Unbound

"Astrid?"

She came around the boulder quietly, looking around. Her hair was wet and coiled tightly behind her, her face flushed, probably from the heat of the springs. She was wearing leggings and a long green tunic, patched and soft with age, and none of her armor.

Hiccup stared at her, blinking. He had no memories of her without armor. Not even from when they were children. And the image of her now, right at that moment, was searing itself into his mind.

"Hey," she said, glancing right and left into the small cove. "Anyone else here?"

"Just us," Hiccup said, familiar buoyant joy filling his chest when she walked towards him. He couldn't stop himself from smiling at her, though he knew his eyes were wide.

Toothless didn't stand, but he lowered his head over the edge of the stone toward her, greeting her with a low purr.

"I've never seen any dragons here before," Astrid said, reaching up to rub Toothless' forehead.

"Toothless doesn't like it much. There's no fish here."

Astrid made a face. "Can't blame him for that. And if there were? Hot fish? Ugh."

She turned and went back over to her bag, digging down the side and pulling out a small packet of waxed cloth.

"Here you go, Toothess," she said, tossing a strip of dried fish toward him. Toothless' ears shot up as he snatched the fish out of the air. Then he gulped it down and licked his lips, growling as he thumped his tail once on the stone.

"You're welcome," Astrid said with a smile. Toothless grinned at her, retracting his teeth, and then turned to Hiccup and snorted at him.

"Ugh, ok, Fish Breath. I'll make sure to always pack snacks."

Astrid laughed and came closer to the rock.

"Can I join you?"

"Of course," he said, using his arms to shift himself away from the edge of the stone. Astrid pulled a comb from her pocket and jumped up, landing next to him.

His mind went blank again.

Then she reached up and removed the leather tie at the base of her neck and began to unwind her hair.

He had to remind himself to breathe.

The water had turned her hair a different color, less yellow and more gold, and it fell in a twisted curl down her back. She moved a section of her hair over her shoulder and began pulling the comb through it.

"I had a feeling you and Toothless might still be here, and I didn't want to miss you. Can I finish before we leave?" She gestured with the comb toward her hair, then stopped. "If…if you can give me a ride back, I mean."

Hiccup looked at her. Like he'd say no.

"Of course you can - fly back with us and finish…." He gestured toward her comb with his pencil. Astrid's grin was quick, and then she looked over her shoulder, moving another section of her hair forward. She continued pulling the comb through her hair, piece by piece, in short, gentle pulls until she could sweep the comb from the top of her head to the ends of her hair without meeting a snarl.

He watched for a moment. He'd seen her throw axes, knock down people twice her size, put out fires, and backflip off a dragon. But he'd never seen her with her braid unbound, without her armor, combing the knots and tangles from her hair. It was...

He had to look away. Soon. In another minute. He couldn't watch, no matter how much he wanted to. It hurt to breathe, looking at her. It was… too intimate. Too much. Maybe someday he'd be able to, if they -

Not thinking about that right now.

He forced himself to look away, picked up his notebook and put it over his legs, opening to the page he'd been working on.

Too late he remembered what he'd just finished drawing.

"What are you - is that my braid?" Astrid looked closer then turned her head toward him, her face close to his.

"Yeah. I'm… I'm not too good at drawing faces," Hiccup said, his own burning.

"You drew Mornen," Astrid replied.

"Yeah, that was … different, somehow. Anyone else I try to draw comes out looking wrong, Or odd. Or both."

"So, what are you working on?" Astrid shifted another section of her hair over her shoulder and moved her comb gently through it, starting from the ends and working her way up towards her face. He looked again, unable to stop himself. Her hair, now loose in a torrent of waves down her back, reached past her elbows to her waist, some of it touching the rock behind her. He had no idea her braid shortened the length so much. Then he realized she was waiting for him to speak.

He looked from her hair to her face. She was looking at him, a gentle, slightly knowing smile lighting her face.

Hiccup shifted his legs and moved his notebook closer to her.

"I wanted to design weapons best suited to each rider."

If Astrid with weapons distracted Hiccup, mentioning weapons worked equally well to distract Astrid. She moved closer to him and looked at the page he held, still pulling the comb through her hair.

"Show me what you've done so far?"

Hiccup sketched as he and Astrid discussed options that would match each rider and each dragon. By the time Astrid finished combing out her hair and had braided it behind her head, they'd come up with several ideas for each viking and dragon, options that drew on their individual strengths and factored in their personalities.

"The twins shouldn't have anything that explodes, either," Astrid said. Hiccup nodded.

"They might modify it so it explodes anyway," he said.

"That's true," she agreed. He watched her fingers wrap the leather tie around her braid with practiced ease, and glanced back at her face.

Astrid smiled at him, looking more like herself, though the softness that left him breathless remained.

"Ready to go?"