With almost 11,300 words this is the longer chapter yet, and the fic is longer than 3 Harry Potter books, the Hobbit and Return of the King, holy crap! and we are not even on the middle yet!

Anyways, I wrote this chapter on the course of the last monts so I think there is some continuity errors, I tried to fix it as much as I could so it can have sence. Now, ON WITH THE STORY!

Chapter 20: A Viking's Tale

Hiccup took the job. After her afternoon talk with Conall she had gone into the dinner, it was the middle of chaos again and the three women had happily and gratefully take her in.

She did say she wouldn't be able to come until that time of the day, and they didn't even make a question and got her to work. They didn't question her then, they didn't question her latter, when the day was calmer.

They didn't question her the next day or the next. They never asked a question about her, or the reasons of the hours of arriving and leaving.

Hiccup really liked them.

The only thing they asked her was if she could help them for a couple of days earlier. A bunch of ships were going to arrive to the town and there was going to be a lot of hungry sailors hopping for homemade food.

Even thought she didn't think it would be an excellent idea, she still agreed. More time working mean more money, and she really needed that. She easily managed to get a couple of hours free at the same time as Conall so it could pass in adverted, and the woman didn't make that much of a fuss about it.

The problem was that as the days went by people on the dinner asked about her. They were weirded out that she looked too young for being seventeen. And that her accent was funny as her name. She knew she should have lied about the last one, but the damage was already done.

People would ask where she was from and every time she would hesitate, remembering how Conall first acted when she said she was a Viking. Hiccup never answered the question but the men and women who stepped in kept insisting until she didn't have another option but lie.

"I'm from nowhere and from everywhere." She told them, "My parents are travelers and explorers like me, we never stay in the same place for too long, but we had traveled most part of Scandinavia."

"Scandinavia? So yer a Viking?" a man said, and everyone turned at her.

"No… not really," Hiccup said, quickly thinking "My parents are from Iceland. But they left their homes too young and barely relate to that place. My siblings were born on mainland, on Vikings' Villages but none of us relate to them. I was born on the middle of the sea, on the ship." She then muttered to herself, still loud enough for them to hear, "Not the best place to do so."

"And why's yer name so funny?" a man asked, "are all of you called like that?" some of the men laughed with him. It would be a big lie if she said she wasn't offended by it.

"Close to where I was born Vikings believe that gnomes and trolls can be frightened off by hideous names. My parents thought it would be funny to name me 'hiccup'."

They still laughed and she went back into the kitchen. Internally cursing the woman that stepped into the dinner days ago. The women knew Norse and had translated her name to everyone else.

"You know you don't have to answer them if you don't want to." Maili, the cook, said. Quickly noticing Hiccup's annoyed face.

The older woman took a broom and began to stammer to the door, "I'll kick them out!"

"Mother, put that down!"

Hiccup laughed a little, "Oh, it's okay." She said, "I don't mind talking about it," there was another lie. All this was going to blow up on her face.

'Just a month, you just have to keep it up for a month.' She thought and picked up another tray of food and headed out.

"So, doll." A man called her, "if you are a traveler on Viking waters, haven't ye see any mermaid? Those can be really nasty creatures." Hiccup laughed a little. Unfortunately, it had been too loud, and the man had heard her. "Ye mocking me?"

"What? No, no sir, not at all." Hiccup quickly said, "it's just that… I don't really think mermaids are real."

"What about sea monsters?" Another man on the same table asked, considerably younger than the other, though they slightly looked alike.

"Besides sea dragons?" Hiccup said, "no."

"Ohhhhh, so ye have seen sea dragons but not believe on mermaids do ye?"

"I… don't see the correlation?"

"Everyone knows that mermaids get along with sea dragons," he said as if that was common knowledge, but soon the whole dinner began to groan, boo and throw stuff at him. The younger man laughed as the other screamed over the chaos, "What! It's true! Both are ugly, formidable creatures!"

Hiccup put another dish down and took out her cloth from the apron to clean an empty table. A mug flew her way and she shielded it with her tray before walking back into the kitchen.

"What's happening out there?" Maili asked her, looking a little horrified to the door.

"I might have made a mistake," Hiccup grimaced with a small shrug. Aila cracked the door open a little and looked outside.

"Oh, it's just the old MacLuirg," she said and shrugged it off. She walked past Hiccup, patting her shoulder on the way, "what was it? Sea monsters or mermaids?"

"Both?"

"Don't worry, this always happens," Aila picked up a tray of mugs and turned to Hiccup, "But! You started it, you deal with it." She said and put the tray on Hiccup's hands.

By the pure smell of the mugs she could tell what was inside, Hiccup sighed and headed out to the old man's table and put the mugs down.

"Doll, come on, sit with me." He said and pulled an empty chair to the table.

"Actually I have to…" she awkwardly pointed at the kitchen but the old MacLuirg pulled her down, "OH! …kay."

He leaned on the table, close to her and pointed at her chest. His breathe already smell and he hadn't even taken a sip, "if ye have seen sea dragons, ye should have seen mermaids with them."

"Uhhh… I don't…" She thought her words well, she had never on her life seen a mermaid. Sea dragons were not weird, but she mostly just saw them from Berk's cliffs and beaches, sometimes at sea on a ship, but far away.

"I haven't," Hiccup said, "I grew up being told that dragons scare away any other creatures. The only creatures dumb enough to challenge a dragon are humans."

"HA!" a man laughed on a near table, "yes, call out those Vikings!"

The dinner filled with laughter, and for some reason Hiccup felt offended, really offended this time. She was not a Viking, not anymore. Why was she offended they called them dumb? Actually: she was the one who called them dumb! Why was she mad?

Hiccup sighed and walked away, "Hey, where ya going, doll?"

"I gotta work!" she said over her shoulder and went back into the kitchen.

But it didn't stop there. Every day people would come and ask her questions, either about her or about the dragons she had seen or about the Vikings she had seen. These people seemed to have a very bad view on Vikings. And every day her fear of them finding out who she really was grew bigger and bigger.

Maybe Conall was right? Maybe being in there wasn't that much of a good idea.

'Just a month and we are out. Just a month' Hiccup kept telling herself as she listened more and more people making fun of Vikings and talking bad on dragons. That, for these people, one was as bad as the other.

Leaving the dinner that afternoon was a relief.

A relief that lasted shortly as she saw Conall walking up from the docks.

Hiccup quickly slipped between the houses, running to the forest. In her panic she ended up giving wrong turns and it took her longer to arrive than it should. She was way too late this time. And it just got confirmed when she was meet with a very worried Night Fury almost at the edge of the forest.

The dragon growled at her, carefully looking at her up and down. At not sign of wounds or people chasing her he quickly realized she was fine, just running late. He growled again, now annoyed.

"Yeah, yeah. I know." Hiccup told him, catching her breathe shortly before moving again. "Now, let's go to Conall before he suspects anything."

They went for the boy, running side by side until they reached the place they usually meet in. Conall arrived a second before they did, looking around to see where they were, just so they could stop dead on their tracks in front of him.

"Hey," Hiccup said breathlessly, trying to act normal and resting an arm on a tree, her hair covering her face more than usual. Hiccup shook her head and tried to blow the hair away, but it just fell on the same place.

"Ye two were racing again?" Conall asked, looking at Hiccup's bad shape.

"Yes… it was that…" she agreed and allowed herself to breathe more heavily to catch her breathe.

"Don't ye wanna sit?"

"Not here… let's… let's go somewhere else… somewhere more interesting."

They walked on the forest, in a few minutes Hiccup was better, but she still plumbed to the grass when they reached the low cliff they had hanged out times before. Conall sat at her side and took a leaf from her hair.

"How can ye manage to get yer hair so tangled up?"

"I don't even know," Hiccup said, "I'm considering tying it back into a tight braid again, didn't have so much trouble then."

"But ye look good like this," Conall said and shrugged a little, "it kind of fits you," Hiccup smiled, feeling her cheeks hot. He took a small twig and looked at it with little interest, "do ye mind if I take this off? it's bugging me."

"No, it's fine." Hiccup said, even when it was a little awkward. But the awkwardness faded off after a few minutes, and Hiccup almost dozed off as Conall's fingers lightly brushed her hair.

It was a calm, relaxing afternoon. With the sun kissing the land with it's warm and the breeze softly blowing, moving slightly the sea of threes below the cliff. Yes, it was a calm afternoon… until Toothless jumped over them.

The sudden noise and movement scared the living hell out of the two teens. Hiccup bolted up with a yell, only to be meet with a thick branch on her lap.

Toothless looked at her in excitement and didn't have to say a word. Hiccup sighed and took the piece of wood, standing up and walking to the edge as she shook the branch over the dragon's head.

"Do you want to play?" Hiccup asked in a silly voice that just pushed Toothless to a playful mood. "Do you? Do you want this?"

Hiccup turned and tossed the branch off the cliff. Toothless instantly sprinted to the edge and jumped off, letting Hiccup laughing lightly as she saw him go down.

"How is he going to come back?" Conall asked, getting as close to the edge as he dared.

Hiccup shrugged, "He'll find a way." She walked back to what Conall considered safety land and sat down. They stared off at the view, sitting in a comfortable silence until Conall asked about dragons.

Their Scottish lessons had quickly faded off to being just conversations. Not even on Scottish sometimes. Both agreed on the fact that it was to help Conall to improve his Norse. But they both knew it was just because none of them wanted to have actual lessons anymore.

They were kind of boring and it was better to just talk. Hiccup still asked a lot of questions regarding her vocabulary. Even more now that she was working on the dinner.

She would also ask about his day, he still didn't want to talk about the problem on the farm, but things seemed to be getting better, very slowly, but surely better. What he did like to talk about was his job.

Conall would tell her all sorts of things that had happened on the docks, some where mundane things that didn't have a lot of excitement to it, but Hiccup loved to hear them either way. Missing the familiarity of doing those simple things.

At least she could hear other people going around to do them.

They kept talking and talking, sometimes on Norse, sometimes on Scottish. In the couple of hours they were there, Toothless came back three times so Hiccup could toss the branch again. Once he happily came with lunch for him and Hiccup, and not so happily for Conall.

The only reason he did that was because he knew Hiccup would give the boy half her food so he could stay longer. Toothless didn't want him to stay longer, but he knew there was no way out of that. At least he could make sure his rider ate well and a whole food.

After those two hours Conall had to go and Hiccup knew she should too, but she stayed on the ground, lightly hugging her knees as she saw Conall leave.

Hiccup's eyes wandered on the place the boy had left, the tiniest smiles forming on her lips. She sighed and rested her cheek over her arms, her eyes lost on the forest until Toothless huffed softly in front of her.

She turned her head to him and found two round eyes just in front of her. Toothless huffed again and Hiccup's smile faded.

"Oh, don't look at me like that." She said, pushing his head away and rolling to her feet.

"Just admit it, you want to mate with him," Toothless growled lowly.

"No." Hiccup said, dusting her clothes, "and don't say it like that."

"Like what?"

"With that tone," Hiccup said, leaning forwards to be close to his face. Toothless licked her chin, taking advantage of the proximity, the girl quickly stood straight and cleaned her face with a groan.

"You still smell likey-likey," the dragon said, sniffing the air around her.

"What?" Hiccup said, her voice raising an octave, "No, I don- stop saying that!"

"You do," he said in a sing sang tone, Hiccup gave him a killing glare as he jumped around her, "What? I like that fact as much as you do,"

"Then why do you keep saying it?"

"Because you make funny faces," Toothless stopped jumping and got close to sniff and nuzzle her, trying to get his way to her face and lick her again.

Hiccup laughed and kept stepping back and pushing his head away.

"Stop it! I can't show up to the dinner covered in saliva!" she said between laughs.

"You could,"

"Oh yeah, and that's totally safe." Hiccup said and the dragon slowly stopped nudging her, "come on, I'm going to be late."

…

Stepping back on the dinner was a huge hit back to reality, specially after Toothless' show of affection. People didn't shut up about dragons, talking and telling tales they had heard coming from across the ocean.

It had reminded her, once again, that people didn't like dragons. And this people didn't even like Vikings. It had reminded her, once again, that she was in huge danger working there, and living close to the town.

It had reminded her, why it was so important for her to get over with this and fly away to safety. And it had remined her to keep her mouth shut!

Thing that was almost impossible since every men and women who stepped inside was making her questions. Hiccup wondered if it was this way every time someone from a far land got into town, and they were just taking advantage that they had a person like that constantly on the place.

Hiccup tried to don't mind them and just mutter short answers when they were specifically talking to her, just for the sake of not coming out as rude.

"Oh yeah, vicious beasts," Hiccup said, not putting too much attention as she cleaned a table.

The afternoon had calmed, a lot of empty tables sat on the room, waiting to be cleaned up from the mess people had left. Aila was inside the kitchen, occupied with other cleaning tasks in there, leaving Hiccup to do all the work on the tables.

Sticking the cloth to her apron pocket and picking up the tray with dirty dishes, Hiccup moved on to another table. Filing the tray with more dishes and scraping the surface of the table.

The man kept talking and talking, both to the other three people on the dinner and to Hiccup. Everyone seemed quite annoyed at the time. His words turned from dragons to Vikings, telling them how rude and aggressive they are, and how they see no reason with anyone.

Hiccup chuckled at that comment. So far, that was the best description she had hear of Vikings coming from these guys.

"Yeah, that's kinda true, but they do listen to reason," Hiccup said, raising up and pointing at the man, "they are stubborn, but if you know how to persuade them you can work up to a deal."

"And how ye know that?" a man said, suspiciously leaning forward.

"I'm an explorer," she lied with a shrug, "there comes times when I have to get money and since most jobs need certain permanence, I just make my way around with trading."

Shut up, shut up, SHUT UP! Hiccup screamed to herself, the three men were looking suspiciously at her, at her every move. As if somehow, she was suddenly going to do something very Viking-like and would expose her.

Hiccup had an advantage there: she wasn't very Viking-like.

Not on her looks, not on her way of moving and being. The most Viking-like, thing she had was her sword. And that was the reason why she stopped bring it to the town.

Hiccup casually took the tray, getting advantage that it was already filled up to the top, and went back to the kitchen for a little rest of mind.

It didn't end there, they kept making questions, about dragons and Vikings, like if they wanted to catch her mid-lie. And if they kept making questions that made her lie, they would.

…

The dragon talk didn't end. When she met up with Conall the conversation didn't drive off. The only upside was that Hiccup did trust Conall and she did want to tell him about dragons.

She told him about some things that had happened on raids, they went on from the most common dragon species to some that were a little weirder to see flying around. And finally, Hiccup began to tell him about one of the most feared dragons.

"The Skrill." Hiccup said dramatically, "A dragon from the Strike Class, able to summon lighting and shoot electrical blasts more powerful than any natural storm!" She lowered her voice a little, "It is said to be highly secretive, and is known to ride lightning bolts like air torpedoes to reach supersonic speeds."

Conall smiled widely, laughing a little and enjoying her dramatism as she spoke and move her hands around.

"They only come out on electrical storms to disguise themselves. They say that your hair stands to an end if you get close to one."

"'They say'" Conall rolled his yes with a laugh, "someone always says, have ye ever seen one?"

"Nope," Hiccup admitted with a little shrug, "And I'm not sure I want to." The boy laughed and so did she, but her smile began to fade a little. Hiccup leaned forwards, resting her elbows on her tights, and looking away to the campfire, a little hypnotized by the flames.

"Actually, no one has seen one in a long time." She said and got her eyes away from the fire, "Some Vikings have begun to think it's just a myth, but I have seen a lot of heavy lighting storms, some say that they are the ones who cause them."

"How can people not see them? Dragons are common on yer lands."

"Yes, but… there's dragons that are more common, and some that are common just on certain areas, and there are others that… are not." Hiccup hugged herself, "One of them being Night Furies."

Conall's smiled died on that moment, slowly understanding why this was upsetting her.

"When dragons stop showing up, Vikings begin to think they never existed." She explained. A small smile appeared on Hiccup's lips, though it was a little forced. "There is some Vikings out of the Archipelagoes that thought Night Furies didn't exist, I liked scaring them off with tales."

A short laugh returned to her, but her expression was still a little sad. Hiccup looked over her shoulder, both so Conall couldn't read her expression and so she could look at Toothless. The dragon was laying on his back, blowing up a leaf with small huffs, seeing it flying up and slowly falling, just to blow up again.

"The only reason Vikings inside the Archipelagoes believe they exist is because Toothless had been terrorizing the Villages raid after raid for years." Hiccup said and at the call of his name Toothless turned his attention to her, looking at her with curious eyes. Hiccup smiled at him and he returned to his game. Her smile faded a bit.

"He'll probably become a legend too." Hiccup turned around with sigh, "hel, I'll probably become a legend too."

"Is that god or bad?"

"That depends on what kind of legend I become." She shrugged, trying not to give too much importance to it, even when it was one of the things that scared her the most, "They'll probably change the story to 'Night Furies take kids who don't well behave' to cut the parents some slack."

Conall laughed, but it was like a sting to her heart. She didn't want them to change her story, she didn't want them to remember her by lies. But she didn't want to be forgotten either. How she saw it now, the only way for her to go down in history was either as a traitor or to become an old tale the kids will assume is made up.

And she didn't know what was worse.

"Hey…" Conall brought her back to reality, "I've been meaning ta ask ye a question."

"Yeah, sure." Hiccup said, leaning back and resting her hands on the grass, "I mean, this is what this whole thing is about,"

"Hiccup, I'm… I'm serious,"

"Ohhh," She mocked him, a genuine smile finally making it up to her face, "So serious," Conall pursed his lips, looking at her quite annoyed, Hiccup chuckled and cleared her throat to calm down, "okay, sorry. Shoot."

"I…. uh…. I just," Conall began to stammer and scratched the back of his neck, receiving a curious look from the girl, "I wondered if ye would like ta go out with me… like… on a date?"

Hiccup froze for a second, her eyes opening wide in panic, her brain had completely stop working, and she probably forgot hot to breathe for a few seconds. Conall looked a little uncomfortable and looked slightly away before he kept talking.

"If… If ye want to. W-we could go ta the town and have lunch-"

"I don't think that's a good idea," Hiccup quickly blurted out in a panic. Conall's expression dropped a little and she quickly corrected, "The- the town! Going to the town might not be a good idea! Not the date! The date is a good idea- I mean I think it would- I… yep."

Conall let out a nervous chuckle, clearly relived he wasn't the only nervous one here.

"But… Maybe we can just stay on the woods?" Hiccup suggested, raising her shoulders lightly.

"A picnic then?"

"Yeah, that… that sounds nice."

"Then I'll see ye tomorrow," he said smiling and stood up, walking backwards, "I'll bring everything, ye don't have ta worry about it." He turned around and took a run through the darkening woods.

Hiccup couldn't help but smile at him and his excitement. Her heart lightened up and her cheeks went hot. She drew her knees close to her chest and hugged her legs, trying to physically contain her excitement, but her heart was racing inside her.

"What's a date?" Toothless asked, suddenly on her side.

"Oh man," Hiccup sighed, knowing those curious, big eyes were quickly going to change.

…

Being in the dinner was a relief for her mind. Toothless hadn't stop complaining all night and morning. 1) because she admitted she liked Conall, 2) he was so against their little "date", thing he barely understood what it was, and 3) humans were ridiculous with their customs and mating rituals.

The other thing she got to rest from was Conall. She hadn't stop thinking about the boy since last night. Not even on their short flight or on her morning routine of being chased around by Toothless.

She was distracted and Toothless could notice. It made him grumpier that they couldn't even play because she was thinking about the boy. She didn't tell him she couldn't sleep that much last night for thinking about him, Toothless was quite the guardian of her sleeping schedule. Mentioning that part would only make things worse.

And it certainly made things worse on the dinner. She didn't have time to think about Conall, that was the good part, but her brain was barely functioning to do one task. The costumers just shouted at her and gave her mad looks and bad hand gestures. The other women working there gave her nothing but concerned looks.

Hiccup already told them she was fine, she just didn't sleep that well, but she was fine. The family often stayed at bay with her life outside the dinner. They didn't make her questions about anything but today was the exception because they didn't stop asking her, over and over again if she was fine.

And the answer was still the same: She was fine, just tired.

Yesterday the dinner had been twice as busy, she didn't have a problem then, and she had even gladly accepted to come earlier a few days more if it was still like this. But now she regretted it, she wasn't expecting to be this tired.

Her brain wasn't on her side that day. It was slow to process information and it made her movements sloppier than they usually were. The moment when she really messed up was when she stared at the lost hand of a man for longer than she should have.

"What? Never seen a man without a hand?" The man asked angry, shaking his lost limb at her.

Hiccup hummed and blinked a few times, half her brain still processing what was going on. What did he ask? Oh, right!

"Yes, I have but… most of the people I know have lost their limbs to dragons," the people around her got quiet almost immediately and she wondered why all their eyes were suddenly on her. Hiccup shrugged awkwardly, "actually, all people I know have lost their limbs to dragons."

People kept staring at her, some with dumbfounded expressions, some with their jaws hanging. Why was it such a big deal?

"Hum… what- what do you want to eat?" she asked the man with no hand and took his order and the ones of his buddies. She went back to the kitchen, still thinking why they all reacted the way they did. Aila entered a few seconds later.

"Lost limbs, cool conversation topic," she congratulated Hiccup as she walked past her. The younger girl pinched the bridge of her nose tiredly, now getting why they all acted that weird.

A lost limb was a common thing to see with Vikings, they fought dragons for Thor's sake! But here dragons weren't common at all, maybe loosing a hand or a foot wasn't as common here either.

"What?" Maili asked confused, stopping mid chop.

"I- I just…" Hiccup sighed, dropping her hand, "ugh, never mind. I'm gonna keep my mouth shut." She walked for her next tray and walked back to the door.

"Sure you can do that?" Aila asked her jokingly, crossing her arms over her chest. Hiccup turned and mocked her before going out.

All men and women on the dinner didn't take their eyes off her as she walked around the tables, delivering food and drinks. A ball of tension and anxiety grew on her chest every single second she spent under their gaze.

Couldn't they just drop the subject? Hiccup wondered, but experience already told her the answer. Every time she opened her mouth, every time she spoke more than she should no one, no one dropped the subject.

She feared the moment when she had to walk back to that table, at the same time, she just wanted to get it over with. Have them ask whatever they wanted so then they could leave her alone.

The moment came for her to give them their food and drinks, as she put the dishes on the table one of the men asked her.

"So, ye have seen the dragons?"

"Yes," Hiccup said tired, they always ask that question. Couldn't they get more creative? Ohhhhh! This is why they all got so impressed! Not the lost limbs, the dragons!

"Up close?"

Hiccup hesitated, putting down the last mug. Why am I doing this? She rolled up her long sleeve to her elbow, letting them see an old scratch on her forearm.

"Quite a bit,"

A lot of people gasped, talking to each other and pointing at her and the scar, stretching their necks to see better. Her slow brain began to scream then. What an IDIOT! She had made herself the center of attention again. That wasn't good.

She pulled from the sleeve to cover her arm again and returned to the kitchen after picking up a dirty table. She sighed and rested her back to the wall aside the door.

"Can I see it?" Aila asked as soon as the door closed behind Hiccup. The girl rolled her eyes slightly and pulled from the sleeve again.

"Aila, leave her alone." Maili said tiredly as her daughter went to grab the girl's arm. But the woman's eyes searched for the scar.

"That's so cool," the girl gasped.

"Aila!"

"I thought ye were just bluffing about da dragons!"

"What?" Hiccup chuckled a bit, "no, it's all true. Though this one is not that impressive; it was just a Terrible Terror." She then gestured the size of the dragon, as if she was holding it on the air, "Small dragons, really annoying."

"So ye have really fight them?"

Hiccup shrugged slowly, "I… wouldn't say 'fight' them, but I have seen quite a lot of them."

"Then how do ye-"

"Leave the girl alone, Aila." Maili cut her off, pulling her apart from Hiccup and giving her a stern look. "You both have work to do, no more talking."

Both girls nodded and went back to work. When Hiccup walked outside again she really hopped the 'no more taking' was just regarding conversations between the two girls because a general 'no more talking' would have been impossible.

The dinner burst out on questions, one after the other about the dragons, about the Vikings, about her.

And as always, she ended up lying. Hiccup told them how she always tried to avoid dragons since she traveled alone and they are not easy to take care of, not even with a group. She told them how most people with lost limbs had been because a dragon bite them off.

They asked her if any dragon had bitten her and she said yes, like an idiot, but she refused to show them her scar. They asked her of it had been bad, and again: she said yes. She told them it hadn't been that bad compared to others, and well, she still had her arm.

Hiccup tried to answer shortly to indicate them she didn't want to talk about it, but they kept asking and she would keep answering in the kindest voice possible.

"There is a lot of people like that?" a woman asked her.

"Yeah, but they are no the majority."

"How do they keep fightin'?"

Hiccup slowly stopped scribing the table and looked up at the man, "what do you mean?"

"Yeah, without a hand or a leg?" he said, "it's not going ta be the same."

"No, it's not. But dragons are still going to attack their village, they keep fighting."

"What if they lose the hand they use to hold their weapon."

"They… use the other?" Hiccup said, not understanding how a concept so simple could be so strange for them. She looked around the dinner, the whole room was looking at her with curious, inquisitive eyes. "Losing a limb is not so common around here, is it?"

The silence was enough answer. Hiccup hesitated, she didn't want to talk about her life on Berk, it was too risky, and she didn't know the outcome that talk could take.

"I knew a man," she said slowly, her hands playing with the tray, "he's a blacksmith, lost his hand to a Monstrous Nightmare long ago." People gasped as she waved her left fingers. She then gestured at her right leg, raising it a little, "a month latter another Nightmare bite his leg off."

She gave them a few seconds to talk to each other, but soon they shushed themselves to let her talk.

"He never stopped working for as much as I know, and he's a great blacksmith, the only one on his village, actually." Hiccup said, with every word that escaped her mouth the more comfortable she felt, even when her gut was still screaming her to shut up. Or maybe that was just that she was hungry.

"The hand he lost was the one he used more. But you can't just stop there. He has this metal cap, like a bow that covers his limb," she said, mimicking the prothesis with her hands, "and he can attach different tools and weapons on it by simply screwing them in."

The dinner filled with a choir of "oh" and "ah". A small smile began to play on Hiccup's lips.

"That kind of prothesis is kind of common out there," she said, pointing with her head, "Though most Vikings don't change that much, they ratter keep an axe or a hammer as their hand, sometimes a hook, or forceps."

She was going to keep talking, but Aila pushed her to the kitchen.

"Yes, that's very interesting, but ye have work ta do."

"Oh, right! Sorry." Hiccup grimaced, letting the other girl drag her into the kitchen, mentally thanking her for stopping her.

"So," she said as soon as the door closed behind them, "'I'm gonna keep ma mouth shut' eh?"

Hiccup gave her a half-hearted smile and the girl rolled her eyes, tough Hiccup could swear she saw her smiling before the girl turned to her mother. Hiccup rubbed her eyes again and sighed, dropping her shoulders.

Conall finally made it back to the top of her mind and made her wonder, how was she going to stay awake on their date?

The older lady walked besides Hiccup with food for Aila, smiling softly at her.

"Ye didn't tell me what ye wanted to eat today," she said quite cheery, then handed the food to her granddaughter, "Here's yours, dearie."

"Thanks gran,"

Maili looked at her expectantly, waiting for her answer with a warm smile.

"Oh, no. I'm fine," Hiccup scratched the back of her neck, "I'm… going to eat latter."

"Ye sure?"

"Yeah, I… kind of have plans."

None of them made a big deal about it, Aila just mentioned that she hopped her plans were with a pillow and they sent her out to work.

After about an hour Hiccup finally went to her brake, she let out a nervous breath as she walked out the back door. Her heart was pounding hard against her chest, wanting to burst out as much as the butterflies on her stomach.

Hiccup had barely given a step when she saw her reflection on a large metallic disc, laying off over a bunch of boxes. She couldn't help but stare at her reflection for a little while, looking at her messy hair tied back in a very poor excuse of a bun.

She let her hair lose, trying to comb it with her fingers to a more nice-looking way, picking up locks of hair on her side and making the little braids again above her ears.

"What are ye doing?"

Hiccup yelped, dropping her arms and turning sharply to the door. Aila was standing there, looking at her a little weirded out.

"Nothing!" She said, hiding her hands behind her.

"Ohhh!" Aila smiled, dropping the bag of trash and walking slowly towards her. "So ye have that kind of plans."

"What? No, I… I don't… I don't know what you're talking about."

"Oh, I think ye know," she chuckled and turned to go and sit on a box, patting the space aside her, "come here, let me help ye," Hiccup's feet shuffled a little, but she ended up sitting at the girl's side.

She turned a little to give Aila her back, the girl began to comb her hair with her fingers.

"Is it a boy or a girl?"

"A boy," Hiccup said a little confused, "what does that have to do with my hair?"

"A lot," Aila said, but didn't care to give more information on that and began to pick up Hiccup's hair instead, separating in half the top and bottom, "Yer hair is a mess! I thought yer messy hairdo was out of laziness!"

"Hey! I try me best with that!" Hiccup turned at the girl, honestly offended.

Aila pushed her back to her previous pose, "don't move," she said, and Hiccup stayed there, pouting as the older girl braided her hair.

Hiccup looked down and bit on her bottom lip, her hands picking on her tunic nervously.

"Is it yer first date?"

"I… uhhh…" Hiccup shrugged slightly, her cheeks going hot.

"Don't ye worry," Aila told her, "It's normal ta be nervous, don't be afraid to make the ridiculous," she leaned forward, talking close to her ear "if he likes ye even after ye do, he's a keeper."

Hiccup chuckled a little as Aila tied a band at the end of her hair.

"There ye go," The girl said, and Hiccup drew her hands to her hair to at least feel what Aila had done. Half her hair was tied back in a very simple braid, but effectively picking it up and keeping it in place, "Ye look fine, now go. And good luck."

Aila stood up, patting Hiccup's shoulder lightly and went back into the kitchen. Hiccup smiled and made her way back to the forest.

…

Hiccup walked all the way to the forest and Toothless walked with her to her meeting point with Conall. He sniffed her hair and purred in agreement at her new way of holding it back.

She smiled, glad he liked it, and wondering if Conall would like it too, or if he would even notice she changed it.

When they arrived at their meeting place Conall was already there, nervously looking around. 'You are not the only one nervous here' she told herself.

"Hey," she said as they got closer, Conall's face lighted up.

"Hey,"

Hiccup looked at his empty hands and crossed her arms, frowning playfully.

"Well, I surely hope you haven't forgot we got plans, cause I'm really hungry."

Conall chuckled, "how could I forget?" he smiled at her and shook his head for her to follow him, "come on,"

Hiccup smiled ear to ear and quickly caught up with him, walking shoulder to shoulder. "Where we going?"

"Somewhere I'm pretty sure ye haven't gone to."

"I've lived here for like two months with a dragon that can fly me anywhere," Hiccup half laughed, "I doubt that's possible."

"Want ta bet?"

…

"Okay, you win." Hiccup said, quickly laughing, fascinated by the view.

They were standing at the very top of a hill, just where the forest ended, and a quite big field started. Not so far away was a large fence, all around the perimeter of growing crops and cattle. A house sitting at the end of the field.

"I figured ye two wouldn't go too close to people, to risky to come here."

"Smart guy,"

"Always," Conall shrugged cocky, making Hiccup burst out laughing immediately, her laughs denying that part. Toothless purred at her side, looking at the field with big eyes, he looked up at Hiccup, waiting for permission.

"I don't think so, buddy." Hiccup said, grimacing at the field. "There's people close, they could see you, stay on the trees."

The dragon growled disappointed and turned around to sit between the trees. Hiccup and Conall sat on the grass, still at the shadows of the trees, but away from the forest edge.

As they sat down, Hiccup realized another reason why Conall would want to eat there. Yes, she hadn't been there because it was too close to humans. But also, Toothless had to stay hidden and away from them because of it.

'Smart guy' Hiccup thought again. She couldn't hide the smile; it was just too funny how both of them were always trying to get the other away.

"Can I make a guess?" Hiccup asked, still not taking her eyes from the view.

"Shoot,"

"That's yours?" she said, pointing at the farm before them with her chin and finally looking at Conall.

"Yes, it is." He said and pulled over a basket, "and this is from there." He opened the lid and the smell that came from there was indescribable delicious.

"Oh gods, that smells good!"

"And tastes better." Conall smiled, pulling out the food. There was a big piece of pork meat, cheese, bread, beans, and some vegetables.

Hiccup looked over at the farm again, looking how huge it was.

"I didn't think it was this big," she told him.

"Yeah, that's kind of the problem. It's too much work to maintain and there's not a lot of us." He said, "it's just my family and most are either too old or too young, and there's no money to pay for a helping hand."

"But we are doing better, and my family from the north are coming over," Conall said with newfound excitement, Hiccup smiled at him, "They are going to stay a few months and they are going to help us," he shrugged a little and muttered: "besides that is my favorite uncle."

"You got a favorite uncle?"

"Yeah, don't ye?"

"I just got one, it's not like I got to pick." Hiccup half laughed, "why is he your favorite?"

"Oh! He's awesome" Conall said exited, "he and my dad used ta do all kind of crazy stuff when they were kids and he's the one who thought me to speak Norse."

They kept talking, about Conall's family and farm, about his day, about Hiccup's and her life back on Berk, sitting side by side as they did every day.

Hiccup wondered why she was so nervous about this whole date. They were friends, they were good friends. The only thing that changed was that now she knew how he felt about her, and she had come clean with her own feelings.

And it felt nice, it was good. This was good. They joked and bickered as always, laughing at the other when they said something stupid, with Toothless behind them the whole time, sitting close by, but hiding from view.

Not a lot of time passed when Hiccup realized how much Conall loved his family, even after everything else she had heard of them was complains. She knew he was willing to do anything for them, just as she… just as she had been willing to do anything for hers.

Hiccup looked off to the whole field, a little smile finding its was to her lips as the took in the smell of the grass, and somehow, the freedom the wind carried. That oddly specific smell and the chill that she loved so much.

"When I left, I never thought I'll end up like this," Hiccup said, "I didn't think living out here was going to be like this."

"What do ye thought it was going to be like?"

"I don't know," she shrugged, "I certainly didn't think it was going to be this calm," a chill breeze blew her hair softly, soothingly inviting her, not to fly, but to stay on the ground and rest, to stay there, calm and steady.

The blew passed, returning her bangs to the usual place, though they were more disheveled now.

"I didn't know what I was getting into…" Hiccup said, but soon shook her head, "I mean, I knew that I was going to get into trouble and that I was breaking law and whatever but… I thought I was going to be alone. And… with everything that happened… I started to believe it," a smile played on her lips and she looked down, her cheeks gaining color slightly, "I just… I can't believe I meet you by accident," she said and Conall laughed, "what?"

"Nothing, it's just… I don't think people meet on accident," he said, still laughing a little.

"Oh please, don't say it's fate."

"No, I just think that certain people cross yer path for a reason." A smile played on his lips, he reached out for her bangs, passing his fingers under them to comb them a little bit, "and some smack into ye on some cases."

"Oh come on!" Hiccup laughed, looking away. Conall laughed too, his hand faling to her shoulder, "That was an accident and you know it," she said, turning back at him, "at least that certain part."

He smiled at her, his fingers lightly touching her arm as he drew his hand back to the ground, stopping quite close to where Hiccup's hand was resting. Her fingers twitched closer to his, her pinky extending to touch his.

Conall smiled, his eyes not leaving hers. "Yeah…" he said softly, his fingers moving closer until his hand was over hers, his thumb softly caressing her skin. "Maybe that was an accident."

Hiccup's heart was racing, beating so hard that the only thing she should be able to hear was that, but she could not. She couldn't hear the breeze blowing the grass and trees, she could only hear Conall's voice, and she could only look at his eyes.

Yes, maybe that had been as accident… but this wasn't.

Conall's eyes shifted to her lips for a second, a small movement that just made the butterflies on Hiccup's stomach want to break free. He leaned forward, closing his eyes and tilting his head slightly. Hiccup closed her eyes, leaning forward too…

Just to being pushed back by a very annoyed dragon.

"Buddy!" Hiccup chuckled embarrassed as she tried to push him away. She tried not to look at Conall, not really knowing what to do on the given situation. She looked at him from the corner of her eye and saw him blushing heavily and looking away with pursed lips. Good, at least she wasn't the only embarrassed one here.

"I… I better go…" he said.

"What? Why?" Hiccup said, in no way wanting to admit how disappointed her voice sounded. "oh, right." He had a job to go back to… and so did she.

"Yeah… I have to," Conall said, standing up, and even when he didn't say it, she knew he didn't want to go either, "but… I'll see ye on the night."

Hiccup's face lit up, and she just hopped it wasn't that much noticeable. Though, for Conall's smile, it probably was.

"Yes," she said, trying to control her voice this time to not make a fool of herself. Toothless snarled, making it clear that he wasn't so exited for that to happen. "Bud!" Hiccup hissed, trying to calm him down.

The boy laughed lightly and shook his head, "bye Hiccup." He turned around and walked back into the forest.

Hiccup drew her knees close to her chest and hugged her legs, the dumb smile not leaving her face. Toothless growled at her to stop it, but it did no effect.

"He is… kind of cute…" Hiccup said, tucking the end of her bans behind her ear.

"He's not cute, I'm cute," Toothless grumbled, clearly offended.

Hiccup giggled, "Yeah, you sure are buddy."

…

Going back to the dinner was Hel, not just because it was horribly filled with people, but because Aila used every single chance she had to ask about her date. And on Hiccup's book, there was just one thing worth mentioning, and she really didn't want to talk about that failed kiss.

So she distracted herself talking with costumers, answering their usual weird questions about Vikings and dragons. It didn't take her long to realize these people liked stories as much as Vikings did.

Good thing was: she had 16 years worth of stories to tell, and a few more stacked of other Viking's stories she had heard. Specially from Gobber, she knew those by heart.

The only problem was those little lies to don't admit that she had lived her whole life on a single island, being part of a Viking tribe. So she tweaked a little bit the stories, telling them of "this island I went to."

But this night, she wasn't really talking about her life, she was telling them about the gods. About Odin, and how life came to be on Midgard.

"Before there was soil, or sky, or any green thing, there was only the big dark vast emptiness of Ginnungagap." Hiccup said slowly, the silent hall, just illuminated by candlelight set up for the perfect mood. "The chaos of perfect silence and darkness, it lays between the homeland of elemental fire, Mispelheim." She raised a hand, as if she was holding it on her hand, then raised the other: "And the homeland of elemental ice, Niflheim."

"The frost from Niflheim and the flames from Muspelheim crept toward each other until they met on Ginnungagap." Hiccup said, closing her hands together. "The fire melted the ice, and the drops formed themselves into Ymir, the first -almost godlike, but very destructive- giants!"

The small hall gasped, no one's eyes were off her. A Thing that usually made her very nervous and awkward, but not now, not when she had them almost hypnotized by stories.

"As the frost continued to melt, a cow. Audhumla, emerged from it. She nourished Ymir with her milk, and she was nourished by salt-licks. In the ice. Her licks slowly uncovered Buri, the first of the Aesir, tribe of gods." Hiccup said with a smile, walking around the filled tables. Aila chuckled a little, still resting her back on the wall aside the kitchen door.

"Buri had a son named Bor, he married Bestla, the daughter of the giant Bolthorn. Their half-god, half-giant child was Odin, chief of the Aesir gods, and Allfahter. He and his brothers, Vili and Ve slew Ymir on his sleep and constructed the world from his corpse."

There was a slight "ew" coming from a few tables.

"They made the oceans, rivers and lakes from his blood. The soil from his skin and muscles, his bones became mountains, and his hair vegetation. Clouds were formed by his brains and the sky from his skull, and from his eyelashes… Midgard was born, our world."

Mali poked her head out of the door, whispering something to Aila's ear. Hiccup looked at them out of the corner of her eye, not for too long to catch the people's attention and decided to continue.

"But the three brothers were afraid of the sky falling, so they called for four dwarves, created by the worms that were eating Ymir corpse, to come and hold up the sky. They sent them to the edges of Midgard, and these four cardinal points hold Ymir's skull above us." Hiccup raised her hands, as if she was raising the sky herself.

Aila nodded at her mother and gestured at Hiccup to cut it off. The girl nodded too, dropping her arms and shrugging.

"Then the gods eventually made the first man and woman, Ask and Embla and build a fence around Midgard to protect us from the giants." She quickly concluded, "now, if you excuse me, I have job to do." She walked back to the kitchen, followed a disappointed choir of "aw"

Maili filled her tray with food and she and Aila headed back outside. On their waltz around the tables she lowly congratulated her on the story, she had managed to keep everyone entertained while they got the food ready.

The small hall returned to its loud self, everyone talking, screaming and laughing, almost loud enough to be a Viking mead hall. But she knew very well those were worse.

Men and women alike kept stopping her on her tracks to ask questions and make both dumb and smart comments. Hiccup didn't really mind any of them, she was used at this point, she just agreed or made a sarcastic comment on how they were wrong and left before their brains could get the fact that she called them dumb. A small move she learnt growing up with Snotlout.

"And do ye believe all that?" A man asked her.

"All what?" she asked distracted, pulling down a bowl on the next table.

"All those gods talk,"

"Nah, I don't really believe in gods." Hiccup shrugged. Somewhere on the distance a thunder could be heard. "I mean they are fun stories to tell and very effective way of controlling your kids but… they are just tales." A lighting flashed outside, and a thunder shook the small building, a very heavy rain quickly following.

Yup, she had done it. She angered the gods.

She shouldn't be saying that, she knew it. Even less when it was a lie. How could she not believe in the Aesir? In Yggdrasil, the tree of life, the big ash tree that held it all? How could she not believe in Mani and Sol when she saw the siblings being chased by wolfs day and night?

How could she not believe in them when now there was a huge thunderstorm because she made Thor mad? She really should apologize to them, "it was just to don't give away my identity." But what did that matter? They certainly didn't care! Why should she care about them? They haven't brought anything but pain and misery to her life!

And they just wanted to bring more by setting this "fate" over her and making her go kill herself, trying to kill a dragon the size of a mountain.

If they really wanted to save Midgard from destruction, they would come do it themselves, not put the fate of the world on a 15-year-old girl.

"Oh, but you hear that?" Hiccup asked above the noise, "That's Thor! I think I made him mad!"

"Who's Thor?" A man from a far table asked.

"Who's Thor?" she repeated, bewildered that they didn't know who Thor was, though it was all a farce, they had other gods here, of course they didn't know about Thor. And she was pretty sure they didn't care.

"Thor's one of Odin's sons, god of thunder. Storms are his creation and when you hear a thunder," Thunder shook the hall, she mentally thanked the god, "it's because he is slamming his hammer, Mjornir, against his anvil."

Hiccup went on with her job, shortly stopping once a while to tell them about the mighty Thor in hopes the god would calm the storm.

But the time to leave came and the storm haven't done anything but gone stronger. And there she was, standing at the doorway, looking at the storm with nothing but long sleeves and no cloak.

"Hiccup, wait!" Maili said, before she could turn around to meet the old woman, Hiccup found herself wrapped around in wool. "Here."

"What? No, it's not necessary!" Hiccup quickly tried to put the sheet off, "I already have one at camp."

"Then you'll have no problem returning it tomorrow," Maili smiled, fixing the makeshift cloak on her shoulders.

"Thank you,"

"No," the woman said, taking her hands, feeling something cold against her skin, "thank you."

Hiccup chuckled, trying to get her hands off the woman's but her grip got tighter.

"For what?" Hiccup asked, the question going both for the money on her hand and the thanks.

"Your stories," Maili said, "You don't have to tell them anything but thanks to that the dinner has a lot of people."

"I'm sure they come for the food,"

"They come to listen to you,"

"But we don't let them stay if they don't buy something!" the older woman yelled from inside the kitchen, "so we all win here!"

Hiccup couldn't help but laugh, Maili softly removed her hands off her, letting Hiccup look down to the coins. She smiled warmly and looked up at the woman, all words on her eyes.

Maili put a hand on her cheek, softly caressing her skin.

"Go on," she said, "be safe, and may your gods accompany you." Hiccup opened her mouth to protest on the fact that she did not believe in them, but she stopped herself, completely taken aback by the woman's look.

It was a knowing look, an accepting look.

And this time, Hiccup really didn't know how to respond. She blinked a few times, the corner of her lips twitching upwards to a smile. She nodded at the woman and left to her camp.

Hiccup walked through the mud, raising high her feet to don't get stuck. Her mind was still on the kitchen's back door. Did she… did she really know? Did all the woman know? Was it that obvious? And a better question yet: why haven't they attacked her? What haven't they said something?

She was brought out of her thoughts when she reached the forest and Toothless meet up with her.

"Hey, buddy." She said, the dragon quickly picking the odd tone on her voice and started to sniff her, trying to figure out what was wrong, "it's okay, it's just… confusing." The dragon tilted his head, not understanding. "I'll explain latter, when it has a little more sense."

Toothless insisted her to ride him after a few steps, seeing how hard it was getting for her to walk. She looked up at the sky as another lighting shortly illuminated the sky.

"I guess we're not gonna see Conall tonight." Hiccup said a little disappointed. It wasn't even sunset, and the sky looked like it was midnight. Toothless didn't seem to be bothered at all.

Hiccup sighed, she really messed up. She thought that Thor would be at least a little more happy after how she talked about his greatness. But it hadn't been enough to calm the wrath of the Aesir.

She had been born too soon, too little. The people of Berk said that she had been blessed by the gods at birth, if not she wouldn't had been able to survive the last month of winter. But Hiccup had never been able to see how she was "blessed" by the gods. Specially after the turn her life had taken.

And part of her now wondered if they had just saved her at birth just to kill her 15 years later, making her kill the Red Death.

But she had made her stance. She was not going to let the gods or anyone but herself to decide her fate. She had so far survived six months without anyone's help, she could survive the rest of her life.

…

Next day the weather didn't calm down a bit. Indeed, she didn't saw Conall at night, and the rain was so bad that they couldn't even fly. And they certainly needed to find a new place to sleep, something told her that the rain was not going to stop any time soon.

She waited for Conall on their usual spot and both greet each other with a smile. Instead of staying in there getting wet, they walked side by side to the town. Still getting wet, but it was better than sitting on the mud.

Toothless didn't seem to have a problem with the storm. He was jumping around in puddles and splashing mud everywhere. Conall was wrapped in a cotton cloak, Hiccup was wearing her fur cloak over the borrowed one, both having quite the trouble walking around the soggy path.

They laughed and hold each other to don't fall. Though the last one was more on Hiccup's side.

"I'm not used to walking on mud!" she said as an excuse.

"Ye say it rains a lot where ye come from!"

"Yes, but it usually turns to snow after a while!"

A thunder began to rumble on the distance.

"It's summer!" Conall yelled over the noise, "how can it snow in summer!"

"Conall, Berk's not far from Freezing to DEATH! It snows all year round!"

A lighting illuminated the dark sky, followed by a loud thunder that scared both teens. They yelled but soon laughed it off. They walked, raising their knees high to don't get buried on the mud.

"It never rains like this," Conall said, looking up at the sky. "At least not on this season!"

"Yeah, my bad." Hiccup grimaced, "I might have made the gods mad." Another thunder roared over the forest, "Okay, I definitely made them mad!"

"Why do ye think ye made them mad?" he asked her, but she didn't answer, she just grimaced and let out a feeble noise as response. How was she supposed to explain that without admitting she is lying to him and working on the dinner?

They reached the town and walked outside the path to sit over a bunch of rocks, they were all wet, but at least they weren't covered in mud. They talked, sitting close to each other as they saw some lonely people and some small groups walk into the town.

None of them worried, even when they had to scream to hear each other. They were far enough from the entrance, and with all the rain it was a little hard to see. Besides, people were more worried to get inside the town to a dry place than looking around the trees.

Conall sighed, he looked a little sad, and she knew why. She dropped her head too.

"I…"

"Have to go," Hiccup said above the noise of the heavy rain, he looked at her and she smiled sweetly, "I know. Besides, I should be going too."

He chuckled, "And where are ye going?" Hiccup panicked for a second, but quickly answered.

"I'm gonna put a tent over the camp. Though, if the weather is going to keep going like this maybe it would be better to find another place to camp. Less exposed."

"Yes, that might be a good idea," Conall said, giving the sky a short look before standing up and offering his hand to Hiccup. "It never rains like this on this season, but it doesn't look like it's going stop."

Hiccup accepted his hand with a sigh. "I told you, they gods are mad."

"What are they mad about?"

"Long story short, I… might have said I don't believe in them."

"And here ye are, saying it's raining because of them."

"Yeah, it's stupid, I know!" Hiccup said and couldn't help but smile, "but everything regarding them is."

A lighting fell on the forest, landing just a few feet aside them. They both yelled, Conall pulled Hiccup away, they held each other as they looked at the burn spot in horror. Toothless looked at Hiccup to make sure she was fine, then curiously looked at the sky.

"See?" Hiccup yelled, "they are angry at me!"

"Yes…" Conall's eyes slowly left the burned grass and turned to her, slowly releasing his grip on her cloak, but leaving his hands over her hips. "Are… are ye going ta tell me why?"

"I told you, I said-"

"Yes, but why did you say that? They are yer gods."

"That's… a way longer story," Hiccup said, just loud enough to be heard.

"Tell me at lunch?"

Hiccup looked up at the sky, "If the weather keeps up like this, I don't think it's a good idea for you to come to the woods. I don't want Thor striking you with lighting."

"Then I'm not going ta see ye today?"

"I… I can tell you tomorrow?" She said to compensate, even when she really didn't want to talk about it, "I can meet you close to your farm and walk with you all the way here."

"It's a date then," Conall smiled.

"I… I guess- yeah, yep. It's a date."

"See ye tomorrow."

"See you-"

He pulled her closer and quickly pushed his lips against hers. He stepped away before Toothless could understand what was happening and started snarling at him. Conall smiled, not minding the dragon.

"Yer telling me why they are mad." the boy walked backwards towards the town's entrance.

Hiccup still couldn't formulate a word, she just nodded slightly with a dumb, weak smile. Conall grinned and turned around. She raised her hand, waving her fingers goodbye at him.

"… tomorrow," she finally managed to finish, her fingers brushing her lips.

Toothless walked to her and sniffed her. Hiccup was still standing there under the rain, getting more wet that she already was, completely lost on the bliss of having her first kiss.

"You smell likey-likey," Toothless growled disgusted, popping Hiccup's bubble.

"What? No- I-" She glared at him, "stop saying that, it bothers me!"

"Well, he bothers ME, so we are even," the dragon growled, "Why did he lick you?"

"He didn't lick me!?" her voice raised an octave, "it's called a kiss!" she said, blushing heavily.

"It's the same,"

"You are always making fun of me for liking him! Why are you so mad if you already knew?"

"I made fun of you because it was fun to annoy you!"

Hiccup sighed, "Okay, whatever. I have to go to work," she looked at all the way to the town, thinking of all she had to walk to go to the dinner. She could use the paths of the town, it would be easier to walk, but she had to circle a lot, and she ran the risk of being seen by Conall.

Or she could go through the edge of the forest as she always did when coming back and walk a few blocks inside trough the houses and make it through the back door. The only problem with that was walking on the mud.

"Are you going to give me a bust or an I going to have to walk?"

"Walk," Toothless said drily, turning around and curling on the mud.

Hiccup sighed, she patted his head as a goodbye and got walking. A minute later, after she could give five steps, Toothless joined her. He didn't let her get on his back, but he didn't let her walk alone, and he didn't let her get more wet than she already was. He raised a wing over her head, stopping the heavy rain until they made it to her entrance.

"Do you have to go?"

"We need the money," Hiccup told him, putting a comforting hand over his head. Toothless purred sadly, she knew how much he hated her working earlier, it was less time they spent together.

"It's just going to be one more month, just four weeks and we are out of here…" the smile disappeared from her face, she looked over her shoulder, at the town… "Just four weeks."

…

Her plans of going trough the back door got canceled, a lighting had hit a house and bring it down last night. She had to circle a lot to find her way back to the dinner from the front door. After she made it to the inside, Hiccup found herself quite marveled at the fact that there were people inside.

The small room wasn't full, but it was almost there. Even with the heavy rain, people had walked all the way here. Mrs. Maili's words from last night echoed on her mind.

"Your stories, you don't have to tell them anything but thanks to that the dinner has a lot of people. They come to listen to you."

"Hey, Aila."

"Oh, hey!" Aila said, giving a warm bowl of soup to a man, "I didn't think you were going to come with all the rain!"

"Yeah… I was planning not to, but I made a promise." Hiccup took off her hood, "I'm kinda glad I did," she mentioned looking around the room.

"Ohhh, what happened to you?" the other girl asked, eyeing her up and down.

Hiccup chuckled nervously, "I… got stuck on the rain?"

"You know damn well I'm not talking about that." She then talked lower, as if she was telling her a secret, "you are still blushing."

That just caused her to blush more. Was it really noticeable? Aila laughed, she was totally waiting for that reaction.

"You have to tell me everything," She whispered at Hiccup as she twirled and walked away.

"Sure," Hiccup said with a nervous laugh and walked to the kitchen, "Good morning Mrs. Maili!" she greeted as she walked in, she took off both cloaks and hanged them with he rest of the women's clothes, she took her apron and quickly put it on.

"Good morning sweetie," the woman said, "You are here early."

"Really?"

"No, you are on time," the older woman said, "But you always come late." Hiccup smiled and playfully scrunched her nose, shaking it at the woman as Maili put dishes and mugs on her tray. "You are going to make it a habit."

"The habit is already made, ma'am." Hiccup said, taking the tray and walking outside.

She smiled as she delivered the food and picked up dirty bowls and cleaned tables. Exchanging a word or two with Aila as she went by. She really liked it, her job, her friend, the ambient of the dinner, the family of hard-working women… Conall.

Maybe this place wasn't that bad after all.