The following day dawned bright and sunny, though the sun seemed distant and the rays didn't grant much warmth. The air was quite chilly and the small amounts of frost on the grass made it clear the temperature had been below zero at night. The only sounds came from the breeze of the wind when it whispered through the trees and the leaves. Birds were either still asleep or simply gone; they were already a few weeks into Autumn and not many species chose to live in such conditions willingly.

Nothing of this was unusual to Hiccup and Astrid, though. It was the kind of morning they had got used to waking up to when they still lived on Old Berk. The winter had always made sure to remind the Berkians of its presence by creating a layer of frost almost every morning, starting from early August and ending mid-July, the actual winter taking place somewhere in between those months.

It was, however, unusual for Zephyr and Nuffink. New Berk wasn't nearly as cold, and the weather never went below zero until it was nearing December, just in time for Snoggletog. This had caused them to wake up with cold feet and chattering teeth, and they clutched their parents with all their might, refusing to let their parents' warm bodies leave the small bed that they all shared.

"Do we have to get up? It's soooo cold," Zephyr mumbled against her father's chest, her voice still sleepy. She had completely hidden herself underneath the thin blanket; only the hair on the top of her head was visible.

Hiccup chuckled and ruffled her auburn hair. He looked at Astrid who was leaning on her elbow and giving glances to the blanket that was currently hiding both their children. She shook her head in amusement and tried to sit up, though it turned out to be a bit challenging with Nuffink's arms wrapped around her and his weight pulling her back down. Eventually he let go of his mother and fell back on the bed.

"Don't you want to see around?" Hiccup asked and received two muffled responses that sounded a lot like 'no'. "Not even if it means an adventure?"

Nuffink pulled the blanket off his face and stared at his father, his eyes wide awake. "What kind of an adventure?" he asked in a low but excited voice.

Zephyr let go of Hiccup and she also peeked out from under the blanket. Half of her face was still under the cover, but her curious eyes made it clear that she was completely awake, too.

"That remains to be seen," their father said. Zephyr and Nuffink were both staring at him as though they were expecting him to reveal some details, but Hiccup didn't say anything.

"The sooner we get up, the sooner we will know," Astrid added and looked at their children whose attention was now drawn to her.

Nuffink was the first one to act. He threw the blanket over him and it landed on Zephyr, covering her up completely.

"Alright, I am ready," the boy said avidly. "When will we go?"

The corners of Hiccup and Astrid's lips curled up into a wide smile as they watched Nuffink whose face was full of excitement and desire to explore. Zephyr crawled out of the mass of blanket and her hair was messy and static.

"First we will need to eat," Astrid responded and got up from her sitting position. Hiccup fixed his eyes on his wife's back doubtfully. Astrid could sense it and she turned around to look at Hiccup, knowing very well what he had in his mind. She raised her eyebrow. "Are you doubting my breakfast skills?"

Hiccup tried to conceal his laughter behind a coughing fit. "Oh no, by no means. I could never forget those tasty and delicious meals that you've prepared along the years."

Astrid squinted her eyes and it was clear she'd have liked to say something but didn't do so because their children were in the same room with them. All of Berk knew that their Chieftess had two left hands when it came to cooking, but she had improved after Zephyr was born into this world. It was Gobber who did most of the cooking on New Berk, though, so Astrid never really had to worry about it.

She walked outside of the house to pick up the basket in which there was fish they had caught yesterday. Zephyr and Nuffink had insisted on being the ones to fish, with some assistance from their parents, and they had managed to catch six. They were oh-so proud of their achievement; pride was still written on their face when they saw their mother picking up the basket. Hiccup crawled out of the bed, Zephyr followed suit and they all offered their helping hand to Astrid, who gladly let her children do small tasks that gave them the feeling that they were contributing to the making of breakfast.

The morning went by quickly and the breakfast was exceptionally good. Nuffink told enthusiastically about a dream he had had last night about a sea monster with two green dragon heads, and when he went into further details it became obvious that the twins had been feeding Nuffink some absurd stories about Barf and Belch. The boy's mouth had been full of fish as he told about his dream, but both Hiccup and Astrid had gotten so used to their son's 'munching on food' language that they had been able to follow his not-so-well constructed explanation of the dream. Zephyr didn't have as much luck though, according to the confused and doubting looks she had given her little brother.

Astrid helped her daughter to put her hair in two pigtails with three hair ties on each, a style Zephyr preferred for an unexplained reason, and they were ready to begin their small adventure. It really was just going to be a walk-around on Berk to see the parts they hadn't visited yesterday, but it was all still very exciting for all of them. Nuffink was running around excitedly, trying to take in all the details, and sometimes stopping to point at something, such as fallen trees, and ask what had happened to it or if it was significant to Old Berk. All those questions that a curious, young mind would ask. Zephyr was more reserved and walked by her parents' side, clutching onto her sketch book that she had wanted to take with her on their adventure.

Hiccup didn't say it out loud, but Astrid knew what exactly they were looking for. Her husband had been talking about wanting to visit the cove for years, occasionally bringing it up in a conversation and then brushing it off saying that it really wasn't that important, or he didn't have time for it. But during those 15 years that they had been inseparable, Astrid had learned to read Hiccup like an open book which was why she knew why he wasn't talking that much and why he didn't return Nuffink enthusiasm about the smallest of things; he was nervous to be back in the place where it all had begun.

So many things had changed on Old Berk during those ten years that they had been gone. Trees were taller and bushier, plants had grown a lot and the grass was untamed. The paths that once were there were now concealed, and it seemed as though all those familiar landmarks were no more. But it was still Old Berk and their childhood home, so seeing the woods again gave both Astrid and Hiccup a rush of warmth and nostalgia, however changed the landscape was.

It didn't take them long at all to reach the part of the forest where the cove was supposed to be, for it was quite close to the village. Hiccup had visited it so many times when he was 15 that he would recognise the surroundings even after a hundred years.

"Where are we going?" Zephyr asked.

That gained Nuffink's attention too, who had found himself a stick that he used as a scythe to 'mow' the grass. He abandoned the stick and joined his parents and big sister, taking turns in looking at his mother and father with an expectant gleam on his features.

Hiccup looked down at his children and smiled warmly. "I am going to show you a place where I used to keep my most precious treasure when I was a boy."

They both gasped.

"A treasure?"

"What was it?"

"Was it silver?"

"Animal fur?"

"Animals?"

"Yaks!"

"Yaks are animals and I already said that."

"But you didn't say 'yaks' so that doesn't count!"

"Yes, it does!"

Astrid cut them off before they started fighting. "Alright, alright, kiddos, there's no need to get worked up about this. Your father will tell you eventually."

Hiccup nodded and gave his wife a grateful glance for sensing the storm before it started. He looked at Zephyr and Nuffink when he spoke; "That's right, you just need to have a bit more patience. We're almost there."

They indeed were really close to the cove now. Hiccup wondered whether the shield he had managed to get stuck in between the rocks that created the entrance to the cove was still there. He hoped that 16 years of being at the mercy of mother nature would've done the trick and it was no longer there, for it would be challenging for him and Astrid to get past it.

They reached the entrance. Hiccup was the first to walk between the rocks that left a narrow passage while Astrid walked behind him with the kids. They walked in excited silence; Zephyr and Nuffink couldn't wait to find out what that 'precious treasure' was, and their parents were anticipating to see how much the place had changed.

The shield was still there. It had been beaten a lot by rain and snow, and the wooden part was decayed. When Hiccup took a look at the side that was facing the cove, he could see the faded painting of a dragon on the wood. The metal that went around the edges of the round shield was still there, looking almost untouched. Hiccup smiled shortly; Gobber definitely knew how to pick the materials for weapons. Since the shield was in a very fragile condition it came off quite easily, granting a free passage to the cove.

"This place looks beautiful," Zephyr said almost instantly after they all were inside. Her fingers were ghosting on her sketch book as she looked at the waterfall and the pond. "What is it?"

"This is the place where Toothless and I became friends," Hiccup explained. "When I shot him down and freed him in the woods, he tried to fly away but couldn't because his tail was injured, so he was stuck in this cove."

Zephyr and Nuffink looked at their father spellbound.

"Really? Will he come here too?" Nuffink asked excitedly and moved his head around in a blur in search of Toothless.

"No, not this time," Hiccup said with a smile.

They moved deeper into the cove with Nuffink running ahead of them, accompanied by Zephyr this time. They both were curiously looking around and letting their imagination take them over. In no time they were already climbing on the roots of a massive tree, mimicking dragon sounds and granting themselves superior powers.

"I am a dragon that can fire lava and one shot reaches your home and burns it down!" Nuffink announced as he sat on a root that was covered in moss.

"But I am a beautiful dragon whose breath is made of ice and I can freeze your lava in a second," Zephyr said gracefully and closed her eyes, probably to imagine her dragon. "My dragon has a bow behind her ear and when she presses it, she becomes invisible."

"But my–my dragon can become invisible too!"

Astrid and Hiccup sat on the grass and watched their children play and neither could stop the fond smiles from spreading across their faces at the adorable view.

"Aren't they just the cutest thing in this world?" Astrid said happily and sighed. She leaned her head against her husband's shoulder and rested it there.

"They are," Hiccup agreed, and his smile spread even wider.

They sat there in silence for a while, just watching Zephyr and Nuffink immerse themselves in their own world by that tree and give their dragons the most absurd capabilities.

"How do you feel being here?" Astrid asked and raised her head from Hiccup's shoulder to look at him.

Hiccup tore his eyes off their children and looked at his wife. He then looked at their surroundings and took in the details. All the things that he remembered were there, and it felt as though nothing had really changed in those 16 years; everything had just grown older and looked ungroomed. Just like Hiccup. He could still perfectly envision the moments he shared with Toothless in this place, but not everything was the way he remembered them as. The pond had definitely grown larger and the trees were taller and there was at least twice as much moss all around the cove.

"Happy," he answered honestly. "I know this place would've always bothered me at the back of my mind had I not visited it."

Astrid lightly snorted. "Sometimes you do have too much going on in that head of yours."

"I know, I know," he replied and waved his hand dismissively. "Anyway, I am happy to be here with the most important people in my life. I don't know how I would've handled it if I had come here alone."

Astrid reached out to place a quick peck on Hiccup's cheek and they looked at each other for a short while until their attention was drawn to their children that were running towards them, carrying something in their hands.

"Look! We found flowers!" Zephyr said excitedly and stretched out her arm to show them the white flowers she had picked up. "It's so cold here but they're still alive! Mum, can I put them on your hair? They would look so pretty on you!"

Astrid laughed heartily at the enthusiasm her girl showed over the flowers and she couldn't possibly say no to that. Zephyr ran up to her mother and began to place the flowers in her hairdo, concentrating on the task really hard. Nuffink gave his flowers to his father and Hiccup took them with a big smile on his face. The boy sat on his father's lap and leaned against his chest as he watched his sister work with the flowers. The interested and confused look on Nuffink's face was so adorable that Hiccup couldn't stop himself from planting a kiss on top of his son's head.

Astrid spent the rest of the day with the flowers in her hair and Zephyr was incredibly proud of her work. When it finally was time for them to head back after the kids showed signs of needing some sleep, Astrid and Hiccup piggy-backed them all the way to the village. On the way, both Zephyr and Nuffink fell asleep on their parents' backs, tired from all the new things they explored today and running around like headless dragons.

"Looks like it's going to be an early night for us today," Hiccup commented in a low voice and looked at Nuffink who has fast asleep on Astrid's back. There was drool coming out of the boy's mouth.

Astrid glanced at Zephyr and was greeted by a very similar view. The corners of her lips curled up into a smile and she looked at Hiccup. "Am I becoming old since the thought of that is making me really excited?"

"Am I supposed to answer that honestly?" her husband asked, raising his eyebrow and flashing his teeth.

Astrid rolled her eyes and stuck out her tongue because it was the only thing she could do with both her hands being busy carrying Nuffink. Hiccup couldn't suppress the laughter that bubbled up within him, which fortunately didn't wake up the kids.

At least they were becoming old together, so there was that.

I feel nothing but love for this family :')
Thank you so much for your lovely reviews on the first chapter! I hope you liked this one too, please let me know if there are any HTTYD one-shots you'd like to see me write!