As Astrid turned away from the alleyway, she couldn't help but feel relieved. Snotlout had underestimated her, and he had paid the price. Hopefully, two black eyes, a badly broken nose, and likely a headache to go with his very definitely sore throat might make him question the point in trying again. He would definitely not be in top shape for taking on the nest.

Not her fault. His, for cornering her, and for not realizing that she had worked hard to return to her previous fighting shape. All of this was his fault.

Of course, he might not see it that way. Actually, this was Snotlout, he definitely wouldn't see it that way, and he might even think to use his injuries to accuse her of attacking him. But if he thought about it for even a moment, he'd realize there was one issue with trying that.

Astrid looked down, reassuring herself that what she had noticed right away was real and there, a safety against the obvious ploy of ruining her with false accusations. There was a distinctive gash in her chestpiece, right above her heart. To anyone who looked, it would obviously be a sword mark, and she knew for a fact that Snotlout's replacement sword had a bit of fancy channeling done, meaning it would leave a distinctive mark, kind of like a footprint. A piercing hole with a channel that would only easily fit one blade.

He had clearly been aiming for her life at that point, and while he could argue for defending himself, it would not ring true when the other four attackers were considered. No dangerous wounds, except for maybe the cut to the hand, which had bled more heavily than anyone would have expected. None of her attackers had died in the attempt.

Not that she would not have killed them if it was necessary, it just hadn't been.

In any case, she would have the weight of actual evidence on her side, as well as common sense. Nobody attacked five armed men out of their own free will, not when they had everything to lose and nothing to gain. She almost hoped he would bring it to trial. This time around, he would be in serious trouble once the real story circulated.

But it would be easiest if he and the other teens just pretended it had not happened. She knew that was what the Windy Isle teens would do. They would be able to leave the island, and none of them would risk her coming after them, as she had promised would happen on reprisal.

All in all, that should be the end of Snotlout's attempts on her, at least until his ego and confidence recovered, which would hopefully take longer than his body to fully heal. He would not have the time, anyway. They left tomorrow at noon.

It was not even noon today. She had the day to herself, and only needed to be home in time for dinner with her parents. As happened so often recently, she had nothing to do, no responsibilities to take care of, and no actual job in the village.

She understood why Ruffnut, as a dedicated warrior with nothing to fight, was so often bored. Luckily, Astrid knew she was not in the same position. She had a friend who would be happy to spend the day with her.

And another that should probably hear what had just happened, actually. Tuffnut deserved to be kept in the loop on his own Snotlout investigation. But where would he be?

Well, if he wasn't with Snotlout, then there was probably a reason. He could be at whatever his job was, or he could be home, preparing for the coming trip.

She decided to check the Thorston residence, mostly because she didn't know what Tuffnut did or where he worked. The Thorston home was a well-known landmark in the village, if one could call a hut most people avoided at all costs a landmark. Maybe that would change now that the twins weren't, well, acting like the twins.

She wasn't actually that far from their home, so she made it there quickly enough, still buzzing with leftover adrenaline from the fight. It made her jumpy, but she didn't mind. It was a sign that she had fought and won.

Nobody answered the door to the Thorston hut for a few seconds. Astrid waited, contemplating where Tuffnut might work. Was he with the carpenters or ship builders, down at the docks? Or was he a fish cleaner despite not liking the work? Or something else? Not a hunter or a dedicated warrior, but that was all she could rule out. There were half a dozen other professions besides the big ones he could have ended up in, such as assisting the tanner or even working with the more intelligent Vikings in charge of trading in the Chief's stead and going on voyages with the intent of trading. Though they rarely had openings, and Fishlegs would have ended up with them if there had been an opening when he was looking for a job.

The door she had mostly given up on swung open. Ruffnut had answered it, looking distinctly annoyed. "Astrid? What do you want?"

"Well," Astrid said quickly, almost tripping over her adrenaline-rushed words, "I need to talk to Tuffnut. It's important."

"I bet," Ruffnut griped. Then she looked Astrid over, and some of her annoyance melted away. "Eh, come on in. He's around here somewhere."

Astrid was not as wary of entering the Thorston household as she might once have been, but that did not mean she was relaxed. She looked around discreetly. Nobody else seemed to be home, even if Ruffnut had said Tuffnut was.

"The rest of the family is out getting our spears repaired," Ruffnut explained. "We wait until the last minute so we can get discounts in return for not bothering Gobber any more."

Astrid sighed, knowing that doing that was only making Gobber's work harder. "It would be easier to just bring them in when they break," she offered, not really expecting to be listened to.

"Maybe, but that's not what we do," Ruffnut agreed absently. "Tuffnut!" she yelled, "get your butt down here!" Then she turned to Astrid, a sly grin on her face. "First time Tuff's ever had a female visitor. Anything I should know?"

"No," Astrid replied with a straight face. Though, as she thought about it, she realized the idea wasn't as laughably ridiculous as it would have been a few months ago. Tuffnut was probably going to attract some small amount of attention once people began to believe he wasn't faking his new demeanor or lack of craziness.

A thumping alerted Astrid to the fact that Tuffnut was above them. She looked up, noticing that there was a boarded-off loft area.

"We keep our stuffed yak and food up there," Ruffnut explained, following Astrid's gaze. "Don't ask me why. Tuff and I aren't... weren't... the only weird ones in the family."

Tuffnut stumbled down a hidden flight of stairs, looking almost like he was walking on the wall, his boots going to steps only barely wider than absolutely necessary. "Who? And since when do I get visitors?"

"Since now, idiot," Ruffnut remarked sourly. "I'm going up to the Great Hall. Be sure to clean up afterward if you do anything mom wouldn't like."

Astrid wasn't entirely sure what Ruffnut meant by that, so she let Ruffnut go without questioning her on it. "Tuffnut..." Now that she was here, she wasn't sure how she wanted to break the news.

Tuffnut looked her over, his eyes narrowing. "So, I wasn't there. Snotlout said he was going to meet us at the Great Hall in the afternoon, and then we'd go looking."

Astrid brandished her ax, now remembering that it was still bloody at the tip. "He tried."

"How many casualties?" Tuffnut asked, relaxing. "I assume he failed by the blood-chilling tone of voice."

"No deaths, three unconscious idiots, and one injury that might have been serious if I didn't let the idiot tend to it himself," she recounted. "I scared one off before the fighting started."

"Nice. So, I should not worry about getting to the Great Hall on time?" Tuffnut picked up a half-broken wooden handle from a nearby shelf, swinging it idly. "Because I think I want to be there anyway, just to see the damage. Besides, no way of being sure he's totally out of it yet."

Astrid nodded in agreement. Best to be safe. "We leave tomorrow. There's not much more time for him to do anything."

"Maybe. And you leave tomorrow. I don't get to go," Tuffnut revealed sourly. "I was picked to assist the older carpenters here. I'll be lucky if they let me go on the follow-up ships."

"And you're actually going to stay? Not sneak aboard and come along anyway?" She really hadn't thought he would do that.

"Stoick and the others know who's going, and the carpenter will report me as missing if I'm not at work by dawn tomorrow," Tuffnut explained. "They're not taking any chances."

Well, everyone else would expect him to be first in line to do something like that. And Ruffnut too, if she wasn't guaranteed a spot on the ships as a dedicated warrior. "Bad luck."

"Maybe," Tuffnut agreed. "Or maybe I'll be one of the last Berkians in existence next week. The last able-bodied one, anyway." He didn't seem happy with that.

"If it's any consolation, I think it's not going to be much of a battle," Astrid confided, giving voice to her fears. "Even if we can get the ballistae into position, I'm not sure they're strong enough."

"For what?"

The realization hit her like a blow to the gut, one she should have felt long before now. He didn't know. Only Stoick and Thunderguts knew. The tribe was sailing to their doom and they didn't even know how long the odds were. How had she not thought about that?

She needed to sit down. She grabbed a chair-

Tuffnut knocked her hand away. "Not that one, it's sabotaged. It'll break the moment you put any weight on it."

She didn't question it, pulling out another, hopefully normal chair and sitting down. "Nobody knows." She had forgotten Stoick never told her story to the tribe before the demonstration. That would have let everyone know what they were facing. "Nobody knows what they're attacking."

"What, is the nest a mountain of cursed gold or something?" Tuffnut asked warily. He seemed to understand that something was very deeply wrong.

"I wish. It's a barren island, one with a volcano in the center. Hordes of dragons live there, against their will, as best I can figure. There's a creature in the volcano that controls them. That's the real problem."

"How many dragons?"

"That doesn't matter. They're nothing compared to what controls them." She shivered, remembering what she had seen. "Ballista bolts can pierce rock, but only to a point. I'm pretty sure anything that lives in molten lava and eats Zipplebacks as appetizers won't mind that."

Tuffnut's mouth dropped open. "It ate a Zippleback," he repeated.

"And a Gronckle, and that was just in the ten minutes we were in the nest before the accident," she confirmed. "I don't see how we'll ever kill it."

"So... why are you going?" Tuffnut continued before she could respond, beginning to pace. "Glorious death in battle is great and all, but ideally it's death in a battle that can be won. I don't see you throwing yourself headlong into the abyss, so to speak. Me or Ruff, maybe, but not you."

"I need to be there," she objected, unable to put it more eloquently than that. "It's not impossible. For all I know, a dragon and rider might be the key. Or we might die as easily as everyone else. But this is, like it or not, the best chance we have."

"Nobody knows what they're getting into," Tuffnut exclaimed, catching on. "They think it's something they can fight. Just one last horde of Nadders and Nightmares and whatever other common dragons are around."

"The Chief could have told them." That was what she kept coming back to. "He could have, and he never did."

"Because why bother?" Tuffnut asked, suddenly arguing with her instead of listening. "He knows, and he thinks we have a chance. What good would everyone dreading it the whole trip do? We'll go and fight it either way."

"It doesn't feel right," was her only recourse. "Even if not telling does make sense." Tuffnut was making a good point, but she still didn't like the idea. People should know what they were throwing their lives up against.

She stood, too frustrated and keyed up to sit still any longer. "Besides, they have no score to settle. I'm only going because if someone is attacking that thing, Toothless and I need to be there. I wouldn't be so quick to join the attack if I didn't have a personal stake in it."

"Okay, aside from the blatant disregard for tribe and Chief... Toothless?" Tuffnut asked incredulously. "Really?"

"Not my choice of name," Astrid groaned. "And yes. I treat him fairly, so calling him 'dragon' doesn't work anymore. He has a name, and I use it. It's all about trust, and that goes both ways."

Tuffnut shrugged. "Whatever. At least you get to go." He didn't sound as frustrated as before.

"You would still go, knowing what you do now?" She had to be sure.

"Yes. It doesn't change anything. Which is my whole point." Tuffnut walked to the front door. "Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go secretly laugh at Snotlout's bruised face."

"This is your house, you know," she remarked, joining him as he stepped out the door. "You were going to leave me alone in there?"

"What would you do? Our house is more likely to hurt you than anything, as you almost found out," Tuffnut reasoned. "See you later, Astrid."

She watched him leave, still uncertain about a lot of things. For all they knew, he would never see her again. She left tomorrow, to go do something likely to kill her and the rest of the tribe. So why did he sound so sure?

Misplaced optimism, most likely. She understood his point about knowing not changing anything, but she didn't understand his mentality. People had a right to know what they were getting into.

But they had all made their choice, and he was right about the choice probably being the same whether or not they knew. She wasn't going to do anything drastic; it wouldn't matter in the end anyway. Trying to stop the attack now would be like jumping out in front of a landslide and expecting to not only stop it, but survive the attempt.


Yet another walk through the forest later, Astrid was back at Toothless's den, having decided she might as well stay there until it was time to go home. Toothless was happy to see her, as usual. He reared up to lick her across the face-

He paused just short of actually licking her, sniffing at her helmet instead. She wasn't sure why; she had the faceplate up, but he had seen that before.

Toothless growled slightly, sitting back down on all four feet and winding around her, looking in all directions.

Protective. What had he noticed to make him protective?

It hit her after a moment of running through the fight in her head. She had stabbed that one teen with the spikes on her helmet.

Sure enough, when she took the helmet off and looked, the spikes were black, not metallic grey, stained with dried blood. She was going to have to clean that off before someone who was less firmly on her side than this particular Night Fury noticed.

"Yeah, I had to fight my way out of something this morning," she admitted, meeting Toothless's concerned gaze. "But really? We both know I won. This isn't my blood."

Toothless chuckled gruffly, sounding almost like he was choking for a moment, and relaxed.

"I got to give Snotlout a beating, too," she recounted. "You did more damage when you got to go at him, but I think I did well enough on my own."

A happy purr, one that was underlaid with the slightest growl. That was about how she felt too. Satisfied and not at all bothered by what she had done.

She put a hand on his forehead and used the other hand to sign a request to go up. "Want to try a little flying? I need to be home soon, but we have some time."

Toothless warbled agreeably. He was fine with that.


Cold. It was really cold up in the sky, high above Berk. They had decided to gain quite a bit of height and then just glide around. Astrid assumed that they were practicing turning, of which Toothless did quite a bit, all of it otherwise unnecessary. She worked to memorize the subtle muscle cues she could feel under the saddle, sometimes closing her eyes to ignore all else.

It was hard work, but she thought, after about a long while doing nothing but gliding in random, serpentine patterns, that she was getting it. Connecting those cues to an ingrained reaction was going to take more time, but reading the cue correctly was the first step.

After she had it, she stopped concentrating, taking in the sights. They flew in the open now, Toothless either not caring or somehow knowing that being seen by the village no longer mattered.

Here was that promised view of the docks from dragon-back, along with the whole of Berk. She had seen this once before, at night. It looked totally different in the day, especially today when everyone was busily navigating the village. A patchwork quilt of brown, grey, and tan, sprawling from the foot of the mountain to the cliffs, and down the steep slopes to the docks.

They really were only occupying a small part of the island. The village of Berk felt bigger when she was down in it. Up here, it looked like only a small part of the island, that itself a small part of the world around it.

It was good to get some perspective... but that small part of a small part was her world. She did not want to leave it behind. It was good that her parents hadn't seemed to be able to find anyone willing to marry her.

She grinned evilly at that. Her ploy, that of waiting until after the demonstration, had worked better than she'd dared to hope. Either she was too intimidating or too disgraced for any eligible man to want, if her parents were even bothering to look. Exactly where she wanted to be, though the reason could be better.

That didn't mean her parents wouldn't try again the next time another tribe visited. They were not happy with how things were. But it did mean she had dodged this particular onslaught of arrows. She had time to ready herself for the next, assuming she would even be alive to weather it.

It felt almost silly to plan for anything beyond the attack on the nest. Whether they would win or even live to fight another day was so seriously in question that it was almost stupid to assume there would be a future for her or her tribe afterward.

But if she planned to die there, she would die there. She had to work with the assumption that they would do the impossible. That meant that some future struggles were inevitable, even if she had dodged the worst of them.

Snotlout was still on track to become the next Chief, just to pick one gut-churningly disgusting example. That was going to be an ongoing concern. And then there was her status in the very village she didn't want to leave, which was not just going to go away.

But those things felt so small compared to what she had dodged, marriage and moving to another island, maybe without Toothless. She was glad that was more than likely no longer a possibility. Time was on her side, there.

Speaking of time... she patted Toothless's neck, pointing to the part of the forest that held his clearing. "Time to set down." She was looking forward to one last quiet, solitary family meal before they left.


Astrid caught her parents just as they were leaving the hut to go to the Great Hall, jogging the last stretch of the road to catch up. It seemed her hopes of having a quiet meal were in vain.

"Just in time," her father remarked with a smile.

"Are you going to wear that?" her mother asked.

"Uh... yes?" She wasn't sure why her mother suddenly cared about her clothing. She never had before, always caring more about the practical aspect of things. "It's warm."

"That's fine," her mother decided.

They walked without talking for a time. Astrid began to grow nervous. Something was up. She could not say how she knew. She felt a lot like she had right before being cornered earlier that day.

She glanced to either side of the road and took a quick look behind them. Nobody was following them, and Snotlout was nowhere to be seen. So, she was not somehow sensing his presence. That was good; she didn't want any sort of strange connection to Snotlout, no matter how useful it might be in avoiding him.

"Astrid..." her father began, and then trailed off.

Alarm bells began ringing in her head. "What is going on?" Was this a trial for what she had done, in spite of all logic and Snotlout's own ego? It could not be; they would not be walking calmly to the Great Hall if that was the case. There would be a lecture, or questions, or something.

"A stroke of good luck, with all that's happened," Asa announced cheerfully. "We're going to go meet them now for dinner."

Astrid knew what was coming now, thanks to that huge hint; she had just a few hours ago thought about how well her plans had worked to forestall exactly this event. She should have known it wouldn't work out so perfectly.

"They're a nice family with a stable reputation and a son who is in need of a bride," her mother explained, just in case the connotations weren't yet obvious enough for her to figure out. "We're going to set the specifics and seal the deal over dinner."

"You agreed to this, though I wish I could have given you a little more warning," her father reminded her, sounding apologetic. "We approached them this afternoon, and there isn't much time left to do anything with, so when they were willing to move as fast as necessary, that was it."

Astrid couldn't help a quiet laugh at that, wondering just how badly her parents had chosen for her if their highest priority was finding someone desperate enough to move quickly. She knew she was being harsh in thinking that cynically, but she thought it anyway. This was not something she wanted. At all. And they knew it, but she had agreed to it, and they had only done what she agreed to. Anyone but Snotlout, but Snotlout was not going to be coming after her anymore, if he valued his own life.

She had no choice. Not at the moment. "I don't want to marry anyone right now." At least she could make her objection to this known. "But I know what I agreed to."

"This needs to be done," her mother asserted. "We need a way away from our bad reputation. Marriage means he will of course bring you home to the hut he'll have to build, and we can use that connection to follow you to their island. You know all of this." The way Asa said it made it clear that she considered that part of the discussion over.

Astrid held her tongue with some difficulty, recognizing just how futile arguing the actual plan was. The only saving grace was that she knew for a fact that she would not be getting married tonight, or tomorrow, or even on the ships. She might not know the specifics, but she knew that there were usually a few months between the signing of a marriage contract and the actual marriage. That meant her prospective husband would have to survive the coming battle.

So maybe it wouldn't come to anything after all. He might die. That was a very morbid way of looking at it, but at least it was a possibility.

But she could not hope for that. She needed to do whatever was possible to up her chances of getting out of this, or if that failed, of bringing Toothless with her.

She entered the Great Hall with that on her mind, trailing behind her parents. The place was packed. They went to the back to get food.

While they waited in the slowly moving line, she looked through the Great Hall, searching for familiar faces, in some cases hoping for a way out, and in others hoping not to see them at all. While Snotlout coming over in a rage might very well interrupt the negotiating of her marriage contract, she wasn't sure if she wanted it to happen.

He wasn't here anyway. Neither was Tuffnut or Fishlegs, or Gobber. A lot of the people she had expected to see were not around. Neither Chief was present, either.

Her father handed her a plate of roast yak and led the way over to a table near the far wall, one already occupied.

A large woman, a strangely skinny man, and a teen, one eating his food rather hurriedly, looking calm. Did he not know about what was about to happen, or was he really that calm about it?

Then he looked up, and she knew who he was.

This had to be a continuation of her bad luck from earlier... or maybe a resurgence of good luck? She wasn't sure whether being matched up with the teen she had just convinced to run from her earlier that day was good or bad for her. On the one hand, he had been willing to follow Snotlout, and presumably to do what Snotlout wanted, which was vile. On the other, she could definitely scare him into letting her do what she wanted, such as bringing Toothless along to his island, or staying away from her as much as possible.

Good and bad, rolled into one. She sat down opposite him, staring intently. So much practice with Toothless had sharpened her ability to convey emotion with her eyes. She narrowed them slightly, nodding subtly at her parents and then his. The message, more or less, was intended to be 'they don't know what you were going to do.'

Her mother opened the conversation, setting her plate down to smile politely at the boy's parents. "Olga, Radnir." She looked over at the teen. "Speedifist. Nice to see you all."

Astrid held in a snort. Speedifist? The one whose greatest achievement was hunting down a Gronckle? His name was far more impressive than he was, and even the name sounded hollow and stupid.

"Asa, Sighvat, and Astrid. Likewise," the man named Radnir returned formally. "We are here to arrange a marriage contract, correct?"

Speedifist's reaction was very telling. His eyes widened, and he stared at her in naked fear. He shook his head slowly. "Father... I don't think-"

"You need a wife, son, and this one is at least willing to consider the idea," Radnir barked at his son. "Thor knows none of the girls on our island want you."

"I have a girlfriend!" Speedifist protested indignantly. "And I thought you wanted me to marry up, anyway."

Astrid held in a grim smile. Maybe he could actually convince his parents to call it off. She would consider that a good start at making up for following Snotlout.

Olga got involved at that, snorting derisively. "You know we don't like Hellena's parents. The Hoffersons, on the other hand, are fine. And you will be marrying up... in a way." There was a lot not being said there, though Astrid had no idea what.

She shot Speedifist a subtle glare. He had seriously helped and planned to join Snotlout in assaulting her when he apparently had a girlfriend back home? Her opinion of him dropped even further than it had already plummeted. Disloyal as well as vile and easily cowed.

"And we think it's a good idea," Asa agreed, not-so-subtly elbowing Astrid, trying to get her to play along. Tough luck; she had no intention of doing do.

In fact... she could not call Speedifist out now. Not in public if she wanted to avoid a big scene that might do as much harm as good, but later, after this was settled? Marriage contracts could be broken off by scandal, and Speedifist planning to assault her was more than enough to do that.

This didn't matter. She relaxed at that realization. Nothing here mattered as long as she remained aloof, did not at any point personally agree to anything, and did not betray her own play prematurely.

"So we should get down to the specifics," Radnir boomed. "You brought the contract?"

"Yes, I did," her father answered, pulling out a piece of parchment.

Astrid felt ever so slightly betrayed by that, as nonsensical as it was. Both of her parents were positively eager to sign her away to some boy they didn't even know, just to hopefully escape their bad name here. Even if that was her fault, it felt wrong. Surely they should be a little more reluctant.

"Dowry," Olga grunted, looking the contract over. "Smaller than expected."

"Acceptable?" her mother inquired. "We do not have much more to spare."

"It's fine," Radnir insisted, clearly eager to get this over with. "Wedding on our island?"

"Of course, the bride goes to live with the groom." Asa smiled brightly. "We may actually want to move over to your island."

"We'll see," Olga grunted. "Anythin' else to check?"

"Sighvat and I went over most of this earlier," Radnir said quickly. "How will we sign it?"

Sighvat hesitated, his smile growing slightly pained. "I didn't think to bring ink."

"No dragon's blood or pens either, I think," Olga added. "Does anyone have a charcoal pencil?"

Speedifist shifted guiltily and said nothing. He probably had one judging by that, but given he was as against this as she was, he didn't seem about to offer it up.

Astrid didn't have one, so she was not facing the same quandary her future husband- no, he was not that, no matter what was happening here- had to deal with.

"I have one," Asa supplied, pulling a broken charcoal pencil out of her long braid, where it had been serving as a makeshift pin of some sort. "I was using it to mark some things earlier, and I ended up keeping it with me in case I needed it again."

Well, that was convenient. Astrid had to keep a mantra going in her head as her father and Radnir signed the parchment. Like charcoal, that contract was not permanent. It would be broken soon. It was not permanent.

She did not feel like acting, especially given how quickly she was going to break this once she got her parents alone. She cast Speedifist an entirely unamused, level stare. He in no way impressed her.


Waiting until her parents wanted to go home was torture, but it had to be done, because she could not leave early. They both seemed intent on focusing on the bright side of all of this, or, if she was looking at it cynically enough, on convincing her to go along with it. She knew they would not let her leave early. So, she suffered through the small talk, the jokes, and the wait.

Finally, she entered their home, a place of privacy-

Well, no, Helga was up, sitting at the table and fiddling with something small and reflective. A brooch or ring of some sort. That was oddly fitting.

Astrid debated asking Helga to leave, but in the end didn't care enough to do so if her parents didn't. Having a witness outside the family might even be helpful, though she couldn't really see how.

"Well, that went well," Asa remarked, hanging her heavy coat on the back of the door where it usually hung when she was not using it.

"It did," Sighvat agreed.

Astrid decided to be blunt. That was usually best. "We're going to have to break that contract."

Asa chuckled. "No, we're not. We meant it, and you are officially betrothed. You'll get used to it."

"I might, if it wasn't about to be broken," Astrid declared, not believing her own agreement. "Speedifist is not fit to be my husband, but you could not possibly have known that." Here it came.

"You say that like there's an actual reason behind your dislike," Helga noted from her place at the table. "I know him, though I had thought he had a girlfriend."

"He does, but that's not it." She might, in a perfect world in which she was a master manipulator, be able to break the contract through that alone with the right rumors and a little time. But she was no such thing, and there wasn't time to do that anyway, though she could probably get Tuffnut's help in doing it.

"He and four friends were planning to assault me today," she revealed. "Snotlout leading them."

All three adults froze. Asa recovered first. "Planning?"

"They cornered me after I left to take a walk this morning," Astrid continued matter-of-factly. "Tuffnut had warned me of their intentions, but that wasn't exactly on my mind at the time. I managed to threaten Speedifist into running away, and I beat the dragon dung out of the rest of them, in a four-on-one fight." She was still proud of that. "No deaths, but I broke at least one knee and nose, along with knocking three of the four out. I left the last one conscious so that he could stop himself from bleeding out." She only revealed the exact details to drive home how serious this was. "So, no. I'm not marrying one of the guys who wanted to force himself on me."

"You took on four armed boys larger than you and came out without a scratch?" Helga asked incredulously.

"My armor took the scratch." She showed her armguard, which had a shallow gash in it, and then pointed to her chestplate. "Along with the sword meant for my heart near the end. Snotlout won't try to spin this his way. His sword made this mark, and there's no spinning that."

Her parents were warriors; they were not shocked like Helga. They were, however, furious.

"You should have turned those dishonorable cowards in!" Asa asserted angrily. "All four of them."

"Five," Astrid clarified. "Speedifist only left because I threatened to hunt him down and kill him if he stayed. The rest weren't smart enough or cowardly enough to do the same." She needed to make it clear that he was guilty of the intent, if not the attempt, or this was pointless.

"But he did not; you just said he thought better of it," her father noted. "He may have not known-"

"Tuffnut joined their little group specifically to hear what Snotlout was planning. He said it straight out. Everyone present knew what was going down."

"But he left," Asa summarized. "That is no reason to break the marriage contract."

"The one I am marrying is either a spineless coward or a vile, dishonorable coward," Astrid objected angrily, "and you say that's fine? That I should just go along with it?" She couldn't believe this. "I don't even want to marry!"

"Then why?" Helga asked curiously. "Surely-"

"We need to go somewhere to start fresh, and that was our way off Berk," Asa explained shortly. "And I'm sorry Astrid, but you're going to have to work through your objections. He is guilty of no more than listening to the heir of an allied tribe."

She couldn't believe this. "Seriously?" It was a frank, quiet question, because her anger was gone, beaten out by disappointment. "Dad?" she asked, turning to the other person capable of making the right choice.

"We need a way out, and it's only going to get harder if we break a marriage contract over unprovable accusations," Sighvat sighed. "Astrid, your mother is right. We're not breaking this."

"I can't believe this." There was so much more she couldn't bear to say. This was not putting their family name ahead of her convenience, she had a legitimate concern that they were totally dismissing!

Helga, on the other hand, seemed to have no problem saying such things. "I don't know everything about what's going on, but it seems to me that Astrid is right. You would marry her to someone she cannot ever trust or respect?"

"I would not totally destroy all future chances at marriage or some semblance of respect for her because her future husband decided against doing something dishonorable," Sighvat countered, seeming annoyed that Helga had offered her opinion on what was definitely a family matter. "Especially when breaking the contract also involves, if we are successful, destroying the boy's chances as well! If she had told me before we made it official, I would consider it, but now to do so would cause more harm to both than it prevents!"

So that was it. He was sure, and he was the one she would have expected to be more on her side, if anything. They both were sure. She knew her parents, and she knew when further argument was pointless. This wasn't going to work, even if Helga did agree with her.

But she refused to despair. A lot was in flux right now. Speedifist could still die at the nest. She could still die at the nest. It was possible none of this would matter in a week's time.

If they all survived... then she could figure something out.

But for now, she felt betrayed and frustrated. She stomped back outside, going out the back door. She needed to break something, and better training targets than furniture or people.

Besides, she had already broken people today. Somehow, thinking of her success in a frantic battle was not so enjoyable now that she knew the one who had fled might eventually get what he wanted, where the others had all failed.