"Stay!" Astrid commanded as she stalked off to the the forest beyond her backyard fence. She could hear Stormfly's worried calls behind her, but she knew her dragon would be obedient and stay. She wanted no one's pity, no one's apologies and no one's company except for the trees around her.
If her arms had a mind of their own, they would have detached themselves and hid from her for all eternity. She could barely hoist her axe onto her back. All of her muscles were crying out as she stared at the enormous pile of chopped wood in front of her. "Great! Enough to build one wall tomorrow." She happily exclaimed between heavy breaths. Her muscles were vibrating with a wonderful, painful ache that she loved. Looking at the moon, she could already tell it was past midnight and most, if not all, of the vikings should already be asleep. For Astrid, however, it was a perfect time to take a bath to wash off the clingy sweat and the deep grim on her skin from constructing houses all day. Unlike the other vikings who waited for Lordag (wash day) , she liked to feel clean after every intense workout, which Snotlout found stupid.
When all was done and she was up in her room, readying for bed, Astrid decided one last look out of her bedroom window- which overlooked the rest of Berk,- to mentally take notes on what needed to be done tomorrow. The north of Berk, which took the most heat from the Bewilderbeast, was almost finished since it was the closest to the ocean, except for the occasional dragon stable here and there that needed to be constructed, especially with the increase of dragons living with them. The East was only 85% done and the west was 30% done. While the south, center, and port were finished a few days ago. But with everyone permanently tired from the weeks of endless constructing, Berk would not be done with construction, at least for another month.
As she turned to walk back to bed, she noticed someone flying near the Stoick's newly constructed head. Thanks gods for the large torchlights that illuminated Stoick's statue in a gold aura, she could make out who that someone was. Hiccup. She could see him wildly flailing his arms as it appeared he was talking to Stoick, while Toothless hovered near his nose. Letting out a sigh, she decided that Hiccup needed to be alone and talk to his father rather than enjoy her company, after all Gobber said he always felt better after talking to his father. Astrid didn't judge, after all she still talked to her Uncle Finn's favorite sparring tree. "Goodnight Hiccup." She softly whispered to the air before crawling into bed and falling asleep.
"ASTRID! WE NEED MORE WOOD TO FINISH THE ROOF!" yelled Eret from the ground below.
"Fishlegs and Snotlout are getting more right at the moment and once-"
"WHAT ARE YOU SAYING?!"
"FISHLEGS AND SNOTLOUT ARE GETTING IT!"
"OH! WHY DIDN'T YOU SAY THAT BEFORE!"
"I DID!"
"OH!"
Astrid groaned loudly from up in the air, knowing that Eret wouldn't be able to hear her. "LUNCH AFTER THIS HOUSE IS FINISHED!" she hollered, cupping her hands around her mouth so that the twins, who were just appeared, and nearby builders heard her. Just as she was about to guide Stormfly to the eastside of Berk to check out the construction progress, she saw her father running towards her waving his hands.
"Down girl," she asked stopping just a few feet in front of her father, "Yes Da?"
"Morning Lass. I just came back from a meeting with the council and Hiccup was wondering if you could increase the westside construction of Berk?" Her father calmly asked.
"We are going as fast as we can, would he rather we stop all construction in the north to speed up the west?"
" No need to be sassy. I am just the messenger. I know your in charge, but I think that would be best, or at least bring the fastest builders over there. Families living in the west are fearful that their halls won't be finished before winter."
"We still have 2 more months before winter even begins! They should be worried about harvesting and destroying that damn Ice."
"Astrid..." Aodhan warned his daughter about her tone, "You and I both know that we are lucky we live on the hill and was untouched during the war…"
"Fine, I'll send half of the east builders to the west, the east is almost done anyway. The north needs all the of their builders in order to be finished before the meeting especially since they will get most of the harsh weather, got the most damage and will be the first houses people see when docking. "
"I'll tell Hiccup... thank you lass." Aodhan nodded at her in farewell and began to walk his way back to the great hall.
"Why didn't Hiccup come ask me himself?" Astrid tried to calmly ask her father, but her insides were churning as she watched him turn around again, his face showed no emotion, but his eyes were filled with concern.
"You know how busy he is Astrid, he-"
"Nevermind, don't even bother finishing that sentence, tell him I'll be right on it." Astrid announced and took off into the air.
Aodhan could only watch, angry and upset at the gods for making Astrid's life complicated. As he continued to watch her till she was barely a dot into the sky, he whispered to the gods above, "Please have mercy on my dear daughter, don't make her suffer anymore." and when he turned back around he hoped the gods had listened when he saw a black streak stream through the blue sky.
The gods seemed to enjoy filling Astrid's life with hardship as she was tossed here and there throughout the day: Mildew wanted a new addition to his already finished house and demanded builders, fishing needed to be done to restock the feeding stables, the timberjacks took a longer break and the construction had to stop for awhile due to the lack of wood, which caused villagers to become angry and Astrid was just a few more ticks away from taking her axe out on the next person, if it wasn't for Fishlegs beside her to calm her down. But all that was over and she and the rest of the teens were sitting in the Great Hall enjoying their dinner and the end of a long construction day.
Astrid was just about to finish her stew when she was summoned by Valka. Over the past few weeks Astrid had learned a lot about Hiccup's long lost mother and vice versa for they have created a mutual bond with one another over the love they shared for Hiccup, dragons and Stoick. But Astrid still held her tongue from lashing out at Valka for never returning to Berk and for being so easily forgiven by Hiccup. Heck, she still did not even forgive herself for not standing up for Hiccup earlier in their childhood, had she not been so focused on becoming a true viking like her parents, he would have had a better beginning. However, out of respect for being the late chief's wife and being Hiccup's mother, she was polite and mindful of the lady.
She pushed her bowl to the middle of the table knowing that one of the twins would either finish it or pour it on someone as she left to see what Valka needed.
"Hello, Valka," Astrid gently said, "You called for me?"
"Dear Astrid, I was wondering if you could deliver this to Hiccup?" Valka politely asked, pushing a tray filled with a bowl of lamb stew, fish, bread and a cup of mead towards her.
"Um, why? Shouldn't he be here eating with you and the rest of council?" she questioned and turned her head to see Gobber coughing up pieces of already chewed chicken from his mouth. Knowing he was fine, she focused back on Valka, who was now placing some more food onto Hiccup's tray.
"He said he had some unfinished business to attend to and will not be able to make it. He and Toothless have been up at the house since lunch and put me in charge of the village for the rest of the day." Valka replied as she placed one last piece of chicken breast onto the tray as Gobber nodded beside her, as if Astrid needed someone to clarify Valka's statement.
"Yea, Okay." Astrid stated and took the tray. She just nodded her head in reply as Valka said her thanks and continued to talk to the rest of counsel.
As Astrid walked away, she heard her father's voice and focused on the conversation counsel was having. It appeared that Berk would be filled with numerous amounts of people from other villages and tribes to celebrate Hiccup being Chief, to say farewell to Stoick and to learn about the war with Drago in a few weeks time. Astrid knew such an event would happen, after all, her father spoke of the upcoming celebration during dinner a few weeks ago. She walked past her house, seeing her brother's family having dinner through the window and continued up the hill to the Chief's Hall.
Just as she was about to knock on the door to announce her presence, it opened widely revealing a large ebony head with excited emerald eyes.
"Happy to see you too, Toothless," She exclaimed patting her second favorite dragon on the head as she closed the door with her foot. Toothless just cooed in response and nudged her again, wanting more affection.
"Alright, just let me put this on the table before it goes all over the floor, you ninny." Just as she placed the tray onto the table she was attacked by the alpha who was in need of some loving. "Okay! okay! I have to go Toothless." Astrid stated softly, worried that Hiccup would be disturbed from whatever business he was doing upstairs as Toothless continued to coo at her for more pats. "You'll tell him that his dinner is waiting for him on the table, and please do not eat it like last time." She said sternly as she watched Toothless nod his head in understanding and sat tall and proud as if the task of telling Hiccup his dinner was downstairs was the most important job in the world. Astrid chuckled and gave him a farewell pat before walking towards the door, but just as soon as her hand reached the doorknob…
"Astrid?" He called out.
Astrid froze and for the first time in her life she felt like fleeing instead of fighting. But with a silent exhale, she steeled her features and turned with a beaming smile as she replied happily to the man, "Hey Hiccup!"
-Hello There, I hoped you enjoyed the second chapter! Thank you again for reading, commenting, or just simply just passing through. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend, and an amazing week. I'll try my best to update weekly and have no fear the main point of the story is coming together. Farewell! Hope you have a spectacular monday.
