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The sight of a forge had been as welcome as the gates of heaven and as hot as the gates of hell.
Hiccup had spent that morning being shown his new home, which was in the newly built barracks beside the school. His room was the whole upper level, complete with a desk and a rack for his armor, which had been mended and polished, in the corner. It now sat on the rack, the helmet tilting to the left.
He had put it all back on, excluding the helmet, before continuing the tour of his new home. It would house all the cadets as well as serve as a lessons room. It was homey and impeccably clean.
Then Hiccup had been shown to the cage Toothless would be kept in, he immediately put up a resistance.
"Toothless is a well behaved dragon and I'm certainly not locking him in a cage every day." he asserted to the man who was showing him around. An older man with a tired glint in his eyes and a permanent scowl adorning his lip. He was scruffy and smelt of salted fish. Hiccup didn't know what qualified him to give the tour but he didn't complain or underestimate.
"Pardon me, Major Haddock, but it's for the safety of everyone in the village we lock up the dragons. They are not pets but half-tamed beasts."
"I refuse to keep Toothless locked up." Hiccup stood firm, the man just sighed and waved a hand in defeat.
"You'll have to bring it up with Lord Stoick then."
That ended the tour and Hiccup had gone to get Toothless. The dragon had been ecstatic and followed Hiccup eagerly. He led Toothless to the cage despite what he had said, though he left it unlocked and slightly open in case the dragon wanted to leave. But Toothless seemed content napping in the shade the barred cave provided.
He decided to take a look around town but it wasn't long before his leg started to ache again. He hobbled about for another hour trying to get home and stumbled upon something better. A forge.
Hiccup knocked on the open door, peering into the forge. A fire burned inside and the familiar sound of hammer on metal rang through the air. A stout man with a metal leg and hand looked up from his work. It took a second for the smith to recognize the figure in his doorway.
"Major Haddock? What brings you here?" the man asked.
"Call me Hiccup please," even though he had been a Major for a year it still felt weird to be addressed that way by people older than him.
"I've been having some trouble with my leg. You know saltwater, old wounds. I think I lost a stud too actually..." He said quizzically, lifting his leg up to look at it himself. He hopped on one foot over to a bench, stretching his leg out on the weathered wood. "I'm hoping to fix it up now, before it causes trouble in the future."
"Well I'm Gobber, local blacksmith. Do you want me to see what I can do for you, you might have better luck with the doctor though." The man continued clanging away at the fiery metal, Hiccup took no offense, understanding the need to shape the metal quickly.
"Actually I'm pretty handy with the tools myself so I could just take care of it myself if I can have access to your forge."
Gobber raised an eyebrow and gave Hiccup an appraising look. He was getting a lot of those lately. "Knock yourself out," the blacksmith grunted. Then he stopped hammering for a second and looked at Hiccup again, "not literally, of course."
Hiccup tried not to sigh and got to work on his leg instead. He was indeed missing a stud, and a few screws had been loosened as well. His leg throbbed each time he touched it and he figured he would have an easier time if he took it off first.
He touched the prosthetic again, gritting his teeth in pain. The salt water had agitated the stump. After a second of pain Hiccup stopped. He was about to ask Gobber for help when a familiar blonde head peaked into the forge.
"Gobber have you seen the Major?" Astrid asked, not noticing Hiccup until the question was out. She watched for a second as Hiccup unsuccessfully attempted to ease the prosthetic off again.
"Major Haddock, I was wondering if you wanted to come to the docks later to oversee the arrival of the dragons? You weren't supposed to be here yet so we aren't expecting your help though. Are you okay?" Hiccup gave her a half smile and motioned to his leg.
"Just trying to get this off without screaming." he told her with a dry chuckle.
"Do you need some help?" Astrid asked, and without waiting for an answer she walked over to him.
"Yeah, that would be great actually. It's pretty easy to take off, just…" Astrid followed his instructions as he issued them, loosening clasps and unbinding leather straps. At some points he just sat teeth clenched while she worked quickly.
"Just pull it off now?" She asked.
"Yeah on the count of-" Astrid pulled at once and it came off easily but painfully. Hiccup half screamed before his mind reminded him he was in the presence of a girl so he cut it off. He fell back, head landing with a resounding smack on the wood bench. He stayed like that for a minute, staring at the forges ceiling.
When he was able to move again he started to work. It helped him put the pain out of mind, and as time went on the pain eased. Astrid sat by quietly. He was so engrossed in his work he didn't notice that Gobber had stopped hammering or that he had asked a question.
"Hiccup!" Astrid yelled, grabbing his shoulder firmly. "We've been trying to get your attention for the for the past three minutes, where the hell do you go when you're working?" Hiccup looked at them questioningly.
"I asked you who made that," Gobber repeated, "It's fine work, not like anything I've seen before."
"I made it." Gobber raised his eyebrow. "What? I did, I made my own armor too. I'm not all brawn you know?" Hiccup pretended to flex his muscles. Astrid just rolled her eyes.
"Are you done then? Do you want to go see the dragons?" She asked with a lilt of sarcasm.
"Yeah." Fitting it back on was much easier the taking it off. He put some weight on it, the components slid easily and it felt good to have his foot back. He stood up, took a few careful steps, and satisfied with his handiwork gestured for Astrid to go ahead.
They walked down cobbled roads lined with new looking houses, all of them had some kind of repair being done or just finished. Astrid noticed Hiccup's staring as they walked past.
"We get attacked by raiding parties a lot here. It's one of the reasons we joined the Vitikean Empire. They promised to get us training so that we could protect ourselves, and serve if we wanted. We didn't expect to get our own dragons though, that was a major bonus." Hiccup nodded, Berk was in a strategical spot, both the Empire and Unknowns kingdom had wanted to set up a base there. He felt lucky they had joined Vitikean.
"Speaking of dragons, what about yours? You didn't have it when you got here and now you do? They don't exactly come when you call," she said with a hint of sarcasm, which she seemed to use it a lot.
"Mine does." Astrid laughed, and watched Hiccup's face, when he didn't laugh she stopped.
"You're not serious? You are? Are you crazy?"
"No! Seriously what is it with you people and doubting me?" He threw up his hands and walked ahead.
Astrid led him in silence so he didn't bother to start a new conversation. When the dock came in view, the towering ship with red flags adorned with a black dragon silhouette was entering the harbour. The ship was covered with sailors preparing to dock.
The dragons had arrived.
Hiccup was surprised to see a few teenagers at the dock, along with the Stoick and a few other standing nobles. Astrid walked ahead and went to speak to a young couple, Hiccup took a moment to survey the teens. They were more than likely his new students, which felt awkward since they all seemed to be his age...
There were four, other then Astrid. They stood talking amongst themselves and watching the boat roll further into the harbour. One seemed to be boasting, he was buff, like most of the people in Berk, he looked like he would be a good soldier. He wore thick black armor and brown leather cuffs.
The two that seemed to be listening looked identical, and Hiccup knew that they must be twins, or at the very least close siblings. They were both blonde, not Astrid blonde though, Hiccup couldn't help but note. They wore male and female variations of the same armor. They were joking and teasing the boy who was boasting, but in a seemingly friendly way.
The last was a larger boy, he stood off to the side watching the boat keenly. He didn't seem to be interested in his peers. He was blonde too but his hair was shaped in an unappealing bowl cut. He seemed the least soldier like of all of them. He would be teaching a pretty rag tag team.
As the ship finally docked he shuffled past the students, who watched with curiosity as he approached the large ship. Someone on the deck above looked over and called out to him.
"Major Haddock! What a surprise to find my missing passenger safely at our destination!"
"Marvio! I took a spill in the ocean with Toothless, seems fate brought me here!" Hiccup shouted back. The burly sailor waved dismissively and Hiccup backed up as they started to lower the gang planks. When they were finally down Hiccup walked up to the ship, stepping on right foot first, a sailor superstition that Marvio made sure was practised on his boat. Anyone who didn't comply, or had a penchant for forgetting, took a quick dip in the ocean or an ungraceful fall back down to the dock. Hiccup had learned his lesson both ways.
"You've got a scraggly bunch here Hiccup." The man said, gesturing to the teens on the dock, who could be heard faintly arguing about what type of dragons each would receive. Marvio had been a close friend to Hiccup in the city and they were very open with each other. They walked below deck, sailors who were busy with the docking didn't bother to salute. But they shot friendly glances and courteous smiles to the Major. A few called out greetings, Hiccup had spent many a free night on the ship and was well known by most of the crew.
They continued down through the giant ship until they were in the cargo hold. The mild growls of a dragon could be heard easily as the walked down the stairs. They were completely alone in the hold except for the four dragons. A Gronckle, a Deadly Nadder, a Hideous Zippleback, and a Monstrous Nightmare. None of the dragons looked particularly strong for their types but at least they had some variety.
"The Empire didn't even give us enough, huh? I wonder if the twins will mind sharing you," he asked rhetorically, kneeling in front of the Zipplebacks cage.
"I don't think you'll have trouble getting them into their cages at the academy, my prince?" Marvio asked from behind Hiccup.
"Don't start now and slip up later Marvio. I hardly fit in as your prince anyway." He chuckled as the man gave him half bow. "Of course, it won't be a problem." They Nadder chortled curiously, already noticing the difference the two had from the other soldiers.
"Toothless is going to do it?" Marvio asked honestly, but Hiccup detected the quip in his words.
"Yep." Hiccup let out a low piercing whistle before confidently unlocking the cages, swinging the doors open. Marvio looking at Hiccup with amuesement in his eyes.
"You're crazy you know," he stated matter-of-factly.
"Ugh, I'm starting to believe you people."