After The War Ch7

Hiccup turned his hands over, staring at the tiny scars now peppering the surface. Centimeter-long scratches stood out from the pale skin, seeming like bright-red fire ants that constantly bit his hands.

The cuts had healed and completely closed up, but they still stung when he flexed his hands. He gazed curiously at them for a moment, then reached up to feel his face. His hands had blocked most of the glass shards, but a few had still stabbed the side of his face. They were thankfully healing more rapidly than the cuts on his hands.

He could feel Fishleg's and Snotlout's stares on his back as they sat on their own cots. He had faced away from them when he had entered the room, not wanting to see their expressions.

He could hear the rustling of the blankets as they eventually crawled into their beds, blowing out their candles and falling asleep. He finally turned to see Snotlout and Fishlegs asleep in their beds, and Eret and Tuffnut on the far side of the room, also fast asleep. A ray of light shone over them all.

He looked up to see where the moon still shone through a small porthole in the side of the ship. It had been crudely hacked out and fitted with a small door, to allow light in for nights like this.

He got up quietly, not wanting to wake the others, and tiptoed over to the porthole. Through the hole, he could see the calm waters reflecting the moon's glow. Dark blue waves went on as far as he could see. They lapped against the boat, making gentle sloshing sounds. Sticking a hand outside, he welcomed the cool breath of air on his aching cuts.

He leaned on the wall and stared out at the never-ending sea. What a peaceful view, he thought. Instead of appearing foreboding, as one might see the ocean in its current murky state, he saw a beautiful waterscape.

When the shattering revelation that the Edge was Orion's base came to him earlier that dreadful day, he had blankly explained the reasons he had come across the realization to Astrid, still not quite over it himself.

The Edge was different than Berk, or New Berk, or any home he'd ever had. It was a place of exploration, wonder, and of course the exhilarating lack of adult supervision. It had been a home for just a year, yet it was more than just an island outpost. It represented his late teenage years, he thought. It represented a time of freedom, being able to explore islands at his ease and fly anywhere he wished. It represented a time before the burden of leadership.

To hear that Orion had taken over the Edge as her own base, had made him angry beyond disbelief. The Edge has been built by his team, fought for by his friends, and led by him. This enemy had no business making a base out of the Edge.

Astrid had immediately jumped up and tugged Hiccup to the deck, calling for the others. When they had all assembled on the deck, he had briefly explained how he knew that Orion's new base was on the Edge.

"But we're not gonna let her, right?" Snotlout had interjected. "We can just whip their butts and take the Edge back."

Hiccup had shook his head. "We can't whip their butts, Snotlout. For one," He sighed. "We don't have dragons anymore. It's just us and our manpower. We don't have firepower or flight. We don't have many weapons, and there's literally eight of us."

Snotlout had raised his hands in defense. "Okay, okay, geez!"

Eret had suggested returning to New Berk, as Atali had suggested, but Hiccup had also vetoed that idea. "We can't return with Orion vowing to stop us. She's powerful. From what Atali told us, we know she has a naval army that could easily overpower our weak boats. Even if New Berk is farther than she's ever gone, it doesn't mean that she can't follow us there. And besides, we lead her to New Berk, we lead her to the Hidden World.

"Here's the thing. We are in no condition to start a war, or even engage in battle. We are eight people, on a small ship, with minimal weapons. Yes, you guys are good fighters, but Orion's fighters will also be good. They overpowered the Wingmaidens. What chance do we have in our current state?"

Astrid had asked, "So, what next?"

"We need to talk with Orion." Seeing the other's exasperated looks and groans, he continued, "We could actually reason with her. At least give words a shot before it turns to blades."

After the other's persisting arguments, they had come to an agreement. Hiccup would try to "reason" with Orion through Terror Mail, while they sailed to the island where the Defenders of the Wing were currently staying.

He now stared out the window, looking up from time to time to where the moon gradually shifted behind clouds. With a silent sigh, he swung the porthole door shut and latched it closed. When the moonlight disappeared, he blindly groped his way across the room to his bed, which he sunk into after removing his prosthetic.

He tossed and turned, trying to get comfortable. He stared at the wooden ceiling for an long moment, before his eyes fluttered shut.

—

Something large and fluffy connected with his head, and he shouted in surprise and flailed his arms, trying to get out of the bed. He finally succeeded in untangling himself from the covers, then glared blearily at the blurry figures standing across the room. They were bent over in laughter. "WHO threw that pillow?"

Tuffnut was doubled over in laughter. "I take FULL responsibility for that."

Eret joined in, slinging an arm over Tuffnut's shoulder and jostling him. "Hey, I participated!"

Hiccup glared at them before a grin broke out on his face. He reached over the bed for his prosthetic, then picked the pillow off the floor. Standing up, he took careful aim and lobbed it straight at Tuffnut's helmeted head. Granted, the pillow didn't do much, considering the layer of metal covering Tuffnut's head, but he still jerked back in surprise. "Hey!"

Hiccup smirked. "Revenge is revenge."

Snotlout was still howling in laughter at Hiccup's awakening. "Oh man, you should've seen your face! Also, you're rocking that bed head."

Automatically reaching up to ruffle his hair, he unsuccessfully tried to smooth it. Giving up when it popped right back, he dusted his clothes off and attempted to straighten the wrinkles, to no avail. "What time is it?"

Eret and Fishlegs headed toward the door. "Round seven, mate. C'mon, breakfast should be waiting by now."

They trooped out of the room, heading to the above deck. The smell of frying fish greeted their sniffing noses.

Astrid and Ruffnut were flipping fish on the fire rack, a metal frame for cooking. Several roasted fish already lay on a plate. Valka was already deboning one, nibbling at the boneless parts.

Snotlout gleefully reached his hand toward the pile of cooling fish, but Ruffnut slapped it. "Uh-uh. Those are for us. You can cook your own breakfast."

Snotlout groaned. "What? I'm hungry!"

Astrid finished frying a fish and swept them all onto one plate. "That's why you should've gotten up early to fish and cook like we did. We aren't going to cook for you." She took the plate and sat down with Valka and Ruffnut to eat.

Snotlout looked morosely at the fish, but Eret slapped him on the back. "We can do this! It's just watching fish roast, right?"

Tuffnut crossed his arms. "It's not just watching fish burn, though that sounds delightful. Don't forget actually catching the fish."

"Oh. Right."

Leaving them to their complaining, Hiccup sat down next to Astrid. She raised an eyebrow. "Are you trying to steal my fish?"

He shook his head. "I'm not that hungry." Seeing her disbelieving look, he shrugged. "I'll eat later. Some'll be left over."

He watched her pick apart a fish, then asked, "Do you know if we're on the right way to the Edge? Or at least the island near it where the Defenders are?"

She chewed before responding, "If we can trust the map from the Defender's library, then we should be on the right track there. Thankfully, the sea and wind are in our favor today."

The others had finally uncovered some stale fish cooked yesterday, and giving up on fresh food, they decided to take what they had. "Ugh." Tuffnut complained. "This is like, eww."

Fishlegs shrugged. "I mean, I'll take it." He looked at Hiccup. "You aren't eating anything?"

He shook his head. "Nah, I'll eat later. Listen, everyone. While we're getting ready to face Orion, I think we need to change some things."

Valka set down her plate. "Like what?"

He cleared his throat. "We need to be more ready. We've trained most of our lives to battle with dragons. We've learned maneuvering moves, flying formations, concentrating firepower, you get the idea. But all of our battle tactics have relied on our dragons being with us. As they're obviously not..."

Valka asked him, "What you're saying sounds like you're thinking about battle."

He spread his hands. "I can't predict the future, but by the way things are going, there will be battle. I know we would never be able to battle Orion by ourselves, but we'll hopefully have the Defenders of the Wing and even more on our side if it really does come to battling Orion."

Tuffnut licked his fingers, and pushed his plate aside. "So, basically, battle Orion, but you're worried about not having our dragons around."

"Exactly. So, if it really does come to battle, we need to be ready. We need to be able to fight, and not just look on from the side while the battle-ready Defenders fight for us. What would that feel like? We need to relearn fighting."

Astrid cut in, "So, fighting as in swords, knives, axes? Training with swords, knives, axes?"

He nodded. "Yeah. But not just with weapons. We really need to learn how to fight together. We need to be able to communicate how to fight, and create new battle strategies. Our rescue missions, to be frank, only went well because we had dragons. By ourselves, we were really horrible at fighting as a team."

There was a glow in Astrid's eyes. "So, we need to train to work together?"

"Yeah, that's the idea. We have maybe a day before we get to the Edge. Let's make good use of it."

Snotlout raised his hand. "Can I help train? I'm obviously the most experienced one here, I can clearly teach everyone the most."

Eret snorted. "I think you're confusing yourself with Astrid."

Astrid flushed with a proud glow as everyone laughed and Snotlout muttered, "Shut up, Eret."

Hiccup nudged her. "You really should train us. Out of us all, you've probably spent the most time training for situations like this."

She replied, "I train for every situation." Setting her plate down, she rubbed her hands together and looked at them. "Alright, who's ready to train?"

—

Too slow, she thought. Construction was going too slow.

They had picked the island because they thought it already had adequate buildings and defense structures, but they hadn't expected it to be in a such a disarray. It didn't look like the Berkians even visited this... Edge after they left it. Metal had corroded, wood cracked and splintered. A small hut foolishly placed near the ocean with no barriers had been demolished by storms.

Still, the island had stables. Plenty of natural resources. Plus, the blue hut had a really nice ballista Orion was itching to try out.

Now, her workers moved supplies from the ship to the island. Others worked on reconstructing the buildings. She herself had pitched in with them, working for a few hours before she was called to organize construction plans.

Now she sat at her desk, staring at a map of the island. Dafk, her assistant, slouched on the floor nearby, fiddling with his fingers. She tapped her foot for his attention. "Dafk? What if we moved the ballista over here and put a harpoon thrower over the blue hut?"

The man shrugged. "The height would help with harpoons. Dunno much about this stuff."

She shrugged and continued planning. "How's your wife doing?"

He looked up at last, a slight shimmer in his eyes. "Pretty good, actually. We've got another kid on the way, found out a few weeks ago."

Orion smiled briefly. "Congratulations. You already have one girl, correct? Lydia?"

He nodded. "That's her. My wife's name is Delia."

She continued scratching out designs on the map of the island. "I hope everything goes well. Can you take this to the team working on the huts?" He took the rolled map and darted out the door into the hallways.

She cleaned up her supplies, then left the room herself. Navigating the long hallways, she climbed up to the main deck, where she could see the Edge being worked on by minuscule figures. Behind her, the sea stretched farther than she could see.

She thought about the other islands and seastacks surrounding the edge. Maybe they could expand there, once they fortified the main island.

Walking leisurely to the dock, she started climbing up the steep wooden slants curving around the steep cliff. She climbed methodically, stopping when she reached the top. Watching the workers bustle around, she stood there for a moment, proudly surveying the work.

The huts were being renovated to become housing for her workers. Beds were added, and extra space was needed. The clubhouse would serve as a common room for eating, and the stables would serve their intended purpose once the various dragons were brought in.

Then she turned to the sea, and in the briefest nanoseconds, saw the point of a ship retreating from behind a sea stack. She blinked, unsure of what she saw, but then the ship had disappeared from view.

She ran to where she could see behind the seastack, keeping her eyes trained on it. When she had run to the other edge of the island, she again saw the smallest flash of a ship's head.

Instantly understanding, her mental calculations kicked in. She dashed back to the mother ship, hurrying up the gang plank. "Dafk! Has anyone seen Dafk?"

A woman pointed towards a figure talking to a group of intently listening people. "DAFK!" She shouted. He looked around for the source of the noise. "Dafk! Get a rowboat and five seamen now!"

Not hesitant to obey his leader's orders, he grabbed some sailers and ushered them into a rowboat tied to the outside of the ship. They hopped in questioningly, some getting directly to work as they undid the lines.

She ran to them, ignoring the strange looks she got. There wasn't any time to explain. She swung into the boat, then swiftly untied the ropes that fastened it to the ship. The boat dropped down into the sea, and water splashed over the edge. She pointed toward the sea stack. "Get us there!"

The sailers picked up the oars and began to steer the boat toward the sea stack. Orion kept her eyes trained on it, clenching her hands together as she silently urged the little boat to go faster.

After what seemed like an eternity, they finally arrived at the sea stack. The sailers finally resting in the shade of the pillar of rock, Orion stood up to peer around the edge.

At first, she saw nothing. Just sea all around. Then she saw a ship lurking behind a larger sea stack, obviously under the impression they were hidden. She frantically pulled the magnifying scope from her pocket, then rewound it to stare intently at the ship.

Just what she thought.

The ship belonged to the Defenders of the Wing.

—

Astrid bit her lip as she watched Tuffnut, Ruffnut, Snotlout, and Eret try to work together. Valka, Fishlegs and Hiccup were acting as the enemy. As Valka, Fishlegs, and Hiccup were usually able to agree with one another, they easily outsmarted Ruff, Tuff, Snotlout, and Eret's team.

The four "defenders" were all facing away from each other, some in entirely different sides of the ship. Ruffnut had her back to the edge and was slowly becoming cornered as Hiccup and Fishlegs brandished their weapons at her. Tuffnut and Snotlout had run to the opposite side, trying to get away from the enemy, but had been cornered by Valka, twirling her staff.

Only Eret seemed half-competent. He had tried signaling to the others to create a plan, but as they shrieked and ran, he gave up. He swung onto the center pole of the ship, calmly watching the chaos below.

Astrid whistled, and everyone turned to look at her. "Guys, I'll be blunt. That was pretty bad, at least on Tuff, Ruff, and Snotlout's part. Eret, not bad."

Tuffnut scowled. "Oh, c'mon! How are you supposed to avoid the enemy in a situation like this?"

She raised an eyebrow in response. "Ever heard of working together? Alright, twins, Snotlout, and Hiccup in the middle of the ship. All in a group. There you go."

She walked toward them. "I'll give you ten seconds to create a plan before," She motioned to Fishlegs, Eret and Valka, "All four of us try to capture you."

Tuffnut sputtered, "Ten sec-"

"Starting... now." Counting under her breath, she watched with slight amusement as Hiccup whispered-screamed orders at them.

When the ten seconds were up, the twins moved to disarm Eret and Valka, Snotlout charged at Fishlegs, and Hiccup brandished his sword at Astrid. She easily countered his strike with her axe, then tried to twist Hiccup's sword out of his hand. They exchanged blows for a few seconds before Hiccup's sword eventually clattered out of his hand from a particularly hard blow from Astrid.. Smiling sheepishly at her, he remarked, "Whoops. Was not supposed to happen."

She laughed and stepped closer. "I can tell." She lightly tapped Hiccup on the shoulder with her free hand. "Captured."

He scooped Inferno up as they watched Snotlout disarm Fishleg's sword after a surprisingly tough exchange. Eret easily rid Ruffnut of her mace, while Tuffnut was still battling with Valka, although his blows were becoming weaker and weaker.

Snotlout jumped to help Tuffnut, and together they whacked Valka's staff out of her hand. Astrid whistled as the fighting came to a stop. "Guys, that was pretty good! Snotlout, good thinking to help Tuffnut. If you've defeated your enemy, move to help one of your own who may be growing weaker. Ruffnut, try to make use of your agility. Don't engage in combat, rather sneak around Eret until you can surprise him. And Hiccup," She turned to face him. "I know you can do better than that. You've beaten me before."

He nodded guiltily. "Yeah, like twice."

She turned back to the others. "We'll take a short break, and then we need to work on physical strengths before we get to Defenders of the Wing."

Snotlout almost instantly dropped down and curled himself into a ball. "Ohh, I have not felt this disgustingly exercised in forever."

Tuffnut and Ruffnut dropped to their knees next to him, gulping down canteens of water. "I know, right? I feel like I can't pick up my mace anymore."

Astrid watched Hiccup fiddle with his sword, a worried expression growing on his face. "What is it?"

He tugged the canister of Zippleback gas out. "Once my supply of Zippleback gas and Monstrous Nightmare gel goes out, Inferno won't be able to light on fire. Without it's fire, Inferno will just be a hunk of metal. It's not even a proper sword, it's barely sharp."

"It was meant for training dragons, not battle. How much Zippleback gas and gel you have left?" He continued to fiddle with his sword. "I can't check the gas level, or obviously it all comes out. The gel is maybe half full."

Fishlegs piped up, having overheard the conversation. "Ooh, what we try to get the same effect with something else? Something in nature that we can always find?"

Hiccup handed the sword to him. "How would that work?"

"Well, you see..." Astrid laughed at their nerdiness and walked over to where Valka was cleaning her staff. "Still a couple of hours before we get there?"

Valka told her, "Most likely. Hopefully even less." Holding her staff out, she asked Astrid, "Do you think I should use something other than this?"

Astrid examines the blue-brown wooden staff up and down. "Is there something wrong with it?"

"No, it's still in good shape. But this was meant for training dragons, and defense. I held off Drago with this, but it can't do any real damage unless I bonk someone in the head. Maybe a spear-"

Astrid cut her off. "I can see where you're coming from, but I think you should use this. It's still a weapon even if it doesn't destruct, and it's easily the easiest for you to use. But if you're feeling skeptical, we could modify it or you could keep a dagger as backup." "That could work. Thank you. When are we getting back to work?"

"Right now." She turned back to the others. "All right, back to training!"

—

Hiccup stumbled into the boy's bedroom and tossed Inferno on his bed, then promptly collapsed next to it. He heard Snotlout, Fishlegs, and Tuffnut doing the same. "Ughhhhh." Snotlout groaned. "My whole body hurts."

Eret strode in, laughing at their struggles. "Even you, Hiccup? I thought you were above this."

He flopped over. "In my defense, Astrid put me through worse than the rest of you."

Tuffnut sat up. "Oh really? Like what?"

He sat up on his bed. "I had to go against her every time."

"Ooh. Good point."

Eret walked up to Snotlout and threw a pillow at him. "I suggest you get ready, lads. We'll be at Defenders of the Wing in half an hour. Chop chop!" He walked out, shoulders shaking with laughter at their exhaustion.
Fishlegs pushed himself off the bed.
"Well, if you'll excuse me, I guess I'll go try to get rid of the sweat smell around me. You guys might want to try too."

Waving his hand in front of his face, Tuffnut remarked, "TMI, Fishlegs."

Heading out the door, Hiccup saw Fishlegs raise his hands. "Don't pretend like you can't smell it!"

Hiccup lay on his bed a few moments, staring at the ceiling, then climbed off. He reached under his bed for his crate of items, then pulled out a hairbrush. Trying to tame his hair, he almost managed to get it to stay flat.

He replaced the hairbrush and pushed the crate back underneath his bed. He headed toward the door, glancing back to see Snotlout and Tuffnut still sprawled on their beds. Stifling a laugh, he exited the room and met Ruffnut in the hallway.

They started toward the trapdoor leading to the deck. "D'you happen to know where my brother is?"

He held the trapdoor open for her. "Trying to recover from the training session."

She snorted. "Boys. So weak."

He shut the trapdoor behind him and straightened up to see the new island the Defenders of the Wing had settled on. It was similar to their original island, with plenty of woods and what seemed like small mountains. Thankfully, nothing that resembled a volcano could be seen.

It still remained little more than the palm of his hand, yet past the horizon. "Hey, Eret, can you go back down to get the guys? We're closer than I thought we were."

"On it, Chief."

He heard a cranking up above him and looked up to see the sail turning ever so slightly so that they wouldn't crash into the island. Looking sideways, he saw Fishlegs and Astrid pulling the ropes to keep the sail in place.

He crossed his arms and stared blankly at the growing island, waiting as they neared. His heart began to pound just a little bit louder, and just a little bit more frantically.

They were soon joined by Snotlout and Tuff so the whole crew was staring at the island, waiting for them to reach it.

As the outlines of the trees and people emerged, he saw a red-haired bulky figure waving energetically. Instantly recognizing Dagur, he raised his hand in greeting.

The ship slowed when it reached the shallower water, sliding forward just enough for a gangplank to rest on the ship. Hiccup strode off the ship first onto the dock, being crushed by Dagur a few seconds later. "R-ribs-"

Dagur released him from the tight hug later, shouting, "Brother! How are you?"

Hiccup rubbed his sides self-consciously. "Crushed."

Dagur slapped him on the back. "Glad to hear it. Mala's with Oswald in the village. Well, the few houses that are up right now."

Wincing inside, Hiccup told him, "I'm sorry about all the fuss. You have to rebuild, and-"

Dagur pushed him in front of him and started walking to the village. Hiccup jerked his head back to see the others following him. "Oh, it's not a problem. Okay, so it's a little problem. Teensy-eensy problem. But we understand, don't worry. This is for the greater good, after all."

Hiccup nodded. "Thank you for understanding." They reached the village after walking in a worn path through the grass, flattened down after so many other people traveled on it. A slim, blonde figure rushed toward them with a baby in her arms. "Hiccup. I hope your journey went well. Come, the scouts need to report. I think you need to hear this."

She rushed ahead to where a group of black-clothed men were talking amongst themselves. As they neared, the men turned to Mala and bowed respectfully. "Queen Mala. As we were scouting the Edge to track them, we may have been spotted by her." She pressed her thin lips together. "What do you mean, may have?" She cradled Oswald, being careful to support his head.

Another piped up. "We were hiding behind the sea stack, but she must have seen us from the island because she sent a rowboat after us. As we were getting away, they got another look at us."

Mala's cheeks turned slightly pink. "Did you switch the sails from the Defenders of the Wing flag to the decoy?"

Their feet scuffled uncomfortably on the ground, then one meekly shook his head. Mala uttered a frustrated groan, beginning to pace back and forth. "You need to report to Throk about what happened, then building duties right away. I'll get another crew to scout."

One almost opened his mouth to argue, but the others pulled him away, presumably to Throk. Judging by the looks on their faces, building was a severe demotion from scouting. They shuffled away, and Mala handed Oswald to Dagur. "Take him to bed, then get another scouting crew for tomorrow. I'll take these ones on scouting."

Dagur cradled Oswald in his soft-brown blanket, raising an eyebrow. "All of them?"

Mala turned toward them. "Hiccup has to come, obviously, and I'll take Astrid, Eret, and Valka. Is that alright?"

Tuffnut raised a hand. "What'll we be doing, then? Not that I wouldn't love building for you guys, but like, anything else to pass the time?"

Hiccup sighed. "Tuff, Ruff, Snotlout, and Fishlegs, unless Mala or Dagur has something better for you to do, you need to help build." Turning to Mala, he asked, "So you're taking us scouting? Where?"

Mala pointed to the dock. "Around the Edge. And hopefully we will do a better job than the muttonheads before us. Everyone else, the builders are that way."

Snotlout looked disgruntled, muttering out of the corner of his mouth, "Why do they get to do the fun stuff? 'The builders are that way'. Like really!"

Fishlegs pushed him along, while Mala herded them back toward the dock. Hiccup began to grow tired of Mala and Dagur rushing everywhere. He felt uninformed and unimportant. They had arrived here just to be shepherded off to different places, Mala even splitting up their team.

They reached the dock and climbed onto a small, one-story boat with only what looked like a foot of storage underneath the trapdoor. The small sail was a greenish-blue, almost blending in with the sea.

Mala gestured to some Defenders in their customary black-gold outfit, then they abandoned their work and moved to untie the rope connected the ship to the dock. Astrid hurried to release the sail and and the fabric unfurled, moving the ship slowly away.

When the Defenders stepped back and watched the ship move on, Mala glanced at the moving boat with an impatient expression. Hiccup watched her, then asked, "Mala, could you explain everything?"

She kept staring at the sea. "We've been watching the Edge and the work Orion's been doing on it."

Hiccup gaped. "Orion? When did you guys find out she was on the Edge?"

Finally tearing her eyes away from the growing dot on the horizon that must have been the Edge, she responded. "When we got closer. We sent a ship to talk to them, ask who they were, what they wanted. Island-island things. But then we recognized them from what Atali told us."

"I thought you didn't know she existed." Hiccup replied truthfully. He had thought the Wingmaidens were the only ones who knew about Orion. He felt terribly misinformed and that the situation was out of his control.

"You are not the only ones corresponding with the Wingmaidens. Now, it appeared a scouting boat had been spotted by them."

Glancing back toward the growing island, she continued, "I need to see this for myself. I haven't been on any scouting trips yet, and you all need to grasp the situation. Obviously, we'll keep out of heir sight. There's a fairly large set of sea stacks we can hide in, you're familiar with the area, of course."

Valka leaned forward with interest. "So we're heading toward the Edge right now?"

"That's right."

Leaning backwards to see Astrid, he exchanged a half-serious half-anticipating look with her. They hadn't planned to be on the near the Edge so soon. Now, after two years, he would see his island home again. Albeit while captured by a ruthless enemy, but it was still the Edge.

Mala slowed the boat when it came to a sea stack, and they all got up for a closer look. Eret fished a magnifying scope out of his pack, then handed it to Hiccup. He took it and tuned it so he could see the Edge.

It was slightly unrecognizable. Of course the huge, intimidating ship did cover half his view of the island, but he couldn't even see the vibrant colors of the huts. Tiny workers seemed to be scuttling all around it, completely transforming the island.

A deep sense of longing expanded in his chest as he stared at the place where his hut once was. He removed the scope from his eye and gave it to Astrid who eagerly fixed her view onto the Edge, though he didn't stop staring at it.

Mala cranked the sail back up very small amount. "We'll try to go to the next sea stack. Get a closer look at the island and the ship. Then one more sea stack is as far as I dare to go."

She carefully and quickly steered the ship toward the nearing sea stack, Eret helping to hold ropes in place as they anxiously urged the boat on. They were in the wide open for a second, before they reached the shade of the towering stack of rock and they all let out a relieved sigh.

Then he heard a thump.

And a scuffle.

And a sound of another ship bumping into theirs.

And as he turned, a brown-haired, skinny, shockingly young girl swung onto the deck, coming from another ship.

She smiled, an almost normal expression if Hiccup hadn't known exactly who she was.

"Hello, Hiccup," said Orion.

—

I'm sorry for the long wait, and I know this horribly unsatisfactory chapter definitely did not make up for that. Chapters will now be posted more regularly. Happy Valentine's Day! Thanks for reading. ~ScribeOfTheLegends