The Blacksmith's Apprentice

Four: Friends and Family

Four. Friends and Family

Astrid found Hiccup in the forge after dusk, sitting aimlessly by the fire and staring vacantly into the flames. He looked pale and unhappy-but he forced himself to look up and he smiled as he saw the beautiful blonde approach with a covered bowl and hunk of bread wrapped in rags to keep it warm.

"Evening, Milady!" he said with forced cheerfulness. She frowned as she saw him and settled at his side, handing over the meal.

"The jailer said you'd been freed this afternoon-by the Chief?" she asked and he took an urgent mouthful of his stew, giving a little sigh at the sensation of hot food warming his body. He nodded.

"Yeah...um, that was something unexpected," he mumbled. "Not especially comfortable, to be honest, since he was pretty blunt about what he thinks of me." Her azure gaze slid over him and found it: the sorrow lurking behind his brave smile and light words. "But he let me out because he has a task for me..." His shoulders slumped and she scooched a little closer.

"What task?" she asked and he stiffened. "Or is it a secret?" He shrugged and chewed another mouthful of stew.

"Everyone will find out soon enough so you may as well know now," he admitted. "The Chief has asked me to act as his Heir for the Meathead visit-because I think he's worried Snotlout will make us a laughing-stock or start a war..." Astrid sighed.

"Both of those are a real possibility," she admitted, stretching her legs out in front of her and eyeing her scuffed boots. They were starting to give at the seams and she would need new ones by the end of the year.  "He was put in charge of rounding up a herd of wild boars that had been raiding Mildew's cabbage fields. He ended up destroying most of the cabbage crop, half of the fencing and flattening the twins, Mildew and Gustav! Of course, he tried to blame everyone else-but he was in charge and it was a disaster. He just wanted to showboat and couldn't give any clear orders. He's not a leader." Hiccup glanced up and managed a small smile.

"So what did you do?" he asked her, knowing Astrid's no-nonsense approach and her complete lack of patience with fools. She smirked.

"I rounded up the rest of the team, we corralled the boars and trapped them in Sven's barn and I made the twins and Snotlout repair the fences before we left the farm," she said calmly. "I also reported to the Chief...though he had already received a report from Snotlout who tried to take all the credit for the mission." There was a tightness in her voice. "But Hoark and Mildew actually both told the Chief what actually happened-and who sorted things out." Hiccup grinned as he finished his meal.

"I have every faith in you," he said proudly. "Gods, you were head and shoulders above the rest of us in Dragon Training. I know the Chief trusts you. Odin help us when the Chief is gone and that idiot is supposedly in charge!" She patted his shoulder.

"That will be the reason why Stoick would want you to act as his Heir," she admitted. "Because you can act like a Chief. You can answer thoughtfully and avoid being baited. You can talk like an adult..."

"Sometimes," Hiccup put in with a small smile.

"And you can make plans, act decisively and you aren't afraid to do what is necessary," she told him. His emerald eyes flicked up to inspect her lovely face, her cheeks warmed by reflections from the fire.

"I think you may be confusing me with someone else," he mumbled self-consciously. Her hand tightened on his shoulder.

"Hiccup-you were prepared to go to jail to make sure I kept my axe," she told him more gently. "If that isn't brave, decisive and-and amazing...I don't know what is..." He blushed.