Welcome fellow peoples!
Disclaimer: I don't own How to train your dragon – books, movies, nor TV series.
Warning: Once again, I don't suppose everything will be 100% historically correct. Keep that in mind while reading. :D
Let the show begin – enjoy!
CHAPTER 11
The one with goodbyes
Astrid was warm.
When she woke up, she found herself in an unknown place. It certainly wasn't her room, she would surely recognize it. Something fairly heavy was hanging over her stomach. Astrid shifted a bit to see what it was and what she found nearly gave her a heart attack. There was an arm. A male arm to be exact. Memories from the day before came to her. The wedding, then the consummation. Her eyes travelled further and finally laid upon the owner of the limb. Her husband, a term she would have to get used to, had his face mostly buried in a pillow, with his auburn hair sticking out in every possible direction. She heard his soft snoring. His back was partly uncovered and her eyes widened at the sight of a big, black dragon tattoo that covered it. If she thought that the scars on his stomach were bad, she didn't have the words to describe those on his back. Only now it hit her that she was less than clothed and the blonde brought the blanket higher up to cover herself, not that it would help much. Astrid didn't really remember much from the night before – only some bits and pieces, but those were enough to make her face go red.
Gently, not to wake Hiccup up, she moved his arm and got up. She swore quietly when some pain shot through her body. And the headache… Ugh… Astrid started dressing up in any clothing that she supposed were hers. She noticed some blood on the sheets. Her blood. She felt… different. Astrid couldn't pinpoint how exactly, just different. The girl felt her hands shaking as she clumsily tried to put her clothes on. Her eyes stayed on the bed the whole time, making sure that Hiccup was, indeed, asleep. The seventeen-year old jumped slightly when she heard Hiccup finally waking up. She was lucky she managed to dress herself before that happened. Astrid thought about bolting out of the room, out of the house, but what was the point? They were married now, they would have to face each other sooner or later. Astrid was a Viking and she never backed down, even if the next few minutes would be the most awkward ones in her life. Wasn't she Astrid Fearless Hofferson after all? Hiccup rolled onto his back and brought his arm to rub the rest of the sleep away. He slowly sat up and looked around, still a bit dazed. When his green eyes fell on Astrid, they widened and his face heated up a bit, making the mostly faded freckles stand out more. Hiccup quickly brought up the blanket to his bare chest, embarrassed.
"Hi." She said meekly, her voice barely audible. Her hand went to rub her arm. Weirdly, she missed the warmth of the bed and him beside her.
"I… eh, hi." He responded, refusing to make any eye contact with her. When Astrid was stressing out about the consummation of the wedding, somehow it never came to her that Hiccup could be as stressed and embarrassed about it, as she was. He was the Dragon Master, the person that faced the dragons unarmed. People forgot that he was also human, Astrid included. Scratch that, most people didn't even think he was human, more likely a demon of some sort. Astrid and Hiccup both didn't know what to do. They both were new to all this and that thought reassured her a bit. The blonde was thinking of something to brake the tension when she heard a knock on the door. She cast one last glance towards Hiccup and went downstairs to answer the door as she was already dressed.
"Astrid." Solveig greeted her daughter with a hug. It was time for the last of the traditions. After the morning gift a bit later on, she would officially be a married woman. The thought wasn't as atrocious and repulsive as she thought it would be. Astrid had to leave with her mother and Iona but, not to startle Hiccup, she left him a small note on the table. She would rather not barge in while he was dressing himself. It was awkward enough between them already.
Solveig and Iona escorted her back to her once family home. Astrid felt the villagers' eyes boring holes in her head. All of them wanted to see her to have something to gossip about later. Solveig stroked Astrid's arm gently to grab her attention.
"Are you feeling ok?" Her mother whispered. Astrid merely nodded. Maybe ok was a bit of a stretch, but she'd live. Soon they reached the Hofferson household. There were women waiting for her with a vǫlva . Astrid was seated on one of the chairs by the family table. The women started brushing her long, blond hair. It got slightly tangled during the… night.
"So." The vǫlva started. "Can you tell us your dream?" Astrid took a moment to remember it. It was a weird dream, but she nodded and started.
"At first it was dark but then I was in… I think it was a cove." She looked at the elder, who gestured to her to continue. "I heard birds singing and a laughter. It was children's, I think. Then a black dragon came out-"
"A dragon?" the vǫlva raised her eyebrow in surprise. "What kind of a dragon was that?"
"I-I don't know. I haven't seen anything like it before." Astrid lied. She knew what dragon it was but a Night Fury had never been seen up close. At least not close enough for her to be able to describe it. Or recognize in a dream. The elder hummed. Astrid winced, as one of the women yanked on her hair a bit too harsh.
"What happened then?"
"The dragon had flowers in his mouth. He – It gave it to me and smiled." The woman nodded and wrote something in her notebook.
"Can you describe them?" Astrid furrowed her brow and concentrated.
"There were four of them. Two of those were pink and the other two purple-blue. I think that one of the purple-blue ones was bigger than the others. And… that's it." She finished. The vǫlva appeared to be deep in thought. Meanwhile, the other women started braiding her hair. When they finished, they took the braid and made a bun of it on top of her head, leaving a few loose strands. Astrid dressed herself in the clothes that were left for her. Solveig took a long, snow-white, finely-pleated linen cloth, called the hustrulinet, and placed it on her daughter's hair. All of the women turned to the vǫlva, waiting for her verdict.
" You'll have a happy marriage with four children. Two pink flowers – two girls, two purple-blue ones – two boys. Your firstborn would be a son." Astrid' eyes went wide. That was… specific. Four children?! Surely the elder got something wrong… right?
"Unfortunately I don't know what the dragon means. I've never encountered anything like that." Astrid was too shocked to respond. She couldn't imagine having one child, not to mention four. Solveig patted her daughter's shoulder, signalizing they should be heading to the Great Hall for the morning gift. The blonde teen exhaled shakily and nodded.
The Hall was fairly empty. The villagers that weren't working in the village, were probably nursing a hangover back at home. As Astrid walked in, she saw her father, brother, the Haddock family and several representatives of the council waiting for her. She squirmed inwardly upon Stoick the Vast's gaze. The blonde felt her face heating up. He led his son yesterday for them to consummate the marriage. It was really embarrassing, full-well knowing that they knew what happened yesterday. Hiccup must've felt the same, because his eyes were fixed solemnly on the table. She and her parents sat opposite her husband and father-in-law.
The morning gift was presented, along with the key to her and Hiccup's new house on Berk. While handing it to her, Hiccup finally looked up at her. She tried to smile and he returned it hesitantly. She saw Egil boring a hole in the young man's skull. When the blonde girl opened the chest, she gasped, covering her mouth with a hand. It was way too much. She had never seen so much gold in her life at once! Her father must've thought the same thing, because his eyes went wide as well.
"Stoick, we can't accept that. It's too much." Berk's chief just waved his hand.
"No, it's not. It will come in handy when the children come." At that Astrid's face retuned to the previous shade of red. She clenched her fists slightly. Yeah, all four of them.
With the morning gift being presented, the marriage had become official. She was now a wife, a married woman. She wasn't sure how she felt about it.
"We'll be leaving in the evening." The gruff voice of Stoick the Vast brought her back to the reality. Astrid was already packed, the only thing she had to do was say goodbye to everyone. She considered herself as a slightly sentimental person, and leaving the island she grew up on was hard. At least she'd have Hiccup at Berk. Well, when all the awkwardness blows away, that is. The elders and people from the council parted, going back to their everyday duties. Soon her brother went to train with his friends. Before leaving, he sent his sister a small, reassuring smile. Egil had to attend some Chief business. In mere minutes, everyone had gone to do their things, which left Hiccup and Astrid alone. Both of them knew they had to start talking to each other, but neither of them knew how to begin. The silence was becoming unbearable.
"You look… nice." Hiccup said after what felt like years. Astrid looked at him surprised.
"Thanks, I guess." She responded uncertainly, rubbing her arm.
"I have no idea what I'm supposed to do, sorry." Astrid smiled slightly.
"Well, you're in luck, because I'm clueless too. As surprising as it is, it's my first marriage." Her smile grew when she heard him chuckle in response. Astrid came closer to him, ignoring the slight pain, and looked him in the eyes. She had an unexplainable desire to be close to him. Maybe hug him, but it'd be weird, wouldn't it?
"I'm sorry." He muttered. She almost missed it. Astrid raised an eyebrow.
"What for?" she asked confused. He ran his hand through his hair. Astrid almost volunteered to do it for him. She had a weird attraction to it. Actually, she wasn't in control of her feelings and emotions ever since she met him.
"I-I don't really know. For the whole marriage? I know it wasn't my choice either, but I feel guilty you had to go through this. And I don't know how much you remember from yesterday but-" he was cut off by Astrid pressing her lips to his. The blonde teen didn't know why she did this. His lips looked so inviting. It was almost like her body moved on its own. The kiss was short but both of them were left dazed after it. Seeing Hiccup's widened eyes looking at her, taken aback, she felt stupid by acting on impulse. Again.
"Sorry, I –" she didn't know what to say, nor how to explain her actions without bubbling out that she might like him more than a friend and scare him away in the process. If the kiss wasn't an enough indication, that is. Which she was pretty sure it was.
"Did you mean that? Or was it to just shut me up?" Hiccup finally seemed to come to his senses. He sounded fairly skeptical that someone would actually consider kissing him without a very good reason.
"Both?" Astrid answered, but it came out more as a question. Hiccup seemed to lean closer to her, as if he wanted to kiss her and Astrid had no objections there. Their lips were centimeters apart when-
"There you are! I've been looking for you the whole morning!" The two teens heard Ruffnut's raspy voice, which resulted in them jumping away from each other like two scared animals. Ruff raised an eyebrow at her friend, flashing her a knowing smile.
"Well, I was here." The shorter blonde responded lamely. Really Astrid, that's the best you could do?
"I'm going to the forge. I-I left a few things there. I have to pack them before we leave." And with that Hiccup scattered away, sending the both girls a weary smile. Astrid wanted both murder and thank her friend and she honestly wasn't sure which side was winning.
"Sorry I interrupted your make-out session out there, " Yep, definitely murder. "but you're leaving tonight and I wanted to spend some time with you. When you'll be gone, all I'll have is my stupid brother." Ruffnut huffed.
"Yeah, sure." The shorter girl shrugged, trying to hide her red face. "But it wasn't what you thought it was."
"Whatever you say." Ruff said, laughing at Astrid' obvious discomfort. In response the newlywed teen slugged her friend's shoulder, which only made her laugh harder. " So, how does it feel to be married?" the taller blonde asked in a more serious voice. Astrid thought for a second. How did it feel?
"I don't know. I've been officially married for what? An hour?" she shrugged. Yes, she felt different, but it was more probable to be due to other reasons.
"Have you kissed before the wedding?" Ruff's voice cut through her thoughts. Astrid's face was an answer itself. "Ha! Tuff owes me desserts for a month!" she pumped her fists in the air.
"You and Tuffnut betted on it?!" Astrid turned towards her friend angrily. Ruff, unfazed by the angry Viking, shrugged.
"Tuffnut thought you'd chicken out and your first kiss would be, you know, later" she said emphasizing the last word. "but I knew better." She finished, proudly pointing to herself. Astrid sighed. There was no point in being angry at the taller girl. She didn't want to part with her while she was angry. So Astrid decided to let it go and spent some quality time with the female twin. Who knew when they would see each other again. They went to the forest for a walk and talked. About everything, the past, the present and the future. The two friends recalled the childhood they spent together. After some time Tuff came and joined in with his own stories to share. All in all, she had a great time with them. Unfortunately, the twins were called to do some chores and Astrid was left alone. She took a walk and visited her usual training ground. She finally had some time to think.
The blonde licked her lips and found that she could still feel his taste on them. She pondered on where the two of them were standing. Well, officially they were married, but that was what they were to strangers. Astrid wanted to know what they were to each other. Were they friends, or did it go further than that? She knew she was attracted to him and he seemed to return that attraction. But Astrid had already realized some time ago it wasn't just the appearance that she liked about him. He had a brilliant mind and a sarcastic humor that was almost always able to cheer her up a bit. Another thing was that Hiccup was the Dragon Master. It surely complicated things, but if what he and other Dragon Riders were saying was the truth, then she was willing to discard all the wrong things she was taught about the dragons. Her thoughts ventured to the Nadder. She haven't even realized that she missed the reptile. Astrid wondered, if the dragon was okay and if her, its, wounds healed b now. Maybe she could ask Hiccup to visit the dragon. Shaking her head, the blonde decided it was time to go back to the village. She didn't want the villagers to look for her. Plus, she wanted to say goodbye to her family and she wasn't going to do that in a rush.
By the time Astrid reached the village, it was already quite late. She wouldn't have as much time as she thought. The blonde teen saw villagers carrying some barrels in the direction of the docks. Those were probably supplies for the journey to Berk. Astrid decided to go to the docks too. It was more likely to find her family there than in her house. She was proved right when she saw her parents and brother standing near the Berkian ship. Solveig was the first to notice her daughter. She went and hugged her.
"Oh, Astrid. Where have ye been? We've been looking for ye." She exclaimed and brushed away the girl's bangs, revealing her left eye. "Yer father already brought your things here. Ye should check if he took everything." The blonde Viking nodded and went to look for her things. After she checked if she had everything a few times, she looked at the sky. The sun was already setting, meaning that they would probably set off soon. Suddenly Hiccup appeared by her side.
"Dad says we're leaving soon." He said while his hand moved to scratch his neck. Astrid nodded. She saw the twins coming towards her. Ruffnut did something very unRuff-like and swung her arms around her friend.
"I'm going to miss having a fairly normal person to talk to." She mumbled. Astrid hugged her friend tighter. She didn't know, if she would find any girls on Berk that she could talk to like she did with Ruffnut. They pulled away and the shorter teen looked at Tuff. They shook hands, but the male twin decided it wasn't enough and pulled her in for another hug. After nearly being suffocated, Astrid said their last goodbyes to them and went to her family. She could see tears streaming her mother's face and she felt a wave of melancholy. After yet another hug she went to say goodbye to her brother. Gunnar would never admit it, but Astrid could see he was trying very hard to stay strong.
"I'm gonna miss you, big sis." He punched her shoulder playfully as they would do all the time when they were younger. Astrid responded with a punch of her own.
"I'm going to miss you too, Gunnar." They smiled to each other last time and the blonde girl went to say the most painful goodbye. She found her father sulking by one of the houses by the docks.
"Hi." She said quietly but it was enough to grab her father's attention. She had never seen her father like this.
"I'm sorry Astrid." Said girl looked up at the man who raised her. " I shouldn't have pushed ye into this. You should've been able to make yer own choices. I hope ye can forgive me." At first she felt a small wave of anger. She was angry that it took Egil so long to figure it out. But as soon as the anger came, it went away. Astrid knew her father wanted the best for her and Bjargey. Besides, she could've been married to someone a lot worse. She already, yes she would say it, cared somehow for her new husband and she could only hope that they wouldn't stop getting along.
"Dad, it's fine." She tried to reassure him. Egil looked at her seriously.
"Do you think ye can be happy with him?" he asked softly. She was a bit taken aback by it, but she nodded nonetheless.
"Yeah, I think I can." She smiled at him. Egil pulled his daughter in for a bone crushing hug.
"I'm so proud of ye, Astrid." The said girl felt her stomach tightening at those words. If only her father knew what she did behind his back… He would not be proud of her then. She went to answer, but a loud horn rang throughout the docks. It was time to go. The father and daughter pulled away and went in the direction of the ship. She saw Hiccup waiting for her at the gangway between the docks and the ship. Astrid bid her last goodbye to her family and started heading towards her husband. Someone grabbed her arm, though. She turned around to see Oili.
"I'm not saying goodbye because we're going to see each other soon." Oili said with a small smile that vanished when she continued." But I came to warn you. Hiccup might not be himself once he comes on board. Please, don't blame him – he's not really aware of what he's doing." Astrid wanted to ask more about Hiccup's fear of travelling by water, but a second horn could be heard, so she settled for a wordless nod. The blonde girl quickly walked towards the ship and climbed on board. She could already see the uneasiness on Hiccup's face, his hand almost mechanically coming to grab his pendant from under his shirt. She grabbed his hand and he turned to her, a bit more relaxed. The third horn rang and the ship moved, causing Hiccup to tighten his grip on Astrid's hand. The girl didn't even register it, as she was focused on her family's decreasing forms. Soon the island was getting further and further away. As the sun got even lower, a wave of tiredness hit her.
"Where can I get some rest?" she turned towards the auburn-haired teen. Hiccup jumped, startled.
"Huh, what? Oh, right. Sorry." He said embarrassed. "This way." He gestured to follow him. Astrid noticed how tense he was, his eyes moving quickly, as if looking for any threats. He lead her downstairs where most of the sleeping cabins were. He took out a key from his pocket and used it to open one of the doors. She was greeted with a small but cozy room. It had some sketches plastered on the walls and she figured it was Hiccup's cabin. It only now downed on her that as a married couple they would have to sleep in one bed. As if sensing her discomfort, Hiccup took out a blanket and a pillow from one of the closets.
"You can sleep here and I will go somewhere else."
"Are there any free cabins left?" she didn't think so. If there were, then Hiccup would lead her to it, instead of his own room. The taller teen waved his hand.
"Don't worry about it. I'll find some place." Astrid frowned. If he thought she was going to let him sleep somewhere on the floor in the corridor or worse, he had another thing coming. She looked at the bed in the middle of the room.
"Look, the bed is quite spatial. We can fit in together and we won't even touch one another. We can have separate blankets and pillows. I'm not letting you sleep Gods know where." She said sternly with her hands on her hips. What she said was true, though. The bed was designed for two Viking-sized people to fit in and, as neither of them were even close to it, they would have plenty of space for each other. They couldn't call it sleeping together if they were a feet away from one another. Hiccup looked hesitant, but a glare from Astrid stopped him from arguing with her.
"I just don't want you to see me like I was then." He said after a beat. At first didn't understand but then she got it. He meant the accident from Dragon Island. Astrid's face softened.
"Hiccup I won't judge you and maybe if I'm here I can help you with it." When Hiccup was about to open his mouth she added. "Just give it a try." The teen sighed but made no further objections. Astrid smiled satisfied. She herself didn't know if sleeping in the same bed was a good idea and the thought alone made her a bit uncomfortable, but she wasn't going to kick him out of his own room, his own bed. There wasn't enough place on the floor for him to sleep comfortably in the cabin so he would've had to find a place somewhere else and it just wasn't fair for him. And if Hiccup actually had an accident similar to the one on the rocky beach, then it'd be better if he had someone with him in the room. As she looked at him, she saw his nervous face and Astrid once again wondered:
What could have possibly happened to make him act this way?
A/N:
Guest 1: I'm glad you don't think that the story is any less because of what I decided to do. :D I tried to find some reasonable explanation for Hiccup's leg and scars remaining a secret and I'm happy that you found it cleverly done. And thank you for your support!
Guest 2: Sorry but I'm not going to do that. :( I hope you enjoyed it nonetheless, though. :D
R&R
Till next time!
~InsertACreativeNameHere
