Third story! Takes place directly after the previous one, so no time jumps. I don't really like time jumps, to me they prove lack of inspiration and laziness, so most stories will be following each other closely. Of course, there will be minor time jumps... just minor ones.

Hiccup finally gets to Learners Bay! Now it's time to start learning...

Enjoy!

The Adventurous Adventures of Hiccup and Wrenlou

Learners Bay, Part I

'Hiccup? Are you ready?'

Hiccup turned around. Wrenlou was standing behind him, Snowflake next to him. The dragon had been saddled already and both were watching him with expecting eyes. He turned away from them and looked around the room. In the short time he had been here, it already felt like home. He stared at his feet and fumbled with the seem of his shirt. When he felt a hand on his shoulder he looked up again, his eyes meeting Wrenlou's.

'Is something wrong?'

Hiccup shook his head and turned away from Wrenlou. He didn't want to show his friend that he was terrified. Toothless cooed softly and he looked at the dragon, smiling weakly. He had yet to saddle him.

'Hiccup, what's wrong?'

'I'm scared okay? I'm scared of what they'll think of me, I'm scared that they'll make fun of Toothless, I'm scared I won't be good enough!'

'Hiccup...'

'No! You don't understand! I have been mocked all my life, everyone always telling me I was a disaster, a failure. They called me useless just because I couldn't lift a sword. My own father didn't want me. I just don't want to be rejected again...'

He heard Wrenlou sigh and he turned back, desperately trying to fight back the tears. He didn't even know where the sudden fear came from. He had been immensely excited when Wrenlou had told him they would leave for Learners Bay, but as the day grew closer, he had become more and more scared that they wouldn't like him.

'Hiccup, no one will reject you, no one will make fun of Toothless, believe me. Do you think that riders are the only ones losing limbs out there? Starstruck, the dragon of our teacher, is missing half a wing. They will be impressed that you managed to create an artificial tailfin for him, restoring his flight. And you don't have to be good to join the group. We didn't start out as flying prodigies. I mean, you should have seen my first flight, I was terrified, I thought I would die.'

Hiccup looked up at him, his lip trembling. Wrenlou smiled then pulled him in a hug, wrapping his arms around his shoulders. He stiffened at the sudden embrace, Wrenlou had never hugged him before. It felt strange to be in the arms of the one that rescued him from certain death. But it also brought out a certain longing. He wanted, no, needed, human companionship just as much as he needed Toothless. He needed Wrenlou. He wrapped his arms around Wrenlou's waist and pressed his head against his chest. Wrenlou's chin rested on top of his head, and he realized he just fitted under it. Wrenlou was almost a head bigger than he was.

'You're not useless Hiccup. You have you're own talents. You just made a dagger yesterday! I'm sure that in time, you will see what you're are capable off, just as I see it now.'

This made Hiccup pull away and he stared at the older boy. 'You really think so?'

Wrenlou smiled warmly, putting a hand on his shoulder. 'Yes I do. I know you're afraid, I mean, meeting new people can be challenging, especially when you don't speak their language, but you're not alone anymore. I'm not leaving you on your own. Now get that dragon ready and meet me in the plaza, okay?'

Hiccup nodded, a smile forming on his lips. He brushed the unshed tears from his face and turned to Toothless. The dragon was looking at him with worried eyes, but they soon lit up when he saw the smile on his riders face. He didn't need to look at Wrenlou to know he had already hopped on Snowflake's back, the gush of wind from her wings as she took off did that for him. He took a deep breath and picked the saddle from the bed. Upon seeing this, Toothless bounded over towards him and nudged his shoulder. Hiccup chuckled as he turned to the impatient dragon.

'You're going to have to sit still if you want me to get this on you.'

Toothless wailed and continued his running around for a bit more, only stopping when Hiccup yelled at him to sit still. The boy was smiling as he fastened the straps of the saddle. As soon as he was done, Toothless jumped up again, running to the edge of the room. It was very clear that he didn't share Hiccup's anxiety over the issue of leaving the city. Hiccup sighed, shaking his head slightly. He tugged on the leather harness Wrenlou had given him, similar to the one he was wearing himself and then strapped the sword around his waist. After gathering his bags and making sure he had everything he needed, he walked to the dragon.

Toothless stayed still this time while he fastened the bags to the saddle and then crouched down to allow the boy to climb on his back. Hiccup clicked the prosthetic into the right position and Toothless spread his wings, simply gliding down to the plaza where Wrenlou was waiting. As soon as Hiccup landed, Snowflake got up from her crouched pose.

'Are you ready? Do you have everything?'

Hiccup nodded, mentally recounting the things he had to take and ticking them off in his mind. He had his notebook, his pencil, he had his clothes, his dagger and his sword... and of course the contends of the saddlebag as Wrenlou had explained it. Bandages, water, bowl... yes, he had everything.

'Then let's go!'

Snowflake spread her wings, Toothless followed her example. Both dragons shot up and spiraled through the city before heading east. They flew silently, Hiccup had his face turned to the wind, his eyes closed as he enjoyed the freedom of flight once again. After a while he turned to Wrenlou.

'Can you tell me about the others?'

'The others...? The other riders you mean?' When Hiccup nodded he sighed. 'I suppose I could. As I told you before, Broghan is my brother. His dragon is called Moonchaser. Then there's Leila and Sephina, and of course the twins.'

Hiccup sat up at this. 'Twins?'

Wrenlou nodded. 'Susan and Sharon. Don't be startled when you see them, and don't try to tell them apart. They could be each others reflection. Their dragons are called Skygazer and Windrider, also twins.'

'Wait... the dragons are twins too?'

'Yes. Twin riders and twin dragons. Isn't that great?'

'But... how would you get twin dragons? Did they come from the same egg? Is that even possible?'

Wrenlou chuckled and shifted his weight in Snowflake's saddle. The dragon moved a little closer to Hiccup and Toothless, crooning softly.

'Yes. They did come from the same egg. That choosing was the strangest ever. First the twin dragons, then a white Night Fury. It was weird.'

'Wow...' Hiccup mumbled. He had never realized there could be something like twins dragons. But then again, he had never thought there would be a whole island with Night Fury's.

'And... what about your teacher?'

'Dale? Dale is a good guy, really. Without him, you would have never made it to Dragoncity. He gave me permission to bring you. Anyways, he's like a father figure for us. He looks out for us, protects us. And above all, he teaches us what we need to know. And Starstruck is such an amazing dragon.'

'But how does he teach you to fly, if his own dragon can't fly? I mean, with half a wing...'

'You remember those warm upward winds I took you to? They are also present at the Bay. He flies in them, we fly around them. And she's missing only half her wing, she's not completely banned from flying. She just can't get very high, or go very fast. It's more like... gliding, you know.'

Hiccup nodded slowly, trying to picture a dragon with half a wing. There were so many ways in which a wing could be sliced in half. He turned to Wrenlou again.

'But... what part of her wing is she missing then? I can't... I can't picture it.'

'Alright. Ehm... it's her left wing so... we're on the right side of you, good. Okay, look. If this is her wing...' He gestured to Snowflake's outstretched wing. '...the part she's missing is basically this.' He drew an imaginary line from the bottom half of her wing, fairly close to her body to the top, beyond the joint where she bend it.

'Oh...' Hiccup sat, staring at the wing. 'I can see how that's a problem.' Then something else came to him. 'But downed dragons are dead dragons right? Won't she go mad without being able to fly?'

'She still has some flight left. And with those winds that can carry her up, she can still sense the freedom of flight, just a little more restricted. And besides, when a dragon has a rider, the chances of them going insane are significantly less then when they don't.'

Hiccup bit his nail and focused on where Toothless was going. They were flying above the trees, palm trees he now knew, the sun warm on their faces. He took a shuddering breath, he was still afraid he realized. Still afraid of rejection, even if Wrenlou had assured him things would work out just fine.

'Hiccup. It will be fine, believe me, please.'

He nodded, not entirely sure. From what little Wrenlou had told him about his brother, and after meeting his parents, he had a fairly good idea to Broghan's character. And it wasn't Wrenlou's brother he was afraid of, it was the others. Three girls. He didn't have much experience with girls and what little he had, was coming from Astrid, who would ignore him, or hurt him.

The silence lingered, only broken by the swoosh from the dragon's wings. Hiccup was staring down at Toothless' neck, his worries and doubts repeating in his mind, over and over. He looked up when a shadow fell over him and found that Snowflake had moved from his right side to his left side.

'Hiccup, don't worry about them, okay? You'll have to spend most time with me anyway, until you learn the language.'

Hiccup nodded. He knew that. Now that he thought about it, he realized that part of his fear came from not being able to understand them. He wouldn't even know when they would make fun of him. Despite Wrenlou's assurances that they would do no such thing, it was the main reason for his fear. Instead of pushing the issue, Wrenlou just steered Snowflake up. Toothless followed and soon they broke out above the clouds. From this position they could see almost the entire island, the Night Fury's flying from and to the city, the waves crashing on white beaches. Once again, Hiccup was reminded of how different this island was from Berk and it's rocky shores, dark waters and cold days.

He smiled, holding his arms out to the side. The wind was whipping his hair around his face, pulling on his clothes, but he didn't even leaned forward and wrapped his arms around Toothless' neck. The dragon crooned softly in response. Then he sat up again and turned to Wrenlou.

'Are we there yet?'

'Almost. There it is, look.'

Wrenlou pointed down and Hiccup followed his finger to a bay beneath them. He could see some houses standing around a plaza, no more than tiny dots. Between the tiny dots were even smaller dots, black ones. They were headed to the little plaza.

'Is that it? It looks so small...'

'It is small. Want to land on the plaza or the beach?'

'They are going to the plaza, aren't they? Shouldn't we land there?'

Wrenlou shrugged. 'No one told me I'm supposed to land on the plaza. So where do you want to land?'

'Em...' Hiccup scratched the back of his neck, looking from the tiny black dots on the little plaza, to the inviting white sand of the beach. 'Can't we take the beach?'

'Of course we can!'

Wrenlou leaned forward and Snowflake folded her wings against her sides. They shot down towards the beach, Toothless following in close pursuit. It wasn't until the very last moment that Snowflake opened her wings and almost crash landed on the beach, sending a fountain of sand into the air as she slipped a little. Toothless landed a little more controlled with a little hop before he folded his wings.

'Well...' Wrenlou said, sliding of Snowflake's back. 'Welcome to Learners Bay.'

Before Hiccup could answer, something slammed into Wrenlou, knocking him of his feet. They tumbled over the sand and when they stopped Hiccup could see it was a girl with long brown hair. She was sitting on Wrenlou's chest, his arms pinned to the ground.

'Wrenlou!'

She pulled him up and hugged him tight. He returned her hug half heartedly, patting her back.

'Hey Leila...'

'It's so good to see you again!' She shrieked in his ear while she let go. 'You have no idea...'

She was shoved aside by a boy, not much taller than Wrenlou was. Hiccup could clearly see the resemblance between Wrenlou and the other, and realized that this was his brother, Broghan.

'Hey Broghan.'

'Wrenlou. Good to have you back. You have a lot to catch up... and what happened to your face!'

Broghan tried to grab his chin, bur Wrenlou managed to avoid the hand. He hid the mark on his face by putting his own hand over it, staring at his brother with his green eye.

'Nothing! It's just... the string snapped, okay?'

'String?' Broghan crossed his arms. 'I mean to remember that your bow is still here.'

'Not the bow string.' Wrenlou said with a sigh, lowering his hand as he saw Dale approach. 'From my violin.'

'The violin...? But... that's in Lightcity, with our parents, isn't it?'

'Eh... it was...'

'You've been to Lightcity?!' Broghan blurted out, startling everyone, including Hiccup, who jumped a little. Dale frowned.

'Eh.. yes?'

Immediately, Wrenlou was bombarded with questions. Hiccup saw him back away, his hands over his ears, but he was laughing. Dale was the one that silenced the group, and the first to notice Hiccup. He said something and Hiccup's eyes flew to Wrenlou, silently begging him for help. Wrenlou straightened his back.

'Get off the dragon Hiccup, they don't bite.'

Hiccup bit his lip, the slid of Toothless. The dragon crooned softly, but then sat down on the sand, his tail curled around him.

'Guys, this is Hiccup. Hiccup, meet Dale, Broghan, Leila, Sharon and Susan.'

Hiccup smiled as Wrenlou alternated between languages fluently. Wrenlou's Norse had become quite good over their time together, and he still couldn't speak a word of the language of the island. Okay, not true. He knew some word. He raised his hand and waved weakly.

'H... hi...'

Toothless growled loudly, joining in with his greeting. The older man, Dale, crossed his arms as he looked at him and he shrunk back against the dragon.

'Well, he certainly looks better than the last time I saw him. It's good to have you back.'

Dale walked closer to Wrenlou, putting a hand on his shoulder. He frowned when he saw the mark across his face, running a finger over it. Then he turned around to Hiccup and held out his hand. Hiccup frowned. He had no idea what he was supposed to do. The it dawned on him and he felt stupid. He reached out his own hand and Dale took it in a firm handshake. The the man turned to the teenagers on the beach, each flanked by their dragons.

'Let us go to the Hall. There you can tell us all about yourself Hiccup. With the help of Wrenlou of course, because I understand that you don't quite speak our language just yet. Come on.'

'Wren? Where are we going?' Hiccup whispered a little nervous.

'The Hall. They want to know about you. I'm going to translate a lot tonight.'

Broghan came up next to his brother, wrapping an arm around his shoulder. 'So Wrenlou. How did you learn his language?'

'I read a lot.' When he saw Broghan's skeptical face, he persisted. 'No really, I read a lot. It wasn't hard. He's from the Northern Lands. Dad's been there too.'

'So you really have been back home.'

Wrenlou nodded, crossing his arms. 'Hiccup wanted to see Lightcity, and we had some time. We went a few days ago. It was nice to see them again.'

Broghan smiled, glancing at the boy on Wrenlou's right. 'I bet it was.' He poked his brother's shoulder, Wrenlou yelped at the sudden flash of pain.

'What'd you do that for!'

'That's for flying off for five damn weeks. Do you realize you just had a vacation? Do you realize you missed five weeks?'

'Believe me, I know. I wouldn't want it any other way though. I mean, he's... what is it?'

Hiccup had pulled Wrenlou's sleeve, looking up at him with a question in his eyes. He pointed to Starstruck.

'How did it happen?'

'You mean her wing?' When Hiccup nodded, Wrenlou sighed. 'It's a long story. I don't even know the details. You should have to ask Dale, but I'm not sure he'll tell you. He blames himself, that's all I know. That, and it happened in a battle between the riders of Dragoncity and a Titan Wing from Titan Island.' When he saw Hiccup's confused face, he sighed. 'I will explain all that later okay? It's not important at the moment. Just one more thing you'll have to learn.'

Hiccup smiled. He hadn't realized how much he had to learn until they arrived here. And seeing others his age, riding dragons like him, was something he never thought he would see. He looked at Dale and the dragon next to him. There was no doubt about the missing wing, he could see it in the way she held it against her body. Looking back at Toothless' tailfin, a plan had already started to form in his head. What if he could remake the wing like he had Toothless' tail...?

He didn't have the chance to even think about it further, because the moment he stepped into the Hall, his jaw dropped. It was a smaller version of the Hall in Dragoncity, but that wasn't why he stood frozen, staring at the room.

The entire room was decorated. The table was set with all kinds of different foods, candles set around it. He looked around for Wrenlou, but didn't see him anywhere until he felt arms wrap around him from behind.

'This is for you Hiccup.' Wrenlou whispered in his ear, gesturing to the table.

He pulled himself out of Wrenlou's embrace, turning around. 'What do you mean?'

'It's for you. A welcome. A feast in your honour. Come on, sit down.'

Hiccup was to baffled and simply allowed Wrenlou to drag him to one of the benches. He couldn't help but stare around the Hall, the other riders, chatting with each other like it was just any ordinary day. The girl that had jumped Wrenlou on the beach, Leila, sat down next to him, smiling and she started talking to him. He didn't understand a word she was saying and he looked at Wrenlou.

'Leila. Leila... Leila!'

She looked up at Wrenlou, smiling apologetically at his words.

'What did she say?' Hiccup asked. Now he wanted to answer their questions.

'Let's just eat first, okay? After that, we can try to get some questions answered.'

Hiccup nodded and was about to dig in, when he suddenly remembered the oranges that were still on Toothless' saddle.

'Wrenlou? The oranges...'

'I'll go get them. Hang on.'

Wrenlou was back quickly, depositing the bag of oranges on Hiccup's lap. 'You might have to share though.' He said while sitting back down.

Hiccup shrugged. 'That's okay. It's not like I own them, right.'

'Nope!' Wrenlou said cheerfully, snatching the bag from Hiccup's lap again. 'I do!'

Hiccup started laughing. He couldn't help it. Now that he was here, he felt like a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. It had nowhere been as bad as he thought it would be. He hadn't realized that the only time they had seen him, was when he was injured, nearly dying. They didn't know the boy Wrenlou refused to leave, but they were eager to find out. A warm feeling spread through his when Wrenlou whispered two words in his ear.

'Welcome home.'