CH15: Who Knows

I don't own HTTYD or their characters from any series. I do however make them more OOC based on what I need.

Like I thought, it takes me a while to reach the village.

I had to avoid difficult terrain so there was a lot of going around and round the area. I tried to keep the direction of where I left Toothless in mind but it might just be easier to follow my footprints. Strategically not a good idea since it could lead them back to our camp. But that's easy to fix. Either drop some snow from the trees over my prints or leave lots of missteps going nowhere. I need the practice with walking, hurt as I am, so the second is used a lot. I'll just keep the general direction in mind and follow the river if I need to.

So now I'm here at the edge of the village steadying my mind to go in. My worry is what excuse to use if they ask me how I got here. The truth might be a problem here.

The first steps the hardest.

So I enter the village. The heavy crowds pay no attention to me. Good sign for a start.

If I'm going to get anywhere here, I should go to the top, in other words the village leader. They could direct me to where I could go and maybe offer some lodging. Again the level of support may depend on my excuse for being here.

Their house is also the easiest place to find, like Berk it's the biggest house on top of the hill.

I keep walking thru the village to find where I need to go while watching the people around me continue ignoring me. Weird I figured a new face around here would raise some eyebrows but I'm not getting any reaction to my being here. Anyone that sees me just shrugged me off.

A lot of people all going the same way? Yeah, I don't know why I didn't notice but most of the people are heading en mass towards the harbor. The strange crowd behavior gives me good reason to be worried.

Makes me think I arrived in the middle of an evacuation. Would be just my luck that I came just when a volcano was starting to erupt or something.

So naturally I go see what's going on. How? Follow and observe the crowd.

Reaching the edge of the harbor, I realize that if they really are evacuating for something they might be better off walking then sailing. The sea is solid ice. No boat is going thru that, unless it was a flying boat, their stuck here.

A flag sailing on one of the ships makes me realize the strange behavior of the village as well as what their explanation for my being here. Trader Johan's ship.

"Oh, this could actually work to cover my being here."

One of the villagers bumps it to me nearly toppling me. "Watch it lad! Hey, who are you? Oh, you must be from the trader ships. Sorry bout that. You got anything to good to sell? I'd rather not wait all day here in this line."

And that confirms why no one was worried about me walking around. "Sorry, I just sold out."

"Aww damn just my luck by the time I get thru this line all the good stuff'll be gone."

"What were you looking for?" Don't know why I asked but I just couldn't help it. Not that I could do anything for him.

"Well I was looking for some materials to make a present for the wife you see. Her birthdays coming soon and I wanna make her something special. I was thinking of decorating something of hers in somekinda jewel or I don't know. I just want it to be something special, one of a kind. I just hope there's something like that left when I finally get in there."

Why am I even listening to this guy? "How unique are you going for? And what do you plan to pay with? Coin or trade?" And why do I keep responding like I know what I'm talking about? Actually I think I'm just repeating some things that I often hear Trader Johan say when he comes to Berk and someone doesn't know what he's looking for.

"I'd like to it to be something no one else here has, something that reflects how one of a kind she is to me. As far as payment goes, I've got some fine leather to trade or if that's not enough I've got a few coins I'm willing to pay with."

Hearing that gives me an idea. Let's see how I do on the other side of the trading game. "How do you feel about one of a kind dragon scales?"

"Hmm? I'm listening." Well I got his attention. This is stupid but might as well take this as far as I can.

"Well you see I mostly deal with metals, weapons, and other hand forged tools. But recently I got my hands on some scales from an unknown beast. They have a very unique black shine like black pearls. Would that be anything that you would happen to be interested in?" Can't believe I didn't think of trying this earlier. But since he think I'm a trader, might as well go with it. Who knows this could be something I can keep using later along the way.

"Like pearls huh? That might not be so bad. Tell me more young man."

"I didn't bring them with me since I didn't think it would be something that would sell, but if you'd be willing to wait and let me bring them for you later. Maybe it'll be just what you're looking for. But don't let me stop you from exploring the rest of Johan's main selection. Go and browse but if you still don't find anything you like then once I get back with my merchandises and if you're still interested lets meet back mmm ah over their by that small stable over there. What do you say?"

"Well I don't know. I may like what Johan has more than what you have. And if I leave it but still don't like your scales then I sure won't be happy. You understand, this better be good."

Gulp. "Uhmm welllll you know if there is anything that you like that Johan has, then you could just ask him to hold it till the end of the day. Johan is willing to hold it for you till you make your final decision. That is our policy of course." I really hope I didn't just dig myself deep in trouble. I've done the hold an item thing with Johan before, but as far as I know I'm the only one that does it.

"Err well uhh will he really be willing to hold an item for me?" My potential customer asks to confirm.

"Yes he will, but only one. So you can choose between his item or mine when the time comes. So what do you say?"

He thinks for a bit before accepting. "Ok you got a deal. Over their by the stables right? Sure I'll come check it out and see if I like your wares more than Johan's." And he turns around back to the line.

I do the same except I head back to the forest.

My walking speed seems to have increased. It doesn't feel as strained as before. It might be that I'm just excited that I managed to get a chance to make some quick cash. Well I mean if I play my cards right. I may only make it with some leather but that would be good too. I need to make a new riding harness, flying without it like I am now make me nervous about falling.

I make it back to Toothless who watches me wondering what happened. 'I don't see a mob behind you, so I guess it didn't go too bad.'

"If you were expecting trouble, well that still could happen but not yet. But I do need your help."

He perks up like a dog waiting for a treat hearing that I needed his help. 'What can I do?'

"I made a deal with someone. Trade for something unique. So I was kinda wondering if maybe you could sorta let me if at all possibleeeeeee, let me have some scales?"

'Sure.' He gives a agreeing nod before shaking himself and a bunch of his midnight black scales fly all over the place. I just look at him in shock.

"Just like that!? No argument, no long back and forth till we reach some agreement we both can be happy with. That it?! Just like that?!"

'Well I needed to do that eventually. Figured now was as good as any and if my old scales can help you do what you need then bonus for us.' And he lays back down to rest again.

"Damn I even came ready to debate it out with you. I feel a little disappointed."

Well I collect a few of the scales and wrap them up in some bearskin to take back to the village. I don't take them all I might need them later at another village. If this works out that is.

On my way back to the village I take the same precautions I took to avoid followers as before.

I go straight to the stable that we designated as our meeting spot. Not sure if he'll come but it's not like I have much else to do.

I just realized that we don't even know the others name.

When the bounty finally comes out it'll say Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III. I wouldn't even be able to use my name without it bringing me trouble. I wonder if that's the case, should I use another name? Not like it be hard, just go around saying I'm such and such. It's my name, I have the option of how I call myself, right?

I could even go so far as to give a different name in every different village I go to so I'm not so easy to track. Anonymity would go a long way to keep Berk off my trail cause I'm sure they will only look for someone called Hiccup. Physical descriptions are vague at best and pictures are, well let's just say whoever is on the picture is never the person in question.

Alvin the treacherous is described as a ten foot giant with a body of pitch black hair, the strength of 20 men, and an iron like beard that houses a colony of poisons insects from the pits of hell itself. The picture is really accurate to this description.

Ok now that I think about it I really want to hear what they'll say about me. It'll give me an idea of what they really thought of me for all those years.

But yeah my name is who I am. Hiccup was who I was then and now, but what about from now on? Really what's the point of having a name now? Other than Toothless their really wouldn't be anyone who will call me anything but traitor, liar, monster, or enemy. Well no human at least. Not till I get far from here to a place that there are no Vikings at all.

A place where they won't judge me by Viking standards.

But Hiccup is also who I am for Toothless. It's not like I could imagine calling him anything else.

Guess worrying about a name that others will give me later doesn't do me any good. Still, huh?

My contemplation is cut short when I see the man I talked to come up to me with Trader Johan in tow.

"Oh no. Should have seen this coming."

"See this is the young man that has something else to sell."

"Ah yes so you're the novice trader who's been working round my back with some hidden product, eh, Hiccup." Oh joy of course he remembers me.

"Ah, yeah Johan good to see you again." I give with a wave and smile. I'm not scared of him but at the moment he has a really big Viking next to him that gives me pause.

"Well lad, show us what you got." Ok didn't see that coming he's playing along with the story I'm with him. Better go with it for whatever reason he is.

"Ah yes sir." I pull out my bundle while addressing the man I dealt with earlier. "So did you find something else that caught your eye on the ship?"

"Yes I kinda did. It not quiet what I hoping for so I'm praying what you got is more what I'd like."

"Hehe right. Well uh here they are. One of a kind dragon scales." I reveal my items.

Their looks of awe are a bit more than what I expected. "May we examine them?" Johan asked.

"Sure." And they take a pair of the small lustrous scales in their hands and start looking them over.

"Wow you weren't kidding when you said they were pearl like. They're like flattened black pearls. So smooth and slick."

"Indeed these would be quiet the sell. Or for you sir an opportunity." Johan entices my customer.

"Well, unique enough for your wife?" I ask.

He was looking them over while thinking on whether or not to get them makes every second feel like an eternity, like he could remain undetermined forever.

Finally he nods. "I think these will be much better. Like you said they are unique. But I must ask, how did you come by these?"

Needless to say the truth is no good. "I only came by these in the forest of another island. I found them just scattered around. They seem to be scales and based on the size, dragon ones. They were interesting so I gathered them to hoping they might be worth something. So was I right?"

"Well I think so. I'll take them. I'm sure my wife will like them." He tells me.

"Well I'm so happy you think so, what do you say that those gold coins for the scales? How about for the same price as the green quartz pieces you saw on my boat." Johan barters with my customer.

"Sure thing." And he hands a pouch of coins to Johan while taking the scales in the bundle and walks away excitedly with the soon to be present.

Johan and I stay where we are as we wait till he's safely away. "Hey Johan, long time no see."

"It sure has been Hiccup. Can you imagine my surprise that not only was someone trying to steal my customers while passing themselves off as one of my men, but that this thief was Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III from Berk."

"You're probably wondering what I'm doing here right."

"Would it have anything to do with you being the Meridian of Misery's newest most wanted?"

….. "Well this has been a great reunion, but I think I should be going. Till next time Johan."

I try to hurry off but he stops me. "Don't you want your cut of the profit?"

I turn around and "Huh?" Was he really going to give me what I earned? Wait how does he even know that I'm wanted? I sure the news couldn't have spread yet with the freeze.

Johan take some of the coins out and pockets them and passes the rest still in the pouch to me. "You're serious?"

"Well of course. Your sell your gain."

"And what you just took out?"

"My cut for using my store name."

"Right uhm sorry about that. Wait no, why do you know about my uhh well you know my 'issue', and why would you help by giving me this if you know that?" I ask. If he knows the others here could too.

"Well to answer your second question. You simply made a fair and mostly honest trade, nothing wrong with that. I'm a business man and I respect someone who can make a better trade then me, annoyed but that another thing to do with you saying you were one of my men."

"Good to know. And the 'other' thing?" Which is more important to know. It might mean I have to leave now.

"I heard about it on the way here."

"How? That makes no sense!"

"Well the story is a tale of bravery and fortitude. You see as I was on the way to find port to anchor before my ship was frozen out at sea, we came across a ship that was drifting and already stuck in a large patch of ice that prevented its ability to continue."

Every time I see him I forget how much he likes to talk about thing in an exaggerated tone.

"My crew goes in close to examine what we thought was ship full of dead or frozen or both, but to our surprise; it was abandoned! Nothing on board but the oars."

I'm getting sleepy listening to him.

"So we figure the crew went overboard but we worry no more about it. Soon the winds and gales and hails and the storm of the year hit us. We fought tooth and nail to push our poor ship to harbor. My brave men tugged and challenged Mother Nature and everything she threw at us."

Actually I think it's the way his voice sounds that's making me sleepy. It might just be my exhaustion from the pain I was in but I can't deny that his voice was catalyzing some sort of sleep response in my already tried body.

"On our way here on the near frozen waters we see a figure. Bravery unlike any I had ever seen before, a man swimming thru the icy waters as if it were nothing. We sail to their side and pull him in before he lost his strength to reach land and could you imagine who such a brave man was?"

No idea.

"It was Spitlout Jorgensen! He had volunteered himself and several others to go deliver news of the utmost importance."

"Ok I think I can figure the rest out. You fished him out, he tells you I'm a traitor, and finally you reach this place before the ice fully sets. Right."

"Exactly."

Great, out of every island I could have gone to I have to fly to the one Island that knows I'm wanted. The one! Really? Wait?

"He's here? Uncle Spitlout's here? On this island?"

"That's right."

"Ok. And with that I take my leave. Thanks for the coins and such and such. Well bye."

"If you're worried about your uncle I wouldn't be too much so. He's asleep up in the healers hut. He spent several hours in the ice water. He was the only one to survive long enough for help to find him."

"The only one?"

"Yes he came with a crew of five others. The others succumbed to the cold and sank to the bottom."

My heart feels heavier hearing more people dies because of me. They might have been only delivering news of me but it was still because of me.

Five.

"Johan do you know who they were?" Thinking of five makes me think of only one group. I almost don't want to hear the names but I need to be sure. I need to know if she was one of them. I shake at the thought and tears almost well up thinking about it. I just pray that she wasn't on that ship, or that her body wasn't now at the bottom of the frozen ocean.

"They were Coldsore, Bonesmash, Onex, Gravefoot, and Mildew.

Ok, hearing Mildews name, the most detained and annoying man on Berk, makes me no longer care. Though it does beg the question why he was on the boat in the first place. But again I don't care anymore.

"So everyone here knows then."

"No actually the only one who knows is myself. I heard from Mr. Jorgensen before he passed out but all I heard was that 'Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III is wanted as a traitor'. He's still unconscious at the healers hut. To be honest I just thought him delirious. I just couldn't believe you of all people were a traitor. But seeing you here now seems to add some truth to an increasing mystery. Unfortunately I don't know much else, even how you could have gotten here. Mind filling me in."

"Probably better you don't know the whole story. I'll just give you a quick summery. I made a new friend who happened to be an enemy and they wanted me to kill him. I said no and now we're on the run."

"Fighting for a friend. Truly noble. Where is he?"

"Let's just forget about that for now. So you really haven't told anyone?"

"No."

Realistically it doesn't matter either way; it's just better I leave now before things get messy here. When or if Spitlout wakes up he'll tell everyone and then I'll be cornered here.

"I still should leave now. If the worst happens and he wakes up while I'm still here then I'm screwed. Not like I really can do much in my condition as you can see." Indicating at my bandaged body.

"I was about to ask about that, what happened? Did one of your new inventions explode on you or something?"

"No, actually this was what Stoic did to try to 'persuade' me to kill my friend. To be honest I'm not making weapons anymore. I haven't made one in about a month."

"No more inventions and clever blueprints? Darn, that's a shame. We used to make a killing off of those."

Wow, I've never heard someone say it's a bad thing I no longer make my inventions. Most people in fact would say that it was the best thing I ever did. Wait?

"What do you mean 'make a killing off of those'?"

"Uh well uhhhh?"

"Hey! Dangerous wanted man here. Start talking."

"Well, Hiccup, lad you see. Do you remember those plans of yours that you used to trade with me?"

"Yeah. So?"

"Well you see I might have some customers that pay very handsomely for your plans and designs."

This guy actually was able to sell those plans? I can't believe it. Who in their right mind would buy the wild contraptions of a disdained madman? Or crazy fishbone child, whichever come to mind first. This is something to hear.

"Johan tell me the whole story. Starting from the first plans I gave you seven years ago."

"Why? Didn't your father or Mr. Gobber tell you? I mean I did tell them because of how impressive my customers found them. I thought that that would be something they would have been proud of you for."

Why is it that whenever I'm in the middle of an important conversation my head seems to skip over most of the words said and instead focuses on one or two phrases said? Like here with him talking, I only focus on him telling me that Stoic and Gobber knew about this. Because that would mean Stoic and Gobber have been keeping secrets from me.

Well Stoic wouldn't have told me anything to encourage my creations, so if he knew something that would have compelled me to invent more he would have buried it so that I would never know. He would have even silenced Gobber if he had to. He proved that when he went as far as killing his best friend just for helping me free the dragons.

Something else that could be explained that I didn't understand before is why Gobber told me he had reinvented all my old creations. It was his way to encourage my ideas. Knowing him he probably was waiting for a good time to help me improve my stuff. He probably kept getting distracted with other jobs that he got from the rest of the islanders and never got around to it.

Thinking of Gobber like that brings back the regret and pain I feel of losing him.

I can't think about that for now.

"Johan could you just tell me about what happened to those plans."

"Hiccup, are you alright?"

"Yeah I'm perfect. Just a bit chopped up. Having your father keep secrets and nearly kill you is perfectly normal. Seriously just keep telling me about those sales."

"But you're crying?" When he said that I checked my eye and sure enough I had tears starting to fall from my eye. Wiping my face I shake my head and try to ignore my state of mind to keep focused on the talk with Johan and the information he had.

"It nothing. Just keep talking."

"Hiccup how about we continue this over some food. It might help you calm down. You seem agitated."

"Could you just tell me the story!" I lash out to him. He seems to think about this like he might not tell me what I want to hear.

"How about this Hiccup, we trade stories. I tell you about how your plans became one of my products and you tell me what happened to make you so upset. Well sound like a deal?"

"Spoken like a true merchant. Fine, but you first."

"How about some food with the story."

"Fine."

With him leading the way we go to what was the same thing as a Great Hall in Berk here in this village. Getting some food we look for a place to talk. He wanted to sit here surrounded by everyone but I really didn't like the sound of being surrounded by everyone that could potentially come after me. I got him to agree to eat alone on his ship.

Once there and we start eating he begins his story. I'm glad he begins our talk, gives me a chance to enjoy my first real meal since I left Berk.

"Well I suppose the story of what happened to your plans begins seven years ago when I first got them. I honestly wasn't sure they would sell at all since it wasn't the kind of thing Vikings here in the Archipelago would ever use, and I was right they were never taken."

Just for the record I only got enough iron to make a single sword for those plans. I ended up making myself a personal sword with it. It was perfect for even me. But as the story of my life usually goes; Snotlout happened and I never saw it again. Still don't know what happened to it. I never got over the loss and never bothered making another one like it again.

"It wasn't until I met up with my brother that I managed to trade it with him. I traded those plans for a dull knife. Boy did I regret that when I saw him the next time."

"What do you mean?" I ask him.

"He managed to sell your journal in a distant country in the south east for, and I say this literally, several boatful's of treasure and livestock."

"What!? My plans for what?"

"I couldn't believe it either. He turned that one journal into three boats full of gold, jewels, metals, animals, and food stuffs!"

"Ok, your brothers either the greatest salesman ever or he's lying to you."

"Yes! I thought the same thing. It couldn't possibly be true, but I saw the evidence myself. I saw the three boats of said items right in front of me!"

"Ok, that's gonna need some more explanation."

"You see Hiccup the country that my brother sold those plans is a completely different place then Berk or the Archipelagoes as a whole. It is a place that values culture and advanced ideas more than strength and battles. How my brother described it as was a place full of inventors looking for the next radical piece of technology."

"Now I'm confused. Why would they want with my ideas? Sounds like they would have much better stuff then what I made. They were only weapons after all. What good would they have for tools of war if they value culture?"

"They may have been weapons to you but they turned them into something more. My brother told me that they spread those plans for such use like public security, farming, forest tilling, and even construction! Your inventions became the hot items to have for everyday life for them. Do you remember your Jigsawtomatic?"

I nod. It was a device I made to chop dragon to pieces. Fate Snotlout; nuff said. It was a one way box that you put a dragon in one opening and they get shredded and their remains get tossed out the other side. Inside was a series of blades and circular saws that would cut anything to ribbons. You would operate it by continuously turning a wheel to get the whole device started.

"Well these people turned that idea into a way to chop firewood faster and more efficiently than just by hand. It's the same for all your ideas, they reimagined your weapons for all sorts of practical uses. One of them was even turned into a sport! Remember your faster feet invention; they turned it into a racing game!" He kept talking but I stopped listening to him. Not that I didn't want to hear but because of what I was hearing.

It really was unbelievable. Everyone on Berk hated my inventions with a passion equal to the dragons, but now I hear that there are people who not only like my plans but actually use them? It was like working all my life without reward but then hearing that someone doing the same job as me was getting paid more than me just because his dad was our boss. In other words it wasn't fair.

And my dad never told me.

Rejected by my people but picked up and accepted by others who I never even heard about, yeah not fair.

"And your brother really made a profit off those?" I ask to confirm.

"Oh yes! In fact my brother told me that when they first saw those plans they nearly started a riot to get them. He said they had a bidding war unlike anything he ever saw! Hundreds of people fighting and yelling, just to get one of those designs. That how he made the profit of the century from those plans. When he later returned they begged for more even though he didn't have any. So the next time he saw me he wanted to get more plans and more about the inventor, more about you."

I'm having trouble wrapping my head around what I'm hearing. People not only wanted my plans but also wanted to hear about me? Sounded like pure crap to me. "So what did you tell your brother?"

"Well I told him about you of course. At the time I didn't have a set of your plans so I couldn't give him any. I didn't even know if I wanted to, remember I got a knife for them and he got the haul of a lifetime. I was angry! Eventually we made a deal. To split the profit, 30 70, if I got a hold of more."

"Which you did. I gave you another journal full of plans the next time I saw you."

"Which I gave to my brother, for which he got another large haul. He also told stories of you. Once they got your name they immediately started calling your inventions and plans 'The Hiccup Tools'. They're just that popular."

"They even named them after me!?" This is insane! I can believe Gobber simply forgetting to tell me, but my dad should have at least mentioned it to me.

What the hell am I saying? Of course he never told me. He never talked to me, ever! So of course he never told me. He would actually have to have to be proud of me to tell me anything, especially about this!

"Of course it wasn't all good." Johan tells me. Now this I could believe. Add my name and trouble just follows at the heels.

"I knew it. What happened? Did they destroy a city or something?" I joked, but I was mostly serious.

"It started a conflict with a very powerful religious country." He sounded very serious about this.

"What?"

"Well Hiccup the country that adopted your ideas has a neighboring country which is very religious. It's a conservative and religiously devoted country that hates your type of technological ideology."

"So I I? Did I create some kind of national friction?" I ask with deep fear in my voice. Have I really caused so much damage with my thinking?

"Almost. There was a resolution, no fighting really broke out but it apparently almost sparked a war. To this day theirs a lot of tension over the topic of your revolutionary ideas. They even labeled you 'Hiccup the Sinful Revolutionary'."

"Great I was wanted before I became hunted. Wait did Stoic know this?"

"Well I did tell him. Can't imagine why he wouldn't tell you. I mean your life was in danger."

"What do you mean by that? How was I in danger?"

"Hiccup they labeled your ideas sinful by the laws of their gods. Unnatural even. You became there enemy. And they have a reputation of eliminating those they deem sinners. In other words, assassination."

I gulp at that word. Assassins. It was a scary thought. More than just being hunted, people really just wanted me dead and gone. Hearing that title makes my mind race, my heart accelerates, my back itches. The scars on my back itch.

Like a puzzle, I see the pieces fall into place in my mind. If these people really did send assassins after me then they might have been the ones who stabbed me in the back several times years ago. They tried to kill me because of my ideas. I scared a whole country to send people after me to have me killed.

And my dad knew this whole time. But rather than tell me he shrugged it off as if it were nothing. Should have figured he knew more than he was letting on.

"How does your brother get away with selling my plans if they find it that bad?"

"My brother and I are part of the Traders Guild, were protected from country laws so long as it's nothing nationally prohibited. Since its only one country outlawing them we just don't go there."

Right, he's got a group backing him, make sense.

"Well, now it's your turn Hiccup."

"What?"

"You're story of course. What's the whole deal about you being wanted and a traitor? And is it true your father did all this to you?" He asked while gesturing to my injuries hidden by the bandages.

"Yeah he did, him and Spitlout spent the better part of a day carving me up like a chicken being prepped to eat, just so I'd agree to kill my friend. No he's actually closer to me like a brother. I never said yes and after a while I managed to escape with some help."

"Still doesn't explain why you were crying lad. What was that all about?"

"Gobber was one of the people who helped me escape. And he got killed for it."

"What?"

"Yeah Gobber's dead. Stoic killed him."

"I can't believe it. Are you sure? I mean he? By your father?"

"It's true all of it and I'm sure he's gone. Dagger to the heart, so there's no doubt."

"Wow, that's just terrible."

"And the best part is that their calling me a traitor for escaping with my friend."

"So who is this friend that you protect with such consequences?"

"To Berk he's just an enemy. To me like I said, he's my brother, Toothless."

"Toothless huh? Well no matter. What do you plan to do now?"

"I'll leave for now and find another island I can find work and equipment that I'll need for a long trip. I have one last thing to do here in the Archipelago but after that I wasn't too sure. But after hearing your story I think I might stop by this place in the south east."

"You sure you can make a trip like that? It pretty far to the continent, and even farther to the country itself.

"Yeah, that sound like a good place to go for now. If nothing else it gives me a destination after I finish my last bit of business here."

We stopped talking and finished our food. I was up to leave but Johan called me back. "Hiccup you said you needed some stuff, right?"

"Yeah. I guess I could get some of it with the money I got here for those scales."

"What do you need?"

"Why do you ask?"

"I certain I have what you need. That is if you'd like to get it from me."

"I could probably get some of what I need with the coins I got from that guy earlier, but I'd rather save them for later. So thanks but no thanks."

"How about a trade?"

What's he getting at? "Trade what? I don't have anything but the coins I just got. What could I give you?"

"Ideas."

"What are you up about?"

"Hiccup I'll give you whatever you need for your trip in exchange for some of your blueprints."

"And like I said I don't have any and I don't even do them anymore. So again, thanks but no thanks. Besides they sound like they cause more trouble than their worth."

"What are you talking about?"

"Didn't you say that people have fought over them? Doesn't seem like a good thing to do if all it causes are conflicts."

"How can you say that? You got a talent there. And that should be explored. Besides once word about your situation gets out it'll be harder for you to get essential like maps you may need. Better sooner than later, right?"

He is right about that, it's better I get my things now while I'm free to choose. Besides, there are some goods that I could only get from him. There's a problem though I don't have any plans on me. I had some old one back on Berk in Gobber's forge.

Huh, I just realized that Stoic and the others probably have destroyed all my stuff. 'Remove all the traitors' belongings from Berk to protect and safeguard the sanctity of our Viking way of life from his perverse ideas.' It's only natural they'd do that but the idea of them burning my stuff does make me a bit mad.

"Sorry Johan but even if I wanted to I don't have any."

"Then how long would it take for you to make a few? I'll even provide a notebook to make them in, free of charge of course. What do you say? Plans in exchange for everything you need."

"Why?"

"Well because those plans are a hot item that could bring in a good profit."

"Their also dangerous."

"So are swords and frying pans, and I still sell those regardless. So what do you say, do we have a deal?"

This really would be a good chance to get what I need fast and just for a few plans. It' should be a logical decision. But the idea that people could get hurt or become targeted because of them gives me pause. Put him at risk and get what I need or forget it and go elsewhere?

No, that's not even a question, there are thing I need and now I've got a fast way to get them. Specifically the maps and tools for Toothless's gear, and the best and maybe only place to get them are from Trader Johan.

"Fine if you give me a notebook and pencil, I'll draw up some plans for you to sell to your brother."

"Perfect lad!" He jumps up in excitement over our deal.

"And I get whatever I need right?"

"Whatever from my ship you need is yours for the plans."

"Let me write up a list you and when I come back we just pass on the items and go our separate way fast and smooth. Good for you?"

He nods agreeing to my terms and after a few minutes of writing my order and showing it to him, he agrees that the requested items would be mine for the plans.

I head back to the forest with some leftover fish from diner. I also have the notebook and some candles Johan gave me to work with packed in a satchel.

Once back Toothless was happy to greet me. I toss him the fish and we sit down by a fire relaxing for the day. While he was eating I told him everything that happened, like what I learned, what the deal with Johan was, and my plan to go southeast after we were done here examining the dragon situation.

He seemed to like the idea and quickly became excited hopping around about the idea of going south east. Maybe he had the same idea.

Well if we do plan to go that way we'll defiantly need maps and some directions to go. Other things I asked for from Johan along with food, clothe, healing items, and the specific tools and some spare materials for our riding gear. I don't want to get too much since it might be too heavy for Toothless to carry so I only get small amounts of what I need.

"I would have liked to go the see the healer, but knowing Spitlout is their kinda makes that a very bad idea. I just have to wait on that."

I look at the notebook I was given. Well he want's plans so what should I design? I don't want to make weapons for others to use, so something practical for anyone to use is should be fine. Something good to help others.

But what? What is something other people would want? If it was just a regular Viking village they'd want better swords and shields that they could use in battle. But that's not what these peoples need. From what I understood they value advancement and creativity.

Thinking about it and imagining what these people are like is weird, I really just can't imagine it to be true but apparently it is. What are they like? What do they do for a living? What sort of village do they live in that they accept my weird ideas? These thoughts make me as excited as when I was first leaving Berk.

It could even be a place that Toothless and I can live safely.

The progress with my plans is slow. I just couldn't get any inspiration for any useful plans. I just watch Toothless walk around me telling me to play with him. It's weird that he doesn't just pounce on me to get my attention like he usually does. I'm sure he's just dying to get some flight time.

I give up for now and decide to just go fly on Toothless to try and clear the cobwebs in my head. Maybe I'll get some ideas then.

So we fly around the island. We go slow and steady due to my injuries but we still enjoy the flight. The two of us in the air makes the world seem bigger than I ever thought and the stories I heard makes me want to learn more, to see these places and more. I wonder what is all out their?

While flying a thought suddenly hit me. "Johan's been ripping me off for years for those plans."