The Dragon Princess

Prepping for a Surprise

Hiccup's P.O.V.

"So, have you told your aunt about this?"

Jack cringes at the question. Ever since his aunt started caring for him, she's been a bit overprotective. She's also been adamant about ensuring he followed a certain path, leading him to a successful career. From what I've been told, she's expecting him to go to college to get the best job ever. I don't believe she's going to be too happy with his decision to stay.

"No, I haven't," he responds, "I don't even know how it's going to go. I don't even know how I'll tell her while I'm here."

"You're right, telling her isn't going to be easy but you do need to tell her you're not returning home," I explain.

"Do I though? I'm pretty sure she'd be able to figure it out on her own," he says, taking a bite of his muffin. I raise an eyebrow at him causing him to groan. How do I tell her while I'm here? I can't exactly write her a letter and expect it to arrive before the summer ends."

"Who says you have to write a letter?"

He looks at me confused. "Maybe the fact that we can't use our phones while we're here? Don't you remember them telling you that once we arrived?"

I chuckle, surprised he doesn't remember the exact words the informationist gave us when we arrived. His confusion only rises with a little bit of annoyance. He definitely doesn't remember what they said.

"Jack, they said we were allowed to use our phones inside our home. We couldn't have them out in front of everyone. We needed to show them that we were respecting their ways," I explain.

"Wait," he says, absorbing my words, "We can use our phones?"

I nod only for him to widen his eyes in excitement. The excitement doesn't last long though when he realizes what he's now able to do. His features change almost instantly as he slouches on the workbench. If I didn't know any better, he's already thinking of how to tell his aunt he's not coming home. I stay in silence to let him think through his thoughts. If I ever needed to, I would tell his aunt he wasn't coming back when I returned but that wouldn't be right. She needs to hear it from him and he needs to tell her. We both know how excited she was when he was accepted into a college. Now he has to tell her that he won't be going.

"Now what am I going to do? I may have the ability to call her now but how am I supposed to tell her I'm not returning? It's different when you can write a letter and send it out to the open but now she's going to hear it from my mouth." He throws his hands up in the air, frustrated with his new dilemma. "Why can't you just tell her for me? She loves you."

"Jack," I start, "You know I can't do that. You have to be the person to tell her. I can be with you if you want but you need to say it. She needs to hear it from you. She'll understand your reasoning for it better too when you're the one to say it."

"Fine..." He mumbles. He crosses his arms and looks to the side, probably debating on what to do next.

I watch him for a moment before returning to my project. I grab the smallest woodcarving tool available and start carving away at the handle. I do my best to be as delicate as possible so I don't end up carving away more wood than necessary. When Astrid holds this, I want it to be comfortable. Meaning she won't feel any sharp edges while she trains. At the same time though, I want her to know that this was custom-made for her and her alone.

A ring of the bell catches my attention. I lift up my gaze to the entrance to see a blonde hair beauty standing at the windowed counter. I quickly set my tools down and get up from my workstation before making my way to the window. Jack gives me a grin as I walk past him. I simply ignore and focus on the beauty before me. Stopping at the counter, I lean against it and give her my best smile.