10. What a morning to start the day

Previous chapter........

Harold smirked. "Perhaps. This boy may very well change the world one day."

"All right then, he can stay, and you are in charge of 'im, and you better not blow it, Syn. I mean it, if there's so much as one problem that the two of ya can' handle, I will personally ship him back to Berk the hard way! Am I clear?"

"Loud and clear," Syn said with a smile

Now~~......

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Hiccup awoke to the sun shining in his eyes and the chirping of birds the next day. The long hours of sleep had given his body time to recuperate and combined with the healing herbs the healer had given him and several licks from Toothless, his injuries had nearly healed completely. He mumbled some unintelligent nonsense as the rays of sunlight broke through his eyelids and stretched his arms with a huge yawn before shrinking back immediately. He was mostly healed but his body was still very stiff from lying around so much and some final lingering pains.

He had been at Selardalr for a while, about a few weeks to be exact, even if most of that time was spent in Syn's room, since he was still in no condition to move around, Syn even had to help him up to her room that first night. But while he hadn't been around anyone else for much of that time and hadn't seen much of the village, Hiccup could tell he liked Selardalr. It may have suffered raids like Berk, but it was far more peaceful and people seemed a bit friendlier than the rough and tumble attitude of most other tribe. From what Harold had said, they were somewhat looked down because of that, but nobody really cared. Maybe he could stay a while longer...

Hiccup's peaceful mood was ruined when Syn, out of her pajamas and dressed in her usual attire, came barreling from out of nowhere to where he was laying right in his line of sight with an inappropriately loud;

"MORNING HICCUP!"

Hiccup jumped and got tangled in his blankets, fidgeting and wrestling with the sheets until falling out of the bed a few moments later. "Oh, don't ever do that again!" He shouted. "Was that even necessary?!"

"Probably not" Syn admitted sweetly with a bright smile. She backed away to let Hiccup regain his bearings and sit back onto the bed.

'Well, you're in a good mood today," Hiccup observed with a groggy glare as he rubbed his head in the spot where it had collided with the floor.

Syn giggled. "Guess you could call me an early bird," she said. "Most of the village isn't awake yet at this time. It's not really that hard to be in a chipper mood when no one's awake to annoy you and you have a few hours to yourself."

"Then shouldn't you be quiet?" Hiccup asked in a growling whisper. "Isn't your father still asleep?"

"I said most of the village is asleep," Syn stated. "Dad's one of the only ones awake."

"'Cause he's the chief?" Hiccup questioned. Since his father often woke up early due to being chief.

"Probably." Syn shrugged he shoulders. "I can't figure out any other reason why a grouchy riser like him'd be up at the crack of dawn. Speaking of that, stay up here for a while. He gets pretty cranky when he wakes up and it takes all morning for him to calm down. You probably haven't noticed because you've been recovering."

Hiccup chuckled. "I can relate to that."

"What do you mean?" Syn asked.

"Well, whenever anybody, me usually, tries to wake my dad up, he grabs the nearest weapon and tried to chop their head off! It happens so often he thinks I like it or something!" Hiccup never got an answer to his question as Syn just burst into laughter at his response. He simply shook his head at how easily the girl seemed to get sidetracked.

"You're kidding… you are kidding, right?" She asked as her laughter eventually settled down, her grin turning into a grimace when he grinned in turn.

"Classic Viking insanity."

"Yeesh, your dad sounds like a real piece of work." She began to shake her head in turn before standing up. "Wait here; I'll go get us something to eat. I can't make anything with Dad still in the house since I tend to get loud when cooking, but I'm sure there's something edible lying around."

"I'll be waiting, with an empty stomach," Hiccup joked quietly, which made Syn chuckle as she headed back down the stairs.

As soon as she closed the door, Hiccup heard a quick scratching sound coming from the wall behind him near the window. The sound was frantic – someone or something was trying to get up to where he was and in a hurry. It would have made Hiccup nervous, if it weren't for the longing whines that came with it; Hiccup was then able to place the sound as one he'd heard the first time he'd found the cove at Berk. He walked over to the window and saw Toothless, bouncing up and reaching out towards the window. Seeing his boy only doubled his efforts: he now clawed at double the speed and barked out excitedly, ready for a long day of play with him.

"Toothless, wha-" Hiccup replied before jumping back as the Night Fury finally bounced high enough to latch onto the windowsill with his claws. His back legs scrambled to gain proper traction on the wooden wall while his tail wagged back and forth, creating a small gust that swept away any stray pine needles.

"Oh, gods, Toothless, would you please!" Hiccup whined as he tried to push the dragon out the window, but to no avail as the dragon's body weight was about 20 times his own. Toothless only looked back at him confused.

"Come on, bud! Do you want to get us in trouble!?" Hiccup whisper-shouted. "People are still sleeping here and your scratching'll make for a very rude awakening. Take it from me, you do not want to deal with sleep-deprived Vikings!"

Toothless huffed: he didn't want to deal with Vikings, period – his Hiccup being the only exception, of course. Hiccup knew what he was talking about, though: the last time a Viking was awoken early did not end well, the incident involving a mace, a shield, and a very physical business transaction at the forge. The victim in question was Spitelout – Bucket, a Viking who'd lost half his brain in a fight with dragons and wore, well, a bucket on his head to cover it up, ended up with a bludgeon to said bucket as punishment. The poor guy had the sharp clang in his ears for a week, and actually tried whacking himself repeatedly with an uprooted tree just to get it out.

Toothless was more than ready to play with Hiccup, ready to go flying again, especially now that they were in the clear. The dragon fantasized just what they could do now that they had the whole day to themselves – the ideas that came popping into his mind got him so excited he started bouncing in place. The movements were so violent they actually caused the house to shake a bit and knock roof tiles off. Hiccup held his arms out in protest, furiously whispering for him to stop, which he eventually did.

"Look, Toothless." Hiccup started. "I know you're excited for us to play, but we can't do it right now." Toothless' eyes turned to slits as his ears drooped down. Obviously he didn't like that answer, but whether he was saddened or angered by that answer was unclear.

"Sorry, bud. But we're kinda on a short leash here," said Hiccup as he stroked the dragon's snout. "Look, the fact is we're guests here, and one step out of bounds will get us kicked out of here in a snap. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure if that Harold guy really trusts me yet."

Toothless's eyes narrowed as he snuffed again. So what if that bearded man didn't trust him? The feeling was mutual, anyway; besides, Toothless wanted to leave. As nice as Syn was, he cared for Hiccup alone – well, him and his child. Toothless preferred if they could go back to Hiccup's original plan, flying and travelling the world, seeing everything there was to see. They could leave this violent place, leave the world of Vikings and dragons and death behind, and experience life anew.

Reading the dragons thoughts like only he could, Hiccup grabbed the sides of Toothless' head and kneeled down until the two of them were at eye level. "We could have a good thing going for us here, bud. As much as I'd like to see the world, this life is all I've ever known. I can't just abandon it entirely."

Toothless' pupils dilated as he purred. "Promise you'll be good." Hiccup finished. "Show them how great dragons are. Do it for me, bud."

Toothless shot him a deadpanned look before turning around and climbing back down, Hiccup watching him through the window as he descended; he would do anything for Hiccup, but honestly, that boy cared about too many pointless things half the time. As he reached the ground he shot back a look at Hiccup and barked out to him.

"Yeah, yeah, I got ya. I'll be down later on." Hiccup said as he went back inside. Toothless huffed one more time before returning to the porch.

Now almost alone in the room, Hiccup turned his attention to Alvis. His baby had just woken up himself and was babbling happily, wigging in his blankets and looking around while shifting his hands. Hiccup laughed. "You're just as happy as Syn this morning," He said, picking up Alvis and ticking his belly with a single finger to the area of the sheets where Hiccup assumed his tummy would be. The baby giggled loudly, which startled Hiccup into immediately stroking the baby's cheek with his finger slowly to quiet him down. He didn't want to be impolite and wake anyone, and if Alvis did, he would be responsible; the last thing he wanted to do in the wake of everyone's generosity was be a pest.

"Boy, you must be hungry," Hiccup stated, for the baby to answer back with another happy giggle.

Such a sweet child, Alvis always seemed to be; he always did exactly what his father told him, and always looked up at him with a bright smile of pure innocence on his face. The poor conditions that he first found him in seemed to have been erased from the child's mind entirely, not surprising given his short attention span. Hiccup gazed lovingly at the child thinking how truly lucky he was to have found him that day as he raised Alvis over his head; an absent-minded move as Alvis reached out and grabbed a lock of Hiccup's hair that was hanging from his face.

"Hey!" Hiccup protested playfully, trying to pull his head away from Alvis's tiny hands. Alvis only pulled harder and giggled some more. "I kinda like my hair, too, you know." He said as he used three of his fingers to squeeze very lightly on the child's tiny hand, the move uncurled Alvis's fingers and let the strands of hair he had caught go. Hiccup quickly pulled back his head and looked at the child again, who was cooing and slightly giggling again.

"Are you two having fun without me?" Syn asked, walking back in with some bread and a bottle for Alvis.

"Maybe..." Hiccup joked. Syn smiled and handed him some bread while she nibbled on hers and shook the bottle of milk to mix up its contents on her skin before sticking it in Alvis's mouth. Hiccup soon found himself in a difficult situation with a baby in one arm and a bread loaf in the other hand; he actually tried sticking the whole loaf in his mouth to grab onto the bottle before all the milk came splattering out on Alvis. Syn decided to lend a helping hand since Hiccup looked absolutely ridiculous with his hands full, taking the bread out of his mouth and holding the bottle herself while placing the chewed-on bread back in his hand.

She was certainly a natural, Hiccup thought, almost like a mother herself. He quickly shook the thought out of his head since it wasn't a long jump before he wondered what that would make her to him. "Hey, Syn?" Hiccup said suddenly.

"Yeah?"

"Wh-Why are you being so nice to me?" Hiccup kind of blurted the words out, but he couldn't help it, he had to know. Granted, his earlier thoughts were still on his mind, but there was also the fact that she had been so welcoming to who was pretty much a complete stranger to her. She always had a smile when she looked his way, a reaction that was entirely foreign to him.

Syn's smile disappeared for a moment as she looked down in though, completely silent before she shrugged again. "I'm not sure, now that I think about it. I guess, maybe… you remind me of myself."

Hiccup's gaze turned away and saddened while he squeezed the loaf of bread gently, just looking at it as it turned to a squished mess and he lost his appetite. "Yeah. I get the feeling you aren't really... appreciated here yourself."

"Not really," Syn admitted. "Well, I mean it's not as bad as it sounds, they just don't show it much. That's kinda how it's always been. People just… prefer to ignore me. They call me 'The Dreamer' 'cause I like to daydream about crazy stuff and I've got my nose stuck in storybooks most of the time. I'm all up for a fight, but not in the same way as most and I certainly don't like doing it twenty-four/seven. I guess that's probably the reason I've only got one real friend, and I wouldn't even really say he's a friend-friend, more like an acquaintance."

"Who is he?" Hiccup questioned.

"His name's Leif," Syn said, swallowing the remainder of her bread and sucking her fingers to catch the crumbs. "He lives in the village. He's pretty open-minded, but he sure as hel loves to be alone. Gods know what's going on in his upper stories." Syn tapped her head as she explained.

"So an anti-social brainiac kinda guy? You really go for that type, don't you?" Hiccup joked. At first it sounded a lot like Fishlegs, yet another parallel to Berk, but when he put most of the traits together, it sounded more like himself.

"What can I say? There's just something about guys like that." Syn chucked. By now Alvis was done with the bottle, so she took it out of his mouth and set it aside while Hiccup placed him back on the bed, draping the blankets for extra warmth.

Hiccup chuckled back at her. "You're an interesting girl, you know that?"

"Well, you're an interesting boy," Syn said. She then stood up and walked over to him with her hands behind her back. "So how are you feeling? Your wounds about patched up by now?"

"Well, aside from the fact that I got smacked in the chest with a flying boulder and fell about a hundred feet, I'd say I'm pretty good." He shrugged at his own fairly accurate self-assessment.

"Oh Real funny, Mr. Comedian" Syn said. "Now if you're done laying on guilt, let's get going."

Hiccup looked confused for a moment. "Going? Going where?" Hiccup asked as he followed her over to and down the stairs.

"Well for starters, to get your stuff; I'd assume you have some luggage with you since you ran away from home," Syn said as they walked over to the front door. "Besides, you've gotta be bored, having to lay around in bed for so long. Now come on, let's just hope someone or something else hasn't found it first." Hiccup grimaced at that while Syn opened the door and led him out only for Hiccup to be rapidly tackled to the ground and licked to no end by an over-enthusiastic Toothless.

"Ah, all right, all right! I'm happy to see you too, now could ya dial it back a little?" Hiccup barely managed to get out in between the onslaught of Toothless' happy tongue. Syn laughed so loud at the scene the other villagers were quickly roused from their beds, and none of them were too happy about it. Before anyone could rush up to start yelling, Hiccup, Syn, and Toothless quickly rushed off into the woods.

TO BE CONTINUED.....