"So let me get this straight," Snotlout says, as he sets down his mutton and steeples his fingers together on the table in front of him. "You broke Hiccup out of jail. He flew off on Toothless to who-knows-where to try and end the war like a crazy person, injuring himself in the process. But we don't know how injured he is, just that he was too hurt to fly himself back. And we only know that part because you met the weird dragon lady in the woods who brought them back?"
"Quit doing that with your hands, you look like an idiot," Astrid says. "But yeah, that about sums it up."
Ruffnut hums thoughtfully, resting an elbow on the table and propping her chin on her hand. "You know, someone should really be writing this down. It'll probably make a killer story one day."
Snotlout groans in annoyance. "Would you shut up and take this a little more seriously? Maybe focus on the fact that Toothless is with some crazy woman in the woods?"
His voice rises as he reaches the end of his sentence, and Astrid looks around to ensure no one has heard them. Thankfully, it is well after normal supper time, and the Great Hall is almost completely empty. There are a few people drinking together at a table on the far side of the room, but the jovial sounds of their drunken singing and laughter continue without pause.
"Toothless is a good judge of character," Astrid reminds them, "and he seemed to trust her. She didn't seem crazy, just strange."
"Maybe Snotlout isn't totally wrong." Fishlegs chimes in. "You mentioned she keeps a dragon with her. What if she wants to do that with Toothless?"
Shaking her head, Astrid says, "No way. You didn't see the way she acted with her dragon; it was almost like how Hiccup and Toothless act with each other. I really think she just wants to help."
"Are you sure she said she was from Berk?" Ruffnut asks. "It seems kinda unlikely considering what we know."
Astrid nods. "Looks like she is probably around the age of our parents."
Snotlout frowns. "Then shouldn't we have heard of her? I've heard all of my parents' stories, and I'm sure you've heard your parents' as well. I'm pretty sure we would all remember them talking about a woman who left to live with a dragon."
"Unless she didn't leave," Tuffnut points out.
Astrid shakes her head. "Tuff, that doesn't make any sense."
"Or does it?" He asks, tilting his head curiously.
Rolling her eyes, Astrid grabs her mug and takes a drink, thinking more on what Snotlout said. Her parents have told her all kinds of stories over the years, especially of those they grew up with. And in all of those tales, there's no one she can recall being at all like the woman in the woods. It's strange and something about it doesn't make sense, but despite that, Astrid still believes they can trust her.
"When do you think we'll know what's wrong with Hiccup?" Fishlegs asks, worry seeping into his voice as he interrupts her thoughts.
"I don't know," Astrid admits. "I stopped by before coming here, but they said he wasn't ready for visitors yet. I'm going to try again tomorrow." And this time, she won't be taking no for an answer.
Astrid gets an early start in the morning, forgoing an actual breakfast for simply grabbing some bread on her way out the door. She refuses to waste time and potentially miss her window of opportunity. The sun has just risen and the warmth of the rays hasn't gotten a chance to chase the brisk chill from the village, but the temperature during her walk helps erase the lingering effects of sleep. The chief's house sits a bit separate from the others in the village, but she heads over to one of the closest houses and tucks herself away in the shadow of its frame. From here, she can keep her eyes on the house and wait.
It doesn't take long. Lucky for her, Stoick starts his chiefly duties pretty early, so she's not even waiting an hour before the front door swings open and the chief exits. Based on the direction he's heading, she imagines he's going to wake Gobber. It could be because he needs Gobber's help with something in the village, but Astrid imagines he is probably going to ask Gobber to sit with Hiccup while he gets some work done. This is her chance – until Gobber arrives, Hiccup will be alone and she can finally see for herself how he's doing. As soon as Stoick has disappeared from sight, Astrid rushes to the front door and slips inside.
There is a fire burning lowly in the hearth, just enough to chase off the morning chill. Though Hiccup's room is upstairs, he's currently resting in the larger bed on the main floor. The glow of the fire reaches his face, and though the light is warm, she can tell just how pale he is. A chair has already been set up next to the bed and she takes a seat. It brings her back to the day Hiccup had collapsed at Dragon Training, back before she knew about Toothless, before they were even friends.
Back then, Astrid was worried because she knew Stoick wouldn't be happy to return home and find that Hiccup hadn't been taking care of himself. Now, she's worried because she cares about Hiccup and she has no idea what he went through after flying off the other night.
Looking him over closely, Astrid searches for more concrete evidence of what had happened to him. His face is free of the creases and furrows that would speak of pain. She wonders if it's because he is resting deeply at the moment, or if he has been given herbs and teas to help with any hurting. His left temple sports a cut, one she is sure bled fiercely, as head wounds tend to. A possible cause for his pale complexion, maybe? But the wound has been cleaned and the area around it glistens lightly, likely due to a salve of some sort.
His chest rises and falls gently beneath the wool blanket that has been draped over him. The motion looks even, which is a good sign. Astrid is personally unfamiliar with them, but her father cracked a few ribs during a raid once and, though he is strong, she could tell how much the healing process pained him.
It isn't until her eyes continue to travel downwards and near the foot of the bed that she gasps, her hand flying up to cover her mouth. Where the blanket is tented over Hiccup's right foot, it falls flat just below his left knee. She closes her eyes for a moment and breathes deeply to quiet the sadness and rage she feels.
The idea of amputation is not a foreign one – in fact, it is almost devastatingly common. She has known amputees her entire life, but they've always been adults. As much as she hates to admit it sometimes, they're still children.
The unfairness of it all makes her want to scream. All Hiccup wanted to do was make Berk better for everyone – humans and dragons alike. And this is how the Gods have repaid him?
Hiccup's hand lay on top of the blanket, so she reaches out and holds it gently. His skin is a bit cold to the touch and she makes a mental note to grab him another blanket. For now, she presses her forehead to the back of his hand and squeezes her eyes shut, letting the emotions swell in her just enough to let moisture cling to her lashes, but not enough for the tears to spill down her cheeks.
She is still like this, head bowed and heart aching, when the front door swings open.
"Astrid," Gobber sighs. "You know you're not supposed to be in here yet." But he sounds resigned to her presence here.
Sitting up, she blinks to clear the leftover moisture from her eyes and lays Hiccup's hand back on the bed. "I told you I had to see him. He should be allowed to have his friends here."
"And I told you, his father's been lookin' after him." The blacksmith insists. "And I know it looks bad, but he'll be okay. He's a strong kid."
You don't know the half of it, Astrid thinks. Once, she would have thought that seeing a dragon and not killing it was a weakness. But now she knows she wouldn't have had the strength to do it herself.
"I know he'll get through this. But he shouldn't be going through this at all." She gestures vaguely around them. "He wouldn't be if Stoick had just listened to him."
Gobber frowns. "Lass, is there something you need to tell me about how Hiccup got these injuries? Do you know what happened to him?"
"No, I don't." And now she knows that they don't know anything either. "But I do know that Hiccup was just trying to make things better for everyone. And if Stoick wasn't so stubborn, he would have seen that."
Coming closer, Gobber sits lightly on the end of the bed, careful not to disturb Hiccup. "I understand that Hiccup thinks he was trying to make things better in the Dragon Training final, but it's not that simple. The war against dragons has been going on for hundreds of years, and even though Hiccup is his son, Stoick is chief and he has a responsibility to his people-"
"His responsibility should be to his son first!" Astrid interjects. "I get what you're saying Gobber, I really do, but I don't think Stoick really realizes what's going on and what's at stake here. He needs to figure it out soon because if he's not willing to listen to Hiccup, then he's going to lose him."
Gobber looks to the boy on the bed, and though he has no children of his own, Hiccup is the closest thing he's got. And Stoick, as pigheaded the man is, is his best friend. He'd hate to see them lose each other.
"I'll talk to him." Gobber says. "See if I can't convince him that they need to come to some kind of… understanding."
Astrid nods. It's not much, but she'll take what she can get. Any progress Gobber can make with Stoick is better than nothing. And now that she's said what she needs to –
"You said Hiccup's going to be okay, right?"
"Aye. The cut on his head is nothin' serious. He's got some bad bruising on his ribs, but Gothi said there's no cracks or breaks." Gobber pauses, and Astrid steals herself for what he says next. "His leg… wasn't pretty, but Gothi was able to remove what she had to and clean and wrap the rest. The situation's not great, but he is healing well. It's the best we could ask for."
Astrid thinks there are a lot better things they could ask for, but supposes they'll have to take what they can get.
Astrid leaves he chief's house before Stoick can return and heads straight for the woods – straight for Toothless. Halfway there, her steps start to slow as her legs grow heavy. She pauses, taking a moment to sit at the base of a tree. The rough bark snags a bit on the fabric of her shirt and dirt smears against her leggings, but it grounds her. Taking deep breaths, she tilts her head back to face the canopy.
"Hiccup's alive," she mutters to herself. "He is alive. He will adjust and he will be okay."
Though things with his dad are still up in the air, Hiccup still has Toothless and her, and all the other teens even. It'll just have to be enough to get him through this.
Feeling slightly better, she rises to her feet and continues to the cove. When she reaches the upper edge, she looks down to see the woman and her dragon sitting resting against some of the rocks, and Toothless laying out in the sun, warming his scales.
She takes the path down as quickly as she can. Toothless must have heard her boots crunching against some of the smaller rocks on the way down, because he's up and ready for her by the time she reaches the bottom. Astrid practically throws herself at him, wrapping her arms around his neck and burying her face in his scales. It seems like for right now, the only comfort she'll get regarding the situation is from Toothless, but he's happy to give it. He responds to her embrace with a low croon and an affectionate nuzzle.
"Thanks Toothless," she whispers into his neck before pulling back and looking directly into his eyes. "Hiccup is going to be okay."
"I take it this means you've finally gotten to see him." A voice sounds from over her shoulder to see the strange woman still seated against the side of her large dragon.
Astrid narrows her eyes to glare slightly. "You could have told me before I saw him," Astrid says, referring to the amputation she can't yet mention out loud. "I would have been able to handle it."
Valka nods. "Oh I have no doubt about that. You are a Hofferson after all. That's just not the kind of news one should receive from a stranger."
Astrid fully turns to face her, brows furrowing as she wracks her brain. "I don't remember telling you I was a Hofferson."
The woman chuckles a bit. "Dear, you didn't have to. I see them, your parents, in you very clearly. They're strong folk – it makes sense you would be too."
Astrid shakes her head. "None of this makes sense."
"It's not that I didn't think you couldn't handle the news, just that-"
"Not that," Astrid shakes her head. "I'm talking about you. You know my parents well enough to see them in me, but they've never spoken of you."
The woman sighs and asks, "Have you ever lost someone?"
Despite the seemingly unrelated jump in conversation, her mind immediately turns to her Uncle Finn. She nods.
"Is it a loss too painful to speak of? So even though you miss them dearly, their name remains unsaid?"
Astrid tilts her head. "And would my mother miss you that much?"
"Oh, I don't know about that." She admits. "We were with child at about the same time, and spent much of our time together then. But I think there would be others, and out of respect for them, my name would have gone unspoken."
"This would be so much simpler if you would just tell me your name," Astrid points out.
Immediately, the woman is shaking her head. "It wouldn't do to have you know before everyone else. Can you imagine if your loved one returns and you had to find out from someone else? If they had gone to someone else first?"
Astrid crosses her arms. "You could just come back to town and see them yourself."
"I will, in time." The woman says. "But there is something I must do first."
"More important than coming back to your family?" What could be more important than that?
"It's not about importance." She reaches back to brush against Cloudjumper's scales. "The dragons have been my world for years now, and I have duties to them and their safety that I have to see through first."
"So that's it? You came back to Berk just to bring Hiccup back, and now you're just going to leave again?"
"Not for long," the woman reassures. "I was following up on a lead when I found your friend. It'll take me a few days to get that sorted, and then I'll be back."
"And what about Toothless?" Astrid asks. "You said you would take care of him too."
"Toothless is just fine. I checked him over and his wing injury is nothing serious. It'll heal up on its own in a few days. You'll just have to bring him his food until I return."
"But you will be returning?" Astrid asks, thinking about how helpful this woman could be in changing the minds of the people of Berk.
The woman smiles. "Nothing could keep me away."
Later that evening, before turning in for the night, Astrid sits down by her mother, the fire crackling in the hearth before them. She's been turning someone over and over in her mind since her conversation with the woman in the woods – something she's hoping her mother might be able to give some clarity on.
"Mom?"
"Yes Astrid?" Her mother responds, though her eyes don't leave the tunic she is mending.
"Were there any other children my age? Ones who got sick and didn't make it?"
The woman had said they were pregnant at roughly the same time, which would have made the child around Astrid's age. But Astrid knows all the children her own age. The only thing she could think of is that the child must have died young. Dragons couldn't have been the cause, or she wouldn't have gone with them, so it must have been an illness.
"No, thank Frigg you all made it. You made for quite a lucky batch. Though, Hiccup had a few close calls." She shakes her head. "If an illness was going around, that boy was always sure to get it – and worse than all the rest, too."
Astrid remembers that. Hiccup would be holed up in the chief's house with fever and chills, and Gothi's checking on him nonstop. At the time, her mother said it was because he was born early, and they tend to have a harder time than most. The more callous Vikings would say it was because he was a runt, though never in earshot of the chief.
Her mother continues, almost like she could hear Astrid's thoughts. "Some others thought he was a weak child, but I knew it wasn't so. You don't survive like that without a great amount of strength."
Astrid's mother was right about Hiccup before anyone else. Knowing all she does now, Astrid knows how strong Hiccup is – possibly stronger than anyone else on Berk. She just hopes it's enough.