I don't have a lot to talk about here, so have fun.
Chapter 8
The next morning Hiccup was awaken by a knock at the door. He still took a few seconds to open his eyes, but the early visitor didn't wait long until she opened the door and disregarded every sense of privacy which meant it could only be one person.
"Hiccup? You there?" Yep, that was definitely Cami. "What are you doing here?" She asked upon seeing his slumped form lying at Toothless' side instead of his room. Said Dragon took one look at their guest and decided it wasn't worth losing his most precious sleep over. Cami walked over to Hiccup's room and opened the door.
Hiccup took his time catching up with her and saw the look in the Bog-Burglars face. "Oh gods." He said to himself. This would certainly be one awkward discussion.
Seeing the foreign figure in Hiccups bed slowly stir at the commotion, Cami turned to Hiccup with the biggest smirk he had ever seen. "What's this? Astrid's not enough for you? Already with the next girl?" She bombarded him every question that would upset him.
A mix of being around Cami for long enough now and knowing she was about to ask exactly those questions instead of some which actually mattered, made him not even blush the slightest at Cami's implications. This didn't apply to Heather however, seen as she turned red like a Nightmare on fire.
"First off, you know me and Astrid aren't together. Secondly, I am also not together with Heather and don't plan to and third off, please stop with these jokes." He listed off with a long groan. This had definitely not been the first time he told Cami to stop it, but eventually stopped counting after the tenth time this week alone. He sometimes wondered how one could be this dead set on one specific topic and how it wouldn't get repetitive mentioning it in every conversation.
"Boring." She slurred, reminding Hiccup of the twins who shared her sense of always searching for excitement, mostly at the cost of others.
"Morning." A voice interrupted them from above. Astrid trudged down the stairs, awoken by the early commotion. Normally she was one of the first on the Island awake, taking a short morning flight before making some food for herself and the by then also awoken Hiccup, but with their Night of Dragon vigilance, even she had to get a handful of sleep.
"Oh Astrid. I was just coming over to ask about these new Dragons that arrived." She started when the unofficial chiefs pair were now both there. Of course both of them rejected any rumors about these two dating or being together, but it didn't help their case when nearly every second you saw one of them, the other couldn't be far and they slept in the same house. "I suppose these are one you freed from Outcast Island?"
Still in her half-asleep state, Astrid only picked up the general gist of it. "Yeah. Some followed us after we freed them." With each passing moment she grew a bit more awake. "What? Did something happen?" She asked, trying to rub the sleep out of her eyes.
"No, no. The village was just wondering where they all came from and the others were wondering about some people sleeping in the Great Hall."
"Yeah that." Hiccup pinched his nose. He gestured towards his bed, where Heather still lay. "This is Heather. The people inside the Great Hall are her parents. Astrid found them in the Outcasts prison and freed them. I offered them to stay a bit until they know where to go." He explained. Cami nodded her head, taking in the new information.
"Ok." She physically turned away from Heather, as to not have even more on her mind. "Not regarding any of that, I also came here for more personal reasons."
Hiccup already frowned, Cami rarely had any known problems and even then, she mostly kept them to herself as to not seem week or dependent on others.
"I don't know if the whole Dragon thing works out for me." Cami blurted out.
That took Hiccup by surprise. "Why? I saw you the other day and it looked like you and your Dragon were coming along great. You certainly do better than some others." He asked.
A short while after their first departure for Dragons, Cami found a liking in a green Nightmare with red ends at the snout wings and a line going across its back in the same color. Hiccup presumed everything about that situation seemed great. They understood each other good, no property was damaged, from Dragon or rider and they learned quicker than anyone else except Astrid.
"That's not it. I get along great with him, but when I see you with Toothless or Astrid and Stormfly, it just feels different." Cami looked at the ground. She thought about this ever since befriending that Dragon, but putting it in words still proved to be quite the challenge "Like you belong together, while I feel more like we bonded because there weren't other options that fit better."
That certainly surprised everyone present. Even Heather who didn't know her, seemed shocked at such an honest and serious topic from a girl who apparently jokes about Hiccup and Astrid's relationship on the daily.
"Okay. I did not expect that when I woke up a few minutes ago." Hiccup eventually said to break the awkward silence filling the room. He knew, that the silences after a heartfelt statement made the entire thing only worse. "Don't worry. We have so much more Dragons and if you really think none of those are right for you, well then I have to think of something new."
Hiccup wanted to help the girl who helped him when he stood off against nearly the entire tribe of warriors on the Bog-Burglar Isles and was the second one to accept his beliefs in Dragons, but how do you help with a Problem that you never even thought off in your life.
"I'll let you some time to actually wake up then." She concluded her visit and stormed out of the door. Astrid already did most of the necessary things, not to let everyone see she just stood up, but all three still needed time to make themselves ready for the day.
"You ready for a morning flight Bud?" He asked to his Dragon, already waiting half in the doorway half outside.
"Hurry up." Toothless waggled his tail. Hiccup still wondered how he could muster up this much enthusiasm and energy for anything after waking up a few minutes ago.
"We take a bit longer than you Dragons okay." He responded. Hiccup gave Toothless an annoyed but equally playful glance. This was one of the things he could consider as a stable constant in his life. "Now if could stand still for a second. I have to get that saddle on you."
"Hiccup." He heard a familiar voice coming from behind. Hiccup turned around to see Astrid once again coming downstairs, this time in her usual attire and axe strapped to the back. "How is that wound going? Are you sure you can go flying?" Her voice was filled with an amount of worry Hiccup rarely ever heard in his life. Stoick barely acknowledged it when Hiccup got beaten up by Snotlout, again, and if he did, after making sure he didn't die, mostly said 'real Vikings can endure some pain'. The next morning he would have probably forgotten by then and not bring it up again.
"I'm fine Astrid." He drooled out the fine. "Besides, Toothless is flying, not me. I am a mere passenger on this majestic beast." He joked in an attempt at impersonating some of the philosophers that visited Berk.
Toothless gave a croon that Hiccup couldn't understand, but still interpretated as something along the lines of 'Respect my beloved presence amongst you puny humans.'
"Okay you attention loving reptile. Anyway, I won't die Astrid." He gave her a small smile that never failed to warm up her day and stormed out of the door to jump on Toothless, who was already in the middle of taking off as high as he could without Hiccups help.
Astrid looked for a few more seconds in the spot Hiccup just took off. She didn't know where this protective side of her came from, but seeing that wound on Hiccup yesterday made her stomach twist in a weird way.
"So you two really aren't together?". Astrid jumped at the sudden voice. She turned around to see the same raven-haired girl she saved standing in the doorway of Hiccup's room, hair made and properly woken up also looking to where Hiccup disappeared from.
"Don't ever sneak up on me again." She scolded, while trying to get her heartbeat to a normal rate again.
"Noted." Heather gave a small shrug. "I wanted to ask Hiccup some questions, but now that he's gone, could I ask you some things?" She asked an sat herself on a chair near the hearth.
"Go ahead." Astrid waved her off and sat herself on a couch opposite to the chair.
"First off, what is this place?"
"Simply said, a place for Dragons and Vikings to live together in peace. Hiccup and I stumbled upon this Island when we were traveling the world, but you would have to ask himself if you want to know why. I don't want to spill his story without knowing if he wants that. On our first day here, we decided to stay and build a house for ourselves. Eventually Cami, that's the girl from this morning, found us and stole my axe so we followed her to her tribe. There she explained our beliefs in Dragons and together with a few other they came back with us to learn more about them. If you want to know what is up with the warmth here, we have no Idea." She finished, remembering one of the first questions of the Bog-Burglars when they arrived.
Heather was a bit taken aback at all the new things. As much as there was to unpack, one thing stood out to her in particular. "You followed a girl to a tribe full of Dragon killing Vikings on Dragons, just because she stole your axe?" She thought it to be incredulous to risk so much for an axe. The entire known archipelago was known to hate Dragons and having two people ride them certainly would get them the highest of treasons, possibly worse than killing a chief.
"It's an important axe ok. I trained with it since I was 10 and it was a present from my father." Astrid nearly pouted. Of course only nearly. Astrid would never pout, especially to a stranger. She couldn't tell her the real reason she hung onto it that much and the other reasons were still true.
"I get the point. Second question, why? Why are you trying to help Dragons and Vikings live together?
"I can't tell you why Hiccup does, but I want to make a world without constant fighting. I lost my uncle to a Dragon and if possible, nobody should suffer that again. Of course you could try to find the Nest and hunt Dragons to extinction, like our ancestors have done for centuries, but after Hiccup showed me the truth about them, that didn't fit with me. They are victims of this war, like us, and don't deserve to die because a tyrant told them to do it's bidding. So I decided to go with Hiccup and stop fighting the Dragons." Astrid held out how it being Hiccup gravely influenced her decision to go with.
Once again Heather found herself going through the answer for a few seconds before sticking to a singular point. "What tyrant do you mean?" Her entire childhood, Heather had been teached to stay away from Dragons and that they are the evil itself, sometimes even that they are worse than Loki himself. After meeting Windshear and caring for her, Heather started to crumble in that believe, but she couldn't refute the fact that they still raided villages. With a tyrant to force them to, the things would slowly start to add up.
Astrid shrinked in on herself. Hiccup hadn't said anything about the Nest and the giant Dragon they found the day he kidnapped her to anyone expect Cami, so Astrid also kept still about that topic to anybody else.
"The day he showed me what Dragons truly are we stumbled upon the Nest, but inside wasn't the army of Dragons feasting on stolen food we expected. They were all dropping it in a big hole and when one of its servants brought too little food, she swallowed it whole." She explained. If she wanted to or not, after the slipup Heather wasn't going to let the topic drop so why hide try to hide it.
"That," She made a pause still having to register the information from the answer before. "explains things." Heather eventually concluded.
Astrid gave her some time to intake everything. She herself had a whole day to learn about the Dragons and Nest, so putting all that information in a single conversation is understandably overwhelming.
After a few minutes of going over everything in her head, Heather slowly got herself grounded and thinking straight again. "Ok, so you two really aren't together?" She asked. Compared to her other questions this one surprised Astrid and was considerably more light hearted.
"No." She sighed out. Like Hiccup, after having to answer and hear those things so often from Cami and sometimes even Frida made her basically immune to blushing or getting nervous at those questions. "Honestly, why does everyone keep asking that?"
Heather outright laughed at the counter questions. Astrid gave her a mix of angry and confused glance, which got her under control a bit faster. "Are you really asking that?" She nearly began laughing again when the blondes glare turned even more confused. "Sorry." She apologized when drying off a tear of laughter that formed. "I am here for one day and already have more than five reasons you two seem to be a pair and the only reason not to believe that is your word."
Astrid surprise grew even more at the solid reasoning for Heathers question. Cami mostly asked because she knew they weren't together and wanted to tease them. "I am telling you, there is nothing going on between us." Astrid answered, way more kind than when speaking to Cami about this.
She thought about the things that have haunted her for a few weeks now, that she couldn't speak to anyone about, especially Hiccup or Cami. Heather was a good listener and more serious about random topics than most of the Bog-Burglars and even knowing her for only a few hours Astrid got along great with her. After a few minutes of silence she spoke up again.
"Besides, why would Hiccup possibly want to be with me. He has a Night Fury, is Chief of a tribe with Dragons and Vikings, always comes up with the most crazy but inventive things and is humbler than anyone else." Astrid looked at the floor. Since they began building this tribe, she felt like a second wheel, always on the sidelines while Hiccup made the decisions. He had so much and what was she able to show for herself? Swing an axe, ride a bit better than the others but still worse than Hiccup and treat his wounds.
Heather jaw fell completely slack. She half-joked about their relationship because of what she saw last Night, but hearing Astrid's insecurities after only knowing her for maybe three or four waking hours was certainly didn't expected when she asked that question. What surprised her even more was the insecurity she spoke about. How could Astrid think Hiccup would not care about her? He hid a wound to not trouble her mind and even talking to her made his troubles seem to go away.
She also felt a need to comfort her. Basing from Astrid's posture and face this laid heavy on her shoulders and having been told this showed how much trust she put in Heather. "Astrid. Hiccup doesn't need a reason to like you. From everything you said, he trusted you enough to show you his secret, even though he could get exiled for it and judging by your conversations, he still does." Heather put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Anyway. I have one last question." Astrid looked up again, a spark of hope in her nearly crying eyes. "Can you teach me to fly?" Heather finished, remembering the amazing feeling of flying on Windshear the day before.
This time it was Astrid's turn to laugh. After bringing herself under control like Heather did, she stood up and looked out of the door where Stormfly also awaited her morning flight. "Of course we can. That's what we have been doing for weeks now. I'll just go and fly with Stormfly, else she screeches at me the entire day. You can go to your parents and explain the situation to them. Don't want to sit through another lengthy conversation like this one today."
With that Astrid stormed over to Stormfly, who instantly jumped when feeling the familiar weight of Astrid on her back. She still didn't have a saddle, so having to put it on each morning like Hiccup didn't become a problem, but that also meant, she felt stiffer and flying was more unsafe for her.
…
On his flight Hiccup once again remembered all the new designs to improve Toothless' saddle or Tailfin. He really needed to get the forge project going and Astrid and the others don't even have saddles.
"What are you thinking about?" Astrid came up from below and settled besides Hiccup
"Nothing. Where have you been for so long? Normally you start your flight directly after waking up." He asked back. Weirdly being up in the clouds made their conversations more light hearted and easier to go by. Maybe that happens when she wasn't able to hit him for every joke she didn't like.
"Because you decided to disappear." She gave him a look that was supposed to make him guilty but only got a smile out of him. "She asked me about the Island and everything. She wants to learn how to fly Dragons."
"At least that's one thing of my plate and another one directly added." He sighed out. With the new Dragons, Heather and her parents and his personal projects, Hiccup took every bit of help he could get.
"You up for a race?" Astrid asked over the howling winds.
"Really? You always lose those." He gave her a victorious smirk.
"To be fair, you have the better gear." She gestured towards his saddle, which reminded him once again, this was definitely his first thing when he finished the forge.
"Not just to better gear." He looked down at Toothless and gave him a small pet. "Right bud, you wouldn't get beaten by anybody when it comes to racing."
"Of course" his friend answered before feeling the change in tailfin and speeding off.
"Unfair, they're getting a head start." She said to her own Dragon before they raced after them.
After Hiccup once again inevitably won again, they landed in the main plaza. After finishing their houses, some wanted to have a meet-up place with their friends and began working on it. The further it got, more and more people helped building it, so, with their Dragons help, they finished it in a few days.
"Could you speak to the others? I have a project I want to do, but I don't think the other are gonna let me get to it with their constant questions." He begged her.
Astrid sighed, but knew she would do it anyways, though she was certainly curios herself to what this project was.
"Okay. But in return you have to show me what u are working on this evening." She agreed. Hiccup thanked her and got back on Toothless to speed towards their house.
She looked around and saw one of her good friends sitting at the edge of the meeting ground.
"Hey Frida." She shouted and said girl lifter her head from the piece of clothing she currently made. Since getting here, Frida spent most of the time she didn't bond with her Dragon, making dresses or skirts. "Can I ask you for a favor?"
"Of course. What is it?" She asked.
"Have you heard of the new girl?" She sat herself besides Frida and became a nod to her question. "Hiccup is working on a project, so he asked me to answer questions about her and her parents. Can you show her the tribe and explain questions if they come up?"
"I think I have time for that. I'll have to bring this home before though." She held up a surprisingly well-made skirt, for the normally stealing and quite aggressive Bog-Burglars, red with the same pattern of green dots her own Dragon has. "How do you like it, Flinch?" Behind her a Changewing appeared. When bringing back Dragons from different Islands, Hiccup and Astrid hadn't even noticed it, but eventually it warmed up to Frida and showed itself to her. With the skirt and Changewing next to each other, Astrid saw the resemblances in color and motive.
"Thank you so much." She gave her friend a short hug and walked in direction of the great hall.