Playmates:

With Valka gone, the women of Berk stepped up and took care of Hiccup's needs, but none more so than Alga.

Valka had been a very good friend and Alga missed her; taking care of her son helped fill that gap in her life just enough to dull the ache of her passing.

Stoick became a little too overprotective of his smaller than normal son in everyone's opinion but his own. Alga believed that Hiccup needed to be anything but coddled if he was going to thrive in a society of big warriors and wanted to train him alongside her own daughter, who was also petite for a Viking. Stoick wanted to keep him indoors and away from anything that could possibly hurt him as much as possible.

Being the Chief, and the boy's father, Stoick won that argument.

By the time Hiccup was old enough to have an opinion about what he wanted, the pattern had already been set; Stoick was just too afraid of losing his last loved one to risk letting his son become a proper Viking.

At least Hiccup had Astrid to keep him entertained.

2 Years Old

Stoick walked up the wooden ledges from the cove with false cheer as Gobber hobbled down from above to meet him, waving his hook merrily.

"You're finally back!" the stout blacksmith yelled while still a ways away. He was passed by a few wives running down the path to meet their men who'd been fishing for the past week and were now dealing with their catch with excited calls as they tossed barrels of fish onto the docks.

Stoick restrained the urge to roll his eyes at that intuitive statement of the obvious and simply walked faster to close the distance between them so he didn't have to yell back. "Yeah, we're back."

"What happened?" Gobber asked curiously as he finally just stopped and waited for Stoick to come to him, the lumpy, sloped, wooden path not the easiest for him to negotiate with his very new and unfamiliar peg leg. (Courtesy of a Monstrous Nightmare.) "Your fishing trips are usually only a couple of days; some of us were starting to worry you'd met up with pirates or something."

"Worse than pirates," Stoick grumbled as they continued up the path together. "Pirates would have been easily taken care of. We were constantly attacked by dragons. Every time we'd pull up a net full of fish, a dragon would appear out of the water and snatch the entire thing right out of our hands. Then we had to chase down the godsforsaken beast to get our net back, repair it, and try again. We did that for three bloody days. Finally killed that pain in the arse Thunderdrum only to have a pod of young Scauldrons take up where the Thunderdrum left off. I swear they were playing with us."

Gobber snorted inelegantly. "They probably were. My many times removed grandfather, Bork the Bold, made a few notes about dragons occasionally being devious pranksters."

Stoick growled under his breath. "Your great-great-whatever-grandfather was too curious about dragons by far. Too much time studying and not enough time killing the flying menaces. Maybe there'd be fewer of them now if he had."

Gobber raised his hand and hook in a placating motion. "Hey. You don't have to bite my head off about it. I'm just quoting from an old book that even you've admitted is occasionally helpful."

Stoick heaved a sigh and glanced sideways at his long-time friend. "Sorry, buddy. I'm just frustrated and tired right now. I just want to go get my son, eat something that's not hardtack or yak jerky, and sleep for a week. Is that too much to ask?" Knowing my life, yes it is.

Gobber smiled as they turned up the path to the Hofferson house. "Nope. I wouldn't think so. Hiccup is just yonder, I have a nice mutton stew simmering in my house that you're more than welcome to, and I'm sure no one would begrudge you an entire night's sleep. They might get a little grumpy if you actually hibernate for a whole week, though, so I wouldn't recommend it," he said teasingly.

Stoick shot his second in command a grateful look. "I don't know what I'd do without you, Gobber."

Gobber grinned back as they walked up to the Hofferson house. "I do. You'd actually get skinny and go stark raving mad while trying to take care of everything yourself, eat yak jerky for the rest of your life, hardly spend any time with Hiccup, and get grumpier than a polar bear interrupted from its dinner."

That was frighteningly accurate. I can't cook worth shite. Stoick snorted as he gave the wooden door a healthy bang. "You know me too well, old friend."

Gobber just grinned wider and bumped his shoulder against Stoick's as the door opened.

Hector smiled warmly at the men from behind his long moustache. "Come in! Come in!" he said heartily, holding the door open for them and then closing it with an enthusiastic swing behind them. "The wee ones are in the nursery, playing."

Stoick gave Hector a grateful clap on the back. "Thanks, friend, for looking after Hiccup. Again."

"Think nothing of it," Hector said for the hundredth time as they walked up the stairs made from a single massive log to the second level. "You know we love having him here to keep Astrid happy. We've been trying to make another sibling for her, but..." Hector shrugged sheepishly. "It hasn't worked so far. But the trying is fun," he added, perking up. "And you know Alga just adores the wee Hiccup to no end."

That only made Stoick's chest hurt; it should be Valka who adored his son. But she wasn't here, so he pushed the hurt away and told himself he was grateful that Hiccup had such good people looking after him when he couldn't. Which is more often than I care to admit. Putting on a false smile, he simply said, "I know."

Alga stuck her head out the open nursery door. "You three heavy louts make enough noise to summon the Gods."

"Thank you, sweetheart," Hector said with a pleased grin.

Alga rolled her eyes to herself as she nodded into the large room filled with handmade toys. "You have got to see what they're doing now."

Stoick raised a bushy brow. "What is it this time?" he said as he and the other two men crowded into the room, making it feel positively tiny.

"Just watch," Alga said, looking down at the two toddlers who had barely glanced up when the males arrived, not being anywhere near as interesting as their game.

So Stoick did.

While Astrid watched eagerly, nearly bouncing up and down in her impatience, Hiccup made a high, tall, and perfectly straight wall out of alphabet blocks. There were two sets; one that Gobber had carved for Hiccup and another that Astrid had received from her grandparents for her second birthday. You could tell which was which by the colour of the wood and the paint used on the letters.

As soon as the wall was done, Hiccup would look at Astrid with a grin and say, "Kay, Asti, kill."

And boy, would she ever.

The tiny girl swung her wooden toy sword like a Valkyrie, yell and all, and sent the blocks flying, making Hiccup laugh in delight.

And then they scrambled around the room, giggling, as they gathered up all the blocks and started all over.

Because it was backwards to him, it took three go rounds before Stoick noticed that there was a distinct pattern to the blocks that Hiccup set up. Every single time, the top row of blocks spelled out, 'ASTRIDS WALL'.

Holy Thor, my son's a genius!

He nudged Gobber with more than the necessary amount of enthusiasm. "Hey, Gobs. Is it just me, or has my son taught himself how to read?"

Gobber shook his head slowly in disbelief as he caught what was spelled on the top row just before the blocks flew everywhere again. "Errrrmmm. I don't think it's just you."

Thank you, Thor!

They both looked over at Alga with thick brows raised up to their hairlines. "Did you teach him to read already?" Stoick asked incredulously.

Alga shook her head, long gold braid swaying with the motion, and a grin plastered to her face, pleased the men had noticed what she wanted them to see. "Nope. Wasn't me. But their names are spelt out on some of their things so we know whose is whose. And there's those picture books we read bedtime stories from. One of them has a big wall in it being attacked by a prince to get at the damsel in distress. Hiccup has clearly picked up a few words from familiarity."

I'm calling that an understatement. Stoick snorted. "You can call it whatever you like. I've never seen a two year old who could spell out words before. I'm declaring my son brilliant here and now."

"As if anyone could stop you," Gobber teased.

Stoick puffed up his chest, crossed his arms over it, and sported a proud grin as they watched the children play for a few more minutes.

"Ya know," Stoick said, finally taking more note of Astrid. "The girl's got an impressive swing. She's going to make a fine little warrior one day."

Hector puffed up in pride too. "I always thought so. She takes after her mother," he said with a loving glance at his wife.

Alga wrapped an arm around Hector's waist and kissed his cheek. "Smart man," she murmured.

The children finally tired of their game and decided the adults were worthy of attention. Leaving the blocks scattered all over, they bounced and giggled over to their parents. Astrid looked up at both her parents expectantly. "Hungy?"

At the same time, Hiccup plastered himself to Stoick's leg with a happy cry of, "Daddy!"

Stoick bent down and picked him up in a hug, closing his eyes in pleasure at having his son back. "Hey, my little Hiccup. Did you miss me?"

Hiccup buried his tiny hands in Stoick's impressively long and thick beard and nodded solemnly, green eyes wide. "Daddy gone too long."

Stoick sighed. "I know, Son. I know. Daddy's sorry. Stupid dragons."

"Stupid dragons," Hiccup repeated.

Stoick nodded. "That's right. You remember that one. Stupid dragons."

Hiccup nodded back, copying his father.

The massive Viking smiled mistily at the tiny boy. My brilliant, genius son. Valka would be so proud of you.

Meanwhile, Astrid and her parents had been having an entirely different conversation.

"Hungy," she repeated.

"Clean up your toys first and then we'll go have dinner," Alga said firmly.

"But..."

"Toys."

"But Hicc..."

"Now," Hector and Alga said at the same time.

Astrid's tiny shoulders slumped and she hung her head, her braid falling over shoulder as she sighed in defeat. "Okay." She trudged back to the blocks and started kicking them in the vague direction of the boxes they belonged in, grumbling about how it wasn't fair.

Noticing this, Hiccup squirmed to get down and ran over to Astrid and started picking up as many blocks as he could fit in his arms. "I help, Asti."

She beamed at him, smacked his cheek in a sloppy kiss just like she'd seen her mother do to her father multitudes of times, and then started picking up blocks in a more civilized fashion. "Tanks, Hicci."

The children had the blocks stacked neatly in their boxes, even divided correctly by set, thanks to Hiccup, in only a few minutes. And then they ran back to their parents.

"Now dinner?" Astrid said, looking way up.

"Now dinner," Alga said, smiling, as she bent down and picked up her daughter, hugging her.

"That goes triple for us," Stoick said as he picked up Hiccup again. "Uncle Gobber's got some mutton stew waiting for us at his place."

"Yay!"

7 Years Old

Astrid climbed up the plank wall at the back of the Haddock house with deft movements until she reached the closed shutters to the window of Hiccup's second floor room.

In the dark, and with most of the village occupied with a dragon raid taking place in the northern yak pasture, Astrid wasn't worried about being spotted. She reached up and banged on the closed shutters until Hiccup unlatched them and swung them open above her head. Climbing the last plank, she heaved herself up and into his room, dropping down on his bed with a grin.

Hiccup just shook his head at her from where he knelt on his bed, a resigned look on his face.

"I know, I'm bad," Astrid said with a giggle. "But you HAVE to come with me this time, Hiccup. Don't you want to see the dragons?" Please, please come see our parents fight the dragons. They're so awesome.

"You know I do, more than anything. But Dad said I was to stay in the house whenever the dragons were nearby or I'd regret the consequences." Hiccup shrugged. "Don't know what the 'consequences' are, but I don't know if I want to find out." His brain shuffled through some of the options he'd previously thought up. Maybe no food? Or no books? Or the absolute worst; no Astrid.

"Don't be a baby," the girl said with an exaggerated roll of her sky blue eyes. "Your dad loves you. What's he gonna do? Lock you in your room even more often? Seriously, Hiccup, get your butt down that wall and come with me. You're never going to be able to prove to your dad that you've got what it takes to be a dragon fighter if you don't even know what they look like."

Hiccup sank into himself in defeat, his shoulders meeting his ears. Even Thor knows she's right. "You do have a point with that one. I guess it wouldn't hurt anything to go see a dragon fight as long as we stay hidden and are back before the adults."

Astrid beamed. "That's the spirit!" She scrambled back out the window and was down the wall in five seconds flat, dropping the last metre to the ground easily.

Hiccup shook his head at himself, tugged on a fur vest for warmth over his green tunic, and then followed his best friend out the window. I can't believe I'm doing this. Dad will KILL me if he finds out. His climb down wasn't quite as graceful, but he made it without falling, so he considered that a win.

Astrid was bouncing on her toes, impatient to get going. "Geez, you're slow," she said as soon as he was standing solidly on the ground beside her. "Come on, Hiccup, let's see if you can keep up with me this time." She immediately took off in a sprint across the hill and towards the northern pasture across a bridge and up a small cliff from the village.

Hiccup ran after her, puffing a little to keep up, and forcing his legs to propel him faster. The girl was incredibly fast and in much better shape than him, since her mother'd had her in warrior training from the age of two. Hiccup, on the other hand, only got to train when he and Astrid were left alone to play or she snuck up to his room like this when the parents were away. His dad much preferred that Hiccup spend his time apprenticing in Gobber's blacksmith shop than learning warrior skills.

Most days, Hiccup was all right with that, since he loved working with metal, and Uncle Gobber was entertaining to be around. But he'd much rather spend his time with Astrid and not feeling like an infant to be coddled.

They reached the top of the cliff in only minutes, thanks to Astrid's nimble feet and Hiccup's determination to not be left behind. They were accompanied by the ever clearer sound of dragon and Viking roars and the crash of boulders striking the earth from the catapults set up on the edges of the pasture above them. Once there, they dropped to a crouch and moved from rock to rock until they reached the edge of the massive grassy field set on a long and gentle slope.

The entire time they were waddling like ducks, Astrid was basically pulling Hiccup along by his sleeve because he couldn't take his eyes off the star studded sky and the flying creatures outlined within.

"They're magnificent," he breathed when they stopped moving, eyes flitting from a large spike covered dragon to a stocky one with tiny wings that looked like they couldn't possible keep the dragon up in the air.

"Yeah, I suppose," Astrid admitted as she grabbed Hiccup's arm again and tugged. "But look at my Mom! She's battling a Monstrous Nightmare all by herself!"

"Whoa," Hiccup breathed, impressed. They watched the woman and the flaming dragon exchange blows and bursts of fire for a minute before Hiccup was distracted by something else.

A boulder soared towards a two headed one that was flying with determination after the stampeding yaks who were essentially trapped on the cliff-top summer pasture. Watch out! Hiccup thought as he held his breath in fear for the beast. The dragon dodged the boulder easily and he breathed again in relief.

Wait. I'm cheering for the enemy. Bad Hiccup. Bad. Watch the Vikings. Cheer for them. Cheer for your Da….

His eyes widened as his dad ran past their hiding spot, yelling a warcry and shaking his battleaxe at the tail end of the two headed dragon that was now carrying a wailing baby yak in its claws. Stoick threw the battleaxe with a mighty heave. One of the double sided blades struck true in the dragon's leg and it dropped the baby yak with a dual yelp from its two heads. Stoick caught the baby yak with a triumphant smirk. Whoa! Hiccup was seriously impressed.

"Go, Dad!" Hiccup couldn't help but shout before clapping a hand over his mouth in horror. Too much cheering! Too much! He ducked down behind the rock and stared at Astrid with big eyes.

What did I just do?

Stoick's head whipped towards Hiccup's hiding spot, positive he'd heard his son's voice. If he's here…. By Thor, is he ever…

Out of instinct, he dropped the baby yak even as the Hideous Zippleback tore the axe out of its leg with one of its heads and spit it back out at Stoick with a burst of electricity.

Stoick threw himself to the side, just avoiding getting struck by his own axe that was now sparking. Rolling to his feet, he left the axe on the ground for the moment and stalked towards the rocks at the edge of the field.

The baby yak bellowed in fear and galloped back towards the herd, crying for its mama.

Peeking around the rock, Astrid took one look at the chief's murderous expression and gulped. We're so dead. "Now you've done it," Astrid muttered. She jumped to her feet, pulling Hiccup up with her. "Running would be a good idea right now," she said even as she was putting action to words.

Hiccup ran, trusting Astrid's word on the matter. He was afraid to look back and see his dad's displeasure and disappointment.

Stoick stopped and narrowed his eyes under furrowed brows as he watched the two children race for the path that led down the cliff, not even bothering to try and hide themselves. "Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third!" he yelled after them. "You better be in your room when I get home!"

Hiccup flinched as he ran, never having heard such a tone of anger from his dad before. At least... not directed at him.

As the children disappeared from sight, Stoick growled and then stalked back to his axe. Bloody child. Is he TRYING to get himself killed? He picked it up, ignoring the residual heat in the handle. He knows I can't bear to lose him too. Stoick stomped across the field and took up a defensive position near the yak herd again, just itching for another dragon to try and steal a beastie so he could work out some of his fear and anger on it.

Hiccup ran like his feet had wings and found himself back below his bedroom window in what felt like an instant. He skidded to a halt and finally dared to look back, more than half expecting to see his father bearing down on him with axe raised high above his head and a murderous look in his eyes.

But his dad wasn't there.

Thank the Gods.

Hiccup gulped in great gasps of air as he leaned back against the wall of his house in relief and rested his hands on his knees. Astrid settled beside him, barely breathing hard at all, and started to giggle. That soon built up into peals of laughter and she slid down the wall to sit on the ground.

Hiccup just stared at her like she'd lost her mind. Eventually he said so. "Are you nuts? My dad caught us!"

Astrid shook her pale blonde head, tears of laughter leaking from her eyes. She wiped them away with a furred forearm cover as she got herself back under control. "That was awesome, Hiccup, truly awesome. The very first time I talk you into doing something even remotely dangerous and you manage to blow it within minutes. Did you see your dad? He looked madder than any dragon I've ever seen by far. Oh, Thor, I'm going to remember this forever; what an epic night."

Oh, it was epic all right; epically terrible. I never should have left my room. Hiccup glared at his friend as he sank down to the ground beside her and wrapped his arms around his legs. "I'm glad you had fun," he grumbled, his tone saying the complete opposite of his words. "But you're not the one who's going to become dragon bait soon. I'm sure I'll make a tasty little snack to lure the dragons with."

Astrid punched him in the arm. "Don't be such a drama queen. You're dad won't feed you to the dragons."

Hiccup rubbed his arm and glared at her some more. "I wouldn't be too sure about that. The rumours say that's what he did to the last person who disobeyed his rules."

Astrid snorted. "You mean Hairy Handor? I heard Mom tell Dad he was banished for stealing sheep, NOT fed to the dragons. I think the rumours were just started to help keep others in line, like ghost stories."

"Hunh," Hiccup said, only a little relieved. He was still worried about what the unknown 'consequences' were for his disobedient actions. He huffed out a sigh and plunked his head back against the wall, staring up at the stars and the glow of firelight coming from the top of the cliff. "I don't know if it was worth it, but thanks for talking me into going up there, Astrid. I loved seeing the dragons up close." They're even more beautiful than I imagined.

Astrid smiled as she nudged her shoulder against his. "You're welcome, Hiccup."

They both looked up at the sky in comfortable silence for a minute before she sighed. "I guess I better go back home now." She jumped to her feet and walked backwards as she said, "I'll see you tomorrow. Good luck with your dad."

"Thanks," he called back sarcastically as she grinned and waved before spinning on the ball of a foot and dashing off in a sprint into the night towards her home situated lower on the mountainside.

Heaving himself onto his feet, Hiccup looked up at his window high above his head and sighed. He could climb, or... he could pick the lock to his room. Picking the lock sounded like more fun, but he really did need to get better at climbing quickly so Astrid couldn't complain about his climbing skills anymore.

Sighing one more time, just because, he stuck his fingers into the highest gap in the planks he could reach and started climbing.

After what felt like hours, the dragons finally gave up and flew away, those that hadn't been killed, that is. Stoick joined the cleanup crew as they dragged and heaved dragon bodies out of the field and tossed them over the cliff and into the ocean below. (After people took their prizes of teeth and claws and horns, that is. The meat and hides were not used for food or survival unless it was a last resort since the meat tasted like ashes and the hides were too scaly.) And then they gathered up all the boulders and rolled them back to the catapults in preparation for the next attack.

At some point during all that, Stoick found himself rolling a boulder beside Alga.

"Guess who snuck up to watch the fight?" he said in a disgusted tone.

Alga raised a brow and shook her head. "You had to know it was going to happen sometime, Stoick. Your boy is intelligent and curious. And Astrid... Well, let's just say she's got a determined streak in her wider than your belt. I knew that she's been following me, and honestly, I don't see anything wrong with it. The kids need to learn how to fight the dragons sometime. Observation is a very good start."

'Hiccup doesn't. Even observing is too dangerous,' Stoick grumbled unintelligibly under his breath, knowing Alga would probably smack him over the head with her axe if she actually heard him say it.

Alga forged on, despite her Chief's mulish expression, having come up with an idea recently that she was quite fond of, while thinking of her daughter's future. "In fact, the old method of simply throwing the teenagers into battle isn't the most ideal situation. Too many of them get hurt or lose limbs in their first few battles until they get smarter. I was thinking we should start an actual dragon fighting program for the kids where they could learn in a controlled environment."

Stoick stopped pushing his boulder and gawked at Alga's back as she continued for a few rolls before noticing he had stopped. Is she proposing that we CAPTURE dragons to use as training aids?! That's insane!

But…

I think I like it.

She turned back and stared at him. "Soooo? What do you think?" she asked him when he still didn't say anything for a minute.

Stoick was working through the idea in his mind and images of an enclosed training ring were forming. A slow grin spread under his moustache. "I think it's brilliant! We'll start building the ring tomorrow. No time to waste while we have good weather, after all."

Alga smiled widely. "Great." She turned and started pushing her boulder again, her Chief quickly catching up. "Soooo. What are you going to do about Hiccup? Do you still mean to keep him from training like a proper Viking?"

Would it be so bad if I did? Stoick shrank a little into himself as his movements became methodical. "I don't know, Alga. He's just so... little. And fragile. What if he gets hurt? I don't think I could bear it."

Alga still didn't agree with Stoick on this, but she let it drop. "Alright, Stoick. He is your son, so you know best. Just... go easy on him when you get home, okay? There was no harm done in him coming out with Astrid to watch a fight."

"No. I guess not, but there could have been. A dragon could have snatched him and I'd have lost him too." He narrowed his eyes at the woman. "That daughter of yours is a bad influence on my son."

"I think she's exactly what he needs," Alga said in retaliation. "Hiccup would wilt to nothing if she wasn't constantly encouraging him to be active."

"At least he'd be safe!" Stoick all but yelled.

"Argh!" she yelled back. "You're the Archipelago's most stubborn male. I'm so glad I didn't choose you as my mate when both you and Hector were courting me all those years ago!"

Stoick flinched, having temporarily forgotten that brief period in his life before he'd met Valka at a Tribe gathering. "So am I!" He shoved his boulder the last couple metres to the pile with a mighty heave and stomped away before he completely annihilated his long friendship with the woman. Stubborn, interfering, besom.

Hector walked up to Alga and joined her in watching their Chief's stiff form retreat from the field. "What was that all about?" he asked, dying of curiosity, only overhearing the last part.

Alga shot him a look as she wrapped her arms around his waist and leaned her head on his shoulder. "Just Stoick being his stubborn self again." As usual. "But he did like my idea about using real dragons to train the children, so that's something." She breathed in her husband's familiar scent overlaid by the strong scent of smoke as his arms closed around her in return. Alga smiled up at him. "Thank you for being you, Hector. You have no idea how much dealing with Stoick makes me appreciate you."

Hector raised a brow and kissed her forehead. "Thank you? But really, what did our Chief do this time?"

Alga explained.

Stoick stomped into his house, up the stairs to Hiccup's bedroom, pulled the key to the room out of the pouch on his belt, unlocked the door, and slammed it open.

Despite hearing his father coming up the stairs, Hiccup jumped anyway and then huddled even further away from the door against the wall behind his bed. Consequences. Here come the consequences. Oh, Thor.

Stoick glared at his son from under thunderous bushy brows, a little ashamed to see his son afraid of him, which just made him angrier. "You're not to see that girl ever again!" Stoick declared before grabbing the door and slamming it closed.

He stomped back down the stairs and then flopped into his favourite chair in front of the fire, all the anger melting from him and leaving him feeling very old and very tired at only thirty seven years.

Hiccup stared at the closed door in shock for a few minutes before slow and silent tears escaped his eyes. His dad had found the one thing that Hiccup considered worse than being used as dragon bait; being separated from Astrid.

'Consequences' had become the worst possible thing that he had imagined.

Fortunately for Hiccup, Astrid really was the most determined child in the world.

She managed to obey the Chief's edict that she not go near Hiccup ever again for a whole week before she couldn't take it anymore, missing her friend something awful.

She couldn't get to Hiccup's room anymore from the outside because Stoick had covered the planks in tree sap that was nearly impossible to get off her hands and clothes and was a dead giveaway of whenever she tried to climb them.

So she waited for just the right circumstances when Stoick was down at the docks, preparing to leave the village for a Chieftain's meeting, and Gobber had been called away from his shop to deal with something or other. Sneaking from shadow to shadow, she dashed into the blacksmith shop through the rear entrance, startling Hiccup into dropping a glowing orange rod of metal he'd been carrying with tongs.

"Astrid!" he exclaimed as he quickly picked up the rod again before it left too bad of a black mark on the stone floor. Gods, I missed you. Putting the glowing rod on an anvil, he braced himself for the impact as she ran over and hugged him with all of enthusiasm her wiry little body was capable of. "You're not supposed to be here," he said, even as he hugged her just as tightly back.

Astrid pulled away as she grinned at her best friend. "As if some stupid rule could keep me away from you. Your dad would have to banish me from the island for that to ever happen, and even then, I'd probably still sneak back and visit you."

Stoick paused as he walked into Gobber's shop, looking for his friend, and shook his head as he heard Astrid's heartfelt words. A reluctant smile formed. Why I thought I could separate those two when one of them is ASTRID THE DETERMINED is beyond me. Maybe Thor knows.

Continuing on into the back room, he leaned against the doorway as the kids looked up at him guiltily. "I hereby rescind my decree based on what I just heard. But..." he said, holding up a finger before they could celebrate. "If you come anywhere near a dragon battle again, Hiccup, I can guarantee that you won't be sitting down for a month. Do you understand me?"

Hiccup nodded almost frantically, eyes wide. "Yes, Dad. No more dragons. Got it." Astrid's worth all the dragons in the world.

Stoic nodded once. "Good." He shot a warning look at the girl who had a speculative and scheming look on her little face. "And I will lock him in his room for a month, girl, so you better wipe whatever thoughts you're having right out of your head if you want your friend accessible to you, understood?"

Astrid heaved a sigh, crossed her arms, and glared at the massive man, but nevertheless said, "Yes, Sir." Mom's right; he is an overbearing jackass. We'll just have to work around his idiocy.

Stoick raised a brow at her less than respectful tone, but let the insolence slide, since she wasn't his child to discipline. "Good."

Spinning on his foot, the Chief of Berk left the blacksmith shop.

The children looked at each other and smiled as they realized they could see each other again without Astrid having to sneak. They whooped, hugged again, and then Astrid sat on an overturned crate and watched Hiccup bang the metal rod into something useful while they talked animatedly about everything they'd done for the past week.

Hiccup couldn't wipe the smile off his face all day after that. It was good to have his friend back.