"Mummy, Mummy! Daddy's back!" Aloe hopped from one foot to the other excitedly, giggling. "He's back!"
"Good. Now I can kill him." Her daughter's smile faltered.
"Why?"
"Because he's an idiot. Why else?" Astrid waved her youngest out just as Toothless landed. His rider dismounted and removed his helmet, shaking his hair into the usual messy state. Hiccup beamed at them, pulling his prize from behind his back.
"You found her!" Aloe squealed, surging forward and crushing her childhood toy in her thin arms. It was- meant to be- a Deadly Nadder, courtesy of Valka. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" Hiccup chuckled and ruffled her hair.
"Anything for you."
"Can I have a dragon?"
"Ah… not just yet."
"What about a small dragon? Like a Terror?" Hiccup knelt, smiling.
"How about you start with the ones that don't breathe fire, huh?" He waggled the toy before her and kissed her forehead. "Baby steps, Aloe, baby steps."
"I do hope that was worth the week away." Astrid had her arms folded, her hip out to the side with that look- Hiccup was in dead-meat-trouble without a doubt.
"Um… wh-what did I miss?" She gave a single, cold and very sarcastic laugh, retrieving a scroll from her belt.
"I'm glad you asked!" And she read from her list:
Arne and co had opened all the sheep pens- it had taken eight hours or more for all, but one sheep to be rounded up
Snotlout's twin boys went on a major yak tipping spree
Fire in the Great Hall
Farms had been raided
The twins had organised a Hideous Zippleback contest, leading to the near total demolition of the arena
Trader Johan had had some supplies stolen
Three fishing boats and a dozen nets had been broken beyond repair
Arne and co were terrorising the elders and the younger kids
Gothi was having trouble with leaks, no matter how many Gobber fixed
Two mutinies had been narrowly avoided due to the fact that Hiccup hadn't left someone proper in charge
"Wait, what? I swear I left Dad in charge."
"Nope." Astrid smacked the list in his hand. "Poor Alastor got the brunt of it all!"
"But-"
"He's old enough to think for himself now, apparently," her tone informed Hiccup she had had quite a few disputes with some over this, "and as your only son, he automatically becomes stand-in chief. Which, may I add, Ingrid just loved."
"Dare I ask what she's done now?"
"She thinks because she's the oldest, that she should be chief. And I completely agree with her." Hiccup waved Aloe back inside, closing the door quietly. Astrid's temper was simmering just below the surface and it was ideal if their youngest wasn't around when she exploded. "Al's stammer has only gotten worse- enough so, he's refusing to talk. I'm not shooting him down, Hiccup, but he hasn't any confidence whatsoever." That was true.
Astrid was watching him expectantly, hands on her hips.
"Alright, alright. I'll see what I can do. This whole chief thing though…" He trailed off, scanning the list of problems. "I don't know. I always thought it was a father-to-son thing. Girls become the Elder, don't they?"
"Can you really imagine Ingrid being so calm and collected all the time? Not to mention silent."
"Fair point." He sighed, tucking the list in his belt. "Let's get you sorted first though." Astrid looked befuddled, her shoulders relaxing a fraction in surprise. Hiccup put his arm about her waist, kissing her cheek. "I'm sorry I left for so long, milady." Astrid tried to maintain her glare, but warmth reddened her cheeks and Hiccup smiled victoriously. "Come on; you need some rest and relaxation."
Hiccup left an hour later, Aloe at his heels. Astrid was sleeping, thoroughly relaxed from the master massage he had provided. He may be annoying, but Hiccup was an expert in creating restful and relaxing atmospheres.
"Where are the other two?" He asked his daughter, examining the list again.
"Probably helping to clean up the arena. Mummy said I couldn't though; I'm too little." Aloe didn't seem to mind this, however, making her beloved toy fly about in a bobbing circle.
"Yeah, I take full responsibility for your shortness." Aloe looked up at him. "Hey, I'm a hiccup, remember? Short and runty is in the genes. Toothless!" His dragon bounded over instantly, snuffling at the littlest hatchling interestedly.
Hiccup lifted and sat his daughter on the saddle and then sat behind her. "To the arena, bud." Toothless crooned, spreading his wings. Aloe stuffed her toy under her shirt and held on with both hands as the Night Fury bolted into the sky. Hiccup laughed, keeping a firm hold on his daughter. She hated the take-off.
The arena was considerably cleaner than it had been after the twins were finished with it, but Hiccup felt like he was walking into a warzone. Many of the young adults and some of the older Vikings were picking up debris and scrubbing away dirt and dust and painting over scorch marks too stubborn to be washed away. Some were scaling the chains overhead to remove the old ones and put in newer ones.
"Dad! You're back!" Ingrid dropped from her ladder, despite being two rungs from the top. She and her brother, who was steadying the ladder, hurried over to greet him. "I need to talk to you." Ingrid announced.
"OK, but if it's the chief thing, we'll talk about that later."
"Oh, fine." Hiccup tried not to look too surprised- Ingrid rarely agreed so easily.
"You OK, bud?" He asked his son, messing his hair up. Alastor nodded, smiling timidly. "Sorry for all this," Hiccup motioned at the arena, "I thought I had left Dad in charge." His son just nodded again, his eyes darting about anxiously.
"Chief!"
"Yes? Oh, hello Bjorn!"
"Hello sir!"
"Call me Hiccup, how many more times?" Hiccup chuckled. "How are things here?"
"Under control, Hiccup sir. The twins are nowhere to be found though." Hiccup checked his list, tilting it towards Bjorn. Over the past few years, Bjorn Junior had become one of Hiccup's most trusted, but youngest advisor.
"Look!" Aloe beamed, holding up her Nadder toy while the grown-ups talked. "Daddy found it for me!" Alastor gave her a double thumbs-up while Ingrid bemusedly cast her eyes to the heavens. "Aren't you supposed to be working?"
"Yeah, in a minute." Ingrid glanced around, pulling a face. "I'm surprised Mum didn't kill Dad." Alastor nodded in agreement.
"Daddy sweet-talked his way out. He's, um… very clever like that. So he says anyway."
"I can hear you, you know!" Aloe giggled and put a finger to her lips, her eyes sparkling with cheeky innocence towards her father. Hiccup rolled his eyes and returned to his conversation. "Where are Arne and his little buddies?"
"They should be here. We roped in most of the youngsters to help out and they were first on our list. You know, to keep them out of trouble." Hiccup nodded approvingly and Bjorn grinned, delighted. He called over one of the pre-teens and sent him out to look for the required trio.
It took a few minutes for them to turn up, looking sheepish when they did.
"Hello." Hiccup smiled, almost looking like the usual warm and friendly chief, except for his eyes. "A little birdy told me you three have had an interesting week. Care to explain?" They shared wary looks and then shook their heads. "Well, in that case, I'll explain for you. Not only do you severely annoy me by trying to kill my son, but you thought it would be a good idea to put our food supplies at risk with winter just around the corner. And you also thought it would be fun to cause a number of villagers an unfair bit of trouble." He frowned at them, the green in his eyes suddenly icy. "Correct me if I'm wrong." He dared. They didn't. "And you wouldn't know anything about broken boats, torn nets or leaking roofs, would you?" Another no, rather hasty. "For what you've done, nearly killing my son included…" Hiccup pretended to consider it, his eyes scanning the mayhem about him. "Three months cleaning the stalls for all animals- dragons too. Four months after that working for Gobber and, trust me, that won't be easy." His eyes locked with Alastor's and a devilish gleam ignited in the emerald depths. "And for attempting to drown Al… a year as his- no, he's too nice." Hiccup rubbed his jaw in contemplation, sensing their hushed protest and fear of his chiefly-ness. "A year as Ingrid's personal servants."
"You can't do that!" Arne blurted out.
"And a month for all of you working on the farms for contradicting me even more." Hiccup concluded. "If I so much as hear you breathe anywhere you're not supposed to be…" He shook his head, letting the threat hang in the air. They paled. "Ingrid."
"Dad?"
"In three months, you'll have these three at your command."
"Yeah…?" Hiccup smirked.
"They're all yours. Have fun." Hiccup motioned to Aloe and left. Ingrid grinned evilly.
"They won't even last a week." She gleefully told her brother. The three boys looked sickly, almost grey.
At dinner that evening, Ingrid recounted her father's set punishments for Arne, Rolf and Snorre. Astrid tutted disapprovingly.
"That's a bit easy, don't you think?"
"Oh. I thought I did OK."
"I hate those boys. It's like hell itself spat them out!" She sighed, stabbing her lamb with a little extra force. "You make sure you run them ragged, Ingrid." Hiccup smiled to himself. Astrid, his wife- so heartless.
"Can we talk about the chief thing now?" Ingrid demanded. Hiccup suddenly remembered he had promised to do so. He motioned for her to begin the debate. "I personally think I'd make a better chief than Al. No offense." She added, holding her hands up. Her little brother nodded once, more focused on pushing his food about his plate. "And I'm the chief's firstborn! Why can't a girl be chief?"
"It's not like I wrote the rules, Ingrid." Hiccup pointed out.
"But you're the chief. Couldn't you change them?"
"I don't know."
"You should! You know, as chief…"
"Al? What do you think?" Alastor didn't respond immediately, encouraging Aloe to pinch his arm. "Chief?" Hiccup implored. Alastor started chewing his lip. "Not right this second, don't worry," Hiccup smiled reassuringly, "don't panic. But when you're older and I've retired." Astrid cleared her throat pointedly. "When we've retired then." Alastor shook his head. "What do you want to do?"
"S-s-st-stu-stud-dy-study d-dr-dr-dra-drag-ons." Hiccup smiled approvingly.
"I want to be a baker!" Aloe announced, shooting to her feet on her chair and waving her hand in the air. "Or maybe something to do with flowers. I like flowers!" She giggled and sat down, happily returning to her food without a care in the world.
"Noted." Hiccup shook his head at his daughter, smiling. He threw Stormfly the overcooked bit of his lamb, pretty sure Astrid was feeding Toothless under the table. "But, Ingrid, you're a bit violent."
"So?"
"A bit?" Astrid marvelled simultaneously. "She takes after me! A bit is an insult!"
"I'm sorry!" Hiccup threw his arms over his head. "Please don't chop me!"
"Don't tempt me!" Astrid warned, playing along.
"I'm violent, so what?"
"You'll declare war or something for the fun of it."
"Will not! I'll just upgrade the Thawfest events to something a bit more… bloody…"
"See? Violent." Ingrid nodded proudly. "I'll have to talk to Dad about this. I can't make any promises though, these are ancient laws. There has never, as far as I know, being a female chief of Berk." He sighed. "Oh, you lot are giving me a headache."
"I'm not!" Aloe laughed. "I'm not giving anyone a headache, because I'm lovely! Right Daddy? Right Mummy?" Astrid and Hiccup shared amused glances.
"Yes, Aloe."
You're getting two chapters for this today because I am working this evening. After this one, however, there are no more from the original Second Crisis, it shall all be a mystery to you! Ooh, I'm going to have so much fun writing this! :D