After his visit to Heather's, Hiccup headed home, his mind swimming from his last conversation with Astrid. If he wanted to keep pursuing her, he needed a better strategy than just being there and talking to her.

He left his horse for the attendants to take care of and went inside to get to his bedroom. As he passed the lounge room, he heard loud laughter. Inside, he found his father had already arrived before him, sitting by the fireplace on an armchair, drinking mead with an old friend who preferred to sit on the couch than on the armchair on Stoick's left. Gobber saw him by the door and waved him over to join them for a drink.

From the morning's work and the not-so-good afternoon at the Oswaldson Estate, he was exhausted. Then again, he had never experienced drinking with his father before. Maybe socializing with them wouldn't hurt.

"Good evening, Dad…" Hiccup greeted as he approached them and his father replied with a gruff hum. "... Gobber."

"Evening to you, too, lad. Where have you been gone to?"

"Oswaldsons. Played a little shooting game during tea and ladyfingers if you believe it." Hiccup replied with a grin.

"Knowing Dagur, I'm more surprised you WEREN'T the target." Gobber chuckled to himself as he tried to scooch a bit for Hiccup to sit beside him.

There was silence as father and son struggled to find something to discuss. Stoick was the first to break it, clearing his throat before asking his son, "So, uh... How was Caldera Cay?"

"Oh, well... It was good. It was fun. Yeah. We did a lot of things," Hiccup replied before taking a swig from a cup Gobber offered him. The mead was strong but sweet. He already felt his head buzzing from the alcohol.

"Ahhh, I see." Stoick quietly took a huge gulp of his drink, unbothered by the strong liquor. The air around them grew more uneasy, and Gobber couldn't hold it.

"Oh great Odin, have mercy," he mumbled under his breath, rolling his eyes as he sat closer to Hiccup. "Didn't you want to head down to Snuffkin? What for?"

Hiccup's eyes shot up in surprise. "I, uh... was thinking of checking their planting methods? Of course, I won't just be there for that; I'll need to check on everyone's health, get daily reports from the soldiers—"

"Why'd you wanna do that for?" Gobber looked down at Hiccup's goblet as he poured him another."I just wanted to see for myself if everything is okay."

"Everything's all right, son. The only real trouble worth mentioning is the dragons prowling down south." Stoick's booming voice fell through the room like a rumble.

"Aye, clever lot they are. They know all the best stuff's being grown over there," Gobber said with a chuckle. Stoick ignored him and explained further.

"There's been a rise in dragon attacks along the country roads, led by a dangerous man. He took down over fifty soldiers on his own, and now he's got a whole gang with him, ambushing travelers at random down south," Stoick explained as he poured more mead into his silver goblet.

"Oh yeah, mean fellow. Black hair, green eyes, and an aim so deadly he could kill five men with one shot." Gobber dramatically demonstrated, leaning closer to Hiccup. Stoick gave him a stern glance, and Gobber backtracked with a smile and a shrug. "A rumor, of course."

Stoick shook his head before looking back at his son. "I will allow you to go ONLY if you bring Gobber with you." Hiccup's shoulders slumped, and just as he was about to protest, Gobber reassured him.

"Don't you worry, lad. I'll bring my fiddle and flute. There won't be a dull moment when you're with me." Gobber chuckled as he hooked his arm around Hiccup's and eager to escape his emotions, Hiccup sighed and agreed to his father's terms. As he stood up to leave, his father commented on an oddity of his drink.

"This is the best-tasting mead I've ever had," Stoick exclaimed as he stared at his pint questioningly. "Though not quite the same as the Meatheads' normal brew..." He gave Hiccup a side glance, hoping he might know the answer to this mysterious drink. "Or purchasing eight barrels of it."

Hiccup replied with a nervous smile, "I uh... bought it."

"Is that so?"

"Yes! From... Caldera Cay," he replied, avoiding his father's eyes as he scratched his head. "I wanted to bring a gift home, and I thought, 'Why not mead?'. Everyone drinks mead, after all. And I know you enjoy drinking, especially during the holidays, so why not? Honestly, I just bought it from whatever brewery I found in the city. I don't even remember the name. It's good that it tasted so well."

Hearing his voice break from nervousness, he cleared his throat as the two other men stared at him suspiciously. The silence in the room didn't ease his anxiety.

"So! I'm gonna..." Hiccup said, clapping his hands together as he slowly stepped toward the exit. "I'm gonna round up some servants to help me tomorrow. Good night, Dad, Gobber."

Stoick didn't say anything as he watched Hiccup quickly leave the room. As he finally disappeared out the door, Gobber raised the same thought Stoick was thinking.

"That was odd, wouldn't you say?"

Stoick replied with a low grumble as he looked back at the contents of his goblet. "He's hiding something." It was more of a statement than a question, and Gobber, knowing him, tried to ease his worries.

"It's probably nothing. Might be a custom in Caldera. The boy lived there practically most of his life, Stoick," he said as he placed his goblet on the drink trolley.

"But he's here now."

"You know he won't change overnight."

"He's been here for a few weeks already."

"Give him time. Once he finds his footing, it won't take long for him to learn." Gobber waved him off, slumping deeper into his seat. Stoick still looked upset, glaring at the fire as he leaned back in his armchair.

"It's not about that, is it?" Gobber could see it even without hearing the words from Stoick. There was a distance between them—a distance that neither of the two could travel physically, but even so, still helplessly yearned to find each other.

Gobber fought the urge to roll his eyes. All of this could've been done away with only if they would just bloody talk to each other.

After gathering some servants of the house to aid him in his trip south, he was ready to set off by morning.

As expected, however, winter had begun in Berk, and every surface was covered in a fresh layer of snow. The winter in the south should be delayed for another two weeks or so. He would have enough time to check on them before their first snowfall.

Puffs of cloud came from his breath as he checked the bridle and fasteners on his horse absentmindedly. But his finicky movements made the horse shake his head in annoyance, trying to get him to stop.

"It's alright, bud. Sorry about that," he said as he rubbed the horse's neck. Balder snorted in response, accepting the apology.

"Ready for the road, I see," Gobber's voice bellowed as he approached Hiccup with his gear and bags over his shoulder. "You weren't trying to leave without me, were you?"

Hiccup looked away as he petted Balder's neck. "What? Gobber, I would never. Not without your fiddle and flute," he replied jokingly.

The older man chuckled as he took the horse offered by a servant. He flung his bags over the back of the horse as another servant assisted him. He struggled to get on, and his wide frame didn't help him get his prosthetic leg to the other side of the horse.

After five minutes of frustrated grumbling, he finally got on the horse. Without even a glance from Gobber, the older man already knew the reaction of his godson.

"Don't you say anything, boy."

"I wasn't going to." Hiccup stifled a laugh as he tried to hide his grin by looking away.

Now finally ready, they were off. While leaving through the gates, Hiccup searched for his father, but Stoick wasn't there to see him off.

Seeing Hiccup looking more upset as he searched the front of the estate, Gobber quickly assured him, "Stoick left earlier than you did. Don't worry, lad. Your father will be alright on his own. Maybe… probably. He quite liked having you around, you know."

Hiccup doubted that, as Stoick had never shown much interest in his creations or in him in general. He could barely remember moments of his father smiling at him with fondness. All of them were from before his mother died.

They used to spend so much time together. One of Stoick's favorite things to teach him was survival in the forests—about shelters, foraging, and hunting small animals.

Creating and setting up traps and shelters was what started his fascination with inventions—making something with his own hands from his own ideas. If only his father had felt the same way when he showed them all to him.

Those happy memories were far away now. He was far away. Like the migratory birds in the sky that he could never reach or run after to. Just like the birds, they knew where they were going and who they were inside and out.

Astrid had that quality too—affirmed by her position, confident in her skills, with dreams beyond the horizon. Such ambition and drive were something he envied and certainly saw in his father. A title as High General was befitting for all his achievements and glory.

But he didn't voice these feelings to Gobber and simply nodded in response.

Gobber led the group to the base of Thor's Mountain. The trip would take a couple of days through it to get to Snuffkin Village.

A day and a half had passed since they left Berk, and Hiccup felt an odd sensation leaving his hometown again, but it was different from when he left for Caldera Cay. It was as if a piece of him had been broken off.

Following the road, a steep cliff was beside them, and beyond it lay the Shrieking Timberlands, stretching for miles. Due to the sheer size of this forest, many believed dragons, criminals, runaway slaves, and the lowly poor hid themselves here.

Hiccup's nervousness was quickly replaced by annoyance as Gobber sang loudly enough to make the hellhounds behind them whine. The rest of the servants and soldiers following them could only cringe and silently plead to the gods for it to stop. Gobber happily continued his bellowing song alone.

"And to you, laddie!" Gobber pointed at Hiccup.

"Thanks, but no thanks," Hiccup replied, his voice muffled by his thick scarf. His despondency was a contrast to the older man's enthusiasm.

"Come on, lad. What's wrong? You've been looking a little down since before we left." Hiccup sighed through his nose as he tried to avoid Gobber's gaze. "And I know it has nothing to do with Stoick or this journey either. I saw how you looked before you joined us last night."

"It's just been... a rough couple of days," he shrugged in reply, hoping Gobber would drop it.

Gobber's keen eyes studied Hiccup's face for a moment, then he sighed and shook his head. "Aye, I reckon it must be something more than just a rough patch, then. You look like you've got a dragon nipping at your heels."

Hiccup gave a small, tired smile. "It's just... personal stuff. Nothing that a few days away can't help sort out."

"Ah, the old personal stuff," Gobber said, leaning in closer. "The kind of trouble that doesn't come with a simple solution. Well, if it helps, I've had my fair share of such troubles. They say time heals all wounds, but sometimes a bit of company helps too. And there's nothing like a good old travel companion to keep the mind occupied."

Hiccup nodded appreciatively. "I guess you're right. It's just hard to shake off sometimes."

"How so?"

Hiccup paused, hesitating to answer the question.

"Come on, you can tell me." Gobber's friendly nature was something he found hard to deny.

"It's not really important. Women stuff..."

Gobber let out a long, bellowing laugh, calming down to chuckles as Hiccup's shoulders slumped even more. "Don't get me wrong, lad. Your father had the same problem," he said, wiping a tear from his eye with his thumb.

"Really?" Hiccup's back straightened.

"Oh sure. When he met your mother, he was smitten. Couldn't stop talking day and night about her 'beautiful eyes' and her 'luscious hips...'" He said, making a terrible impression of his friend.

"Okay! Maybe don't be too specific?" Hiccup nervously chuckled, moving Balder a distance away from Gobber as he continued with his story.

"But he never told her how he felt at first. He was terrified."

Hiccup stared at Gobber, confused by the revelation. "Dad? Terrified?"

"Oh yeah. In fact, he always ended up glaring at her like she was a dragon with Berkian skin. Poor Valka thought he hated her until he finally asked Old Wrinkly for her hand."

Hiccup stiffened. He always thought his father could do anything and would never back down in the face of a challenge. To think his father was intimidated by his mother was not something he ever expected.

"It took him weeks just to hold your mother's hand, never mind kissing her. He turned to mush around her, like soggy paper in the rain."

"I never knew that." Hiccup looked down in thought, feeling both happy and upset that he barely knew anything about his parents or their lives before he was born. Gobber, whether by nature or noticing Hiccup's growing discomfort, nudged him by the arm with his elbow.

"So, who's the lucky girl, then? Must be a real looker to have you all in a tizzy. Stoick always reckoned you'd turn out like those odd Thorston twins."

"It's complicated." Hiccup rolled his eyes.

"As long as it's not the Hofferson girl, your father would back you to the hilt," Gobber said, gesturing broadly with his arm. Spotting his chance to learn more about the feud, Hiccup played dumb and asked his question.

"Speaking of Hoffersons, how come he's not close to Finn? Duke Hofferson sounds like he could get along with Dad."

Gobber fell silent, a clear admission that the situation was simpler than Hiccup might have thought.

"The Hoffersons always had it in for your lot, especially Finn. The more your father succeeded, the more Finn despised him. Jealous sod, but a hard-working one at that... unlike Sven," he said, rubbing his chin as he drifted into old memories. "Sven was actually a much friendlier chap. He even helped Stoick chat up Valka on their first date."

"Sven, as in Astrid's father?"

"The Hofferson lass, is it? Ah yes, I recall now. Funny, isn't it, how Sven was always the soft-hearted one—quite unlike the rest of his lot. Like chalk and cheese, really. But he got on famously with Finn, despite that friendship with Stoick," Gobber replied as they neared a corner of the road. It was much narrower and more dangerous than the previous roads they had traveled. Gobber ordered them to slow down and split into two lines, with the group following him and Hiccup side by side behind them.

Hiccup couldn't fathom how many times he was surprised today, but he didn't realize how unfathomable the secret he would hear next was, just as Gobber continued his story.

"Sven had a daughter. Astrid, was it? Stoick and Sven were sorting out a marriage contract between you two to end all the bickering—" Gobber's expression dropped as the sudden blare of a horn startled them and their horses.

"AMBUSH! ARGGHH..." A soldier cried out before he was shot off his horse.

"SOLDIERS! Circle formation!" Gobber bellowed as soldiers from behind them rode their horses up front to form a circle. A few of the soldiers stood and armed themselves with swords.

"Hiccup! Don't get out of this circle, d'you hear me?"

"There's too many of them. We have to go—"

"Not this time, lad. You can run from Berkians, but dragons are a whole different kind of nasty. Much better to face them head-on. Don't go anywhere, alright?"

"But—"

Gobber didn't spare another second as dragons emerged from the trees with guns and swords. He drew his own pistol and yelled at the front-line soldiers to fire at will, killing off a few bandits. The surviving ones attacked with renewed fury as they found their friends dead.

Chaos ensued, filling the air with blood, gunfire, and clashing swords. Unable to stand by idly, Hiccup dismounted his horse and drew his own sword.

As Gobber focused on the fight at the front, the back part of the circle struggled, using their swords or guns recklessly. Sensing the imminent trouble, Hiccup quickly gave orders.

"Those with rifles, stay in the back. Swordsmen, defend the riflemen as much as you can. When I give the order, move back behind them."

"Sir!" They hollered as they quickly formed up. The swordsmen bought time for the riflemen to reload, and just as the swordsmen were about to be overwhelmed, Hiccup gave the signal for them to retreat to the back of the line. The bandits were met with a wave of shots from the riflemen.

It held for a moment until the line was breached as three very tall, red-eyed men pushed through just as the swordsmen were about to rejoin the front. They made quick work of the soldiers, cutting them down with single strokes.

One of them locked eyes with Hiccup and rushed toward him. Hiccup managed to block the strike and drew his sword. He tried slashing back, but the man's attacks were relentless, and Hiccup struggled to keep up.

Despite the man's lanky frame, his blows were harsh and heavy, each one like a hammer. Hiccup didn't need to see the growing chips on his blade to know...

His sword wasn't going to last long.

The speed of the man's attacks left Hiccup no time to think or plan. The man must have sensed his anxiety, as he made a wicked smile and chuckled. With a final, powerful strike, Hiccup lost grip of his sword and fell to the ground. The man took delight in the moment, slowly approaching and standing over him. Thankfully, Gobber saw Hiccup's plight, came to his rescue, and took over the fight.

"You stay away from my godson!"

The man grumbled as he took on a defensive position. Hiccup, on the ground, gained a moment of clarity. They were losing. They were losing too many soldiers, and despite all the bandits now using swords, he still heard the sound of a rifle being fired.

Someone, somewhere hidden in the woods, was picking off soldiers from afar.

He quickly stood up and scanned the trees. Shock and relief filled him as he saw the glint of a barrel among the trees, spotting the shape of a human slumped with their head down and rifle aimed at Gobber.

Seeing what was about to happen, Hiccup yelled for Gobber to get down and tackled him. Just in time, they dodged the bullet, though it grazed his scarf.

"What in Thor's world is wrong with you, lad?!"

"You almost got shot!" Hiccup yelled, goosebumps rising from feeling the air of the bullet brush past him.

"Oh... Good thing then."

The man tried to strike them while they were down, but Gobber was quick enough to block it.

"I'm going to find the rifleman in the woods."

"No! You stay in the circle!"

"We'll only lose more people if we don't take him down." Hiccup raised his voice as he ran past the melee toward the trees. Gobber couldn't stop him, as the man alone demanded his attention.

"No! I said—blast it all, boy." He grumbled in defeat as he threw the man away.

Hiccup crept up quietly, hiding behind the trees to the right of the rifleman. Upon closer inspection, he noticed that the man was left-handed, aiming the gun with his left eye while tightly closing his right.

Hiccup moved closer, and just as he got near, the man looked him dead in the eyes. Startled by the harshness and quickness of his gaze, Hiccup had no time to lose. He lunged to grab the rifle from the man.

The man, however, was not easily defeated. They tussled on the ground, hitting and kicking each other. It wasn't long before they rolled down the hill onto the road.

During the struggle, Hiccup managed to get a hold of the rifle and stood up, but before he could run with it, the man grabbed his foot, causing him to fall back to the ground.

The man crawled toward him, and the fight resumed, both of them barely letting go of the rifle. They rolled on the ground, getting dangerously close to the cliff edge at the corner of the road. Frustrated, the man reached for something on his waist, but Hiccup head-butted him. Since he didn't execute it properly, he ended up taking the recoil of his own attack.

Despite the setback, the man regained control of the rifle and stood up with it in his hands. Still disoriented, Hiccup didn't realize that the man was already at the edge of the cliff.

Determined not to lose, Hiccup tackled the man, hoping for another chance to gain the upper hand. In doing so, they both fell off the cliff. The last thing Hiccup heard before darkness enveloped him was Gobber's distant shout of his name, growing fainter and fainter.

A/N: Thank you for Silvolde for becoming my beta reader and checking this chapter 3

I've been meaning to start this section of the story for a while. I was originally meant to add a few more chapters between Astrid and Hiccup but it didn't quite feel right to do that :/

Anyways, thank you for reading and your patience!