I'm back again! Yes, this story will be continued, and I actually have most of it finished. It needs a lot of polishing, but it will be ready soon.
This next chapter won't really make sense of why I put it in here in the first place, keep reading and the point will make itself clear in the end. It is kind of an awkward chapter, but hey, I thought I'd spice up the storyline with my own flair.
I haven't mentioned this before, but it's rated T because of some suggestive material I use and the ability I have to curse like a sailor. Well, Astrid has, anyway...
Astrid collapsed onto her cot, her cold limbs sore and tired. There had been another raid three days later, though she had been allowed to stay with the bucket brigade this time. The raid had gone on much longer than expected and she spent at least an hour and a half running back and forth with large, full, cold buckets, until finally she made it home just after breakfast. I need some damn sleep...
"Astrid!" Her mother called from around the back of the hut. Astrid sighed weakly and stood up to walk through the back door and into the little shack where her mother stood.
"Astrid, I have a little surprise for you!" Her mother pushed her out of the cheap shack and closed the doors behind her.
"Uh, alright -" She took a second to yawn. "- what's up?"
Mjirna took her by the arm and dragged her back into the house, into the back room. Well, it wasn't necessarily a room; it was a back corner of the sturdy hut, closed off by a buckskin dressing screen. Within it was a large wooden bathing tub, but bathing in it had never really been a relaxing affair. There was only cold, cold water, unless one had a way of heating it. Which, somehow, Mjirna had conjured up. The tub was full of steaming water.
"Ta-da!" Mjirna gestured grandly at the tub. "Here you are!"
"Wh, what? How did you do this?"
"I used the stove, silly!"
The ability to use their humble stove to heat an entire tub of water escaped Astrid, but her mother was a handy woman, and this didn't exactly confuse Astrid much.
"For you! You've worked so hard lately, and your father says you've been doing so well with his training! I just thought you'd like some time to relax, and Magnus' given you a day off!"
Astrid sighed gratefully. "Oh, thank you!" She hugged her mother tightly, and with that her mother smiled, patted her on the cheek and left the "room."
Astrid grabbed a towel from the closet, quickly tore off her usual outfit of choice, and pulled her hair out of it's plait, smiling slightly the whole time. She slipped into the steaming water.
It was just the perfect level of warm. Her tense muscles began to unwind themselves as she stretched out in the rectangular, body-length tub, and closed her eyes. Ohhhh...
The house was completely silent. Her mother and father had left the house to do their duties. Magnus had left for a council meeting, while Mjirna had left for her baking job.
Suddenly, she heard a sound, much like that of someone rummaging through heavy things. Her parents shouldn't be home this early...
Astrid stepped out of her bath, threw her towel on, and pushed back the screen just enough to peek through. What she saw sent her heart fluttering and her cheeks turned red.
"Hiccup!" She stepped out of the dressing screen.
"Wha, Astrid? Astrid! Oh, uh, Astrid, I, erm..."
"What are you doing?" She was too tired to raise her voice, which meant she was also too tired to remember that she was clad only in a towel, her blonde hair hanging down in dripping ringlets.
"Uh, your mother told me to, er, pick up...the, the axe she needed, er, fixed..."
Astrid sighed. "Alright, well, hurry up!" She didn't notice that his vision was fixed on her uncovered legs and the top of her chest. She also couldn't tell by his face that she had to be the most fluidly graceful and beautiful woman he'd ever seen. Stop staring, stop staring, stop staring...
"Uh, yeah, I'll, uh, do that..." He quickly located the axe and struggled with it out the door. He poked his head in once more. "But if you need anything else-"
"Hiccup!" Astrid had turned towards the tub and almost taken the towel off. She jumped and covered herself.
"Okay, okay!" Hiccup bolted away from the hut.
Astrid took a deep breath and let it out slowly through her clenched teeth. Slowly, she slid back into the bath water, letting herself relax and slowly drift off into her daydreams. Mmmm...
She woke a half hour later from her daydreaming, still sitting in the lukewarm water. She slapped herself, realizing her daydreams had included Hiccup.
Didja like it? Didja? Didja?
Well, like I've said before: If you liked it, post a comment. If you didn't like it, post a comment. If you're bored as hell, post a comment. If you're...look, just do it.