Chapter 3: The Best Birthday

I just realized I completely left Toothless out of the last chapter… my apologies! Don't worry, he's coming!

Date: December 1st, 2022

The twins rushed up behind them, sooty and out of breath. "OK, we got the chief out of the way."

Fishlegs turned the same color as overcooked salmon at Tuff's tone. "Are you sure-"

Ruffnut slung her arm around the boy's large shoulders, eyes wide. "Relax, Fishface!" He jumped and she laughed. "All we did was start a few fires with old driftwood down at the docks. Nothing actually dangerous!"

"Good." Astrid blew past them, huffing and sweating, covered cart rattling down the uneven stone steps. Today's the day. Anxiety was pulling at her stomach. She took a deep breath, steadying her emotions. Then she glanced at the sun and slightly adjusted herself so she was headed due north, towards the town square. And beyond that? Hiccup's hut. "Now let's get to the hut, quick."

"So, Astrid–"

Astrid was having none of it. "Shut up, Snotlout." He was wise enough to fall silent.

"What happens when we get to the main part of town?"

"We keep walking. They won't stop us if we act confident." Astrid shot back. "Hurry up."

"Why aren't we using our dragons again?" Ruffnut huffed. "This is a long walk!"

"Because the town isn't used to our dragons, and I don't want anything dropping off the dragon while we're flying, idiot."

"Who would drop anything?" Tuffnut asked, swaying a little. "Not us!" He promptly tripped, limbs flailing.

Astrid rolled her eyes. "Sure."

"Are you guys drunk?" Fishlegs asked.

"NO! Why would we be drunk?" Tuffnut tipped to his feet and followed them.

"You were supposed to bring the mead."

"You got drunk without me?!"

"Snotlout–"

The group dissolved into chaos. Astrid huffed, speeding up just a little. They entered the town square. Just act confident. Ignore the idiots behind you.

"Where are you youngin's goin, lass?" Astrid screeched to a stop, swinging her wooden cart around so fast it caught Fishlegs in the gut. "Oh! Gobber!" Come on! She plastered a too-wide smile on her face, hiding the fear and anger churning in her gut. Why did it have to be Gobber? "We're just…" She gestured vaguely behind her.

"On our way to the chief's hut." Fishlegs supplied, although it sounded like his vocal cords were being squeezed by a Terrible Terror. "He asked us to get him some things from the square." Astrid shot Fishlegs a thankful look. Mumbled agreement rose around them.

"Oh." The blacksmith's face fell. He rubbed his hand against his rock sledgehammer hand. "Poor Stoick. He's been so busy lately, keeping up with the village and taking care of Hiccup." A moment passed. The old man shook himself, wincing a little when he put weight on his peg leg. "Alrighty then, ya best be off! The chief ain't too patient!" Astrid nodded, shooting Gobber a hasty thanks and goodbye. Just a few more steps and…

"WHERE ARE THE TWINS?!"

"Here-" Fishlegs clapped a hand over the male twin's mouth while Astrid pushed them all behind a meat carver's stall. "What was that for?!" Tuffnut asked, indignant, as soon as they were out of sight.

"Did you not just hear the chief?" Fishlegs said. "He's mad at you!"

"And I can guess what for."

"What?"

Astrid didn't bother replying. A crowd began to form around them, and Astrid shoved the twins farther down so their helmets weren't visible. Sweat poured down her shirt. They were completely surrounded. The only good part of their current situation was that the entrance to their little shaded stall was directly in line with where the chief was standing, so Astrid could see out.

"Oh, I knew this was a bad idea…" Now it was Ruffnut's turn to silence Fishlegs. His eyes got as wide as saucers. "Mpph!" He complained.

Snotlout, meanwhile, had crawled acros the dirt floor to a nearby barrel full of weapons. "If we're going out," he began, hoisting himself into a crouch and peering through the shade. "Then we're going out with a bang."

"No, we're not!" Astrid and Fishlegs hissed at the same time.

"That's illegal, Snot!"

"Plus the chief isn't even after us! He's after Tuffnut and Ruffnut!"

"Oh, so we get to sacrifice the twins? Cool!" Snotlout dropped his weapon and started towards Tuffnut, only to freeze in his tracks when his own father's voice joined the argument.

"Those morons set the docks on fire!"

"I told you to keep the fires away from the wood!" Astrid groaned, hands curling into fists. "Can't you two do anything right?" In reality, her heart was pounding. We set fire to the freaking docks. We're dead. Why can't anything go right today?!

Anger. Anger hides all emotion. Her stomach settled. There.

"They didn't set fire to the docks, Spitelout." Came the chief's annoyed reply. "But I do want to know why their dragon was BLOWTORCHING OUR BEACH!"

Astrid was caught between relief and anger. "Barf and Belch-"

"Weren't supposed to be there, we know." Snotlout sounded bored. "They were just watching the fires for us! They were supposed to stay back. I blame the twins."

Once again, Fishlegs was caught in the middle of a cat fight. Astrid sighed and turned back to her gap– and gasped. The chief was looking directly at their stall. If he looked down… she held a hand out behind her and, to her surprise, the others quieted. "Don't. Move." She hissed.

"WHO'S SEEN THE TWINS?!"

"I have!" Came an all too familiar, cocky voice. Astrid felt her stomach freeze. Well, now she knew why everything had gone quiet. How had Snotlout gotten around the crowd without anyone seeing him?

He strode through the mass of people, a ready smirk on his face and the stolen axe slung over his shoulder. "They're right there!" Astrid cursed, scrambling backwards as Snotlout pointed straight toward them. But the chief never looked in that direction. Instead, he muttered "oh my gods…" and ran off, up the hill. The crowd shuffled around them, alive and moving and jostling. Astrid hissed at the others to remain still.

The crowd had opened a gap, she saw. They were all facing north.

What was it? Astrid crawled forward again, muttering an absent apology to a very squashed Ruffnut. She'd been practically sitting on the girl. But she could almost see…

Her breath caught. A collective gasp ran through the crowd.

It couldn't be.

Her mind was spinning, refusing to comprehend the flash of green and brown she'd just seen.

"What? What's going on?" Ruffnut asked, but the girl's voice felt like a distant buzz to her ears. The chief said something, and a familiar voice answered, cocky and unassuming.

"Hiccup?" The whispered name came out like a question. Astrid pushed past the others, into the shadows of the stall, and stood, pushing through the back way and out into the crowd. A few gave her strange looks, but she ignored them. Why would she care?

The crowd parted for her, mostly, as she shoved her way through the sweating mass of people and emerged, blinking, into the sunlight.

And there he was. Gaunt, pale, shaky, leaning on Toothless, but smiling.

She clapped her hand to her mouth. "Oh my gods. Oh my– oh my gods. Hiccup." No no no no NO. Astrid cursed the emotion rising in her gut like some sort of untamable sea serpent. She was stronger than this. She wasn't going to cry over a twig of a boy! Her expression hardened. And she stood, patiently waiting with her arms crossed at the edge of the crowd. She waited until Hiccup turned to speak to his father, a smile cracking his bruised lips. The closer she got, the more aware she became of the fact that this, indeed, was not a dream.

Hiccup freaking Haddock. He's awake. He's alive! Anger bubbled in her chest. They'd worried for months on end, and here he was, joking and talking like nothing had happened.

So she did the rational thing.

She punched him.

"Hey!" Hiccup turned around, face a mask of annoyance. But the second he caught her eyes he burst into a huge smile. She scoffed. He really shouldn't do that. It's dorky.

"That's for scaring me."

"What? Seriously? Is it always gonna be this way with you?" Hiccup protested, obviously caught off guard. He doesn't know how long he's been out, does he?

She always blamed relief and lack of sleep for this after the fact, but that remains to be debated. Either way, what happened was this: she stepped forward, roughly grabbing the hem of his tunic. Astrid pressed her lips against his, cheeks flushing at the gasps that echoed around them. Hiccup absolutely melted. So many recent memories flashed through her mind as they parted, the kiss too brief and yet too long at the same time. "And that's for everything else."

Hiccup was stunned. "Well… I guess I could get used to it."

Astrid smiled. The rush of emotions she was just now beginning to comprehend was overwhelming. Fear, joy, passion, relief… she shivered. Her heart was pounding, skin tingling, hands shaking. But she still managed to shove it all down, giving her friend a smirk and stepping back to allow Gobber to present him with a new tail for Toothless. Astrid had recommended the colors.

The rest of the afternoon was a blur. Astrid challenged Hiccup to a flight, and then they were in the sky, the others twirling and stampeding around them with so little grace it was almost hilarious. Astrid whooped with joy countless times, relishing the feeling of the crisp air against her skin, the feeling of being alive, rushing against the wind and waves and sun. It wasn't unlike being kissed, she supposed— and then immediately banished that thought to the farthest reaches of Niflheim. They didn't return until the sun was sinking to the horizon, casting the world in an orange glow. Astrid took a huge breath of the salty air, realizing for the first time what a great weight had been lifted off her chest.

Hiccup was home.

She pushed him off his dragon for scaring her.

And then they all went to dinner.

Hiccup whistled as they walked into the Great Hall, him limping slightly. "Wow! Harvest came in early this year!"

An awkward silence froze the group.

He was right; the harvest that year had been amazing. Barley cooked in hundreds of ways were laid out on the table, overflowing barrels of mead, bean soup with onions and peas, cabbages, and potatoes boiled and slathered in yak butter lay out on the table. The scent of fresh fish came from the fires. That wasn't why his comment was so jarring.

Astrid felt stupid. She'd been out there in the sky enjoying herself so much she'd forgotten how much Hiccup would need to be caught up on.

"Hiccup…" Fishlegs began, but Snotlout's jarring laugh pierced through the kinder tone. "Dude, the harvest came in three weeks ago!"

Hiccup turned stark white. "I'm sorry, what?"

Astrid decided it was best to rip the bandage all the way off. "You were out for almost four months." She could see the gears in Hiccup's strange mind working, doing the terrible math. Four months.

He took it surprisingly well. That boy never ceased to surprise her. "So that's why Toothless was so crazy up there." He shook his head a little, as if trying to rebalance himself. Then he straightened. "Well, let's— wait, what's D— the chief doing up there?"

Astrid turned. Oh.

"Oh, yeah!" Ruffnut leaned against a table, braids splashing in someone's soup. "It's your birthday! Happy birthday, Hiccup!"

He blinked.

Stoick began his speech. Astrid didn't remember the details, but she could tell about halfway through that Hiccup'd had enough, and she told Fishlegs that.

"I know." Fishlegs whispered back, or spoke as quietly as he could to be heard over the normal racket. "I was just thinking the same thing. But where do we take him? Back to his hut? He still deserves a party!"

Astrid sat down between Fishlegs and Snotlout, pushing Snotlout almost off the bench. Her braid rubbed against her axe. She laced her fingers into a tent on the rough-hewn table.

"We can take him to our campsite."

"Good idea." Fishlegs stood, telling the others where to go under the guise of collecting their dishes. Ruffnut managed to stuff a full chicken leg in her mouth before heading for the door. They had to leave in ones or twos so that they wouldn't be noticed, and that gave Astrid time to look Hiccup over. Was it just the firelight, or had he lost even more color? He looked uncomfortable either way, like a sheep surrounded by dragons. Shoulders hunched, eyes down. Astrid tried her hardest to sympathize with him, imagine what he must be feeling, but it wasn't everyday someone found out they'd lost four months of their life to a fiery death ball. And even Astrid sometimes thought her crazy Viking relatives could get a little too loud for comfort.

She sighed. Yeah, she could understand not wanting to be here. Minutes passed by, and soon after Fishlegs slipped out, she grabbed a wooden mug and pushed her way through the crowd to the portion of the table Hiccup was sitting at. He looked almost like he was in a trance, he was so deep in thought.

"Hiccup."

He jolted, then relaxed. "A-Astrid, what's up?"

"Want some water?"

"Uh- yeah, sure, but I can get it."

Astrid leaned in, letting the cool liquid stream into his mug. Hiccup watched with flushed cheeks. Astrid asked, "You wanna get out of here?"

His face was a mask of relief and confusion.

"Just walk out the door whenever you want. I'll be right behind you."

"No." He whispered back. "Gobber's by the door. He'll stop me if it's just me." He cast a furtive glance around and stood, almost spilling his freshly poured mug of water. Astrid set the pitcher down. "You're gonna have to walk out with me. I've known this guy for years, he's a hopeless romantic. If we walk out together, he might make some crude comment, but he won't make us stay in here. Come on." Astrid stiffened as he shoved his hand into hers and, with a goofy apologetic smile, led her towards the double doors. The eyes of those around her seemed to bore holes into her back, but she assured herself that was just her imagination. No one was looking at them. No one could see him holding her hand.

They made it outside without an incident. The cool night air hit their faces, a welcome reprieve from the stagnant air of the Hall. Hiccup tugged her down the steps, only stumbling once.

"You're getting pretty good with your prosthetic."

"Thanks." Hiccup sighed, lifting the metal contraption so it angled, reflecting the light from the lanterns. "It's still so strange… not having a limb there. I don't think my brain's come to terms with it yet."

Astrid didn't know what to say to that. How could she respond? She'd never lost a limb. But she did know where they needed to go. "This way." She walked forward and Hiccup following, limping, still not letting go of her hand. Once they got into the woods it was a little strange. Astrid's palms were ridiculously sweaty, and yet Hiccup kept his rough, small hand wrapped tight around hers. She convinced herself it was just because he was scared of tripping and falling over some hidden rock in the darkness. And she wasn't wrong; he seemed to do that a lot. Every couple steps there would be a dull scraping sound and a muttered curse.

"Are we almost there?" Hiccup groaned after one particularly painful-sounding trip that almost sent him sprawling. "This thing and rocky terrain seem to have a grudge against each other." Astrid nodded. "Yep. Just up to the lightning tree."

"The lightning tree?!" Hiccup scoffed. "You guys built your hideout next to the spot that is in literally every bad bedtime story about Berk?"

Astrid nodded.

Hiccup seemed to take this information in for a moment. "Huh. Well, we won't get caught. None of the adults ever come up there. Great hiding place."

They emerged into the clearing, Orange light glowing from a crackling fire. Four shapes sat around it, with sticks and roasted meat. The cart sat, yak hide covering tossed to one side, overflowing with watered-down mead and baskets of wild strawberries. At the top sat Fishlegs' fish stew (ironic, isn't it?) and a platter of Snotlout's desserts: little barley cakes filled with boysenberry jam. Hiccup's face lit up for a brief moment before it fell back into his typical unsure expression. Astrid pulled her hand from his grasp and wiped it down her skirt, not because it was bad or anything, she was just sweaty. Hiccup nodded to himself. For the first time Astrid found herself worried about his reaction. Had she hurt his feelings somehow? But he simply stumbled forward, wincing, and sat on one of the logs next to Fishlegs.

They shared town news and good food until the stars rose high in the sky, talking and chatting and filling Hiccup in on all the pranks they'd pulled while he'd been 'asleep'. Some of them left him almost in tears of laughter. Astrid sat next to Ruffnut, content to watch her friends laugh and joke— and join in, of course. Snotlout needed someone to keep him in line.

Once the fire petered out they laid blankets from the tree out on the still-warm earth and wrapped themselves tight against the night's chill. Astrid, by some stroke of fate, ended up next to Hiccup. "Gods, Dad's gonna kill me." He muttered.

"We can go back."

"It's fine. I don't really wanna go home anyway." Hiccup shifted uncomfortably.

"What's up?" She whispered, eliciting a "shut up…" from Tuffnut.

"Nothing." Hiccup held her gaze for a moment before giving in. "It's my leg. I can't get comfortable with this thing weighing me down."

"Try taking it off." Astrid suggested. She'd never bothered to ask her Uncle Gunnar how he slept with a prosthetic. Maybe she should the next time she saw him. Hiccup shrugged, reaching down and fiddling with the straps of his false leg. A few grunts and yelps later, it was off, chucked a few feet away onto a small stretch of dirt. Hiccup let out a little sigh of relief. "You were right, that's way better, thanks."

"No problem." Astrid fell silent, aware of the closeness between them. An owl hooted somewhere nearby. Little bugs made chirping noises all around them. The night felt alive. They were silent for a long time.

"Have you ever looked at the stars, Astrid?" Hiccup asked, voice a sleepy murmur. The others had long since fallen asleep.

"Yeah." Astrid flipped over, arms forming a tent for her head to rest on. "Sometimes."

"No, I mean really look." Hiccup was more awake now. He turned to face her, eyes glinting in the moonlight. "See? That group of stars there, it looks like a guy riding a chariot. That's a sun god like Sünna." Astrid didn't see it, but something about Hiccup's tone made her want to.

"Tell me about him." She suggested.

Hiccup paused. "Well, there was this one myth I heard from a trader. They called the sun god Helios. He used to live in a golden palace, way off the edge of the earth, and he would pull the sun across the sky every morning."

"What happened to him? Why is he up there and not working the sun?"

"Well, the trader told me that as the people developed, a new god began to take over. His name was Apollo. He was a young upstart, at least compared to Helios, but he was popular. Like, really popular. He got the people to pay more attention to him than the other, older gods. And eventually, the people began to worship him instead of Helios. With no one left to believe in him, Helios faded away. But just before he faded, Apollo's sister turned him into a constellation so that anyone who knew the secrets of the stars would always remember him."

"That's cool." Astrid hummed. Where does he get these stories? "Tell me more. What's that one?" She pointed to a random clump

of stars.

"Oh, that's Orion. He's a hunter." This story was far longer than the first, Hiccup's suddenly confident voice weaving a story full of twists and turns. A boy rising from the earth, a supernatural gift from the gods, betrayed and blinded, seeking out the fading sun god for a last chance of restoring himself to his former grandeur. "Apollo's sister put him up there, too, because he was such a fierce warrior."

In the darkness, Astrid didn't bother to hide her smile. "Apollo's sister likes making stars. What's that really thick string of stars up there?"

"That's Oceanus, the river under the edge of the world."

"Why's it up there, then?" Astrid gave a mock gasp. "Don't tell me the earth is round."

Hiccup spluttered for a second. 'I don't know! May-maybe Helios just wanted to have something that reminded him of home! What if-"

Astrid punched him in the shoulder for the second time that night. "I'm kidding, Hiccup."

He scowled. Even that was adorable. "How was I supposed to know–"

He stopped, scrunching his nose. "Why's my nose wet? Toothless, did you–" He lurched to his knees, looking around for the offending Night Fury. Only said Night Fury was at least twenty paces away, curled like a bat over the other dragons, who slept in a pile of tangled limbs and tails. 'That's weird. What…"

"I felt one, too." Astrid glanced at her arm. Sure enough, a big fat droplet of water had landed on her forearm. "You don't think–"

The wind blew away the rest of her words.

"Oh, come on!" Hiccup coughed as ash blew into his face, the sudden gale stirring the remains of the fire. "Why does Thor always start his storms on that mountain? It's not like this place is important!" He had been attempting to get to his feet while talking, and took a step forward, coughing, only to almost fall on his face. Astrid caught him. "Where's my prosthetic?!" He called over the rain. Moments ago the sky had been crystal clear, save for a few clouds up by the mountains. "You threw it, remember?" Astrid kicked FIshlegs awake, who promptly rolled over on top of Ruffnut, who let out a bloodcurdling scream loud enough to wake the dead. That should get them up. Astrid spotted a glint of metal and hauled Hiccup toward it, bending down and depositing him on the ground before tossing him his prosthetic. He hissed as his bottom made contact with the ground. Astrid didn't have time to worry about it. "Guys, come on!"

"Where do we go?!" Fishlegs' voice somehow cut through the swirling tree branches and heavy rainfall.

"The tree!" Hiccup called, waiving Astrid's offered helping hand and pulling himself to his feet. "Get inside!"

"You're insane!" Snotlout roared, looking for all the world like a grumpy yak swaddled in his blanket of fur. "That tree is cursed! The adults were right, look around you!"

"The storms start here because the wind sweeps the clouds down the mountain!" Hiccup called, already dragging his sodden blankets towards the tree. Astrid grabbed hers and followed suit. "We'll be soaked if we try to go all the way home!"

"Whatever! No one said I had to listen to you, anyway! Dumb little…" Hiccup shook his head in annoyance as Snotlout stomped down the hill, disappearing into the mottled shadows."Come on!" Hiccup called, and they all squeezed inside. It was dark, the smell of pungent rot filling their nostrils. The blanket covering the door had miraculously remained dry, and so they took it down, replacing it with one of the heavy soaked ones and wrapping the dry one snug around themselves. It was still a tight squeeze, even with Snotlout gone, and so their body heat quickly heated the middle area. Hands and feet and heads, however, didn't have much of a chance to stay warm, what with the draft coming from the open topside of the tree. Hiccup grunted. "Give me the wet blankets. And your tunics."

"What?" Tuffnut asked ridiculously, rubbing his arms to institute a little more warmth. "It's cold enough already!"

"I'm going to plug up the top so it doesn't let in all those cold drafts. It sounds like we're gonna be stuck here tonight."

"Oh, gods, our parents are gonna kill us," said Fishlegs.

"Awesome! I hope it's painful!"

"Ruffnut-" Hiccup sighed. "Ok, here, give me your outer layers." He pulled his yak fur vest, cut from his father's chief robe, from his shoulders and took the blankets from Fishlegs. Tuffnut and Ruffnut reluctantly handed over their vests. "Now, if I could just get on your back, Fishlegs- ah…" Hiccup glanced down, then around, then at Astrid. "Maybe you better do it." Astrid nodded, taking his burden from him. He stumbled a little. I hope he's OK. Astrid found herself thinking, even as she hopped lightly onto Fishlegs' broad shoulders. A few minutes later, with instructions from Hiccup, lots of grunting and groaning, and Tuffnut jumping around the tree like a squirrel, they finally wind-proofed their little hidey-hole, the last glimmer of light leaving them. Then all Hiccup had to do was weight the door flap down with some rocks and they were set.

"That's better." Fishlegs squatted down and Astrid jumped off, landing lightly right in front of Hiccup. She couldn't help but notice how close they were. Almost as close as that morning, when she'd…

"Cool!" She yelped,a little louder than was necessary. She felt Hiccup flinch, his fingers smacking against her arm. "Sorry." He muttered. "It's dark."

Astrid elected to let it slide. "Now if I could just find a torch…"

"I have something better for you." Astrid listened in confusion as Hiccup groped around, eliciting several yelps and "Heys!"

He mumbled something to himself. Astrid felt a hand slide behind her back and leaned forward, wondering in the fact that he somehow knew where he was by pure touch. "I think it's right… here… aha!" The scraping of metal met her ears and she leaned over more, allowing Hiccup to slide something heavy past her. Then he reached back in and grabbed two more things, smaller. How had she never known there was a little pocket there?

"It's a lantern." Hiccup announced to the darkness. "I figured if I ever wanted fire in here, I could use this and not have to worry about my clumsiness setting the whole tree ablaze." Distant thunder cracked the sky and Fishlegs winced.

"Wait, you came in here too?" Ruffnut looked shocked. "I thought this was Astrid and I's spot!"

"Nope." Hiccup shrugged, striking the smaller pieces he'd grabbed against each other. Oh, flint and steel. Sparks flew, momentarily lighting his face. "I came up here all the time to hide from people."

"And I used to pretend to run a botany shop from the tree." Fishlegs added– or at least it sounded like Fishlegs, somewhere close on Astrid's right.

Tuffnut gasped. Now that sound was unmistakable. "This is Snotlout and I's bro club!"

"Not anymore!" Ruffnut gloated.

They exchanged stories for a long time, of all the fun things they'd done up here when they thought they were alone. Somewhere along the way, Hiccup's device, an open metal cage with a space for a large block of wood shavings soaked in wax (called a candle), had finally gotten lit. It was around then the stories began to get crazier. Someone had managed to grab a couple of Snotlout's barley cakes off the cart before the storm got too crazy, and the sugar only added to the unbelievability of the stories. Ghouls, wind spirits whispering in the trees, all sorts of chaos. By the time Tuffnut got around to telling the tale of one of his many crazy Uncles, Hiccup had almost fallen asleep. The storm was quieting, rain creating a soothing pattern on the leaves (a concept which Tuffnut was incredibly unhappy about). Astrid felt her eyelids growing heavy too, but she had to ask one more thing before they got what little rest they could.

"Hiccup?" She nudged his arm. He rolled over, sleepily grabbing at the blankets. "Yeah? Wassup?"

"Did you enjoy your birthday?"

"Oh, yeah…" He chuckled, and his cheeks looked red in the firelight. That strange fuzziness wrapped itself around Astrid again. "Best… birthday… ever…"

And that was enough for her.

A/N: Alright! I technically got it out before the deadline! Right? I totally didn't write 80% of it in the past two days… or completely ignore my novel to work on this… it's fine. It's fine.

Disclaimer: I know Vikings didn't celebrate birthdays, and I know Hiccup's birthday is on February 29, but I wanted to do something special for my own birthday LOL ?Also, any loose ends in this chapter will be tied up in the next chapter, next month. I'll probably post in between then and now as well, on other stories. Happy reading!

God bless, Grace