Chapter 9
Astrid nearly fell on their couch from exhaustion. After a long day of getting asked questions about Hiccup's whereabouts and the new visitors, she reconsidered her choice of trying to generalize living with Dragons to the Bog-Burglars. How do people asking you things take so much energy?
After some time, Astrid decided not to estimate due to her exhaustion making every moment she didn't sleep feel like an eternity, Hiccup also entered, his clothes sticking to him from sweat and looking as exhausted Astrid felt.
"I would want to look at what got you caught up for the day, but I don't think I physically can. How do you manage this every day?" She asked him, when he sat himself besides her and looked at the ceiling.
"To be fair, we don't have three new people every day, so you had it harder than it normally is." He said and thought about sleeping here again or kicking Heather out for the comfort of a real bed. "I could tell you what I've been working on if you really want."
She considered for a second before looking over to him. "We had about 20 new people asking questions about everything here and you managed it, so I still think you have some sort of born ability to do that." She joked and got back to his offer. "What was it now?"
"I was building a forge." As simple as she put the question, as simple of an answer she got.
"You disappeared on me for the entire day for a forge?" She exclaimed incredulous at the thing he kept secret for no apparent reason.
Some part of her remembered how he always went back into the forge on Berk when he wanted to relief some stress by hammering swords to their shape. Considering what happened in the last few days with going to the market and seeing strangers for the first time in weeks, rescuing Dragons from the Outcasts where he got a wound, she quickly made a plan of scolding him for building the forge at all under that condition, and Cami trusting him with her Dragon Problem that nobody thought about before, he had a lot on his plate and having a safe space, like a forge is for Hiccup, really helps.
"You built a forge with that wound of yours? Hiccup, you have to rest." She said focusing on that point first.
He rolled his eyes in response. "And that is why I didn't tell you." He already braced himself for one of Astrid's well known educating punches not to mess with her again. "Look, it's better if one of us builds the forge while the other deals with the tribe and I don't think you'll work there a lot so having me build it is only logical." He reasoned and Astrid hated that he was actually right. "I already said this morning. Toothless does all the work." Hiccup used the same morning from when Astrid argued with him about flying with that gash on his side.
She registered how normally Toothless begged for fish every evening, but this time he instantly went to his stone plate in the living room and began sleeping. "That's about flying. Last time I checked, Toothless can't hammer nails in the wood."
"As I said, exactly why I didn't tell you." He mumbled so that Astrid couldn't understand him. "I am more surprised that nobody came to me while I worked on it. The only two roaming around were Heather and Frida. I suppose you had something to do with that?" He gave an I'm sorry look to Astrid which seemed to work.
"I told Frida to show Heather around." She recalled the encounter with her friend. "Have you seen the new clothes she made with the fabric you brought? It nearly looks like a part of Flinches hide." Astrid never cared about domestic skills like sewing or gardening. For her a settled future life meant as a shield maiden fighting for Berk. That worked out great for her, exiled from Berk and fighting against Vikings for Dragons.
"I still can't get my head around how she is so relaxed knowing she's constantly being watched but don't know from where." He said and thought about how Flinch always appeared out of nowhere and Frida thought it as completely normal. "Thinking about it already makes me shiver. That's like having Toothless always lurking in the shadows." He looked over to his friend sleeping over at his sleeping plate.
Astrid understood his concerns with knowing something is around without knowing where or when it can appear. "I think she sees her more as a protective force and can rely to keep danger away from her while not interfering with her friends." She concluded to sweeten the idea to herself and Hiccup.
Hiccup had slight relief at the thought of a protective Valkyrie rather than a very deadly acid-spitting Dragon running around in the village. "Anyway, while building the forge I practiced some more Dragonese. You said you wanted to learn some on the way back from Outcast Island. I could teach you a bit now." He switched the topic. After working on a forge, certainly something new when you work in the forge for the past few years, having a normal talk to someone except Toothless seemed even nicer than sleep. "The only problem is that I can't speak it myself, so we would need a Dragon."
Astrid accepted and called over Stormfly. Together they sat and talked with Hiccup teaching her and Astrid, being the competitive Person she is, trying her best to memorize the clicks, croons and warbles as the words Hiccup learned they meant.
A few hours later, Heather came back from the evening telling her parents what she learned from Frida and Astrid, leaving out the more private parts about their conversation. She found Hiccup and Astrid cooped up besides each other on the coach as if they fell asleep in the middle of a conversation, shoulder against shoulder with Toothless and for the first time Stormfly also sleeping in her place besides the hearth.
"Yeah. Totally not a pair." She scoffed into the silent room and put a blanket, from Hiccups makeshift bed, on the two of them, before leaving for the room she took over and going to bed herself.
…
"Morning Hiccup." One of the tribeswomen said. After the initial interest of new people on their Island, more and more people walked around in the town, so more people interrupted him while he continued building the forge "Morning Astrid." She added.
Since all the questions were asked and Hiccup would inevitably be found while working anyway, Astrid decided to help him with it. Well, first she reasoned he needed to rest, but after that failed, she offered her help to him, which he refused, so she forced the help onto him.
"Morning" They responded in unison. Luckily for them, the bystander had nothing to talk about and went on with their day.
"So," Astrid tried a conversation to fill the silence. "What made you decide to work on the forge now?" She asked him, while using her axe to cut the wooden planks into the right shape.
Hiccup amazed her incredible skill with the weapon. He didn't know anybody as precise, equally deadly and still gentle as Astrid. Okay no Human as precise, deadly and gentle he scolded himself after looking over to see Toothless carrying a log towards him.
"I had it on my list for a long time, but never the materials to build it, so when going to the market I traded some for Dragon scales." He explained to her. "Did you know they take Dragon scales basically as a form of payment?" Hiccup asked incredulous.
Astrid thought about her only real trips from Berk as a passenger on fishing boats. "No, but when thinking about it, for Vikings that must be a form of trophy from their fights." She surprised herself with talking about Vikings like she wasn't born as one of them and lived with them for 15 years.
Hiccup gave a small laugh and it managed to warm up Astrid even more than working on the weirdly warm Island. "I can already feel the fighting, right bud?" He joked and got a draconic laughter in response that didn't need any Dragonese to understand.
"Like you could beat me." Toothless attempted to scoff. Living with Humans made their impact on the Dragon's behaviors too.
Astrid laughed at the conversation, a rare occurrence before she left Berk. "Oh no. Not the offspring of Lightning and Death myself. We are all going to die." She threw her arms around and faked getting blasted by plasma.
After some more hours of cutting planks, hammering nails and laying out more foundation of the forge, the sun began to fill the sky with gorgeous orange light and settle on the horizon.
"Don't you think we should make stop for today?" She asked Hiccup and got him to jump at her sudden voice. "Besides, I have something to show you this time.". For some reason, working on a new building with Hiccup proved to be far less difficult and draining than explaining things to a bunch of Vikings.
He turned around to show his tunic once again drenched and sticking to his body, outlining his growth and development in muscles from holding on to a Dragon while he is flying every day. Maybe her plan could really go somewhere.
"And what has Milady prepared for me?" He said and Astrid blushed at him using a Nickname for her and immediately cursed her for it. Astrid Hofferson did not blush. Especially at a stupid Nickname, she already heard twice before.
"Follow me and you'll see." She said and walked off to the forest, looking over her shoulder to make sure Hiccup actually followed her.
"We have to be there?" Toothless asked beside him.
"No. You two can go home and get some fish or sleep. At least make sure there's enough left for us two." She said and the two Dragons happily took their departure.
A short walk later and some stumbles she heard from behind her, he would always stay clumsy, she reached her wanted destination.
A small cove like the one back on Berk, a bit less deep, half of it filled with a pond coming from a waterfall on the opposite side. Left to them a crack in the stone made it easy climbing down. A tree close to the clearing sprouted close and its roots went out of the walls, going through the air until disappearing in the ground again, making a somewhat cover from the elements. Besides where the waterfall transformed into small lake, flowers of various different colors filled the grass floor, mixings with the clear splashing of water and fresh smell of nature to present a place where all worries flew away with the light breeze, gracing his cheeks.
"H- How did you find this?" He asked, glancing down at the area with pure astonishment.
"When we had our race yesterday, it caught my eye." She explained simply and a smile graced her face at seeing Hiccup taken aback. "You can close your mouth now." She joked to bring his thought back into the mortal realm. "As I was saying, found this during the race and before going home, I went here to explore and scout if this was good enough."
Even after Astrid's comment about him standing there completely open mouthed by amazement, he didn't find it in him to close his mouth. "Wow. I don't- This is amazing." He said and remembered when Astrid said those words on their first flight. Feeling a little cheeky he decided to continue with Astrid's words from that fateful day, but slightly altered to fight the Person It's addressing. "You're amazing."
Astrid looked away, hiding the blush that once again made her face as red as some of the flowers in the cove. "Now you're just being embarrassing."
Hiccup gave her a smile she couldn't see. "I know." He giggled. "Going back on track. You said you scouted this because it needed to be good enough for something." He decided to switch topics. Not being punched by Astrid for that one deserved some kind of trophy, so he found it better not to stretch that win out.
Astrid hoped she did not look like her head was still filled with more blood than the rest of her body and looked at Hiccup to give him a challenging smirk. "If you can remember the day you kidnapped me" She made it seem like that memory wasn't constantly appearing in her head as well. "What did I say to you after I had to tend to your wound from the Outcasts?" She asked and challenged him at the same time.
Hiccups eyes widened at the realization. "You meant that?" He countered. Hiccup thought Astrid said that as a joke, considering how he did in Dragon training and only ever repaired axes and sword in the forge rather than using them.
"Hiccup. I never joke about training." She scoffed. "So what do you think about it? The place is peaceful, close by for emergencies but still far enough so that the others won't see us and has a nice big clearing without trees or roots filling the ground" She listed some of the things she searched for in a possible location.
"Yeah. You really thought about this." He gestured towards the cove with his arms. "I mean, this is perfect."
"Glad you like it." She said, a smug smile in her face. "And since you thought your wound healed enough to build a forge, you have no possible excuse to get out of this one." Astrid explained.
Hiccup cringed at the thought of getting beaten up by Astrid while getting told to do better.
Astrid managed to somehow read his mind from his expression "Don't worry. I'll go easy on you." She reassured him and at least tried to make it sound less degrading that it is, which only half worked.
"How exactly do you think this will go? Unlike you, I don't have an axe I worshipped for years and fighting with my hands doesn't seem that smart when any Terror could beat me in an arm-wrestling match." He asked. To his surprise, Astrid put on a thoughtful face. Clearly, she hadn't thought to that part until now.
After a few minutes of silent thinking, Astrid came to a conclusion. "When you have the forge up and running, you can build your own weapons."
"So, when do you want to start?" He asked. Despite what most Vikings said, Hiccup knew there was strategy to every fight, especially when fighting build like a twig.
Astrid climbed down and gestured him to follow her lead. "Why don't we start now. We still have some hours before Night and I really don't want to work anymore." She wiped her face dry from her still sweat covered forehead.
Hiccup sat against a close rock, fully agreeing to her decision. Normally he stayed in the forge, hammering on his Inventions from dawn to dusk, but that felt like an eternity ago now. How long had they been here now? A few months at least, but even for that what happened felt unreal to him. Running from Berk and waking up having Astrid follow him. The day in the Cove they laid their secrets out to each other. Finding this Island and settling with the girl he's been dreaming of living with for years, under circumstances no could have predicted a month before. Cami finding them and bringing everything out of control, but ultimately helping them teach others about Dragons.
"What are you thinking about." Astrid interrupted his stream of thoughts. After he sat down, she talked a bit before realizing he was dousing off and staring into nowhere.
Hiccup took a second to reorganize himself and looked at Astrid apologetic. "I was, thinking." He said, making him seem very stupid right now. "Of everything that happened." He tried to explain himself, but got an eye roll from Astrid who sat beside him and leaned her head on his shoulder, a thing she picked up since coming back from Outcast Island, weirdly giving him a mix of being flustered, because this was Astrid, but also making him relax. "Do you ever think we made the wrong choice?" He blurted out.
Astrid looked up at him confused with his sudden question. "I- I don't know. Some Nights, I have Nightmares of my parents. What if they think I'm dead or hate me because I left." She answered honestly. "On bad days, I want to go back and explain everything. Why I couldn't stay and fight Dragons. I keep telling myself this is better for everyone, but deep down, I know what I did was selfish. Running away so I don't have to confront my problems." She began to shake lightly and looked up at the orange glowing sky. "How come." Her voice sounded as shaky as her body looked and at the verge of breaking down.
Hiccup surprised the sight. Fearless Astrid Hofferson was sobbing and trusting him with her Nightmares. Even after her saying she loved him, twice now, Hiccup had a hard time believing this was happening. He put an arm around her and pulled Astrid close, feeling the silent sobs shake her body.
"There's so much that happened these last few," He stopped and tried to recount how long they had been here. The warmth made it impossible to keep track of the winter and most days blended into each other. "I don't even know how long it has been. Most of the time it goes over my head with everyone expecting me to teach them about Dragons, lead the tribe and manage my social life. But when I have peace, I get back to asking myself if this is what I am supposed to do. I could have killed Toothless when he was tied up, left him in the cove to die, let me be caught and get the punishment I should have gotten instead of leaving or leaving without telling anybody. There are so many times I had choices and sometimes, I wonder if the choices I made led to something good or bad. Like you said, regardless of what I tell myself or what will happen, I have that nagging feeling all I've done is for my selfish reasons and that somehow, those reasons hurt others."
Instead of having their planned course on training, Astrid and Hiccup sat there in pleasant silence, waiting until the sky turned dark and stars started to fill black space.
"I think we have to get back sometime soon, Cami will never shut up me if we stay out here the whole Night with no one to watch over us." Hiccup joked, making Astrid chuckle lightly.
"We better get going then." She stood up and dusted off her skirt. "You're not gonna get out of the next session with a question, so prepare yourself." She helped him up and punched him in the arm. "That one was still coming for the comment earlier. Didn't want to ruin the moment."
…
"Back?" Hiccup heard as he and Astrid came back to their home, waking Toothless with his superior hearing.
"Hey Toothless." Astrid answered. "You know where Stormfly is?" She asked the Dragon. He took up his head to gesture upstairs. "Thanks, bud." She used Hiccup's go-to Nickname for him and gave him a small pat before going up herself. "Night Dragon boy." She took revenge from before, when he called her by Nickname.
Hiccup looked after her and waited until he knew she was out of earshot. He recalled the events from today, working with Astrid and talking about their feelings, like they did it on a daily. "How did I deserve this?" He asked himself and forgot that he, in fact, wasn't alone.
Toothless appeared beside him, also looking to the direction of the stairs. "When you gonna mate?" He asked, flustering his human.
"Now you're just being unreasonable. You have no Idea how that works with humans." He managed to get out while readying his bed, or rather few blankets, for another Night. Not sleeping in his own room, reminded him of Heather and her situation. Tomorrow she would begin her training riding Windshear.