Yesterday was…
You should see my hair. Mum taught me how to put it up this morning. It feels strange, and my neck is freezing. My brow feels naked without my maidenband.
My hand feels heavy and strange, the ring Hiccup made sitting on my finger. It's very beautiful. Silver, with pieces of Toothless' scales embedded in a pattern representing Yggdrasil. No stones. He said he knew I wouldn't want a ring that could catch on anything, and he was right. I wonder when he began to know me so well. Were we still children?
I'm already tired of the taste of mead. Sickly sweet. But we've got to get through it all somehow. There's barrelsof the stupid stuff.
The Elder could barely be heard above all the shouting and hooting going on during the ceremony. Hiccup stuttered over the vow. The stupid ram refused to be sacrificed to Odin and bounded to the top of the Mead-Hall where it sat, bleating crossly all night.
The sword thing went fine. Hiccup was able to stab with some accuracy, and it stuck into the rooftree all right. I gave him a look that said he was an idiot for worrying.
My little brother had an absolute whale of a time, carrying my family sword before me. Stoick had to hand over the mundr to him, as the man of the Hofferson house. Eight silver pieces and eight gold, a new axe, three matching swords, a leather message-pouch for his Terrible Terror, and a heavy ornamented shield. He was so worked up that he'd fallen asleep long before the feast finished. To be fair, Ainid's only twelve. Born after Dad… well.
The feast was actually a feast. Obviously the last ice-fishing trip went better than could be expected. Hiccup kept looking at me as though I'd dropped from the sky, and played with the ends of my hair and the petals wound around my mother's old bridal crown the whole time. Most of the village was stinking drunk within a few hours. No-one even noticed when I ritually served Hiccup the first drink of our marriage and he surreptitiously handed it back.
Snotlout came up to us at one point, grabbed both our shoulders and blubbered drunkenly, sincerely and incomprehensibly at us both. Hiccup took 'Lout's shoulder awkwardly in return and said, "Um. Thanks, 'Lout."
Snotlout nodded and blubbed some more, before his eyes rolled up and he passed out.
"Lovely," I snorted.
"He meant well," Hiccup looked down at his snoring cousin. "Uh, did you understand any of that?"
"It was drunken Snotlout for 'Congratulations and you look great together and I hope you'll be happy'," I guessed.
"Hmm," Hiccup nudged 'Lout with his bad foot. "We'd better move him."
"I'll do that," said a clipped voice, and my eyes jerked over to see Ruffnut and her brother. "You… enjoy the feast."
"Ruff," Hiccup started, but Tuffnut held up a warning finger and pointed it to Ruff, who took a deep breath.
"Sorry," she blurted.
I blinked.
So did Hiccup. "Are you… really Ruffnut?"
"Shut up," she snarled, and when her head snapped over to her sniggering twin I saw the darkening bruises on her face. My work. Masterpieces, each one.
Tuff gulped when she rounded on him and held up his hands harmlessly. She looked as though she was going to launch herself at him for a moment anyway, but sighed again instead and stuck out her hand grudgingly to me.
"Pax?" she asked bluntly.
Blunt. I like that. "Pax," I said, and shook it.
She let go abruptly, whirling and grabbing Hiccup's green woollen tunic-front. "If she doesn't make you happy," she said dangerously in his startled face, "well… she'd better."
Hiccup swallowed hard, and then delicately pried her hands from him.
"Ruff," I said, scowling, and preparing to give the girl another thrashing.
"She does," Hiccup said abruptly. "She really does."
How is it, Spike, that this tall, skinny, awkward boy makes a girl like me, a shieldmaiden, melt like that?
Ruff looked a bit sad. "Good." And then she hoisted the snoring Snotlout against her hip and shoulder and stalked off into the crowd.
We didn't see her again all night.
"That was so not my idea," Tuffnut said grumpily. "She dragged me along."
"Why?" asked Hiccup, smoothing his tunic. He was doing a rubbish job at it, so I batted his hands away and did it myself. He smiled at me goofily.
"Witnesses, she said," Tuff scratched at his neck. "So, congrats and all that stuff."
"Thanks," I said, still focusing on Hiccup's tunic. Any excuse to get near that lovely neck.
Tuff seemed to realise that he was a bit superfluous, and muttered, "I need another drink."
"Bye, Tuff," I said absently, now smoothing the wispy hairs on the back of Hiccup's neck that merged with his shaggy mop.
"Bye… Tuff," Hiccup managed. "That tickles, Astrid."
"You're ticklish, hmm?" I threaded my fingers into his hair. It was warm and thick and smelled like the herbs the men had put in his ritual bath that morning.
"Well, not tickles, exactly, but…" Hiccup tried to mitigate, but at that moment a meaty hand slapped down on his shoulder and he stumbled. "Ooof, Dad!"
"Now, now, Astrid," he boomed jovially, "you're going to have him all night! Don't monopolise him so quickly!"
I could feel my face beginning to burn again, and snatched my hand out of his hair. "Ah… hi, Stoick."
"Dad! Call me Dad!" he grinned, and those gigantic arms swept me into a hug. Stoick smelled overpoweringly of ale and mead. "Welcome to the family!"
"Erp," I said. No wonder everyone believed he'd popped a dragon's head off whilst in nappies. I couldn't breathe at all.
"Daaaaad," Hiccup cringed. "Can you put her down? She is my uh, w-wife, y'know."
Wife. I'm a wife.
Eurgh.
Hiccup's wife, though… that's okay.
Stoick lurched a little after setting me back down on my feet, and he clapped Hiccup on the shoulder again. "And a lovely wife at that, m'boy… didn't think you'd ever be able to catch a beauty like this one. Ah lad," his eyes were growing misty, "how I wish Val were here to see you now. She'd be so proud, Hiccup, so proud…"
"Thanks, Dad," Hiccup said softly, and patted his father's arm a little.
"Ah, son," Stoick sniffed and weaved back and forth on his feet, "My boy, our Hiccup. Oh, y've grown so much, you're a fine man. When I think how close you were t'…" and his usually stern face twisted a little, before he swept Hiccup up into a bear hug as well. "Yer mother loved you so, boy, an' I know she'd be jus' as proud as me," he choked tightly.
Hiccup gave a small uncomfortable squeak.
"Stoick! You're ruining your reputation wi' all that mush!" Gobber's voice roared from where the barrels and kegs were set.
Stoick shook his head against Hiccup's hair. "Don't care. My little boy's gotten married. You going to tell me to stop? Then say it closer an' get a thumpin'!"
"You couldn't fight a three-legged mouse like that," Gobber snorted, stomping over. "Here," he handed me a tankard. "Get used to that."
I sniffed it. Mead again. "Oh brilliant," I grumbled. Here came more jokes about wedding-nights and strong sons.
"Dad…!" gasped Hiccup from within his father's iron embrace, and Stoick glanced at him before gently propping him back on his feet.
"Are you okay?" I hissed at him. He dragged in a huge breath and nodded a bit vaguely, and patted his father's brawny arm again.
"I'm… good," he said with a faint look of surprise, then looked up at his dad and beamed. "Thanks, Dad."
Stoick beamed back, before remembering his reputation and covering it with a giant gulp of ale.
"Here, lad," Gobber said then in a gentler voice. "Made you something for the wife."
Hiccup blinked, looked at me and then down at his hands where Gobber had just dropped a cloth-wrapped bundle. Unwrapping it carefully, he pulled out a wide leather belt with beaten gold plates sewn at intervals along it. The reliefs carefully hammered into the plates told the story of Hiccup and the dragons. I gasped.
"Gobber," Hiccup said slowly and with awe, "this is amazing. I didn't know you could work gold."
"Not much call for a goldsmith in Berk, lad," Gobber scratched at his stubbled chin with his hook. "Er. Congratulations."
Hiccup gingerly wrapped the belt around my hips and buckled it. I touched a relief of Toothless and Hiccup with one finger. "It's beautiful, Gobber," I said softly. It was.
Hiccup gave his mentor that crooked smile, and hugged him. And yes, it was awkward (I swear, Hiccup is the Chief of Awkward), but they both seemed happy enough. "Thanks."
Stoick nodded towards my tankard. "You better get to that," he said cheerfully. He was going to say something about grandchildren, I just knew it.
I raised an eyebrow at it. "Bleagh. Smells awful."
"Want help?" Hiccup murmured, and I eyed him thoughtfully. I guess I've got to get used to that too. Hiccup helping, I mean. I nodded.
His thin arm shot out and grabbed the tankard, and he'd swallowed over half of the brew before either of our drunken elders could react. "Mmmhmm," he said hoarsely, barely controlling a splutter. "You're right. Smells awful, doesn't taste right either. Should we go and investigate?"
"Good idea," I said with an absolutely straight face and grabbed that tankard-holding arm.
"Hey!" both Stoick and Gobber roared indignantly as I dragged him over to the kegs.
He's never been able to control his expressions like everyone else. When we slowed, he was making faces at the sickly sweet taste and the brutal headspin honey-mead bestows. "Urrrrgh. Can we… can we sit down? I drank that way too fast."
I sat him down by the barrels and kissed him. He tasted like honey. A lot of honey. "Thank you," I whispered. "I am so sick of mead and all the sniggering that goes with it."
He gave me a weak little smile. "My pleasure. Have to do the husbandly thing."
That made my legs feel a little wobbly. "Very husbandly," I whispered, and kissed him again.
"Astrid," he breathed, and deepened the kiss. Gods, it was hot in there all of a sudden.
"Okay, so what do you think his chances are of siring offspring before tomorrow?" asked a blurry voice from behind us.
"I'd say pretty good from what we just saw," Fishleg's voice was slurred. "I'd need more information to make an accurate predicsh, predictsh… accurate guess, though."
Hiccup leaned his forehead against mine and groaned. I rolled my eyes. "Never happen, Fishy."
"The offspring part…?" the other voice was Snotlout, who had woken up, apparently.
"The information part," I said sternly, whilst fighting to keep my face from burning off the front of my head. Hiccup was looking at me wide-eyed.
"Really?" he asked in a hushed voice. His face was almost frightened.
I didn't trust myself to answer, so I just nodded. Then I cleared my throat and said, "someday."
Hiccup stared at me a little longer, before crushing me in a long hug.
Fishlegs wasn't in any state to recognise an important moment in a relationship. "Isn't it weird to think that we've always been the kids of the village, but now we're talking about having kids? Like it's some weird tessellation of roles?"
"Weird wha…?" Snotlout gave him a bleary look of confusion. "When are you having kids, 'Legs?"
"Sometime next year," Fishlegs said promptly, "Gotta marry Ruff at harvest first."
"Whoa, 'Legs, you want Ruff?" Snotlout asked, wide-eyed.
"Not an issue," Fishlegs said wryly. "The Thorstons accepted my family's offer this morning."
"Not an answer, either," Snotlout prodded Fishlegs' bearded face. "You like Ruff, 'Legs?"
Fishlegs mumbled something into his tankard, and then drained it quickly.
"You do!" Snotlout crowed, "he does! Fishy luuuurves Ruffy! Aw man," his eyes widened as his own situation crashed down on him, "now I really do have to move to Phlock."
Hiccup carefully released me, and I could feel his arms shaking. "Wow. So, someday then. I love you," he murmured.
"I know," I said softly. "Come on. Let's get out of here."
The whole village stumbled their way up the hill after us to see us safely to the Haddock lodge. Hiccup and I outpaced them simply by virtue of being mostly sober. I could hear and see our breathing in the frigid, silent night air. I was so nervous I felt sick. I was so happy I could scream.
When we finally crested the hill, my mother was standing by the large door of Hiccup's home – our home. My home now.
Mum silently crunched across the frozen grass, took both our hands, and said very slowly and seriously, "You'll fight. Things won't always be perfect. You'll yell and sulk and storm and hate each other at times. Things will sometimes be difficult. There won't always be time. There won't always be money. You won't always agree. But listen to me: that won't matter. Just remember the most important thing."
Hiccup and I glanced at each other.
"You promised to look after each other," Mum said, voice low and fervent, eyes shiny and bright. "You promised to listen, and help, and trust. You promised in front of your families and friends and the gods themselves. Most of all, you promised one another. That's the most important thing. Because if you… if anything happens, you'll never have anything to… regret."
She broke off, her throat working hard.
"Mum," I squeezed her hand. "Mum…"
She squeezed back. "Remember that."
She let go and opened the door. "Now go on, my daughter," she said with a small smile, "and my son."
Hiccup clumsily kissed her cheek, and then stood back as I threw my arms around my mother.
"I'm not gone," I told her fiercely. "I'm still me and I'm still here."
"I know," she whispered, "I just wish your father had… oh Astrid, you're so like him."
"Ainid is still at home, Mum," I gently teased her.
"Ainid isn't you," she stroked my hair. "Come around tomorrow and I'll show you how to put it up."
I nodded. It was so hard to keep my Viking-stoic demeanour faced with this woman, the woman who had been father and mother to me and brought me up all alone.
"Now in you go, you two," she stepped back abruptly. "Before I turn into an old woman."
"Goodnight, Gerda – ah, Mum," said Hiccup with absolute earnestness. I felt a surge of love for him make my ribcage expand to the point of pain.
"Goodnight, kids," she replied quietly, and shut the door behind us.