The whole day was sort of depressing. At the end of it, I walked up the hill west of Berk for a rest. As I approached, I became aware of a flute playing. A soft, mellow tune, carried by the wind, reached my ears and tickled them. I smiled softly. I had been wondering where Hiccup went all day.

I wandered all the way up to see him sitting on the hill cross-legged, flute to his mouth. The tune he was playing was sort of sad, as if the flute was crying a little, mourning. It echoed out into the evening air, making it almost spooky. I listened, relaxing. Hiccup was good. He played like he had done it his entire life. I sat down beside him at length, and he stopped, turning to me.

"Hey." He mumbled. "Sorry about disappearing today."

"Don't worry about it." I assured. "Go ahead and keep playing."

Nodding, he put the flute to his mouth again, and began to play. This time, the tune started cheerful. But after a while, it changed again, becoming soft and sad. He stopped suddenly, and I realized he was shaking. I turned to him to see tears slowly running down his face and onto his leather vest. He was sobbing, the carved flute falling to his lap with his hands, which curled into balls.

"Hicc?" I asked. "What's the matter? You okay?"

He took a hand and rubbed it across his face, wiping tears on his green sleeve. He nodded, and after a couple moments of sniffling, he put the flute against his lips and began to play again. I recognized the tune this time. I had heard him play it before. Then, to my surprise, he began singing. It was the same tune.

"My father told me something that happened once, so long ago...

Up where there was wind and sun, green grass and white snow.

I believed his every word, he was a wise old man.

He would tell me everything about this ancient land."

He paused, starting to cry again, but only slightly.

"People saw the sun each day, saw the cloudy sky.

And they would greet each other as they passed by.

Oceans blue, and mountains great, fields of flowers too,

If someday I reached it, I'd come back and tell everything to you.

Then someday we'll live up there, in that wonderland.

You and me can live in peace, heart to heart and hand in hand."

He took a deep breath, trying to keep himself calm.

"My father taught me that one after he recovered from the battle of the Red death." Hiccup stated. "The day he gave me this flute. I never forgot it. I wonder if he'd sing it with me?"

I scooted closer. "I'm sure he would if he were here." I agreed. "I bet he's proud."

Hiccup nodded. "I've come a long way from being Hiccup the Useless, haven't I?" He mumbled. "Now I'm Hiccup the fatherless. Hiccup the legless. Hiccup- Hiccup the creator. Hiccup the lonely flute player. The inventor. Hiccup the tortured."

"Hey, stop that." I snorted, putting a hand on his shoulder. "What have I told you about beating yourself up?"

"Not to."

"That's right. You're twenty-two now, Hicc. You've come a long way. So stop the self-punishment, others have done it to you enough, and all of them were wrong. All of them were stupid."

"Present company included?" Hiccup teased softly, surprising me. Amusement lit up in his eyes.

I nodded, giving him a nudge. "Don't worry, I paid for it." I mumbled.

He laughed softly. We went silent for a while, relaxing as the sun set.

"I miss my father." Hiccup said softly.

"I miss him too." I agreed, pressing myself next to Hiccup to comfort him. "He was a great man."

We went silent for the longest time yet. The sun set on the horizon, the brilliant reds and oranges of the sky turning to indigo and black, stars peeking out in the shadows.

"So," Hiccup said at length, breaking the silence and crickets and distant frogs. "How's being Chief?"

"Tough." I thought over the last couple of days. "Just because it's summer doesn't make it any easier. It seems like everyone has a problem that only I can fix. And sometimes it seems there is no solution to anything." I facepalmed, heaving a huge sigh.

"Today was tougher than usual, I gather?" Hiccup asked, raising a brow.

"Ugh, you have no idea." I growled frustratedly. "You know Hoark?"

"I'm familiar with him." Hiccup snorted.

"Him and old man Mildew got into a huge dispute, if you can call it that, over whether Mildew's cabbages were edible, and Hoark suggested Mildew use AI to help him harvest. He has a lot of work to do on them, but as usual, he refuses to work with the "mechanical monstrosities". So, I had to step in and try to mediate."

Hiccup let out a long groan. "I can only imagine how that went."

I nodded. "Yup. Badly. The best it got was when Mildew called me and Hoark "a couple of disrespectful machine kissing idiots"."

"And you let him get away with that remark?" Hiccup asked, shaking his head in disbelief.

"I did. Inferno didn't." I snickered despite myself. "He came up with one of the most interesting insults I've heard yet."

"Does it include profanity?" Hiccup asked.

"Yup. But I'll sensor it for you." I joked softly, nudging Hiccup. "He called Mildew a "doggone cabbage munching dadgum crickety old codgery coot"."

Hiccup broke out into laughter, a happy, deeply amused laugh, that had him shaking and crying with joy. I was caught off guard. I rarely heard Hiccup laugh, even on his best days. There were few things that made him truly laugh. He continued for a while, and even when I thought he had finished, he giggled a couple of times.

"I didn't think Inferno had that in him." Hiccup chuckled.

"Neither did I." I agreed, laughing a little myself.

With Hiccup cheered up, the rest of the time we spent talking was much more cheerful than my entire week had been. We only left when the moon was right over our heads, too tired to stay up any longer.

I walked home in the dead of night, much happier than I had been for a while. It had been a whole year since Stoick's death, and the start of my Chiefdom. Hiccup spent most of his time with Toothless in the forge, tinkering. Either that, or going for flights. He had made a new bunch of upgrades for Toothless lately. I had the rough job of keeping this poor little village together in all times, good and bad.

And lately. we had been lucky enough to have a long year of peace since Viggo's defeat.

How long it would last, I could only guess.

I could hope for a good few more years, at least.

Or maybe more.

At least I had Hiccup, my friend, my brother, and one of the brightest rays of hope that has ever existed.

Maybe it was enough for me.