So I know this one isn't as detailed as the first one, but the second is... less interesting. It's the third one that's fun. At least I think it's fun.

Enjoy!

The Adventurous Adventures of Hiccup and Wrenlou

A Blacksmith's Apprentice, Part V

"Hiccup! It's good to see you again!" the smith greeted him cheerfully, "before we start with the second test, I wanted to ask if you had anything to say or ask about the first one. Do you?"

Hiccup thought for a moment, then shook his head. "No questions. But a little warning about the volcano would've been nice. You know, just say, "Hiccup, I am sending you to an active volcano." And maybe mention the dragon... would've saved me from... well, these."

He gestured to the scrapes and bruises on his face and arm. Mendo sighed and put his hammer down. Then he walked around the anvil and put an arm around Hiccup's shoulders.

"If I had mentioned the dragon," he started, "then it would have been far too easy."

"Okay fair enough," Hiccup said while he pushed the blacksmith's arm away, "but you could have mentioned the volcano. That had nothing to do with it."

"Next time I will mention the volcano," Mendo said.

"Very helpful..." Hiccup mumbled.

"I'm glad you're okay," Mendo said, "I was worried when you were late."

"Maybe I was late on purpose," Hiccup said with a faint smile, "now come on, what's the second test."

"You're eager to get started," Mendo said with a smile and he opened the cabinet where he had stored the metal Hiccup had brought back, "the second test... it's a fairly simple one. All you have to do is make this workable. Soften it, take a small piece and make a perfect cube, one that fits in the palm of a hand.

"So heat it up, make a cube," Hiccup said and he crossed his arms, "I can do that in five minutes."

"You have a week," Mendo said, ignoring Hiccup's comment. The forge is all yours. If anyone comes asking for repairs, tell them the shop is closed for the coming week, and if they don't agree that they can find me in the Hall. Good luck my boy!"

He left quickly, leaving Hiccup baffled. As soon as Mendo had turned the corner and was gone from sight, Hiccup turned to the block of metal sitting on the anvil. He leaned down to it, studying the rough surface. It looked like any other piece of metal, the same as all the others he had seen in Gobber's forge. It had a smooth, flat surface where it had landed on the ground when it had been hot, right after the dragon coughed it up. The rest was rough, bumpy, but still shining enough that he could see his reflection, fractured into pieces like it would be in a broken mirror. The reflection of the fire made it look like a gem, the light breaking up and sparkling like little stars.

"A week..." he mumbled, "a week to do something as simple as heating this up? What is he keeping from me this time...? You're not going to explode when I put you in the fire right?"

He sighed and ran a hand over his face. Then he reached out and touched the metal. It didn't feel any different. After he knocked on it a few times he also concluded it didn't sound very different.

"What's your secret," he mumbled, bringing his face closer to the shining metal, "why would it take a week to figure it out..."

His face was now so close to the metal that his nose nearly touched the rough surface. He was so focused on the metal that he didn't see the young man that walked into the shop.

"Hey Hiccup, what are you doing?"

He jumped up and spun around, his heart racing. "Gods... Wrenlou! You scared me!"

"Guilty conscience?" Wrenlou said with a smile, "no, but seriously, what are you doing. You looked like you wanted to get in that thing."

"The next test..." Hiccup said, "it's make this workable. You know, heat it up, soften it, make it malleable, and then make a little cube out of it."

"So chuck it in the fire and be done with it," Wrenlou said while he crossed his arms, "sounds like an easy one to me."

"He gave me a week to do it," Hiccup said, looking at the fire, "something is off. Why would he give me a week to do it? There has to be something that's different about this stuff."

"You have those little pieces right?" Wrenlou asked, "start with those. Besides, if you have to make a cube those small pieces are perfect."

"They are..." Hiccup said and he rubbed his chin, "I might just do that. Thanks Wren."

"Before you do..." Wrenlou said, grabbing Hiccup's arm, "can I borrow you for a few minutes?"

"Borrow me..." Hiccup asked with a frown, "what for? What did I do?"

"You didn't do anything," Wrenlou said and he started pulling Hiccup away from the forge, "I did something. Yesterday. When I took care of those scrapes and bruises."

"Has this to do with your second test?" Hiccup asked, following Wrenlou.

"Yes," Wrenlou said and he let go of Hiccup's arm now that the boy was following him, "my second test is to take care of minor injuries this week. And I might have mentioned to her what I did last night, and now she wants to see you. Well, she wants to see your wounds."

"So she can check up on you?" Hiccup asked and Wrenlou nodded. "Are you in trouble?"

"I don't think so," Wrenlou said and he held the door open, "but with her... I never know."

"Then lets get this over with," Hiccup said, "I want to go back to my metal. I need to know what's going on with it."

He was back in the forge just a few minutes later. Naomi had taken a quick look at the scrapes and concluded that Wrenlou had done a good job. She had sent him back to his own tasks, and taken Wrenlou to go see a new patient. Now he was staring at the metal chunk again, trying to unlock it's secrets by staring at it. After a while he sighed and straightened his back. He ran a hand through his hair and took one of the bigger pieces from the bag.

"Okay..." he mumbled, "lets see what happens shall we?"

He looked around for tools and found them on a workbench next to the door. He picked a pair of tongs with long handles, just to be safe.

"Please don't explode..." he said softly while he held the piece of metal in the hottest part of the fire.

It didn't explode, nor did it do anything else. It took a while to heat, and he sat, waiting patiently while he turned it around in the fire like it was a roast on a spit. When it was finally glowing red, he pulled it out and brought it over to the anvil. After he had dropped it on the worn metal of the anvil he selected a hammer from the many hammers that were laying around and turned to the glowing nugget. He took a deep breath, and raised the hammer above his head.

As soon as the hammer hit the glowing metal nugget it slipped and the metal shot away. It hit the furnace before bouncing of the ground and lodging itself into one of the roofs support beams. The wood quickly caught fire and Hiccup dropped the hammer to rush to the bucket of water. After he emptied it on the beam he was panting, staring at the little piece of metal like it had grown eyes. A small trail of steam came from the nugget, that had sizzled the moment the water had hit it. It was lodged firmly in the wood, the surrounding area blackened by the fire, but the metal itself looked pristine, like he never hit it with a hammer.

"Impossible..." he mumbled and he looked around searching for the tongs, "it has to be at least a little flatter... right?"

But the nugget he pulled from the wooden pillar showed no signs of flattening. It was just like it was before. Hiccup looked at it from all sides, checking every little dent to see if he might have caused it, but there was no sign that he had done any damage to it. When he checked the anvil he found an indentation, and the nugget was a perfect fit for it. He also found one on the hammer, where he had hit the glowing piece of metal.

"That's impossible..." he mumbled, "it was glowing red... that should mean it was hot..."

He bit his lip in thought, trying to think of what he could do different to get the nugget to yield, and the only thing he could come up with was that the fire wasn't hit enough. He had to make it hotter, much hotter. And even then there was no guarantee that it would work.

"I now see why I have a week to figure this out," he said with a sigh, "this is going to be harder then I thought. Much, much harder..."

0-0-0-0-0-0

"Still nothing?" Wrenlou asked as he walked into the forge holding out a cup and some food for Hiccup.

"Not a damn thing," Hiccup said with a sigh as he wiped his hands on his apron, "it's been only three days and I have tried everything I can think of. Wood, coal, oil... nothing burns hot enough to melt this stupid stuff. It's harder than any metal I've seen before. I actually broke a hammer yesterday, can you believe that? I broke a hammer trying to get this thing to flatten. I almost burned down the forge. It won't do what I want."

He took a few angry bites from the sandwich Wrenlou had brought him and stared at the nugget as if that would scare it into a cube.

"Don't ask me for advice," Wrenlou said, "I know nothing about this kind of thing."

"I know," Hiccup said with his mouth still full, "it's juft driving me cwazy."

Wrenlou smiled. "You'll figure it out," he said, "I know you will. You're smart like that."

"You want to know the weirdest part?" Hiccup asked as he washed the last bits of the sandwich down with the contents of the cup, "watch this."

He took the tongs and the nugget and held them in the furnace as he had done so many times before. He waited until it was glowing red again, then pulled it out and turned to Wrenlou.

"Hold your hand up," he said, but Wrenlou took a step back.

"Are you insane?" he said, putting his hands in his pockets, "I'm not touching that."

"Trust me," Hiccup said, holding the glowing nugget out to Wrenlou, "hold your hand up."

"I won't let you burn me," Wrenlou said, taking another step back.

"Would I do that to you?" Hiccup said with a smile, "come on, trust me."

Very slowly Wrenlou held out his hand, biting his lip as Hiccup neared him with the nugget. He looked away when Hiccup dropped it on his hand, but instead of the searing pain he expected to feel, all he felt was warmth.

"It's not even hot," he said surprised while he closed his hand around the small piece of metal, "it's just warm!"

"Exactly!" Hiccup said, tossing the tongs aside in frustration, "any other metal would melt instantly in there, and that bloody thing doesn't even get hot. You know, I'm starting to think that the first stage of this whole thing was the easiest, even if it involved a volcano and an angry dragon that tried to kill me."

"Don't give up now," Wrenlou said while put the nugget on the anvil, "I know you can do it."

"I don't see it," Hiccup mumbled, "I'm clueless. I don't know what to do."

"You'll figure it out," Wrenlou said and he held the cup out, "here, drink some more."

"Thanks.." Hiccup said and he looked up at Wrenlou, "how's your day going?"

"Oh, you know," Wrenlou said, "I've had my daily dose of blood." When he saw Hiccup's confused face he smiled and continued: "one of the dock workers had cut his arm up pretty bad. I had to put thirty stitches in him. Took me about an hour to get done. After that I snuck out to bring you some lunch. I know you forget to eat when you're trying to work through a problem."

"I don't know if I can solve this one," Hiccup said, "I just don't know if I can do it."

"You're gonna let some stupid little piece of metal defeat you?" Wrenlou asked, "are you really gonna let this win?"

"It's being mean!" Hiccup protested, "it won't do what I want."

"Hiccup, it's metal," Wrenlou said, "you can make it do what you want."

"You really think so?" Hiccup asked softly.

"Of course I think so!" Wrenlou said, "don't let a few setbacks determine your future. You haven't figured it out yet, but you will. Maybe you're just looking at it wrong."

"What do you mean?" Hiccup asked frowning.

"Hiccup, this thing came from a volcano, which is really really hot," Wrenlou said, "and then it was inside a dragon's stomach for a few hours. What makes you think human made fire will be hot enough to melt it?"

"I..." Hiccup started, but then his face went blank.

"Hiccup?" Wrenlou asked, "Hiccup, are you alright?"

"I'm a fool..." Hiccup whispered.

"What? I didn't..."

"Thanks Wren!" Hiccup yelled as he ran out the forge, "you best get back to the hospital now!"

"Where are you going!" Wrenlou yelled after him, "Hiccup!"

"I need to find Toothless!" Hiccup yelled back, "now!"

He found the dragon in the shade of a palm tree, a fish tail still hanging from his mouth. He was asleep, or faking to be asleep, but when Hiccup knelt in front of him, Toothless woke up quickly.

"I need you bud," Hiccup said, "come on, come help me."

Toothless was quick to follow him, after swallowing the remains of his lunch and some thorough stretching. While he ran back to the forge Hiccup made sure that the dragon was following him, but he didn't have to worry. Toothless was eager to help out and was not far behind, catching up with him quickly. When they reached the forge Hiccup was out of breath, panting and gasping for air while he leaned against the wall.

"Okay," he said still a little short of breath, "okay, I need you to... oh gods... my side... that hurts..."

Toothless crooned and licked his face, then went into the forge. Hiccup followed him and pointed at the furnace.

"I need you to blow a plasma blast in there," he said, "wait! When I say you can! Hang on a moment..."

He took the nugget he had been fighting with for days from the anvil and dropped it in the fire. He stared at it a little, then turned to Toothless.

"Go ahead bud," he said, "right in there."

Toothless crooned and moved closer to the furnace. "This better work..." Hiccup mumbled just as a blast of purple fire nearly blinded him, "if it doesn't, I don't know anymore..."

0-0-0-0-0-0

"One solid metal cube!" Hiccup said proudly as he placed said cube on the table in front of Mendo.

The smith froze with his hand on his way to his mouth to take a bite from his sandwich. Instead he put it back down on the place and picked the cube from the table. He studied it from all sides, finding no flaws on the smooth surfaces.

"How did you do that so fast...?" he asked, genuinely surprised, "it took me six days to figure it out!"

Hiccup shrugged a little and sat down on the opposite side of the table. "Figuring it out proved to be the easy part. Making the cube was... a lot harder," he said with a smile, "but now that I know how to get it soft, I can do anything I want with it."

"Remind me," Mendo said, resuming his meal, "how did it work again?"

"It's a mix of fires," Hiccup said, playing with the cube, "Night Fury fire and man made fire. Only that burns hot enough to melt this stuff. Once I learned that the rest was easy. Well... easy... making a cube like that is a lot harder than it sounds."

"Yes it is," Mendo said with a smile, "I'm impressed. I'm honestly impressed. It took you just four days to figure it out. You have a talent here Hiccup, the third test will be easy for you."

"What is it?" Hiccup asked, "the third test?"

Mendo started laughing. "Easy there kiddo," he said, "just because you finished this one early doesn't mean you get to start early. You start next week, with everyone else. In the meantime... have some fun. Relax. Enjoy the sun. I don't care what you do. But don't show your face near the forge. Now that you're done, I have to catch up on work. So, I'll see you in three days, alright?"

Hiccup nodded and watched the man leave. Then he took the cube from the table again, spinning it around in his fingers. After a while he stood up and left the Hall. He figured he deserved a bath after all the days in the hot forge. And after that he would find Toothless, see if Wrenlou was free to go, and go on a long flight around the island.