White Feather, Red Petals

Part 2

TWO.

Autumn came and went and the list of the dead lengthened dismally. Every week in church or Temple, the names of the fallen were listed and added to the plaques that had been hung at the back of the congregation to remind the people of Berk of those who had died for their freedom.

Hiccup had been unable to talk after the ceremony where the twins had been honoured and he had taken Toothless for a long walk that had lasted until dusk. Astrid was worried and had waited by the door, almost on the brink of lighting a lantern and going to look for him with Stormfly when his tall shape appeared from the twilight, the faithful shape of Toothless trotting alongside him.

"Hiccup!" she called and flung herself forward, her arms wrapping around his lean shape and she felt him wrap her in an urgent hug, nuzzling into the crook of her neck.

"Sorry, Milady," he mumbled. "Just needed to clear my head..." Toothless whined and the young man reached down and tousled the pricked ears. "Yeah-it was a long walk, bud," he added.

"Babe-it's okay," she admitted. "We all feel it. I-I can't believe they won't be coming back, that they won't burst through the door and yell 'Surprise!' and start stealing the biscuits. It-it doesn't seem real."

"But it is," Hiccup murmured hollowly. "Their Mom is going downhill. She's hardly going out and Mrs Ingerman says that she's almost stopped eating." Astrid nodded.

"Heather and I will go and see her," she said determinedly. "Though they were her only children and with her husband away in France as well, I can see how desperate she must be feeling..." Hiccup's emerald eyes gazed lovingly into her determined face and he kissed her passionately.

"I am the luckiest man in Midgard to have you," he admitted. "Now let's go inside so I can warm up and I can show you how grateful I am." She grinned.

"Hush you," she smiled. "People will talk." But the smile slid from his face as they walked back and his expression was pensive as they opened the door to their beautiful home.

They already do, he thought grimly. And they call me a coward...

oOo

Mrs Thorston died over the cold winter, despite Astrid and Heather's best efforts to care for the bereaved woman and Astrid had confided in her husband that the older woman had just given up with the loss of her children. The news, a week after the funeral, that Mr Thorston had died in a gas attack completed the tragedy and the whole community mourned the loss of an entire family to the conflict, so far away.

In the New Year, the letters began to arrive, pushed through the door and addressed to Hiccup in carefully printed block capitol. Each contained a single white feather-the symbol of cowardice.

The first one had him ashen and shaking, staring at the perfect white feather with wide, emerald eyes and then bowing his head. Astrid had scuttled into the Dining Room when he hadn't replied to her query about what he wanted for breakfast and had found him shocked. Furious, she snatched the feather and threw it onto the little fire in the grate, taking his hands and forcing him to look into her eyes.

"You are not a coward," she ground out, through her teeth, her eyes flashing with rage. "You are brave and stubborn and clever and inventive and needed here in the factory."

"But I'm about the only able-bodied man here now," he reminded him in a shamed voice. "I-I can't excuse myself any more. We have enough efficient products and every able bodied man has gone from he factory. The production line is almost all women now-except one-legged Sven and old Lars. They don't need me any more..."