Notes before the chapter,
This chapter is centered around Hiccup and Astrid's wedding. It is not a 100% accurate Viking wedding, rather it is based on Hiccup and Astrid's wedding in HTTYD 3, some of the Berkian wedding traditions mentioned in Race To The Edge, and the few weddings that I've personally been to.
Hiccup and Astrid are both wearing the outfits that they wear during their wedding in HTTYD 3. Valka, Astrid's Father, Gothi, Eret, Snotlout, Spitelout, Fishlegs Ruffnut, and Tuffnut are all wearing their casual attire from HTTYD 3, but Ruffnut and Tuffnut have their hairstyles from HTTYD 2. The various characters from Race To The Edge that appear during the party are all look like they do in the show, just three years older.
Sorry if the title seems a little cheesy, but I could not think of a decent chapter name other than something along the lines of 'Hiccup and Astrid's Wedding,' which seemed to basic.
Anyways, with that out of the way, enjoy the chapter. This was a fun one to write.
Chapter 3-The Valkyrie and the Fishbone, United
Hiccup stands at the edge of the raised altar, looking out over the open ocean.
The wedding ceremony is being held on a large open field on the edge of the island, with a sixty foot drop from the grassy cliff edge to the water bashed rocks below. The rest of the field is bordered by forest, with an opening for a path that leads to the village. The leaves of the shrubs in the field and undergrowth in the forest are all various shades of orange, yellow, and red, due to the season being late autumn. At the center of the field, a raised wooden altar has been built for the actual wedding to occur on, while the guests stand in the field. About two thirds of the village has arrived, and the villagers are milling about, chatting with each other, while the attending dragons hang around the edge of the field.
Astrid and her party are at a little station just inside the treeline, waiting for the ceremony to begin. At the altar standing near Hiccup, are Link, Toothless, and Dagur. Link has taken off his leather chest guard and left shoulder guard, but still has the Master Sword on his back.
Hiccup looks every bit the chief he is in his wedding attire, consisting of a white long sleeved tunic, with golden trim around the neck and bottom, light tan trousers, golden bracelets, and a cream colored belt around his waist, fastened with a golden buckle adorned with a Night Fury head design. A circlet of green leaves with small white berries adorns his head, while a brown bearskin cloak hangs from his shoulders, held in place by two golden discs with a Night Fury carved into each, and a golden chain connecting the discs. Toothless is wearing his saddle but has a new prosthetic tail fin, painted white, and with Hiccup's crest painted on in gold. Hiccup had specifically made the tail fin for the wedding, and it will get used since he and Astrid will race to the Great Hall on Toothless and Stormfly after the ceremony.
Hiccup smiles as he hears quiet bickering from Ruffnut and Tuffnut, knowing that they are making an effort to keep the volume down, so they don't ruin the ceremony. However, a warble from Toothless catches his attention, and he looks at his best friend. The Night Fury is looking northeast, and Hiccup follows his gaze, smiling upon seeing a four winged dragon approaching. A few moments later, the Berkians make room to allow the large dragon to land near the altar. Link's eyebrows raise as a woman holding a strange staff with a wooden hook on each end jumps off the dragon's back.
"Thank you Cloudjumper," she says to the dragon, stroking his chin. The owl-like dragon croons his gratitude, and the woman over to Hiccup.
She is slightly taller than Hiccup, has green eyes, and grey streaked auburn hair tied into three long braids down her back. She wears a long sleeved olive green undershirt, dull yellow short sleeved shirt, a pale cream skirt offset to the right, dark green trousers, and brown boots. Leather bracers adorn her forearms, while a leather guard is strapped onto her right bicep. A thick belt with a golden buckle adorns her waist, with a dark brown fur sash running over her right shoulder, under the belt, then running down to her right knee, while the back hangs down to her lower left thigh. The fur sash is held in place by a silver clasp on the right shoulder, with a design carved in that Link recognizes as the head of a Bewilderbeast.
"Mom!" Hiccup says, a smile appearing on his face, "I was worried you wouldn't make it!"
The woman smiles, sets her staff down, then embraces Hiccup. "Don't worry, the recently rescued dragons are doing great," she says as she breaks the hug. Retrieving her staff, she nods a greeting to Dagur, then looks at Link and frowns. She is about to open her mouth when a cry from one of the villagers catches everyone's attention.
The villager is pointing out to sea, causing Hiccup, Link, Toothless, Hiccup's mother, and Dagur to look in that direction.
A large wave with a white wake behind it is approaching the cliff. Suddenly, a black spine appears above the water's surface, followed by several more. The wave slows down, as the spikes continue to rise higher above the water, revealing that the black quickly fades into a dark brown, which in turn quickly fades into white. The spikes all move upwards, with water cascading off of the rising thing. As it moves higher, a pair of green tinged Champion blue eyes become visible, before the creature's head fully rises above the water.
The villagers gasp at the creature, Hiccup's mother smiles, Hiccup looks surprised, yet amazed, while Link and Dagur are awestruck.
The many spikes are actually crests protruding from the neck of the massive snowy white dragon, while its flat face is framed by a pair of large tusks that curve slightly inwards and down. Numerous nubs and small spikes adorn the face and chin of the dragon, all bearing the same white to brown to black color scheme as the large crests. Now that the dragon is above water, Link realizes that it is a Bewilderbeast, and his smile grows even bigger. The Bewilderbeast roars gently to signal its arrival, raising its wings and crests, with a light teal glow appearing in its mouth. After doing so, the Bewilderbeast closes its mouth, lowers its wings and crests, and quietly observes the field.
Just inside the trees, Heather is helping Zelda adjust her braid so that she can comfortably wear her circlet without undoing the braid. However, they hear the cry from the villagers and look towards the sea. Astrid and her parents also look at the commotion, with Astrid reaching for her daggers, held in sheaths on the back of her belt. Z
elda gasps as she sees black spikes rising above the field, then notices that the color of the spikes are changing from black to dark brown to white. She then sees a large something below the spikes pull up from the water, and as the water cascades off the object, Zelda realizes that it's actually a creature's head. Upon seeing two large tusks protruding from the face, she immediately identifies it as a Bewilderbeast.
Gasping in amazed shock, Zelda looks to see the others' reactions. Astrid is smiling in amazement, Heather is looking at the Bewilderbeast in disbelief, while Astrid's parents look at the massive dragon with concern. The Bewilderbeast lets out a quiet roar in greeting, and Astrid's parents flinch. Searching her memory, Zelda recalls Hiccup mentioning that the crazy warlord Drago Bludvist attacked Berk with his enslaved Bewilderbeast, after killing the White Bewilderbeast, and taking all his dragons, explaining the Hofferson's nervousness towards the present Bewilderbeast. Zelda takes the Sheikah Slate off her hip, and takes a picture of the beautiful alpha.
Hiccup looks at his mother, shocked yet smiling. "Mom," he says, "W-why did she come? Not that I want her gone, but it's not like she knows me or anything."
"Au contraire, mon ami," Tuffnut shouts, "Maybe this lovely queen does know you, and thought you would like her attending."
Link looks at the male twin, confused by the first four words he said, while also taking a moment to observe him. Tuffnut has blue eyes, a smirk on his face, and long blonde dreadlocks. His helmet has a metal skull welded to the front of it, along with two sets of horns sticking out, a pair of short thin horns slightly curving upwards and a pair of outlandishly long horns that resemble the limbs of a recurve bow in shape. His clothing consists of a pale grayish-blue sleeveless tunic, a dark gray fur vest, metal shoulder guards, forearm bracers, red trousers, and brown boots. However, the shoulder guards, the right bracer, and boots all have plenty of spikes adorning them, while the left bracer and brown leather belt are studded with small metal circles.
Finished with his observation, Link turns his attention back to Hiccup and his mother. Noticing the attention, Hiccup's mother looks at Link, addressing him. "As I was about to say earlier, who are you?"
Link smiles and holds out a hand. "I'm Link, the Hylian Champion, personal bodyguard to Princess Zelda, and a friend of your son and soon to be daughter-in-law."
The woman shakes his hand before replying, "I'm Valka. You have my thanks for aiding my son when he was in your kingdom. I'd like to talk with you more, but we can do that later."
A bell rings, and the chatting of the villagers quiets down.
"That's the signal that the ceremony is about to begin," Valka says, "Link, you can stand in the front row."
Link nods and steps down from the altar, going to stand in the front row, next to Dagur and his wife, Mala, a tall woman with short strawberry blonde hair, and clad in gold trimmed black leather armor. Hiccup walks to the center of the altar and looks up at the Bewilderbeast. Valka stands at the edge of the altar, off to the right side, and facing Hiccup. Gobber joins her, standing in for Stoick as Hiccup's father, though Gobber is basically a second father in Hiccup's eyes. Toothless positions himself next to Hiccup, while Ingrid Hofferson walks up to the altar and stands at the edge, off to the left side. Terrako follows her, and walks over to stand next to Link.
In the trees, Astrid and her party hear the bell. Zelda and Heather walk to the path leading to the field and stop, both holding flowers in their hands-white and blue ones for Zelda, and purple and yellow ones for Heather. Stormfly, her crests decorated with flowers, gives her rider an encouraging squawk, while Arvid Hofferson takes his daughter's hand. His short brown hair and large brown beard contrast with Astrid's long blonde hair, but they share the same blue eyes. Clad in a tan sleeveless shirt, gray fur vest, black belt, and brown trousers, he beams at her.
Astrid smiles back, looking like a goddess with her hair completely loose, hanging down to her waist, and a lock resting over her left shoulder. A circlet of pale pink flowers and small white berries rests on her head, replacing her kransen. She wears a simple pure white dress, with off white sleeves and a wide off white stripe running from the neckline to the bottom hem of the dress. A thin elegant gold belt wraps around her waist, while golden bracelets adorn her wrists. The outfit is completed by a white bearskin cloak hanging from her shoulders, secured by two golden discs engraved with the head of a Deadly Nadder.
The mute village elder, Gothi walks up and stands behind Hiccup. She is a short woman, with gray hair tied into two braids. Her attire is rather simple, consisting of a brown fur vest, a faded olive green sleeveless tunic, faded leather forearm bracers, brown trousers, and brown boots. A small helmet with two horns that curve upwards tops her head, while her blue eyes look at the assembled Vikings.
Gothi taps her staff on the ground, and the villagers all stop talking, while Hiccup turns his attention from the Bewilderbeast to the altar.
From an opening in the trees, Heather and Zelda emerge, each holding a bouquet of flowers and walking towards the altar. Link and Hiccup smile at Zelda, with Hiccup being delighted that Zelda followed through on his suggestion of a pale ice blue recolor of her winter attire.
However, his jaw drops upon seeing the person walking behind Heather and Zelda. Astrid is holding her father's hand, her eyes on Hiccup, and a smile on her face, and behind her walks Stormfly.
Upon reaching the altar, Zelda and Heather walk to stand beside Link and Dagur. Arvid places Astrid's hand on Hiccup's before going to stand beside Ingrid, while Stormfly stands next to Astrid and opposite Toothless. Using her staff, Gothi writes some symbols in a little box of dirt next to her.
Not wanting to have Gobber-Gothi's usual interpreter-accidentally ruin their wedding, both Hiccup and Astrid had learned some of Gothi's writing beforehand, so they see that the elder has asked them to exchange vows.
Both smiling, Hiccup and Astrid exchange their vows and accept them before turning to Gothi. The elder writes some more symbols in the dirt before she sets down her staff. She then turns to a wooden box next to her, opens it, and pulls out an item. Hiccup and Astrid take each other's hands, and Gothi gently places a long strip of fabric over their held hands. The fabric is pure white, with gold trim, and has two long intertwined dragons depicted on it in several shades of yellow. Gothi picks up her staff and touches it to the fabric.
At that, Hiccup and Astrid lean in and kiss each other, to the cheers of the entire village. Toothless and Stormfly are both grinning-at least to the best of their ability-and the Bewilderbeast has a smile on her face, while the other dragons roar their approval. After a long moment, they pull apart and turn to face the villagers, both still smiling, and holding hands.
The cheering continues for several minutes before Gobber raises a hand. The villagers quiet down and Gobber speaks, "Everyone, to the Great Hall for the party!" The village cheers again, before they start filing out of the field and back to the village.
Zelda, Link, the Dragon Riders, Dagur, Heather, and Mala walk up to the altar, all beaming at Hiccup and Astrid. Gothi returns the long strip of fabric to its case, smiles at the newlyweds, then starts walking towards the exit of the field.
Gobber also starts leaving, then turns to the group at the altar. "Well, are the lot of ye coming?" he asks.
Hiccup shakes his head as he replies, "We'll be along in a little bit. Can you and Eret keep everything in order until we get there, please?" Gobber nods and walks towards the path back to the village.
Hiccup sees the confused expressions that his friends are giving Zelda and Link, and decides to introduce them. "Guys, these are me and Astrid's friends," he says before gesturing to the Hylians, " Zelda, Crown Princess of Hyrule, and Link, Zelda's bodyguard and the Hylian Champion. We befriended them when we vanished several months ago, and they helped us get home. The walking egg with the blue eye is Terrako, a little Guardian and protector of Zelda."
The Berkains nod their understanding, before Hiccup gestures to them and continues. "Link, Zelda, these are me and Astrid's friends, and the other original Dragon Riders. Fishlegs Ingerman, dragon expert and dragon history teacher. Snotlout Jorgenson, former weapons tester of Berk, and my cousin. And finally, Ruffnut and Tuffnut Thorston, worshipers of Loki, experts in crazy fields of study, and record holders for the largest explosion caused by a Zippleback."
Link and Zelda study the Dragon Riders while Hiccup introduces them. Fishlegs has a large build, green eyes, short blonde hair and a short braided blonde mustache. He is wearing a long fur tunic, forearm bracers, a small helmet with wings instead of horns, and has several pouches strapped to his belt. Snotlout is shorter, stocky, has light blue eyes, and short black hair. His helmet is adorned with a large set of ram horns, with metal tips. His attire consists of a sleeveless red tunic with a dragon scale pattern, reddish brown trousers, red and black forearm bracers, an enormous golden belt buckle with his face carved into it, and a small black bearskin scarf, with the claws still attached. Ruffnut is almost identical to Tuffnut in terms of physical appearance, having similar blue eyes and blonde hair, though their outfits and hairstyles are quite different. Ruffnut's hair is tied into three long braids, while the horns of her helmet have three spikes at the tip. She wears a dull green short sleeved tunic, a light brown fur scarf, tan and lavender colored forearm bracers, a shimmering sleeve on her left arm, a small metal breastplate, a long black belt wrapped numerous times around her waist, brown trousers, and dark brown boots.
The Hylians and Dragon Riders exchange greetings, before Hiccup, Astrid, Valka, Zelda, and Link walk towards the edge of the cliff. The Bewilderbeast lowers her head to observe them at eye level, and smells them. Suddenly, her eyes widen, and she focuses her gaze on Hiccup, before sniffing him again.
Valka looks between the colossal dragon and her son, her eyes showing her shock. "I think Tuffnut might be right, Hiccup. From her reaction, I think this Bewilderbeast has encountered you before," she says, slight disbelief in her tone.
Hiccup looks at his mother, confusion on his face. "H-how is that possible," he says in a shocked voice, "The only adult Bewilderbeasts that I've met are the one you used to live with and the one that was under Drago's control. It…" He stops, then his eyes widen. "Wait, is she the one that was under Berserker Island?"
However, Astrid frowns at this and speaks, "But I thought you said that you never saw the Bewilderbeast when you found her egg. How would she recognize you if you never met?"
Hiccup smiles at the Bewilderbeast before he responds, "Then you forgot that I also said that she saved me on that day. I was hanging on a cliff face beneath the island, with her main nest at the bottom far below me, with only my old prosthetic and old longsword Inferno stopping me from falling. Johann was about to throw a spear at me, but a blast of cold air came up from the depths of the nest, followed by a torrent of freezing water. When I looked up, Johann was frozen dead solid. She must have smelled me when she fired the ice that killed Johann."
Smiling at Hiccup, Valka speaks again. "Dragons have an excellent sense of smell and long memories, particularly alpha species like the Bewilderbeast. You did also protect her egg from being captured by Krogan, which would have resulted in Drago having two enslaved Bewilderbeasts."
Hiccup nods slowly. "That makes sense," he says., while Zelda and Link look at the massive dragon with even more respect.
"So she is the King of Dragons that was beneath Berserker Island? Awesome!" Dagur says, a big grin on his face.
Hiccup then gently lets go of Astrid's hand, and walks to the edge of the cliff.
"Hey big girl," he says gently, "I guess you remembered me before I remembered you. Thank you for saving my life. Don't worry, I got your egg to safety. I'm also incredibly honored that you were present today. It's not every day that you get married with a Bewilderbeast attending."
He then holds out his hand, a smile on his face. The Bewilderbeast looks at him, then moves her head forward, brushing her white scales against Hiccup's hand, before pulling back. Astrid walks to Hiccup's side as he lowers his hand, an amazed smile on his face, and takes hold of his other hand. The Bewilderbeast gently exhales and sends a wave of frost at them. Zelda and Valka chuckle at the frozen bangs and frosted capes of the newlyweds. The Bewilderbeast then gently grunts a greeting to Toothless, gives another smile to Hiccup and Astrid, and then turns back to the ocean, walking until she is deep enough, then switches to swimming, heading back north to her nest.
The Berkians, Hylians, and dragons still in the field watch her swim off, before slowly heading for the Great Hall.
"Ready to race to the party, milady?" Hiccup asks Astrid, a grin on his face.
"Been ready for ages babe," she replies, as they head for Toothless and Stormfly.
One immediate difference between Hyrule and Berk that Zelda discovers is the difference in the meaning of party.
Unlike the more calm parties that she is used to, the parties held on Berk involve large amounts of loud talking, bickering, and mead.
The Great Hall of Berk is filled with all the villagers, and some dragons. On the raised dais at the rear of the hall, Hiccup and Astrid are sitting at a small table in front of the large chieften's chair, with several empty chairs next to the table for people wishing to speak with them. Unsurprisingly, Toothless and Stormfly are sitting next to their riders. Below the dais, three tables are drawn close. One seats Valka, Gobber, Ingrid, and Arvid, while another seats the Dragon Riders and Eret. The third is for visiting dignitaries, consisting of Zelda, Link, Heather, Dagur, Mala, Thork, Mala's second in command, Alvin, the chief of the Outcasts, along with Atali and Minden, the leader and second in command of the Wingmaiden tribe.
Zelda engages in discussions with the other dignitaries, hearing about the events of the various tribes while also sharing information about Hyrule. Due to the large number of people present, Link largely stays quiet, but does drink quite a bit of the Berkian mead, which he quickly takes a liking to. Zelda also glances up at Hiccup and Astrid's table and sees the villagers congratulating them. She suddenly remembers something that she brought, and tells Link that she'll be back in a few minutes. She then goes to ask Ingrid if she can run down to the Hofferson house to grab something in her bag. Ingrid smiles and gives Zelda permission, and the princess leaves the Great Hall to grab the item.
Ten minutes later, she arrives back, holding the cloth covered item. She sees that the food is starting to be served, and hurries back to her seat. Link smiles as she sits back down, relieved that she's fine. The visiting dignitaries table is then served, and they all dig in. The meal consists of deliciously seasoned roasted yak, potatoes, and a small salad. Zelda washes the food down with water, not really liking the mead, though she does notice Link having quite a bit of mead.
However, a call from Hiccup distracts her from thinking about Link's alcohol consumption. The auburn haired chief is waving her over, so she gets up, and walks to Hiccup and Astrid's table, followed by Link.
"So, did you like the food?" Hiccup asks after the Hylians sit down.
Zelda smiles as she replies, "It was delicious." She also smiles upon noticing the new rings each on Hiccup and Astrid's left ring fingers. Each ring is silver, with a small Deadly Nadder scale on Hiccup's and a small Night Fury scale on Astrid's.
"We brought something for you," Zelda says as she places the covered item on the table, "It was intended to just be a normal gift, but now it's a wedding gift."
Astrid pulls the item closer and pulls off the piece of cloth. Both her and Hiccup's eyes widen as they recognize a quartet of Silent Princess flowers in a pot.
"Wow," Hiccup exclaims, "Thank you Zelda. They're beautiful."
Astrid looks at Zelda, a smile also on her face. "You also have my thanks Zelda. You know, if you get married, a circlet with some Silent Princess's on it would look really good on you," she says while pointing at her own flower adorned circlet. Zelda smiles, noting the idea down in her memory.
"I heard a little bit from Link, and I'm sure Zelda told some to Astrid, but can you two share how you figured out how we actually exist in the same world, and how you got here?" Hiccup says.
Zelda nods and shares the story, though she omits the details of the Night Nadder and the unknown Haddock that wrote the journal she and Link found. After hearing it, Hiccup and Astrid look at the Hylians with admiration.
"That's good work you did," Astrid says, "And you said that's not the only clue you've followed from Hiccup's map?"
Zelda nods and speaks, "Yes, it wasn't. About a month after your departure, I noticed a note mentioning creepy ancient tunnels beneath Hyrule Castle. With Link and Terrako, we went down to the secret passageway below the Observation Room. We then descended down a passageway opened into a room bearing Zonai architecture. After descending down another staircase, we came to the entrance to another open room, but it was obstructed by spiderwebs. Link also saw a small stripe on the wall that was noticeably lighter than the surrounding wall. He touched the wall on a different spot and it left a similar mark due to the amount of dust."
"Oh, that stripe was from me," Astrid interjects, "While you were still out due to your arm, Hiccup found that same passageway and we descended down to the same point before turning back."
Zelda nods before continuing, "Alright, I was wondering how that happened. Anyways, we soldiered on, and kept descending. After a while, we came to a large room with a large vertical drop, with stairs down to the bottom, where the path continued. Shortly after that, we found a room with seven murals depicting the ancient founding of Hyrule and the Imprisoning War. The passageway continued a little ways further, then swung ninety degrees to the left, and resumed descending."
Zelda takes a sip of water before she resumes speaking. "The passageway opened into a final chamber, with an unseeable bottom, a large circular platform in the middle, and spikes of rock on the ceiling pointing towards the platform. However, the unnerving thing was the platform. On it, there was a figure frozen in a splayed back position, mouth open, and arms spread out. It looked like it had been there for a long long time because its clothes were tattered and mostly rags. The only other noticeable features were its long red hair and golden jewelry."
Hiccup and Astrid's eyebrows shoot up, and Link takes over telling the story. "That's not even the weirdest part," he says. "Even more eerie was that a teal glowing lower right arm and hand was latched onto the figure's chest. From the hand, a spiral of teal and green energy swirled upwards. But more concerning was that underneath the hand, some sort of cloudy red mutant of Malice was faintly gathered."
Both Hiccup and Astrid's eyes widened at the account, concerned about this mysterious figure.
"So what did you do about it?" Astrid asks.
Surprisingly, Zelda smiles as she resumes telling the tale. "Well, we climbed back up to the castle, then I remembered that I had the leftovers of the soup that Astrid made." Hiccup stifles a chuckle at the mention, now having a decent idea of what's happening. Zelda smiles at him, then continues. "So Link and I put it into a metallic bowl and brought it all the way down to the deep chamber. Using Magnesis, I guided the bowl to the open mouth of the figure and adjusted the bowl to let the soup go down the hatch."
Zelda pauses to stop herself from chuckling, so Link continues. "For a moment, nothing happened. Then the figure started twitching. It was gagging, choking, and convulsing, all while still held in place by the weird glowing hand. After a moment of that, the figure fell back and hit the ground. Zelda and I warily approached, but the figure didn't move. The hand and little cloud of red mutant Malice had also vanished, but I drew the Master Sword and it was glowing fainty. We then noticed a gem on the forehead of the figure, so I used the Master Sword to pry the gem out. Zelda took a hold of it, and it glowed golden in her hand. After we removed the gem, the sword stopped glowing, but I decapitated the figure just to be safe."
Astrid's eyes are wide, while Hiccup is unsuccessfully trying to contain his laughter at the fact that some sealed evil entity was killed by Astrid's bad cooking. She glares at him and elbows him in the gut before addressing Zelda. "So what did you do with the magic gem?"
Zelda, having gotten her chuckling under control, thinks for a moment before replying, "It's in a secret compartment in my study. The only thing I know about it is that it resembles some magic gems seen on the murals in the room near where we found the figure. But enough about that, do you still have the Ancient Arrow I gave you?"
Astrid's face darkens a little bit at the question.
"Wait, did the Twins get a hold of it?" Zelda asks gently.
Astrid shakes her head hastily before responding. "Thank Thor they didn't. I did use the arrow though." Link and Zelda's eyes both silently ask to hear why, so Astrid takes a breath and begins. "About a month ago, we learned that the Warlords-the three leaders of the remnants of Drago Bludvist's army-hired a man by the name of Grimmel. This man is supposedly the killer of every Night Fury, save Toothless. After learning about him, Hiccup put the village on high alert, and had me, Valka, and Gobber stay over to help protect Toothless."
Suddenly Hiccup interjects, his eyes flashing with anger as he speaks. "A week after learning of him, I was in my house late at night, looking at my map, when Grimmel suddenly appeared, shot Toothless-who was actually Fishlegs in a mask-with a sedative, then sat in my father's chair and threatened me. He said to either give him Toothless or he will destroy everything I love. I threatened him with Inferno, and he merely swatted it aside." His voice lowers as he continues, "Come to think of it, his clothes looked like they were made of dragon skin and possibly Night Fury skin."
Astrid resumes the tale, "Hiccup tried to convince Grimmel to change, but the man refused. I then realized that despite not being a colossal dragon, a cunning businessman, or a crazy warlord with an enslaved Bewilderbeast, Grimmel would be as dangerous as any of them. Something in my heart told me that if I didn't act, Hiccup would lose someone dear to him, so I pulled out the Ancient Arrow, nocked it to my bow, activated it, and shot it. Upon being hit by the arrow, Grimmel turned blue and simply vanished, leaving some faint blue energy that quickly dissipated."
Both Link and Zelda's eyes widen, and Zelda speaks, "What happened after that?"
Hiccup speaks up, the anger gone from his face. We found six weird black and red dragons with stinger tails, two long retractable fangs, and harnesses containing vials of some purple liquid being injected into them. We removed the harnesses, and the dragons flew off, and we destroyed the vials of the purple liquid. Can I ask about those murals that you found below the castle?"
Link smiles as Zelda perks up, knowing her interest in Hylian history.
"Well there were seven murals. The first one showed a figure of an ancient species called the Zonai on a platform above ancient Hylians, with seven of the magic gems above the Zonai. The second one shows what appears to be a Zonai marrying a Hylian, and gifting her one of the gems. The third one shows a large figure with long hair taking the gem from the Hylian who married the Zonai, and red clouds orbiting the figure. The fourth and biggest one shows an army of monsters attacking the Hylians, with a large figure that I believe is the Demon King behind the monsters," Zelda says.
"Wait," Hiccup interjects, "Demon King? Like as in 'Demise the Demon King'?"
Zelda shakes her head before responding. "No, this Demon King is much much more recent, and its name is lost to history. The fifth one shows seven people wielding the gems fighting the Demon King. Two of the people are Zonai, one looks to be a short haired Hylian, and the other four appear to be Gerudo, Rito, Goron, and Zora. The next mural shows the same short haired Hylian next to a platform with a simple hilted sword on it. The final mural depicts a serpentine dragon flying skyward, with a sword hilt protruding from its head. Eleven yellow circles appear to be falling from the dragon, and two Hylians, a Gerudo, a Rito, a Goron, and a Zora are waving farewell to the dragon."
"Wow," Hiccup says, "So there was at least one dragon in Hyrule at some point in time. Thanks for sharing about that. Glad that my map helped you eliminate a possible threat."
Zelda smiles back as she replies, "My thanks to you for sharing about the Grimmel situation. Glad that I could indirectly help out with that."
Hiccup smiles before speaking again. "I assume that you and Link will be here for at least a month?" Zelda nods and he continues. "You can stay with us. There is plenty of space on the ground floor, and when Mom is out, one of you can use her bed."
Link and Zelda nod their thanks before Astrid interjects. "Well, except for tonight," she says hesitantly, a blush appearing on her cheeks. Zelda curiously looks at Astrid and the blonde warrior continues, "Well you see… on Berk when two people are married, after the party, the newlyweds go to their house and… you know…" Astrid stammers off.
Zelda turns red and quickly nods. "Oh, yes, I completely understand. We have the same thing in Hyrule, but I forgot about it. Me and Link just stay here for tonight."
"No you're not," Ingrid cuts in, having approached the table without being noticed. "You two can stay with us. If you stay here, you'll probably get beat up by drunk villagers."
Zelda nods her appreciation. "Thank you, Mrs Hofferson," she says.
"No problem," the older woman replies, "You helped my daughter and her husband, so I trust you."
"I'll leave your bag on the porch of my house, Link," Hiccup adds.
Astrid then gives the Hylian Champion a hard look. "And know that Toothless and Stormfly will be on guard, so don't get any ideas!" she says in a firm tone.
Link immediately blushes and puts his hands up. "Alright, I get it. I had no intentions of going inside, but now I wouldn't go inside even if Calamity Ganon itself was chasing me towards your house," he says in a panicked tone.
Hiccup, Astrid, Zelda, and Ingrid all chuckle, and Link's face turns even redder. He nods to Hiccup and Astrid, then walks over to the Dragon Riders table. Zelda nods to the newlyweds, then walks back to the visiting dignitaries table.
Shortly after, Hiccup and Astrid announce that the time for the dance has arrived. Space is cleared, and the couple walk down, and begin to beautifully dance around the cleared area. The villagers cheer, then after a moment, follow suit, spilling onto the dance floor. Zelda and Link chuckle as they twirl around, both being good dancers, but not at the level of Hiccup and Astrid. Some noticeable pairs are Ruffnut and Tuffnut, who dance in dizzying patterns, Dagur and Mala, who lightly glide around the room, and Gobber and Valka, singing a modified version of the song that Valka and Stoick used to love dancing to.
An hour later, Zelda is engaged in a conversation with Atali about the Wingmaiden's work with baby Razorwhips, finding the relationship between the women and dragons fascinating.
She is about to ask another question, when a fish goes flying past, and hits Thork in the face. The serious man glares in the direction of where the fish came from, and Zelda and Atali follow his gaze. They chuckle upon seeing Snotlout with a wide eyed expression, a platter of fish in his right hand. Next to him, the Twins, and to Zelda and Atali's surprise, Link and Minden, all grinning.
Zelda turns to Atali, confused. "I'm sorry," she says, "But I thought Snotlout is a known woman repellent. Why is Minden with him?"
Atali sighs before responding, "Two years ago, during the war with the Dragon Hunters, our island came under siege from them. Minden was lured away by a distraction, taking all our forces with her, and allowing the Dragon Hunters to wreak havoc. She felt terrible and almost quit, but Snotlout talked to her, and she got her confidence back. They then helped fight back against the Hunters, and we won. They've had a close bond since, though I'm not sure if it's romantic. Besides, I thought Link was a stoic hero, yet he seems to be hanging out with those chaotic twins and having fun."
Zelda frowns as she replies, "Normally he is, but when he's relaxed he can be cheerful, but not this much. I think he's had too much mead. That's surprising though, what you said about Minden and Snotlout." The two women look at the table again, seeing the aforementioned knight and Wingmaiden chatting with the stocky man and the Twins.
Suddenly, Snotlout notices the scrutiny, and looks at Zelda. "Hey babe," he calls while grinning, "Come over here and have some fun with me." He moves his belly outwards in a not so subtle gesture that both Zelda and Atali pick up on, shaking their heads at the action.
Anger suddenly appears in Link's eyes, and he grabs Tuffnut's helmet off the male twin's head. He then pulls some string from his pouch, ties it to the ends of the long horns, and holds up the helmet. Snotlout gulps as he sees Link grab a hunk of meat with a bone sticking out, and places the end of the bone against the sting. Zelda's eyes widen as Link pulls the bone of meat back, realizing that he turned Tuffnut's helmet into an impromptu bow, using the part of the helmet that rests on the head as the bow's grip. With a triumphant yell, Link releases the string, and the hunk of meat flies into Snotlout's chest. Despite the weak draw weight of using a helmet as a bow, the force of the impact sends Snotlout tumbling back onto the floor.
Tuffnut grins at the move, then realizes that the helmet used was his own.
Enraged, he tackles Link, followed by Ruffnut. For a moment, the three tumble around, before Link groans loudly in pain as an elbow hits him between the legs. Some more scuffling occurs, before Ruff and Tuff both get up, eyeing Link nervously. The Hylian Champion has some scratches on his face, but is smirking. He reaches for a drink, which Zelda notices is unfortunately more mead, and not water.
Link sees a platter of rocks on the table, and grabs a small one. He pops in his mouth, chews for a moment, then smiles. He takes another and eats about half of it before he is interrupted.
"Hey! Those are Meatlug's rocks," Fishlegs yells, glaring at Link.
He sheepishly smiles, then pops the remaining half of the rock in his mouth. After a moment of chewing, he swallows, and addresses Fishlegs. "These are good," Link says in a serious voice, "Meatlug must live a good life."
Silence follows, and Link notices that all the Dragon Riders are staring at him in shock.
"Dude, you eat rocks?" Ruffnut asks, disbelief in her tone.
Link's face goes red, and Tuffnut grins.
"Wow, you are awesome!" the male twin exclaims.
Snotlout throws another fish, which hits Link in the face. He glares, then grabs two potatoes, and hurls them at Snotlout. The stocky man is hit in the chest and on the arm.
"Food fight!" Tuffnut cries, before he hurls a yak chop at Fishlegs, and another at Ruffnut. The female twin dodges the meat, and chucks a bowl of salad at her brother. A loud grunt is heard as the yak chop Ruffnut dodged hits Snotlout's father, Spitelout in the face.
"Boyo!" Spitelout shouts, then throws a carrot in the direction of the Dragon Riders table.
The carrot hits Link in the stomach, causing him to double over. He grabs Tuffnut's helmet-which still has the string attached-and the largest piece of meat with a bone sticking out that he can find. He places the natural notch of the bone on the sting, draws back the helmet bow, and releases the sting. A moment later, Spitelout yells in pain as a yak thigh slams into him, sending him sprawling back. Link smiles as a brawl breaks out in Spitelout's area, before he is tackled again by Tuffnut.
Zelda, Hiccup, and Astrid watch the growing chaos with small smiles.
"Well, I think me and Astrid are going to take our leave before this gets too violent," Hiccup says.
"I'm with you on that," Zelda replies, wincing as Link gets slapped in the face with a fish by Ruffnut. Zelda steps back while Hiccup and Astrid tell their parents that they're leaving to head to their house. Zelda says good night to the couple as they get onto Toothless, and Stormfly-with Astrid holding the pot of Silent Princess flowers-then flying above the hubbub of drunk Vikings and spreading brawls, before landing at the doors and leaving the Great Hall.
Zelda is about to ask Ingrid and Arvid if she and Link can go back to the Hofferson house, but her eyes widen as she sees a round serving tray whirling through the air at her. She drops to the ground, as the platter crashes to the floor behind her.
"Shorry Zelda," Link calls out, "Ruffnut was aiming at me, but missed."
Zelda gets to her feet, shaking her head in exasperation.
Mindful of flying objects, Zelda walks to the table seating Ingrid, Arvid, Valka, and Gobber-though the blacksmith is currently chatting with Alvin. Zelda nods greetings, and addresses Arvid. "Excuse me, Mr Hofferson," she says in a polite voice, "Would you be fine if Link and I go back to your house to turn in for the night. It's getting a little too chaotic in here for my liking. I'm asking because I thought you might be uncomfortable with two people you don't know very well being unsupervised in your house."
Both Ingrid and Arvid smile, as Arvid replies, "Thank you for asking lass. You and Link can head back. Ingrid and I are also probably heading back soon." Zelda nods her thanks, then walks down to the Dragon Riders table.
Link is pulling back his arm to hurl an apple at Snotlout when he feels something grab the back of his tunic collar and yank him backwards. Turning around, his eyes widen upon seeing Zelda glaring at him. He looks from her displeased expression to the several stains on his Champion's Tunic, and sheepishly chuckles.
"Link," she says, her tone firm and brokering no argument. "That's enough. We're going back to the Hofferson house and retiring for the night." The Hylian Champion nods, and he, Zelda, and Terrako walk through the drunk villagers and out of the Great Hall.
As she and Link walk down the stairs, Zelda smiles at how the day turned out. They're in Berk, got to attend Hiccup and Astrid's wedding, got to see a live Bewilderbeast, made friends with some of Berk's allies, and got to experience a Viking wedding party.
All in all, a good day for the crown princess of Hyrule and the Hylian Champion.
Notes about the chapter,
Link acting more chaotic when drunk is meant to be a nod to the common depiction of BOTW Link being a crazy teenager that enjoys causing chaos.
Regarding Ganondorf and Grimmel, and how their deaths affect the space time continuum.
First, Grimmel. In this timeline, he was hired right before Hiccup and Astrid were accidentally pulled forward in time to Hyrule. After finding no Night Fury, Grimmel laughed at the Warlords, then returned to normal dragon hunting. After Hiccup, Astrid, and Toothless returned to Berk and resumed raiding the Warlords, Grimmel got hired again, and like in HTTYD 3, sneaks into Hiccup's house, shoots Fishlegs disguised as Toothless, and threatens Hiccup, but skips the whole using the Light Fury as bait. Due to Astrid shooting him with an Ancient Arrow, the move to New Berk and the dragons relocating to the Hidden World won't happen. The Warlords will be addressed later in the story.
Next, the more conflicting one: Ganondorf. The figure that is fed the bowl of Astrid's soup that has been sitting out going bad for two months is Ganondorf. His untimely death is more problematic, but shouldn't break reality. Since Tears of the Kingdom's past story and present story is implied to be a stable time loop, so when Terrako makes a timeline spilt in Age of Calamity, everything carries over to the new timeline, including Ganondorf, the Light Dragon, and future Master Sword, despite the fact that Zelda can't travel back in time, because Ganondorf's seal is still holding, not about to break like in the prologue of Tears of the Kingdom, which is how Zelda ends up time traveling. The seal also being 105 years stronger in this timeline rather than the main timeline is also why Ganondorf doesn't awaken when Zelda and Link discover him in this story. So in short, the Light Dragon will be endlessly roaming the skies for all time in this timeline, the Secret Stones will stay hidden, and the Upheaval never happens. I understand if people are lost, but time travel just makes everything more confusing, and I thought it would be hilarious to have Ganondorf the Demon King be killed by Astrid's terrible cooking. Hopefully, Zelda fans can get the reasoning here, and I'm guessing HTTYD fans will just be hella confused(don't worry, the Zelda timeline as a whole can be confusing).
Hope you enjoyed the chapter. As I said earlier, this was a really fun one to write.
See you in the next chapter:)