sooner, Hiccup. Half the village thought you were… You were…" He sighed and looked away.

"I know, Dad… I'm really sorry," he replied sheepishly. "I won't do it again, I promise."

He grunted. "If ye' ever do, just… Come back first, alright? We might've found Astrid a lot sooner, and... And I don't want you going missin' like that ever again. Deal?"

Hiccup nodded slowly.

His father chuckled to himself, "'Stubborn as I was with Valka when I was your age…"

He sighed, and stood up, making his way to the door. "Well, I suppose we should go find Toothless then, eh? You need to go find your parents, as well. Then we'll tell the rest of the Village. Hiccup and I can go check up on him while you go-"

"Actually, Chief…" She swallowed hard as he looked back at her, and continued, "I left Stormfly with Toothless to protect him, so she's probably still with him. And… I'd like to make sure he's, y'know, alright… I can go back to my parents after."

Stoick raised an eyebrow, but shrugged, and replied, "Suit yourself, though your parents are worried sick about ye'. We'll feast tonight in the Great Hall."

He pulled the door open and let them through. Hiccup saw her smile at him hopefully, and he was barely able to return it before he was rushing down the hill into town again, as fast as his mismatching legs could carry him.

They found them outside of Gobber's shop, surrounded by a group of scattered Vikings, with Stormfly staring worriedly inside. He rushed to the front, pushing them aside with all his might, which wasn't much. In the center of the circle was Gobber, and standing next to him, Toothless, who looked… Absolutely fine. He purred deeply and padded past some curious Vikings as soon as he saw him, guiding the palm of his hand into his snout.

Hiccup stared down in disbelief, breathing heavily. "But… T-Toothless…"

Gobber smiled and walked over to him, resting his one good hand on his shoulder. "Glad to see ya back, Hiccup! You too, Astrid. We found 'em out behind the mountain like ye' said. Don't know what you were so worked up about, though. Astrid's beast seemed a bit nervous, but Toothless was happy as a fish out of a net! I Don't see anything wrong with 'im myself, but, well" He shrugged. "Ye' know yer dragon better than I do."

He frowned as he continued to look down at Toothless. "Are… Are you okay, bud?" He cocked his head to the side and raised an eyebrow innocently. Then he purred again and started to lick his face. All the Vikings laughed, any previous tension completely gone.

"Okay, okay bud," He told him, chuckling as his tongue tickled his cheeks. "As long as you're alright… I guess there's nothing else." He smiled as sincerely as he could around at the other Vikings, and they dispersed, all except for Gobber, who had noticed Hiccup's still deeply worried eyes.

"If ya' really think something's wrong," he whispered, "Ye' might want to go up 'n see Gothi. She's been 'ere longer than any of us. Might know somethin' we don't."

With that, he shuffled back into his house, leaving Syl, Hiccup and the two dragons alone in front of the workshop.

"You… You saw what happened..." Hiccup asked her worriedly. "It wasn't just me… Right?"

She frowned and looked down at the dragon. "Yeah… Unless the other dragons do that… That's not supposed to happen, right?"

"No…" He furrowed his eyebrows. "No, it's not."

Do… Do I have to?"

"It's your parents. You can't avoid it. If anything, they'll be the easiest for you to talk to here, believe me. Your mother's probably worried sick about you."

"My mother isn't…"

Hiccup groaned. They had been standing in front of Astrid's house for half an hour, going back and forth on why she should go in. Hiccup had convinced his father to let he and Syl tell them, on the account that it would be better if she found out her daughter was back from the girl herself, as well as to avoid making the scene more public and awkward. Yet for some reason, she seemed specifically reluctant to meet her family, which seemed especially odd, given that they had explained at length how little of her day she actually spent in her house, anyway, never mind talking to her parents.

"I… I don't think she's - I mean you're - that personal with them, anyway. Just… Don't be too strict with them, alright? They are your parents, after all. You're gonna need to get used to it." Toothless grumbled behind them in agreement.

She rolled her eyes. "Fine. But you come in with me. I don't want any of this getting too… Weird."

"Just," He shrugged helplessly. "Pretend they're your long lost aunt and uncle, or something. Don't you have any of those?"

"No… Do you?"

"Uh," He looked away quickly. "I'd rather not talk about it. 'Wouldn't want to distract you, anyway."

She rolled her eyes and opened the door.

There was no response. They both waited in silence for a moment, then Syl glanced at Hiccup, before asking, "Uh… Hello?"

There was a crash towards the back of the house, and Hiccup winced.

"Ruffnut, is that you?" A throaty but cheerful voice called out, "I could've sworn for a moment ye' sounded just like…" The voice became a shape, as Astrid's mother stepped into the doorway into the kitchen.

She gasped. "... Astrid."

She stood there for a moment in utter shock, before running back into the kitchen, and yelling, quite clearly, "Brandt, Brandt! Get your lazy bum outta bed. Astrid's back!"

There was another crash as Astrid's father hastily climbed out of bed, and she glanced down awkwardly as he swore curses against his pants, obviously struggling to get dressed, as well. He rushed out alongside her mother, still pulling on

She fiddled nervously at her braid, and eventually gained enough courage to look at them. "Uh… Hey, Mom and Dad… I'm back, I guess…" The two Vikings looked at her strangely for a moment, making Hiccup freeze. Had they figured it out? He could understand her worries, now - if anybody were to figure out their ploy, it would be Astrid's parents, of course. As little time as she spent with them, they would still know her better than anyone…

Then her mother broke out in tears, and cried, "You two need to stop doin' this to us!"

The two fully Viking-sized figures surrounded Syl, and squeezed her, lifting her almost a foot into the air. To say that she was surprised would be an understatement - bewildered might have been a better word for it. Hiccup couldn't help but smirk as he was reminded of the bone-crushing hug his own father had given him just a few minutes before. Obviously, Syl didn't have the same dense bone structure or muscle thickness as Astrid, nor the capacity for Viking-level hugging, for some reason, given the pure confusion in her eyes even after they finally released her.

Her mother gasped as she examined her, seeming only to have noticed her scars and bruises just then.

"Astrid! What's 'appened to you? Yer' all bruised up! Have you seen Gothi yet? Gobber, maybe? I have some bandages upstairs if you need any… Astrid?"

Syl continued to stand there, arms dangling loosely by her sides, gazing blankly at a wall in the room. It was only a moment later that she realized they were all staring at her.

"Oh! I-I… Uh… No. I don't need anything." She blinked, as though trying to remember what she was saying. "W-We were caught up in the storm… And…" She frowned as her voice trailed off, and she went back to staring at the wall.

"And we got separated," he finished, studying her apprehensively.

She nodded, still dazed for some reason. "Y-Yeah. I was downed on Stormfly, and there was a... A mudslide..."

After a few more fruitless efforts, Hiccup clarified how she was tired, as she hadn't slept in a few days and had been stuck underground. He continued on, explaining what had happened to them, with Syl eventually regaining her composure somewhat and contributing, despite consistently blanking out in the midst of her descriptions or sentences, making Hiccup even more worried.

After a few more worried examinations and questions from her parents, Syl was eventually able to convince them that she was fine, and just a bit tired from not having slept for the past few days. They eventually let them leave, with promises to see that she would see Gobber again about her bruises, and would come to them first if she so much as coughed or sneezed. They were standing outside the door again, watching as Berk slowly woke up, when Hiccup turned to her.

"Alright, what in Odin's name was that all about?"

She raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"The... Distracted-ness, or whatever that was. You were acting like… Like you'd never been hugged before, or something," He snickered, but grew serious when he saw she wasn't smiling.

"You… You have been hugged before, right?"

She shrugged, trying to brush it off, and looked away. "It's just… It's been a long time. A really long time."

He sighed. "Alright, just… You don't normally fade out like that… Okay?"

She nodded quickly. "Yeah, don't worry. 'Won't happen again."

She went back to watching the Village, the same vacant look in her eyes returning again. Though this time, Hiccup almost thought he noticed something else, too - fear.

Astrid was surprised.

She had taken a moment to think about what would happen, sure. She would be spending a lot of time in that ravine - in fact, all of her time until Hiccup changed her back. She had anticipated the worrying, the fear, and the anger towards Syl, Hiccup and herself for letting him go through with this stupid plan. But above all else, there was one thing she hadn't predicted, something that, on top of everything else, one thing frustrated her to no end.

She was incredibly, irrevocably, bored.

Sure, she was still constantly worrying about Hiccup, as well as Syl, if only because as of that day, she literally had full control her life. But while she had spent a decent half hour running through everything that could possibly go wrong with their plan in her head, she eventually ran out of the effort or reasoning to do so. It wasn't helping, and yet, she still felt the overwhelming impulse that she needed to be doing something.

She had come to terms with the fact that she couldn't help Hiccup much, of course. Thus, she knew she probably couldn't aid in the effort to bring herself back, aside from thinking of other solutions to her problem to suggest or try later on, the majority of which Hiccup had probably already considered.

But above all else, she hated to be unproductive. Sure, she had her own hobbies and moments of free time to herself. She knew she would probably go crazy if she didn't. After the war ended, fighting and dragon combat training was no longer the main priority, it was true - but to her, that only meant she would practice her techniques six hours a day instead of nine. Even dragon riding and axe-throwing she still considered practice, and she knew from experience how well it paid off. She had been a warrior for as long as she could remember. Drills had become pastimes, and training a hobby. Fighting alone had become an essential part of her lifestyle, and more importantly, her personality. Without that, without those rigorous hours spent in the forest throwing and swinging at trees, what was she?

A dragon, apparently. At least, that seemed to be the only position she could be in where she couldn't bring herself to do anything. Before, she had never really seen a day where she would just stop. Stop fighting. Stop training. It would never happen.She was a Viking, an honorable warrior! And yet here she was, lying on the beach in the same place Hiccup first met Toothless, doodling aimlessly in the sand. Doodling. The mere concept gave her shivers - she was already starting to act like Hiccup.

Of course, she could still 'practice'. Loathe as she was to admit it, Toothless had, once again, been right - she hadn't been prepared for ground combat, nor was she in complete control of her senses, given how easily Syl had crept up on her. And yet, if she did practice anything at all, she would technically be going against everything she stood for as a Viking. Sure, the flying reptiles were far from their enemies, but as the fears of Hiccup and Syl's quest slowly faded from her mind, it was replaced with the past terrors of becoming full-dragon. Intelligent as they may have been, they were wild animals, and now she was trapped in the body of one. She loved Stormfly, of course, but she was still hauntingly reminded of the feral, primitive look in her eyes she had gotten when Snoggletog came around, and she had flown off across the ocean, abandoning her without so much as a chitter of goodbye. Toothless had only avoided it because there weren't any other Night Furies, yet this year… She didn't even want to think about it.

But then, what else was she supposed to do? Nothing. She couldn't do anything productive or even somewhat time-consuming without breaking her oaths as a warrior, never mind actually trying to figure out just what the hell had happened to her.

She had no reason to care or worry, really. All the time in the world to just lie around, sleep, and think.

She absolutely hated it.

Hiccup loathed crowds.

As a kid, he quickly learned that crowds only tended to form when something either exciting or bad was happening, and most of the time that bad thing was him.

At first, nobody had really cared about his little 'accidents'. All kids made mistakes, right? Sure, his tended to be a little more destructive than most others, but that was just a fluke… Or a series of flukes...

Right?

Apparently not. For as he got older, and was quite obviously dignified as the 'runt' out of his peers, his screw-ups quickly became a lot less adorable and a lot more annoying. Sometimes they were complete accidents, little things that just seemed to go wrong when he was around. But so many of them could be considered his fault that he got blamed for them all, anyway.

He learned quite quickly how easily Vikings assessed blame. Nobody tended to care about him all that much until their own lives, in particular, were affected. Whether it was accidentally burning down their house, or letting their livestock free as a result of a misfired contraption, almost every family in Berk became the victims of his mistakes, at one point or another. From there on, it became simple - any major accident in the Village could be pinned on him, and it was usually true. His father tried to ignore it at first. As Chief, he would often be running back and forth through the Village, taking down as many dragons as he could, as well as helping those on the towers and lookouts.

But soon, though he never saw nor heard them, Hiccup knew that the complaints began to reach his father's ears. The Chief brushed them off at first, but it soon became quite obvious in the raids how often these incidents were occurring. As his contraptions and projects became more and more elaborate, the catastrophes following their failures did as well, until nearly any of his calamities could be seen halfway across Berk.

And then, they would gather. Oh, he hated that most of all. Silently, furiously, they would make a wide circle around him and whatever disaster he had just caused, and right in the center, his father, always with another lecture to give him in front of the entire Village. As if the regular ones weren't enough.

Indeed, he and crowds had never been a good thing when put together.

And yet, where Hiccup was mostly just annoyed to be standing on a crumbling wooden platform with his father in front of all of Berk, Syl seemed absolutely petrified.

She was dead still, staring straight out over the heads in the crowd, trying to avoid eye contact, although he had learned a long time ago how fruitless it was. Though this time, it was a good thing. Quite a rare occasion for him, truly.

"I still don't understand why we're up here…" She whispered to him.

"My Dad wants to announce that we're back," Hiccup replied.

She raised an eyebrow. "Are we really that important?" He shrugged. Though he had to admit that it was rather odd - everyone would have found out quickly enough - if they even knew that they had been missing in the first place - and yet his Dad had insisted upon gathering the entire Village to announce their return. Why?

"Vikings of Berk!" The Chief called out, silencing the crowd's murmurs. " To start, I'd like to apologize for my distraught behavior these past few days. In my worry over my son, I ignored my duties as a Chief, and to our Village."

Really? Hiccup thought to himself, Was Dad that upset about me being gone for a few days? This is a first…

"I only ask that you forgive me," He continued. There were some nods and grunts of agreement, as well as some whistles. "But I bring good news! My son has returned-"

There was a wave of cheering as he gestured to him, and Hiccup smiled and waved awkwardly out over the crowd.

"-along with Astrid!" There was more cheering, just as loud as they had for Hiccup, if not even rowdier.

If Syl was stiff before, she became as rigid as a plank then. Hiccup nudged her, and she flinched, ripping her eyes away from the crowd for a moment. "Come on, wave. Be proud of it. You survived the worst storm Berk's seen in decades, as well as getting trapped under a landslide for two days."

Glancing at him with concern first, she lifted her hand, and the cheering resurged. She smiled tentatively for a moment until it died down.

"Is… Is it always like this?" She asked him once his father had started talking again.

"Hah!" He laughed, "I wish. I'd be lucky if I went a day without someone here getting mad at me. You, on the other hand…"

She smirked. "Alright, so maybe my life is okay here. But you have a Night Fury. And you were the first dragon rider too, right? That's gotta mean something. 'Certainly does on the, ah, enemy island."

"Yeah…" He frowned, looking down at his dragon, who was watching them both from below the platform, along with Stormfly and a few others.

His friends were in the crowd, as well, cheering with the rest of them, but calling out names for them both, as well. They had avoided them thus far, though not exactly on purpose - one moment they had been walking through the Village, and the next, Gobber was whisking them both off to the raised wooden platform near the Academy, and his father was calling for every Viking in Berk to gather round.

Once the crowd had settled into normal conversation, his father got their attention again, and started to talk about the recent storm, and the rebuilding efforts that had begun since, as well as their currently gathered resources for the winter. Then he dismissed them, and they began to disperse, going back to their daily jobs.

Winter, Hiccup thought to himself. Bringing Astrid back won't take that long, right? We'll have this all sorted before then… Assuming I don't screw everything up somehow.

Syl turned to him as they walked away a few minutes later. "That was quite a lot of cheering back there. Do they really like… Me, that much?"

Hiccup snorted. "Fear you might be a better way of saying it, though they all love to see you fight, too. Swinging an ax around here is much more important than reading a book, and you do have quite a reputation for it. Just… Don't let it go to your head. You've got to keep up your reputation too, remember?"

She nodded slowly, smirking to herself.

They turned down the path, only to come face-to-face with the person Hiccup wanted to see least right then.

"Hey, Snotlout," Hiccup said to the burly, overconfident boy standing in front of him, glancing at Syl once to see if she had caught it, though it would be obvious enough who he was.

"Hey, beautiful," He replied, completely ignoring him and gazing shrewdly at Syl. "What took you so long to get back? You looked pretty majestic up there, you know…"

Hiccup had to hold back a snort. Snotlout was so caught up in her 'beauty', that he probably didn't even notice the scars and bruises on her face, never mind the fact that she wasn't actually Astrid.

"Ugh, Get a life, Snotlout." She told him, crossing her arms. "And stay out of mine."

He smirked. "But you are my life, babe. You're, like, my entire world."

"Oh, really?" It was her turn to sneer. "Then you won't mind this at all."

Snotlout was barely able to raise an eyebrow before her fist flew into his chest, just above his stomach and below his ribcage. He gasped as the air was swept out of him, and sunk down to one knee.

"G-glad to see our relationship hasn't ch-changed…" He wheezed out, falling back into the mud.

She rolled her eyes, and muttered, "Whatever," before walking away, leaving Hiccup in a stunned silence.

He ran up to her a moment later as she walked further into the Village. "That was… Something. How did you…?"

She shrugged. "Nothing much. I'm pretty used to dealing with those kinds of guys, to be honest. You don't have to be that strong. You just need to know where to hit 'em, and when. Dragons, on the other hand..." She shivered.

He laughed. "Well, we all have our weaknesses, I guess. Even dragons."

She raised an eyebrow. "Oh, really?"

"Yeah, they're allergic to eels, and-" He frowned. "I probably shouldn't be telling you this."

"Well, dragon training is a pretty big part of life here, right? I should probably get caught up to speed if I'm gonna keep doing… Y'know."

He narrowed his eyes before glancing around to make sure no one was listening. "I thought you hated dragons. You still stay away from Toothless and Stormfly as much as you can - don't think I haven't noticed."

She sighed. "Well, I can't just go fumbling around them. From what I heard, Astrid was the second person to ever ride one, after you."

He sighed. "That's true, but-"

"I'll be fine," She interrupted. "Just show me where to go next. The day'll go by nice and quick, I'm sure."

He smiled. "I guess I'll just have to take your word for it."

Astrid had had enough.

She could understand why Hiccup was always complaining about his job at the blacksmith. Standing around, watching all of the action and fire-fighting take place - it must've been aggravating for him to know and watch the true battle going on around him, while he was subjected to sharpening blades and tools. Here, though, she didn't even see what was going on. For all she knew, Syl had already revealed her secret, and there was a search party on their way to find her. Yet still, this wasn't enough to make her get up and do something.

Eventually, however, the fear of becoming less of a human was outweighed by the need to do something, and she got up, looking for the least dragon-like physical thing to do. The pickings were slim.

Eventually, she settled for just walking back and forth across the beach. It was good practice, anyway. After all, she still hadn't quite mastered land movement, despite the fact that she could go from point A to B rather easily by then.

Her tail was sore from the stunt she had pulled in her fight with Syl, but she did her best to ignore it. The limb just dragged around on the ground behind her, trailing through the sand. Her wings had luckily stayed folded up, and though she knew that she could probably control them in the same way she could her tail, there was no way she would be doing that anytime soon.

What had Toothless told her? Something about moving around, keeping active? It sounded like what the Chief and her parents told her to do if she was ever captured. It was a cell, really. The only difference was that she was the only one keeping herself in there. That, and her trust in Hiccup. His plan may have been absolutely crazy, but that was more or less the standard, and they did work… Most of the time.

Of course, there was something else…

At least it was more physically painful than anything else. It had been there since the moment she had woken up three days before, and had only grown since. Her sides had started to hurt, too. Not to a dangerously unhealthy degree, but enough for it to be noticeable. Her eyes kept darting to the lake as she paced across the beach. She couldn't… She wouldn't. It was completely out of the question. There was no way she was going that far.

She frowned, and laid back down, staring at the water ruefully.

The fish in the lake were starting to look a lot tastier than she was willing to admit.