úlfheðnar, httyd

xxiii. No Task Is Too Hefty

    "Something you're itching to tell me?" Stoick smirked all-knowing over his shoulder as he led the way towards the trading doors. Hiccup laughed nervously, following.

    "Uh, not quite the itch you're thinking of, but, yes━"

     "Oh, good man!" he passed him over his apron with a hefty push to the chest. Hiccup doubled over, a little winded. He threw the apron to the side. Yrsa shuffled a little ways back, not wanting to intrude, but also to hear the conversation, picking up thrown aside tools as she did. She found Astrid in the back and smiled weakly in greeting. Her best friend walked up to her, interest piqued at the fall of her mood.

    "What happened?" she asked in an urgent whisper. Yrsa went to tell her, but Stoick's loud voice cut her off.

    "Now! Lesson one━" Hiccup was still desperately trying to get his attention, but failing━weaving in and away from his father's meaty arms, "━a chief's first duty is to his people━" he took a wooden number tag from the stack, gazing out to the line in front of him, "━so, forty-one!"

    "Well, can we just talk in private for━?"

    "Forty-one!"

    "That's me!" Starkard was breathless as he itched his arm up to the sky, eager to be seen. "That's me! I'm next!" he shoved past, snapping to Silent (Not-So-Silent) Sven in passing, "Hey! I was ahead of you!"

    Hiccup tried to peer around so his father could see him, "If we could just talk━?"

    "Excuse me!" Starkard reached the front and Hiccup sent an exasperated glance back to Yrsa. She shrugged, an: he's your father. "I've been here all day. Okay, okay━" Starkard leaned forward into the forge, "━I want one of those high seaters with lots of spikes and a big storage compartment!"

    Stoick nodded, grinning. "Absolutely! You got it, sir━Yrsa!" the girl jumped at being adressed. "There she is! Today's racing chamption!" he passed Hiccup who sighed, glancing up in his annoyance. "She'll handle your saddle━quite the tailor she is, my future daughter-in-law! One week!" he laughed, slapping a hand on his son's shoulders. "You did right with this one, Hiccup!"

    Yrsa went a little darker at her bronze cheeks. Astrid snickered beside her. She shoved her.

    "Dad," Hiccup skuttled over as Stoick ushured Yrsa gently towards the saddle mould. She pursed her lips, watching with wide eyes as she was handed the equipment with a clang of it all in the wooden box against her arms. She barely caught it all in time. "This is actually a little more important━" Hiccup swiped up the necessary equipment his father forgot to grab, letting it fall into the box absentmindedly, "━than building saddles."

    "Ah━ah!" Stoick waggled a finger, "lesson two━" he danced around Grump with Yrsa still attatched to his side with a fatherly arm wrapped around her shoulders. Yrsa sent a help to Hiccup and he replied with a slump of his shoulders: look, I'm trying! "━no task is too small when it comes to serving your people━oh! Excuse us, Grump!"

    "Yeah, but can we just talk━"

    "Agh!" let out Gobber to his sleeping dragon "Grump!" his eyes shot wide open. "Yeh let the forge die down again!"

    The Hotburple moaned, annoyed to be woken up, but shuffled his heap of a body towards the forge and let loose a lazy blast that nearly set the entire building on fire. Hiccup yelped, jumping away from the flames. Gobber growled, yanking the water hose lever down from the ceiling, drenching the flames dead. "Gah!" he shouted. "That's it, Grump! Yeh're going up for adoption!"

    More tools were dropped into Yrsa's arms and she moved along with it, trying to keep it all contained in the box. All the while, Stoick danced around like a child on Snoggletog Eve, and his son hefted and tugged at his hair in fustration at him never listening to a word he said. He grabbed a slab of leather and threw it over the mould as they finally arrived. Yrsa set the box on the table beside it, happy to finally let it down. She picked up the charcoal pencil and started to draw the design along the leather.