Fishlegs flew Meatlug to land outside of Caverna's home and as she dismounted both of them suddenly felt rather awkward. Neither of them had spoken for the whole journey home and right now, Meatlug was actually starting to worry.
"Well...I'll...uh...see you around?" Caverna asked, she didn't know what to say to him anymore, especially after what happened.
"Yeah sure...Well, good night, Caverna." Fishlegs told her, about to dismount his dragon to give her a good night kiss, but instead he refrained from it.
"Yes...Good night." She gave him a small smile before she went inside and was met by the sight of Hiccup, Stoick, Gobber, Mrs Hofferson and Astrid sitting in front of the fire.
"There you are, where have you been?"
The question came from Stoick who had risen from his chair as he heard the door open and he was now looking at his daughter.
"I was off the island with Fishlegs." Caverna shrugged. "What's the matter?"
"Caverna, sit down, there is something I wish to discuss with you." Stoick told her.
Caverna raised an eyebrow, as she pulled her hood down and she sat on the only available item, which was the rug in front of the fire. "If you need to talk to me, why are Astrid, Hiccup and Gobber here?" She looked at the said people. "No offence."
"None taken." The three chorused.
"Because, in a way, it involves them too." Stoick told her, before he also started to address the others. "Now, I was approached today by Mrs Hofferson and a few other ladies of the tribe, and they all observed your behaviour yesterday Caverna."
"What behaviour, I was well presented, wasn't I?" Caverna asked, suddenly not liking where this was going and this showed in how she looked at Mrs Hofferson.
Stoick could see that his daughter didn't like the conversation so far, and in truth he couldn't blame her, but he needed to tell her what was what. "And they told me that a girl such as your status shouldn't act in the way that you do."
"So, what would they know?" Caverna asked.
"Let me finish." Stoick warned her. "So they had offered to take you under their wing in the upcoming month until Astrid and Hiccup's wedding, to show you how to be a proper lady."
"What!" Caverna suddenly felt outraged, how dare people judge her. "But no one else has a problem with it; I've acted the same as I always have."
"That was before you had a proper life, you've been influenced by men, it's for you're own good that you learn how to do things that other women do." Stick told her. "And anyway, Astrid will be going through it too."
"I still don't see the point, as far as the law goes, I can't marry and I can already sew, what else do I need?" Caverna told them.
"You still need to be able to cook your husband a meal." Mrs Hofferson told her. "And know how to raise children as well as how to provide for your husband in the bedroom department." She continued, ignoring the looks of discomfort she got from Astrid, Caverna, Hiccup, Stoick and even Gobber in the process. "Finally, you need to know how to dress and act like a chief's daughter."
The more she spoke, the more angered Caverna got, after all, they all talked of her getting married when they knew that it was never going to happen and that fact upset her enough than having it pulled out in front of everyone all the time so instead Caverna stood up and walked away from the fire.
"Where are you going?" Stoick asked her.
"To my room, it has been a long day and I'm tired." She told him. "I appreciate your concern about how I act Mrs Hofferson but I would prefer it if you stopped prying your way into my business. I am fine the way that I am, as rogue as the law allows and people seem to like that. So like I said, keep out of my business and I'm going to bed, good night all." She told them, walking upstairs and they all heard the slam of her bedroom door and the thud of something heavy going against it – probably Snowcap.
Everyone watched Caverna leave before only Hiccup was the one to speak as he petted Toothless who had come in and rested his head on his rider's lap.
"Well, that went well." He told the group.
"That was a disaster Hiccup; she needs to know how to act like a proper lady." Mrs Hofferson told him, before she looked at Stoick. "May I go and speak to her chief?" She asked.
"If you don't mind having a dragon set on you." Stoick told her, initially he wasn't sure about giving his daughter etiquette lessons, after all he hadn't minded how she acted, and after seeing how Caverna had acted he was even less sure that it was a good idea.
Mrs Hofferson simply nodded and stood up, walking up the stairs and towards Caverna's room.
"God your mother is persistent." Hiccup groaned. "Caverna is going to tear her a new one."
"Yeah I know, I'm sorry about that." Astrid sighed, snuggling up to her fiancé. "But I hope Caverna does, it will serve my mother right for interfering."
Meanwhile, up in Caverna's room, she was sat on her windowsill, doodling on some paper that she had found on her desk as Snowcap lounged in front of the door, her head on her paws watching her. Neither dragon nor rider paid attention to the sound of footsteps coming up the stairs until Snowcap growled at a sudden pounding on the door.
"Snowcap, easy." Caverna told her and she got up off the windowsill, putting her doodles on the bed before she walked over to the door, unlocking it.
However no soon had she unlocked it, did the door suddenly swing open and Mrs Hofferson walked into the room, looking around in almost distaste.
"Yeah sure, come right in." Caverna told her, her voice layered with sarcasm, before she moved so sit on her bed, going back to her doodles. "If all you've come to do is look at my room, then please feel free to leave and don't let the door hit you were the good lord Odin split you."
"How dare you speak to me like that?" Mrs Hofferson suddenly shouted, causing a growl to come from Snowcap.
"I can speak to you how I wish." Caverna told her, not even bothering to look at her. "This is not your home, but mine alongside my brother and father." She still wasn't looking at her, more on her doodles, which no longer looked like doodles, but pictures of her friend's faces.
"This is the reason why you will never marry; you act nothing like a lady." Mrs Hofferson hissed.
"No, the reason why I can't marry is because I'm barren; we all know that, so get out." Caverna told her, trying to contain the hatred that she felt for the older woman.
"And the cause was your own doing, if you behaved properly, no one would have had to punish you so severely."
This time Caverna snapped and with a battle cry, she threw herself at the woman, a dagger pressed to her neck. "Get out of this room and this house before I do something that will really make a mess." She sneered, as she got up, the woman stood up before she left the room, and Caverna stood at the top of the stairs.
When Astrid saw the pale and scared look on her mother's face she stood up so fast the stool that she was sitting on fell over.
"Mother, are you alright, what's the matter?" Astrid asked her.
"That thing upstairs!" Mrs Hofferson suddenly shrieked. "She wants people to be sorry for her and not let her face the facts that she needs to start acting like a proper girl or she will never-"She suddenly stopped talking just as a dagger slid past a millimetre away from her face and everyone turned around to see Caverna stood at the bottom of the stairs preparing to throw another dagger.
"Caverna, what the hell?" Hiccup cried out, getting to his feet.
"I told her to get out, I thought a woman who lets her mouth run that fast could move her legs that fast as well." Caverna told her, the way in which she spoke had even Stoick wincing. Her voice was as cold as ice and as hard as stone, terrifying to anyone, and as her hand tightened on her knife, Mrs Hofferson left the house as fast as she could. Seeming happy that she was gone, Caverna put her dagger, that she was holding, back into her suit, before she retrieved the other one from inside the doorframe where it had become lodged and she put that one back as well, before she avoided everyone and went back up to her room. When she was safe in her room, Caverna slammed and locked the door before she threw herself onto her bed and buried her face into a pillow screaming into it. However, everyone downstairs heard Caverna and Stoick looked up worried.
"You all stay down here; I'll go and check on her." Stoick told them and he walked upstairs.
Hiccup watched his dad go and noticed that Gobber and Astrid were giving him confused looks, to which he just shrugged. "He's trying to be more attentive to her, he's been like this since her breakdown."
Everyone shuddered at the memory of how Caverna came back in Stoick's arms, al of them didn't want to admit it but they thought that she was actually dead.
Meanwhile, in Caverna's room, Stoick knocked on the door, and was trying to get her daughter to let him in but she just kept telling him to go away, which in the end had Snowcap flick the lock with her tail to let Stoick in. When he entered the room, Stoick found Caverna face down in her pillow, still heavily armed and in her suit and he sighed.
"Caverna, talk to me." Stoick told her.
"What is there to talk about?" It came out muffled because of the pillow but Stoick still heard her.
"What made you nearly embed a dagger into Mrs Hofferson?" Stoick asked her.
"She said that what happened to me was my own fault, tat because of how I act, it was my punishment." She told him as she sat back on her knees, not looking at him but she could almost sense that her father was fuming. "But no one realises, my attitude is because of what happened to me, what I've got now is the best it's going to get for me, I don't want to waste it."
"What happened to you wasn't your fault." Stoick told her, the minute that she had stopped talking. "You are too sweet and good for this to be your fault." Stoick told her, resting a hand on each of her shoulders. "Everyone loves you just the way you are." Stoick whispered to her. "And don't you ever forget that."
Caverna smiled, leaning into her father's large burly chest. "Thanks dad." She whispered, closing her eyes as she leant against him, feeling safe. After a while, Stoick noticed that she had fallen asleep, and he carefully removed her jacket and the pants of her suit, he knew Caverna always wore a pair of clothes underneath her flight suit like she had tol Hiccup to, and he put the clothes on the edge of her bed, before he tucked her in, kissing her head.
"Good night, my perfect daughter." He told her in a whisper, before he left the room and made his way downstairs to find Gobber sitting alone by the fire after Hiccup and Astrid had gone up to bed not long before. As they sat together, the men talked about what had caused Caverna to almost kill Mrs Hofferson and Gobber made the announcement that he would have let her, before the old blacksmith left the Haddock house for the night and Stoick went to bed, thinking about the earlier events.
Weeks seemed to go by after the incident and neither Caverna nor Mrs Hofferson spoke to one another. However, now Astrid didn't speak to her mother earlier, after it took a lot of convincing but Astrid somehow managed to get the information what had happened out of her best friend, and to say she wasn't happy was putting it mildly. Astrid nearly beheaded the older Viking, until both Hiccup and Caverna jumped on her and pinned her down, with Hiccup successfully taking her axe away. So now, Astrid was going through lessons in order to prepare her to be a good wife, but they were being taught to her by Mrs Ingerman, Fishleg's mother instead. Also, Caverna had been taking some lessons too, though it was only one, she had two teachers, her lesson was cooking. She was being taught at home by helping Hiccup when he was preparing meals for their family and Gobber and Astrid when they were over, and she was also being helped by Mrs Ingerman, since Caverna found herself spendin more and more time at Fishleg's place. However, today wasn't one of those days, instead she was spending time with her brother and Astrid at home, the men were due to leave for a one week trip to another land and Caverna and Astrid were spending as much time with Hiccup as possible.
"I'm surprised you aren't with Fishlegs today." Hiccup told his sister as he packed his saddlebags and she sat on the windowsill.
"I spent all day with him yesterday; he knew I was spending you last day before this stupid trip with you." Caverna shrugged.
Hiccup shrugged. "If that's what you want." He told her, just as Stoick walked into the room.
"It's time Hiccup, are you ready?"
"Yeah, I'm ready dad." He picked up his saddlebags with one hand and the other found Astrid's waist, pulling her close. "Come here you, you've been awfully quiet m'lady."
"Oh, have I?" She asked, suddenly seeming oblivious. "I'm sorry, I was just thinking..."
"Of what?" Hiccup asked, and he could tell that Astrid's next answer wasn't truthful.
"Of how much I'm going to miss you." She told him, kissing his lips, before she moved away to go outside and find Stormfly.
As they got outside, Hiccup looked back at Caverna who looked just as confused by Astrid's behaviour as he did, and she simply gave him a shrug before she walked over to her dragon and climbed onto Snowcap's back as Hiccup mounted Toothless. The group followed their chief to the village square, where Astrid and Caverna dismounted and Caverna walked over to where Fishlegs stood with his mother and father. At seeing her, all clad over in leather and weaponry, they stepped aside, giving her a welcoming smile, which Caverna returned all too happily before she looked at Fishlegs.
"Be careful?" She asked him.
"Of course I will." Fishlegs told her.
"Come back to me with no missing limbs, not even so much as a bruise or a hair out of place?" She asked him, not noticing that with every word they shared, the two had moved closer until their arms were around each other.
"I promise." Fishlegs whispered, their noses touching since they were that close.
At her smile, he closed the gap and he pressed his lips to hers, kissing her softly, his grip on her waist pulling her into him as both of their eyes closed. Yet, their kiss didn't last for as long as they wanted before they heard a gruff cough and found that everyone in the village was staring at them, causing Fishlegs to blush and Caverna to role her eyes.
"Now that that has...Well, um, finished..." Stoick started. "In the absence of my son and I, I put my daughter Caverna in charge, she will be chieftain until we return, and she will be overseeing the wedding preparations." At seeing his daughter's worried look, he smiled softly. "Don't worry, the directions are all written down on my desk."
Caverna nodded, breathing a sigh of relief that everything had been simplified for her and she walked to her father. "Safe journey." She looked around at all of the people who were going, which was basically all of the men who could fly on a dragon; Tuffnut had even been allowed to ride Lightning so that it was easier.
"Bring my boy back in one piece, Tuff, or I might just have to dismember you." Caverna told him, stroking Lightning's face before they flew off with Tuffnut giving her a nervous laugh.
Hiccup and Toothless were the last to leave since Toothless and Snowcap hadn't finished saying their goodbyes to one another.
"Promise me you will come back unharmed, and bring your rider back in the same condition. I could not bear to see my rider so upset." Snowcap told him.
"Of course I will, now you look after yourself and your rider too, and our friends, if you can."
"Of course." Snowcap smiled, before she nuzzled Toothless and gave him a small yet loving lick to the snout. "Goodbye my love be safe."
"Always, goodbye Snow, and don't worry, I'll be back before you know it." Toothless promised her as he soon flew off after them leaving heard, though he soon saw a flash of blue and yellow and realised that Stormfly had flown after them, but where she ended up made him smile. In mid air, Stormfly was hovering in front of Lightning who had halted despite Tuffnut's attempts to keep him flying.
"I'm sorry, this is rushed and I don't really know how to say this..." Stormfly squawked at the purple Nadder in front of her.
"Then slow it down." Lightning told her. "Or do you want me to say it first?"
"You say it first." She told him. "Since you already know what I want to say."
"I'll be fine Stormfly, I'll look after your friends and their riders, you have my word." At seeing that she was about to interrupt him, he stopped her with a quick squawk. "And I love you too."
At first Stormfly was put off with being shushed, but the moment that he said he loved her, she flew into him and nuzzled him, nipping his horns.
"Ugh, okay this is really uncomfortable." Tuffnut shouted out. "Uh, break it up."
Lightning rolled his eyes at the human riding on his back before he looked at Stormfly. "Look after yourself and our friends, I'll be back soon." With that, he flew off to fly alongside Toothless as Stormfly flew back to Berk and landed beside Astrid.
As the party flew off into the distance, Astrid, Caverna and Ruffnut all sat on some rocks watching the ocean.
"Do you think Lightning will keep Tuffnut on his back?" Ruffnut asked.
"Not a chance." Astrid laughed, before she looked at Caverna. "Will he Caverna?"
"It depends on how Tuffnut handles him, but no, he won't last long." Caverna told them.
The rest of their day ended in laughter and amusement, as Caverna and Astrid returned home for the night from dinner in the Great Hall and a day of both of them having lessons and preparing things for the wedding, both of the girls were too tired to do anything but sleep.
"Good night Astrid." Caverna told her as she stood at the door to her room.
"Good night Caverna." Astrid smiled, before she walked into her room, where she found Stormfly lying on Toothless' bed. "Hey girl." She walked over to gently stroke her Nadder, who opened a beady eye when she heard the door open and she clucked a good night to her. "Good night to you too girl." Astrid smiled, walking back towards the bed, though she was stopped at feeling Stormfly's tail pull her back.
"Stormfly, I've got t go to bed, what's the matter?" Astrid asked, turning around to look at the Deadly Nadder.
Stormfly didn't give any answers to her, but instead she pulled her close and nuzzled her beak against her stomach to which Astrid sighed.
"No Stormfly, I haven't told anyone but Hiccup yet." Astrid told her.
Stormfly cocked her head to the side and gestured over towards the door with her rather large, scaly head.
Astrid sighed. "I promise I'll tell Caverna tomorrow, but right now, can you let me get some sleep?"
This seemed to be enough for the Nadder, and she let go of Astrid and allowed her to get changed into a night dress and into bed, before the dragon wandered over and using her beak, pulled the covers over her rider, making Astrid smiled.
"Thanks girl." Astrid smiled, before she blew out the candle and settled down, falling asleep to the sounds of the wind and Stormfly getting comfortable on the rock bed.
The next morning, Astrid was woken up to a wonderful smell coming from downstairs, and she slid out of bed, getting changed as quick as she could before she noticed that Stormfly wasn't in the room. However, she thought nothing of it as she walked downstairs to where she could smell something delicious, only to find Caverna wearing the pants of her flight suit and her green jumper, though her flight jacket was sitting on the back of a chair ready to go, as were her swords, and sitting in front of a pot on the stove.
"Good morning." Astrid smiled.
"Good morning Astrid." Caverna smiled, standing up.
"What smells so good?" Astrid asked, sitting at the table as Caverna picked up a ladle and two bowls before she went back to the stove.
"Breakfast, Hiccup showed me how to make it, I think he called it porridge or something like that." Caverna told her, using the ladle to fill the two bowls that she had with a thick white substance.
"Um...Okay..." Astrid didn't seem to sure about Caverna's cooking as Hiccup had been before he left, but she was starving, so the minute Caverna put a bowl in front of her, she picked up her spoon and dug in happily. Surprisingly, it tasted rather good, it had a sweet taste to it and Astrid liked that.
At seeing her soon to be sister-in-law sitting across from her with her own bowl, Astrid decided that now was as good of a time as ever to tell her what she had promised Stormfly she would.
"Um Caverna, I need to tell you something." Astrid told her.
"What is it?" Caverna asked looking up from her bowl at her.
"Well um...You know how Hiccup and I have been...well..." She was struggling to find the right words, but she knew that Caverna knew what she was on about, after all she slept in the next room, it was impossible not to.
"Intimate, fucking each other, sexual?" Caverna eventually offered her face emotionless as she looked at Astrid, whilst Astrid was possibly dying of embarrassment.
"Yeah, let's use those words." Astrid sighed. "Well...Um...You see, something's happened and uh..."
"You're pregnant?"
The words stunned Astrid, despite the fact that that was what she had wanted to tell her soon to be sister-in-law, she was surprised that Caverna knew.
"How did you-?"
"I heard you being sick most mornings, today was obviously a good morning." Caverna shrugged. "Everyone forgets that I get up at the crack of dawn to sort out my weapons."
"You're taking it rather well." Astrid told her.
"How exactly do you want me to take it?" Caverna told her. "I can't have kids of my own, and I've accepted that, so why would I be annoyed that my brother can?"
"I don't know...I just thought that you would have been...I don't know...disappointed?"
"Astrid, I'm happy for you, I really am, I'm looking forward to being an Aunt, I just might end up sleeping with the dragons so that I don't get kept up by both you and Hiccup and the baby too." She told her, before they both burst out laughing. "Now come on, let's finish up and go and sort the village out." Caverna told her as she stood up and finished getting dressed. When both of them were ready, they both headed out of the house and towards the stables where they found Snowcap and Stormfly eating baskets of fish each.
"Let's go." Astrid told them and they all walked down to the main hall together, neither of them looking forward to a day of work, but it had to be done.