Fiances and Flocks

*Zephyr's Point of View*

"Babe, can you please come to bed?" Spike groaned.

By now I had been pacing back and forth for so long, I was surprised that there wasn't a hole in the floor.

"Can't sleep," I responded. I absentmindedly chewed on my fingernails.

Spikelout slowly stood up and walked over to me, placing his hands on my shoulders to stop me.

"Zeph, there's no use worrying about this tonight. Come to bed, please?" Spikelout pleaded.

A sigh escaped my lips and I looked down at my feet.

"How could they not have told us about this?" I asked.

"What?" Spike asked.

"My parents! How could they have kept this a secret? When were they going to tell me I have an older brother? Why does he show up now and not years ago? How come they didn't keep looking for him? If it was me or Nuffink or Eira, they would never have stopped looking! This whole thing doesn't make any sense," I said as I sat on the edge of the bed, my head in my hands.

My husband sat down beside me and put his arms around my shoulders, pulling me to him. I sighed and breathed in his scent. It helped me relax, being this close to him.

"I can't answer any of those questions, but at this hour, nobody can. So why don't we get some sleep before Hagen wakes up?" he suggested.

"You're right," I breathed out in defeat. As soon as I got into bed, Hagen started crying.

"Oh, it must be later than I thought. I'll go get him," Spikelout groaned as he got up and went to get our son. A few minutes later he came back into the room holding the crying baby in his arms.

"Shhh, Hagen. It's okay, son. Mama will get you fed," Spike cooed soothingly.

I sat up in bed and untied the top of my tunic, slipping it past my shoulders. My arms reached out for the baby and Spike gently handed him to me.

"Hey, baby. It's okay," I whispered as I held him to my chest. He started drinking eagerly.

"Man, he really was hungry," Spike chuckled.

"You'd think he wasn't fed just a few hours ago," I muttered.

My husband laid back down in the bed next to me and yawned. "How much longer until he sleeps through the night?" he asked, his eyes half open.

"Not too long… I hope," I replied.

"Let's pray to Freya it's just a little bit longer and not like months," he said through another yawn.

I hummed in agreement. After a few more minutes, Hagen was asleep again.

I sighed and laid him down between me and Spike. Spike reached over and brushed his thumb on Hagen's cheek.

"Sometimes I think he looks like him," I muttered.

Spike reached over to me and held my hand in his. "Well, he is technically the father, even though the rest of the village thinks it's me," he whispered.

"But what happens when he is older and he looks more like him? People will start talking," I replied.

"We won't let them. We can just say it is a coincidence," Spikelout said.

"But they will all know. They don't even know why we have him on probation as the stable boy. People are starting to think he has been charged unjustly, simply because we can't tell them what he did," I said.

"You're father has taken care of that. He is the chief. He won't let anything happen that could jeopardize our family. And Eret Jr. knows he has no rights to the child. He gave them up, remember?" Spike said as he reached out to rest his hand against the side of my face.

"Yeah," I whispered.

"Can we go to sleep now, before he wakes up like a hungry monster again?" Spike pleaded.

I giggled. "Okay, good night, babe," I whispered.

Spikelout leaned across the bed and kissed my forehead. "Goodnight, beautiful."


*Nuffink's Point of View*

I woke up in the morning extremely tired. Knowing that my brother was just a few doors down from me was a good way to keep me up. I just wanted to know how my parents could keep this from me.

My mouth opened wide in a yawn and I stretched my arms. The sun shone through my window and I got up to look out it. The town looked so small from here. We lived a little off from the town, on top of a hill. Only a little over a five-minute walk to the chief's office, but far enough away for some peace and quiet when we were home. I caught a glimpse of blue out of the corner of my eye and I looked over at the path in front of our house. A smile turned my lips up when I saw my beautiful fiance. She was wearing her blue dress, the one I loved.

After a few moments of admiring her and wondering how I got so lucky, I jumped up and got dressed before running downstairs.

"Nuffink! Your hair is a mess and your belt is crooked! Where are you going?" my mom called as I ran for the door.

"Ragnhild can fix it!" I called back as I left the house and ran to catch up to the woman I loved.

I passed by my dad and Brandt as I ran. They were out by the barn where we kept our yaks and a few chickens and sheep.

"Nuffink, where are you going in such a hurry?" My dad asked, his hands cupped around his mouth so he could be loud enough for me to hear him. He must have looked ahead down the path because I heard him laugh.

I caught up to Ragnhild and practically slammed into her, my arms wrapping around her from behind.

"Oh my gods, Nuffink! You almost knocked me over," Ragnhild scolded as she turned to face me.

"But I didn't," I said.

"Gods above you are a sight," she muttered as she reached up to comb her fingers through my hair.

"Well, I didn't have much time to get dressed because somebody walked by without stopping to say hi!" I complained.

She shook her head. "But you knew what path I was on. You could have at least made sure your tunic and belt weren't lopsided," she chided as she repositioned my belt and straightened my tunic on my shoulders.

"Then I wouldn't be able to stand here and watch my beautiful fiance as she fixed me up," I teased.

She hit my chest playfully. "You're bad, Nuffink," she scoffed.

I didn't respond. I just leaned in and kissed her. My mind explodes every time I feel her lips on mine. Kissing her was my favorite thing to do.

Ragnhild pulled away and turned to start walking back towards town.

"Oh, come on, Raggy. What's the big hurry?" I asked, reaching for her arm and pulling her into another kiss.

"I have to get some fish for dinner," she said.

"Well it is still morning, you can take an hour or two… or three to spend time with your fiance, who, might I add, really loves you," I said hopefully.

Her eyes looked up and she twisted her mouth to make it look like she was thinking about it. She tilted her head to the side. "Well… I guess I could spend maybe an hour with my needy fiance…" she teased.

"Needy? Who says I am needy?" I asked, feigned offense in my voice.

"I say you are needy," she laughed. She slid her hand into mine.

I shook my head and kissed her again.

"Gods above, get out of here!" my dad shouted.

Ragnhild and I laughed and waved back to him before I pulled her off the path and out towards the cliff - our place.

When we got to the big rock we liked to sit on, Ragnhild put her basket down and climbed up on top of the large flat rock.

"You know, I asked my dad what this rock was. You know what he said?" I asked as I laid back on it.

"What?" Ragnhild asked, laying down beside me.

"He said it is an old dragon bed. Apparently, dragons like this type of rock because they can warm it up easily," I explained.

"Interesting," Ragnhild replied.

I hummed contentedly, my arm snaking around my fiance's waist, rolling her over towards me.

"You are one of the most touchy people I know," she whispered.

"Touchy? Like sensitive?" I asked.

"No, touchy like you love physical contact of any kind," she answered.

"Oh… Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" I asked.

"Neither. It is just you. And I love you and everything you do, so I love that you are touchy," she giggled.

I smiled at her and kissed her forehead.

She sat up and looked out over the ocean. I sat up and moved closer to her. I guess she was right, I do like any kind of physical contact, even if it is just our shoulders brushing against each other every time we took a breath.

Her dark hair was pulled up in a tight bun on the back of her head. I watched to make sure she didn't notice as I lifted my hand to it and took it down quickly.

"Nuffink!" she squealed. I smiled at her.

"Do you realize how long it takes me to get my hair like that in the morning?" she complained, reaching for the soft blue hair ribbon that had been holding her dark locks in place. I smiled when I recognized the ribbon as what I had gotten her for her birthday.

"No, leave it down. At least until we go into town. Please? It's so pretty," I pleaded.

She sighed and looked back towards the ocean, "You look like a puppy when you beg like that," she muttered.

I didn't quite hear her. The wind was blowing her long hair softly and it was mesmerizing.

"Gods, you are such a man," she whispered.

"Well, I mean, I am a man, so that's a good thing, right?" I muttered.

"It just means I have more ways to distract you," she giggled.

"Why don't you wear your hair down more often?" I asked.

"You're still on my hair?" she asked.

"Uh huh…" I muttered.

"Well, if you recall, it is improper for an unmarried woman to wear her hair down," Ragnhild reminded me.

"You won't be unmarried for too much longer," I reminded her with a smile.

"We still have like two months, babe," she said.

I handed the ribbon back to her. "True," I whispered.

"We should probably head into town," she reasoned as she pulled her hair back up.

I sighed and looked out over the ocean. I squinted my eyes when I noticed what looked like a huge flock of birds flying towards us.

"Raggy, do you see that?" I asked, pointing towards the flock.

"Yeah, that's weird. I thought all the birds had already flown south," she said.

The flock got closer and I realized these were much bigger than birds. I jumped to my feet.

"Oh my gods," I muttered.

"Nuffink…" Ragnhild said, grabbing my hand.

"We have to get my dad," I said quickly.

"What? What is it?" she asked.

I looked over at her and grabbed her hand. I quickly pulled her to start running with me.

"Dad!" I yelled as we got closer to the house.

I saw my dad run out from the barn, Brandt close behind him.

He looked up in the sky behind me and smiled from ear to ear.

"Astrid!" he shouted excitedly. My mother ran from the house and laughed excitedly.

"Okay, Nuffink, you have to tell me what's going on!" Ragnhild pulled me to a stop.

Just then several of the beautiful creatures flew overhead and Ragnhild's eyes widened.

"It's the dragons," I said with excitement.