HECK YEAH, UPDATE.
So... two weeks to work on this chapter and I still didn't have enough time. Really. I think I'm just doomed to always feel at least a little pressed for time.
I want to thank all my lovely reviewers, who -hopefully- are still reading after the long wait. So Voldyne, ghosthead, givinglight, Romance and Musicals, OmarBarria, Rat001, 4ever2010, Ze Great Camicazi, JeMS7, Hebi R., Novanto, and Protesterlover: THANK YOU SO EPICALLY MUCH.
In response to x: I can't give away the gender, so I guess you'll see.
Special thanks to Foxy'sGirl, Aj the Psychic, grahamcracker-xx, and Kuri for your super-duper encouragment and con-crit. And of course, DangIt! and flaming-mercedes... you guys are freaking great. DON'T EVER STOP.
And here's the long awaited chapter nine.
Side Effects Include Mood Swings and Violence
At around the four month mark, the cravings started to really take root: Astrid wanted turnips.
No, 'wanted' was a bit of an understatement. She needed turnips, lots of them, and she needed them desperately.
Now, turnips were standard fare on Berk, because they were the one of the only edible plants that could grow in the cold, harsh ground. They were plentiful, and though they weren't necessarily the worst tasting things in the world -or even on Berk- they weren't particularly delicious, either. Astrid had never really liked them all that much, even though her mother had tried valiantly to make them appetizing. It was the norm for Berkian children to despise turnips as if they were poisoned, and to throw violent fits when offered a bowl of them.
Or at least that's what Astrid's older brothers had always done.
Nonetheless, the craving had set in and refused to go away. Alhildr had warned Astrid about cravings; they could strike anywhere, at the strangest of times, and for the weirdest of things. Alhildr, for instance, had been partial to smoked eel when she was pregnant with Astrid's brothers, and pickled beets with Astrid herself.
At that point, she'd already been cooking turnips rather abundantly; she wasn't a very good at cook and they were one of the only things she knew how to prepare.
Unfortunately, eating the same thing night after night had its drawbacks- the males of the Haddock household did not share Astrid's newfound love for the vegetable.
"Y'know, you're really starting to worry me," Hiccup told her one night, as the Haddocks all sat at the small table near the máledr. "This has to be the… what, bajillionth night in a row?" (18)
"You don't like it? You can go to bed hungry," Astrid hissed in return, before practically diving into hers.
Stoick, on the other hand, said nothing. He simply poked at his plate and smirked as he remembered a time -nearly seventeen years prior- when his dear Valhallarama had been the same way with chicken legs.
-O-
At the end of autumn, the snow began to fall.
"It's going to be a harsh winter," Alhildr mentioned offhandedly one day when she visited the house. "Slipknot Thorston is convinced that this'll be the start of Fimbulvetr. Granted, she says that every winter." (19)
Astrid let out a little laugh as she stacked clean wooden plates and placed them in the cupboard. She'd gone from irritated at her mother's presence to being mildly grateful for it. She wouldn't tell Alhildr that, of course, because then she'd never leave, but…
Some days, Astrid just wanted to be alone, and others, she needed company. Today was a company day.
"Luckily for you," Alhildr said quietly, "You'll be having a spring baby. Late spring is the best time for babies, I always thought."
Astrid nodded, and unconsciously put a hand to her stomach, where she could feel a little bump starting to form, just a tiny little one. She wondered if it looked as conspicuous as it felt.
-O-
A week later, it snowed so hard that the world had become a wall of white. Hiccup was the first to discover this -while it was still very early morning- and almost immediately after he'd opened the front door, he shut it again and decided to go back to bed.
By the time that he'd stumbled back up the stairs and into the loft, Astrid was awake.
"Why're you up here? I thought that you wanted to leave early for the forge this morning," she mumbled, rubbing her bleary eyes.
"Uh-uh. It's snowing. Really hard."
"So?"
"I couldn't see anything," he explained, gesturing randomly to the ceiling. "If I went out, I'd probably never return."
Astrid rolled her eyes and then yawned. "I'll bet you're just glad for an excuse to go back to bed."
"Darn straight," he mumbled as he sat on the edge of the bed and pulled off his prosthetic.
She suppressed a laugh, and watched him resituate himself under the still warm furs.
"Are you actually tired?"
He turned his head towards her, a small but somehow hugely obscene smile starting to spread.
"I might not be," he said slowly, "But I'm definitely cold. Freezing, actually."
"Oh? Do you need help warming back up?"
"Couldn't hurt," he said wryly, giving her a sideways sort of glance.
Astrid felt a wave of unexplained affection rush over her, and she didn't hesitate to fling the furs out of the way so that she could curl over him and fix her lips rather firmly over his.
"Mmmmmph," he hummed into her mouth not three seconds later, "Affffrid?"
She pulled away and frowned at him for interrupting, before she groaned "What?" as irately as she could.
"Um. I just…"
"Well? Were you going to say something?"
He flushed bright red and looked away from her eyes for a moment. "Wasn't anything important," he mumbled, suddenly quiet.
"Liar," she quipped, poking his ribs and peering at him quizzically. "Now that you've brought it up, you have to tell me."
"No, really. It wasn't like it was a big deal or anything."
She pushed his shoulder and rolled so that she was facing away from him.
"You're so annoying sometimes, y'know that?" she hissed, and she heard the linen sheets beneath them rustling as he shifted uncomfortably.
"Sorry," Hiccup said earnestly, hand resting on her waist.
"Telling me that you're sorry won't make you any less annoying," Astrid snarked. His fingers twitched, but his hand didn't move.
The nerve of that boy.
"What will?"
"What were you going to tell me?" she challenged, because she was partially curious and partially angry. Why wasn't he telling her?
"I just… um. Wanted to tell you that I l-" he broke off as the "l" started to slip from his mouth, as if he was backtracking. "I like you."
Astrid was yet again surprised at her change of mood; from irritated to affectionate again. She flipped over, and then let out a little squeak of surprise; his face was a lot closer to her shoulder than she'd thought.
"Hi," he whispered, smiling in a way that showed the gap in his teeth.
"Um, hi to you too?" She had to bite down the horrible urge to giggle -of all things- because he was being extremely dorky and adorable at the same time. It was nearly disgusting.
That smiling mouth was awfully close.
She leaned in quickly and caught his chin on accident, but he didn't seem to care. His hands rested delicately on her hips, pulling her closer but somehow not close enough.
Astrid squirmed and moved her mouth onto his, parting her lips and quite nearly assaulting Hiccup with her fervor. She rolled over him; he was warm, so wonderfully warm, and she smiled into his mouth as he pushed a hand through her hair.
It was still fairly dark in their little loft room, the only light coming from a small window on the far side of the room. The tiny patch of sky that shown through that window was dark gray and only vaguely beginning to resemble dawn, so she reasoned that they had a little bit longer 'till sunrise.
-O-
By mid-morning, the snow had piled up to nearly a foot. That, in and of itself, was a good excuse to stay inside, but Hiccup was on a mission- he needed to make sure that Toothless and Spark were well fed and comfortable, because if it snowed any harder, he wouldn't be able to get out of the house.
Astrid was with him, arm linked with his; even though the stable was only about 100 feet from the house, a hundred feet was a rather perilous distance to walk while it was snowing so hard that one couldn't see.
And it didn't help that Hiccup's foot had pretty much frozen up.
"I need to make a snowshoe for this," Hiccup griped, adjusting the basket of fish on his back, "The one I made last winter didn't hold up very well."
"You can worry about that later. Right now, we just need to get inside. Ah!" Astrid cried out in surprise when she bumped against the door, and then there was a moment where he couldn't feel her arm anymore. She huffed loudly as she pried the doors open. The second that she'd worked her way inside -fighting the snow every step of the way- Astrid yanked Hiccup in after her and shut out the weather.
It was considerably warmer inside the stable.
"Let's just stay in here for awhile," he puffed, nose and cheeks red from the cold.
She nodded vigorously in agreement and reached forward to pluck a particularly large clod of ice off of his fur cloak.
"Yeah," he said quietly, "You're covered in it."
"I'll shake it off when I'm not freezing to death anymore."
Hiccup shrugged and put the basket down, and then pulled a face when he opened the lid and peered inside.
"Frozen. Of course."
Astrid found herself wandering over to the soft bed of hay where Toothless was resting, no doubt sluggish and languid from the cold. He raised his head as she approached, but made no movements otherwise.
She didn't dare sit down next to him; Spark was snoozing off in a darker, more secluded corner of the stable, but she was such a jealous thing that Astrid wouldn't have put it past the Nadder to wake out of a deep sleep just to make sure that the Night Fury wasn't getting more attention.
"Still having trouble with the fish?"
Hiccup mumbled discontentedly and dragged the basket over. "Yeah. Unless Toothless suddenly decides that he likes fish-cicles, we're gonna have to let it thaw," -he threw a look at the lazing dragon- "Who knows who long that'll take."
"Hmm," she murmured, and then reached for her shoulders and shrugged off her heavy fur-lined coat.
"Why are you taking that off? I don't know about you, but I'm starting to ice over," Hiccup groaned, flinching as she shook the coat and dislodged about a million little flecks of snow and water.
"Because, I was getting annoyed."
She turned slightly, and stretched out her arms a little...
Hiccup's mouth dropped open with a small 'pop', and he blurted, "You've gotten bigger!"
"Excuse me?" Astrid asked incredulously, whirling on him and giving him a fiery glare.
"I mean- you've just… Astrid. There's a little…" he trailed off, making a gesture with his hands to indicate roundness, "Bump."
"Don't make me hit you," she hissed, eyes narrowed dangerously. "Because I will."
"Sorry, sorry… I didn't mean it like that… oh why am I so bad at telling you what I mean? Really, though. It's um…" he was babbling in a very un-Viking like way, trying to get his thoughts into the right words. "I like it. I really do. You look so… alive."
"You make it sound like I was dead or something."
Hiccup groaned in frustration, raking his hands through his -partially damp- hair. "No, no, you looked great before, but now you look even better. Does that help?"
Astrid looked him over critically, before saying slowly, "You actually like this…" she touched her vaguely swollen stomach, turning to face him completely, "This? Are you serious?"
"Yeah," he replied earnestly, scratching the back of his neck.
"Why?" she pressed.
"Because… I sort of… like what's underneath it all, y'know? It's kind of cool to think that our baby is in there."
She only stared at him in something akin to skepticism, gave her coat one final shake, and shrugged it on. "It is pretty cool," she eventually sighed, "But if you say one more word about my size…"
Hiccup found himself smiling as she trailed off, her half-hearted threat only partly finished. There were innumerable thoughts that floated around in his head; things he wanted to say but didn't for fear of sounding ridiculous and mushy. And some of the things he wanted to say would probably get him beaten to a pulp.
-O-
A week later, it had become clear that winter had come early. It was still only mid-Gormánuður, but nature had decided that it was time for the coldest, deadliest time of the year to begin. (20)
Currently, the snow had ceased and the sun was shining- creating a blinding glare that was no fun to be out in. So, despite the beautiful, clear sky, most of the villagers were inside.
Astrid was with her mother.
She'd braved the snow and the light and the mind-numbing cold, because -silly as it might've seemed- she really felt homesick. Thus, she'd tromped through the snow after a hasty goodbye to her father-in-law, and hadn't even needed to knock before the inevitable squeal of delight came from her mother, who was already standing by the threshold.
"Do you just sit and wait for her to show up, mum, or is it instinctive?" came the drawling voice of Oddr.
"Oh hush. I've just missed her, that's all."
"That's because she's your favorite, of course," he teased -no malice intended, of course, but it still made Alhildr frown and sigh.
"Hmm. Or maybe distance makes the heart grow fonder," Astrid began, stepping into the warm house and trying to ignore the rumble of her stomach as she caught a whiff of fresh bread. "Who knows, Oddy, maybe if you finally get married and move out, mum'll like you more?"
Oddr smirked, but didn't say much after that, instead, he looked at the floorboards.
"That's likely to happen, Ast."
Astrid's jaw dropped in shock.
"Yes, well," Alhildr said quickly, "I was waiting to see you again before anybody told you the news, but… we might have a match for Oddr. She's the fish monger's daughter, about fourteen years old, I believe? Anyway, she's going to be coming into a rather unexpected inheritance, and her father figures she'll need someone to manage it."
"Wait, wait, back up. Fourteen?" Astrid asked, shock touching every word.
"That's not too young, dear, Oddr is only eighteen himself, and her birthday is in the spring. So she'll be fifteen by the time they marry."
"Oddr, what on earth do you think of this?" Astrid said, still terribly surprised. "And where's Grettir? Does he know any of this?" (21)
"Grettir's got a seriously bad cold, he's upstairs," Oddr explained, and then he went on, "And I'm not sure what I think of it." He had a very guarded look though, Astrid noticed, as if he wasn't telling her everything because of the presence of their mother.
"I can't believe you're getting married," she finally sighed, feeling unusually spent. The whole thing was quite surprising.
"Nobody can, dear. Your father was completely dazed after he worked out the arrangement," Alhildr chirped excitedly, and then gave a fond look at her youngest son.
"Speaking of which, where's dad?"
"At the forge," Oddr told her, a hint of his normal, cheeky self finally starting to return to his face, "Getting his axe handle fixed. He sat on it the other night."
"Odin, he did?" Astrid laughed, seeing the image quite vividly in her head.
"Yes, and he moaned and fussed about it all night. And I believe he wanted to say something to Hiccup, but I haven't the slightest clue what," Alhildr sighed.
"I, personally, think he wanted to yell at him."
"For what?" Astrid squawked, at a loss. Why on earth would her father want to yell at her husband.
"I don't know. Dad's been in a foul mood lately, so your guess is as good as mine. Maybe he just wants to let off some steam."
"On Hiccup? That's ridiculous."
"Maybe, but Beinir's been…" Alhildr trailed off, as though she thought the rest of her sentence was a bad idea. "I made bread. Would you like some?"
Astrid felt horribly confused. It seemed that nobody was telling the total truth, and it made her burn with curiosity.
She'd only been married for a few months, and it seemed that everything had changed.
18: Máledr - the meal fire.
19: Fimbulvetr is the immediate preclude to the events of Ragnarok (the apocalypse, basically). It's characterized by three harsh, uninterrupted winters in which brothers killed brothers.
20: Gormánuður was a month on the Viking calender. It spanned from about our October 21 to November 19.
21: I mixed up the oldest brother's name, but then I looked at all of my side notes and had a moment of "That was stupid." In case anyone was wondering, the brothers are Fundinn, Grettir, and Oddr, and their ages are in that order. Fundinn doesn't live with the rest of the family. More on him in the next chapter.
OH BOY. FAMILY DRAMA ENSUES. Let me know what you thought.
