When in Rome

backstory

Hiccup was strapping Toothless' new saddle on- this one was made especially for Hiccup's new prosthetic, which he'd had a tinker with. There was an olive tree providing some shade from the hot mid-day sun. he was waiting for Aeliana and Charlotte to finish up the meeting with some legionnaires- the soldiers who'd been promoted to lead cohorts of the legion. He was just outside the praetorium, which was what they called the planning or meeting or war or whatever-you-wanted-to-call-it room.

He'd spent the past week running around teaching people about dragons. It was strange, all these people looking to him as an authority on something. Even though he'd proven himself time and time again on Berk as a well-practiced inventor and smith no one had ever taken his talents seriously. They went to Gobber for information in those areas, even if it's be easier to just pull Hiccup aside and ask something. It didn't bother him before, it did now.

Why was it that these people he'd never met treated him with more respect than the Vikings he'd grown up around?

Today, however, he and the two Praetors he'd managed to get into the good graces of were going to travel further into Rome to The Capitol where he'd be spending a good while training people how to befriend and fly dragons while also being trained himself. Aeliana and Charlotte had promised they would spend their time in the capitol getting clearance from the senate to fight against the dragon trafficking systems throughout Rome and surrounding it, once they had that clearance they could order and move their soldiers as they wished.

But Hiccup wanted to help. So he would join the fourth legion and fight alongside them to protect dragons. However, Aeliana refused to let him do so without at least some training. Four months minimum which required continued learning while fighting. Atticus- the blondie whose smile reflected bright enough to rival the goddess Sif's hair- said a good soldier never stopped training.

Sometimes Hiccup paused to be bewildered over the fact that two people within only a year older than him were leading military legions. His father wouldn't trust him to walk around at night on his own.

Toothless made a low rhythmic grumbling sound and Hiccup realised he'd been worrying at the edges of some of the leather straps.

"just a bit spaced out, bud," Hiccup sighed, "this still seems too much like a daydream."

They didn't have to wait much longer, Aeliana and Charlotte rounded the corner and stretched out the kinks in their backs, "I still think these weekly meetings are unnecessary." Charlotte muttered, her back popping three times.

"how are we getting to the capitol exactly?" Hiccup asked, "you two don't have dragons."

"unfortunately," Aeliana started, "there are rules about Praetors traveling long distances when not on quests. There's a whole lot of if-buts-and-maybes with this stuff. We have to travel with a few other people as guards, they'll have dragons. We'll just be riding with them."

Which meant they had to wait another few minutes for several legionnaires to land, with them was Atticus, Jael and Verlin who'd decided they were going to try and find themselves a dragon while traveling.

And then they were finally off, a couple days journey south ahead of them.

Hiccup had decided he'd do whatever it took to never sit through another senatorial meeting.

He'd be the most outstanding, law abiding citizen just so he never had to sit through those stuffy old senators and their minions going through as many rules and regulations as possible. Half of them had beards that covered their mouths so well barely any one could actually hear what they were saying and the other half were young upstarts with rich families who thought they deserved everything in the world. Realistically, they reminded him of Mildew and Snotlout back on Berk.