Stoick looked for his finest furs and clothes to wear. Today was important to Hiccup and both of them wanted it to go well. In fact Stoick tried to remember how he'd felt when he and his father had travelled to the mainland in search of silks and iron, and he ended up with a wife. Valhallarama was a wonderful woman, a fierce warrior with a wicked tongue and a sharp eye. More often than not Stoick had found himself utterly baffled by her words...but he loved her deeply and keenly. When she died in childbirth it has been the worst day of his life, unfairly tainting what should have been the joyous occasion of the birth of a son.
'I miss you, my wife and dearest friend' he thought sombrely as he picked up the sword she'd had made for him for their wedding.
Affixing it to his belt, he left his room and went to find Hiccup. After a quick knock on the door, Stoick let himself in and found that his son was not there. His best clothes were sitting on his bed neatly and his bath was still full and the wood unburnt: so the tub had not been used.
"If he's not here, then there is only one other place he'd be" Stoick muttered to himself, a little torn between pride and irritation.
In the back area of their house, Hiccup was standing stripped to his waist in a fighter's stance. Toothless was sitting on his hind legs, holding up his forepaws as targets and Hiccup was throwing punches into them, Toothless occasionally swinging his paws at Hiccup, forcing him to dodge.
"HICCUP!" Stoick called.
"Dad…is it that time already?" he asked nervously.
"Yes son...how long have you two been doing that?" Stoick took note of his son's sweaty brow and ragged breathing.
Toothless snorted and pointed to an area of sky. It had taken a while, but Toothless was able to use simple gestures and drawings to communicate with other Vikings, and he was indicating where the sun had been in the sky when Hiccup had come to wake him up to do this exercise.
"Two hours, my boy, anyone would think you were nervous" Stoick chuckled.
"Nervous, why would I be nervous? I'm only asking my beloved's father for permission to marry her. No pressure" Hiccup muttered, passing Toothless a very large Codfish to thank him for his help.
"Get a bath lad, Gobber isn't here yet and we've still an hour or so before Embla and Annar are expecting us. Breathe deeply son, I've got the transfer of rank with me, so they know we're not joking" Stoick smiled as Hiccup gave Toothless a hug and told his friend he could relax for a few hours now.
As Hiccup ran upstairs, a couple of Terrible Terrors at his heels that he'd trained to heat up his bathtub in exchange for fish, Stoick went downstairs and looked out at Toothless. The dragon and he had come to an amicable relationship: they didn't really like each other due to their shared history, but there was respect due to Hiccup's love for them both. Respect and indifference Stoick could live with.
'T'was a cruel trick of the Gods that you weren't born Hiccup's twin' Stoick blinked as Toothless trained his eyes on him.
Stoick did however get the feeling that Toothless had never truly forgiven any of villagers aside from Astrid for how they'd visibly treated Hiccup in front of him. Even bringing the boy home had been fraught with issues due to the (reasonably justified) protectiveness Toothless felt for Hiccup. Even after the all the clear signals the Night Fury had given, some idiot had burst into Stoick's home looking for an argument.
'As I recall, he left with a broken leg, several fractured ribs and a shattered ego' Toothless had not taken kindly to the invasion of Hiccup's space while he was recovering from his injuries.
Stoick picked up a large Salmon and walked over to Toothless. The black Dragon regarded him curiously: Stoick did not often approach him other than to talk with Hiccup. Stoick lay the fish down for him and gently reached out to pat Toothless's nose.
"Thank you" Stoick said and left the very confused Night Fury to his Salmon.
Hiccup had bathed quickly but thoroughly. The two Terrors had heated up the water quite quickly and in return Hiccup had fed them both fresh trouts from a river around the island. After drying himself and making sure his clothes were in order, he put on his finest linen shirt and fur vest. Next was his prosthetic leg. Hiccup had created a couple of different ones for different things: a heavily padded one for when he was walking around or standing for long periods such as at the smithy; a much lighter one for flying and a very basic oak peg with hinged boot on the bottom for formal occasions such as this. First he screwed in the peg, and then he pulled on a pair of fine leather dungarees and then affixed the foot and pulled on a matching boot and gave himself a fast inspection in a mirror.
'Excellent, I am as ready as I will ever be' he thought, picking up his last item of clothing.
These had been bequeathed to him by his grandfather on his father's side, the previous chief of the tribe. They were bracers taken from the General of a Roman cavalry regiment his grandfather had defeated in individual combat. Hiccup secured them to his wrists and went to his locked chest at the foot of his bed.
"Okay that's my appearance taken care of. Now for my offerings" he muttered.
Hiccup quickly measured out 20 small weights of Silver ingots, a deed of ownership for the house Dolph Ingerman had agreed to make him and schematics for a new suit of armour and axe for Astrid. Satisfied, Hiccup placed the ingots in a smaller chest and the documents rolled up into a bag. A loud voice from downstairs that he knew to be Gobber made him hasten his way downstairs.
"Morning Gobber" Hiccup greeted his old friend.
"Hiccup my boy, how you feeling?" Gobber was already in the house talking with Stoick.
Toothless recognised the sound of the jolly Blacksmith and bounded through the house to see him. Gobber was the only other Viking that Toothless visibly liked and tolerated on sight. Gobber seemed to hold no real prejudice against Dragons: he'd simply taught the young Vikings how to fight them which it seemed Toothless equated with a parent teaching its hatchlings how to hunt. This had proved crucial since Gobber had taken a minute to explain to Toothless what would happen if Hiccup's leg didn't get amputated soon.
"Hello Toothless. I hope Hiccup fed you 'cos Snappy ate most of my left over fish this morning" Gobber gently scratched behind the Night Fury's ear.
"He's good to go Gobber, I appreciate you letting him hang at the smithy while we do this, I hate leaving him on his own" Hiccup knew Toothless go bored easily without his friends.
"Any time Hiccup, always glad to have a pair of hands at the forge capable of stoking the fire" Gobber shook Hiccup's hand as Stoick looked at his son.
"You look good son, you look like a man with a mission" Stoick wanted to be encouraging.
"Well I've got a mission, so, shall we?" Hiccup asked, rearing himself up to his full height.
"Yes, we shall" Stoick nodded and walked out the door after his son, closing and locking it.
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Astrid had, at her father's request, made herself scarce for the morning. Astrid knew the reason why and while it wasn't required that she be absent from the negotiations, she'd preferred not to be there. She knew that Hiccup was going through motions to make sure no fat rich brat from another tribe came in and made an offer so large refusal would lead to war. Still, being talked about like she were a prize sheep irked her greatly.
"Ruffnut" Astrid called, ignoring her Dragon trying to preen her hair.
Ruffnut was at home as far as Astrid knew and on her own. Tuffnut was down at the docks fishing with Snotlout and her mother was at the tanners. That was why she found it a little odd that Ruffnut's front door was locked. Shrugging, Astrid just pounded on the door to get her friend's attention.
"Who's there?" Ruffnut called.
Astrid's eyebrows raised: Ruffnut sounded surprised and she heard shuffling noises from the upstairs area. Further to that, she saw the twin's bedroom window was shut and its curtains drawn; which was very, very odd. Tuffnut liked it open so he could break wind with reasonable impunity and they both used it as a quick escape during an argument.
"It's Astrid, remember" Astrid saw movement out of the corner of her eyes and turned.
The Zippleback the twins rode was shuffling around the house, making concerned crooning noises. Occasionally it would bunt the window of the twin's room in an effort to get in with one head, and then the front door with the other.
"What on earth is going on here?" Astrid muttered.
Suddenly the Zippleback sprang into action and ran around the back of the house; soon after that a muffled scream made Astrid bolt in the same direction, battle axe at the ready. However her war cry died in her throat as she took in the scene before her: the Zippleback was holding Fishlegs by the back of his hastily thrown on furs in one mouth and looking at him critically with the other. Ruffnut was trying to convince the dragon to put him down…wearing only her trousers and her light undershirt.
'Oh for the love of Odin' Astrid dropped her axe and rubbed her temple.
"Uh, hi Astrid, how are you?" Fishlegs, even while shaking in terror, never failed to be polite.
"Not half as good as two obviously" Astrid sniggered as Fishlegs went red.
"Oh come on, man up would you" Ruffnut complained, the faintest hint of red on her cheeks.
"Pardon me if I don't want our private business made public because your dragon is smarter than your brother and mother" Fishlegs retorted, folding his arms.
Ruffnut ignored his jibe and redoubled her efforts to make the dragon put her lover down. Astrid confidently walked up to the Zippleback, its second head now warbling at Ruffnut in what Astrid assumed was a lecture. Slyly Astrid began scratching the Zippleback's neck and slowly made her way to the small pressure point on its neck that made them fall asleep.
"Ahhh" Fishlegs yelped as the dragon collapsed dropping him down.
"Thank you Astrid" Fishlegs said flatly from his place on the ground.
"Happy to help. Ruff, get dressed, we're going hunting. Fish, if I were you I'd go and wash: after all, keen sense of smell" Astrid was struggling to keep her laughter in check.
Spike, on the other hand, was making a noise that Astrid had always taken to be a snigger as Fishlegs dusted himself off. To his credit, he managed to walk over and plant a sweet kiss on Ruffnut's cheek and make mention of seeing her later. As soon as he was out of sight, Astrid doubled over laughing.
"Oh come on it isn't that funny" Ruffnut's cheeks were pinker from both the kiss and her embarrassment.
"Oh I think it is" Astrid picked her axe up and secured it to her back again.
"Treasonous lizard, and you're no better" Ruffnut grumbled as she went inside to get dressed into her hunting clothes.
"We can say many things about these dragons, but I can't say they don't care for us" Astrid reached back and stroked Spike's nose as he began preening her hair again.
Ruffnut looked at her dragon and a fond look took over her face. Stinky and Sparky (they'd named a head each) had been a cross between a loyal pet, friend and extra sibling to them: treating them as if there were all part of the same brood. Although it was funny that Tuffnut and her mother hadn't busted them yet and the dragon had.
"I'm so glad dragons can't talk right now, that's like the third time he's tried to catch Fishlegs" Ruffnut muttered, stringing her hunting bow and picking up a quiver.
"Wait…third time?" Astrid went bright pink and looked at her friend.
"What can I say, he's smart much like your man, just as easy to fluster and of course, proportionate" as she spoke the last word, Ruffnut's smile became practically predatory.
"Wow…I think I could have gone my whole life and been happy not knowing that" Astrid shook her head to stop her imagination working her into a stew.
"Well you can play the maiden all you like, all I know is that on your wedding night, no one in this whole village will get any sleep and Hiccup is gonna have rope burn and leather chaffing" Ruffnut smirked.
Spike watched in confusion as his human turned a shade of crimson worthy of a Monstrous Nightmare and began yelling incoherently at their friend; recognising a few words like 'Hiccup' and 'love'. Dutifully, Spike followed Astrid and Ruffnut, leaving the Zippleback to sleep off Astrid's trick.
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Ruffnut really enjoyed hunting with Astrid and Spike; they could usually bring home a half dozen elks per trip and selling the hides made them a tidy party fund for their annual trip to the mainland. The other upside was that if their arrows didn't get them, Spike would simple throw one of his own spines, and much like his rider, Spike was a crack shot.
*THUNK*
The downside was that Spike's party trick was nailing the elks to trees: unlike his rider, Spike was a complete show off.
"Spike" Astrid groaned as she used her axe to cut the large barb.
"It was kind of funny the first time, but after a while it does get a bit dull" Ruffnut explained: Spike responded by tapping her helmet down over her eyes with his beak.
"So, where is your other half?" Ruffnut asked as she pulled her helmet off, shooting Spike a greasy look.
"With my parents" Astrid answered shortly.
"You mean he's actually…." Ruffnut's eyes widened.
"Yeah, going through the official motions" Astrid muttered, hefting the elk off the remaining barb and onto the ground.
"So why aren't you there?" Ruffnut asked, leaning against a tree.
"As much as I love Hiccup and appreciate he's doing this to appear like he's not deconstructing our entire society, I still don't want to stay there and listen to them bargain me off like a prize hog" Astrid punctuated her words with violently tying the elk's legs together.
"Of all the things Hiccup thinks of when he talks about you, I doubt a pig is one of them" Ruffnut said, helping Astrid heft the elk across Spike's back.
"Oh yeah, what do you think he imagines?" Astrid asked sarcastically.
"A valkyrie warrior maiden with cleavage he could slide down" Ruffnut replied; Astrid blushed and looked self consciously downwards.
"Let's talk about something else. I'm gonna go see my grandmother today, you wanna come?" Astrid asked, trying to steer the conversation away from femininity.
"Another round of drinks with 'Zweihänder Hofferson, I am so in" Ruffnut loved visiting Astrid's grandmother.
"Okay, well, six large elk should net us enough to grab a barrel of mead and not make a serious dent in our travel fund. Plenty of venison and leather to go around" Astrid said, before seeing some rabbits a few feet away.
Silently she motioned for Ruffnut to draw an arrow with her and for Spike to be quiet. The two girls selected a target each and with trained movements, released the arrows. They flew true and straight, skewering two of the larger rabbits. Astrid threw her friend thumbs up and jogged over to pick up the rabbits.
"What are they for, neither of us like rabbit?" Ruffnut asked as Astrid removed the arrows.
"A snack. Here you go Spike" Astrid lobbed the two dead rabbits at Spike.
The Deadly Nadder caught them both in his powerful jaws and nearly swallowed them whole. Ruffnut rolled her eyes as Spike puffed his chest out and again preened Astrid's hair with his beak. Packing up their gear, the two young women and Spike made their way back to the village and went over to Erik the Cleaver's butchery to have the animals skinned.
"Ah, my two favourite huntresses; how was your little expedition?" he asked, smiling broadly.
"Pretty good, six good sized elks; with I'm pleased to say, no holes in the larger part of the pelt" she proudly pointed out the arrow and barb wounds in the necks and skulls of the animals.
"Well done, all three of you, a finer hunting party we've not had in a long time. Well, I'll take those animals off your hands for best price and have my son skin and clean them for you. The pelts should be ready for pick up tomorrow" he reached under his counter for a large back of silver coin.
"Suits me, we're both off to visit my grandmother" Astrid said, instructing the man to split the silver evenly.
"Well, 30 pieces each should see you a few good nights on the town" he handed them both two coin purses.
"I agree; a pleasure doing business with you Erik" Astrid, turned and saw Ruffnut leering at Fishlegs over at the timber yard.
"Stop teasing him" Astrid chided; taking in the lustful stare Ruffnut was throwing at her lover.
"Why, it's fun, plus it winds him up something fierce" Ruffnut started playing with a necklace she had on; the pendant resting just on her cleavage.
Astrid shot Fishlegs a sympathetic glance: the other smart Viking boy was helping his father move some timber and Ruffnut seemed determined to distract him. For his part however, Fishlegs seemed to return the teasing, shrugging off his furs before hefting a load of timber onto his shoulders. Astrid had to admit, it hadn't taken long for both of the village bookworms to fill out once they got serious with their respective jobs.
"Okay, let's go before you drown in your own drool" Astrid yanked her friend by the braid and towards the tavern.
"Spoilsport" Ruffnut muttered.
The barrels of beer and mead lightened Astrid's purse by twelve silver coins and required the used of a barrow to carry them to Astrid's grandmother's house. On the way, the two helped themselves to a cup of the spiced mead to get them in the right mindset for dealing with Zweihänder Hofferson.
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Astrid's grandmother's real name Svanhild Hofferson, her father's mother. The nickname came from her preference for a large two handed Germanic sword that had been a wedding gift from her husband's family. Annar, Astrid's father had always said she was the spitting image of her grandmother and Astrid had long learnt it was the highest possible compliment.
"ASTRID!" Svanhild saw her granddaughter approaching and with a spryness befitting Vikings a third her age, bounded out and hugged her.
"Grandmother" Astrid grinned and hugged her back.
"So to what does an old woman like me owe the privilege of her two favourite granddaughters visiting her?" she asked, reaching out and grabbing Ruffnut in an equally bone-crushing hug.
Ruffnut really, really liked visiting Svanhild; her own grandmother was an uptight old busy body who always gave Ruffnut a hard time about not being good wife material. For her part, Ruffnut never let it get to her too badly, but it was still nice to be able to get a hug from a grandmother that loved you regardless.
"Actually, there is a reason we're here, apart from wanting to have a drink with you" Astrid said, smiling as Spike went and sniffed the older woman's hair.
"Give off you fussy creature, my hair is fine as is" she playfully swatted the Nadder on his beaked nose.
Spike squawked indignantly at the older Viking woman: he'd only wanted to make sure she was keeping herself clean in old age. Ruffnut giggled as Spike shot Astrid a really pathetic look; acting as if Svanhild had hit him.
"Oh stop being so thin skinned" Astrid grumbled, but petted his crest affectionately.
After placating the offended Nadder, Svanhild led the two younger women into her small home. The main room was neat enough but the walls were bursting with old weapons, shields and the odd portrait. Astrid and Ruffnut quickly found a chair and propped the two barrels up on a stand by the fireplace. Svanhild returned with three solid looking tankards and poured the spiced mead first.
"So Astrid, what is news?" she asked.
"I'm getting married" Astrid said, going a little red.
Svanhild stopped moving, the tankard close to her open mouth. With a broad grin smelt the rich spiced mead in her cup and raised an eyebrow at her granddaughter.
"I was wondering why you got the good stuff, knowing I'll drink any old rotgut. In that case, I propose a toast, to the happy marriage" she raised her tankard high.
The other two women clashed tankards with Svanhild and they attempted to drink the whole tankard at once. Alas, while Astrid was good at many things, drinking like a fish was no one of them: that was more Svanhild and Ruffnut's expertise and she gave up about half way. Svanhild and Ruffnut however, loudly slammed the tankards down with triumphant grins.
"I assume the lucky man is Hiccup, or else you'd be drinking down that mead with equal parts hemlock" Svanhild noted.
"Yes, it is Hiccup. He and his father are with my family right now, discussing how many sheep and silver ingots I'm worth"
"Astrid, you're such a lightweight" Ruffnut teased as Astrid drank the rest of mead at a more sedate pace.
"I'm a fine drinker, you're just a lush" Astrid groused.
"Put up or shut up princess" Ruffnut smirked, refilling the tankards.
"Fine" Astrid took the tankard from her: the battle was on.
Svanhild admitted it was a valiant effort, truly Astrid had tried. However, by the third tankard the blonde Hofferson girl was all over the place and making such a racket that Spike was bunting the door, concerned for his rider. With an inelegant thud, Astrid passed out on some skins by the fireplace.
"Warm" Astrid drawled, curling up.
"Wow, look at her, she's glowing" Ruffnut sniggered, pointing to Astrid's rosy cheeks.
"She is not the only one my dear" Svanhild put her drink down and got up to sit beside Ruffnut.
"What do you mean?" Ruffnut asked, taking another drink.
"So, I assume only Astrid knows you have a lover?" Svanhild smirked as Ruffnut nearly choked on her drink.
"How could you possibly say that?" Ruffnut asked, wiping her mouth on her sleeve.
"My dear it is written all over your face. Your posture is relaxed, calm even. Your jaw isn't as tight as it is usually and there is indeed a glow about you, but would you like to know what my biggest clue was?" Svanhild asked, gently taking Ruffnut's hand in hers.
"Dazzle me, grandma" Ruffnut said.
"It is the first time in many moons, my dear Ruffnut, that I have seen you so unashamedly happy. This young man is either very precious to you or extremely talented" Svanhild finished with a wicked grin.
"Can't it be both?" Ruffnut asked with a chuckle.
"Young one, many older women will say what you're doing is immoral at best and dangerous at worst. All I can say is that I envy the passion you and Astrid seem to hold for the men you love, even if Astrid did fall in love with a smart alec knitting needle" she paused to smile at Ruffnut.
"But as long as you both are able to live with the consequences of what you're doing, then I envy you greater still" Svanhild turned a melancholy eye to a portrait of her late husband Osric on the wall.
"You miss him" Ruffnut said, throwing a look at her sleeping friend on the floor.
"One day both of you will understand how much, but for now, just know that I can still feel him around this house, lingering just at the corners of my vision" Svanhild reached over and filled her cup again.
"What do you say to one more round before we strap that young tenderfoot to her Dragon and walk her home?" she asked Ruffnut.
"I'd love to, grandmother" Ruffnut replied.