Chapter 6

Astrid signed as she saw Valka's nest. She was rather tired from the little sleep the night before. Only the adrenaline kept her awake. She didn't look that often behind her to check that she wasn't being followed. That's how she didn't notice the Night Fury following them.

Hiccup yawned. This trip was quite exhausting, considering he hadn't gotten any sleep last night. But he had to find out where Astrid was going. He had been expecting that her dragon would show up eventually, but he hadn't expected the dragon would come so soon, what with the other injured dragon. Hiccup noticed they were going North. Farther then he and the other dragon riders had ever gone. They had preferred flying South when finding new dragon species. Suddenly he saw Astrid flying into a huge fog. When they reached the edge of the fog, Toothless made a disapproving snort. "I know you don't like fog, Bud, but this is our only chance to find out where Astrid's going," Hiccup said, while stroking Toothless' head, before nudging him forward. So, they flew into the fog. Not long after, the fog lifted revealing a big island with huge spikes of ice covering the top. Hiccup gasped as he saw the spikes. He wondered what creature had done this. Then he spotted Astrid and her dragon just as they disappeared into a cave entrance. "Come on, Bud, we're almost there."

Astrid and Stormfly rushed through the tunnel. Astrid quickly waved "Hello" to the dragons who were guarding the tunnel. They all knew her now, so they gave her friendly snorts, before minding their own business. When she made it to the underground valley, she saw Valka and Cloudjumper, ready to go out on patrol or something. "Astrid!" Valka cried out in relief as she ran to the other woman and embraced her with a signature Valka bear-hug. "I was so worried. Are you alright?" "Yes, don't worry. They didn't hurt me. I'm just a bit tired." Suddenly a dragon roared in alarm from the tunnel. "Oh no," Astrid thought, "Intruders!"

Hiccup took out Inferno, his inflammable sword, and lit it on fire. Then he swung it around himself a few times, making all the dragons back up a few steps. He turned it off again and let out the Hideous Zippleback Gas from the hilt. That would make the other dragons think he was one of them. Toothless watched this, while readying himself to pounce on any unfriendly dragon. Hiccup then stretched out his hand to touch the Gronckle in front of him, when he heard her voice. "You just had to follow me." He looked to the right to see Astrid. She was standing not too far away from him between two other dragons. There was a taller woman standing behind her. Hiccup smirked, "Well, it was pretty easy to see you flee Berk from the forge. Next time find a more hidden spot to mount your dragon." Astrid groaned and opened her mouth to say something when the woman behind her spoke, "Hiccup?" The woman walked past Astrid towards Hiccup. "Could it be after all these years? How's this possible?" she said. "Should I know you?" Hiccup asked. The woman was certainly older than Astrid and had long, brown hair in a braid. He noticed Astrid looked just as confused as he did. She also had no idea what was going on. "No, you were just a baby," the woman said. There was a pause where her eyes were on the ground, then looked up again to meet his eyes. "But a mother never forgets."

"But a mother never forgets." Astrid felt her jaw drop. Hiccup was Valka's son. It all made sense. The longing expression by the mention of Berk and Hiccup. How Hiccup and Valka looked so alike. And still she couldn't believe it. Why had Valka never returned to Berk? "Astrid, are you alright?" Valka asked worriedly. Astrid realized her mouth was still open and she was staring with very widened eyes. She closed her mouth and her cheeks flushed red with embarrassment. She had gaped at a mother-son reunion. How disrespectful! Her mother would've been very disappointed in her. She tried to think of a polite response, but all that came out was, "He's your son!" Valka nodded. "Which means you're from Berk." Valka nodded, again. "Which also means Stoick the Vast is your husband. Oh my God, you were married this whole entire time!" Again, Valka nodded. Astrid stared at Valka, then at Hiccup who seemed to be processing what he had just heard, then back at Valka, then back at Hiccup. That's when Astrid realized something else. "You know what. I think I've ruined this reunion enough. I'm just going to go check on Speedy in the infirmary and leave you two. You've got a lot of catching up to do I think." With that she raced to Stormfly and flew out of the tunnel and into the valley. When she knew Valka couldn't see her anymore, she let a few tears roll down her cheeks. She was happy that Valka had reunited with her son, it just hurt when she knew she could never reunite with her mother.

"Come this way!" Valka said as she flew ahead. "Wait!" Hiccup called after her, as he raced with Toothless behind her. "You can't just say something like that and just run off. You're my mother! Do you know how insane that sounds?" "We're almost there," Valka announced. The tunnel lighting was starting to get brighter. "I have a lot of questions. Where have you been all this time? Everyone thinks you're dead," Hiccup shouted, before he and Toothless flew into the light. He saw hundreds of dragons flying in the air or relaxing near a lake. Hiccup gasped. They stood before a massive underground valley. "So, this is where you've been all this time?" His mother looked and smiled, "Isn't it beautiful?" "Yes, the view is breath-taking." Hiccup looked at his mother. Gobber had been right. He got his looks from his mother, except for her eyes. He had his father's eyes. "So, you live here with Astrid? No other humans, just dragons?" "Yes," Valka said, "Sometimes it can get a bit lonely, but Astrid is good company." Hiccup nodded, "How long has she been here?"

"She arrived last summer. Poor thing, cold to the bone. She had bought this horrible cloak that didn't warm her at all. She could barely speak our language back then. Luckily she's a fast learner."

"So, what do you know about her?"

Valka stared at her son. She hadn't seen him in nineteen years, so she wanted to memorize every detail. She smiled at his last question, "She loves dragons. She loves to study them, take notes and fly with them. She's good at learning languages. She has traveled with Stormfly around the world for seven years. She says she's an explorer." Hiccup nodded, then stared ahead looking over the valley once more. "So, this is where you've been all these years?" "Yes, Cloudjumper brought me here and I've stayed here ever since." "Why didn't you ever come back to Berk?" Valka signed, "At first it was because of the dragons. I believed there was a way for peace between the dragons and humans. One night, my belief almost got you and your father killed. That's why I left. Years later when Astrid started telling me about the rumors that Berk was at peace with dragons, I couldn't believe it. I was also afraid if I went back to Berk, everyone would only be angry at me for not returning sooner." She stopped and looked at Hiccup. "You're not angry?" she asked. Hiccup shrugged, "No…I don't know. It's a lot to take in." Valka nodded and smiled in relief.

Speedy roared in delight when she saw Astrid walk in. "Hey, girl, how are you doing? Your wing isn't too badly damaged, is it?" Astrid said as she examined the bandaged wing. The dragon shook her head and Astrid sensed that the dragon was very happy. That's when Astrid heard some very loud puking noises coming from the back. Speedy got a bit nervous and curled herself into a ball. Stormfly turned her head away at the disgusting noise. Astrid walked father into the infirmary. Some dragons had suddenly gotten very weak and dizzy. They couldn't fly anymore or even walk in their condition. Yet neither she nor Valka understood what kind of sickness it was. In the end, they decided to keep the weak dragons in the back of the infirmary and keep an eye on them until they got better. Astrid stopped in her tracks and stared in horror at the sight in front of her. "Oh no, this is NOT good, not good at all."

The dialog between Hiccup and Valka is the same as in the 2nd movie until they're in the valley.

Sorry for again taking so long. It's been a crazy couple of weeks for me. I'm going to try to be a bit quicker with the next chapter.