Hiccup and his parents set off for Berserker Island the same day. When they arrived in the afternoon, Heather and Dagur were waiting for them. The latter grinned at him as he dismounted, and swept him into a crushing hug.

"Brother! It's great to see you again. Hi, Chief Stoick. Whoa - is that her?"

"Yeah…that's my mum. I, err, already explained about our…history."

Dagur tensed. "You mean you told her I used to try and, y'know…?"

"Yep."

"You did tell her I've stopped doing that, right?"

"Obviously."

"And she's not bothered?"

"Err…hey, so, what did you guys do with the egg?" Hiccup inquired.

Heather answered him before her brother could protest. "We took Astrid's suggestion and put it back in that cavern, under guard. C'mon, we'll show you." She led the way to the tunnel entrance. It was being guarded by two Berserkers, who saluted when she and Dagur approached. "We kept hoping the mother would come back for it, but so far there's been no sign of her."

"It seems odd that she'd just abandon her baby like that," Hiccup remarked. He looked at Valka and inquired, "mum, is that normal for Bewilderbeasts?"

She shrugged. "I wouldn't call myself an expert on the species. I only know the one, and he's male. I think. In fact, it's likely that he's the father," Valka commented. "They're an extremely rare species, at least here in the north."

"You could call yourself an expert, Mrs H," said Dagur. "I mean, Hiccup here only knows the one Night Fury, and he acts like he's an expert on them."

"Oh, shut up, Dagur."

There were a few more checkpoints down the tunnel, manned by warriors who tried to look alert when they saw their chieftain approaching. At last they reached the main cavern, lined completely with ice. A mesh of thin chains had been stretched across the ground, letting people walk on it without slipping. The egg was protected by Shattermaster and Windshear.

"It seemed like they were the best candidates. They won't even let us near the egg," Heather explained. "Hey, girl. Hiccup's here, with his - his parents. They're going to take the egg somewhere safe, away from humans, okay?"

Windshear looked around the cavern, at the Gronckle on the other side of the egg, and then back at Heather, as if to ask how is this place not safe?

Valka stepped forwards and crouched down. She wisely attempted to make friends with Shattermaster first; he was trusting by nature. "Oh, you're lovely. Both of you; and the egg is magnificent," she murmured, gazing at it. "It's almost hard to believe this little thing will grow into a behemoth one day."

"Is it? How big do - what are they, Bewilderbeasts? How big do they get?"

"Oh…" she gestured around the large cavern. "About three times this size."

The idea of a dragon so large was almost mind-boggling, even though he'd seen the Red Death. Hiccup couldn't wait to see a Bewilderbeast in person. He was about to suggest luring the dragons away with food, when the egg suddenly twitched. Then it wobbled. "Uh, oh. Guys, the egg's hatching."

Everyone gave it a wide berth, even the dragons. The egg wobbled, rocking back and forth in the nest of ice. Abruptly, it broke open with a terrific crack, and a white hatchling the size of a Night Terror tumbled out. They had a pair of tiny tusks, two fin-like vestigial wings, a large chin and short, blunted red spines on the crown of their head. Dagur, Heather and Hiccup went "aww!"

"Chunky little fella, isn't he?" Dagur grinned. "Hey, wait, where's he going?"

The baby Bewilderbeast was heading straight for the crevasse on the far side of the cavern at a surprisingly quick pace. Toothless hurried to intercept them. He began to gag, then coughed up some fish. The hatchling sniffed at the pile and began to devour it. "Was he about to throw himself off the cliff?"

"You don't know they're a boy," Heather insisted, "but it sure looked like it."

Valka walked over, using her staff for balance on the ice, and peered over the edge. "There's probably just water down there," she remarked. "They are aquatic dragons. Perhaps female Bewilderbeasts only guard their egg up to a point, and leave just before it hatches. The baby must have an instinct to go into the water and catch fish as soon as possible. Oh, this is fascinating."

Stoick inquired "well now that it's hatched, what are we gonna do with it?"

"I would've thought that's obvious," said Dagur. "We're going to keep him!"

"What is it with you and assuming they're a boy?" Heather complained.

Dagur ignored her, and declared "I shall name him…Prince Stubby! He will be the pride of the Berserker Tribe. Come to daddy!" he cooed, reaching out to pick up the hatchling. The adult dragons snarled at him. "Oh, for Thor's sake! You guys know I'm not going to hurt him. Stop being so paranoid!"

"It's not their fault," said Valka. "I wonder if the baby is making them do it."

The others looked alarmed. "You mean, controlling them?" asked Hiccup, "like in the legends? Can they command dragons right out of the egg?"

"Son, I told you, I'm not an expert," she chided gently. "But if I had to guess, it might be some kind of defensive instinct. Not true control. At this age they're vulnerable, but if they can make other dragons want to protect them instead of attacking, they could grow up in peace. When they're old enough, they return the favour and become the protector instead," she surmised.

"All the more reason for Prince Stubby to stay here," insisted Dagur. "Our tribe can protect him, and one day, he'll protect our tribe. I'll make sure nobody blabs about him, brother, so you don't need to worry about that."

Hiccup sighed. "I guess there's no point in taking them somewhere else. This is their home." He looked at his mother. "I'm okay with it if you are."

After a pause, she nodded. "I don't have the heart to make the poor thing feel distressed. Perhaps we ought to leave; I think we're scaring them." So they departed from the cavern, but of the dragons, only Toothless followed. "I'm sure the rest will come along when Prince Stubby is asleep," she said.

At each checkpoint, Dagur told the guards about the eggs hatching, and swore them to secrecy. He didn't announce it to the whole tribe at dinner. Hiccup began to suspect most Berserkers didn't even know about the baby Bewilderbeast. Not bad, Dagur he thought to himself, rather impressed.

/

They set off early the next morning. Now, after several days of hard flying, they had almost reached the Ice Nest. "There it is!" cried Valka, pointing with her staff. Ahead lay a mountainous, snowy island. One end was completely covered in massive blue-green spikes of ice. It certainly looked imposing.

As they approached, hundreds of dragons streamed out of the nest and flew in a chaotic mass above the ocean. "What's going on?" Hiccup wondered.

"Oh!" Valka clapped her hands in delight. "It's feeding time! You have to see this. Come on!" she grinned wildly. Cloudjumper let out a joyful bellow and surged forwards with a mighty flap of his four wings. They joined the flock that hovered or circled, and she pointed, still grinning, down at the water.

Hiccup leaned over to get a better look. He'd been warned, but it still caught him off guard when a colossal dragon burst out of the depths, tusks nearly reaching the lowest flying dragons. It spat an entire shoal of fish into the sky, and the flock went wild. He felt his stomach flip over as Toothless dived to catch a mouthful of fish, snatching them out of the air and beaming happily.

He laughed. Stoick was yelling (and from the sound of it, swearing) at Skullcrusher for nearly throwing him out of the saddle. Cloudjumper twirled in midair and Valka simply ran across his flanks until he righted himself.

Once their dragons had eaten, they landed to get a better view of the huge dragon resting in the shallows. A crown of reddish-brown tipped spikes grew from the back of his head, and long blunt spines extended down his back. Members of his flock landed and bowed to him, their wings spreading out.

Valka gestured to him. "There he is; the great Bewilderbeast. Every nest has its Queen, but this - oh, this is a king amongst dragons." She moved closer; Hiccup and Stoick glanced at each other, then followed. The Bewilderbeast reared part-way out of the water and peered down at them as if in curiosity.

Cloudjumper bowed gracefully; Skullcrusher and Toothless followed suit, the latter with a sort of nervous awe. Hiccup understood why. He almost felt like he ought to bow as well. "Mother of Thor," he heard his father murmuring.

The Bewilderbeast sniffed at them, and then expelled a breath of cold mist that froze into snow, or very thin ice, in their hair. Stoick abruptly looked as if he'd aged another thirty years. Valka laughed. "He likes you," she told them.

"Wow," Hiccup murmured. "Just, wow. Oh, man, Fishlegs is gonna go nuts when he finds out he missed this. I gotta draw a picture; d'you think he'd mind?" he asked Valka. "The big guy, I mean. Wait, no"- His thoughts were jumbled, and he gestured haplessly at the Bewilderbeast looming over them.

She chuckled. "I don't think he'd mind at all; but darling, it will be much easier to draw him in the warmth." Cloudjumper led the way into the nest proper; it was indeed much warmer inside, and greener. Thick moss and ferns coated the stone. The contrast with the icy exterior was stark indeed.

No sooner had they landed than a troop of dragons, that looked like a cross between a Nadder and a Zippleback, came to jump all over them. "Oh, stop it, you silly things!" Valka protested, even as she giggled. Cloudjumper roared, and they scattered. "Those are baby Scuttleclaws. Well, fledglings. They listen to absolutely no one, not even to His Majesty," she explained.

"Those are some big babies," said Hiccup. Other dragons were coming to investigate them; the adults were more wary than the youngsters. From what he could see, many of them bore familiar scars that told him their caution was well deserved. He didn't recognise most of the species there.

A hefty, dark blue dragon came and sniffed at him. "This is Sailback," introduced Valka, petting a purple one of the same kind, "and her mate Rumpus. Thunderclaws; they'd be in the Tracker Class you invented."

Another dragon, turquoise with reddish patches, limped over to her. "This is Lump, a Snafflefang. He lost his right leg to one of Bludvists' iron traps," she explained, before greeting a dragon with a long neck. "Thump here is a Raincutter; her wing was sliced by razor netting." She lifted it with her staff to show how it was torn through. Then a fourth dragon scampered up to her.

"This is Gruff; he's a Hobblegrunt. The poor dear was blinded by a tree snare, then left to die alone and scared," she murmured. The yellow dragon sniffed in their general direction, and his scales turned purple. "That means he's curious," Valka explained. "They change colours to reflect their mood."

It broke Hiccup's heart to see how much these dragons had suffered. "I'm surprised they're even coming near us. Most wild dragons wouldn't dare."

"Ah, well. You're with me, so they know you're not a threat," she remarked.

Toothless and Skullcrusher were being greeted much more enthusiastically. One dragon even stuck their snout right under Toothless' tail; he yelped and spun around to growl at them. The humans chuckled. "You'll have to excuse Pester. He's a Snifflehunch, curious by nature, and he's a bit overeager."

Stoick asked her, "did you name all of these species?"

"Goodness, no. I learned them from the trappers," she replied. "Sometimes they'd mention a species by name whilst I was spying on them. I found out what Cloudjumpers' kind is called when they started yelling 'Stormcutter!' whenever we attacked. I did name the Bewilderbeast, though. For some reason, the only thing trappers ever call him is 'aaah noo we're doomed!'"

Hiccup grinned. "This place is amazing, mum; thank you for showing it to us," he said. Valka smiled, and kissed them both; Stoick on the lips and him on the forehead. Then she showed them where they'd all be sleeping.

/

"I wanna show you both one more thing," Valka told her son and husband. Then she added "Stoick, you might want to pin your beard down." The two men shared a glance, then followed her. Out of the nest to the far end of the island, where steep cliffs met the crashing waves. They were followed in turn by the six dragons Valka had named, who seemed attached to her.

The cliffs turned out to be a place with updrafts powerful enough to let full grown dragons hang in midair. Toothless let his tongue flap in the wind, and Hiccup snickered; both at that, and the sight of his father wrestling with a suddenly unruly mass of hair. Valka almost lost her balance from laughing.

Once she'd caught her breath, and Stoick's view was no longer obscured by his own beard, Valka grinned at them. Then she walked onto Cloudjumpers' wing, and dropped off onto Sailbacks'. They watched in amazement as she hooked her staff around his nose horn and swung gracefully onto Pester's wing instead. Then she danced across his wings to Skullcrusher instead.

He rumbled good-naturedly at her, and she hooked her staff over his nose horn as well, using it to hoist herself up. Stoick pulled her the rest of the way, one arm pinning down his beard. She kissed him, using the movement to flip right over him onto the other wing, then jumped across the gap to Toothless.

A few quick graceful steps, a fond ruffle of Hiccup's hair, and she dropped… only to land on Cloudjumper. If their hands weren't occupied, both him and Stoick would have applauded. Valka gave a bow, grinning from ear to ear.

Their dragons broke away and flew higher. She spread her arms as if to embrace the sky. "When I'm up here, I don't even feel the cold. I just feel…"

"Free," Hiccup finished; he knew exactly what she meant. Toothless warbled excitedly, looking down at the island. A natural arch was jutting up. "Be right back!" he exclaimed. The pair of them dived and shot through the archway.

On her other side, Stoick declared "one of these days, that boy of ours is going to see an archway without wanting to fly through it at top speed."

"I don't think that's ever going to happen, dear."

"S'pose not. Why did he have to inherit your penchant for showing off?"

She burst out laughing, and it was music to his ears. Their dragons landed on the snow covered island, and Stoick dismounted, wincing at the pain in his knees. He was getting too old for this. The two of them watched Hiccup and Toothless burn off some extra energy, zipping back and forth in the air.

"They're incredible," she murmured in delight.

At last the boys had enough and came back down to Earth, literally. Hiccup dismounted and walked towards his parents. "Were you guys watching?"

"Yes. Darling, mind you don't fall in the" - he dropped out of sight. "Snow."

Toothless hauled him out. "I'm okay! Thanks, bud," Hiccup said gratefully.

The setting sun coated the snow in hues of pink and reddish-orange. The days were short this time of year. "Well, dear, I think it's time we put the kids to bed," declared Stoick, putting his arms around Valka and Hiccup both.

"Hey! I'm not a kid," the latter protested. "Wait - you said kids. Plural. Does that include Toothless?" he asked. Beside him, the Night Fury perked up.

"Obviously. Who else could it be?"

Hiccup grinned. "Aww, you do care. But I still don't need to be put to bed. I'm not even tired!" he insisted. Only to suppress a yawn. "That doesn't count."

Valka chuckled. "I think perhaps we should all go to bed," she suggested.

/

They only planned to stay there for a day or so. The next morning, Hiccup worked on drawing all of the new species for the Book of Dragons. "At this rate, we're gonna need a second book," he remarked when they had lunch.

"Where did you learn to draw like this?" asked Valka. "You're so talented."

"Heh, thanks. Fishlegs' mum taught us both when we were little," he replied. "Speaking of which, I'm guessing he's interrogated you about all these."

Valka chuckled. "Indeed! Mostly about Stormcutters. That reminds me…" She walked over to the haphazard pile of her belongings and rummaged through them. "Where did I…? Ah!" She pulled out a metal box. "I kept notes and the like in here, because - well, you can guess. Help yourself," she said.

Hiccup opened the box eagerly. The notes inside were haphazard; they'd clearly been written as and when his mother felt like it. He and Fishlegs would have to reorganise it all when he got back. Then he unfolded a larger piece of parchment and found something interesting. A map of distant lands.

Their archipelago was a few little specks in the northwestern corner of the map, somewhere above Iceland. He'd heard of some of these places from traders (including Johann, but even before the man turned traitor he'd taken those stories with a grain of salt), but never seen a full sized map until now.

A lot of the map had been coloured in either black or red. The black parts included the Western and Eastern Roman Empires, which apparently had borders with each other in a country called Italy. The red parts included Norway, Sweden, Iceland - and much to his consternation, the Archipelago.

"Uh, mum? Where did you get this map?"

"Oh, that. I stole it a few years ago from some cocky trapper. There's a key on the back; it was in a different language, but I managed to translate it."

He flipped the map over. Sure enough, there was a key in unfamiliar letters, along with runes scratched alongside it. His mother's translation read:

IN BLACK - BLUDVISTS DREAM EMPIRE

IN RED - HERE BE DRAGONS

FINLAND

SWEDEN

NORWAY

ICELAND

FAROE ISLANDS

BARBARIC ISLANDS - FULL OF CRAZY THIEVING DRAGON RIDERS!

For a moment he was amused; clearly their reputation preceded them. Yet it didn't take long for Hiccup to grow concerned. He read between the lines and realised that in the crossed out places, every dragon had been hunted. Only the Barbaric Archipelago still had dragons living free in the wilderness.

Drago wants to combine two empires into one, and use dragons to do it. "They're just gonna keep coming, aren't they?" he said. "Trappers, I mean."

Valka scowled, though not at him. "I fear that's true. By now I suspect every trapper works for Bludvist, even if they don't know it. Whoever I took that map from had the misfortune of being familiar with the man," she grimaced. "Let's be glad that the borders of his 'dream empire' are nowhere near us."

Hiccup protested "but he still wants our dragons. Who knows how many of these places have already been conquered." He looked at the map again. "These countries coloured in red speak Norse, don't they? We could fly out there and make contact with them, try and forge an alliance," he suggested.

"No," Stoick refused immediately. "Absolutely not. We have allies already."

"Yeah, but dad, a handful of tribes aren't gonna be able to stop Drago Blud"-

"We're not going to stop Drago Bludvist! We're going to do what Berk has always done. Keep our heads down and protect our own. That is final."

Frustrated, he looked at his mother, who shook her head. "Your father is right. I hate what that monster is doing to dragons as much you do, Hiccup, but we have to pick our battles. This is just…too big a war for us to fight."

Stoick nodded approvingly. "Thank you, dear. Besides, you're going to be busy anyway," he told his son. "What with the wedding, and becoming chief."

That last part made Hiccup frown. "Who said I'm becoming chief?"

"I did. Just now."

"Shouldn't what I do for the rest of my life be my decision?"

"It won't be for the rest of your life. One day you'll have a wee one of your own, and when they grow up, you can pass the chiefdom onto them and retire. Assuming they don't inherit your habit of being irresponsible, that is."

Hiccup glared, indignant. "How am I irresponsible?"

"Does trying to avoid your duty seem responsible to you?" Stoick demanded. "I've given you plenty of time to get your head out of the clouds, Hiccup."

He scowled and lurched to his feet. "I'm going for a flight. C'mon, Toothless."

After they were gone, Stoick pinched the bridge of his nose as if to ward off a headache. "What are we going to do with that boy?" he asked Valka.

She winced. "I'm sure he'll come around…maybe I should go talk to him."

Stoick looked doubtful. "Good luck. Thor knows he won't listen to me."

/

As soon as they were beyond the nests' confines, Toothless warbled, and glanced over his shoulder. Hiccup stroked him reassuringly. "I'm fine, bud."

Dad's right. You're being irresponsible. You can't avoid growing up forever.

I'll hate being chief. I won't have time for Toothless, not to mention Astrid.

He'll be fine. You can rebuild the auto tail. Astrid knows what she's getting into.

She'd be a better chieftain than me. We should just swap roles; I always end up doing what she wants me to anyway.

Astrid would never let you get away with that. What would you even be doing?

Berk still needs a blacksmith.

But you already nudged Snotlout in that direction. You can't take it back now.

The Academy needs someone in charge.

Fishlegs has his heart set on being the next Head of the Academy. You can't just take that chance away from him - that would be selfish.

Maybe I am selfish.

This is a chance to be better. Dad's getting old. He'll want to retire, spend more time with mum. You should let him be happy. Let them both be happy.

What about me? I'd be miserable as chief. I don't care about…property disputes and meetings and agreements and whatever else dad deals with.

That's like saying you don't care about the tribe.

Maybe I don't!

Of course you do - if you didn't care, you would have just left.

Maybe I should!

And be an outlaw?

Yes. No. "Aaagh!" He yelled out, burning with anger. Mostly at himself.

He flopped back in the saddle. Toothless crooned worriedly. "Yeah, okay. You got me. I am not fine." He groaned and dragged a hand over his face.

"Son?"

Hiccup sat bolt upright. "Gah! Mum! Don't sneak up on me like that!"

"Sorry, dear." Toothless was flying above the clouds, and Cloudjumper was flying through them. Standing on her dragons' back, Valka looked eerily as if she was floating along in midair. "Come and tell me what's wrong. Please."

Mid-flight wasn't conducive to deeply personal conversations. They landed on the island. Valka swept the snow off a ledge and sat down, patting the spot beside her. Hiccup sat down too. The dragons sheltered them from the wind. "Let me guess," he said. "Dad wants you to talk some sense into me."

"I volunteered," she replied. "I take it you've had this argument before."

Hiccup sighed. "Most of the time I avoid the subject," he admitted. "I don't want to be chief. I'd be miserable, I just know it. But I don't have a choice."

After a long moment, Valka remarked "I dread to think what sort of things your father had to do as chief for you to get such a bad impression of it."

"Heh. It's not him; dad's a great chief," Hiccup declared, "but he actually likes doing all the boring stuff. Not to mention everyone respects him… but when I'm in charge it always feels like they're just humouring me. And what about Toothless? He's my best friend, I don't want to ditch him because I'm too busy with…y'know. The aforementioned boring stuff," he muttered.

Valka looked sympathetic. "I understand. If someone told me I had to give up spending time with Cloudjumper, and spend the rest of my days telling other people what to do and how to do it, I'd hit them. With my staff."

Hiccup chuckled. "It's times like this I wonder, what if I'd left Berk as a kid? I almost went, y'know. Just me and Toothless. Maybe I'd have found you earlier and we could have gone off and kicked Drago's ass together."

His mother laughed. "Oh, I would have enjoyed that. But about you being chief. You're certain you don't want to?" she asked him. He hesitated… then nodded. "Well then. We'll have to work something else out, won't we?"

He looked surprised. "You aren't gonna try and convince me to be chief?"

"Why would I do that? You just told me you'd be miserable as chief."

"But… but dad's right. I am being irresponsible, and selfish, and" -

She brushed his hair out of his eyes. "Hiccup, you are anything but selfish and irresponsible. It's not selfish to look at a box the world wants to put you in and say 'no'. You shouldn't force yourself to be something you're not, just to please other people. Besides," Valka sighed, "your father tends to think his way of doing things is the only way. But we know better, don't we?"

A tentative smile. "I guess…"

"So, let's think. You could take over from Gobber and be the blacksmith."

"I kinda suggested Snotlout could do that… back when I thought I should just be the chief and make the best of it. Starting to regret that now."

"Hm. No offence to Snotlout, but he doesn't seem like the blacksmithing type. I think he'd be asked to make nails and produce a sword instead," she remarked. Hiccup sniggered. "Perhaps he could be your apprentice."

"Eh…we'd probably end up trying to kill each other."

"Ha! Fair enough. Let's see. I know you like inventing stuff. You could do that for a living; build inventions and sell them, perhaps. Or rent them out." She perked up suddenly. "Oh! I am stupid. The answer is staring me in the face!" Valka gestured at the wild dragons flying or playing or fishing before them.

"You can be in charge of the dragons, Hiccup!" she beamed at him. "They all need somewhere to nest and enough to eat, and someone to keep them from knocking down buildings by mistake or setting fire to things they're not supposed to. I would help, of course. Oh, but wouldn't that be wonderful?!"

Hiccup beamed… then it faded. "I thought of that; being the Dragon Master, for lack of a better word, and letting Astrid be the chief. But she said it'd mess up the chain of command. A lot of people on Berk ride dragons; if we had to give orders, who would have authority over them? Me or her?"

She waved a dismissive hand. "There's no rule that says only one person can have authority. You can be equals. Anyway, I'm not talking about dragons with riders. I mean the wild ones; or less tame ones, at least."

It was certainly tempting. There were hundreds of wild dragons on Berk; in a way, they formed a tribe of their own. He wouldn't mind being chief of a tribe of dragons. Keeping them all fed and healthy, training them, helping them find riders if they wanted, protecting them…it all seemed a good challenge.

"Yeah. Yeah, that could actually work." Then his face fell as he realised, "oh, but the Berk Guard. We're gonna need a General after Starkard retires."

His mother replied "I'm sure he's got a good few years left in him. Let's cross that bridge when we come to it, okay? We don't need to worry about it now."

Hiccup nodded slowly. "Thanks, mum. I feel a lot better."

"You're welcome. Now we just have to break the news to your father."

That dampened his enthusiasm somewhat. "Can't wait," he deadpanned.

"Oh, come now, it won't be that bad. I think Stoick has become almost reasonable in his old age," Valka remarked airily. He burst out laughing.

/

Stoick looked up from his carving when Toothless and Cloudjumper landed nearby. "There you are. Go on, then. Tell me the good news!" he beamed.

Hiccup looked at his mother, who nodded encouragingly. He took a deep breath. "Dad. I've made a decision, and… I'm not going to be chief of Berk."

The grin became a frown in seconds. "Now hold on a minute -!"

"Just hear me out," Hiccup said firmly, stepping forwards. "I know you mean well, and you want what's best for me; but I also know that I'd be miserable as chief. I thought maybe I just wasn't ready, that I should try and make the best of it. But I've been thinking about it, and whenever I do, it feels wrong."

"But - but you're the heir! It's your birthright. What would you do instead?"

His lips twitched. "If it makes you feel any better, I'd still kind of be a chief. I'd just be chief of Berk's dragons." Stoick stared at him like he'd grown another head. "Cos y'know, there are loads of wild dragons on Berk. They need someone to make sure they're all fed and healthy, and train them not to break stuff in the village by accident…or on purpose," he explained.

Valka nodded sagely. "It's a big responsibility. Dragons can be just as ornery as Vikings, sometimes." Cloudjumper grunted indignantly. "Oh hush, you."

"Nah, all I need is some dragon nip. Also, they can't talk back."

Stoick looked between his wife and son, then groaned, burying his head in his hands. "What was I thinking? I should've known you two would gang up on me." He massaged his temples and looked Hiccup in the eye. "The line of succession has been passed from chief to firstborn for seven generations," he declared. "It's tradition. You can't just uproot all of that on a whim!"

Hiccup shrugged. "Why not? We used to have a dragon-killing tradition. I uprooted that on a whim, and look how much better off we are!" he pointed out. "Besides, it wouldn't affect the line of succession that much. If you make Astrid chief, and I marry her, my firstborn will technically still be next in line."

"Aye, and what if she says no? Decides she'd rather be Guard General?"

"Dad, do you really think Astrid is gonna turn down the chance to be chief? I can convince her it's for the best. As for the General, we don't need to worry about that now. Uncle Starkard isn't gonna retire for ages yet," said Hiccup.

With one hand, Stoick reached up and snapped off a nearby icicle, pressing the base of it against his temple. "You are going to be the death of me."

"I'm sorry, dad. I don't want to disappoint you, but this is who I am" Hiccup insisted, "I'm sure of it; more sure than I ever was about being the chief."

He met his fathers gaze steadily, and at last, Stoick gave in. "I won't pretend I'm thrilled about this, but… fine. We'll try it your way." Hiccup's face lit up.

"Thank you! This is so great, you guys are the best." Impulsively he hugged his father, then his mother, and his dragon as well - just for good measure.

/

Upon returning to Berk, the first thing Hiccup did was go to Astrid's house. In this instance she happened to be at home, which made things easier. First he asked to speak with Astrid in private. She led him into her room and leaned against the door, motioning for him to speak. He took a deep breath.

"So, uh, first of all - whilst I was gone, I did some soul-searching and made a decision." He met Astrid's gaze. "To pass on my claim to the throne to you."

Her jaw dropped. "Pass your - you mean you still want to make me chief?"

"Exactly. It's just like I suggested before; you can be in charge of the Vikings, and I can be in charge of the dragons. The wild ones, I mean. Also, we could have equal authority over riders depending on which of us is around."

She continued to stare at him. "Let me get this straight. You decided you don't feel like being chief, so you want to foist the responsibility off on me?"

"Astrid, please. I'm not trying to be irresponsible; taking care of hundreds of dragons is anything but," he reasoned. "I thought about what you and my dad said. I thought maybe I should make the best of it and ignore the feeling of - of wrongness I get whenever I think about being the chief. I want what's best for our people too. I just don't want to make myself miserable for them."

Her expression flickered between sympathy and frustration, before settling on the latter. "We all have to do things we don't like," she insisted. "We can't ignore our duty. What do you think would happen if everyone did that? 'Oh, I don't feel like farming, I guess I'll let people starve'. It would be utter chaos."

He replied "we both know I'm the only one who'd come up with something like this. Except maybe the twins… besides, we have plenty of farmers."

"Okay, what about the Guard? You were going to make me the General. If I was the chief and you were off with the dragons, who would fill that role?"

"I don't know yet," he admitted, "but we'll figure something out. It's not like my uncle is going to retire for a while yet; I'm pretty sure we've got time."

"Not the point," she glared. "What d'you mean by 'wrongness', anyway?"

"It's hard to explain. But I'll try!" he said hastily. "When I think about being chief, or I have to be acting-chief, I feel…anxious. Tense. My heart starts beating faster, my hands get sweaty, sometimes I start trembling. I feel this sense of, uh, dread or doom hanging over me, and this urge to run away."

When he finished, Astrid looked stricken. "Why didn't you ever tell us?"

He shrugged. "It wasn't an issue most of the time. And I can't really explain it anyway. If you asked me why the thought of being chief makes me feel that way, the truth is I don't know. What I do know is that I've felt like this ever since I was old enough to understand what being the chief really means."

"I had no idea… But what makes you think I'd be a good chief?"

"Um, because you like bossing people around?" he asked. She glared at him. "Just kidding…mostly. But unlike me, you don't get weird hang-ups about doing your duty. You take pride in being a Viking in a way I never have. You're devoted to Berk, you're compassionate, intelligent, pretty - uh, that last one is sort of irrelevant, but I figured I'd mention it anyway."

Astrid rolled her eyes. "Flattery will get you nowhere," she warned. "Still, I suppose you have a point…and it would be a huge honour to be chief…"

They were interrupted suddenly by a knock at the door. She opened it to find her mother standing there. "Say yes, girl!" urged Aslaug. "He's offering you the chiefdom, you don't turn an offer like that down. Becoming his wife was already great for our family, but this is even better. No offence, dear."

The last bit was directed at Hiccup, who shrugged. "None taken."

"What - mum, you were eavesdropping on us? But I blocked the keyhole!"

Her mother held up an empty tankard. "Like I was going to let that stop me."

"Mum!"

"Oh, hush. You weren't even keeping your voices down, so it's not as if this is private," Aslaug scoffed. Her husband appeared. "Hedin, good news. Hiccup wants to make Astrid the next chief of Berk instead!" she told him.

Hedin's eyebrows raised. "But you're the heir," he said to Hiccup, who had a feeling those words would be repeated often for a long time.

Astrid turned to him, hands on hips. "Does your dad know about this?"

"He knows. He's willing to give it a try if," he hesitated, "if you are?"

She bit her lip, thinking hard and staring at the opposite wall. At last she looked up at Hiccup and nodded. "Alright. You got me. I'll be the chief."