Chapter 272
Hiccups POV:
It's been two weeks since my battle with Fiske and in that time not much has happened outside of me finishing my punishment for disobeying my parents and rebuilt all the fishing vessels. After that I went back to where Captain Fiske and the ripwrecker had their final battle and found Fiske's body buried beneath bedrock and submerged beneath the waters. I admit, the guy was mad and a traitor but I felt he deserved a proper Viking sendoff for all the years he protected Berk from dragons and invaders so I recovered it and sent him off to Valhalla on a funeral pyre with my dad and Gobber joining in sending him off. One thing bothered me though and that was how the ripwrecker wasn't buried with Fiske, in fact there was no sign of the body whatsoever meaning it had escaped somehow. I shrugged figuring it probably went to cause trouble somewhere else and then began looking around the caverns to see how much damage had been done to Berks foundation, but it was hard to tell. I was able to gather a ton of mining equipment though since despite the tunnels collapsing, there were still those that were undamaged or still useable and I figured they could use the stuff down at the quarry.
After the raid on the mines I went to the bewilderbeasts nest which is where I received a big shock in the form of the ripwrecker lounging in the water with a few wounds on its body. From what I could tell, it'd been able to dig its way out from beneath the bedrock that had fallen onto its body when the caverns collapsed and then it somehow found its way to the nest where it could recover under the care of the alphas. When it saw me though, it was easy to tell that it wanted me dead but a single growl from the bewilderbeasts was all it took to silence it and let me look over its wounds. Once I'd taken care of its wounds it began to trust me but still kept a close eye on me whenever I was near it while it was resting within the nest. He wasn't bothering anyone though so I left him alone to settle down since it seems like he was going to be living with the dragons in the bewilderbeast nest from now on.
The biggest change though was that thaw had finally arrived meaning people were able to get back to doing their usual routines outside without worrying about freezing their faces off. Sadly, this also brought some big problems thanks to Fiske's tunnels beneath the village and all over the island with all the tunnels being unstable. The problem is the snow melted into water that turned the ground into mud and sunk deep into the bedrock Berk was built on and as such we'd had to deal with sinkholes, earthquakes and some huts collapsing due to the unsteady grounds. It was because of this me and my dragons were busy filling up the sinkholes and tunnels with dirt and boulders to steady the land a bit which took over a week and another four days repairing the damage to the huts and other buildings.
It was during this time I was able to come up with a new design for a machine that would increase the metal production using dragons to help do so. The design was a large half dome that was the furnace made of diamond metal with a crank on the side, a chimney on the top and two cones connected to pipes on one side while on the other was a path that leads to the molds for the metal. The way it works is a boulder class takes large chunks of metal ore and chews them up, partially digesting it before spitting it out onto a moving path that leads into the furnace and once it's all in, a metal door closes tight, sealing it in tight. Then a zippleback sprays its gas and sparks into the cones that allow it to flow through the pipes and into the furnace where the gas ignites and melt the ore which is then released on the other side and flows into the molds. We'd been using one for three days and the metal production had doubled which lead to my dad having me make nine more to help out with the shortage of metal due to the need for nails and tools thanks to the damaged buildings.
I am sad to say word spreads fast and I'd been receiving a few requests from our allies who wanted to come by and see the furnaces in action. Fortunately, my dad was able to reply to their letters without causing any trouble since he was able to explain to them that it was not a good time for any visitors since we were still making repairs to the village. Another headache, concerning the other tribes is now that winter has come to an end, trade routes had been opened up again which is something chief Nigren made clear with orders for more of Arachne's silk and wanting to know when the bazaar was opening again. He sent at least one letter back in my shark with the payments for his shipment of silk or my cut of the bath house profits so it was a bit of a headache.
As strange as it may sound, I was actually grateful for these small distractions since I was pretty much scraping my teeth in anticipation as Blanca was due to give birth any day now. I'd been going crazy due to not only the anticipation of the birth of my first blood child but also the worry that something might go wrong, and I could lose either Blanca or the baby. Blanca kept trying to comfort me by telling me how strong she was and that the baby was mine and would no doubt be just as stubborn as me so chances are, it'd be too stubborn to die. We both shared a small laugh at this as we sat in the bed, gently enjoying each other's company while I rubbed Blanca's pregnant stomach, feeling the heartbeat of the unborn child.
This brings us to now, with me sitting in bed with my sweet Blanca, smiling as I watched Chara rub her belly while wondering when her new baby brother or sister would arrive. I couldn't help but smile at the innocence my sweet little girl was showing since it was clear as day that she was looking forward to becoming a big sister, even though the child wouldn't be blood. It was easy to tell Brant was feeling the same way as Chara, but he was handling it differently by training harder than he usually did claiming he wanted to help protect his newest sibling. I would be lying if I said I wasn't proud of how hard my son was training to protect his family who he wasn't even born to but I was also worried about him pushing himself too hard and I wasn't the only one. It was then I was brought out of my thoughts by Chara asking.
"Daddy, why are the bed covers wet?" I looked at the covers where Chara was pointing and my eyes widened as Blanca turned to me.
"Hiccup, my water just broke." I quickly stood up from the bed and turned to Chara.
"Chara, run and get your other mothers and your aunt Verta as fast as you can." She looked ready to question but I gave her a look to hurry and she took off while I turned to Blanca. "Don't worry Blanca, everything will be fine." She smiled.
"I'm not worried Hiccup." She took my hand. "You're here with me and know nothing will happen." It was then a voice from the door said.
"That's so sweet." We both turned to see none other than Mistress Chi Metsu and I immediately stood up and bowed to her.
"Mistress Chi Metsu, you honor my home with your presence but what has brought you here." She smiled.
"Did you truly think I would miss the birth of a child born from one of my creations and the champion of the gods?" She then walked up to me. "Now please get your parents as I highly doubt they wish to miss the birth of your child." I nodded and turned to Blanca. "I'll be back as soon as I can Blanca." She smiled as I took off to tell my parents that Blanca's water broke.
5 minutes later
I flew down towards the hut where my parents lived and where I knew they were eating lunch and the moment Toothless, landed I hopped off and ran towards the door. I slammed it open and found my mom sitting by the fire, staring at me in surprise but I didn't give her a chance to speak as I quickly asked,
"Where's dad?" She pointed towards the side of the door and I looked around it to find my father rubbing his clearly broken nose as he glared at me but I didn't give him the chance to yell. "You can yell at me later, right now we've got to get back to my house." They both stared at me before my mom asked.
"What is going on that you'd act in such a way."
"Blanca's water just broke meaning the babies coming." Their eyes widened.
"Then what are we waiting for." She stood up and rushed towards the door. "Let's hurry!"
I nodded and rushed to Toothless with my parents rushing towards their own dragons before we took off towards my island but as we did this, I noticed Gobber out on the streets, heading towards the forge. Seeing how Gobber was family in all but blood, I steered Toothless down and scooped him up, right off the streets as he screamed in surprise. When he finally stopped screaming, we were over the ocean but it was there he said.
"HICCUP, YOU BETTER HAVE A GOOD REASON FOR DOING THIS TA ME WHEN I GOT WORK TA DO?" I looked down at him.
"Sorry Gobber, but the baby's coming." I saw his face pale before he cried out.
"THEN WHAT ARE WE GOING SO SLOW FOR, FULL SPEED BACK TO THE ISLAND LAD!"
He didn't have to say it again as I opened Toothless' tail fin and we took off at double the speed and arrived at the island in one more minute and the second we did, my mom rushed up towards my room where Blanca was, not even stopping to greet Brant and Chara who were sitting on the stairs. I walked up to them and asked.
"How are things going with Blanca." Brant looked up at me.
"We don't know, all we were told was to wait outside while the women worked." Chara then asked.
"Why can't be there to help?" I sighed and gently patted her head.
"This is something you'll understand when you're older sweetheart but know that by the end of it, you'll have a new baby sibling to help look after." She nodded. "Now let's get you both to the kitchen, I'll make you both a snack." They nodded as we went to help them take their minds off what was happening.
4 hours later
I was in the library, puffing my dragon pipe to try and calm down while I paced from left to right with my father, Gobber, my kids, Robyne, Mebh, Bill and Arachne watching me as I did so. I couldn't stop pacing though since I was going nuts not knowing how Blanca and the baby was doing, since I couldn't use my automatons to see what was going on. Mistress Chi Metsu had found my automatons in the room and even closed the curtains to make sure I couldn't peak in on what was happening in the room through my scouters. Before she got rid of one, I had in the room, she told me through it that this is not something men should see or try to interfere with and then threw it out the window. Now four hours have passed but every single minute felt like an hour while we anticipated the news of how Blanca and the baby were doing. It was actually quite funny since I could go up against monsters with incredible power and not even flinch in fear, but this event made me more nervous than any threat that I've ever gone up against. It was at that moment Moll walked into the library with a straight face and I rushed up to her asking.
"Please tell me Blanca and the baby are alright." She smiled down at me before she placed a hand on my left shoulder.
"Both of the girls are alright." I took a breath of relief but then her words hit me.
"Did you just say both of the girls?" She nodded.
"Blanca has just given birth to a healthy baby girl and Blanca is also alright." It felt as if my smile was going to rip my face apart. "Well what are you waiting for, the mother and daughter are waiting for you in the room." I activated my ox flame boots speed mode and rushed out and ran up the stairs to the door where the women were waiting for me and as soon as they saw me, Astrid smiled at me.
"Go on, they're waiting for you."
I slowly walked into the room and all I could do was stare at what was within it as there sitting up in the bed was Blanca whose hair was slightly dishelmed and her face was covered in sweat with a tired smile on her face but that smile was the brightest one I'd ever seen grace her face. I couldn't blame her though as in her arms were some white alpaca fur blankets all wrapped up in a little whimpering bundle that Blanca was gently rocking. I gulped, a little nervous and slowly walked towards the bed and looked at Blanca, smiling at her before looking down at the bundle in her arms and for the first time in my life, looked at the face of my newborn daughter. She was absolutely adorable with her eyes closed as her mother gently rocked her to keep her calm while her face was the only thing exposed to the world. Blanca smiled at me and said.
"Our newborn baby Hiccup, the pain to bring her into this world was all worth it." I smiled at her.
"The first of many I hope." She nodded.
"Would you like to hold her?" I hesitated.
"Can I?"
"She is your daughter so of course you can." She gently passed the little one to me and I carefully held her as gently as I could since it felt as if I even made one small move, she'd shatter since she felt so fragile.
"She's so beautiful, just like her mother." Blanca smiled until the little one let out a whimper and looked up at me with eyes as blue as the ocean. "So, what should we name this little treasure?" She smiled as I gently rocked the little one.
"I know we spoke of many names but the name I like is Xiu." I smiled at her choice of name since it was a Chinese name meaning elegant or graceful.
"That sounds perfect for her." I then turned to the door. "Now should we let the others in to meet the newest member of the family."
"Just Verta, Astrid, Hadasa and the kids since we can't have the room too crowded."
I nodded and gently passed my new daughter back to her mother and went to invite the others in and when I did, I made sure to ask them to keep quiet. In a few seconds, Verta, Astrid, Hadasa and the kids were in the room, smiling down at the baby, cooing at it. It was then while the baby was holding onto Brant's finger that Chara asked something that even I was curious about but had been too worried about to ask.
"Is she going to be able to become a big snake like mama Blanca?" I looked at her.
"That's a good question sweetheart and one I am sad to say that I don't have an answer to." It was then Mistress Chi Metsu made her presence known and pushed herself off the wall she was leaning against as she said.
"But it's an answer I might have." We all turned to her as she walked up and looked down at Xiu. "The little one does have her mother's blood and it's highly likely she will be able to unlock the powers of a snake guardian, but it will take time for her powers to develop." I nodded.
"Well snake guardian or not, she'll without a doubt going to be as beautiful as her mother and I'll love her either way." She smiled at me.
"Speaking of your wife, I believe it best we all leave her to get some rest while placing the child in the nursery to sleep." We all nodded as Blanca passed Xiu to me.
"Let's get you to bed little one." I then turned to Blanca. "Get some rest dear, I'll take care of our little snake." She nodded and lay back down to sleep while I turned to everyone. "Come on everyone, let's leave Blanca to rest and introduce everyone to the newest island resident." I walked out of the room and introductions began but I had to remind everyone to keep their voices low, so we didn't startle Xiu and make her cry before she was even an hour old.
Nightfall
Night had fallen over the island and while the kids were asleep in bed, the wolf walkers running around the island in their wolf forms, Arachne sleeping in her nests and my wives in bed sleeping, I was awake in the nursery, in the rocking chair with Xiu in my arms. I looked down at my daughter and couldn't help but smile to the point that my cheeks were beginning to hurt and who could blame me since I was currently rocking in a chair while humming a peaceful tune to my newborn daughter. I smiled down at my sleeping daughter before standing up and slowly walking to the crib before I gave her the lightest kiss I could and then softly placed her in the crib for the evening. I then left the room while watching the crib to make sure I didn't wake Xiu up, making her cry which is the last thing I wanted to do to my newborn daughter.
Once the door was closed, I took a breath and knew I needed a drink of tea to calm my nerves and left for the kitchen to make some using the tea leaves I had in storage. As the water boiled, I couldn't help but look out the kitchen window and look up at the stars while thanking every god I had ever met for the blessing of my new daughter. It was then the water finished boiling and I poured it into my clay cup with dried and crushed tea leaves inside before putting the pot down and stirring my tea with a small bamboo stick to make my tea. When the leaves had fully soaked into the water, making the tea I smiled and began sipping while I continued to look out at the stars and just lost myself in my thoughts about what the future held and how things would end up with not only Xiu but all my kids.
I couldn't help but wonder if in the future more kids would come into the family, not just through birth but also from adoption since I knew if I found kids who were having a hard time and had nobody to turn to then I'd most likely adopt them the same way I did Brant and Chara. I sighed knowing if we did then we'd have more than enough room for them in the house since we had plenty of guest and storerooms that could be turned into a bedroom. Along with this, an advantage to having multiple wives is having a lot of love to go around when I was busy travelling the world or doing my chiefly duties when my dad handed over control of Berk to me. I sighed knowing I shouldn't be worrying about the future now of all times since if there's one thing I've learnt about my life, it's that life is anything but predictable so you just got to take what it throws at you, no matter what it is. It was then I realized my cup was now empty so I put it down and began making my way back up to the bedroom where my wives were waiting for me in their sleep knowing that after all I'd faced in my life, I could survive anything.
5 days later
It's been five days since Xiu was born and in that time a lot has happened such as word spreading to all of our allies who in turn sent plenty of gifts to her, including Dagur and Mala who personally came to visit with little Tera who had begun to walk on her own. For a gift, they gave her an eruptadon figurine made from lava rock and we had a little chat in the garden while Tera could walk around a wooden pen I made while playing with her toys. We had a good laugh, catching up and just taking time off from the duties we all had and got to enjoy some time to just be friends who wanted to catchup on things. Turns out winter was rough for the Berserkers since they spent most of their time cooped up inside and with the Berserkers being Berserkers, at least four fights broke out a day and Dagur had to break them up. I found it strange when he told me that he actually enjoyed it when a fight broke out until he told me that he was in absolute suffering over not being able to be with his wife and daughter who were on Defenders of the Wing island. The reason for this is they needed their leader during the trying times and Tera needed to remain close to her mother who was the only one who could sing her lullabies correctly and at the right tone or prepare her food the way she liked it.
Besides that, Zheng had given up his position as Blanca's on island bodyguard and switched over to becoming Xiu's bodyguard, rarely ever leaving her side which is why we moved his bed into the nursery. Xiu didn't mind though since she rather liked his company and would often be seen reaching out to him with her tiny little hands to try and pet him. It was absolutely adorable but that was understandable since even Verta found her new niece cute and would often sneak into the nursery to play with her. Then there's my parents who took well to having a new baby born into the haddock line and I always found it funny how Xiu pretty much fit in the palm of my father's hand and how my mom would hum the same lullaby she hummed to me when I was a baby. As for Xiu's older siblings, they were two of the family members adored her the most and spent every opportunity they could with her which unfortunately made them late for training which is something my ninja made clear to them with their punishments.
Other than that nothing much had happened other than the thawfest games which this time was for Brant and his generation and I am proud to say that my boy came out as the winner and received the medal that was hung up on his wall in his room. I am grateful my son didn't pull a Jorgenson and brag about it while showing off his medal and degrading his opponents and instead congratulated his opponents on a good game. I would be lying if I said I didn't take pride in his good sportsmanship and how he didn't get a big head over the win like Snotlout did after his first thawfest victory.
Now it was a new day and with it came a very big headache in the form of the bazaar opening up once again and as anyone could guess, with it came a lot of chaos. People were running all over the place to see what the traders had brought with them this time, hoping to get the best items available before anyone else could or hoping to restock on their favorite foreign snacks or spices. My job as always was to keep an eye out for thieves, brawls, complaints from traders and of course, stock up on my own favorite snacks on sale at the bazaar.
This brings us to now, with me wondering around the bazaar in my usual attire, with my coat taking on the form of a sand yellow vest while I kept an eye out for any trouble. So far, I've had to break up three fights between men who wanted the same weapon, two fights between two women who wanted the same carpet and pull six wives off their husbands for ogling some belly-dancers who were performing in the street. I could understand where those wives were coming from though since I know my wives rarely liked it when I enjoyed the performance unless they were the ones dancing. I couldn't blame my wives though since most of those dancers were girls from rich trading groups who used their charm to trick men into paying more and had more than one occasion tried to get me to help their groups with some things, including trying to have me train them a dragon. It was then that I was brought out of my thoughts when I felt a hand placed on my shoulder and turned to see none other than Amira and Aamin standing behind me as Aamin asked.
"Busy keeping an eye on everything like always old friend?" I smiled as he chuckled and pulled me into a hug before Amira pulled me into another before I asked.
"What brings you both here?" Amira answered.
"We wanted to see if the rumors the traders brought back with them from the bazaar yesterday were true."
"Rumors?"
"That you now have a baby." I smiled.
"Yeah, she's only five days old though." Amira squealed at this before Aamin asked.
"And when were you planning on telling us about the new addition to your family?" I shrugged.
"I figured I'd bring her on the next trip to Arabia when she's at least three months old." He nodded before Amira said.
"Well stop stalling, take us to see the new bundle of joy." I looked around and saw things were peaceful enough before nodding and leading them out of the bazaar so I could introduce them to my first child not by adoption but by blood.
5 minutes later
We were in the nursery and I was smiling at Amira and Aamin who were looking at little Xiu in her crib as she soundly slept while bundled up in her blankets. Amira silently walked over to me and said.
"How could you not tell us about such a precious thing being brought into the world or that Blanca was pregnant to begin with?" I gave an uneasy smile.
"It slipped my mind with all that was happening and all my worries about if Blanca and the baby were going to be alright." They nodded.
"You know, father is also going to be very upset that you didn't let him know about this since he does think of you as a son." I smiled and nodded.
"Hopefully he'll understand how I was so worried about things that I forgot and was also trying to find ways to keep myself from going insane." They each raised an eyebrow. "I didn't want to be too far from Berk incase Blanca went into labor so I put all my travels and adventures on hold and with all I've been through in my life, the peace and calm was really just boring for me even though I found ways to keep myself busy." Amira looked confused while Aamin nodded in understanding.
"I think I can understand where you're coming from." I turned to him.
"After your last visit I took a secret stroll through the city and learnt that some people although few, still hold a grudge against me after what happened with Madhimaran and as stupid as it may sound, I wanted to make it up to them."
"Aamin, you helped rebuild the city, feed the people, returned their stolen taxes and so much more so what else could there be?" He smiled uneasily.
"Well I decided to take a page out of your book and take on a few problems outside of the city."
"Please tell me there aren't any magic beasts that have shown up and you've decided to go after them yourself." He let out a silent chuckle to avoid waking Xiu up.
"No, I've just started hunting down bandits who have been attacking the traders on their way to our city." Amira then said.
"He's pretty good at it to since he's brought down over twenty large groups the cities have been after for a while and like you, he takes a trophy from the leader." He shrugged.
"I just wanted a reminder that those bandits are now behind bars." He then frowned. "All except one." I raised an eyebrow before Amira said.
"It's alright, nobody has been able to capture him and his group of bandits for months." Curiosity got the best of me so I asked.
"And who exactly is this guy you haven't been able to capture?" Aamin growled.
"He's not a man but a MONSTER!" He yelled out this last part and understandably, it woke up Xiu who began to cry and like any good father, I rushed over to her crib, scooped her up and gently began rocking her while trying to calm her down as I whispered.
"Don't worry sweetie, daddy's here and he's not going to let any harm come to you." It was then a voice from behind me said.
"And neither is mommy." I turned around to see Blanca smiling at me. "I will take care of Xiu from here Hiccup, you go back to the bazaar and handle things since while you were away, four more fights have broken out." I groaned.
"Viking short temperedness strikes again." I looked down at Xiu who had calmed down enough to stop crying. "I pray to Odin you didn't inherit it from my side of the family sweetie." I then gently passed her over to her mother before turning to Aamin and Amira. "Let's continue this talk at the bazaar while I break up a few fights." They nodded before we left the nursery together.
Nightfall
I was now laying in bed with my wives taking their usual positions and for that I was truly grateful since today had been a rough one with all the fights breaking out but that happens on the first day the bazaar opens up since people have been waiting to see what's up for sale. The only time things were even more crazy is the last two days of the bazaar being open since everyone knows it might be their last chance to get their hands on the items that might not be out at the next one. Seriously, there's a brawl every five minutes with the people and it often gets to the point that the stalls get damaged, but this is why I made the 'no weapons to be brought into the bazaar' rule. Sadly, this only partly worked as they could still buy weapons from the bazaars weapon stalls but that is a story for another time since for now, I had other things to focus on.
When we got back to the bazaar, Aamin told me of one large group of bandits that were led by a man who was known simply as the Aali, the scourge of the desert. Nobody knows what he looks like since he never comes out of hiding and has his men do all the work. It's because of this that Aamin among many others have never been able to capture him and if that wasn't bad enough, his men continue to torment Aamin in numerous ways by never speaking and taunting him about how he'll never catch their leader. The sad thing is they didn't do this out of loyalty but out of fear since they always claimed he had great power that he's use on them if they dare betray him. Hearing this, I told Aamin to just keep capturing his men as he had to run out eventually and be forced to do the work himself or lose his patience and come to face Aamin out in the open. I sighed hoping that the next time we go to Arabia, this crook will be behind bars and the caravan camels can travel the sands of the desert safely again. It was with that I embraced the warmth of sleep while wondering what would happen between then and now.
AN: An end to another chapter and this one is to celebrate the birth of my newborn niece Ella who was born at 13:30 yesterday afternoon. As for the chapter, I know it was a bit of a patchwork but I did my best while giving you all a hint at what is to come in the future. For now though I'm going to take the week off to help my sister and brother-in-law where I can and join my family in the celebration so until next time, have a nice day.
