Night on Berk was very different than on Berserker Island. Dagur stayed in Hiccup's room and was not surprised by the lack of weapons the other heir had.

"Wonder what he does all day," he thought, peeking under the bed.

Nothing was there (a conscious decision of Stoick's to prevent any more trouble being caused by various tools for the time being). After sharpening some more blades for later use, Dagur went to sleep, but it did not last long. The hut shook violently, waking up the Berserker. He hurried out of the room to see what had happened. Outside, there were muffled yells. One shout rang clear through the air.

"Dragon attack!"

Excitement surged through Dagur's body. This was what he had been waiting for ever since he learned what a dragon was. He wasted no time in leaving the hut and saw that Stoick was coming outside at the same time. The chief immediately jumped into action, heading towards a Monstrous Nightmare that was about to blast a building. He drew a sword and stabbed the reptile in the side. It let out a roar and turned to shoot the Viking with a stream of fire. Stoick lifted a shield, not letting this stop him from marching closer to his target. When the Berkian was within range, he plunged the blade into the dragon's chest. Stoick dug downwards so that it hit the heart. A thud came as the dragon's body went limp and fell to the ground. Next, Stoick turned his attention to the rest of the village. The attack was far from over. Several Hideous Zipplebacks were covering the area with gas. The chief spotted one of the heads beginning to light a spark.

"Take cover!" he called out.

Vikings dove for the ground, some not doing so before the explosion. Ringing was in their ears, but Stoick could still hear the sounds of blasts. His Vikings were going to be burned alive if he did nothing. So, the chief followed the sound and cut off one Zippleback head after another until no more explosions could hurt the others. He saw Gobber fighting a Gronckle that was spewing lava onto some huts. The blond had a mallet attachment for his missing hand and used it to hit the reptile. This dazed it, but the Gronckle had more fight. It made a mistake in charging at the Berkian. As soon as it did, Gobber grabbed a mace and delivered a blow into the throat. Once the dragon was down, the blacksmith moved over to the other homes being targeted.

The rest of the Berkians fought just as valiantly, but it seemed like their efforts were in vain. Dragons came in droves and each warrior had to be prepared to kill a minimum of ten dragons. Splitting their focus could be challenging and sometimes even more dangerous. In dismay, Stoick saw Deadly Nadders were by the storehouse, clawing at the doors. The Vikings needed the food, but they also needed their population to not drop due to the attack. Food or housing. Decisions like this were at the forefront of the Berkian's mind during many of the attacks. This time however, his attention did not need to be split.

Dagur was heading towards the storehouse, running up the side so that he could jump off and onto one dragon's neck. He dug a blade in deep, twisting it and causing the creature to screech. The Nadder violently shook its head, but Dagur did not let go. If anything, his grip became tighter and he pushed in further with his knife. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the other dragon preparing its tail. It was about to shoot a spine at him. He remembered from his various times reading up on dragons that those were venomous. It would be no fun at all if he had to stop his attack to make an antidote. The boy frowned momentarily, then brightened. There was something else he remembered about Nadders–a certain blindspot of theirs.

The Berserker changed his grip, grabbing at the base of the dragon's jaw so that he could turn its head. Doing this, he put the other reptile out of its range of vision. So, it did not even see a spine as it was fired its way. Dagur moved at the last second, letting the attacking dragon only realize its mistake when its comrade was hit. These combined blows took down the dragon. It seemed to be just clinging to life, but it was also angered by having been hit with the spine. Dagur let go of the Deadly Nadder's neck as it fired a blast at the second one. Amused, the boy watched the pair fight. As he expected, it ended in the injured dragon's death, but the formerly uninjured one had also been wounded.

"We could get them to kill each other," Dagur thought, a devious grin spreading over his face.

He wanted to test this idea of his. Stoick saw a blur of red go by him and felt a flash of panic when he saw the boy running towards a group of dragons. It seemed like the beasts were battling over something, but the man could not see what had their attention.

"Why does every lad I'm around try to get himself killed?" the chief wondered, disturbed.

The Berkian was about to call out for Dagur to get back, but he stopped when he saw the Berserker draw fire, then move out of the way so that a Gronckle accidentally hit a Monstrous Nightmare. Agitated, the Nightmare lit up and charged at who it thought was responsible for its injury. Dagur laughed happily at the chaos and looked down at what had caused this. He saw a plant deep in the dirt. The boy's eyes were filled with wonder over what this could mean. All around him, the dragons kept battling. The only ones who did not participate were the Gronckles outside of the one Dagur had caused to get attacked by the Nightmare. So, the Berserker focused on it as it tried to steal food. He had anticipated the dragon to be slow, but it was surprisingly fast. It was not fast enough, though. Dagur ran after the dragon and just before it could properly fly off with a yak, he dug a blade into its right wing. This made the reptile fall back to the ground with a crash.

Dagur cackled in excitement and got ready to finish the job, but a swarm of dragons got in the way. They were flying away from Berk. One of the reptiles noticed the flightless Gronckle and picked it up to fly them both to safety. As the dragons left, Stoick quickly looked over everyone to take account of any losses. There were very few on their sides, but he could not find Dagur. The father's heartbeat sped up until he found the younger Viking helping Gobber. As the blacksmith held up a roof, the Berserker went in and got a Berkian out whose arm had been trapped. Stoick approached the duo and received an eager grin from Dagur.

"Do those dragon attacks happen a lot?" the youth asked.

"More than I'd prefer," the chief informed him.

Stoick regarded the boy in mild surprise. He had not gotten in the way at all during the raid. To the contrary, he had been helpful. Stoick was unaccustomed to that. A question was in his mind, but he had to concentrate on clearing out the debris. The group worked together to make sure that no one else was buried under ruins and that anyone who needed aid was sent to Gothi. Once this was complete, Stoick asked his question.

"Were you trying to get the dragons to fight one another?"

Dagur nodded, grinning. "I want to try that out again. It's fun watching them fight. It saves us time, then we can work on killing them without them trying to kill us." The boy's eyes lit up. "Did you know you have Dragon Root?"

"Dragon Root? No, I wasn't aware of that."

The Berserker's eyes got a deranged twinkle in them. "I'll show you."

Eagerly, Dagur led Stoick off to where he had been before with the dragons. He pointed to the ground, gesturing to a pale green plant. Stoick bent over to look, a curious expression on his face.

"It's with Mildew's cabbages," he commented. "It probably grew by accident. What's special about it?"

"I've heard that it makes dragons lose their minds." Dagur started to chuckle as he watched the battle again in his mind. "From what I saw, that was right. They all wanted the root so much that they didn't care if they killed other dragons for it."

Stoick stroked his beard thoughtfully. "I haven't considered that before, but it could be interesting."

For a moment, Dagur felt his spirits sink. It was normally not a good thing to hear noncommittal answers. Oswald gave them a lot because they were quick ways to dismiss a situation while not outright disagreeing. Personally, the boy would have preferred an upfront admission of just not liking his suggestions than to act as though they were fine and then never use them.

"If you think it's a weird idea, you can just say so," he mentioned, frowning. "It's probably not something most Vikings would do."

Stoick looked at the boy, seeing the upset expression. "It's definitely a unique idea," he admitted, "but it's also creative."

Dagur was hesitant to feel more hopeful, but he did once he saw Stoick cut a piece of the root off with his ax. The chief held the plant to study it closely.

"This week, would you want to see what we can think of for different root uses?"

This time, Dagur did light up. "Okay! I'd be up for that. I bet we could tie it to one dragon's leg and watch as the rest of them chase it everywhere!"

Stoick looked towards the hut again. "I don't think I'll be going back to sleep, so if you aren't tired…"

"I'm not," the smaller redhead assured him. "I could stay up all night. Let's see what we can come up with. I'll grab this book I brought, so we can write everything down." He grinned widely. "Those dragons won't know what hit them!"

Laughing maniacally, the boy hurried off to the hut. Stoick found himself smiling and feeling a little excited as well. Once the sun rose on Berserker Island, Hiccup was surprised how nice it felt to have a full night's sleep. No dragon roars. No Vikings yelling. He did not even have to feel like the earth beneath him was breaking apart due to all the explosions the dragons caused. The soft sound of sheep got the boy to wake up. Despite what he predicted, even the room itself was not chaotic. It was clean and he only saw a few old-looking knives that he assumed Oswald had just not been able to find. Being so close to the ground, they were easier for Hiccup to spot.

"I'm just surprised Dagur's room isn't filled with dead chickens," he thought, relieved to have been wrong.

He got up and saw Oswald out in the main area, writing in a journal as he sat in a large chair. The Berserker smiled at the Berkian and set the book aside.

"Good morning, Hiccup. Did you sleep well?"

"Probably better than I've ever slept," the boy revealed. "It was weird to not have an attack, but it was nice. How about you?"

"I don't think I've ever had a night where I slept poorly. It's probably for the best that we don't have dragon raids. I'd be shocked if I didn't sleep through them if they were at night," the man joked.

Hiccup chuckled slightly. "Yeah, it's probably better off this way then." His expression became curious. "I don't really get why dragons didn't come here."

"Neither do I. It's one of the mysteries of life." Oswald's eyes started to twinkle. "But I do love those mysteries."

"Really?"

"Absolutely. Because then, you get to solve them."

"I didn't think about it that way."

Hiccup tapped his chin as he thought this over. It was true. Mysteries in the world left opportunities for Vikings to go out and make discoveries.

"Explorations are vital for understanding life," Oswald stated, a warm expression on his face.

"Do you go on a lot of explorations?"

"I wish I could go on more, but I used to go on many in my youth."

"Was there anything in particular you did or would you just see what you could find?"

"I would mostly go there to discover what all there was to see." Oswald began smiling wider. "After the swords are done, would you want to go on an exploration? It doesn't have to be anywhere far or for long."

The question surprised Hiccup. Stoick often discouraged the idea of exploring. The boy was never sure if he did because he wanted the Berkians to not consider leaving, shrinking their already low numbers even further, or if it was to keep Hiccup from getting killed by some new threat. Regardless, the idea had always fascinated the tiny Berkian.

"I wouldn't actually mind doing that before the swords are finished," he said.

Oswald looked thrilled and clapped his hands together. "Alright, then let's get a good breakfast for you and head out. There's an island I used to visit a lot, so I know the area well."

The pair ate some berries with bread and yak milk, then went to the dock. This time, they did not get on the same ship as the one they were on to return to the island. There was a smaller vessel they got onto and Oswald went to the mast, hoisting the sails. The voyage had the same type of calm silence as the last one, but it was far shorter. Oswald docked the ship and they disembarked. Hiccup followed the Berserker as they went further into the island. The boy noticed that Oswald had a journal on him and had pulled it out, burying his nose in the pages.

"Aha," he said triumphantly. The man handed it over to Hiccup so that he could look. "This is the journal I used when I would travel here. That plant there is called a Fire Fern. Don't touch it because its name is earned."

The Berkian tried to memorize the drawing so that he would be able to recognize it if he saw the plant in real life. Oswald pointed at another page.

"This section tells you which berries are poisonous and which aren't. I made the wrong call once."

Hiccup's eyes widened in concern. "How'd you survive?"

"Fortunately, I'd also read about different types of antidotes. I was able to make the necessary one fast enough before my throat could close. This other time, I was nearly mauled by a pack of wolves."

The boy started to feel tense. He looked around them, trying to make sure the snap of a twig he heard was not caused by a ravenous wolf. Oswald saw how he had made the Berkian nervous and regretted his words.

"Exploring isn't always dangerous," he added. "What's important is keeping a level head. If you can do that, then you can think yourself out of any problem. Most of the time, I haven't actually had the answers, but I've been able to figure them out."

"It seems a little hard to keep a level head when you're poisoned or getting mauled."

"It's not easy, but it's doable. I think it gets easier the more practice you have."

Oswald stopped walking and held out an arm to stop Hiccup as well. The boy almost tripped but caught himself and stared in front of them to see what had happened.

"Quicksand," Oswald explained. "Which goes back to my point about staying calm. If you're ever unfortunate enough to be trapped in some, you've got a better chance of surviving if you don't panic."

"So, between flora, fauna, and the terrain, everything in exploring wants us dead?"

The Berserker chuckled. "I doubt it's as malicious as that. It just wants to make things challenging for us."

Carefully, they walked along the stable side of the ground. Hiccup heard the sounds of water as they got louder. Oswald stopped walking when a waterfall was within their sight. It sparkled in the sunlight, turning calm in the small body of water at the bottom. The scenery was beautiful. Hiccup felt like he could not tear his eyes away from it all.

"Exploring can seem like it's trouble," Oswald stated calmly, "but it's worth it at the end of the day when you can see sights like this."

The Berkian took in the waterfall for a moment longer before agreeing. "It could be fun to get enough experience to be able to do more explorations like this."

"Is that a request to return?" the Berserker asked, smiling softly.

"I think so," the boy said unsurely. "Yeah," he added with more confidence. "Could we try to explore more some time?"

"We absolutely could. Before you know it, you'll be spotting dangers as easy as you take your next breath."

Hiccup smiled at the thought of this and they began returning to the ship. It was getting late, so by the time they reached the island, they decided to work just a little more on the prototype sword. Once they had said good night, Oswald went to his room and took out a scroll. A smile was on his face as he wrote to his friend.

To Stoick the Vast,

Though this is only the second day, having young Hiccup here on Berserker Island has been a pleasure. We've worked on creating swords, then went out exploring. We will be doing more of both. No need to worry. I plan to make sure he knows how to spot any signs of danger. He's a curious lad. That's a trait I appreciate. He seems to want to know more about the world even if he's a little concerned about it at the moment. With time, I think he'll become more sure of himself and less danger-prone. There have been no accidents, but perhaps I should not jinx it by writing that. Well, I will remain optimistic. I cannot express how nice it was to explore again. I have not gone on a leisure voyage in a very long time. I hope all is well on Berk and that Dagur has not caused any trouble. When I send my next letter, the sword will be complete, so I will give you my report on how that goes.

Your friend,

Oswald the Agreeable

Oswald rolled up and sealed the scroll, holding it for a moment. He meant what he had written about exploring. The Berserker had stopped because of Dagur. It seemed impossible to convince him of the simple joys of just watching and admiring the beauty of nature. He always wanted to get into something and fight someone. The third time out, the redhead tried to use a beautiful flower as a lure for a small rodent. That was when Oswald realized he was probably wasting his time with hoping they could just enjoy a peaceful day out of the tribe. Unfortunately, he also did not feel comfortable leaving Dagur on Berserker Island while he explored. Only Odin knew what kind of state the island would be in by the time the father returned. So, that left no time to explore and much yearning in the man's heart. Getting to go out again was an appreciated time. He could get used to that.

On Berk, Stoick was also about to write a letter. He thought over the day's events. They had spent the rest of it going around the island to see where Dragon Root could be placed and guessing which dragons would try to fight. This spiraled into them coming up with theories over how the fights would go and how they would take out the few dragons who did not get involved in the battle if any chose to be like the Gronckle from earlier. That was such a unique experience for the chief. He could not talk about killing dragons with Hiccup. The boy would try to join in, but Stoick just felt like he was mocking him by continuing to discuss attacks he knew the heir could not execute. Even that entire raid was unique for the chief. It was nice to be able to just worry about the dragons and Vikings near him. Stoick did not have to stress over where Dagur was and if he would get killed. The Berserker just got into action as quickly as the chief did. A happy smile was on Stoick's face as he took out a scroll and began to write.

To Oswald the Agreeable,

I might have underestimated Dagur. He found some Dragon Root today which we'll be using to get the dragons to focus on fighting each other instead of us. We'll still kill them of course, but it'll help to not have them try to attack. We've already come up with several ideas about how the battles will proceed. If Dagur's guesses are more accurate than mine, then I'll show him my favorite slash techniques with axes. I'll probably do that either way. He's a good fighter to be so young. Dagur's an excitable lad, but as long as his violent streak is directed at our enemies, I don't see a problem with that. I hope that everything is going well there with Hiccup. I look forward to hearing from you.

Your friend,

Stoick the Vast