The soft humming could be heard all throughout the forest, following a few clicking noises as the woman sat cross legged in the dirt, her fingers fiddling away with various flowers and leaves in her grasp.
Siv had been out here for most of the day, since Viggo was too busy training new recruits. So in his wake, Ryker was standing nearby, humoring the woman as she fiddled with the many flowers in her hands and wove them together.
"So what exactly are we still doing out here?" Ryker pestered.
"Shush!" Siv snapped, not looking up from what she was doing until a few seconds later when she jumped up with excitement. "Done!"
In her hand was a headband of flowers, delicately woven together and created with the utmost care. Several colors of the rainbow graced the crown and a few red colored leaves created a soft accent like look to it. Siv grinned with pride as she placed the crown on her head, clearly proud of what she had created.
Ryker was less than amused. "We were out here for hours, so you could waste foliage?"
Siv responded with a high pitched gasp and a hand over her chest, being extra dramatic. "I beg your pardon! This is a work of art! Now I didn't ask you to come, Viggo did. Blame him."
"I plan to! Let's go," He huffed and walked off towards the tents as she followed behind with a skip in her step, her dress bouncing in time with her heels as she made it to the tent, stepping inside with a wide grin, seeing her husband at his usual place in his throne with several parchments on his table.
"Darling, what took you so long? And what in Oden's name is that on your head?"
Siv beamed with pride as she took the flower crown from her head and held it up in the candle light.
"Do you like it? I like it! I think it goes well with my hair! Here, you try it!" Without warning, she placed the flower crown on Viggo's head, much to his dismay.
"Siv, you know I tend to approve of your new... hobbies... But don't you think this is a bit much?" His eyes looked up as the colorful flowers grazed his eyebrows and Siv snickered a little.
"Viggo, you haven't let me do nearly anything. I had to do something to keep these busy," She thrust her hands in his face, making him back up in time so she didn't smack him.
"Siv, honey, you're 4 months pregnant. Don't you think you should be taking it easy?"
"Viggo, there's a difference between taking it easy and not letting me do anything..." She flopped down on the pile of furs on the floor with a soft huff and gave him a look much like a pouting child. He couldn't help but smile at how silly she looked and carefully removed the delicate flower crown on his head and placed it near the lantern at the far corner of his desk.
He stood from his throne and sat next to her on the floor.
"Darling, don't be so downtrodden... Will it ease your conscience to know that we're going somewhere tomorrow morning?"
Her eyes immediately lit up and she smiled wide at him, clearly excited about leaving the island.
"Oh? Where's that?"
"The Dragon Auction, of course! I figured since Hiccup ultimately destroyed our hopes of a stronghold... The annual auction is what is in order to get us back on our feet, yeah?"
Siv was clearly excited about leaving, and the auction was always a big success. Vikings from all over the archipelago would sail just to buy these exotic dragons that they spent months tracking down and capturing.
"Oh that sounds like fun! When do we leave?"
"First light. Which means we both need to rest, okay? Enough playing with flowers." He mocked her in a teasing manner that made her snicker slightly. Siv carefully rose to her feet, clearly exhausted even though the sun was barely setting.
"Okay... Will you be coming to bed? Or do you still have work to do?" She was already beginning to change out of her everyday clothes and replace it with her night shirt, which was really one of Viggo's old tunics. She enjoyed his clothes much more now that she was beginning to show in her pregnancy and the shirts were incredibly soft and smelled just like him, which kept her happy when he was still up late, working away.
"I have a few things to finish up, darling. You go on, I know you're tired." Viggo gently kissed her cheek and smiled, which made her heart flutter as she headed into bed for the night, asleep almost as soon as she hit the pillow.
Hours seemed to go by for Viggo. His head felt like it was splitting from how long he was staring at these stupid parchments.
Every so often, he would look in the direction of where his wife was sleeping and his heart ached to be with her and not here, but with the Auction breaching tomorrow, he had to finish this damned manifest.
With his eyes getting tired and his penmanship slacking off, he almost didn't hear the sudden thudding noise come from behind the curtain where Siv was. In an instant, he abandoned the papers and headed in there with the lantern in his hands, ready to fight off any unwanted visitors.
But what he saw was not what he was expecting.
The bed was empty and the furs were a complete mess and one of the candlestick holders was on the floor, smoking from being put out very recently. And in the corner, Siv was hiding her face behind her hands, whimpering like a wounded child.
"Siv, sweetheart, what happened?" He put the lantern down and carefully approached her when a ghastly smell reached his nose. Siv was crying and her legs were shaking and that's when he noticed they were also wet.
"Viggo... Please don't be mad, I didn't mean to..." She wasn't looking up at him and refused to even reach his line of sight. "I... I think the baby may have pushed too hard on my... Oh Gods, Viggo, I wet the bed! Like a child scared of some monster!"
So that's what happened; Siv was embarrassed.
Instead of yelling, which is what she expected, Viggo started laughing. She looked up with watery eyes and he carefully reached forward and wiped her tears away, a smile on his face.
"Darling, I could never be mad. Accidents happen, especially during a time like this... You clean up, I'll fix it." He was... very calm for someone who's wife just urinated in the mass of bear furs.
But slowly, she stood up on her shaky legs and went through the back of the tent and to the stream nearby, rinsing off carefully in the dark with a nervousness building up in her stomach. The baby was making it harder and harder to sleep but how could she tell Viggo that?
He would clearly make her stay here and miss the auction, and she wanted off the island. Viggo barely let her go within 400 feet of their tent. While she loved her husband dearly, he was becoming a bit obsessive.
And all she wanted at this moment was to walk around and stand for a few hours without being forced to sit down. Granted, he was going to do that anyways, no matter where they went.
After she finished rinsing off, she headed back to their tent where he was waiting, out of his leathers and wearing one of his old long sleeved tunics and sheep wool pants. She hasn't seen him look this casual in quite a while.
The bed had been stripped and something new covered it, something not bear fur.
Siv looked at the material with a curious gaze and Viggo smirked before placing one of his hands on the material.
"I hear it's perfect to keep one cool even under the blankets. It's called silk, I traded a Changewing hide for it, I think it's perfect for you." A blush spread over Siv's face as she reached for a new shirt and slowly pulled it on over her head, the shiny material calling out to her.
"And under that, a bed of sheep wool. I promise, it's as if you are sleeping on a cloud," Viggo carefully took a step forward and grasped her hands in his, smiling wider than she's seen in almost a week. It made her heart swell with happiness at how happy he seemed.
She immediately took the initiative to push him back against the bed and he flopped backwards with a soft grunt, hitting the bed with the softest thud she's ever heard.
"Okay, I've gotta feel this." She crawled off of him and laid down on her side, letting out an almost purr of happiness at how soft and cool it felt, wanting to sleep already.
"Oh Viggo, it's perfect! But.. How did you-"
"Nothing gets passed me, darling. I know you haven't been sleeping well, those black circles around your eyes don't hide anything. You need to sleep... We both need to sleep."
His words resonated something fierce in her and then she finally let her walls down, showing just how exhausted she felt. With a strangled whine, she fell backwards on the bed and watched him lay down next to her, a smile of pure joy on his face as he was finally laying next to her in the place where he belonged.
The night passed over easily with them both resting on a bed softer than the clouds of Valhalla. So when the morning came, Siv was, obviously, refusing to get up.
It was because of Siv that Viggo also couldn't get up. Her legs were around his waist and her arms were around his neck and she was clinging to him like a baby dragon with a tree limb, her eyes still closed and her hair a complete mess.
"Siv, flower, we have to get up..." He seemed almost as disappointed as she was when he said it. Siv protested with whines.
"No... Too comfy... too warm, not getting up."
Viggo chuckled and attempted to stand up but was pulled back down on the bed fiercely.
There was a soft knock outside on the post near the curtains, followed by Ryker's voice. "Viggo! You and your woman need to move, now! We're late!"
The response was a sharp shout of annoyance. "We'll be ready in a minute!" Siv was the one that shouted, not Viggo. Which surprised both of them. Viggo looked over his shoulder at Siv and smirked at how defensive she was getting almost immediately and gave her a happy smile.
"I didn't know my love was feisty..."
"N..Not usually?" She blushed with slight embarrassment as she finally let him get up from the bed and slowly stood up as well, even though it was so comfortable and would rather never get up.
As she rustled through the various clothes she had, she ultimately decided on wearing an undershirt and his old shirt instead of a dress today, pulling on the pants that Magda made just for her so she could wear something comfortable during the particularly cold nights.
As Siv was pulling on her boots, she felt the bed shift and saw Viggo sit down behind her, still shirtless but pulling on his own boots, his hair messier than normal after he wakes up, but all in all, a bit happier than usual.
She couldn't help but stare at how his back muscles flexed whenever he would reach down and adjust his pantleg so it fit inside of his boot comfortably and his shoulders rolled back as he stood up straight and pressed his strong hands into his waist, making the muscles all along his torso contract inward and there was a soft cracking sound from his joints and then a happy sigh left his lips as he pulled his arms back and rolled his head to stretch out his neck.
The whole time, Siv was staring, her foot halfway in and out of her boot as he reached for his brown tunic and pulled it on over his torso, much to her disappointment.
As he was fixing his belt around his hips, he looked over and finally noticed how she was staring at him, her face bright red and eyes in a near trance. "What are you staring at?"
"Mmm... Nothing, just my lovely husband..." She said dreamily without an ounce of shame in her words, making Viggo smirk and lean down to press a gentle kiss on her lips.
"Finish up, darling. Then we can finally go somewhere together, yeah?"
Siv nodded quickly and finished pulling on her boots and grabbed her dragon hide cloak, tossing it around herself to keep her safe from the cold and/or dragon fire, just in case something bad were to happen during this auction.
Once she was ready, Viggo pulled the tent flap back for her and she took a cautious step forward, the strap around her chest holding all of her rolled up parchments and little books in it. Everyone at the base was prepared for the journey except the few that were ordered to stay behind and protect the base.
All of the dragon hunters headed for the ships and Siv carefully jumped onto the boat, making Viggo hiss in fright at how she almost didn't land on her feet, her knees buckling slightly.
"Siv! Don't do that!" He snapped, his face turning red with worry and irritation at her complete and utter disregard for safety. Siv responded with a nervous smile and Viggo walked up to her, gently flicking her shoulder with his fingers, making her overreact in a playful manner, grabbing her shoulder and responding like she had just been shot with an arrow, trying not to giggle as she dramatically fell backwards.
"Oh no! I've been hit!" Viggo responded by grabbing her waist and pulling her body against his, snickering at how silly she was acting.
"Oi, both of you knock it off, it's disgusting." Ryker made a face of disgust and Siv responded with an upturned middle finger to him and presses her lips on Viggo's, who responds curtly with his own kiss to her lips, chuckling on her lips a little as he notices her obscene finger gesture. The men began to laugh at how outspoken Siv had become in the last few months due to her pregnancy, and Ryker seemed none too happy that she had found her voice, all because she got knocked up by his brother.
But as Viggo's wife, she was demanded respect, not just because she's Viggo's wife, but because she is a significant and important part of the dragon hunters, being smarter than almost anybody besides Viggo himself; which she earned all on her own.
All the hunters enjoyed Siv's company, except for a choice few who believed that Siv had no place near Viggo on the battlefield, but kept their mouths shut, not wanting to die by his hands.
But all in all, Siv was respected by nearly everybody. Even Ryker enjoyed her company once in a while, when she was able to strike up a decent conversation.
But all in all, everyone thought her recently discovered valor was quite entertaining to see, even Ryker couldn't help but chuckle in response to her finger gesture.
Throughout the entire boat ride, Siv and Viggo were being gross and affectionate, never letting go of each other as Siv stood at the front of the deck, looking out over the ocean, and Viggo held her by the waist and had his chin on her shoulder, letting the waves rock them back and forth gently.
But nobody minded. Which was good, because it would be met with Viggo's wrath.
As he held his wife by the waist, his hands rested over her swollen belly, wishing that he could already feel the baby move but just feeling her stomach rumbling with subtle hunger. Siv leaned into her husband happily, knowing exactly what he was thinking.
"Next month, darling... Next month we'll feel them..."
The words made Viggo smile with excitement.
"I can't wait to feel it's tiny little feet... It's tiny little hands... it's tiny little heartbeat..." He seemed to act like he was in a trance as he spoke and Siv felt her heart speed up from how happy he seemed to be at the thought of feeling his baby move around.
The ship ride was calm for the rest of the morning and they were expected in port by midday, and then Siv could finally get something to eat.
