Q:Wow you had three chapters of this?
A:Yes, yes I did.

NoneofthecharactersherebelongtomeIassumeyouallknowthat

Azula and Hiccup take their boat out for a literal spin. "The Hopeful Puffin" name comes from the books, in case you were wondering.

It had taken a few days to get even a simple boat seaworthy. During that time, the weather had soured into a perpetual and miserable rain, the kind that soaks through whatever you happen to be wearing and lays its cold rainy hands on your skin. This of course meant that most normal people wouldn't even consider going sailing in such weather.

There was a strong case to be made that the vikings of the Hairy Hooligan tribe were very much not normal.

They were sailing anyway.

Hiccup was straining against the oars as best he could, exerting himself in a way he rarely did just to get their boat to go straight. The Azula/Hiccup boat, The Hopeful Puffin(Hiccup's name, Azula would be quick to interject), was a slippy, slidey, roundish sort of boat, that seemed far more interested in spinning around in circles than going wherever its captain wanted. This was still better than Hiccup had expected, considering...

"We're being left behind," Azula said helpfully, uncurling herself from a rainsoaked ball long enough to see that the gloomy shapes of the other boats were further away than they had been the last time she had looked.

...considering he had done ALL THE WORK.

"Yeah, I can see that," Hiccup grunted shortly.

Azula looked back at him as she curled herself back up, trying to shelter against the rain by huddling against the mast. It wasn't working.
"So...row faster."

"Row faster, she says," Hiccup mumbled. "I'm cold, she says. I'm getting on Hiccup's nerves, she says."

"I never said that," Azula said, scrunching her eyebrows.

Hiccup said nothing in response, opting instead to huff and pull on the oars just that little bit harder than normal. His arms burned, but he didn't want to be left behind.

"You know, I never said I wouldn't row," Azula said, adjusting her seat.

"Well thank you, for bringing that up two hours in," Hiccup said. "Oh yeah, that would have been real useful information a while back."

"It's more along the lines of...I can't," Azula replied, suddenly finding the nauseating churning of the waves very interesting. Her voice dropped to a whisper. "I don't really know how."

"Yeah well, neither do I," Hiccup said.

Azula stared at him.

"What, you-you looked at me and thought 'that looks like a big, burly, seafaring man! I bet he knows all about the mysterious seafaring arts!" Hiccup continued, grunting as he rowed. "NOPE! Fooled you. I have ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA WHAT I'M DOING!"

The last words were said in a yell, not directed at Azula, but at Gobber, who was sailing by. His boat was a work of art-and not just because it had Astrid on it, pulling ropes while her blonde hair whipped in the wind-

"I BELIEVE IN LEARNING ON THE JOB!" Gobber yelled back, as they sailed off at frankly embarrassing speeds. Hiccup wondered if Azula's revenge was soured somewhat by this. A quick glance at the sheer amount of nonchalance Azula was projecting told him that yes, it did bother her that Astrid had such a superior vessel. "DON'T GET LEFT BEHIND, THERE ARE SEADRAGONS ABOUT!"

"THANKS..." Hiccup began, then broke off into a mumble. "Thanks for nothing."

He looked over at Azula sitting in front of him. She was still pointedly looking away...though, as if sensing his stare, she turned in his direction.

"What is it?"

We would have a better boat if you'd helped me a little bit.

But Hiccup didn't say that, of course. He just huffed and continued to row. How much longer would this exercise go on for? Would he really have to row all the way? He really would appreciate it if Azula would volunteer, but he honestly wasn't sure how well she'd even do. For all he knew, they'd end up even further behind.
His impression of his spirit-blessed foster-sibling was that she could shoot a lot of fire somehow(which was admittedly super cool), but wasn't exactly competent at anything else. He wasn't sure how he felt about that. On one hand, it was really nice to not be the only person who didn't know how to do anything. But on the other hand, she was an infuriating person.
Also she had attacked Astrid. He was still mad at her for that.

"Are you angry at me?" Azula said to him, frowning.

Hiccup looked up sharply. Had she just...read his mind? Could she do that?

"You are angry with me. It's written all over your face," she continued, leaning forwards and scrutinizing him with her sharp golden eyes. It was a little creepy. "Why? Are you angry that I'm not rowing?"

Hiccup shrugged. "It's not-"

"Is it because you had to make this "boat" all by yourself?"

"Well, that was very annoying," Hiccup began, hunching his shoulders in towards himself. "But-"

"What then?" Azula huffed, rocking back in her seat. She reached up and brushed water out of her soaking hair; where she touched, the water steamed. "Just spit it out."

"Look, you're the one who assumes I'm angry."

"Because you are," Azula simpered.

Hiccup gripped the oars just a little tighter. "Well to be honest I'm getting a little angry now, yeah."

"Aw, do I make you mad?" Azula said in a false-patronizing voice. "Is it because I got into a fight with your blonde friend?"

Silence.

"Ahah! That was it!" Azula smirked...then frowned. "Well that's unfair. She did hit me first."

"Seriously?" Hiccup said, leaning forward. "That's your excuse? You were being rude!"

Azula thrust her chin out defensively, hands curling into tight little balls. "She shoved me. Do you seriously have a problem with me defending myself? If we were back home-"

"Astrid shoves people all the time, and no-one's ever tried to set her on fire before!"

Azula stared at him like he was the one spouting crazy nonsense. "Well I can't speak for how you do things here. All I did was-"

"No!" Hiccup said, pulling his shoulders up against himself. He adjusted himself into position with more...let's call it leverage. He was defending his future wife here! Years later, he'd talk about this and Astrid would be all 'oh Hiccup you were so sweet' and he'd be all 'it was nothing for you babe'-
Ahem.
Anyway. This had to be done the right way, not slouching in the bottom of a waterlogged Hopeful Puffin.
"H-how would you like it if-if I just didn't do anything for you-what if I just stopped rowing, huh? How would you feel?"

"Don't make threats you can keep," Azula said. She even rolled her eyes.

Well. Shots were fired now. Hiccup pulled the oars into the boat, crossed them in front of him so that neither ends were touching the water, then crossed his own arms. Without a guiding hand, the Hopefull Puffin quickly began to spin in a slow, nauseating circle. But Hiccup didn't care, oh no, he had something to prove now. He looked up at Azula and narrowed his eyes at her defiantly.
"So...so what? What are you going to do now?"

Azula screwed up her mouth. "Are you serious? What do you think you're doing?"

Something stupid.

"Oh-oh, I'm not doing anything," he said, fixing her with his green eyes. That was probably a mistake–gods, her glare was frightening. He could already feel his resolve weakening. But Hiccup may not have had the strongest arms, or the fastest legs, but he had inherited something from his father after all: sheer viking stubbornness.

"You realize that we'll be left behind?"

"Yes," Hiccup replied, not budging.

"Fine," Azula said, clenching her fist. "Let's say you play your little game. You win, you make your point, blah blah blah. But now we're in the ocean with no way of knowing which way is home. So you can pick up the oars and start rowing, or you can die of starvation out here in the ocean. Your choice."

Gods, she looked smug as she said that. So smug that, even though it was technically right, Hiccup couldn't help but feel he had to have at least a partial victory here. HIS PRIDE DEMANDED IT.

So he raised one oar over his head and chucked it into the ocean.

"Oh no," he said, looking Azula right in the eyes. "My arm slipped."

"Wha-" Azula sputtered, looking at the oar in almost disbelief. The waves were slowly drifting it away. "YOU IDIOT! GO GET IT!"

Hiccup, feeling more gutsy than he ever had in his entire life, crossed his arms, sat back, and said "you go get it."

Azula actually stood up in the boat, which was impressive considering how much it was rocking around. "You think you can make a fool out of me? That's a miscalculation!"
At her words, twin spheres of orange flame materialized on her hands, hot and crackling and begging to be turned loose. They sputtered sparks in the increasing wind, reflecting the fire in her eyes. Azula's eyes were suddenly wild and dangerous, narrowed to golden pinpricks.

The threat felt very real. But...

"And then what, you'll jump out, grab the oars, and row back?" Hiccup said(though he still scootched back in his seat). "Yeah, I'm sure burning me alive will make you real popular back on Berk. They might even give you a medal, who knows?"

Azula faltered, though just for an instant. "I can–"

Thunk.

Something struck the bottom of the boat, causing Azula to lose her balance. She wobbled, and stumbled to her knees, half-way out the boat. Hiccup half-rose in alarm.

"What was–"

Thunk.

Another bump, harsher than before. Harsh enough that it knocked Hiccup forwards...and harsh enough to knock Azula up, sideways, and into the water. Into the churning, stormy water.
To say that Hiccup was worried would be a massive understatement. The scenario was playing out in his head–Azula drowned, and himself graduating from 'Hiccup the Useless' to 'Hiccup the Horrible'. Gods, what if she couldn't swim? He had been picking on her for being a pain, but he didn't want her hurt! He rushed to the side of the Hopeful Puffin and looked out.

"AZULA?"

"G-GET ME OUT!" he looked down and saw, to his relief, Azula was clinging to the side of the boat like a drowning cat.

"Uh, sure, l-let me just..." he reached around, grabbed the remaining oar, and lowered it down to her. It also smacked her in the face. "Whoops."

"YOU–" Azula began, but a wave washed over her as she was speaking.

"Hey uh, while you're down there..." Hiccup said, leaning over the side. "I mean, you can get the other oar now, right? It's right over there!"

Azula glared, and pulled herself over the side without Hiccup's help, sputtering and sneezing. Wow, he wouldn't have thought she could pull that off! He grinned nervously at her. "So, uh, sorry about–"

Suddenly something yanked the end of the Hiccup's oar, and before he could react, both it and he were pulled down into the churning waves.

Yeah, you know those Seadragons Gobber had mentioned? Not just idle talk. And everyone knows seadragons like to prey on the weakest, easiest food they can find. Dying whales. Old sharks. And tiny children on badly-made boats.
Like a nightmare it emerged from the waves, blue-green and moaning like a dying man. It had pinprick-sized eyes far towards the end of its snout, but it's most prominent feature were its rows of oddly-blunt teeth that protruded from it's lower jaw.

Hiccup, bobbing around in the water(still clutching the oar, remember, the oar is very important) could only think: Doot-dee-dah, we're dead.

"Hiccup!"

The voice grabbed his attention. It was Azula, of course, because all the other boats were way out of range because some stubborn viking idiot had decided to stop rowing. Wow. What a dumbie.

"What do I do?"

"Uhhhhhhhhh I don't know!" Hiccup said, looking around frantically as the dragon glided closer, not in any particular hurry. "Some help saving me from my imminent death would be nice?"

In response, Azula stood up, brushed the wet hair out of her eyes, and punched a blooming orange fireball at the creature's neck. It exploded in a spray of mist and water. Hiccup had to wonder, would that work? Dragons are fireproof, right?
Note for the future: Seadragons are not fireproof.

The dragon screamed, more out of surprise than anything, and dived beneath the waves to escape from the sudden heat. Azula stood with one arm extended, a surprised look on her face. What was she surprised for? That was about the most beautiful thing Hiccup had ever seen.

"Hand me the oar," Azula said, breaking out of her stupor and leaning over the side of the boat. "I'll pull you up."

The oar? Hiccup looked down to the oar he was clutching. Oh right, this oar. She wanted it. So, with as much leverage as he could muster, he tossed it to her.
Hmm. She probably had meant for him to hand her the end of the oar, so she could pull him up. Wow, his brain must be waterlogged.

Azula blinked. "WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO WITH THIS?"

"I DON'T KNOW, IMPROVISE!"

"STOP SCREAMING!"

"I'M NOT SCREAMING, YOU'RE SCREAMING!" Hiccup...screamed.

"I'M PANICKING!" Azula screeched back, "YOU'RE SCREAMING! THERE'S A DIFFERENCE!"

"WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE!" Hiccup said back to her. Gods, he really did want to know...

Azula fumbled with the oar before realizing that she could just extend it back towards him. That, of course, is when the seadragon decided to pop back up.

"DID YOU MISS ME?" the sea dragon said. (Probably.)

He was greeted by Azula crashing the oar over his scaly head. Rude. He retreated back into the water in indignation. Azula meanwhile kept hitting the water in a panic-fueled frenzy even though the dragon was gone.

"THIS"–whack–"IS"–whack–"PANICKING!"

"ACK!" Hiccup yelled, as he came very near to losing an ear. "Watch it!"

Finally, with a desperate lunge Hiccup managed to grasp the oar, and with a mighty pull, Azula yanked him onto the boat. He flopped down over the side, soaked, wet, and cold, and just gasped. His lungs felt like they were going to burst.
A touch on the back of his head made him look up. Azula stood over him, dripping wet and panting almost as hard as he was.

"A flawless rescue," she said.