Happy New Year HTTYD fans! I hope that you've been save and didn't drink too much! A new start for us, a new start for Hiccup. He's going to the city! Now comes all the fun!

Enjoy!

The Adventurous Adventures of Hiccup and Wrenlou

Initiation, Part I

Staring at the ocean he silently mumbled the words over and over. He had to make sure he memorized them. He had to make sure he wouldn't forget them tomorrow, when he had to stand in front of all of Dragoncity, and say them out loud. The oath of Dragoncity, the promise of the dragon riders.

He sighed. The days had flown by since his recovery from pneumonia. They had been busy with training, practice, learning the oath. And even though he had it memorized, he was still scared that when he stood there, in front of all those people, that he would still forget what he had to say. He didn't have any experience with speaking in front of large crowds. He never did it on Berk. No one listened anyway. But now, now all eyes would be on him when he stood there, and they would all be listening to what he had to say.

"I thought I might find you here," Wrenlou's voice came from behind, "can't sleep?"

Hiccup shook his head. When Dale had sent them all to bed a few hours before, he had tried to sleep. But the nervous knot in his stomach had grown and grown, the fear that he would forget the words keeping him from sleeping, and he had gotten up not long ago, mumbling the words almost obsessively.

"I... I'm scared I will forget it," he choked out, his throat tight.

"Me too," Wrenlou said softly, "it's a big step. It's keeping me up too."

"Really?" Hiccup asked.

"Yeah," Wrenlou said as he sat down next to Hiccup, "it's new for me too. I've never done it before, just like you."

"W...What happens if I forget it..." Hiccup asked, his voice trembling a little.

"They won't kick you out if you do," Wrenlou said, "one of the other dragon riders will most likely help you. They know what it's like. It may be a long time since they've done it, but they've all been there. They all know how scary it can be."

"T...tell me again how it will go," Hiccup asked softly.

"Well," Wrenlou started, scooping some sand from the beach and letting it flow from his hand, "we'll go the city after breakfast, so quite early. When we get there we'll be greeted by the Council, all members, including the ones from Lightcity. And because Broghan and I are the first from our family, my dad will bring our banner to the Hall and swear the family loyal to Dragoncity. Then Broghan and I can swear our loyalty to our banner, and therefor to the city and our family. Do you follow so far?"

Hiccup nodded. "But... I don't have a family... or a banner..." he said softly, "who will I swear loyalty to..."

"The banner of Dragoncity," Wrenlou said, "and when you make your own banner, you can place that in the Hall as well. What is your family crest anyway?"

"It's... eh..." Hiccup looked down, poking the sand, "it's a dragon... on a spike... M...Most Viking family crests are like that!" he added quickly, "but I don't think it has a place in the Hall of Dragoncity. It's the crest of a dragon killing family. I don't want to be part of it."

"You can always make your own," Wrenlou said, "maybe... a haddock?"

"What, like the fish?" Hiccup asked, "you can't be serious."

Wrenlou shrugged. "Why not. There have been stranger crests. You saw the ones in the Hall. Some are... I mean, a fir tree? Those don't even grow here."

"Fir tree? I didn't see any for tree..." Hiccup mumbled.

"It's the crest of the Sypres family," Wrenlou explained, "one of the families with the longest line of dragon riders. Right now the only Sypres in Dragoncity is Clavo Sypres, Council member. He's 78."

"What's yours?" Hiccup asked, "your family crest?"

"Ours was created after Tyler Dreycon created the dragon riders. It's a Night Fury. Well, the silhouette of one. White on a blue background."

"It sounds awesome," Hiccup said, "I wish that was my crest too."

Wrenlou smiled a little. "Who knows," he said, "anything can happen."

"Yeah... and after? When we've said the oath? What happens then?"

Wrenlou's smile widened. "We party. There will be a great feast in the Hall. You know, a lot of food, wine, music. It'll be fun."

Hiccup didn't respond. He stared over the water, the stars sparkling in the sky above. Once again he repeated the words from the oath in his mind. He looked up when he felt a hand on his shoulder.

"You'll be fine Hiccup," Wrenlou said, "I know you will be."

Hiccup smiled weakly. "And after?" he asked, "after the party and the initiation thing? What will we do then?"

"Then we find a Master," Wrenlou said, "some one to teach you in a trade of your choosing. I think you should go to the blacksmith. Have him teach you."

"Become a blacksmith myself?" Hiccup asked.

"Sure, why not?" Wrenlou said, "you enjoy it, don't you? And you have talent. You'd make a great blacksmith."

"You think so?" Hiccup asked. When Wrenlou nodded he continued: "so what do I have to do for that? Just go to him and ask him to teach me?"

Wrenlou chuckled a little. "It won't be that easy. He'll most likely give you three tests, to see if you're committed and serious about learning, and to see what level your skills are on, so he knows how much he has to teach you and when you can take your Final. It's up to him really. But you have to take the first step and ask him if he would be willing to take you as a student."

"What about you?" Hiccup asked, "where are you going?"

"Remember the healer from when you were sick? The woman that took care of you?" Hiccup nodded. "She's offered to be my Master, so I'll go and find her."

"Will you have to do three tests too?" Hiccup asked.

Wrenlou nodded. "Every one has to. No matter where you go and who you ask, every one has to do three tests. Of course what they are varies between Masters, but those three tests are mandatory."

"What are they?" Hiccup asked, playing with the sand around his feet.

"No idea," Wrenlou said, "no one does. They're different all the time."

Hiccup didn't answer. He scooped the sand from the beach and let it flow over his foot while he let Wrenlou's words sink in.

"Where are the other going?" Hiccup asked after a while, "Broghan and Leila and the twins?"

"Leila is going to the leather workers," Wrenlou answered, "she wants to make saddles and suits and other things like that. She always loved working with leather. She'll fit right in. I'm not sure about the twins. I believe Susan wanted to work as a masseuse in the bath house, and that Sharon was more interested in working on the docks. You know, unloading and loading ships, things like that. And Broghan wants to do what Ezra does now."

Hiccup frowned. "And what's that?"

Wrenlou smiled. "He wants to become the Head of the Guard. And that's no easy task."

"The Guard?" Hiccup asked, "that's like a military kind of thing, right? And anyone can join?"

"It is a sort of military watch, yes," Wrenlou said, "but not anyone can join. In fact, you can't join unless you are chosen by the Head of the Guard, in this case Ezra. He'll most likely call us all to do some tests and training, to see if we are fit for the Guard. Then he either decides to train us all, just some of us, or none of us. If he does recruit us, well, we'll have a pretty grueling schedule ahead."

"What do you mean?" Hiccup asked as he brushed the mount of sand of his feet and started again.

"If he deems us all fit for the Guard, we'll train with him for thee days, then with our Master for three days, in your case the blacksmith, and then we'll have a day where we're free, to rest and do nothing. Broghan will most likely have to train six days with Ezra, since he wants his job in the future."

"Can you be two things?" Hiccup asked, "both a member of the Guard and a blacksmith?"

Wrenlou nodded. "Yes. There are several sections within the Guard. One of those sections is what we call the Pars Tempus. Those are the members that have other jobs, like blacksmith. That's what we would be part of, if we are recruited. It basically means that you're a part time member, that you are on back up call or something. I'm not entirely sure. Then there is the Plenus Tempus. Those are the members that are full time members of the Guard. They are the ones that are on the front lines in case of an attack. They're also better trained and more heavily armed. And then there's the Explorator group, usually called patrol. They are the best fighters in the world, have the most training, and it's the highest honour you can have withing the Guard."

"What do they do?" Hiccup asked.

"They patrol Titan Island," Wrenlou said, "no, I haven't told you about that yet. Titan Island is an island... East of here I think. It's the home of the Titan Wings. And the Titan Wings are huge, vicious creatures that cannot be trained or controlled. The patrol group's task is to patrol this island, count the Titan Wings and keep an eye on them. It's a very dangerous task, and there are only 20 or so in this group,"

"How do you get in?" Hiccup asked.

"Ezra chooses the best recruits from the Guard every year, trains them himself," Wrenlou said, "it's not easy getting in. And not every one wants it. Mortality rate is... high..."

"I think I'll stick with blacksmithing," Hiccup mumbled, "it doesn't sound like something for me."

"It's a choice," Wrenlou said, "you don't have to accept it."

"Ezra sure has a lot of power," Hiccup said, "if he can make all those decisions by himself."

"He has advisers," Wrenlou said, "but in the end, yes. He has a lot of power. I think Broghan would make a great replacement. If Ezra wants to train him that is."

Hiccup looked down. It seemed that the oath tomorrow was the easy part of his new life in Dragoncity. After that he would have to take control over his own future, be assertive. No one would lay the path he had to walk for him, he had to make it himself. He would have to stop hiding, and step out into the light to make sure he got what he wanted. He would have to go to the blacksmith and ask to be his student, no one could do that for him.

"Come on," Wrenlou said while he stood up, "let's go back and try to get some sleep. We have a long day ahead of us tomorrow."

"Yeah..." Hiccup sighed as he got up, "I don't think I can sleep much."

"Me neither," Wrenlou said, "but some sleep is better than no sleep. Besides, tomorrow will be great and you will do fine. Think about that, okay? Think about the fun we'll have when it's all over, not the part before that."

Hiccup nodded and followed Wrenlou back to the cabins. He stopped, looking around the little village that had been his home.

"It will be strange," he said, "to live in the city. I never lived in a city before."

"You won't have to do it alone," Wrenlou said, "I'm here, Toothless is. We'll all help you get settled in."

Hiccup smiled and looked at his feet. "Thanks..."

"Go to bed," Wrenlou said as he opened the door of his own cabin, "I'll see you again tomorrow."

"Okay... Sleep well," he said softly and he opened his own door.

"You too Hiccup, you too."

0-0-0-0-0-0

Hello people! Welcome to the last riddle! I know I said I'd end it with 2015, but then the year ended Thursday and not Friday, as I thought, do I figured I'd start the year with one more. But it really is the last one! I will post a list with all the winners, probably next week. Anyway, we have one more riddle to go, and of course last weeks winner.

The answer was the Future, and it was guessed right by So-Many-Ships-It's-An-Armada. So if you would be so kind as to send me a PM, I would appreciate it!

And then, the very last riddle! Took me a while to get a good one, but I found one after all. Here it is!

We hurt without moving
We poison without touching
We bear the truth and the lies
We are not to be judged by our size

Good luck people! And once again, Happy New Year!