A/n: Excellinor gets a mention here, but I don't feel as though I know the character enough to write her accurately.

Why did I agree to this again?"

"You didn't. If I remember correctly, your words were: 'No. Never.' But here we are anyway."

Hiccup sighed. Astrid was right: he /hadn't/ accepted. Unfortunately, the Viking tribes had all thought to add a small note at the end explaining that they would be turning up whether he let them or not. He simply didn't answer; there was no point.

"Ah, there's the first ship. Joy." Hiccup said sarcastically. Indeed, there was a boat on the horizon now, moving with typical Viking vigour to reach Berk. The Vikings from other tribes had heard of Stoick's death and Hiccup's subsequent rise to chiefdom. Naturally, this was cause for a grand celebration. And instead of inviting him round to one of their many islands, they had decided to bring the party to him. It was less effort that way - for them at least.

"Hey Hiccup!" a cheery voice called out as the boat arrived at the dock. A small Viking, even smaller than Hiccup himself and twice as scrawny-looking, popped out, grinning devilishly.

"Hey Camicazi." Hiccup greeted, considerably less impressed. It wasn't that he hated the girl, far from it - they were friends, but she could be... overbearing, at times.

Camicazi leapt of the boat, followed by a stream of other Vikings from her village. "Where's Bertha?" Hiccup asked, peering around Camicazi - she was in his face, as usual - to look for the Viking's mother, and chief of the tribe.

"Didn't come." Camicazi explained cheerily. "Thinks I can 'go on my own now'. Pah! I could go on my own when I was five."

'Oh gods, no.' Hiccup restrained the urge to hit his head on the nearest wall. There was no one to restrain the girl now.

"Well, let's go greet the village!" Camicazi decided, grabbing Hiccup's hand and towing him off.

"But the other -"

"They can be greeted by Astrid!" Camicazi waved off the concern, "Come on! We have people to greet!"

"And dragons..."

The two arrived at the village in record time, with Camicazi pulling Hiccup along. He mentally thanked the gods for keeping her away from him while he was still adjusting to his leg; it could've only ended in injury.

'Toothless!' Hiccup shouted when he finally regained control of his legs, 'Come meet my friend!

"What was /that?/" Camicazi asked, looking at Hiccup with a mix of awe and confusion.

"Dragonese." Hiccup explained. He'd told every tribe about the dragons by now, and some were more receptive to the idea than others. Everyone had come to terms with it eventually, and a few tribes were discussing having Hiccup teach them how to train dragons. Hiccup himself thought it was a great idea, and planned to propose it tonight at the feast.

"Wow. Trust you to do something like that." Camicazi said. "So, what did you say?"

"I called Toothless over." Hiccup explained. At the mention of the dragon, Camicazi perked up.

"Oh wow! Can I see him?" Camicazi asked excitedly, not noticing the dragon creeping up behind her in her excitement.

"He's right behind you." Hiccup revealed, unable to hold in his laugh as Camicazi span round, jumping slightly when she realised that there was, in fact, a dragon right behind her.

"Wow!" Camicazi beamed, impressed at Toothless's stealth. "What's he called?"

"Toothless." Hiccup answered. 'Hey bud, show her why.'

Toothless obediently demonstrated his ability, first showing Camicazi a gummy smile. Just as she was marvelling over a dragon without teeth - "he's adorable" - Toothless revealed his trick. Camicazi jumped back as she found herself confronted with a full set of deadly sharp teeth, letting out another yelp. "You're conspiring against me!" she accused.

Hiccup laughed. "Yeah." he admitted, "But it was funny."

"Suppose so..." Camicazi agreed, now petting Toothless as though she'd known him for weeks. "So, how's life on Berk?"

"About as good as you can expect, given we were nearly killed by a massive dragon not too long ago."

"Hmm..." Camicazi said, not at all interested, "Well, I've been bored out of my wits, but I've been having a great time," she continued sarcastically, "Got to spend some quality time with Excellinor."

Hiccup didn't remember much about Excellinor, other than that the old woman had been particularly cranky and didn't seem to like children at all. He remembered her vaguely from gatherings of the tribes when he was younger, only seven or eight, but when she stopped turning up he had simply assumed her dead. "She's still alive?"

"Yeah, unfortunately."

"She didn't come with, did she?" Hiccup checked, looking about nervously as though she was about to step out to meet them.

"Oh, no." Camicazi assured, "She's still technically a prisoner. I think. It's all very unclear... I don't know how she even ended up anywhere near the Bog Burglars!"

"Strange..." Hiccup said thoughtfully. He expected that the old woman would've convinced another tribe to take her on after her relation to Alvin the Treacherous got her chucked out of Berk. "Well, at least she isn't here."

Camicazi nodded. "So, where are the other dragons?"

That night, the feast was a huge success. There was dancing and games were held in Hiccup's honour, ranging from the typical Viking arm wrestle to the even more typical Viking boasting session. In the middle of the celebratory chaos, Hiccup stood up on one of the tables.

"Quiet!" he called, gaining the attention of a few people close to him. 'Shut up guys!' Hiccup gave his best impersonation of a roar, which worked well enough to stun most Vikings into quiet. A few murmurs broke out, and Hiccup rushed on with his speech. "I'm sure you're all enjoying the festivities, but I have an announcement to make. Or a question, for the representatives of the clans. Do you want dragon training?"

"Of course!" Camicazi shouted without hesitation. "That's a great idea!"

Seeing the enthusiasm of one, the Vikings started to agree with the first to answer. It was an interesting thing about Vikings, the way they behaved like they were part of a hive-mind.

"Dragon taraining it is then." Hiccup smiled. "So, when should we start?"

"Tomorrow!"