The next morning I awoke rather early, despite being up so late the night before. I was stiff all over because of Gobber's tests. I was just shifting my position, trying to get a bit more rest, when I remembered what had happened the previous morning. My eyes shot open. No Snotlout. I decided to get dressed again and I realized I should probably find a way to wash my clothes soon. I made my bed and exited the Great Hall. There was no one coming to fetch me and no test I needed to complete so I decided to familiarize myself with the village. I walked down to the docks, to the arena, and through the surrounding forrest. I familiarized myself with every plank of wood that made up the houses and every tree or rock in the forrest. I heard a snap of a twig behind me and I saw a little dragon stalking me. As soon as I turned to look at it it darted behind a tree. It poked it's head out from behind it and began to observe me. I smiled and sat down on a log to observe it as well.
"You watching over me?" I asked the dragon mockingly.
It continued to stare at me and slowly made it's way from behind the tree as it saw I wasn't going to move.
"Come on, I won't hurt you." I said lowering my hand to the ground in a fist.
I knew this would spark it's curiosity and it soon started walking up to me to see what I had clutched in my hand. I gradually opened my fist as it got closer. This increased it's excitement and it quickened its pace. It was right at my feet now and I slowly opened my hand. It was so excited that it didn't care when I revealed I had nothing. With my palm open I placed it in front of the dragon, like Hiccup showed me a few days ago. The dragon didn't rub up against it but jumped onto my arm and found it's perch on my shoulder. I spent a few minutes playing with my new friend before it stopped and moved it's head around as if it heard something. Sure enough it leaped off our log and chased a squirrel into it's burrow under a tree. After some frantic digging the little dragon gave up and returned to me.
"You hungry little guy?" I said as I scratched the dragons chin. I offered my hand down so he could climb onto my shoulder. "Come on lets both get some breakfast." I said as I made my way back to town.
Back in town many people were going about their daily activities. I couldn't find Hiccup or any of the other dragon riders around but I heard the clang of metal at the blacksmiths. I walked past it and I saw Gobber pounding away at some metal on the anvil and singing.
"I've got my axe, and I've got my mace, and I've got my wife with an ugly face, I'm a ... Hi Freya." he sung. I was surprised that he noticed me as he looked deeply concentrated in his work. He turned to me and saw the dragon on my shoulder.
"Oh and you got a new friend I see. Be careful with those terrors; they bite harder than a shark when their hungry.".
"About that, do you know what I can feed it?" I asked.
"Dragons will eat just about anything, but fish is always a good option." said a familiar voice from behind me. "But his owner will feed him so don't worry about it." said Hiccup as I turned around.
"Oh this dragon already has an owner?" I said with a little disappointment.
"Well which house did he come out of?" Hiccup asked.
"It ... He didn't, he was in the forrest hunting squirrels for food." I explained.
"Wait, you tamed a wild Terror in the forrest?" Hiccup asked with astonishment.
"Ya he isn't so hard to manage, he's tiny." I said scratching the dragons chin. Gobber was observing us and then walked over and pushed Hiccup away from me.
"No no no no no. I see what's going on here Hiccup and she is not going with you. I haven't been able to keep up with my forge work since my last apprentice never has time to work because he is always at the dragon academy." Gobber scolded.
"Wait what are you talking about Gobber?" I asked.
"Stoick announced today that you were going to be staying with us. I was right next to him when he said it and I was still fifth in line to ask him for his blessing to make you my apprentice." Gobber explained.
"What?! When I told Stoick I'd be staying I didn't think he would barter me off to someone like some prized yak to be traded" I protested.
"Your not being bartered, anyone needs my dad's permission if they want to switch jobs or take an apprentice. It's just a measure of control so that we don't end up with three hundred shipwrights and two fishermen. You will be able to choose which apprenticeship you take out of the ones my father approves." explained Hiccup.
"And your going to choose the blacksmiths apprentice aren't you Freya? After all we have a history." Gobber stated.
"Gobber, after yesterday, I have a gut feeling that if we worked together with a lot of sharp objects around, it wouldn't end out well for either of us." I reasoned. All of this was allot for me to take in. "But I see what you mean , about how Vikings don't share too well now, Gobber." I concluded.
"Yep I bet this whole things given Stoick one massive headache with all those people asking his blessing." Gobber said going back to his metalwork.
"Well if I were you I'd keep my head low" said Hiccup moving towards Toothless to depart.
"Why? I'm going to have to get a job here sooner or later." I replied.
"I didn't mean from possible mentors, I meant from my father. You were the cause of his lack of sleep and now a headache." Hiccup shivered and then asked "Why did you have to wake us up anyways?".
I was offended that he asked that and I responded sarcastically "Oh I'm sorry. I just made the most important decision of my life but I guess I should have waited until morning to tell anyone because Hiccup and Stoick need their beauty sleep.".
Gobber overheard this and started laughing.
"Well good luck if he finds you. It's a shame you can't just fly away for the day. That's what I do when he's mad at me." Hiccup planted not so subtly. He then took off on Toothless. I sighed and shook my head at him for trying such an obvious attempt to sway me to choose to work at the dragon academy. I had a feeling that I was going to get allot more people trying to get me to become their apprentice before the day was done. I found some raw fish and fed my new dragon then I let him play with some other 'Terrors' in the town while I got my breakfast at the Great Hall. Neither Stoick or the other teens were in there but that didn't stop me from being overwhelmed by conversation. Everyone wanted to get to know me now and all the conversations ended the same. It was always "You would make a great something apprentice" and even a few of them tried to tempt me with offers of chickens, yaks, sheep or other tradable goods. After my breakfast/lunch I was so tired of all the conversations and I was not looking forward to bumping into Stoick so I just headed back to my bed to ward off anymore prospective mentors. I was laying on my bed with my hand dangling off when I felt something rough, rub up against it. I looked down and saw my Terror staring up at me. I picked It up and I stroked and scratched it on my bed. It soon curled up under my arm and fell asleep. I looked up off my bed and saw that the hall was empty now. I sighed in relive a moment too soon because I could now hear two voices in the hall. It didn't take me long to recognize that it was Hiccup and Stoick so I laid motionless and tried my best to not be noticed.
" ... I want Freya." I heard Hiccup say and It took me completely by surprise. I thought he was with Astrid. Wait why would he be telling his father like this?
"Not you too Hiccup. Absolutely not, if anything you should be rotating people out of the Dragon Academy to 'elp with all the other empty jobs we need filled." Stoick said. Oh. I was a little embarrassed for assuming too much but I listened more intently.
"That's ridiculous. No other area is less staffed than us." Hiccup defended.
"Their are six of you and Gobbers getting buried with work at the forge and there is no one to 'elp him." said Stoick accusingly.
"There are four of us and the twins, and half of my time is spent making sure they don't cause problems for the whole village. We haven't gotten any work done with dragons for months." Hiccup explained.
"What are you talking about Hiccup, you and your friends have been whizzing around Berk, non-stop, for weeks. I'd say thats getting plenty of work done." Stoick said.
"We have been busy lifting up building supplies, herding animals, and scaring fish into nets. That is not what I call training and studying dragons. The biggest problem you will have if other jobs aren't done are slightly thinner and upset villagers. The biggest problem you will have if we don't know how to prevent confrontations with dragons ... the complete destruction of Berk." Hiccup said.
"If I allow this you will 'ave to teach 'er everything you know about dragons and that could take years. Not to mention you would 'ave most of YOUR time taken up teaching 'er. Then who is going to watch the twins?" Stoick replied.
"Years!? I just taught her the basics two days ago. She tamed Barf and Belch in the arena yesterday. Today she ..." Hiccup started but was interrupted by Stoick.
"That dragon was already tame." Stoick said disapprovingly.
"Tamed by the twins isn't the same kind of tame we are talking about. Anyways, today she tamed a Terror by herself. She is a fast learner and I guaranty you she would be more useful to Berk on the back of a dragon." Hiccup finished.
"Hiccup makes a good point Chief." I announced as I had walked up to them with my Terror on my shoulder. They were both surprised to see me standing there but then Hiccup got a smile on his face as he saw that I was agreeing to work in the Dragon Academy. The chief sighed and squeezed the bridge of his nose.
"Alright on one condition. You both spend some of your free time 'elping Gobber in the forge or I'll never 'ear the end of it from 'im." Stoick caved.
Hiccup grinned and turned to me saying "So. Are you ready to become a dragon trainer?".
Authors note: For any of you that have been following this story since the first day, I would just like to give you a heads up that some of my later plot-lines will rely on aspects from season two. So this isn't actually placed after season 1 but after season 2 of Dragons: Defenders of Berk.