Astrid snaps awake the next morning, sitting up suddenly in bed. Looking about, she sees the house empty and dark, except for streams of the early morning light filtering in through the shuttered windows on the other side of the room. Smiling from ear to ear, the girl hops out of bed and pulls her nightgown over her head, intending to get dressed as quickly as possible so she can go find Hiccup, wherever he is.

"You're up," she hears her mother say, causing her to jump a little. She holds her nightgown against the front of her naked body for the moment it takes her to recognize the voice. Looking over where she heard the voice, Astrid squints in the darkness, trying to find the woman. As best as she can tell, Freja is sitting on a chair in front of the main door to their house, blocking the way.

Astrid can guess what she's going to say.

"Good morning, mother," she answers coldly as she goes back to getting dressed. Folding up her nightgown, she lays it on the bed and starts to pull on her leggings as her mother speaks again.

"Astrid, we need to talk," the woman says in a serious and concerned voice.

"Mom, there's really nothing to talk about," she says indignantly as she pulls on her top. "Dad said I'm going to marry Hiccup, and that I can see him now. I'm going to go see him." Her tone is resolute as she grabs her skirt and starts to pull it on.

"No, you're not," Freja answers firmly in that tone she always uses when Astrid is petulant.

Laughing slightly as she adjusts her skirt, she replies, "Mom, it's over. Dad gave up, we won. I get to see Hiccup and I'm going to marry him. We don't need to sneak around anymore."

The silence that follows is oddly disturbing to the girl. She hesitates in getting dressed for the few moments that pass before her mother replies.

"Gods, child. Is that what you think happened last night?"

Astrid opens her mouth to reply, but the cold feeling that has started to build in the pit of her stomach steals her words away. Gritting her teeth, she forces herself to answer. "Well…I mean, yeah…you heard what Dad said…"

"Oh, Astrid," her mother laments, "if only it was that easy…"

Now the chill in her gut starts to grow, running up her spine. Trying to shrug it off, the girl sits down her bed and picks up one of her boots, tugging it on. "Well…why couldn't it be?" she asks while trying to hide the nervousness in her voice.

Another pause as she waits for her mother to answer and the frigid feeling inside of her drops by a few degrees. With her next few words, Freja causes Astrid to stop in the middle of putting on her other boot.

"Astrid, how long has your father been hitting us?"

The girl grips the leather footwear tightly at the question, swallowing with difficulty as she suddenly remembers the thing that she never allowed herself to think about when it wasn't happening. Closing her eyes, she struggles to answer as her throat dries up.

"I dunno," she rasps," a few years, I guess?"

"Seven years," her mother answers firmly in a voice that forces its way into Astrid's mind, knocking through the walls that the girl has built up around her soul to protect herself from that part of her life. "He's been hitting you and I for seven years now," she repeats forcefully to drive the point home.

"So?" Astrid asks bitterly, putting on her other boot and standing. "When I marry Hiccup I'll finally get away from him…"

"Do you know why he hits us, Astrid?" her mother asks sharply, not allowing the girl her out.

Sighing in frustration, she closes her eyes and grits her teeth, swallowing bitterly as she forces down the answer she feels compelled to give, that it's her fault. Instead, she struggles to say the reason her mother had repeated to her again and again for the last seven years. "Because he's weak and he only thinks of himself…"

"That's right," the woman says in a tender, comforting voice. "but do you know why those things make him hit us?" she presses further. "What makes the hate and anger well up in your father so much that he takes out his frustration on us?"

The question gives Astrid pause. This isn't a something she's thought about before, it was something they never discussed. "I…" she hesitates.

"I don't know," she confesses as her throat constricts.

"What does your father want more than anything in the word?" her mother asks further.

This the girl knows. "To be chief of the tribe, to get rid of Stoic," she says incredulously, trying to figure out where her mother was going with this.

"How long has he been trying?" Freja presses.

Frowning, the girl gives back the same answer her mother always told her. "Over twenty years," she says, "even before you two were married."

"That's right," her mother says. The silence that follows leaves Astrid even more uncomfortable.

"Do you think that after all that time, Thorsten is just going to give up on his ambition?" she asks pointedly.

"Well," Astrid begins, faltering. "I mean, I dunno…maybe."

"Oh, Astrid," her mother says. "The man has spent his whole life in pursuit of a goal that he'll likely never achieve and in his later years, he has turned his frustration on you and me, his daughter and wife." She pauses, allowing the words to sink in. "Do you think he'll just give up on that?" she asks, then adds, "do you think that man's pride would ever allow him to admit such a defeat to himself?"

Frowning in frustration, Astrid asks, "Mom, what does this have to do with me marrying Hiccup?"

Half laughing in disbelief at he daughter's question, Freja asks, "Child, who is Hiccup's father?!"

Scowling in the darkness, Astrid answers bitterly, "Stoic."

"If he marries you, his daughter, to the son of the chief," she says, speaking slowly for emphasis, "what would that do to any hope or claim he has to becoming chief of the Hooligan tribe?"

Astrid swallows bitterly. The chill feeling in the girl's gut returns as the truth in her mother's words hits home. "So…" she starts to ask, hesitating before she can continue, "why is he doing this?"

A pause, much longer than any before. The girl starts to shift nervously, and is about to say something when her mother answers plainly, "I don't know."

Sighing in exasperation, Astrid answers incredulously, "You don't know, and you expect me to stay away from Hiccup?!"

The woman gets up from the chair, walks swiftly over to Astrid, and grips her daughter by the shoulders. Now that she's closer, the girl can see that she's been crying. Inwardly, Astrid wonders if its because she's worried, or was Thorsten hitting her again? She furrows her brow with worry and is about to ask, when her mother speaks first.

"Astrid, there isn't anything Thorsten wouldn't do to become chief," she tells her daughter with a passionate voice. "Trust me, I know. I've seen what he's capable of…"

"But…what could he gain from this?" Astrid asks again, her voice small and confused as she looks up at her mother, the emotions twisting and turning inside of her.

Shaking her head slowly, she says reluctantly, "I don't know, but I know we can't trust him." She sighs heavily, pushing her daughter's bangs from her face as she looks at her with an pleading gaze. "What's more, I don't think he'll actually let you marry Hiccup."

Astrid looks at her mother in surprise as she goes on to say, "Please trust me, Astrid. He's doing this for his own reasons, not because you love the boy."

Astrid pauses for a few moments, then asks, "So…what should we do?"

Smiling in relief, Freja strokes her daughter's cheek. "We stick to the original plan," she says. Her daughter watches her intently. "Stay away from Hiccup. Wait until the Harvest's End Festival, and then you will be betrothed to him and your father will not be a problem anymore."

Frowning, Astrid asks, "How're you going to do that?"

Shaking her head, her mother answers, "you have to trust me on this, Astrid."

Astrid hesitates, looking down as she considers her mother's words. Freja holds her breath as she waits anxiously.

After a few moments, Astrid looks up and says in a defeated voice, "Okay, Mom. I'll do it." Her mother smiles widely, wrapping the girl up in her arms and holding her tightly. Astrid hugs her back as she sighs in frustration. "It's just really hard to stay away from him," she says in a small voice.

"I know, child," her mother says. "Just remember, it's only ten days away. That's not worth risking whatever your father has up his sleeve."

"Yeah," Astrid answers wearily, knowing full well how many days are left. "I know."

Pulling back to look at her daughter again, Freja smiles pleasantly. "Now, how about I braid your hair this morning, hm?" Astrid smiles slightly at this, then her mother adds, "afterwards, you can write another letter to Hiccup. That will make you feel better."

The girl smiles more, looking almost happy now. "Okay," she says before hugging her mother one more time. The two then open up all of the shutters to let in the light, and Astrid sits down for her mother to brush and braid her hair. As the two talk about other things, Astrid ponders what she'll tell Hiccup about all of this when she writes her letter.

"Stoic!"

The chief visibly flinches at the sound of Thorsten calling his name. Glancing over his shoulder as he walks, he sees the man approaching him.

Stopping with a sigh, he turns to face the other. "What'd'ya want, Thorsten?" he asks with a weary voice.

Astrid's father grins at the look on Stoic's face. "Relax, Stoic. This will be something you want."

Lifting an eyebrow, the chief replies with a sarcastic tone, "Oh aye? Well I'll be th'judge o'that. Out with it. What is it this time?"

Chuckling as he pauses to savor the moment, Thorsten looks Stoic in the eye with a widening grin. Finally he answers with conviction, "I want you to write up a contract for Hiccup to marry Astrid."

The look on Stoic's face is more satisfying than Thorsten could have anticipated. The larger man stares back at him with wide eyed shock, furrowing his brow in disbelief. He quickly recovers, however, narrowing his gaze dangerously.

"I'm not about t'pay th'bride price you've asked for," he says dangerously, his hands curling up into fists as he stares hatefully at his rival.

To Stoic's surprise, Thorsten merely smiles magnanimously. "Oh, I won't ask that of you," he says with a pleasant tone. Again, Stoic looks at the man in shock, trying to absorb the news. "You just write up the contract with what you think will be a fair bride price, and we can negotiate from there."

The chief looks at the other man with a thoughtful gaze. He's silent for a few moments, before asking in a dangerous voice, "what're you playing at, Thorsten?"

Chuckling, he shakes his head. "Hard as it may be to believe, I'm not playing at anything." Shrugging, he adds, "I've already told Astrid that I was going to ask this of you, and I've freed her to go see Hiccup whenever she wants." Stoic looks even more confused as he adds, "this is about the children now, enough of our petty squabbles.

Stoic looks at Thorsten with a disbelieving gaze, watching as the other man turns to go, saying, "so bring me the contract when you've drafted it, Stoic. We can go over it and start negotiating terms."

With that, the man walks off and leaves the chief there to look on in confusion.

Stoic can only wonder, what is Thorsten up to?

As he works on the latest saddle, Hiccup finds himself once more thinking about his run in with Astrid yesterday and letter that she sent him the day before. He smiles pleasantly as he replays every detail of their encounter in his mind, not realizing what he's doing when he starts to happily hum to himself. From across the shop, Gobber glances over at the sound of the boy's musical reverie with an amused expression, glad to see his apprentice happy again.

Though, given the last few days, the smith wonders how long this could last.

Unaware of how his master ponders his emotional condition, Hiccup continues to work on the saddle, drawing the heavy needle and thread through the holes he prepunched to stitch up the stirrup to the main body, all the while thinking about what Astrid wrote to him the other day.

Being so wrapped up in his work and memories of his girlfriend, Hiccup jumps when Tuffnutt calls to him, "Hey, Hiccup…"

The smaller boy turns suddenly to see the twin standing at the shop window, leaning on the countertop.

"Hey, Tuff," he greets his friend with a smile. Grabbing his crutch, he hobbles over to the window. "Got something for me?" he asks hopefully.

The other teen smirks at the question, chuckling mischievously as he reaches into his vest to pull out a nondescript letter. "Why it just so happens-"

The boy cuts himself off as Hiccup wordlessly yanks the letter out of his hands. Gobber snickers as the twin looks on in surprise while the smaller lad hobbles back to his bench, his attention wholly focused on the parchment he now eagerly holds in his hand.

"You're welcome," Tuffnutt grumbles as he looks at the smith's apprentice with a measure of irritation.

"Oh…!" Hiccup says suddenly at the twin's words, glancing up from the letter with a flush to his cheeks. "Uh, yeah. Sorry, Tuff…thanks for bringing this to me, I really appreciate it," he says with a sheepish smile.

His friend can't help but smirk at his reaction. After a moment's pause, he says with a good natured tone, "yeah, it's no problem. Think you'll have a reply ready today?"

Hiccup can't help but smile at the question, nodding. "Yeah, I think I might," he says with a nod. "Could you stop by my house tonight, after dinner time?" He asks.

The twin nods. "Sure thing," he says, then adds, "enjoy the letter…" The two boys smile widely at one another and then Tuffnutt turns and leaves.

Sitting himself down on the stool again, Hiccup returns his attention to the letter he holds. Gobber grins at the excited look on the boy's face. "Is that from who I think it is…?" he asks his apprentice with a teasing tone.

Glancing over at his friend, Hiccup smirks back at him. "Yeah," he says eagerly, then looks back at the letter. Gobber chuckles as the boy refuses to talk to him, but decides to leave him be.

Hiccup turns the letter over as he studies the outside. As with the last one, it's completely unadorned, including the glob of wax. Smiling, he pops the seal and unfolds the two ends, opening the letter reverently.

Sighing happily, he starts to read.

My darling Hiccup, I was so excited to get your letter yesterday. But then, you probably already knew that by the look on my face when you gave it to Ruffnutt to deliver.

Hiccup smirks wryly at her words as he remembers that moment from yesterday, then reads on.

Can you believe that she held onto the letter all day before she let me have it? I can't really blame her, though. She was holding me to my promise that I would go dragon riding with her and the rest of our friends. For some reason, they all thought I'd disappear and spend the whole day reading your letter over and over and writing a response.

As he reads her words, Hiccup lifts an eyebrow, then reads on.

Of course, they were completely right. That's exactly what I would have done.

Hiccup laughs at her words, ignoring Gobber as he glances over with a wry smirk. The lad reads on.

That's also what I would have done last night, if it weren't for my father being home. Truth be told, it's what I spent a lot of this morning doing, since he wasn't around.

The boy smiles from ear to ear at her words, sighing happily as he imagines Astrid doing exactly what he's been doing since he got her first letter.

Speaking of my father, something extraordinary happened last night. Dad came home and told me that you and I could get married. He also said I could go see you now, whenever I wanted.

Hiccup blinks in surprise, stopping and rereading the last two lines a couple of times to make sure he read it correctly.

I'm sure you're as stunned as I was, but there it is. So you might be asking yourself why I'm not there with you, right now.

Furrowing his brow in confusion as her words mirror his own thoughts, he continues reading anxiously.

Of course, that's exactly where I want to be, but my Mom told me we still shouldn't get together. She doesn't trust my father, and is worried about what his true intentions are.

As he reads her words, he frowns in concern.

I confess I'm a little worried about that, but the thought of being able to see you whenever I want is just so damn tempting that I'm not sure I care what he's up to. I miss you so much it hurts inside, Hiccup. There's nothing more I want than to just be with you without worrying about getting caught,* be it out and about, with our friends, or alone together* somewhere.

Hiccup smiles sweetly at her words, even as news of Thorsten's apparent change leaves him feeling confused and uneasy.

What do you think we should do, Hiccup? Should we take my father at his word and get together, or should we follow my mother's advice and wait until the Harvest's End Festival?

The boy swallows heavily at her questions, his gut twisting with uncertainty.

I'm so confused right now. I wish I knew what the right answer is. All my love, Astrid

The boy blows out a breath that he didn't realized he'd been holding as he finishes reading the last of the letter. Inside he feels a tumultuous mix of emotions swirl about as he tries to make sense of everything Astrid told him.

"Everything alright there, Hiccup?" Gobber asks with concern as he watches his apprentice react so unexpectedly to the letter. The man had been expecting the love struck youth to be floating on the clouds and sighing happily like a lovesick fool when he finished reading.

This somber reaction was the last thing the smith would have thought to see from the boy.

Looking over at Gobber's words, Hiccup hesitates before he answers, his muddled brain taking a few extra moments to process the man's words. "Huh? Oh, uh…yeah, it's fine," he says, very unconvincingly. The smith lifts an eyebrow, causing Hiccup to sputter some more. "I mean, it's not fine, but it's…well, it's not bad either, at least, I don't think it is, but…"

Gobber furrows his brow in confusion at the ramblings of his apprentice, who stops talking at the sight of the man's face. "Aaaagh!" he groans in irritation, putting his head in his hands while leaning in towards the desk.

"What's wrong, Hiccup?" the smith asks, very concerned now.

Rubbing his hands over his face, the lad hesitates as he looks over at his friend. He hesitates, then asks, "Gobber, could Thorsten ever be trusted?" he asks.

The man's eyes shoot up into his hair line at the question. He hesitates only for a moment before answering definitively, "No. Absolutely not." He pauses, then asks, "Why? What happened?"

Hiccup frowns all the more as he waits a moment before answering, "Astrid's Dad says we can see each other again," he says, causing Gobber to look on with an astounded gaze. "He's going to ask my Dad to draw up a contract for Astrid and me to get married."

The smith's jaw drops at this, and he stares at Hiccup in disbelief.

He quickly recovers, pointing his claw at the boy while saying, "You mark my words, Hiccup. That snake is up t'somethin'!"

Furrowing his brow, the boy asks, "Well, if he is, then what is it?"

Gobber hesitates as he thinks about it. "Not sure," he admits. "But I'll wager it's no good…"

Hiccup sighs as he leans against the table, looking at Astrid's letter. The smith watches him thoughtfully.

"Maybe, Gobber," the boy answers. "Or maybe he's just changed his mind…"

The smith frowns as he watches his apprentice fold up the letter, put it in his vest pocket. Grabbing his crutch, he gets up.

"Where ya goin', Hiccup?" Gobber asks the youth.

Glancing at the man, Hiccup smiles slightly, "I'm going home to think about this and write my reply to Astrid," he says. Without another word, he hobbles off and out the door.

Gobber watches the boy silently, his brow furrowed in concern as he ponders what Thorsten might be doing now.

The cold wind cuts across the heights of Deadman's Peak, chilling Astrid to the bone. Stormfly lies next to her as she sits on the edge. Absentmindedly, the girl strokes her dragon's head while looking out over the vast stretch of the sea yawning before her.

After writing her latest letter to her boyfriend, she had promptly left to go spend some time alone and think. Her mother had been worried that she was going to go see Hiccup, but seemed to calm down after the girl did a fair bit of persuading, explaining that all she wanted to do was go and be by herself.

She chose to come here for one reason only. It was here where this whole mess started.

Her lips lilt into a wry smirk as she thinks about that fateful day, when Hiccup finally confronted her about her mixed messages. Closing her eyes as a particularly cold blast of wind cuts through her, she sighs happily as the delicious memories of what followed on that day start to flow her mind.

If she could go back and do it again, she wouldn't change a thing.

Well, maybe she would have said something to Hiccup sooner.

But either way, she's happy beyond words with what they share now. She only wishes that her father wasn't causing so many problems.

Her father.

The man had meant so much to her when she was younger. Pleasing him was all that she cared about.

Even after the abuse started, she still found that making him happy was important to her. She learned that if she did everything he demanded of her, if she could become as good as he wanted, that he didn't hit her nearly as much. Besides, when she did well, he was proud of her, and that still made her feel more happy than anything.

There were yet nights when the blows would come anyway. However, she had decided she was too tough to let that bother her.

She almost always believed that.

Somehow, though, things had started to change in the last few months. It all started with Dragon Training.

When Hiccup started to show her up in the ring, at the time she couldn't blame her father for his anger, or the harsh punishment he administered for her failures. She was just as angry at herself for letting it happen, and she felt like she deserved it.

But then she confronted Hiccup. Though she had been shocked and disgusted at first when she saw him and Toothless. But then, everything changed when he kidnapped her and she learned what the boy had accomplished together with the dragon. By the end of the night, she came to start to really appreciate the lad and what he had achieved.

She doesn't understand how she fell in love with him, but when he took her flying, it awoke something deep inside of her. There was a wonderment she suddenly felt inside that had been dormant since she was a young child.

It put everything in a whole new light.

That crazy day following their together flight only made her fall more in love with the boy. With every selfless act, he proved himself to her. With no regard for his own safety, he tried to help everyone but himself, and in so doing he showed Astrid what true strength was.

When she thought he had paid for their lives with his own, her heart broke.

When she heard Stoic cry out in triumph, "You brought him back alive!" her heart nearly burst with joy and love for the scrawny boy.

After he awoke, when she kissed him in front of everybody, she was secretly promising herself to him. From that point on, he was the only thing that mattered to her.

Somehow, through all that happened to make her fall in love with Hiccup, suddenly what her father was doing wasn't okay anymore.

It wasn't just because the man told her she couldn't see the boy she loves.

Now, how he treated her just felt very wrong.

When her father forbade her from seeing Hiccup, she started to feel hate for him. After weeks of trying to obey, something snapped inside of the girl. Then everything happened with her and Hiccup this past week, all of which only served to solidify her dislike for her father and what he represented.

Now her father has shocked her with a complete turn around. He's promised everything she wants, and it seems too good to be true.

Her mother doesn't trust him, and who can blame her?

Astrid considers that maybe she shouldn't either, especially after how he's treated her.

Hiccup would never do those things to her.

The girl closes her eyes and sighs heavily. She opens them again and picks up a rock, tossing it with a furious throw into the void below her.

She wishes she knew what to do.

"You seem troubled, daughter."

Astrid whips her head around in shock at the sound of her father's voice. She jumps to her feet in alarm and turns to face him, stepping away from the ledge while tensing up. Stormfly, sensing her companion's distress, hops up as well, trilling as she looks at Thorsten with that sideways glance that Nadders always do.

"What do you want, father?" Astrid asks sharply, looking at the man with a wary glare.

Thorsten smirks at her reaction. Unfazed, he walks slowly towards her, but stops about ten paces away.

"I simply want to talk with my daughter," he says with an even voice, holding out his open hands at his sides with his palms facing her to show his intentions are harmless. He looks at her intently. "Is that such a bad thing?"

The girl narrows her gaze at him, regarding him warily. "What about?" she asks coldly, not trusting the man.

He hesitates for a moment, then says, "I'm surprised that you're not spending time with Hiccup." Lifting an eyebrow, he asks sincerely, "I hope all is well between you two?"

HIs words catch Astrid off guard, leaving the girl feeling uncertain. "It's fine," she says simply, choosing not to elaborate.

"Well, I'm surprised that you're not with him," he says with a furrowed brow. "I thought that's what you wanted so badly?"

The girl hesitates, unsure of how to respond. "Just because I want to be with him doesn't mean I need to spend every waking moment with him," she retorts with hostility.

Holding up his hands as if in surrender, Thorsten smiles apologetically. "Easy there, girl," he says with an amused voice. "I'm just worried for the two of you."

She narrows her gaze at his words. "if you were so worried about us, then why'd you keep us apart in the first place?" she asks bitterly.

Sighing, he shrugs. "I made a mistake," he says. "I put my personal ambition ahead of my daughter's happiness." Astrid furrows her brow, watching him with a guarded expression.

He goes on, "I realize my mistake now, and I'm trying to make up for it." He pauses while Astrid hesitates to answer.

Smiling with understanding, he adds, "before I came here, I went to see Stoic." The girl can't help but look surprised. He smiles all the more at her widening eyes as he elaborates, "I told him to write up a contract and bring it to me as soon as he is ready."

The girl's jaw half hangs open. Maybe this is real. Maybe she'll actually get to marry Hiccup with her father's blessing.

Maybe they can stop all the games and just be happy together.

Thorsten watches her with amusement. "Hopefully that's what you want," he says. Waiting another moment as his daughter gawks at him in shock, the man starts to walk away.

Astrid blinks a few times as his turning to go snaps her out of her stunned reverie.

"Dad…!" she suddenly calls out, without really knowing why.

He pauses, glancing back at her over his shoulder. "Yes, Astrid?" he asks.

Hesitating another moment or two, she finally meets his gaze and blurts out, "Th-Thank you…"

Nodding at her, he smiles back pleasantly. "You're my daughter," he says. "I should have done it a long time ago."

Astrid beams at him and he turns to go again.

As he walks off with his back to her, the man's smile turns absolutely wicked.