A New World, Complicated

Chapter 2: Viking for Hire (Hiccup)

"Come on. Let's just go for a walk for a little bit."

Her demeanor immediately brightened up, and she nodded. We made our way out of the training academy and to the town, where our attention was immediately drawn to the group crowded around Gobber's Smithy.

"Gather around! Come on, one and all!" Gobber yelled to the crowd. "You may think these dragon-killing weapons have no more use, but think again." He reached behind him and pulled out a sword. "This long sword is now a lovely butter knife." He attempted to spread the butter pat on a piece of bread, but ended up cutting it to pieces instead. "Uh... it's also great for making bread crumbs!" The crowd was unimpressed.

"Well, this is a dark day," a gravelly voice whispered in my ear. Reign and I turned, and our expressions immediately soured when we saw the source was Mildew. "A great dragon slayer peddling his weapons as kitchen utensils. "Mmm..."

"Hush, Mildew," Reign snapped.

"Up next, we have this, uh..." A fly buzzed over Gobber's head and landed next to him. "Handy fly swatter!" He slammed the mace in his hand down, but ended up breaking the entire counter. "Uh huh... also good for getting rid of unwanted tables... Now for the lady of the house!" Gobber gestured to a large catapult. "When the hubby's off pillaging, how are you going to protect yourself from home invaders? No problem when you have Big Bertha." He tapped the metal basket of the catapult, but that ended up setting it off and launching the rock he'd perched inside of it. Fed up, the crowd dispersed, with the exception of Mildew, who seemed bent on driving this in as my fault. "Wait, there's more! Come back! You haven't seen everything yet! I haven't cleared out my collection yet!" Defeated, Gobber sighed and gave up trying to pull people back over.

"It's hard to watch," Mildew taunted. "Especially for you, eh, Hiccup? The feelings of guilt must be terrible." His words were slowly starting to get to me. Maybe this was all my fault. After all, I had completely flipped things on their side here. I didn't think about how hard it would be for people to adjust. "Tearing at your insides. I mean, you put him out of business with your little peace pact with the dragons. You ruined his life. Bravo."

With that, the old man walked away, leaving me conflicted.

"Hey, wait, I know that look," Reign piped up, pointing straight at me. "Don't for a second think making peace with the dragons wasn't a good thing." She placed a hand on my shoulder, so I forced a smile. Doubt was quickly clouding my mind. "Come on, let's go."

"Thought I would find you here." I looked up to see Reign sitting down beside me, taking a moment to pet Toothless, who purred at her. I couldn't help but smile at least a little. Toothless had really grown to like Reign recently.

"You know Gobber made this leg?" I asked as she shifted around to face me. "He taught me everything I need to know to make Toothless' tail. I have to find some way to help him."

She wrapped an arm around my shoulders.

"Don't blame yourself for this. I mean it. You haven't done anything wrong."

My eyes caught the necklace glimmering in the moonlight. She never took it off, ever. She'd even declared it was the only Earthly possession she wanted to take to Valhalla with her. It made me think back to when I had given it to her. Gobber had taught me how to make that, too, even helped me out with it along the way. He never questioned who it was for, but I think he knew.

I sighed and stood up.

"I need to go talk to my dad about this. I can't just sit here and watch Gobber beg." She sighed.