Morning came far too early. The clouds of the approaching rainstorm failed to block out nearly enough light and Fishlegs cursed the uncovered windows as he pulled his blanket over his head. He was not opposed to getting up at dawn like he had each morning for as long as he could remember. The glory of morning and the potential of a new day, chock full of things to learn and do, was enough to get him out of bed. Usually.

Strict Viking mindset of not wasting the day was no match for unwilling participation of the nighttime antics of some girl.

Fresh air was good for the body. Gave energy. He breathed in what he could and forced the blanket away. Recite knowledge. That was always good. He all but fell to the floor. His big body was all the harder to move when he was exhausted. Stupid muscles. Stupid breath for not reviving them.

Ruffnut had seemed so relatively innocent when she approached him the evening before. Big eyes for once full of something besides mischief, a tale of how she needed help and what with that incident with her brother and the apples, years of being raised to be nice to girls… Fishlegs should have known better. He had known the Thorston twins pretty much their entire lives and he certainly knew far better than to trust even one of them. Madness was not dependant on teamwork.

He stared out the window. Already a drizzle was falling and the sky was nothing more than a grayish mist. Would it be enough rain to displace all of those eggs? There didn't seem to be any panic yet.

Rotten eggs. On top of Meade Hall. Ridiculous. Was Ruffnut just bored? The days of dragon killing, only months gone, had seemed enough to occupy the twins. What now? Dragon flight no longer exciting enough for them? Knowing Ruff and Tuff, it was the most logical explanation. Never mind the amount of perfectly good eggs that could have been eaten.

Speaking of eating, that needed to be done.

Downstairs he found his mother busily stirring a mash while she hummed some off-key tune to herself. She was small, dark, and it was incredible to think she was his mother. Well, she liked learning. Fishlegs' father was legendary for lifting entire boulders over his head and didn't recognize a single rune.

"Where were you last night?" she asked without turning around. No demand or accusation in her voice, just a simple and motherly question.

Fishlegs nearly tripped. That question? Now? He had not made much of a secret about leaving the house, but why did curiosity have to rear its ugly head now? Well, no sense in lying. Though he would leave out the part about the eggs. "Ruffnut Thorston needed help with something."

"Oh." The response was unexpectedly short.

He took a seat, hoping to appear smaller behind the table. Okay, short response. Suspicious. He could either leave it alone or elaborate. "She needed something moved. And Tuff has a broken leg—"

"Yes. That episode in the eastern pasture. I heard all about it. Why didn't her father move something for her?"

"It was a secret?" Wow, but he hated it when his voice went high. Nothing more suspicious than that.

"Which is why it had to be done near the Hall?" She lifted the pot from the fire and set in on the table. Fishlegs wasn't sure if the steam was coming from the mash or from her eyes.

For several long moments his thoughts were a blur. He wasn't prone to lying, especially his mother. No good Viking lied. But then the panic fled as a much-needed breath of logic wormed its way in. He was nearly seventeen years old. As much a Viking as any man in the village. He had left late at night to help Ruff of his own accord. He might regret it, but he wasn't going to deny it. No sense in avoiding the conversation. Easy enough to say. Freely declare that yes, he had been at Meade Hall with Ruffnut. He opened his mouth to speak.

"We're not going to have her father over here, are we?" His mother was not a mean woman. She did not usually put such venom into her words.

Fishlegs stared. "For what?"

She sighed, stabbed a spoon into the pot, and threw her hands into the air. "Oh, I trust you, Fishlegs. At least I hope I am capable of retaining trust in you. Keeping our family respectable. I am perfectly happy with my assumption that it was just a bit of kissing. I was young once. I understand the romance of climbing to the top of the Hall and looking at the stars—"

What in the name of Sif's golden hair was she talking about? Once more he attempted to speak. If only his mind hadn't been thrown for such a loop. Any connection between mind and mouth was gone.

"So is there a problem?" Her hands were at her hips now and she looked far larger than her size.

Fishlegs shook his head. "I… I don't even know what you're talking about it."

"Well, Catclaw told me that her son saw you and Ruffnut Thorston late last night sneaking away from the Hall and I only did what I could do with the information presented… not a lot of conclusions I could come to unless you were participating in one of the crazy things she does…"

Good, something to which to respond. "That's exactly what we were doing."

"Kissing?"

"Rotten eggs." The word was like a curse, but relieving to say. "That was it. She wanted to putt rotten eggs on top of the Hall and she couldn't carry them up by herself. I didn't know what she was doing. I swear."

His mother's eyes widened and a smirk developed on her mouth. "That was it? You helped waste eggs?"

"They were rotten. Beyond saving."

"And… they were dumped on top of the Hall. The communal meeting spot of Berk."

Fishlegs nodded.

She sighed and put a hand to her forehead. "I'm not going to say anything. I am not going to say anything about that."

"But you would say something about me and Ruffnut being out at night?"

"I think as your mother it's my business to know. Especially with Catclaw saying all these things to me, I don't know what to think. Especially with you. Never heard of this kind of behavior before from you, out with a girl…"

Had the egg issue so quickly fled her thoughts? "Eggs!"

She stared at him as if it were the first time he had spoken. "Fine. Eggs. That's not what her son was saying."

The two little kids out night fishing. Fishlegs closed his eyes and sighed. "What did he say?" The giggling whispers about kissing hadn't made it home, had they? Of course they had. What had his mom just said? "It's barely day. How did she mention this already?"

"A lot gets done early." Her voice was nonchalant.

Clearly. "So am I in trouble?" Silly question, he hadn't been in trouble in years.

"Of course not. I'm going to pretend nothing was ever mentioned concerning who knows how many rotten eggs up on top of the Hall." She pulled out bowls and began to slosh the mash into them. "I'm just really hoping your father hasn't heard any of this yet."

So it wasn't over. "Are you going to tell him?"

"Of course. If he hasn't already heard."

Fishlegs' stomach twisted as he stared at breakfast. He was no longer hungry, which was rare for him. He didn't even know the names of those two kids, so had they known him? And Ruffnut? "I think I'll eat later."

The rain felt good as a modest little effort to calm the horror building up inside of him. He stood outside the house, staring at the rest of the village. The faint light of the rising sun did little, and Berk looked as peaceful as it had in the night. To the west the sky momentarily split with lightening. A storm. Maybe lots more rain. That would please Ruffnut.

The conversation of the morning wrapped itself into one neat summary: He had just been accused of kissing Ruffnut.

It might have been altered air pressure from the storm, but he felt rather dizzy. He had never been accused of anything, especially anything involving a girl. He had never even imagined being accused of such a thing. What was he supposed to do with it?

Thunder erupted. With dragon training a thing of the past he spent most of the day in the quarry. Today there would be far too much mud and even the dragons who had been trained to work there all hated getting their wings wet.

So now what?

Find something else to do, it was as simple as that. Find a book, hole up in the Great Hall where he wouldn't have to witness anything involving eggs. Forget all about this. He just hoped Ruffnut wouldn't hear any of it. He had never seen her mad, at least much beyond irritation, but he imagined it would be pretty bad. Would she care? He tried to her imagine her hearing about this and his mind drew a blank at her reaction.

He still did not feel very good about it.

Meade Hall appeared even bigger in the rainfall. He slowly made his way toward it. His mind kept racing. How could have two kids drawn the conclusion that any kissing of any sort or any physical touch, for that matter, had occurred? It was entirely improbable. Kids had way too big of imaginations. Had they done anything in the night that could have been misinterpreted? No, they had just been walking. Not even near each other. No evidence whatsoever. He had to be missing something.

But nothing had happened. It was as simple as that. Nothing had happened, he had straightened that much out with his mother and all was well. Nothing more to talk about it. There was no reason for anyone else to hear about it. Catclaw couldn't have told that many people before the sun had even risen.

Ruffnut would never hear about it, anyway. She didn't have the attention span to pay attention to such things. And if she did, well, this was Ruffnut. If he couldn't imagine her reacting, then obviously she wouldn't be reacting. She would just laugh and brush it off. Maybe.

He had no idea.

He had seen girls before, watched how they acted, how they talked. He didn't understand any of it, but it had always frightened him. They did get overly concerned about the strangest things.

What if this overly concerned Ruffnut?

The Hall was largely empty. No doubt those who usually worked outside had remained longer in their homes. A few older men were gathered at tables, talking loudly about nothing important. The only person who caught Fishlegs' eye was Snotlout. No surprise there. Snotlout talked a big talk but everyone knew he was afraid of thunder.

Snotlout was pretty strong, though. Had Ruffnut mentioned the idea of the eggs to him? Maybe. Maybe he had said no. Maybe he assumed Ruffnut had asked others. Which meant the concept of last night would not be completely unreasonable to him.

The panic increased. Fishlegs quickly sat down at a table. Nothing to do. He had forgotten a book or something to carve. He shouldn't have come here. The eggs, his own handiwork, were on the roof. He was at the scene of the crime, which as a few village women were concerned had been a crime of trouble.

What if someone heard about it?

He tried to push the thought away. It was way too early in the day. He fought to control his breath. He just had to look calm. Just a bored teenager on a rainy day. Nothing to do but be here. Maybe he could look invisible.

Except Snotlout had seen him. And decided to approach him.

That was odd. As far as Fishlegs could tell, Snotlout merely tolerated him. Which was fine with Fishlegs, all he really expected. Perhaps Snotlout was just bored, looking for someone to brag to.

Fishlegs couldn't think straight. Great. He was accused of kissing some girl and his brain stopped functioning. He was over reacting. He knew it, and he couldn't stop.

Snotlout opened his big mouth to say something.

Oh, gods, he knew. Somehow he had heard about the kissing lie. Somehow the web of women had reached him. He had to be set straight.

"Ruff and I did absolutely nothing on the roof," Fishlegs said, much louder than he intended. Immediately he regretted it.

Snotlout closed his mouth, and his eyes went wide.

Fishlegs fought for more words. Clarification. None were coming. He stood up. "I need to go."