Ch.4
On Berk, Astrid searched all over and found no sign of Toothless or Hiccup. It had been only a matter of hours since they'd left, yet she was worried; Hiccup had promised to meet her at the Dragon Training Academy to discuss cold weather preparations. "Where is he?" Astrid asked aloud as she and Stormfly landed outside the Haddock house. "Why didn't we check here first?" Stormfly thought as Astrid knocked on the door. Astrid was hoping Hiccup had become lost in a project again and simply forgot to meet her but there was no answer. Cautiously, Astrid opened the door, "Hiccup? You in here?" She was expecting to hear a rustling and then a startled "Astrid, what are you doing here?" There was only the crackling of the hearth as it dwindled from lack of attention.
She started upstairs wondering if Hiccup had somehow missed her shouting, "Hiccup? You'd better have a good reason for not showing up as we agreed." It was all a lie she told herself not wanting to admit something happened to Hiccup—again. She opened the small trap door to Hiccup's loft bedroom and found⎯nothing. Astrid was not surprised by this and took a quick look around. His desk was a mess of papers, as it always was. "Maybe he left a note or something," Astrid said to herself nearing the desk, her thoughts, however, painted a much different picture. "I'm wasting time here; I'm kidding myself thinking I'll find something here." She began to search not only thru the papers on his desk but around his room as well. When Astrid finally came down the stairs, Valka was waiting for her.
"Astrid. Have you seen Hiccup?" She asked as if Astrid coming down the stairs was normal. "I haven't, and he was supposed to meet me at the dragon academy a few hours ago." "tea?" Valka offered, Astrid declined a knot forming in her stomach. "I was tending to Cloudjumper; I must've missed you go up to Hiccup's room. When you see Hiccup, let him know to come talk to me, there's something that could affect his dragon shortly." "I'll let him know to talk to you" Astrid hurriedly stepped outside not wanting Valka to ask why she'd been in Hiccup's room. Outside the sky had begun to darken, the sun vanishing below the horizon. "I was in Hiccup's room longer than I thought" Astrid picked up Stormfly's saddle and walked back to her house.
The next morning at dragon training when both Hiccup and Toothless failed to show. Astrid began to strongly suspect something had indeed happened to Hiccup that prevented him from returning to Berk. "Hiccup should've been here by now. I don't like this" Fishlegs said already nervous at the idea Hiccup was missing. "Oh come on, it's not like Toothless would let anything happen to him," Tuffnut reassured Fishlegs. Astrid forced herself to focus and pushed thoughts of Hiccup away by preparing the academy for the day's training exercise. "I still don't see why we have to train to fight dragons when we don't fight them anymore," Snotlout stated as he helped set up. Astrid would've corrected him, but Fishlegs spoke first. "We're not fighting them; we're fighting with them. We need to know how to use our dragon's abilities in cooperation with our skills. In case we get attacked again."
"Are we ready?" Gobber said walking into the arena and looked around, "uh, has anyone seen our resident celebrities?" he mentioned noticing that both Hiccup and Toothless were not there. "Nope" "uh-uh" "haven't seen him" "beats me" "Yeah like where's he been, he's never late to show off," Snotlout said earning him a Nadder spike in his direction. "Hey! I was only kidding" he said to Stormfly who didn't look at him. "Wait, why his Gobber even here? He's not doing anything." Tuffnut said motioning to the blacksmith who was leaning against the wall. "Because every time you two are left alone something happens," Astrid said pointedly at the twins. "what?" Ruffnut said not paying attention to what Astrid had been saying. The milling around waiting for somebody to do something lasted for another minute before Gobber spoke up. "Well, if you can't think of anything to do there's a lot of saddles to build." Astrid saw her chance and quickly exited. "There's, uh, something I need to discuss with Valka," she said before running off with Stormfly close behind. "I hate her," Snotlout said irritated. "right then, follow me," Gobber said hobbling out of the academy with the dragon trainers in tow.
"Ugh, if Hiccup had shown up like he was supposed to I wouldn't be stuck doing this. I could be doing something fun." Snotlout said irritably as he covered a saddle form with a sheet of leather. "At least you don't have to try and remember what frills Bob wants on his saddle," Tuffnut retorted at Snotlout. "I heard that," Bob said from the back. Astrid pleaded with Stormfly to please not to roast anyone's Terrible Terror again while she removed her saddle. Once Stormfly had gone, Astrid entered the Great hall to find Valka adding to the Dragon manual. "I thought you'd already added to the Dragon manual" Valka looked up startled. "I did, but I went back to my dragon sanctuary and retrieved my notes. I didn't have a chance with all the activity since Hiccup became Chief, and I never could bring myself to go back before then." Astrid look surprised. Valka laughed, "you thought I remembered 20 years of knowledge about dragons without writing it down?" Astrid shrugged sheepishly; it felt funny to admit that was what she'd thought. Astrid quickly sat herself down opposite of Valka. Her fear was starting to creep onto her face.
Valka stopped laughing when she saw the troubled look on the young Vikings face. "You came here to talk about more than the dragon manual I suppose, judging by your troubled expression." Valka noticed as she placed the book off to one side. "It's Hiccup. I think something's happened to him." Valka thought it over for a moment considering the possibility. "what makes you so sure?" She asked. She was his mother, but she felt disconnected in regards to Hiccup's behaviors and actions over the course of his life. "Normally he can take care of himself; he has a Night Fury as a best friend. He wouldn't miss dragon training though. It's not like him. He missed a meeting we'd set up to discuss cold weather preparations, I can't get over this feeling something awful had befallen him." Astrid continued trying to maintain her tough exterior without appearing emotionless. "Hiccup probably got lost somewhere while exploring, You've been friends with him longer than I've been involved in his life, If he isn't back tomorrow, come find me." Astrid thanked Valka and promptly took her leave. A clap of thunder broke the silence; Sleet quickly followed that sent both Viking and Dragon alike scurrying for cover. Astrid hurried out into the freak storm pushing thoughts about Hiccup from her mind as she gathered the other dragon riders to batten down the livestock from the blizzard.