The day had started bright and sunny, which Astrid had gladly taken as an opportunity for some vigorous drilling of New Berk's small armada (if it could even be called that, but it was steadily growing). Hiccup left a little later that day, spending some time with their small daughter before taking her to Valka's. Or at least, that was the plan.

"Alright, little one, time to go to Grandma's," Hiccup announced, cleaning up his bowl of porridge from breakfast.

Zephyr froze, spoon halfway to her mouth, before slowly returning the spoon to her bowl and glancing sheepishly down at the table.

Hiccup turned around at his daughter's silence. "What's wrong, Zephyr?"

The small three-year-old started to swing her legs nervously, hugging her arms tightly around her body. Hiccup furrowed his brows. He walked over and knelt down next to her, resting his elbow on the back of the chair he had built just for her and running a finger soothingly over her upper arm. He didn't speak, waiting patiently for her to take the next move.

She continued to look at the table, swinging her legs. After a few moments, she spoke just barely above a whisper. "I don't wanna, Daddy."

Hiccup chuckled quietly. "You don't want to go have fun with Grandma? You love going to Grandma's!" he quietly encouraged. But inside, Hiccup's heart squeezed, nerves tightening around his gut. This was unusual for his little girl, and it worried him. What had her so spooked?

"I..." she started quietly. Hiccup's brows stitched together again. He stood and gently lifted his daughter into his arms. She didn't fight; rather, she immediately nestled her head against his neck, popping her thumb into her mouth. He kissed her hair and rubbed her back before catching the swift motion of her hand. Chuckling to himself, he gently pulled her thumb from her lips, letting her instead play with his fingers. He'd have to remember to let Astrid know he caught her sucking her thumb again; they'd been trying to break that habit for a year now.

"Can't I stay with Dadda?"

Hiccup all but froze, leaning his back against the taller preparation table in the cooking space. Dadda? It'd been a while since he heard that from her. Zephyr's attention never strayed from his fingers, playing with the leather of his hand guards and the loop around his middle finger.

"With me? For all the boring stuff? Now, that doesn't sound very fun, does it?" he tried half-heartedly.

Zephyr still didn't look up, far too intrigued in his fingers. "I just want Dadda."

Hiccup's heart broke. How could he deny his baby girl what she wanted? Just look at her! She was too precious, and Hiccup just wanted to see her smile at least once this morning... He took a deep breath. "If I bring you with me, you have to be on your best behavior, Zeph," he ordered, though his voice gave away his excitement. He didn't want to leave her behind any more than she did. Especially when she seemed so nervous about something. She was typically quiet and shy, but this was especially odd behavior...

Zephyr's eyes went wide, slowly looking up into her father's stern eyes. Well, almost stern.

"Daddy's got a lot of work to do today, so you have to keep quiet and do exactly as I say, alright?" Any authoritative edge Hiccup had in his voice was lost as soon as he watched those little eyelids flutter wide again. Her smile overtook her cheeks and touched her eyes effortlessly; exactly what Hiccup had missed this morning. So he couldn't help it. His face mirrored her's instantly as she fervently nodded her head, agreeing to all terms.

Well, Hiccup did plan for her to be Chief one day.

"I didn't ask who had more yak milk, Garvin, I asked where you got yours."

Hiccup was growing tired of these ridiculous disputes. Though he was thankful for them to come today; Zephyr didn't need to see the truly ugly sides of chiefing yet. Lunch was growing near, and to Hiccup's surprise, Zephyr was still quietly watching on. In fact, she had only grown more confident throughout the day, turning from Hiccup's quiet and shy little girl into his right-hand man. Instead of sitting on Hiccup's hip, head nestled into his neck and thumb attempting to sneak between her lips yet again, she was now perched on his shoulder, proudly looking on to the two Viking men before her and her father.

"I don't see why it matters where I got the yak milk!" Garvin shot back defensively.

"Wha-? I-it matters a lot if you stole it from Agnar!" Hiccup said, exasperated he even had to spell it out. He heard a small huff from above his head and looked up to see his daughter crossing her arms and pouting her lip while staring down Garvin. "Look, even my daughter is suspicious of you. She's three. She's not suspicious of anybody!"

Agnar laughed and crossed his arms, seeing his victory near. Garvin seemed out of excuses, which Hiccup took as admittance of defeat.

"Just return the yak milk, Garvin. You two are grown men, I shouldn't have to babysit you guys, too," Hiccup added, obviously annoyed with how long it took to reach a conclusion. Zephyr giggled from his shoulder, catching the attention of all three men. Hiccup pursed his lips and raised his eyebrows at the men, pointing to his daughter with the hand that wasn't holding her up on his shoulder and then shrugging his empty shoulder. Garvin rolled his eyes and turned to walk away; Agnar saluted to Hiccup with a chuckle and thanked him as he followed Garvin.

Hiccup lifted Zephyr off his left shoulder and set her on his right hip. "I should bring you along more often," he said to her with a smile, earning another giggle that made Hiccup's heart soar. He looked up to see the sun high in the sky. "Why don't we go meet Momma for some lunch? How's that sound, little one?" he asked with a kiss to her small nose.

Zephyr smiled sweetly and nodded. "We get to see Momma?!"

"Yeah! We get to see Momma!" Hiccup repeated. Maybe he really did need to bring Zephyr along more often; he'd never been in such high spirits at this point in the day.

The first thing Astrid noticed as she walked up to the Meade Hall was the clear sky - or at least, it used to be clear. It was now filled with white fluffy clouds, completely concealing the sun. That's odd. It had been clear still when they left the arena.

Astrid watched her men stumble into the Meade Hall for lunch. Sure, she may have gone a little rough on them, but they needed it. Until their numbers grew again, they had to rely on strength. But as she walked further into the firelit room, she realized everyone's attention seemed to be trailed to one table in the center of the room, where the council members typically sat. This wasn't particularly unusual, just odd that everyone seemed to be giggling every time they snuck another glance.

At the sight of shaggy auburn hair and leather suit, Astrid smiled. After a rough morning, she was ready to spend some time with her husband before getting back to training. She watched his every move as she crossed the floor. His head tilted back with a laugh, and Astrid's heart skipped a beat. In fact, Astrid was so focused on Hiccup that she didn't realize everyone at the table was focused on something in Hiccup's lap.

Hiccup leaned over to take a bite of stew, arm secured around a small, squirming body topped with fiery red hair sitting on his lap. The small girl smiled and reached up, trying to grab her father's cheek, making the man chuckle into a spoonful of stew. The table erupted into laughter as he set down his spoon and wiped the broth from his face, still smiling. Astrid giggled now too, and the little girl's head spun around at the sound.

Her face lit up even brighter than before. "Momma!"

"Zephyr!" Astrid cried happily, snatching up her little girl from underneath her outstretched arms. She pressed a big kiss to her daughter's cheek as Zephyr giggled uncontrollably before setting Zephyr on her hip. "What are you doing here with Daddy?" Astrid asked, more to Hiccup than to Zephyr.

Hiccup's cheeks turned red and he offered a shy smile, making Astrid chuckle. "Daddy let me stay with him today!" Zephyr cried happily.

"Did he, now?" Astrid said through an easy smile, leaning over to give her husband a kiss before sitting on the bench next to him. She set Zephyr on her lap, pulling pieces off of a roll for her to eat. "Any particular reason she didn't go to Grandma's, Daddy?" she asked Hiccup.

Hiccup shrugged, obviously not sorry. "She seemed off this morning. I couldn't just leave her."

Astrid raised an eyebrow but kept the smile, obviously more amused than annoyed. If she was being honest, spending lunch with her husband and her daughter was just going to put her in even better spirits before another grueling afternoon. But she was still going to give Hiccup a hard time about it. "Well, she seems fine now."

Hiccup squirmed under her stare. "She said she just wanted Dadda! I couldn't just deny her that!"

Zephyr exploded with a short laugh and looked up at her parents with a big, open smile; the rest of the table joined her laughter once again, and Hiccup leaned over to kiss her forehead. "You're gonna get my in trouble one of these days, you know that?" he said quietly to her, still unable to wipe the smile off his face.

Snotlout took Zephyr long enough for Hiccup and Astrid to finish eating. Zephyr seemed well occupied, so Astrid stood and tapped Hiccup on the shoulder. "Zephyr, Momma and Daddy will be right back, okay? Can you stay with Uncle Snotlout for a minute?"

Zephyr nodded, but her giggly attitude had dissolved into shyness. Snotlout rubbed her back and held her close, but Astrid suddenly felt bad leaving, even if only for a moment.

Hiccup stood and turned to follow Astrid, throwing a smile in Zephyr's direction. "It's okay, baby girl, we'll be right back." He knew she'd be okay with Snotlout because she seemed to have a special connection with him ever since she was born (none of which Hiccup ever expected to say).

Astrid laced her fingers into Hiccup's as they started walking towards the large wooden doors of Meade Hall. "So, what happened after I left this morning?"

Hiccup shrugged. "I don't know, to be honest. Zeph was fine, and then I told her it was time to go to Grandma's and she just... Froze up. She didn't fight it, but she was about to cry saying she wanted to stay with me." Astrid caught the movement of his brow stitching together. Gods, he was so protective of her. It was so adorable. "I promise, I wouldn't have brought her if I knew I was doing anything that could put her in danger. All she's seen is a few disagreements, they all stayed very civ-"

"Hiccup, stop, I'm not upset," Astrid interrupted with a soft smile. "I was just wondering what had her so upset."

"Oh." Hiccup paused with his hand on the door, glancing back at Astrid with a shake of his head. "I don't know, Ast. But she was seriously spooked. I just didn't feel right leaving her behind."

"I'm not surprised," she joked as Hiccup opened the door. "You always have given into her without a fight, you softie."

"What can I say? The only one who can melt my heart faster than her is you." Hiccup and Astrid chuckled as they stepped outside for a moment, planning to check the wood stores around the back of the hall as they always did at lunch. But they stopped as soon as they stepped out onto the stone steps.

The sky was much darker now, and the wind had obviously picked up. The village square had gone from a bustling gathering of Vikings enjoying the warmth of the sun to a deserted stretch of stone pathways, an entirely new kind of bustling beginning behind the scene. Astrid and Hiccup shared a worried glance. That explained Zephyr's nerves today.

Part one of two! Second part won't be far behind, no worries!