(New chapter is ready! I might go over it again and see if I feel like adding anything to add or redoing a part that I feel that I could've done better. Enjoy!)
(Chapter Thirty-Two)
(Fredas 23rd) (With Astrid)
It was another rough night for Astrid to where she barely got any sleep. Her mind was so messed up with what should she do that it kept her up until late at night. She didn't know when she fell asleep but when she did the last thing on her mind was Draco. Her face began to fluster just at the thought of it.
She should still be mad at him for the lying but it seemed liked when Stoick thought she was thinking of their future it made her forget about it a little. It seemed like the still newfound love for the guy has started to take a toll on her.
"Astrid? honey?" Ingrid pulls Astrid out of her thoughts.
She had fully forgotten that she was at the table having breakfast with everyone and was playing with her food not eating any of it. She looked up at her mom "Sorry, I was just lost in thought" she apologizes.
"Has something happened?" her mother asks.
Astrid shakes her head "No, I just have a lot on my mind"
"Does it have anything to do with Draco?" Ingrid asks. Astrid tenses at the name.
"What did he do?" her father asks.
She wanted to tell them, but she still hasn't decided if she should or not "Nothing, there's just a lot on my mind"
Ingrid eyed Astrid wondering if it were because she is that age and that she's hiding the fact that the two of them did something out of wedlock or it could be she found out something and she won't say. Ingrid looks at her husband then back at her daughter.
Now she's thinking that it might be because Astrid's father was there and that's why she won't speak "Astrid" she leaves the table "Come with me" Ingrid finishes.
Astrid didn't want to, but she won't win against her mom, so she followed leaving her father by himself. Ingrid and Astrid walk up to her room in silence until they reached her closing the door behind them.
Ingrid sat in the chair while Astrid goes sit on her bed. It was silent between the two of them only for a couple of minutes before Ingrid spoke "Did you two have sex out of wedlock?" this threw Astrid off guard.
Her face turned to a bright shade of red and her heart rate rose "W-W-What! M-Mom! No! We did not have s-sex! Why would you think that!" Astrid didn't know if she should be angry or not.
Ingrid was a little relieved to hear that "Well, you are of that age and Draco is a fine young man so I wouldn't blame you for being curious about what go-" Astrid places her hands over her ears tuning out her mom.
"I am not going to hear this!" she abruptly stands up and storms out of the room wanting to get out of the house. She hurried out of the house getting as far away as she can and the only place that comes to mind is an open field that she found a few months ago.
The field is a wide opened space that sat at the west side of the island near the edge of a cliff (A/N I don't really know where the open field that toothless and Hiccup was) It was a decent distance away from the village and the cove where Draco, Sal, Raven, and Hana were staying but they were closer.
As she ran through the village it caught the attention of some of the people wondering the village, one of them being Raven who seemed curious about what just happened and why she was running. Dropping what she was doing Raven sprints after Astrid but kept some distance between them.
Astrid kept her head down as she ran, she didn't want no one to see how red her face was. She just kept running all the way up to the point she reached the forest, but she didn't stop there. She continued to run through the forest all the way to the grassy field.
She jumped over rocks and fallen trees, dodged branches all the way to the grassy field. Once there that's when she stopped and caught her breath after all of the running, she did just to get there.
Astrid walked through the tall grass up to the edge then looks all the way down to the cold, rocky waters below. She plopped onto the ground with a thud "Why is this happening to me?" she asked herself.
It was already hard enough to have to decide if she should tell Stoick about Draco and the secrets he has been keeping from them but now her mom thinks that her and Draco has had sex outside of wedlock which has made her thought a big mess. She begins to blush again.
It's not like she hasn't been curious about sex before, but she would NEVER have it out of wedlock no matter how tempting it is. She wants to tell her mom so bad so her mom doesn't think of her like that, but she feels like her mom would not understand.
Astrid wanted to scream so bad to let out the frustration that she has built up, but she knows if she does that people might come looking for her and that would allow people to find this place which she hopes to keep to herself. All she could do is sit in silence with her thoughts.
While Astrid was freaking out Raven watched until she thought Astrid cooled off a little which didn't take long since Astrid just lied down in the grass. Raven makes her way through the grass trying to not make a lot of noise. It didn't seem to work though.
Astrid jolts up "Who's there?" she looks around until she landed on Raven who just stood there looking down at her with a confused look on her face.
"What are you doing?" Raven asked.
Astrid scooted back a little "I just want to be alone, what are you doing here? How did you find me?" she looked around again "Is Draco here?"
"I saw you running in the village and followed and no, he is not here" Raven answered.
Astrid just stared at her for a bit before speaking again "Why are you here?"
"Well, when you see someone running wouldn't you go see what was going on?" Astrid wondered if she's saying that she was worried or that she was curious, she couldn't tell for sure.
"What are you saying?"
"I'm saying I was curious"
Astrid rolled her eyes "Well, I'm fine as you can see, now can I just be alone" she tries to push Raven away.
"Yea, right, after seeing how you ran through the village, how could it not look like something is wrong, now what's wrong?" Raven plopped herself onto the ground next to her making it clear that she isn't going anywhere.
Astrid glared at Raven hoping to intimidate her, but it didn't seem like it was working. She let out a sigh of defeat and began her rant "Fine! For starters I don't know what to do, k-keeping this secret from my people is not easy, it's driving me crazy, and it seems to be very noticeable to everyone that something is on my mind! My mom thinks Draco and I had s-sex (blushes again) when we haven't!"
She continues "Why would she think that! We're not even married, and she knows that I would never do stuff like that out of wedlock!"
"Don't say never"
"It's against our rules, so I'll say it again, I would never have sex before wedlock" she says sternly but her face was becoming a bright red.
"Whatever you say Astrid, but with how red your face has become it's kind of hard to take you seriously" Astrid looks down to the ground trying to hide her face.
"Look, Astrid, I understand it's a lot to take in with what you know and the fact that you and Draco are kind of bound by your laws but remember what Draco said, if you feel it necessary to tell the people about us and the dragons then that's ok, we will understand and we would leave"
Raven continues "I also understand that it's the relationship between the two of you that is making it hard to decided but maybe, just maybe you could come by the house when you feel like and talk with us, it might just help you a little, but I have to get back to the village and finish the task that I was given, see you around"
Astrid didn't have any time to say anything because Raven has already gotten up from where she was sitting and already running off back to the village leaving Astrid all to herself. She sat there for a couple of minutes thinking over what Raven said.
"Ugh! Maybe she is right, if I just go and talk to them then maybe this wouldn't be so hard" she didn't want to admit but it might be the only way to make this easier to handle.
Not wanting to go another day trying to decide the right choice she jumps to her feet and head back into the woods heading to the home of Draco and his friends.
(With the Twins and Fishlegs) (3 hours later)
The twins and Fishlegs were sitting in the hall eating their lunch hoping that Astrid would walk through the doors breaking this awkward silence that hovered over their table, but they've been there for twenty minutes already, and she still hasn't shown up.
"Has anyone notice that Astrid's been acting weird lately?" Ruffnut was a little worried about her friend.
"It could be that everything that has been happening to her has finally caught up and now is taking its toll" Fishlegs was always logical, but something was telling Ruffnut that wasn't the case.
"She probably ate something bad, remember what happened when you ate something that made you sick?" Tuffnut snickered remembering when his sister got sick and didn't feel good for a whole week.
"Shut up, I don't think she ate something that made her sick I think something's bothering her and she's just hiding it from us" not knowing what is wrong with her best friend makes her frustrated.
"If something is bothering her, she'll tell us, or you but we can't force her to tell us everything that's going on in her life, she would get mad, and you know it" Ruffnut hates it when Fishlegs is right.
"That doesn't mean I still can't try at least, so are you guys going to come with me to find Astrid or not?" she asks but gives them no time for them to answer, she was already leaving the hall.
Tuffnut and Fishlegs looks at each other for a second then shrugged their shoulders, they had a feeling they really didn't have a choice if they could stay or not so knowing that they left to go find Ruffnut. Luckily, she didn't get far, she was standing outside of the hall waiting for them.
"Took you guys long enough (turns around) now, where is she?" she looked all over Berk from the top of the steps but couldn't see her.
"Do you think she could be at home?" Fishlegs asks.
"Nah, she wouldn't be at home at this time, so I'm thinking that she could be training in her normal spot, but since Snotlout found her spot, she might have found a new one and she hasn't told me where it is, yet" she explains leading the others down the steps.
"Then should we ask her mom?"
"Maybe… yea, let's go talk to her mom" Ruffnut takes the lead.
"I'm bored" Tuffnut chimes in.
"We just started looking for Astrid, how can you already be bored?" Fishlegs asked secretly amazed that he got bored this quick.
"Don't know, just am" Fishlegs rolled his eyes.
"Why don't you go hangout with Snotlout then?"
"Nah, he's been in a bad mood since he lost Astrid to Draco, he's no fun like that" Tuffnut explains.
"That's… actually a good reason" Fishlegs was surprised to hear Tuffnut being reasonable.
"Well, then how about you go and… umm, honestly I don't know what else you could do since you do most things with your sister and right now, she's wanting to look for Astrid" this is the first that Fishlegs couldn't think of anything to do but that's probably because what he finds fun would be boring to Tuffnut.
Tuffnut wines "Come on Fishlegs, you got to have something up there in that big head of yours"
"I really don't know what to tell you, I prefer reading b—"
"Boooorrrring!"
"I'm sorry that I'm boring to you"
"Ugh"
Ruffnut speaks up "Would you two shut up, we're here" they were standing in front of Astrid's house.
Ruffnut knocks a couple of times then waits. It didn't take long before Astrid's mom, Ingrid, opened the door. She smiles at the trio "What can I do for you three?"
"We were wondering if you knew where Astrid might be?" Ruffnut asks.
"Sorry Ruffnut, but she took off after I had "the talk" with her, she wasn't too happy with me bringing it up and I haven't seen her since, that was this morning" Fishlegs blushed, Tuffnut didn't know what "the talk" was and Ruffnut silently facepalmed.
"Thank you, Ms. Hofferson, we'll keep looking" Ruffnut turned around and pushed the two away from the house while waving goodbye.
"W-Well, I wasn't e-expecting that" Fishlegs was still blushing.
"What was this "the talk" she was talking about?" Tuffnut asked confused.
"Don't worry about it, right now we have to find someone else who might know where Astrid is" Ruffnut did not want to be the one to explain what "the talk" was to her brother.
"Should we try asking Draco? He should be at the forge today" hearing this made Ruffnut smile.
"Yes, we should, let's go!" she grabs both of their arms and begins pulling them in the directions of the forge.
"H-Hey, h-hold on Ruffnut!" she didn't listen and kept pulling.
Since she wasn't listening to him, he just shut his mouth and let her keep pulling since the forge wasn't that far from Astrid's house. The walk was short, and they were already standing at the window of the forge, but they were closed.
"Hello?" no one answered right away but they did hear some noises inside.
"Gobber?" this time the windows opened revealing Draco, not Gobber.
"What are you guys doing here?" he asks.
"Well, we were looking for Astrid, have you seen her?" Ruffnut asks with a big smile.
"No, I haven't seen her" Draco explains but he notices that Ruffnut was trying to peek into the forge. He lets out a sigh.
"If you think she's here come in a check for yourself" he was inviting them inside.
Instead of taking his invite she just stared at him trying to see if there was any sign of him lying but nothing was giving off any real signs. Seeming to be telling the truth she shook her head believing him… for now.
"Nah, we'll just go see if anyone else has seen her, thank you though" with nothing else to say they left Draco to go on with his work, though he couldn't help but think that Ruffnut had something planned.
Ruffnut then noticed one of Draco's friends, Mikazuki and from the look of supplies he's carrying he's been her for a while and probably have seen Astrid even though by now she knows that Astrid isn't in the village anymore, but it couldn't hurt to try.
Once again, she grabs both Tuffnut and Fishlegs by the arms, without complaining this time and dragged them in the direction of Mikazuki. He seemed to have noticed them right away and stopped to let them talk to him.
"Can I help you?" he asks.
"Have you seen Astrid anywhere?"
"I have, why?"
"We've been looking for her since she didn't show up at the hall this morning" Ruffnut explains.
"Well, she ran out of her house and ran in the direction of the bridge, after that I don't know" Ruffnut was right. She let out a sigh.
She turns to look at Fishlegs and her brother "I guess that solves the mystery of where Astrid is, we won't be finding her in those woods"
"Sooo, you're saying that this was all a waste of time, great" Tuffnut huffed, crossing his arms.
"Shut up, you guys can go do whatever you want now, I'm going to go see what the other girls are up to" she says as she leaves to go find her other friends.
Fishlegs, Tuffnut, and Mikazuki stood there looking at one another saying nothing. It was an awkward silence for a good minute or so until Fishlegs spoke up breaking the awkward silence that was growing.
"Sooo, what do you think of Berk so far?" he asks.
"Compared to where I come from, there's not much to do" he answers.
"Thank you!" Tuffnut exclaims.
"Is there anything fun to do around here?" Mikazuki asks ignoring the male twin.
"Umm… well, there's Thawfest, Snoggletog, and umm… t-that's it, to be honest we weren't expecting the war with the dragons to end so having fun wasn't important but now" Fishlegs begins playing with his hands.
"Now it's boring as hel" Tuffnut adds.
Mikazuki still ignores Tuffnut "Haven't you thought about leaving Berk?"
"Um… N-Not really, going to the dragon's nest was the first-time leaving Berk and normally we don't have much reason to leave unless we send out fishers or have to go meet the other tribes" he explains.
"What are the other tribes?" Mikazuki asks thinking that knowing this might be of some use to Draco.
"There's the Bog Burglars, Lava Louts, the Outcasts, the Berserkers, the Peaceable Tribe, um… I think there's a few more but I can't remember"
"Are you supposed to be the know it all?" Tuffnut asks mockingly.
"Only about things that happen on Berk and dragons, I don't keep up with all of the other stuff that happens outside of Berk, I'm not like Gothi" Fishlegs defends himself.
Tuffnut started to laugh "I just imagined you looking like gothi and it was the funniest thing ever" he was laughing so much he clenched his stomach.
Mikazuki turns to Tuffnut "Don't you have anything else to do?" he asks annoyed.
He calms down from laughing so much then says "Not really" still sounding a little winded from laughing.
"Can't you go find something else to do?"
"What dragon caught your tongue?" he asks. The other two just stare at him with this annoyed look that even Tuffnut understood.
"Fine, I know when I'm not wanted but don't come crying to me when you both get bored" he says then walks off to do whatever Tuffnut does leaving the two by themselves.
"I should get going to, I have to return this stuff back to camp, I'll see you around" Mikazuki says leaving Fishlegs all by himself.
Fishlegs just stood there watching Mikazuki leave before thinking that it might be time to go see if his dad needs any help since everyone else is gone or is busy with doing something else. This has been a long afternoon.
(With Draco and Gobber)
Back at the forge Draco was busy working on Astrid's new axe since he broke her last one. Gobber on the other hand was busy working on some orders that he's been holding off since they weren't as important and didn't need to be done until a certain date.
"So, lad, 'ave ya noticed that the 'offerson lass 'as been acting weird lately?'' he asks, breaking the silence.
"If you think I know why I'm sorry, but I don't" that was a lie, but Gobber doesn't know that.
Gobber rose a brow "Ya sure about that lad? She's been avoidin' ya?
Draco stops hammering "Have you been spying on us?" he jokingly asks.
Gobber laughs "Lad, I'm stuck in this place every day, I 'ave to keep myself busy some'ow"
"You need to find a hobby, and the answer is still that I don't know why she's avoiding me" still a lie but something is telling him that Gobber might actually know why but he isn't saying.
"If ya really don't know then it might 'ave something to do with 'er household" Draco was confused by this.
"Does she have a hard home life?" he asks.
"If ya consider bein' pushed into getting married 'aving a 'ard 'ome life then ya could say that but since ya came along it's been kind of quiet from them" he explains while hammering away at a sword.
"I understand the laws but why does it work like that?" Draco asks actually curious.
"Don't really know lad, it's been this way for as long as I've been alive and even longer than that" he seemed to not really know.
"If she doesn't want to get married then she shouldn't have to get married, is that the same for the men here?" he asks.
"It may not make sense to ya or even to me, but we can't just change our ways in a day…" he goes silent for a second but then starts to talk again "… but she 'as been a little 'appier since ya won the match against Snotlout and 'er"
"I honestly tried to stay out of it, but it seems I can always find trouble no matter where I go" he sighed.
"I 'ave noticed but ya 'ave done some good things for Berk, end the dragon raids bein' the biggest 'elp, we thought it would never end, then that red dragon, ya scared 'im off" Draco can tell he was being truthful, but he knew that more trouble is going to come for he and his friends if they stay here.
"He'll be coming back you know"
"We'll be ready for 'im" he says with a toothy smile.
"We'll have to build up Berk's defensives because just people alone won't stop him and the army he'll be bringing" maybe he should be talking to Stoick about this instead of Gobber.
"Make some blueprints and we'll get to work, the question is 'ow long do we 'ave?"
He thought about it for a second trying to remember if he already said how long they might have but he can't remember "I can't remember if I already said but probably a couple of months"
"Do ya think we have a chance of surviving?" Draco didn't know how to answer that right then but lying to Gobber would be pointless so he might as well tell him the truth. At least to what he thinks might happen.
"Not everyone" Draco bluntly answers not wanting to beat around the bush. Gobber didn't seem to be surprised.
It became quiet between the two except for the sounds of hammering of metal and the crackling of the fire. Silence hovered over the two for a couple of minutes before a familiar voice broke the silence.
"Draco?" they turned to see that it was Sal
"Something happen?" Draco asks.
He nods his head "Someone's wanting to talk to you"
Draco had a feeling of what it could be, Sal wouldn't bother him unless it's important or something bad has happened "Sorry Gobber, I have something to take care of"
"It's alright lad, just know you'll 'ave more work the next time" he said jokingly but knew that he was actually serious.
"That's fine, I'll even stay late if I have too, see you around Gobber" he says placing down the tools he was using then leaves the forge in a rush.
"What about the lasses weapon?" Gobber yells out.
"Keep an eye on it for me if you can" Draco yells back. Gobber on the other hand wasn't able to get another word in it because he was already out of hearing range.
"Gobber!" Stoick calls out.
"Stoick, what brings ya 'ear?"
"I was needing to talk to the lad, but it seems that 'e's busy, do ya know what that's about?"
Gobber shakes his head "I don't but it did seem important"
"Do you know if 'e's coming back?"
Gobber shrugs "Don't know but if 'e does 'e'll 'ave a lot of work" he chuckles.
"If 'e does return tell 'im that I need to talk to 'im" with that Stoick returns to his duties leaving Gobber once again alone in the forge.
(With Sal and Draco)
It didn't take long to reach the forests edge after leaving the forge and now since they're out of anyone from hearing them, now seems like a good time to find out what's actually going on.
"What's actually happening at the camp that you had to come get me?" Draco asks breaking the tense silence.
"Astrid came by wanting to talk to us, but she didn't say what it was and wouldn't until you were there" this wasn't exactly what he thought but it's still something that does call for his attention.
"How long has she been waiting there?"
"A couple of hours" that made Draco stop.
"How come no one came to get me earlier?" he asks a little annoyed that they didn't come get him earlier.
"I said we should come get you, but Raven said not to bother you and we can handle Astrid until you came home but then it started to get awkward, then that's when Raven decided we should go get you" he explains
You haven't told her anything yet?"
"No, she actually stayed quiet the whole time"
"Then we should hurry up" they changed their jog into a run to shorten the time.
During the run they head to duck and dodge a couple of obstacles, but it didn't take long before they reached the edge of the cove. Down below they could see the two dragons are looking through the window, but their attention quickly turns to them.
"Hi're finally het, niido getitng weird ko there" says Galaxy as the two climb down into the cove.
"I'm not surprised, thank you for keeping them from killing each other" Galaxy just nodded filling relieved that he didn't have to watch anymore.
The two stood at the door for a second before Draco opened it to see that everyone was sitting in the main sitting at the table waiting for the two but what was noticeable was the dense awkwardness in the room.
Raven quickly stands up "Thank gods you're here, the silence is killing me! Now we can get on with whatever she wants to talk about" she was gesturing to Astrid who seemed a little nervous but kept a strong appearance.
She slowly looks up but says nothing. The two stares at each other for a couple of minutes before Hana coughs "Umm, are we going to get this going or what?" she asks.
Draco only nods his head then walks towards the table taking a seat at the head with Sal taking a seat next to Raven. The tension in the air was still there but not as bad as before but since it doesn't seem like she's going to be the first to speak he'll be the first.
"I was told you wanted to speak with us, is it about what you've decided to do?" he asks.
She nodded her head "Yes, but first I wanted to ask a few things before making my final decision"
Draco looks around the table now somewhat understanding why she asked everyone here "Ok, ask away, it's not like lying will do any good anymore anyways"
"First question, how many of you know magic?" she bluntly asks.
Draco was the first to put up his hand, then Mikazuki, last was Raven but that was it and this surprised Astrid. She honestly thought that all of them knew magic, but she felt relieved that she was somewhat wrong.
That's when she remembered that there are more then just the ones in the room "How about the other that are not here? How many of them know magic?"
Draco thought about it for a second trying to remember who all knew magic, but he could only remember a few and if there were more who knew magic then they probably didn't use them as much "A couple that I can recall, if there are more, then they must not use them since not all magic isn't for attacking"
"What kind of magic do you know?" she asks.
"A few and they are mostly attack spells like this one" steadying his hand towards the window then with a crackle a decent spark of lighting shoots from his fingers. This made Astrid jump.
"I can do stronger ones but not in here also I know a little bit of fire but that's it" that wasn't the full truth but she's not ready for everything just yet.
She turns to Mikazuki "What about you?"
"I mostly know runic magic which is something along the lines like these" he pulls out his little journal, flips through the pages then stopping on a page that shows off a little bit of runes. He hands it over to her to look.
"They vary in different types, and I know a few of them" he explains.
She looks over the page but none of it was making sense to her, so she handed it back to him and moved onto Raven "How about you? What kind of magic do you know?" all of this was still a little much, but this is helping like Raven said earlier.
"Healing magic, well, it's not strong healing magic but it's better than herbs" this was something Astrid wasn't expecting.
"Wait, wait, are you saying that you can heal sick and injured people?"
Raven shakes her hand a little "A little but not to one hundred percent, like Draco for example, when he got hurt by those dragons, he was fine after a bit of healing"
Astrid looked at Draco who seems to understand what she was thinking "She's telling the truth, but I don't think anyone wants to get hurt to prove it"
Then out of nowhere Hana speaks up "I'll do it" then without hesitation she pulls out a dagger from her side and cuts her hand.
"Ok, that really wasn't necessary" Draco slaps his forehead.
Hana rolled her eyes but holds her hand out to Raven who then quickly began to use healing magic which within seconds made the decent sized cut just disappear. This amazed Astrid but freaked her out at the same time.
"Any more questions?" Draco asks hoping that this was it for now.
"Yes, what about the dragons, does anyone else have one?"
"Only I have a dragon, at least that I know of"
Astrid felt more relieved to hear that but at the same time a little… excited. She was slowly beginning to blush when the thought that the man that won her hand owns one of the deadliest dragons and had some scary magic.
"Astrid?" Raven couldn't help but call her name after seeing a little blush growing on Astrid's face.
She shakes her head bringing herself back into reality "O-Oh, sorry I got distracted, this is still a little much to handle but this has helped with my decision, I've decided that I'm not going to tell anyone, but you have to tell me everything that happens and what's going to happen from now on and you have to train me as well"
Everyone traded glances with one another not sure what to think about that, so all eyes turned to Draco waiting for what he had to say about it. Draco could tell this might be the only thing that's going to keep her from telling everyone so he's going to have to allow it.
"That's fine by me, but you're training is going to have to wait until your axe is done, is that all?" he asks standing up.
"Yes, for now"
He nods his head "Good" he then begins to walk around the table.
"Where are you going?" Raven asks.
"I'm going to bed" he says as he makes his way towards his room.
"It's not even dark yet" Astrid states but he said nothing else closing the door behind him.
"Don't worry about him, he does this a lot when he gets annoyed or he's had enough of the day, if I had to guess it's because he's annoyed with us because you were here for a couple of hours without him knowing" Raven wasn't fully sure about any of what she said was right.
"Then it's my fault that he's like this?" she asks starting to think it would've been better if she waited until later to do all of this.
"No, it's because we decided not to tell him that you were here"
The sound of a chair scooting across the floor caught their attention "I'll be outside if you need me" Hana says leaving the table.
"While you're out there can you gather more wood for the fire?" Raven asks.
"I'll do it" Mikazuki says as he leaves the table.
"If you're going then Sal can you go too?" she asks looking over to her brother.
"What do you plan to do then?" he asks.
"I'll stay here with Astrid unless she plans on leaving" it sounded like she was asking Astrid if she was going to leave or not.
"I should probably leave for now, I had chores to do today, and I should probably go do them before I get into trouble" Astrid explains standing up.
"I know that feeling, Draco use to get mad when I wouldn't do chores around the house back home, but he wouldn't do anything besides that" Raven chuckles upon remembering the times she made Draco mad.
"He almost sounds like a father with his kids" Astrid chuckles when she imagined him being a dad but then she began to blush.
"The thought of you and him having kids just went through your head just now, didn't it?" Raven grins at how cute Astrid is being.
"N-No, I was just thinking of how funny it is to see Draco being a father" she lied.
"Then why are you blushing then?"
Astrid looked away trying to hide her face "I'm not blushing" she defends.
"Don't try to hide it Astrid, you're easy to read but don't worry, I won't tell him" Raven chuckles again.
"I should get going" Astrid rushed to the door leaving the house in a hurry. Raven couldn't help but start laughing at how much Astrid's trying to hide her true thoughts.
(With Astrid)
Astrid wanted to get as far away as possible so no one else can see how red she was so once she was outside, she sprinted passed the two dragons and Hana hoping that the other female didn't see her face then she climbed her way out as fast as she could. Once she reached the top she went from a sprint into a run.
She was so embarrassed about what Raven had said that she didn't realize that she ran all the out of the forest and onto the bridge leading into the village. Once she noticed the bridge that's when she stopped running and tried to calm herself.
'Why did she have to say that? Why is it even bothering me so much? Do I really like him that much?' she questioned herself.
"Astrid?"
'It's not like I don't want to admit it but it's embarrassing, I'm supposed to be a shield maiden but now I'm a lovesick girl'
"Astrid?!"
She was pulled from her thoughts and saw that it was just Ruffnut and Ally. They seemed a little surprised to see her there "Where have you been?" Ruffnut asks sounding very annoyed.
"I was coming back from training" she lied while she tries to hide the faint blush that remains on her face.
"That's a load of yak shit… but for now I'll let it drop for now since your mom is looking for you but once you're done, We. Are. Talking" she tried making it sound like a threat, but Astrid rolled her eyes.
"Whatever, I'll talk to you later" she takes off again and this time it was towards home.
It didn't take much time to make it home since she lives not far from the arena, so it only took her a couple of minutes to get home and upon arriving she saw her mom standing outside waiting.
"There you are Astrid, we were getting worried" her mom really sounded worried.
"I'm sorry mom, I just needed some fresh air, I'll go do my chores now" she says as she tries to not make eye contact with her mother.
"Don't worry hun, I had your dad do them while you were gone" Astrid wasn't all that happy about that since she was wanting to avoid having to explain anything to Ruffnut right now.
"Oh, how come?" she asks.
"Because we need to talk" this is just not her day.
"Mom, I don't want to have this conversation" she says as she passes her mom to enter the house.
"Hun, we're worried that you're doing some 'things' outside of wedlock" she follows closely behind her daughter.
"I've already said it before mom, I'm not doing anything out of wedlock" she says getting flustered.
"With how you've been acting it's hard to not to think that you've been distracted a lot lately and whenever we bring him up you get really red in the face" her mom explains.
"That doesn't mean we're doing anything" she snaps.
"Then what were you doing?" Ingrid asks. Astrid stops as she enters her room and turns around to face her mom.
"I was trying to get away from everyone" she snaps, slamming her door in her mom's face.
Astrid stood in front of her door for a bit, listening to the footsteps of her mother fade as she heads back downstairs. Feeling relieved, Astrid walks over to her bed to relax a little before she heads over to the hall later to meet up with her friends.
As soon as she sat down on the edge of the bed, she noticed a small chest with a parchment next to it on her wooden stand. She reaches over and grabs the parchment, opens it then begins to read.
While reading the parchment, her face quickly grew as red as a tomato "What the hel!?" she screamed in her head as she threw the paper to the ground.
(With Ruffnut, Philia, Ally, Maria, and Rivia) (The Great Hall)
Not long after talking with Astrid, Ruffnut headed to the hall to meet up with the other girls who were already there waiting on her and Astrid but since she won't be joining them just yet, but this does give them some time to talk. A devilish grin formed on her lips.
As she entered, she was quickly spotted by the other girls and called over to where they were sitting. Ruffnut quickly made her way over to the table taking a seat next to Philia which had a plate of chicken and bread with a mug of mead.
"Did you find Astrid?" Asked Ally.
"Yea but she had to go home to do some chores, she'll meet up with us in a bit" Ruffnut explains.
"Where did she go?" Rivia asks.
"She says she was wanting some space, but I think she went to go meet up with Draco" Ruffnut says with a smirk. The other girls let out a collective 'Ooooooh' and wanting to hear more.
"What do you think they did?" Philia asks letting her mind wonder into some lust filled thoughts.
"Do you think they did it?" asks Rivia.
"I wonder what her expression was when she saw him" Ally giggles.
Ruffnut couldn't help but laugh "Hold on, we can't just jump to conclusions like that, this is still Astrid we're talking about, I doubt she did anything like that, but I do feel like she's hiding something and we're going to find out what that is"
"How? We don't even know where she went or where Draco and the rest of his friends are staying"
"Yea, and I doubt asking one of them would get us anywhere since they seem to be secretive about where they're staying" says Ally.
"We won't have to ask them; we just need Astrid to lead us to them" Ruffnut says with a devilish grin.
The other girls looked at one another before returning their attention to Ruffnut "How are we going to do that?" asks Maria.
"I was thinking about that, and I've came up with a plan, first we'll have to get her super embarrassed then once she leaves to get away from us, we just hope that she leaves the village and goes meet up with Draco, it's that simple" Ruffnut explains.
"Would that even work?" asks Philia.
"That's why I said, 'we just hope' and if it doesn't then we'll come up with another way" but something's telling her that it will work.
"When should we try this theory?" Ally asks.
"Tomorrow, I asked her mom and she said that Astrid wouldn't have any chores tomorrow, neither would she have training since they're still repairing the arena"
"How long do you think it'll take before they're done with the repairs?" Rivia asks curious about seeing Draco training Hiccup again.
"From what I heard from my father it'll be a couple more days" Maria replies.
"Why do you ask?"
"Just curious" Rivia didn't want to actually tell why.
The sound of the doors of the hall opening grabs the attention of the table of girls causing them to all looks to the doors to see that it was their friend Astrid who was looking around probably looking for them. Ruffnut waves at her to catch her attention.
"Over here!" Ruffnut calls out.
She quickly turns to the girls and whispers "Don't say anything about what we just discussed" they nodded.
"What are you guys talking about?" Astrid asks taking a seat next to Ruffnut.
"We were talking about when will the arena be usable again" Philia replies.
"When is it supposed to ready to use?" she asks.
"In a couple of days, will you go back to teaching when it's ready?" Maria asks.
"Of course, I will, someone's got to teach the next generation of vikings" she says with confidence.
The other girls couldn't help but laugh, they've missed having Astrid around. The conversation between the girls went on with them talking about what they've been up to since the last time they talked. Most of them answered with chores and work and the whole time while talking Ruffnut and the others avoided talking about their plan.
(With Sal and Mikazuki)
Sal and Mikazuki were on their way back to the house from their firewood gathering though it was quite awkward during the whole time they were gathering since they didn't really talk and there was an awkward silence hovering over them most of that time.
Wanting to break the silence, Mikazuki speaks up "So… how come you've been so silent?" he asks.
"Sorry, I have something on my mind that's slightly bothering me" he apologies not realizing that he's been silent.
"If you don't mind me asking, what would that be?"
"Hana, something about her makes me feel… off, like she's hiding something" Sal explains.
"Could she?"
"Maybe, but I could also be just overthinking it, she hasn't done anything to make me think that way, but I do and that's why it's bothering me"
"I've felt like that to when I first saw her but just like you said she hasn't said or done anything to make us think that so I would say we're just overthinking it" Mikazuki says.
"You're probably right" even though he said that something is still bothering him.
The remainder of the walk was in silence, but it wasn't a long silence since they were already at the edge of the cove and can see the house down below. They both can see Hana outside, still, sitting with Galaxy.
Climbing down the man-made dirt ramp that helps Galaxy get out of the cove they make their way towards the house. Galaxy notices the two come back lifting his head which caused Hana to look as well.
"Raven wanted me to tell you that she went out to hunt and she'll be back later" Hana blurts.
"What about Draco?" asks Sal.
"He decided to go back to the village to work at the forge"
"When did he say that he'll be back?" Sal asks. She shrugs her shoulders.
(With Draco) (At the Forge)
Not long after Sal and Mikazuki, Draco decided to leave the house and return to the forge to finish up his work, mostly the replacement of Astrid's axe. When he arrived, he noticed that Gobber was still working on whatever he was working on, but he stopped when he seemed to have notice Draco get close to the forge.
"I'm surprised that ya' returned" he says somewhat joking.
"I wanted to finish up some of the work, so it doesn't pile up too much on you" he jokes back.
Gobber chuckles "Ya should 'ave to worry about that to"
"I have time, you on the other hand (Looks at him) not so much" he grins.
Gobber acts offended "That 'urts lad, I may be old, but I still got fire"
"You'll probably out live everyone here if you hold onto that fire" he walks over to the loaded table grabbing a damaged sword and begin to work.
Gobber laughs a little louder "Ya might be right lad!"
After the laughter finally died down the forge became silent of words letting the sounds of hammering and crackling of the fire fill the room. The silence didn't last long because Gobber just remembered something and spoke breaking the silence.
"Aye lad, I remembered that Stoick wanted to see ya, 'e wanted to talk to ya about somethin'" Draco stops hammering.
"What is it about?" he asks.
"Don't know but 'e said that if I see ya to tell ya"
"I'll talk to him tomorrow; we have a lot of work to do" then he goes back to hammering. Gobber shrugs returning to his own work.
The silence came back just as quick as it left but this time it was going to stay since they had a lot of work to do and wasn't planning to stop anytime soon, at least not until dinner. Also, Draco didn't want to talk right now due to having a lot on his mind.
They worked for hours with very little to say to one another, not stopping much for anything unless its people bringing in their damaged weapons or other stuff. Gobber handled most of them while Draco just kept working on the weapons and occasionally working on the axe he's working on for Astrid.
When the sun was nearing the horizon that's when Gobber finally spoke up "'ey lad, it's time for to close down, will ya be joinin' me in the 'all?"
Draco was looking over the new axe making sure he likes it "No, I'll be heading back to the camp, Raven is cooking, and she would chew me out if I wasn't there"
"Come on lad, ya haven't told any more of ya adventures and some of us are wanting to 'ear more, ya friends could join to" Gobber places a hand on Draco's shoulders.
"Sorry Gobber, maybe tomorrow, and I'll see if they would want to come to" he places the axe down before he heads out leaving just Gobber to close the forge.
Gobber watched as Draco leaves the forge but once he was gone, he then turned his attention to the axe. His eyes popped once his eyes laid on the axe. It was different than any axe that he's seen before.
The axe was simplistic in structure but the small details that were added to the axe was beautiful and intricate. The handle was crafted from oak but had a metal outer casing with what looked like the runes carved into the metal, runes that was in Draco's journal.
The middle piece that held the two blades together was pure metal also with some runes carved. The two blades looked pretty much the same except for the actual blades, they were sharp, sharp unlike any axe that he's seen.
Gobber couldn't help but admire the craftsmanship of the axe "So, this is for the lass" he says under his breath with a smile.
(Back at camp)
The sun has already begun to set when he finally arrived at the cove, but when he looked down Draco was met with the sight of Galaxy staring into the window. He could guess a few reasons why he would be doing that but since he's not hearing any yelling the only thing, he can think of is that he sees the food that Raven was making for dinner.
Making his way down into the cove Galaxy was quick to notice him but stays where he was. Draco looks around looking for the Night Fury but doesn't see him anywhere. Draco faces Galaxy.
"Where's the Night Fury?" he asks.
"Rok went out"
"Where to?"
"Wah Nir fah some fish, fin lake los running low"
"I guess that's fine, what are you doing anyways?"
"Just wondering why hi jul cook fish, niido pruzah raw"
"That's because most humans can't eat raw fish without proper cooking, or we'll get sick" he says while entering the house.
Once inside he was greeted by the smell of fish seasoned with some spice and fresh bread along with something else but its mild in smell so he can't really tell what it is right now but as he walks closer to the door that enters the main hall, he can tell what that smell is. It was jerky.
Opening the doors, he was greeted with the sight of everyone sitting at a full table, full of food and mugs filled with wine. Wait wine?
"Where did you get the wine?" he asks as he takes a seat next to Sal.
"Mikazuki had some stashed" Raven replies.
Draco looks at Mikazuki "Thought it was the right occasion" he simply says.
He couldn't disagree with that so with that said they dug in. This was the first time in a while since they've had some good food since Raven usually takes her sweet time in preparing good food but it's worth it.
It took them an hour to finish all the food and wine that was on the table but once everyone was finished some decided to already head to bed, only Hana, while the others stayed at the table to chat.
"What's tomorrows plans?" asks Raven.
"Training Hiccup, and working at the forge" Draco replies, taking another sip of his wine.
Next Mikazuki answered "I'm going to get some training in after my usual trips into the village"
"And you know what we're doing, we'll out to hunt some more to gather more pelts for us and some food for the people in the Great Hall" Sal reminded.
"Then I guess we should all get some sleep; we have a busy day tomorrow… like always" he says the bit under his breath as he was standing up to leave the table.
Not long after Draco leaving the table, Mikazuki followed suit but instead of going to bed he went outside for some late-night training. Leaving just Sal and Raven to clean up the table. Sal said he would handle it but Raven wanted to help since she wasn't sleepy but that was a lie since she long not long after.
It took the two a few minutes to gather all of the dishes and placing them into a bucket with water to let them soak for the night. After they were done with all of the cleanup they then split to go into their own respected rooms for the night.