Did Anybody See That? Chapter 16
Something was wrong. Hiccup was sure of it now.
They had settled into a comfortable pattern of making and eating breakfast, then spending the rest of their morning training Astrid's dragon and going flying together. Lunch happened whenever they got back from flying. Afternoons were for chores and improving the cave. Supper took place at sunset; then they'd keep working until they decided it was bedtime.
The training sessions usually went smoothly. Stormfly was a quick learner, and Astrid was a surprisingly effective teacher. He suspected she wanted to outdo him in the air. The two dragons seemed to share a friendly rivalry as well.
But for the past three or four mornings, Astrid had interrupted their training sessions to run behind a rock, or down to the shore, or someplace like that. There weren't many places to hide on their little island, but she always found one. She'd come back a few minutes later, slightly pale but otherwise fine, acting like nothing had happened, and they'd continue their training.
This morning, she'd run off again, and he decided maybe it was time to follow her and see what was going on. But Stormfly and Toothless got into one of their rare shoving-matches, and by the time he'd gotten them separated and calmed down, Astrid had returned.
Her face was a bit pale, as usual, but she also showed the signs of a storm building inside. "Hiccup," she said slowly and deliberately, "I... am going... to kill you."
"Will you at least tell me what I did wrong first?" he asked. He wasn't as terrified of her as he might have been a year ago, but he still had a healthy respect for her temper.
"This is the fourth morning in a row that I've gotten sick," she growled.
"That's strange," he said. "It can't be food poisoning – we're eating the same food. Maybe you've got some kind of illness."
"I'm getting sick in the morning, Hiccup!" She was trying to tell him something, that was for sure.
"Just in the morning? That's really strange. I wonder –"
"I'm getting morning sickness, Hiccup!"
"Yeah, you just kind of said that, and I'm... uhhh... oh!"
Long pause.
"Uh-oh."
She grabbed him by his shirt front. She heartily wished there was a wall she could slam him up against; the best she could do was back him up until he ran into Stormfly's flank. "You've gotten me pregnant, Hiccup! Me, the shieldmaiden! The warrior! The Viking who trained all her life for battle – I'm going to have a baby! You did this to me!"
"I don't recall you putting up much of a –"
"Shut up!" she screamed. "Now I'm going to be sick every morning for months! I'm going to be tired all the time! I'm going to be craving weird foods that I can't get on this stupid island! My nice flat belly is going to turn into this bloated mass – I probably won't even be able to ride my dragon anymore! And then I get to go through all the joys of childbirth!" Her eyes narrowed. "I'd like to know what you're going to do about it?"
"Uhhh... I guess I should start making a cradle?"
She belted him in the arm. "You better start making your own coffin, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III! This was not supposed to happen so fast! Ohhh, you and your 'special plans for the night,' every single night for two months! Well, I'm going to make some 'special plans,' and they won't include... oh, gods, how could I have been so stupid!?" She threw up her hands and stormed off.
Hiccup moved to follow her. To his surprise, Toothless got in his way, and made a burbling sound that was half-warning.
"Oh, you think you know her better than I do?" The dragon answered with a sad-sounding moan, and refused to get out of his way.
Hiccup sat down hard on a rock. "Fine! I can't win with her, I can't win with you... maybe it'll be good to have a baby around here! Maybe I can finally win an argument with somebody!" Toothless snorted, and Stormfly added a chuff of her own. "Yeah, you're right. Babies don't listen to reason, either." He sat and thought for a while.
Then he heard a sound he'd never heard before. Astrid was crying? He got up, and this time, Toothless let him go. He found her leaning against a tree, hiding her face in her hands. He held her and let her cry; she didn't pull away.
"I'm sorry, Hiccup," she finally said. "I don't know what came over me. I'm just... I'm scared. We're out here, all by ourselves, and I've never done this before, and there aren't any women for me to talk to about this, and I don't know what I'm doing, and... I'm scared."
He wiped a stray tear off her cheek with his fingertip. "I guess that's normal," he said. "But you asked me what I'm going to do about this, and I actually thought of something."
o
There was a knock at the door.
"Who in the world could that be at this time of night?" Edda wondered. Gunnarr hesitantly opened the door.
"Astrid!" "Daddy!" "Astrid, honey!" "Mama!" They pulled her in and slammed the door behind her. More tears were shed, mostly happy ones.
Gunnarr was the first to wonder, "Where's Hiccup?"
"He's up in the air somewhere. He and his dragon are just going to fly around for a few hours, until this visit is over," Astrid explained. "He was worried about what kind of welcome he'd get."
"He should worry," her youngest brother growled, "after the way he kidnapped you! The whole village was out looking for him, and if they'd caught him..." He drew his finger across his throat with a nasty noise.
"He did not kidnap me, you little troll!" she shot back. "I helped him plan it. We both wanted it that way."
"That's what you said in your note, but... we don't understand," her mother wondered, perplexed.
"Mama, he's a good man, but no one can see him as anything but a criminal," she began. "The laws he broke were stupid traditions, not anything important. He's never hurt anyone, he saved the whole village by killing that giant dragon, but no one will accept him! He couldn't live here and be treated that way; I couldn't live with people who did that to him. He's made us a wonderful place to live, we're happy together, it was his idea to bring me back here tonight – he's even helping me train my own dragon!"
"Is that a good thing?" Edda wondered nervously.
"I can see he isn't starving you or mistreating you," Gunnarr added. "And I can see you really care about him." He thought for a second and reached a decision. "If he comes to this house, he will be accepted and welcomed as part of the family." He glared at his two sons. "If anyone says anything to anybody about this, that person will get Mead Hall clean-up duty for the rest of the year!" They quailed and said nothing.
"Mama," Astrid said suddenly, "there's... something I need to talk to you about. Woman to woman."
Astrid had never used that phrase with her mother before. Edda did another quick job of putting two and two together, and broke into a smile. "We'll talk upstairs, in your old room. You men-folk, stay down here and mind your own business. I have a feeling this discussion might take a while."
They did as they were told. The discussion did, indeed, take a while – over an hour. They heard nothing, except near the beginning of the conversation, when they heard Edda laugh out loud and shout, "Thor be praised!" Okay, it wasn't bad news, whatever it was. When they finally came downstairs, Astrid looked a lot more relaxed, and Edda was grinning like the cat that ate the cream.
"How long can you stay?" Gunnarr asked.
"We have to go home tonight," Astrid replied. "Hiccup can't risk getting caught. If I can borrow that lantern, I'll make the signal to him, and he'll land and pick me up." He nodded; she took the lantern, stepped outside, and waved it in a circle three times.
About five minutes later, Toothless landed quietly in the front yard. Hiccup was expecting Astrid to run out and join him for the flight home. He wasn't expecting her parents to come out as well. He almost took off again, but Astrid motioned for him to stay.
Gunnarr held out his hand; Hiccup clasped it hesitantly. "Son... I don't understand everything you've done, but I can tell you love my daughter and you're taking good care of her. You'll get a quiet, private welcome any time you stop by."
Edda took his other hand. "You keep on taking good care of her! I understand why you don't want to spend too much time around here, but... come back and visit some time."
"Thank you... thank you both," he said, quite moved. "We'll definitely do that." Astrid gave her father a hug and her mother a kiss on the cheek, then climbed up behind Hiccup. The dark dragon leaped into the sky and carried them away.
"Thank you for thinking of this," she murmured as they winged home. "It made all the difference in the world to me."
"I thought it might," he nodded.
She hugged him extra-tight. "When we get home... if you still have some 'special plans,' I suppose we could work something out. It's not like I've got anything to lose now."
She couldn't see his face, but she could tell he was smiling.
o
Back in the Hofferson home, the children had been put to bed. Edda blew out most of the candles and had a quiet conversation with her husband.
The boys heard their father laugh out loud and shout, "Thor be praised!"
For the next seven months (and quite some time after that, actually), anyone who visited Edda Hofferson at home would find her knitting and sewing baby clothes. "For a relative who lives on another island," was all she would say.