Chapter 3

"Ouch! OUCH! Ease up, Ruffnut! OW! I will personally rip- OW! –Your hair out for this!"

Astrid was leaning against her bedpost, back pressing up against the ribbed wood. She was wearing an uncharacteristically tight dress, made of fine white fabric.

The dress itself was ankle-length in the front and beyond her feet in the back, with light yellow trim of a thicker material. The fact that it was asymmetrical intrigued Astrid. She'd never really seen anything like it before. She really just assumed the maker had accidentally chopped too much off on one side and decided to go with it, but it ended up looking nice. It had three-quarter sleeves, also adorned with gold trim. The line of yellow then laced up her arms to her shoulders and rested slightly off of them. The neckline dipped lower than Astrid would wear under normal circumstances and laced in the front down to the middle of her hips.

It was her wedding dress.

The lacing in the front, while pretty on the hanger, was absolutely torturous.

Ruffnut didn't seem to understand how she was supposed to do it up. Astrid had a thin waist already, she didn't need the corset much, but Ruff insisted it wasn't tight enough.

The blonde had been pulling on those strings, trying to squeeze the life out of Astrid for almost a half hour now.

"Oh please, you asked for this!"

"Thor almighty, I didn't ask for this!"

"Suck it up, fifl." (fifl means idiot or wimp)

"Don't you dare- Ow!" Astrid sucked air, desperately trying to inflate her seemingly crushed lungs.

Astrid wheezed. "I can't breathe!" Her voice was strangled and quiet.

Of course that was when Ruffnut decided to finish tying the loop with clumsy fingers and exclaim, "Its perfect!"

Astrid glared at her best female friend. "This is literally suffocating me!"

Ruffnut sneered. "You look good. You know, for a rough and tumble female Viking warrior."

Astrid clenched her hands into fists. "I'm about to look not-so-good in your eyes, because you won't have any!"

Ruffnut grinned widely. "Now is that any thanks for making you look your best before your wedding to the love of your life?" A sickly sweet tone entered Ruffnut's tone at the love part, and Astrid paused. It almost sounded like Ruffnut was jealous, or at least bitter about being single. It was funny how a few words and a tone of voice could completely throw Astrid off her train of mind. She was a bit disoriented, when Ruffnut pushed her, hard, towards the dusty mirror in Astrid's room.

"Dude, See for yourself."

Astrid glared at Ruffnut another time before glancing in the mirror.

She actually looked pretty damn good.

Her waist pinched in perfectly, hips flaring out nicely, and her small chest looked pretty good in the corset.

She turned and admired herself from all angles, side braid swishing around her shoulder. "Well, I suppose I can forgive you for now.. Just do this again on the actual day."

Ruffnut rolled her eyes. "Yeah, yeah, princess. Now take that dress off and get out there before Hiccup has a heart attack."

Astrid almost got angry, but then at the last part of the sentence chuckled.

Her mother had scheduled a dress fitting with a female friend so Astrid could rehearse looking her best. Ruffnut translated that into 'suffocate Astrid until she can't breathe' and enthusiastically stepped up to the challenge.

Hiccup came to the house to help, but then Astrid's mother insisted upon the tradition of fiancée's never seeing each other in wedding attire until the actual day of the real nuptials.

So Hiccup was forced to wait outside for the half hour that Astrid had been loudly screaming and threatening Ruffnut with what little air she could gather in her lungs. Hiccup was sure Astrid could be heard by the whole village.

It was amusing to Ruffnut that Hiccup knocked on the door at least twice every five minutes asking if everything was all right.

Astrid fumbled with the knot and got Ruffnut to pull on the strings to release her. She immediately felt so much better and climbed out of the dress. Although the dress was soft, Astrid felt much more comfortable in her regular clothing. She found the pile of clothes in the corner of her own room and quickly slipped them on. She fastened the final shoulder plate on herself and opened the heavy wooden door.

Hiccup was pacing outside.

"Hey." She smiled, flicking a piece of blonde hair out of her eyes, brushing her side braid a little more on her shoulder with the same movement. Hiccup's dark emerald eyes darted up to meet her and instant relief flooded through them.

"Hey, Astrid. What happened in there? Why were you-?"

Astrid shook her head. "The dress is kind of complicated and Ruff forgot that I sort of need to breathe."

Hiccup nodded, though Astrid could tell he was still a bit confused. She crossed the room and grasped his forearm. "Lets go for a flight, I need some dragon therapy."

"Good idea." Hiccup grinned fully and walked with her out of the door, his artificial leg making little 'chink' noises against the wood and its own hinges.

Astrid glanced up at her lover, a little bit worried. "Is your leg okay? You were standing for a long time."

Hiccup blinked, as if a little startled she'd ask such a question. "Uh, yeah, I'm pretty good. It hurts a little, but nothing I can't handle. Besides, its just chafing a little. A big, strong Viking like me can bear it." Hiccup flexed then, and Astrid chuckled.

Hiccup still wasn't normal Viking size, but he had muscles. They weren't nonexistent like they had been when he was younger. He was probably three inches shorter and eighty pounds lighter than an average Viking, but that was just how Astrid liked him. He didn't have to compete size-wise with the other men. He was the dragon trainer, the boy everyone talked about who had grown into a man.

Suddenly, Astrid felt a surprising calm come over her. How could she have ever been afraid of marrying Hiccup? He was just as nervous as she was and twice as kind. They would get through this, and maybe even enjoy it, together.

Astrid smiled happily and walked a little closer to her fiancée.

Hiccup smiled down at her and led the way to Astrid's stable, where both Stormfly and Toothless were likely to be.

Toothless had taken a liking to Stormfly, being with the female dragon most of his free time when he wasn't flying through the sky with Hiccup as his rider.

Astrid stepped inside the stable, maybe one foot ahead of Hiccup. She grinned as Stormfly stood quickly and excitedly ran over to her rider.

Toothless followed just as quickly and nearly tackled Hiccup to the ground.

"Hey bud."

"Stormfly!" Astrid giggled at Stormfly's nuzzling of her arm and scratched her behind the head spikes.

Astrid climbed on the back of her dragon, placing her feet behind notches in the saddle so she wouldn't fall off.

Toothless bent so Hiccup could climb aboard, making his saddle visible. Hiccup threw a leg over the side of his dragon and hopped onto him.

The dragons seemed eager to fly, and on their riders mark, raced out of the stable and leapt into the air.

The pair of dragons soared into the air, gaining height and distance from Astrid's house. Astrid watched as her village and her people shrunk beneath Stormfly. Her dragon carried her far up into the air, eventually slowing once through the clouds, Hiccup and Toothless just in front of them.

Hiccup's hair was flying back, the tiny braid near his neck whipping around his face. Astrid laughed joyously and let her arms trail in the sunset clouds surrounding them and their dragons.

The pink and orange mist swirled around her palms before dissipating into the air. She continued feeling the wet, billowing clouds with her hands, similar as to how she had done the first time she had flown, on Toothless with Hiccup guiding his new friend.

Astrid remembered how afraid she was at first.

But now.. well, she trains dragons, she's got a Deadly Nadder named Stormfly and a famous dragon trainer fiancée.

Astrid was coming to terms with the Rite, and thinking about it, the two weeks until the wedding would surely pass in no time.