"Hiccup, wake up, son."

This felt like an ungodly hour. The air around me was frigid, and I just wanted to sleep the rest of the winter away.

I blearily opened my eyes to find a mountain of a man standing about five feet away from my bed. He was wearing a dark green tunic and had a fiery red beard splayed across his chest. His name was Stoick, and fittingly, he was the chief of our Viking tribe.

Just like Stoick fit him, my name fit me. Hiccup, like that irritating little spasm that happens in your diaphragm. I was seventeen years old, stick-figure thin with a shock of brown hair, missing the lower half of my left leg, and the best beard I could possibly grow was peach fuzz.

I glanced toward my dragon, Toothless, and saw him curled up on a large, flat rock with his eyes closed. Every time he exhaled, a plume of steam escaped from his nose.

"Mm. Y-yeah, Dad?" I yawned, sat up, and stretched. I took a deep breath, feeling my lungs burn slightly.

"Bucket and Mulch were fishing this morning and found Johann's boat stuck in an ice sheet."

"Johann..." I repeated, trying to connect that name with someone. "Trader Johann..."

I almost rolled my eyes. Johann loved to talk. His gift of gab was perfect for his ability to entice people to trade with him, except for one thing. His voice was slightly high-pitched, just enough to drive someone like me nuts.

After a short pause, I asked, "And Bucket and Mulch brought him back, right?"

That would have been the sensible thing to do. But then I remembered Bucket and Mulch weren't exactly the sharpest axes on Berk.

"No, they didn't," he replied. "Would you believe me if I told you Trader Johann refused that?"

"N–yes," I said, correcting myself mid-word. A pang of realization jolted me into complete wakefulness. "Johann won't let his boat out of his sight..."

My dad was silent.

"And I bet that means we've gotta figure out how to get his boat back on water," I concluded.

"Sounds like you're ready," my dad said with a hint of satisfaction. "You and Toothless can eat breakfast, but make sure you find Johann today. I don't think he'll live through the night on that boat."

My shoulders slumped. Of all the people in Berk, I had effortlessly recruited myself to retrieve Johann. I wondered what hyperbolic I-just-barely-escaped-with-my-life story was going to come out of his mouth today.

"Got it," I said in resignation. I didn't want to do this, but saying Johann frustrated me with his incessant chatter would never work as an excuse. 

Eat something, then go find him.

I groaned as I got out of bed and shuffled over to Toothless, my footsteps making an alternating pat-clunk sound on the wooden floor.

"Hey, bud," I whispered.

He grunted quietly and lifted his head to look at me. Toothless stood and stretched with a yawn, displaying how he got his name – his retractable teeth. A cloud of steam exited his mouth as he closed it. He padded off his rock and lowered his head, rubbing underneath my left hand in a plea for attention.

Toothless was a Night Fury, the most elusive dragon known to mankind. He had a jet-black hide and deep, yellow-green eyes that stared directly into a person's soul.

Across the room was my winter clothing – a yakskin coat and thick, matching trousers. I donned them and glanced at Toothless again. A brief twang of jealousy coursed through me because he could tolerate the cold incredibly well, even with no fur or other type of insulation. His ability to produce fire came in quite handy during winters.

Just like any other place in the world, Berk had four seasons. That was where the similarity stopped – the number. Most places experienced spring, summer, autumn, and winter. Berk, on the other hand, had winter, devastating winter, lethal winter, and about four weeks of mildly warmer weather. Those four weeks had long since passed, winter following soon after that.

"C'mon, bud. Breakfast first, then we'll go somewhere."

I plodded down the stairs after Toothless, then opened our door, squinting from the blast of cold air hitting my eyes and face.

Toothless' head was next to me, and as soon as I opened the door for him, his eyes brightened and his mouth opened in excited anticipation. He leapt out, throwing snow behind him. He turned and looked at me for a second before continuing to romp around.

"Aw, come on, Toothless," I complained as my eyes adjusted to the cold. "The snow looked so nice..."

Toothless seemed to love being in snow, probably because he thought he could hide in it and jump out playfully, surprising unsuspecting Vikings. It was ridiculously easy to spot him from a mile off because his jet-black hide contrasted with the bright intensity of the snow around him. To me, these moments were hilarious.

I let Toothless jump around until he found a deeper pocket of snow by accident. He grunted in mild alarm, and then he was silent and still after that.

I could see Toothless most of the time when he was preparing an ambush like this, but he still startled me every time he jumped. He didn't need stealth when he was so explosive in his movements. This time, though, the drift was high enough to completely hide him, which was noteworthy because he was a moderately-sized dragon, able to carry two people on his back while flying.

"All right, buddy." A small grin worked its way onto my face.

I walked out and began tip-toeing my way in his direction. As I neared the drift he had crashed into, my heart rate quickened. I knew he was going to jump out soon, but I didn't know exactly when he'd do it.

"Toothless?" I said, trying to lull him out of his hiding spot.

I took one step to my left with my peg, and the drift two feet in front of me exploded in a shower of ice, snow, and a Night Fury. I let out a yelp as I stumbled backwards, just like normal. The bursts of snow Toothless could create during an ambush were sudden enough to make even my dad jump.

Toothless lunged forward, nudging me on my back with his snout. He had his teeth bared, glaring directly into my face with a soft growl. Just as quickly, he pulled his mouth into a grin, his eyes widening in happiness. He grunted and swiped his tongue quickly up my chest and face and then bounded toward the great hall with a short, excited roar.

I wiped off Night Fury saliva as I stood and followed him. I had designed and made a few iron plates to fit at the bottom of my peg for snowy conditions like this. They were flat disks, about a quarter inch thick and just under six inches in diameter. Last year, I had learned that a simple peg would sink to the bottom of any snow drift I stepped into. But even having that plate, I still felt uneasy about walking on snow, like my center of gravity was just a little too high.

Toothless was waiting impatiently for me as I approached the great hall. We walked in... well, I walked in. Toothless nearly danced his way through the doors. He followed me to a table, where I told him to wait. I grabbed a basket with fish and a dish with a cooked salmon for myself and brought the basket back to Toothless, flipping the lid open. He grunted as he stuck his head into the basket and pulled out a fish. He looked at me as he bit it in half and swallowed.

"Really?" I asked him. While I loved Toothless' little quirks, I sometimes wished he'd find different ways to show his feelings for me.

Toothless shuffled around his basket and stood on all fours with his head maybe a foot from my right shoulder. Before I could say or do anything, his eyes lost focus as his stomach sucked in. After three hurking cough-like movements, he brought the front end of the fish back up with a gagging sound and spat it into my lap.

I tensed, revolted by the idea of regurgitating something. The fish landed with an audible splat on my left thigh, and not too long after that, the wetness began seeping through my pants leg. I sighed, rolled my eyes, and brushed the fish off my lap using my fingertips.

"Thanks, buddy," I said, trying to at least sound grateful.

For Toothless, sharing a meal like that was probably one of the strongest ways for him to say he liked me. I scratched under his chin for a few seconds, making him rumble in pleasure, his eyes closed. After I turned to my meal, Toothless went back to his basket, and we began eating in silence.

"He's cute," a girl's voice observed.

It was Astrid, sitting across from me and leaning slightly over the table. Her bangs fell neatly over her blue eyes as she stared in my direction with a wry smile on her face.

I glanced at Toothless, who was focused on the meal in front of him. "He's dangerous," I whispered.

"Yeah, I saw him attack you earlier. Very 'dangerous,' just like you say."

The moment hung between us before she was the first one to crack. Her shoulders were first to give away her stifled laughter. I shrugged, not knowing what else to do, and waited for Astrid calm down.

"I heard Trader Johann is stuck in an ice sheet," she said, as the smile began to recede from her face.

"Yeah, my dad said I need to get him today. I'm still trying to figure out why he chose not to come back with Mulch and Bucket."

Astrid blinked in disbelief. "Does he think the junk on his boat is too valuable to lose?" she asked.

"That was my first guess. But I thought Johann was smarter than wanting to stay stranded in the middle of winter."

"So you're gonna find him and basically kidnap him?" she inferred.

"If you wanna say it like that, then... yes. You can keep him company when we get back."

"Uh, no. I get headaches just by being around him."

"Maybe my dad can keep him busy somewhere," I thought out loud.

"Well, good luck finding Johann," Astrid said. "Watching Toothless ambush you gave me an idea for the Academy. I think some of the dragons will be able to find people buried under snow after an avalanche. Maybe you can help us when you get back." She got up and walked out of the great hall.

I turned to Toothless, who was looking at me expectantly.

"You ready, bud?"

After a moment, I stood and guided Toothless out of the great hall. As we passed through the double doors, he bumped me in the right shoulder with his head, itching for a flight. I removed the plate from the bottom of my peg and stowed it in a satchel I carried at my waist. I climbed onto his back and hooked into the stirrup with my peg, which was cast from iron and custom fit just for this purpose.

Toothless immediately jumped into the air without waiting for my command.