Another Day in Berk

Faint cheers reached my ears from Berk, dragons zipping around a deliberate course. Squinting my eyes, I could see my friends racing for the sheep being catapulted into the air. Whomever caught a sheep, worth one point, would race it back to their designated basket to get the most points. By the sounds of the cheers, I assumed the black sheep would be released soon, giving the racer ten points.

I smiled knowing the fun my friends were having. I would have been racing with them if it weren't for the mystery of my best friend's location. Hiccup had a knack for going on an adventure with Toothless early in the mornings and if I didn't wake up in time to come with him, I always caught up with him later.

Jumping down from a protruding rock, I danced over to my dragon, Nightstriker. She was a Stormcutter. Owl-like features and mannerisms and purple scales nearly as dark as the midnight sky. Her two sets of wings allowed her to move swiftly and smoothly through the air without much effort. I couldn't have asked for a better dragon as a friend.

Nightstriker nudged her snout against my hand when I held it in front of her. I gave her a loving pat and climbed onto her saddle that Hiccup designed for her.

"Alright, let's go find Hiccup and Toothless," I told her.

Nightstriker swung her tail happily and purred just before she jumped to the sky. We flew around for a little bit until Nightstriker caught their scent. She followed the clue to a small island where we found two silhouettes sitting on a cliff. I grinned recognizing the two friends.

Gracefully, Nightstriker landed behind our friends and grabbed their attention. Toothless excitedly jumped onto his feet and came over to us. He licked me from my boots to my free-falling red hair and grinned.

"Ah! Toothless!" I laughed, wiping the dragon saliva from my face before scratching his neck. "Thanks you goofball."

The Fury head-butted my body, making his way over to Nighstriker so they could wrestle and play. I watched them for a moments before making my way over to Hiccup sitting on the ground.

"Afternoon, milady," Hiccup smiled.

I curtsied with a laugh, "And you, good sir." I took a seat beside him, "What have you been doing all morning?"

The shaggy-haired brunette placed a worn collection of pages in front of me. A map covered the pages, Hiccup's hand-writing etched next to the land masses.

"This is incredible, Hiccup!"

My eyes lit up with joy to see the discoveries my friend always found when he disappeared for a morning or two. His map was going to change the size of our world.

I watched Hiccup ruffle his hair nervously to my compliment and I smiled, "You've put a lot of hard work into this. Your map is really going to help us discover new dragons and villages, you know."

"There's so much out there," Hiccup said as he stared at the horizon.

I folded up his map as best as I could and placed it in his hands, "Then go find what's out there, Hiccup. Keep at it."

He sighed, hiding his map within his leather armor and glanced at our two dragons rolling around the grass together. "I can't, Frigga. My dad has other plans in mind..."

"Oh no, what happened?" I paused, "That's why you came out here, isn't it?"

An airy chuckle left his lungs, "You know me way too well."

"Of course, but seriously, what happened?"

"Oh you're gonna-" he sat up on his knees and faced me, "-You're gonna love this. I wake up, the sun is shining, Terrible Terrors are singing on the rooftops. I saunter down to breakfast thinking all is right in the world and I get, 'Son, we need to talk'."

I giggled at his imitation of Stoick, "That's never a good sign from your dad."

"Exactly." Hiccup stood up and paced in front of me. Nightstriker and Toothless paused their playing to watch.

"Then my dad says, 'You're the pride of Berk, son, and I couldn't be prouder'!"

"And you scratched the back of your neck and said, 'Thanks, Dad! I'm pretty impressed with myself, too'!" I imitated Hiccup's voice.

Hiccup laughed, "When have I ever said something like that? And I don't sound like that."

"Well..." I trailed off teasingly.

"Yeah, yeah, you joker. Be serious," he told me as he sat down again.

I fought to hide my smile, sitting up straight, "Go on then."

"Dad then pulls out the, 'You're all grown up and since no chief could ask for a better successor, I've decided'-"

"To make you chief?" I finished.

Hiccup laid back and stared up at the sky, "Yeah... so that's what I'm dealing with."

I turned my body to face what used to be behind me. I grabbed Hiccup's hand and held it in my lap to comfort him.

"Did you say anything to him?" I asked.

"By the time he turned around, I was gone."

"Well what are you going to do? You can't avoid your dad forever."

Once again, my friend sat back up, "I don't know if I can be chief. I-It's not me, Frigga. All those speeches and planning and running the village... That's his thing."

I started braiding a short braid in Hiccup's hair behind his ear to add to his other one. "I know it's a huge responsibility, but maybe you'll find out you're a great chief... your own chief. You'll figure it out like you always do, Hiccup."

Hiccup looked at me, his green eyes looking into my blue ones for a moment until he turned away with a sigh. I was thankful he didn't see my cheeks change from their usual pale color to a soft pink after he turned away. It darkened once he grabbed my hand like he always did when he was a little lost.

I admit, I had a huge crush on Hiccup. It started about a year or two before the Red Death situation, but I never dwelled on it when Astrid was the girl of his dreams. I mean, I helped him get together with her. But once they had a mutual break up, my crush just sorta grew and is harder to hide. Nightstriker knew all about it, but by then, even Astrid figured it out. But it was still never a thing I dwelled on with Hiccup always preoccupied with searching the world.

Hiccup squeezing my hand brought my attention to him. His eyes were squinted, staring off in the distance. "Do you see that?" he asked me.

I followed his eyes, "What am I looking for?"

"Do you see that smoke?"

I did. "What do we do?"

Hiccup stood, helping me up, "We investigate."