The Warmth of Love - Chapter 22

Toothless and Windchill were both hanging out with us, and I noticed that Windchill seemed to be getting awfully… touchy with Toothless. She kept looking at him, then resting her chin on his shoulder, then she's stretch and let her good wing drape over his back. Toothless seemed more than okay with it, as he would smile and wiggle his tail whenever they touched. Huh.

There was a soft knock at the door, and I hopped up, glad for something to do. "I'll get it!"

I opened the door, then immediately shut it. It was Astrid. This was my day to be with Hiccup, I didn't need her ruining it for me. "Who was that?" asked Hiccup.

"Nobody," I responded.

"Hiccup, it's me, open up!" came Astrid's voice from behind the door.

Hiccup sighed and pulled the wooden door open. "Astrid." His voice was flat and expressionless, as was his face.

I noticed that Heather girl standing behind her. "Hiccup, look… I… I'm sorry. About last week."

"You punched him in the face!" I shouted.

She looked down and rubbed her arm. "Yeah… Okay." She leaned against the door frame. "I was immature and emotional, and I shouldn't have done that. Of course, you were-" Heather cleared her throat quite loudly. "Look, when the ice dragon was attacking, everyone came to me, as if I would know what to do. I didn't even know where you were! And I… I just sort of… flipped out. Particularly when Snotlout… But that doesn't matter." She took a deep breath. "I'm sorry I hit you, and I'm sorry I shouted at you in front of the other villagers. That's not how adults should resolve problems. And the villagers don't need to see their chief yelled at like that. I… I talked to everyone, and explained that I was wrong, and that I shouldn't have done that. A-and Heather said that I owe you an apology. Which I do."

"Astrid, I understand. You were right about most of what you said. I shouldn't have disappeared like that, without telling anyone where I was going. And I'm really not doing a good job as chief."

"No, that's not what-" Hiccup held up his finger to silence her.

"It's true. I'm not being a good chief. And I know that the village needs a strong leader right now. That's one of the reasons I created the council of elders in the first place. But I'm not planning on getting any better at being chief. I don't want to be chief, I never did. I was so caught up in what everyone expected of me… I didn't have a chance to think about what I wanted." He reached over and took my hand. "Astrid, I'm sorry that you and I didn't work out. And I'm sorry that it took us so long to figure out that we weren't going to work together. I know that it hasn't been easy for you… Trust me, it hasn't been a walk in the fields for me either." He looked past her to Heather. "Maybe now, we can all have a chance to think about what we want, and act on it."

Heather stepped up and took Astrid's hand. "Thank you, Hiccup," she said. Astrid nodded, and turned away.

"I wasn't expecting that…" I mumbled as Hiccup closed the door.

"Oh, I figured Astrid would come to talk after she cooled down. I didn't think it would be so soon though. Maybe Heather is a good influence on her after all."

"What are you going to do about the whole 'chief' thing?"

He shook his head. "I have no idea. Well, actually, I have a ton of ideas, but most of them wouldn't work."

"Can't you just… I don't know, make a law that says you retire?"

"Unfortunately, no. Well, technically, yes. I can propose laws to the tribe, but if enough people don't like it, they can overrule me. I don't remember that ever happening, but no chief has ever tried to retire before. And I can't truly retire. There are some critical decisions for the tribe that only I can make. Those I don't mind. It's the day-to-day stuff I can't stand. Resolving minor disputes, managing inventory, logging and archiving monthly minutes, running meetings… Ugh." He rubbed the sides of his head.

"So why not just do that? Make a rule that says that you are only responsible for the big stuff? Your council thingy can handle everything else."

He shook his head. "The tribe would never go for it. They'd veto it right away."

"Why?" I tilted my head to one side. "Why should you be in charge of taking inventory, or… those other things you said? Aren't there other people better qualified?"

Hiccup frowned, and sat down on a bench. "For individual things, yes. But there's no one person who can do everything perfectly."

"Exactly!" Hiccup jumped a little. "Sorry, I didn't mean to shout. But if you explain it to the tribe the same way you just explained it to me, wouldn't the tribe be okay with it? No single person can do everything, so you're giving that power to the council, because they're many people. Then whoever on the tribe is best at one thing will do that one thing, and someone else will do another thing… I'm not explaining this very well, am I?"

Hiccup bit his lip, thinking. "You know, you may be on to something here. I never thought about being all… diplomatic about it. Yeah!" He jumped up, his green eyes sparkling with excitement. "That's it! I need to go talk to Gothi, to make sure I do this right. Mr. Frost, you are brilliant!" He swept me into a warm hug, and I couldn't help giving him a tender kiss on the nose. "I'll be back later. Then we can have our date!" He practically skipped out the door, beaming.

I grinned and turned to Windchill and Toothless, who had both been unusually quiet and still. They were laying side by side by the hearth, and their tails were sort of… wrapped together. I don't know how Toothless did it without hurting her, with that doohickey on his tail, but they both looked content. Seemed like I wouldn't be the only one having some romance tonight, I thought, as I started poking through Hiccup's kitchen.