I could hear the voices going through my head. I could not believe that I said it. The words that came out of my mouth.
M'lady
I didn't think that I would ever say those words to someone in my life. Especially to her. Astrid. My thoughts are everywhere. Not only that, but I told her about Heather. How we should be getting married. Once she heard those words out of my mouth, she was shocked. She didn't expect that. Neither did I. I never agreed with any of this. My own father didn't even talk about this to me first. He just expects me to handle this information all at once. It's not like I wasn't gone for a whole 5 years.
I took off with Toothless. I wanted to talk to my father about this whole thing. If he would listen, then maybe he could understand why I don't want to commit to this. But it would be hard since my father has a hard time understanding things from me.
We landed in front of the entrance. Every time I get here, even when no one knew I was still alive, it looks the same. Yet, it looks different. I get off Toothless, rubbing his head. I slowly made my way and started walking towards the door.
"Hey dad I need to talk to you" I say as I enter. But once I opened the door, no one was there. It's only been an hour since I left. Heather, Dagur, and my dad were sitting at the table talking about 'things'. I don't think they realized that I had woken up.
I checked everywhere. No one was home. They couldn't have gone that far. Maybe they went to take a trip around the village. But who would be the first person to know? I had an idea where they might be. I'm going to check if Gobber is at his shop.
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Finally, after walking for 20 minutes, I caught up to them. They were still ahead of me, but I can see them.
While they are ahead of me, I can't help but think about what he told me. Did Stoick really want Hiccup to marry Heather? It doesn't seem like something that the Chief would do. I guess I could understand it, but why so soon? It's not that the Chief will retire, right? Too many questions are popping up in my head.
I didn't realize but Snotlout was right in front of me. "Whoa Astrid, are you alright? You look worried about something." He then added."If you need anything, your charming prince is right in front of you." I wanted to punch him in the face. But with the many thoughts that I had, I couldn't bring myself to it. Instead I forcefully said, "I'm fine" and stormed off.
They all finally made their way into the forest. The Ruffnut and Tuffnut are looking for a perfect spot for 'Ax Practice'. No one had any idea on why they wanted to do that because they both never participated in it when they were in Dragon Training. Little did they know, they wanted to look for a spot to bury Snotlout as a prank. They looked around for hours, until finally finding the perfect spot.
"Alright everybody" Tuffnut started "Let's start off with a competition. The first one to climb a tree the highest wins."
Everyone agreed, but not Snotlout. "Do we at least win something? I don't want to be competing on something if I'm not getting anything out of it."
Tuffnut was struggling to say something, but Ruffnut came through. "Of course you will be winning something if you win. Isn't that right brother." Ruffnut patted Tuffnut in the back. Tuffnut didn't get what she was trying to do, so Ruffnut cleared her throat. It came so rapidly that Tuffnut understood what she was doing.
"Ah, yes!" Tuffnut said. He cleared his throat and made his voice serious. "Your prize that you will be getting will be from...uh, me. So don't expect it to be too big or too small."
Everyone let out a groan. Whenever it's one of the twins giving the reward, it's usually something interesting like spiked Ax. But when it comes to Tuffnut, he usually would give something useless like a plate or one of his broken boots. He would come up with some story that it has some worth value.
"Aw come on guys. This time it's something very interesting. Something that I stumbled upon in the forest."
"It really is." Ruffnut tried to make her voice convincing. "I wouldn't even believe that he found something like this and not tell me about it."
"Yea" He paused for a bit. "Wait what."
"Yea that's great and all, but why do we have to this stupid challenge." At this point, Snotlout was getting annoyed.
Tuffnut shrugged. "Because it's fun?"
"Alright, enough already" No one heard Fishlegs say anything the first time. "Can we just go and do it."
"You guys go do it without me. I'm not going to participate in this."
"Why not Astrid" Snotlout asked.
"I don't feel like it. I'll just watch"
No one questioned her about it. Even if they tried, they wouldn't get any answer from her. Nothing.
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I decided to walk to his shop. It would be better if I didn't fly to places every time. I mean, I have been doing it for my whole life. It's the only thing I know how to do. Flying up in the clouds where no one can see you. Where no one can interrupt the peace you have. It's like living in another world. It's amazing. There are no words to describe it.
After walking briefly for 10 minutes, I finally arrived. I decided it was better to call him instead of barging inside.
"Gobber!" I called out.
There were some rattling noises coming from the inside. "Be out in a sec" Someone called out. "Better yet, you can come in!"
The inside was all filled with all kinds of weapons. The last time I was here, I was checking things out. Gobber must have done more weapons because there are more than last time. There were some bows and arrows, different kinds of swords, axes and spears. There were also daggers. Shields were hanging from the ceilings.
"Oh hey Hiccup. Though you might pass by sometime." He was busy making a sword.
"Yeah. The last time I came here, you had a crossbow with you."
Gobber laughs. "Like I said, I would never shoot you. I was just trying to scare you."
Right
"Anyways, what brings you here today lad." He was now sharpening the sword.
"I came to ask you if you have seen my father at all today."
"Oh yea. He came by with two of your friends I suppose."
Great. I just wanted to talk to my father, but I guess I will have to tell him in front of them too.
"Do you have any idea where they might be?"
Gobber thought about it. He finished sharpening the sword and put it in a basket with the rest of the weapons.
"Well, Stoick asked me where you went off. I guess he was looking for you as well." He paused for a moment. "But he said he's going to check into the forest if you where there."
Why would he go to the forest to find me? I guess they didn't see me go off this morning.
"Thanks for the help, Gobber. Maybe I'll stop by again" I started walking off.
"You might want to hurry up. Don't know how long they might leave"
So then I took off with Toothless. Don't know how long I have till they leave.
