Left In The Night

Chapter 58

It didn't take long for the next generation of Berkians to be born, as Hiccup and Astrid welcomed their first child into the world two years after marriage. A beautiful little girl they named Zephyr, with bright red hair like her grandfather Stoick, and brilliant blue eyes like her mother.

She was a wonder, absolutely adored and doted on by her family, especially so by Valka. The others were taking their time on starting families of their own, but it had been a topic of discussion amongst them for quite a while.

Rurik had moved in with a nice young girl named Jorunna, and they were quite casual with each other, not ready to commit to anything else too serious.

In the meantime, Zyrah and Konall had easily adjusted to married couple life, maintaining a relatively low profile, and keeping to themselves. Zyrah was now New Berk's combat instructor, being one of the youngest, offering her expertise to the children of the village, many of whom were eager to learn from her, which she found quite touching.

Life continued about as normal, with married life suiting Zyrah and Konall quite nicely. Even though she had periodically thought about the fact that she'd initially never imagined herself getting married as young as she did, but she did not regret it, not one bit.

She fondly recalled one of their most intimate nights together, which had started with Konall starting a hot bath for her after a long day of training New Berk's kids. She thought about it often, and could occasionally be found lost in thought, and would be lovingly teased for it once in a while. But overall, they were utterly content, but not at all focused on starting a family just yet.

It had been noted during the past few months that Zyrah had filled out slightly, mainly around her abdomen. At first, she brushed it off as some minor weight gain, but Ana and Gothi expressed doubt, given she was always so active and athletic. But nothing else of concern came up, so it had been forgotten about.

One day, sometime in late spring, Zyrah and Konall were outside working on chopping and storing wood, as preparing for the winter as early as possible was strongly recommended for everyone. Their wood store was a little less than half full, so they deduced it was time to start chopping. He had advised her to take it easy as her hips and lower back had been considerably bothering her the past few days, the aching was painful enough that she was going to bed early to rest.

But of course, as per usual, Zyrah insisted that she was fine, that her body just needed a break from training, which seemed reasonable, and Konall knew that trying to stop his wife was futile.

She had carried over about 3 medium piles of wood when she suddenly fell to her knees, dropping the wood, and crying out in pain. She pressed her hand to her lower back, hissing through clenched teeth.

"Zyrah!" Konall exclaimed, rushing to her side, dropping his axe. She was sitting on her knees, bending forward, one hand clenched tightly, "Honey, what's wrong?" She tried to speak, but the pain overwhelmed her words. She quivered in pain and just barely managed to request Konall bring her inside.

"Are you sure? I think I should bring you to Gothi and Ana." He gently countered, not wanting to panic, even though he very much was. She just groaned deeply in response. He decided to just bring her inside the house right now and would then get Ana and Gothi, as he had no idea what was happening to her.

He set her in their bed, though he didn't have anything to give her that would help subside the pain, but he knew the healers would.

"Stay there, I'll be right back!" He assured. Once out the door, he sprinted to Gothi's house, which had an extra wing where Ana resided. He burst through the front door, startling Gothi as she was helping some burly man set a broken wrist.