The crowd gathered around his hut confirmed what Astrid had told me. Everyone had stopped their work for the time being, but that made complete sense. Hiccup stared out at the scene in front of him, his eyes wide and jaw dropped with a mix of confusion and awe. Given his state, he had absolutely no clue that we'd made peace, so I could imagine how shocking everything must've looked to him. At the moment, his father, Gobber, and Toothless were the only ones who could get close to him, but that was probably for the best for the time being. It wouldn't be good to overwhelm him while he was still adjusting.

Unable to fight down my curiosity, I looked down toward Hiccup's foot, my breath hitching once I caught sight of it. What had once been flesh was replaced with a wooden base, tied against Hiccup's leg to keep the metal replacement for a foot in place. When he put weight onto it, the rectangular metal piece moved down toward the actual foot part, allowing it to function not unlike the original limb. It suited him pretty well, actually, but would still take some getting used to.

"Turns out, all we needed was a little more this," Chief Stoick mused, waving his hand over Hiccup's entire body.

"You just gestured to all of me." A little smile crossed his face. I felt a warm surge in my chest at the new meaning of those words.

"Well, most of you," Gobber cut in. "That bit's my handiwork." He pointed down to the peg leg. "With a little Hiccup flair thrown in. You think it'll do?"

Hiccup glanced down at the device, getting a good look at the way it worked.

"I might make a few tweaks." Relieved, the crowd let out a collective laugh.

Suddenly, I felt completely overwhelmed emotionally. Without really thinking, I pushed past everyone else and stepped up beside Hiccup. I just went with my instincts, which led to me punching him in the shoulder. Unsurprisingly, he cried out.

"That's for scaring me," I snapped, causing him to whip around and glare at me.

"What, is it always going to be this way?" he demanded. "'Cause— "

Before he could finish his sentence, I reached forward, grabbing a fistful of his tunic so I could pull him close to me and press my lips against his, confessing the thing I'd been hiding for the past couple of weeks.

"—I could get used to it," Hiccup shrugged, clearly fighting down a dumbfounded, dorky smile.

With the moment over, I suddenly became very aware that a large crowd had just seen all of that. My cheeks began to burn, and my eyes were determined to look at the ground below my feet.

"You should thank her," Chief Stoick suggested, attempting to save things. "This is all thanks to het." He gestured out toward the village.

"This..." Hiccup smiled at me again. "You did...?"

"I had to think a lot about what you would do," I shrugged, attempting to shake the attention off. "Technically, none of this would've been possible if it weren't for you. But... it's starting to get overwhelming."

"Maybe you'd want some help?" Hiccup offered.

I outstretched a hand.

"Together?"

With just a second of hesitation, he shook it.

"Together." Another thought popped into my head. "Once you're feeling one-hundred percent, of course."

"She also helped with this."

Breaking us apart again, Gobber passed Hiccup the new tail fin for Toothless—the thing he'd been working on.

I was just about to encourage him to rest again, when thundering footsteps suddenly came leaping out from the hut.

"Night Fury!" someone warned.

"Get down!"

Toothless jumped over the last of the villagers in the way of Hiccup, then stared at him with wide, eager green eyes.

I expected to get back to work, maybe catch Hiccup up on everything, but instead, Hiccup set Toothless' tail fin and saddle in place, climbed up onto his dragon, and extended his hand down to me.

Care to take a break and join me on a flight?"

When I took his hand, a small pang of sadness struck me. I'd been trying my best not to think about Amethyst, or the gap she'd left in my life. But, given that we didn't know anything beyond my first name, I decided to make hers my middle one in remembrance.

"We'll find you a dragon," Hiccup assured me, basically reading my mind. "Now, you ready?"

How could I say no?

This is Berk. It snows nine months of the year, and hails the other three. Any food that grows here is tough and tasteless. The people that grow here are even more so. The only upsides are the pets. While other places have ponies or parrots, we have...

...dragons.