"What about you Astrid? Do you have any idea of what you're looking for?" Fishlegs asked.
"Not a clue. I had no real intention to befriend any of these things. But now I'm all but being forced to. Unlike you guys, it looks like I'm going to have to go out and find one on my own." Astrid sighed.
"Well to be fair we all still have to meet the ones we're considering and who knows me might be rejected by them. Mine's not so bad. I'll have to convince it to leave the forge but if Gobber doesn't think it fits, he's probably started to put it out anyway. So I'll just have to do the rest. But those two…well it sounds like they're trying to go after one with responsibilities. Something tells me that isn't going to go to plan." Fishlegs shrugged.
"Hey!" Ruff yelled.
"Hey yeah. We're gonna make sure that it wants to be our best friend." Tuff followed.
"Well good luck you guys cause I don't even know where to start."
"You could always just ask Hiccup." Fishlegs suggested.
"What would I even say?" Astrid laid back.
"Well you could just tell him what you said to us. I'm sure that he wouldn't even think twice about helping you." Fishlegs looked over towards Hiccup and Toothless nest. "Well maybe not right now but tomorrow, or maybe later today."
"Yeah I guess." Astrid covered her eyes with her arm. She continued to do so until she fell asleep. She woke up in the night and heard someone walking around her. It was hard to see but she focused her eyes and saw Hiccup walking around and pointing at people. She hopped up and started to follow him, until he made an abrupt stop and turned around to look at her.
"I can hear you walking behind me, you know."
"What are you doing sneaking around?"
"I'm just doing a headcount, Astrid. Nothing to worry about. If you don't trust me, you can follow me around while I do my count." Hiccup turned back around and continued walking. Astrid followed close behind. "I know that you still don't trust me but I do have to ask that you not question everything that I do in my own home." Hiccup continued to walk and count without looking back at her.
"Well you're sharing this place with us now, and I just want to make sure you're not doing something weird."
Hiccup stopped and turned around.
"Like what?" He asked.
"I don't know. You could be doing anything."
"Astrid, I understand the not trusting me thing. But if you're going to accuse me of something, at least have something. Saying that I could be doing something weird isn't enough for you to be following me around in the dark. Plus let's be honest here, you following me around looks more odd than me walking around my own home."
"You… could have been trying to kill someone."
"Right?" Hiccup stretched the word. "Astrid, go back to sleep or at least come walk with me so that the others who are awake, watching you, don't think you're the one being weird."
Astrid took the handful of steps to catch up to Hiccup.
"Then I'll walk with you." She said matter of factly.
"Have fun, it's not going to be very interesting." Hiccup continued along his route, counting heads and greeting those who were still up and around. He continued outside and checked on a group that was sitting around a fire. "Everyone here okay?" The group of both humans and dragons greeted him.
"Seems you've got a tail tonight, Hiccup." One of the group joked.
He spun around, then grabbed his tail. "Don't go anywhere without it." He got some laughs out of the group.
"What're you following Hiccup around for Astrid?" Another asked the woman.
"I was just asking him some stuff while he was checking on everyone." She lied.
Hiccup saw himself off and waved goodbye to the group. They waved him goodbye and continued where they left off. As he walked away he looked back at Astrid.
"Happy I'm not doing anything weird yet?" Hiccup chuckled.
"I just didn't like that I woke up and you're skulking around while everyone's sleeping. I didn't know what you were doing. It could have been anything." Astrid said.
"Sure, I guess. But also there are plenty of others who are still awake and others who my father has assigned to be nightwatch anyway. So you don't have to worry about me being weird around the humans." Hiccup laughed.
"I suppose that's true." She admitted.
"Besides, just because I haven't lived with humans for a while doesn't mean I don't know how to be a person. I know I don't look particularly human anymore, but I do live with people who are, mostly, civilized. A people a little different than you're used to but are all the same nonetheless. They just want to be safe, know where their next meal is coming from, have friends, and maybe find love somewhere in there.
Secondly, I do understand not trusting me. I probably wouldn't trust me either, given our past. But like we talked about before, others here, who have probably lost more than you have, are still here giving me and my flock the benefit of the doubt. And guess what? They're sitting around a fire with dragons at their backs. They did as I asked, and gave me one chance to show them they never thought possible. A-and…" He caught himself getting louder, and looked around for Toothless, who was already sitting behind him. He jumped a bit when he finally realized that his dragon was sitting right in front of him. "How long have you been there?"
Astrid looked around confused as to who Hiccup was talking to until she heard the distinct growls of a dragon speaking. The hair on her arms and neck stood on end. The Night Fury sat no more than a handful steps away from her and was impossible to see. Her breathing became slow and even as her body tried to make her run. She'd heard no claw clicks, no errant wing beat, not even a single footfall. She could not believe just how quiet Toothless was. She wondered if a single other soul had realized he'd been following them around for likely the entire time.
"I'm just observing, continue on." Toothless told Hiccup. The man turned back around to Astrid.
"You okay?" He asked. Noticing her posture.
She took a moment to respond. "I'm um, yeah I'm fine."
"Toothless freaked you out huh?" He nodded a bit. "Never gotten used to it myself. Feels like a damned ghost following me around sometimes."
"I uhm, just wasn't expecting something so big to be that quiet." She admitted.
"Gods, I know the feeling." Hiccup complained. "I pretty much just expect him to be behind me all the time and I still haven't gotten used to it, and it's been a good few summers since it started happening. So as long as you're not me, just expect that if I'm there, he is too. And if you are me, know that he's always behind you and yet still get startled when you turn around."