12. Get to know the people

Enjoy the chapter.....

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Compared to the emotional roller coaster that was yesterday, today was pretty normal; now that Hiccup was in better health, Syn decided to take him on a full-on tour of the village. It looked very much like Berk, with wooden houses everywhere, a Great Hall at the end of a long walkway, as well as numerous large weapons, most of which were in need of repair due to recent dragon attacks – yeah, exactly like Berk. Syn explained that Selardalr was suffering from an increase in raids, though Hiccup noted that the frequency of which was nowhere near the rate that his old home was at, probably due to Berk's close proximity to Helheim's Gate and the nest. The only real difference was the more even ground, whereas Berk's village was situated high atop cliffs and had mostly bumpy terrain, with his own house on a hill overlooking the others.

Despite the numerous similarities in look and feel, Hiccup was still very nervous to be walking around the village, even with Syn and Toothless by side. His eyes every so often would dart around looking at the villagers as they walked around the main path that ran through most of the residences. Syn continued to pull him forward a bit more forceful than he would have liked, not really helping to ease his near-shot nerves. Toothless, sensing this, would occasionally nudge his leg and look up at him with a soft croon, the message behind his actions clear: 'don't be scared.'

That's when Hiccup saw Sven, the boy from the other day in the healer's house. He was sitting on top of a mostly intact but still damaged catapult with Raoul, who was pounding a nail that Sven was holding with a hammer. Sven was simply focused on holding the nail and the wood it was connected to and paid the small group no mind, especially with Raoul's volatile temper putting his fingers at risk. Raoul himself, however, glared ferociously at Hiccup and Toothless; even though Harold had given the two the all-clear and allowed them to stay, he wasn't about to get all buddy-buddy with them. He was still waiting for when the kid turned on them and sicked his Night Fury on the village. He had voiced this suspicion to Harold earlier, but the chief had assured him it wouldn't happen; still, Raoul, like most Vikings, wasn't about to admit he was wrong.

Raoul's nasty look got him an equally nasty one from Toothless in turn, and the Viking youth quickly shrunk back in fear and turned to his work again before he could slam Sven's hand, muttering unintelligible things along the lines of 'stupid dragon.' Hiccup hardly noticed any of this, however, his attention was focused on Sven the entire time.

"Say, what's up with that Sven kid?" Hiccup asked with his eyes still on the boy. It was another one of those sudden questions he'd been asking a lot lately. Then again, he figured if he was going to be staying for an extended period of time, he might as well get to know everyone.

"Sven?" Syn said before brushing her hand away in passing. "Aw, he's Raoul's little lackey – follows him around like a little sheep everywhere. They've known each other since they were kids. Sven's nice and all, but he's pretty naïve and so detail-oriented, he's usually ignoring the obvious. He's pretty willing to cooperate with people most of the time, but that's how Raoul always takes advantage of him."

"Ouch," Hiccup said.

"Tell me about it," Syn groaned, letting go of Hiccup's hand absentmindedly. "I've tried to talk some sense into him, since Raoul is such a control freak, but he's kind of afraid of Raoul and like most others isn't willing to listen to me."

"Seems like everybody's got problems with this Raoul guy, don't they?" Hiccup said.

"'Problems' is too light a word!" Syn suddenly exclaimed irritated. "I mean just everyone thinks he's gonna be the next heir doesn't mean he can boss everyone around like he owns the place!"

That's what really grabbed Hiccup's attention. "Wait, what do you mean? You're the child of the chief, aren't you? Doesn't that mean you're gonna be in charge? Don't tell me you're engaged to him or something."

"OH GODS, DON'T EVEN JOKE ABOUT THAT!" She screamed in disgust as she punched Hiccup in the arm and knocked him to the ground. She quickly helped him back up afterwards, but Hiccup was still wincing – that punch hurt almost as much as one of Astrid's. "Oh my thor! You okay!? I am so, so sorry!" She apologized in a hurry.

"No, pretty sure I am. Don't worry, I'm okay." Hiccup confirmed, still holding his arm and rubbing it to ease the lingering pain. "Obviously there's no love lost between you two."

"You got that right. It's like that guy was born a jerk, but no one doubts that he's got the skills when it comes to fighting dragons and keeping things calm. That's why everyone sees him as a shoo-in for the next chief. I may be the chief's kid, but I'm also a girl, and well, the day Selardalr accepts a woman as its leader is the day my dad sprouts dragon wings and flies." She joked.

As far as Hiccup knew, there was only one female chief in all of the Archipelago – Big-Boobied Bertha, the leader of the Bog Burglars, a tribe of thieves. As far as all the other islands went, well it was like Syn had just said. There was no doubt that women could be powerful warriors if Astrid was any such example, but leadership was a position usually reserved for men. Men had the strength and the level-headedness needed to run a tribe, whereas women, according to his uncle Spitelout, women would just prattle on and on about the stupidest things, if his late mother was any such example. They could still join fights, but aside from that, a woman's place was a domestic one, in the home, cooking and looking after the little ones.

"It's not the first time that subject's been brought up, actually," she continued. "Father said I could still be a chief's wife by marrying Raoul, but the idea of living under the same roof with that guy, or worse, carrying his children…" She puffed up her cheeks and placed a hand to her mouth to hold back the threat of vomit, she felt completely sick to her stomach, the idea was so appalling.

"Okay, moving on," Hiccup said; he really liked the girl and putting unpleasant thoughts in her head he figured was not the best way to get on her good side. "What about that acquaintance friend of yours?" Hiccup asked. "What was his name? Leaf or Leif?"

"Leif," Syn corrected. "He's pretty cool. He's different like me, so he doesn't have a lot of friends either. But like I told you yesterday, he takes the phrase 'loner' to a whole new level. He lives at the edge of the village all on his own and hardly ever leaves his house." She placed her hands inside her coat-pockets as she continued. "I mean, I talk to him every now and again, but he's not exactly good for conversation."

"You say all this like you're not on good terms with anyone," Hiccup observed. "I mean, you're a pretty friendly girl as far as I can see. Don't you have even one real friend here?" Even Toothless wondered that as he turned to look at the girl his boy seemed so comfortable with.

Syn seemed to blush at that complement – for whatever reason, the comment hit her hard. It was true to some degree, but she at least had people to talk to over the years – being in such a tight-knit community will force people to do that. Hiccup didn't even have that, even though his village was pretty much the same. "There was one person, this girl named Juliane. She and her father came here a long time ago after her father was banished from their original tribe. But Juliane hardly ever comes out of her house now. I think her dad is going through some sort of fatherly over-protection phase because I know he's the one forcing Juliane to stay in. So, yeah, no real friends anymore."

Hiccup didn't respond. Everything seemed so similar to Berk – there were people, and there were dragons, there were buildings and weapons, and there were common links between all of them. But listening to all these descriptions of the people, Hiccup came across a profound realization: though all the people sounded similar to others he knew back on Berk, nearly all these people they talked about had some similar aspect to him, like they were pieces of himself. Sven's submissiveness, Leif's solitude, Juliane's conditions with her father. And then of course, there was Syn the Dreamer, the village outcast of sorts – it didn't seem like all that much of a stretch from Hiccup the Useless. Hiccup was looking at different aspects of his life from someone else's point of view and quite frankly, it was scary. Roll all these traits together, increase them tenfold, and he had to wonder just how he had gotten through all those years.

"Eh, either way," Syn said, dropping the subject altogether. "Come on! Let's go check out the Killing Ring! Father said that that's where you're gonna be helping us train dragons!" Syn then grabbed Hiccup by the arm again and dragged him away, with Toothless galloping after them.

"Wh-Wha-Wait just a! What do you mean… can I just-!" Hiccup continued to stutter the whole way over. Just what had he been thrown into?..

TO BE CONTINUED.............