This is a fluffy chapter. I'm not really one for lots of angst so when I write it, I tend to counterbalance it with something happier.

I wasn't planning to update again this quickly since I'm only 5 chapters ahead of you guys at this point, but my sister called me to come babysit my nephew for a few days and she is seriously the last person under the age of 80 in this country that doesn't have an internet connection. So I probably won't update again until next week, sorry.

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Chapter 8

Astrid is expecting to meet Hiccup's quiet, exotic looking aunt when she leads her mother into the clearing where the newcomers are settling in, but the dark haired woman is nowhere to be seen.

Othere is already hard at work on a house on the far edge of the clearing. The Hofferson women can't help but take a moment to admire the flex and stretch of his muscles as he lifts a log into position and hammers it home.

"Well dear, if you had to marry a total stranger at least he's easy on the eyes." Edrea chuckles quietly at Astrid's outraged face. "I'm just saying, dear. Hiccup definitely became a handsome man, but he'll never have a body like that."

Astrid flushes hotly, her voice nowhere near as quiet as intended, "Mother, please!"

Othere turns at the sound of her voice and gestures for her to wait just a moment while he works quickly to secure some timbers and place his tools safely back in their wooden chest before pulling his tunic back on. He walks over to them and offers his hand to Edrea, startling the woman. She's never had a man want to shake her hand. As enlightened as Berk is compared to most of their allied tribes, women still aren't seen the same way as men. She recovers quickly and shakes his hand.

"Mrs. Hofferson, I'm sorry I didn't have the pleasure of meeting you last night. Astrid, I'm happy to see you this morning."

He isn't really sure how to interact with his betrothed or his betrothed's mother, so he's winging it and copying how he's seen Hiccup talk with women over the years. Most of those women were Bog, and they demanded to be treated as men would be. He has no idea that something as minor as a handshake has just earned him a great deal of favor with his future mother in law.

"Avita isn't feeling well this morning, so Cami offered to help you ladies. All of my fabrics that you might possibly want or need are at her house. Pick whatever you want for your gown, any other clothes you need, or anything for the house. Cami hates working with a needle, but Avita said if she's feeling better this afternoon she'll come help you ladies with your sewing."

He's been leading them through the clearing toward Hiccup and Cami's house while he's talking and he knocks on the door without further preamble.

After several moments go by without the door opening, Othere chuckles and get a look of sheer mischief on his normally serious face. Instead of knocking politely again, he brings a huge fist up to pound on the door until it rattles on its hinges.

"Haddock! Let your wife out of bed before noon for once!"

Edrea covers a snort with her hand and Astrid laughs softly. Othere grins at her and winks. "Watch, he'll be in a sad state when he opens the door."

Sure enough, the three of them hear cursing and a crash of something being knocked over before Hiccup throws open the door and glares at Othere. "What the fuck are you…"

He catches sight of Edrea next to Othere and his entire face goes the color of a lingonberry.

"Edrea! Ah, I wasn't expecting you this morning… not that you aren't welcome! It's nice to see you. How are you?" He runs a hand through his hair and sighs loudly. "I'm just going to shut up now."

Othere is having a hard time not laughing in the younger man's face. His hair is standing on end, there's an obvious love bite on his throat, and his clothes are a mess. His tunic is on inside out and the laces on his pants aren't tied. He can only pray to Thor that Cami had the good sense to dress herself properly. Hiccup hears the snort that finally escapes Othere's throat and narrows his eyes.

"Don't you have a house to build?" The snarl is ineffective against Othere's much elevated mood.

"I do have a house to build. And your lazy arse was supposed to be over there helping me build it an hour ago. Your wife is helping my lady go through some of my fabrics so she can augment her sewing projects before the wedding, remember? We arranged it just this morning because Avita is feeling poorly."

Cami ducks under Hiccups' arm and steps out to greet their visitors. "Good morning Mrs. Hofferson, It's lovely to meet you. Good morning, Astrid." She shoves at her husband because he's still blocking their doorway. "Go play builders with Othere, darling. We have some work to do today."

Edrea is watching the interaction between Hiccup, his wife, and his friend with amusement. Even though they're making jokes at his expense, it's light-hearted and fond rather than the cruelty he endured as a child and young teenager. From the hint of mischief in his eyes, she's sure he's acting more put out with them than he actually is and it eases her mind to see him happy.

Cami watches her husband walking away next to Othere with amusement, he still hasn't noticed the state of his clothing. Halfway back across the clearing must have been when Othere finally decided to clue him in because Cami hears him yell, "Oh for the love of Odin!" before he turns back towards her.

"Woman, you're supposed to tell me things like this before I make an arse of myself!"

She laughs at his indignation and finally gestures the other two women to follow her into the house, stepping around a chest as she goes.

"Sorry, we're not completely unpacked yet, so there are still some things laying around."

She leads them to her large table near the hearth where there are piles of fabrics. Astrid sees many more bolts leaning against the wall, some of them in colors she's never seen before. Berk is very much a place of varying shades of brown with some greens and the occasional blues or reds if they have enough berries during the summer to spare for dyes after putting most up for the winter. She realizes that her husband-to-be has obviously traveled the world outside of their small archipelago and she suddenly feels very young and inexperienced.

Cami has been prattling on about details like furs for trimmings and embroideries to Edrea, but she sees the overwhelmed look on Astrid's face and an unexpected feeling of sympathy hits her. It wasn't so very long ago that she felt small and insignificant around Hiccup because she was a girl from the Bog and he traveled the world on his dragon. She shifts a pile of silks off of the table and gestures to the women to sit and bustles about putting water on to heat and finding the tea leaves Hiccup brought her from his last trading expedition. She thinks a cup of tea might calm the poor girl a bit.

"So, I know this all looks like a lot but we can take it in smaller steps, Astrid. Do you have any ideas for colors you might like? Or what you want your gown to look like? I'm not much for sewing, but I help Avita out with design ideas. I can sketch something up if you like?"

Astrid starts looking at the fabrics again, trying to find a color that appeals to her. Her mother starts offering suggestions and asking what colors that they're unfamiliar with are called. Astrid tries to tune everything else out and just look, hoping something will beat out the chaos this is causing in her head and just be right.

Cami sets mugs of hot tea sweetened with honey in front of both women and begins explaining the drink and where it comes from to Edrea. It smells good, but Astrid is holding a particularly beautiful piece of fabric and isn't paying attention to the other women.

"Cami, what is this called?" She holds the piece up for inspection and Cami smiles.

"Oh, that's lace. Avita's younger sisters live at Koen's hall and they make it for him to use for trading. It looks like another form of sewing to me, but they call it tatting. Usually it's not in such big pieces. Koen sections it out and sells it for use as trimmings, but Othere really liked this piece and traded him for it."

She fingers the delicate woven strands softly. "Do you think he would mind if I used it?"

Cami walks around the table and nudges Astrid to stand. She starts wrapping the lace around the girls' thin frame and looking critically at how it drapes and flows, ideas already tickling in her mind. Edrea is quiet but looks a little concerned.

"Mama, you don't like it?" Her voice is small and Edrea smooths out her features.

"It's beautiful, dear… but won't a dress made of this be a little… revealing? You'll be able to see clear through it."

"Well, there isn't enough of this to make a full gown, Edrea." Astrid's face falls at Cami's words. Cami rushes to reassure her. "What we'll do is use this to cover over another cloth as an accent. If you pick something else you really like, I'll show you what I'm talking about."

Astrid returns to sorting through the fabric, each color and each pattern more beautiful and exotic looking to her than the one before. She's just planning on letting the right one find her again.

Cami leads Edrea up the stairs to where she keeps her own sewing goods and asks the older women to help her carry one of the large chests back down so that Astrid can pick trims and embellishments if she wants them. When they set the chest down next to the table, Cami sees that Astrid is holding a pale pink silk and smiles fondly. This particular silk was part of an experiment gone very, very right.

Sven was trying to tan the leather from Lady's most recent shed, but when he took the hide out it was white. He called Hiccup in to see if he'd done the process wrong, but both men were stumped. Avita was the one to suggest attempting to dye some cloth with the liquid. The results were both beautiful and lucrative. They'd initially used wool fullcloth, and it gave a rich pink effect very close to the color of Lady's hide. Off-whites like linen produced a color with a yellowy hue to it that Hiccup said was coral. When Koen came across a couple bolts of white silk and decided to dye it, the result was a muted color. They weren't sure if it was the properties of the silk, or that the dye was several days old by that point. One of those bolts had fetched an exorbitant price in the Far East. The second one they'd split between themselves for personal use or smaller trading journeys.

Cami takes the silk and settles it around Astrid, smiling happily. Her own blonde hair is lighter and her skin is paler. On her, the delicate color makes her look faded. Astrid's skin is peaches and cream and her hair is rich gold, the color is beautiful on her. She lays the fine lace over the silk and Astrid lets out a gasp, tears gathering in her blue eyes.

"Is there enough of this one?"

Cami asses the material carefully, "Between what Othere has here and what I have upstairs, we'll have enough. I also have some smaller pieces of the lace in my trunk that we can use. And Avita should have some of both as well if we need them.

The door opens, and as if summoned by mention of her name the other woman steps in carefully. She's still looking peaked, her hair is in a messy braid and she's wearing an old tunic and linen trousers. She's a far cry from the elegant, exotic lady who sat next to Stoick in the Great Hall last night.

"Cami, darling… do you still have mint? We're out until Koen has a chance to get back to Bashem and see your father."

She sees the other two women and can't help but smile at the fabrics draped on Astrid. "That color suits you beautifully, piccola. Cami is far too fair and I'm far too dark for such a delicate color. Luka doesn't care for pink and Kairi can't wear it with her red hair. I honestly despaired of ever seeing a gown made of that silk."

Cami is bustling around in her kitchen looking for the herbs she needs. Avita's stomach is delicate and when they visit a new place it usually takes her a day or two to become accustomed to the local foods. She scowls at her chest of spices, it's getting leaner than she's been used to since she started travelling with Hiccup and she knows he won't have time to go to a market town before winter.

"I have ginger. If I brew it weak, will it help?"

Avita smiles weakly at her and pats her face as she walks past to take a seat at the table next to Edrea. "Yes, darling that'll be lovely. Koen's just going to have to leave me here and go to one of the markets before winter. He'll go faster if he takes Sven with him than if we all load up and go."

Cami nods while she's working, her mind going in about four directions at once.

"So with her build, I'd say an empire waist wouldn't you, Avita?"

Those dark eyes are frankly assessing and Astrid for the first time feels a small stirring of shame at her non-existent figure. She has no hips or breasts worth speaking of and she's never outgrown the gangly foal look she had as a teenager. Cami and Avita are both lean and well curved, she can't help feeling a little self-conscious.

"No. She's so very slim, we should accent that. The volume of the gown can be in the draping sleeves, the rest should be fitted. Don't you still have that pearl girdle? You could loan it to her for the day, it would be perfect with the lace and the pink."

Cami is nodding and starts wrapping the silk about her body tighter, trying to show Edrea the effect they're going for. Explaining that even though they plan on making it fitted they'll make sure she's able to move her legs well enough to dance.

They're discussing necklines with her mother but she's starting to panic a bit. Being betrothed to Hiccup was never a real thing to her mind. Everyone was wrong in assuming that she hated Hiccup; she acted out against him because of what he represented, not who he was. It was the thought of marrying in general that made her so angry and she did her level best to ignore the looming deadline the contract hung over her head. As she got older and the thought of marriage itself stopped bothering her as much Hiccup wasn't there to marry her, so it was still intangible.

Now, she has an honest to Odin betrothed that she can't leave. She doesn't want to because if she found a reason to break this betrothal, Stoick will have to let the eligible men of Berk make offers for her and she knows who'll win that contest.

But she has no clue how to be a wife. She's always deliberately tuned out such conversations and now she's wishing she hadn't.

Avita sees the distress on the young woman's face and her heart hurts for the girl. She's heard all of the stories from Hiccup and was outraged on her nephew's behalf, but in the back of her mind she always thought that there had to be more behind the girl suddenly going from being neutral to actively despising him.

"Cami, dearest, I'm not up to walking back over to my house yet. Can you go fetch my silk and lace? Koen knows where it is and if we use mine as well we should have enough to make a cloak for her as well. I know Othere has some white fox fur we could line it with."

Cami is far from dim, so she shoots a look at Avita. The older woman nudges her chin slightly at Astrid and Cami sees the panicked expression. She hides a wince, hoping her own enthusiasm for the project wasn't a contributing factor.

"Yes, of course I will! Let me just grab some cheese and bread so I can drop off a snack for the boys on my way." She quickly bustles about her kitchen grabbing some food for Othere and Hiccup and a pail of water so they can have a drink before letting herself out.

Avita smiles gently at Astrid, "You can sit down, piccola. Why are you upset? Is it just having to marry a stranger?"

Astrid's lip quivers for a second, "No, it's not that per se. Othere is a much better option than Snotlout, and he seems to be a genuinely kind man. I just… Before, when they first made the contract I didn't want to get married at all. Ever." She looks ashamed when her mother gasps softly.

"So that's why you treated Hiccup so badly? Astrid, you should have talked to me instead of being so horrible to him!"

She gives her mother a sad look, "I understood why daddy wanted the contracts done, but I just didn't want to get married."

Edrea looks both concerned and disapproving, "Darling, you should have told us rather than acting as you did. Or if not us you should have talked to Hiccup instead of causing him so much pain."

"What's done is done." Avita's calm voice cuts in before Edrea can get too worked up. "It worked out better in the long run anyway, because my nephew was always meant for Cami. But little one, are you ready to be a wife to a man you don't even know? You couldn't stand the thought of marrying a boy you knew all your life, this has to be terrifying you."

"I'm nervous. I spent so many years deliberately avoiding any discussions about marriage or how to run my own house. I'm not good at cooking or cleaning and now I have to learn on the fly in front of a husband I don't even know. I don't want him to regret saving me."

"Dearest girl, Othere may have been a Chieftain's son at one point, but he spent more years as a slave than he did as a privileged man. He doesn't have notions of what a wife "should" do and most of how he treats women he learned watching Hiccup deal with the Bog women. He knows how to cook and he's quite good. I'm sure he wouldn't mind teaching you." She smiles with a bit of mischief, "Beside, Cami never has acquired any fondness for housekeeping. She grew up in the Chieftess's house in Breakneck, her mother always had menservants to clean for her."

Astrid looks around the spacious house. Other than a few trunks to unpack the place is homey and well organized. "She must have learned really fast then."

Avita's laugh is a lilting tickle that makes both Hofferson women smile as well. "Hiccup does most of it, even though he grew up in Berk where women typically keep the house. He had no mother to do the housework, and Stoick keeps no servants here so he had to learn. She's gotten much better since they married, but even if she never cared to learn at all he would clean the house and love her the same."

"So Othere won't mind if I'm not great at first?"

Avita starts gathering up the empty mugs and sets about washing up those and the few things Cami still had in her wash pan from breakfast. "Darling girl, he's used to doing for himself. I'd be amazed if he immediately reverted to expecting a woman to cater to him after marriage, he spent too much time in the Bog for that. Just tell him truthfully what you feel you need help with and he will."

Edrea reaches across the table and pats her hand fondly, "Remember dearest, he has no idea how to be a husband any more than you have of how to be a wife. Learn with him, you'll both be happier for it."

Astrid smiles and begins assess her pink silk and lace again happily, her joy in making a pretty gown for her wedding restored after the reassurances from the older women.