Hey guys, I'm back! Again I am so so so incredibly sorry for making you guys wait this long. I'm not going to make any promises about the next chapter but will definitely try my very best to have it up soon. Again I'm really sorry, I feel terrible, but thank you all for being so understanding ^-^ So now, here's chapter 10!

Chapter 10: Overthinking

The following days were a whirlwind of exhausting activity for Hicca. Between training, sneaking away from training, working on Toothless's tail and then sneaking back into the village, Hicca had hardly had any time to rest. But thinking was something she definitely had time for. Her walks to and from the cove were lengthy and quiet, and more often than not she found herself thinking more than she should. So today, she ran.

She ran from the cove all the way to line of trees bordering the outskirts of the village. By the time she broke through the trees, she was out of breath and all but gasping for air. She came to a stop and crouched over, putting her hands on her knees for support as her chest heaved in its attempt to fill with air. She looked around and was relieved to find that there was no one around to see her. She let out a sigh of relief, and plopped down on the grass. She surely thought that with her luck she was bound to have a run in with someone, but there was no one there to question why she was running, red-faced, and out of breath.

She looked up to the sky and noticed the sun was almost completely set. The villagers would be in the Hall for dinner. The thought of being around people made her stomach flip uneasily. It wasn't that she didn't want to be around everyone. She did, but she didn't want to walk into dinner late again and have to think of another excuse. They would most likely believe it or go along with what she said. Almost no one questioned or went against what she said anymore. One of the perks of being popular, she had guessed the reason was. She was able to convince them she was doing anything other than tending to the tail of a certain dragon she happened to befriend.

She smiled softly to herself as she thought. It was funny to her how little evidence she needed to convince people. However, her excuses were not enough for everyone. Hicca knew that a certain blond boy wasn't exactly buying what everyone else was. She could see the small frowns and raised eyebrows at dinner in the flickering lighting in the Great Hall. It made Hicca frustrated that she could not convince everyone that she had nothing to hide, but with a sigh, she came to terms that it would be impossible for Asher to figure out what she was working on in the woods. Hiding a deadly dragon in the woods isn't exactly the first assumption when thinking someone's suddenly not seen walking around town.

With one last look at the setting sun, Hicca rose from her spot on the soft grass and started on her way home. She passed a few adults standing in front of their homes here and there and greeted them a wave as she passed. A couple of children chasing an escaped sheep ran past her, making her smile at a the memories of being as care-free as them.

The small toddler ran through the village, shrieking and laughing with delight as she chased after a runaway chicken. She ducked under the legs of the villagers going about their everyday business. Some scowled as she passed and some smiled, knowing that young Hicca was never a child to sit still or be found without dirt on her clothes and pieces of grass in her hair.

"Chicken come back!" she yelled as she ran with her arms stretched out in front of her, pudgy little hands grasping for the chicken clucking as it tried to get away from the child.

Young Hicca was a very peculiar child in the eyes of the other villagers. Many said she was just like her mother: full of energy, adventurous, clumsy, but lovable in a special way of her own. This was never more evident to anyone as it was to Chief Stoick. He was never able to see his daughter and not be reminded of his lost love, but he was happy Hicca looked like her mother, she kept her mother's memory alive.

Hicca had followed the chicken to a patch of dirt in front of Gobber's forge. The unfortunate chicken had slowed down and Hicca took it as her opportunity to pounce and grab the chicken while falling into the dirt.

The sounds of an unusually loud chicken and squealing child were enough to draw Gobber out of the forge. He stood outside the forge door chuckling as he saw the small viking girl try to give the chicken a hug and failing as the poultry flapped its wings repeatedly. It was quite a hilarious sight.

"Alright lassie, that's enough torture for that bird. Go on and let 'im go," Gobber spoke with smile on his face.

"But I just want to give him a hug!" Hicca was now standing, trying to hold the chicken still in her arms as it continued to try and get away. Just after she finished her statement the chicken jumped out of the girl's arms and ran in the direction from which they came.

"Aw," Hicca's smile turned into a small frown as she watched the chicken scramble away. She let out a sigh and turned to look up at Gobber. Gobber was her favorite person besides her father, he told her funny stories and sang silly songs with her.

"Well now, seems like you've gone and fallen into the dirt again, haven't you Hicca? You know what that means don'tcha?"

Hicca's frown disappeared and a grin replaced it. She practically bounced on her feet and clapped her hands together as she said, "I know, I know!" Without another word she ran into the forge and jumped into the large basin of water usually used for cooling hot tools and metal.

"No Hicca! That is not a bathtub!" Gobber ran in after the girl. Luckily he hadn't used the water recently or it might have been too hot for her, but the absence of an actual bathtub made no difference to Hicca. Her clothes were still on and now wet as she splashed in the basin.

"BATH TIME!" She squealed. She splashed water again and Gobber happened to be in the line of fire. His entire shirt front got wet as he reached for the little girl.

"Yes, bath time, but not in the forge," Gobber grabbed Hicca under her arms and lifted her out of the water, her clothes dripping wet. "Why you love bath time is beyond me, young lady. No viking I've ever met likes baths as much as you do." He found a relatively clean rag to wipe the water off of Hicca's face.

Hicca giggled, "I just wike the water."

"Aye, that you do lassie." Gobber stood up and grabbed the girl's hand. "Looks like we have to go find your father and explain how you got yourself in another predicament."

With her clothes still wet and face still smiling, she walked out of the forge with Gobber. "Okay," she giggled.

Back then things weren't so complicated. Back then her father paid attention to her and she didn't have a care in the world. Her life wasn't bad, just… complicated. She longed for the simplicity before dragons and training and, as much as she wanted to deny it, certain blond boys who had absolutely no right to make her weak in the knees but did anyway.

She climbed up the steps to her home and walked through the door, closing it behind her quietly even though no one was home but her. It was times like these where Hicca felt lonely. Most of the time she was fine being on her own, but after all these years she had no one to confide in or even receive a comforting hug from.

It was times like these where Hicca needed a mother.

Hicca didn't remember her mother very well. She remembered her warmth and small things like songs and her voice, but she couldn't remember her face. Her father never spoke about her much while growing up, the occasional story was all he let out. Hicca knew it had been hard for her father after her mother was captured by dragons. She herself had never known her mother, so she didn't know how to feel. She found herself asking questions like "Would we have gotten along well?" and "Would she be proud of me?" But most of the time the question was "Would she have loved me?"

Never having a mother-figure in her life had been very hard for Hicca. Sometimes girls just need a mother to hug them when they were sad or simply to talk to.

With a sigh Hicca climbed up the stairs to her room. Some things would just have to remain the way they were. There wasn't exactly anything she could do about her mother. She fell onto her bed and was asleep soon after.

—

When Hicca woke up it was to the sound of her stomach growling.

Of course I would fall asleep without having dinner, she thought to herself. She walked downstairs to see if she had anything to eat, cursing herself for not eating anything before bed,. To her dismay, there was nothing. She had taken the last of the fish she caught to feed Toothless earlier that day. Now the only way to get food was to walk to the Great Hall to see if there had been any leftovers from dinner. Usually there was food out for villagers who decided to work later on into the evening and get dinner after everyone else was finished with their meal.

She wasn't the best when it came to telling time at night, but she could tell it was past midnight, but probably not by much. It hadn't felt like she had been asleep for too long. She got up from her bed and put on her fur boots, the went down the stairs and out into the cool night air.

The village was eerily quiet. It was dark out with only a few scattered lights still on. Hicca tried to walk to the Great Hall as quietly and quickly as she could, she didn't want to wake anyone up. She made it to the hall a few minutes later, finding a few pieces of chicken and grabbing a mug of water. She sat at a table in the dark cavern-like hall, the fire in the central hearth having snuffed out long before. She tried not to think about stories of ghosts that come out in the dark, convincing herself that she was too old and mature to believe in ghost stories.

After finished her food, she slipped outside again and began the walk home. Halfway there she heard the clatter of a bucket falling to the floor, water hitting stone pavement, and hushed, muttered cursing.

Frozen mid-step, Hicca nervously looked around. "H-hello?" She managed to not squeak. It was dark and hard to see, but she could hear rustling and footsteps coming nearer. Then she heard a voice.

"Hicca?"

Asher was tired. He had come home after dinner and decided to get firewood instead, or more likely, simply throwing his axe at trees. Of course he ended up not only "getting firewood" but running a few miles before returning home after dark. Dragon training was not going as well as he thought it would be. He wasn't the first in his class, and the extremely competitive side of him was not happy about that.

Not that he wasn't happy about Hicca finally being good at something useful, he definitely was relieved there wasn't a need to repeatedly save her during training. The boy was just simply not used to being second best at something, and he was very suspicious as to just how Hicca just simply got good at dragon training. It just didn't make sense no matter which way he put it.

Did she suddenly become okay with hurting things?

No, Hicca was always gentle. And she hadn't even hit a single dragon during training.

Was she training with someone else?

This was definitely a possibility, with her sneaking off and being found alone in the woods. But then again, all the good dragon hunters were off on a quest to find the dragon's nest, so no one that good would be around to train her.

Maybe she was just improving. Maybe she was a fast learner.

A very fast learner, Asher thought to himself. He was already lying face up on his bed, staring at the wooden rafters above him. It was late, and he was overthinking again. It was a very un-viking like thing to do, overthinking. Most vikings were hardheaded, impulsive, not really people who thoroughly think about things. That's how Asher was different.

Yes, he was good at dragon training. Yes, he was tall and strong. But he was also smart and resourceful, able to bring new ideas and strategies to the ring. Of course it was impossible to do that if you weren't past training level. That's why he needed to be the best in training, he wanted to people to listen to him and his ideas.

There I go again, he thought. He wasn't very good at keeping his thoughts under control. Or keeping calm and not worrying. Worrying about what? About anything really. The island not being properly guarded and protected, spontaneous dragon raids, not knowing what to be prepared for, knowing what he should be preparing for and being too young to do so. His uncle always said he would hurt himself if he thought too much.

Asher sat up in his bed and swung his legs over the side of the bed, bringing his hand up and rubbing his palm over his face in an attempt to clear his mind. He looked out his window and saw almost complete darkness. How long had he been laying there thinking?

He decided to get up and get some water to pass the time. He went out to the barrel of water outside his house with a bucket and the intension to bring it back inside with him. The only problem with that is that it was extremely dark. He managed to make it to the barrel and fill the bucket without any problem. But on the way back, his foot caught on a crate and he tripped, frantically whispering curse words as the bucket of water fell out of his hands and onto the floor with a clattering noise. He hadn't meant to make noise seeing as it was the middle of the night and he didn't want to wake his uncle.

"H-hello?"

Asher froze as he heard a small voice cut through the darkness. He slowly walked to the front of the house and was shocked at what he saw. It was Hicca. Asher could just make out green eyes, wide with what was most likely fear, while squinting to try and see better.

"Hicca?" He said just loudly enough so that she could hear. The rest of the village was still sleeping, and he didn't want to be the reason for a cranky viking at such early hours of the morning.

She seemed to be alone, which was dangerous for anyone. There could be wolves or a dragon could come, pick her up, and fly off with her. He seriously doubted she weighed more than any of the sheep he'd seen snatched by the large beasts. And she didn't even have a weapon with her! What was she thinking?

Instead of relaxing at the realization that it was a guy that she heard and not a hungry animal out to eat her, Hicca seem to visibly tense up more.

"Uh, yeah. Um, you're standing in a shadow, I can't really see you." She spoke nervously. And with good reason. Not many people walked around town at three o'clock in the morning. Even fewer stood in shadows at that time.

Asher mentally slapped himself. Of course she was scared, she couldn't see that it was only him. He stepped out of the looming shadow of his house and into the moonlight.

"Don't worry, Hicca. It's just me." Asher took a few more steps until Hicca seemed to relax.

"Oh. Hey Asher." That was simply all she said. She looked away from him and seemed to be thinking of something. She didn't ask why Asher was up, or try to explain why she was out alone at this hour. She wasn't even speaking at all, which was very unlike her. Asher always noticed she seemed to get a little flustered when he was around, he wasn't completely oblivious. But he'd always found endearing in a way, she was cute when she blushed.

Asher shook his head before his thoughts got carried away.

"Hicca, what are you doing out here? It's late and almost completely dark, and it's not safe to be out alone at a time like this."

Hicca's eyes snapped up to his bright blue ones, almost as if she'd forgotten he was there.

"Oh yeah, sorry. I just went to check if there was any food left in the Great Hall. I kind of missed dinner earlier and fell asleep without eating." She shrugged. "Which was a bad idea, seeing as I had no food at home, so now I'm here." She looked up to Asher's face with inquiring eyes. "So why are you up right now?"

Asher shrugged and looked around the empty village. "Couldn't sleep, I guess. I thought some water would help."

Hicca arched an eyebrow as a smirk came to her face.

"And how did that go for you?" There was a playful glint that Asher could barely make out in her eyes. He couldn't help but grin back slightly.

"I may or may not have dropped the bucket…"

The young girl brought a hand up to her mouth as she giggled as quietly as she could. "I thought I heard something fall. And Asher, you may need to wash out your mouth, I heard what you said."

Asher chuckled lowly and softly. She had a cute laugh. "Yeah well I think that's enough humiliation for one night don't you think?"

Hicca's giggled subsided as she nodded. "Yeah, I should be heading home." She looked down at her boots and lightly kicked her toe in the dirt. "Well, I'll see you at training."

Just as she turned Asher spoke. "Do you need me to walk you home?"

Hicca was shocked and turned back around to face him. There he was, Asher Hofferson, asking if she needed him to walk her home. She was already close to home already, it was only about three more minutes walking distance back to her house.

"I mean, it is pretty dark and it's dangerous to be out alone at night." Hicca could swear she saw the slightest tinge of pink on Asher's cheeks.

He was worried for her. And it was melting her heart.

Snap out of it, Hicca, she mentally scolded herself.

"N-no it's fine. Really. I'm almost home anyway," she managed to get out with minimal stuttering. "And I'll be safe. I don't think there's anything to worry about." She spoke with a small smile.

Nothing to worry about. It was completely opposite of what Asher felt. But still, he knew she would be fine. He may or may not have simply wanted to spend more time with her.

"If you say so," he said with the smallest hint of sadness in his voice. Hicca didn't seem to notice. "Goodnight, Hicca."

The girl smiled, green eyes glinting in the moonlight. "Goodnight, Asher."

She turned and started her way home again. And Asher made sure she was safe for as long as he could see her retreating form in the moon's pale light.

So that chapter was a little longer than usual xD I don't know when I'll have the next chapter, but I'm definitely going to put it up before school starts again don't worry! Don't forget to review, favorite and follow! I love reading what you guys have to say. And thank you to everyone who commented on the last chapter ^-^ You guys are amazing, remember that! See you guys next time :)