Well, I sat down and laughed when I realised this story is pushing 20 chapters, and we're still like... 2 years pre-HTTYD2, and this story has plans to go right up to HTTYD3... so strap in for the long haul folks.

-HTTYD-

"Here you go guys, eat up and don't peck me this time!"

Eret laughed as his chickens flocked to their feed, reaching down while they were distracted to grab the eggs laid. He'd learned from mistakes that included several sharp beaks to distract them first - apparently he'd picked up some very feisty hens. Tripfire laughed as he left the coop room, bumping his shoulder gently to nuzzle him affectionately before they walked back down to where Eret could get on cooking the eggs.

He looked around, confused, when he saw Valka was nowhere to be seen. It was her room he cooked in, after all. He placed the eggs down and headed toward the bathroom, but heard no sounds of movement from there either.

"Hey Tripfire, can I trust you to watch and not eat these? I need to find Valka."

His dragon gave a petulant grumble, but nodded and perched herself in front of the egg basket. Eret was about half sure he'd come back to find she'd eaten them anyway, but at least there were other options for eating if she did. Hopefully not though - there was only so much sturgeon and yak jerky Eret could eat for breakfast before he got bored. And given everything they'd gone through to get those chickens a couple of months back, those eggs were earned in emotional distress as far as Eret was concerned. And blood, if he counted the pecking injuries.

Eret checked the sick bay first, found no Valka and no signs she'd been there. He refilled the water trays, changed a couple of bandages and stroked to soothe an anxious Scuttleclaw with a broken wing.

"I know buddy. But I promise we're good at this. You'll be flying again in no time, now get some rest ok?"

He asked a couple of passing dragons if they'd seen her, or Cloudjumper, and most had no answer but a sleepy old Gronckle nudged Eret to get his attention, then gestured with a wing up toward one of the higher coves that opened out, where they sat sometimes for meals when the weather was calm enough.

"Thanks."

Eret had to loop around to climb up, but he heard Valka before he saw her as he scaled the rocky incline with practiced steps.

She was crying.

He heaved himself up another layer of ice-covered stone, mindful not to slip, saw Cloudjumper sat next to her as a sort of windbreak. She had writing things in hand, and there were tears still rolling down flushed cheeks that said she'd been crying a little while at least. He hadn't seen her that morning yet - he still slept in his own room, got cleaned up and ready for the day before heading up to get eggs.

"Valka?"

She coughed in surprise, Cloudjumper turning to glare at Eret and giving him the distinct feeling he was intruding on something very private, personal.

"Oh, Eret! I..."

Ignoring the grumpy dragon, Eret climbed the last steps and clambered along the ledge, dropping to one knee in front of her and seeing runes spelled out along the pages she held.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing."

Even she didn't seem to expect that to convince him, wiping her face on her tunic and sniffling before she managed to look up at him with red-rimmed eyes.

"Right. That's why I had to come find you out here, crying, when I was only looking for you so I could make breakfast."

She shrugged, putting the pages down and weighting them with a heavy rock.

"It's just... something I do at this time of year."

"Why? What's so special about it?"

The Vikings fertility celebration wasn't for almost another month, and the spring celebration had passed a month earlier. Nor was Valka especially observant that he noticed, so Eret was doubly confused.

"It's..." her breath stuttered, followed by a deep sigh "it's my sons birthday."

Eret was stunned silent for a minute.

She had a son?

He supposed it was possible; she'd mentioned being married, a child wasn't out of the realms of likelihood. But...

"I... wow. I don't know what to say."

"I'm a terrible mother, and what am I doing out here when I have a husband and child at home?"

"Never even crossed my mind. I was more surprised you hadn't mentioned it when you told me you were married."

They hadn't spoken of that night in weeks, and she flinched slightly at the mention. He shuffled over, ignoring Cloudjumper growling until he was sat nearer Valka, though he gave her her space still and was careful not to knock her letters. They seemed important.

Valka sighed deeply again, head rolling back as she leant into the rock wall behind her, occasional tear still escaping her eyes.

"It's not something I'm exactly proud of. It was a complicated time, a complicated marriage, and... a horrible choice I had to make."

Eret sat to get comfortable, sensing there was more to come.

"The dragons or your family?"

Valka nodded, wiping her eyes on her sleeve.

"I didn't run away intentionally... but I suppose I also never tried to go back."

"So... what happened?"

She hugged her knees to her chest, looking smaller than he'd ever seen her.

"I lived on an island called Berk. It was... they called it kill or be killed. But I always believed peace was possible. Our island was raided by dragons, constantly. Sometimes several nights in a row. They only took food, and they only attacked in self defence. It wasn't as simple as just not fighting, I know, or we'd have starved to death, but... I tried to stop the fighting, and I begged them to find another answer. Nobody ever listened. And my husband? Well, he was the Chief of Berk. Needless to say, his wife interfering with the raids on the 'wrong side' never really went over all that well, with him or the village as a whole."

He couldn't believe she kept this in all the time they'd spent together, but Eret didn't dare interrupt her now.

"He never tried to force me to fight. I think he knew that was a losing battle from the start. But there were many nights we argued about me preventing others fighting, no matter how I said it would only make things worse. Our island valued the strongest, the ones who killed the most dragons. When... when my son was born, early and wee and frail, I was already lost. How could I ever raise a man who would be like his father? How could I raise a future dragon killing chief when I didn't believe as they did?"

She stopped to cry again, weak little sobs and Eret moved, careful not to knock her papers, wrapped a hesitant arm around her shoulders and Valka turned to hug him with a strength her thin frame belied completely. He let her cry for a while, saw the pain in Cloudjumper's face at his human so sad.

"One night... I was outside my home, fretting through the raids and trying to mitigate the damage. Then when I turned, there was a dragon breaking into my home. This dragon, in particular" Valka nodded to Cloudjumper, who cooed in return "and I rushed to protect my son. He was only a babe, barely a half year into his life. I grabbed a weapon I barely even knew how to use, and then I saw the truth I'd always known in my heart. He was no beast. He was gentle, curious. And Hiccup... he was giggling, happy, touching this gentle giant with the same curiousity. Cloudjumper turned to me and I can still remember trying to raise the sword, but my hands were shaking so hard. And when I looked into his eyes... there was nothing but an intelligent, gentle creature who shared my soul."

Valka choked on a sob then, still emotional as she forced out this buried history of her life before the nest. Eret waited, felt her arm tighten on him again.

"And then Stoick found us. He almost hurt Cloudjumper, and I know he was trying to save me but... I was never in danger. Cloudjumper turned and tried to defend me in turn, and, well, a wooden hut doesn't stand much chance against Stormcutter fire. I went to reach for Hiccup, but Cloudjumper stopped me and by the time Stoick had pulled Hiccup from his crib, Cloudjumper had grabbed me and taken off. And that... that was the last time I saw my husband or my son."

She fell silent again save for sniffles and whimpers, the weight lifting from her freeing up a torrent of emotions that Eret had honestly not expected when he was just looking to ask how she wanted her eggs. He wondered distantly if she'd ever shared any of it with Mala or Atali, but it seemed less likely with how she dumped it all out now, as though it had been building and building behind a wall in her mind until the dam broke.

"Cloudjumper brought me here. I raged at him for days, demanding he take me home. I almost froze to death because I wouldn't let him take care of me. He brought me fish, but I refused to even eat when he was there."

"What changed?"

"I was too tired to fight much after... I think it was about a week, but it might have been less. I had little to go on but how often I slept. And he brought other dragons to me. They were all so sweet, nuzzling me and purring like kittens when I stroked them. So gentle. They surrounded me until I was warm, and I eventually made a fire and I sat with them, eating and drinking and just watching them. And when I was feeling a little better, they introduced me to the Alpha. And I knew... I knew I could never go back. I could never raise the son my husband needed, I could never stand by as they hurt and killed the dragons again. So... it was the hardest choice I ever made, but I stayed."

The tears had stopped, but she continued to shake as they looked out to the sky and the sea around them, heard the roars of early morning flyers out enjoying themselves. Eret let her settle for a while, something nagging at the back of his mind.

"I guess I can't specifically say you made the right choice, because only you can decide that. But I understand it, and when I look around the nest, I can't help but wonder... or even worry what might have happened if you'd made a different one."

"I know. And I truly believe my son is better off without me. Safer, certainly."

Eret didn't agree or disagree; it wasn't his place.

"So... what were you doing out here?"

"Oh. I... I write to him. On his birthday. I tell him about my year. Sounds silly, I'm sure, but I suppose I always hoped one day I'd see him again, and I didn't want him to think I had ever forgotten him."

"I don't think that's silly. I think it's hopeful, and there's nothing wrong with that. I mean, if you had no hope, you would never have decided to go out and become the feral vigilante you are. And you don't know what the future will bring. That reunion can still happen."

It was unlikely, but Eret had once considered something like Valka convincing him dragons weren't so bad completely impossible. Maybe she was just an impossible woman.

To both his and Cloudjumper's great surprise, Valka turned and slid her hand over Eret's jaw, reaching to press a kiss to his cheek. Her lips were still a little damp with tears, so the print ought to have felt cold but left him with a warm, tingling feeling on his skin.

"Thank you Eret. I... I've never talked about this with anybody before."

He nodded. Hoped his cheeks weren't as red as they felt.

"Well, you can talk to me about anything. You know the worst of me already, after all. And I don't exactly scare easy."

Valka smiled for the first time, turning back to look out to the sea in silence but he could see the weight that had lifted from her shoulders just talking about it.

"Wait. What did you say your husbands name was again?"

She raised an eyebrow, confusion replacing her smile and he missed it dearly.

"I... Stoick. Most called him Stoick the Vast, as he was head and shoulders the tallest in our village, and built... well, he wrestled dragons bare handed. Why?"

"I know that name..." Eret tapped his fingers on his knees, trying to summon up the buried memory and eventually dredging up one of Drago's favourite scare tactics "oh."

"Oh? What do you mean, oh?"

Valka had turned to face him properly, resting on her knees and straightening up to be eye to eye.

"I think... oh man, I don't really want to tell you this. But I think he's... dead."

She gasped, hands clapped to her mouth.

"What?"

"It was something Drago told us about, years ago. There was this... gathering of Chieftains about fifteen years back. They were talking about that problem, the dragon raids. Drago went there and told them he could control dragons, he'd keep them safe. If they chose to bow down and follow him. As it was a room full of hot-blooded Vikings... it didn't go well. They laughed at him. Drago left and sent dragons in to burn the place down. He said nobody survived, and he stood to watch it burn for a while. He took us there to show us the ruins, as a warning to anyone who thought to disobey or disrespect him."

"Oh my gods... Stoick... Hiccup! Did Drago say there were children there?"

Eret shook his head.

"No. He hates children, he'd have gloated about that if there were. It was just the leaders."

"Oh gods, then who... my son has no parents. Who took care of him? I should have been there!"

Eret placed his hands on her arms, trying to calm Valka as she began to shake again.

"Hey, hey. You said he's the chiefs son. I gotta imagine someone stepped up to take care of him. Did Stoick have family?"

"His parents died not long after we wed, but... I suppose Gobber would have taken on Stoick's boy, certainly" she relaxed an inch "he's a good man."

Valka calmed a little, so Eret let go of her. After a minute, she looked up at him, determination strong in her face.

"Show me."

-HTTYD-

Oh look, a little angst for the day!