Hiccup's Secret

Part 12~New teen on Berk

We slowly landed in the cove, tried beyond relief. Avery looked a mix of exhaustion and complete terror. I had a feeling he hadn't ever come to land safely before, I was unsure whether to just or not.

I kept whispering to him, keeping him calm. He did not trust the other dragons or the riders. At least he hasn't attacked anyone yet.

"Hiccup, we need to get back to the village, the other will get suspicious if we are not there," Gobber said cautiously.

I looked at Avery, who was currently snarling at a small bird.

"I think it might be better for me to stay here. Tell dad I'm doing some overnight training or something," I said quickly before going to Avery and dragging him away from the bird he was having a staring contest with. "Avery, this is my home, Berk."

"It's very... dirty," Avery insulted while sniffing the ground. "Toothy lives here doesn't he?"

"Yes, Toothless lived in this cave. Mum and the riders also live here every so often during their trips. I use it as a place to stay when I don't feel like being in the village." I walked to the timber stack and made a small pile in the fire pit. Setting alight with my fire.

Avery was still looking around, Heather had sat down upon a bed, Windshear curling on her rock. Toothless lit his bed on fire before curling up.

The sudden purple flame caused Avery to jump back and start hissing at Toothless who ignored him.

"Do you prefer a rock or a bed?" I walked up to Avery, taking his attention off my brother.

"What's a bed?" Avery tilted his head sideway to show his confusion as I shook my head.

I gently motioned for him to follow me to the bed I often used when dad would annoy me too much. He could have used the other beds, like mum's or Eret's but I had a feeling he would not like to sleep on a bed with an unfamiliar scent and so my would be the most appropriate.

I climbed onto the bed, hitting back onto my hindlegs as Avery followed me. He looked slightly surprised at the half decent bed, pushing down on it.

"You sleep on it," I explained, hopping off the bed in the plan on going to Eret's bed which was the closest.

"Where are you going?" Avery's voice sounded slightly distressed which worried me.

"It's okay. I am just going to another bed," I said sweetily, climbing onto Eret's bed. "See?"

"But this bed smells of you, that bed doesn't. What if the owner returns and is mad at you for sleeping on his bed?" Avery watched me carefully, before looking at the exit.

"It's okay Avery. I know Eret, the owner of this bed, we are friends. He does not mind me using his bed, like I don't mind you using mine." I let out a yawn before curling up on the bed, lifting the sheet over me as I laid on my front, my head rested in my paws and swung my legs to one side, covering them with my wing.

I could hear that Avery didn't move for a few minutes before copying my actions, finding a comfortable position for himself. He lay his heads on his paws but slept on his side, keeping both wings ducked up on his back. He was half curled into a ball but not to the point it looked like it was uncomfortable or for protection. Finally, his tail came around him, managing to reach his head and fall off the bed.

I noticed that he hadn't put the cover over himself and so slowly stood up. When I arrived, his breath had evened out and it was clear he was sleeping. I sighed before grabbing the spare cover and placing it over his body. I gently moved a standoff hair out of his eyes before sighing.

I want to help him but I have no idea how. I am the only one he trusts and I have no idea how I am meant to deal with this. At least he isn't trying to kill us.

What am I going to do?

Sighing, I went back to sleep. I'll deal with this tomorrow.

I jumped awake when I heard a series of loud roars. Snapping my eyes open I looked around, finding Avery growling in the corner in a defensive position, in front of him was a small blue bird.

Groaning, I fell backward into bed. "Why don't you like birds?"

"What's a bird?" Avery tilted his head at me before growling back at the bird who let out a small tweet.

"The thing you are growling at is a bird," I explained while rubbing the sleep dust out of my eyes.

Avery seemed confused before leaning close to the ground, now confused by what I said. "But, that is a dragon. A small dragon but a dragon nonetheless."

I couldn't help but laugh at what he said. He seemed to get angry that I was laughing at him as he growled and shot a fireball at me. Yelping, I fell to the side, dodging the fireball.

The bird looked startled and flew off.

"That was a bird," I stated before going over to my chest. I pulled out a piece of paper before returning to Avery's side.

I quickly sketched a Terrible Terror and a bird.

"While both dragons and birds have wings, Dragon wings are covered in scales and bird wings are covered in feathers. Dragons tend to have four legs with paws and claws while birds have two and they have three talons. Dragon faces and rounder tend to have noticeable ears. Birds have beaks and most do not have noticeable ears. Dragon tails are much longer than bird tails. Finally, most dragons have the gas gland located about here where gas builds up and can be released at the dragon's command. They also have a spark ability that makes the gas catch on fire. Birds do not have this," I explained in detail while drawing the pictures to go along with it.

Avery gave me a weird look before sniffing the paper. "Where did you learn to do that?"

"To draw? Dad made sure I could, that way I could document any dragons I came across in my later life. I could teach you. And I can teach you how to read and write," I said excitedly. "Wait, can you speak Norse?"

Avery tilted his head. "is that the weird language those humans speak?" I laughed and nodded my head. "I know some things but not well, I know Greek."

I tilted my head in confusion. "What's Greek?"

"It's the language I used to talk, now I usually talk dragon speech," Avery explained as I gave him a soft smile.

"It's called dragonease." I explained happily, "could you teach me Greek?"

"I think so..."

I jumped up in excitement and brought Avery into a hug.

"Hey! What are you doing?!" Avery tried to push me away, startled.

"it's called a hug Avery," I said with a laugh. "It's nice right?"

"No..."

I sighed, pulling back as he didn't seem to like the hug.

"I didn't say stop!"

Laughing, I pulled him back into a hug. This was going to be a long few weeks.