Dragons: The New Chief

Chapter 57: Epilogue

Hiccup groaned, smacking his head on the desk in his office back at the house. Astrid wandered into the candlelit room, holding a sleeping Freya in her arms. The woman walked over to her husband and leaned over his shoulder.

"What's wrong?" She asked, looking curiously over the journal the man was working in.

Hiccup sighed and lifted his head, grasping his writing stick again. He thumped the end of the stick on the table impatiently.

"I can't think of a name." He said finally.

Astrid furrowed her brows. "For?"

Hiccup jutted his hand out towards the journal. "For this book." He groaned. "It's just like these," He gestured to the books that Astrid had once found, but didn't read out of respect for privacy. "Autobiographies."

So that's what they were. Astrid pouted her lip. "Well how did you name the others?"

Hiccup turned in his chair to face Astrid. God's she was beautiful. She looked so natural, like being a mother was her true calling. Hiccup smirked, leaning back.

"Well," He said as he folded his hands in front of his face. "The first one was when I found Toothless, so I named it How to Train Your Dragon, for obvious reasons." Astrid nodded, a fitting name for a story about how a viking tamed a wild dragon. "Then the next three," He said, pointing to three larger books after the first. "Are kind of some small adventures that we took when we were younger. They're sorta a series, so the I named them Dragons, because it was about how we trained the new dragons, and even found new ones, but" He said as he began to point out each of the books solely. "when they got to be too long, I had to write in a new notebook, so there are three of them. This one is Riders of Berk, since we were learning how to train our dragons and teach others as well." Astrid nodded again as Hiccup moved on to the next one. "Then this one is Defenders of Berk, since that's when Alvin and Dagur began to become a problem."

"Along with the Screaming Death I presume?" Astrid added with a smile.

Hiccup chuckled, nodding. "Yes, that damn dragon as well. But then this one is named Dragon Masters," He said as he looked at his wife with a wide smile. "Again, for obvious reasons."

Astrid chuckled sweetly. "I remember those times, what an adventure."

Hiccup sighed and leaned back in his chair, folding his arms behind his head. "Yeah, well, those days are behind us now, huh?"

Astrid sat on the edge of the table as she patted Freya's side. The child was beginning to stir again after having a recent fit, but it just turned out that she just wanted to be rocked to sleep again. "Not necessarily. You can still go on adventures with Toothless."

Hiccup ran a hand through his hair. "But you wouldn't be there. You know Toothless and I get into some trouble when alone."

Astrid nodded. "Yep, nearly getting your shoulder ripped off for a jewel to give to your prospective wife is quite some trouble." Hiccup rolled his eyes. "But maybe when Freya and Eir are older they'll want to go, then we can go as a family." Astrid suggested.

Hiccup leaned forward, placing a hand on his daughter. "I would love that." He placed a kiss on the babe's cheek before turning back to his work. "That still doesn't give me a name for my book though."

Astrid pursed her lips. "Well, what about that one? What did you name it?" She asked, gesturing to another, smaller, book.

Hiccup took a deep breath. "That one is How to Train Your Dragon 2, and I named it that because I had to train Toothless again after the alpha took control of him."

Astrid widened her eyes at her husband. "You documented the whole Drago ordeal?"

Hiccup nodded solemnly. "I want our lives to be known, I want them to go down in history...properly. I trust no one other than myself to document my life. So when i'm gone, we can pass these books down to our children, then them to their children, and so on."

"I love that." Astrid said. "It's romantic."

Hiccup smiled softly. "But what about this one?" He asked as he raised the book in the air.

"What's it about?" Astrid asked.

Hiccup pursed his lips. "Everything since Drago."

"So over the past year?" Astrid asked, to which Hiccup nodded. "I know," She said. "The New Chief, it can go along with your 'Dragons' series." She said with a smile.

Hiccup huffed, looking up to his wife lovingly. "Thank you, Astrid." She smiled as he turned and began to jot down the name on the cover. "Dragons:" He said as he wrote. "The New Chief." The man sighed, looking up to Astrid. "I love you."

The woman smiled and leaned forward. "I love you." She said as she puckered her lips.

Just seconds before she was able to press her lips to Hiccups, Freya began to cry. She squirmed into her mother's arms. Astrid stood back up and bounced the child.

"Oh Freya, what is it?" She asked as she walked around the room.

The child waved an angry fist in the air as she wailed. Astrid lifted the girl so that her head was against her shoulder. When she did so, the baby banged her head on the woman's shoulder.

Astrid hummed.

"What?" Hiccup asked curiously.

Astrid glanced to her husband. "She's hungry."

Astrid kissed her husband on his head before turning to walk out of the room.

"Make sure she knows she has to share those!" Hiccup joked.

"Hiccup!" Astrid gasped, shaking her head as she marched up the stairs.

***

Astrid snuck down the stairs quietly. Hiccup would be home at any moment and there was something she wanted to do before he left his father's statue, where he and Toothless were beginning to have daily talks with his dad. They would sit for hours on end, when possible, on the top of that statue, just talking. Hiccup would inform his father about Freya and Berk constantly, letting him know everything was good and fine; even Toothless would warble to the man, letting Stoick know that he was taking care of Hiccup and his family. The woman was glad to see his mourning was over and that he could have open conversations about the late chief, she didn't like or want him to be suffering so much.

Astrid crept into Hiccup's office and went straight for the bookcase. She looked over it quickly.

"There!" She gasped, grabbing the book she was looking for.

The woman smiled and left the room promptly. She ran up the stairs and went down to the room on the far right. When Astrid popped her head in, she saw Eir just about to climb into the bed that Hicup had made her a little while ago.

"Want me to read you and Freya a stroy before bed, Eir?" Astrid asked.

The girls face brightened. "Yeah!"

Astrid gestured for the girl to come. Eir collected her dragon and blanket before climbing off the bed and pattering after Astrid. The woman chuckled at the sound of her tiny feet across the wood, something that would never get old. Eir bolted over to the bed and sat beside Astrid's spot. Astrid placed the book on the bed and leaned over the cradle.

"Does someone want to hear a story, Freya?" Astrid asked the fidgeting babe.

The child cooed as her mother picked her up and sat on the bed.

"Want to turn the pages, Eir?" Astrid asked as she settle Freya in her lap and let Eir lean onto her thigh.

"Alright mommy." Eir said.

Astrid smiled as the girl opened the first page. "Alright." She said as she began to read the first page.

"This is Berk. It's twelve days north of Hopeless and a few degrees south of Freezing to Death. It's located solidly on the Meridian of Misery. My village. In a word? Sturdy. It's been here for seven generations, but every single building is new. We have fishing, hunting, and a charming view of the sunsets. The only problems are the pests. You see, most places have mice or mosquitoes... We have...Dragons!"