Heather Together Chapter 16

When he woke up next morning, she was lying on her side next to him, watching him, quietly humming a song she'd heard from a traveling bard. When she saw that he was awake, she began singing softly.

"Lying beside you, here in the dark, feeling your heart beat with mine.
"Softly you whisper, you're so sincere. How could our love be so blind?
"We sailed on together, we drifted apart, and here you are by my side."

Her singing voice wasn't perfect, but he liked it, he decided. He caressed her cheek with his fingertips. "Mmmm," she purred, and gave him that loving look again. He embraced her – he couldn't help it. "You melt me when you look at me that way," he sighed.

"That just means I'm happy," she said quietly. "Are you happy?"

"Happier than I've ever been in my entire life," he whispered. "That's your fault."

"Good," she whispered back. "That means I'm doing my job."

He rose up on one elbow. "Heather, my bride," he said softly, "I know they drilled it into you that it's your job to make me happy, and I like that. A lot. But do you know what? I think it's my job to make you happy, too."

"Is that traditional?" she wondered.

"No, but I was never very good with traditions," he smiled. "One of the things that makes me the happiest is seeing you happy."

"That's exactly how I feel," she sighed, and cuddled up against him.

(Our T-rated narrative will now take a break while they make each other very happy indeed. Come back in half an hour. No, better make it three-quarters of an hour. We don't want to rush them.)

"I suppose we ought to get dressed," Hiccup said slowly.

"Why?" she wondered. "Can't we just stay under the furs? Are we going somewhere?"

"Yes, we have to go back to the Mead Hall for the presenting of your morning-gift, and if we went there dressed like this, people will talk about us," he grinned. "We can't have that, can we?"

She blushed a bit. "Do you have to watch me while I'm getting dressed?" she asked shyly.

"I don't have to, but I'd like to," he grinned. "After all, you are the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. But if you're really uncomfortable about it, I'll close my eyes."

"Thank you," she said. "I appreciate that. Maybe someday I won't mind, but... this is all so new to me."

He nodded and buried his face in the pillow until she told him it was okay to look. She averted her eyes (mostly) while he got dressed.

"Oh, you forgot one thing," he said. He took a metal hoop, a little bigger than a bracelet, off a nail by the door and handed it to her. Dangling from the hoop were about a dozen iron keys. She took them with a puzzled expression.

"These are the signs of your authority as my wife," he explained. "You're the head of our house now, and you're in charge of everything that goes on inside these walls. You wear the keys to show everyone else that you have that authority."

"Is it that big a deal?" she wondered.

"I'm surprised your relatives didn't teach you about that yesterday morning," he said. "In the past, women have divorced their husbands for the crime of taking their keys away. Yes, it's a very big deal."

"Then I guess I'd better do a good job of wearing them," she nodded. She looped her sash through the hoop twice and re-tied it.

"Now, I think we're ready for the morning-gift," he decided. They stepped out of their house, planning to walk to the Mead Hall... but they were cut off by a large black dragon who wanted attention and wasn't taking 'no' for an answer.

"Okay, Toothless, here's what we'll do," Hiccup decided. "We'll go for a quick ride, all three of us, and then you'll take us to the Mead Hall. We'll arrive in style! When we're done there, we'll take you for a real flight, I promise." The dragon seemed to think that was a fair compromise, and after two wild swoops and a loop-the-loop, he lightly landed in front of the Hall. As they prepared to go in, Heather took his hand – a bit hesitantly, he thought. He gave her a reassuring squeeze.

When they walked into the Hall, it looked like the party had been going all night without a break; nothing had changed except the number of Vikings passed out on the floor. Everyone who was still awake clapped and cheered when they entered, hand in hand.

"There they are!" Stoick bellowed. "Come in, come in, you two! There's one more thing we have to take care of, before it's official." Hiccup led Heather to the big center table, found a place that wasn't sticky with spilled ale, and seated her while he stood behind her. The chief solemnly placed a smallish wooden chest in front of her. It was heavy and it clinked.

She opened the lid... and her mouth fell open. She'd been led to expect copper and silver coins. What she got was silver and gold.

"Mr. and Mrs. Ketilsson, would you please confirm that this is what we agreed on?" the chief called. They were already nearby, so they could easily look in and nod.

"In that case, the contract is fulfilled!" Stoick shouted. "Congratulations, Hiccup and Heather! You are now man and wife!" The whole hall cheered.

"It's about time," Hiccup said, just loud enough that Heather could hear him. "We've been acting like man and wife since last night."

"Hiccup... I've never seen this much money in my whole life!" she exclaimed. "Is this all for me?"

"It's your morning-gift," he nodded. "It's all yours."

"I... I can't imagine what I might spend it on."

Her mother leaned over. "Usually, you spend it on raising your children. They can be expensive. Speaking of which, can you join us women-folk over at that table? There's something we need to talk about." Heather followed her mother to the table and sat down with her female relatives.

"Tell us what you dreamed last night," her oldest aunt asked. "We'll interpret your dream, and that will tell us something about the future of your marriage."

"I didn't get a lot of sleep last night," she began; her aunts smiled and nodded. "It was just... strange, trying to sleep with someone else in the bed. There was one dream that I remember, though.

"People were shooting arrows at Hiccup – I don't remember who or why. I had a shield, so I stepped in front of him to protect him, and four arrows hit the shield. I pulled three of them out and threw them back at the archers. The fourth one broke when I pulled it out. Hiccup fixed that one and threw it back himself."

"That's a very good dream!" said the oldest aunt. "The four arrows mean you will have four children – three spaced close together, and a fourth one later on. That fourth one will be a son, very special in the eyes of his father. The fact that you defended your husband in your dream means you'll add to your new family's honor and good name."

"The fact that none of the arrows hit you means you'll both live long, full lives," added a younger aunt. The old aunt nodded.

They all congratulated her. She accepted their plaudits, while wondering what the big deal was – it's not like she had any control over what she dreamed, right?

While this was going on, Stoick actually lowered his voice enough so only Hiccup could hear him. "Son, congratulations. I think we chose wisely. She's going to make a fine wife for you. It's obvious to everyone that you're very happy with each other. I only wish your mother could have been here to see this day."

"Thanks, Dad," Hiccup said quietly. "Thank you for everything you did to make this happen for me."

Stoick nodded happily. "It looks like you managed to marry for love, in spite of everything I told you. I knew you weren't just doing your duty when you started bringing her those messages with your dragon."

Hiccup looked startled and guilty at the same time. "You knew about that?"

The chief laughed deeply. "Nothing happens on this island without me hearing about it! But I don't let on about everything I know." He glanced up and saw Heather returning from the women's table. "Now you take that wonderful little lady home. You've got one month to do nothing but drink mead together and make each other happy."

Hiccup rose with a smile and wrapped one arm around his bride's waist. "Dad, just for once, I think I can obey you without a problem."

They left the Hall to more cheers. They didn't notice the applause – they were holding hands and gazing at each other again. "Am I dreaming, or are we really married?" she asked, her eyes full of wonder.

"Yup. You caught me, fair and square," he nodded.

"You caught me a long time ago," she murmured.

Ahead of them, he thought he saw someone with metal shoulder pads walking toward them, then suddenly turn aside into an alley when she saw them coming. He glanced at Heather, who was looking questioningly at him – she'd seen Astrid too.

He gathered his wife in his arms and kissed the daylights out of her. She didn't even try to resist. Several passers-by stared for a moment, then looked away in embarrassment. They were making a total spectacle of themselves in front of the whole town.

And they didn't care.

After all, they were in love.

o

A/N
The song lyrics are from "Open Arms" by Journey.