“Oh.” Tuffnut said as though he understood then: “wait,” a pause “what?” Making it clear the writing made no sense to him.

“That’s her name rock’s for brains.” His sister quipped.

“Well, what kind of name is that?” He shot back before Hiccup stepped in with a placating gesture of his hands. Defusing this atmosphere before another fight could begin.

“Guys. She’s not from the same village as us. They don’t name their kids the same way…” Not to say he was claiming to know everything about where she came from. He knew near to nothing actually, except that they saw dragons as beasts. She had thought his name strange though so it was a decent assumption.

“That’s good because I don’t even know what a Cas… cas iee ll… is.” Tuffnut grunted though the rest of the group was already done listening to him at this point as Fishleg now approached with a small hopeful smile.

“Hiccup,” He started drawing his attention, nervously rocking as he plunged into the main reason he had tagged along. “Have you finished that new section in the dragon manual?”

“Uh… no, it’s not going to be done for a long while but you’re welcome to take a look. It’s upstairs in my bedroom. The usual place.”

Fishlegs clearly tried to restrain his excitement but still had practically skipped up the stairs. Hiccup turned his attention back to Castiel with a gesture at each of the others in turn “This is my cousin Snotlouce, the twins Ruffnut and Tuffnut, Fishlegs just went up the stairs and this is Astrid…” He didn’t have anything to say about her anymore because he wasn’t sure who she was suppose to be anymore. He paused “where’s Eret?”

“Well, he was insistent on scrubbing Skullcrusher down.” Astrid explained and after the muddy state the dragon was in, she didn’t blame him. “I’m sure he’ll be by later to meet her though. Though I’m curious… what village did she come from? I sure it wasn’t one of the enemy tribes. Hiccup.” She added sharply “this could be considered an act of war!”

Hiccup sighed. “I don’t think that’s going to be a problem.” But he wouldn’t elaborate because it wasn’t his place to talk about Castiel’s outcast status. 

Astrid was silent for a moment, obviously seeing more to that but knowing better than to pry. “It’s nice meeting you Castiel.” She said instead, “it’s unfortunate that things had to happen like they did. The healer said you may never get your voice back, that first day you arrived.” She said this because Hiccup had been pulled away as the other teens were arguing again- rather loudly. Astrid paid them no mind, her smile uncannily soft. “I heard how that happened and… thank you… Hiccup has always been reckless, not always intentionally but-” She laughed, a little of the love for him still there. “It’s a scar to be proud of.”

“Astrid.” Hiccup finally found his way back after shoving the others out. “What… what were you telling her…?” He questioned, suspicious of the expression on her face.

“I have to get going Hiccup. But it was nice seeing you like this. Less… gloomy.” She offered as she walked out. “It’s good for you.”

She may have said ’it’ when she walked out but he heard ’she’ and suddenly felt flustered by the prospect. Was his exgirlfriend of several years… telling him that she was okay with him finding someone else, that she wanted him to? He turned away from Castiel to approach Toothless, busying himself with the task. “Geeze… I hope they weren’t too much. I know you said you don’t have the best experiences with other people.”