Hiccup was delivering a message from the duke to Dedicate Crane when it happened. Rosethorn and Briar were still in quarantine, doing their best to keep people alive. Vine had been napping and thus wasn't with Briar at the moment, and was very unhappy his human was so far away. He had taken to napping with Little Bear in Briar's room, waiting for them to come home.

A younger dedicate had been adding the distilled essence of what was now called the blue pox, and his hand had slipped. Hiccup had already passed on the message, and out of instinct had caught the tray. A sizable drop fell through the cracks of his special wear meant to prevent cross contamination, touching his skin.

Crane was furious, and was a hair's breath away from berating the young fool and kicking him out when everyone heard it.

The distinct sound of hissing, with a slight haze of what appeared to be steam rising from the area where the disease had touched Hiccup's skin.

Hiccup quickly pulled the sleeve back, and it was very clear that the blue pox didn't agree with Hiccup. There more visible effects were closer to his wrist, as the part below it wasn't bubbling as much.

Crane was on him in a heartbeat, and for good reason.

"You. What exactly is on your hands?" he demanded.

"It's a special mixture of oils I use to keep Toothless' scales in good condition," said Hiccup confused.

"Could you bring a sample of it with you?" asked Osprey, Crane's personal apprentice.

Hiccup nodded, and went outside for a moment before bringing out a small vial of oil.

With baited breath, Crane took a small sample of the oil and dropped it into a testing tray. For a moment, nothing happened...but then it started to hiss slightly. Not as visible as the oil on Hiccup's hands, but still a visible reaction. Even more importantly the sample itself began to rapidly diminish before it stopped.

This was the first real breakthrough regarding the pox that they've had since it appeared. And with the death toll rising, they needed everything they could get.

"Why isn't it as effective?" asked Osprey.

The pox on Hiccup's skin had essentially bubbled off, but this was a much weaker reaction.

"Maybe it's because the oil on my skin is mixed with the oil that naturally comes off Toothless when I work it into his skin?" asked Hiccup.

"That makes sense," said Crane. "We haven't seen any cases in animals, thank the gods."

Hiccup went and grabbed a few scales that naturally shed off Toothless, which he had been slowly turning into a suit of armor.

He took one of the droppers and had some of the oil slide off the scale before it went into the test well, and the effect was immediate.

The hiss was much more pronounced, and the pox began to disappear in rapid order.

Crane eyed the test well.

"It may very well be that those who work around dragons regularly are essentially immune to the pox," said Crane.

It was the first good news that they'd had in days.

"Actually there's another mix I use sometimes with new dragons to find out if they've got an injury I can't see," said Hiccup. "It changes color to make it easier for me to see where their injury is. Especially when their scales are in the way."

"Bring in your entire kit," ordered Crane. Hiccup didn't care about the tone...it was clear what Crane's priorities were.

The mixture Hiccup had for hidden injuries proved to be very useful in identifying those who weren't sick with the pox. However Crane had to adjust it so that the marking lasted longer. It would be quite the hassle to have to use such expensive ingredients multiple times in short order, especially since all trade was cut off until this epidemic was over with. The duke was taking no chances with the disease spreading and had set an official ban on travel...and he had dragon riders enforcing it in the harder to reach areas to be safe.

He never thought he'd have to use the small force of riders to enforce a travel ban.

It took very little time for a sea of red thumbprints to become the norm among those able to move.

Three days later

Hiccup was very busy, as Crane dragged him into his personal workshop to help try and find a cure for the blue pox. Now that Rosethorn and Briar were liberated from Urda's house, some hope had been instilled among the dedicates working day and night to save lives.

Hiccup was unsurprised that Rosethorn and Lark were great mages, as he had been told as much by a rather snide dedicate after he moved into Discipline. While he wasn't quite as well learned when it came to medicines like Briar was, he did have steady hands and knew how to follow basic instructions. He also had much thicker skin towards caustic barbs from adults.

Crane had a grudging respect towards him because he at least tried to ask intelligent questions and listened without arguing.

Hiccup wasn't the only one who's breath caught when the sample of blue pox fell onto Rosethorn's skin. Having it happen once was bad luck, but twice? And when she was already exhausted from working under quarantine conditions?

Hiccup didn't think twice. He took off one of his gloves and went to apply some of the dragonscale oil in the hopes that he wasn't too late.

The moment his hand touched the infected area, there was a flash of light.

"Healing magic?" said Crane in disbelief. "I thought none of them had any?"

Rosethorn looked at Hiccup dumbfounded, as even she could tell that the blue pox had been firmly purged from her body before it could fully take hold.

"We were so busy handling the other four that none of us thought to fully check his magic," she said in shock.

To be fair, the younger children's magic was far more obvious and easy to figure out their specialty. Hiccup had somewhat fallen to the wayside because they had such trouble figuring out where his magic lay. It wasn't until he revealed his dragon that they had made any real headway, and even then they didn't have anyone who could train him since even his people only knew the bare bones of dragons. Add in the fact his magic had gotten mixed with everyone else, and it had confused things further.

None of them had thought to test and see if Hiccup had any magics they could train with how hectic things had gotten.

They were definitely going to check after this.

The blue pox was a nightmare that had finally come to an end. Hiccup was just so done that he all but collapsed against Toothless.

The vaccine was being sent to all the affected victims, and with any luck those that survived would be able to resume their normal lives.

Even more importantly, Hiccup was being given his mage medallion since he had displayed the control and discipline needed. The Mage council was very eager to see how the younger four children progressed since it had only taken two years for Hiccup to obtain his license.

Hiccup wasn't leaving Summersea just yet. He was still apprenticed under Duke Vedris as his assistant, and he would be getting lessons now that they knew he had a knack for healing magic.

As a way to practice his letters, Hiccup had been writing down everything that had happened after he reached Winding Circle. He knew that unless someone wrote it down, it was unlikely anyone would believe half the things his siblings got up to before they became great mages.

To that end, Hiccup had thought long and hard about a proper viking name for his siblings. If their stories ever reached the archipelago, he wanted the viking tribes to be properly respectful of them and take them seriously.

He had mentioned this to Duke Vedris, who had been more amused than anything and had agreed to look at Hiccup's ideas for a viking name for his great-niece and her friends.

Even if Hiccup later learned he had accidentally created his sibling's mage names in the process.

"So what names did you come up with?" asked Niko. He had come to check in on Hiccup.

"Sandry Fateweaver, Trisana Stormrider, Daja Brasshand, and Briar Forestsong."

"Why those names?" asked Vedris.

"In Viking culture it's believed that the three Norns, who are the sisters of Fate, weave the destiny of men. And Sandry wove the five of us together in that cave, so it seemed fitting," said Hiccup. "As for Tris...the second she sees a fresh storm, she's up with Mjolnir to enjoy the winds until you tell her it's time to come home."

Niko snorted at that, because Hiccup wasn't wrong. The two thoroughly enjoyed riding the storm winds and often gave the guards heart attacks the rare times they dared to ride the lightning back down from the clouds.

"As for Daja...well the first and only thing that vikings are going to notice is her metal hand. And Briar has such a strong connection to his shakkan that it seemed only fitting to call him Forestsong."

"What about your viking name?" asked Niko curious.

Hiccup made an "X" with his arms.

"Making your own viking name is considered incredibly tacky, and no one would take it seriously," he said without hesitation.

Niko shared a look with Vedris. A sly grin filled Vedris' face.

They chatted for a bit with Hiccup, before they left.

In the Duke's study

"So we're agreed Hiccup should get his own viking name," said Niko.

"The boy is a natural leader," said Duke Vedris. "And his loyalty is unquestioned."

"And his connection to those dragons is fascinating. It's like he's a dragon himself," said Frostpine.

"It wouldn't take much for Hiccup to earn his mage medallion," Niko pointed out. "Aside from healer training, he's pretty much learned all we can teach him."

"Don't be too sure of that," said Vedris with a laugh. "I'm fairly certain I saw that young man develop scales of all things after the pox started to die down for good."

Niko grinned at that.

"Some of the old stories of wild magic indicated that they can shapeshift. In Hiccup's case, I wouldn't be surprised if he could turn into a full dragon," said Niko.

Before any of them could reply, there was a loud shout of alarm. All three men went outside...only to find two Night Furies, one looking far more bewildered than anything.

"...It looks like he figured it out," said Frostpine dryly, as Toothless was sniffing the new dragon excitedly.

Hiccup!Fury was in a slight panic as he hadn't intended to do a full shift.

It took Niko and Frostpine two hours to coax him back into his human form, and even then he still had craving for cod for three days straight.

Vedris had a good laugh, which he had been sorely needing after the epidemic hit his territory so suddenly.

Needless to say Hiccup decided to focus most of his training for the next few months on how to shift properly without getting stuck like that again. He still occasionally had an accident and would walk around with scales or dragon eyes for an hour or two until someone pointed it out though.

Niko and the others weren't idle though. After that little accident, they had been brainstorming over what mage name to give Hiccup as a reward for all his hard work. Niko wanted to take the whole idea of a viking name (which wasn't too dissimilar to a mage title) and run with it.

Sandry and the others didn't know this, but Hiccup's names for them had been gaining traction among the Mage Council and it was likely that it would also become their official Mage title once they gained their medallions.

It was Rosethorn who came up with the perfect name for him.

"Hiccup Dragonsoul," said Rosethorn firmly. "The boy is practically a dragon in all but form, and his connection to them goes deep."

"I like it," said Vedris with approval.

"So we're in agreement?" said Niko smiling.

"I've already gotten a request to create his medallion. Dedicate Moonstream says he's a fast learner, and has been devouring his lessons on how to use healing magic like a sponge. He's not stupid enough to use that aspect of his magic without proper training," said Frostpine.

Hiccup was a sensible soul, and had grown out of the same impulsive actions that had gotten the younger four into such trouble.

Hiccup had a look of profound shock...and a slightly misty expression when he saw the medallion that marked him as an accredited mage.

Then he noticed something inscribed on the edge of the metal.

"What's this?"

"Your official mage name," said Lark.

Hiccup ran his thumb over the metal.

"Hiccup...Dragonsoul?"

"You may have been born a human, but it's obvious to anyone with eyes that you have a dragon's soul," explained Niko. "And it's something everyone on the Mage Council agrees on."

Hiccup couldn't hide the smile on his face. Hiccup Dragonsoul...it was a name that he could bear with pride and not even the viking tribes could argue with the meaning.

Naturally Toothless had to commemorate his new status as a full mage...with a thorough slobbering of his favorite human. It was clear he was thrilled for Hiccup, and since the weather was nice they held a small party outside Discipline.

Hiccup felt that he had found his true home.