A/N: A request for my wonderful cousin

Astrid watched as Hiccup checked over Toothless one last time. She could tell by the stiffness of his shoulders that he was itching to go. She walked over to him and he turned to face her when she got close.

"Remember," she reached out to tug on the small braid she had woven in his hair that morning. "You have be back sometime tomorrow, so please don't make me go chase you down. That would defeat the whole purpose of this."

Hiccup frowned. "You're my wife and, more importantly, you're the best warrior in Berk. I don't see why you can't be left to lead for more than just a day. Not much can be done in just one day... on either of our ends."

"'Cause I'm only your half-wife at this point. Just wait four more months; then I will be your full wife and you can leave me for as long as you want."

Hiccup's frown deepened. "I don't want to leave you at all. I wish you could come with me but-"

"But both of these things have to be done. I get it."

"I am Chief so I could just declare you my full wife. Half-marriages aren't even needed anymore. Now that dragons aren't killing us off anymore we have time to get to know each other and don't have a such a desperate need to have children to keep Berk populated. It's just..." Hiccup trailed off.

"I know, Hiccup. You've said this many, many times in the past few months."

"I know, I know."

Toothless nudged Hiccup, nearly causing him to stumble into Astrid. "All right Buddy. I'm going, I'm going." He leaned forward to give Astrid a kiss. "I'll be back tomorrow."

Astrid watched Hiccup take off and head west to where the reports of a strange dragon sightings were coming from.

Later that day Astrid tried to remind herself that Hiccup had put his trust in her for a reason. He trusted her not to murder anyone or take an axe to them. Stromfly must have noticed her tension because she started to snap at Dogsbreath. Astrid didn't bother to scold her, not when he had just done such a stupid thing.

"You lost the batch of Deadly Nadders?"

"Yes," said Dogsbreath, trying to make himself as small as possible. If he had known Astrid was going to be Acting Chief today he would have just hidden until Hiccup returned. While Hiccup cared about all dragons, Astrid had a special connection to Deadly Nadders. Also, her glare was far fiercer then anything he had ever seen from Hiccup.

"Those Nadders are the only new dragons we have this year. Without them we don't know if any of the children who will reach dragon age this year will have a companion."

"Lady Valka brought many dragons with her... Surely any of them will be able to work?"

"All dragons who wanted to have already done so. There are no more." Astrid stood. "You will take me to where you last saw them."

"As you say... Chief."

Astrid and Ruffnut stood on the edge of the cliffs east of the village. Both of them complete ignored Dogsbreath after he told them this was where he last saw the dragons. He didn't mind in the least.

"This is dumb," grunted Ruffnut.

"You've said that already."

"Yeah, well it's so dumb it has to be said again."

"Ruffnut, we can't leave it to chance that there won't be any dragons this year."

"We have plenty of dragons. Also, wasn't it you who made us go through that awful training course without dragons cause you thought we were becoming too dependent on them?"

"Being dependent on them and not even having them are too very different things."

"At least use a dragon then."

"I can't. Dragon can't fly along this cliff; it's too dangerous for them. Hiccup won't want us to lose any of them."

"He'd want to lose you even less. Hel, I'd have to be the one to tell him. I don't want to do that. He may be a scrawny thing, but he'd probably just sick a dragon on me instead of fighting me. Even if he doesn't, Stormfly will."

Astrid ignored her last comment. "The cave mouth is near the top. The wind isn't going to affect me that much."

"We don't even know if they are in the cave."

"Look," Astrid pointed to bottom edge of the cave. "Those are fresh claw marks, specifically Deadly Nadder marks. They have been here recently. Also if they had tried to fly back out we would see them at the bottom of the cliffs in the low tide."

"That's an unpleasant thought."

"Yes it is, but that didn't happen so we know they are still in there."

"Still, let the dimwit go, just in case." Ruffnut jerked her thumb back at Dogsbreath. Again he tried to make himself smaller. Astrid shook her head; she couldn't believe that Snotlout had been friends with him.

"I'm still acting Chief. I can't have him do something first to test out if it is dangerous. That's bad leadership skills."

"I say it's smart leadership skills."

"That's why you aren't acting Chief."

Ruffnut snorted at that but didn't comment. Astrid took advantage of the silence to anchor the rod firmly into the ground. It was one of Hiccup's inventions so despite Ruffnut's comments she wasn't worried. She stood to hook the harness around herself.

"A little help here?" asked Astrid and Ruffnut walked had done this many times before, which is way she had asked Ruffnut to come. Ruffnut frowned when she secured the second set.

"It's tighter than before." Ruffnut look back up at Astrid. "You quickened?"

Astrid punched her. "It's nearly winter, idiot. I'm just wearing more clothes."

"Good, cause if you were then Hiccup definitely would kill me; probably with his bare hands."

"You are going to be holding my rope, my lifeline. Please stop talking about death."

"Fine," she gave one final tug. "There. All secure."

"Good." Astrid walked over to the edge of the cliff and turned around. "Ready?"

"Yeah."

With a deep breath Astrid started down the cliff face. Almost immediately the wind was batting against her. Still, it wasn't as bad as she feared. She managed to make it to the cave mouth with only a slight scrape on her arm. She gave her rope two tugs to let Ruffnut know she had made it before unhooking her harness. As she journeyed into the cave she could hear her conscience - which sounded far too much like Hiccup for her comfort - that she should have had someone come with her. However, there only a few people she trusted to know their way around these caves. Most of them were currently not in Berk and she needed Ruffnut to hold the rope. There was no way in anything that she was going to bring Dogsbreath down in here.

Astrid lit the small torch she had brought. She was glad to see that there were plenty of claw marks to follow and that they all headed in the same direction. She kept her focus mainly on the ground. The main danger would come from cave holes, not from whatever might be living in the cave. The cave began to grow smaller till she started to wonder how the Deadly Nadders, even if they were smaller than their parents at this stage, had been able to fit. Soon she got her answer when two large cave holes come into view. She tried to ignore the creepy fact that they were set up just like a pair of eyes. Very carefully she approached the edge of the hole to her left. It had claw marks but they were not the frantic sort that might indicate a struggle to not fall. Instead they all seem to be nearly on top of each other like they had formed a line before jumping into the hole. Astrid wouldn't be surprised if they had. Carefully she picked up a small rock and tossed it into the hole. It was a while until she heard it hit the bottom. The next thing she heard she wasn't expecting - screechy roars and growls. She smiled; she had found the missing dragons! At their current age she wasn't sure how well they would respond to her call, but she figure it would be her best bet to try and call to them like she did Stormfly. With a deep breath she cried out to them. If the excited chirps that followed were any indication, it had worked.

Soon Deadly Nadders were flying up out of the hole and surrounding Astrid. Maybe it had worked too well because they wouldn't calm down. They continued to fly around her, chirping incessantly. Considering the small cave space around them, this was not a good idea.

"Hey! Stop! Stop!" Astrid was extremely glad that they spikes weren't poisonous yet; at least she wouldn't be killed by the dragons she was trying to help. No sooner than she had finished that thought did two wings thump hard enough at her side that she tumbled and rolled straight into the other hole. She didn't even have time scream. All she could think was that the small rock she had thrown to the other side had taken far too long to make a sound for her to have any hope of surviving.

Astrid smacked into the water hard enough to shock the breath out of her lungs, which she distantly supposed was a good thing. That way she couldn't gasp in a mouthful of water when she hit the outcrops of rocks below the surface. It took all her strength not to pass out; if she passed out she didn't know if she would make it to the surface. She pushed with all her might back toward the surface.

The next thing she was fully aware of was that she lying on the shore with her shoulders barely out of the water. Her arm was numb from her laying on it - at least, she hoped that's why it was numb. Something nudged the side of her head. She opened her eyes to see nothing, but she could hear the Deadly Nadders that seemed to be all around her. She started to get up but as soon as she put pressure on her numb arm it collapsed.

"Okay, so that's not good." Switching all her weight to her other arm she pulled herself fully out of the water. She looked up but couldn't see where the top was. However, she was sure if it hadn't been for the water, Ruffnut would have ended up being right. Also, judging by the various stinging pains that were starting to make themselves known, there was no way that she would be able to pull this off as no big deal. She reaches for her side and thanks Odin when her fingers find the flame sword Hiccup had made for her. She never liked to be anywhere outside the village without a weapon and while she preferred axes, this was much easier to carry around. She was extra glad she had brought it now; she just hoped the flames wouldn't send the dragons into a frenzy. With practiced ease she activated the sword. Thankfully, the Deadly Nadders only reaction was to stare at it.

She looked up again; this time she could see the hole above her. The rope she brought should be long enough. She set the sword down and reached around to her other side only to grasp at air. She turned, ignoring her body's protests to look at the pool of water. It was most likely somewhere in there and there was no way she would be able to get it.

The chills her body was starting to feel reminded her of another time she was trapped. At least that time she had Hiccup and two grown dragons that cared about her. She wasn't sure if these babies would stay or leave without her. She also wasn't sure how long she had been out. Was it long enough for Ruffnut to worry and send for help? She didn't think it would be a good idea wait for that possibility; she needed to get out of there as fast as she could.

She looked at the Deadly Nadders. They were slightly smaller than the one she had ridden when they chased after Drago. Still, they might be able to lift her up and out. Hopefully.

She picked up her sword and transferred it to her other hand, relieved when she was able to grip it without a lot of pain. She looked at the Deadly Nadder that was closest to her. It seemed slightly bigger than the rest. She placed her hand around its horn. She had barely tightened her grip when it took off. With a silent oath she did her best to hang on. Thankfully, it didn't take that long to reach the top. She didn't even care when her shins banged against the opening.

Quickly she found ground and let go, just in case the dragon decided to keep flying. Thankfully all the rest had followed them. She started forward, holding the sword above her. She was able to quickly make her way back; the chatter of the dragons surrounded her as she went.

She nearly cried when she neared the mouth of the cave. However, she wasn't sure what to do. She knew she wouldn't be able to pull herself up and that she need medical attention, but if she went first they might try and follow her. She didn't know if she would be able to harness the dragons - if they even let her. Seeing that she was at the mouth of the cave, she turned off her sword. This immediately caused the dragons to hop about far too close to the opening for Astrid's nerves. Quickly she reactivated the sword and they crowded around her again.

"Of course!" Astrid felt rather stupid at the moment. Of course the baby dragons would be fascinated by fire even more so then the grown ones. If she left the flame sword on, it should keep them from flying to their deaths or wandering back down into the cave. She set the sword down a safe distance away from the mouth of the cave and when she backed away, none of the dragons followed. It was more painful then she liked, but she managed to safely secure harness. She gave it three tugs to show she would need help being brought up. Judging from the smoothness of the way she was pulled up, Ruffnut had roped Dogsbreath into helping her.

When she was near the top she could see Fishlegs peering down at her. She must have looked worse then she thought because his eyes became almost comically wide. He helped her reach the solid ground, but he didn't let her go after he removed her harness.

"You can let me go now."

"I could, but then you might fall."

Astrid didn't argue, mainly because she was pretty sure he was right. Now that she was safe and was being supported by a nice and toasty Fishlegs, she wanted to pass out. She didn't even care that Dogsbreath was still there. However, she had one last thing she had to do. "I found the dragons. They are near the cave mouth. I left my flame sword on down there, so I doubt they have moved."

"Okay. We'll take care of it," said Ruffnut. Astrid was surprised to see that she was standing next to her.

"Good..."

That was the last thing Astrid clearly remembered. At some point she was sure she heard Valka's worried tones. She tried to shake off her sleep at that, maybe something had happened to the baby dragons, but a cool cloth and soothing tones made her drift back out again.

The first thing Astrid became aware was heat. It felt as if someone had removed the pelt from in front of the fire and placed it over her. It was not at all pleasant. She moved her legs but nothing heavy seemed to be on them. However it did cause her to become aware of a lot more things. The stiffness of her left arm, the awful taste in her mouth, the slow pulsing of her shins, and a full-body ache she hadn't felt since her early training days.

She gritted her teeth as she rolled over on to her right side. The world didn't spin, which she was thankful for; at least that meant she didn't have any sort of head injury. Very slowly she sat up. When that didn't hurt her too much, she stood. She had made it down the first few steps when the front door opened. Toothless came bounding in and went straight to Valka. Her soft laugh filled the room.

"Mom!" Hiccup entered the house right behind Toothless, "Where-" He stopped when he spotted Astrid. "Astrid."

Hiccup was up the stairs two at a time. He stopped just short of her, unsure. "I... Should you be up? Ruffnut told me what happened."

"And you didn't set Toothless on her?"

"Uh… No?"

Astrid shook her head. "Never mind, it doesn't matter." She pulled him closer with her good arm to lean against him. "I'm fine, just a little banged up. I've had worse."

"That doesn't make it okay." Hiccup muttered against her hair.

"I'm fine, honest. I'm just glad you are back."

"Me too," he placed a soft kiss in her hair. Despite the fact she had woken feeling overheated, Hiccup's warmth was soothing to her still tired body. He felt so much nicer than Fishlegs. She felt him shift and then she was in his arms as he took her back to their room. She must have made some sound of protest because Hiccup reassured her.

Soon she was tucked back in bed. This time she didn't try and fight it. Hiccup was back and the dragons were safe. She could rest.

A/N: I borrow a name from the book series to the poor idiot Astrid had to deal with. Also in case it is confusing: Half-marriage was a like a trail marriage. The couple would be together officially for a year. If they still liked each other they remained married. If not they could break it off without stigma.