This is where I belong ||httyd fanfic||

33. What happened in those years

To say the last eight years were eventful would be the understatement of the century.

So much was happening in Hiccup's life, he though at times it was just some crazy dream. eight years ago he and Toothless had slayed the Red Death, the unnatural instigator of their 300-year-long war. Now that it was gone, Hiccup had to prepare for the next great challenge: adapting dragons to Viking society. There were plenty of problems, what with the dragons swiping food from wheelbarrows, crashing through buildings and caving in roofs when landing, and of course the showers of dragon dung that came around the same time every day.

The Silent Wolf were knowledgeable in some part with handling dragons thanks to Hiccup's lessons, but with this many problems and more coming from just as many dragons, they were at their wits' end. Their food supplies were running severely low with so many more mouths to feed, and houses were breaking down faster than they could build them; it was almost as bad as the raids, some thought. Hiccup was overwhelmed with all the complaints and questions he had been bombarded with each day, and Toothless had to wrestle through throngs of Vikings just to get some alone time with his boy.

Thankfully, Hiccup was able to figure out a way to channel their natural wild behavior into more productive ends, and things became that much easier. He assigned groups of new dragon riders out into the seas around Selardalr to help with the fisherman – their fire blasts and ability to fly over to large gatherings of fish allowed them to catch ten times as much as they had before with less than half the work, easily satisfying both species with a near week's catch for both.

Perches made from refined logs with stone supports were built over the houses so the dragons could land safely and securely, and their dragon dung, which was discovered to be an excellent fertilizer, was redirected to fall upon the farmers' crops, resulting in more beautiful harvests with rich tasting vegetables and grains.

The Silent Wolf had so much food on their hands, they hardly knew what to do with it, save for hold a grand banquet in celebration of Hiccup's sheer genius. It was on the night of said banquet that Hiccup decided to announce plans for a Dragon Training Academy, where prospective students could learn more about dragon abilities, behavior, habitats, and of course learning to ride them. Having new dragons brought into the Academy would also warm them up to the idea of human riders and get them more comfortable around the Vikings.

Harold and the Silent Wolfs unanimously agreed to the arena, and set up the Academy in the old Kill Ring, the only place big enough to hold multiple dragons and people. Hiccup and Syn were elected to be the teachers and owners of the Academy, and they had droves of applicants for the first day, including the other teens.

Hiccup was glad beyond measure to see these major steps towards progress, yet he couldn't help but feel empty somewhere inside. It was strange, to say the least, but despite everything that had happened, there was some voice screaming at him in his head saying he needed something more.

It was around the time of his 18th birthday that he discovered what was nagging him so: staring up at the sky with all the different dragons reminded him of the day he had first left Berk with Toothless. He had remembered deciding that the two of them would travel the world seeing everything that there was to see and finding all kinds of new adventures and dragons. It made him realize that the need to explore hadn't left him, and over the course of days it had only grown stronger.

He realized that what he was looking for was something he could truly call his own, that he could devote his entire soul to. He wanted to protect the new peace he had created with his own hands and create a place that he and all his loved ones could consider a home. He had had a long discussion with Harold about it, wondering based on Harold's strong reluctance if the chief had developed some kind of personal connection to him, and Syn was even more reluctant once she had heard about it.