Searching For You

Chapter 2: Dragons and Daydreams

Astrid awoke the next morning feeling a bit drowsy. She practically had to drag herself out of bed. She finished getting ready for the day and decided to take a walk through the village.

She looked around seeing the happy faces of children playing together, the countless dragons soaring through the sky, and the disgruntled older Vikings wondering why they were up so early. Things were just as they were every day.

Since Hiccup left there were a few more dragon problems, but after a couple of months, they managed to get them under control. No one could doubt that Hiccup was the best at dealing with the dragons and without him it got a little harder. Even now, after three years, something would happen that Hiccup could solve in an instant but would take them much longer to deal with. The gang had done their best but they just weren't as calming as Hiccup. He always seemed to have a calming aura around him. As soon as anyone was in the same room as him you just released all of your stress, just because he was there.

But since he wasn't there they had to find another way to deal with their dragons.

As Astrid looked around she noticed that a familiar black dragon was nowhere to be found. She just assumed that he had flown off to some unknown location and would be back soon.

Every time Toothless flew off she would wonder where he was going. She had tried to follow him before but every single time he had managed to lose her. Wherever he was going he wanted to keep it a secret for one reason or another. Soon Astrid had given up trying to figure out where he was going. All that mattered was that he got home safely.

Astrid made her way to the stables to see her favorite Deadly Nadder, Stormfly.

"Hey, girl. Wanna go for a nice morning flight?" She asked.

She got a cheerful chirp in reply. Astrid hopped on the saddle and took to the sky. It always filled her heart with joy to feel the wind blow her hair in wild directions. As Stormfly dove up and around clouds it only made Astrid feel better. She loved to be up there where she could let go of all her worries. Stormfly pulled into a slow glide and Astrid laid down on her dragon's back staring up into the blue. Any bad feeling she had this morning was gone.

She gave a heavy sigh of contentment and patted the Nadder's neck. "Isn't this nice Stormfly? Just you and me up in the clouds."

"Oh, I don't think it's just you two up here."

Astrid immediately sprung up at hearing a familiar voice.

"Heather? What are you doing here?"

"Oh you know just came to visit my favorite shield maiden," Heather said while smirking.

Astrid only returned the look. Windshear pulled right up next to Stormfly so their riders could talk. "So how's Fishlegs been treating you?"

Heather blushed at Astrid's question before answering. "Oh, everything's been fine. He's super sweet, but of course, you already knew that. How about you, find anyone special?"

Astrid's expression changed suddenly at Heather's question.

"No....." she said grimly.

Heather noticed her friend's sudden emotional change. "Well, I am sorry I asked....." she started but Astrid cut her off. "Don't worry about it, Heather. It's no big deal. Let's just enjoy the day, I've been meaning to visit you anyway."

With that Astrid straightened herself on Stormfly and started flying back towards Berk. Heather gave a heavy sigh, mentally cursing herself for even asking, before following close behind.

Once they landed each dragon got a generous serving of fish as the two women went off to enjoy their time together. Since Heather was the Chieftess of Berserker Island she rarely had any free time. The time she did get was usually spent with her husband. Now and again either of the axe wielders would go visit each other. But their visits were usually few and far between.

They cherished every moment they had together to talk about their responsibilities or day-to-day life. Their talks were typically held while they wedged the heads of their axe into any unfortunate trees that happened to be in their chosen area.

This time, however, they decided to just walk around Berk's small markets and talk. They walked past burly Vikings purchasing food for their families and other things such as weapons.

For a while, they talked about what the best way to throw an axe was or the advantages of the element of surprise, as usual. At some point, Astrid stopped listening to what Heather was saying and was lost in her thoughts.

She was almost frustrated with herself. She was thinking about Heather's question from earlier. Why had it affected her so much, it was just a question. As she continued thinking her thoughts soon led her to deeper 'problems' she thought she had. Why hadn't she managed to find someone else yet? Why was it so hard to find the 'right person'? Why couldn't she just get over him? She was almost positive that if Hiccup was alive, which she was sure he was, that he would have found someone else. He deserves someone else, right? He had probably long gotten over her but why couldn't she? Maybe she wasn't trying hard enough or was just being too critical of the other men Berk had to offer. But still, she just couldn't do it, Hiccup was the only man she loved, even if his heart might have belonged to another.

This hadn't been the first time she questioned herself on these problems. Many times, late at night, she would stare unblinkingly at the wooden ceiling of her room.

Just thinking about him.

She was pulled out of her thoughts when Heather placed a hand on her shoulder. "You okay, Astrid? You seem kinda out of it." "Y-yeah I'm okay." She answered swiftly not wanting to cause worry. Heather just gave her a look. "Then what was I saying?" Astrid just stared at her knowing there was no way out of it. Heather smirked before saying "That's what I thought."

"If something is bothering you then you know you can talk to me. I'm sorry I asked that question earlier but please tell me what's going on. I want to help you feel better."

Astrid looked at the ground for a moment before looking around the crowded marketplace. If she wanted to talk to Heather it couldn't be here.

"Fine. But not here, we need to go somewhere more secluded."

Heather grinned at getting Astrid to come out of her shell a little bit and both headed off into the woods, heading towards the cove.