Woo, timeskip time! But in all seriousness, I was looking forward to writing the gang a little older so they could do more than just playing on a blanket and munching carrots.

Character names for those who need it:

- Solveig and Edvard Hofferson

- Majken and Gisli Ingerman

- Ebba and Gerik Thorston

- Fjola and Spitelout Jorgenson

- Björn Persson

If you want to know more about these characters, I'm planning to write a short description of each of them to add to my profile page.

Chapter 6

Valka loved walking into the Great Hall in the mornings. The village outside still seemed sleepy, but the inside of the Hall was already bursting with life.

She felt Hiccup's hand letting go of hers and watched him bolt over to his friends. Smiling she walked through the rows to the head table.

Once their children had grown old enough to sit properly at the table with their parents Valka had decided to return to the head table and her friends had followed her there.

A few council members were already seated around the table, along with Majken, who smiled at her tiredly.

"Morning" she mumbled and hid a yawn behind her hand. "I'm sorry, but I don't think it's a good idea for Hiccup to come over today. Fishlegs got sick and kept me awake for most of the night. Adding that to my own thing going on" she added with a smile, while lovingly caressing her very pregnant belly.

Valka nodded. "That's alright. I'll find something else for him."

"How 'bout you leave him with me today?" Gobber, who sat a few seats over, leaned over the table to look at her.

Valka considered the offer. She couldn't take her son with her that day, all the walking would be too much. Solveig already had enough going on with her two children. And the other possibilities weren't the best, either. Snotlout was jealous of Hiccup's status as heir to the chiefdom and the Thorston twins had violent tendencies.

"Alright. I'll bring him over after breakfast."

Gobber had already finished eating and now left the hall with a grin on his face, obviously looking forward to spending the day with his almost nephew. Majken too was getting up. "I should get back home. Gisli will soon have to leave for his work and I don't want Fishlegs to be alone right now."

"Wish him well. I'll come by later today" Valka smiled and called Hiccup over for breakfast.

"Astrid invited us to her birthday party next week" Hiccup told Valka as they left the Great Hall after breakfast. "Can I go? Please?"

He was looking at her with big round eyes, vaguely resembling a puppy. She couldn't suppress the laugh.

"Of course you can" she smiled down at her son.

How fast he had grown up. It felt like yesterday that she had been rocking his cradle to help him fall asleep and now he was walking beside her, a boy of almost 4 ½ years, ready for his next adventure.

"Please be careful when you're inside the forge. There's weapons everywhere that could hurt you.

"Of course, mommy."

"Good morning, Hiccup!" They had reached the forge and Gobber came out to greet them.

"Morning, Uncle Gobber" Hiccup beamed at the man and turned to hug Valka goodbye.

"I'll pick you up for supper, alright?"

Hiccup nodded and sprinted inside. Gobber was trying hard to keep up with the child.

Valka chuckled to herself before she turned to start her day.

The day went pretty much uneventful, a few disputes here and there, the fishers returning with their haul of the day. But Valka quickly knew she was right in not taking Hiccup with her, as she indeed had to walk all over the island. In moments like these she wished that she didn't have to keep Cloudjumper a secret. Having him fly her to locations would make even the longest distance significantly shorter.

Around noon she quickly checked in with Majken and Fishlegs.

"Hello Fishlegs. How are you?" The boy was curled up on his bed, awake and occasionally coughing.

He tried for a smile but didn't manage to speak as he was interrupted by another coughing fit.

"He's definitely doing better than last night" Majken answered for her son. "But it will probably take a while for him to recover."

"Please let me know if you need anything" Valka asked her before leaving the house to return to her duties.

In the evening, right before supper, Valka picked up a very excited but also tired Hiccup who immediately launched into a tale of his day, while they were walking home.

"Look mommy, I drew Gobber while he was working." Hiccup pulled his notebook out of the satchel he usually carried around to store his drawing utensils in and showed her his newest drawings.

For a four-year-old those drawing were remarkably detailed and Valka surely recognized Gobber on each picture he showed her.

Hiccup had started drawing around his third birthday, using random slips of paper he found lying around their house. During one of his visits Björn had seen the boy drawing and with his next arrival brought him the notebook and a charcoal pencil.

"Now all your artworks are in one place" he had explained with a smile as he handed Hiccup the book. Valka would never forget the look of pure delight on her son's face as he pressed the book to his chest before dashing off to start drawing.

Now said book was about half full with pictures on every page of people and nature, the progress palpable. And thankfully, Björn had brought spares as well.

"Mommy?" Hiccup interrupted her musings. "I wanna be a blacksmith."

She turned to look at her son in surprise. He was smiling, eagerly awaiting her answer.

"Oh" was all she managed to say.

She quickly thought about the possibilities. Gobber having an apprentice wasn't a bad idea but right now, Hiccup was definitely too young. He wouldn't even be able to reach the table.

"Think it through before you decide on something like this, dear. But if you still want to when you can reach and work the bellows, you can start then."

Hiccup's happy grin was all she needed as an answer.

This is way shorter than I intended to. When I finished, it was only a little more than 800 words, so I went back to editing and now finished at just shy of 1000. Still too little for my liking, but hopefully the next chapter will be back around my usual length.

How did you like the chapter? And, as I haven't gotten any reviews for chapter 5, I still want to know what you think of Björn.

Next chapter is definitely something to look forward to, as it's something I've been wanting to write almost since I started this story. So, see you then!