Foraging Hijinks

"Get up, boys!"

Zenna was all smiles as she barged into Hiccup's room, two baskets on her arm and gloves on her hands. Toothless was startled awake by the one-eyed Fiersome girl's shout. His tail thumped against the side of Hiccup's bed, waking him up.

"Mmmghhh… wha…?" Hiccup mumbled, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

"Spring has arrived, Hicc! You know what that means!" Zenna declared and tossed a basket to him.

"Ah, foraging season… Give me a minute," Hiccup yawned. Pulling on his vest and boots, he got out of bed and followed Zenna outside, a sleepy Toothless plodding behind him.

Loki was peacefully dreaming of being back in Asgard's massive library, a cup of tea beside him. He was just about to take a soothing sip when suddenly…

"Wake up, Loki! It is foraging season!"

Loki ended up splashing himself with tea in his dream, which jolted him awake. "What in the name of the Norns…?" he muttered before hearing Zenna shouting.

"Lokiiiii! Come ooooonnnn! It's foraging season!"

"And what does that mean…?" Loki managed to mutter as he stumbled out of his room, half-asleep.

"Herb collecting. With the worst of the snow and frost gone, all the best Spring herbs are sprouting. Zen wants to collect them for Gothi," Hiccup explained, his hair looking like he'd just rolled out of bed.

Gothi was busy preparing a list of herbs and wrapping a loaf of bread in cloth. "Best to head out now while there's dew still on most of the leaves," she advised.

"But what about breakfast?" Loki managed to ask before Zenna was grabbed him by the arm and dragged him out of the hut.

"We can eat later! Come on, come on, come on! The fresher the herbs, the better! We can't afford to waste time!" Zenna insisted.

Sighing, Loki glanced at Hiccup who gave him a relaxed smile.

"Just go with the flow on this one. She's always excited during this time of year," he said.

"If you say so…" Loki mumbled and accepted the basket Zenna thrust into his hands.

"Right then!" Zenna said after they took the lift down to where their dragons were waiting. "First place we'll head to is the mountain." She pointed to Berk's highest peak.

"Oh, hell no. I am not climbing a mountain this early in the morning. Especially after having had no breakfast." Loki shook his head vehemently.

"Which is why we'll be taking the dragons with us. Don't worry, guys. I planned everything in advance. We'll collect mountain herbs first and then head down to the forests to forage. We can have breakfast in the Cove when we're done," Zenna told him and got on Stryka, the two of them taking off.

Loki saw that the sun had finished peeking over the horizon and its morning rays were now bright enough to suggest that morning had indeed arrived. Letting out one final yawn, he mounted Embla and, with Toothless and Hiccup, joined them in the air.

'It's just harmless herb collecting early in the morning. Although, Zen's certainly more enthusiastic about the activity than most people. I guess I can't fault her for being so eager. She's an apprentice healer, so this is right up her alley,' he thought to himself as they reached the mountain.

Once they'd landed somewhere on the mountain where they could see a few cliffs, the trio got to work.

"A lot of wild mint here," Hiccup observed as he carefully cut off a few stalks of the stuff.

"Mint tea sounds nice…" Loki mumbled, remembering his dream.

"Aha! Lady's mantle! Perfect!"

Loki saw Zenna looking down at something from a cliff. Before he could even stop her, she was already climbing down.

"Zenna, what are you doing?!" Dropping his basket, Loki sprinted to Embla and had her fly down. To his utter bewilderment, Zenna was clinging to the cliffside and slowly climbing down towards a ledge. On the ledge grew a whole bunch of lady's mantle, their star-shaped leaves shining with morning dew.

Zenna didn't have a rope or even a knife, yet she was humming a tune as she clambered down. Stryka hovered near her, cooing softly to her Rider and looking completely calm.

"She is insane. My little sister is insane…" Loki muttered as Hiccup joined him on Toothless.

"It's fine. Zen knows what she's doing. I've seen her climb more dangerous cliffs than this in previous foraging seasons," Hiccup reassured him.

"You've what?" Loki's jaw dropped.

"Yeah, she's been doing this since she was seven. I always come with her to help out." Hiccup shrugged.

"And you've never once freaked out over this?"

"I used to. But when we were ten and nothing bad happened since then, I kind of stopped worrying."

Loki was about to tell Hiccup that he, too, was also insane for not worrying when Zenna swung her entire body to the left just as one of her handholds crumbled. The one-eyed Fiersome girl whistled at the narrow escape from danger before cheerfully carrying on.

"WATCH WHERE YOU HOLD, WOMAN! THAT CLIFF CAN'T BE THAT STABLE!" Loki shrieked, putting his hands on his head.

"Relax, Loki! Do you wanna wake every creature living on this side of the mountain?" Zenna asked rhetorically, grinning as she was now near the outcropping.

Loki frantically looked at Stryka. 'Be prepared to catch her, please!' he begged. Honestly, he was certain that Zenna was trying to shave off more years from his lifespan.

'Don't worry, Serpent Tongue. I'll catch her if she falls…' Stryka rolled her eye at him before focusing her gaze back on Zenna.

"Got it!" Zenna reached forward and tore off a few large leaves of lady's mantle. The dewdrops sprayed through the air, nice and cool against her skin.

Hiccup gave her a thumbs up while Loki yelled, "HOLD ONTO THE CLIFF WITH BOTH HANDS!" waving his arms frantically.

"Okay, girl. Let me get on you before he bursts a blood vessel," laughed Zenna, allowing Stryka to grab her so she can safely clamber onto her back. "Now, let's head to the peak. There's a lot more herbs to collect from there before we forage in the woods," she told the boys.

"You're a madwoman…" Loki muttered, slumping against Embla and waiting for his blood pressure to go down.

"Only when it's foraging season, Loki." Zenna smiled and placed the lady's mantle into her basket.

Foraging at the mountain peak was, thankfully, a lot safer. In no time, they'd all harvested a good deal of mugwort and wild thyme to go with their wild mint and lady's mantle. Flying down to the forest, it was time to forage for wild garlic, cowslips, dandelion, and elderflower so the group split up.

"Ah, my back…" Hiccup groaned as he straightened up and stretched. He'd been harvesting wild garlic for about fifteen minutes now and the sun was shining a bit warmer.

'I hope we have butter with us. Toasted bread with wild garlic butter sounds nice…' he thought, his mouth watering.

Suddenly, he heard Toothless roar and froze. His best dragon friend had gone on ahead. "Toothless?" he called out.

Hiccup's eyes widened as the Night Fury came crashing through the vegetation, eyes wide and snorting in panic. Behind the dragon was…

'Bees.' Hiccup tugged his vest over his head and started running away from the angrily buzzing swarm as fast as his skinny legs could carry him. Toothless soon caught up with him and Hiccup could see that he was holding something in his mouth.

"Toothless, did you steal their hive?!"

Toothless had the decency to give Hiccup a sheepish gurgle, some honey dribbling down his lips.

Zenna and Loki were walking along a shallow part of the river with their dragons in search of sage when the pair came running.

"Get in the water!" Hiccup yelled as the buzzing became louder.

Dropping their baskets, the Three Weirdos jumped into the river along with their dragons. At the loud splash and great plume of water coming out of the river, the bees dispersed and, after a few tense seconds, left the area completely. The Three Weirdos and their dragons kept quiet. Once they were sure the bees weren't returning, they climbed out of the water and sat on the bank to catch their breath.

"Holy shields…" Zenna breathed out. "Did not expect that to happen so early in the spring."

Loki glanced at Toothless and Hiccup. "Who disturbed the hive?" he asked through chattering teeth as the water was still cold, having recently thawed in the spring.

Hiccup gave Toothless a pointed look before realizing something was missing.

"Bud, did you swallow the entire hive?"

Toothless rumbled in confusion before opening his mouth, revealing the absence of the beehive.

"Oops…" he rumbled, causing Embla to start hissing with laughter while Stryka covered her face with her tail.

"Well, at least the herbs are still safe," Zenna said and fetched their baskets.

"The same cannot be said for our food," Loki reported once he opened Embla's saddlebag to find the bread loaf Gothi had given him completely soaked.

"What now, Zen?" Hiccup turned to his sister not by blood but by bond.

"Well, since you boys helped me forage for more herbs than I would get on my own, it's only fair you all have breakfast at my house." Zenna winked.

That brightened up Hiccup and Loki's spirits along with the dragons.

Nothing could beat a good hearty breakfast of porridge, toasted bread with wild garlic butter, eggs, and smoked haddock at the Fiersomes after a busy, shenanigans-filled morning of foraging.

Gothi was invited as well and was very pleased with the herbs the group had collected.

"Well done. This stock will last a good while," she praised them when they went with her back to her hut to prepare the herbs.

"Couldn't have done it without the dragons and these two." Zenna grinned and slung her arms over her two brothers.

Hiccup nodded in thanks while Loki, despite having complained and freaked out earlier, gave her a fond if but a little exasperated smile.