Astrid is woken abruptly this morning – the ground is shaking a little. She sits up slowly in bed, wondering what happened to her Nadder to make Stormfly angry enough to rock the house. A small smile creases her face as she recognizes a deep roar much too loud for her Stormfly.
Throwing off her covers, Astrid jumps out of the bed and rushes to the window to watch something that makes her happy every day.
It's a bit like sunrise, she thinks. It's always the same time, every day, the same routine. It's beautiful.
Even though she can't hear their words, Hiccup comes rushing out of the front of the house moments later, rubbing his eyes. He's complaining, she can tell, and then the two of them are teasing each other, making little noises.
Astrid watches, a proud smile on her face to know this boy. The smile vanishes when he steps on the slippery, icy patch going downhill toward the cliffs. She can see his metal leg coming out from under him, he's going down.
Then suddenly Toothless is there, Hiccup lying across his broad, strong head.
He mutters something likely to be a curse or a thank you, then consents to the dragon's pleas. He drags the saddle out and fixes it on, then jumps onto his back, securing his prosthetic into the stirrup made especially for him.
Then the two take off, leaving nothing to indicate they'd been there but a few scuffles in the snow and the lingering, echoing shout both had given in joy.
Astrid knew the plan for the day: Hiccup, as crazy as he may be, had taken up aerial stunts : sometimes Astrid went with them, but Hiccup liked his alone time with Toothless in the early morning. She understood.
Hiccup never did anything dangerous during the day, when the younger kids might try to copy him – he never tried to set a bad example, now that he was so revered. And anyway, Astrid didn't like seeing him risk his neck over and over again even though she knew Toothless would never let him fall.
So Astrid got up, dressed, and went out alone.
Astrid was curious about how this morning would go – she even got up extra early, settled at her window with a cup of hot tea to watch.
She wished afterward that she hadn't.
It was so, so sad that she gasped out in pain for him: he had strove to give his dragon independence, and it had looked at him, so, so long Toothless stared at him, his pupils clicked to little slits, breathing shortly, and when Hiccup had reached out, tenderly, he had leaped into the air, taken off, left him behind.
Astrid was glad Stormfly had left already – any dragon she saw now would make her burst into tears.
Astrid's heart was rending for him – her dragon she could live without, as much as she loved Stormfly she had let her go – but Hiccup, it was becoming clear, could not survive without his companion.
For one thing, the bangs that echoed around the village this morning were familiar, Astrid spotted half a dozen other faces peeking out – had the dragons come back?
No, it was only Stoick the Vast, who, at the moment, was hammering something into place on his roof.
Hiccup rushed outside with such joy and glee on his face that Astrid cried. Bitter, hot tears dripped down her face, but she forced herself to watch as he fell on his back – fell for the first time since losing his leg.
No one was there to catch him.
Astrid didn't want to get up this morning, especially to watch Hiccup and Toothless like she usually did. But she knew she had to, because he wouldn't tell her what happened.
She knew the bond between them was sacred, untouchable, and so meaningful Hiccup never told her anything about their private, early morning flights.
So she had to watch.
She was afraid Toothless would leave him again, shatter his heart into a million pieces she couldn't pick up this time, she was afraid that Hiccup would fall off without a saddle and break his neck, she was afraid that a number of unspeakable things would happen to him with a dragon who was as uncontrolled as Toothless had proven himself to be.
Hiccup tried to get on, he stumbled after his dragon as Toothless kept the tail away from him. Astrid watched, fascinated as Toothless used it one last time, opening it to the fullest extent – then he bashed it repeatedly against the snow, Hiccup was yelling, but she couldn't hear him, his arms were raised to stop : but it was too late, the tailfin was gone, it had fallen over the cliff.
Toothless managed to get behind the saddle, and pushed it at Hiccup – there was a look of puzzlement and joy on his face she knew was there even though she couldn't see it – and, once again, he mounted and they took off.
Astrid stopped watching them in the morning; Hiccup had given her a gift: every morning after his flight he would talk with her over a cup of herbal tea. Yes, a cup, she thought happily to herself. They shared.
She didn't want to trespass on his privacy: but she would never tell him of the mornings she had watched the two quarrel and play, cry and yell.
It would be her secret.