A few more strikes with the hammer. That was all the prototype sword required until it would be just right. Oswald stopped and moved aside so that Hiccup could look closer. A happy grin spread over the boy's face.

"It's perfect!"

Oswald smiled at the joy he heard in Hiccup's voice. The youth was holding up the weapon like it was a prized possession and it very well might have just become one.

"Now, we'll make a larger sword," Oswald stated. The man began bringing the steel over to the flame, then stopped. "I meant to tell Vorg about the new traders we have coming today. If you could do that, I can get this part started for us."

The Berkian hesitated for a moment. He was not sure how he felt about this. On one hand, he was going to try to find someone (who he had not actually met yet) on that large island. On the other hand, Oswald seemed to have complete faith in him that he could do it, return, and nothing would go wrong. Hiccup had to remind himself that there would not be a dragon attack.

"Of course with my luck," he thought, "a dragon might just decide to change its course and show up."

Oswald glanced from the flames to the visitor. He could see the thoughtful frown on his face.

"Maybe he's nervous about going alone," he supposed. "I could go with him, but if I send him alone on this and it goes well, that'll help build his confidence. I'll make it a bit easier for him at least." He began speaking aloud. "Vorg is normally down by the docks, tending to the ships. There's a large one with a mark of blue paint on its left side. That's how he's marked it so that none of the others board without his permission."

"Okay, I'll let him know and be right back."

Hiccup left the blacksmith shop and began heading down to the docks. He could do this. The Vikings were not going to step on him. Most of the Berserkers seemed smaller than the Berkians anyway. He was used to worse. It was a simple task being asked of him, so if he could just pull it off, then everything would work out. Hiccup looked at the left sides of the ships, finding the one with blue paint.

"Um, is there someone named Vorg here?" he called up, taking careful heed to not board without being invited.

After a brief pause, the boy saw a head pop up from the side of the ship. A Berserker looked for who was calling him, then spotted the Berkian. He gave a smile.

"Aye, that's me. You must be Hiccup. Herald told me that you and the chief were working in the forge."

"We were," Hiccup confirmed, nodding. "He wanted me to tell you that some traders are coming by today."

"Good to know. Thanks, lad." Vorg's eyes lit up. "It works out that you're here. I've been meaning to give this to Oswald."

The captain ducked back down and rummaged through several objects that banged against one another. When he was done, he had a scroll and tossed it down to the boy. Hiccup nearly dropped it, but he managed to grab it in both arms quickly enough to prevent it from falling.

"It's one of those new maps he's been asking for," the man explained. "Should make him happy. Maybe the two of you will travel there."

"I could let you know if we do."

This made the captain grin and he waved goodbye as Hiccup began returning to the forge.

"I did it," he thought, beaming. "The scroll didn't get messed up, Vorg knows what I was supposed to tell him about, and it didn't take long at all. We'll be back to making the sword in no time."

Hiccup stopped walking when a shadow appeared in front of him. He turned and saw a tall redhead. The Viking had a glare and the makings of a new beard on his face.

"Haven't seen you here before," he said. "Who are you?"

The Berkian took a small step back. "Hiccup. I'm just here visiting."

"Visiting, huh? Why? Think you'll find out something about Berserker Island and use it against us?"

With a threatening step forward, the Viking made Hiccup stumble away from him. The smaller boy's eyes widened and he shook his head.

"No, I'm not trying to do that. Look at me. What would I do against an armada?"

The Berserker paused, scratching his head. "Fair point. Doubt we'd even need to use weapons on you."

Hiccup frowned, but he did not disagree. The older Viking looked at the scroll and snatched it from his hands.

"That's for the chief," the Berkian said, frowning deeper.

"'That's for the chief,'" the bully mocked, chuckling at his upset face. "Then, I guess you just failed whatever task you were supposed to complete. This map looks cool. I'll keep it."

Hiccup could feel his heart beating faster. Something just had to happen to mess up his plans. He did not even know this Viking's name. How would he tell Vorg or Oswald who had stolen the scroll? It was also possible they would dislike him for being unable to keep it in the first place. He would become the laughing stock on two islands. One was more than enough.

"No, you won't," he said, trying to sound as commanding as possible.

It did not work too well, but he still surprised the redhead. "I won't? And who's going to stop me? You?"

The Berserker grabbed the boy by the hair. Before he could yank, his eyes widened.

"I'm not sure you know the proper hospitality to show a guest," Oswald stated, a fierce glare in his eyes.

Ansson quickly let go of Hiccup. "S-sorry, Chief."

The scroll caught Oswald's eye and he saw how it also had Hiccup's focus.

"A thief as well?" the chief asked, shaking his head. He held out his hand and the redhead handed over the scroll. "What's your name?"

"Ansson."

"Well, then, Ansson, you seem to be of the age where you'd have already begun your soldier's training. I suggest you not let that get to your head and think it's alright to use that on those who aren't our enemies. Our armada is large. I have no qualms against dismissing Berserkers from duty."

"That won't be necessary, Chief!" Ansson insisted. "This won't happen again."

Oswald gestured for him to leave and the Berserker quickly did. Hiccup looked up at Oswald with wide eyes. It was the first time since meeting him that the man seemed upset. He had a calm rage that was unique to the Berkian. Taking a deep breath, the chief turned to him, eyes searching for an injury.

"Are you alright?" he asked, concerned.

He genuinely did not want the boy to have been hurt. It also was not on his list of priorities to tell Stoick that he had looked away for a few minutes and caused harm to come to the little Berkian. How quickly their peace treaty might end if that occurred.

"I'm okay," Hiccup assured him. "Thanks for getting involved."

Oswald laughed nervously. "Well, I can't invite you here and have you bloodied."

"Did I really take that long that you got worried?" the boy asked, feeling less nice about the job he had done.

"No, it wasn't that. I just…I was worried, but it wasn't because you took long. You did well. I just wanted to make sure that nothing happened on the way back."

Hiccup looked off towards where the bully had run. "Have you seen Ansson around before?"

"Not that I can remember," Oswald answered, shaking his head. "I'm sure it sounds awful, but we have so many Vikings that I'm not familiar with them all. I try to get to know as many as I can, but it's not always easy."

"Some of the others like Vorg seem nice. I told him that I'd let him know if we traveled to where that map leads," Hiccup said, pointing to the scroll.

Oswald unraveled it and his eyes twinkled with wonder. "I think you'd have quite the story for him." He lowered his eyes from the map to the Berkian. "You'd be up for doing something like this again then? I'm sure Ansson wouldn't risk his position in the armada by doing something so foolish twice."

Hiccup thought over this, then nodded. "Yeah, I could help out if you needed me to give someone a message or something like that. I don't know how much I could do, but it was sorta nice to be able to take care of that while you were working on the steel."

"I'm happy to hear that and speaking of steel, it has turned yellow and is ready for us to start our work."

The pair began heading to the shop again to work on the weapon. As they did, Dagur was following Stoick around Berk. Work never stopped for the chief, but he had not forgotten about the plan for the Dragon Root. The Vikings walked and set up the plant in places for the dragons to find and battle over.

"Let's put some in the forest," Stoick suggested.

They went through the trees and Dagur's eyes moved over any spot he thought would work.

"Have a favorite dragon to kill?" he asked.

Stoick paused, having to think hard about his answer. "They all come with their own challenges," he said. "For me, it's less about which dragon it is and what they're doing. It feels more rewarding if it's about to attack one of my Vikings, then I kill it. Before the raid here, had you killed dragons?"

Dagur nodded, grinning excitedly. "Yeah! We don't get any back home, but sometimes, Dad and I would go out on trips. A few of the islands had dragons." He chuckled deviously. "We found some in the middle of attacking a wolf, so they didn't even notice me. I still have one of their fangs back home."

"Why did you keep it?"

"For a souvenir. Proof too. It's not always easy convincing the other Berserkers of stuff, so they could look at the tooth and know there really was a dragon."

Stoick set down a piece of the root. "So, do you and Oswald kill dragons often?"

"No, just me. He doesn't have the stomach for killing them." Dagur rolled his eyes. "He thinks we shouldn't hurt dragons."

The Berkian was about to voice his disagreement, but he changed his mind. "It won't help their relationship much if I side with him against Oswald," he thought.

"But it's pretty obvious you don't feel that way," the smaller redhead commented, eyes twinkling. "We could probably kill a lot of dragons as a team."

"That's a possibility," the Berkian said, still trying to find a balance between not making Oswald sound like the less fun option and not lying since he did agree.

Dagur could hear the odd note in his voice and frowned.

"'Possibility?' What's he talking about?" he wondered. "Does he think I couldn't kill dragons with him? I've already done it. I wouldn't hold him back."

The Berserker started to set down another piece of the Dragon Root.

"Don't put it there," Stoick stated.

Dagur was about to sigh, but he stopped when the Berkian elaborated.

"It's too close to a stream," the man explained. "We get our water from there, so if the dragons fight, blood could get in it."

"What about over there then?" Dagur asked, pointing up to a tree. "It's not near the stream and it'll attract dragons who are flying too."

Stoick gave a nod of his head. "That looks fine to me."

Quickly, the younger Viking climbed up the tree's side. He went until he reached the top, then hollowed out an area so that the root could be nestled without the risk of it blowing away. Dagur looked down when he heard someone addressing him.

"Chief!" Mulch called out.

"What's wrong?"

"Silent Sven's yaks keep going missing, but they were all accounted for after the dragon raid. We've been trying to find them."

The Berkian leader sighed, then looked up at the tree. "I'm heading back to the village, Dagur," he said. "Think you can finish up with the root pieces you have?"

"Yeah, I can do that."

"Then, I'll meet you back in a little."

Dagur kept working with the tree trunk as Stoick left. He finished shortly afterwards and decided to jump from one tree to another one close to him. Doing this a few times, he got to a tree where he put a different piece of the Dragon Root. Once all the pieces he had were used up, Dagur entered the village.

"He's got the rest of the root," he thought. "I don't have anything to do yet, so maybe I'll see if I can find one of those missing yaks. Wherever they went, they probably left tracks."

The boy started looking down to find hoof marks or any other clues. He grinned when he saw some indents in the soft dirt that seemed to be the perfect size for hooves. Dagur picked up his pace, then frowned when he almost bumped into someone.

"Dagur!" Snotlout exclaimed happily.

An arm swiftly moved him to the side, then the Berserker continued his tracking. Snotlout hurried up to walk alongside the older boy. Dagur let out a sigh.

"Why are you following me, Snothat?"

"It's Snotlout actually," the Berkian said quickly. "Nobody told me you were here. My mom didn't let me fight in the dragon raid and I've just been helping my dad with repairs on our hut since then."

"No one needed to tell you," Dagur said, eyeing him suspiciously.

"How else would we hang out?"

"We wouldn't."

"But I finally get to hang out with someone cool who's around my age! It'll be way better having you here than Hiccup. He's so scrawny. There isn't much to do besides pointing that out."

Dagur frowned at the shorter Viking. Snotlout did not take this as a hint to stop talking.

"You'd probably think the stuff the twins and I come up with is funny," the Berkian said. "Sometimes, we'll make Hiccup think that there's a dragon attack. He'll rush out of the hut, tripping over his feet, and looking like he's actually about to do something."

Snotlout chuckled, but he stopped when Dagur shot him a look.

"Trying to kill dragons isn't a joke."

"I don't think it is. I just–"

"Am acting like trying to kill dragons is something Vikings should be laughed at for," Dagur snarled.

The shorter boy took a step back. Dagur's expression was aggressive, but his attention moved from Snotlout to something behind him. He had found one of the yaks. Dagur left the Berkian to go retrieve the animal. Quickly, the redhead grabbed a horn and started tugging. The yak frowned at him and planted its hooves.

"Move," Dagur ordered.

Indignantly, the yak stepped backwards, yanking the Berserker with him.

"Move with me," Dagur clarified.

This just caused the mammal to lay down. Dagur let out a frustrated growl and glared at it. With a sigh, he noticed that someone was approaching.

"Great," he thought sarcastically. "Now, they're going to think I can't do the simple stuff around an island."

Gobber walked up to the fuming Berserker and stubborn yak.

"It's dumb," Dagur said, crossing his arms. "It won't go back home to the Sven guy."

The blacksmith approached the animal. "Eh, yaks are a bit temperamental, but I've been alright with getting them to move." He smiled a little. "Stoick probably isn't doing much better. He always gets angry with them and just ends up lifting one over his shoulder if it won't move on its own."

Dagur laughed at the thought. "Really?"

"Really," Gobber assured him. "He doesn't have the best temper, but he tries to stay calm."

The redhead was quiet as he considered that. It was relatable to try to keep a temper in check.

"What do you do?"

The blond shrugged. "Normally just talk to them. Sometimes, I'll bribe them with a handful of grass."

Gobber lifted his good hand to reveal the bunch he had tied together with a string, then he put it by the animal's snout. This caused the yak to start lifting its head and slowly raise back up on its hooves. The older Viking tossed the grass bundle to Dagur.

"Use that and she'll follow you wherever you go," he advised.

The redhead moved back a little when the yak got closer. He was used to them running from him. It was weird for one to suddenly seem so friendly. Dagur tried to keep the grass from the yak's mouth so that he would be able to lead her back home. When she moved to bite, she mistook his braid for the bundle. Gobber laughed at the sight of the Berserker trying to get free. Dagur felt anger growing inside of him, but before he could say anything, Stoick joined them and opened the yak's mouth.

"You're not supposed to eat Vikings," the chief scolded.

The yak was mostly unfazed and just returned her attention to the grass. Stoick looked from her to the Berserker. He still looked like he was seething. Wondering what had happened, the Berkian followed his gaze to the laughing man.

"He's not laughing to mock you," Stoick said.

Dagur's expression softened as it was replaced with one of surprise. "He's not?"

Gobber shook his head. "No, Dagur. It's just that the last Viking I saw start to get eaten by a yak was Stoick when we were lads."

Stoick's eyes widened. "You didn't have to include that part."

The blacksmith chuckled again. "Can't blame me for remembering things like that."

Dagur made mental notes as he watched the two Vikings interact. Laughing at mistakes did not always mean someone was being ridiculed. He found that interesting. It seemed like the boy would have to adjust a lot to the Berkians' ways. Gobber went with them to bring the yak back to Sven's yard, then the trio found the rest. It took a while, but they eventually finished. Stoick and Dagur started walking around the island again when someone caught the chief's eye. One of the Berkians was approaching with a scroll.

"This came in from Trader Johann today, Chief," he said.

Stoick accepted the scroll and thanked the Viking. Dagur had a hard time thinking about anything else after it arrived. He managed to hide this fact during dinner, but that night, he could not sleep.

"What did Dad write?" he wondered. "I bet he said, 'Keep him.'" He started to sit upright. "I bet I could find it if I looked. If I do, Stoick might get mad that I'm snooping, but I could also probably do it without him noticing. I'll risk it."

The Berserker quietly left the room, heading towards the chief's. He almost impressed himself with his own stealth. Silently, he approached a desk and found the scroll there. Dagur thought he would be taking too large of a chance if he moved the scroll from the room, then put it back, so he looked at it while he was there. A frown crossed his face before he left as quietly as he had entered. Dagur returned to his room and laid down on the bed, facing the ceiling.

"They're making swords? Dad never mentioned wanting to do that before. I don't even know how to make a sword, so it wouldn't matter if he did. He probably knows how and just didn't want to do it with me. And they're exploring?! We haven't done that in years." The boy's frown faded as his face became sadder. "He really doesn't miss me. I guess I wouldn't either. Sounds like he's having fun for once. Why ruin that? Well, I'm having fun too. I guess we just do that better without each other."

Dagur closed his eyes and forced himself to try to sleep. On Berserker Island at that time, Hiccup had woken up. He went down to the main area of the hut to grab some water and stopped when he saw something in the corner near the mugs. The boy considered ignoring it, but curiosity got the better of him. He went over and saw that it was a scroll. On it was his father's seal.

"It must be the first of those reports they mentioned," he thought. "I shouldn't look at this." Hiccup put it down, then picked it up again. "But it's not like it's a secret. They didn't say we couldn't look. If Oswald didn't want me to, he wouldn't have left it out. Of course, this was probably an accident. Still…"

Hiccup unraveled the scroll and regretted his decision afterwards. He put it back and returned to his room, no longer even wanting the drink,

"They're killing dragons together? I guess I shouldn't be surprised about that. Dad's probably happy he finally has a 'real' Viking who can fight with him and be taught new ax techniques. I bet he hasn't been worried about anything getting messed up. It'll just disappoint him when everything goes back to normal." The boy's spirits sank, then he sighed. "At least Oswald doesn't seem to mind that I'm not much of a warrior. We can just keep exploring and inventing until we have to switch back. That's assuming Dad's even going to want to."

Hiccup got back in the bed and curled up in the blanket, not feeling comforted by its warmth. Stoick could enjoy his time without the boy. The heir would enjoy his time as well.