Hiccup woke the next morning. He had the strangest dream of a woman helping him through the pain last night. He flinched at the memory. That had been the worst episode in a while, certainly since he'd married Toothless. He looked at the little dragon nestled into him with fondness. He hadn't thought he'd actually be happy with the arrangement, and here they were, about to go celebrate their four month anniversary together. Stroking one of her ears, he gently woke the little lady.

She chirped at his sleepily. "Good morning to you too. We should get up if we want to make it to the glade." She nodded, but then snuggled down into the blankets. Hiccup laughed. "Come on." He whipped the blankets off her small body. She squeaked and tucked her tail in closer to her legs, glowering at him. He laughed, but bolted for the changing screen when she leapt out of the bed, intent on catching him and setting his hair alight. But just before he reached it, his good leg caught on a chair and he toppled to the floor.

Toothless ceased her teasing chase and dove for him, checking every inch of him with her paws, snout, and tail. When she reached his stomach, Hiccup's face screwed up and he bit back a laugh. Toothless pawed the area again and the chuckle escaped his lips. Toothless grinned and began running all over the spot, trying to avoid Hiccup's flailing hands as he laughed from her masterful tickling.

"To-" laugh "Toothless" wriggle "Stop, please!" another laugh. "Toothless!" But she refused to let up, dodging this way and that until he successfully rolled over and pinned her between him and the floor. He smirked at her. "My turn."

But to the great relief of the littlest princess, Mark chose that moment to appear with the breakfast tray. "Sire,' Hiccup looked up from where he had Toothless pinned, not realizing how it would have looked had Toothless been human. "Your father would like to speak with you and Milady after breakfast." He then skedaddled, not wanting any more information on the quirks of the prince's love life.

Hiccup reluctantly let Toothless wiggle out from underneath him and the two attacked the breakfast tray. Fifteen minutes later, both stood with the other royals in the throne room, sated and dressed. Stoick looked them over. "Sons, two months ago, I gave your wives the chance to prove themselves worthy of their marriage to you. Only one succeeded." Hiccup winked at Toothless. "However, I will not base my opinion of your wives off one instance."

He looked at them all again, perhaps lingering on Sophia and Clarice. "I propose another challenge. This room needs a rug." He flung his arms out to encompass the whole of the throne room. "This time next week, I want each of my daughters in law to bring me a rug to cover the floor of this chamber. You are dismissed." Hubert and Hamish led their wives out of the room to discuss possible plans. Toothless flew up to the king and nipped him affectionately on the ear as a sign of goodbye and turned around…

To find Hiccup gone. Frantic, she raced through the corridors, checking their rooms, the servant's quarters, the library, the kitchens, anywhere he might be. But all of them were empty. Geoffrey, the head cook, Mark, no one knew where he was. Toothless sat down by a window to think. She needed to talk about this new challenge with him, or at least try to. But how was she supposed to do that when she couldn't…

A clanging sound echoed in from out in the courtyard. Of course. She flew out through the window and into the forge where her husband smashed the hammer down on a steel rod. Again and again he brought the hammer down, flattening the poor piece of iron until it was as useless as, well, him. Why did his father do this to him? Toothless had already proven her worth. She'd out-cooked two human brides and made him much happier than he would have been otherwise. Why was that not enough for Dad? The hammer stroke missed the flattened rod and caught him on the hand. "Ah!" He threw both pieces to the side and clutched at his hand. He wondered if the fingers were broken. Then they'd match him.

He heard a whine and looked up into a pair of huge green eyes. He sighed. "Sorry, Toothless. I'm just frustrated. Let's go back into the room. We have to think of something." She butted her head gently against his chest and flattened her paws against him. Obeying her silent command, he picked her up and took her back to the room. He didn't think they'd be going out today, not with the new ton of bricks dropped on their shoulders.

Hiccup walked to where the seamstresses were housed to ask for help with the rug, but when he arrived, Clarice was already there, ordering the assistants around like she owned the place. A quick retreat seemed the best course of action. Next, he tried the town market. With all the iron trinket trading he did, most of the dealers knew him. But his way was barred when Sophia and her entourage swept through the street, bullying the poor venders. Okay, buying wasn't an option. The two spent the rest of the day checking their options, but either one of the princesses had been there first or they wouldn't be able to get a fine enough rug ready during the allotted time.

The prince trudged back up to the castle gate. " How're we gonna do this Toothless?" he moaned to his wife as she flew level with his shoulder. "The food was one thing. Cooking's not that hard, as long as you don't try anything fancy, but neither of us can weave! It's almost like he wants you to fail." He sat down in the grass and buried his head in his hands. "And today was supposed to be special. She wriggled through his arms and sat herself in his lap, reaching up. Gently, she put her paws on his chest and stretched up her neck until the tip of her snout rested against his nose. He smiled and closed his eyes, leaning forward so she didn't have to stretch so far. How long they sat like that, Hiccup didn't know. He just knew that, when he got back up and again headed for the castle, he felt a bit better. The rug situation was still hopeless, but Toothless was not. And hopefully, neither was he.

Kind of a boring transitional piece, so I'll make you a deal. Five reviews today and I'll upload the next chapter, which is much sweeter.