Part 2! I know some of you have been nagging me about this chapter... to you I say, the wait is over! It has arrived...

Enjoy!

The Adventurous Adventures of Hiccup and Wrenlou

Learners Bay, Part II

'What the hell is he doing?'

'Has he gone mad?'

'He's gonna die, isn't he?'

'Wrenlou, maybe you should go save him again!'

'Oh my gods, what is he thinking?'

Wrenlou could only stare at Hiccup. Today was flying lessons, but Dale had wanted to see what Hiccup already knew before he wanted to include him in the class. Hiccup had done whatever Dale had asked, translated by Wrenlou. He had flown in circles, taking off and landed a dozen times over, made the tightest turns he could muster and Toothless had fired a few plasma blasts.

And now he had just jumped off the dragon.

He had jumped off the dragon!

They were falling next to each other. Hiccup had his arms tucked to his sides, Much in the same fashion Toothless had his wings pulled in. the dragon made no move to catch the boy, simply falling along side him as they plummeted towards the ground.

Wrenlou had his hands clenched so tight he could feel his nails digging into his palms. He was biting his lip, seriously fighting the urge to take Snowflake, pluck Hiccup out of the sky and slap him senseless. He knew Hiccup trusted the dragon to catch him, he knew the dragon trusted Hiccup. After all, Toothless put his life and ability to fly in Hiccup's hand every time they went up, but this was beyond any trust exercise he had ever seen before.

Toothless moved and caught Hiccup just in time. They swooped over the sea, the water splashing up high in their wake and landed on the beach, in front of the baffled teens. Hiccup slid of the dragon, smiling shyly when he saw the look on their faces. Wrenlou was the first to gather his wits and he stepped forward.

'Don't you ever do that again damn it!'

Hiccup looked up at him, their eyes meeting. There was a frown on Wrenlou's face and Hiccup smiled again. Wrenlou shook his head, laughing.

'Man, that was awesome. I think you scared all of us pretty good there.'

'Sorry. But you dared me to show you my most dangerous stunt when we were at the bay, and so I did.'

'Dale would kill me if I tried that.' Wrenlou mumbled. 'And so would Broghan.'

Hiccup chuckled and rubbed Toothless' head. Ever since Wrenlou had dared him to show him his most dangerous stunt, he had been itching to show them this one. He looked at the faces, all staring at him in shock. He had been here only a day, and he had already shown them what he was made of, what he could do.

At long last, Dale cleared his throat. 'Well... I can certainly say you are way ahead of the group.'

Wrenlou sighed before translating Dale's words for Hiccup. The boy smiled and stared at the ground. All the positive attention made him a little nervous. He had just showed something he was good at, flying, but what when it came to showing his skills with a sword? He couldn't do that.

Dale started speaking again, undoubtedly explaining today's lesson, and he pulled Wrenlou's sleeve.

'Shh, hang on. I'll explain when he's done.'

Hiccup nodded and started scratching Toothless' chin. He looked at the other riders. Dale was standing in front of the group, Starstruck was sitting next you him. She had folded her wings so tightly, it wasn't possible to see what part was missing from what wing. His gaze shifted to Leila, her dragon laying on the ground behind her. What had the dragon's name been? Sephina... yes, it was Sephina. He eyed the girl and frowned. Her hair may be brown, but her eyes were just like Astrid's. They had the same colour of blue, the same shine. He quickly looked at the twins.

Both girls had taken the same pose, arms crossed, leaning on their right leg. They were almost identical. Both had short blond hair, darker that Astrid's had been. He sight, rubbing his face. Again with the Astrid reference. He pushed the memory back and looked at the twins again. The way they were standing there, the way they looked at Dale, the way they nodded at the same moment, was almost like staring into a mirror. They were the same in everything. Even their dragons were reflections of each other. Granted, it was very hard to find differences between one black Night Fury and another, but with these to it wasn't just in the colour. It was in the little mannerisms. The way both dragons cocked their heads the same way, the way they curled their tails around their paws, the way they seemed to understand each other just like that was downright astounding.

And then there was Broghan. Even though his hair and eyes were brown, the resemblance between him and Wrenlou was clearly visible. Broghan looked more like his father, he had the same broad built and the same hair, while Wrenlou had his mother's slim frame and hair. And then there was the matter of the eyes. In many cases, the eye colour of the dragon matched the one of their rider. Toothless had green eyes, so did he. Even Wrenlou with his dual colored eyes shared that with his dragon. Leila also shared her eye colour with her dragon, the others did not. When Hiccup looked back at Dale and Starstruck, he found that they too shared their eye colour. He frowned and wondered if there was more to it than just a coincidence.

Dale ended his explanation and pointed at Leila. The girl sighed and poked her dragon. Sephina got to her feet, yawning widely. Leila mounted the dragon and took the blindfold from Dale. Getting a little scared, Hiccup turned to Wrenlou.

'Wren? What are we supposed to do?'

'Here's the idea. You get on the dragon, you get blindfolded, then you have to fly through that.' Wrenlou pointed to a maze of sea stacks. 'We call them the water gates.'

'I have to fly through that while I can't see?'

'It's about trust. Trust the dragon to tell you what to do.'

'But...' Hiccup looked back at Toothless, the dragon nudging Moonchaser's side, trying to get her attention. 'I have to control his tail!'

'Yes, and you do it perfectly. But you also have to be able to do it when you can't see, and he can. If you can do it with your eyes closed, you never have to worry about dark places.'

'I... I guess...'

'And besides, with that stunt you just pulled, this will be easy for you, right?'

Hiccup shrugged. He had flown at night before, but then he had the light of the moon and the starts, or a lantern to guide him. This time, he would be flying blind. He turned around to the sea stack again. They really did look like gates. He squinted a little, looking at the way the rock formations rose above the water, trying to memorize them. Leila came flying towards the beach, her dragon almost crash landing. She yanked the blindfold away from her eyes, panting.

'That was the scariest thing I have ever done!'

Dale nodded slowly. 'You did good. We will discuss it later, when we all went. Wrenlou, you're up next.'

'Great...'

Wrenlou sighed and took the blindfold from Leila. He shot a glance at Hiccup, before he mounted Snowflake. Hiccup smiled at and Wrenlou took a deep breath before he tied the black strip of cloth around his eyes. He gripped the saddle and Snowflake took off, racing towards the water gates.

The white dragon zigzagged through the stone gates, her rider following her movement. It looked incredibly easy, but Hiccup knew that it most likely wasn't. Snowflake landed a little better then Sephina had done and Wrenlou slipped the blindfold from his eyes, smiling widely.

'Good girl.' He whispered, rubbing Snowflake's nose.

Dale nodded at him, then turned to Broghan. 'Your turn.'

Broghan left and Hiccup turned to Wrenlou. 'Have you done this before?'

Wrenlou nodded. 'Only once. I have done it only once. I have no idea what I missed out on the past five weeks so they could have done it more. Although, I must say that the first time we did this, Leila nearly crashed because she believed she knew it better than Sephina, even if the dragon was the one that could see.'

Hiccup chuckled when he watched the twins go one by one, but he also felt a little nervous. He was up next. With shaking hands he took the piece of cloth from one of the twins, he didn't know who, and looked over at Wrenlou. He made sure the tailfin was in the right position for taking off, then tied the blindfold around his eyes. Toothless crooned concerned and he placed his hand on the dragon's head.

'We can do this bud. You and me. Together.'

Toothless crooned again and opened his wings. After a nudge from Hiccup, he sprang into the air. He clenched onto the saddle, trying to feel the movement of the dragon's body so he could react with the tailfin. He knew the prosthetic posed a disadvantage for Toothless and him, but he was determined to show he could do this just as well as any other.

The dragon swerved to the left and he reacted immediately, changing the prosthetic to the third position. They avoided the rock easily and Toothless ducked lower. Again, Hiccup felt the dragon move and altered the tailfin to the right position.

They managed to make all the turns, but the last one got a little close. The dragon suddenly jerked back, screeching and Hiccup widened his eyes. Of course, the blindfold kept him from seeing much, so he just slammed the tailfin in the first position, hoping it was the right one. As it turned out, it was. Toothless barrel rolled passed the rock before leveling out and landing shortly after.

Hiccup breathed a sigh of relief when he felt Toothless land and pulled the blindfold from his eyes. He was greeted by applause and he bit his lip, turning his eyes to the ground. All the attention made him nervous. He slid of the dragon and Wrenlou came up to him.

'You look like you're quite a capable flyer. The way I see it, you have nothing to worry about.'

'I can fly, yes.' Hiccup mumbled. 'But I can't use a sword.'

'Well, sword fighting is tomorrow, so don't worry about it yet. It will be fine. Right now, we have a race. As in, who is the fastest. Come on Hiccup, this will be great.'

Hiccup smiled. A race. A dragon race. He looked back to Toothless, the dragon cocked his head at him.

'Come on bud. We're going racing.'

The dragon crooned and bounced around in circled before Hiccup had calmed him. He realized that it was new for him, but Toothless hadn't flown with other Night Fury's in a long time. Sure, they had flown with Wrenlou and Snowflake, but not with a whole group. As soon as his rider was on his back, the dragon spread his wings and took off after the others. Dale stayed on the ground and somewhere he realized that this wasn't really a training exercise, just something for fun. The dragons lined up and Hiccup steered Toothless next to Wrenlou.

'Wren? What's the meaning of it all?'

Wrenlou smiled. 'First one to Palm Beach Island. It's not really about anything, just to see who's the fastest.'

'But... what way is Palm Beach Island!'

Wrenlou pointed straight ahead along the coastline. 'About two miles that way. You'll know it when you see it. It's an island in the rough shape of a palm leaf.'

Hiccup nodded and tightened his grip on the saddle. He leaned forward and glanced at the other riders. They were all leaning forward and when Starstruck roared loudly, they took off.

Moonchaser took the lead, Snowflake close behind. Toothless was on Snowflake's tail. Hiccup bit his lip and changed the prosthetic. The new position allowed Toothless to pick up speed and they shot past Wrenlou and Snowflake, following Moonchaser closely. Broghan glanced back, his eyes widening when he saw who was on his tail. He nudged Moonchaser forward, but Toothless accelerated with her, and when the small island came into view, Toothless shot past the dragon and was now first.

Hiccup's eyes widened with this realization and he leaned forward so much that his head was resting on Toothless' skin. The Night Fury tucked his wings to his body and dove down, landing on the island in a spray of sand. The other dragons came in no different, all landing roughly on the soft sand.

Hiccup was practically dancing on the back of the dragon and the others started laughing at his enthusiasm.

'Well, he's fast, that's for sure.'

His smile widened at Wrenlou's words and he hugged Toothless. The dragon crooned and attempted to lick his face. Hiccup pushed him away, laughing. While he looked around the group, the other riders all dismounting and walking to the water, his smile grew wider.

'Wren? Don't we have to go back?'

Wrenlou shook his head. 'Midday we're always off. We always spend it here, but we just started making the trip here a little more fun, you know? Besides, racing is a sort of training. So relax, we have two hours before we're due back in the Bay.'

Before Hiccup could answer, he was almost run over by a Night Fury running past him, followed by another. The first was holding a broken tree in her mouth, the second trying to get it. Soon, al the young dragons had joined in and Toothless crooned questioningly. Hiccup shrugged.

'Go ahead, have some fun.'

Toothless wailed loudly as he joined in the game. Hiccup walked over to the other riders and sat down next to Wrenlou. He took a deep breath and took the orange from him.

He didn't realize he was smiling as he stared out over the ocean, listening to the chatter next to him and the growling, wailing, crooning and cooing of the dragons.

He didn't realize how quickly he had integrated into the little group until Leila sat down on his other side, smiling at him. Even though he didn't understand a word she was saying, it was the gesture that lifted all residual doubt from his shoulders. All his fear that they wouldn't like him proved to be unjust. And judging by the way Toothless was now playing with the other dragons, they had both been accepted.

He rested his head on Wrenlou's shoulder, the older boy absentmindedly petting his hair and smiled. This was going to be better that he had thought.

This was going to be great.