28 {Meal}

[Hey guys I had posted this chapter for a few hours and then I rewrote it since the quality was way worse than I had thought. I didn't change anything in the plot itself that much so if you read the old version you can get away without rereading it. Hope you guys enjoy!]

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"What smells so good?" asked a sleepy Hiccup as he walked down the stairs. "Oh, Neil, you're cooking?"

Neil who sat in the living room chimney nodded, "Yeah, I had an interesting talk with Narra yesterday. And as luck would have it this morning I heard some disturbing rumors about her secretly spitting in the food of whoever she gets angry with. Which, is why I'll be eating here for the next few days. You know just in case." 

Hiccup began laughing when he heard Neil, "Yeah my father told me about that talk hehe. He had mentioned her telling him to ask you, guess she got tired of waiting. 

Hearing that the chief had known about Narra's intentions of marrying her daughter off him was a surprise. 'Chief you gotta warn a guy in situations like this.'

"Oh yeah! My father said that you found someone who was shipwrecked yesterday and that she lost her memory. Is she okay?"

Neil nodded and took the cooked duck meat from the pan, "Mhm, from what I could see she was fine. Other than her memory nothing else seems to be wrong with her, though memory loss is a pretty serious problem in itself. She will be staying with Astrid for a while so you'll meet her soon. Here you want one?" 

Neil handed Hiccup a sandwich made of bread and cheese he had bought, and duck meat from his first aerial hunt.

Hiccup inspected the sandwich curiously and took a bite. "Thanks…oh It's good!"

He nodded his thanks and began preparing his own sandwich, "It would be a hundred times better if I had some tomatoes or avocados though, not to mention mayonnaise."

The brown-haired teen looked at Neil with curiosity, "Tomatoes? Avocados? Mayo….? What are they?"

'Right guess you've never seen them before..'

"They are fruits that grow on the other side of the ocean. My village bought some from passing merchants and we have begun to grow tomatoes, the avocados that grow on trees will take longer though. I'll bring some over next if I come back, we could even try to plant them."

Hiccup's face brightened with excitement probably due to the fact that he would see and taste something new."That sounds great!…. Oh, Neil, my father asked me to take … what's her name?"

Neil shrugged and took a bite out of his sandwich, "She doesn't remember. I would also avoid asking her since she gets upset. I accidentally made her cry last night." 

The brown-haired teen seemed to make a mental note and he nodded "Okay, well my dad asked me to take her to eat at the great hall and then have her meet Astrid. Since you know her better than me do you want to come with us? Or are you going to continue hunting?"

Neil was about to reject the invite but he took a deep breath and sighed. 

'Well, it's about time to put an end to my search in Berk, since it's all been pointless so far. I've also interacted with everyone here and nothing. I'll have to start heading back to Reioi, by now my parents must be thinking I'm lost, or worse. Before, I could ignore my guilt with the possibility of returning to my world. But now that I'm still here….it's not worth their suffering.'

Neil took his last bite and killed the fire, "I think I've done enough hunting till now, so if you don't mind I would like to hang out with the rest of you."

Hiccup smiled happily and shook his head, "Why would we mind? Today we are planning to have another race. Astrid has somehow been able to make Stormfly faster and after staying up all night I finally came up with a way to beat her."

Hiccup then patted Toothless's head and smiled, "Astrid and Stormfly will see a lot more of your tail, won't they bud?"

Toothless who was sitting beside Hiccup made cute noises in agreement but his eyes were glued to the pan and the leftover meat. 

Neil threw some his way and then gave some to Cora who was stretching after just waking up. The red fox had certainly grown lazy after Neil had met her. 

Hiccup stood up and patted the bread crumbs away, "Well let's go and feed our dragons and then we can go see….we have to find a name for her. Calling her 'the girl' feels wrong."

He agreed with Hiccup but it felt even worse to give a girl who didn't even know her name a nickname. What was more important was how the girl would feel about it. If she cried over not remembering her name when introducing herself what would she do if someone gave her a name without her consent? 

"Oh right about that, while hunting this morning I ran into Astrid again. I told her about the girl and she said she would go meet her. By now I assume they might be in her house or touring the island." 

The brown-haired teen turned around in surprise, "You met her…again? Do the two usually see each other in the morning?" 

Neil was taken aback by the sudden change in mood until he remembered the bit that the Chief had accidentally said before. 

'Is he worried that I'm trying to pursue Astrid?'

"Well, I like to check on my traps in the morning and she likes flying with Stormfly and seeing the sunrise. It looks very beautiful….how about joining her on her morning flights? As long as you don't stay up too late you should be able to wake up on time."

Hiccup seemed to think carefully and nodded, "I do get carried away when I get new ideas. Seeing the sunrise doesn't sound like a bad idea right bud? Maybe Astrid and I could even workshop some new flight formations!"

Toothless jumped around like a little puppy who was told they were about to go on a walk.

'Guess that unlike Hiccup, Toothless might be a morning perso….dragon.'

'Well with that he should be assured that I don't have any ideas of getting together with Astrid, and it might help them accept their feelings. The two of them like each other, I can remember that much from the movie, and it's clear as day when you see them together.' 

When Cryo heard the door open he stood up and walked over to Neil, "Hope you rested enough."

Both Hiccup and Neil made their way to Astrid's home and found no one home. They let Cryo and Toothless go to get something to eat from the dragons' feeding station and they went to the Great Hall. 

There Neil was greeted by Narra and her daughter who offered him a bowl of stew, "Uh sorry but I already ate…you could give that bowl to Hiccup though."

The young brown-haired teen quickly shook his head and stepped back, "I would love that but I have an upset stomach. I would just end up throwing all the food up."

"Hiccup! Neil! Over here!." 

'Oh, thank god!' thought Neil as he searched where the voice was coming from.

They were being called over by Astrid who sat in the corner of the building while eating with her family and the girl. He and Hiccup excused themselves from the mother and daughter and practically sprinted to where Astrid was. After a short greeting, Astrid's parents made room for both of them to sit next to the teen girls.

"Hi there my name is Hiccup, and I'm a friend of Astrid and Neil. If you ever need anything let us know." 

"Thank you, that is kind of you", replied the girl in a quiet voice along with a short nod. 

After the two girls finished their meals, the four of them flew to the Dragon Training Academy which used to be the dragon-killing arena. From afar they could see that the other riders were already waiting for them. 

"About time that you all showed up! Hiccup if you want me to allow you to be the leader you at least have to be here on time! If you can't do something so simple then.....Who is that!" asked Snoutlout whose angry expression had become stupidified. 

The attention of Snoutlout, Tuffnut, and Fishlegs was glued to the girl who was holding on to Astrid. 

"Who cares I saw her first!" replied Tuffnut as he waved at the girl."

"Nah ah, I did! And don't you even get any ideas about the future Mrs. Jorgeson."

Neil was a little shocked by the reactions of all three guys. While he wasn't surprised about Snotlout since he had seen how much he tried flirting with Astrid. She was cute so some change in their usual behavior was justified, that said the face Fishlegs was making was unsettling.

'My guy, could you please not look at her as if she were a meal?'