HTTYD One-Shots Volume II

Valka&Astrid// Woman to Woman

     "Astrid?"
     Astrid only produced a tiny grunt and did not bother to move as her mother-in-law stepped into her room. Valka sat on her bed and stroked her shoulder. Valka pulled Astrid's head into her lap and ran her fingers through Astrid's hair. Astrid cuddled closer to Valka and kept a firm fist of blankets close to her chin.
     "Hiccup told me about what happened," Valka said softly. "Do you want to talk about it?"
     Astrid whimpered. "I feel like somehow I failed."
     Valka scoffed. "Oh you didn't fail. Astrid did I tell you about Stoick and I?"
     Astrid shrugged, not knowing about what.
     Valka continued to stroke Astrid's hair. "Well, we were young and before Hiccup came along, I was pregnant with the first heir. But I lost the babe. He came early, just like Hiccup. Stoick wanted to call him Nuffink, but I would not let him name the babe because I feared it would make saying goodbye harder."
     "You had another son?" Astrid asked, wiping her eyes and sitting up.
     Valka nodded. "Yes, but giving birth to a lifeless babe was the worst pain I had ever felt. Nothing feels worse than the loss of a child."
     Astrid nodded. "I just feel like I let Hiccup down."
     Valka nodded, stroking Astrid's shoulder. "An understandable feeling."
     Astrid managed a tiny smile. Her sadness beginning to fade, though not without the pangs.

o0o

     "So what is this little one's name?" Valka asked.
     Valka had been right. Astrid and Hiccup had borne a second child, a little boy. The boy's green eyes were identical to Hiccup's as well as Stoick's. Valka cradled the fur wrapped boy.
     "Well, Astrid told me that she has a name, but she won't tell me," Hiccup admitted.
     "It's a special name," Astrid said. She cast a meaningful gaze at Valka before taking a breath, looking at her son. "His name is Nuffink."

Tada!!!!
Byeeeeeeee!