Ruffnut's Wish Chapter 7 (Epilog)
It was Sunnudagr. (We would call it Sunday.) The town's weekly meeting was tonight. It was usually short; no one likes meetings unless somebody brings coffee and donuts, and the Vikings couldn't grow coffee and had never invented donuts, so they all hated meetings.
Stoick recited the week's total of fish caught, which was the village's lifeline; the news was pretty good for this time of year, even though one boat came back empty near the start of the week. Gobber took a minute to ask people to take it easy on their garden tools – the forge was overflowing with dulled picks, broken rakes, and bent shovels that needed repairs. He also passed on a message from Gothi, requesting that if anyone had any extra dried herbs lying around the house, she needed them to finish the training of her new apprentice.
"Just before we end this meeting," Stoick said, "I have a few legal announcements." That statement was met with yawns and rolled eyes. "First off, we've concluded a trade agreement with the island of Fedje. This will take care of the extra products that our leather-workers and our yarn-spinners have been producing. In return, we'll get some good-quality fabric for clothing, we'll never lack for fishing nets or extra sails again, and, best of all, we'll get some beef in our diet every few weeks!" Everyone applauded politely, with a few scattered cheers.
"There are a few other special contracts that I want to announce before you all. First, I'm pleased to announce the engagement of Ruffnut Thorston to Flinrider of Kelso Island, one of those leather-workers I was just telling you about!" Everyone cheered as the happy couple stood and gave each other a high-five.
"Also engaged this week is Ferncookie of Kelso Island, to our own Tuffnut Thorston!" More applause.
"Also engaged this week is Misti Reese, to my nephew Snotlout, son of Spitelout! His father left this morning for a three-week round trip to make the arrangements – the boy and girl went on ahead by dragon so her parents wouldn't worry about her – but we can congratulate them when they return." Again, all the Vikings applauded.
"And a fourth engagement! Anitra Bjorndottir, another visitor to Berk, is now betrothed to Fishlegs Ingerman! His father, like Snotlout's father, is at sea, on his way to finalizing the arrangements." Anitra and Fishlegs stood, somewhat embarrassed, and nodded to the crowd. Amidst the cheers, Gothi got Gobber's attention and scratched something on the floor with her staff. The smith stood.
"Ladies an' Vikings, Gothi has just informed me that four engagements in one week was th' tribal record for this part o' the Northland. We tied th' record! Maybe they'll write a saga about us!" That brought some real cheering. Stoick just smiled.
"No, we didn't tie the record!" he boomed, stunning everyone into silence. "We broke it! Thanks to some quiet negotiating I did with Gunnarr Hofferson this morning, I'm especially pleased to announce the engagement of his daughter, Astrid, to my son Hiccup!" That brought the loudest cheers of all, mostly for the record-breaking part.
As everyone congratulated the happy couples and pounded them on the back, Hiccup made his way to where Astrid waited with her family. She looked a bit angry for some reason, so he approached her cautiously.
"When did you find out about this?" she demanded.
"Just now, the same as you," he said hesitantly. "I wasn't keeping any secrets from you."
"Good," she smiled, and hugged him tighter than he'd ever been hugged before. She'd never admit it to anyone (except Hiccup, of course), but she was as thrilled by this development as he was. She'd caught him at last!
When she released him, she noticed him trying to catch his breath. "Are you okay?" she asked, concerned.
"I will be, now that we're finally engaged," he smiled, "but for a second there, I thought you were going to break my breastbone."
"I can't promise I'll never whack you in the arm again, especially if you really need it," Astrid said solemnly, "but I'll promise you this: from now on, I'll be more gentle with the hugs.
"The last thing I want is another broken wishbone!"
THE END