A Walk In The Woods

Chapter 5

5:

Astrid Hofferson was declared missing when her friend, Heather Ingerman, was unable to get hold of her in December, some five weeks after she was last seen. Her house was found unlocked with the keys resting on the kitchen table and a simple card saying 'gone for a walk in the woods.' It was also found she had quit her job at the end of October and had not attended her community college course since the same time either. Posters were put up and she briefly made the local and regional news as her old friends and acquaintances were interviewed by the cops. Snotlout was highly offended at being accused of her abduction but everyone else had found it highly amusing after all the times he had harassed her. But no one knew where she was. So eventually the case was declared cold and her disappearance became another mystery of Berk.

Her friends moved on with their lives, completing degrees and settling down. Sometimes, anniversaries of her birthday or school came and went and Heather and Fishlegs-now both teachers at Berk High-would wonder where Astrid was. All they hoped was that she was happy wherever she had gone.

It was in Heather's Viking History class, as she instructed her Freshmen to read through the standard textbook of Berk History, that she idly glanced through the early Chiefs of the Viking settlement as she had with Astrid in Senior Year and her eye fell on the entry for "Chief Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third'. And then her eyes opened wide and she grabbed the textbook, marking the place and texting her husband and the rest of their friends. Somehow, she stumbled through the rest of the day before they all met up at the Ingermans' home and she slumped in the chair.

"This had better be good," Snotlout grumped. "I was set to go out with the guys when I got your call."

"You didn't have to come," Fishlegs told him shortly.

"Yeah-but you mentioned Astrid," Ruff said thoughtfully. The female twin had been wilder in her youth but had seen more of Astrid in the last year before she had vanished and knew how tough her life had been. "Is she okay?"

"Yes and no," Heather admitted and turned the book round. They all peered at the entry.

"HICCUP HORRENDOUS HADDOCK THE THIRD," Snotlout sneered as the others inspected the image on the Shield of the boy with his father...and an image alongside that hadn't been there before: Hiccup with his wife and two sons.

"Isn't that the guy Astrid met in Junior year-the one who stood her up?" Tuff said suddenly. Heather nodded.

"Yeah," she said in a toneless voice. "We both looked him up when we did Viking History in Senior Year. He succeeded his father and ruled alone, never marrying because he could never find the 'divine beauty' he had fallen for."

"But it says here...he married when he was twenty...to a girl from off the island..." Tuff's voice faded.

"Named Astrid Hofferson," Heather concluded as there were gasps of shock. "Astrid means divine beauty. Somehow...she found her Hiccup..."

"It says here they married and had three children, living long and happy lives together and securing the Haddock family line which still runs Berk today..." Ruff read and blinked. "I thought Astrid said he was the last of his line..." Heather looked at the image of the young man they had met, standing by a woman who was definitely their missing friend and their children. They both looked happy. And then she smiled.

"I'm glad you found what you were looking for, my friend," she said softly. "I'm glad you found the village and your Hiccup-right where they had always been...in exactly the same place, just a thousand years ago. I'll always miss you...but at least I know you're happy." Fishlegs took her hand and she leaned close to him. "And I'll always think of you, whenever we walk in the woods."

End.