Disclaimer: I don't own How to Train Your Dragon or any of the associated characters or settings. But I sure like borrowing them.

She was nineteen and he was twenty. Hiccup was missing. Well, maybe that wasn't strictly true. Hiccup had been notably absent from Astrid's day-to-day life. Part of it was his role as Chief; part of it was his role as son; and, part of it was just Hiccup being Hiccup. Since he had proposed to her, she had seen him twice. He was busy, she understood that, but she was starting to feel his absence acutely.

That day had been no different. Astrid had come home early from training Eret after an unfortunate incident involving a fire ball and a pair of singed eyebrows. She was tired, sore and understandably irritable. She'd been making notes peppered with insults that she would hurl at Eret the next morning when she heard a timid knock at the door.

As she moved to answer the door, she heard a familiar voice on the other side of the door, mumbling something. A smile stretched across her face, her dark mood instantly fading with the knowledge that Hiccup had come to see her. He hadn't lingered at her doorstep like this in a very long time. He'd become accustomed to half-knocking and then striding through her house as though he owned the place, talking incessantly about whatever it was he was working on that day. He'd help himself to a smoked cod, bite into it, and toss himself into a chair. The knocking should have been the first indication that this was not a normal visit.

Astrid swung the door open and smiled widely at Hiccup.

"I've come to ask for Astrid –" he paused. He'd had a nervous grin plastered on his face which fell the instant he realized who had answered the door. "Astrid! What are you doing here?"

She scowled, irritated by his greeting. If she had been in a better mood, she might have asked his question back to him and things might have had a chance to go smoothly. Her hand fell away from the door, but she remained in the doorway, frowning.

"Nice to see you, too," she said flatly.

"Astrid, it's always nice to see you," Hiccup said slowly, taking in her expression, "Except maybe when you look like that. What happened to your eyebrows?"

Astrid's frown deepened.

"Not that there's anything wrong with…blackened eyebrows," he said hastily, unable to stop himself from talking with his hands, "Any eyebrows on my Astrid are wonderful eyebrows. Magnificent eyebrows. Glorious eyebrows."

Astrid ignored his abject flattery and narrowed her eyes at the purse in his right hand.

"What is that?"

"What is what?" Hiccup looked at the purse and then shoved his hand behind his back, "Nothing. It's nothing."

"Nothing?" she repeated slowly.

"Yep. Nothing at all. Your uncle home?"

Astrid folded her arms across her chest and didn't respond.

"I'm going to take that as a 'no'. Well, I should be going."

"You're going?" she asked, smiling sweetly while taking hold of the front of his jacket, "So soon? You only just got here."

Hiccup swallowed noisily. "Well, you know the busy life of the chief," he said, his voice cracking. Astrid was glad he had the good sense to fear her mood. Astrid had been counting on the fact that he was completely incapable of speaking without gesturing with his hands and Hiccup didn't disappoint. She dropped his collar and snatched the purse from his hand.

"Now what have we here?"

"Astrid! Astrid, no!"

But it was too late; she had already opened the purse and dumped its contents into her hand. Or she would have had it all fit in her hand. Heavy gold and silver coins fell from her fingers and clattered on the floor. Hiccup froze, his eyes wide with terror. Astrid looked from the money to Hiccup's face and back again.

"What is this?"

Hiccup winced and looked around for some sort of assistance – any assistance. He found none. He shrugged. "Mundr?"

Astrid eyes met Hiccup's. She studied his face, certain he was making fun of her. Hiccup released a breath he'd been holding and sighed, his shoulders slumping.

"It's not enough, is it?" He stared off somewhere beyond Astrid's shoulder. "Maybe I can make him a sword. I have some new designs for better blood-letting-"

"Hiccup," Astrid said quietly, silencing his babbling, "This is at least three times my dowry."

"I know."

"It's too much!"

Hiccup shrugged and frowned, thinking. "Actually, I don't think it's enough."

Astrid rolled her eyes and dumped the coins back in the purse. She stooped to pick up the fallen coins and forced them into the purse, too. She had to wonder how the Chief of Berk didn't understand something as simple as dowries. It's not as though he couldn't ask someone about it.

She shoved the purse at Hiccup wearing a deep scowl on her face. Hiccup looked at the purse and then at Astrid's face. He made no move to take the purse from her.

"Are you…are you rejecting me?" he asked, his voice small.

A burst of irritation flowed through Astrid. She reached out and turned his hand palm up, roughly shunting the purse into it.

"You don't pay me to marry you," she said.

"But the mundr…"

"Goes to my uncle. And it hasn't even been set. Do you even know what you're doing?"

Hiccup looked at her, his shoulders dropping. "Marrying you?"

The smile came to Astrid's face against her better judgement. She couldn't help it, not when Hiccup was clearly grasping for understanding. Not when he looked so lost. Astrid shook her head at him and smiled fondly.

"You really don't have any idea what you're doing, do you?"

"Why can't we just get married? Exchange swords and rings and vows and get on with our lives?" he sighed.

She pressed her lips against his cheek and wrapped her arms around him.

"For someone so smart, you can be so stupid sometimes."

She expected him to bristle under her touch. She expected him to argue, just a little. Instead he held her, his cheek against the top of her head. Astrid sighed. It had sounded exasperated; she had meant it to sound that way. But as she leaned into him, she smiled happily.

"My uncle will be home at dusk. Bring your mother and leave your purse at home. There's an order to these things, you know."

"We've been ignoring it so far," he said with a rakish grin.

Astrid punched him in the shoulder.

Hiccup returned with Valka after dusk. Their betrothal was made formal and a bride-price had been set (at considerably less than Hiccup had originally brought over). Astrid had watched Hiccup throughout the whole ordeal. He really didn't grasp the concept of a dowry. She knew he understood what it meant – the responsibilities, the honour – but he just didn't seem to care about the entire tradition. She shouldn't have been surprised – when had Hiccup ever cared about tradition?

When all the formalities had been tended to, Astrid and Hiccup slipped out into the night, mounted their dragons, and flew to their favourite place. It was late and moonbeams were dancing over the ocean's surface. They sat on the edge of Mount Ascup, leaning into each other, their fingers entwined.

"You know, I would pay all the money I have to marry you."

Astrid smiled. "Now you can keep it and buy me all the sheep my heart desires."

"Is that what your heart desires? Sheep?"

"And maybe the occasional smoked fish."

"Anything else?" he asked.

"Nah, I don't think so."

"Nothing?" he asked.

"Mm, maybe a little Hiccup," she said, kissing his mouth gently.

He kissed her back with fervour, laying her down on the grass. A hundred kisses, a hundred touches, a hundred sighs passed before they broke apart.

"Okay," she said, breathless, "Maybe more than a little Hiccup."