Hello again everybody!

I tried to get this chapter out as soon as I could as a sort of apology for the weeks I've made you wait before - I'm very sorry! As promised, the One-Shot I mentioned at the beginning of the last chapter is underway, and I'm very excited to release it sometime soon!

FuryNight - Thanks for asking, and to answer your question, I originally started out with the hope of updating this story with a new chapter every two weeks. Unfortunately, thanks to school and other priorities, it tends to be a lot closer to three weeks, sometimes more if I'm particularly busy, or the chapter especially long. As far as the day itself I update this story goes, it was originally supposed to be Sunday nights, but once again I usually end up being late by at least a few days, and put out the new chapter whenever it's done. This is always apt to change, and it's possible that I may even put a chapter out early, but that has yet to happen.

This would probably be a good time to mention - I'm willing to answer just about any questions you have about the story or nearly anything concerning my account, as long as it's not about how the story is going to end, or where the plot is headed. I can answer in a DM or in the Author's Note of the next chapter - your choice.

Other than that, I hope you all enjoy this chapter, and be sure to follow for updates and leave a review!

I don't own How to Train Your Dragon.

"Nothing. There's nothing!" Hiccup threw yet another book onto his growing pile of literature in disgust and leaned back against Toothless, who purred worriedly. "Oh, how the gods must hate me. What am I supposed to tell Astrid?"

It had been over two days since Syl had decided to stay, and life in Berk had almost settled down to normal. He'd wound up using most of his time with either his father, Syl, or both, trying to help Berk recover from the storm of a few nights before. The little free time he got he had spent either in the Great Hall doing research, or flying to the ravine to check on Astrid. She kept insisting that she was fine, or at least as fine as a girl-turned-dragon with nothing to do could be.

The first night, she even asked him if he could bring back regular food for her, and while he obliged - getting even more strange faces from the main hall on his way out from those who knew his appetite - it was obvious that the food was almost repellently bland for her. He had even brought a few sweet tarts, another one of her favorites, but even that gleaned no reaction from her.

Still, she refused, saying that she would continue to eat human food for as long as she had to… Until Hiccup brought a second basket of fish with him the next night out of pity. He had tried to reassure her as she buried her face in the pile next to Toothless's that it was probably just something different about dragons and their taste buds, but she had just ignored him and told him to keep bringing more fish from that point on, and threatened to rip him in half if he mentioned a word of it to Syl, who had stayed in the Village that night.

Though he still harbored some concern, Hiccup was learning to worry less and less about Syl. Though she stayed around him whenever she could, and most people didn't seem to care, there were still times when she had gotten pulled away by some farmer needing help repairing his roof, or the twins taking advantage of the farmer's unattended livestock while he was repairing the aforementioned roof. Though he worried at first, each time she surprised him by saying, with a sigh, that it was fine, and she would catch up with him later. Although she didn't occur to Hiccup as the 'working' type - from what he could tell, she had stolen everything she had ever needed in her life until then - she seemed to do her jobs quite well when she got them, without even many complaints. On top of that, she had disappeared every morning since the day she had announced her decision to stay, to gods-knew-where. He had tried asking Astrid about it, but she'd just shrugged and changed the subject. Though he knew it was probably just because she really had nowhere else to go, he liked to think that, contrary to Astrid's opinion of her, she really was changing as a person.

Despite the fact that he had already read most of them several times over, that morning, Hiccup had woken up Toothless extra early, and they had gone to the Great Hall to collect as many titles with anything having to do with dragons in them as he could. Technically, he wasn't supposed to take a book out of the main hall without permission, never mind several at once. But he doubted anybody would notice, or really even care. After getting them, he and Toothless had flown out to find someplace private, which didn't take them long. A small clearing in the forest that cut off suddenly over a sharp ledge with a drop that led hundreds of feet into the forest below served beyond well enough - just another one of Berk's many small wonders.
There, settling himself against Toothless as comfortably as he could, and digging into a small pouch of fruits he had grabbed in the great hall on his way out, he read, running back through every book he had, surprising himself when he began to enjoy it. It had been quite a while since he had been so relaxed - between Toothless, his father, and the rest of Berk, he barely got any time to himself, and when he did, he usually spent it working in the forge. The wind was nippy that day, but Toothless kept him warm, and he snuggled even closer to his side whenever the wind got particularly gusty, to which the dragon would purr quietly and open his wing over him to block it. Tales of Berk Volumes 1-5, First Sightings of the Dragons, Notes and Observations from Downed, Captured and Analyzed Beasts. Soon, Hiccup found himself getting lost in the pages as he had when he was a kid, imagining each tale told about adventures on the high seas, encounters and sightings of dragons from his ancestors and heroes of old. He even found himself going through his own. Having spent about an hour flipping through the books, however, Hiccup found exactly what he hadn't wanted, but had anticipated nonetheless.

"Nothing," he repeated, loathing the books that now sat in a small pile next to him. The excitement and magic of reading them had worn, and a chill had returned to his bones, despite the ever-consistent warmth of Toothless behind him. He shivered.

"Nothing new, anyway. There's not even anything about… About magic, except for some stuff on gronckle flight, and even that's just rumors."

Magic had all but become a myth on Berk, for as long as Hiccup could remember. Tales of witches and sorcerers were little more than stories and legends used as methods of warning for young, intolerant kids before bed. There were some skeptics on the islands and travelers from years ago whom Hiccup had heard claim all dragons were magic, as well. He only wished they were here with him now - maybe they knew something he didn't.

Feeling quite jaded, he turned folded his arms on Toothless's back, then laid his head down, staring off at the brilliant, gold-and-blue sunrise. With a sigh, he picked up his notebook again, and started leafing through it, slowly at first, then faster, and faster, until he recoiled with a sharp "Ow!" and bit his lip as a loose edge cut a thin line across his finger. He winced as a drop of red blood fell onto the page, leaving a dark, circular stain on the wingspan measurement of a Monstrous Nightmare.

He had only started trying to soak it up, when he heard a soft purr from behind him, and realized that Toothless was staring at him with those big, dopey eyes in a way only a Night Fury could. The dragon looked down at his finger, dilating his pupils slightly and ruffling the flaps between his ears, then looked back up at him, and purred again, more disturbed this time.

"Don't worry, bud, it's… Nothing. Just a little scratch," He forced a smile, but the dragon was unconvinced. With a low grumble and an odd sound that emanated through the back of his throat, he got up, turned around, and began slurping Hiccup's entire hand, making happy little warbles every few seconds. Despite a few more attempts at stopping him, Toothless persisted, and soon enough, Hiccup was rolling around on the ground laughing while Toothless continued to lap his entire body, gurgling whenever he found a spot that was still dry. Though his rough, sandy tongue would annoy and probably hurt just about anybody else, as well as leave their skin a hot red tinge afterward, Hiccup was beyond used to it, as were the rest of his exposed body parts.

When the dragon decided that Hiccup was alive and healthy, he clambered off of him with a few more concerned purrs and growls, as well as some last slurps for good measure. Hiccup was smiling when he sat up, despite the fact that his entire face felt like it had been dipped into a vat of molasses. He grinned up at the dragon.

"Gods, your dragon-healing techniques never fail, do they, Toothl-" then his eyes widened.

Toothless purred in confusion as Hiccup cut off, a wave of realization suddenly washing over his face, as though revealing an answer that had been concealed before. He grabbed the dragon's face after a moment, startling him. But his grin was even wider than before.

"Toothless, you're a genius! How did I not think about that until now? It was staring me right in the face the whole time! Gods, I was being such an idiot, Astrid already told me that… Well, she's told me I'm an idiot plenty of times, but-"

He glanced at the dragon, who seemed to be raising an eyebrow at him.

"Oh, don't look at me that way, you know what I meant! Besides, we need to go, right now! If I'm right… Well, this whole thing could be solved within the next few days!"

"So… What do you think?"

Astrid looked up at him, still somehow managing the look of utter disbelief and anger she had long since mastered before the transformation.

YOU MEAN TO TELL ME

YOU HAVEN'T BEEN RESEARCHING

HAVEN'T BEEN LOOKING

YOU HAVEN'T EVEN THOUGHT

ABOUT HOW IT STARTED

ON MY SCAR?

His grin dropped for the first time since he had left the cliff.

"Well, more like hadn't," he replied, glancing away, "I am now. And I just wanted to… Go over everything first. Make sure I didn't, y'know, miss anything before I started looking into…"

She narrowed her eyes.

YOU NEVER EVEN HEARD ME TELL YOU

DID YOU?

"No, no, I heard!" He said quickly. "I just wasn't, uh… Listening."

Astrid groaned, and he almost thought he heard Toothless snort from behind him. Great, so now he could check off "laughed at by Night Fury" to his list of amazing achievements - though it wasn't the first time, and probably wouldn't be the last.

"But I am now, and now that I've, uh, crossed out all of the other options I had, I got to thinking - healing! You got that scratch treated by Gothi, right?"

She nodded.

"Well, I'm thinking that there was probably something in the dressing she gave you, or something special about the gauze-"

WHAT ABOUT THE ACID?

HAVEN'T YOU LOOKED INTO THAT AT ALL?

SOME SORT OF MAGICAL PROPERTIES THAT HAD?

"Well, Syl said that she didn't use anything special, at least not anything that… Hadn't been used before," - he shuddered - "and before you say it, she gave me a list of all the ingredients she used yesterday, and, well, I'm not exactly an expert on acids, but… It sounds about right."

Astrid growled.

JUST BECAUSE SHE GAVE YOU SOME LIST

DOESN'T MEAN WE CAN TRUST HER

SHE COULD HAVE MADE IT ALL UP

MAYBE SHE'S A WITCH.

"I kinda feel like we've gone over this before," he muttered, "but if you say so, I'll keep an eye on her, don't worry." As far as the girl in question went, they had already decided to take her fake bandages off two days before, as they decided nobody was likely to question whether it was really her anymore, nor take many close looks at her face. Still, that obviously didn't help Astrid's level of faith in Hiccup's plan at all.

"Anyway, I was planning on going to Gothi to ask her about what she used-"

THEN WHY ARE YOU STILL HERE?

"Well…" He replied to Astrid's obvious irritation, immediately crossing out the option of asking her if she really had anything better to do than talking to him, "I just, y'know, wanted to run it by you first. See if you were okay with it, and-"

HICCUP

YOU HAVE MY FULL PERMISSION

TO DO WHATEVER YOU NEED TO DO

IN ORDER TO FIX ALL OF THIS

GOT IT?

NOW GO

"Uh, okay," he frowned, glancing quickly over at Toothless, who was absently swiping at fish in the lake, his tail swishing back and forth across the sand.

"There's something else, too," his voice dropped to a whisper, and he cupped his hand against Astrid's ear. "Toothless had another… Episode, yesterday. It was a little while after I woke up. I was getting dressed, and I saw he had just blanked out again. I don't know if it was before I woke up or after. Then it started. I didn't know what to do, he was just scratching his head, like the last few times… But it seemed worse, if that's possible. I tried to walk up to him, but when he saw me, he… He backed up into the corner, like he was afraid he was going to… To hurt me, or something. Then it just stopped, and he was fine again."

Astrid purred.

YOU KNOW HE WOULD NEVER HURT YOU

AND THE LAST TIME I TRIED TO TALK TO HIM ABOUT IT

HE GOT MAD

REALLY MAD

THEN TOLD ME HE JUST HAD AN ITCH.

YOU REMEMBER

Hiccup frowned again. He did remember, and that was what worried him.

"Well, whatever it is," he looked back over at Toothless, "it definitely isn't an itch."

Gothi stared up at him with a keen sort of confusion.

THE BANDAGES?

"Yes," he replied. "I think it might've had something to do with her… Transformation. And while we're at it, I had some, uh, questions about that… Drink, you gave Syl-"

YOU MEAN THE POTION?

"So it is a potion… Which means that it's magic…" Hiccup said, a sense of wonder creeping into his tone of voice.

OF COURSE, IT'S MAGIC.

A MAGIC POTION

TO GO ALONG WITH A

MAGIC TRANSFORMATION.

I THOUGHT IT WAS RATHER FITTING.

"So… You think what happened to Astrid was magic, too?" he asked.

I KNOW IT WAS MAGIC

THINGS LIKE THAT DON'T JUST HAPPEN.

THAT STILL DOESN'T EXPLAIN

WHY IT HAPPENED.

"Well, if the potion was… Magic, and you knew how to make that… Isn't there anything else you know about magic? Aren't there any… Tomes, or books or anything you have? There must be something…"

Gothi smiled, and for once, Hiccup realized how deeply her wrinkles were etched into her face, and he couldn't help but wonder how old she really was.

IF ONLY IT WERE SO, HICCUP

I DABBLE IN MAGIC

AS A YOUNG CHILD

DIPS THEIR FEET INTO THE GREAT SEA

IT IS VAST, ENDLESS

STRETCHING FARTHER THAN YOU OR I

CAN POSSIBLY IMAGINE

EVEN THE SIMPLEST OF POTIONS

TOOK ME YEARS TO MASTER,

AND ARE STILL INCREDIBLY DANGEROUS THINGS

TO BE DEALING WITH.

"So," Hiccup very suddenly had the feeling of something horrible crawling up his throat, like a very, very undercooked eel. "If they're so dangerous… Then what happened to Astrid-"

IS MORE THAN I'D EVER

WANT TO BE INVOLVED IN,

GIVEN THE CHOICE.

BUT SINCE YOU MADE THE DECISION

TO DRAG ME INTO THIS,

AND I'M JUST AN OLD WOMAN

WITH LOTS OF TIME

AND LITTLE TO DO,

I'LL DO EVERYTHING I CAN TO HELP,

OR MAY THE GODS STRIKE ME DOWN

ON THIS VERY SPOT.

She hobbled over to one of the many tables in her hut, upon which there laid a variety of herbs, spices, and plants he knew Fishlegs could probably identify with ease, as well as a selection of glasses and small bottles, some empty, some full. Many of them were clear and didn't look evil in the slightest, never mind magical, but Hiccup couldn't help but flinch when he started to wonder what some of them could do. The old woman got up after a moment, carrying a mortar and pestle over to the table next to her, before setting it back down, smiling the whole time.

NEVERTHELESS

I ONLY WORK IN

THE FIELD OF HEALING AND REMEDIES

AND SO I'M AFRAID I CAN'T HELP YOU

ALL THAT MUCH.

"Well, that's why I'm here!" Hiccup replied, suddenly quite excited. "I think her transformation may have had something to do with the bandage you gave her the day she changed, from the scratch she got. I was wondering if there was anything… Different, about that. Something you - I mean we - Haven't considered?"

She narrowed her eyebrows as her smile disappeared.

AND WHAT MAKES YOU THINK

THAT HAS ANYTHING

TO DO WITH IT?

"Well…" he started, "She, y'know… When the transformation started, she kinda said that… That it had started with the scales spreading out from the scar, but- OW!"

Hiccup's hand quickly flew up to his head, and he rubbed the spot Gothi had smacked him. Toothless stuck his head in through the doorway, and though Hiccup was able to reassure him, once again, that he was fine, he still refused to leave, in the knowledge that he might have been in danger.

WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL ME THAT SOONER?

"Well, I'm sorry," he replied, "I… Forgot to bring it up earlier, and kinda… Forgot about it altogether."

COMMUNICATION IS IMPORTANT, HICCUP!

"Yeah," he muttered, "that's been kind of a recurring message today, thanks."

Muttering something unintelligible to herself, she waddled to the back of her hut, plucked a book off a shelf, and began flipping through it, leaving Hiccup shuffling his feet and clearing his throat every few seconds in the center of the room. After a moment, he walked over to stand next to Toothless. The dragon always seemed to know how to comfort him, even if it was something as simple as an awkward situation, of which he had encountered and experienced more than he could remember.

After a few moments of what Hiccup assumed was no luck, she slowly stopped leafing through the book and looked up at him. Though she still wore the frown on her face like an ugly scar, there was a twinkle in her eye he couldn't quite understand.

HICCUP

HOW DID ASTRID GET THAT SCAR?

"Well," he thought back to that day, and hard - Astrid had acquired a lot of scars on her own in just the time they had… Been friends. Then he remembered.

"Oh, right," he said, his eyes lighting up a bit, "I just came out of the Great Hall, Dad talked to me, Astrid was waiting outside, we talked about patrols, then Toothless-"

And then he understood.

"Gods," he looked down at the dragon, who didn't seem to understand. "Toothless, you scratched Astrid!"

This must have come out quite wrong, as the dragon shrunk back a moment later, as if wounded.

"No, no, Toothless," he beamed down at him, feeling almost giddy. "It's fine, you see? Now we know! We know why…"

A sudden thought sent shivers down his spine. He spun back around to Gothi.

"But wait, does that mean… Every person who's ever been scratched by a dragon's claw could just… Turn into a dragon?"

Gothi shook her head.

NO, I DON'T THINK SO

IT COULD BE ONLY SCRATCHES FROM NIGHT FURIES

BUT EVEN THAT I DOUBT

TELL ME

DID TOOTHLESS EVER SCRATCH OR INJURE YOU

BEFORE YOU DEFEATED THE GREEN DEATH?

"Not intentionally, no!" he cried. He was used to people asking if his dragon had ever hurt him, but Gothi, of all people? It seemed below her, unless she harbored some secret, passive-aggressive hatred toward dragons even then.

"But, he might've, yeah…" He admitted. "But it was just an accident, I swear, and he would too! He tried to grab some fish out of this basket I was carrying, and I tried to set it down, and- Well, my point is, Toothless wouldn't hurt a fly! Not most of the time, anyway." He ran his hands over the dragon's ears, receiving a purr and a happy shiver in response.

Gothi rolled her eyes.

I DON'T DOUBT THE HARMLESSNESS

OF YOUR DRAGON, HICCUP.

THE REASON I ASK YOU

IS BECAUSE ASTRID'S TRANSFORMATION

ONLY TRULY STARTED WHEN

SHE WAS NEARLY KILLED, OR AT LEAST FATALLY INJURED.

She pointed her staff at the metal attachment protruding from his leg. Some of the smaller pieces were beginning to rust from exposure to the elements. He'd been meaning to replace the parts for a while, but day after day he put it off. It was just… Weird, to have to work on something that was practically a part of him. He couldn't imagine how Toothless must've felt - he couldn't even fix his tailfin himself when it stopped working.

WHAT I MEAN

IS THAT IF YOUR DRAGON

HAD SCRATCHED YOU THEN

SURELY YOU WOULD HAVE TURNED

AFTER LOSING AN ENTIRE LEG?

"I guess…" He frowned, examining his leg as though expecting to suddenly find scales sprouting out of his skin.

OF COURSE, YOU WOULD HAVE

SO THIS CANNOT BE THE ANSWER

SOMETHING ELSE IS AT PLAY HERE

"I mean, if you say so," he mumbled, "but that still doesn't explain, y'know… Her turning into a dragon. I've gone over all of the stuff Syl said was in the acid - not that I believe her, really, or that we can trust her-"

I BELIEVE HER

Hiccup's eyes widened a bit. "You… Do?"

Gothi nodded.

WHETHER OR NOT SHE IS TO BE TRUSTED

THIS ACT WAS A MISTAKE

SHE IS TOO YOUNG

AND TOO IGNORANT

TO UNDERSTAND HOW TO DO THIS

ON HER OWN

THE ACID SHE SPILLED ONTO ASTRID

WAS MERELY THE VESSEL

THE UNINTENTIONAL ACTIVATOR

THAT LEAD TO HER TRANSFORMATION

"So," he replied with caution, "What you're saying is that… After she was scratched… Anything that could've killed her would have turned her into… A Night Fury?"

IT DOESN'T SOUND RIGHT TO ME EITHER, HICCUP

BUT WITH WHAT LITTLE I KNOW ABOUT MAGIC

WHO'S TO SAY?

She picked up the book she had been leafing through and closed it, but still stared at the cover with interest.

"Well," he sighed. "At least I have something to go on, now. But if there really is nothing else-"

Her head snapped up as he stepped out the door, and for whatever reason Hiccup was frozen solid.

HICCUP

WHEN YOU GO BACK TO THE VILLAGE

GO TO THE GREAT HALL

AND ASK GOBBER FOR THE COMPENDIUM

THE COMPENDIUM

HE'LL KNOW WHAT I MEAN

IF HE DOESN'T, TELL HIM I SENT YOU

WHEN YOU HAVE IT,

BRING IT BACK TO ME.

"What-" he began, before he was cut off suddenly after being shoved out the door, which was slammed shut moments later. Toothless, who'd barely had time to step back before Hiccup was practically thrown against his face, looked up at him with baleful, confused eyes, like a lamb that had lost its mother. Hiccup sighed, and ruffled his ears again.

"What a crazy woman, huh, bud?" He smiled. "Sometimes I envy you dragons. You don't have to deal with all this… Human drama. Just the open skies and… Fish, I guess. Lots and lots of fish. Doesn't sound that bad - Astrid seems to be enjoying it, anyway."

"Well then, 'iccup. Didn't 'spect to see ye down here today. Figured ye'd be out helpin' Astrid with who-knows-what. Nonetheless, always the pleasure to 'ave ye. Now, what d' ya need?"

The blacksmith grinned down at him with mismatched teeth that would unnerve the average kid, but Hiccup was long since used to it - Gobber had been his mentor and teacher for as long as he could remember, and felt like family more than anyone he was actually related to.

"Oh, y'know," he started. It was always hard to ask Gobber for things, or anyone else on Berk, for that matter. He had caused so much destruction in his life already that it would probably be a long time before he was done repaying his own debts. He could only hope that helping forge peace between the dragons and the humans would help make up for at least a small part.

"I was just, uh, over… Talking to, someone, and they told me about this book, called, uh-" Then, all of a sudden, it all felt so… Stupid. These ominous tidings from Gothi, talking about magic of all things, and now this mysterious book and quest she had given him without any explanation whatsoever? It was ridiculous, and he started to wonder if she was just pulling one over on him. Sure, what had happened to Astrid was still completely unexplained, and what had happened to Syl did point to some sort of magic… But this whole thing was crazy! He didn't want to run around doing errands for Gothi only to find out none of it would help...

Then again, he decided, What've I got to lose? And if she really thinks it'll help Astrid, and fix this whole mess...

"I'm looking for a, uh, book," he started, "called… The Compendium."

Gobber shrugged, and set down a pair of tongs he had been holding to rub his chin. "Well, we have lots of those upit the Great Hall, 'iccup. Gardening Compendyum, Weapons Compendyums, Even a few Compendyum Compendyums, I think-"

"I know," Hiccup cut him off. "I've read most of those, uh, all of those, actually. I was looking for, y'know… The Compendium."

Seeing Gobber's sidelong glance, he added, "Gothi sent me to get it, for… Something."

He adjusted his missing-hand-tool of choice that day - a stone mallet - and narrowed his eyes.

"Gothi sent ye, ay? Is this about that… Sickness, you say Toothless has?"

His eyes widened. "Yes! Yes, that's… That's it. She told me it would… Help, with that…"

He frowned as his mallet clicked into place. "Well then… If she really thinks it's that serious…"

"So is that what it is?" he asked, a bit too eagerly, "A book on dragons? Healing dragons? Why hasn't anyone heard of it before, then? Why haven't I?"

Gobber declined to answer, instead setting down a leather apron he had slung over his shoulder, and picking up a small flask of what was probably mead. Then he walked out of the forge.

"Wait," Hiccup asked, catching up with him, "Where are you going? I have questions!"

"Well, if you really want ta look at the Compendium, we're gonna have to run it by your father first."

"No. Absolutely not."
"But... But… Gobber?!"
"Sorry, 'iccup. Ye heard yer father, and no means no. Right, Stoick?

"Aye," Stoick replied, looking down at his son, "I don't want you fooling around with these kind of things, not now."

"Then when?"

"When you're older!" The Chief's face scrunched up for a moment, then he sighed. "You're not… Ready. Not yet."

"Ready for what? What is this book even about? What does it have that makes it so special?" He took a step forward, then retracted it.

"It's about… A lot of things, Hiccup. A lot of things we don't understand. That's what makes it dangerous. That's why you're not ready."

"Ready to what, read it? I wish I was reading it, now - the book's for Gothi, not me!"

"Yes, but this is your dragon you're worried about. It'll end up in your hands one way or another, I know it, and you know it, too. Just the fact that you know it exists now is bad enough. You're just too curious for your own good."

"Well, you're not exactly helping with all of this… Age-and-mystery-talk!"

"You're not reading this book. That's my decision. I'll see you later tonight, Hiccup. And let Toothless rest a bit. He looks tired."

He began to walk away until Hiccup blurted out, "It's magic, isn't it? It's a magic compendium."

Stoick hesitated, then turned his head back ever-so-slightly, and said, "It's a lot of things, Hiccup. It's been on Berk for generations, and it's kept under lock-and-key day and night. It's dangerous, Hiccup. You're not ready."

With that, he began to walk away again, and Hiccup, desperately afraid of losing him, cried, "Wait! I'll… I'll do it!"

Once again, Stoick stopped, and turned. "What?"

"I'll do the… The thing, that… That we talked about the other night, in the Great Hall... If you let me have the book…"

His tiny fists curled into balls, and Toothless gave a small warble of concern behind him in the sudden silence. Hiccup raised his chin as high as he dared.

"I'll go."

Stoick frowned and furrowed his brows. It wasn't too often that he saw his son like this, and he knew that he should've been proud of him - this, after all, was what becoming a Chief truly meant - compromise. Hiccup knew that, and though, once upon a time, he had wished the boy were at least like that all the time, if he wouldn't ever be strong or bold. In the past months, he had thrown away all those thoughts like rotting meat into the ocean. In his rage and anger, he had forgotten a very important lesson - the wisdom of reason, of kindness. And his son - Hiccup, of all people - had been the one to teach him once again. And in relearning this lesson, he had learned something else, too. Something he had known was true from the start, but hadn't believed it until he had nearly lost it all; he loved his son just the way he was. That wouldn't ever change - not again.

But that was exactly why he was doing this - because he loved his son. If anyone could decode its secrets, it was Hiccup - he knew that better than anyone. But that was just the reason he was doing this - because he loved his son, and however sick his pet dragon was, he cared about him more. This was for his own good. But still, he couldn't just let the poor boy down...

He sighed. "Give me a few days to think about it. Then I'll tell you."