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It was a beautiful day on the island of Berk: the sun was shining, terrible terrors were singing from the rooftops, and a certain chief in training was enjoying a little impromptu flying with a certain night fury.
"What'd ya say bud, one more circle around than to the docks?"
Toothless gave a little approving nod before zooming off at top speed. They'd really perfected they're flying as of late and really got those aerodynamics done to increase their speed, so much so that their final lap of the island was done within about two minutes. It was at that time that Hiccup landed on the docks and was met by his mom.
"Ah there you are, we were wondering were you'd gone off to," Valka remarked with a warm smile
Hiccup gave a sheepish little shrug, "Toothless wanted to go flying and I figured since we are having guests it'd be a good idea now rather than later"
"Well just be sure to be mindful of our guests Hiccup, peace with dragons or not there are still those that are uneasy around them"
"I'll be sure to mom, don't worry. Who's coming anyway? I've never really hear much about them"
"Finn Hofferson," said Stoick, coming up to the docks just in time to hear the question, "A very dear friend of mine, coming for the first time in a few years, wanted to see how everything was getting on here"
It was at this opportune moment that a rather large ship appeared on the horizon and settled itself at the end of the dock. Upon the lowering of the gangplank, a rather thin man with a long blond beard disembarked from the ship and offered them a friendly smile. "It a pleasure to see you again my friend"
"It's been too long Finn, where've you been?"
"Oh, here and there, everywhere really. Had to stretch out a bit you know?"
"Well it sure is good to see you, you remember Hiccup and Val of course?"
"But of course, it is a pleasure to see you Valka"
"The pleasure is ours Finn"
"And of course I remember the pride of Berk, Hiccup how you have changed"
Hiccup gave a little cough to cover his embarrassment, the title always made him uncomfortable, for he never asked for it, but the pressures it came with could be quite strong and he'd rather people didn't emphasis it.
It was at this moment he became aware of someone standing just behind Finn that he had not seen. With both Stoick and Valka engaged in conversation with Finn, Hiccup seized the opportunity to look again. Standing just behind Finn was a young woman, no older than himself, with her hair done into a single braid and wearing a kind of armor of a spiked skirt and a type of plated shoulder pads. She had the air of someone sure of herself, head held high and confident.
"She's very beautiful too," Hiccup found himself thinking and indeed he was not wrong. The hair of her braid was a pure gold, framing a somewhat pale complexed face and eyes that seemed as blue and deep as the ocean they were surrounded by. The whole vision of her was so wonderful that it wasn't until the girl turned away from the side of the ship and caught his eye that Hiccup realized he'd been staring at her, and he gave a nervous smile to cover his embarrassment. Luckily for him it appeared no one else had noticed this, in fact Finn had chosen that particular moment to introduce his companion to the others.
"Oh do forgive me, I haven't introduced my niece, where are my manners, Astrid do come down and say hello"
With a smile she came up to meet them properly, first approaching Stoick and Valka with a polite "It's very nice to meet you both"
"Likewise my dear. Finn, you never mentioned you had a niece before"
"Oh I would have told you in advance, but she didn't find out I was going until the last minute. Wanted to come and see this Dragon Academy of yours"
"I'd love a lesson or two if you wouldn't mind,"
"Not at all, I'm sure Hiccup would be happy to show you the ropes"
Hiccup cleared his throat and approached Astrid, albeit, with shaking confidence. In an effort to as least appear like he knew what he was doing, he stuck out his hand and said in a somewhat faltering voice "It's wonderful to meet you Astrid"
Astrid in turn accepted his hand in a friendly shake and said "you too Hiccup, I've heard a lot of what you've done and I can't wait to….is that a night furry?"
Hiccup turned to where Astrid was looking behind him: Toothless, who was being very quiet, decided to peek his head from where he was laying on the docks to see what was going on. Smiling he said, "Yep, that's Toothless"
"I mean they said you trained one, but I thought that was all just talk, you know?"
"I hardly believed it myself when I found out, but of course now Hiccup's trained all kinds of dragons at the academy. Why don't we all head over to see this place in action? Get a real feel for what goes on around here, if that's alright of course Stoick?"
"Absolutely, I'm sure it'll be no problem. There should be a lesson going on right now, you could watch if you like"
The party then started down to the academy, well, all but two of them anyway. Hiccup and Valka remained at the docks, Valka watching him look after the others with an amused smile. "You know, I met your father this way"
"What?"
"I came here on a visit with my family and we met here on the docks too. Though I'm pretty sure your father didn't stare at me for five minutes before saying hello"
Hiccup's face turned an almost unearthly red and Valka gave a laugh "Oh do relax Hiccup, there's nothing wrong with history repeating itself every once in awhile"