"Oh my gods, is this dinner or what the rats threw away?" Snotlout exclaimed, terrified at the Unidentified Eatable Object before him.

Tuffnut picked it up with one experimental hand and held it out before him at a safe distance. People would have held poisonous snakes or bloodied torture devices more cheerily. Squinting his eyes and peering carefully at the peculiar specimen pinched between his fingers, rubbing under his chin with his other, free hand, Tuffnut remarked, "Looks something like what Barf and Belch poop out after they get sick and…"

Hiccup was already gagging his way through the first bite of dinner, but as soon as Tuffnut began talking, he erupted into an enormous fit of hacking and coughing. It carried on for well over thirty seconds of erupted heaving. After retching and carefully discarding what he spit out of his mouth, Hiccup glared up at Snotlout and begged, "Please. Just stop there." Even in the dim light of fading sunset, everyone could clearly see Hiccup's watering green eyes. They were almost crying moreso than merely watering.

"Okay. I'm not eating that." Snotlout put his food aside on the log against which he was leaning.

And all at once Astrid with a scream yanked out her battleax, spinning it once in a pinwheel before lunging right at Snotlout's throat. She stopped the blade a few inches from his skin and growled in a menacing voice, "No. I didn't spend so much time cooking just to have you throw it away! You're eating that!"

With wide blue eyes and quivering lips, Snotlout stared tensely at the weapon's sharp blade, clearly trying to decide if he would die more painfully from Astrid's ax or Astrid's cooking.

"Uhhh… I mean, I am. I am eating that!" Snotlout scrambled for Astrid's dinner. He threw both his arms on top of the log, tackled the mysterious meal with all ten of his fingers, and shoved half of the food into his mouth at one. He bit into it, and even as he chewed, cringing in pain with every bite as if he were going through a seizure, he moaned, "It's… delicious. You know, baby, you do the best… ewwww… cooking… gahhh… ever!" He swallowed, cheeks turning distinctively green. With an attempted smile that turned into a wince, Snotlout whispered, half-hoarse, "It's delicious, Astrid."

Astrid huffed. But she pulled the ax away from his throat and thumped the handle to the dirt beneath her.

"It's – it's okay, Astrid," Hiccup stammered, waving the food in front of him. While she had been dealing with Snotlout, he had thrown half of his portion into their campfire. Initially he had tried offering it to Toothless, yet the dragon had scrunched his nose and growled with such vehemence that Hiccup quickly yanked the food away. Might as well feed the Night Fury an eel. "You tried – you worked hard. We appreciate the effort."

"You are amazing, princess, a complete queen at coo-"

"Shut it, Snotlout," Astrid hissed. Disgusted at his flirtations, she marched away from him and sat at the far end of the campfire close to Hiccup and Toothless. "At least I'm actually pulling my own weight around here. You've done nothing except build your stupid s-shaped fort. If you can call that building."

"Yeah." Tuffnut sniggered. "More like burning."

Ruffnut, actually eating Astrid's food, nodded to her brother. "It was awesome."

"Hey, it's not my fault my stupid dragon lit on fire after I dropped my hammer! I've been building, he's been burning."

Hookfang huffed indignantly and marched into the woods.

"You know, Snotlout, Astrid has a point," Hiccup said. "She's done a lot more for the gang than you have since we got to Dragon's End. I'm not saying your building isn't a lot of work. It'd just be nice if we could all work together for the other chores to make things equal."

"What do you mean, Hiccup?" It was Fishlegs who spoke up, finally entering into conversation. He, like Ruffnut, seemed capable of eating Astrid's concoction, although he did seem to look a little bit paler than usual. He leaned against Meatlug's side as though she were the only thing propping him upright.

"What I'm saying is that maybe we should figure out how day-to-day life on Dragon's Edge is going to run."

Tuffnut blabbed, "Run? Ew. I don't like running. How about walking. Or skipping?"

"Aw, shut up, or I'm going to show you punching," his sister groaned from right beside him. She seemed willing to do it even if he did shut up.

"Okay okay okay anyway," Hiccup interjected quickly before the twins could scuffle. He gestured toward their in-progress settlement behind them, continuing, "We're going to be done with the main construction in, say, a week, and it's about time we figure out who's doing what at Dragon's Edge. Astrid pointed out we don't exactly have a system for who's cooking or who's on night watch, and I think it's a good idea if we get that all figured out. You know, organize something."

"Organize? Organizing is overrated." Tuffnut yet again opened his mouth.

"This just sounds like a good way to put you in charge," Snotlout accused.

Astrid, not wishing to tolerate any of Snotlout's griping, piped up, "It's not going to be Hiccup telling everyone what to do, Snotlout. We're thinking we should all put in our fair share."

"Exactly," Hiccup said. "We go through rotations. Everyone has to do some cooking, everyone has to do some cleaning, and everyone has to do night watch in equal proportions. That way, we're all pulling our fair weight and helping out."

"It's simple really." Astrid was elaborating on top of him again. "I'm surprised we didn't think of it sooner."

"Yeah… but are you sure you want everyone doing everything?" Fishlegs asked. He seemed a little leery and pulled himself closer into Meatlug's side. She gave a small grumble of agreement and shifted slightly towards him. "I mean, I don't know about you, but I don't want Snotlout to…"

"Well, anyone have any better ideas?" Hiccup asked with a gesture toward Fishlegs.

"Uh… well…" He tipped his head to one side. "Not really. What you're suggesting is fair."

"Anarchy," Tuffnut voted exuberantly. "No one do anything. Except destroying things. That'd work pretty well for me."

At the same time Ruffnut screamed, "DESTROY!" Hiccup exclaimed, "And rotating shifts it is!" He continued, "Alright, how about tomorrow, we say that Snotlout does some cleaning in the common space, Tuffnut prepares dinner, and Astrid and I do night watch?"

"Why do I get to do the cleaning?"

"Alright, Fishlegs, then. But you're slotted for the day after, Snotlout. So, is everyone in agreement? This'll work?"

"Fine enough for me," Fishlegs said. Astrid and Ruffnut nodded.

"It's settled then." Hiccup gave a nice sigh of relief and settled back against Toothless' back. His eyes scanned along the coastline and the moon above him, thinking about how much Dragon's Edge was already feeling like home.