"This was my father's betrothal gift, to my mother… um… and he gave it to me… to give to you. Astrid, you're a part of our family. You always have been and… I hope you always will be."

"I… I didn't get you a gift. I don't know what to get, or…"

"But you did. Astrid, you got me the greatest gift in the world… you… you, just being here, with me, is the only gift I need..."

It seemed just a minute ago, Hiccup and I were still having fun down on Itchy Armpit and exploring the world, but now all of a sudden he was Berk's chief, I was the Alpha dragon and we both had a lot more responsibilities to take care of.

Dragons are simple creatures, so being the Alpha wasn't actually as stressful a job as I'd initially expected. The babies were still an issue, but this was a quiet morning and the infants were all fast asleep after a night of causing their usual chaos. So I was just sitting in Gobber's blacksmith stall, taking a well-deserved nap.

I wasn't alone, though, since Valka was sitting at the desk, trying to design a new saddle for Cloudjumper. Neither of them had been a fan of the typical saddles Hiccup had designed, so Valka was simply scribbling down ideas on the paper for the ideal saddle for her beloved companion.

Hiccup was up as well, but he was outside trying to settle another dispute between Bucket and Mulch. To be honest, I almost wished we went back to Gobber's methods of just giving them weapons to settle it themselves. But I digress. Hiccup was distracted so I had to keep his mother company, though I noticed her face light up a bit as we both saw the familiar blonde girl stepping into the stall with two straw baskets.

"Morning, Valka…" Astrid said as she put one of the baskets next to me, and it was only a whiff that I needed to inform me that it was filled with delicious, freshly caught fish. I began eating as Astrid brought the other basket over for Valka. It had breakfast in it for her as well, though I have to assume that Astrid herself didn't make it after her Yak-Nog Incident at our first Snoggletog.

Since she came home, Valka was taking some time to get used to Berk again. She'd spent so long in the Bewilderbeast's ice sanctuary that she'd practically forgotten how to live amongst humans, even with the adjustments they had made to Berk after Hiccup and I ended the war. With Hiccup running the village, Astrid was there to help Valka reintegrate herself into human society.

They got along like a house on fire, and both Hiccup and I were glad of it, as I'm sure Stoick would have been. And with Hiccup and Astrid betrothed, I'm sure Valka was glad that her new confidant was soon going to be a permanent part of our family. They both watched in amusement as Hiccup began to lose patience with Bucket and Mulch's petty squabbling, though he briefly turned to us all with a grin forced onto his face.

"Hiccup's a little, uh… a little stressed out today, huh?" Astrid scoffed as Bucket and Mulch finally stopped bickering and got back to work, leaving Hiccup pinching the bridge of his nose. Valka nodded, taking her attention away from the saddle she was drawing before saying "aye, well... he just loves his village and his people. Just like Stoick did."

"Yeah, I know…" Astrid said as they both watched him walk up to the Academy. Looking at Valka's face, it seemed that she wanted to say something, but was reluctant, or even scared, to do so. Eventually, she cleared her throat and said "but you know, Astrid…"

"What?"

"Well, it's been on my mind for the last week, but, um… I've not been sure who to say it to…"

"What has? You know, you can, uh… you can tell me anything, Valka…" Astrid said as she sat down and gently took her future mother-in-law's hand. I couldn't help but wonder if she'd have done the same if she had already known what Valka was going to say to her.

"I remember, just after Drago disappeared, when you and Hiccup had that little, um… victory kiss…"

"Oh yeah?" Astrid answered, her face blushing slightly red at the memory. Valka continued with "it sort of put a wee thought into my head about how to help him handle his new job as Chief…"

"And what's that, Val?" Astrid asked. It was the first time I'd ever heard Astrid call Valka by Stoick's affectionate nickname, Val, but I guess since Astrid was basically part of the family at this point, what was there to stop her?

As it turns out, there was indeed something that could stop her, as Valka sighed and said "well, it's just… I think it's about time that my boy had a woman in his life…"

Both Astrid and I went frozen and wide-eyed as she said this, since something had just dawned on us that should have been blatantly obvious: Hiccup hadn't told Valka he was betrothed yet.

I looked up worryingly at Astrid, expecting to see her disappointed yet tranquilly angry face that she normally pulled in these situations. She was certainly shocked still, but it didn't seem to be an angry kind of shocked. More like a pleasantly surprised kind of shocked.

"Something wrong, dear?" Valka's voice suddenly cut the silence and snapped Astrid out of her brief daze. She shook her head, saying "oh, right… uh, yeah… everything's perfectly fine. Great, in fact… I, uh… I gotta go and, uh… take care of a couple… I'll see you later, Valka…"

"Goodbye, love…" Valka said warmly as she went back to working on the saddle design. I followed Astrid out of the stall as she ran up to the Academy where Hiccup was going to be. I wasn't sure how she was going to react to the news, or lack thereof, but I wasn't going to miss it for the world.