Understanding
by Tarn 2012
Note: This is an pre-edit draft, I just wanted to upload it before risking losing what I've worked on.
The bitter nighttime breeze stung against the young woman's face as she stood before the imposing building. Imposing not from the size of the Great Hall, or the intricate carvings of draconic beasts flanking the massive doorway, but the person she was certain to find within.
Astrid was terrified of the conversation that she felt that she needed to have with the sole occupant of the building. As the cold autumn air rushed around her, an involuntary shiver pressed her into action.
Reaching for the carved wooden handles, she again shivered not from the weather but her own nerves. This level of uncertainty bothered Astrid, raised a warrior amongst the Viking culture, she was ingrained with a need to be the best and to squelch all fears. The events of the recent past had thrown everything she had known or at least thought she knew into question.
It had only been a week since the people of Berk had sailed to face their mortal enemies for over three centuries. How things change.
Prior to the Battle of Helheim's Gate, Berk faced constant attack from fleets of dragons who burned buildings, stolen massive amounts of food, and killed hundreds over the years. The change and upheaval came from a young man who learned the truth that the dragons only did what they needed to survive, by stealing food for a massive beast, a dragon of titanic proportions that had been labeled the 'Red Death' by the people of the small island.
The young woman slipped inside the massive hall where her tribe met and dined. She slowly and deliberatly closed the door and took stock of the interior. Shadows danced around the room, brought on by the faint flickering of a lantern hung from one of the massive columns that held the immense roof aloft.
The dim and shifting warmth from the lantern only helped to highlight the solitary form hunched over a mug of ale at one of the dining tables. As she approached, the form became clearer and easier to see. Stoick the Vast was named appropiately given his size and reputation, but tonight in the silence and muted light of the hall he seemed smaller somehow.
Once Astrid had drawn closer, she wondered if the leader of the people of Berk had even noticed her timid approach.
"Um, Chief Stoick..." Astrid started, not at all expecting her leader to almost jump out of his seat in surprise.
"Oh! oh... Astrid." The mighty Chief of Berk stuttered as he turned to face the person who brought him out o his trance. "What brings you here at this hour?"
"Couldn't sleep, and um..." Astrid started nervously, "I wanted to talk with you about something. I saw Gobber heading home from the forge and he said you might still be here."
"Have a seat Miss Hofferson." Stoick said softly as he gestured to the bench across from him.
The young viking hesitated for a moment before lowering herself onto the wood bench. A few moments of uncomfortable silence passed before Stoick spoke up. "So what brought you to find me at this hour?"
Astrid opened her mouth to speak a number of times before she worked up the nerves to broach the topic that had hung thick in the air since the Battle of Helheim's Gate. "Chief, I'm probably not the only one to ask this, but where do we go from here?"
Looking at the bearded and normally rock solid leader, she expected to see an unwavering confidence and get some sort of direction or at least something to make her feel a bit better about the village wide confusion that ran rampant after last week's confrontation and it's unbelievable and heartbreaking conclusion.
So when Astrid looked to her Chief for an answer and she saw him seem to have trouble responding, it was extremely unsettling. An entire minute passed before he responded, starting with a heavy sigh.
"I wish I had an answer that made sense... Fighting dragons was all we ever knew, but now it doesn't seem to be necessary. It would be so much easier if..." Stoick mused, pausing for a moment, "if... he would just wake up. He knows the beasts in a way I just don't understand."
This admission shook Astrid to her core as as far back as she can remember, Stoick had never shown anything but absolute certainty and strength. Astrid felt her eyes starting to well up a little, but she blinked in an attempt to hold back her emotions.
"Chief, how is he? I couldnt stop by today, my mother kept me busy with chores and repairs all day. " Astrid managed to choke out. She had been by the Chief's house every day since they returned to Berk to check on the young hero.
"Gothi seemed happy with his progress. She said his heart is strong and there is no sign of infection in his..." Stoick explained but trailed off as the mental image of his son's shattered and destroyed leg came to the forefront of his mind.
Astrid didn't really want to press the issue any further, she had seen the leg during their slow and morose trip back home and had woken in cold sweats since. "Good, I hope he wakes up soon, I..."
Stoick raised an eyebrow at the way her voice broke a little, Astrid Hofferson was an unbreakable spirit and he had to wonder how his son had managed to affect her so.
"Astrid, how did this happen?" The viking chief started, "I need to understand how and why my son was able to do this."
The blonde woman sitting across him managed a half smile as she remembered her discovery of what Hiccup had been keeping from everyone in the village. "I don't know the entire story, but from what I've managed to figure out, the night of that raid when Hiccup said he shot down a Night Fury, he was serious."
"And I didnt listen." Stoick interjected, his heart heavy with grief and guilt. A few moments of silence filled the air before the chief nodded to indicate he wanted the girl to continue.
"Toothless had crashed into a cove to the east and Hiccup chose to free him instead of just putting it out of its misery. They must have come to some kind of understanding because Hiccup was able to build a new tailfin to replace the one that was torn off in the crash."
Stoick nodded while trying to grasp just how and why the dragon didn't simply kill Hiccup the moment it was freed.
"I guess that was how he got so good in the ring, he learned how the dragon's live and used that to defend himself. That really got me worked up, but I didn't know..." Astrid sadly admitted, wishing she had just let Hiccup trust her enough to share something so amazing.
"So he built that contraption to allow them to fly together?"
"Yes, and after Gothi chose Hiccup over me to kill the Nightmare, I had gotten completely fed up and followed him from the ring. I confronted your son about what he had been hiding, and kinda beat him up a little."
This managed a small amused snort from Stoick, but Astrid continued without questioning it. "Toothless must have seen me as a threat and charged me. Hiccup tossed me to the ground and got between me and Toothless, trying to calm him down. I paniced and ran back towards the village to tell you what happened."
"Why didn't you?" Stoick asked with a very slight bit of irriration, wondering what would have convinced her not to come clean about something so major.
"I hadnt even gotten out of the cove when they grabbed me and dropped me in a tree. Hiccup convinced me to get on the back of the dragon."
"Toothless went nuts and flew us around spinning and diving into the ocean. But I apologized to Hiccup and the dragon seemed to understand." Astrid paused, conjuring up her memories of the moments to follow. She smiled half heartedly as she continued, "He took us to the clouds... You would not believe what I saw, it was amazing... then we flew by the village. Berk is absolutely beautiful from the sky."
The chief noticed her shudder a little as she continued her story, "Then something happened, a fleet of the dragon's from that nights raid swarmed us, and Toothless seemed to want to follow them."
"Is that when you found the nest?"
"Yes, we flew into a hole in that volcano and saw the Red Death eat a Gronkle that didnt feed the beast fast enough. It heard us and tried to eat us as well, we barely made it out of there."
"I tried to convince Hiccup that we should tell you about the nest, but he worried that you would have killed Toothless instead of listening." Astrid cleared her throat while wondering just how much more she should reveal, "I had never seen him so adamant and passionate about something before."
Stoick was taken aback by the way the young woman spoke of his son, and wondered if there was more to the story than she was admitting. A small part of the leader felt a small spring of hope bubble up that if his son woke up, something new and amazing might happen. Perhaps a conversation would need to be had in the future.
Deciding to move the story ahead a little, Stoick asked "What got him to teach you and the other teens to fly the other dragons?"
"After you sailed the tribe out towards Helheim's Gate, I confronted Hiccup about why he didn't just kill the Night Fury. I will never forget what your son told me, He said that he wouldnt kill the dragon because he saw that it was as frightened as he was. He saw himself."
"I asked what he intended to do and something lit up in his eyes. He had a plan, the craziest plan in the history of all plans."
"He brought us to the training grounds and showed all of us how to interact with the dragons. We then followed you to Helheim's Gate and from there you saw the rest."
Astrid really did not want to have to relive the actual battle, even if only in memory. She let the converstation stall out and waited for Stoick to say something.
After a minute of taking it all in Stoick whistled a bit in exasperation, "My son not only tamed and trained a Night Fury, but he lead you all into a battle that could not be won, and in spite of the odds, brought down the beast."
Hearing the events of the recent past explained like that, Astrid's pride in the young man that lie comatose a few houses over swelled, but so did something else, something undefined and foriegn to the woman.
"Basically yes, sir. We just did what felt right... we never expected that Hiccup would..." Astrid replied, tears beginning to well up again.
"None of us did, and when he wakes up I think Berk owes him... everything. He may just have brought us peace." Stoick answered for her, seeing plainly that she was getting upset at the thought of Hiccup's current state.
"I should get home sir, it's getting late."
"Aye, your mother will worry and have my head if you don't get home soon. But I do have a favor and a question to ask of you."
"Yes Chief?" Astrid replied as she came around the side of the table to stand next to her Chief.
"First the favor, please call me Stoick, you have more than earned that privilage with what you did at Helheim. And now the question, when did your opinion of my son change?"
Astrid blushed at Stoick's question, "Um, I think it was when he stood up for Toothless after we found the nest. I saw that his strength came from within, despite how much smaller he is than the rest of us. He showed me a new world from the back of that Night Fury, and I will never forget it."
That undefined feeling in her chest felt like it was growing, filling all the empty space in her heart. She smiled at her leader, "Hiccup will wake up, he has to, we need to show him how wrong we were about him."
"Young lady, you are wise beyond your years. I have one last request for you before you leave for the night. Please talk to my boy when he wakes up, he may have trouble adjusting to what happened, especially with the leg. He cares for you a great deal and I think it would help to have you around for his recovery." Stoick replied with a soft smile and a hand on her shoulder, hoping to fan whatever flame for his son was growing in the woman's heart.
"I will, thank you Chief... I mean Stoick. Good night." The young woman replied with a warm smile before heading for the massive doors to the Great Hall and slipping into the night.
Silence returning to the Hall, Stoick the Vast looked at the closed doors, deep in thought. "Son, you chose a great woman, hopefully she feels the same. Just wake up soon so you can find out." He spoke to the empty room before taking his mug to the cabinets and heading back home.
Hope everyone enjoyed this, I may write a second chapter taking place after Hiccup wakes back up.