Chapter 45: Snotlout's Training

"Snotlout, pay attention," Ingrid chided the boy who sat across from her in the clubhouse. "This is important."

"Why do I have to know all about Torvald's history anyway?" Snotlout complained. "I barely know the history of Berk."

Ingrid sighed and shook her head. "Because you're dating their princess. If you two end up together, you need to understand her heritage. What will your say if our dad asks you something you can't answer?"

Snotlout paled. "I, uh, well..."

"You don't need to memorize anything. You just need to get the general idea."

Snotlout frowned. "Why can't Eira teach me?"

"Because she would be too distracting. And this is my job."

"Can't we take a break and do something more exciting? Like learn how Torvaldians fight?" Snotlout gave her a hopeful smile.

Ingrid paused to think about it. They had been at this for awhile, and it might be good for them to move around a bit. "Alright, we'll move onto dancing."

Snotlout stared at her blankly. "Dancing?"

Ingrid smiled. "Yes, dancing. I'll teach you a traditional Torvaldian dance."

Snotlout scoffed. "I don't dance."

"You do now. Come on." She hopped up from her seat and moved to the middle of the room where there was plenty of space. Snotlout reluctantly followed her. "At the very least you'll have to dance at your union ceremony, right?"

Snotlout immediately appeared flustered. "U-Union ceremony? Isn't it a bit too early to think about that?" He wrung his hands in front of him nervously.

Ingrid rolled her eyes. "Of course not. The purpose of dating is to find someone to marry, right? You get to know someone and figure out whether or not you want to take that step. Part of the process is figuring out how you would work together if you were married. Can you really make that kind of decision if you know nothing about her homeland? I'm trying to help you out here."

Snotlout rubbed the back of his neck and smiled sheepishly. "I'm sorry, Ingrid. It just sounds like a lot of pressure."

Ingrid smiled gently at him. "There's no pressure, really. I'm helping you learn the information you'll need when you're ready."

Snotlout nodded. "Fine, I'm ready."

"Great! Let me show you how this dance is done." The girl started to move her body to an inaudible rhythm. Snotlout kept his eyes on her, but she could tell he got lost pretty quickly. "And that's it."

"Uh, can you do that again?"

Ingrid chuckled. "Maybe this will help." She moved so they stood side-by-side. "Watch my feet and try to follow again." She performed the steps a little slower this time. Still, Snotlout could barely keep up.

"It's no use!" he groaned in frustration. "I'm no good at this."

"You just need some practice. You'll get better."

"It would be easier if there were music."

Ingrid agreed. She debated an idea in her head for a minute before deciding to just go with it. "Alright, here's what we're going to do. This is a couple dance, so you're going to dance with me while I sing. Try to copy my movements but improvise if you get lost."

Snotlout looked at her curiously. "You can sing?"

"Of course I can. It was part of our training growing up. Haven't you heard Eira sing?"

Snotlout appeared thoughtful. "Well, only to a screaming baby Death Song..."

Ingrid laughed. "You'll have to tell me that story later. Anyway, let's begin." She stood right in front of him and took his hands in hers. She blushed lightly when he stared down at their hands. "This will make it easier. I'll teach you the upper body movements later. Ready?"

Snotlout nodded. "Go for it."

For the first time, Ingrid questioned her ability to succeed in her task here. Sure, she had the required knowledge and expertise to get the job done, but it was not until now that she realized she had never spent this much time with a male who was not a family member. And being this close to Snotlout, she could see why her sister liked him.

Snotlout gave her a puzzled look. "Is everything alright?"

Ingrid flushed. "Y-Yes. I'm sorry, I must have spaced out."

"My good looks have you distracted?" Snotlout teased.

"O-Of course not. Anyway, I'm ready now." She took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Then she began to sing. It was a love song she had learned as a child and perfect for teaching this dance. She moved her feet as she sang, but Snotlout kept his eyes on hers and remained still. She stopped abruptly to frown at him. "Snotlout, you're not dancing."

"I, uh, was listening to your singing. You have a beautiful voice." She thought she saw him blush, but the color was gone too quickly.

Ingrid smiled slightly. "If you wanted me to sing for you, you should have just asked."

This time Snotlout's cheeks did turn crimson. "Y-You're the one who brought it up!"

Ingrid could not help but smile warmly at him. This guy sure was something else. "Let's try again." She started the song, and this time Snotlout moved with her. They managed to get through the dance without stumbling around too badly. The ending left them standing perilously close to each other, staring at each other.

Ingrid moved first, letting go of his hands to take a large step back and several much-needed breaths. "Very good," she said with a weak smile. "You're not so bad after all."

"That was actually kind of fun," said Snotlout. "Should we try again?"

Ingrid did not think she could handle a second dance. "No, we need to get back to history. Maybe something will sink in this time."

"Aw, come on!" Snotlout groaned.

"If you're good, I'll give you a treat." Ingrid sent him a teasing smirk before returning to her books. This was certainly turning into an interesting adventure! She had to make sure she took necessary precautions next time. There was no way she could let her sister down.

Eira could not believe she was out in a storm over the ocean in the middle of the night with the other dragon riders looking for Snotlout. The Viking in question had upset Astrid again and fled to avoid her wrath, but he had not returned for hours. Eira feared something had happened to him. Hiccup had Toothless use his echolocation to find Snotlout to no avail.

"Hiccup, we're never gonna find anything out here," Astrid said. "I can barely see Stormfly's head in front of me."

"Astrid's right, Hiccup," said Fishlegs. "Maybe we should go back to the Edge and wait it out, then when it's more-"

"No way!" Eira snapped. "Who knows what could happen to him if we wait?"

"But-"

"Guys, wait," Hiccup said. "Do you see that?

Eira squinted her eyes to see in the dark. She could just make out a light in the distance coming toward them. A second later, she recognized the shape. "It's Hookfang!" The Monstrous Nightmare stopped in front of them and flew in a frenzied circle.

"We've seen him do this before," Hiccup said.

"He wants us to follow him," said Fishlegs.

"What's Snotlout gotten himself into this time?" Astrid muttered as they followed Hookfang.

The riders flew for hours. Finally, they stopped to rest on a sea stack just as the sun began to rise. "Okay, Hookfang, I get it," Hiccup said. "You're worried about Snotlout. Why don't we just take a little break and give the rest of us a chance to-" Hookfang took off without warning. "Okay, who needs to catch their breath anyway? You guys relax, I'll go."

"No way, all right?" Fishlegs too. "We are going with you. Meatlug just got her second wind."

"Us too," said Eira.

Hiccup nodded. The three of them flew up high over the clouds. They had not gone far when strange figures appeared in front of them. They looked like... women with wings?

"What the-" Hiccup said. "What the- Are are those-"

"Flying women?" Fishlegs said.

"Uh. Am I crazy or is that impossible?"

"What's impossible?" said Astrid, appearing behind them with the other riders.

"Nothing, nothing," Fishlegs said. "We're just having some friendly hallucinations."

"Wait, so, you didn't see the angelic flying native women?" Tuffnut said. "Man, did you miss it."

Hiccup turned to face everyone. "Okay, we really have to know more about these, whatever they are." So, they took off again. They flew until they spotted an island in the distance. "Hey, Fishlegs, take a look at this."

"Amazing!" Fishlegs exclaimed. "Just amazing. The density of the vegetation is unparalleled for an island in this area of the-" He paused when Hiccup gave him a look. "Oh. You were talking about the giant village of women with wings."

"Hold on. I think I found Snotlout." Hiccup flew closer to they island. "They've got him and they're taking him into a cave."

Astrid rolled her eyes. "Yeah, he probably said something he would say, and now they're gonna-"

"Hey, at least our hands are clean," said Ruffnut.

"As a whistle," said Tuffnut. "Just sucks we don't get to watch."

"We're not gonna let them do anything to Snotlout," Hiccup said. "We're gonna go in there and get him and bring him home."

"That's right!" Eira said.

Ruff blinked. "Who is this 'we' you speak of?"

"All of us," said Hiccup.

"I want to save him too, but maybe charging down there and attacking isn't the best idea," Eira said.

Astrid nodded. "It's all women down there. If we have to save him, and I'm not convinced we do, I think it would be easier for Heather, Ruffnut , Eira, Ingrid, and I to take the lead. You know, put 'em at ease."

"What if we all went in on Windshear?" said Heather. "There's something familiar about those wings."

"We might not want to overload her too much," Ingrid said. "Eira and I can go on Shadowwhisper. His calming abilities might come in handy."

"All right, then it's settled," Hiccup said. "We'll be there if you need us. You might not wanna mention anything about Snotlout, until you know why they have him locked up in that cave."

The girls quickly created a backstory and then took off on the two dragons. Eira felt off flying behind her sister on her dragon, but she knew it was for the best. Soon, two of the winged women popped up from the clouds and glided beside them.

"What a beautiful Razorwhip," one of the women said, admiring Windshear. "And so well behaved."

"I've had her since she was a hatchling," Heather said. "She must have gotten separated from her mother."

"I am Atali. We are not here to harm you but to ask how it is you find yourselves within our island's borders."

"There was a terrible storm," Astrid said. "We were on our way back to our own island and we must have gotten blown off course."

Atali's eyes flickered to Ruff. "I'm afraid that we don't usually allow men on our island, so your friend will have to-"

"Hey, I'm more woman than you'll ever be, sister," Ruff said indignantly.

"My apologies. Follow us. We will provide you with shelter this evening and a hot meal."

"Now we're talking. What's on the menu?"

"We're having stew. Sacred stew."

Ruff smiled. "Mmm... Sacred."

Eira had a bad feeling about this. The dragons followed the women down to the island. Nothing seemed out of place so far, but Eira kept her guard up.

"As I said, we do not allow males to integrate into our tribe on a permanent basis," Atali said.

"Why is that?" said Astrid.

"We have important work here, a higher purpose, if you will. Males would neither understand, nor would they be helpful."

"Amen to that, sister," said Ruff.

Heather gave her a look. "Ruff, you don't really feel that way about the guys."

"Don't I? I can't remember us ever having this discussion, Heather."

"If you'll excuse me for a moment, I have some business to attend to," Atali said. "But feel free to take in the beauty our island has to offer."

Once they were gone, Astrid turned to the others and said, "Well, that's the end of Snotlout."

"Hey, at least he'll die surrounded by beautiful women and the smell of sacred stew," Ruff said.

"They seem like good people," Eira said. "Even if he did break one of their laws, I doubt they would execute him right away. Can't we try to reason with them?"

"And if they don't listen?" said Ingrid. "We can't take that chance."

"She's right," Heather said. "If Snotlout's still alive, we need to get to him before he says anything to make them any more angry." She paused. "Yeah, that ship's sailed, huh?"

"Hey, can you guys keep their chief busy?" Astrid said.

"We can try."

"I'll find Snotlout. He's a muttonhead, but he's our muttonhead."

"I'll go with you," Eira said. Astrid opened her mouth to respond, but then she seemed to think better of it. The two of them sneaked off to the cave they had seen from there air. Eira gasped when she saw Snotlout hanging from a rope, asleep. "Snotlout!"

"Snotlout, wake up," Astrid said. She sighed in frustration before turning to Eira. "A little help here? He's your boyfriend."

Eira blushed when she realized what Astrid wanted her to do. "I'll try." She moved in close to Snotlout and then lightly kissed him on the lips.

Snotlout's eyes flew open. "Eira! You came for me. knew you would. I knew it. Wait a minute, what is Astrid doing here? She hates me. Why would she-"

"I don't hate you, Snotlout," Astrid said. "You frustrate the living you know. But you're one of us. I'm not gonna let anything happen to you."

Snotlout grinned. "Astrid, you care about me. You really, really care."

"Don't push it. Now, what exactly is it that you said to them to get them so mad at you?"

"All I did was fall in the ocean and these clearly unstable natives are planning on using me in their sacred stew."

Astrid stared at him.

"That's exactly what happened."

Astrid crossed her arms.

"All right, maybe I said a few things that were taken out of context."

Astrid gave him a look. "Snotlout."

"Fine. I'm learning. I'm a work in progress. The archipelago wasn't built in a day."

Astrid used her axe to free Snotlout. Then the three of them ran out of the cave. "All right," Astrid said. "The others are gonna meet up with you at the base of the mountains on the north end of the island. Do you know which way is north?"

"Seriously, did you just ask me that?" Snotlout said.

Astrid pointed to her left. "It's that way."

"Oh, got it."

Astrid turned to Eira. "You better go with him."

Eira nodded. "I'm on it." Snotlout had already taken off running, so she sped after him. They ran so fast for so long that they did not even have a chance to talk.

"There it is," Snotlout said when the mountains came into view. "I think we're gonna make it. I'm gonna actually live." They skidded to a halt when several Razorwhips blocked their path. "Where did you come from? Hey, uh, I actually know your cousin Windshear. We get along great." The Razorwhips growled and started chasing them. "Oh, come on. Are they serious?"

"This is odd," Eira said. "Razorwhips usually aren't this aggressive unless-" She stopped suddenly to test her hypothesis. Sure enough, the dragons ignored her and continued after Snotlout.

"Hey! Why aren't they chasing you?"

Eira resumed running so she would not lose him. "These must be nesting females. They're very aggressive around any males because they see them as a threat."

"What?! Can't you tell them I mean no harm?"

"I'm afraid it doesn't work that way."

Eira racked her brain for a way out of this mess but came up short. It seemed they would have to rely on the others. She paused for a moment to call Swiftwings. Then, for good measure, she let out a Hobblegrunt cry as well. She noticed Snotlout dive into a hallowed out tree stump and scrambled in after him.

"I can't believe I'm gonna die in a tree stump," Snotlout said. "Why can't I have a heroic death? Is that too much to ask for? Is it?"

"You're not going to die," Eira said.

Suddenly, the tree stump was ripped from the ground and tossed aside. Snotlout screamed when he saw the Razorwhips surrounding them. Before they could attack, Stormfly's spine shot caused them to back off.

"Astrid?" Snotlout said in surprise. "How did you find us?"

"Your scream is unmistakable," Astrid said. "Look out!"

Eira pulled Snotlout out of the way of a Razorwhip's strike. A second later, Ingrid and Shadowwhisper landed before them. "Shadowwhisper, do your thing!" Ingrid commanded.

"Oh, thank Thor," Snotlout said. "He can calm them, right?"

"Not for long. You have to get out of here!"

Eira quickly climbed onto Swiftwings when she arrived while Snotlout scrambled onto Stormfly behind Astrid. The Razorwhips took a minute to follow them, and by that time, Snotlout had returned to Hookfang. They found the other riders and followed the native women out of there. Once everyone was safe in the village, the truth was revealed.

It turned out the Wingmaidens never meant to harm Snotlout. It had all been a huge misunderstanding. They simply wished to protect him from the nesting Razorwhips. They also shared their special mission: raising baby Razorwhips until they could protect themselves from males. The little dragons were the reason they could fly. The Wingmaidens welcomed the dragon riders as allies and invited them to feast on their sacred stew.

When their was a break in conversation, Snotlout fidgeted nervously and shot Astrid quick glances. "Something you'd like to say?" Astrid said.

Eira nudged him, and he finally spoke up: "Astrid, I learned my lesson this time. I swear. No more disrespect. No more cleaning Hookie's body parts with your favorite axe. I'm just, well, sometimes I can be a bit of a muttonhead."

"But, you're our muttonhead."

Snotlout smiled. "Yeah. I guess I am."

"And we're all in this together," Eira said.

"You know, this was probably some good training for you," Ingrid said to Snotlout.

Snotlout looked at her brightly. "Does that mean you'll go easy on me from now on?"

Ingrid smirked. "Don't count on it."

Atali raised her glass and looked around at everyone. "A toast and greetings to our new friends from Dragon's Edge. You have taught us a lesson in tolerance and acceptance. You will always be welcome here on the Island of Wingmaidens. Every one of you. And to the conclusion of the nesting season. Now that it is over, there is much work to be done, but no other task brings us such joy."

It turned out to be an adventure well worth having.

A/N: Yes, I know Razorwhips probably don't nest in the winter. Race to the Edge has serious continuity issues, and this is the best I could do.