Chapter Text
The icy blue eyes locked on her were unnerving.
Hiccup knew that Astrid had never particularly liked her, but her recent exploits in dragon training had turned the other girl’s demeanor towards her even sourer, glares had become happenstance, so had the seething looks.
Hiccup carefully glanced at the axe grasped tightly on Astrid’s hand, she knew for a fact that Astrid was too smart to come to take some sort of satisfaction while she was working on the forge, nor had she ever expressed any interest in tormenting her. But, as Hiccup had taken some of her glory from dragon training, the girl could not help but wonder if Astrid would start feeling tempted.
A flash of shame set her body alight, for a moment, words climbed to her throat, to explain why she was doing so well lately. Eyes as grey and dark as hers burned through her mind, she wasn’t fighting any dragon, not now and probably never, she could not stomach it, she knew. What people saw when she pacified the dragons with her touch? Hands coated in dragon nip paste; did they see a champion that frightened the beasts with her mere presence? A warrior with a poisonous touch?
The handle of the axe spun in Astrid’s fingers, she glanced to the side, lips pursed, as if considering leaving, then she walked forward and even with the window of the forge as a divide Hiccup couldn’t help but take a step back.
“Is Gobber in there?” She questioned her with a stiff tone, and Hiccup could only shake her head. Today had to be the day that Gobber had slept in, Hiccup lamented, she didn’t even know what Astrid needed the man for.
The blonde grit her teeth and groaned, and Hiccup’s next words were reflex. “Do you need anything?” Astrid eyes jumped to her, and Hiccup briefly squeezed her eyes shut, stupid talking fishbone! Astrid raised a brow at her, and Hiccup resigned herself to seeing her words through. “I could call him if you want or, if you need something from the forge, I can do it myself.” Her voice cracked on the last word.
Astrid’s frown deepened and, as she raised her axe, Hiccup feared she would sink it into her head. She definitely would stand no chance.
Yet Astrid said, “I need better sharpening and lynching for the handle.” There was no intention to hand her the weapon however, and Hiccup realized that Astrid didn’t want to entrust Hiccup with her axe.
It stung, even if she would never admit it out loud, most Vikings had never batted an eye at her small form going back and forth inside the forge, but they didn’t also register that Hiccup the Useless was one of the two people that maintained their weapons on their best shape. Hiccup sighed.
She still tried, however. “I can do that in fifteen, if you want.” And, to her surprise, Astrid seemed to hesitate, or at least she thought she had, no matter hard how hard that was to distinguish on her unwelcoming expression.
Hiccup could not make out what she felt when Astrid laid her axe on the windowsill, something like shook, awe or disbelief. Her heart jumped on her throat, Hiccup had long forgotten the exact reason why she had wished for Astrid’s approval and even friendship for all these years, but the want never seemed to truly fade.
“I will be counting.” Astrid tersely said, prompting Hiccup to just pick up the axe and go on with it.
It was in better shape than most used axes she had ever seen, blade bright and handle clearly treated with care, no signs of rust or fractures on the metal, despite the reason why, Hiccup realized, the other girl wanted the axe treated by Gobber. There were the faintest nicks on the blade’s edge, easier to grind with the forge’s tools than it would ever be with a personal stone.
Hiccup took the axe to the grindstone, taking care to place the blade’s edge properly before pressing the pedal. This one had to be perfect, Astrid would have her head otherwise, this axe was clearly her most prized possession. Sparks flew and drowning of the shrill made it easier to ignore the stare pointed at her back like an arrow.
As she grinded the metal smooth her nail caught a divot on the handle, she glanced down, it seemed to be a small hole on the wood, clearly the reason why a lynching was requested.
Soon the gross part of the grinding was complete and, deciding to let the blade rest for a little, she moved on lynching the handle. Hiccup grabbed the finest lynch from the wall as she went, laying the axe on the table to grasp the handle more securely and proceeded to treat the wood.
It didn’t take much to realize that something was amiss, the small hole was dark, and lynching did not do much, she frowned, is it deep? She worried, Hiccup grabbed the thinnest piece of iron wire she could find on a stool on her left and proceeded to pass it through the hole, when it hit the bottom the length inside was almost the size of her small nail.
Not absolutely damning, the width was small too but letting that fester could break the whole thing in half with enough strain on it. Hiccup thought of every solution she could find, I could stuff the hole with resin? It was simple but efficient, probably the best.
After putting a small pot to the fire in order to let the resin simmer, she turned her attention to the blade, doing the thorough part of the sharpening. Her stokes were practiced as she oiled the blade, turning the iron shinier bit by bit. She grabbed the pot from the fire, the smallest funnel she could find and that iron wire to guide the resin in correctly.
The task required all her concentration, it had to be done fast to not let the resin cool down before it was due, but also carefully so as to not be sloppy. Hiccup sweated a little as she did it, Gobber had taught her the technic in passing, he had not done it in ten years, the awkward tool arm not adept to such precision, Hiccup had no such constraint, however, and the hole was soon filled.
Perfect, she concluded, doing the final lynching on the handle, and smoothing out the then hard resin. Hiccup cleaned the blade as she returned to the windowsill. “Just in time.” A voice said, it made Hiccup’s shoulders jump, when the girl realized that she had all but forgotten who the axe was from, she had to fight down a blush.
Hiccup cleared her throat, trying to sound more serious than she could actually be. “So.” She leaned forward to present Astrid the small bit of resin patching. “The blade was easy, but the handle had a problem, the hole was actually as long as my nail.” Now Astrid’s face had lost its hostility, the girl leaned forward to see better. “If I tried to lynch it out you would have no handle, so I patched it with resin. There were no cracks or fracturing anywhere, so this should be enough to glue everything together. But I would still recommend looking out for a while, if no cracks appear in the next few months, then you can deem it as safe.”
By then Astrid’s expression had changed completely, no longer was the anger present, but Hiccup could not tell if she was either looking at her like she had grown two heads or revealed herself as a stranger. Hiccup dry swallowed, unnerved by the intense look.
As she took the weapon from her hands, Astrid ran her fingers thought the blade, looking progressively more pleased, she spun the handle in her hands, felt for the patched hole by touch alone and murmured. “Huh, it’s like it has no hole at all.” Hiccup had to suppress a smile.
Astrid stayed silent after that, and Hiccup started to shiver as the other completed the inspection on her axe. When she finished, the teen’s mouth opened and closed several times before a single word came out of her mouth.
“Thanks.” It was mumbled out.
Hiccup watched as she walked way. She sighed, she wanted to see Mïdir again.