Waking up the next morning, Hiccup groaned as he sat up rubbing his eyes. "Morning." He heard Stoick say. Hiccup arched a brow. Of course, these guys were always up early. Hiccup rolled his eyes and got up cracking his back. "Sleep well?"
"Okay can we not act like this is an okay thing? 7 years hasn't changed how unbelievably angry I am at all of you..." Hiccup mumbled as he twisted his back cracking it while looking around to see a lot of people still asleep but his guards were up. They approached him quietly and offered a bow. "How was it through the night?" Hiccup asked.
"We haven't looked yet...And it was too dark to see last night." Eret admitted.
"Well lets have a look then." Hiccup sighed as he moved to the door and removed the wood panel lock as he pulled the heavy door open with little difficulty. His eyes saw instantly how dark the skies were, the large hail, and snow pile up. The snow was knee high now but the fall outside was lighter, not enough to call it safe yet though and of course the hail was concerning. Hiccup closed the door with his eyes closed, Viggo and Eret replaced the board lock.
"Still bad?" Viggo asked.
"The snow fall is light but still hard to see, the hail hasn't let up, and snow is knee high. Not to mention the destruction...Safe to say we'll have a lot of repairs to make when this clears up. I don't think we'll need to move into the tunnels, but we will be here until tomorrow unless the storm changes." Hiccup stated.
"Should we move into the tunnels to get food?" Ryker questioned.
"Not yet, lets let people wake up first...I don't want to open that with people sleeping..." Hiccup said, his men nodded and Hiccup looked back at Sylvi who was still asleep. Strange, normally she was up with him at this hour. Then again she was 7 month pregnant and tired all the time. Hiccup could say happily that at least he felt better, he had needed a good nights rest. Curse his wife for always being right.
"So what for now?" Eret asked.
"Just let everyone sleep, shouldn't be much longer." Hiccup said, the guards nodded to him as Hiccup moved back near Toothless and sat down with his eyes closed.
"You handle things well lad..." Gobber said.
"What good would panicking to beside land someone hurt or something forgotten. Staying level headed is the only way to be efficient." Hiccup replied.
"Your daughters are beautiful...They look so much like you." Astrid said gently.
"Can't imagine my life without them in it...Sylvi, the girls...They are my life." Hiccup answered as he saw the girls cuddle closer to one another.
"What's it like being chief?" Snotlout asked.
"Why do you want to know? Curious as to how hard the job is since you'll be chief of Berk one day?" Hiccup chuckled a bit. Snotlout nodded to him.
"Wait...How did you know he was my heir?" Stoick asked curiously.
"Aside from Gobber telling me? Well Snotlout is my cousin and since I left, you had to claim a family member or give up your position to the next house of power on Berk which would have been Spitelout and since Snotlout is his son, he'd be heir anyway. I did a lot of reading on Berk, I know the laws and traditions. That's how I knew about the self exile one." Hiccup retorted.
"Wait, you and Gobber were talking this whole time?" Fishlegs asked.
"Well I wouldn't call it talkin...'Iccup would send a letter every two years or so just telling me he was alright. I only sent one letter back with Johann to give him and in it, I told him about Snotlout being claimed heir." Gobber shrugged.
"I still have that letter actually. Sylvi and I laughed when you said you'd jump ship with Johann to live with me when Snotlout took over." Hiccup smiled.
"Hey! I'd make a good chief..." Snotlout grumbled.
"He was going to take over when he turned 19 but Stoick said he needed more training." Fishlegs added.
"He wasn't ready." Stoick said.
"You said Hiccup wasn't ready either and looks like he's doing just fine." Gobber remarked.
"So you're even treating Snotlout like you treated me? Man do you ever learn? You just keep making the same mistakes over and over again. I'm sure Snotlout would do fine if you'd give him a chance. That's your problem, Stoick. You feel like no one can do your job where there are tons of tribes who have chiefs too. Everyone does it differently, just because its not your way doesn't mean its the wrong way. Look at me, I'm chief of a tribe that has peace with dragons. That doesn't make it wrong, just different. Its my way and it works out for everyone." Hiccup shrugged now.
Stoick looked down. "My way works."
"But how can you know that, Stoick?" Hiccup asked, Stoick looked at him now. "Sure it works for you but who is to say that Snotlout is you. Just like me, I wasn't like you and that's why you thought I'd never make a good chief. However...You have seen with your own two eyes how well I can chief when I do it my way. Sure Thurmond taught me his way and I do use some things but I also do it my way. Your problem, Stoick...Is that you can't accept change. You're determined to stay in the past instead of move towards the future. When I took my vows to be chief at 15...I swore I'd lead this village into the future to make it better. That I would protect it. Every chief that rules a village...They bring something new. You cannot have a future unless you let go of the past." Hiccup said.
"The old way works." Stoick huffed.
"Does anything I say even penetrate that thick skull of yours. Sad that you couldn't listen when I was your son, and you can't even listen when I'm chief and your in my village because of your bad choices. How's that working out for ya by the way?" Hiccup grinned.
"What do you mean?" Stoick asked looking at him.
"Your way. Trying to find the dragons nest to attack it and make the dragons leave? How did that decision work out for you? From what I understand, that choice landed you shipwrecked for 5 hours and my people saved you." Hiccup stated, Stoick looked down. "I understand your desire to stop your raids but did you ever think that maybe there was another way it could happen? Thurmond understood that the dragons were on these lands first so it wasn't fair to cast them from their homes so he shared it with them. They never knew how to ride or earn trust until I showed them. I showed them a new way, and its a way we all live by now which is why the tribe was renamed to Dreki Riddari. Because in old Norse...that means Dragon Rider." Hiccup informed him.
"Your mother always thought there was another way too...And look where that got her." Stoick grumbled.
"I remember that night. And its not what you think it was." Hiccup stated, all of them looked at Hiccup now shocked at what he'd said.
"You were just a baby, Hiccup...A dragon broke in and burned the house then carried yer mother off." Stoick retorted.
"That doesn't mean you know what happened before you got there..." Hiccup rolled his eyes. "I might have been a baby but I still remember. That dragon broke in and played with me in the cradle. I was holding his claw, then mom came in and the cradle shifted. The dragons claw cut me which is why I have this scar on my chin..." Stoick looked at me in shock. "Mom held the sword at the dragon and she refused to kill it, it never attacked her. Then you came in and made it mad...That dragon understood mom, like Toothless does with me. Toothless could of killed me the day he met me when I didn't kill him. Instead, he let me go." Hiccup explained.
"Toothless didn't carry you off..." Stoick closed his eyes.
"Because he couldn't fly without me...I built him that tail rig...Right on Berk too. The point is...If dragons were as dangerous as you believed they are...Then I'd be dead already. Dragons are just misunderstood but they still feel, breathe, eat, and sleep like we do. Appearance doesn't matter. People who understand that fact are the ones who see the truth." Hiccup stated.
"I see no truth..." Stoick grumbled.
"Because you refuse to allow yourself too." The others looked at Hiccup surprised. "You refuse to see the truth, the change that is very much possible. Peace is possible, just like mom said it was. You just refuse to change your ways, to see things differently. " Hiccup stated.
"So...You became chief at 15...What's it like? Weren't you scared?" Snotlout asked, "Any pointers?"
"I could write you a book a pointers, Snotlout but really...Chiefing is easy once you get used to it. Took me a week or two but after that...It came second nature. Its not easy and yes I was terrified to mess something up like I always had on Berk." Hiccup replied.
"But you clearly did fine, help the lad out Hiccup...By the looks of it, Snotlout should get his training from you." Gobber chuckled.
"I can't offer much. I chief for what suits my island, I don't chief for Berk..." Hiccup shrugged.
"Can ya try? Stoick makes it so confusing..." Snotlout asked.
"Snotlout. In order to be a proper chief to your people...You have to have their best interests at heart. Every choice you make has to benefit them and the village. There will be times you have to do things you don't want to and make hard decisions but honestly its the little decisions that make the biggest impact. You've seen how I do thing the last day or so...I man patrols, I check food storage and make choices that aren't always easy like this storm for example. Sure, I could of let people stay in their homes until it got bad then evacuated to the hall. But...If I'd done that...people could have been hurt because those hail balls are destroying things. And I didn't want people getting hurt in the transport. Best thing I could of done was get everyone to safety early before the worst hit." Hiccup said.
"But like...number counts, guard schedules...all that. How can you manage that? I wouldn't know when to send boats out to fish...Or how much to catch..." Snotlout looked down. "Stoick was right, I'm not ready."
"There is no such thing as being ready, Snotlout." The others looked at him in shock, Snotlout lifted his head looking at Hiccup confused now.
"Come on, I was 15 years old. I'd only been here a year, adopted by Thurmond under his training...Then he died and I was left all this to take on. You think I was ready? You've been training since you turned 17 or 18...I trained at 14, and was forced to take over at 15. I was terrified to screw up and have them throw me off the island...But...I told myself that I couldn't let my dad down. He believed in me, so I had to believe in myself. It didn't come easy but nothing in life ever does. If I can do it then so can you." Hiccup put a hand on his shoulder.
"So how do you keep track of everything? How do you know when to do something...How do you fit so much into one day over and over again." Snotlout asked.
"I developed a system for it but more than anything else...I listen to them, my people. Everyone in the village, works as a team. Communication is key. If I'm not aware of it, then I trust them to come tell me so I can fix it or find a solution. I'm only one man, and though I'm the chief and everyone relies on me...I rely on them too. They rely on my for answers, I rely on them for questions or concerns. I listen to my people and I trust them as they listen and trust me. It goes both ways, its not just me giving orders. I work with them, we work together." Hiccup said.
"I guess I understand...But what if I mess up...I don't want everyone to hate me." Snotlout mumbled.
"Being chief doesn't always mean you'll be liked. You can't make everyone happy, and people are going to disagree with you but they will still listen. For example...Look at Mildew, he's a miserable old fart and never happy. He always finds a reason to complain. He's just someone you can't please but he stays and still follows orders. When I started out, people weren't thrilled with some of my ideas or changes but...they still did what I said and everything worked out fine and now they trust my decisions. I proved I could lead them. You will make mistakes but you will learn from them and get better." Hiccup smiled. "As long as you put your people before you then you will always be fine." Hiccup replied.
"That is not what its all about, Hiccup..." Stoick said.
"Oh yeah? Why don't you tell me what it means to be chief then, Stoick. You've been chief far longer than me so give me your wisdom." Hiccup grinned a bit.
"The chief is in charge, he makes the rules and the others follow for their own good. He manages food storage and makes sure everything is safe. He leads." Stoick retorted proud of his words.
"That's why you made them follow you on a useless nest search?" Hiccup asked, Stoick's smile fell now. "And got them lost? And then stranded at sea? You think that's what it means to be chief? Making bad decisions that put everyone in danger? What would you of done if my men didn't see you? You 14 would all be dead. The chief, and the heir gone because of one bad decision based on your own selfish hate." Hiccup remarked.
"Well when you put it like that..." Stoick grumbled.
"That's how it is!" Hiccup narrowed his eyes. "Can you ever just admit your faults! Admit you were wrong? Your choice almost got 14 people killed! You think its all about just forcing people to listen to you. You didn't go looking for that nest for Berk, you went because you want to find the dragon that took mom. You want revenge." Hiccup said coldly. Stoick didn't say anything and by this point more and more people were up and listening.
"That's not...true." Stoick said.
"Gobber, clarify how long you were on those boats before being stranded?" Hiccup asked.
"Weeks...at least 3." Gobber said.
"3 weeks at sea? Looking for the nest, really? And you didn't turn back after the first attack when the boats were already suffering? You pressed forward with another bad choice, because you think finding that nest will stop your raids. You got lost and now look where you are. How can you sit there proud to call yourself a chief when you endangered their lives for your own selfish reasons!" Hiccup glared. "You have no idea what it means to be chief. If you think that its all about giving orders and people following."
"Don't you give me trouble about my chiefing...I've done fine." Stoick said defensively.
"That's why you drove me to exile myself, right?" Stoick stopped now, not having a comeback. "That's what I thought. Your rules, your controlling, inability to listen to anything other than the sound of your own voice made me invoke self exile to get away from you. I didn't leave because of the village, not that they were any better but you were my main reason. I got so fed up with your rules...That I left the village and Gods I'm glad I did because I wouldn't have all this if I hadn't. I'm surprised more people haven't left yet. You told me I wouldn't survive on my own, well hows me being being chief, married, and having kids sound to you. I think I'm doing pretty alright."
"You don't know what it means to be chief either, Hiccup. You broke so many Viking laws...I don't know how anyone can look to you as chief." Stoick said angrily.
"Don't you talk to him like that. Our chief is 100 times the chief you will ever be." Someone yelled.
"How can you call yourself a chief when you don't listen to anyone. You think its just demanding and they follow, but its not. A chief listens, he leads...And he protects. I don't demand them to do anything, they chose to follow me. I don't force them too. I lead them, and keep them safe. I trust them to do their jobs, to work together. I don't run this village myself, I have help. Its all of them. So I listen to them and they listen to me. I showed them a new way of life. Viggo and Ryker were dragon hunters...Until I showed them that dragons didn't need to be hunted for their to be peace. Eret is a former dragon trapper, and I showed him the truth too. Now they chose to stay here and change because this world is changing Stoick. And you can either change with it or fall into the past and be forgotten. People want change, they want things to be different." Hiccup stated.
"You might have peace here but we don't on Berk..." Stoick said. "So I will continue to hate them."
"You are so one track minded. You hate dragons not because of raids, but because mom was taken by one and you never saw her again. Not everything always as it seems, Stoick. That dragon took her because it saw she had a good heart and meant no harm. It saw that she was different that everyone else. Toothless saw that in me too. When you open your eyes and accept things around you, it becomes clearer. You'd rather live your life by the old ways, killing dragons and searching for a nest you will never find, endangering your people than accept this...That humans and dragons can live together in harmony. You will never be able to better your village, or move to the future because you are stuck in the past.
"Hold up a minute..." Astrid said looking at Hiccup now. "You just...said you knew the dragon took her because she had a good heart...Hiccup...how can...you know that?...Your mom is dead." Hiccup got up and motioned for them to follow him, he saw others were awake now as he knelt down and opened the floor up.
"As I said, not everything is always as it seems. Follow me." Hiccup climbed down the ladder and they followed him. Hiccup gave a whistle as the fireworms lit up up the tunnel. Hiccup walked with them trailing closely as he walked down the tunnel then took a left. He stopped and had them wait.
"Cloud Jumper, come here boy." Hiccup called. The Hooligans watched as a big 4 winged, owl face looking dragon came down the tunnel towards Hiccup. "Because Cloud Jumper is the dragon that took her." Hiccup smiled. A figure looked out one of the caves and walked towards them as Hiccup smiled wider. The look on Stoick's face was priceless too, his mouth dropped open. "I know the truth because my mom isn't dead."
"Hello Stoick." The woman said calmly.
"V-Val...ka?" Stoick whispered out.