If anyone is curious, this is the beginning of Day 5 as a dragon.

Chapter 10

Basking in the sunlight, as it turned out, did wonders for sick dragons. I rose with the sun the next morning, healthy and raring to go. My legs twitched when I stood still; it was like my body knew I had missed an entire day and to make up for it, was determined to stuff all the adventures of two days into one. Thus far, I had chased five sheep, (caught one), pounced at and missed two mice, been chased by one particularly grumpy ram, and posed with an adoring crowd of five year-old fans. Now, I was in Astrid's room. Which I guess means that I forgot to mention climbing up Astrid's wall and through her window in my previous list.

You would think that living in a village full of free-roaming Terrors would have taught people to keep their windows shut. Nope. Not Astrid. So, I had crawled through her window, leaving below a tuckered-out Toothless. Stormfly had chirped at me, but otherwise left me alone.

My weight wasn't enough to wake her. I settled on her abdomen, and watched the steady rise and fall of her chest. Gold hair fanned out around her head; it looked fine to me, but when she woke, I was sure she would call it a mess.

I didn't have to wait too long. Astrid had always been an early riser. She shifted under the covers, and her lips parted slightly as she released a soft sigh. When her arms stretched out, that required enough movement that she finally noticed the foreign weight sitting on her. Blue eyes snapped opened, widened, and then relaxed again when she remembered whose mind inhabited the little dragon's body.

"Hiccup." She groaned and tried to pull the blanket over her head. "Go away. I'm a mess."

I purred at her. Then grabbed the blanket and tried to tug it off. She flicked me in the face and chased me off.

"I'm up, I'm up." As she had promised, she rose out of bed, touching the bedraggled strands of her hair. Her fingers then found her comb and she began to work.

"Hopefully, I don't have to wake everyone else up," she said absently. "I want to find the merchants before they get too far away. We're going to look south for them. It's nearing the end of autumn, so I think they're probably going back to somewhere with warmer weather."

A fair conclusion. I signalled my approval.

As she worked over a knot in her hair, she asked, "How are you feeling today?"

I purred. Then, figuring that wasn't loud enough, I barked.

"That's good." For a brief moment, I was the recipient of an over-the-shoulder smile.

"So, does this mean I can come along?" I asked. When that didn't work, I attempted to explain myself by squawking and flapping my wings really hard.

"Sure, you can come," she said. "You can ride with me and Stormfly."

That settled that. I spent the rest of her morning routine sniffing around her room or pestering Stormfly, up until she kicked us out so she could change. Stormfly, used to her rider's need for privacy, just shook herself and wandered off to where a stew-filled cauldron – skause, I imagine - simmered over a small fire. It smelt of meat, various types of meat, and vegetables. Cabbage was the strongest of those.

Stormfly slurped up a few licks of the skause, and then poked her head out an open window. After a moment, she wrenched her head back, only for Toothless to fill the gap instead. Chin on the windowsill, he chuffed at her, and then rolled his head a little to stare at me. I walked over, barely managed to put my front paws on the sill, too, and although he already knew what I smelled like, he sniffed anyways.

Of course, he could have been reading my mood. As I was discovering, emotions tended to have their own distinctive scents. Anger was loud. Both in volume and the strength of its owner's scent. Sadness was strong, too, but while anger tended to be like a knife in the nose, sadness was more pungent. Like walking into a cloud of smoke. It was a type of smell that was almost disturbing. No wonder our dragons hated to see us upset.

While we waited for Astrid, Toothless and I had a quick game of slapping each other's paws. Stormfly tried to participate, but seeing how she went to bite us, I don't think she really got it. That annoyed Toothless, so that by the time Astrid emerged, he and Stormfly were shrieking at each other.

"Both of you, shush!" she snapped. I looked at her innocently.

Astrid and Stormfly ate (after Stormfly defended her meal from a hopeful Toothless), and then we headed out to the Great Hall to meet the others. As I could have predicted earlier, we were the first ones there.

Astrid laid back on the slope. Her arms were behind her head, cradling it as she crossed one leg over the other. She confessed, "I'll be glad when this is over. It's so weird having you look like that."

I grumbled in agreement. She added, "It's really weird hearing you speak like that, too."

I feigned insult.

"Oh, come on." She pushed me lightly. "Most of the time, you barely even sound like a dragon. More like a sleep-talking Viking."

Hey! I knew what sleep-talking Vikings sounded like, and I was sure my underdeveloped voice wasn't able to make those kind of harsh, deep sounds . . . Astrid giggled at my expression.

"Okay, I do not sound like that," I said. "Sure, maybe I mumble a lot, but it doesn't sound anything like them!"

"Ragh-grr-mmm," went Astrid, as she mimicked what she accused me of sounding like.

"No, no." I emphasized that with a shake of my head. "I chirp and squawk. See? Listen: I'm doing it right now!"

"Ragh-grr-mmm."

"Now you're just making things up."

I turned away from her, and held my chin high. Didn't bother her too much. She was laughing. Strong, gentle finger skimmed over my back, lingering a little longer on the spot right between my wings.

She asked, "Did you just purr?"

I huffed. And stopped purring.

The other riders filed in slowly. The twins first, then Snotlout, and then finally, Fishlegs. The dragons seemed eager to go, even though Hookfang was sprawled across the grass, eyes half closed. Astrid grabbed me, seated herself, and then tucked me into her lap as Toothless watched. She, in her thoughtfulness, had brought along a little blanket for me to nestle into.

"Everyone set?" she asked.

"Hold on," Fishlegs grunted.

She spared him five seconds. "Let's go."

We sprung into the air. Being as small as I was, my presence made no difference whatsoever to Stormfly. We rose above Berk, Toothless right next to us. He had his head tilted slightly to one side as he warbled curiously.

I asked, "You okay, bud?"

He took that as an invitation to swoop closer. He was off to the side a little, just below us, and turned upside-down as to keep an eye on us.

Astrid's brow furrowed. "Uh, Toothless?"

He suddenly charged. He reached out for me, the same way he would to snag a fish, only to be warded off by Astrid's quick reaction. Not like that bothered him much. He shifted just out of the way, and then reached for me again, flying so close to Stormfly that I could hear his wings smacking her in the head.

"Toothless!"

Stormfly snapped at him, annoyed by what she deemed as his harassment. Toothless hissed back. His groping became rougher, less considerate of accidently bumping Astrid and her dragon.

"Toothless, knock it off!" I let the annoyance seep into my voice. Even if he didn't hear it, I knew he would smell it.

He just got annoyed back at me.

From behind us, Fishlegs shyly said, "Uh, I think Toothless wants Hiccup to ride with him."

After that last impromptu flying lesson? I don't think so. It had all been well and good before, but this time we were on a mission. Falling into the ocean was not part of that.

But Toothless insisted. He harassed Stormfly like a wolf pack robbing a bear, all full of bluff charges and nips. Eventually, he herded Stormfly right into the ground, where dirt splashed up as if we had crash-landed.

"Toothless!" Astrid threw her hands in the air, thoroughly exasperated.

Save for grumbling under his breath, Toothless ignored her. He stalked toward the grounded Nadder, and stuck his snout right into Astrid's lap where I lay. Above us, the other riders circled.

"Astrid, just let Toothless take Hiccup," Fishlegs said.

Offering his two cents, Tuffnut said, "What's the worst that could happen?"

From atop his mighty steed, Snotlout called, "Hurry up. We got to get going!"

That seemed to irk her. Mumbling inaudible curses, she lifted me up and plopped me on Toothless's back. His head shot up. His gums showed as he smiled.

He was actually well-behaved on the flight. He stayed at the forefront with Hookfang and Stormfly, occasionally dashing ahead to investigate one thing or another, before rounding back to join them. There was none of that spinning, or falling into the ocean, or sudden thoughts that now was the perfect time to teach his rider how to fly. Instead, he dutifully stayed with the flock, even though I could feel that he wanted to go faster.

Then, the flock split.

"Whoa!" Astrid spun around in her saddle. "Snotlout, where are you going?"

"To look for the witch's home, duh!"

"We agreed to go south today!"

"They agreed to that." Steadily, Snotlout's voice was growing distant. "I'm going east."

"Snotlout!" When he failed to respond, Astrid smacked her fist on her saddle. "Fishlegs, go with him. Keep him out of trouble."

Fishlegs and Meatlug separated from the group, going after the lone Snotlout. The twins looked at us uncertainly.

"We stay with the plan," Astrid said. "South."

"Maybe it would be better if we all split up," Tuffnut said.

Astrid's laugh was more of a snort. "Because that worked so well yesterday."

The twins shrugged at each other, but offered no more objections.

It was quiet after. Astrid was visibly stewing from Snotlout's defiance, and I don't think the twins wanted to tangle with that. Her tension had spilled down into her dragon too, who was scanning the horizon carefully, as if worried some monster would rise out of the waves. Toothless cooed to her occasionally, and Stormfly would cluck her irritation back.

Of course, with the others growing distant, Toothless didn't feel the need to stick around them so much. Which meant he had more time to concentrate on me. So far, there were no sudden acrobatics, but I could tell that he was being deliberate with every wingbeat – trying to set a good example.

"There," Astrid suddenly said.

Sure enough, far off in the distance, nearly invisible thanks to the sunlight bouncing off the waves, there was a black thing above the water. More like a blob, if you ask me. It was just a smudge of black. But Vikings were people of the ocean above all else, and my instincts told me that speck was too small to be land, and too large to be a rock. Just to be sure though, Astrid whipped out a telescope and checked it out.

She didn't say anything, but she spurred Stormfly onward and that was enough. We landed in the middle of the deck between the foremost and middle mast, ignoring how the sailors squawked and scattered.

One screeched, "Dragons! Vikings! Dragons riding Vikings!"

"It's Vikings riding dragons, you dweeb," Ruffnut said. Astrid gave her a look.

Even as we were surrounded and men pointed crossbows at us (Toothless arched his back and growled), Astrid calmly raised her hands. "It's okay," she said. "We're from Berk."

"Oh." Those crossbows were lowered and relived sighs filled the air. Vikings . . . not all of them liked to drop by merchant ships to talk. Berk was an exception. We were known to be a friendly tribe, despite our former, long war with the dragons. Actually, it was directly related. When you spend all your time fighting dragons, then you usually don't want to add other people to your list of enemies. So, by specializing in killing dragons, we indirectly gained a reputation for being peaceful.

I know. It's a little difficult to wrap your head around.

"Berkians." A grizzled, bearded man pushed his way through the crowds. He wore what appeared to be a bear-fur coat, and the pelt of an otter for a scarf. A wide captain's hat cast shadows on his craggy brow, and made his already sunken eyes seemed even beadier. He looked tough. Exactly what a captain travelling through Viking-inhabited waters needed to be.

He looked all of us over with that vague air that tried to feign indifference. Still didn't stop his eyes from lingering on Toothless and I. In a gruff voice that made it seem like his throat had been rubbed raw with a scraper, he said, "I see the rumours about your kin and the dragons are true."

Astrid said, "They are."

"You bet they are! Isn't that right?" Making cooing noises, Ruffnut put her dragon in a playful headlock, and grinded her knuckles into one of his skulls.

The captain said nothing about the display. I noticed his hand twitch toward the knife at his belt. He asked, "Something you need?"

"We're not here to barter," Astrid said. She didn't pay attention to the twins, who were trying to goad their dragon's respective heads into a fight with each other. "We're looking for information about a witch who lives somewhere northeast of here. Heard anything?"

"Recently? No," the captain said. "A village made mention of one before, but that was months ago."

Astrid glanced at me. I knew what she was thinking: it was the only lead we had.

As the captain pointed out the area to Astrid on her map, I took the time to lazily examine our surroundings. Although, as I mentioned earlier, the sailors had lowered their weapons, very few of them had put them away completely. They avoided our eyes, scurrying around us like mice scavenging near a sleeping cat. I guess that not everyone had realized that dragons were no longer a threat.

I could hear whispers. To a regular person, they would have been indistinguishable, but to a curious baby dragon? Easy. I zoomed in to their conversation, and listened.

"I'm telling you, look! Right there, on the big black one's back, there's a baby."

Internally, I grinned. Oh, yes, there was. Even though said little dragon would much rather be a Viking. I couldn't catch much of their scent from here, so I listened to their emotions instead. There were pinpricks of curiosity running along those words, no matter how wary they were of Toothless and the others.

Maybe, maybe I could . . .

I rolled off Toothless's back. He jumped. I smiled at him, telling him it was okay. Snuffling, making a show of how uncoordinated and not dangerous I was, I wobbled over to the whispering sailors. They skittered away like I was a wave of boiling lava. I sighed. Walked toward them with more confidence. By now, others were raising alarms, but they were too uncertain to attack first, especially when I was so small and harmless.

"Hiccup!" Astrid hissed.

I cornered the sailors against the rail. Sat right at their feet, gave them a big-eyed stare, and chirped. Ruffnut found it cute, so I was hoping they would, too.

The sailors all looked at each other. One of the men I had cornered found his voice and asked, "So . . . do we touch it?"

"Hiccup . . ." Just when I was making progress, Astrid scooped me up. "Sorry about that. He's curious."

"It's okay," a sailor squeaked.

"Astrid, put me down! I think I can get through to these guys."

"We'll just go now," Astrid said, making her way toward Stormfly with me.

"But –"

We took off. A few seconds passed before Toothless demanded custody of me again. Astrid handed me off without a word, and I kept my eyes fixed on the ship below.

Maybe next time.

Review Responses:

Guest: I agree

Jazz: He can "breathe" fire ;)

Guest (#2): Yes, elements of HTTYD 2 will come into play. Including those parts we do not want to spoil for others. Not for a while, though.

a random person: Nope, normal cold. He just doesn't know how to trigger/not trigger his flame.

NWL: Thank you!

Snowflakes: Everything Night Furies do is cute :)