Snowfall on Berk

Chapter 35

~Hiccup~

When I walk into my mother's hut to find her sitting at the table.

"Astrid is in the room upstairs," my mother said.

"Thank you for letting us stay here until our hut is fixed," I say shifting the weight of the cradle.

"No problem. Is that the other cradle Gobber was working on?"

"Yeah. He brought it up to the hut earlier. He said he'd make another one if the first one wasn't salvageable."

"Gobber has changed a lot since I last saw him. He's a good friend to have around."

"Yeah." There was a pause of awkward silence between us. Shifting the weight of the cradle yet again I say, "I better go check on Astrid. See how she's doing."

"You should. She's upstairs in the bed."

"Thank you."

She smiles as I walk past her, and up the stairs. I find Astrid sitting on the bed with one of the babies under her shirt most likely nursing it. She pulls out the baby to show a tear stained Jaclyin. Astrid rocks her until she falls asleep. I set the cradle down next to the bed. Astrid sees me, and begins to move. She walks over to the cradle and places Jaclyin in the cradle. I move to the bed to see Stoick in a makeshift bed surrounded by pillows. He's sound asleep on the bed. I carefully pick him up, and move him to the cradle.

Astrid wraps her arms around my waist and leans into me. I hear her silent sobs into my side. I twist and wrap her in a hug. Her sobs become louder, but not loud enough to wake Stoick and Jaclyin. I lift her up by the waist, and she wraps her legs around mine. I set her on the bed, and release her. I pull back from her to see her crystal blue eyes glassed over with tears. I crouch down so I'm just below eye level with her.

"Astrid," I say in a soothing tone. "Look at me." She raises her eyes to meet mine. "Hey. It's going to be fine. The whole hut isn't gone. We'll get up early and search the house for anything. It sounded like Gobber might be getting some help with fixing the hut. Plus you said you were going to see if Heather could come back. We'll be fine."

She nods her head. "It's just," she begins before choking on her words, "will it always be this way? Drago coming back to haunt us?"

"I don't know Astrid. If it is we'll deal with it. It shouldn't be. Drago is locked in a prison in Berserker Island. Probably the second most secure prison in the archipelago. The chances of him getting out aren't high. Don't worry about it too much. Just get some sleep okay?"

She nods, and wraps her arms around my neck. I hug her tightly too afraid to let go. She releases and lays down on the bed. Taking off my leg I lay down next to her.

"You took off your leg," she says.

"Yeah. When I get stressed like that my leg begins to swell a little, causing the leg to pinch against my skin. So I just take it off," I say pulling the blankets over us.

"That makes a little sense," Astrid said through a yawn.

She snuggles close to my chest wrapping her arms around my waist. I hug her tightly, and we fall asleep that way.