Without Saying

Chapter 2 - Never Would Have Guessed

Astrid watched Hiccup leave with the other vikings, and a little part of her was angry. He just pulled off one of the most incredible stunts ever. No one believed he could do something like that, not in a million years, and then he had the nerve to shake it off like it was nothing! It made her blood boil. He always did this. He's been one upping her since the second day of training, and it made her so angry. It was like a slap to the face. But on the other hand, it also made her heart swell a little bit. In him not making a big deal about the things he did, he showed that he really didn't do it for the sake of glory, honor, or even respect. He did it because it was what he needed to do, regardless of if he could or not. Sweet little Hiccup, a scrawny nerd by nature, but still a Haddock at heart.

"Well, where does he think he's going?!"

Snotlout scoffed. Astrid rolled her eyes, but she saw the disappointed look on Fishleg's face. He, no doubt, wanted to question Hiccup on what happened, him being the town dragon expert and all. Fishlegs was always trying to learn new things about those dangerous beasts. Astrid could never understand why, but looking at it now, it made her think. Was that how Hiccup could tame these dragons? Had he learned some sort of trick that he was now using in the arena?

"Well, I guess that's training for today, being that we don't have anything to train with anymore."

Gobber announced. So, everyone packed up and went back into town. It was strange though, everyone seemed to be in quite a hurry, but Astrid quickly realized why. They were all looking for Hiccup, hunting him down like a stray sheep. She just hoped she got to him first. After about a half hour of searching, however, the task of finding the little squirt proved to be a lot harder than they thought. Every time they thought they were getting close, they would find that the tiny heir had moved on to something else. He was all over the place: the village square to assist in the rebuilding, the Great Hall to help cook, the fields to help with an irrigation problem, Sven's pastures to reangle sheep, the docks to reset some rigging lines on the fishing boats (since he was so small and nibble his help was invaluable to the fishermen), the forge to repair a few swords while Gobber was busy, Gothi's hut to help her prepare some herbal medicines, the list was endless. I can't believe he does all this stuff. Suddenly, to Astrid, Hiccup the Useless didn't seem so useless. In fact, he was anything but. He was still, however, impossible to catch up with, so Astrid decided she would just wait. He would come around eventually.

~

I yawned and stretched my arms in an attempt to loosen the stiff muscles in my back and legs. Today had been a long day. After leaving with Spitelout and the other vikings, I helped them with the repairs for a while, but then one thing led to another, and soon I was running all over Thor's creation. I didn't mind it. Since I was the heir to Berk, I tried to help out whenever I could; and since Dad was away searching for the Dragon's nest, I did a little more than usual - acting in his place if you will. The villagers didn't always seem to appreciate it, but I knew it was the right thing to do. All that to be said, after I finished helping everyone around town, I had to visit Toothless, who was getting extremely restless, and he was a little too excited on our flight today. So, I got flown off more than once. The Grand Hall was full of vikings when I slipped in, using a little secret tunnel in the rock to get in without anyone really noticing me. It was something I found when I was younger and used to hunt for tiny trolls. It had been invaluable since I met Toothless. Going to grab my food, I was so nervous I thought my legs would collapse, but not for the reasons you would think. There was no doubt in my mind that Gobber and the others had told everyone about my recent theatrics in the arena today. And sure, it was nice to have people be impressed with something I did for once, but I knew Berk. This story would light up like a dead pine to a plasma blast, which meant that just going and disappearing into the woods for hours on end wouldn't be possibility anymore. These thoughts thundered in my brain, as I slowly made my way around the central crowd to a table. I had to find a way to remain invisible. I needed my shadow back.