Rune and the others flew back to Berk and just in time too, he was able to catch up with Hiccup at the Gobbers shop. Toothless was resting inside the shop curled up in a corner with his head looking out. Hiccup had his head buried in a saddle design for a Viking and Gobber was as well. When Toothless saw Rune and Sandstorm approaching, he raised his head and sent a coo their way alerting Hiccup that he was here.
Hiccup picked up his head and looked outside through the open door. "Great timing"
"Hey Hiccup" Rune greeted as he stepped into the shop.
"Hey Rune" Hiccup said as he returned to working on the saddle.
"Is this a good time? You look busy"
"No it's okay"
While the two conversed, Toothless stepped out to meet Sandstorm. Sandstorm Sat outside looking in and watching his rider, fixated on all his movements. Toothless stood in front of him, keeping a steady gaze at his face. Sandstorm looked at him, tilting his head a bit as he wondered why Toothless was staring at him like that. Toothless walked around him gazing at all the similar features they shared and then made a chirp like roar. Sandstorm grunted and then Toothless pouted and mimicked him like was talking then moved his head to the side as if he were saying 'I have something to show you'.
The two dragons departed as Rune found himself wearing a leather apron and helping Hiccup and Gobber around the shop. It was different from the farm but it wasn't anything he couldn't handle. Rune also used this as a medium to gain any knowledge that could help him later on if he found himself in a tight situation and he needed to invent something. The two engaged in long conversations about his time on the Edge, his map, and all his inventions. This was more than Rune expected and with the journey he had ahead of him, it was more than helpful for the future.
His stories had stirred up an unquenchable urge to go on adventures of his own and leave his mark on this world, unlike his previous life. They spoke late into the night before calling it a day, Rune and Sandstorm were on their way home when they met someone unexpectedly on their path. It was Vyra standing by the side of a home.
"Vyra? What are you doing here?" Rune said surprised.
"I just wanted us to talk" she said.
"Talk about what?"
"What happened between you and Sten today"
"Okay, but not here"
"What's wrong with here?" she asked confused.
"A bit too open for that. Come on"
Rune grabbed her by the hand and pulled her by the hand aboard Sandstorm who took them to rock standing alone in the ocean. The two landed and sat next to each other admiring the night sky as the full moon illuminated the night. Quite romantic I'd say.
"The sky's beautiful" Vyra said admiring the beauty of the stars.
"It is" Rune answered with his head up.
"So what is it that you wanted to talk about?" he asked.
"Well first off, I wanted to apologize for any trouble I might have caused you. I know Sten has bee trying to make advances towards me and when he saw both of us like that I knew he'd be jealous"
"It's okay Vyra, you don't have to apologize for anything. Plus, it was about time someone put that loud mouth in his place" he said with a little giggle.
"Well you sure did"
"What can I say, I have a good teacher and one day I will surpass her"
"As if, you can't even go toe to toe with Thyra. She'll murder you" Vyra said with a laugh.
"We'll see about that"
"Be my guest and challenge her, you'll see"
"I will and then you'll see how strong I am"
Sandstorm grumbled showing that he wanted to go sleep.
"Don't worry bud, we'll be on our way home very soon"
"What do you think we're going to do tomorrow?"
"I have no idea. Maybe teach us how to fly at night? I don't know"
"Maybe it would be a night combat drill or teaching us a trick to aiming better with our dragons with low visibility"
"Does it always have to be combat and fighting drills with you?"
"It's what I'm good at so it's only natural for me to be a little bit obsessed" she defended.
"You're not a little bit obsessed, you're hugely obsessed"
"Okay, okay, I get it" she said with a little chuckle.
"So what are you obsessed about?" she asked.
"To be honest, I don't know. You and Astrid like combat, Hiccup loves his inventions, everyone has something they love but I haven't discovered mine yet"
"I thought it would be something about animals or a farming activity, or don't you like your farm?"
"I do like it but it's not something I envision myself doing for the rest of my life. I want to do more you know. Be more than a farm boy" he said looking into the distance.
Vyra scooted closer to him and held him by the hand.
"If it's the name teasing from Sten that's causing this, then don't mind him. You know how he is, but there is nothing bad or wrong in running a farm"
"If it's something you love doing, don't shy away from it. Everyone has an ambition and what they love to do and I will help you find yours no matter what it takes" she said assuring Rune of her support.
He had a warm feeling inside after hearing her words and faced her to thank her. "Thanks Vyra, you've been a really good friend to me"
"No problem" she said also facing him.
When they looked into each other's eyes, feelings, thoughts and ideas rushed through their minds, there was a connection between them, one that they tried to over look. They began to move closer to one another with their lips ever so close now and then a certain third wheel came between them. Sandstorm used his tail to throw a stone at Rune hitting him in the shoulder and breaking their gaze.
"Owww" he said rubbing his shoulder in pain. "What was that for?!"
Vyra could only chuckle.
"Guess he wants to go home"
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, he could have just said something"
Sandstorm grunted and stood up walking towards Runa and Vyra who were also on their feet.
"Guess you always get what you want don't you?"
Sandstorm stuck out his tongue and shook his head, agreeing with him. Rune shook his head and smiled as he climbed upon his dragon. After getting on, he would helped Vyra on as well.
Sandstorm got them back to Berk with great haste since they had to drop Vyra home first before going home themselves.
"Goodnight" Vyra said with a wave as she stood in front of her house.
Rune smiled and waved goodbye as well, watching her disappear behind the closing door.
"Come on Sandstorm, let's go"
Just as Sandstorm was about to take off, a voice shot out from the shadows.
"Young love" the person said.
Rune and Sandstorm stopped their take-off and turned their head to the left looking at path in-between two homes.
"Who's there?" Rune asked as his dragon began to growl, ready to defend him at all costs.
Forde emerged from the shadows holding some papers in his hand having a smug look on his face.
"Forde?! What are you doing here?" Rune asked surprised by his emergence.
"I live four houses away. What are you doing here?" he asked turning the table of questions.
"Nothing, just doing a bit of night flying" he stuttered as he began to feel pressure around him.
"Really?" Forde said raising his eyebrow.
"Yeah, it helps me clear my head" he continued his lie.
"Bro, you're a really terrible liar. I saw you drop Vyra off after you guys came back from doing Odin knows what"
The jig was up, Rune couldn't lie anymore.
"So tell me Rune, are you two dating?" he questioned.
"Me, Vyra? No way man. She's way out of my league" Rune said trying to hide an obvious blush.
"Not after what I saw today. You two got some chemistry going and it's as clear as day"
"I don't think so" Rune said denying his growing feelings for her.
"Okay, if you say so" Forde said walking away.
Rune and Sandstrom charged into the sky and headed home for the night.
Hiccup ,his team, Valka, Eret and the trainees glided through the clouds under the night sky as they began their class.
"Hiccup, you haven't told us what we're doing up here" Sten said rubbing his upper arms as he felt a bit chilly.
"Today, we're going to teach you or rather show you guys how to scout" Hiccup said.
"Isn't it just flying around and looking down for any hunters?" Thyra said. Voicing her own opinion.
"Scouting is much more than that" Eret replied. "It's blending in with your surroundings to avoid getting spotted by the enemy and getting as close to them as possible to get as much information as you can while maintaining protocol distance" he explained.
"Thank you Eret for that explanation" Hiccup thanked.
"You see guys, scouting is an essential part of planning raids on ships, it gives you valuable information on your enemy so you can plan effectively and prepare for the worst" Hiccup added.
"It's essential to be good at scouting because you never know when you might be called upon to go on patrol" Astrid added.
"Alright team, let's split up into smaller groups and fan out, see what you can find. and then we gather back here in fifteen" Hiccup said.
"Sounds good to me" Valka said.
Hiccup and Rune broke out first heading east, Astrid and Vyra headed north, Sten and the twins went west, Snotlout and Forde went southwest, Valka and Fishlegs headed southeast leaving Eret and Thyra to head south.
"The key to scouting is making as little noise as possible and not drawing any attention to yourself" Hiccup explained as he and Rune flew side by side. "For Toothless and I, scouting came easier to us because he blends well with the night sky, so in your case, the clouds are your best friend. Incase there are no clouds, get as high as possible and make sure you have one of these" he said holding up his spyglass.
"That looks cool" Rune said admiring.
"Why don't you come by the shop tomorrow, we can make one"
"Really?"
"Yeah. I have a few lenses lying around that we could use"
"Thank you so much Hiccup" Rune expressed his gratitude.
"Any time"
The two then returned back to their lesson.
"Now when you come up on hunter ships, it's important you get a head count of those you can see, the number of the ships and the size of them so you can estimate how many dragons cages they can carry"
"Another thing is that if you ever get in a situation that you have to fly towards a ship and stay hidden, it's best that you fly in fast and low so that they spot you. Sailors have low visibility of anything very close to their ship. They'd have to get to the edge and look down to see you" he added.
"But for your dragon, you also have the option of going under water since he's a tidal class dragon and should be a strong swimmer. But that should be a last resort since you would be opening yourself to attacks from dragons that stay underwater like Sculdrons"
"Thanks for the tips and pointers Hiccup" Rune thanked.
"Don't mention it. I'm just doing my job as your mentor"
The two continued their flight cruising at high speeds staying amongst the clouds. Elsewhere, Eret and Thyra were cruising through the clouds scanning from left to right for anything unusual and then Thyra spotted something, light flickering in the distance.
"I see light up ahead" she reported.
"Stay close to me and lay low" Eret instructed as they pushed on ahead to get a better view.
They closed in on the light and Rampage began to feel a bit uncomfortable, not used to this type of situation. He indicated his uneasiness with a grunt, which Thyra to rub his head.
"Easy boy" she said affectionately.
"Don't worry, he'll get used to it" Eret assured her.
They two dropped in altitude a bit so that they could get a better view of what was going on. Eret held on to his saddle and placed his legs on Skullcrusher's side as he leaned to the side to get a clearer picture.
"I count five ships below and from their size, they should be carrying at least twenty cages" he said urging Thyra to have a look for herself.
She looked down from above and could make out the shape of the ships and some cages as the torches placed on them helped her out.
"We must go tell the others" Eret said.
"Right" Thyra agreed.
The two turned around and headed back to their designated meeting ground.