TW: discussion of sexual violence

The riders were assembled in the clubhouse with Mala. The day had dawned unusually bright, and everyone except Hiccup and Astrid seemed to be wide awake. Heather glanced down at her hands which were rubbed raw from helping repair the dock damaged in the Hunter attack several weeks earlier.

Hiccup addressed the room. "Thank you, everyone for-"

"Blah blah blah," Said Snotlout. "Just get on with it."

Hiccup grunted in annoyance. "Fine, Snotlout. We need to come up with a defence tactic against the People Of Hope."

"Where are Amelie and Cordelia?" Asked Fishlegs.

"They're saying their morning prayers." Heather sat down at the table. "They'll be here soon."

"Man, they'd better not be sacrificing any dragons."

"They don't do that, Snotlout." Said Hiccup.

Mala cleared her throat. "If I may make a proposal, I think it would be sensible for the Defenders of the Wing to send treaty makers to the Isle Of Hope. If we can form an alliance it may protect Dragons Edge."

"It's too risky, Mala." Said Hiccup. "There's a chance they'll-"

"I am well aware of the risks, Hiccup Haddock."

"Okay, Mala, we'll do what you think is best." Hiccup paced up and down as he described the People Of Hope. The other riders chimed in.

"They travel between islands by diffusion." Said Tuffnut.

Fishlegs held up a finger. "That's not how diffusion works, Tuffnut."

"Well we didn't see any sail boats." Ruff folded her arms. "Hence, diffusion."

The conversation continued, and Astrid went to the sink to start washing the breakfast things. Heather turned back to the discussion. "Their religion seems to be based on ancient Druid fables they found on a cave wall. Their main God is Filmine. Alura is the messenger Goddess, she's the only one who they communicate with directly."

"And they still think you're Alura?" Mala said.

"I'm not sure. The king thinks I've been brainwashed. I guess they'll come looking for me."

Hiccup sighed. "We need to convince them that you're somewhere else. They don't know the location of the Edge anyway. We-"

Hiccup was interrupted by a loud crashing from outside followed by a shout of, "Sister!" Dagur rushed into the clubhouse and pulled Heather into a fierce hug. She tried to wriggle out of his grip. "Dagur, not so tight!"

"Ooh, sorry!" Dagur set Heather down and patted her shoulder. "Just excited to see you."

"It's good to see you too."

"Where's my Queen Mala Poo?" Called Dagur in a sing-song voice. Mala and Dagur kissed and Snotlout pretended to gag. Dagur pulled back from the embrace and caught sight of Astrid. "Hoohoohoo, Hiccup!"

Hiccup stammered. "Dagur-"

"Somebody's got a Chief in the oven! Wait, brother. How could you not invite me to your wedding, Hiccup?! I was supposed to be your best man! I was supposed to be by your side on that glorious day!"

"Uh, Dagur, there was no best man." Hiccup was trying to get Dagur to stop shaking him.

Astrid sighed. "There was no wedding."

"No wedding? Is that a weird Berk tradition?"

"Oh here we go again!" Snotlout rolled his eyes.

"Snotlout, we've only explained what happened once." Said Astrid. She crossed the room and sat next to Hiccup.

"So," Said Snotlout with mock drama, "Many moon cycles ago a brave young warrior was captured-"

"I was raped." Said Astrid.

"By Ryker." Said Tuffnut.

"Ooooh," Said Dagur. "Have you killed him yet Hiccup? Will you let me hurt him? Please! Just a little! Just a-"

"Dagur, we'll deal with Ryker when the time comes. Right now I'm worried about Astrid." Said Hiccup.

"But I'm really good at hurting rapists." Said Dagur. "I mean, you don't even want to know what I did to the men who attacked Heather."

Heather's heart jumped into her throat. "Dagur!"

"Are you actually insane?" Shouted Astrid. Hiccup grabbed her to stop her hurling herself across the table at Dagur.

"Technically he's deranged." Said Tuffnut.

Fishlegs had covered his mouth with his hands. "Heather?"

"It was a long time ago." Heather crossed her arms over her front.

"You should have told me." Said Fishlegs, his voice breaking.

"Fishlegs, it was a long time ago. I'm fine." Heather reached out a hand to her boyfriend, but he pushed her away.

"I asked you, and you lied to me." Fishlegs was crying. "Don't you trust me, Heather?"

"Fishlegs..." Heather felt her heart break. Fishlegs sobbed, then ran from the room, his face crumpled.

"Oops!" Said Dagur. "Sorry, sis."

"Forget it, Dagur." Heather felt tears well up in her eyes. She quickly brushed them away.

Astrid reached across the table and took Heather's hand. "He'll come back."

"I'm not so sure. He's not level headed." Heather secretly thought Fishlegs was overreacting. It was her body, and her choice who she told about what happened.

"He actually took it quite well. Better than Hiccup reacted to me, anyway."

Heather looked up to meet Astrid's eye. As far as she could tell Hiccup had been nothing but supportive. Hiccup chuckled awkwardly. "Astrid's right. Fishlegs just needs some space, Heather."

"Wait, wait, wait!" Said Snotlout. "What did Hiccup do?"

"Hiccup broke up with me-"

"Ha! I knew you were a lousy boyfriend."

"It wasn't Hiccup's fault, Snotlout." Said Astrid. "I should've just told him outright, no matter how awful it was to say aloud."

"No, Astrid." Hiccup slipped his hand onto her shoulder. "I should've given you the time you needed."

Astrid looked intently at Heather. "Are you okay?"

"I'm fine. We need to work out what to do about the People Of Hope."

Hiccup filled Dagur in on their encounter with the tribe. Dagur listened, clearly amused. "Oh, you were always a little slow on the uptake, Hiccup brother."

"What? What do you mean?" Said Hiccup.

"Oh come on! The shipyard is fake."

"Viggo was drawing us in!" Said Hiccup. "He wanted us to attack the Isle Of Hope!"

"You know," Said Dagur, "After that trap that I nearly died saving you all from, I'd have hoped you'd be better at spotting Viggo's plans."

Hiccup pressed his palm to his face. "How could I have missed that?"

Astrid touched his arm. "You've had other things on your mind; we all have."

"Why would Viggo want us to attack the People Of Hope?" Said Tuffnut. "They travel by diffusion and diffusion is really slow over long distances. It's not like they're gonna show up at the Edge and blast us to Valhalla and beyond. Although that would be cool."

"Maybe he thought they'd kill us on sight?" Said Astrid.

"Or that we'd kill them." Said Hiccup grimly.

"Or that you'd kill our dragons." Said Snotlout, his eyebrows raised.

Cordelia and Amelie knocked on the clubhouse door and Heather beckoned them inside. Astrid introduced the two women to Mala, who began asking about the war tactics of the People Of Hope. Heather sighed. "I'm going to go for a flight. I need to clear my head."

"Alright," Said Astrid. "Come find me later, okay?" Heather nodded.

"Snotlout, stay and help Mala, Amelie and Cordelia come up with a plan of action." Said Hiccup.

"What? Me?" Said Snotlout. "Seriously?"

"Yes, seriously." Said Hiccup. "Ruff, Tuff, you're on patrol. Astrid, I need your opinion on a new invention I've been tinkering with."

Astrid followed Hiccup back to the workshop. "Do you really think leaving Snotlout in charge of our response to the People Of Hope is a good idea?"

"Yes." Said Hiccup. "When it goes wrong he won't be able to blame the disaster on me being a traitor." He was pulling a strange contraption out of a cupboard. It was made of wood and resembled a pram; except it had large leather straps on either side. "For our baby." Said Hiccup with a flourish. .

"You know," Astrid leant against his tool bench, "your inventions never make sense, but this is bad even for you. What's wrong with a normal push chair?"

"Ahh, this one attaches to Toothless's saddle." Hiccup clipped the contraption into place and climbed onto Toothless' back. "Fancy a flight, milady?" Astrid rolled her eyes but climbed up behind Hiccup. He could feel the small curve of her bump pressing against his back as she wrapped her arms around him. They took to the air and the basket hung snugly against Toothless. The dragon lowered his head to nudge the pram, then seemed to decide it was okay. Hiccup patted Toothless' neck. "That's it, Bud."

Hiccup took Astrid to the top of the cliff where the twins had found their claim stone a couple of years earlier. He helped her down from Toothless' back and began unpacking a picnic from the pram. Astrid folded her arms. "I thought that basket was for carrying our baby."

"Baby doesn't need to use it yet." Said Hiccup. "I thought we should spend some alone time together."

"Hiccup, we've been spending hours alone together every night."

"I was thinking of something a bit more lighthearted. Everything that's going on doesn't mean we shouldn't make time to date."

"You're sweet, Hiccup. You know that, right?"

Hiccup waved the picnic blanket in the air and lay it on the ground. Astrid sat down and leant momentarily against Hiccup's shoulder. Hiccup opened the picnic basket and produced several wonky pasties which he offered to Astrid. She took one and bit into it. "Eww. What is this?"

"It's yak pies." Said Hiccup.

"It's gross."

"You're one to complain! Your cooking is barely edible."

"Hey!" Astrid threw her half eaten pasty at Hiccup. It hit him square in the shoulder and he feigned outrage.

"C'mere, you!" Hiccup grabbed Astrid and, before she could stop him, smushed his pasty against her forehead.

"Oh no you did not!" Astrid tipped up the picnic basket and began to pelt Hiccup with the food.

"Aah! No, not the apples!" Yelled Hiccup, his arms over his head. Astrid laughed and Hiccup picked up a glass bottle of lemonade and shook it. Astrid yelped and scrambled to her feet, running out of spraying range. Hiccup followed her, the bottle in hand. He was about to remove the cork when Astrid lunged at him. She caught Hiccup by surprise and knocked him to the floor, his arms pinned either side of his head. Astrid was on top of him, her mouth open in a genuine laugh. Hiccup suddenly understood what people meant when they talked about pregnant women glowing. Hiccup felt something strong unfurl in his chest. Astrid was out of breath, but she leant towards Hiccup and his heart seemed to take flight. She was so close now, so beautiful-

"Let's ask Astrid." Said Tuffnut.

Astrid rolled off Hiccup. "Let's ask Astrid what?"

"What name you've chosen for the baby." Said Ruffnut.

"It's Viking tradition not to name the baby until after it's born." Astrid stood up and dusted as much of the yak pie from herself as she could.

"The modern Viking is prepared in advance, A." Said Tuffnut. "We had a few ideas."

"Tuffnut, last time we listened to your ideas I nearly died of heat stroke in the Defenders of the Wing volcano."

"Great," Said Ruffnut, "As you know any good Viking is named after his father."

Hiccup was about to point out that 'Hiccup' is a terrible name, when Tuffnut said, "Hence, Ryker is at the top of our list." Astrid froze.

Hiccup stood up. "Oh, guys. Ryker isn't-" Hiccup stopped. He didn't really know what to say.

Astrid took Hiccup's hand. "Ryker is not my baby's father. Ryker will have nothing to do with my baby. Now get back on patrol or So Help Me Thor I will throw the two of you off this cliff."

"Well, if the baby is going to be Chief one day then Mermajesty might work." Said Ruffnut.

"The baby is going to be Chief and will not be called Mermajesty." Said Hiccup to the twins' retreating backs. Once they had flown out of sight, Hiccup turned to Astrid. "You okay?"

Astrid nodded and lead Hiccup back to their picnic blanket. They stared at the ocean beyond the cliffs for several minutes and Hiccup felt hot tears escaping down his face. The twins were right: nobody was ever going to believe that Astrid's baby was his.

"Hiccup?"

"Hmm?"

Astrid pulled Hiccup into a tight hug. He felt her fingers in his hair and she smelled so familiar. Hiccup let himself cry. Astrid was whispering gently in Hiccup's ear that she loved him and her words broke his heart. "Astrid, I want the baby to be my child. I want people to know that the baby is my child."

Astrid pulled back and looked at Hiccup. "Babe, I know you'll be the baby's father. Baby will grow up calling you Papa and running to you when they need help. So long as you know it, and I know it, and baby knows it; we're the only ones that matter." Hiccup nodded. Astrid kissed his cheek and began to braid his hair.

Hiccup sighed. "More braids?"

"I thought you liked them?" Astrid kissed Hiccup's cheek again and let her hands drop away.

"I'm sorry for getting emotional, Astrid. I know you need-"

"I need you to be honest with me, Hiccup. You don't have to hide your feelings to protect me."

Hiccup wrapped his arm around Astrid. "You're right."

"I think things might be improving though," Astrid leant against Hiccup's shoulder. "Last night was the first time I panicked without feeling sick."

"I know." Said Hiccup. "I was really proud of you. I'll always take care of you when you need me, but I hate seeing you ill."

Astrid settled herself in the crook of Hiccup's arm. "We should probably get back to the clubhouse and see what kind of moronic plan Snotlout is coming up with."

"Yeah," Said Hiccup. "We should. But I'd quite like to stay here with you."