Snotlout couldn't hide his smile, he didn't thought he should hide it to begin with!

Not when it was finally happening!

He never liked Mildew, he always looked like a mean old man that was rude to everyone, he would have never guessed he was also wise enough to bring this important matter to the Thing.

Who would've thought that his first Thing would also be the one where he was officially made the Heir?

The people around him were happily whispering, someone patted his shoulder and he felt another hand pat his back just as his uncle Kneelout commented "Finally!" to his father, aunt Fishears said "Took long enough!" and uncle Wristlout asked "Can you imagine that hiccup as Chief?" the tribe was happy this was happening! Uncle Stoick will have to name him Heir now!

"The tribe has a proper Heir!" Uncle Stoick said loud enough to be heard by everyone in the room. He knew it, Uncle Stoick always considered him his Heir but he was too kind to disown Hiccup and now that the talking fishbone is married his duty as father was now complete and he will make it clear he was his Heir all along!

"My son has proved himself to be a proper Viking three times this year, and…" Snotlout couldn't believe what he was hearing, is his Uncle completely blind or just unwilling to open his eyes and see? He cannot really believe in what he was saying!

"The tribe won't follow something that should have been set to the seas when it was born!" Mildew interrupted his Uncle, it was a bit harsh but it was the truth! The old man was brave!

He could see his Uncle was furious, and then he looked around the room until he found his useless cousin, he looked like he wanted some dragon to come and eat him, Astrid at his side looked absolutely furious, Snotlout could bet anything that she now regrets not letting him bed her to escape that marriage, and by the Gods she looked pretty right now, with a white fur around her neck and the few jewels like the gold pendant that hanged at her chest height, or the bracelet on her writs. He could have given that to her once he inherited the chiefdom as well and she wouldn't had to endure his cousin, but no! She was too ambitious and shortsighted and now she will have to suffer been his cousin's wife until she can find a reason to divorce him.

He knows she will come to him after that for the things she wanted, he will accept her, but he won't marry her, of course he won't, he hasn't forgotten how she humiliated him when he tried to help her, and now she will never be his wife, she will have to be happy with being one of his concubines.

"You will follow him, Mildew!" Uncle Stoick voice echoed across the room, he has never seen him like this before! "Because he is my Son!" Uncle slammed his hand on the table, and that too, could be heard all across the room "The chiefdom is his Birthright, and he is becoming a great dragon-slayer, isn't that right Hoark?"

From somewhere in the room he heard his Uncle Lieutenant yelling "Hiccup is the Best rookie I've seen in all my years fighting dragons!"

He must be lying! It is Useless they are talking about here, everyone should know he is lying! And in the improbable case he isn't, that would be because he has never seen him fight! He has even killed a Deadly Nadder! With only a bit of his clan's help.

"Isn't Hiccup a good Blacksmith Gobber?" Uncle asked again just as loud as the first time.

"Aye Stoick, he is!" the amputee smithy said with no small amount of pride in his voice, he was sure everyone could sense it.

"Isn't Hiccup a Viking now, Astrid?" His Uncle asked Again, not as loud this time, Snotlout looked at her she was blushing heavily, her face could pass for a radish right now, but she still answered loud and clear "He is Stoick!" His mouth opened wide when she said that!

The tribe laughed and only his Uncle's voice made it stop "My Son is my Heir, and if anyone disagrees with me…" His paused he moved his eyes across the crowd and when their eyes met Snotlout understood that his Uncle was trying to do the same with every member of the tribe "They are free to challenge me!"

After his Uncle said this the mood definitely shifted, he could feel it around him everyone was angry but it seemed no one would dare to challenge Stoick The Vast.

"And when he is the Chief?" Mildew asked sardonically "Will you keep fighting his battles?" Was Mildew always this awesome?!

"When he is the chief he will answer his challenges of course," his Uncle replied without hesitation and then grinned "Hiccup just needs time to grow into the Chief I know he can become! And let me remind you…" he looked directly at Mildew "That challenges for the chiefdom must be approved by the council…" he didn't liked the smile on his Uncle's face right now "All the council! As it is Tradition and Law!" That can't possibly be true!

"Of course, the chief would have to shame himself really bad for that to be allowed," the Ingerman clan head added from his seat in the front "the same goes for the Heir though." Hearing that put a smile on Snotlout's face again he will just have to wait to challenge Hiccup. And he probably wouldn't have to wait that long either, because, how long can Hiccup go without screwing up and shaming himself?

"That's the only way" Uncle agreed, and Snotlout could see that his Uncle was really blind when it came to Hiccup, because he honestly believed his son wouldn't shame himself… poor Uncle Stoick.

"I call this Thing to and end!" Snotlout was actually happy it finally ended, he didn't knew Things could be this stressing.

The people started to get out towards the eating room of the Great Hall, many would be staying to eat from the village food stores, even if they will have to wait for the food to be prepared by the staff. He could see Mildew going out of the Great Hall and he felt the urge to go and talk to him, maybe get some advices… he seemed so wise.

He followed him and caught up fast "Mildew!" he called getting the attention of the Council's Elder, but when they were face to face he noticed that the old man was not happy to see him.

"What do you want, Lad?" the elder asked with a sneer, especially on the last word.

Snotlout didn't said anything at first, he was surprised by how rude the wise old man was, but that was most certainly because he didn't recognize him yet, it was kind of dark and old people don't see well, yes, that must be it! "My name is Snotlout Jorgenson" he introduced himself first, so the elder knows who he is speaking to, to him! The future chief. The change was immediate, now Mildew was smiling at smiling at him so he moved on being satisfied to have made his point "and I wanted to tell you that you are really wise, you are the first to ever tell my Uncle the things as they are!" he explained and the elder's smile widened, and for some reason that unsettled him and made him feel uncomfortable… it was silly so he ignored it.

"It had to be said" Mildew said as he tapped his shoulder "but Stoick is too stubborn to accept it" the elder looked away from him, there was regret on his voice, having his cousin as chief even for a few days would be such a disgrace!

"But we just have to wait!" he tried to comfort the old man, old people were supposed to be patient, right? "It won't be long before Hiccup shames himself!" he said trying to sound calm but he was feeling excited and more than a bit giddy because when that finally happens he would be able to assume his rightful place as the Hooligan's tribe Chieftain, that is what the Norns have in store for them, his dad says so!

"But what if we wait too long and that hiccup does something that can't be fixed?" the elder asked wisely "Think about that, Lad."

"I'm not a lad anymore, I slayed a Deadly Nadder!" Snotlout was irritated, he was a Viking now but everyone still treated him like a child "I'm a Viking now!" he said having enough of being treated as a kid, but then Mildew's words sank in, and they were true, what if Hiccup did something so bad like giving all their food to the dragons and let them burn the village? "AHHH!" he screamed in frustration "We can't let that happen!" but he had no idea how to avoid it…

But Mildew was here "What can we do?!" he needed to know!

The elder pondered about it for a moment, Snotlout dared not to interrupt him.

"We could speed up the process, I'm sure hiccup will make mistakes with the tribe's weapons, so if someone" Mildew put a hand on his shoulder "goes to the armory, dulls a blade or an axe, breaks a spear and puts it back together with some tongs of leather everyone will know it was the blacksmith's apprentice fault" that would be a start… but the villagers could get hurt!

"What if someone gets hurt?" he asked, there had to be another way!

"Better one person than the whole tribe" that sounded reasonable, but still… "It's the job of a chief to make hard choices" the elder turned around and walked away. He had given him a lot to think about, but he had time.

Tomorrow after training he would be free all day long.

0x0x0

They didn't stayed in the Great Hall after the Thing was over, so she had to hurry and make something for dinner, she now had salted cod from their cellar, some radishes, turnips and onions to make a fish stew and some venison to roast on the fire.

At least Hiccup or Stoick already started the fire and put a water-filled pot on it.

They all have been silent, and the atmosphere feels so think she could almost take her nightmare fang knife and cut it, but after what was said back there its only natural.

Hiccup and her had been holding hands, something she had taken to do to show the village that they got along well enough on their marriage, and they had been standing with her former clan to show her aunts and cousins some of her jewels, something that made her feel uncomfortable by the way! When it started and when that despicable old man had basically told to the whole tribe that Hiccup should have been drowned at birth.

Her husband's grip on her hand had vanished and his head lowered while his eyes where fixed on the floor, that was possibly the worst thing anyone could tell Hiccup and he said it with full intend to hurt him! Not to mention it also weakened Stoick position enough for him to grab the Elder's spot in the council!

And that wasn't even the worst of it either, Mildew wanted to remove Hiccup from his position as the Heir! Luckily for them Stoick had backed them up.

"Astrid, lass, sorry for…" her father-in-law started speaking, his right hand rubbing his neck in discomfort "Asking…" she knew what Stoick was talking about, she never expected to be put in that position, it was the most mortifying thing that has happened to her! "You know."

"It's alright," she said, everyone on the tribe knew anyway "but please don't do that again!" vouching for Hiccup's manliness in the Thing was simply embarrassing.

Stoick nodded and looked at Hiccup "Don't worry Son, and don't pay attention to Mildew's rambling , he is just a resentful old man" he spoke with calm determination "I've always known I did the right thing, your place is not with Njord, but here with us."

At least that was reassuring and it made Hiccup smile faintly, it lasted only a second but it was enough for her husband to recover some of his usual attitude.

Standing up from his seat Hiccup took a spare knife and helped her to cut the onions, she wanted to tell him that she could handle dinner just fine on her own… but he looked like he needed something to do so she allowed him to help without protesting this time.

The minutes passed and they remained silent, Hiccup focusing hard on cutting everything edible within his arms reach, she seasoned the venison and put it on the irons in fine slices, having changed her mind now that she had an assistant she could manage to do something more elaborate than what she had first planned.

Stoick just sat at the table looking uncomfortable, and it wasn't the chair's fault, she just hoped it wasn't because he thought she needed Hiccup's help to handle dinner… If he complained to her dad she would be so ashamed!

They remained silent while they ate as well, if she was back at her parent's home and someone had offended her like Mildew offended Hiccup her mom would be hugging her and her father would be telling her that it wasn't true and to be strong and she would probably would be planning the offender's death.

But Stoick kept his thoughts to himself and so did Hiccup, no one told her what to do in a case like this and she had no idea of what to do to make things better.

After dinner Stoick retired to his room thanking her for the meal and said a polite "Good night."

Soon after that she had to contain a yawn, she and Hiccup retired to their room right after Stoick, but her husband didn't joined her in bed.

Hiccup instead sat at the table he uses to draw and took one of his notebooks and a piece of charcoal "You should come to bed, it was a long day." she told him.

"I'll go in a bit" he replied, but he was taking his time and she found that she couldn't sleep either, the bed felt unfamiliar and extremely cold without him there to help her warm it, not to mention… yeah, it looked like tonight would be the first time they didn't… but it's not like she can fault him, what Mildew said was awful.

She was about to say something when she heard Hiccup whimper, was he crying…?

Vikings do not cry… except that that wasn't true, she has seen her dad cry after Uncle Finn died, and if even Einar Hofferson cries, then anyone can cry.

She resisted the urge to turn around and watch, instead all she could see was the empty spot In their bed illuminated by the flickering light of the candle on Hiccup's drawing table, then she heard him sob, it was barely audible, but she did, was he trying not to wake her?

It seemed logical to assume she would be asleep by now… She wasn't, but he doesn't know and she doesn't know what to do!

In the bath she took before their wedding her aunt's and married cousins gave her advices about how to be a good wife, but no one mentioned anything about a crying husband!

So she didn't moved or said anything, she just laid on their bed pretending to be sleeping and feeling worse for not knowing what to do or what to say…

'He waited until he thought I was asleep, he doesn't want me to see him cry, right?' she thought trying to lessen the guilt she was feeling for not knowing how to help 'I should respect his privacy' she thought not really convinced it was the right thing to do.

That night she only slept after Hiccup finally joined her on their bed and her guilt didn't allowed her to fall asleep until she was sure he was sleeping.

0x0x0

Toothless new tail was a success, well, mostly a success, the contraption worked as intended, with the fake fin mirroring the real one allowing his friend to keep himself in the air, but it was restricted to vertical and horizontal maneuvers only.

Toothless didn't liked that, but it would have to do for now, until he figures how to make it independent, and how to train his friend to control it.

Astrid and him were walking back to the village using another path at her suggestion, her reasoning being that if they use the same route over and over they would become easy to track, like some of the footpaths the carpenters have created to get to their favorite parts of the forest looking for trees.

It was thanks to Astrid he managed to finish the new tail so fast, he even managed to keep up with his other orders of the day as well.

Today was the first day she wake up before him, it was kind of strange to be alone in that big bed after the last few days, and after yesterday it felt a bit unsettling, for a moment he thought she realized he was a… hiccup and had fled to her parent's house to get divorced.

Then the smell of food hit his noose and he calmed himself, she hadn't fled, she had just been downstairs preparing breakfast, and it had been a generous one, the three of them enjoyed it in silence before his dad had to go settle a land dispute, then she sent him off to the blacksmith and she joined him a couple of hours later.

Gobber had been delighted to have her as 'Spare hands' again today, and even more when she showed that she remembered what she learned yesterday, his boss even joked about having her take over his job in a couple of years.

It was after lunch that they had the chance to sneak off to see Toothless, they played, they fed him with their meager catches and then they tested the new contraption and while Toothless hadn't liked it that much he was able to fly and fish alone, and he just hoped they would still find him there tomorrow, it would hurt to lose his friend…

Today like yesterday they were taking the long route back home as the still had plenty of sunlight left, they passed through the harbor, walked around the cliffs surrounding it and then headed home, he planned on helping Astrid with dinner since he hadn't helped her with breakfast.

It was on their way home that they found a crowd in the side of the Great Hall and it picked their mutual interest, even from a distance it was clear that there was a small celebration going on, they shared a questioning look with each other "What do you think it's going on over there?" he asked.

"I don't know," she replied, it wasn't surprising since they just spent much of their day together either inside the forge or in the forest with Toothless "I hope it is some betrothal announcement though."

"Why?" that had come out of nowhere.

"Because the tribe would have something else to talk about" she said and he must have looked as confused as he felt because she cleared it out adding "Today at the shop every Viking that noticed I was there kept staring at my belly as if looking for…" she passed a hand above her flat abdomen simulating a very pregnant belly.

He felt his chin fall, he knew the tribe liked to gossip, but he thought they would stop after the wedding, well… at least he wasn't being asked any more uncomfortable questions, but it looked like Astrid wasn't so lucky.

"Yeah, I hope someone is getting married" he said trying to sound as agreeing as possible. Gossiping was one of the few entertaining things to do during the winter, and speculating if a married woman was with child or not was harmless enough… but it didn't made it any more pleasant.

Once they were close enough to the partying people he could see everyone holding mugs most likely filled with ale, and the he recognized Sven Larson happily chatting with his younger cousin Gustav, well, "happily" was a strong word, imprecise word.

Sven was mostly listening to the lad while he re-filled his mug from a barrel, but he didn't looked annoyed by the enthusiastic child.

He has heard that being included in the Fire Brigade before thaw made him brag as if we had just won Dragon Training this year.

Pitying the older Larson and also curious about what was happening he called out to him since he was also the most familiar face he's seen so far "Sven!"

Hearing his name being the Viking turned around and smiled at them "Hey Hiccup, Lady Astrid!" Sven said with a small reverence towards his wife, sticking to the protocol he must follow as an un-married man when speaking to a married woman, Sven was the typical Larson, black hair, round noose, more on the lean side but still considerably wider than him, the two of them had made acquaintances when he joined Hoark's squad, Sven hand saved his ass a few times in the two raids his been on and he has alerted him of danger and assited him to kill a nadder, Hiccup had tried to make the dragon leave but instead he'd gotten his spear in the way… He still feels guilty about it.

"What's going on!?" he asked looking at the excited people in the place, some talking, some drinking, some other children trying to get away from Gustav's bragging, some of the more enthusiastic Vikings were even singing.

"It's a party!" Sven said automatically, as if it was normal for people to just start a party without a reason.

"Really?" he said with no small amount of sarcasm at the minimalistic answer he got. "I would have never guessed!"

Sven just laughed heartily while holding a hand up as if he was trying to placate a wild beast "Oh, you want to know what we are celebrating?" he asked as if he just noticed, but his voice was so exaggerated he was sure he was enjoying this, perhaps that was what having a Thorston mother does to you, or maybe he had too much ale already. He nodded "You should have just asked that from the beginning!"

"Oh… for the love of…!" Astrid whom seemed just equally curious but twice as annoyed interrupted them "Just tell us!"

Sven sobered in an instant, so maybe he wasn't as drunk as he thought, and straightening his back he said in a grand tone "Chief Stoick The Vast decided to start a new tradition today!" he stopped to look at them, enjoying himself by teasing their curiosity. He only started talking again when Astrid growled "He got the rest of your class and the dragons in the arena," Hiccup felt the blood draining from his face, it couldn't be what he is thinking, could it? "and let them all have their first kill!"

Only Astrid's grip on his hand tightening prevented him from over reacting… He totally forgot about the captive dragons!

A/N: I wanted to upload this on Friday… but I kept having problems with the wi-fi under the rock I'm hiding now…

R.I.P.:

Stormfly

Barf and Belch.

Meatlug