After settling in, having supper, and sleeping, Nina and Hiccup woke up early the next morning to begin Nina's apprenticeship to Hiccup. He explained how to pull metal out to length, how to make it functional and beautiful, and how each tool affected the metal. Finally, they began. He heated two small bars of iron, passing a pair of tongs to her. Then they took the metal over to the large obsidian boulder she had somehow dragged down as a makeshift anvil. It had the very rough shape of an anvil and would do. They both donned leather gloves to protect their hands and forearms from the flying sparks as they struck the glowing metal. After five minutes of hammering, Hiccup put a hand on her arm, stopping her hammering.
"The metal's cooled too much. We need to reheat it," he said. Her ears were ringing, but she heard the basic message. She had learned to read lips after spying on some of the adults in the Great Hall. She'd written down what she learned and developed a strategy book that she used for Maces and Talons.
They used their tongs to reheat the metal until it glowed orange, verging on yellow. Then they resumed hammering. Sometime between their second and third reheat the Terrors screeched loud enough to be heard faintly over the ringing metal. They stopped their metalworking and looked out. Stoick and Gobber were both standing in the Bunker looking around. The Terrors were nowhere to be seen.
"What are you two knuckleheads doing way out here?" Gobber asked.
They exchanged glances. "I wanted to learn how to make my own weapons, so Hiccup's teaching me," Nina said. "I've got the materials and stuff for a smithy." Gobber leaned into the forge and puffed out his cheeks before lumbering in.
"Oop! Sorry, bit of a tight space, lass," he said as he knocked over a rather high stool she had set a bucket of files on.
"Yeah, sorry about that, Gobber. I figure you're probably not gonna be down here as much, so I thought I'd make it my size," Nina said. He reached for the handle to open the forge. While it wasn't glowing, Hiccup insisted they wear gloves while using the handle. "Gobber, I wouldn't-"
Her warning came too late as Gobber yelped, cursed, and stuck his hand in the water trough nearby. "A bit of a warning, lass. Yer forge is a bit too hot for my liking," he scolded.
"But it heats metal quickly and evenly. A Deadly Nadder sneezed down the chimney while I was putting the finishing touches on my smithy. I usually feed it with a steady drizzle of water," she protested. "I'm not about to waste good fire."
Stoick and Gobber gave her a suspicious look, the latter cradling a burned hand. Hiccup stepped in. "What she means is the fire is hot enough to make the metal glow quickly, which you told me is important for our lifestyle, Gobber. We can't be waiting on a forge to get hot," he said.
The suspicion faded a fair bit from their eyes, but didn't leave. "Well, just stay out of trouble, then," growled Gobber as he hobbled off to get his hand looked at by Gothi.
Stoick sighed. "Where did you get these tools and supplies?" he asked.
"I traded most of them, some were gifts from Johann, and a few I scavenged from old shipwrecks I found at low-tide on the far North side of the island. Near Unpassable Pass," Nina said. "I found a way that someone really skinny could squeeze through to a path. There's a great fishing spot that the dragons seem to have missed. I could bring some fish for the village, if you'd like."
"I wouldn't object to that," said the chief. With that he nodded once, muttered, "keep up the good work," and left.
Hiccup and Nina sighed with relief. "I think that's where we'll leave off for today," Hiccup said. "I need a break and a nap. Feel free to store these dagger blanks in a spot they won't get knocked off by anyone or anything. They're very brittle right now and will chip and break easily." They left the forge and the Terrors came out of hiding. They'd flown up the tunnels into little indents they'd made while tunneling.
The chief's son removed his apron, donned his vest, and left for town. Nina followed him to the edge of the forest. They waved until he disappeared down over a hill. As she headed back to the Bunker, an idea came to her mind. If the dragons keep stealing our food, maybe we should consider hiding some and growing it in secrecy. If I can find a suitable place for a small farm, get some seeds, a way to direct light into the area for a good length of time, maybe I can gather some stores for winter while keeping the food safe from the unfriendly wilds, she thought. She grinned and nipped down to the Bunker. She cut a large piece of parchment and made some designs for a metal plow blade. She found the large iron bar and began working with it after putting the dagger blanks she and Hiccup were making into a soft box for safe-keeping.
Using what she had learned already, she began working. Herby stopped her when she went to reheat the metal after it turned a dusty rose color. He spat a stream of fire, coating the iron in his flames. Then she resumed working the metal. After five hours, she finally had something that resembled a plow. Now all she needed was either a yak to pull it after she attached it to large wooden poles, or some way to use it to till the fields when she finally found a good place to start a farm. She and Herby reheated it to almost white before she transferred it to the water trough. It hissed like a waterlogged cat. Steam filled the room and she ran out by feel, Herby clinging to her shoulder.
He and the Terrors nipped into the surrounding bushes while she leaned against a tree, cursing under her breath. "Well, you've certainly been busy," Gobber commented. She bolted upright, feeling a little lightheaded and dizzy from both her swift movement and the heat of the forge. "What've you been working on?"
Nervously, she responded, "A plow blade." He looked at her curiously. "I figured since the dragons seem to miss Unpassable Pass and I can assure you there's at least one other area they don't go, I could start a small farm there to help ease the burden of our food stores for both Winter and Devastating Winter."
He was quiet, contemplating her words. Finally he spoke. "Well, let's see your work, then," he said. He straightened his pants and lumbered down into the forge. He reached in with his hook and pulled out the now blackened plow blade. He brought it to the surface as the steam had extinguished the lanterns on the wall. He brought out a brush from his belt and they went to the nearby creek. He submerged the metal and gave it a good hard scrub. The black scale came off easily.
He turned it admiringly in his hand. "Looks good," he said. "You'll need to work on your angles a bit, and knowing when and how to quench, but you've done a good job with this project."
"What project?" Hiccup asked behind them. Nina started so violently she fell into the creek. The cold water made her gasp and splutter.
"I'm p-planning on m-making a s-small farm to help the v-village," she stammered after Gobber picked her up easily and set her on a sunny rock. "I made a plow head."
Hiccup examined it. The middle of his mouth lifted while the corners turned down further than normal as his eyebrows rose and he nodded in approval. "Very nice," he said quietly. He passed it back to Nina before turning to Gobber. "Dad said he needs you in the forge. Something about more swords needing to be made out of old ones or something."
"Right," Gobber grunted as he got to his footing. Turning to Nina he pointed with his hook at the plow head. "Let me know how that turns out. Hiccup, come with me. You're helping." She nodded and they lumbered off.