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The first news of the return of Gobber and the youths from the ill-fated trip to the Berserker islands had been met with excitement. Last he'd heard, Hiccup and her peers had been snatched from a ship passing Outcast waters and taken into custody. He had heard this less than a day ago and had begun mobilizing. There was no way in Helheim he would leave his only child in the grasp of his fallen shield brother. He would use and abuse her, and no matter the issue between them, he would be sure to keep her safe. He owed his late wife that much.

But then came the news. It was met with great relief, when meeting the youths at the docks. The lot of them were worn and tired but otherwise unharmed. Gobber greeted him with a firm grasp at his shoulder. The youths eyed him, with mixed expressions, the dire situation had affected them, being in the hands of an enemy without family names to keep them safe. Stoick would always look out for his tribesman, but his view point would about be respected by the likes of Alvin.

"We need ta talk." Gobber told him and they went to his empty home. The house had felt so much more empty wince the departure of his daughter No fires, dragging in terrors, or scattered drawings and charcoal all over the house. Gobber gave him a full report of the incident, mostly second hand. Stoick listened quietly, taking in very tidbit, once all was said, the pair sat in silence for a good while.

"He's dead." Stoick asked. The whispers of the other man's fate ha saturated the people of his village. There were whispers of his death, of his murder at his daughter's hands. Most had been stunned by the news spread by the village's youths.

"Yah." Gobber confirmed.

"An' Hiccup killed him?" He asked, gently. It couldn't be true. Valka's weak little girl couldn't have been driven to that point.

"The how varies, but the who, everyone agrees she did it." Gobber wasn't telling him everything, a typical thing regarding Hiccup, but this didn't seem a good time for it.

"How?" His voice cracked on the single word.

"Girl 'erself said she cut his throat when 'e had 'is guard down."

"An' the babe?"

"A robust boy, a fine heir for the Berserkers. Dagur is right proud of 'em both."

"I'm a grandfather…"

"Aye, ya are." Stoick removed his helm and put his face to his hands.

"My baby 'as a baby." It hadn't been so long ago that the child had called him "daddy" and spent many afternoons hunting for trolls. It hadn't been so long ago that he had held her as an infant in his own arms. Then her future was still unsure, he wondered if that was what she felt, holding her own child, a son at that.

"Tha she does. An' she sent me 'ere ta tell ya. She wants ya there for her son's namin' ceremony."

"She does?"

"Aye, she made sure to tell me that. She wanted me ta tell ya, 'e's got Valka's eyes." Stoick choked backa sob.

"It's a chance ta mark thin's right, Stoick. Dun fail her here."

X

Hiccup's return had been met with great joy and celebration The return of their Chief, his wife and healthy male heir made the people wish to toast to their glory. The congratulations of her tribesmen had been endless, everyone from youngest children to the oldest crone came with good wishes. There were no gifts, not yet, not until the boy survived a month, such was the way. Stronger babes had died for no reason, healthier ones simply passed in the night. One month was usually enough to determine the babe living at least until early childhood. But that didn't stop the many women of the tribe from holding and cooing over the babe. He was the heir to the chief if all went well. Hiccup was happy to see him treasured.

Her own birth was met with similar joy once she'd survived a month. Their beloved Chief's first and only surviving child, runt or not. Gobber had told her such stories when feeling rejected and outcast from her tribe. He told of how they hung brightly colored banners, held tournaments and rang bells to celebrate. There was singing and dancing in the square and her father had even killed a monstrous nightmare and presented it as an offering to Odin to show his thanks. He talked about how her father had carried her everywhere, eager to present her to all caring to notice and how her mother had been so utterly relived that one child had lived at last.

Preparation from the boy's naming ceremony took full priority. The first heir to be born, the first Chief's child to be born in nearly twenty years. And if nothing else, Berserkers knew how to celebrate. Endless barrels of mead were brewed, countless animals slaughtered for the feasting, goats, sheep, yaks and everything in between. Every person of craft was busy toiling to make a gift for the newborn, clothing, weapons, toys and even a few books. Rooms and bed were prepared in the great hall for the leaders of other tribes. Camicazi and her mother Bertha were the first foreign guests to arrive. The former nearly knocking the new mother down in a tackle.

"Hiccup!" The gleeful girl shouted, wrapping her arms around her friend.

"Cami?!" Hiccup questioned trying to regain her balance.

"You guessed right, I would never miss a celebration."

"You weren't there for the wedding."

"Psh, it was pretty short notice, beside Mom is still mad you were married off to him. Said you'd be dead in a fortnight and no point in celebrating." Hiccup sighed.

"Yeah, okay…. Just don't say that in front of Dagur. He may not because be able to chase you at the moment but he'll give you hell when he's out of the splint."

"Gods, Dagur in splints, I gotta see that." Camicazi practically cackled. Annoyed by the lack of attention the baby squirmed in his sling, making small noises of discontent.

"Aw is this the little one?" Cami asked poking the baby's cheek. The boy squirmed, his face scrunching up in preparation to wail. Hiccup immediately bounced him to quell his fit. She was otherwise unperturbed by the risk of squalling.

"Yup, my little Pip." Hiccup told her proudly, bringing the boy where Cami could see him more clearly. Cami seemed unimpressed though.

"A boy? Too bad, we need more girls like you." Hiccup chuckled lightly.

"Something you can agree on with Dagur. What do ya know?" Hiccup laughed. This only caused Cami's expression to sour further, then twisted into amusement.

"Pft! You really do have him wrapped around your finger." She laughed heartily.

"Cami, we love each other, okay, nobody has anybody wrapped around fingers." Hiccup scolded. It hardly mattered, the good humor inspired by her friend caused a smile to split her features.

"Boo, still the dull hiccup I've always known." Cami chuckled, poking her cheek.

"Where's your mother?" Hiccup asked, noticing the lack of large hugging arms and smothering bosoms.

"Off bothering Dagur I'm sure." Hiccup rolled her eyes.

"By the gods, I think every chief coming who holds fondness of my tribe is going to do the same damn thing."

"Well, bothering him is just too much fun, not to mention easy."

"You gonna take a shot at it?"

"While he can't chase me, you know it." With a wicked grin, she peeled off into the village, Hiccup staying behind shaking her head fondly. The baby made a curious noise, Hiccup looked down at him, bemused.

"Yeah, that's our friends for you. You're gonna have to learn to run fast." The baby simply babbled in response.

X

Toothless initially had not been sure what to make of the hatchling. Dragon pips were fairly helpless but not that helpless. All this little one could do was flail his limbs, he couldn't pick up his own head or move without the care of his mother. And he didn't even eat his regurgitated fish. Mally was also suitably confused when the pip latched onto his mother's abdomen and sucked. The humans called it "nursing" it seemed strange way to feed. The few times he had tried to show his human how to properly feed pips he got a swat to the head from the brown human as well as shouting from his rider's mating partner. Mally agreed that humans were crazy and had no clue how to raise pips. But they obeyed their rider's requests and refrained from trying to feed the pip. Though it did seem to enjoy their company, making pleasant noises when the dragons crooned or licked it. This the riders allowed.

Usually Toothless won't bow so easily, but he understood the protectiveness of parents with their hatchlings. He would even accept the shouting of Mally's rider. It was their pip, he supposed. Though he felt some bond with it already. Mally and he agreed it would be as though it were their own pip and would protect it as such. It was natural, dragons always looked out for young one regardless of species for the most part. And this little Pip would undoubtedly carry on the work of his mother insuring the well-being of dragon for the future, for little pips not yet even born. This little one was their hope for a world where their kinds could live in peace and they would destroy anyone who got in the way of that.

X0

Stoick arrived until a madhouse, many ships full of different tribes, traders and travelers, all coming to greet the new baby. There were exotic foods and vibrant cloth being carried in as gifts. It took nearly ten minutes to find the auburn head of his daughter mixed into the mess. It took her a few moments to notice him and he simply took her in. The beast was about her legs like a loyal hound, his eyes large and docile. His daughter looked a touch pudgier from childbearing and he saw a tiny bundle huddled to her chest. It was his grandchild, his grandson. Then she caught his eye and smiled. The girl pushed through the crowd with the aid of her handmaid and finally stood before him. Stoick couldn't help himself, he lifted her up into a bear hug as he had when she was a child. He felt her nuzzle in. And he put her back down. The dragon eyed him, unsure what to make of the him. Hiccup led him from the madness so they could talk in peace, outside her home. They sat on a bench by the doorway.

"Hey Dad."

"I'm glad ta see ya well, child."

"Not so much a child anymore. Meet your grandson." She transferred the boy into his arms. He was tiny and delicate, with big green eyes. He looked like Hiccup did as a baby, but with fairer hair. He had to fight back his tears. He looked like Hiccup, he looked like Valka.

"He's healthy, the shaman says she's hasn't seen such a healthy boy since Dagur was born.

"Aye, he's got his ears, and his jaw."

"Dagur adores him, so do I. It won't be long until he starts walking." Hiccup commented lifting the boy a bit to mimic walking.

"Don't get ahead of yerself. He can't even crawl yet."

"I know; I know…. It's weird."

"It will be for a while."

"I mean it never felt real until I was holding him." Hiccup corrected. The lost look on her face so echoed Valka's so many years ago.

"I felt the same way."

"When I was born?"

"Aye." Hiccup cooed at the baby as he squirmed in his swaddling.

"I don't know if you knew this, but yer mother an' I, we had little luck with babes. None even made it to birth. You were the first. Even then, you were small, Gothi didn't think you'd survive the night. I dun know if it was denial or a feelin' but I knew you'd make it. Told your mother tha, she didn' believe me. She was cryin' up a storm. But I said it, and you did. I'm glad, ta see our troubles didn' become yers and Dagur's." Hiccup starred up at him mixed feelings circulating through her expression. She eventually looked down at her son, moving him a bit to cradle him closer.

"He wouldn't have cared if we couldn't have kids…. He told me as much, when I was recovering from the Red Death attack. He said if I had died, he would never have remarried, or had children. He only he wanted it with me."

"He sounds good ta ya."

"He is."

"Hiccup…."

"Yes, Dad?"

"I'm sorry." Hiccup tensed, looking ay him with large confused eyes.

"What?"

"I'm sorry for fer everything, every fight, treatin' ya like a disappointment, marrying ye off against yer will and refusing to let ye be happy after. I'm sorry, yer my life, yer my only child and I love ye, I do. I want thing between us ta be good. I want my grandson to see his ma and grandpa getting' along. I dun wanna lose ye."

"Dad…"

"Ye were so weak when ye were born. And after what happened with yer mother, I was so scared of losing ye. I thought Dagur would keep ye safe in a political arrangement, I thought keeping ye from dragons would prevent ye from ending up like yer mother. I thought a lot of things and made a lot of mistakes. And I hope you can forgive your old dad someday." Hiccup looked away and took a bit of time to consider this, opening her mouth and closing it several times before formulating an answer.

"I won't, I won't say that I've forgiven you for everything. I can't promise I will. But I will try. You're my dad, and my son's grandpa. You're going to be a part of our lives and I want you to be. I want to move past this. I love you Dad."

"I love you too, my girl." They remained in the embrace for several moments, thankful for the somewhat isolated nature of the Eldsen home. After a bit, they pulled apart with some sniffled and choked laughs.

"Now, where's yer idiot husband, I need to give him a talking too for nearly getting his fool ass killed." Hiccup laughed weakly, trying hard not to let her unease at the idea show. This was a bad idea, she was sure Dagur and her father had been alone together, well ever. Dagur let his mouth run too often and without her there to regulate him, gods knew what he would say.

"You'd be the third chief today." He looked down at his grandson again, then reluctantly handed the baby to her.

"I'll be talking to him, alone." Hiccup nodded and walked away, glancing over her shoulder once before disappearing into the crowds.

X

Stoick found his son by law sitting in a chair by the fire, a touch better than finding him in a bed. After everything, he could certainly afford no weakness, especially after monumentally failing his wife and son. He was writing documents and sealing them with his crest, trying to look as though he was busy at least. Dagur looked up with slightly glazed eyes. Cleary he had been taking pain tea for his pain. And he looked like he needed it. His arm was clearly badly injured and his leg in a splint. He had heard the majority of his ribs had been broken, hidden beneath too large armor. When he met eyes with the younger chief, there was a beat where they simply locked gazes.

Indeed, his grandson resembled this boy, boy because he would never call him man, his jaw and ear for sure, and something about the overall demeanor. The younger chief put down his quill with a grin. Stoick knew that grin well, the grin of Iona, his mother. Though Oswald came from a long line of half mad warriors, it was not from him his good-son got his madness, but from his mother. Iona was a decent woman, honorable and fair, but the madness was there, especially in battle. It unnerved him then and did the same now. He often wondered how much mead had been in his belly when he agreed to marry his only child, his precious daughter to this beast. Then he seemed a lesser evil than his damnable nephew but time proved him wrong. The boy made her happy, that much was made clear, but part of him wondered how long it could last. Dagur was far madder than his mother and seemed to carry the combined madness of his ancestors, how long until he turned on his family. It wouldn't be the first time in his line. And yet, this boy smiled at him like a friend.

"Chief Stoick, Dad, can I call you dad, I mean I am your son in law and I am quite close with my dear wife as well, not to mention she is your only child and-"

"Shut your fool mouth boy." The grin disappeared in a moment.

"Alright, that may be deserved but-"

"Ah told ya, quiet."

"I entrusted ya with my daughter, mah only child. In your care, she lost a leg, and nearly her life because you couldn' protect her." Dagur took a deep breath, clearly trying to reign in his temper. He stiffened and pulled his posture into one far more authoritative.

"To be fair your daughter got in a good deal of messes because she didn't listen to me. But she's alive, I'm alive and we will live together for all our days and raise our new son and all come after him. You think you're the first to scold me today. Well, I'll tell you what I told them. Imagine someone having your wife or husband, someone you loved very dearly whose health was in a bad place, imagine having no power to protect them from nature and the having to kill someone wanting to hurt them and your only child in the worst way possible. Imagine feeling that letting another win your battle would be nearly the worst idea possible, because frankly, reputation is everything these parts. Though I doubt you can understand that. I believe you let your wife get carried off by feral dragons."

"Watch it boy."

"And sold your so-called precious child in to a marriage with a so-called lunatic, haha. Is that about right, not only that but a lunatic who supported her into becoming better person than she ever was being raised by you."

"You little-!"

"Tell me Stoick, who do you think she loves more, the man who has loved and supported her, making her into a legend and worshiping her for the goddess she is? Or does she love the father, who thought so little of her, he sold her into a marriage where she could very well die within a year, a father who would hand leadership that should have been hers to a nephew who was too fool to see then gem he was betrothed to, a man who failed her and her mother." Stoick punched the boy in the mouth. Dagur's head cracked to the side, but he made no sound or complaint. He simply looked back at him and the grin came back.

"or maybe she just prefers the one that fucks her into unbelievable pleasure." Stoick looked ready to strike again when he heard the door creak behind him. He tuned to see his daughter's apparent handmaid staring with big eyes at the scene, caught between the gazes of the husband of her mistress and her father, unsure which to speak to or defend.

"Vessa, sweetie, come on in, Chief Stoick was just leaving." It was the first time Stoick had really taken a look at the girl. She was hardly older than his daughter her coloring and facial structure spoke of Rome. There was a confidence beneath her demure act, he could tell. Was she Dagur's lover, far too attractive to simply be a handmaid. Perhaps he had what he need to bring his daughter home after all. He watched the girl's amber eyes dart between the two leaders of equal standing to her mistress unsure of herself.

"As you say." She managed eventually. Stoick knew dismissal when he heard it, he let go of the injured boy's scruff and dropped him roughly. He stormed to the girl and towered over her. Yes, too pretty to simply a handmaid, there was no way the girl wasn't bedding Dagur, he bent down enough to speak to her.

"I would speak to you, girl." He watched her eyes dart to Dagur, for defense or excuses.

"Oh go ahead Vessa, I ain't got anything to hide, unlike him." Reluctantly the girl trailed behind him to the bench here he had sat with his child only moments before.

"Start talkin' girl." He demanded.

"About what exactly?"

"Don't play with me, you're beddin' down with Dagur aren't ya?" The reaction was not what he expected. Her face twisted into a strange amusement. Then she started laughing.

"Me and Dagur, are you serious?!

"Pretty comfortable with his name." Stoick replied, but the girl continued to laugh.

"Only because I saved the life of his precious wifey! Me and Dagur, gods I wouldn't go near him that way of my life depended on it! Not that profession anymore?! By the gods, you thought I was fucking him?! Never, gods he so obsessed with your girl the thoughts probably never even crossed his little mind!" Stoick watched in awe as the girl nearly collapsed into laughter.

"I'm not in the mood fer games girl, if that boy by has been dishonorin' mah daughter I need ta know."

"Okay, okay, sorry, just, gods! Have you ever paid attention to the two of them?! I have never seen a pair so obnoxiously besotted before!" With another chuckle she calmed.

"Ask your friend Gobber if you doubt me so much." She told him with a flirty shrug. Not convinced but frankly not sure what to think, he let the girl leave and find her mistress, no doubt reporting what had happened and destroying what little trust had been between him and Val's daughter, his daughter, their only child that lived beyond a day.

X

Hiccup arrived home just before sundown and found her husband in his chair with a nearly broken jaw. Hiccup barely felt surprise at the sight and merely sighed. It was the first time Dagur and her father had really talked since her marriage and a lot had happened since then. Since her homecoming and pregnancy, her father had been weirdly attentive and now she knew why, part of her knew she should never leave her husband and father in a room together. She stared at her now more injured husband with a tired and exasperated look. It had had been hard enough playing hostess to the plethora of people coming for the baby's naming, and now she had deal with her father and husband going at it like a pair of dragons over a mating partner. Okay, maybe not the best analogy, weird thoughts now, weird thoughts. She sighed heavily, adjusting the baby in his sling before talking.

"Oh my gods, what did you say?"

"Nothing."

"Your jaw says otherwise."

"Hey he was the one being all 'how dare you not keep an eye on your wife every minute of every day' and I was all, 'hey man those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones and he was all 'yer gonna get her killed' and I was all 'you're the one who gave her to me' and then he said 'oooh you should be guarding her and not looking out for other potential threats' and then I was like 'well she loves me more, so how ;'bout that' that pretty much the whole of it." He ranted on, switching between a more innocent tone of his own voice to an exaggerated accent, meant to be her father. She continued to stare skeptically.

"I may have also mentioned that he didn't protect your mother and I'm really good at fucking you." Hiccup took a deep breath letting loose a small frustrated noise while dragging her hand over her face.

"Oh my gods, okay. Now that we've established I can never leave you and my father alone together again, I have to ask if you got any actual work done."

"Of course I did."

"Well then I'm going to go to bed. And I'm going to try to ignore the fact that you talked about our sex life to my father."

"Sure, but come help me upstairs first." No response.

"Hiccup?"

"Hiccup?"

"Oh."

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Princess: Finally done, I just need to get over the hurtle of the next chapter and the updates should be more regular. I've been having trouble with how to handle these two chapters for awhile. You'll see why next time during Orvar's naming ceremony.

Reviews:

Minaly22: I'm glad I converted you (rubs hands together menacingly)

: I love making big burly men terrified of little girls lol

Guest: it did for Dagur

AdenineThymine: he's much better now