Chapter 7: Attack
(Thistle)
Thistle had too much on her mind to go to training. Gobber had told her that today she would be fighting some of the other teens, (whoever decided to show, that was), to sum up what she had learned in the past four weeks. Kind of like a final exam, except she knew she wasn't really done. However, with everything that had happened that day, she knew trying to fight would be useless.
But it was because she had so much on her mind that she went in the first place. She could not get the image of Stone and Hiccup embracing each other out of her mind, nor could she stop the burning flame it ignited in her. She wanted to cry. She wanted to ask why Hiccup was so willing to touch Stone when he hadn't spoken to her for almost twelve years. She wanted to scream at Stone: "He's mine!" And she couldn't do any of it - because they were happy. And who was she to interrupt the happiness of her best friend?
She hadn't expected to be fighting Astrid, but after a few moments' thought, it really came as no surprise. Astrid was one of the top fighters in her age group. What really surprised her was when Tuffnut came sprinting into the ring. Her reaction was odd - her heart thudded against her chest and her body filled with adrenaline. She didn't want him to see her get beaten by Astrid. And she really didn't want to fight him. But as he began to talk to Astrid, Thistle slowly realized that she had no choice. Instead of dragons, she would be taking on them today.
She wished she could figure out what was happening between her and Tuffnut, too. The blond Viking had spoken to her a few times - in fact she had been rather impressed with his tenacity in trying to get her attention. She had been unable to answer out of sheer shyness, but she couldn't help but notice that when he had actually spoken to her last, she had replied. Almost automatically. And the more he spoke to her, the easier it seemed to talk back. She hadn't managed to look at him yet, but something about his voice made her feel better. He was warm too - she had barely noticed the chilly air of Berk when he'd had his arm around her.
She'd spent so much time thinking about Hiccup that Tuffnut's attention came as a real surprise. As did her unexpected pleasure when he tried to keep Astrid from ripping her to shreds. But when he mentioned she wasn't very good, it felt like a blow to the chest. Shamed, she had looked down at the ground, sure that he would stop talking to her now that he'd found a flaw. And she would have been very hurt if Astrid didn't have a habit of screaming a battle cry as she attacked.
She dodged Astrid's first attack by sheer surprise, but the second swing nicked her right shoulder, causing her to drop her shield in pain. Gripping her sword, she swung frantically back at the girl, missing her by a mile. She backed up, off-balance, and tried to listen to the instructions Gobber was screaming at her. But all she saw was Astrid coming at her and Tuffnut struggling back to his feet, trying to arm himself. She froze.
The flat of Astrid's axe thunked on her right shoulder and she dropped to the ground, stunned. The axe came down to encircle her throat, and she stared up at Astrid, outlined against the sun like a goddess. Hot, angry tears spilled out of her eyes, and Astrid groaned and spat on the ground. "Stop crying, get up, and fight!" she shouted in Thistle's face.
Blinded by dust and tears, Thistle crawled to her feet and reached for her shield, taking it up and bracing herself. Astrid rushed her again, and this time Thistle flung herself forward in a panic, dropping low. She caught Astrid's stomach with the shield, but when she tried to lift the girl over her head, she was unable to take the weight, and both of them went down in a heap.
"That's the idea, Thistle!" Gobber belted. "But you're not her landing site! Astrid, take a break!"
"What?" Astrid exploded. "I don't need one!"
"No, but Thistle's got to fight someone who can't drop her in one go! Thistle! Man up! Er...woman up! Viking up! I know you can do better than that! Tuffnut, show her what you got!"
Oh no, Thistle thought. Oh no, no, no!
"What?" Tuffnut sounded just as amazed as Thistle felt, but he had already armed himself up to help her earlier - so he had no reason to back out. "Gobber...I'll kill her!"
"No you won't. You're too much of a wimp," Gobber shot back. "Now teach each other something!"
Tuffnut bristled - he didn't like being called a wimp. But there was a form of panic in his eyes as he looked at Thistle. Thistle shrugged, thinking well, he's wide open, and took a tentative swing. Tuffnut easily dodged it.
"You're not petting a dragon, you're killing an enemy, Thistle!" Gobber roared.
Thistle gulped and planted her feet. Then, she bared her teeth and tried to sound a war cry. A croak issued out of her throat, but her sword arm swung true. Tuffnut countered her sword with his and then swung with his shield. To Thistle's surprise, he pulled the shield at the last minute, swinging it over her head to keep from hitting her. Unexpected anger flooded her and she lifted her head to shout at him.
Gobber drowned her out. "TUFFNUT! SHE'S NOT A DELICATE FLOWER, SHE'S A VIKING WOMAN," he bellowed.
"Sorry," Tuffnut muttered.
"I can't learn if you don't hit me!"
Tuffnut started, blinking at her, and Thistle was surprised to realize that she had said that - and moreover, she was looking directly at him. He had long, white-blond hair, a somewhat wide mouth, and very big, dark brown eyes. He seemed a little taller and bigger than the quick glances she'd seen over the years.
"Stop looking like you've never seen him before, Thistle!"
'But I haven't...not really.'
Tuffnut seemed to be as frozen as she was, staring back with a slightly dazed expression. Thistle shook her head and stepped forward again, lifting her shield. Tuffnut jerked and stepped back, pulling his shield in front of him and keeping his eyes on hers. Thistle broke the eye contact and focused on his weapons. She lifted her sword and moved for him. He danced to the side - and she followed, having feinted. Her blade caught his shield and glanced off and she swung her own shield up to counter his blade. The exchange was slow, but the clang of the steel crooked the side of Thistle's mouth. She drew back and looked at Tuffnut again, the small crook in her mouth slowly blossoming into a relieved smile. To her surprise, he began to smile in return. He had a nice smile.
The second exchange was faster, Tuffnut taking the initiative and keeping it. Thistle was forced into backing up, her eyes following his blade like a dragon follows light. Gobber had been frightfully sharp with her on her first lesson weeks ago: she was not a strong girl, and until she got strong he was going to have her focus on defense. Which meant while Thistle was not strong on any of her attacks, when she was on the defense she could hold her own. Mostly.
"Stop him! Good, Thistle! Tuffnut, watch your arm...good hit, good hit!"
Thistle staggered under the weight of that last blow, taking it full on her shield. Now that Tuffnut was getting into the swing of things, he was starting to use more of his strength. She spun to the side, away from him, and turned her shield behind her. The scrape of steel on wood would have been steel on flesh if she hadn't moved her shield, and she turned around to face him.
The fight was not expert on any level - more like two relatively good amateurs swinging at each other. But for Thistle it was one of her better duels, and when it finally ended, even a loss left her smiling, flat on her back in the ring.
"You could have won that one!" Gobber shouted, swinging down. "Why did you give up?"
"I...did...not," Thistle panted, pulling herself to her feet. "I...tripped."
"Oh, Thor help us if you trip on the field!" Gobber groaned, but he did pat her shoulder. "Better luck next time."
"That was kind of good. For a girl," Tuffnut teased. Thistle tried to look at him, finding that she wanted to playfully insult him right back. But for some reason her eyes wouldn't move. The magic cast by the duel seemed to have run out, and her old embarrassment set in. Looking down at the ground, she murmured: "That was fun."
"C'mon, Thistle, look at me." His voice had a note of pleading in it. "Don't do this again."
Across the ring, Thistle saw Astrid glaring at her, having watched the whole thing. She felt a rush of inferiority, of judgement, as though the blonde girl had been analyzing her all the way through, and finding nothing but fault.
"Thistle, please."
"I have to go," Thistle whispered. She ducked her head and ran.
"See?" Astrid said, coming up next to Tuffnut. "She doesn't have a spine."
"She fought," Tuffnut replied, glaring angrily at Astrid. "She actually fought me."
"She's afraid of me. That fear will get her killed on the battlefield."
"And what battlefield are you talking about?" Tuffnut retorted, and stalked out of the ring, leaving Astrid to wonder.
Thistle didn't want to go home that night. The day had been so long, so full of emotion, that going home and seeing her father passed out in a different position on a newly dirtied floor would have probably resulted in a crying jag that could last for hours. Instead, she started to head for her customary place on the cliffs, wondering if Touch would show up that night so she could thank him for his help on the mountaintop that day. She stopped halfway there, realizing that if she wanted to thank him, she should bring him a fish. Which meant she needed to go fishing.
Reluctantly, she headed for her home, pushing the door open silently and stealing in. To her sad relief, her father was not there. There were some dirtied dishes by the wash bucket, but no suggestion of any other horrible mess for her to clean. She didn't wonder where he had gone to since that morning - most of the men of the village were out on a hunting trip, and her father would have gone after them once he realized he'd slept through departure time.
She slipped out with a fishing pole and bait, gliding into the forest towards the fishing hole. She could get on a boat and go out to sea and fish a little, or she could stick to the island ponds. This late at night, it would have to be the ponds. She didn't much like the idea of climbing down to the beach in the dark.
The night above was a little more foreboding than last night. Instead of gleaming silver moonlight, thin bands cut through the approaching clouds. The dragon was pulling a blanket over him tonight - maybe it was too cold. As she walked, crunching softly through the underbrush, Thistle shivered in spite of herself. This would be a quick trip. Maybe she could promise him a better fish tomorrow night. Assuming he came back.
She burst through the trees and looked down at the ravine before her. A strong memory, overwhelming in senses, made her stagger.
I found this place by accident. On one of my daily walks from the bustling village of Berk, I saw a swath of ground cut open and blackened by a furious force. Sheer curiosity drew me along that ebony path until a gateway of branches and leaves opened into a sunlit clearing dotted with open emerald grass and sparkling sapphire water. My breath would have been taken away by the sight - if not for the sight itself. For there sat my childhood friend, a boy who had probably forgotten my name. He rested peacefully on a rock beside an onyx monster, drawing calmly in the copper sand.
Thistle choked on a sudden emotion as she looked down into the ravine where she had accidentally stumbled upon Hiccup and Toothless meeting a mere two months ago. She remembered watching in mute horror and deep fascination as Toothless had drawn in the sand, and Hiccup had watched - and then moved to step on the lines Toothless had drawn.
A small squeak spit out of my mouth as I realized he was playing with the dragon. Hiccup. Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third, son of Stoick the Vast, a reedy whelp working in a blacksmith shop in hopes of cultivating muscles that seemingly didn't exist, was playing with a Night Fury.
And then he wasn't playing anymore.
He was dancing.
As the dragon watched, its golden-green eyes wide, and as I watched, my throat catching in sudden emotion, Hiccup lifted his arms and began to twirl and step, dodging in and out of the lines drawn on the ground. Like a dragon whirling through the air, or a bird navigating clouds, his body responded to the input from his focused green eyes warning him of each new obstacle. His red brown hair lifted off his neck and his fur-covered vest flew out behind him.
Tears slid down Thistle's cheeks as she climbed down to the fishing pond. Her feet padded along the ground and very quiet sobs hitched her shoulders.
Hiccup reached up his hand and a sob escaped my throat. I closed my eyes at first overwhelmed by fear, and then opened them again, overwhelmed by beauty, and the need to see this bonding between man and beast, boy and dragon. We were supposed to kill the creatures. We weren't supposed to have our hands extended towards them, our heads turned away as though too terrified to even look at the things that are supposed to kill us in return.
The dragon hesitated, started to move his head, stopped...
...closed its eyes...
...and touched Hiccup.
Thistle sat down at the edge of the pond, beginning to bait her hook. Shy of the beauty of the memory that was now fading into the back of her mind, she felt instead a sense of deep, limitless loss. Only that morning she had made a promise to not let Hiccup's newfound friendship die off. And that night, she realized it was gone again - because his arms had been around Stone. Now Stone had Hiccup and Hiccup had Stone and Thistle would be an intruder to them. It was best, then, to simply do what she had done years ago. Allow herself to fade into the background.
What about Tuffnut?
Thistle began to bait her hook, a little surprised that the question had even come up. Sure, Tuffnut was nice. Nicer than she'd expected. And he was not so bad-looking either. Or a bad fighter. He'd even tried to protect her from Astrid. Wasn't that what a friend did? Had she made friends with him without realizing it?
If she had, it would make fading into the background more difficult. She didn't want to do to Tuffnut what Hiccup had done to her.
She cast the hook into the water. It made a tiny splash, ripples extending out and shaking the beams of light across the peaceful surface.
I don't want to think anymore. I just want to fish.
Lost in thought, Thistle did not hear Lexus' soft footsteps.
(Hiccup)
The Gods hate me.
Hiccup pounded his fist into the side of the house, ignoring the sharp pain where the wood cut his knuckles.
Some people lose their knife or their mug.
He half-stomped, half-limped from one end of the house to the other, stalking the stable, even going so far as to climb up on the roof to look - a daunting task thanks to the metal foot but not impossible. He was gradually getting used to balancing his weight onto the small steel stump.
No, not me. I managed to lose an ENTIRE DRAGON?
Toothless was gone. And Hiccup wasn't sure if he was feeling rage, panic, or paralyzing fear. He'd first noticed the dragon's absence about an hour ago, when he'd started to realize that he hadn't taken Toothless flying when they got back from the mountaintop. He'd gotten distracted with Stone...totally lost track of time...wandered around trying to find Thistle for a little while when he realized she had left the training ring...and finally headed home, where Toothless was supposed to be. And wasn't.
Only then had Hiccup clued in that he hadn't seen his dragon since he walked into the hospital hut to make Stone's medication. An hour later, he still hadn't found him.
"Toothless!" he shouted. "Where are you?"
No answer. Well, not one he expected.
"Hiccup!"
"Ms. Heinrickson..?" Hiccup hobbled fiercely back to the front of his house, looking down the doctor with her hands full of plants. "Have you seen Toothless?"
"Not since you came to the hut this afternoon," Ms. Heinrickson replied, a look of concern crossing her face. She shot a glance around as though Toothless would drop out of the sky at any moment. "Are you sure he's not just out hunting?"
"He's never been gone this long!" Hiccup said frantically. "And he needs me to fly!" Which wasn't entirely true - Toothless was nowhere near completely independent, but he could fly-hop short distances before his tail pulled him back to the ground. That made hunting difficult but not impossible. "He can't be that far! I'm going to go look for him."
"No, Hiccup, wait..." Ms. Heinrickson struggled to balance the herbs in her hands. "Wait just a moment."
"I have to go," Hiccup repeated. "Toothless has been acting weird all day. Something could be wrong..." He could sense what he was feeling now, the growing hysteria in his voice and the trembling beginning in his hands. Toothless had never been gone for more than a few hours. He looked up at the doctor, green eyes brightening in panic. "I have to at least try to find him."
"I know," Ms. Heinrickson said firmly. "I know I can't stop you. But I'm going with you. You can't run off into the forest alone with your leg like that. Just...come with me to my hut while I drop off these herbs."
Hiccup needed no further urging. He bolted as fast as he could into the house, grabbing some fish and a torch, slipping his knife into his belt, and then stagger-running back out. Ms. Heinrickson was already most of the way to her hut, and Hiccup chased her down.
(Touch)
In the middle of spitting yet another tiny flame at Touch, Arnkell fell to the ground, groaning in frustration as his tail failed. Chuckling in glee, Touch soared down to nibble at the strange human contraption on the tail of the tamed fire-breather. Catching the edge of the red cloth, Touch pulled it very gently with his teeth, snapping it back into position. Arnkell had managed to communicate to him that the cloth needed to sit just so in order for him to be able to fly in any usable manner, and Touch had dropped back to monitor his tail and try to hold it in position whenever it looked like Arnkell was losing lift. It was a hard job, but not above the intelligent yet hotheaded Night Fury.
For kicks, Touch shot a smug little flame back at Arnkell, who snorted and took off again, masking himself against the clouded sky. Touch quickly beat up after him, worry mixing with panic and fear. The strange humans he had smelled earlier on in the day came from their ships in waves now. That morning, they had only been in small groups, but now they were spreading out all over the beach and sending more and more of themselves into the woods, exploring the land they had landed on. Each of their forays took them closer and closer to the cliffs of Berk, and Arnkell's human friends had no idea they were coming. Which meant they were all in Very Big Trouble.
Even worse, Touch remembered that he had seen a lot of the male humans leaving a few days before. That meant that many of the other humans - including the younger ones - would be defenseless if the metal-smelling humans decided to attack them. Thus, Arnkell and Touch had come up with a Fiendishly Clever Plan.
Well - Arnkell had done the thinking. Touch had done the communicating. He may have been hotheaded and fairly untested on the real battlefield, but with Arnkell at his side he had gotten the required attentions. Arnkell had rounded up some of the wilder dragons and show them the invasion getting ready to take place. It hadn't taken much convincing after that to get the dragons to agree that the village-of-friendly-humans was their village and these evil-smelling humans couldn't have it. So while the bad humans snuck closer and closer to their village, the dragons stalked them through the trees.
That should have been a comfort to the two circling Night Furies, knowing they were watching the danger-makers. Except the friendly-humans, in all their friendliness, had a tendency now to attract trouble through stupid actions. Like going out at night. That was very stupid. And right now, three of the humans were being very stupid. One of them was Arnkell's own master, accompanied by an older-looking female. The other - was the human female who had attracted Touch's attention.
While Arnkell watched his master, Touch kept an eye on the girl who often spent so much time alone. She had to be very very lonely, always sitting on the edges of the cliffs and staring out to sea until she couldn't even move from the cold. He'd had to fly down and light a little fire for her one night lest she fall off of the cliff. She was quiet, and gentle, and totally accident-prone (she'd almost fallen off the mountaintop earlier that day running after Arnkell and Touch had had to stop her), and he slowly had been drawn to her. He had a feeling that someday she might be his rider, and in order to do that he had to keep her alive. Which was kind of a challenge right now, what with all the stinky humans about.
A low rumble of thunder growled through the air, and Touch buffeted against the sudden blow of cold wind. He shot sideways and caught Arnkell's tail just as it folded in and snapped it back out in one go. Arnkell regained his balance in the air and fired a shot at Touch.
Hey! I just helped you! Touch shot one back and snorted. Arnkell had no sense of respect sometimes.
And then the battle cry hit their ears. Beneath them, the land came alive as the metallic-smelling humans stumbled onto the borders of the village. With a roar, Arnkell heeled over, folded his wings, and shot off for the village. Touch glanced down to see the quiet girl gone, ripples marking the spot where she had been fishing. He hoped she was running back to the village. In the distance, he could see some metal-smelling humans running away, and Arnkell's master sprinting through the trees as well.
He folded his wings and banked for Berk.
(Stone)
Stone was in her house when the shouts reached her ears. She was waiting for the sail to dry so she could pack it, but she quickly sprinted out the door with Courage behind her. They were met with chaos. Dragons were attacking and so were some strange people. Stone couldn't really tell if the dragons were attacking Berk or were attacking the people because the sun was already down.
She started to run out toward the village when Courage wrapped around her and lifted her up. Still unused to the sensation, Stone squeaked and gripped him tightly until he dropped her on his back at his neck's base. Quickly catching on, she wrapped her arms around his neck and dangled her legs on either side of it. He took off.
Squeaking again, she gripped tighter until the sensation of flying again overtook her. She relaxed and looked around the village. From this new angle, it was obvious that the dragons were, indeed, attacking the intruders instead of the villagers, but the darkness of the night still made it slightly confusing. The moon was mostly blocked by rain clouds that looked like they could pour down on them at any second. Thunder shook Stone through her very core and lightning flashed so close to her that she quickly became spooked, but she stayed firm.
"Courage!" Stone shouted over the chaos and the roar of the wind and dragons. He looked back and her and she pointed down to a group of the intruders getting ready to attack a house. Understanding what she meant, Courage dived and shot fire down at them, scorching their armor and sending some of them off at a run. Others shot arrows at them and Stone quickly pinched the side of his neck with her hand, hoping he would turn in that direction. He, thankfully, did.
Stone's completely novice flying skills and Courage not used to carrying someone put them at a disadvantage, but they made it work. To get Courage to turn she would simply put pressure on the side of his neck that she wanted him to turn to. To fire, she had to call out and point, which was a slow process because it was so loud, but they managed to scatter some people and burn some arrows.
The battle stopped at quickly as it started. Suddenly, the attackers turned and fled back to their ships. Analyzing the ships sails, Stone realized they were Romans, a place Boulder had told her about once upon a time, and that they had a slave ship with them. She was suddenly very aware that she hadn't seen some of her friends during the battle. Quickly, she pushed down on Courage's neck, encouraging him to dive and land. Stone felt no excitement in the dive like she had the other day on Toothless.
When they landed, Stone ran to look for her friends. It probably would have been better to look from Courage's back in the sky, but it had started to rain. She found Ruffnut, who said she knew where Tuffnut was, Snotlout, Astrid and Fishlegs, but there was no sign of Thistle, Mole, or Hiccup. Feeling tears begin to tug at her heart, she ran harder and faster, nearly plowing over Hiccup when she found him.
"I'm so glad you're okay!" she cried hugging him tightly. He hugged her back but when she looked into his eyes she found sadness.
"What's wrong? Who's gone?" she demanded, squeezing his arms.
"Stone...They took some dragons, Ms. Heinrickson and Thistle." Stone's eyes gushed tears before they, without warning, rolled back in her head as she lost consciousness. If it hadn't been for Hiccup's arms around her she would have fallen right into the dirt.
When she awoke, it was thirty minutes later and she was curled up on Courage's back with Toothless watching her sadly. The memories of what had just happened felt like several knives to her heart. Swallowing back the sadness she slid down Courage's back and approached the battleground. If Mole was gone, that meant she would have to take care of the injured Vikings. She rushed to the hospital hut, gathered a large bundle of bandages, disinfectant salves, rags, and water.
In the rain, she treated the people who were bleeding heavily first, quickly cleaning and wrapping their many cuts before starting the people who had arrows sticking out of them. One of the arrow victims was Tuffnut. Stone immediately got to work, spreading salve around the edges of the arrow before trying to remove it.
"Why are you treating me? And have you seen Thistle?" he suddenly asked as Stone tried working the arrows metal tip out of his shoulder without cutting more skin. She figured it was to distract him and to reassure himself that Thistle was safe. When had he taken such a liking to her?
"Promise me you'll let me finish before you do something stupid?" Tuffnut nodded numbly, his light-hearted easy going nature abandoning him. Stone sighed, feeling her eyes collect tears and her shoulders shake slightly.
"The attackers took them," she whispered, her voice cracking slightly. Tuff's eyes blazed and he started to stand but Stone grabbed his long hair and yanked him back down.
"You're not running around with an arrow sticking out of your shoulder, even if you could bring the ships back," her voice was stern, imitating the voice Mole used when a patient got skittish and tried to leave. Tuffnut glared daggers at her.
"How can you just sit here treating people when your best friend and mentor have been kidnaped? Do you not care?" he demanded. Stone looked up from his shoulder, her face paler then normal from her held-back tears, her insomnia rimmed eyes filled with sadness, anger, tears...and acceptance.
"I can stay here and treat people because its my job, and I know that if I get these people healed, we'll have a better chance when they attack next time, and a better chance at getting them back. We just have to be patient! How dare you think I don't care!" Stone's voice started off calm but ended up shouting in his face. Tuffnut's eyes widened and he muttered an apology.
The rain lightened after that and after two hours of cleaning wounds, ripping out arrows, and wrapping bleeding gashes, Stone was done. Her arms felt as though dragons had trampled over them and after a week of barely any sleep, she was ready to collapse. She stalked numbly to the hospital hut, where she had to stay for the week so she could finish stitching people and remove the stitches off the healed people.
She fell on top of the bed Mole had gotten her for when she had a particularly bad headache or accident and curled into a ball, stressing her own stitches on her lower back.. Just as sleep was about to capture her, she heard a knock on the door. Groaning, she stood and crossed through the many rooms to the door. When Stone openedit, she found Hiccup standing there with an apologetic expression and about ten dragons behind him. The rain had stopped.
"They need treatment," he stated when she stared at him, too tired to ask.
"Give me a moment," Stone murmured as she walked back into the hut. When she came back out, her entire head was wet and her arms were filled with the dragon supplies Mole had, thankfully, just taught her to use the other week.
"What did you..?" Hiccup asked, staring at her soaked head.
"I've hardly slept in a week and the rain has stopped. I needed to do something to keep me awake." Stone set her stuff down before going inside for a stool to sit on. When she returned she noticed that the first dragon was a Ferocious Nightmare.
'Well, of course it is, Stone. What did you expect? The Gods seem to hate you, so why not a Ferocious Nightmare?'A voice in Stone's head said this as she sat next to the dragon with a cringe, briefly making her wonder if she was going insane.
After another long hour of treating patients, Stone felt sure that her hands were going to fall off. Hiccup looked at her with concerned eyes and hugged her tenderly. Her arms were too sore to move though, so she couldn't hug him back.
"Hiccup, what if we don't get them back?" Stone whispered. Hiccup released her and looked her straight in the face.
"We will. Don't even bother with the 'what ifs'. We'll get them back. Together." Stone gave a small but genuine smile and stood, yawning.
"Okay. Next task, falling asleep, and staying asleep," Stone muttered after giving Hiccup a small peck on the cheek and starting to walk back inside with her stool and the remainder of her supplies.
"Um, wait!" Hiccup called after her. Stone turned slightly and looked over her shoulder.
"Yes, Hiccup?"
"Um, uh, are we...like a c-couple now?" Stone may not have been his first girlfriend the question still made him nervous. She thought for a moment, looking up at the dark sky, before looking at him again.
"I'd say we are...If that's alright with you." After seeing Hiccup nod enthusiastically, Stone gave another small smile before entering the hut and closing the door behind her.
Hi! This is Silver2018 - thinking I would throw in just a little note here. For anyone who read my original oneshot, you'll recognize part of Thistle's earlier thoughts. Yes indeed, that was the original inspiration for Thistle's character. Hope you liked the little connection. :-)