From Ceremonies to Dragons to All in Between

Chapter 11: Looking Back On the Memories

A seven-year-old wooshed through the forest, looking through the bushes and trees, messing up his expensive clothes. A girl spied him from the grove of trees, wondering what he was doing. She wanted to join him, but she didn't know him and her mom said that bad people could come after her. She didn't want that.

The boy finally noticed her and smiled in her direction. He came running up to her and held out his hand.

"Hello! How are you?"

She shyly smiled and took his hand. "I'm fine. What were you doing?"

"I'm looking for trolls!" He gave her a grin, and she could see he was missing a tooth. He had a weird accent too, but she liked it. She decided she liked him.

The boy opened his mouth again. "Wanna join?"

She smiled and bounced happily. "Sure."

Realizing they were still holding hands, she quickly let go. "What's your name?" she asked.

"Hiccup. Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third." Her nose scrunched up at the weird name, but she did not comment.

"Astrid. My name's Astrid Hofferson."

Hiccup smiled up at her again and quickly took her to a grove of trees to the side to look for trolls again. As she played with him through the forest, she knew she made a life-long friend. She smiled at the thought.

---

It was the start of a beautiful and long friendship. It had never really mattered to Astrid that he was a peasant and that she was a princess because, with each other, they could be who they were.

Although, that didn't stop their meetings from being a secret and never mentioned to anyone in the castle. Their friendship was secretive, something only for the two of them, but when it ended, it felt more and more like a dream.

Something that simply never happened.

---

A boy walked through the trees, clumsily going through the bushes, till he reached a field of grass. He went to the other side where a stream was located and found who he was looking for.

"Astrid! Happy eighth birthday!" the boy said excitedly. The girl looked up from where she was practicing with her sword and saw the boy holding a package.

"Hey, Hiccup! What do you have there?" she replied easily, putting the sword down and heading towards Hiccup.

"A birthday present! Gobber has been teaching me how to make weapons in the forge and helped me make this! I hope you like it!" he said, giving her a toothy grin. She took the package from him and ripped the wrapper away from it.

In front of her, she saw a gleaming new ax that looked of amazing quality and was one of the best craftsmanship she's ever seen. "You made this?"

Hiccup smiled sheepishly and replied, "Well, it took a few tries. But I finally did it! Do you . . . like it?"

Astrid turned to him and punched his arm. "I love it! Thank you so much!"

Hiccup rubbed his sore arm, laughing. "Your welcome."

The rest of the afternoon was spent with Hiccup and Astrid playing with the ax and having fun. After, they both tried to make a cake for her birthday, but both learned that day to never let Astrid in the kitchen.