It did not take long for Astrid to wonder off from the meeting. Hiccup had been inside for what seemed like hours. Now that Hiccup was preparing to become chief, his father had entrusted him with the task of a peace treaty between Berk and the Warhead Tribe. This had become a difficult task, no wonder, with a name such as Warhead. For once, Astrid had decided to tag along on Hiccup's chiefly adventures, mostly for an excuse to get away from Berk.

It was hard to believe it was exactly one year since Drago Bloodvist. It had been one year ago when Hiccup surprisingly found his long lost mother, it was one year ago when he was foolishly obsessed with the idea that everyone deserved a second chance, and Drago could be reasoned with. It had been exactly one year since the death of his father, Stoick the Vast. Hiccup and Astrid had been married for three months, and the pair couldn't be happier. The only problem was the fights. It was safe to say Hiccup and Astrid were opposites. Hiccup liked flying at night time, while Astrid preferred waking up before dawn. Hiccup liked fish while Astrid liked chicken. Hiccup needed to sleep on the left side of the bed to stretch out his bad leg, but Astrid hated sleeping by an open window.

Over the three months of marriage, the two had tried to walk in each other's shoes, or shoe. Unfortunately, they found themselves fighting more than ever. Astrid decided to tag along on this journey so that they could talk, or she could talk and Hiccup would listen. So far, the trip was boring, and Astrid had barely gotten to speak to Hiccup. The young adult had to grit her teeth a few times, for she felt more like a trophy wife than a warrior. She practically hung off Hiccup's side to avoid the drunks in The Great Hall and trying to keep her mouth shut at the "Mrs. Haddock" comments. After almost having ale thrown on her, Astrid decided now was a good time to sneak away. She excused herself to the outhouse.

Astrid found it hard to get out of The Great Hall. The room was set up much different than The Great Hall at home; this one had multiple floors, each one connected by multiple staircases. Each floor was balcony a bit smaller than the one below, and was bustling with loud dancers and musicians, all well on their way to being drunk. Each staircase contained herds of adoring couples trying to find some privacy, drunk men who could hardly stay upright, and even a few lone children that tugged on Astrid's skirt and said how beautiful she was. Astrid smiled at the children, and gave the drunks surrounding them a fierce look of disapproval. She wondered who in their right mind would allow their children to attend such an event. She then passed a series of waiters, which looked suspiciously like slaves if she said so herself.

"Care for a glass, ma'am?" A filthy man held out a shaking tray.

Another touched Astrid's hand softly, "I can show you to a seat, miss."

Astrid tugged her arm away and looked at the two men kindly, "No thank you. I'm going out for some air," she reached into her pocket a dug out two silver coins, "Please take these for your consideration, though."

She placed one in each of their hands; the men looked utterly confused and scurried away quickly without even a thank you. Astrid shook her head, poor men. She was about to journey on when she saw the people closest to her giving her strange looks for paying the slaves. She knew that not all places were as kind as Berk, and Berk didn't even have slaves. Astrid knew Hiccup wouldn't mind that she gave away his money.

"That sure is nice of you, my friend," Astrid turned to face a tall man. He was slender, with blonde hair that tied up in braid. Astrid couldn't help to notice the scar that went from his right eye to his cheekbone.

"Why is everyone staring at me?" Astrid muttered back.

"They are not used to such kind folks, I assume," the man winked at Astrid before joining his friends once more, "G'day to ya."

She blinked. The blonde roughly pushed herself passed the yelling drunks and dancers; she opened the door quickly, allowing the sunset to sneak in. She took a deep breath once outside. It was like she was on a different island. The streets were deserted. The only noise was the echoing music from The Great Hall and the ocean's waves crashing over the sand nearby. The wind softly tugged on her hair as she made her way down the steps.

She kicked a rock or two down the dirt road when she heard a chiming noise. She turned her head in the direction to see what looked like a shack, but on closer inspection seemed to be a small shop. Just above the entrance was some sort of ornament. It was made out of many strings separated by a circular piece of wood. Held on the bottom of the strings were crudely cut slivers of silver and chunks of stones and wood. When the wind passed it, the strings would rattle creating a musical ring. Astrid felt a smile tug on her lips and she reached up to touch the silver. All of a sudden, she felt a hand grab onto her wrist, the touch was rough, and Astrid jumped.

"Ya break it, yeh buy it, lady," Astrid looked up to see a very dirty man with black teeth giving her a dangerous look.

Astrid tried to pull her arm away but this man was too strong, he held her at such an angle Astrid's arm became sore; "I wasn't going to break it. But I will break your neck if you don't let go off me."

The man laughed as Astrid continued to struggle, but after a moment, Astrid realized there was no way of getting herself out of his grip. Instead she went as still as a statue and looked boldly into the man's cold eyes, "Let. Me. Go."

The man held her arm tighter, "What's a pr'y girl like yer self doin' all alone on a night like this? Shouldn't yer be partyin'?"

"I am not alone," Astrid sneered, "And I really should be getting back. My- my husband will be expecting me," Astrid hoped that last part would go through his thick skull.

"Husband?" he pulled Astrid closer, "What kind of man would allow his lady to be outside all by herself?"

Astrid felt herself snap; she knelt back and kicked him in the groin. With a roar, she grabbed a walking stick that was for sale and swung back to whip him once over the back with it. He groaned loudly and rolled over to the side.

Astrid examined the stick, "Ha, looks like it's not broken. Good thing, I didn't have enough to pay for it."

The man grinned seemingly straight through her, then she realized that he was looking at something behind her. Astrid was just about to turn around when she was seized and picked up by another man. As far as she could tell, the man was at least Fishlegs' size. He held her arms behind her back and the other man lifted himself off the ground. He took a second to regain his balance before getting in Astrid's face.

Astrid really messed up this time. How did she get herself in such a mess? Why did she always manage to find herself in the worst possible situations?

"You feisty little-" he swallowed, "yer sure are a lot braver than any women I ever...well. Since you got no money to pay fer the damages you've cost me. Looks like I have no other choice but to-"

Astrid felt his breath on her face. She winced slightly before head butting the man. This time, he hardly fell backwards. Instead he lifted his arm and socked her right in the cheek. Astrid's head whipped to the side for a moment as she felt the other man lower her to the ground and push her into the grass. Panic had begun to set in.

"STORMFLY!" she yelled for her dragon, "HICCUP!"

Hiccup felt his eyelids begin to droop. He sat at the corner of the long table with his chin in one hand. The meeting seemed to drag on much longer than he expected. Roren, the chef of the Warheads tribe, sat at the other end of the table, telling Hiccup and the other men a long story of how "He knew all along that dragons and people were meant to mix. He had a feeling in his stomach about it". Hiccup's mind wondered as he thought of where Toothless might be. He was probably off with Stormfly somewhere having incredible adventures while Hiccup was listening to the dullest meeting he had ever attended. Hiccup jumped when an enormous man took Astrid's seat next to him.

The man swayed drunkenly, back and forth, Hiccup was surprised the man could sit straight, "Is this seat taken?"

"Actually..." Hiccup swallowed, the man was probably three hundred pounds heavier than him. But that was his wife's seat, and she had apparently gone out for some air, but that was a long time ago. Hiccup started to explain his answer to the man when the man began to guzzle down Astrid's mead, which she hardly touched, "alright, make yourself comfortable."

The man might have been ignoring Hiccup, but at least he acknowledged the fact that Hiccup was there. Astrid, on the other hand, had completely shut him out ever since they had gotten married. Even when Hiccup tried to talk to her, she would roll her eyes or walk away. They hardly talked to each other unless they absolutely had to. Hiccup was surprised Astrid even offered to come along with him, he was sure she would love a few nights by herself. Hiccup tapped his fingers on the table, hoping Roren's story would finish soon.

Astrid kicked and punched. She breathed heavily and focused on untangling herself from the men's arms. They were pretty strong, but Astrid was strong as well. She desperately punched the air, missing her target every time. She could hear the laughs of the men and it made her stomach turn.

"Stormfly!" She called out desperately to her dragon once more; there was no way a human could hear her, not with all the noise happening in The Great Hall, "Toothless!"

When she was about to give up, she felt a sudden gust of wind, a yell, and the big man was no longer holding her down. Astrid opened one eye just in time to see the skinny man being thrown off of her into the shack. When Astrid was finally free from the men's grasps, she felt Stormfly begin to pull her by her shirt.

Hiccup's wish was granted when the whole party was interrupted. A loud roar was heard from outside The Great Hall, and Hiccup could recognize the roar of his best friend from anywhere. Hiccup bolted out of his chair and down the many staircases. He stormed his way out of The Hall without his usual politeness. He burst through the front door and immediately saw the black scales of his dragon. Toothless looked up, sensing his friend's presence. Hiccup felt an overwhelming relief that the dragon was alright. But something felt wrong, and his eyes widened when he noticed his wife on her hands and knees beside Stormfly. Hiccup felt his legs quickly carry him over to the scene. He dropped in front of Astrid. She was shivering, not from the cold but from fright. She let out a few nasty coughs before showing her face to Hiccup. Her face was calm, but her eyes showed the truth of how terrified and alive she felt. A gruesome cut had begun to swell on her right cheekbone.

"What happened?" Hiccup bellowed.

Astrid shook her head, out of sheer habit; she wrapped her arms around Hiccup quickly, desperately trying to catch her breath. At least she would finally feel safe in his arms, even if they were constantly fighting.

Hiccup allowed her to catch her breath before pushing her back, he tucked a blonde strand behind her ear, "Who did this to you?"

Astrid looked in the direction of the men, but they were long gone. Instead, they were surrounded by the majority of the Warhead population. She saw hundreds of confused eyes staring down at her. The chef of the clan, a man about the age of fifty, pushed his way to the front of the crowd. He was a tall plump man with a silly, curled mustache. He looked dazed for a moment before reaching down to help Astrid up. She declined the offer and raised herself from the ground. Hiccup stood up with her and examined the cut on her face.

"Oh my, what happened, Mrs. Haddock?" The Chief asked.

Astrid searched the crowd, the two men were nowhere to be found, "Two of your men is what happened to me! They grabbed me! They-" Astrid felt her cheeks burn in front of the crowd, "If Stormfly and Toothless hadn't saved me. I-"

"Sorry. My men? That's impossible!" The Chief laughed, "My men would never do such a thing!"

Astrid turned to Hiccup, she expected something from him. Anything. Instead, the look he gave her was just as accusing as the old Chief's.

"It was your men, they- they ran off," Astrid explained, "I believe one of them owns this shack."

Astrid heard the crowd laugh and her cheeks burned even more. The Chief laughed as well, "My dear. This- this shack is run by Old Ms. Betsy."

Astrid noticed a frail old women make her way to the front of the crowd and examined the shack behind her. She used a shaky finger to point to Astrid's feet. Astrid looked down, only to realize she was standing on the walking stick, snapped in two.

"You break it, you buy it!" Ms. Betsy grumbled.

Astrid felt her blood boil, her knuckles went white as the crowd laughed some more. After a moment of two, the people dispersed to continue the party. After the crowd died down, the Chief turned to Hiccup and Astrid once more.

"Now, Mrs. Haddock-"

"Astrid." her teeth clenched.

"Astrid, are you alright? Did any harm come to you? Are you-"

"I'm fine!" She roared, "No! They didn't do anything, I wouldn't let them. I just want them caught and arrested. I don't want them to hurt anyone else."

"Yes. I will personally spread the word. After the celebration, of course. Please, Hiccup, Astrid, come back inside, the night is still young!"

Astrid took Hiccup's hand; she needed to speak with him privately, away from the noise and laughing guests and that yak butt of a Chief. She practically threw him against the wall outside of The Hall.

"I'll take you home, I swear. I just have to sign the peace treaty," he grabbed her shoulders, "if I ever get my hands on the men who attacked you."

She brushed him away, "You seem all high and mighty now, but why weren't you defending me back there?"

"What do you mean?"

"They were laughing at me, Hiccup! That- that Chief treated me like a child! This whole place thinks that I'm a joke. It's the joke! And all the while you keep your mouth shut- for once! Why didn't you have my back?"

Hiccup raised his eyebrows, "Astrid, I know better not to get involved when it comes to your anger. I didn't want to cause a scene. I'm trying to impress these people! I'm the Chief now, if you haven't noticed."

Astrid huffed, "I've noticed."

"What's that supposed to mean?

"I'm your girlfriend! - Ugh wife! I'm supposed to count on you too!"

"I know," Hiccup said, "I'm sorry. I should have said something. Just please, this trip is almost over."

Astrid shook her head as she began to climb Stormfly's back, "It's already over for me, Hiccup. I'm going back to Berk."

"Astrid!" Hiccup yelled, "It's almost dark! You can't fly home now!"

"I don't want to hear it, Hiccup. I can't stand another second of this 'Mrs. Haddock'ing or 'Warhead tradition'. I'll see you back in Berk when you are good and ready."

In a matter of seconds, Astrid was in the air. Hiccup stretched his neck up to see her. He felt Toothless brush up beside him, the dragon roared at his friend leaving. Now who was he supposed to play with?

Hiccup looked gloomily at the dragon, "I really messed up this time, didn't I?"