Knight's Honor

Astrid's Return and Lots of Thinking

A/N: Right, so I would like to apologize for not publishing at the beginning of Spring Break, which was my original plan. But unfortunately due to family coming to visit and with very little warning to prepare, plus spending time with them and whatnot I barely had any time to revise any chapters.

So now that I finally have some time, here we go with the next chapter.

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As Astrid was walking through the woods, returning to the village she felt a sense of excitement growing in her at the thought of returning to Berk and seeing her family again. But there were the ongoing issues of the next Chief, Snotlout's flirting, training recruits, dealing with The Black Knight issue what Berk was going to do about it. She mused over the parting words of The Black Knight about her Uncle. If it was true, and everyone accepted it that means her family and Finn's name would be cleared. She'd always wanted to be the one to clear that particular stain, but she never imagined it would be in this manner.

She entered the village casually, but most of the people were doing their daily duties, so several minutes passed before anyone noticed her. Then all of a sudden Ruffnut Thorsten shouted "it's Astrid!" and the next thing she knew she was surrounded by curious Vikings hungry for information. All of them were asking questions and moments later her mother shoved her way through the horde and flung her arms around her.

"Thank Odin, you're safe,"

"Easy Mom," Astrid laughed, "I'm perfectly fine!"

"They didn't hurt you, did they?"

At this point, her father arrived on the scene. "I knew you'd return safely!" He laughed, "Come here you!" He pulled Astrid from her mother and gave her a fierce bear hug. "Welcome back! Did you miss us?"

"Some of you," Astrid replied, with a sidelong glance towards Snotlout, who managed to shove his way through the crowd.

"Hey, babe! I'm so glad you're back! Berk was a lot uglier without your gorgeous body!" He shouted over the crowd, which was still asking questions.

"I'm sure you'd compensated for it, Snotface,"

"Yeah, I sure did, in fact... wait what?"

She spotted Fishlegs in the crowd, who gave a friendly wave. Next to him was the Chief and Gobber, who were beaming at her. Stoick then stepped forward into the crowd.

"All right, everyone give the lass some air! Back off for a bit. Let her get some space. Good to see you back, lass! You're earlier than I was expecting, but no matter. I imagine we've got a lot to discuss."

"Oh, we do, Chief," Astrid assured him. "We certainly do."

"But that can wait until later. Let us through!" Stoick waved his hands and the crowd began to slowly part, allowing the Chief and the Hoffersons to pass. "You can go home, unpack, and get a little rest. We'll all gather in the Great Hall for lunch and afterward, you can tell us everything."

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"So," Astrid said as she sat at the table and tried the soup her Mom made for her. "What happened while I was gone?"

"We received this," Olaf said giving Astrid a folded piece of parchment. "The Ingermans saw a Terrible Terror leave this by the statue of Thor the day after you left."

Astrid opened the folded parchment and began reading.

To Stoick the Vast of Berk, Chief of the Hairy Hooligans,