Finding you

Chapter 16: Runaway Teen

Hiccup's POV

"Zephyr, I'm home!" I called out as I crossed the threshold of our house, Toothless on my heels as we returned from a long day of Chiefing around the village.

I let my gaze wander around the unusually quiet home as I searched for any sign of my daughter. Embers were cooling down in the hearth from when I had left earlier the same day and the pot of oatmeal on the table looked to be untouched, along with the lone wooden bowl that sat beside it.

I turned to Toothless as he too looked to be searching for Zephyr. "She's not downstairs, that's for sure."

The dragon purred in agreement as I made my way over to the stairs and began my ascent to Zephyr's room. "Zephyr!"

No answer, yet again. Her bed had been made, a few pieces of parchment were scattered around her desk, but besides that, my daughter was seemingly nowhere to be found. I furrowed my brows and turned to my dragon once again. "Seems we'll have to ask around for her then."

Our first stop was at the Ingerman house, where we were greeted by Ruffnut Ingerman, who seemed to currently be without her husband and daughter. "They're out for the day."

I raised a brow at Ruffnut as Toothless and I shared a look of confusion. "Alright? I was just wondering if you had seen Zephyr?"

Ruffnut tapped her chin for a moment, looking like she was in deep thought before replying. "Yeah, I saw her earlier today. She came over asking for Cortie, gave her the same answer I gave you."

"Oh, alright. You didn't happen to see where she went next?" I asked my old friend, who simply shook her head. "Alright then, see you later, Ruff."

Ruffnut shot me a sly smile in farewell before she shut the door in mine and Toothless' faces. She was one of very few people I would never quite get, which made me wonder how Fishlegs dealt with her on a daily basis... I suppose that's something I would have to ask him later.

I stopped by several houses, wondering if any of its inhabitants had seen my daughter, something which not many had. My round of questioning ended at the stables where Toothless and I eventually found ourselves standing in front of Firestorm's empty stall.
"At least we know she's taken Firestorm with her."

A grumble escaped Toothless as he looked around the empty stall. Eventually, the night fury decided that he was no longer interested in either me nor the stall, so he wandered away. "Hey, where do you think you're going?"

I followed the dragon until we made it to the other side of the stables, where a familiar young man was busy filing the talons of an acidic green monstrous nightmare. Of course, how could I have been so dumb! I hadn't even thought to ask any of her friends if they'd seen her and here was one of them right before me, primed and ready to be grilled.

I shot Toothless a thankful smile as I patted the night fury on his head, to which he purred in satisfaction as I stood up straight and marched into Syver Jorgenson's pen. I crossed my arms as I set my eyes on Snotlout's boy. "Syver, funny seeing you here."

The teenager raised a brow as he paused filing his dragon's talons. "How? This is my dragon's pen after all, why would it be 'funny' to see me here?"

I let out a sigh as I had to fight myself not to roll my eyes at the teenager, gods, how I hoped the rest of our conversation wouldn't be like this. "Listen, Syver, I just need to know if you've seen Zephyr today. She was gone when I came home a while ago."

The Jorgenson boy refused to meet my gaze as he picked up his file and continued taking care of his dragon. "I-I saw her earlier today outside the village and I haven't seen her since."