686Chapter 9: Acceptance
Acceptance
Hiccup and Toothless paused outside the barn while considering it. The wooden structure was definitely not the sturdiest building in the Shire and it was not glamorous at all, but it was a roof that could go over one of their heads. It was also one of the only buildings large enough to comfortably house a dragon. Perhaps best of all, it was not that far from Bag-end itself.
"Wwwwwhat do you think... Master Toothless? It's not much, but it's the best we have for you," Samwise Gamgee meekly explained.
Toothless turned to Sam and hummed softly to him with a dip of his head.
"You and your kin have my thanks. This will be my den now."
Sam grinned widely at that, and then he glanced over at Frodo.
"We helped to clean it up for you! Got all the old tools and hay out of it," Frodo explained.
Toothless strolled inside the barn, looked around, and then considered the dirt on the ground. It was clean but not warm, so he flamed the dirt for several seconds and then curled up on the smoking ground. An actual rock to lay his belly on would be better, but this was good enough for now.
"Oh my, he really does breathe fire!" Sam exclaimed in a mix of amazement and worry.
Sam looked very bashful and nervous about continuing, so Hiccup thought to encourage him.
"Yup, he is a real dragon, after all!" Hiccup chuckled.
"Yes, about that... begging your pardon, Master Toothless..." Sam began.
"You really don't need to call him that..." Hiccup bemoaned.
Toothless dismissively waved a paw at him.
"Sam, do not listen to Hiccup... that name is a very good one for me," Toothless grinned toothily at Hiccup.
Hiccup stuck his tongue out in retaliation.
"Uh, as I was saying... Master Toothless, do you eat anything more than fish?" Sam worriedly asked.
"Yes, I do. No Hobbit though!" Toothless chuckled.
"What about human?" Hiccup teased.
"Nope. Not them either. Vikings... maybe," Toothless barked.
Hiccup rolled his eyes.
"Good thing there are no Vikings here then!"
The joke was lost on Sam, although Frodo understood and chuckled with them. Sam spoke up again after the hilarity died down.
"Alright. I will see about getting my old Gaffer out here tomorrow. Toothless, I'm sure that we can arrange something to get you more than only fish to eat."
Frodo then stepped forward and lay a hand on Sam's shoulder.
"I think we should be on our way now, Sam. I'm sure that they want to get some rest after a long day of fighting ghosts," Frodo said.
Both Hobbits nodded politely to them and then departed.
"Frodo had a good idea. I want to sleep now," Toothless said and yawned widely.
Hiccup frowned, considered his options for an instant, and decided that he knew where he was going to rest.
"If you don't mind, I will sleep here in the barn tonight."
Toothless blinked in surprise.
"After all," Hiccup chuckled, "someone has to protect you from the vicious Hobbits who might try to make you into a rug or a cloak."
Toothless huffed and rolled his eyes.
"Good, someone should do that. Do you know who will be protecting me?"
Hiccup shot him a withering glare.
Hiccup looked out from the protective, enclosed space under the leathery wing. It was very dark, being well past sundown, and he did not feel like falling asleep after the dramatic and terrifying events of the day. Neither did Toothless, apparently, given that he was also still awake, his green eyes wide open and staring off into the distance.
"Can't sleep?" Hiccup whispered.
Toothless looked around to face him and lay his head down on the ground.
"I was just thinking about what that not-dead thing was. And about this place where we are welcome now."
Hiccup leaned against Toothless's side and felt very at ease. The only sounds, other than their calm breaths, were the regular noises of the creatures of the night. He still felt a chill inside and almost shivered at the memory of the wight and what it had done to him.
"Not sure I want to think about that wight-thing. However, these Hobbits are... amazing people. They are very peaceful and live with the land. I'm still surprised that they don't care much about your being a dragon."
Thoughtful purring followed.
"Maybe the only dragons they know of are in stories, and I am not like those ones."
Then Toothless chuckled softly.
"Or maybe the only dragons they have met are those exploding ones from the party."
"I don't know either. I'm just happy that they are letting us stay."
"Speaking of that, you did not need to stay here in this den with me. You could rest up in Frodo's den."
Hiccup yawned widely, finally feeling some of the exhaustion starting to catch up to him.
"True, and I will admit that sleeping in a bed and under the warm blankets is comfier than sleeping on the dirt. But I wanted to spend this, our first night of peace with these people, with you, bro."
Toothless hummed softly and lay the wing over him again.
"And someone has to protect you when the Hobbits come to get you!"
They both laughed heartily.
Indistinct voices mingled in the morning light.
"See, told you so..."
"Well, he made it..."
"Guess it wasn't that hungry after all..."
"Pip! Come on, you know Toothless wouldn't do that!"
"Is it..."
"Is he..."
"Right... Is he really a toothless dragon?"
Toothless seemingly chose that exact moment to wake up, getting to his feet and stretching his limbs and tail. He also made a show of rolling his jaws and showing off his impressive assortment of very sharp teeth.
"Oh, nope..." "Didn't think so..."
Hiccup also got to his feet and greeted the Hobbits who had opened the barn door. All three of them were familiar to him.
"Frodo, good morning!" Hiccup yawned.
Frodo beamed very widely at the greeting.
"Mister Haddock, Master Toothless, good morning indeed!"
"Frodo, who are these two new Hobbits?" Toothless asked.
"Well, go on. Introduce yourselves..." Frodo chuckled and shoved the other two forward.
The two new Hobbits looked very nervous as they looked up at the dragon patiently sitting before them.
"Meriadoc Brandybuck, I go by Merry."
"Peregrin Took, Pippin."
"Merry and Pippin. Silly names. You would not be Viking Hobbits, would you?" Toothless grinned.
Hiccup snorted.
"No idea what a Viking is. Is that one of the races of Men?" Merry asked.
"Yep, and they have the craziest naming conventions, by the way. Anyhow, to what do we owe the privilege of meeting such excellent Hobbits as yourselves?" Hiccup interjected.
He noticed that Frodo was quietly snickering to himself while Merry and Pippin could not see him.
"Oh yes! We are here to clean the stall," Pippin eagerly answered.
.
.
"To... clean... the... stall?" Toothless slowly asked.
"In case it... needed to be cleaned..." Pippin piped up.
"Of what?" Toothless hissed.
"Messes, obviously... this is a quality establishment, and we are the staff."
.
.
Merry turned to Pippin and whispered to him, though everyone could hear what was being said.
"Pip, remember that the dragon can talk. I don't think we will have that problem with him..."
"Hold on, Merry, this was your idea!"
"My idea? My idea was that we go to him with enough fish for a dragon to eat breakfast, second breakfast, and elevensies. Get him on our good side first so that he knows we bring food and that we are not the food."
"And I pointed out what happens if we keep feeding him fish. Work follows that."
"Only if he eats all the fish and comes back here to do that, which I don't think he would do in his own barn."
"Wait, so this is my fault?"
"Pip, you never plan ahead!"
"It is called living in the moment!"
Hiccup burst out in laughter.
"Oh my gods... you two remind me of some people I used to know back... home," Hiccup exclaimed.
Merry and Pippin positively beamed at that.
"Do we now?" "They must be the most interesting people in... wherever you are from." "Inspirational figures." "Brave, I am sure." "Probably a barrel of laughs." "About barrels and most importantly, do they drink?" "Of course they must if we remind him of them!"
Frodo by this point was clutching his sides, almost in pain from his laughter. It was infectious, and all five of them were chuckling together moments later.
"Hiccup, who is it these Hobbits remind you of?" Toothless hummed once everyone settled down.
"A brother and sister. You never met them, but they are among the craziest Vikings on the island."
"Crazy?" Pippin exclaimed.
"In a very good way, I'm sure," Merry continued.
"Now that we have that out of the way, are you at all hungry, Master Toothless?" Frodo asked after catching his breath again.
"I will not need to eat for many days, but if there is food that must be eaten..."
"Alright then, I have not forgotten my promise to bring you bacon and sausage one of these days. If you two are ready, I can show you to what we talked about before. Mister Haddock, you wanted to see the forge, yes?"
Hiccup reflected to himself that they were certainly a strange sight: a Hobbit, a young man, and a dragon walking together through Hobbiton down to the Bywater. Almost every Hobbit in sight was watching them, or probably Toothless, as they strolled by. Women held their children tightly and men stared in amazement. But there was no screaming. That was good.
They have surely never seen anything like this before. At least word has gotten around that they do not need to fear him.
Then Hiccup saw the destination. It was almost like a shack with a noticeable chimney. All around the outside of the building were random metal bars or rusty pieces of equipment. It was definitely not a grand forge at all, which made sense because the Hobbits only had the most basic of equipment.
"Ted! You in there?" Frodo shouted.
Ted Sandyman, whom Hiccup recognized from the evening in the Green Dragon, stepped out of the forge. He saw his guests and started in surprise and initial alarm.
"Now, now, Ted. You know that he is not dangerous," Frodo said.
Then Toothless stepped forward and spoke.
"Yes, I can say that Hiccup," Toothless nudged Hiccup's shoulder, "is not dangerous. You do not need to be afraid of him."
Ted lifted a finger and pointed between Hiccup and Toothless, clearly unable to understand something about what was going on.
"It is morning, right? I am not completely drunk yet, am I?" Ted asked.
"Nope, you are perfectly sober," Frodo chuckled.
"Shame..." Ted groaned.
"And I promise that I will not eat you," Hiccup answered.
Toothless lifted a paw to stifle his own chuckle.
"Now that everyone knows each other," Frodo cheerfully began, "it is time to get to business. Ted, Mister Hiccup Haddock here knows his way around a forge."
"Do you?" Ted began, suddenly very businesslike.
"I spent about... ten years working under the best blacksmith in my tribe. Yes, I know how to work the forge."
"They both want to earn their keep for as long as they will be living with us. I was hoping that you could find work for Mister Haddock here since he already knows smithing and forgework," Frodo explained.
"Have you ever helped to shoe a horse before?" Ted asked.
"Uh, we don't have horses where I'm from," Hiccup answered.
"What do you know how to do?"
"Mostly anything with weapons. Swords, shields, axes, spears... but, uh, you don't have many of those. I can sharpen tools, make nails, fix wagons, basically anything with machines."
Ted sounded like he could barely contain his eagerness.
"Really! You are an inventor?"
"Yep."
"Perfect! The grindstone in the mill is always breaking down. I believe the gears are out of alignment. Oh, I also have a backlog of repairs because I cannot find good help. Very few Hobbits want to work the forge or anything complicated. Leave that stuff to the big folk, they say."
Then Ted stuck out his hand in the formal sign of making an offer.
"What do you say, Mister Haddock? You help me work the forge and the mill, and I will pay you a fair wage. Deal?"
Hiccup squared his shoulders, held his chin high, and firmly took the offered hand. It was too good of an opportunity to pass up. This was something that he was good at, having many years of practice already.
"Deal. I imagine that Toothless would also be willing to add his fire to the forge also. Right, bud?"
"Yes, I can do that," Toothless answered.
Ted looked suspicious of that, but he was not very disturbed otherwise.
"Excellent! Now that we have dealt with Mister Haddock how about we find something for you, Master Toothless?" Frodo asked.
The dragon's ears lifted alongside a questioning hum.
"What are you thinking?" he asked Frodo.
"You know my friend Samwise Gamgee. His family is close to the Cotton family, and they have several of the larger farms. If you do not mind the work, we could always use help plowing fields, hauling lumber, or carrying away boulders."
Toothless thought about it and turned to Hiccup.
"Hiccup, what is this plowing fields?"
"It means you help them dig holes in fields so they can grow plants for food," Hiccup answered.
"I can do that. Hmm, Frodo, there are wild four-legged prey in these lands, true?"
"Yes, there are lots of deer and rabbits. They are very annoying for the farmers. Always nibbling at the crops and ruining gardens. Nasty business."
Toothless purred and flashed his teeth.
"I could help hunt them, the prey I mean."
Hiccup chuckled at the thought of Toothless bounding through a field in pursuit of a rabbit.
"What is so funny?" Toothless asked.
"Nothing..."
Then Hiccup turned back to Ted.
"Ted, if you do not mind, I will go with Toothless today until he gets settled in. As intimidating as I am," he held up his not so beefy arms, "somehow I think that this toothless guy might be scarier until people get to know him."
Ted nodded in agreement.
"Of course, of course. Cannot have any misunderstandings about the new, friendly dragon living with us. Take your time, Master Haddock, the work will still be here tomorrow, I am sure. I certainly won't be doing it all!"
Ted then returned inside the mill, maybe to do some work or to think about doing work.
Frodo then eagerly stepped over to them both.
"More like he won't be doing it at all. Anyway, shall we? I told Sam to tell the Cottons to expect us this morning."
Hiccup then realized something as soon as he heard the family name again.
"Hold on a moment. Cottons... that is not Rosie's family, is it?"
Frodo looked pleased that he had noticed that.
"They sure are. The more that I force Sam to be around them the more likely that he will find the courage to talk to Rosie."
"Is this Rosie a female?" Toothless asked.
"Yes, she is," Frodo answered in bemusement.
"And your friend Sam wants her as his mate?"
Frodo looked amused by the choice of words, but he went along with it.
"Yeah, I think so."
"And she has no mate now?"
"Correct."
"Why does he not take her?" Toothless asked, as if it was the most obvious question in the world.
Frodo grumbled to himself and gave a sad sigh.
"I don't think he trusts himself enough. He thinks he is too simple in some ways since he is 'only a gardener'."
Toothless huffed.
"Humans and Hobbits have very twisted ceremonies."
"Twisted? I suppose so. Well, what about dragons like you?"
Toothless's ears slightly wilted at the innocent question.
"I do not know my own kind, remember?"
Frodo winced at the reminder.
"Sorry, I forgot about that."
"Other dragons' life-making ceremonies I know more about since I saw them, but I wish I knew more about my own kind, about Night Furies."
Frodo gave him a sympathetic smile.
"I have to hear more stories about what the other dragons are like where you are from. For now though shall we go? Sam and the Cottons will be waiting for us."
"Sam, why are you twisting your tail?" Toothless rumbled.
"Uhhh, what do you mean... Mmmaster Toothless?"
He deliberately slowed down so that he and Sam fell behind Hiccup and Frodo.
"There is a female that you want, but you have not claimed her or talked to her, true?"
"Hhhhow do you know that?"
"I am a dragon. I know things," Toothless purred.
Sam only sighed in exasperation.
"I don't know. I am only a gardener..."
"Why does it matter that you tend to plants?"
"Because I am not rich or even well-off."
Toothless grunted in confusion.
"Rich? What is that?"
"Do you know money, gold and silver?"
"Yes..." he warily answered.
"My family has always been very simple, and we have been gardeners for the Bagginses for generations."
They both looked ahead to Frodo and Hiccup eagerly talking to each other.
"Why would Rosie bother with me?"
Something about what Sam said did make some sense and feel like good thinking. Having a small hoard was a sign of not being strong and not being...
Toothless blinked and shook his head slightly while grumbling to himself. Something about that thought about hoards felt... good but twisted at the same time. It was a very odd feeling that he was not sure he felt warmed by, now that he thought about it. That feeling reminded him of a dark cave that a living-dead thing had been inside.
It was almost like there was a twisted-thought that had been in his thinking for a moment. But that twistedness was apparently gone now.
"Sam, not having a big hoard does not mean that you are less..."
Sam almost stumbled in his surprise.
"Well, I never thought that a dragon would say something like that."
He huffed.
"I am not like the other dragons you have heard of."
"Oh, I can see that, plain as day. I loved hearing about all of old Bilbo's stories of his adventures. Smaug was always very... impressive in the tellings. Actually, there was another story about a not totally bad dragon."
Toothless blinked in surprise and wonder. That news that there was a story about a good dragon was not expected at all. He definitely needed to hear more about this.
"Hiccup! Frodo! Come here!" he eagerly barked.
They both ran back to him at full speed, wondering what he was so excited about.
"Frodo, your kin, Bilbo, has a story about a dragon that is not Smaug. Do you know it?"
Frodo looked inquisitively at Sam for an explanation.
"The story about Farmer Giles of Ham," Sam explained.
Comprehension lit in Frodo's eyes.
"Yes, I do! Do you two want to hear it?"
"Absolutely!" Hiccup immediately answered.
"Well, there might not be time for it now, but I will tell you both this to get you interested. The story is about a simple farmer who gets a magic sword. The dragon, Chrysophylax, starts out as a... begging your pardon, Master Toothless... typical dragon. You know, sitting on his hoard of gold, eating the soldiers who find him, that kind of stuff..."
Toothless grumbled to himself while Frodo cheekily grinned and continued.
"Yeah, very different from you. Anyway, the dragon is very afraid of the simple farmer with the magic sword. They end up making a deal. The farmer will not kill the dragon, and the dragon will use part of its hoard to repay all the destruction he caused and to help make amends for those he killed. He even moves out of his cave and helps to protect a village against a bad king."
"Sounds like the dragon and the farmer have a very strange relationship..." Hiccup muttered.
"Oh yeah, definitely. I wouldn't say that they are great friends in the story, but they both come to respect each other in a way. Maybe even a little fond of each other by the end."
"I definitely want to hear that full story now," Hiccup agreed.
"This evening up at Bag-end?"
Hiccup and Toothless nodded in agreement.
What has my life-flight come to?
Toothless reflected to himself, during a break in the walking, on how he had ended up wearing what Hiccup called a yoke. It was something like the riding-saddle except it was used to pull a plow, a strange machine that used a big claw to dig up the dirt. He fully understood the usefulness of doing this work, and it was something that he could do to help earn his place since he did eat a lot of fish and other prey compared to the Hobbits' needs.
It was midday and very sunny, which he absolutely enjoyed the warmth of on his back. The work itself was boring and repetitive, which left much time for his thoughts to fly far away, usually to imagined distant mountains on which Night Furies perched.
But something still felt odd about walking through the fields, tilling the dirt, and seeing no results except long scratches in the dirt.
It is not as frustrating as carrying the logs. It is good that I can do this myself after Hiccup puts this thing on me.
Hiccup, he would let put the yoke-thing on him. Anyone else, absolutely not. He knew that he should not care, but he was a Night Fury, the most deadly and mysterious dragon in the world! He had an image to uphold!
So he held his head highly and proudly as he trudged through the field while pulling the plow behind him.
Plus, he knew that he had one very welcome reward waiting for him after this work was finished. If there was one thing, other than the number of meals, that he had learned about Hobbits in his and Hiccup's first couple weeks living openly in the Shire, it was that Hobbits worked hard for very short times in the day and relaxed a lot the rest of the day. Their life-flights were very slow ones.
He approved of how much time in the day they did not work.
And the number of meals.
Thinking of food... I cannot wait to get to my next type of work! It will be much more fun than this.
There were fields of plants that needed defending against the great enemies, plant-eating four-legs, which were his prey.
Hiccup held the metal bar with the tongues and placed the heated metal on the anvil. He repeatedly swung his hammer, striking the bar and bending it into shape. The heat in the forge made sweat drip from his brow while he worked. His muscles felt sore and his shirt was drenched with sweat.
He loved everything about the working.
It was a very good feeling to spend the afternoon doing something that he was very good at.
He had taught Ted several tricks of the trade, and it had quickly become apparent that he was more experienced in the forge than Ted was. Ted had quickly brushed that off and simply said that meant he could give more work to Hiccup to do.
And he did not care at all about that. It felt good to be useful to others for a change.
Several Hobbit families brought broken household goods, wagons, and other tools for repairs. It had been strange at first for them to greet him, knowing that he was the strange man who was friends with the resident dragon. Apparently, his and Toothless's clearing out the Barrow-downs had indeed done a lot to generate goodwill among the Hobbits, many of whom had stories going back several generations about how scary that place had been.
It also helped that the Hobbits whom the Mayor had sent to investigate the Downs had returned with chests filled with treasure, coin, and other valuables. The Mayor still had a number of Hobbits in the profession of accounting, whatever that was, though it sounded like something involving law and counting money, working at determining the worth of that treasure stash. There had been some mention of distributing a portion of the wealth to all the families throughout the Shire.
That pending distribution of wealth probably helped to endear him and Toothless to the Hobbits as well.
Hobbits came and went throughout the afternoon, dropping off and picking up items all throughout the day.
It is almost like Berk in a way, except here the battles are against weeds, dirt, rust, and broken tools instead of raiding dragons.
"I could almost get used to this..." he sighed.
The clang of metal on metal and the occasional hiss of heated metal being cooled in water followed as he worked at the anvil late into the afternoon and even into the early dusk. He took few breaks, wanting to get ahead on his work now so as to leave more time for flying and non-work stuff later this week. It also helped to make a good impression.
"Hiccup!" Toothless barked.
He set aside his tools, wiped his brow, and left the forge, curious what he would see outside. Toothless was patiently sitting on his haunches just outside the forge.
"Hey there, bud. How was your day?"
Toothless purred deeply, apparently very pleased with himself for some reason.
"Tiring and fun. I helped Sam's sire, Gaffer, out on the farm by sniffing out the rabbit dens."
Hiccup crossed his arms and chuckled at that mental image.
"Toothless the Night Fury, the hunter of rabbits everywhere! So terrifying."
A grumbling growl.
"The true unholy offspring of lightning and death itself!"
Narrowed eyes and curled lips.
Hiccup got no further before Toothless struck, his maw thrown wide and jaws clamped down on Hiccup's midsection. Then Hiccup was lifted into the air to dangle from the dragon's toothless jaws.
"Toothless!"
Toothless turned away from the forge and started trotting somewhere.
"What are you doing? I am not a chewtoy!" Hiccup protested.
An absolutely indecipherable mumble was the only answer he got.
"Great, just great. Can't you see all the Hobbits looking at us? Gods, this must look bad! Just think about what you've done!"
Toothless turned partly to the side, noticed the many Hobbits pointing his direction, snorted in amusement, and ignored them as he continued on toward his destination.
Which was the edge of the Bywater.
Hiccup ceased his pointless flailing and noticed that Toothless had paused at the water's edge. In the next instant he remembered Toothless's promise to eventually dunk him in the water in revenge. It was a promise that had not yet been fulfilled.
"Thank you for nothing, you..."
In the next instant he was flying through the air, tumbling head over heels with his limbs tucked into a tiny ball.
"... useless rept..."
Splash.
Toothless stared with satisfaction at the ripples that Hiccup had made when he fell into the water.
His own honor as a Night Fury had been defended. The enemy, Hiccup, had been thoroughly defeated.
Hiccup broke the surface and started treading water.
They glared at each other, both staring deeply into the other's eyes. Then their faint snarls slowly morphed into ever-widening grins.
I am glad that we left the not-tailfin back in the den!
He intentionally did not wear it or any riding things unless he and Hiccup specifically planned to go flying. There was no need to unnecessarily wear it out or risk any damage to the new tailfin.
Today was not a day of flying.
So he crouched where he stood, jumped with a great beat of his wings, and dove into the water at Hiccup's side. Doing so surely made a great splash of his own.
The water was very deep, and he could swim freely. Night Furies were very good swimmers.
Hiccup broke the surface of the water a few seconds after he did.
"Alright, I might have deserved that..." Hiccup protested.
Toothless chuckled deeply and padded closer to him. Then he sprayed Hiccup with a mouthful of water until Hiccup ducked back underwater for a moment.
"Dragons and humans, still enemies!" Hiccup laughed once he emerged and caught his breath.
They started alternating between swimming laps around each other and treading water.
"So, Hiccup, how was your day?" Toothless rumbled.
"Before I was so rudely attacked... everything was great! But, uh, I was planning on going swimming anyway, so you did exactly what I wanted to do!"
Toothless indignantly pointed a paw at him.
"You did not! You are just saying that!"
"Ha, shows what you know!"
Toothless huffed and disappeared entirely underwater. His tailfin slapped the water and sent up another splash straight into Hiccup's face.
"Now look at what you've done, Mister Haddock, you've gone and caught yourself a cold," Frodo frowned.
Hiccup sneezed and shivered while wrapping the blanket tighter around himself. The warm fireplace before him definitely helped much, as did the fresh tea Frodo had made for him.
It was definitely his own fault for spending nearly an hour swimming out of sheer exuberance. Seeing all the amused Hobbits and the youths who were begging to swim also had made it impossible to stop.
The only problem, in hindsight, was that the swimming had been in cool water and had lasted well into the evening.
"I hear it was quite a sight," Frodo continued.
"Oh yes, most of Hobbiton was watching..." Hiccup frowned.
"Nothing like the sight of a friendly dragon playing with his friend in the Bywater."
"Sure... sure..."
Hiccup still shivered slightly as the fire gradually warmed him. The heat did not help with his runny nose, but the tea definitely soothed his sore throat. As did the warm soup that Frodo kindly made for him.
Sitting there in the peace and quiet of Bag-end, something still bothered him. If there was anyone in the Shire whom he trusted fully and who did not have wings, it was definitely Frodo.
"Frodo?"
Frodo looked up from the old book he was attentively reading. The book had many strange symbols on its cover.
"What do the other Hobbits... say about us, about me and Toothless?"
"Why do you ask?"
"Just curious. They are only polite to us both, and Toothless has no complaints either. I wonder what people really think about us."
Frodo closed the strange book and set it aside while considering his response.
"I am probably not the best person to ask that. We Bagginses are not the most well-thought of Hobbits in the Shire. People might not freely tell me what they really think."
"Why not?"
Frodo chuckled.
"My Uncle Bilbo, mostly. No one in the family ever had adventures or did strange things before him. Well, that is not totally true. The Took side of the family has always been... different. There is a story about an old Took who was so big for a Hobbit that he could ride a man's horse. Bullroarer Took was the name."
He sounded like a very large Hobbit from the description.
"Impressive," Hiccup sipped at the tea.
"Even more impressive is that he fought in a battle against goblins. He charged the goblin lines while wielding a club. He fought his way to goblin king, Golfimbu, and engaged him in battle."
Frodo hopped to his feet and started acting out the battle by swinging his arms wildly.
"Bullroarer swung his club and knocked the goblin's head clean off. The head flew a hundred yards through the air and disappeared down a rabbit hole, thus ending the battle."
Frodo chuckled.
"And inventing the game of golf at the same time!"
"Golf?" Hiccup mumbled.
"Yep, it is played by people who wear the strangest... nevermind that, back to you and Toothless. While no one has said anything to me, I have overheard some people in the Green Dragon, and my friends may have heard some other people whispering among themselves."
"Well, what are they saying?"
"That you and Toothless are bizarre, highly disreputable, disturbers of the peace, extremely curious, and most strange folk. Also, you are very good with tools, Toothless is very useful around the farm, and you both are, despite the number of wings and tails among the two of you, harmless folk."
Hiccup took a moment to think it through and eventually decided that their reputations could be far worse.
"That's good to know. It could be worse. What are you reading?"
"It is a book of Elvish poems written in the original Sindarin."
Elves again?
"What are the Elves like? I have never met one."
Frodo considered the question for a surprisingly long time before giving an answer.
"The Elves are a sad people in some ways. They are very serious, graceful, artistic, and... not truly part of this world."
"What?"
"They are immortal; they do not age past a point, though they can be killed. Being immortal makes them grow weary of the world. Think about seeing all your human friends die of age and your seeing kingdoms rise and fall while you stay the same."
Hiccup tried to ignore the mention of Elves being immortal and instead remembered hearing one specific thing about the Elves.
"Sam said something about Elves leaving. What does that mean?"
"They leave from the Grey Havens, a port city at the Western end of the East Road, and sail over the sea to Valinor, the Undying Lands. They do not come back. Supposedly, the path to Valinor cannot be found except by an Elf or sailed by an Elf ship, and that world is not part of Middle-earth at all."
Hiccup sighed in confusion.
A part of the world that is not part of the world? A hidden world? That makes no sense.
"I know nothing about this world or history. Berk never really kept any histories from before everyone got there or of the wider world beyond."
Frodo crossed his arms and frowned.
"I have a few books about history, but you don't know how to read our runes. Want to learn?"
"Yeah, why not learn a new language. I would like that."
Then Hiccup frowned and turned his attention back to the soothing tea. Though he was sure that he could make some progress, there was something else that had been bothering him.
If I speak the same language as them, this Common Tongue, I think it was called, then why are the runes different?
Maybe this is related to how Toothless can talk now. Or maybe not.
As Frodo gave him some basic instruction in the new language, it struck him how hospitable Frodo was being to him between giving him the guest room in Bag-end, giving him coin, food, and drink whenever possible, and all the work he did to help get them into the Shire openly.
He had an idea of how he could repay the Hobbit's kindness.
"Frodo, you know that I can fly with Toothless."
Frodo chuckled.
"What? I have definitely not seen you two spinning over Hobbiton almost every day these last two weeks!"
"How would you like to go flying with me? I'm sure that Toothless wouldn't mind."
Frodo stared in amazement and disbelief for a long time before he could answer.
"Really! That would be... amazing!" Frodo gasped.
Hiccup couldn't help but grin as well at the Hobbit's exuberance.
He is a different kind of Hobbit, indeed.