A/N: Some lore related things and my take on one aspect of the job system. See below after the chapter for more details.

NOTE: Due to revelations regarding Heavensward and Ishgard, especially with the Patch 2.5x coming out, I am waiting until there is more information available before focusing in on the next several chapters. It will be interesting, for sure.

Dragoon Training

"Welcome to Dragoon Training!"

It was surprisingly much less grand than Hiccup thought it would be. The dragoon training grounds were separate from the lancer's, and seemed a bit cleaner, but for the most part they looked the exact same. The exception was the elaborate set of striking dummies – several were connected to pulley sets that were clearly designed to simulate targets in the air – and a large sand pit to the side. A couple large trees towards the entrance to the training grounds marked a more grassy area, clearly left there for when trainees were taking breaks and wanted to relax.

"No turning back now," Astrid murmured. Hiccup glanced over at her from his place in the line where the recruits stood at attention. She, like everyone else, wore simple leather armor and carried both a training spear and a protective helm.

There were only six people in this class. Because the waves of people both passing lancer training and qualifying for dragoon training varied, classes were set on a rolling basis and were often divided based on age and experience. Theirs wasn't the only beginner dragoon class, but theirs was the only one made up of all freshly minted lancers.

Everyone looked slightly nervous, standing there in that line. Gobber wasn't the reason - everyone knew the jovial man long before he became their dragoon instructor, and it was just impossible to be nervous after any history with him. No, it was more likely the actual aspect of the training itself... and perhaps the small crowd of people observing from the side.

One of whom included Chief Stoick himself.

Oh gods why.

His father hadn't been home when Hiccup left; he assumed it was for 'chiefly duties'. In any case, Hiccup had been more than grateful for the privacy, and it had even let him hold off on leaving for the training grounds until the starting bell had nearly rung. Less time for anyone to talk to him. Less questions.

He was still trying to ignore the obvious looks from his classmates and the observers even as Gobber made his speech from the front of the class.

"Let's get started!" the man called. He looked just as he always did; missing an arm and a leg (the arm was replaced by a hook today, but the leg looked mechanical) and dressed in the same tunic he wore in the smithy. Hiccup supposed that when you were a respected dragoon trainer, you could wear whatever you felt like when training new recruits.

"Dragoon training – a fine tradition here in Berk, and all of Ishgard," Gobber made a waving motion with his good hand. Then he chuckled. "Now, you all know the history, Haldrath and Nidhogg, the Azure Dragoon, and so on. So I'm not goin' ta waste time. Best do well then – because you're all part of the little tradition we have here in Berk - a race to the final exam. A race to see who will be the first to kill their first dragon!"

Snotlout blinked and glanced at his cousin. "Uh, Hiccup already killed an aevis, does that disqualify him from that, or…?"

Hiccup raised an eyebrow, but Gobber shook his head, grinning. "Nope!" the man chuckled. "I should clear it up – who will kill their first dragon… completely solo."

Everyone looked at Gobber with a mixture of eagerness and horror. Hiccup felt very much in the latter category.

"So that means Hiccup here has an edge up on all o' yeh," Gobber nudged Hiccup with an elbow with a very proud smile. "So I suggest yeh train hard."

Hiccup felt his stomach make that disturbed roll again. How much had changed with the killing of a single dragon.

"Now then!" Gobber marched back in front of everyone hand and hook on hips. "All o' yeh know the basics now. Lancer training takes care of that. But let me tell you, it doesn't end there; yeh'll be learning more spear techniques, the best ways to slay dragons, and yes, that trademark attack that all dragoons learn… the Jump."

He grinned all of them, and suddenly a circle of aether formed about him as he propelled into the air.

Everyone gaped as he flew. The stout man flipped high in the air, seemingly at home in the midst of flight, before he somersaulted and landed with a firm 'whomp!' back on the ground before them. He looked quite at ease with the acrobatic feat he had just performed.

"That," he stated, chuckling, "is the dragoon's Jump." Then he sighed and rubbed his back. "Halone have mercy, I don't practice that nearly enough."

As far as Hiccup knew, Gobber didn't need practice. The man might have been retired from active dragoon combat since losing his hand, but that Jump was definitely better than anything he expected from the class, much less himself.

Gobber chuckled weakly to himself as he stood straight again. "Ach, well good thing I have help. For now though – none o' yeh'll be jumping on cold muscles. So get to yer warmups! Chop chop! Laps around the field!"

Hiccup immediately dropped his spear and with the rest of the class, began running.

It was strange how an experience involving running for your life from an angry aevis could make warmup laps around the field seem much less difficult. He found that he gasped less; he was also, for some reason, able to keep up with Fishlegs quite easily.

He quite preferred the current run to the Dravanian raid's hectic scramble. Less stress.

The morning followed in a fairly routine manner, with more warmups, drills, and spear forms. Gobber clearly preferred a more hands-on approach to teaching, but for this specific day he was going the traditional route, as he grumbled more than once. "Yeh'll get your chance in the field," he announced to all of them. "I've already spoken with the village Levemaster about it. Good chance to put all your skills to practice."

Hiccup only vaguely heard Gobber as he managed to finish the final spear form without falling over. He already felt very stupid about having whacked himself in the head with his spear handle during drills.

They went into sparring next. Six people meant three sparring groups, so they cycled around from partner to partner. Nothing had changed when it came to this at least; Hiccup found himself thrown on the floor with a spear to his neck for every single round. It was a very familiar feeling. It was extremely odd that he felt more comfortable with this than the earlier looks of curiosity from the observers.

"Pfft, well some things haven't changed," Ruffnut planted her spear into the ground, looking down at Hiccup with a derisive grin. She looked slightly annoyed, much to Hiccup's surprise.

He rolled his eyes in response and pulled himself up. "I'd hope not. I'm friends with the dirt, I think it'd miss me."

She blinked at him, but not before Gobber had shouted out to everyone again.

"Sparrin's over! Short break, get some water! And put yer helmets on!"

Ruffnut practically whooped and raced back to where everyone's extra gear lay in piles. Hiccup just sighed and followed halfheartedly. He noticed Gobber wandering over towards the crowd of observers, obviously talking to someone. So far, Stoick looked unimpressed. Or maybe that was just his normal scowling expression.

Much to his displeasure, Snotlout immediately accosted him as he reached the others.

"So Useful, the whole village is buzzing about you," his cousin crossed his arms, eying him expectantly. "You really did kill that aevis?"

Hiccup nodded, swallowing. He was going to have to play this off somehow. "Yeah. You know, if the blood on my arm and all the aevis gore didn't tip you off," he said with a pointed look.

"It was dark!" Snotlout protested.

"That's not an excuse if you ever have to help an injured comrade in battle," Astrid retorted. She wiped the sweat off her brow and nodded at Hiccup. He shrugged in an attempt to look coolly grateful, but he wasn't sure if that was how it came off as.

Fishlegs practically bounced up to him. "I heard you went all berserk on the thing!" he gaped in awe. "Like, it used its Strident Shriek attack and knocked back the other fighters, but you were just out of range so you dove in and just stabbed it to death from there!"

Hiccup cringed at the description. "Uh, yeah, that's pretty much how it happened…" he laughed uneasily.

"Wow, I'm impressed," Astrid commented, this time with an approving smile. Hiccup's insides fluttered a bit. "That's the story I heard too… didn't think you had it in you. Looks like you might make a fine dragon slayer yet."

"Ehe… we'll see…"

"Did it really almost bite your arm off?" Tuffnut suddenly jumped forward and grabbed Hiccup's right arm. He yelped and tried to pull it back, but Tuffnut seemed insistent on examining it. "Do you have a scar?"

"Tuffnut! Let go!"

Ruffnut tilted her head. "It was pretty bloody looking…"

The two struggled briefly, but Hiccup eventually gave in as the other boy was stronger than him. Tuffnut finally released the arm several moments later, looking disappointed. "No scar."

Hiccup glared at him and cradled the arm to his chest. It still felt tender. "Nothing like Cure spells to ruin your fun, huh," he muttered.

"Man, why'd you get all the action?" Tuffnut groaned. "Wish I coulda gotten some! I mean the Big Bertha's awesome and all… but a dragon up close? Coulda gotten some serious burns!"

"Yeah, I was hoping for some mauling!" Ruffnut grinned.

Astrid snorted and gave the others a confident look. "Yeah, it's only fun if you get a scar out of it."

"Mauling is not fun," Hiccup said flatly.

They all looked at him.

"… how was that?" Fishlegs asked after a pregnant moment.

"Painful," he stated. "It just extends how long the dragon's chewing your arm. I think next time I'd rather go with a clean bite. Get it over with. Or a claw. Seriously."

He had to stop as he realized that everyone else was staring at him. It also took him a moment for it to click just how nonchalant he had sounded about battle injuries.

He gave an uneasy chuckle. "You know, we're gonna be fighting the Dravanians, might as well get used to it right? Still have to keep fighting when we're not first priority for Cures."

Everyone else glanced at each other. Then they burst into oddly raucous laughter.

"Point taken, cousin," Snotlout clapped him on the back. Hiccup couldn't help but stiffen in realization of just how strange this was. "You sound like a Berkian."

"Well, uh, I am one…"

"We need to throw you in front of more dragons," Ruffnut waved at him. "You're way more fun now."

Hiccup stared in disbelief at them. Then he gave a half-hearted fist pump. "More dragons. More arm mauling! Pain, love it!"

He immediately regretted those words, as they were apparently the cue for the entire group, minus Astrid, to run up and pester him about the aevis. What it was like, they asked, how many teeth it had, what color were its scales, and was that teaching from the Church about bewitching via dragon touch was true (Hiccup had to violently mash down an urge to vomit at this).

Astrid seemed to respect his space and stayed back. This he was eternally grateful for, and he grinned helplessly at her from where he was stuck with four excited teens surrounding him. The sound of Gobber's yell thankfully saved him.

"Back to it, you lot! At attention!"

They all immediately jammed on their helmets, grabbed their spears, and ran back to the line.

Gobber marched to the front once more, but this time he was accompanied by someone from the group of observers. She was a tall, elegant Elezen woman who easily exceeded Gobber in height, her silver braided hair pinned tightly to her head. She wore chainmail with a red tabard that had the Berk crest stamped over it, and she carried a weathered lance on her back.

Hiccup's heart sank as he recognized her. She was a dragoon. In fact, she was the same dragoon he'd once gotten in the way of and nearly caused to lose her arm.

And now I know how painful that is. Eugh…

"All right, all o' yeh," Gobber announced. "It's time. Yer very first jumping lesson!"

The twins were practically bouncing already. Everyone else seemed just as eager. Hiccup mostly wanted to melt into the ground.

Gobber chuckled, gazing at all of them with a fond, reminiscent look. "Now, since I'm not in the best shape for jumping," he patted his belly and kicking a little with his mechanical leg, "I've brought in a volunteer who's goin' ta be helpin' us for the duration of your main training. Estelle Fournier. Say hello, everyone!"

The woman stepped forward and gave a soldierly bow. She gave them a kind smile.

"Estelle Fournier," she spoke in her clear Ishgardian accent. "Tis a pleasure to be of aid to your training class. I look forward to working with you."

Everyone watched in awe, and Snotlout even waved. She looked slightly amused at this.

Her gaze however rested on Hiccup for a few moments, with her expression unreadable. He gulped in response. He could tell that she remembered him too.

Gobber laughed and clapped his hand on her shoulder. She smiled back at him. "Estelle's one of our best jumpers," he remarked. "So she can do the best job of showin' a Jump in all its glory." He grinned widely at this. "Up for it, dragoon?"

The woman nodded and gave him a sharp salute. She turned on her heel and marched up towards the furthest line drawn from the sand pit, pulling the spear off of her back as she did so. Then, without preamble, she stepped to the line and jumped.

The trail of aether followed as her lithe form flew into the air, higher than Gobber had gone and with far more poise. She spun as she flipped, spiraling as she arced through the air, the spear acting to balance as though it was the center of her movement. Then she reached the greatest point in her jump, and with a powerful twisting dive, drove the spear deep into the sand pit.

Sand blew everywhere and blue light exploded from the blow, but she clearly wasn't done. The spear came out as she somersaulted backwards, her legs kicking upwards as she vaulted, and then she was back at the line with her spear in ready position as though she hadn't moved at all.

Hiccup's mouth was open. So was everyone else's in the line.

"Showoff," Gobber snorted.

Estelle turned and winked at him. "Twas not for combat purposes, and you wanted a display of the best jumping possible. I thought to embellish."

"That you did."

She smiled and gave him a flourishing bow. Hiccup could have sworn she looked slightly cheeky while doing it.

Gobber seemed incredulous, but he nodded anyway. "Thank you Estelle," he spoke, turning back to the others. He cleared his throat and began again.

"Now the Jump is the trademark dragoon technique," he stated. "What you must know is that it's not entirely physical. S'not possible to jump that high by yourself! What's really important when it comes to this – is the aether."

A circle of aether briefly swirled, then faded around him. Gobber grinned a little.

"So now, time for you to try! First, spread out, give yourselves some room. That's it," he nodded in approval as everyone quickly moved away from each other. "Now drop your spears, yeh won't be needin' 'em for the rest of today – that's right Tuffnut, drop the spear," he said pointedly as the boy nearly shouted in protest. "Might poke yerself in the eye. Gather your aether – all o' yeh know how to do this, yeh do it for half o' the attacks you know, come on now - and yeh use it to propel. From the legs. Come on now, give it a go. Not too much. Gentle. Just enough to bounce."

So in short, it involved aether control. Hiccup could do that. Aether control was something he could do. He focused, remembering what he had seen with both dragoons as they jumped.

He stepped away from the spear and tried. Aether and some physical movement. To his surprise, a thin circle of aether formed around him and his entire body hopped up from the ground.

He had to hold out his arms for balance to keep from falling on his face, but he managed to do it. A thin circle of aether, a gentle bounce. He did it a few more times for practice.

Strangely, he was the only one who was able to maintain a consistent delicate bounce off the ground. Astrid nearly lost her balance several times, and Snotlout's bounce was lopsided, while the other three could barely move themselves off the ground.

Gobber and Estelle had clearly noticed. They both nodded to him as they moved towards the others. "Good job, Hiccup. You're doing it correctly," Estelle smiled as Gobber began correcting Snotlout's posture.

They didn't spend very long on it; apparently, Gobber wanted to move to the actual Jump.

He gave more instructions, how to utilize aether better, how to control, the correct posture, the landing. Hiccup listened closely, applying each one as they build upon the previous step. If there was anything he was decent at combat-wise, it was his aether control. It was the single thing he had confidence in.

By the time they had practiced the landing several times, the murmur from the observation crowd had grown audible for them to hear. Hiccup glanced over as Gobber called them back to the line, noticing whispers, pointing, and Stoick and Spitelout clearly making bets of some sort. The class was apparently reaching the point of some exciting event.

"It's time," Gobber announced. "For you to attempt the Jump."

Astrid's face lit up; Snotlout hopped up and down on his feet; Fishlegs was grinning, and both Ruffnut and Tuffnut cheered. Hiccup took a deep breath, steeling himself.

"So now the question is… who wants to go first?"

The enthusiasm instantly died. Everyone looked at each other. Hiccup tried very hard to stare at the ground and not look either Gobber or Estelle in the eye.

Then he felt a shove from behind.

He stumbled forward and glared backwards to see Snotlout looking away with a grin on his face.

Oh for the love of Halone!

Gobber glared at Snotlout and thwacked the boy upside the head. Then he sighed and knelt down by Hiccup. "Yeh're going to be learning it anyway, so why not give it a try," he gave Hiccup an encouraging pat on the shoulder. "Come on. Don't worry. Everyone goes through it. Don't worry about messin' up. I saw yer aether control back there, you'll be fine."

Hiccup felt akin to a walking statue as Gobber led him towards the sand pit. Everyone was watching, and now he was certain that Snotlout and the twins were laughing at him. He might as well have been walking to his grave. Death by sand pit. He was going to fall flat on his face or land headfirst in the sand or something stupid like that…

Gobber stopped him at the closest line. "All right Hiccup! You have yer helmet on. So give it a go!"

Hiccup took a deep breath, doing his best to ignore the crowd of observers and the line of fellow trainees. The sand pit stared back at him tauntingly, like it was daring him to fail.

Oh no. I'm not failing. I'm going to jump and land and spray sand all over the place just like Estelle, you stupid sand pit. Yeah. It's just a sand pit. Just a jump. I can do this. I can do this.

He gathered the aether within him, focusing on the target before him. He wasn't going to trip. He wasn't going to have a stupid failure. He was going to jump. He was going to do it.

He braced himself, took position, and jumped.

He missed the sand pit entirely.

Instead, he found himself flailing helplessly in the air as he catapulted off to the side towards one of the large trees.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH - "

"So, I guess you and that tree got rather acquainted," Stoick mused as he stirred the pot over the hearth. "But breaking half its branches off and knocking yerself out? That takes some special talent. I'm amazed the thing is still standin'."

Hiccup nodded sheepishly. He held a packet of ice shards to his head, which still ached a bit, though head injury was already gone, courtesy of Gobber and some panicking classmates. He wasn't sure if he was flattered or mortified to know that one of them had been Astrid.

"Not… one of my finer moments," he mumbled.

"You know that's going down in Berkian dragoon history as one of the most amusin' first Jumps, right?"

"Oh. Lovely."

Stoick burst out laughing, and he slapped his thigh in his mirth. Hiccup did not feel any better about this.

"Really son! How did you get all the way from the sand pit to the restin' grounds?! That's over half the yard!" At Hiccup's unamused glare, Stoick snorted. "Oh, don't look like that Hiccup. No one's first Jump goes well. Yours was just rather spectacular. And really, tree aside, it was not bad at all."

He ladled the stew into a bowl and handed it over. Hiccup finally put the packet down and started eating, not sure how he was supposed to feel about this.

"Not bad, Dad? The whole village was laughing at me."

"Oh stop feelin' so embarrassed!" Stoick waved him off as he ladled himself his own bowl. "There've been worse first Jumps. I missed the sand pit too. Landed in front of it though."

Hiccup perked up slightly at the mention of his father also having a substandard first Jump. Stoick just chuckled as he sat down with his bowl and began counting off on his fingers.

"Let's see… yeh got the power for distance and height, seein' as how you were fished out of that tree. You even got power enough to strip half the branches from said tree in your landing. Aim… that needs work. But we'll get there."

Hiccup slowly nodded, focusing on his stew. He still felt highly embarrassed about the entire thing; he hadn't tried jumping again, unlike the rest of his class, who had done their Jumps and then worked on the basics of it for the rest of the period. They at least managed to make it to the sand pit, even if Tuffnut's had looked more akin to him crawling through the air at it.

"But I hear you get to work with the Levemaster tomorrow?" Stoick mentioned. "Some good practical combat experience, eh? I wouldn't recommend using the Jump just yet."

"No, no, I'd probably just kill another tree," Hiccup grimaced, and he spooned some stew into his mouth. "But yeah. We're trained lancers, so you know… puts us to work."

There was a sharp rap at the door. Stoick turned to it, his face serious as though he knew what was coming. "Yes, enter! Just finishin' up!"

The door opened, and Estelle strode in, bowing at the entrance. Hiccup's stomach lurched a little at the sight of her. She was still wearing the same armor from the training grounds.

"Chief Stoick," she saluted. "Ser Armin wishes to speak with you. He also asks me to remind you that the heretic mission departs soon."

Stoick sighed. "Oh, that. I know what he wants. I'm leaving soon, I'll be over shortly. Thank you Estelle."

"I'm also here to assure that Hiccup has not suffered any lasting injuries after that… collision with the tree," she chuckled slightly, glancing over at him. Her eyes touched upon the packet of ice shards next to him. "Are you well?"

He nodded, trying to grin as well as he could when there was half a chunk of meat in his mouth. He hurriedly chewed and swallowed it.

"Doing as well as I could after a tree to the head," he waved his spoon. "Hooray for Cure spells."

She smiled at him. "Good good. They'll be talking about it for years, as a fair warning."

He must have looked extremely dejected about it, because she suddenly burst out laughing at him. "Tis quite all right, young Hiccup! The first Jump of any beginning dragoon is haphazard at best. I tripped and fell flat on my face, my first one. Not even a single yalm off the ground. Tis all solidarity in first attempts that makes this all amusing to us, I assure you."

Hiccup blinked and stared at her. He remembered seeing that graceful jump, high into the air with a diving spin to drive the spear deep into the sand. It was hard to even imagine her tripping and falling at the line.

Stoick laughed, then quickly gobbled the rest of his stew into his mouth. It was a reminder that he and the others searching out those heretics were leaving soon. No dragon attacks tonight, based on the astrologians. Safer to make the initial march at night, when there was less chance of mad aevis' approach.

"Right then," he wiped the stew from his beard, then stood. "I suppose I ought to be headin' off then. Hiccup, rest of the stew is yours. You'll want to eat well, 'specially if yeh're headin' out into the field tomorrow. Estelle, look after him and the other trainees, will yeh? You and Gobber have 'em in your charge."

Estelle saluted, then gave a deep bow. "Of course, Chief. Fight well."

Hiccup sat with his stew, nodding dumbly. Then he put it down as he watched his father grab his pack of supplies and bedroll, throwing them onto his back. A spear was bound to the pack. The heavy battle axe was hefted onto his shoulder.

Stoick took a breath, then smiled and approached his son. He clapped him on the shoulder. "Train hard," he nodded, giving him an encouraging shake. "And I'll be back. Probably."

Hiccup gulped and tried to give his father a determined smile. "And I'll be here." Maybe, he mentally added. "May Halone guide you."

Stoick released and gave a salute. Then he strode out the door.

Estelle watched from her spot for a moment, then turned back to Hiccup. "I'm to assist in the final preparations," she spoke, tilting her head in a kindly manner. "The raiding party will be fine, worry not. I'll see you tomorrow in the training grounds."

Hiccup saluted her, though it felt halfhearted from his end. "Thanks Estelle. And um… sorry about the arm incident."

She blinked in surprise at him. Then she began laughing, though not out of spite.

"Accidents do happen, Hiccup," she replied. "You were an untrained whelp at the time, and you've learned your lesson. You are quite forgiven, as my arm works perfectly well. I believe you've experienced your own arm incident by this point, so consider that a little bit of retribution on my part if you're inclined to blame yourself for mine."

Hiccup looked down at his right arm, then back up at her.

She chuckled and saluted back. "Take care Hiccup. I shall see you in the morning."

Then she too was gone.

Hiccup took a moment to process everything, then sat alone with his stew and gazed at the space where his father had just been. He would be by himself for some time. It wasn't the first raid his father had been on, nor would it be the last if the stubborn chief had anything to say about it. It just bothered Hiccup that his job as a marauder meant that he purposely drew any attacking monsters towards him to protect the others of the party. Dravanians were terrifying. There would be more of those aevis'. More of the heretics.

There was of course, the entire heretic aspect too.

Were any of them like me? Freed a dragon, got gradually more and more bewitched, finally had to flee because they were found out or they couldn't stand killing Dravanians anymore or… something? I haven't gone that far. I can do this. Dragoon training. Dragoon training.

"Dragoon training," he murmured to himself.

Wonder what that Night Fury thinks of me. Maybe it's part of the heretic group Dad's going after. Who knows… I don't wanna know…

He violently bit down more stew in an attempt to stop thinking about it. He could always plan ways to improve on that bola ice cannon instead.

A/N: Okay, so after a lot of reading and checking the lore forums, my thoughts on everything involve how Ishgard has entire forces made up of dragoons, and how all Eorzeans have an innate ability to use aether since the land is so ridiculously steeped in it (and aether seems to be the magical phlebotinum element in this world). Because we have both mana and technical points, and we all know of certain things that DoW can do that's impossible based off of our understanding of modern physics, my interpretation here was that either way, the character is utilizing aether, just in different ways. So, the dragoon Jump is just on the technical side of it and whatever else is involved. (What the heck do we call that? Mana for Mana Points... Technical points? Technica?)

This brings me over to the dragoons - in Ishgard, their entire primary front fighting force is made up of dragoons, who use the Jump ability to attack dragons from the sky. Ingame mechanics have it such that you must equip a soul stone - and often times, there's only one, or only very few of them in existence. This follows with many of the jobs in the game. Some people on the lore forums theorized that the soul stone just contains all the memories and experiences of past users, so these are passed down and learned the moment the soul stone is equipped. However, we have all these dragoons! So my interpretation here is that they don't have a soul stone to teach them. They have to devote years of their life to this instead.

Also, regarding dragoons, ingame the soul stone goes to one single person: the player character, who is the Chosen One aka the latest Azure Dragoon. The soul stone is more like a cheat that lets the Warrior of Light gain those abilities without the years of training. What's happening in this story is the years of training. That's my take on it.