𝐕𝐀𝐋𝐊𝐘𝐑𝐈𝐄, how to train your dragon ¹

iv. The Gift Of The Night Fury

All of the sudden, Mak gasped. He pointed up into the sky and exclaimed, "Look!"

Valkyrie stopped hammering the wood to follow his gaze. Her breath hitched. The rest of the village soon were gawking up at the sky, amazed at the large mass that was flying towards them; a whole shipwreck, carried by ropes from the feet of ... of their dragons!

And leading them, on a mighty Windstriker, was Hiccup and Zephyr.

Stoick frowned, confused at what the commotion was all about. He pushed and shoved his way to the front of the crowd, and when he finally saw it, his shoulders slumped━ "It's Hiccup!"

Astrid threw her hands up, "And our dragons!"

A cheer erupted amongst the villagers. Valkyrie felt her heart leap right out of her chest, and she grinned so hard her cheeks hurt━a beam so bright it lit up in the cold night as she climbed down from the roof. She dropped her mallet and nails, racing to the edge as the flock of dragons settled their large Viking ship on the snow-capped ground.

She reached the front, her breath stuck in her throat; silence echoed across the crowd of Vikings as they stared at the broken ship, wondering what possible could be on it.

Then, a pair of bright, big yellow eyes peeked out from behind the broken boat shafts. They blinked, and following it was the tilting head of a little, baby-blue Nadder━no taller than Valkyrie's shin. More and more appeared; tiny Nadders, Hideous Zipplebacks, Gronckles, Monstrous Nightmares, Windstrikers ... so many baby dragons that it sent even the strongest of the Vikings to let out a coo━or perhaps a breath of awe.

Hiccup hopped off Valkyrie's dragon, and she wasted no time in shouting━ "Zephyr!" and launching herself right at his snout.

Reunions commenced all around them; Vikings hugging their dragons━some even crying in their releif; Fishlegs barrelled Meatlug to the ground as soon as he saw her. Valkyrie held onto Zephyr tight, having missed the warmth of the underbelly of his neck. He wrapped her up, nuzzling his horn against her cheek and she laughed in delight. "Oh, I missed you! I missed you━!"

There were some tiny squawks at Valkyrie's feet, and she pulled away to gasp down at the tiny little Windstrikers that gazed up at her, flapping their tiny little wings eagerly. Her hands flew to her mouth, "Oh, my gods━baby Zephyrs! You're a father!"

She crouched down, and the four baby dragons swarmed her; they peered at her face, nipped curiously at her fingers, shuffled in under her arms for warmth━and Valkyrie was absolutely smitten. She had to name them; she had to befriend their mother; she had to have playdates━co-parenting!━Oh, my gods, Valkyrie is a dragon auntie!

(Well, kind of ... not really ... she's excited, okay?!).

"Oh, you're all so cute!" she gushed, tracing the patterns on their scales━there were two yellows and blues, one white and yellow, and one that was just like Zephyr with a beautiful design of blue and white with accented yellow wings. "I'm going to name you Bottlebrush, and you Berry, you Nuffroot and you Maplehorn ... and where is your mother? I have to meet your mother! Oh my gods, Stormfly and Spikemoth are mothers you'll have Deadly Nadder baby friends!"

✿✼:*ﾟ:༅。.。༅:*·ﾟﾟ·⭑

━━Snoggletog was no longer ruined.

In fact, Snoggletog turned out to be the best Snoggletog Valkyrie has had so far.

The Great Hall was filled to the brim with Vikings, their dragons and their now new baby little dragons. They walked from table to table, played with their new little friends, loudly boasted toasts for the whole Great Hall to hear. Valkyrie sat with her family, trying to get Zephyr's children and Spikemoth's children to get along with Hott sitting eagerly beside her. She was giddy, giggling at each interaction or flap of their wings. Zephyr watched with his head hovering over her shoulder and kept on nuzzling her cheek for attention in which she happily gave him, pulling his head in for a tight squeeze full of holiday cheer. They even had baby Gronckles rolling and butting into each other, and tiny little Terrible Terrors causing as much trouble as they could━their family just got a whole lot bigger, but that was what Snoggletog was about: spending time and celebrating with your family.