How to Train Your Friend

Chapter 3

All Too Close

The tingling sensations of the world began to slowly creep back into Jorvar's body as his regained consciousness. His eyes had nearly blacked out for good, and his head was pounding as if it was an anvil getting hammered upon. He heard subtle noises around him, breathing, birds chirping, slicing of meat, talking that felt as if it was coming from below him; he couldn't describe his state if you had threatened him, he was far too dazed and confused. Jorvar felt a hand draw near, the air around him told him so, and this hand wrapped around his neck and pulled him up. He felt the hand let go and retreat as he sat up in what he now realized was a bed. The wood that made the headboard was smooth, but splinters were always still a risk from something made by Vikings. He felt breath fly through his nose and out into the open, and he inhaled once more. It was then that his eyes flickered and opened, just enough to see blurry images around him. To his left he saw what appeared to be another person, shorter, brown hair, casual attire. On the right sat a very tall, pitch black person, and what massive ears did Jorvar see on this person. He also swore he could make out the outline of wings protruding from this person back, but he only assumed he was crazy. Jorvar hadn't remembered a thing, all he could remember was arriving on Berk, meeting Hiccup again, and after that, it was all a bowl of soaked, week old mutton.

Jorvar blinked his eyes a few times in an attempt to make the visions around him clearer, but as he did, all he heard was an eerily familiar voice say quietly, "He's starting to come back to us bud…you might want to step out for this." And then he heard several loud footsteps go down what sounded like a flight of stairs. The shoulders he called his own began to aches with a burning twist, and he found that his hand moved to them and rubbed on his own without commanding it to do so. The hand then moved its circular motions to his chest, and then his arms. Jorvar felt a different hand get placed on his shoulder, and through the blur, he saw it was his friend, Hiccup. "Hey Jorvar…feeling better…?"

Jorvar groaned and stopped massaging his arms and put his hands on his sides. "Yeah…somewhat…I don't really remember what happen though. We were talking and then…that's it…" Hiccup grew meek at hearing this, for now he realized that he'd have to explain to Jorvar the truth of Berk and their dragons yet again, and it was already painful enough the first time around. Hiccup wasn't too pleased to hear that he'd need to repeat himself, especially on this manner, so instead he tried avoiding the subject a little longer.

"Well…as long as you're feeling better. You know, Jorvar, everyone on the island is glad that you're back. Berk was missing something all these years that the Asvald family was gone. I heard that you picked up leatherworking. That's a nifty thing to be able to do." Hiccup was trying the classic honey-and-the-hatchet; it was the only thing that he could think of before he delivered the bad news to Jorvar once more. Jorvar smiled at his friend's compliment, he needed some praise right now.

"Thank Hiccup, I actually made everything that my parents and I are wearing. I got pretty good at making clothes and sheaths for the weapons our neighbors made. It was quite a profitable alliance that we had going on." It was then that Jorvar remembered why he and his family had come back to Berk in the first place. The idea dawned on his, and he was eager to tell Hiccup as such. "That reminds me…the whole reason my family and I came back was because of what was in that letter you sent us. The way you illustrated the boom our business could make here on Berk with all these passing trade ships; with that kind of expansion, our leatherworking will be known around the world, to Vikings everywhere." Jorvar was still too weak to put any power into the words behind his vision, but he knew that the results would be extremely profitable. "Yeah, the way you and Gobber make weapons…combining that with our leather…we'll make plenty of living here." That was the cut off, as Gobber no longer made weapons to kill, he was a dragon dentist now, and the only weapons made were for fighting back the Outcasts, and they hadn't even attempted an attack in weeks. Hiccup knew this, and he could wait no longer to break the ice that coated his friend's inner bliss.

"Yeah…uh, Jorvar…" Jorvar was taken by surprise at Hiccup's sudden tone. "There a reason that you passed out on the dock. And I also realize that you're probably not going to like hearing this…again…" Hiccup was doing his best, and he had slightly more confidence in saying it, as he already knew what the worst possible outcome could be. Jorvar pulled the covers of the bed off of him and sat up, facing Hiccup, who was on the side of the bed away from the stairs. Jorvar heard the crackling of the fire on the lower floor, but to him, the room he was in only got colder as Hiccup's news approached.

Jorvar was eager to hear this news, for since it caused him to pass out the first time it struck him, he was building a mental dam as protection from the volley that was about to besiege him. "Well…what is it…?" He wanted to stall this barrage no longer. The inner pain that was beginning to build by Hiccup holding this news in was starting to feed on Jorvar's inductions. Hiccup had no choice, he had already stabbed Jorvar with this news once before, and he had been as direct as Stoick, this time should be no different in his mind.

"Jorvar…the reason you passed out is because I told you…" He inhaled, just in case, "Berk no longer kills dragons. We train them, ride them, live alongside them…" Hiccup spoke to his pale fingers as he said this, too frightened to stare down his old friend. After his delivery was complete, Hiccup scratched to look at Jorvar, and once he did, all he saw was a blank stare. Hiccup was lost to time, it could've been minutes, seconds, or even hours before Jorvar even breathed. Jorvar slowly moved his now frigid hand to his head and caressed it, intertwining his fingers into his hair and rubbing his head. Leaving his hand on his head in this manner, Jorvar placed the elbow of that arm on his knee and leaned over, looking as if he was reckoning to cry. He sniffed in the slime of his nose, and breathed slowly.

"So I wasn't hearing things…" It all came back to him. Hiccup had bombarded this news to him on the dock, and the loss of the event was by his head hitting the evergreen wood of the dock. "Why…why Hiccup…? Why would you train dragons? They're monsters…" Jorvar was still too disoriented to raise his voice or get passionate about his argument, so all he could do was add solemn tone to his voice.

"They're not as monstrous as you might think Jorvar…my dragon, Toothless…he saved my life before." Jorvar looked up from this statement, still not removing his hand from his brown-white hair.

"I'll believe that went I see it." And he stood up, taking his hand away from his head at long last. Hiccup watched him walk around the bed and head down the wooden steps, each one creaking as he did so. The young dragon trainer followed after him, stopping at the top of the stairs.

"Jorvar…where are you going…?" He called and quivered at once.

"I'm going for a walk…I need to be alone…" He ignored Stoick and Gobber, as they had been sitting right there around the table in the corner of the room. Toothless was curled up into a ball on the side of the fire, and Jorvar didn't acknowledge his presence either.

Hiccup dragged himself down the stairs after the sunlight poured in from the outside, and then vanished again as they heard the door shut, not slam. He arrived at the bottom and all the others looked at him, not with disappointment, but more a sense of curiosity. Toothless gurgled in his mouth, the usual foaming noise that he made which blended with the sound of the melodious fire that burned. Hiccup's every step echoed through the cabin and to the ears of his being, his heart ached and his own self-inflicted insanity grew like fungus on undercooked lamb. He sat down at the table with his father and old mentor, and before they said anything, he decided to be the one to bash the shields of hope together in a battle cry of shame.

"Well…he's feeling better overall…not so sure about his aspirations specifically though. He's clearly not too fond of training dragons." Stoick patted Hiccup's shoulder in a fatherly manner.

"Don't worry about that son, explaining the circumstance to his parents was no easy task either. They nearly got back in the boat and left again. This'll be a lot of work Hiccup, but we need to show the Asvald family that Berk can continue life with dragons instead of against them. Gobber and I will continue to work on his parents, but you and your friends need to personally break Jorvar in. I wouldn't want him running off again, and I'm sure you wouldn't either." Hiccup nodded his head. Gobber added,

"If Jorvar ends up refusing to live with dragons half as much as Mildew, he may just join the Outcasts…that could be deadly for Berk. We need to show him how good dragons can be." Hiccup shook his head.

"I already tried that Gobber. I told him that Toothless saved my life, he just…didn't believe me." Stoick sighed.

"Fear not Hiccup…we'll think of something. For now, go follow Jorvar around with Toothless, make sure he doesn't get into any trouble. Berk may be at peace, but this is still a dangerous island." Hiccup nodded and his father's request, and he turned around to Toothless and gestured for the dragon to follow him outside. Toothless had heightened intelligence like no other dragon did, for that, he understood the signal and the two disappeared outside. Hiccup mounted his friend, and the two vanished into the clear, teal sky of that morning.

There were no set paths on Berk, no trails for forlorn hikers to travel, and no brown highways to sojourn on, only woods, cliffs, and bays were to be found on the island. It was through these diverse areas that Jorvar found himself wandering, kicking the sand on the coarse beaches, inhaling the wondrous odors of the evergreens that lined the forests, and scaling the heights of the cliffs and ridges towards the center of the mass. He sat atop a rock that was very high, so high that he could see the sky and the horizon line, with enough room in his sight to make out the line of Mildew's cottage and the rest of the village. One could say that he was sitting proudly upon the entire island's highest point. Below him was everything Berk held dear, the water, vegetation, and livestock. He sat and thought, wondered, dreamt, and enhanced all that had happened since he returned. His friends had forsaken the ways of their forefathers to have peace with the very beasts that they swore were their enemies. Logically, yes, ethical, possibly. Jorvar was still thinking over the right and the wrong with the setting, as he'd never seen himself as friends with a person who rode a dragon instead of mounting it's head on the wall as a trophy and wearing its skin as battle armor.

"Why…?" He said aloud at last, as he hadn't spoken a word since he left Hiccup's home. "Why…Thor…Odin…why must you task such an ordinary Viking like myself with trials like this? Has my family not been sufficient to you? What must I do…?" He proclaimed every word to the evermore sky above him, that still grasped its transcendental blue prisms.

He had decided it had been enough; it was time for him to return to the village. He'd been out on his own for a substantial time, he had compiled his thoughts, and his mind was ready to speak for itself. He stood up from the rocks atop Berk, but his vision went white, and his head stung with hornet's bite. He grasped his head, he screamed, he knew not why this sudden pain had struck him, but it was unbearable, he couldn't stand it. His screams turned to groans, and his feet started to shuffle, flailing his upper half trying to eject the pain. Where there was once ground, solid rock, there was now air, wind and pure nothing. The flailing continued, and sent Jorvar right over the cliff side. He didn't realize he was falling until the pain finally vanished due to the air rushing past him and making his clothes dance in the wind. He wasn't scared, just stunned. He bid the top of the cliff farewell as he accelerated towards the beach that rested below, and his eyes became entranced by the sheer beauty of the natural cliff. He'd been counting the seconds after he accepted his fall, one, two, three, and four. It all stopped, his vertical decent was replaced by thick black claws vice griping his leg and yanking him to the side. His fall was now going horizontally; Jorvar never knew you could fall to the side like this.

"Jorvar…!" He heard, and snapped his bond to his trance. His enlightenment unfolded itself, and he saw now where he was. Hiccup's dragon, Toothless, had caught him as he was falling over the cliff. The air rushing past him now was a mix of the beat of Toothless' wings and the blades of wind Toothless used to fly ever faster. The land was quiet, quiet as he midnight tides. Toothless set Jorvar gently down onto the ground, and set down himself afterwards. Hiccup jumped off the dragon with satisfaction, and then he walked over to his friend to help him up. "You alright Jorvar…? I saw you fall." Jorvar stood up easily, but he was still rattled.

"Yeah…I'm fine. I guess I should stand up a little slower next time. When you stand up too fast, you get this really buzzing pain in your head."

"I know…that's happened to me before." Hiccup concluded Jorvar's theory. Jorvar then stole a gaze at his rescuer, Toothless.

"I don't like dragons Hiccup…" It was a drastic change in subject. "But you were right, Toothless did just save my life. For that I'll make you a deal…" Hiccup was adding hope to his attitude in this moment. "I'll give you one chance to show me why living with dragons can be a good thing; if not…I don't want you bothering me about them ever again. Deal…?" And he extended his hand. There was no hesitation from Hiccup.

"Deal…you'll be riding a dragon in no time…" A smile bled its way onto Hiccup's face. Jorvar only crossed his arms.

"I doubt that…"

They made their way home, walking of course by Jorvar's request. The Asvald family was still in the process of building their own home, so Jorvar slept in Hiccup's room that night. Hiccup himself was eager to show Jorvar what it took to train a dragon, but was still worrisome as to what might happen should he fail his friend. Jorvar was nervous to get near a dragon at all, but he promised Hiccup he'd give it a chance, and that was enough to take the incentive.