A/N: Hey guys, so just to let you know, I wont be updating next week due to Christmas.
I'll update chapter 20 on the 30th or New Years Eve.
Valka woke up the next morning after the funeral. She saw that her husband was nowhere in sight. She grabbed her robe and walked down the stairs to find her husband alone at the dining table.
"How are you holding up?" Valka asked softly as she sat next to him.
"I don't know how I can do this."
"I know, but you have to. Your dad would want you to be chief, and The Village is looking up to you now." Stoick nodded and got up. "I guess we should get ready." He said.
Valka got up and pulled out a box from under their bed. She found The Chief Belt and the same cape that he wore on their wedding day nicely folded. She grabbed the heavy fur cape and the belt and brought it down stairs. Stoick pulled out a chair for her to stand on. Valka tied the belt then unfolded the cape. She stood on the chair and placed the cape under his shoulder pads.
Valka stepped off of the chair and felt his hand on her shoulder. "Okay, let's get this over with." He said and they walked out of their house. As they walked to The Great Hall, they saw many people walking towards the same destination. Many of them said good morning and waved to them.
When they entered The Great Hall, many people who were already there greeted him. Many of them asked how he was and Stoick just replied with "fine" or "okay". After a while everyone finally showed up for the anointing. Gothi stood in front of the chief's throne with a bowl of paint next to her. Stoick walked up to Gothi and kneeled in front of her.
Gothi placed her thumb in the paint and moved her thumb on his forehead. Once she was done, he got up and turned around to face his people. Shoutlout walked up next his son-in-law and yelled "Citizens of Berk! I would like you to welcome your new chief!" The people shouted and cheered. Valka smiled seeing how the people were celebrating for her husband. She did see a few people giving pity claps, but the worst was Alvin.
She saw him leaning against the wall with crossed arms. She knew that her husband and Alvin used to be best friends, but people do drift away from each other. She just hoped that he wasn't going to be a problem for him.
~oOo~
Stoick had been chief for a week, and it had been a rough start. Some people understood why he was having a hard time, while others thought that it was better to be hard on him because he'd have to get used to it. Valka tried to help him with certain situations, but some were tougher than others.
Every night since The Chief's death, Stoick became depressed. Valka tried to cheer him up, but it didn't last long. He would go to bed earlier and Valka had to wake him up. Every day when they got out of bed, Valka stayed at his side trying to help him in any way she could. There were even days when she could tell that he wanted space, and she'd leave until he asked for her help.
Every night he came home sluggish and tired. He barely ate anymore now because of fatigue taking over his body. She's been concerned about him for days, and even suggested that he should take a break and let her take over until he got back on his feet. As always, the man declined because he knew it was his duty, not hers.
~oOo~
Gobber was making some new weapons when he saw Valka walking to him. "Hey Valka, how's Stoick? I haven't seen him for days."
"Not as good as I like. I'm worried about him; I've never seen him so stressful."
"Can you blame him? He lost his father and now people need him. I can only imagine what he's going through." Gobber said and then they heard a sound of frantic yelling behind them. "My baby yak is gone!" Bucket shouted out. Valka saw Stoick running to the panicked man. "Listen Bucket, I'll look for your yak. I'll just tell The Calders that their baby dedication is going to be delayed." Stoick said trying to calm the man down.
Valka got an idea when she heard their conversation. She ran up to them and said "Stoick, I'll go find the yak. You go and do the baby dedication."
"Are you sure dear?"
"Yes, how hard can it be to catch a yak?" Bucket shouted in rejoice and took her hand in his. "Thank you Mrs. Chief! You have no idea how grateful I am!"
~oOo~
Valka searched The Village looking for a black creature. She looked between houses, under carts, and asked people if they had seen a baby yak running by. She hadn't found much luck. The only place it could be is the woods. She walked around the woods trying to find the black animal.
She kept walking until she heard a sound of boars approaching in the distance. She stopped and saw five wild boars stalking something. She got closer and saw that they were cornering the yak she was searching for. She felt her heart pounding out of her chest; she had to get that yak before they did.
She looked around and saw a good size limb on the ground and a rock. She picked up the rock and threw it to get their attention away from the small animal. It didn't seem to work, they only turned their heads but didn't leave the baby yak.
She picked up the limb and ran at the boars. "Hey!" she shouted and used all of her strength to hit one of the boars in the head. The wild animal squealed and the others turned around and tried to bite at her. She was able to move her legs quickly and kept hitting the heard with her branch. Some of them ran off, but some stayed for a fight.
It took a few hits, but she was able to get in front of the yak and kept smacking boars away. The boars kept coming at her, but she wasn't going to stop. She hit a boar with all the strength she had and made it go limp, but the others still wanted a fight.
With the limb in her hand, she bent down and picked up the yak. She smelled the blood from the yak when she placed it over her shoulder. No wonder they wanted a fight, they could smell the blood dripping from the yak's leg. With one hand supporting the yak, she kept swinging the branch as she backed away from the herd.
She kept stepping backwards seeing the boars following her. She gave up fighting and decided to run. It didn't take her long enough to figure out that running was a bad idea. She could hear the boars following her as she ran. She felt a small tusk hit the back of her leg as she ran. She felt the pain and blood from her calf, but she kept running.
When she saw The Village, she cried out for help. People heard her cries and saw three boars chasing her with Bucket's yak hung over her shoulder. She heard the boars squeaking in pain knowing that they had just been killed. Valka stopped running and fell to the ground with the yak still in her hands. She felt her heartbeat in her eardrums as she panted with pain and fatigue.
"Oh my gods, Valka! What happened out- oh Thor your leg!" she heard her husband crying out. She didn't look up at him and kept trying to catch her breath. Bucket gently took the yak away from her arms and thanked her. "Come on, let's get you to Gothi." He said picking her up from the ground and carrying her to the tip of Berk.
~oOo~
While Gothi was wrapping the girl's injured leg up, Valka told her and Stoick what happened. "I knew this was a bad idea. I should have just delayed the dedication."
"Stoick, stop blaming yourself, I was the one who wanted to help. I just didn't think something like this would happen." She said gesturing to her wounded leg. Stoick sighed and shook his head. "I appreciate you trying to help, but please don't let something like this happen again."
"I make no promises." She said with a smile. Gothi patted Valka's good leg letting her know that she was done. Valka swung her legs over the bed and Stoick picked her up before she was able to stand up. "Thank you Gothi for your help." The old woman smiled with a nod and let the couple out of her home.
~oOo~
That night, Valka placed her bad leg on top of a block of ice as she lay in bed. Stoick lay next to her as he wrote his daily report. Valka watched the candle light moving as she went into deep thought. "Hey Stoick, can we talk about something important?"
"Um sure." He said putting the scroll and feather pin down. "What do you want to talk about?"
"The future, what our plans are, things like that."
"Oh, okay." He said and sat up in the bed. He wasn't so sure what all she wanted to talk about, but he could tell it was going to be a long conversation.
"I know we've talk about this before, but I want to have children. I don't know when you're ready, but I think I am."
Stoick's eyes widened and he felt the heat rise in his face. "Oh, um….are, are you sure about this?"
"I'm not trying to persuade you, Stoick. I'm not even going to try to have a kid with this." She said gesturing to her injured leg on the ice.
"Right," he said and cleared his throat before he continued. "Listen dear; I don't know if I'm ready to have a child. I think it would be better if we wait a while longer."
Valka sighed at his response "How much longer?"
"Val!"
"I'm sorry; I just want to prove to those women that I can have a child."
"Let me get this straight, you want to have a child to prove to those gossipers that you're not barren, am I right?"
Valka sighed and hit the back of her head on the pillow. "I know that sounds stupid-"
"Immature I would say-"
"Stoick!"
"Can you blame me? You shouldn't want to have a kid to prove something. When we are both ready to have a child for the right reasons, then we'll try. We're just not ready right now...…I'm not ready." Stoick whispered the last part to himself. Valka stared at him and said, "Alright, you're right. We should wait a while longer."
"Good, now let me get that ice off, your leg must be freezing." Valka didn't protest and let him hold the back of her leg as he picked up the melting ice from the bed. Stoick threw the ice out the window and went back to bed. Stoick put a pillow under her wrapped up leg and settled in bed. Valka looked at her husband and her leg once more then let sleep take over.
A/N: I know Valka's reason for wanting children was immature, but you have to remember that she's still a teenager. I mean come on, what 16 year old girl didn't want to do prove something because of rumors?
I also wanted you guys to see Valka wanting to help Stoick with chiefing as well.
Anyway, I'll see you guys in two week and have a Merry Christmas and a Happy Hanukkah :)