touch the sky | hiccup haddock

〄 don't make him a liar

"Today was fun," Astrid sighs out as we walk back to our house. "It was thrilling to be so close to the Gronkle. Like I've seen them during the raids but just inches away in the daytime was exhilarating!" This is how it's always been. While we're in training it's all be the best or be the worst no in between but outside of training she's normal-er. Not that I blame her, I've contributed to that mindset between the two of us. "Yeah, I'm surprised Hiccup was there, feels like his dad would try and keep him from it," I say thinking out loud. "Yeah, he's just going to be in the way and end up getting himself killed," she bluntly explains. She's always been more blunt and straight to the point. Especially when it came to her dislike for the chiefs son. I personally think she's just jealous that one day he'll be chief and we'll all have to listen to him.

"What time are we meeting at the hall tonight?" I ask knowing Gobber likes for us to meet back for dinner so we can discuss the days training. "Before the mealtime so we can get our food first," she relayes after a second of thinking and I nod. "I have some training things I want to work on so I'll meet you tonight," I let her know and she looks at my strangely like she's determining if I'm a threat or not. "Okay, have fun," she bites out before stalking away. She doesn't like it when I train more than her. She doesn't want me to get better than her and potential beat her. I'm hoping she'll think I'm training with my ax even though I'll be training with my daggers. With the business of dragon training I hope she'll forget about the test from my dad at the end of the week. I hope that I'll finally be able to beat her fair and square, on an even playing field.

There has been very few times that I have beat her. All of them are caused by outside forces, like a dragon attack, or her tripping and breaking her arm, and the most recent one being my ax head flew off and hit her arm cutting her. She was angry at me for a week thinking I did it on purpose, my dad counted it as a win thinking I had done it on purpose. I of course didn't and don't consider it a win myself.

I take a few turns in the woods just incase Astrid thought to follow me and I even hide behind a tree for a while waiting to see if she comes out and looks for me. When she doesn't I eventually find an open area and set up targets against a few trees. I use sap to stick large leaves onto the truck. I've mastered getting a tree from a couple yards away and hitting it while running but my aim isn't very precise yet, hence the leaf I'm trying to hit.

***

A trig snaps to my left and I sit up. I was on a roll and got down to a much smaller leaf but then randomly I missed every single throw I literally couldn't even hit the tree so I got mad and took my ax to the tree and got tired so I sat down. Another twig snaps and I turn and see a running twig. Hiccup jogs down the hill not noticing me. He seems out of breath and has a notebook and pencil in his hand. I have come out to these woods to practice my whole life and I have never run into him. I have run into dozens of other random people but never the Chiefs son.

He's made me curious so once he passes I head the direction he was running from. I walk for a good ten minutes without seeing anything of value. There are only woods and rocks out here. It's like he appeared out of nowhere. The sun starts to dip into the horizon so I decide it's best if I head to the dining hall for my evening meeting. I take one more look around and I feel like there's something more here but I need to get back.

***

"Has anyone seen Freya? Astrid?" I hear my name called as I open the door. I hadn't realized how far into the woods I went until I had to hike back down. That also makes me question why Hiccup with so far. "Here!" I yell as I saunter over to the table. There's a plate of food waiting for me across from Astrid and I'm curious as to who got it for me. I look around but no one's taking claim of this nice act. "There's a dragon that sprays boiling water at your face. And there's this other one that flips-" but Tuffnut cuts Fishlegs off with his hand. "There was a chance I was gonna read that-" He starts and his twin finishes, "but now..." I roll my eyes looking down at the book on the table. Gobler must have brought it out. I've already read it dozens of times and studied it to the point where I know most of it by heart. It just takes me some time for matching which fact goes to which dragon.

"It's actually a good book, if you know how to read," I look towards the twins who glare back at me. I send them a teasing smile which earns an eye roll. I have always found joy in bugging the twins. When we were younger they were scared of me but since we've gotten older they've learned it's mostly jokes from me. "You guys read. I'll go kills stuff," Snotlout pushes up from the table. The twins follow him and Fishlegs gets up to tell them more facts that he read in the book. Everyone files out of the room relatively quickly. I look down at my plate of fish and potatoes glad that it's still warm.

"I guess it's just us," I look up from eating and look to Hiccup who's standing infront of us then to Astrid. She rolls her eyes before standing. "Read it!" She shoves the book towards him before marching out. She's probably upset that she came to this meeting instead of practicing. She also probably assumes I'm late due to my practicing when it actually due to this incompetent boy infront of me.

"Wow, okay, that's fine," he calls as Astrid lets the door slam shut. He then turns to me. "I'm guessing you've read it?" And I nod while taking a bite of food. "Dozens of times," I say more harshly than I had intended. He walks away awkwardly and I feel slightly bad. "Sharp class dragons are really cool. There's one that can cut down a whole forest in seconds with only there wing," I explains and he sends me a polite smile. "Or there's a tidal class dragon that can make great big waves by swimming in a circle and then using its wing- flippers I guess, to push the water," I feel myself start to ramble and I take another bite of food. "You really like dragons, don't you?" He asks and I nod no longer feeling like talking. "My mom uses to read the book to me when I was younger," I explain before standing abruptly no longer hungry. "Good luck tomorrow." I leave my empty plate at the table and walk out.

The storm is really bad outside so I know we won't have any raids tonight, thankfully. I could use a full light of sleep. I run back home so I don't stay too long out in the cold rain. By the time I see my house I'm drenched and my hair is stuck to my neck, shoulders, and face and my armor feels ice cold to the touch. I walk into my house there's only one candle light lit on our table. My dad's polishing his armor and humming lightly to himself when I walk in. "It looks nice," I compliment and he grunts in acknowledgment. "Chiefs sending us out in a few days to hunt for the nest again," he explains while holding the armpit up close to his face to inspect it. "Oh," I mumble out thinking this over.

"What about-" but he cuts me off. "I'll test you girls when I get back. But I also want to know who's at the top of dragon class too. You guys should be almost through lessons by then and I want one of you killing the dragon. Okay?" He asks and I nod but he looks at me annoyed. "Yes sir," I correct myself and he gives me a small smile. "Atta girl, I believe in you. Don't make me wrong," his smile turns deadly and I nod before turning and climbing up my ladder upstairs. His voice is playing over and over in my head. Don't make him a liar. I need to win this and I need to make sure no one gets in my way especially not the Chiefs stupid son.