The candle's light flickered and wavered, casting eerie shadows on the wall outside its ring of light. It illuminated a wooden desk, a piece of parchment, and the tired face of a young man. He was sketching notes, models, and diagrams on the parchment with a stumpy charcoal pencil, writing lists of supplies and measurements for repairs. He stared down at the list of supplies needed- many of them could be sourced from the island's own resources, but some would have to be bought from neighboring tribes. The question was, which ones were trustworthy to deal with, and was there enough money to buy what they needed?
Probably not. It would make sense that there was another thing he had to fix, besides his island and his life. In the few days since the Bewilderbeast fight, he hadn't even stopped to wash the charcoal Sign of the Chief off of his forehead, and, though faded and smudged from the little sleep he'd gotten, it remained as a reminder of everything he was expected to do now. Hiccup muffled a yawn and kept writing, though his mind felt slow and distracted from lack of sleep. He knew that his friends would probably find a way for him to rest if he wanted, but he didn't. He couldn't.
Astrid had been worrying about him, he could tell, but he didn't have time to think about that. He was throwing himself into his new job; even if he had no hope of being as great a leader as his father had been, he was going to try and not be completely useless. But he was so tired...would it really hurt to go sleep now? Would it be so bad to give in to physical desires and forget, for a while, forget that there was a whole island of people who needed him? Yes, of course it would, what was he thinking? They were his people now, and if that meant making some sacrifices, so be it.
A sudden pounding on the heavy wooden door interrupted his thoughts. Hiccup turned to look. Who would be coming to his house at this time of the night? Nobody else, as far as he knew, was even awake this early in the morning- it was barely an hour or two past midnight- much less awake with a good reason to come to his house. It wouldn't be that someone was sick or hurt- they'd get a Healer for that.
"Come in", he said, confused. The door opened to reveal a slightly sleep-mussed, (but still beautiful, in Hiccup's opinion) Astrid Hofferson.
"Astrid? Why are you here? Is one of the riders hurt? Is everything okay?"
"I'm here, Hiccup, because I saw your candle. It's been over a week, and I know you've barely slept."
Oh. So that was what this was about.
"I'm fine, Astrid, really- you don't have to come here in the middle of the night to tell me-"
"I think I do. And you're not fine, Hiccup", she interrupted fiercely. "Winter is coming, and, sorry, but you're still a bit of a shrimp. Go on like this and you'll get sick, and then there'll be no point to it anyway. You don't have to do this."
Hiccup shook his head, lack of sleep muddling his thoughts and confusing his sentences. "No- you don't understand- they need me. It doesn't matter. I'm fine."
Astrid leaned back and crossed her arms. "Hiccup, I know you. I know what this is about. Tell me what you think I don't understand."
"There's so much to do! I'm still not even done fixing the iced houses, and I still have to prepare for winter, there's food to be stored, and then I have to figure out where to get the gold for everything we need-"
"Hiccup, stop. Listen to yourself. 'I have to fix the houses.' 'I have to get the supplies.' You don't have to do all this by yourself. It's not a mark of a bad leader to let us help you. We're all in this together."
"But- I just want to be as great a leader as my dad was! I want to be one these people deserve, one the other riders deserve, one you deserve. I'll be okay. I'll figure out a way to make it work. I've got to at least look like I know what I'm doing."
"But you do know, Hiccup. You don't have to drive yourself to exhaustion to prove you're a great leader. You've been leading us, the riders, for almost six years now, and even Snotlout admits that there's no one better for the job than you. No one thinks quite like you do, and that's what makes you special. That's why your people believe in you. And that's one of the many reasons I love you."
Hiccup turned so that he was facing the wall, and the light from the candle was thrown on his face, illuminating the dark shadows under his eyes.
"The people need me, Astrid. They're my people now, and I've got to give them everything I have-"
"Pretty soon, all you're going to be giving them is a barely functional and probably sick Chief. If you want to serve them with everything you have, then you've got to take care of yourself, otherwise you aren't giving them your best."
"I... I guess I hadn't thought of that."
Astrid smiled. "I can be smart sometimes too."
"I'm too tired to argue with that."
"Now that's truly alarming. I'd better see that light out by the time I'm halfway to my house, hear me?"
Hiccup rolled his eyes. "Yes, mother."
"That reminds me", Astrid remarked, "You've got one of those who cares about you, too. She was about to get on your case any day now."
"Point taken", Hiccup agreed. "And now, because to refuse would be to risk all the limbs I have left, I'm going to bed."
"Good Chief", Astrid agreed, then headed out the door.
The next morning, Valka noticed that Hiccup actually sat down to eat, instead of rushing out the door first thing like he had been.
"I noticed that you slept some last night", she remarked.
"Wha..? You were asleep!"
"I'm your mother, Hiccup. There are things we just know."
"Yeah...Astrid came and talked to me a bit."
Valka nodded approvingly. "You're lucky to have her in your life."
Thor, am I ever.