𝐑𝐔𝐍𝐀𝐖𝐀𝐘

chapter one : ASTRID

"Hey, Astrid?" Fishlegs begins asking his friend who is sitting on the edge of a cliff that overlooks a cove which falls past a mountain called Raven Point. The fur lining the inside of her sheepskin hood flows in the winter's cold breeze. The maiden sits upon a rock that the young woman has previously cleared snow off of. "Astrid, are you okay?" Fishlegs inquires after feeling very worried from noticing tears that threaten to escape the maiden's eyes as she flips through a worn-out book than she has placed on her lap.

"It's nothing, Fishlegs; I promise," Astrid tells her friend to try and reassure him. She gives him a smile in hopes of easing his worrisome thoughts. "So, what did you come here for?" She asks, her eyes watching him as Fishlegs sits down next to her with an open notebook in one hand and a brittle flower in the other. Astrid presumes that her friend is doing this for their village healer, as he is the healer's student because the elder requires more herbs and other, more varying, assortments of plants and fungi. The plant than Fishlegs is holding is nothing but a common sage, though not very common on the main largest island of their archipelago, he has it still.

"Oh, right! I've come to ask you if you're going with Gobber on the border patrol tonight, and if so, may I join?" Fishlegs asks with a happy tenor and hopefulness in his voice. He still sketches and marks notes but he has slowed down in expectation of Astrid's answer. He places the sage into the fold of his notebook before completely turning to the maiden in patience as she thinks for a moment.

"Uh... yeah, just pass it by with Gobber, though I'm certain he'll say yes to you." Astrid's warm eyes show hints of tears yet again as she rests a hand on Fishlegs' arm as she gives her answer. Her wanting for support is obvious as she turns her head to stare at the interior of the cove again, she knows it's a long shot to find Hiccup out there somewhere, but she can't get over her feelings. The maiden glances back down at the book in her lap, the attention to details in the sketches catches her eyes. It still reminds her of the person she once felt is an enemy during their training years. "I can't believe it's been six years," the maiden breathes out, thinking out loud.

It isn't the maiden's intention to be saying that out loud, however, she is glad that she is. There they are, sitting on top of a cliff, staring down into the last place where Astrid last saw Hiccup. The events are still very fresh in her memory, she sees how it impacts Fishlegs, how it has hurt Snotlout-Hiccup is his cousin, after all, luckily he has found a good way of coping, sadly, Gobber had almost quit training the teens as he once feels responsible for not preparing them enough, especially Hiccup as he'd been trying things no Viking has in the past. Stoick however, their poor chief, it is only twenty years ago that she had been taken from him, and now six years ago that his only son is taken. Both events still have their effects, however, Hiccup's is much more recent.

The chief has no idea as to what he should do, it still hurts him daily, and the only thing that has kept him grounded is the constant threats from the Berserker tribe. Unfortunately, for the unstable chief, that has stopped two years prior. It has stopped without explanation or communication from the Berserkers, and any Berkian being sent to them is very quickly turned away for an unexplainable reason by the Berserkers. There is also the lack of dragon raids in recent years, the village had been full of tension for a year after they stopped, making everyone paranoid. The only downside to that is the lack of opportunity to avenge the chief's son. All Stoick's job as chief is to now attend to the small village problems, as nearly all problems have been sorted out because of the room to expand their population, not to mention a sustainable food source that is easily accessed. Even trade has become much safer as none of the merchants have encountered dragons, it is almost as if the dragons have simply vanished.

"What do you think he'd be doing right now if he were still here?" Fishlegs asks, he hopes for an answer then will bring the maiden back some humor. Or, at the very least, lightens the sad mood than the maiden is currently in.