Chapter 268

Hiccups POV:

Four weeks have passed since me and chief Nigren sealed the deal for Arachne's silk and since then I've made two deliveries of the silk and received a good amount of gold for them. I had to make a larger load shark to hold the rolls though but every shark was now able to hold five large rolls of the stuff which was sold for a high price since it was in high demand. Besides that, nothing big has been happening other than me getting a few extra chief lessons from my dad who felt it was time that I got more training to take the reins when he retires and also gave me a few jobs to do in his place. These jobs weren't too difficult as they were mostly just helping out around the village doing some odd jobs like helping repair some damaged buildings, fixing ships, solving arguments between people, making some deliveries and of course, dealing with dragons running wild.

Besides that, I've been able to enjoy the occasional time with my family which includes my animals with a lot of those that were originally just babies growing up and becoming strong. Tau, the little Joey I once knew who would remain in Kalina's pouch was now able to bounce around his mother on his own, Mfalme's mane had begun growing out on his chest, Ahana was now taller than me and the other animals were also growing fast. I couldn't help but feel a great deal of pride seeing how well they were each growing on the island and knew if the island was ever threatened, they'd be able to help protect it.

Now I was in the wolves' den with Adal standing before me as I gently held his muzzle in my hands while using my thumbs to scratch it in a way, I knew he enjoyed. As I did so I looked him over and had to say he'd come a long way from that little pup, wrapped in blankets that was given to me by the elves. I pulled away from him and looked around at the surrounding pack and thought back to how they all came to be here on my island under Adal's rule. It was then my eyes landed on Snowflake and I couldn't help but smile at the memory of how she used to lay down on my bed with me and let me pat her head while I lost myself in my own thoughts. She was not that little wolf cub anymore, now she was a proud and noble wolf with cubs of her own and a duty to help her pack in their duty to protect the island. I just hoped the day for her to go into battle once more never came since she was a noble creature and I didn't want her to endanger her life again.

I took a breath and stood up and made my way out into the forest and began taking a simple stroll through it while wondering what would be happening today since my dad gave me some time off from chief training. I figure maybe I should get back to my roots and do some undersea exploration and loot a couple of ship wrecks I hadn't touched yet or do a little bounty hunting to clean up a bit of the trash that's causing trouble around the archipelago. Maybe I should just take Toothless out for a flight and just enjoy flying with him a bit but then again, he's been busy with the female furies and I wouldn't be surprised if they had some babies of his own soon. I sighed knowing that this was the problem with me going on so many adventures in my past, compared to them normal days where nothing big happens are pretty boring and I was a guy who liked to keep busy.

It was then I realized that I'd made my way to the edge of the forest and was now standing on the edge of the Celtic fields and shrugged, figuring a simple walk through the fields might help me think on what I could do. When I reached the middle of the field, I fell to the ground and looked up at the sky before watching the clouds go by and just relaxed while trying to figure what to do with my free time. As I lay there watching the clouds fly over me, I figured perhaps it was time I got back to my roots and got to work on some of my inventions for attacking foes or perhaps maybe start designing automatons for the baby. I slowly sat up and said to myself.

"It has been a while since I last worked on my designs and even longer since I actually built the things I did design." I then smiled. "And it was one of my inventions that helped me bring down Toothless which lead to all I have now." I stood up. "It's time to get back to my inventors roots." With that in mind, I took off.

6 hours later

It's been six hours since I began going through my old designs and I'm sad to say that the majority of them were for combat and battles which was something I was not eager to work on since I was doing my best to stay out of major battles until after the baby was born. I already had automatons for other activities like gathering samples from plants, looting shipwrecks, keeping an eye on things so I really didn't need an automaton for anything else besides battles. I sighed as I lay my head against the table trying to figure out what I could either design, create or simply do to pass the time since there really wasn't that much to do. I sat up and shrugged as I said.

"Maybe I should just take Tephra out for a trip below the waves and find some other shipwrecks that I haven't looted yet." I stood up and made my way out of the forge while muttering about how I needed something to do or I'd go nuts.

4 hours later

I was in my submersible ship, in my aquatic armor, watching my loot sharks explore another shipwreck for any form of treasure available as I sipped the mead in my hand. There really wasn't much in the shipwreck other than a few bags of gold and the occasional statue that went down with the ship and I'd gotten similar things from the past three shipwrecks so nothing big, but it was at least something for the vault. Still though, it didn't do much to relieve my boredom since it became boring after the first two since there wasn't anything exciting within the wrecks that wasn't already in my vault. To be honest, it was also getting boring for me but there was nothing I could do beneath the waves to relieve me of my boredom today. I sighed as the last of my loot sharks returned to its place and I directed Tephra home so I could get some advice from Gobber on what to do since he always had some sort of advice for me when I was feeling down in some way.

1 hour later

It's been a few minutes since I got back and dropped off the stuff from the shipwrecks into the vault and now, I was making my way down the path to Gobbers shop where the familiar sound of a hammer hitting metal could be heard. I smiled as I made my way towards the forge and was hit by the familiar smell of the forge mixed with sweat from Gobber before walking in, gaining Gobbers attention as I did so. He smiled at me and chuckled as he said.

"Well if it isn't the father to be paying old Gobber a visit." He dipped the hot mace head into the water bucket, making the steam rise as the water hissed before he pulled it out. "So, to what do I owe this pleasure?" I sighed and sat down on a stool while rubbing Grumps nose as I did so.

"I came because I could use some advice Gobber and you've always given me good if not a little insulting at times advice." He nodded.

"Alright lad, what's bothering ya?" I sighed and answered.

"I'm bored Gobber." He raised an eyebrow. "My wives are busy, the kids are training, Toothless is getting close to the females and my dad is on a date with my mom."

"So, you have a day to yourself." I nodded.

"The problem is I don't know what to do with it."

"I think I know where you're coming from lad." He sat across from me. "The problem is you've been through some incredible and exciting things and gone up against some of the most vicious beasts in all of Midgard and some of the other realms." I nodded. "After all that, normal and peaceful life can seem pretty boring." I nodded.

"I know but what I need is a way to deal with it." He smiled.

"Why don't you help me out here in the forge since it'll be like old times and I can use the help since despite you giving me new hands, I am a little shorthanded since I gave my current apprentice the day off since he's been working so hard." I smiled.

"I'd like that since to be honest, I have been missing your bad jokes." He chuckled.

"And I have missed your sarcastic comments." He tossed me an apron. "Now come on, we've got work to do." I smiled and brought out my forging hammer which I brought figuring this might happen.

"Then let's get forging." With that said we got to work.

Nightfall

Night had fallen over Berk and I was grateful for this since the day had finally come to an end, so I was able to say I'm one day closer to the birth of my first-born blood child. I'd already begun thinking of how we could decorate the nursery and couldn't wait to do it up, but Blanca and the girls think it better to set it up when Blanca's closer to the due date. Still though, I was thinking of what toys I should make for the baby since unlike my father, I didn't believe in giving a baby who is still in the crib weapons to play with. I couldn't help but chuckle at this since he was still trying to convince my wives and mom that he could be gentle and that he could be left alone with the baby for more than ten seconds. They still didn't trust him after how he asked Gobber to make the baby the axe that he could use the minute they opened their eyes which is an event I was looking forward to among other things.

These were the thoughts that were going through my head as I lay there in bed and stared at the ceiling with my wives taking their usual spots at my side except for Hadasa who was as usual, using my chest as her pillow. While my wives soundly slept my mind kept traveling back to my day and how boring it had been while I had nothing to do other than help Gobber and put a large dent into his orders. I had to admit that it was nice to work with Gobber in the forge again since it reminded me of the few good memories of my childhood in which I would actually feel useful to the village and had a good time working with the old blacksmith. It was also something to keep me busy through my days off and now I would have to see what tomorrow brings but I hoped it was something to keep me busy. I took a breath and drifted off into the sweet realm of slumber while considering what I could do tomorrow to pass the time and move on with the coming days that would lead up to the birth of mine and Blanca's child.

Morning

My morning had been pretty quiet with me spending a late morning in bed, a nice breakfast mixed with talking about what everyone had planned for the day, everyone going onto do their own thing while I went to find ways to pass the time. Now I was standing in front of my piranha's tank while watching the piranha eat the chunk of beef, I'd tossed into the tank for them to eat. As I did so I had to do some thinking about giving them a bigger tank while also getting some other exotic fish to fill other tanks I've been meaning to make. I knew that I could always go through my portal door to multiple exotic places where I could capture the fish for the tanks or just go someone for a bit of adventure but I didn't want to leave the archipelago while Blanca was with child nor did I want to go too far from the island if something happened. It was then that Astrid walked into the room making me turn and smile at her as I said.

"Good morning Milady." I examined the piranha. "So, what brings you here?"

"Chief sent me here, he says he wants to discuss some things with you about the coming winter." I smiled.

"Sounds like he has more work for me." I stretched my arms out above my head. "Well hopefully it'll be something to help pass the time." With that said I began making my out.

"Before you go." I turned to her to see what she wanted right before she grabbed the edges of my coat and pulled me into a kiss and then pulled away. "Did you honestly think I was going to just let you leave like that." I smiled as she left while putting a little swing into her hips making me smile before shaking my head and walking out of the room to get Toothless so we could see what my dad needed to talk to me about.

5 minutes later

I was now on the back of my night fury who was resting on top of one of the huts as we watched my dad who had Skullcrusher at his side, give out orders to some of the village constructions workers who were on the backs of Shovelhelm dragons. When the last of the villagers left, I signalled Toothless to go to him and he jumped off the roof gaining my fathers attention as I said.

"Hey dad, I heard you were looking for me." He smiled.

"Hiccup, I know I promised you a few more days off but according to Gothi, we've got a rough winter ahead of us with some strong blizzards coming." Before I could reply, the sound of Bucket's screams of pain echoed through the village.

"I haven't heard Bucket scream like that in a long time, must be worse than we think." He nodded.

"We could end up snowed in for months, so I need you to help with the preparations."

"Just tell me what you need dad."

"With the coming winter, we could be snowed in for days or weeks, so I want the food stores fully stocked."

"So, you want me to give you some of my islands harvest to stock them?" He nodded.

"Along with that, I want you to go to some of healers islands to collect medical supplies for Gothi's stores and also catch a few boars for the food stores since the people will need meat while trapped inside." I nodded.

"I'll get the list from Gothi on things she needs before we take off." He smiled.

"That's my boy." With that said toothless and I took off to speak with Gothi.

1 hour later

Toothless and I were currently standing on the deck of my ship that I had docked on the West side of Healers island with me now going over the list of supplies Gothi gave me. It was mostly the ingredients that were needed to cure eel pox but there was also pure glacier water and willow bark, so we'd have to stop by glacier island on the way home. After looking over the list one last time, I turned to Toothless and smiled before mounting him and said.

"Let's go gather some ingredients bud." He growled and nodded before we took off.

2 hours later

It's been two hours since we began our search for the needed items and since then, I've been able to gather most of the ingredients and stored in my ship's storage hold. Whenever I gathered the items, I tied them up in bundles and placed them in separate crates I had in the ship's storage hold which I brought with me in my spiderpack to save some time. Now, I was standing in front of a willow tree, using my prosthetics punch dagger to scrape off the bark from the tree while Toothless watched me as I dropped it into the crate that was sitting in my spiderpacks wide open mouth and standing at my side. I looked down at the crate and nodded as I smiled and said.

"This should be more than enough for Gothi to last through the winter." Toothless crooned. "Don't worry bud, this is the last thing we need from this island so Gothi should be good if we have another outbreak of eel pox." He growled at this, remembering the last time that happened. "Don't worry bud, eels aren't on the list of things we need to pick up but pure glacier water is on the list so let's get going since I want to be back on our own island in time for lunch with the family." He gave me a look that clearly asked if I was really looking forward to just the food. "Hey, I like to spend a little time with those I love and if my wives happen to be in a good mood, I get something even tastier than the food." I then smiled. "And I know you've been getting closer to the female furies so I know you want to get back to them along with your family." He rolled his eyes and turned around before he began walking back towards the ship as I rolled my eyes and closed the crate before letting it sink into my spiderpack and following behind my dragon as I put my spiderpack back on.

Half-an-hour later

We were on Glacier island and I was by a lake of pure glacier water, filling up the flasks I'd brought with me for it but as I did so I couldn't help but look around and think back to the first time I came here. The reason was to get my hands on the tooth of a snow-wraith to unlock the dragon eye thinking it would open up but then found it was used to project the information the lenses had. It had honestly been a long time since then and since then I've learnt to make my own dragon eyes and lenses, but they were used for different animals. It has been a while since I last used them though and even longer since I last made another lens for any of the eyes or even made a new eye itself. I figured it would be a good way to pass the time in the coming winter since during those days things were mostly quiet since the people of Berk are often trapped inside their huts, waiting for the blizzards to end so they wouldn't need me for anything other than food supplies.

I groaned as the thought of the coming winter came to mind since the winters on Berk were always rough and so cold with huge blizzards that could freeze a person in a day and bury a person's hut in half that time. It's because of this that I was definitely going to have to have the snake guardians, wolf walkers, Arachne and the kids on high alert since a lot of people were going to try and sneak onto my island since the winter doesn't affect it. It was because of this people wanted to come and enjoy the warmth of my beaches, the greenery of my jungles, the sands of my desert and other things my island had to offer during the cold days of winter. Now I normally had no issues with opening up certain parts of my island to the public like the Arabian desert where the bazaar was held but the rest of the island was off limits as I preferred my privacy which is something everyone knew. Sadly, during the cold snowed in days of winter, a lot of people didn't care and just wanted to get onto my island to not only get away from the cold but find something to do.

I shook my head and looked to my side, realizing while I was lost in my own world, I'd subconsciously filled all of the canteens with glacier water and Toothless was now looking at me in concern. I smiled at him before placing the last canteen down and patting Toothless' muzzle as I said.

"Don't worry bud, just lost in thought about the future challenges we'll have to face." He growled and rolled his head in annoyance. "Yeah, I know but we'll just have to deal with the problems of winter when the time comes." He nodded as I put the last of the canteens into my spiderpack. "Alright, I'd say we got enough of the glacier water for Gothi so that just leaves the wild boars we need to round up for the food stores." He crooned. "Don't worry, I have a way that we can have a little fun while doing this job." He tilted his head before I mounted him and we took off to head back to the ship so we could go to the islands that have a large boar population where we could easily round up a few.

1 hour later

I smiled from my place on Toothless' back as I looked at my Chakram which were now in their cage form with one hovering over the other with each now the size of an elephant. I smiled at Toothless since it would be perfect for catching boars since we could chase them right into the chakram where they'll be trapped and I'd then be able to transport them to my ship. I could also use my plant prosthetic to trap a few in wooden cages that would then carry the boars to me and Toothless before we load them into my ships stores. I smiled down at Toothless and gave him a gentle nudge signalling him to begin and we took off as I said.

"Alright Toothless, let's go round up some boars." He growled and nodded before we began our wild boar hunt.

4 hours later

I smiled as I watched my chakram, float into my ships open storage space followed by multiple wooden cages made by my plant prosthetic and had to say it was a great hunt since we caught enough boars to feed the entire village including my dad who normally eats two of them for a meal. I admit, we could've done it in half the time we took but we were enjoying our time together, doing stunts as we flew through the trees, rounding up the boars and leading them to my chakram and capturing them within. I rubbed Toothless head and said.

"Great work today bud." He crooned as I rubbed his head. "I'll make you your favourite meal when we get home and finish dropping off all the stuff." He growled in joy before the last of the boar were loaded onto the ship making me smile. "Toothless, let's go home." He growled before we boarded the ship and took off to Berk.

Nightfall

I was now lying in bed once more with my wives as I stared up at the ceiling of the room while going over the days events of the day after dropping off the things I'd gathered. Gothi was grateful for all the healing supplies I'd gotten for her while my dad was glad I was able to gather so many boars for the food stores but made it clear that my island would still need to supply fruits and vegetables to the village. I was happy to do so since I often had plentifully harvests which meant I'd often have plenty of food to spare and I'm always happy to share it with Berk, especially with how rough winters could be.

I sighed knowing that devastating winter was only a week away and with it comes rough times for Berk with massive blizzards, snow burying huts and paths, no warmth other than the warmth of fires and worst of all, long days trapped inside with nothing to do. The last problem was the worst thing of them all since as Vikings we needed to be doing something or else we go crazy and begin getting angry, paranoid and other such things. This would bring about problems for me since it's for this reason that a lot of people try to get onto my island by either sneaking onto it or trying to convince me to let them enjoy time on it which as I've said before, is not something I'm big on, preferring my privacy. Along with this, I knew if they got onto my island then they'd see everything and with Berk being an island in the middle of nowhere with not much happening on it even with the dragons, they'd want to come by more and more often till they beg me to let them move here and that was not something either me or my family wanted. I let out another sigh and mumbled.

"Winter's going to be rough." With that said I embraced the realm of sleep.

AN: Hey guys, yeah I know it's shorter than usual, not that exciting and it's late but the thing is I've been having a rough time with inspiration and ideas plus work was busy this week and the load shedding has been a nightmare. Anyway, you can't blame me for having Hiccup be a little board as this is the longest he'll be going without travelling somewhere until the next child is born and compared to all he's been through, normal can be boring. As for the next chapter, I'll do my best to get it out on time, make it longer and a little more exciting but I make no promises since the inspiration in my brain is running on fumes. Till next time, review kindly and have a nice day.