How to Fight Dragons

Alternate Titles: How to Thrive, How to be a Hero, How NOT to Herd Goats, The Wild Ones, Forests of Fate, Life in Hol, I Saw Myself, Shepherd's Cutie Pie, The Dragon Shepherd, Cold Claws Warm Heart, The Best Plans.

Summary: In a small village, raising dragons for fighting is typical, expected even. But when a local outcast befriends one, it's up to them to find out why. Human!Toothless and Dragon!Hiccup AU.

Disclaimer: I do not own the characters depicted in this story.

Chapter 1: Setting the Trap

This is Hol. It's three days south of desolate, and a few degrees east of total isolation. It's located solidly in the forest of fate.

A boy was walking in the woods, carrying a pack and scanning the ground, was looking for something. He was thin and darkly tanned, with bright green eyes and black hair that stood up above his ears. He stopped to check the sky.

We're a large town, but every family knows each other well. There's a blacksmith, a mayor, several loggers, old merchants, and even a tavern for travelers who stumble out here. My mother believes it's because of the dragons that no one wants to visit.

The boy pushed his overlarge black tunic over his shoulder, adjusting the pack.

Yes, our town trains dragons. You've probably heard the stories on how our leaders made a pact with Loki for all the fire-breathers in Hel. It's not really true. They're mostly like dogs. Big, scale-y dogs that have wings and breathe fire. I know because I see them out with their owners from time to time.

Nodding, he scanned through the undergrowth, picking out a spot he would remember.

My name's Tuulikki Tanner. Please remember that I wasn't considered about it at my birth, or I would've picked a better one. My mother is a goat farmer, and my father was a small game hunter. He taught me everything he could before he died.

He set out a trap, a simple baited hook that when triggered, made a rock drop down on top of it. The black-haired boy smiled.

How to set traps, every hideaway in the forest, what each track means - everything, really, except for the things no one's ever seen.

He walked through the forest once more, and set up more traps like the first, checking over his shoulder when he could.

My father said that they were the precursors to dragons - They're said to be as big as houses, vicious, cunning, with no mercy to whoever dare tread upon their land. It was a hot topic in town if there was more than one - but no one has ever caught a so-called 'wild' dragon.

Tuulikki looked up at the sun rising into the sky. He yelped, picking out a path back to the town.

That's why I'm gonna be the first.

He tripped on a stone path in the outskirts of town.

As soon as I get a dragon of my own.

Notes: And so, it begins. I think that this writing style will disappear and come back for the finale, so the rest of this fic should be standard third person point of view.

I got inspired by all of the Human!Toothless artwork on DevArt and the books, where it was a rite of passage to be able to train a dragon.

Toothless's human name is Tuulikki, which means "little wind" in Finnish, derived from tuuli "wind". This was the name of a Finnish forest goddess, the daughter of Tapio. He doesn't like to use it, for obvious reasons. His mother calls him 'Tulle' which is pronounced like 'tool' but refers to the fabric that is used in tutus and bridal veils.

Tanner is his family name, because one of his grandfathers had a very good tanning business. Tanning is the process of skinning an animal and drying out the skin and fur for later use.

Please tell me what you liked and what you didn't like about this, so I can make the rest of the story even better. Review please!

Ill