Chapter 4

It was a sun-filled day, with a northward bound wind giving its last breath of warm air before winter set in for the season. The sky was a crystal blue, and for the first time in what seemed a millennia, the island of Berk was quiet, with only a resonating thwack every so often breaking the sleepy silence that encumbered the village.

As a young shield maiden steadily went through her morning routine, she couldn't help but think the silence was only an illusion of peace.

Her name was Astrid Hofferson, and she didn't understand. She hated not understanding.

Thwack.

She knew that underneath that silence was a bubbling tension that was never quite done simmering. It had been an entire year, to the day in fact, since the former heir of Berk had upped and left and since then, the village had never really been the same.

Sure, there had been less accidents during some of the raids, and for a while, a lot of people seemed happy.

"That didn't last long," Astrid thought bitterly, as she hurled her axe into yet another unsuspecting tree.

Thwack.

She just didn't get it. She just couldn't understand how something that was seemingly great could make life so damn stressful!

Thwack.

It was odd enough that Fishlegs basically ignored the gang like the plague now, but Gobber was outright hostile with the majority of the Village, specifically the Chief. Anytime Astrid ever saw Stoick enter the same building as the local Blacksmith, she'd see Gobber get up, glare at the man, and walk to the furthest spot from him, if not leaving the building all together.

The oddest thing was that the Chief would just look sorrowful and beaten. Not at all what a Viking idol should look like.

It all boiled down to the departure of one Hiccup the Useless. Personally the thought pissed the young shield maiden off. Even when he was gone the runt still caused problems.

It only added to her frustration when she reached to pull her axe out of the tree and it came out dull and chipped.

"Ugh, Again? Seriously?! I had this sharpened two days ago!" she yelled to no one in particular.

Gobber's attitude hadn't been the only thing to suffer as the months went by, now that Astrid stopped to think about it. Almost immediately, his quality of work had declined. It was almost as if he was punishing them for Hiccup leaving by giving them poor means to defend themselves. Her axe breaking was the last straw. She was going to go give Gobber a peace of her mind.

As she walked through the village towards the forge, she couldn't help but take in the expressions on people's faces. The villagers were typically quite jovial, if not a bit hung-over from the night before, but today, the faces were grim. More than a few she caught stealing glances at the Chief's house, before shaking their heads and continuing about their day.

Letting out a huff of annoyance, Astrid made her way to the shop's door, and entered without even bothering to knock.

In her fit of anger, she didn't take note of the strewn pieces of paper that littered all the tables, depicting masterfully drawn inventions, or vividly sketched pictures of people and places around the island. All she saw was the drunken man sitting on the ground with a keg of mead held tightly against himself, staring into the embers of the forge.

"I don' work today. I don' wanna see anyone today," said Gobber, without looking to greet the newcomer.

"I'm not leaving until you properly fix my axe," said Astrid, dumping the shards and handle in front of him.

She expected anger, or silence, but she was not at all prepared for the look of hilarity that crossed the old smith's face.

"Aaah! A haha! Not such a Divine Beauty anymore, is it?" Gobber giggled, taking another healthy swig of mead. "Certainly seen better days."

Astrid saw red. "Is this some kind of joke to you?" She demanded. And boy does that seem familiar. "I was lucky I was fighting a tree and not a dragon! I could probably take better care of it than what you're doing!"

It was the wrong thing to say and she knew it. The anger that she had attempted to prepare herself for was nothing compared to what erupted from the previously light-hearted drunk.

"Out, out, OUT!" Gobber bellowed, picking her up by the back of her shirt and tossing her out of his shop. "Ye have absolutely NO right to be upset about the quality of your axe when you noticed none of the quality for the smith who made it!"

That only confused her. What does he mean?

"Gobber I've been nothing but respectful towards you since the day we met!" she yelled back. Her cheeks flared red with embarrassment as people started to take notice.

A small crowd had gathered to see what the commotion was. It wasn't often Gobber physically tossed someone out of his shop. The previous year it would have been Hiccup being tossed around, but that was a daily occurrence and done more as a joking gesture between the two than out of anger. Yet while Gobber had been a bit unpleasant for the last year, he'd never openly yelled at anyone before.

"I didn't make yer bloody axe!" he yelled again, effectively stopping any other form of activity going on in the village. "I haven't had to forge a bloody axe or sword in five years! And any axe I made sure as hell ain't worth the title Divine Beauty!"

"What are you saying?" she asked, steadily becoming more and more confused as time went on.

Gobber didn't seem to have heard, but his eyes were suspiciously shiny as he quietly spoke.

"He only thought it was fair the axe be made and named to match the one who wielded it. It was his first weapon he ever made. I could have sworn I was looking at a mirage when he was done."

An unsettling feeling began to form in the bottom of her gut as Astrid started to fill in the missing pieces.

"Who made the axe Gobber?" she asked quietly, already half knowing what the answer was.

The blacksmith just scoffed at her. "He didn't just make your axe, lass. He made all the axes!"

"Who Gobber? Who made the weapons?" she asked again, needing the answer, needing to confirm her worst fears.

All eyes were on the blacksmith has he slowly eyed each and every villager now gathered in the town square. Not a single noise was made in a group of well over fifty Vikings, and offhandedly, Astrid thought to tell Fishlegs to mark it down in the history book.

Her thoughts dissipated when his piercing gaze reached her, and lingered.

"Hiccup...Hiccup the Useless," he spat, in a tone that conveyed just how much he loathed the title given to his former apprentice.

Astrid felt her gut shrivel up and shatter. She didn't hear the gasps from the crowd, or see the ashamed looks everyone had. Noise was rushing through her ears as the blood drained from her face. Her vision was focused solely on the man in front of her, who for a moment, seemed to soften his gaze, just slightly, before turning to go into his shop, slamming the door behind him.

Her name was Astrid Hofferson, and now she understood.

Hiccup POV

In the kingdom of Arendelle, several hundred miles away, the morning was quite similar to Berk. The sun was just starting to rise above the mountain range to the east, and only the earliest birds were beginning to wake within the city. The kingdom was still sleeping, and not a sound was heard other than that of a repetitive clang emanating from within the Haddock Farmstead, echoing through the empty streets.

In the year that Hiccup had been living there, the simple cottage he had purchased had been entirely rebuilt, from the ground up. What was once a modest, single story building with a kitchen, bedroom and living space, had been transformed into a two-story residence, with reinforced foundations and support beams to hold off against weather and the occasional rambunctious dragon.

In addition, an entire wing had been added to the home, designed to be similar, if not a little smaller, to the city forge.

The forge was an open space, laid out exactly how the city forge was, with only a few differences. One being a suspiciously large burnt spot in the corner of the room, the other, a large cellar door in the adjacent corner.

Hiccup had decided that if he was going to be collecting his wolf pelts, he would need a place to put them, and had dug out, with the help of Toothless, a large, square hole that he furnished into storage room. The room was only outfitted with two large sets of shelves in the middle of the floor space that held some of the more pure colored furs, mainly solid white and solid black, with the rest being piled against the walls, or hung up.

Since Hiccup had started defending the farms against wolves nearly nine months before, he had become very adept at hunting on his own. It was something he had latched onto early on, as he did not want to have to depend on Toothless to fight all his battles for him.

With that in mind, Hiccup glanced up from his work to look at the "Fire-Sword" schematics he had currently sitting on a desk in his study. The finished project would be quite spectacular, if he was being honest with himself. He only needed to find make a trip back to the archipelago soon to gather the proper dragon materials.

It was because of this trip that Hiccup was now readying his house for visitors, well visitor, instead of heading to work.

He had known Agdar for an entire year now, and had come to view him as more of a father figure than a simple friend. Due to this, he found it to be the right time to open up about his life, and the scaly friend that was a part of it.

Not only that, but Hiccup wanted to show him his projects, and there was an abundance of them that were dragon related. The work at the forge and around the town were his way of doing the small things, but he wanted to do more. He was doing more, if the main room of his house was anything to consider.

What was once the main living space of the house had been turned into a large room dedicated to being his private office. The walls were lined with plans for improvements on the town, armor designs, and weapon schematics, but the main aspect of the room was the table in the middle. It was a simple wooden rectangle measuring at about a dozen feet in length and half as wide. The table itself was nothing grand, but what rested upon it was nothing short of amazing.

On a single, expansive sheet of paper, were the beginnings of a rather detailed map of Arendelle and the surrounding regions. What had been mapped so far was only between Arendelle and Berk. The islands that dotted the region and the coast line he had followed upon arrival were expertly drawn, as well as several hunting paths that he had come across during his off time in the woods.

He wanted to get a sense of the surrounding areas though, and he knew that Agdar was at least slightly informed about the areas in question. He wanted to make it a political map, showing the surrounding kingdoms and each of their ties to one another, as well as labeling the trade routes between them all, but to do that, he had to have the information, and he didn't.

A loud pounding on the roof brought him out of his thoughts, and he couldn't help but laugh.

"Hold on bud, I need to finish sweeping the floor!" he called.

A resounding thud was returned in response, shaking the house and, much to Hiccups chagrin, causing dust and dirt to fall onto his previously clean floor.

Hiccup could only sigh at his disastrous attempt at cleaning house, muttering something about useless reptiles and selfish lizards before giving up and going outside.

He had told Toothless the day before about his plan to introduce the two to each other. He supposed it had gotten through to the dragon, because he had seemed rather excited to meet someone else from his rider's life. Unfortunately, the 'Black Nuisance', as Hiccup had been referring to him as for the entire morning, had no concept of patience, and assumed that Hiccup was simply stalling from allowing him to meet the person.

"For the last time, Bud!" Hiccup exclaimed upon leaving his house. "He will get here when he gets here. I'm not doing this to torture you, honestly. Its nerve-racking enough on myself as it is."

Toothless merely rolled his eyes and huffed out, what Hiccup would bet his morning bread on, was Excuses.

Hiccup threw his arms out in an exasperated attempt to get through to the beast.

"I don't control his life Toothless! And even when he get's here, we're going to have to play this carefully. I don't want him freaking out."

The dragon crooned sadly, bowing his head and looking positively hurt.

Hiccup's frustration completely faded away and he immediately tried to soothe his friend.

"Hey bud, it isn't you. I know you're wonderful, and I'm betting he'll think so too. But us humans? We're afraid of what we don't know, and dragons are pretty high on that list."

Toothless looked up from the ground and stared at him, before closing his eyes and presenting his snout. Hiccup finished the gesture of trust, putting his palm on the dragons head, eliciting a hum of happiness from him.

"That's right bud," he said softly, scratching him under the chin. "It's all about trust, and I trust him. But more importantly, I trust you. I know you won't hurt him."

Toothless warbled in agreement, before licking him in the face and prancing off to where he was supposed to wait.

"Ugh, I'll never get used to that" Hiccup grimaced, trying in vain to wipe off the saliva.

"Not exactly an ideal way to show off your pet dragon," he thought to himself.

He got a clear picture of him running towards Agdar dripping in dragon spit saying "Hi! Come meet my fire-breathing reptile that totally doesn't think I'm delicious tasting!" The though was ridiculous enough he laughed out-loud as he walked to the front of the house and was met with the figure of Agdar staring at him, slightly weirded out and more than a little amused at the state of his attire.

"Ughhhh," he started, looking wide eyed at his visitor.

"Erm, Hiccup? What are you covered in..."

"We'll get to that," Hiccup replied quickly, cutting off the discussion. "For now though, would you like to come in? I have a few things I want to tell you," He said, gesturing for Agdar to walk inside.

His nerves had him trying to keep himself busy, secretly thanking Toothless for recreating a mess to clean up on the floor. He had planned all day yesterday and today about starting this meeting, but he had given little thought on how to broach the topic. Fear was beginning to take a hold of him, and a list of 'what if's' began to form in his mind. What if Agdar wouldn't listen? What if he was like Stoick and gave him a disappointed scowl at the sight of his differences?

He must have looked as nervous as he felt, because a sturdy hand rested itself upon the broom he was using, steadying his body he had not realized was shaking.

"What's on your mind, Hiccup? I've never seen you this shaken. Did something happen? Are you in trouble?" Agdar pressed, furrowing his brow.

Hiccup felt a little guilty for causing his friend so much distress, but the concern he showed did wonders in tearing down his building anxiety. Agdar accepted Hiccup the Useless. He'd accept this too.

Hopefully.

"I know I haven't been completely forthcoming about my past, Agdar, and I apologize."

The man looked like he was about to reply, but Hiccup held up a hand. He needed to finish this before he lost the confidence to do so.

"You know of my heritance, you know of my home. But you don't know why I left. Not really."

Hiccup silently told him to follow, as he made his way to his office. A sharp intake in breath had him turning around in alarm, praying he hadn't seen Toothless quite yet, but relief flooded through him as he took on his friend's look of wonder at his surroundings.

"In short, I left because I was different," he stated, regaining the man's attention. "This room is enough proof of that."

"I knew you lead a troubled life on Berk, Hiccup. Anyone who saw you that first day could have put that together. I mean seriously, you came in and looked and smelled like a wet dog."

The laugh that came was so sudden and so loud that even Hiccup was surprised by its ferocity. Even as he tried to speak, he was taking in huge gulps of air.

"Thank...Thank you for summing that up," he finally managed to say.

A slightly awkward silence settled in after that, and Agdar took the time to take in the room. Hiccup watched him, gauging his reactions when he saw something he thought was especially interesting.

It was a rare moment for Hiccup to learn something about his friend. He knew he must live somewhere in the city, and that he had 2 daughters and a loving wife, and he knew from experience that he was a kindhearted man with an aura of wisdom that was ever present. Other than that though, was up to implications and observation, so Hiccup decided to take it in.

He was happy to note that the man was taking in every single square inch of the room, slowly absorbing all that was shown. His eyes only seemed to widen as he looked over the improved armor and weapon designs. It struck Hiccup as a little odd that he would focus on the schematics to improve the city guard, but he supposed it could just be man's fascination with weaponry.

It was when he turned towards the table to look at it for the first time that he made a noise. It came out as a strangled gasp and a sigh of what Hiccup could have placed as longing.

"My gods, this is beautiful," he breathed, slowly tracing the lines of Arendelle with a reverence that swelled Hiccup's chest with pride.

"It's not finished, but you could probably guess that," he replies.

Agdar wordlessly nods as he takes another look at the map. "I can tell these distances and lines are correct, but I've never seen such accuracy before, especially not all on one map."

Saying this, he looks up from the map with a questioning and confused expression.

"How did you make this?"

The question brought all the nervousness back and the air seemed to become dense with anticipation and by Thor when did it get so hot in here?

"I uh, well, had a pretty good view, up in the sky."

Agdar looks at him blankly. "I'm sorry, I'm confused. You mean to tell me you can fly?"

"No, no not me," Hiccup corrects, laughing weakly. "That would be crazy. I erm, I rode a dragon."

Agdar looked at Hiccup as if he'd grown a second head. "You rode a dragon?! You mean the beasts that raid your village? You don't seriously expect me to believe this, do you?"

Hiccup sighed with exhaustion. What did he expect? Agdar to believe something as far-fetched as being able to ride a dragon without proof?

"Let me show you," he said quietly.

"Show me?"

"Let me show you my dragon," he clarified, gesturing for him to follow him out back.

Agdar seemed to be completely flustered as he followed the boy outside.

"Show me?! You brought it here?!"

"Where else was I supposed to let him live? He was running away as much as I was. Besides, I'd hardly let my best friend live on his own."

"Hiccup!" Agdar said, grabbing the boy by the shoulder to stop him from going further outside. "Are you out of your mind? It's a wild animal! What if it turns vicious on you?"

"It's a he, and he's hardly vicious. Mostly he's just a large, scaly dog. He only gets nervous if you start threatening him with weapons. Even that's due to how he grew up, and not because of what he is."

Hiccup gently removed his friend's hand, and walked into the clearing.

"Come on out bud, the guy I told you about is here."

A slight thump could be heard and Hiccup chuckled to himself. Of course he'd been on the roof listening. Nosy lizard.

Toothless slowly made his way around to the back of the house, and came to sit on his hind legs next to Hiccup. He stared at Agdar curiously, eyes dilated, silently judging the man in front of him.

Agdar's POV

When Hiccup had told him he had ridden a dragon, his first imagined scenario had been that of a threatening, terrifying creature bred from helheim, casting a murderous glare that petrified even the bravest warriors.

He was not expecting an apparently docile animal looking at him with such a high level of intelligence, that you could clearly see that the dragon was actually waiting for him to react.

Agdar glanced over at Hiccup, who seemed to be standing their nervously, and in a moment of clarity, Agdar saw just how terrified the boy was right now. He understood now why he left his home, the fear of rejection and being labeled a traitor pushing him to leave. Now he realized that Hiccup was trusting him with his greatest secret. Something that could bite back and hurt him, which could push him away again.

He smiled, still unsure about what to do, and tried to make light of the situation.

"So ugh, does he have a name?"

Hiccup released a breath of relief, and Agdar saw how his body completely relaxed. A grin split on the boy's face that spanned from ear to ear and he nodded enthusiastically. "Yea, his name is Toothless."

What?

"Hiccup you tamed a dragon to ride and your first instinct is to name it Toothless?" Agdar asked incredulously.

The dragon in question warbled and Agdar knew for a certain he was laughing. Whether or not it was at him, or Hiccup, he wasn't quite sure. All of a sudden though, Toothless stopped and stared directly at him, before his mouth slowly opened into a gummy smile that was uncharacteristically adorable for such a large, fearsome beast.

"He has no teeth," he stated dumbly, and damnit if he wasn't embarrassed about his response. He was a king for goodness sakes. He could be more articulate than that.

He jumped back in surprise when, instead of Hiccup answering, Toothless took initiative and a set of razor sharp, pearly white teeth popped into existence.

"This is fascinating! Hiccup this is, it's, I don't even have words! You ride a dragon!"

He completely ignored the smug look on the boy's face, instead focusing on the magnificent creature in front of him.

"I guess that why you live outside the city."

Hiccup laughed, and nodded in agreement. "It also explains why I looked like a wet dog. White puffy clouds? Really, really damp."

"And what of this?" he asked, gesturing to the boys current state of attire.

It was in that moment that Toothless decided he liked the man in front of him, and told him so by licking the side of his head.

Hiccup looked horrified, but the moment was just too surreal for Agdar to feel anything but humor and excitement. If anything, it only solidified that the dragon was indeed, real.

Trying and failing to hold in all of his laughter, he shook his head in acceptance.

"Right, that would explain it."

"Toothless! You know that doesn't wash out! He's got a family to go home to! He doesn't need your saliva dripping all over him!" Hiccup exclaimed, chastising the guilty looking dragon.

Agdar could tell Hiccup was still nervous about making a good impression, the boy was really too serious for his own good.

"Hiccup it's fine, I'm not about to throw you to the wolves."

He shrugged and scratching the back of his neck, replied with a weak smile. "I don't think you could, they avoid the area like the plague."

Agdar laughed at the joke, and Hiccup's face quickly changed to match his serious tone.

"I'm leaving for a bit, a week or so. I need to collect some things from the north. It shouldn't take long, but I wanted to let you know about how I'm leaving so you don't start sending people to look for me."

An instinctual fear of something happening to the boy hit Agdar with such ferocity that he had to physically turn his head away for a moment.

He cleared the lump in his throat before responding. "I understand that, and I thank you," he replied, turning back to look Hiccup in the eyes. He knew how much of a burden the boy was carrying. He felt honored to have the lads trust.

"Seriously, thank you for trusting me with this."

Hiccup beamed. "You're welcome! I was also wondering if you'd be able to help me with the map? I'm not very informed about borders and the likes, and I wanted to draw up the politics of the land as well, instead of just the geography."

Agdar couldn't even begin to comprehend the immense sense of pride he had for this boy. This boy no older than sixteen had more drive to help others than anyone else he'd met. Did he not understand how unique that was? How special? If he could provide any form of help to Hiccup, he most certainly would. It just so happened he was quite familiar with the topic at hand. An expert, even, if he did say so himself.

"Well let's take a look, shall we?" he asked, waving an inviting hand over to the map.

Hiccup scurried over quickly to the table, a charcoal pencil in hand and wide, innocent green eyes ready to learn looking up at him, and as he began pointing out things that Hiccup wanted to know, he smiled softly.

"This was Arendelle's future." He thought to himself. Agdar knew in some form or another, Hiccup would lead Arendelle into something spectacular.