I love that mix of "wait what?" and "called it!" response to the last chapter!

-HTTYD-

Valka found the highest point on the island that she could reach on foot and sat there, staring out over the ocean and over an ice-littered Berk, trying to come to terms with the shocking blow she'd just been dealt.

She was pregnant. And she didn't even know if Eret was coming back to Berk. How would she tell him? Gods, how would she tell Hiccup? How would Berk react to Valka, having disappeared and left a son and husband behind, only to turn up twenty years later pregnant by another man?

"Rrrowww?"

Cloudjumper found her there, cooing softly in confusion.

"Did you know?"

He tipped his head, let out a low rumble. Perhaps it was too soon for dragons to be able to tell. She didn't doubt that they'd be able to at some point; even humans thought those with child often smelled different, and dragons navigated so hugely by scent it was impossible they wouldn't notice it, surely?

Cloudjumper's familiar scales under her hands helped her relax a little, and when she asked how Alva was doing, he gave a positive sound in return.

"That's good."

They sat in companiable silence a little longer, before a shadow raced past them, slowing to take the shape of man and Night Fury as Hiccup and Toothless landed next to them.

"Why didn't you just... tell me?"

"About what?"

Hiccup had the bag Valka gave him those letters in slung over his shoulder, and a confused look on his face.

"About Eret. Or did you forget that you wrote about him?"

Oh gods, she had. She remembered now, saddened and morose about the idea Hiccup would never even see the runes she scrawled across parchment, and so she'd dared to speak of falling for Eret, of how he brought her hope that maybe some people could change.

"I... yes, when I gave you the letters, I had forgotten."

"So... how long?"

Hiccup shuffled over to sit next to her, Cloudjumper taking a step back to let them talk.

"A couple of years now. It was an accident, really."

"An accident?"

Valka nodded slowly, trying not to reach for her stomach - she needed to tell Hiccup, yes, but one thing at a time.

"Yes. When you're... for lack of a better word, stuck with someone in such close quarters, all the time, it seems smart to keep some distance. But despite my best efforts to avoid doing so, I still fell in love."

"So you really do love him?"

"I do."

"Then what was the thing before, with dad?"

She scrubbed a hand across her face, unsure how to word her answer so it didn't sound as though she blamed her son.

"I was stunned, if I'm honest. I'd thought your father long dead, so to see him standing there when I was still adjusting to the fact you were there was just... a shock."

"And after the shock?"

She sighed, fiddling with a loose thread on her sleeve.

"You looked so happy with the thought of us just falling back together. I'd been gone for twenty years. I thought perhaps I should play along for a day before I broke it to you both. It sounds silly now, but I was confused and guilty and scared."

Hiccup hadn't really looked at her the whole while she was speaking, and it was starting to make her nervous.

"I have a ton of questions, but none I really want the answer to right now. Except... is there anything else you're not telling me?"

Valka nodded, bracing herself.

"I... I'm pregnant."

His eyes widened, finally turning to face her.

"You... it's his, right?"

"Yes. There was never anybody else."

Hiccup let out a shaky exhale as he looked away, before seeming to school himself to look back at her.

"So... where is he now?"

"I don't know."

"He left?"

"He did."

"Even though you're... yanno?"

Hiccup gestured at her middle, and Valka shook her head.

"He doesn't know yet. I only just found out myself from Gothi."

"Oh. Is he coming back though?"

"I don't know. He... he heard your father and I, and then there was the battle, and while he's very good at dealing with physical pain, emotional hurt makes Eret far less agreeable. So I didn't have the chance to really speak to him before he left to find his old ship and take them home."

Drawing his full leg up to his chest, prosthetic foot resting against the ground, Hiccup seemed to take on a great weight before he spoke again.

"I can't say I'm happy for you. Not... not yet, anyway. But if Eret doesn't come back, I still want you to stay here. You and your baby. If anyone on Berk has a problem with that, they can take it up with me."

And with that, Hiccup gave her a hug so short Valka barely managed to register it before he was up, whistling to Toothless and taking off.

She couldn't really blame him.

Valka had been absent for his entire life and he'd grown up without a mother, just someone he thought was eaten by dragons. And still, he'd been willing to befriend and trust them. And now she was pregnant by someone new, someone who wasn't the father that had apparently loved Valka still in her absence. He'd barely even met her and now there may well be a new child in the picture.

On top of everything else that Hiccup was being weighed down by, like his mind-controlled best friend killing his father in front of him, and taking over Berk, and just the simple upheaval of the battle itself? Truthfully, Valka didn't think she'd be managing any better in Hiccup's position. If anything, she'd be worse. She had very little experience dealing with people, after all.

After some time, Valka managed to gather herself enough to not hover, useless and awkward, up there. She went down and checked on Alva for herself, relieved to see her resting but on the mend. Tripfire was still hawking over her daughter, but when she saw Valka, there was a questioning look on her face, as though expecting Eret to be stood next to her and expecting an explanation for why he was not.

Vali, Storm and Junior all wanted some affection from her though, and Valka let the comforting familiarity of Stormcutters soothe her somewhat. She couldn't help but let her mind wander a little as she looked down at the youngest dragons. She might yet get to raise a child amongst the dragons...

"Hiccup?"

The need to tell him something wouldn't abate, and as soon as she spotted her son, Valka grabbed his attention.

"What's up?"

"I just had to tell you..." gods, she probably should have at least thought about how to say it "they won't replace you."

"Who won't?"

"The baby. You'll always be my son, and I don't want you to think you were ever less important."

Valka wasn't even sure she had the right to say such a thing to him, but she couldn't bear the thought of Hiccup imagining himself to be replaced by the baby. If Valka even had it, if the gods deemed her fit and deserving to be a parent. She couldn't imagine they had much cause to think highly of her, but it wasn't like she could predict their thoughts.

Berk wasn't short on muscle, so even though Valka was strong enough to help shift the rubble and rocks and shards of ice, she was put to work in the nursery calming baby dragons, and the spot where those wounded in the fight, dragon and Viking alike, were being treated. Patching up wounds was certainly something she'd had a lot of experience in.

"Kinda makes you wish for the Defenders of the Wing and their healing center, huh?"

Valka overheard Fishlegs, speaking to Hiccup as he came to check on progress. She could see he looked exhausted already, tiredness wearing at his features.

"You've been to the Defenders island?"

"Uh, yeah. Have you?"

Valka nodded.

"Queen Mala is a good friend of mine. She's saved my life a few times."

And saved her sanity several more. Hiccup blinked, surprised.

"Wow. We only met her a few months back, we were dealing with some Dragon Hunters who'd heard about Dragon Island. The trip took us pretty far, and the Defenders first tried to kill us, then helped us."

Hiccup bore a resemblance to Valka. Valka found it very unlikely Mala could have met Hiccup and not noticed such a thing... but then, what would she have said to him if she had noticed? Valka scarcely mentioned she had a son to the woman, so it was known to be a touchy topic.

Hel, it seemed to be sheer chance they hadn't encountered each other defending wild dragons from the Hunters at that point. So much lost time...

"So I guess you know everything they know about healing dragons, right?"

Fishlegs asked, that slightly overbearing look of thirst for information returning to his eyes. Valka couldn't help but remember seeing the same look in the woman who would become his mothers eyes every time she saw crabs in the catch.

"I imagine our knowledge overlaps a lot, yes."

"Fishlegs, we talked about this. Later."

"Right, sorry! I'll just..."

He headed off, muttering to himself. Hiccup threw Valka a look that was equal parts fond and exasperated before he had to go elsewhere. Valka finished re-wrapping the wounded leg of a Nadder up, then moved on to the next dragon. Everyone had been seen, but a lot of wounds needed repeat attention, especially since dragons weren't the most agreeable patients and had habits of picking stitches or pulling off bandages, and that was if they didn't just lose them through the act of movement pulling at things.

Vikings weren't much more agreeable as patients either, and Valka was relieved to be relieved by someone so she could go and source something to eat. The twinge of nausea reminded her to stick to something light, in hopes of keeping it down. She had awful sickness with Hiccup, which anyone checking on the Chief's heir during pregnancy had scolded her for (as though Valka had wanted to be violently ill for four months straight), as she'd barely been able to maintain her weight, and there was concern about the baby being small. Which he had been, but he had also been two months early.

As Valka laid there and tried to sleep that night, she thought how exhausted she was ought to have made it easier, but the concern about whether or not Eret was going to stay away forever plagued her incessantly. Perhaps it was a punishment. She'd left Stoick to raise Hiccup alone, and now she would have to go through the same thing? Not that Valka saw her pregnancy itself as a punishment, but she was hardly a young woman anymore. Pregnancy and birth and raising a child alone would undoubtedly be a strain. How would she manage that alongside her work for the dragons too? Was it even safe to fly when pregnant? Those weren't exactly questions anybody had had before, although if Berk had been riding dragons en masse for a few years now, perhaps somebody there would have an answer.

Sighing quietly, Valka turned on to her side, trying to stay quiet so as not to wake Storm or Junior, who were sleeping only a few feet away, little guardians for their recovering big sister. She smiled fondly despite her otherwise somewhat-despondent mood.

Raising a child alone wasn't what scared her, if she was honest with herself. What scared her was the idea of Eret never coming back, of having to go through the pain of losing the man she loved so deeply, simply because she'd been too scared to admit to her son that she no longer loved his father.

Soft footsteps didn't quite register at first, Valka assuming some dragon or other was going to get water, or rearranging themselves to get comfortable.

Then Tripfire was woken up, and made enough noise to stir the five other Stormcutters around her. Valka turned over, looking up and feeling her heart catch in her chest.

"Eret!"

-HTTYD-

C'mon, you didn't think Eret would really leave Tripfire did you?