𝐁𝐋𝐀𝐙𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐆𝐋𝐎𝐑𝐘 ( 𝐬𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐣𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐧 )

Chapter One

        There are a thousand ways that Sage Knott could tell you this story. But she figured she may as well start at the beginning━━━or at least, what was the beginning for her. She could tell you about Berk, about how close it was to Hopeless and Freezing to Death, how they fished and hunted to survive, like every good viking knew how to do, how they relied more on those to survive than they could with growing their food, because of the cold. Berk always seemed to be cold, even in their short summers. She could tell you about what Berk meant to her, what it meant to everyone that called that small village home. She could even tell you how Berk came to be, how the Gods were gracious enough to give them such strong warriors to defend it, how stubborn the vikings were in keeping it standing. Berk was important, it always had been, so it could have been a grand beginning, that was for sure. But as much as she loved Berk, it was only a part of her story. No, her story began seven generations after the start of her village, during the middle of a winter, just before Snoggletog. It began the day she was born.

The screams of Frida Knott were heard almost throughout the entire village, even from old Mildew's old cottage up the way. They all knew the woman was having her babe, for she had been too big and round lately to not be expecting any day, and many considered it must be a blessing that she was going to have her babe so close to Snoggletog. It felt like a blessing, like it was meant to bring luck. This child would be a blessing to Berk, they were sure. That did not stop anyone from flinching when those cries continued for hours, nor did it stop the worry when they grew quieter and quieter as time passed on, with the agony of the childbirth being made clear to everyone, and they wished well for the family, knowing how much pain they must be in. Frida had not been born on Berk, but she was one of them regardless of that, and everyone old enough to remember knew how much Ivar loved her. It was almost like she was meant to be one of them from the very beginning, and Berk was too small a village for the people to not want to celebrate the babe's birth with her. Their chief had always reminded them that they were all one tribe, so they were one great family, and that was how they all saw it. Frida was apart of that family, and so was her little ones.

By dawn of Snoggletog Eve, everyone waited with baited breath to find out what had become of Ivar The Fierce's wife, to know what had happened to the babe. Nobody dared say a word to the father waiting outside his hut, whose young son would be kept at his brother's house at all times, as he braved the waiting alone...if not for the village waiting with him of course. No words were needed, for Ivar had done this before, and no matter what could have been said, it wouldn't have changed anything. Waiting was all that could be done, and all of Berk knew that. Then Gothi, the village healer, stepped out of the hut after a long agonising night, and everyone knew. Stoick The Vast, whose own wife had birthed his son mere weeks earlier, could barely conceal his own tears when he watched his friend crumble upon Gothi's gentle shake of the head. The mother had not lived, and it would not be long for the babe, she had told them. Ivar, already given the name Fierce for his acts of bravery in his youth, had fallen to his knees in grief. Someone (maybe Gobber) had gone for Tryggr. That was when young Tyr━━━barely past his fourth nameday━━━learnt of what had become of his mother also. In many ways, it was almost expected. Gothi had told her that she had been fortunate to survive birthing Tyr, and she had lost two children in the womb after, for her body was not strong enough to keep them. She had been lucky to get through this pregnancy completely, for the baby girl to have lived long enough to even be born. It was almost foreseen really, for Frida to have been lost to them this way, but by the grace of the gods, the village of Berk hoped that her babe would at least live, so her sacrifice wouldn't have been in vain. She was now in Valhalla, but perhaps she wouldn't mind waiting for her daughter, if the Gods were just enough to do that for them. And so they prayed for the Knott family.