29 What A Day

"RRAAK"

It was not the way Stoick had intended to wake up, but it did seem fitting to be kept awake the night before by the snoring rider before being woken by her dragon the next day. Sitting up, he rubbed his stomach and sore head and briefly contemplated never feasting and drinking so much again. The feeling soon passed and he began contemplate breakfast instead. He walked slowly down the steps while listening to the cheerful morning song of Berks premier Nadder rider.

"Chief!" a shocked Astrid nearly jumped out of her skin when he appeared.

"Sorry to wake you... I forgot you were here... again... back... home."

"It's alright Astrid, but maybe you should take the dragons outside while I make some breakfast."

"Oh... don't worry about that" she made for the door "I'm making some breakfast for Gothi and Olvor so I'll make some for you too; come on Stormfly, let's go."

The eager young girl and dragon disappeared out the door and ran off to make another morning meal.

"I hope you like eggs" Stoick turned toward the voice to find Olvor and Gothi had removed Hiccups left leg to re-dress the wound.

"Of course I like eggs; why do you ask?"

"Well I dare say you're about to have your choice of eggs prepared three or four different ways; it's Astrid's breakfast specialty."

"Hmmm, lucky me. What's that you're putting on Hiccups leg?"

"The main ingredient is the sap from a succulent plant. It's great for burns, so we hope it will dull the pain for Hiccup while he heals. We won't know for sure if it works though till he wakes up and tells us."

Olvor looked down at Hiccup "So wake up and tell us you lazy little boy."

"Uuuhhnnhh" was the only reply but it was enough to get Stoicks attention.

"Did you hear that? He's awake at last."

"As Gobber would say Chief 'Don't get your knickers in a twist' it's just a little side effect of his dreaming that I told you about yesterday. That may have been illegible babble, but he did say something this morning; just a single word."

"What was it?" Stoick asked eagerly.

"I'll give you a clue; I hope Hiccup likes eggs."

"Really?"

"Yup; why do you think she was singing so cheerfully this morning?"

After breakfast, Stoick took a stroll around the village to make his first morning inspection as the Chief of the Dragon Riders. The first of his people that he met on his walk, was Little Freya who greeted him from the back of a medium sized, greenish blue Nadder. A short distance down the arced avenue of homes, he came across Odd; who was slightly out of breath.

"Mornin' Chief; you haven't seen Windrunner anywhere have you?"

"Head halfway up the street and look for the smaller of the two Freyas; you'll find your dragon firmly attached to her tiny little bottom."

He watched Odd run off up the hill and thought 'I must have a word to Big Freya about her dragon thieving daughter; Nadder owners will never be safe till she renounces this life of crime.'

All was peaceful on Berk thanks mainly the large number of Vikings who were sleeping off last night's feast and the loudest sound to be heard, was that of the beating wings of four riderless Zipplebacks flying by overhead. As Stoick approached the rock spire on the southeast side of the village, he was surprised to see the posteriors of three Vikings who were on their knees peering over the edge of the cliff and down the rock face.

"I can only assume that there is something very interesting down there."

Two of the three rose up from their undignified position as the Chief approached.

"Ah good mornin' Stoick" Gobber greeted as he and Sigrid got back to their feet while Thorfinn continued to peer over the side.

"What are you three up to here and should I be worried?"

"Err... planning and probably" came Gobbers reply as Stoick took a quick glance down, but did not see anything out of the ordinary as Sigrid took up the explanation.

"Yesterday Odd asked Astrid to take a look at Berk from a dragon's perspective and work out the best place to build the main stable. A spot that would be close by, but not in anyone's way and she says that there is a mark down there showing the perfect spot, but we can't quite see it."

"Don't tell me, let me guess; you were all looking down the cliff when Odd decided to go check it out. But when he turned around, his dragon was gone" Stoick deduced.

"Uncanny Chief, how do you do it?"

"It's not as hard as you think when Little Freya is around."

Fifteen minutes later Odd had retrieved his dragon and joined Gobber and Pigg halfway between the village and the waves. As soon as they had completed the inspection of the cliff face, they returned to the others near the forge.

"It looks difficult Chief, but the end result should be worth the trouble" Odd informed them.

"So how would we go about this?" Stoick asked as Gobber grabbed a broken sword from his scrap metal pile.

Scraping the sword in the dirt, he drew a side view of the cliff with a platform jutting out just over halfway up.

"We build this platform on the side of the cliff using a similar method to the walkways that go down to the docks. Then we work from on top of the platform to cut the rock from the cliff face giving us both an underground dragon pen and cut stone for building anything that needs to be fire proof; it's win win."

"It could take years to complete" Sigrid chimed in "but if the dragons like to keep their homes warm as they did on Dragon Island, then we could end up with a centrally heated village."

"Doesn't that mean we will have lava coming out of the cliff and a permanent sea fog?" Stoick was concerned.

"It was the Red Death that caused all that, so we should be fine."

"And besides" Thorfinn added "now that we don't need to completely reconstruct the village after every raid, we can take on projects like this more often."

"Indeed; let's get the plans started on this" Stoick agreed and left them to their work.

The morning grew into a fine day as Stoick considered his change of fortune. Less than a month ago he had been worried that he would not be able to feed his people during the coming winter but now, although their livestock numbers were still low, the people of Berk now possessed fast aerial access to all the surrounding islands over the horizon where they could trap anything from Boars to Bunnies and build up their stocks with ease.

Many people came to him with many good ideas, like a permanent lookout on the now accessible highest peak of the island, a dragon powered sauna and even plans for dragon sports and games. Most of the Vikings though, were still content to simply practice their flying and make additions to their homes so their new pets could reside with the family. Gronckles and Nadders were shown to be the best indoor dragons while Zipplebacks and Nightmares proved to be a little too restless and flighty, but that did not stop some brave souls from planning en suite stone pens for their precious little darlings (little?).

"It's a very pleasing view isn't it?" Olvor commented to Stoick as he stood halfway up the steps to his home where he had a perfect view of the village's new life.

"Aye that it is... and how my boy then?"

"No change yet. Gothi's gone home to get some rest in case she has to sit up with him again tonight and Astrid is trying to find Stormfly who disappeared half an hour ago. And is it my imagination, or is that young Freya down there on a very familiar looking Nadder?"

"I really do have to speak to her mother" Stoick stood shaking his head as Olvor wandered off and Snotlout flew by on his dragon.

"Come on you guys" he called back to Fishlegs and the twins as they prepared to take another joyride around the village. Just then, the familiar voice of his son drifted into Stoicks ears.

"I knew it; I'm dead!"