One update yesterday? I feel so bad about myself. I was planning on getting one out yesterday evening, and then I got this idea, and just couldn't leave it out. At first, I was going to just leave this chapter out of the story and now, looking back on it, I am really glad I didn't. :) This is my FIRST update today, and my e-mail won't load, so I will have to do shout-outs on the next chapter. So sorry about that! :( So, one general shout-out:

YOU. ARE. SO. MUCH. MORE. AWESOME. THEN. I. AM.

Just had to get that out there. :D Enjoy this chapter, and there should be two more.

Not long after they ate, Astrid fell asleep. Valka had been expecting it, too, so it hadn't surprised her. Who knew what that girl went through getting Hiccup to the sanctuary, and alive at that? Valka sure didn't, meaning she could just assume.

She stood up and moved over to Toothless slowly, not wanting to startle him. Toothless lifted his head, nodding to Valka just slightly before laying back down again. Valka took that as an opportunity and sat down beside Hiccup.

He looked a lot like her; same gangly, skinny build, emerald green eyes and auburn hair. From what Hiccup had said about "not being able to kill a dragon when it came down to it", and plus everything Astrid had told Valka about his personality and such, Hiccup sounded like he had taken after his mother more than Valka had realized at first glance.

Valka had always thought of Hiccup to end up like Stoick: the perfect image of a viking, longing to kill dragons, gaining the approval of the village; but from what she saw now, right in front of her, as plain as day, denied everything she had thought for the past twenty years.

Hiccup wasn't the standard image of a viking, but that didn't mean he wasn't one at all. Valka had never been the "perfect viking" either when she was growing up. She had been (and still often was) clumsy, not wanting the "kill or be killed" rule in the book then, now or ever in the future. And from what she had learned, Hiccup was the same.

Only the last time she had seen him, he had both his feet.

That hurt her more than she thought possible, knowing her son - her only son - had lost a leg for Berk, according to what Hiccup had halfheartedly explained earlier, and she hadn't been there. She had known other vikings who had lost limbs in the past, and it was never very easy. She wished for the utmost (and certainly not the last) time that she had been on Berk to help Hiccup through his life.

She looked back to Hiccup quickly, just as she heard him shift. He opened his eyes and blinked up at her, uncertainly at first, before his eyes adjusted and he offered an off-centered smile.

"Hey," he said, moving to sit up, wincing slightly.

Valka helped him into a sitting position and then Hiccup leaned against Toothless. In response, the Night Fury, not even opening his eyes, wrapped his tail around his master and curled around him tighter.

"How are you doing?" Valka asked.

"Can't complain, can't complain," said Hiccup offhandedly. "Well, I can, technically, but I won't."

Valka smiled, and he smiled back, before he looked to the ground, suddenly finding it to be the most fascinating thing in the world. Valka tried to figure out what it was he was looking at, and then found nothing of great interest.

"Hiccup?" she started.

Hiccup shook his head. "Sorry, I was just thinking," he said, uncertainly. "Um..." He bit his lip, finding himself at a loss of words. "I...um...don't exactly know...hmm...what it's like to, uh, actually have...both my parents, and I guess I'm...sorry, this is really awkward. I'm normally not this poor at speaking...okay, actually I am-"

"Don't worry about it," said Valka. "I forgot what it was like to have a son."

"I mean...it's been twenty years, and..." Hiccup said with a slight smile. "I suppose I don't know how to put it, exactly...I...I'm glad, that's about it. I'm...glad to have met you, Mom. And...okay, that's another thing." He locked eyes with her. "Is there a certain thing you want me to call you, or...?" He paused. "Gosh that sounded weird..."

"No, I get it," said Valka. "Mom is fine."

"Oh, okay, well that makes it simple, I guess," said Hiccup. He smacked his forehead as soon as the words left his mouth. "Thor, I am such a moron-"

Valka laughed. "Don't be too hard on yourself," she said. "Is there a certain thing you want me to call you?"

"Well, everyone I know calls me by an involuntary spasm, so I suppose you can too," said Hiccup, and shrugged with a smile. "You can call me pretty much whatever you want. It's not as formal...ugh, again with the moron-"

"Don't worry about it," said Valka. Really, in her mind, he was acting strangely calm for someone just learning after twenty years of thinking they didn't have a mother that they actually did have one.

"I was meaning to ask you..." said Hiccup, "do you...do you have any...I don't know...tips on dragon training?"

"Well, maybe," said Valka.

"Can you please tell me some?" Hiccup asked.

"Sure," said Valka. "The first thing I've learned is to be light on your feet."

"Lucky me only having one," said Hiccup, gesturing roughly to his prosthetic. Now, Valka found the ground suddenly interesting. Hiccup looked at her, slightly confused, the other part slightly worried. "Mom...?"

"Nothing," said Valka. She found herself glancing at his prosthetic, still wondering what had happened... "How...how did it happen?"

"How did..." Hiccup started, and then followed her gaze. "Oh," he said. "Um-"

"I understand if you don't want to tell me," said Valka. She had known people back on Berk who, for some reason, found their prosthetic limbs embarrassing and a pain. They hated talking about it as much as dragons hated eels. "Really, I do."

"No, it's not that," said Hiccup quickly; perhaps too quickly, even. "I guess it's just that...it's a touchy subject, for anyone on Berk, really, but especially me."

Valka didn't ask anymore questions.

"But that doesn't mean I'm not going to tell you," said Hiccup. "Where should I start...oh, yeah, probably the night I shot down Toothless. So, I built this catapult like contraption-" Valka leaned forward as he spoke, her eyes sparkling with interest, "-that, for some reason, I called 'The Mangler.' So, I shot Toothless down, but no one believed me, exactly...they didn't like me very much when I was growing up."

"Didn't like you?" Valka frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Now there's a touchy subject if I've ever known one," said Hiccup. "I guess they didn't like me because I wasn't exactly the greatest viking ever. I couldn't lift a hammer without dropping it, and I couldn't swing an axe without nearly decapitating myself in the process. But that's past me now. It doesn't matter anymore."

"So anyways," Hiccup continued, "after I found where I shot down Toothless, I just couldn't kill him. I mean...I got ready to, actually. I almost did, too. But I didn't at the last second. I just...I saw myself in him. Scared...trapped...worried...I guess the entire thing, for lack of a better word. And so instead of killing him, I cut him free."

"How did that turn out?" Valka asked.

"Ahh, better than expected," said Hiccup. "Of course, after I was pinned to a rock and roared at in the face, it was smooth sailing. For the most part...anyways. So, I trained Toothless, a process that had its ups and downs, and then from there, I'll skip all the dramatic parts and go straight to the place Toothless and I blew up Godzilla."

"I'm sorry, what?" said Valka.

"A Seadragonus Giganticus Maximus," said Hiccup. "To which we Berkians always refer to as the 'Red Death.'"

"A Seadragonus Giganticus Maximus!?" Valka repeated. Hiccup nodded. "That's insane, Hiccup."

"Yeah, well, I guess I am a bit insane," Hiccup shrugged. "So, we drew it into battle, blasted it out of the sky...well, sort of...I was knocked unconscious, and I woke up without a leg after being in a coma one week later, so...yeeeeeep. That's just about it, you know. And then after that, the whole dragon training thing came naturally. By the time I woke up, Astrid and the others had pretty much accomplished the hard parts. And then I was put in charge of the Training Academy, and from there it went from good to great, and from great to amazing."

"How long ago was this?" Valka wondered out loud, just because she was curious.

"Five years ago," said Hiccup casually.

That pained Valka. Hiccup had lost his leg when he was fifteen. Fifteen. And she hadn't been there.

"Mom, you're doing that thing again, where you stare off into space awkwardly, looking at nothing in particular, and it's making me feel weird," said Hiccup, almost suspiciously. "Is something wrong?"

"No, not really," said Valka. "I just...I wish I could have been there for you, Hiccup. Was it...was it hard, getting used to?"

"To some extent," said Hiccup. "But hey, I had Toothless. Stubborn dragon never let me out of his sight. And when he did, he would track me down, and then pin me to my bed against my will for the rest of the day so I wouldn't wander off."

Valka laughed. "Well, you know dragons," she said. "Once you form a bond, that bond is forever."

"You've got that right," said Hiccup. "And...I'm glad you're not dead after all."