Why yes, it short, but its ending should get heads rolling, and it will get to the point of the whole thing faster. BTW I will be using both ideas 1 and 2. 1 is just coming first, as it usually does.
Astrid felt like shit. Absolute shit. All she wanted to do was sleep, but the doctor was intent on poking and prodding at her until she discovered her illness.
The symptoms started several days earlier, with mild coughing that both Hiccup and Astrid thought of as a scratchy throat. Then came the shivers, and then the overall crappy feeling Astrid was feeling now. Throughout all of that, she never denied herself or Hiccup sex when the mood came around (which happened often). But the morning Astrid awoke to a horny Hiccup and didn't feel like doing it because of how crappy she felt, both of them began to worry.
Astrid went into a short coughing fit, this time spitting whatever mucus and phlegm that came up into a small piece of paper. Gothi took it and examined it closely. For a moment, Astrid and Hiccup glanced at each other, both thinking she was going to smell it. Or even worse, lick it.
But instead the Elder balled it up and tossed it into the living room fire. She watched as the paper burned. The flames then reached the mucus covered part of the paper, and the water in it reacted to the fire with a sharp crackling. She noticed that the charred remnants of the mucus covered paper had a blue tint to its blackness.
She began writing into the floor with her staff. Hiccup, Astrid and Gobber stood silently, waiting for the blacksmith to begin translating.
"She says Astrid is lucky that you caught this early," He said, his eyes never coming off the floor, "What she has is life threatening, but only in its late stages."
"What?" Hiccup exclaimed, startled. " Wha.. What does she have? It just looks like a cold, maybe, possibly the flu. How could it kill her?"
Gobber and Gothi looked at Hiccup skeptically. Astrid rolled her eyes. "Don't forget who the doctor is here, Hiccup."
"That's not what I meant," he said, obviously upset.
Gothi sighed, and continued writing. Gobber translated, "She says the Bog-Burglars had to go halfway to the edge of the Earth to get the alternative cure because there was a… cow holding a pie?" Gothi promptly elbowed him in the gut before she continued writing. "Oh, I mean an epidemic in their village and they didn't want to go with the usual cure… Ah, yes I remember this story." Gobber went silent for a moment, slowly remembering the ending of the story.
Astrid sneezed, and crossed her arms like a child in a fit. "Just get to the point, please. What's the cure?"
Gothi looked to Gobber expectantly. Do you want to tell them or do you want me to use my blunt, straightforward version?
Gobber sighed. "Well, I'll explain the details tomorrow so I can get the ingredients for the brew ready, but I will tell you this. You two are incredibly lucky you are married to each other right now."
Next chapter: The reason the Bog Burglars didnt want to use the usual remedy is revealed, and Heather and Astrid work together to get it.
ANY GUESSES TO THE CURE PPLZ?