I looked around the courtyard. There were many people. Regular skinned and many colored people to. I sat behind a tree and had just caught the end of the conversation. "... Got here?" There was a positive answer and my eyes widened. Paint! I raced around the tree. "Paintsplash!"

Paintsplash looked up from Toothless's shoulder. Her cheeks, despite being wet with tears, turned bright red as I stared at her and Toothless. "E-Echogreen?"

I nod. "Yeah, it's me. What's--" I was cut off as I saw someone else walk over to our trio.

He was gold colored, with a black diamond on his forehead. His eyes were gold, and his hair was blue. He had a blue swirl on his neck. He was wearing a white shirt, and a brownish pair of shorts with black sneakers. His hair was like Toothless's: longish. Paintsplash allowed Toothless to help her stand up, holding his hand. She eyed the kid approaching them.

"Who is that?" I asked again 

Toothless gestured to the gold kid. "This is my little brother, Diamondspirit," he said.

Diamondspirit frowned. "I'm only two hours younger than you, so shut up."

Toothless grinned. "Yeah, whatever, Golden Joy. You also have like four sisters between you and I."

I tried not to smirk. But really ... "Do y'all act like this all the time?"

Paintsplash giggled, despite the tears running down her cheeks. "Y-yes, Echogreen."

We all stood there in awkward silence for a bit. I broke the silence. "So I learned that I was the daughter of Echolocation." I said this as casually as I could.

Toothless's eyes widened. Paintsplash simply looked thoroughly lost. Diamondspirit eyed me with admiration and what looked like flirtation.

"Sooooooooooooooooooooo," I drew out the word. "Erm ... Who is she, exactly?" 

Toothless stared at me. "She....she was the best headmaster of the academy," he said slowly. "She earned respect from around the world, and literally made history with her magic abilities."

"Wait, what?!" I asked, confused.

"Yes."

"So then that would explain ... Hmmm." I got slightly distracted by Toothless' brother. "So ... Um ... That would explain, never mind." I turned my eyes away sullenly.

Diamondspirit couldn't take his eyes off Echogreen, even when Toothless waved a hand in his face. "Dude, quit staring. Don't you know that's not how to get a girl's admiration?"

I blushed. Admiration?

Diamondspirit gave Toothless a distracted glance. "Huh?" Paintsplash rolled her eyes, her tears dried. Toothless chuckled.

"What?" I had never gotten the attention of any boys before. This was all new to me.

Paintsplash smiled. "Echogreen, I think you have someone who likes you." Diamondspirit turned beet red.

I blushed. This was getting uncomfortable.

Upon seeing me blush, Diamondspirit looked at the ground, turning an even more hilarious shade of red.

There was an awkward silence. Finally Toothless broke in. "So ... I guess this is what love is?" He smirked and pulled Paintsplash closer. I glared at him and Diamonspirit blushed even harder, and Paintsplash did as well. Paintsplash smiled meekly, and Toothless winked at his brother. "We'll let you two get acquainted," he grinned, walking off hand in hand with Paintsplash.

Both of us looked at the ground for awhile. I finally looked up. "I'm, er, I'm Echogreen."

Diamondspirit jumped. "H-hi. I'm Diamondspirit."

There was another awkward silence. "So ... What are your interests?"

"Uh....I deliver mail all over campus.....and I like to read.....I spend most of my time in the library," Diamondspirit said. "Usually I'm down there to read, but sometimes I'm down there to hide from my raging oldest sister Featherwar, or escape Starrynight's teasing, or avoid Dizzy's constant inquiries about her appearance. When I'm down there for those reasons, my youngest sister, Ashenpeace, is with me."

"So I take it that you're the brunt of teasing and stuff?"

"Yeah, Ash and I." He grinned.

I smiled warmly. "So, what's there to do around here? Could you maybe give me a tour?"

Diamondspirit blushed, but nodded. "I'd love to," he said.

I grinned. "Great! So ... how long have you been here?" I asked as we started to walk around the school.

"I started with the rest of my siblings. That was three years ago."

"Huh. Interesting. I just kinda showed up here today ..." I trailed off. "But anywhosel. What is this place?" I blushed. "Erm, I mean, um ..."

Diamondspirit laughed shyly.

I blushed. What am I? Reduced to a piling thing of emotional mess? The sun lowered in what seemed quicker than on Berk.

Diamondspirit patted his thighs awkwardly, looking around the campus. "Soooo...."

"Yes?" I asked, something like a smile on my face. A cold wind chose that moment to tear through our clothes. I stumbled.

On a reflex, Diamondspirit grabbed my hand and pulled me up. He quickly let go and blushed.

I blushed too. "Well ... That was slightly awkward."

"Slightly? Ha!," Diamondspirit laughed. "Understatement of the century."

I blushed again. I'll bet my face is redder than an angry Monstrous Nightmare. "Well. Um, yeah. I guess it was." We paused for a few seconds. "Well! it's cold out here! should we go in?" I shivered. My dress wasn't meant for cold. I don't think I was even meant for dresses.

Diamondspirit grinned shyly and nodded. "Y-yeah, I guess." As we walked, he noticed me shiver. "Here," he said, handing me his jacket.

I blinked as he handed me his jacket. "But, but then you'll be cold. And, anyway, we're here at the school doors." I took the handle of the door and pulled. It's a push, Echo. Can't you read? You're making yourself look like a fool. I blushed again. "It says push ... not pull, right?"

Diamondspirit laughed quietly. "Y-yeah. It does." He smiled, and the way he grinned made my heart flutter.

I looked down at the ground for awhile. "In the event of keeping things up awkward, what do you plan on doing with your life?"

"I don't know. I guess.....I guess I'll be one of Hiccup's staff once he becomes mayor of the city. Just like Toothless plans to do."
Mayor? Staff? I wondered. "Hiccup's going to become mayor? What about Stoick?" I assumed that a mayor was a type of chief.

"Stoick's the current mayor, and a general. Hiccup is next in line, and Stoick keeps pestering him about becoming mayor and marrying Astrid," Diamondspirit informed.

"So there's a Hiccstrid here too?" The term felt funny in my mouth. I had heard Paint rage on and on about it, but I never interupted. You can learn a lot from an angry Night Fury.

"Hiccstrid?" Diamondspirit looked thoroughly confused. "What, exactly, is that?"

"I actually don't know. I know that it applies to Hiccup and Astrid I think Paint said it was a shipping name, though where they were going to go ship themselves, I have no idea."

Diamondspirit smiled. "She likes to rant on about that stuff;," he grinned, "Toothless told me so, though I have no idea why."

I shrugged. "So I'm going to change the subject. Where do y'all live?"

"Currently, on campus," Diamondspirit shrugged. "But, my mom and dad live in a rather large house--it's like, a mansion--close to the courthouse. In fact, Hiccup can walk to my house from his."

"That's ... wow. A mansion? wow." The fact was, I didn't know what a mansion was.

"It's huge! It's got like twenty bedrooms!"

"Wow. That's a whole lot of sleeping space."

"Yeah, mostly cuz my great grandparents used to be the mayoral couple of the city. Then they passed it on to Hiccup's grandfather, who let Stoick win the next election, and now Stoick has made it a law in the city that only descendants of his can become mayor or whomever those descendants chose." He seemed very excited about sharing all this information with me.

"Oh wow, interesting! And you want to become part of his staff?"

"Yeah!," Diamondspirit said giddily. "Gobber is, and he's totally awesome with that stuff! I mean, yeah, he's like the city's mechanic, saddleworker, war veteran, and the college medic, but he also works with the mayor! And, when the new one comes (Hiccup), he gets to choose his own staff! He'll definitely choose Toothless and Gobber, but I hope he chooses me as well! I'm kinda tired of packing around mail. And then, by the time Hiccup's mayor, he and Astrid will probably be married, and then she can help him too!"

"That sounds amazing. I wish you the best of luck." I smiled.

He blushed slightly, obviously becoming more confident around Echogreen. "Thanks."

I smiled. "So what's wrong with your job now? Why do you want to be with Hiccup?"

He sighed. "It's just........Toothless always gets the coolest jobs, the coolest gadgets, the coolest reputation...heck, he's got the coolest friend in the city! I'd give anything just to be noticed!," Diamondspirit snapped. "If I got a job with the new mayor, a guy who, at the age of fourteen, helped residents at a burning hotel escape the fire and survived a coma that followed shortly along with losing his leg, killed two of the city's worst enemies, saved the city from a clan of rogues, changed our arch enemy into an ally, etc, I'd be one of the most recognized people in the city!" He stared at the ground furiously. "All I am now is a lowly, letter-delivering nobody."

I looked at the boy as he furiously spat out his problems. "You're not a nobody," I said softly. "You're a someboy. You're important. I'm sure Toothless would hate what's going on with you if you told him. I bet you haven't."

He looked at Echogreen, biting his lip so hard it drew a little blood. "I've tried telling him. He's always just too busy to listen. And when he's not busy, he's either hanging out with Hiccup or having a date with Paintsplash."

"Well ... do you have any other friends to talk to?" I asked, concern written on my face.

"Only a couple. But they're just those 'I like you because I benefit from you' people, constantly giving me the honey and the hachet," Diamondspirit scowled.

I made an unintelligible noise. "I hate people like that."

He nodded.

"Yeah, so, I guess this is goodbye, for now. I've got to find a place to stay." I make an apologetic look.

Diamondspirit nodded. He suddenly looked like he was about to say something, but stopped himself and scratched the back of his neck. "Yeah, I guess so. And, if you need somewhere to stay, just ask the staff at the front office what your dorm number is. If they don't have one open, there's a hotel down the street I could walk you to."

I smiled. "All righty! Well ... See you tomorrow?"

"Yeah. And, if there's no dorms and you want someone to show you to the hotel, I'll be out here," Diamondspirit said. He looked very hopefull at the prospect of me not having a room.

I smiled. "All right then." I walked back to the main room and was told where my dorm was. 3318. Huh. I walked back out and looked at Diamondspirit. "Well ... I have a dorm ... 3318 .... And I dunno where that is."

Diamondspirit looked delighted, though he tried to hide it. "I'll help you find it."

I smiled. "Thanks."