I wait some time for us both to settle down before I quietly slip down the stairs. Hiccup is sitting in a chair, legs out in front of him, head in his hands. "Did you, find dad?" I ask him softly. Hiccup turns around he opens his mouth to say something, hopefully apologise. But nothing comes out, he swallows and tries again, "Yeah, we found dad." He says. I smile, "What about Gobber?" I ask, Hiccup looks at me, "Yeah, we found Gobber to. He's okay, but dad got sick during the shipwreck. He'll be fine though." He replies. I let out a long and relieved breath. I stand there, finally taking a seat in the other chair. Hiccup is biting his lip a bit, "Alright Hiccup, spill." I say as I stare at him, his face is scrunched in thought,
He finally looks at me, "Isabella, I'm sorry for what I did, you, deserve to love someone. But, this isn't about that, Astrid has been my girlfriend for a long time, and I love her, so, while we were away, I took her to a nice beach, and I asked her to marry me." He says, He looks at me, biting his lip again like he expects to be hit in the head or something. I march up to him, he cowers down beneath me a bit, for a man who's taller then me, trains dragons, and fought the Red Death he is a wimp when it comes to girls. "Hiccup! That's great! Now Astrid will join the family, and then you two will have kids and I'll be an aunt and-" Hiccup stops my excited rant, "Woah, woah, woah. I never mentioned having a baby with Astrid! I'm already sort of regretting proposing to her. " He says. I glare at him, "You are marrying that girl!" I say a bit loudly, Hiccup laughs a little,
"Okay, okay. Actually, I want to thank you Belle, six years ago you gave me advice on how to win over Astrid, now I'm going to marry her, all thanks to you!" He says. I hug him, "Aww, thank you Hiccup, you deserve Astrid." I say. Hiccup takes a deep breath, "You do understand that now that dad is back, I have no control over what happens with you and Rye. Not that I was going to let you, but…" He explains,
We realize it's only noon, grab some lunch, and head out. Hiccup and I go to check up on Gobber before visiting dad. "Gobber! Oh it's so good to see you!" I say. Hiccup stands back as Gobber throws his good arm around my shoulders, "Oh I've missed ye lassy! And Hiccup, guess who I found sniffing your apron like you were never coming back?" Gobber says. Before anyone can even begin to say something, out jumps Toothless! The dragon pushes Hiccup to the ground and licks him, Hiccup stands up and hugs the wriggling dragon. "Toothless! Oh I'm never riding a 'Naddar again." He says as Toothless pushes into his grasp. "Well, see you soon, and congratulations on you and Astrid!" Gobber says, Hiccup smiles, paying attention to Toothless. We start out for the house Stoick is staying in. Along the way another dragon joins us, "Zip!" I shout as my dragon rubs against me.
I stare at his tail, "Alright, I'm not going to let Hiccup use your tail spikes, ever again!" I say, most of her tail spikes are missing, how do you even use that many?! "That was Tuffnut and Snotlout, they set Zip into a very painful panic, while I was riding him." Hiccup says as he rubs his shoulder, I glance to make sure nothing is wrong, "I wore armor, I promise." He says. I nod and we make the rest of the way to Stoick's, doctoring, home.
We knock and quietly walk in, leaving the dragons outside. We are lead upstairs to see Stoick, looking at letters from the villagers. "Dad!" I say as I smile and run to him. He hugs me, "Belle! Oh I was worried about you!" Dad says with a happy laugh. I giggle a bit, "I'm fine, everyone's good it seems! Hiccup's getting' married, your home, Gobber's busy in the blacksmith shop!" I say. Stoick puts on a very serious face, I glance behind me nervously to see Hiccup taking a seat in a chair. Stoick lifts up his chin a bit, his eyes still on me, "I heard, you have been romantically involved with someone new here. Has this young man joined our tribe?" He asks me. I hold my ground, this has to go well, "It hasn't been that romantic, no. He hasn't joined our tribe, and he isn't a part of any tribe or clan. He was born on a boat and has grown up traveling, he just wants to settle down in a peaceful place. His name is Rye, by the way." I try to explain. Dad nods a bit, "I am feeling better, and want to meet this young man. Can we find him?" Dad says. I smile and nod my head yes. Hiccup and I leave the room so that dad can get the rest of his clothes on. "Don't get your hopes up Belle," Hiccup whispers to me, I stare at my feet until dad finally comes out.
We walk down, being greeted by every person in the village on dad's safe return. Zip and Toothless are having a bit of a rough and tumble play date after being separated for a while. We work our way to a place Rye, SHOULD, be. I knock on the door of the old house, a minute passes and I'm about to knock again when the door opens revealing Rye. He looks past me at dad and Hiccup, specifically Hiccup.
He wipes the corner of his mouth which has a bit of blood on it. "My dad would like to talk to you Rye," I say a bit loudly, I lean in and whisper quickly, "It might be a yes." Rye nods and steps forward. "Hello sir, um, this old house isn't very safe. Why don't I get my stuff and we go somewhere else?" He asks, dad laughs a bit at Rye's nervousness or just because he's himself, I don't know, but it's clearing the air a bit.
Rye gets his bag and we pair up on Zip and Toothless, who have rejoined us now, to make the trip back to our house easier. While I wish Thornado was here to take dad, I guess this works. Rye is about to hop on behind me when Stoick points towards Hiccup and Toothless, Rye smiles a bit and jumps on behind Hiccup. Dad climbs up behind me, and we fly off to home.
We land and I jump off, dad jumps down behind me and walks over to Toothless who has just landed. He nods at Hiccup in some way that sends them into a silent conversation. Dad walks back over to me and places a hand on my shoulder, he walks me into the house, trying to block my view behind me.
Hiccup slides off of Toothless and turns to look at Rye. Who is sliding down making his feet hit the ground. Hiccup sends him in and then whispers to Toothless to go.
I fix four places for us to sit, dad takes his typical chair, Rye walks in with Hiccup behind him. They take they're seats and I sit down as well. Dad clears his throat, "So, Rye, you have feelings for my daughter?" He asks Rye calmly. Rye glances at me, "Yes. I do, sir." He says to my dad cautiously. Dad smiles a bit, "Very well. Are you willing to join our tribe for my daughter?" He says,
Rye swallows and nods his head and says, "Yes, I am willing to do almost anything for her." Dad tilts his head up, "Fair enough. In tradition, killing a dragon was the requirement for the daughter of a chief, but, you will be responsible for training a dragon. What do you think Hiccup? We got any dragons that need training?" Dad explains. I look at Hiccup, his face is straight, even I can't determine his emotions. He looks at dad, "I think I can find a wild dragon." He says, I smile a bit. Rye looks at dad excitedly, "You mean you approve?" He says, dad laughs. "Yes, I think I approve. Why don't we celebrate with a strong drink? Hiccup, do we have any of Astrid's yaknog? I thought she brought some.." He says,
Hiccup looks at us with a look that wants to make me laugh. "Astrid's yaknog doesn't have rum. Or any strong drink," Hiccup says. Dad bursts out laughing, "Son, Astrid told me the ingredients. Rum is sure in there! Two mugs worth," he says still laughing. Hiccup freezes, "Wait, that means that all those times Astrid gave me bunches of her yaknog at lunch, she was trying to get me-, Great!" He says as he searches for the cups and yaknog. I can't even laugh this is so insanely funny. Astrid has been trying to get my brother drunk for ages!
Hiccup finally finds the yaknog and mugs. He pours three glasses and gives one to Rye, one to dad, and keeps one for himself. "Where's mine?" I ask him. Hiccup looks at me and says, "I don't think you're ready for Astrid's yaknog. Plus, with all the rum you might get sick." I turn around and start pouring a mug for myself, I say to him, "Hiccup, I'm not such a child anymore. Yaknog isn't exactly the tastiest thing, and sure it has a lot of rum, but I still want some!" I complain. I sit back down in my chair, Dad and Rye are clearly already in the process of getting drunk on Astrid's yaknog. Hiccup like at his cup then takes a sip.
Dad and Rye are whispering when they look at me and Rye says, "Isabella, we dare you to chug down ALL of your yaknog." I stare at them then my drink, chug yaknog? That is obviously a horrible idea, but I always like showing my skills. "Alright, I will." I say, Hiccup looks at me in a scared sort of way then shakes it off and says, "Wait! I'll do it to. This is something we both need to do," I'm a bit surprised. Hiccup has never been one for such sports and competitions of chugging a strong drink like this. Dad yells go and we start off, I swallow as much as I can, the thick drink stopping me occasionally.
Hiccup is taking slowly swallowing his. I give him a look and take one huge gulp. He looks at me in a competitive way and takes a swallow. We competed and almost tie, me winning by a second or two. Dad and Rye clap, I feel dizzy, to much yaknog at once. Hiccup starts fumbling around, he falls down from the drunkness and the lack of caution with his metal foot. I pour myself a little more yaknog and swallow it. We hear a knock on the door and help each other over to answer it. Hiccup leans against the wall while I failingly open the door. Astrid smiles, then switches to a frown.
"What's wrong with you two?" She asks us, I hold myself steady as I say, "We got drunk, on a chugging competition with your yaknog," Hiccup speaks up after putting himself into an position so his hands were free, "You've been trying to get me drunk for years! Haven't you?" Astrid looks a little sheepish, "Well, it wasn't intentional. But I've always wondered what it would you would be like drunk. So I started trying to make you drunk without you knowing. Apparently, you become very clumsy, and unable to stand correctly." She giggles at her last words.
We hear a voice behind us after the flapping of wings, "What happened to them?" Snotlout says as he steps into view, we turn around a bit to see him. Astrid peers behind me towards Rye and dad. "They're drunk, all of them." She says. I nod my head at Snotlout, why is he here anyway?