Being chief was a trying, never-ending chore. Everyone always wanted something; always had questions to ask of their leader. In addition to that, something was always wrong. It was exhausting. Oswald often wondered what it was like past the boundaries of the archipelago. There was a whole world out there that deserved to be explored and the man planned on not letting that go to waste. Sometimes, just sometimes, he imagined what it would be like if he left and never looked back. He could see it already. There he was on one of their ships (it did not have to be a large one–just good enough for him to travel.) The wind would be in his hair, sun shining on his face, and the smell of salt water would grace his senses. It would be the most relaxing life in the world, but it would be more than that. It would be an adventure.

Life on Berserker Island was tedious at best and mind-numbing at worst. They were a calm group of people which he liked, but that meant nothing ever happened. The only times he was not bored out of his mind was when Dagur was getting into another one of his insane antics. Besides that, he had nothing to do. He craved a thrilling life away from it all–chiefly duties, the island, and Dagur. Especially Dagur.

"I wonder if they'd even notice if I left," he pondered.

Suddenly, he was snapped out his thoughts by someone approaching. He immediately knew who it was. He could recognize that angry stomping anywhere.

"Dad," Dagur said, breathing heavily.

Oswald closed his eyes and sighed. "I've asked you not to bother me while I'm here."

"I know, but we're supposed to be heading to Berk, remember?"

"Hm?" Oswald's eyes widened and he slapped his forehead. "Right. I forgot about that."

The chief turned and saw the boy. He was looking over his shoulder nervously. Oswald considered asking why, but he had a good guess. Dagur's hair was tousled and there were some scratches on his arms.

"It's still early," Oswald said. "We don't have to leave yet."

"Yes, we do!" the boy insisted, grabbing his arm and starting to pull him.

Oswald yanked his arm free. "What is wrong with you?"

He expected Dagur to frown like he usually would after a question like that, but he just looked anxious. After turning to look behind him again, he answered.

"It's Ansson," he whispered. "He keeps trying to fight."

"Since when don't you want to attack something?"

"I don't like fighting him!" Dagur corrected, appalled that Oswald had thought otherwise. "Can't we just go? We're supposed to be there soon anyway."

"What makes this attack different from the others?"

A look of embarrassment crossed the redhead's face. "I don't want to look like I got beaten up before going to see the Berkians. They won't think I'll be a good chief."

"Well, I highly doubt this is what will give them that impression, Dagur," Oswald stated, sighing.

Then came that scowl Oswald was accustomed to seeing. Abruptly, Dagur began laughing.

"I don't know what I'm doing," he said through cackles. "I'm clearly wasting my time asking you of all people to get involved in something that doesn't involve hugs and grins. Forget I mentioned anything."

Oswald nearly already had and returned to his daydreaming for a bit longer as Dagur went to deal with his own trouble. Once it had ended, he returned home and got a bucket of fresh water. He saw his reflection and scowled. A black eye was going to show itself soon, so he dipped a cloth into the cool water and pressed it against his right one.

"Looks like I got in a fight with a dragon and lost," he thought unhappily. "Maybe the others won't notice. What am I thinking? Of course, they'll notice. I'll just make it seem better than it was."

After a bit, the swelling started to go down and he was able to tend to the cuts. Looking at himself in the water longer, the heir began to frown more.

"Maybe I'm not his son," he wondered. "I don't really look like him. Different hair, but I guess I have his nose. Definitely don't act like him, though. That's good. I wouldn't want to. He's so boring."

Dagur continued caring for the wounds for a little while until Oswald was done thinking of where else he could be living. The chief found him using water to clean off a busted lip. Several more bruises and cuts were on him, but neither spoke of that.

"Are you ready to go?" Oswald asked.

Dagur made a face at him. "Was earlier."

Jumping up, he stormed over to the ships. The boy found a spot away from his father where he could look at the water. He began rebraiding his messed up hair and watched the waves crash into one another. As he imagined ships smashing into each other, he laughed at the hypothetical sight. His laugh was loud enough to carry to the other side of the vessel, causing Oswald to frown in disgust.

"Must you always do that?" he asked loudly enough to be heard.

To spite him, Dagur considered laughing more, but he did not feel like hearing any more complaints. It had been a lousy enough day already without Oswald's constant nagging. At least it would get better when he saw Hiccup. That would be something interesting. Finally, the two docked at Berk. Stoick and Gobber warmly greeted Oswald and Hiccup kept an eye on Dagur, unsure if he would attack again. He had not been looking forward to this visit. It was bad being around the other young Hairy Hooligans, but they had enough sense not to throw knives at him at least. Stoick could put the fear of Thor in any child, but Hiccup doubted he had the same effect on someone like Dagur.

"Since it is late, you should join us for a feast," Stoick offered.

"Oh, that's not necessary," Oswald assured him.

"Nonsense. What type of host would I be if I let you come here at night and leave without having an opportunity to eat at the Great Hall?"

The Berserker chief smiled and chuckled as he heard his own stomach growling. He had not eaten anything yet, having simply forgotten while being so lost in thought.

"It would be rude of me to refuse you the chance to be a good host then. Do lead the way, Stoick."

The group began heading to the Great Hall and Gobber hobbled next to the visiting chief. Quietly, he mentioned something to him.

"Is Dagur alright?" he asked.

"He's fine. Why do you ask?" Oswald inquired, surprised.

"Looks roughed up."

Oswald waved his hand to dismiss the thought. "He's always getting in scraps with other kids. Don't pay it any heed. I don't."

Scratching his chin with his hook, Gobber agreed to drop the subject. The kids were behind them, walking a little distance from each other. Hiccup kept side-eyeing Dagur to be sure nothing was being thrown his way. Apart from a few quick glances at him, Dagur was keeping his head mostly down, not wanting to draw attention to any evidence of the fight he was unable to hide. He wanted to talk to him so badly, though, and see how things had been going. Yet, shame kept him silent as they walked. The Berkian heir was surprised at how mellow he seemed. He almost seemed calm. Part of Hiccup wanted to thank Thor and another was curious if the older boy had been knocked in the head hard enough to make him sane. Self-preservation prevented him from asking and they walked the short way to the Great Hall before sitting down. Stoick and Oswald sat at opposing sides of the table while their sons were near them, Hiccup to Stoick's right and Dagur to Oswald's left.

"Have you had many dragon attacks on Berserker Island this year?" Stoick asked.

The Berserker grinned brightly at a viking who brought a plate of food to him. He was about to take a bite when he heard the question.

"No, we don't really have that issue."

Stoick looked puzzled. "That never made sense to me."

"Me neither," the other chief said, taking a big chomp out of a mutton leg, "but I'm glad."

As Oswald ate, he began smacking and smacking more. It did not bother the Berkians much even though it was a little noticeable; however, they were hardly ones to complain. They were not necessarily known for their table manners either. The Thorstons made that very clear at every meal to which they were invited; however, for Dagur, it was like someone kept scraping his eardrums with a knife. With each smack, his grip around his knife handle tightened. Hiccup saw this and instinctively prepared himself to duck if necessary. It seemed like the larger boy had gone from cutting into a piece of meat with a fork and knife to snarling before he looked positively murderous.

"Why won't it stop?" Dagur wondered angrily, putting his hands over his ears. "Isn't he full yet?"

The heir felt like he was about to jump from the table and tackle his father to the ground if nothing happened. It was incredibly irritating. Oswald smacked, slurped his mead, burped, and loudly clanged the cup on the table for good measure. For a moment, the sounds stopped and the Berserker boy took a quiet breath, feeling himself calm down. It was finally over.

"Do you have any more of that mutton, Stoick?" Oswald asked. "I think it rivals Berserk chicken and that's quite the delicacy."

Dagur stood from the table. He could take no more of his father's eating. This was why he tended to stay outside while he ate and then would eat afterwards. It was just too annoying to be next to him. Hiccup's heart temporarily stopped when Dagur locked eyes with him like a dragon locking in on dinner.

"Hiccup, aren't you done eating yet?"

"Um."

"Good."

Without waiting another second (since this second could have allowed Oswald to start eating more,) Dagur dragged the smaller viking out the hall by his arm. Hiccup gave a pleading look to his father, but Stoick only watched in mild concern and confusion.

"Does he normally leave in the middle of eating?" the chief asked, trying to listen for any sounds of Hiccup being attacked and thankfully hearing none.

"I'm not sure. We don't eat together."

About to ask why, Stoick caught himself and kept the topic on matters which concerned the tribes. Outside, Hiccup pulled his arm free, surprising Dagur.

"You got a bit stronger," he complimented.

Hiccup was not expecting that and almost smiled. "I've been working more in the armory."

"Have you made anything new?"

Now, Hiccup did smile. "I have actually. I've been trying to make something to keep Snotlout or any of the others from complaining about me being heir."

"What did you come up with?"

"I'll show you," the auburn-haired boy offered, leading the visitor to the armory.

In a corner of the armory, there was a shelf with various items. Hiccup proudly gestured to them.

"I've been working on these." His grin turned sheepish. "They haven't worked much, but they've been fun to try out. I think I'm almost done with this."

Hiccup lifted a small device and pulled a string. As he did, a weird sound came from it, making Dagur tilt his head in confusion.

"Is that all it does?"

"Well, yeah, but it sounds kind of like a yak, right? I designed it so that it would scrape along this one bark and have some pebbles moving at the same time when you pull the string."

Dagur crossed his arms. "Ooh, because who doesn't need a yak in a box? Has it helped any with Snotpocket?"

"Not really," Hiccup admitted, downcast.

"Big shock there," the bigger boy said sarcastically.

Frowning, the Berkian was about to protest, but the other viking started talking.

"Is the doubt still just talk?"

"Just talk?"

Sighing, Dagur shoved Hiccup. The smaller boy fell to the ground and looked up with a mix of anger and hesitation.

"Is stuff like that happening or is Snothat just telling you stuff you don't want to hear?"

"He's still just talking," Hiccup answered, getting up quickly in case another attack was coming.

"What if he weren't afraid of your dad? Then what?" Dagur questioned, marching over menacingly.

Hiccup wanted to stand his ground, but he could feel himself shrinking a bit.

"Why in the name of Thor did I bring him to the armory again?" he wondered. "He's already used knives to throw at me. Now I've given him new weapons to use."

Hiccup saw Dagur balling one hand into a fist and flinched, expecting a blow. After a few moments, he timidly opened his eyes to see a disappointed look on the Berserker's face.

"You've got no warrior's instincts," he commented. "Not everyone's going to fear Stoick. They really won't as he gets older and he's pretty old already."

"My dad's not old."

"He's pretty ancient. It won't be long before he's out of his prime and you've got no one to protect you."

Hiccup could not tell if he said this to taunt him or warn him out of a place of genuine concern. His face was too disturbed-looking and the boy found Dagur's intentions difficult to interpret.

"Where's Snotlip?" he asked.

"He's home now."

"Where's that?"

"Why?"

"I'm asking the questions."

Intuition told Hiccup not to reveal the other Berkian's location. He could tell that a fight was going to begin if he did and if he was forced to fight Snotlout, he doubted he would win. It was at this moment that he got a better look at Dagur.

"Were you in a fight today?" he asked.

Dagur's expression became unreadable momentarily. "Yeah…and I won."

"Really?" Hiccup inquired before he could stop himself.

The bruises on the other viking did not seem like those that would be on a winner of a fight. Of course, he supposed that the other Berserker could just look far worse. If all Berserkers were half as crazy as Dagur, Hiccup was afraid of what their fights looked like. The older boy did not appreciate the doubt and blushed before poking Hiccup on the shoulder with more force than he planned on using. It sent the boy into the wall with a light thud. Pretending like it was intentional, Dagur put on a confident face.

"Do you think I'd lose a fight?"

Hiccup shook his head, earning a wide smile from the other heir.

"You won't have to worry about fights either–"

Dagur stopped as he heard some vikings outside the armory yelling. There was quite the commotion and he ran out to see what had happened.

"Maybe it's a dragon!" he thought hopefully. "I hope so. Then, I can really prove that I'm a warrior."

To his dismay, he only saw a young yak who had gotten loose from its pin. Still, an opportunity was only lost to people who did not know how to make the most of any situation. Dagur saw all the damage the animal was causing and charged at the beast. He ran straight to its head. If he had learned anything from his own fights, if you cannot move your head, you cannot move away.

The animal was fast, but so was the Berserker. Grabbing the horns of the yak, Dagur began pinning it to the ground. Having it stay that way was difficult and it seemed to have no interest in calming down, but he liked getting to take out his anger on something by having to keep it there. Thoughts came to mind of his frustration with Oswald, Ansson, and Hiccup. He was so angry with all of them. It was enough to make him want to snap something. A loud bleating told him that he was being too rough with the yak. Its neck had almost been broken and Dagur released some of his grip. He did not want to kill it, just restrain the animal. When he loosened the hold, the animal ran off, terrified of him.

Dagur started to chase it down again, but he stopped when it did. Its attention was caught by a sound. This sound was made by Hiccup's device. It reminded the little creature of his herd and he began trotting over to the little boy. Dagur thought he was charging at Hiccup to trample him and began going over there to stop it, but again it stopped as well. It halted right in front of Hiccup and he smiled as he pet its head.

"My Thor!" someone said, impressed. "I've never seen anyone do that before."

That someone was Oswald. He and Stoick had just finished signing the treaty and he went over to Hiccup and his new yak friend. Looking between the two, he grinned.

"Did you make that device?"

Hiccup proudly nodded and Oswald good-naturedly ruffled his hair. "You've got a bright one here, Stoick. You should be proud."

Though he did not completely understand what the device had done, the Berkian was still proud of what Hiccup had accomplished. A warm smile crossed his face and it only caused Hiccup's to widen. Oswald turned from them and saw Dagur's frown. He walked by him, slowing down just enough so that his words would only be heard by the boy.

"That's what a good mind can do for a future chief." To the others, he said, "It was another great visit, but I sadly must return to my island now."

"Of course. Safe travels, Oswald," Stoick wished him.

The Berkians followed the visitors to their ship. Grinning, Hiccup waved goodbye to Oswald. Finally, someone who understood what he was trying to do with inventions. Even Gobber did not fully appreciate his non-weapon creations. He was so happy that he almost missed the death glare Dagur gave him as he walked by.

"You cheated," he hissed. "You're a cheater, Hiccup."

Smile falling, the boy watched the other heir get on the ship with Oswald. They could not have seemed more different. The chief's warm smile to the Berkian heir contrasted spectacularly with his son's harsh scowl.

"What did he mean by that?" Hiccup wondered. "I didn't cheat. There weren't even any rules to this." He shook his head and smiled. "I don't need to try to understand Dagur. I did a good thing. He might not understand that and maybe no one here understands me, but at least Chief Oswald can see what I'm trying to do."