The Great Beyond

Chapter 46: The Longest Day (Reign)

              "Uh, Reign?"

Under normal circumstances, I would've shot up, stood my ground, been on the attack until I knew what the source of the voice was. My sword would've been in hand, and I would be staring down something that likely wasn't a threat at all—you just couldn't be too sure. But, instead, I just sort of rolled my head over slightly, looking up at Hiccup as he ran a hand through my hair.

"Hmm?" I felt my voice gurgling in my throat as a bout of sniffles came on.

"You fell asleep for a bit there." I groaned and shook my head, adjusting back into a more comfortable position. Contrary to what the situation might have suggested, I was standing right up, watching as the people of Berk moved supplies and made repairs to buildings. "Hard to believe it's the middle of the night," Hiccup mused as his dad and Gobber approached the two of us.

"I love the midnight sun," Stoick mused. I, on the other hand, wasn't enjoying it so much. "Constant sunlight for two weeks. Our most productive time of year."

Maybe for the average Viking. I'd noticed that the people of Berk, at least the ones Hiccup and I had been watching, were still able to function normally and get work done. In previous years, the midnight sun hadn't bothered me much, but as I got older, it got harder to deal with it, and exhaustion now resulted in me feeling exactly like I was sick: groggy, a heavy head, congestion, and body aches. I could still force myself to work if I really committed to it, but it took a great deal out of me.

"You're in my way."

The four of us looked to a scene playing out in front of us: two men were suddenly at odds with each other, their bodies tense with anger.

"No, you're in my way."

"Aye, for the first week," Gobber agreed as Stoick marched over to the men to break up the fight. "But we're in day eight, where things can start to get a wee bit crazy."

"Are you calling me a liar?" Despite being separated, those men were right back at it.

"Yeah, I'm calling you a liar!"

"I've had enough of this." I barely registered that the man on the left kicked the other one over, and it wasn't until he removed his sword that Stoick was able to intervene again and prevent a casualty from occurring.

"All right, you two, back to work," Stoick barked. "We've got a lot of catching up to do now that the trade lanes are open again."

I felt Hiccup flinch slightly as his father said that. I knew that he still blamed himself for their closure in the first place, even though Stoick and I tried our best to convince him that this was on Viggo for using dirty battle tactics. He was starting to fall back into his old, obsessive habits just after I thought we were making progress. At this point, it was genuinely starting to hurt.

"Lack of sleep," Gobber declared, his voice imbibed with a strange amount of pride. "It gets to everybody eventually. Poor Gothi, she's been babbling for days now." He directed our attentions over to the wide-eyed old woman, surrounded by symbols and runes that had devolved into nonsense.

"Yeah... I see what you mean." Hiccup's eyes briefly flashed down to me again as he adjusted his arms to ensure I wouldn't hit the ground if I keeled over.

"And Sven's worn out half his flock on the dance floor." The three of us watched as Sven waltzed back and forth with one of his sheep.