Inspiration kicked in hard these past days. I honestly wouldn't have thought that I'd put up chapter 2 so soon. But anyway, here it is. Enjoy!

Chapter 2

Valka woke up with a feeling of dread. Even though she had been living without her husband for a whole week she didn't feel ready to send him off to Valhalla. Pondering this, she kept lying on her back and stared at the ceiling until she heard Hiccup whimper from his cradle. Valka quickly got up to check on her son who grinned at her as soon as she entered his vision.

"Good morning, Baby." she smiled back, scooped him up into her arms and left the room to get breakfast ready for them.

While still eating breakfast, somebody knocked at the door.

Valka quickly swallowed and cleared her throat before calling out. "Come in."

It was Majken who entered the house.

"Morning, Valka. I felt like I had to check on you." she said with a smile. "How are you?"

Valka rubbed her face. "Definitely not ready for tonight."

Majken nodded and lightly squeezed Valka's shoulder. "I can understand that. Is there any way I can help you? Except taking Hiccup for the day of course."

She looked in the direction of Hiccup lying on the floor and happily playing with a few wooden animals.

Valka looked up at her friend. "How can I ever repay you for what you're doing for my family?" she asked.

"You can't. I think it's a given for me to help you, especially as your friend."

Valka stood up and gave Majken a hug. "Thank you!" she whispered as the emotions started overwhelming her.

After Valka had calmed down again and was ready to let go of her friend, Majken had taken Hiccup and the bag with his stuff back home with her. Meanwhile Valka got ready to leave the house and went to see Gobber.

"Good morning, Valka!" he called out cheerfully through the open hatch of his shop.

"Morning, Gobber." She walked up to him. "How are the preparations coming along?"

"Smoothly. We've got all the decorations for the hall ready, but of course we can't start to decorate before lunch is over. Have you found something to put on the boat?"

"Besides his cape buckles? No. I want to keep the helmet. His sword is lost Thor knows where and everything else still has to much personal meaning attached."

Gobber nodded in understanding before he produced a brand-new sword from underneath the counter.

Valka gasped as she recognized it.

"Is that-?"

"A replica of Stoick's lost sword? Yes!" He was grinning now. "I found the designs a few days ago and decided to make it, regardless of whether you would find something or not."

Once again Valka had tears gathering in her eyes and she didn't know if they were of joy or sadness. Probably both. she decided to herself.

The day went by way too fast for Valka's liking. She didn't want the evening to arrive. Didn't want to have to let the first fiery arrow fly. But here she was, standing on the docks with Hiccup in a sling on her back and Gobber at her side. The boat for Stoick was floating a little distance off the shore.

Valka felt somebody handing her bow and arrow and looked over to see Spitelout standing on her other side. Of course he was there. He had been Stoick's general and would now continue to be hers, until Hiccup would choose someone else for that position.

Spitelout whispered a quick reassurance and stepped aside to give her the room she needed, both for shooting and her emotions.

With tears in her eyes, she lit the arrow on fire and let it fly towards the boat.

"Farewell, my beloved." she whispered to the wind as dozens of arrows followed her own.

Valka was the last to enter the Meade Hall, Hiccup's sling now across her chest, and was overwhelmed by what she saw.

Gobber and his helpers had outdone themselves: streamers hung between the horizontal beams, candles were lit on every table and the hall was packed with people. For a moment she wondered if there even was anyone left in the village.

She walked slowly through the rows to the head table, where the council was already seated and stood behind her chair.

"Thank you everyone for coming." The hall was silent except for her voice echoing through it, everybody's eyes fixed on her. "I know it's unusual to have a happy celebration after a funeral, but I think that Stoick would've wanted that." Valka ignored her cracking voice as she said her late husband's name and continued. "Now please, enjoy the evening!"

Valka pulled out her chair, adjusted her hold on Hiccup and let herself drop into it. Gobber reassuringly squeezed her shoulder and smiled at her.

"You're doing amazing!" he told her, at which Valka smiled back at him.

The festivities kept going until late in the evening. Valka was surprised at how much she actually enjoyed it. After the meal she left the head table to join her friends gathered at a table to the side of the hall. Majken had spread a blanket between the wall and the bench she was sitting on, where Fishlegs was playing with a plush toy. Valka put down Hiccup next to him and pulled the wooden animals out of the bag for the boys to play with.

"How are you?" asked Ebba from across the table. Since Valka had last seen her a few weeks earlier the young woman's pregnant belly had become even rounder.

Valka smiled. "Tired. Chiefing is exhausting."

"You'll get used to it eventually." Ebba told her, smiling herself.

Now Majken turned her look away from the playing boys. "I'd like to propose an idea." Valka looked at her friend. "If you want to, I will take Hiccup in every day from now on. I know that would be a relieve for you. And I have the time and capacity anyway."

Valka knew she was gaping, but she couldn't really believe her ears. The way Majken had already mentioned the arrangement this morning it had sounded more temporary, something she would do for her friend while she was still grieving and getting used to her new life. But how she had said it now was definitely more permanent, a long-time arrangement.

"I can't let you do this for free. There has to be a way to repay you."

Majken smiled. "As long as it isn't money."

It just feels so right to write only one day per chapter. I'll probably keep that going, at least for a while.

The wiki suggests that Hiccup's and Fishlegs' families must have been quite close during the boys' childhood. It's something that I remembered today while writing the last scene for this chapter. I quite enjoy the friendship I've given those two young mothers.

While writing this chapter, I listened to a lot of music during breaks (I can't listen to music while writing) and one song in particular really fit this story: "Save it for the living" by Smash into Pieces. I don't know if any of you are familiar with the band, but I really wanted to recommend this song.

I once again have a question for you. It's been a while since I've seen the second movie, so my mind came up blank. Is there any term of endearment Valka calls Stoick, the way he calls her 'my dear'? For now, I used 'my beloved' but I'm willing to change that if something already exists.

Last night I had an inspirational high right as I was about to go to bed. I ended up writing for another 40 minutes, resulting in a good deal of chapter 3 already done and ideas for chapter 4 written down. I'll continue writing right after posting so I'll hopefully be able to upload chapter 3 early next week.

See you in the next chapter!

Answering the reviews:

Guest: I'm looking forward to where I'm taking this as well. I have no fixed plan of what happens when, only a ton of ideas I'm trying to incorporate.

Guest: Cloudjumper will definitely show up. I'm currently writing chapter 3, so there's something to look forward to.

.2015: I love that you liked chapter 1, hopefully chapter 2 is the same. Hiccstrid will be part of the story, but for anyone to ship them it's way too early. Astrid is barely a month old right now. But I sure hope the wait for the chapter was worth it.

Lucasdiaz9000: Once again I didn't receive a mail for your review, but this time I expected that to happen and also checked the review overview. I've got all your name suggestions written down in my notes for possible future use. Thank you for them.