Hiccup really was an amazing father for having become one at seventeen, in truth so far there wasn't anything he couldn't do yet. Hiccup even knew the traditions about the Kransen, and how to do Emma's hair the way his wife used to do her own, it was interesting to see how the father-daughter pair communicated with one another. Hiccup really did do anything for her and loved her to pieces, willing to protect her from all harm. Currently, the time was about 7:30 pm or so and there was still a birthday party to be had, but not before Hiccup and Emma did something together and that was visit his wife's and Emma's mother's gravesite which seemed to be in the nest, so that's where they were moving to now. The young adults, Valka, and Stoick stayed back a bit knowing that this was rather a private matter for them and wanted to give them their space, it was easy to see that even with a year passed, the reminder of losing his wife to a madman hadn't stopped the mourning.

Another thing that worried them was what they saw on his back, all the old scars from wounds given to Hiccup by this very same madman who killed his wife. They noticed though that Hiccup didn't like to talk about this guy or remember the injuries he once had so they decided to leave it alone for the time being. Hiccup reached the area beside the waterfall with Emma as the others were able to see two headstones sitting side by side. One reading 'Reynir Andarsen-Loving Father of Henrik' and the other reading 'Selby Andarsen-Loving Mother of Emma, Wife of Henrik'. Hiccup brought himself to one knee and had Emma sit on that knee that was up.

"I miss Mama, Papa..." Emma said sadly leaning her head on his chest.

"I miss her too, but I told you that she's always with us in spirit," Hiccup said gently as he hugged Emma tightly.

"How, Papa? How will I know it's her?" Emma inquired.

"You will know. Little things around you will remind you like the warm wind that embraces you, that is your mother hugging you. And when the sun touches your face, its Mom kissing your forehead like she used to." Hiccup told Emma with a soft smile as he kissed her cheek.

"Do you miss your, Daddy?" Emma asked him now.

"Of course I do, he raised me. I was very sad when he passed away a month after you were born." Hiccup replied calmly to her.

"And Mama can find us on Berk?" Emma looked back at him.

"Mama has wings now, she can find us wherever we go. Those we lose are never far, they just become angels who protect us from a distance. We might not see them, but they are there. And I have something that will help you remember that," Hiccup said as he set her down to stand up before him as he reached around his neck and untied the necklace that held his and Selby's wedding rings, he held both ends and took it off as he placed it around Emma's neck and tied it in place so it wouldn't dangle too much. "Your mother and I took vows on these rings and wore them as a symbol of our love for one another. That love made you, Emma so when you wear these...know that our love is with you always. Near or far, we will always be with you no matter what."

"But...you wear these as your reminder of Mama...what will you have?" Emma asked him.

"Your mother gave me the greatest gift of all that I will always treasure and keep close to me, do you know what that gift is?" Hiccup asked as Emma shook her head as Hiccup smiled a little. "She gave me you," he poked her nose now. Valka, Hilda, Astrid, and even Ruffnut got a little teary-eyed at his words.

"I love you, Papa," Emma said as she hugged him tightly, Hiccup then hugged her back. "I'll keep this safe in my shirt and close to my heart where you and Mama will always be," she said after pulling back and tucking the rings in her shirt.

"As you and your mother are always in mine, and no one will ever love you more than I do little one." Hiccup told her.

"So can we celebrate my birthday now. Mama wouldn't want us to be sad today, or...tonight?" Emma mentioned as Hiccup laughed a little and got on his feet and she jumped into his arms.

"Right you are. No tears today, nothing but smiles and lots of food. I'm sure Icefire can rummage us up some dinner and I might have some still stashed here that didn't go bad while we were away," Hiccup said as Emma cheered happily and he faced the others.

"Those stones are beautiful, I love the detail." Astrid pointed out to the chiseled in carvings on the stones of the grave markers.

"Done by yours truly, Milady. Painstakingly too, but it was worth it." Hiccup replied, then looked at his mother who was staring at Reynir's headstone. "Want a few minutes with him, Mom?"

"Hm? Oh, no. It's alright dear, I was just thanking him for taking care of you all those years." Valka answered with a soft smile.

"Papa, we didn't kiss Mama goodbye yet!" Emma reminded him as the others looked at him curiously.

"Well, let's do that before she gets mad and sends a snowstorm our way." Hiccup smiled as he and Emma got lower to the stone again, both of them kissed their first and second fingers and they put them to the stone before removing their fingers and leaving two little semi heart-shaped spots there. At that moment, a warm whipped through and circled Hiccup and Emma and one could tell because of their hair whipping around.

"Love you, Mama!" Emma called waving and giggled as the wind just about tickled her.

"I love you too, babe. Always and forever," Hiccup said closing his eyes as the wind wrapped around them once more before vanishing. "See, I told you she's always with us," he added as he picked Emma up again.

"Did Mama kiss your forehead too?" Emma asked him while they were walking towards the main area again.

"Nope, Daddy always gets a kiss right here from Mama," Hiccup pointed to his lips. Emma giggled happily again as she hugged him, the others just smiled, it was cute to watch and definitely proved that his wife and her mother were always with them. Reaching the main room, Hiccup set Emma down as he started filing through the crates to find any kind of food that didn't spoil. Hiccup located a bunch actually since the nest was cold and he had the food sealed up where it wouldn't go bad. He pulled out potatoes, corn on the cob, and yak chops. Windstrike brought in a small net of twenty fish as he got to working preparing and cooking it all.

"Can we help at all?" Astrid asked.

"Nah, I got it. You always cook back home, and you've never had the food I have here." Hiccup smiled as Toothless lit the fire and Hiccup put the grate over the top of it to cook the yak chops and boil the water for the potatoes and corn. While that cooking, Hiccup got to work on the fish on sticks, letting those cook next. In total, it only took about thirty minutes for it all to finish as he pulled it off and put it on serving plates. Emma went around the table and set up regular plates and utensils before Hiccup brought over the food.

"Wow, it smells so good..." Ruffnut beamed, "What is it all?"

"Yak chops, corn on the cob, mashed potatoes with a little yak butter, salt, and pepper. Then the always favorite, fish on sticks. Oh, and toasted bread with butter too." Hiccup stated pointed to each thing as he said it.

"Never heard of two of those things...corn on the cob and mashed potatoes?" Valka asked.

"Mashed potatoes are made where you boil them and they get softer, then drain the water add a little seasoning and butter then mash them with a spoon or fork until they look like that. Corn on the cob comes from outside the Archipelago, learned of it on a flight with Selby right after we got married and disappeared from the nest for two weeks." Hiccup said as he sat down after getting Emma's plate for her.

"Two weeks?" Astrid asked, "You two spend a lot of time traveling?"

"Sure, we'll go with traveling..." Hiccup replied.

"Well, what were you doing if it wasn't traveling and why gone for so long?" Hilda blinked.

Hiccup sighed as he covered Emma's ears while she happily enjoyed her food, "We were consummating our marriage, making love, having sex...whatever you want to call it, and didn't want to keep the dragons or Reynir up so we took off to enjoy the time alone. And two weeks because we did it more than once," he explained.

"Oh!" their mouth formed into small the O shape with wide eyes as he uncovered Emma's ears now.

"Yeah, but we did spend a lot of time traveling, saw a bunch of new places and tried new foods." Hiccup stated as he sat down to start eating as well. "Just try it," he muttered. Without much more said, they began eating. Getting through the fish and yak chops was easy enough, then finally they tried the potatoes which they seemed to love. Reaching the corn, however, they weren't sure what do to with it.

"Papa, I don't think they know how to eat corn on the cob," Emma pointed out.

"I don't think so either, why don't you show them?" Hiccup suggested as Emma lifted her corn up and turned it to the side in her hands.

"Like this," Emma bit into it and showed them to continuously bite along the length of it and keep going after each section. The small group nervously tried to do the same and failed miserably as Hiccup forced himself not to laugh at them.

"Well, I'll say this. You definitely know how to cook," Hilda smiled. "Mom can't,"

"Cooking is easy, I can teach her..." Hiccup replied.

"Would you really? Because I swear her meals are gonna kill us one of these days..." Stoick mumbled as Valka hit his arm with a huff.

"I'll teach her when we get back to Berk tomorrow," Hiccup chuckled lightly.

"So, I'm gonna be that guy...uh, where do we go to relieve ourselves?" Snotlout inquired.

"Follow me," Hunter motioned as he got up to take Snotlout, then the others got up to follow too.

"Might as well show us all since we're spending the night here," Astrid shrugged.

"Fair play, come on." Hiccup instructed as he led them down another tunnel where another area was built from wood with a door on it. "I'm sure I don't have to show you how to use this room, but when you're done just use the water bucket to flush it out and then refill the bucket," he told them as he then headed out down the tunnel again to go back to sitting with Emma.

"It's so sad, he hides all that pain with a smile..." Astrid frowned.

"You like him, don't you, Astrid?" Hilda asked her as Astrid whipped her head around quickly and shook her head.

"What? No no...No, I don't like...Hiccup. I mean I do...a-as a friend but..." Astrid began quickly as the others just grinned at her.

"Don't even try to hide it. I saw the blush on your face when he called you 'Milady'..." Hilda insisted quickly.

"Shut up. Fine, maybe I do like him a little more than a friend...but it doesn't matter because his heart belongs to his wife who only just got murdered a year ago." Astrid huffed looking down.

"Oh sweetie, Hiccup will always love Selby but even he knows that he can't remain hung up on her forever. Things are hard for him now because he's a single father, and not much time has passed since the loss, also on that...I can tell he wants revenge on the man who killed Selby. After that comes, he will begin to accept things and move on because he knows that's what Selby will want him to do. No matter how much time passes or if he's with someone else, he will always love her in some form or another." Valka said gently as she lifted Astrid's chin up so their eyes met.

"Still no guarantee that he likes me and he hasn't gotten his revenge so it's...pointless to even try to get closer to him. He's...got a lot going on right now with all the new information that he was taken from Berk, adopted by his own grandfather, preparing to move to Berk and live there with his daughter...I'm sure he needs time to settle with it all." Astrid sighed.

"Of course, all the new changes would take anyone time to settle with. I'm still settling with the fact my brother is actually alive and I'm an aunt..." Hilda smiled. "Aside from all that and it might be mean to say, but if they were meant to be together...then she would not have died a year ago. They say true love cannot be broken or torn apart by any force around them. This man killed Selby, so it must not have been true love. I'm not saying he doesn't love her, but it was true love, Astrid."

"Regardless, I'm not going to try and get close to him right now. Maybe once we're...back on Berk and he's settling in more." Astrid stated firmly. "I...like him, I don't know if I love him," she added. No longer pushing the issue they took turns with relieving themselves before returning to the main area where Hiccup was holding Emma in his arms, rocking her a little as she was falling asleep on his shoulder. The group of them remained quiet as he moved her towards her bedroom and laid her down, then covered her up and kissed her cheek.

"Happy birthday my little one," Hiccup whispered as he saw Emma smile and then he backed up and shut the door after Stingwhip and Windstrike went in to lay down near the bed. "All tuckered out," he chuckled a bit.

"Well, it was a long day. Flying, the party..." Stoick smiled as Hiccup began cleaning up all the food and washing everything, setting it aside to dry on a towel before he plopped down in his chair with his eyes closed. "Tired son?"

"Incredibly..." Hiccup yawned.

"Where are we going to sleep, right here in the main area?" Hilda inquired now.

"If you'd like too, get's a little drafty tho. There's plenty of room in mine, can just use your sleeping pads." Hiccup told them. Cloud Jumper now came in and nuzzled Hiccup's face, "Hey, Cloud Jumper, what's up?"

"The woman, your mother...she is Reynir's daughter?" Cloud Jumper asked.

"Yeah, Mom is Reynir's daughter. Why?" Hiccup tilted his head a bit.

"Do you...think she might want to be my rider?" Cloud Jumper questioned slowly.

"I don't know, I'm not a mind reader. I suppose we can find out?" Hiccup offered as he got up now and moved towards his mother, "Do you trust dragons?" he asked her.

"Yes, I do. They are magnificent creatures, and I personally want to thank Cloud Jumper for saving you. I was trapped under those beams and you might not have survived if he didn't take you away. I just wish he would have brought you back, but I understand the fear of returning and being killed by us too so I forgive him." Valka replied calmly.

"That's...a good thing. Because he just asked me if you'd like to be his rider," Hiccup smiled.

"Ri-Rider? You mean, as in ride him like you ride Toothless?" Valka stammered a little.

"Yeah, you're...his former rider's daughter so I guess he feels a certain...closeness to you because of that." Hiccup informed her.

"I-Is it safe?" Valka asked. Hiccup nodded to her as he looked over Cloud Jumper and smiled softly reaching her hand out to touch him, Cloud Jumper pressed his nose to Valka's palm and purred as she laughed a little. "O-Oh, my...what an incredible feeling. Is this the...bonding you talked about?"

"Yeah, pretty cool right. I'll teach you all you need to know about flying him, it's real easy once you get the hang of it. Took me a year, but that's because your father didn't want to overload me at only eleven. You're adults, should be a piece of cake..." Hiccup said.

"Will you teach us too?" Astrid asked with pleading, happy eyes.

"Well, you have to bond first but yeah, I guess I can teach you if you really want to learn how to ride them." Hiccup shrugged.

"Can we start now!?" Hilda asked quickly.

"Can we get an early start it the morning because I'm exhausted and I know from the past if I don't get enough sleep then I'm going to end up sick?" Hiccup replied.

"He's right, it's been a long day for everyone. We all need the rest, we can start tomorrow." Stoick informed them. With no disagreements, Hiccup led them to his room and they all spread out their sleeping pads on the floor while he climbed into bed with Toothless on his rock and Cloud Jumper close to Valka. All settled down for the night, Hiccup had Toothless douse the torch and everyone laid there quietly. Hiccup ended up being the first one to fall asleep, and before the hour was up, they all were with promises of tomorrow to teach them how to bond and ride a dragon.