The trip back to Berk was not as stressful as the previous one. The young vikings did not have time to get bored, being too busy subjecting Hiccup to an extensive interrogation about dragons, particularly Toothless. The latter, delighted with the attention, spent most of the trip purring, gorging himself on fish, or growling. The Berkians learned quickly that it was not wise to treat Hiccup rudely, be it physically or verbally. The twins in particular learned that they should not annoy the friend of the dragon, above all when they were on a boat. Tuffnut still was angry about his forced swim, lamenting to anyone who would listen that he had already taken a bath a month prior to visiting the Cueilleurs and that he was thus too clean for his taste, his next bath would not be before at least four or five months. Ruffnut, less annoyed by the impromptu bath, still grieving on the state of her hair, complained about the effect of the salt. Snotlout and Astrid, for once in perfect agreement, were crying of laughter Gobber fished out the twins and brought them safely back onto the deck. Toothless himself was proud of his blow, as evidenced by his gummy smile and dangling tongue. After the bath episode, the twins kept their distance from the reptile, plotting their revenge, with the essential point of being on firm land to execute it. Ignoring the twins, Astrid, Fishlegs, and Snotlout continued to question Hiccup until he had had enough and reversed the roles. Always wanting to know more, he asked questions upon question about Berk, the inhabitants of the island, and the raids. That subject particularly interested him, above all the rhythm of the attacks and what was taken.

"Why do you want to know that?" asked Fishlegs.

"I get the feeling it's important. Their actions can hide something. If they follow a pattern, it could be possible to prevent their attacks and minimize the damages. Especially I do not understand their behavior. The races that are attacking you are not aggressive. Of all the ones you listed, only the nightmares really pose a threat. But as a general rule, they are too lazy to go to the work of attacking a viking village and leaving again with one or two sheep. It's easier to catch fish. And the dragons aren't stupid. If they could content themselves to catching fish fish or hunting, depending on the species, they would not go near a place where they could find death."

"So why did they go after you?" questioned Astrid.

"No idea," responded Hiccup sighing. "It's not as if I have all the answers."

"That's true, but you know a lot about dragons, more than anyone in the village," said Fishlegs in an excited tone. "I can't wait to show you the Dragon Manual. You'll be able to help me bring it up to date. If it is possible to live side by side with dragons, we can even start a new Manual, where the words kill on sight do not appear!"

"Living with dragons is possible," assured Hiccup, "You saw that. And Toothless is a perfect example of that, when no one tries to steal his fish."

"You imagine all the things you will be able to teach us? I want to be on Berk already! We can start with the dragons in the arena and then…"

"You have dragons?"

"We have dragons," corrected Astrid. "Those are the ones we use for training, They are resting for the moment, there is no young person who is the right age to start training."

"Are you going to keep fighting and killing dragons?" Hiccup asked in a cold voice.

"Uh, well, that depends on what your father says," responded Fishlegs, uncomfortable. "It's just... a little over a week ago, we did not know that dragons are not, in fact, as dangerous as we thought they were."

"I'm correcting right away: dragons are dangerous. You can't forget that they are beings with formidable physical attributes and also with intelligence and feelings. They are quite capable of killing. But they don't when they don't feel threatened. If we show this to the villagers, losses will be avoided on both sides."

"That's why I want you to train the dragons that we keep in the arena," intervened Stoick. "That would be a perfect example. The villagers would see that dragons can be allies and the dragons would surely stop their attacks."

"Uh, it's not because the dragons are trained that the raids will stop. On the island of the Cueilleurs, we still have raids. They are more rare but the wild dragons always attack."

"And how are you doing with repelling then?"

"With aerial defenses, it is much more effective than vikings nailed to the ground."

"There you go! That's an excellent argument," said Stoick. "By showing the advantage…"

"Woah woah woah, slow down there!" interrupted Hiccup, raising his hands. "Before doing anything, I want your word that no dragon will be injured or killed. And let me look at the ones you have before starting to train them."

"Why?"

"I want to see if they're not too traumatised by their captivity. If they are too depressed, it won't be easy to work with them. And now, your promise?"

"I cannot speak for the whole village…"

"You are the chief"

"Very well, I promise. But I can not monitor the entire village, so there could be some accidents."

"I can take care of one or two more stupid than average vikings. What dragons do you have in the arena?"

"Two gronckles, a nadder, a zippleback, a nightmare and a dozen terrors. These pests have been attacking in groups recently."

"A survival instinct, I suppose," Hiccup reflected out loud. "They are small and fast but make easy targets when isolated. Staying in a group, they can mutually protect each other."

"Dis voir, Hiccup," said Gobber, "have you seen any night furies other than yours?"

"No, Toothless is the only one I've ever seen, or heard. Why?"

"Well, we had one up until five years ago. It disappeared overnight; we never again heard his delicate song"

"You hear that, Toothless? You cry is a delicate song."

The dragon, rolled around the mast for his afternoon nap, lazily opened one eye, growled gently, and closed his eye again, sighing.

"Oh, truly sorry to have interrupted you nap. Go back to sleep, I will wake you up when a conversation worthy of your interest takes place."

Toothless lifted his tail and slapped Hiccup in the back of his head.

"Ow!"

"This dragon has the same personality as you Hiccup," commented Gobber. "Not surprising that you are glued to each other."

"I refute that accusation. I do not have as big of an ego as this lizard."

"But you don't deny the rest, do you?" Astrid asked smiling.

"Not really, we are just as crazy as one another."

"Oh, I love that," Ruffnut said, approaching. "Do you want to show me just how crazy you are?"

"Stop that, Ruff," scolded Astrid.

"Why? At the latest reports, he is still free. Unless you are interested?"

"Not at all! It's just that this is not the moment for this sort of thing!" replied Astrid en rougissant.

"Not the moment for you, but maybe he has a different opinion. Hiccup, do you have a girlfriend?"

"Uh, no. Why the question?"

"Eh bien, you are a young man, well built, with everything that is necessary, I imagine. And we are young girls, us also good with what is needed. You see where I'm coming from?"

"Yes, and that does not really interest me for the moment."

"Why?" asked Ruffnut, disheartened.

"I do not know if I had feelings for someone before I lost my memory," explained Hiccup, blushing in turn. "And if that is the case, I do not want to betray that person."

"But…"

"Ruffnut, drop it," said Astrid taking the twin's arm and dragging her to the other end of the drakkar.

"What was that?" asked Hiccup.

"That, my friend," responded Tuffnut putting an arm on his shoulders, "is the beginning of the chase."