Saving Her [On Hold And Under Editing]

5. Shunned?

"I'm sure gonna miss Berk." Astrid sighed as they sailed away.

"I know you will, but Berk will be waiting for you with open arms when you want to come back." Gobber said giving her a smile.

"It just doesn't feel right. I mean yeah Stoick took me in since he was friends with my father so I became his heir but I am still having doubts about this marriage."

"If you're worried about who you'll be marrying I can assure you Astrid that he's the nicest Viking I have ever met since Hiccup."

"I still wish Hiccup never left. I'm starting to wonder if I've actually seen him fly off on a Night Fury."

"I'm actually wondering about that as well." Gobber said nodding grimly. "Did you actually see him fly off on the back of one or was he in the jaws of the beast?"

"Oh he was on it's back. And I saw it was wearing some sort of saddle."

"A saddle?"

"Yeah a saddle. I just wish I knew where he was headed or why?" Astrid sighed.

"Perhaps to avoid the fight with that dragon? He was chosen after all." The old smith said and sighed. "Wish I could have seen that with my own eyes, but it's reasonable to want to run away from it, I've seen his own mother do it once but she was brought back and shunned for a few months."

"Shunned?" Astrid asked, her curiosity perking up.

"Yes, you see Valka and Stoick were engaged at a very young age and Stoick made it clear that no matter what, he was going to marry her." Gobber explained. "Back then it was the weakest student of the class who was to kill a dragon. Normally it was a Gronckle or three or four Terrible Terrors, but Valka was given a Nadder to kill."

"What happened exactly?"

"It tried to kill her, Stoick ran in and got her out but as soon as she was out of the arena she ran off to the woods. We didn't even see her for a week till Stoick came back with her weak from a fever."

"How could he have still married her after that?" Astrid asked. "Wasn't he ashamed?"

"Oh no, he loved her too much to ever be ashamed of what she did. He was so worried that he held numerous search parties to find her!" Gobber chuckled. "Most of us didn't get any sleep for that week! But we were all so relieved to see her back and safe in the village. She just was shunned for a few days and everyone went back to talking to her as if nothing happened."

'I wonder if Hiccup did that instead of running away, would he only be shunned for a few days?' Astrid wondered as she looked back down at the water. She had so many questions of what happened that day and wondered if she'd ever see Hiccup again to ask him those questions. 'Probably not, he's probably dead by now for all we know.'