I don't know whether I'm sorry or proud of the whole "things seem good which worries me" attitude I appear to have conditioned readers to.
Though I guess as I said this will cover HTTYD3, y'all know its not over yet...
-HTTYD-
Cloudjumper was not exactly thrilled about letting Eret up on his back, especially after Eret had left Valka with such uncertainty about if he was ever coming back. But Valka manaegd to convince him by reminding him Tripfire had to stay back and look after Alva. He threw longing looks to his mate and child, calming slightly when Tripfire and Alva both nuzzled him, cooing softly to one another. Eret smiled, groaning when Tripfire licked his face with a draconic laugh.
Still rightfully annoyed with him for his disappearing act, Valka wouldn't deny it was nice when they were flying, to feel his arms around her waist, feel his warmth at her back, hear his breathing shift as they climbed higher in to the air. Neither said much on the flight there, both seeming equally content to linger in silence for the trip.
As though pretending it hadn't happened would mean it somehow hadn't, her mind had skillfully forgotten to remind Valka of what awaited them there, and the lonely body of the fallen Alpha, her friend, broke her heart to see.
Eret caught her as she stumbled, the feelings she hadn't had time to process while the battle raged on hitting her all at once. Cloudjumper warbled sadly at her side, a mournful farewell to the leader he'd followed most of his life, the one who he'd brought Valka to and enveloped her within the dragons world. How many times had he held her while she cried now? Probably too many, but Eret didn't falter, just stood with his arms around her as she wept. When she managed to look up at him again, there were tears in his eyes too; he felt her loss. Perhaps not as keenly, with only a handful of years to know the Alpha compared to Valka's two decades, but still.
"The dragons remember him well."
"How do you mean?"
Ignoring that Valka had made a mess of the shoulder of his tunic, Eret wrapped his arm around her back and pointed to the space just in front of the Bewilderbeast's body, where dragons had laid pretty stones and shields and swords. Whatever they could find, they offered as a sort of tribute to their fallen leader.
"I wish things had gone better."
"I know. But he died protecting the dragons, and you know he never would have chosen to do anything else."
"I know."
Valka buried her face back against Eret, their earlier issues shelved for the moment as she soaked in the comfort he offered. He even stood at what must have been a slightly awkward angle for him, so Valka could keep one arm around him while the other reached out to Cloudjumper, trying to offer solidarity to him. He turned and nuzzled her hand, still letting out those mournful sounds. Eventually, Eret spoke softly.
"We should go inside and do what we came for. We can spend some time out here with him later if you want?"
She nodded slowly, felt Eret take her hand as she finally tore her eyes away from the Bewilderbeast's body. There was little they could do but let nature slowly reclaim him. That was how it would have happened without human interference, she supposed, but it still felt so wrong to leave him there.
They headed in to the mountain, picking their way through the shattered ice and boulders, not much left behind in the way of bodies. Valka supposed the dead hunters had been... reclaimed too.
Valka was well received by all in the nest, chattering and scrambling for attention and affection, Cloudjumper grumbling a little jealously at her side. She smiled to see many on the mend despite her absence, saw Eret had done good work on his own previous trip there to collect Vali, Storm and Junior.
It was strange for her for a few minutes. The nest, the mountain, it had been home for so long. The sky just a few steps away, dragons in every corner. And, the last few years at least, Eret. But now, she had a new anchor in Hiccup, on Berk. The promise of somewhere safer and more stable to have her second child, because Eret had been right - just the two of them in that nest, it would have been nigh on impossible to safely raise a child.
Their bedroom had survived well enough, and she realised they'd have to move all their things over to Berk when there was somewhere to put it all.
"I'll go do the sick bay, you can check on the nursery?"
Valka frowned; why not do both together? Then she saw the look on Eret's face, the way his eyes dropped slightly.
"If you are going to spend the next seven or eight months fussing about every little thing, I am going to have to kill you."
He actually snorted, laughing.
"What's so funny?"
"You sounded just like Mala then."
His chortling made a reluctant smile spread across Valka's face. He was ridiculous.
"I'm serious!"
"I know! And I'm sorry, but I'm gonna worry. Also, I don't want you throwing up on a sick dragon."
Now that was a slightly more reasonable... reason.
"Fine."
Victorious, Eret picked up his box of supplies and headed off, leaving Valka to go and check on young dragons who were missing parents, either through falling in battle or being wounded back on Berk. There would be some sad reunions, she fretted, when they took them all back and had to work out which were the orphaned ones. Berk did have it's own nursery though, and plenty of people and dragons to help care for those who needed it..
There was not much room to feel anything but joy when surrounded by baby dragons clamouring for love and affection, ambling around clumsily as they waited to grow in to heavy heads or long legs or trailing wings. Valka tended to each of them, recognising a few she knew would find their parents back on Berk, recovering from battle wounds.
Eret found her there some time later, stood smiling over her for a minute or two before she couldn't take the silence.
"What?"
"Nothing. Just... after everything thats happened this last week, it's nice to see something so familiar."
"Did your chickens make it?"
Valka wasn't sure why that came out of her mouth, and Eret looked equally puzzled.
"Uh. Yeah. Hungry and didn't lay much with all the stress, but they were all still there. I guess I gotta rig something up to get them back to Berk, cus I can hardly let them free here, the dragons would eat them."
"I doubt Berk would mind."
"Yeah, I noticed everyone there seems to like their food. Were you always so thin in comparison?"
Valka nodded.
"Yes. Stoick's mother insisted I eat more. When I was pregnant with Hiccup, my sickness was awful and I was scolded for it, I didn't have much weight to spare as it was. It didn't matter what I ate, though, I was always just quite thin."
Eret shook his head, crossing over to kneel down by her, petting one of the babes sat on her lap as he did so.
"I didn't mean it as an insult. I mean, your son took after you in that, cus he certainly didn't get Stoick's build. And I definitely know looks can be misleading, cus I've seen you lift dragons and beat up hunters."
Oh, he did know how to make her smile. Carefully dislodging dragons from her lap, she let Eret lend a hand in getting her to her feet.
"Fires on. Tea's brewing."
"You have been busy."
Eret shrugged, but smiled. They headed that way hand in hand, his tactile ways something she'd missed more than she realised. Things like him making her tea were normal before the pregnancy thing, though Eret commenting that it was a tea he remembered being given to pregnant women in his tribe was new, as though reassuring her it was safe.
"I have been pregnant before."
"Yeah, twenty years ago, and that was before you were a crazy dragon lady. I'm just letting you know I know which stuff is safe for those with child. I'm a guy. I could be clueless."
Reluctantly conceding his point, Valka took the tea and watched as Eret filled his own cup, then dumped some smoked salmon in Cloudjumper's food bowl and stuck his tongue out when the Stormcutter glared.
"Look. I'm trying to make sure you know there's no hard feelings about what Drago did. You can sulk over there without salmon if you want."
Cloudjumper rolled his eyes, but when Eret moved away from the bowl, he moved over to eat it. Folding himself in to a seated position next to Valka, Eret blew the steam from his cup and took a sip.
"Actually, that's something I've been wondering. Not that I wanted it to go any other way, but why did Drago let you go?"
Eret frowned, tongue moving in his mouth before he reached in and pulled out a stray bit of something from his tea mix.
"Bleurgh. Well, I knew Drago's greatest fear was being killed by a dragon. He'll take a beating, he'll face down a slobbering, mad beast. But Drago was terrified of dying. As soon as I made it clear he was in very real danger of being killed if the Alpha couldn't control Tripfire in time, he cut his losses. Even if he'd gone through with it, it wouldn't have turned you against Cloudjumper. He stood to gain nothing other than about three seconds of enjoying seeing me on fire."
She shook her head, shuddering at the memory.
"You took a big risk for that."
Eret shrugged.
"I meant what I said. If me dying meant Drago dying, I'd have done it. And, as much of a giant pain in the ass as he is" Cloudjumper growled "I couldn't let Tripfire hurt him to protect me."
"And what about me? I'd have had to see you..."
Valka couldn't even finish it, choking on the word die. Eret placed his cup down, reaching to pull her to him.
"I told you not to watch."
He had, hadn't he? Even in what Eret thought were his final moments, he'd been thinking of making it easier for her. Eret brushed his lips against her temple, fingers stroking her hair. Valka let him, but made herself sit up, pulling away from his warmth. They'd gone back to talk, after all.
"How could you think I'd have left you, really?"
Eret winched, sighing but accepting the change in conversational direction.
"I know. But it was just... imagine if you came back after several days away and heard me singing about marrying someone who turned out to be my long lost wife. Are you telling me you would be totally rational? I mean, after everything you told me about your son, and there he was, a dragon lover just like you... what was I supposed to think?"
Valka resisted the urge to smack him. Even if he deserved it.
"You should have thought of talking to me!"
She could understand some of his points, but he'd never even given her the chance to explain herself.
"I kept wanting to, but I guess I was scared of what I'd hear. And then you wouldn't tell Hiccup about us, so I felt like... whatever us was, it didn't have a place in your life with your son there instead."
"And so you thought leaving me with no idea if I'd see you again was the right way to deal with that?"
Eret shook his head. He had his faults, but Eret didn't try to avoid his mistakes, and Valka was glad - he was the one to suggest they have the deep, difficult 'talk' after all.
"No. I know it was stupid, and I know you have every right to be pissed with me. But when I was taking Teeny back, I ended up surrounded by thirty or so members of my tribe. I should have felt at home, or at least... connected. And I didn't. I could have gone back, and I didn't. Because I realised... it's not my home anymore. My home is wherever you are."
Damn him. Valka wanted to still be mad at him, but Eret's words were so raw and genuine that she couldn't doubt the truth of them. He was reckless and stupid and at times, so frustrating she could just shake him stupid.
But he was also strong and kind and sweet, and when he made mistakes, he faced up to them. Eret clearly didn't expect Valka to just forget what he'd done, and it had taken heart to come back and admit that he was wrong. He hadn't even known Hiccup knew about them when he came back, and he came back anyway.
"If you mess this up again, I may not be so keen to forget it."
Gods, she loved him, but Valka wasn't sure she could handle him leaving her adrift again; especially not when she was having his child.
"If I mess this up again, I expect you to tell Mala and let her deal with me, cus I've had enough chances to know better."
Eret answered, tone serious, but when Valka couldn't help laughing at how he used Mala as a threat, Eret broke out into a smile too.
Adding some wood to the fire and poking at it to get it burning a bit better, Eret heard a sleepy murmur behind him.
"Eret?"
He turned, heart fluttering pleasantly at what he saw. Valka had obviously stirred from her brief nap when he moved, her features soft with sleep still, bare skin of her shoulders visible above the fur still over her. It was his, the reindeer one he'd found in that market and brought back with him as a little piece of 'home'.
"Just stoking the fire a bit."
Valka hummed, sitting up. The fur fell further down, exposing more of her body to his eyes. She saw him look, gave an indulgent eye roll but didn't hasten to cover up, reaching for him instead. Eret went happily, smiled as she curled in to his chest. Her sweet little post-coital nap lingered as she yawned, but Eret knew as soon as she was awake enough, they'd probably go bathe and re-dress, then start planning on returning to Berk - they'd been gone more than half a day as it was, and Valka had told her son they'd only be gone a day, and there was still the return trip to make and figuring out who was coming back with them to deal with.
But for a few minutes, they had a little quiet respite.
"We should get up."
"I can't, you are on top of me."
Valka tsked, but didn't move. Eret smirked to himself.
"We should go and see Mala and Atali some time soon. Let them know the threat of Drago is over."
"Yeah, probably a good idea. Maybe you and Hiccup could go together."
Valka hummed.
"Maybe."
Adorable as she was, Eret poked her gently in the side before she drifted back to sleep. Valka wriggled, grumbling.
"C'mon, you said we should get up."
"Of all the times you decide to be the responsible one."
Eret snorted.
"Alright, I'll tell Hiccup we were late back cus you didn't want me to put clothes on."
Valka swatted him playfully, giggling.
"Oh, I'm sure he'd love that. Fine, fine, I'm up."
Naturally, as soon as she was out of bed, Valka was quick to find herself fresh clothes and drag Eret along to take a bath. There was a little more than cleaning going on, but they exercised enough restraint to actually wash themselves and be dry and dressed, ready to plan things out again.
"So, Berk?"
Eret asked, and Valka nodded.
"Berk."
-HTTYD-
I know Valka wasn't perfect lately either, but Eret definitely deserves a scolding or two. From Mala. Though knowing Eret, he'd probably sort of enjoy it.
