I'm thinking of maybe writing about the wedding in more detail from the Vikings' perspective, just to go more in depth. Probably won't be the most historically accurate piece of fiction ever written, but I'll do my best. Maybe I'll even take things up a notch rating-wise. Who knows? Anyways, enjoy this chapter, keep reviewing, and stay awesome!
All of Berk was in attendance, human and dragon, not to mention the members of other tribes who had made the journey overseas to attend the ceremony. That is, the other tribes that had come to be somewhat less apprehensive about making peace with the dragons.
Next to Hiccup, Toothless did his best to appear interested, and truly he was to an extent, but ultimately the complexities of human customs proved too much to comprehend at once. Hiccup and Astrid (who was wearing a dress!) stood under the flower-laced arch, as Gothi presided with Gobber translating as calmly and as officially as possible. The wedding was of special importance, given that it was the Chief of the Hooligan Tribe who was getting married, so everyone stayed remarkably quiet and respectful through the ceremony. Well, until the bride and groom kissed, when raucous cheering broke out among the younger generations of Vikings.
Grinning, Hiccup turned to stand side by side with Astrid and took her hand in his, squeezing it gently. He did his very best to block out the rather one-sided conversation with Gobber and the other men that had taken place only hours ago. His nerves could wait a while. All of the Vikings stood from their seats and cheered for their Chief and his new wife, and the dragons behind them roared along with them, stomping their feet and shaking their wings.
Behind the couple, Toothless edged over to where Stormfly stood. "Can I take this thing off my head now?"
"Not yet," she whispered back. Hiccup and Astrid began to walk back down the aisle, and were quickly surrounded by the other humans.
He spied his mate making her way around the throng of Vikings and dragons slowly beginning to turn back to the village. Ash was perched on her neck and Cinder followed close behind them.
"Toothless!" Cinder called out, moving ahead of them.
Watching the younger male squeeze between humans to get to him, Toothless realized how much Cinder had grown since he had arrived on Berk. Now that he was ten years old, Toothless would bet that the young dragon was about to hit another growth spurt. He reminded himself to spend more time with Cinder, maybe help him with his target practice. Go flying. Things like that. It occurred to Toothless that Cinder no longer had any adult Night Furies besides himself and Lightning to look up to, and that neither he or his mate were particular founts of Night Fury knowledge, so it was especially important that he make the effort to set a good example for the young dragon.
"I think maybe you should take those flowers off your head now," Cinder finally reached him, looking serious. Quickly he added, "Not that you don't look just as scary with them, maybe even scarier, but maybe let a girl dragon have them. They're, uh, nice?"
Toothless laughed. "Scary, huh? I guess I better get rid of them."
Lightning and Ash arrived, so Toothless gently slid the crown off his head with one paw and placed it around Ash's neck. The young Night Fury looked absolutely delighted, and she said happily, "Oh, thank you! I love them!"
Now that it was on his mind, Ash had grown, too. Toothless figured that if Cinder was almost half his size now, Ash had to be half of her brother's size. Although she was small for her age, it wouldn't be long before she would be just a little too big to be carried around by Lightning.
"Shall we follow the masses?" Lightning asked.
"I suppose we should probably make an appearance," he said with a small smile. Letting the younger dragons run ahead after the crowd, Toothless whispered to his mate. "You know, I'm not so sure I'm going to want to be next door to Hiccup and Astrid tonight… maybe we should have a sleepover," he grinned deviously. "I'm thinking the meadow will be quite… relaxing after such a long day."
Lightning snorted. "Something tells me that it won't be all that relaxing, but I can't say I'm not tempted. We'll see," she said airily as she walked past him, sliding her tail along his side, and Toothless looked after her longingly as she bounded after the younger dragons.
Oh yes. Relaxing.
The weeks flew by, carrying Berk into the brief autumn months before the long, harsh winter. Hiccup, true to his word, had begun "therapy" for Ash, which he had developed with his mother and Gobber. They would stretch out her wings and flex them in and out repeatedly until they were warmed up, then all together lift her up and drop her small distances to re-acclimate her body to the sensation of being airborne. At first, only Toothless, Lightning, and Cinder were present, but as time passed, more and more villagers and dragons began showing up to watch Ash's progress. After another month, Hiccup, Valka, and Gobber took her up to a windy cliff top and set her up in a harness of Hiccup's design, connected to a post hammered solidly into the ground. Toothless, Lightning, Cinder, and a group of Vikings and dragons who had decided to make the trek up after them all looked on as Hiccup explained what they were going to attempt.
"Okay, Ash. Mom and I are going to lift you into the air, and I want you to spread your wings out all the way, alright? Gobber will be right behind you just in case the rope snaps or becomes untied. Which it won't," Hiccup said confidently.
Ash, a little hesitant, looked over where the other three Night Furies sat. They all gave her encouraging smiles, and so she turned back to Hiccup and nodded firmly. The human grinned and said, "All right! Let's do this!"
Valka and Hiccup crouched down at Ash's sides and lifted her wings up so they could hold onto her small belly. Gobber positioned himself a few feet behind them, and once he gave Hiccup a thumbs up, they lifted the young Night Fury up, ducking their heads so she could spread her wings. Once they were fully unfurled, the wind took over, and the harness gently pressed against her shoulders as the rope went taut.
"Tuck your legs in, Ash!" Hiccup told her, and she obliged, looking determined. "Good… keep it up, you're doing great!"
Ash realized that she no longer felt the humans' hands on her, and looked down. Hiccup and Valka were still next to her, but they had let go, their arms lowered. Panicking, she lost her concentration and dropped about a foot. They quickly caught her and gently raised her again until the rope was completely stretched out.
"Don't worry! Just keep your wings open, and the wind will do all the work! You can do it!" they shouted encouragements at her, and the small crowd behind them had started in, as well.
"Yeah, Ash!"
"Come on!"
"You got this, Ash!"
Swallowing her nervousness, Ash funneled all of her strength into her wings, feeling them stretched by the air in a way that wasn't uncomfortable. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes, and when she opened them and looked down, no one was holding her.
Instead, Hiccup and Valka had stepped back, grinning like maniacs. Cinder ran up beneath her and shouted, "You're doing it, Ash! You're doing it all by yourself!" Behind them, the small crowd cheered wildly, pleased and excited by her progress and by the ingenuity of the Chief.
A big toothless grin spread on her little face, and she yelled, "Toothless! Lightning! Do you see? Do you see me? I'm flying!"
"We see you! You're doing amazing!" they shouted back, exchanging thrilled glances. Toothless walked forward, coming up next to her. He was big enough that his head was level with her legs, and she smiled at him, the humming in her chest loud enough to be heard over the wind.
"All right, Ash. When you're ready to come down, move your wings like this," he demonstrated, turning to face her so that she could see better. The determined look returned to her face, and she gradually tilted her wings as Toothless directed until the strength of the air currents abated and she gently dropped to the ground, her legs instinctively extending to catch her.
Toothless couldn't contain his excitement, but no one else could, either. Ash bounded forward and pressed herself against his chest, murmuring "I did it, I did it, I did it!"
He wrapped a paw around her shoulders, holding her close, before stepping back. "You should thank Hiccup. He helped you do it, you know."
Animatedly she turned and darted toward Hiccup before leaping up to be held by him. Well, he tried to hold her, but she had grown to the point where only the burliest Vikings could carry her, and Hiccup was knocked off his feet. He laughed as she licked his face, moving to push her off, but not really trying to. Valka and Gobber were laughing as well, overjoyed that the little dragon had overcome impossible odds to get back into the air.
Over the next few weeks, as ice began forming on the streams and ponds of the island, and several inches of snow fell, Hiccup, Toothless, Lightning, and Cinder would take Ash up to the cliff top and harness her. She would stand on Toothless's back and spread her wings until the wind caught her and lifted her up. Slowly Hiccup brought longer lengths of rope, and before long she was gliding fifteen, twenty feet in the air.
The time came, when snow blanketed the ground and rooftops, for her to fly without the harness. When the sun was shining and the wind wasn't quite tearing through the trees and the Chief and the Alpha had time to spare, they would carry Ash up over the ocean. Hiccup would ride a completely willing Lightning with a small, barely noticeable black saddle- just so he had something to hold onto as he joined the Night Furies on their flights. Ash would climb up Toothless's back and spread her wings wide until she hovered just above his shoulders, and Toothless would gently weave in and out of the currents, having Ash mirror his movements above him. Cinder liked to fly off to their left and Hiccup and Lightning would take up position on their right side, and together they would fly in formation high up above the rippling sea. If she got nervous or tired, she could simply drop back down onto Toothless's back and they would all turn back to the village.
It was after one of these flights that the five of them landed by the shelter, Hiccup chatting to the dragons about the upcoming Snoggletog festivities that were about a month away. Toothless already knew about Snoggletog, but his mate and the two younger dragons had never heard of such a holiday, or even the concept of holidays in general, and they paid rapt attention as Hiccup explained Berk's traditions and how things had changed since the dragons had come to be a part of the humans' celebrations.
As Hiccup slid off of Lightning's shoulders, pushing up his flight mask and unbuckling the light saddle from her back, Astrid and Valka stepped out of the house. Hiccup had finished the outside of his and Astrid's home right before the wedding, and the two of them were still working on the inside, with help from Valka. It was a large structure, designed to make room for four-legged visitors. Namely, one particular black-scaled visitor, his mate, and his two young charges, but Hiccup had also come up with the idea for window shutters that took up the whole wall. While they had to remain closed in the winter, when summer came back around Hiccup hoped that they would be able to keep them open during the day so that the larger dragons could come up to the house and participate in whatever gathering might be going on.
Stormfly lived on the opposite side of the house in a spacious open-walled structure, not unlike the one she lived in at the Hofferson house. Now, she came out, gulping down a fish, and came over to join them, asking how their flight went. Once Hiccup released her, Lightning answered, briefly telling the blue Nadder about what they had accomplished before asking how her day had gone. Cinder and Ash immediately headed down to the feeding station to see some of the younger dragons, who they had become fast friends with because of their open and friendly natures. The other young dragons were also slightly awed by Cinder's explosive powers, which many of them tried to duplicate, only instead of blowing up targets, they often ended up lighting houses on fire, and occasionally the stray Viking or tree.
Toothless promised to join them soon as they ran off, then turned to watch as Hiccup went up to greet Astrid. The Chief had gotten into the habit of kissing his wife often, no matter who was present, in public and in private. What could he say? He was deeply in love, and he didn't care what anybody else thought. Fortunately, everybody else was quite amused by their obvious affection, and beyond some good-natured teasing, no one objected.
So, he pulled Astrid close and kissed her soundly, despite the fact that his mother was standing right there. But Valka was simply looking out at the horizon, where the red-orange rays of the setting sun peeked through an expanse of puffy gray clouds.
She was so beautiful. In fact, she only seemed to become more radiant with each passing day. Hiccup could get lost in her blue eyes, and was in the process of doing so when she pulled him out of his reverie.
"Hiccup?"
"Mmm… yes?"
"There's something I need to tell you." Her voice was serious, but her eyes sparkled with some unrestrained joy.
"What's up?" he tucked the saddle under his arm and took her hand in his, walking back up to the house.
Valka walked down to where Toothless stood and rubbed him under his chin. "This has been a year of change, hasn't it, Toothless?"
He could only rumble his agreement, and together they watched what they could see of the sunset while Lightning chatted with Stormfly. Behind them, Hiccup and Astrid had stopped at the steps to their door, and they were now facing each other, holding both of each other's hands. Their voices carried a bit, and something about Astrid's tone made Toothless turn around, just in time to see Hiccup completely drop the saddle and fall to his knees.
"Really?" he whispered.
"Yes," tears pricked Astrid's eyes, but she doubted she had ever smiled wider in her life, not even when Hiccup had asked her to marry him.
Hiccup's mouth opened in a silent "O" before he leapt back up to his feet, wrapped his arms around his wife and spun her around. They were both laughing and crying just a little bit, and down the hill, Toothless's jaw had dropped, and Valka stood next to him, unable to hold in her laughter.
Stormfly had told Lightning almost immediately, so she wasn't as surprised as Toothless, but seeing how happy Astrid and Hiccup were pushed her mind into overdrive. If it was time for them, maybe it's time for us, too.
But life rarely works in the ways we expect, and Lightning knew that better than most. So she decided once again to keep her mouth shut, and let things play out as they would. After all, all of Berk was her family now. What more could she ask for?
Just a few more chapters… As far as the sequel goes, I'll definitely post a notice up here when I start posting it so anyone interested can follow it :)