This is where I belong ||httyd fanfic||

56.A trader in Selardalr

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"H-Hiccup?"

A shocked utterance of the former boy's name was the well-nigh question that came out of Johann as his vessel docked upon the unknown island's shores. Even his lack of encounters with the ex-Haddock couldn't justify the surprise at his total transformation: the boy's drastically altered physique, his increased height shown in full as he stood tall from down below, or his gallant and powerful leather armor as black as night. Like his taskmasters, the moment his line of sight crossed the bow of his own ship seemed to be when all he knew was considered null and void.

Though no amount of time could change that deep shade of auburn his hair sported or those vibrant forest-green eyes. Like the natural world their hues were inspired from, that much was a constant in Hiccup's appearance. It was the only beacon of familiarity the old merchant had to cling to in a frontier of uncertainty.

"Yes. Is that you...? Johann?" Asked Hiccup with a suspicious mold of those same eyes.

The wrinkled features of old Johann faded along with the shock into a huge exclamation of excitement. "Master Hiccup, it truly is you! Y-You're honest-to-goodness alive! Oh-ho, it's such a delight to see you again, and in one non-devoured piece, no less!"

"It's... good to see you too," Hiccup said awkwardly, looking to a woman and two small children, the former of which giving Johann an inviting smile that gave his jittering heart comfort. Enough so that, after a minute's agonizing pause, he mustered enough will to stumble ever-so-cautiously off the ship. Gritting his teeth was all he could do to bear with the torturous creaking on the gangplank that reminded him of his own rapidly crumbling leg bones. With near mechanized steps, he made it down to the dock before them.

"Hello Johann, I'm Syn, Hiccup's wife." The woman held a friendly hand out.

"A wife!? Master Hiccup, you mean to tell me this beautiful creature is your wife?"

"I'll ignore the creature bit because I heard beautiful in there." Syn chuckled as Johann gave her a gentle kiss on the back of her hand.

"Please, Johann. It's not that unbelievable that I tied the knot with someone is it?"

For a man walking on thin-ice such as himself, any question such as that would have felt like a spiked arrow to the chest. And such a strike was felt at that moment. "Ah- NO! No, i-i-it's just, ah, well... I'd always been off the assumption that you would have been wed to, uh... the young miss...?"

Syn's gentle smile vanished in an instant and out came her predatory eyes in a flash of anger. "Yeah, no. Nobody here's in a mood to talk about 'the young miss.'"

Whatever flicker of comfort he might have felt before was snuffed out like a candle in a blizzard as Johann looked up to see 'nobody' included the army of men and dragons above armed with everything from crossbows to talons. The deadly poised glint of each polished weapon and radiation of ravenous heat from the growling maws of nearly every breed of dragon assembled upon the overlook seized the air in his throat and drew wrinkled lines of fear upon his features by the hundreds. His head was on the proverbial guillotine with his fate dancing madly on the razor's edge, in a mix of heat and cold where any misstep, he knew fully now, could be his last.