Astrid couldn't believe it, she had...earned his trust? Just by saving his daughter? When she actually thought about it, she understood. Strike's kids were all he had left of his wife and treasured them dearly, saving one of them would ensure his trust. Astrid was still surprised given not even 24 hours ago he was saying they couldn't be trusted, but she wasn't about to argue with him, she simply smiled and sat down as Runa came beside her happily. Stoick and the others moved closer to her now, wondering if she was okay.
It was a hard fall, it knocked the wind out of her and managed to make her pass out on impact but at least Runa was safe and hadn't been hurt. The one thing Strike had said when he allowed them to watch his kids were not to let them fall off and Astrid made sure of that. It was at least a 20 foot drop and she landed on her back which she was now sure would be sore and bruised all day.
"You sure you're alright Astrid?" Fishlegs asked her as people were beginning to gather around and take their seats for the race.
"Guys... I'm fine. Really. Just sore...I'll live." Astrid smiled happily. Hiccup looked down at her now but said nothing, once everyone had arrived he stepped towards the edge and put his hands up to get everyone's attention. The area came to a dull roar before silencing to listen to him.
"Its time for our dragon race!" Hiccup announced, they all cheered. "Racing today we have Asmund with Blaze, Birger with Fang, Brenna with Starstrike, Cloud on Cloud Jumper, Dagmar with Thorn, and as a special treat...Myself on Sunflower." Hiccup announced. The crowd went crazy with cheering as the Hooligans looked over at him with surprise. "Take it away dad." Hiccup said to Alvin who laughed with a nod. Hiccup jumped off the edge as Astrid gasped but then saw him sitting on the monstrous nightmare who belonged to his late wife.
Hiccup sat on its neck with his legs crossed around it and holding on to her horns, he did a loop and then flew off to sit with the other riders at the starting point. "My son the show off..." Alvin chuckled.
"Hey if you got the skill, go for it." Gobber chuckled. This was actually fun to watch, originally they had been led to believe Strike didn't race because there would be no competition with Toothless but yet he was choosing to ride Sunflower so it'd be fair. Although somehow they felt it wouldn't matter which dragon he used.
"Release the sheep!" Alvin called out. The horn blew as the crowd cheered and watched the sheep take off. After 5 minutes and the sheep had scattered and Alvin faced the rider with a hand up. "On Toothless's signal riders!..." Alvin said as he looked at Toothless who roared out shooting one of his plasma blasts in to the air, it exploded and dispersed in a purple like wave across the sky. The riders took off, looping once as they flew over the stands and spread out to start looking for sheep.
"So every sheep but the black one is worth one point?" Fishlegs asked now.
"Yeah and the black is worth 10 but he doesn't get released until after all the white ones are caught." Astrid told him remembering what Runa told her about how it worked. Astrid noticed that the six baskets were painted different colors and she assumed the yellow and brown one was for Sunflower and Strike. So the baskets got painted over for each race which was held everyone two weeks. Good to know. The riders enclosed on 3 sheep in the village square, they all stared at one another for a few seconds before all charging in. Hiccup grinned as he and his mother were neck and neck, the others flew off knowing better than to get between the chief and his mother when it came to dragon racing.
"I'm not backing off, Strike!" Cloud shouted to him.
"That's what you always say...right before you back off!" Strike challenged as last minute his mother pulled up and Sunflower grabbed two of the sheep while Hiccup slid upside down on her neck and grabbed the third one, tucking it under his arm he swung and grabbed her horn pulling himself up with a laugh. He swooped through the stands and together he and Sunflower dropped the 3 sheep in the basket designated for him.
"3 points to Strike and Sunflower!" Alvin announced.
"Go daddy!" Runa and Viggo cheered out. Right after two other riders dropped two sheep each in to their baskets, then Cloud dropped one in hers.
"7 of the 15 sheep have been caught! Cloud with one, Dagmar with two, Asmund with one, and our chief with three!" Alvin called out.
"This looks like so much fun to do!" Tuffnut and Ruffnut exclaimed looking at one another.
"Right! I want to try." Astrid added nodding.
"Have daddy teach you to ride dragons." Viggo suggested.
"I'll think about it..." Astrid said still a little uneasy about it. They remembered watching Hiccup prove to the two boys yesterday that they weren't ready to ride and those boys were 10. It still scared Astrid to see that Strike let a nadder shoot 3 spines towards him to prove a point. He specifically stated there had to be trust to train dragons and ride them, and that was something Hiccup had taught them. Astrid had Strike's trust now, he trusted her fully for saving Runa from that fall. If he could trust her, then she could trust dragons right?
After another 20 minutes, Brenna had gotten two, Dagmar got one, Cloud got two, Birger with two, and Asmund with another one bringing the total sheep caught to 15. This last sheep to find was the black sheep but upon looking closer, Astrid noticed it was already found but in some type of catapult. She wondered what it was for, she assumed she was about to find out.
"Last lap!" Alvin called out as the horn blew again.
"Black sheep!" The riders called together.
"Current standings are Strike with 3, Cloud with 3, Dagmar with 3, Asmund with 2, Brenna with 2, and Birger with 2!" Alvin reminded everyone. They cheered out as now the Hooligans noticed Savage by the catapult.
"Up to you now! Have a nice flight!" Savage chuckled as he put his hand on the lever and pushed it down, the catapult launched the sheep high in to the air.
"Wow...a sheep launcher! We gotta get one of those!" Snotlout exclaimed.
"Put it on your Snoggletog list, maybe Odin will bring it for you!" Runa giggled out.
"I just might kid." Snotlout laughed as they all continued to watch.
"Come on Cloud Jumper, We can still win this thing!" Cloud encouraged her dragon to go faster to catch the black sheep. Cloud Jumper caught it on his wing as Cloud took it and held on tightly heading for the net to drop it in. Brenna came in with her hammer to swipe at Cloud.
"Hey! Is that even allowed?" Fishlegs asked.
"Yep." Viggo smiled wide.
"Cloud Jumper!" Cloud shouted as the dragon ducked down making Brenna run in to Asmund. Hiccup now swooped around just behind Cloud Jumper as he was standing on Sunflower's head carefully.
"Easy...steady girl...Now!" Strike yelled as Sunflower bumped him up and he landed on Cloud Jumper's back running along it, he crouched down next to his mom with a grin. "Hey, enjoying the victory?" He asked.
"Why yes I...STRIKE! What are you doing up..." Before Valka could finish her sentence, Hiccup grabbed the black sheep from her with a laugh.
"Got ya!" Hiccup cheered as he jumped off Cloud Jumper and landed on Sunflower who was right below them, they sped off as Hiccup and Sunflower did a barrel roll and looped around as he tossed the sheep in to his basket.
"And that's 13! Strike takes the game!" Alvin announced as everyone cheered while he took a lap around the stands, leaning off slightly to give them high fives while he flew by them before landing on the stage beside his father and children and got off Sunflower.
"Good game girl, felt good to race again huh?" Hiccup asked the nightmare, she growled contently as Hiccup scratched under her chin.
"That was amazing!" Fishlegs exclaimed now as Hiccup chuckled hugging his kids.
"Nothing like a good dragon race to get people going." Alvin laughed patting Hiccup on the back.
"It looks like so much fun!" Astrid smiled now getting up to congratulate him.
"It is." Hiccup laughed a little, probably the first time he had since they arrived there. Cloud came over now as she hugged him.
"Good game, chief." Cloud told him.
"Same to you, Cloud." Hiccup replied.
"I almost beat you! I forget you like to pull those daring moves...You're going to get hurt one of these days." Cloud laughed now.
"How can you forget, I do them all the time. I'm the only one who can pull them off..." Hiccup rolled his eyes.
"This is true." Alvin agreed now. "Time for lunch?" Alvin asked.
"That it is. Alright everyone, to the hall!" Hiccup announced to them, people slowly began to clear off the stands and make their way to hall still talking about the race. Hiccup climbed down helping the kids, then Astrid seeing she was in pain from the fall.
"Oh...thank you sir..." Astrid said a little surprised when he offered his hand to her.
"You can call me Strike, Astrid. And its no trouble, you took a hard fall. I'm surprised you're still standing." Hiccup stated.
"I was worried about Runa...I didn't feel anything at first. Just sore, I'll be okay." Astrid said smiling.
"You should still go see Eira, she has a paste that can take that soreness away..." Hiccup told her.
"Ye–yeah, maybe I will..." Astrid replied blushing a bit, she swore she couldn't keep up with his constant mood changes. First he's cold, worried, firm, bored, angry, and now calm and caring. What was worse is you never knew which mood it would be until it hit. There was no way to prepare for them. While walking to the hall Astrid and Fishlegs stayed closest to him, seeing so far they were the only two who had earned his trust. Fishlegs because he never picked on Hiccup, and Astrid for saving Runa.
After 10 minutes of walking, Astrid felt like she was being followed and so did Fishlegs. They were constantly looking back but only seeing Stoick, Gobber, Snotlout, and the twins. "You feel it too, right?" Fishlegs asked looking over at Astrid.
"Yeah, its weird..." Astrid replied.
"What is?" Hiccup asked while facing forward still.
"Oh...nothing, we just...feel like we're being watched and followed...and not by the rest of our tribe..." Fishlegs said cautiously.
"Really now...Hm..." Hiccup said stopping and turning around and looking he saw nothing too but he knew better. "Toothless..." Hiccup said now as Toothless opened his mouth and let out a screech opening his mouth, a few purple expanding waves were seen disappearing in to the air, then Toothless's ears began to twitch and he looked to the right. Hiccup narrowed his eyes giving a whistle. "Alright you two, you've been spotted. Get down here..." Hiccup rolled his eyes now.
"Whose he talking too..." Stoick asked, before anyone else could question the sanity of the chief two dragons landed to the right of him.
"What are you two doing out..." Hiccup asked rubbing their heads lightly. The dragons that landed were Stormfly the nadder and Meatlug the gronckle. Stormfly walked over to Astrid and sniffed her a few times squawking. Astrid tensed up a bit refusing to move.
"Wh–what's she doing?..." Astrid asked quickly.
"Relax...She's just curious about you..." Hiccup said calmly watching Stormfly move around Astrid, movement made him look to Meatlug who was doing the same to Fishlegs and it got him thinking. "I think they remember you from your training days, they are from Berk after all." Hiccup stated.
"We–well when we fought her, I–I hit her with my ax which was imbedded in Hiccup's shield...C–can dragons hold grudges?" Astrid asked shakily.
"Yes and some to the death." Hiccup replied.
"Great..." Astrid sighed now. Stormfly finally stepped back with her head tilted to see Astrid better, then she squawked again before licking Astrid's cheek and nuzzling against her purring contently. Hiccup looked over to see Fishlegs lightly scratching the top of Meatlug's head making her pant with her tongue out and tail wagging. Hiccup almost grinned at the sight walking over towards them.
"U–uh what...is she doing? I–is she going to eat me?" Astrid asked with her eyes closed.
"What part of dragons aren't dangerous didn't you hear the first time..." Hiccup sighed to them.
"This gronckle is so...affectionate." Fishlegs laughed a little as Meatlug licked his cheek.
"That's Meatlug, she's a girl. And Astrid, that's Stormfly. Also a girl." Hiccup explained to them.
S–s–so what do...they want with us?" Astrid said looking at Strike for answers.
"They want you to be their riders, their trainers. They are accepting you because they know you can be trusted not to harm them." Hiccup said now.
"And how come we don't have dragons accepting us..." Tuffnut asked.
"You've yet to prove yourselves. Dragons feel just as we do, they see, smell, hear, and taste. Dragons can tell if you're lying, and if none came to you of their own free will its because they know you don't trust them yet. Just like I showed the boys yesterday. Dragon training starts and ends with trust and if you don't trust them, they won't come near you. Not sure how these two got out but clearly they can tell that Astrid and Fishlegs can be trusted and surprisingly chosen them on their own. So the question remains for you two...Do you give them your full trust and do you accept them as they've accepted you?" Hiccup asked.
Astrid and Fishlegs looked at one another before nodding and smiling. "We do." They said together.
"Good then starting after Snoggletog, you will be joining the training class and yes...its led by me." Hiccup stated.
"How is it you have time to run a village, train dragons, and take care of 3 kids?" Stoick asked him.
"I make time. That and I trust my people to do their jobs and to get me if there is a problem. Being a chief doesn't mean you have to be in charge of everything and constantly watching every project needing to be done. I trust my farmers to plant, take care of, and harvest the food. I trust my fishers to fish, my builders to build, my blacksmith to forge, sharpen, and make. A chief delegates his duties. I can't be in more than one place at a time, so I have to trust my people and I just keep tabs. That's why we have patrols, they don't just watch for danger they watch over the village to make sure everything is running smoothly." Hiccup retorted quickly shutting the hooligan chief up.
"S–so what do we do with these guys? Let them follow us?" Astrid asked now.
"They'll return to the stables for now." Hiccup stated as he saw Bjorn run up to him panting.
"Sorry chief. They snuck off after the dragon race...when the other riders were putting theirs away." Bjorn sighed heavily.
"Its fine. Put them back in their pens please. I'll be needing them after Snoggletog, two new riders to the academy. Astrid and Fishlegs." Hiccup said firmly.
"Right sir. Sorry again." Bjorn bowed and led the two dragons away. Hiccup noticed the sad looks on Astrid's and Fishlegs's faces, oh they had the gift alright. Hiccup hated being away from Toothless, it was almost like a part of him was missing when they were separated. Hiccup could tell that Astrid and Fishlegs were feeling that same feeling now.
"You'll see them again soon. Now lets get to the hall for lunch." Hiccup said motioning for them to follow, they nodded and walking along behind him. Hiccup was a little shocked honestly that Meatlug and Stormfly had chosen their riders on their own accord, it didn't happen often that a dragon chose its rider but it was possible. It had happened with Cami too, when Hiccup found her that day she was injured and Sunflower wouldn't let anyone near her until Hiccup settled it down to show he meant no harm. Cami explained that the Sunflower had been protecting her from other dragons and did it on its own choice. They'd been bonded and best friends since.
Hiccup found it interesting that these two dragons, from Berk just like Astrid and Fishlegs chose the people who were trained to kill them, and had been there for that training. Perhaps Stormfly and Meatlug knew these two didn't want to fight dragons deep down or just could tell that since 'Hiccup' dying that they genuinely wanted to know more. Now it laid with wondering if he was making the right choice to train them to ride, or if Stoick would allow them to keep their dragons because if not, Hiccup was happy to offer to them the same he did for other dragon lovers. A place on Dragons Edge where they wouldn't be separated from their dragons and could love them without being cast out.
"I still can't believe that Stormfly chose me..." Astrid whispered out.
"Believe it because it happened. And after today, she won't ever leave your side. The bond between dragon and rider is very powerful. I'll explain more of it during training. Bjorn will be leading the other class. I am training you two exclusively." Hiccup stated reaching the hall doors.
"Why us and not everyone?" Fishlegs asked.
"The others are ahead of you and not all should be sent back to basics. And the rest of you will be spending your time in the inn." Hiccup ordered.
"What! We can't watch?" Ruffnut complained.
"You are far from ready. As I said before...You've yet to earn my trust. Do that, and then we'll talk." Hiccup said as he entered the hall with his kids and walked to their table, the Hooligans took their place at theirs. "Dreki tribe! What a race today, am I right?" Hiccup announced with a smile.
"YEAH!" They cheered happily.
"I'm glad you enjoyed. We'll have another in two weeks as always, well pending the Red Death situation. Good job today with setting things up and getting work down. There's still a lot more to do for Snoggletog, so lets eat up and get back to work. Thank you." Hiccup said, they clapped and nodded before beginning to eat. Hiccup sat down with his kids and began to eat as well. It was a good day, and honestly Hiccup was glad he chose to race with Sunflower. It felt good to take part in something his wife loved to do.
His mind wandered to the Red Death, he needed a plan to defeat her. She was huge, mean, and could fly. She has six eyes and very few weaknesses making her a tough opponent. He closed his eyes and sighed, no one else would be hurt because of her. He made that promise when Cami died, and he wouldn't stop until the red death was gone from this world. But for now, he would focus on what was currently going on. Snoggletog was tomorrow and that always made people happy even though it was a hard holiday for him and his kids to get through but they would as always. Hiccup opened his eyes now looking around at everyone.
This was his village and he would protect it from harm. That was a vow. 'I promise, Cami...No one else will ever have to suffer because of that dragon...' Hiccup thought proudly. Yes, there would be peace for everyone once he defeated her. He just needed a plan to do it with and an opening to get close enough. His other problem was the Hooligans who he wanted gone before they got any closer to him, and found out who he was. And he didn't want that. He spent years getting away from his past which has caught up with him, he didn't want them knowing who he really was because it would just start a bunch more trouble he didn't want or need right now.
He took a breath to calm down. Everything was fine, they'd be gone soon and everything would go back to being normal.