"A wife? Well that's, uhh, sudden." Said Hiccup, surprised that his father would even bring it up.
"Oh, nonsense." Said Stoick. "The signs are all there, and I can tell you, the wife of the chief is a very important job. Your mother may not have seemed it, and she would have never admitted it, different as she was, but she was a natural when it came to organizing people and getting things done. I don't know how I've managed all these years without her. Besides, I think we both know exactly the special lass for the job."
"Umm, and who would that be?" Asked Hiccup nervously, already knowing the answer as well as all the sex they'd already had under everyone's noses.
"Well, Astrid of course!" Said Stoick. "I couldn't ask for a better future daughter in law. Don't worry. Gothi insisted upon it, and you already have her parent's blessing. You can propose to her tonight."
Hiccup gawked at him in shock and horror. "Tonight?! But . . . okay." He sighed, halfheartedly agreeing to his father's irrational request.
"Good, now go! I expect you to have a fiancé by the end of the day."
Hiccup rolled his eyes. "Yeah, sure dad, but there's something I need to show you first." He dug around in his satchel for his notebook and pulled it out, flipping to the page where he had sketched the dragon riders. "We've been seeing these people riding over The Edge recently. Do you recognize them?"
Stoick's eyes widened. "No, but I do recognize this." He pointed to the four winged dragon. "This looks exactly like the beast that carried your mother off."
"Really?" Hiccup looked at the picture again. "My mom was pretty tall right? Taller than I am now?"
"Yes. Why?"
"What if," he showed his father the picture again, and pointed to the armored rider, "this is her? What if she's not dead after all?"
Stoick sighed. "Hiccup, that's ridiculous."
"But dad, what if–"
"Hiccup, if your mother was really still alive, don't think she would have come back? Now go. You have more important things to be thinking about."
Hiccup sighed. "Right." Then he got up and walked out into the village, deciding to wait until morning to tell Astrid the big news. Toothless joined him on the way back to his house and nudged him with concern.
"It's really okay, bud." Said Hiccup. "I'm just nervous to ask Astrid. I mean I'm just not ready. And then there's the idea about my mom. I don't know. Maybe it was a ridiculous idea. It was just this tiny hope I had in me, you know, that maybe she would still be alive so I could actually meet her and talk to her. I just don't know much about her."
Toothless nuzzled him sympathetically, and Hiccup got into bed, feeling much more restless and frustrated than he had before. "I guess I could ask my grandmother." He said. "I mean if anybody knew my mom, it was her."
Toothless grunted in agreement, and Hiccup pulled his blanket over himself, hoping that tomorrow would be a better day.
0o0o0o0o
Hiccup woke up early the next morning, barely able to eat breakfast as he geared himself up to talk to Astrid, thinking of all the ways he could screw up. He had to be calm, simple. He had not to stumble over his words. He had to not panic over this. It's not like this was his idea in the first place.
He went with Toothless to find Astrid, which wasn't difficult. She was at the forge, having her axe sharpened while Stormfly watched with interest. She noticed him, and waved from a distance. Hiccup waved shakily back, rehearsing how he'd do this in his head. He was planning on just explaining the situation to her, but the more he thought about it, and the closer the got, the sweatier his palms got. What if she took it the wrong way? What if he did actually kind of want to marry her?
"Hey Hiccup." Said Astrid when he finally got up to her. "Are you okay?"
Hiccup scoffed dismissively, but it came out like an awkward, nervous chuckle. "Oh, uhh, hey Astrid. Yeah, heh, I'm totally fine. There's just something I need to talk to you about."
"And what's that?"
The expectant expression on her face made Hiccup panic.
"Uhh, I was wondering if you . . . wanted to go out flying with me this evening. Y'know, kind of a date."
Astrid smiled a little. "Okay, that sounds like fun."
Hiccup nodded. "Yeah, cool. Anyway, I've got to go take care of something, so see you then."
"Alright, see you then."
Hiccup sighed in relief as he made his escape, Toothless following close behind him. He hadn't popped the question, but at least he'd bought himself some time. For now, he headed to go on a rare visit to see his grandmother, his mother's mother, hoping she'd have some answers or validation concerning his theory. His grandmother lived on the outskirts of the village, because she hated the village . . . in a different way than Mildew hated the village. From what he knew, his grandfather had become an outcast from the village for his interest in dragons, and this eventually led to his untimely, unsavory end. His grandmother never forgave Hiccup's fraternal grandfather, who was chief before his father was chief, and her hate had turned into a hate for Stoick as well, which she held on to during his parent's short marriage, and still persisted to this day. She liked Hiccup though, and she still cooked in the mead hall. They all considered themselves lucky to have that much.
He finally made it to the quirky little house, and cautiously knocked on the door, the image of the armored rider, that carried that one slim hope, clasped tightly in his hand.