Hiccup had been ridiculed for his inventions along with a general lack of upper body strength (which had been a big thing a couple years back) and perhaps had he not been the chief’s son he would have been treated in a similar fashion as she. It was her words about this that finally drew his gaze from the illustrations and he furrowed his brows in concern. He would like to say something about it but saw her willingness to discard the old hurt and cover it up with new accomplishments. Rather then toy with tensions he began folding up the map. Pretended to be completely occupied with this task because he couldn’t sum up conversation knowing how she had been treated and that by the sounds of it, it had never really changed in her village.

He almost didn’t realize she had said something after the span of silence. “It was the design that was difficult.” He replied without thought. “I had to figure out a way to rig it up so the fin could tilt, fold and spread as needed. It was a bit of trail in air. We spent more time falling from the sky than soaring in it.” He looked up thoughtfully, eyes shifting towards his dragon “but then one day it just clicked and it was no longer an effort to try and remember which position… suddenly we were just… flying.” He smiled fondly at the thought before an edge of annoyance and humor took over. “And then Toothless went and roasted my eyebrows off. Isn’t that right you useless reptile?”

Toothless just offered up an unconcerned snort, sprawled out comfortably in the grass.