"We still need a new table."

"I know, mom," Hiccup replied, brushing a cloud of dust off Toothless' back.

"It has been two days since it was broken, by your dragon, no less." Valka dipped a cloth in a basin of water, wringing it out.

"I know, and I will fix it." Hiccup exchanged his brush for the cloth and proceeded to run it down Toothless' shiny black scales. "Just, not right now."

"Son, when it comes to building furniture, you are Chief Hiccup the procrastinator." Placing the brush on the ground beside a small bowl filled to the rim with salmon, Valka took the bowl of fish and stepped in front of Toothless. The dragon's pupils expanded exponentially, looking from the bowl to Valka and licking his lips.

"Well I don't have the—Toothless, stay still!—wood for it." 

Valka placed the empty bowl back on the icy floor. "Then go get some."

"It will be too heavy for Toothless to carry." Toothless turned to look at his rider, snorting in Hiccup's face.

"Hiccup, we have an entire arsenal of dragons who can help you. You just don't want to fetch the wood from Berk." Hiccup sighed. "You don't have to talk to anyone, just take a few trees off the far side of the island."

"Alright. I'll take a timberjack and a few shockjaws."

"Thank you, Hiccup."

After packing Toothless' saddlebag, Hiccup gave his mother a hug.

"Stay safe," Valka said through the embrace.

"I will. We will be back before sundown." Valka kissed her son on the cheek and waved as he put his mask on and took off towards the one place he fled all those years ago.

***

The small pack of dragons sped across the ocean heading due South. The blue of the waters became more saturated the farther they went, appearing more and more inviting. Gliding just above the water, Toothless glanced back at his rider and without warning, plunged into the water. Emerging seconds later, Hiccup coughed and took off his mask, breathing in oxygen. After hours of flying, a dip in the ocean was heavenly. At that moment, the other four dragons in their company followed Toothless' example and dove, spraying Hiccup and Toothless upon submersion. One of the shockjaws had a fish in it's mouth when it resurfaced, which was noticed by the others. In a short amount of time, all three shockjaws were fighting over the fish, distracted from their mission.

"Hey, uh, guys, we have to get going." Hiccup's words were lost in a cacaphony of roars and grumbles as the dragons stole the fish from each other. Toothless noticed Hiccup's exasperation and let out a deafening roar, gaining the attention of the shockjaws. Toothless gestured South with his head, grumbling to the other dragons. The dragon holding the fish swallowed it before it could be taken away from him, and continued flying South, followed by the other two dragons. Hiccup sighed in relief.

"Thanks, bud."

Toothless rumbled a response.

Looking around, Hiccup realized something. "Toothless, where is the timberjack we had with us?"

The pair glanced around, nothing in view except the shrinking shockjaws and the water. Suddenly, a splash came from behind them. They turned to see the timberjack with a mouth full of fish.

"Alright, no more detours, let's just get the wood." Toothless and the timberjack flew to catch up with the shockjaws.

A few minutes later, Toothless' ears flattened and he growled.

"What is it, bud?" Toothless growled and angled his head slightly to the left. Hiccup strained his eyes to see what had caught his dragon's attention. After a minute, a small black dot appeared on the water. "Is that a ship, Toothless?" The night fury growled. "Lead the other dragons to the cover of the clouds. We are entering waters that are riddled with shipping lanes." Toothless obeyed, flapping up through the clouds until an ocean of white dipped and curled below them.

When Berk finally entered their sight through a break in the clouds, the sun was just past it's apex. A subtle feeling overcame Hiccup, like a weight on his chest, but he pushed it away. He had a job to do, no time for feelings. Angling away from the inhabited side of the island, Hiccup and his dragons lessened their altitude and scoped out the area. Hiccup looked through his spyglass at a heavily forested area of the island.

"It doesn't look like anyone's there. Perfect. Okay, Toothless, here's the plan. The timberjack will swoop in and slice the first row of tree trunks with his wing. Then he has to retreat to the cover of the clouds. His wings are large and will attract unwanted attention. Then the shockjaws will head in, grouping the trees into threes. Hey, that rhymed, haha! Then, you will take me down to tie the trees together with the rope I brought. The bundles will be retrieved by the shockjaws and you, Toothless, and we fly home."

Toothless shook his head in understanding and grumbled to the other dragons.

Hiccup replaced his spyglass in the saddlebag and got out a few lengths of rope. He then gestured to the timberjack to begin the plan. Hiccup knew something was wrong the minute the trees were felled and the timberjack remained on the ground. He would look back on this moment in the future, wishing he had aborted the mission. But he did not. He motioned for the shockjaws to do their jobs and he and Toothless plummetted to the ground to tie up the trees. Hiccup jumped off Toothless and ran to the first bundle of trees, the shockjaw holding them together for Hiccup to tie. He finished knotting the two lengths of rope and hurried to the next one, grabbing more rope from Toothless' saddlebag on the way. While he was tying the first knot on this set of logs, he took note of the first shockjaw taking off with the wood and flying North. He finished the second bundle and turned to see six trees still scattered on the forest floor, the third shockjaw and the timberjack nowhere in sight. This too should have put Hiccup on alert, but instead, he wrote it off as 'dragons being dragons' and had Toothless gather the remaining two bundles for him to tie. Once he was finished, he hopped onto Toothless.

"Let's go find those dragons and maybe they will actually listen this time and do their job." Toothless rumbled in agreement, and the pair took off, remaining just above the trees. "They couldn't have gotten far." Toothless suddenly dove to the right, crashing through several trees and scaring the living daylights out of Hiccup. "What was that for?" he asked once they came to a stop on the forest floor.

Toothless responded by crouching and baring his teeth, his pupils sharpening. Hiccup knew better than to speak, allowing his dragon's senses to extend past him and into the forest. Toothless shot a plasma blast into the forest, and seconds later a shout could be heard.

"Ouch! Sweet mother of Thor, that hurts!" Hiccup's eyes widened. Toothless shot forward, entering a small clearing about the size of Cloudjumper's wingspan, and pounced on something standing in the centre. Hearing a whimper come from beneath his dragon, Hiccup realized it was the man that had spoken before. Glancing around, Hiccup noticed the third shockjaw trapped under a metal net. Jumping off Toothless, he ran to free the dragon. He pulled the net off, and the shockjaw took to the sky, heading North. Turning back to his dragon, he saw the man watching him from beneath the night fury. Hiccup lifted a hand to his face, relieved to find his mask still in place. Not that the man would recognize him, of course. Hiccup had changed from the lanky, weak person he was before escaping his terrible life. Hiccup took a step toward the man as Toothless placed a clawed paw on the man's chest to keep him from moving.

"Wh-who are you?" the Berkian stuttered. Hiccup smiled to himself, relishing in the role reversal. No longer was he the one cowering in fear. No longer did Berk have power over him. He was free.

"No one of your concern," Hiccup said, deepening his voice slightly. "Why did you trap that dragon?" Toothless punctuated his sentence with a low growl.

"I-it's just a sport, I-I was gonna let it go-"

"Don't make me laugh." Hiccup knew the man was going to kill the shockjaw, even if he wouldn't admit it. Hiccup knew the nature of these people. "Where did you take my timberjack?" The man's eyes widened.

"I-I don't know what you're talking about-"

"My timberjack and my shockjaw go missing and here I find you with my shockjaw. Therefore, you must have taken my timberjack as well. Now I am only going to ask you one more time. Where. Is. My. Dragon?" Toothless began charging his plasma blast as a scare tactic.

"I sent it with my buddy to the arena to put in a cage with the other dragons please don't hurt me!" The man spit out his words in a rush, struggling against Toothless' claw on his chest.

"Was that so hard? Now, you are going to go back to your village and not breathe a word of this meeting to anyone, or I will personally seal your fate. You understand?" The man nodded frantically. "Good. Now get out of my sight." The second Toothless released him, he sprinted into the forest, creating a ruckus that sent terrible terrors flying off in all directions.

Toothless looked at Hiccup, a question in his eyes. Hiccup looked toward the inhabited side of the island.

"Well, bud, it looks like we won't make it back before sundown after all. Let's go get our dragon back."