úlfheðnar, httyd

xxix. From Morning To Eve

𖣯 ✹ 🌷(úlfheðnar) ꏍ ！┈─❟
╰───►chapter twenty-nine; yrsa
❝ from morning to eve! ❞

     YRSA LEFT HIM THERE, taking the time to dust the snow from her skirt and leggings. She heard Cloudjumper land and Valka jumped onto the snow with a breath of laughter in her amazement. She pulled Hiccup up onto his feet, picking at the leather fins and contraptions.

     "Oh! Incredible..." she gasped. She helped him brush the snow off.

     Hiccup shrugged, scratching at his stubble, "Well━uh━not bad yourself."

     Valka smiled, brushing the final snow from his shoulders before checking his face. Her hand cupped her son's cheek and she froze. Yrsa wrapped an arm around Toothless's neck as she watched Hiccup lean into her touch, and Valka's smile grew. "All this time," she murmured, "you took after me ..." her smile fell. "And where was I?" Her hand fell to his shoulder. "I'm so sorry, Hiccup. Can we start over? W ... will you give me another chance?"

     Yrsa leant against Toothless, happy to see Hiccup smile, his answer in the shine of his eyes.

     Valka stepped back, still going, "I━I can teach you all that I've learned these past twenty years. Like ..."

     She walked up to Yrsa and Toothless. Yrsa shuffled along, letting her press her fingers into the nook of Toothless's neck just behind his crown. Her eyes widened to see him shake as something inside crackled━all along his back and his tail, his fins split into two.

     "Wow ..." she breathed.

     Toothless froze up and looked over━even he didn't seem to realise he could do that. Then, his gums lifted, and he glanced at Yrsa and Hiccup with a bright and happy smile. His feet danced in the snow in his excitement.

    "Now he can make those tight turns," chuckled Valka as he swept around Yrsa, closing and opening his fins to show off before rushing past Helrose and then finally Hiccup.

     He pressed a hand on his snout, shocked, "D━did you know about this?"

     Toothless just kept on snapping them open and closed. He bellowed, estatic.

     Valka smiled, "Every dragon has its secrets. And, I'll show them all to you." She rubbed Yrsa's back and made her way back over to Hiccup, excited. "We'll unlock every mystery, find every last species━together, as mother and son." She glanced at Yrsa, eyes twinkling. "As a family."

     Yrsa's heart swelled. Hiccup's entire face seemed to light up at the thought. Behind her, Toothless barrelled into the snow, managing to sift through with his new fins and jump out beside Cloudjumper. The Stormcutter glowered at the snow in his triangular fin above his eyes. As Toothless shook his off, he just tilted his head and covered him in it all over again. Helrose joined them, sniffing at the fins. Toothless did his new favourite trick again and she reared back, startled.

     "This is a gift we share, Hiccup," said Valka, beaming, "it bonds us. This is who you are, son. Who we are."

     Yrsa faltered. The smile she held wiped off her face as she registered what Valka meant. There was a twist in her stomach and she found herself turning away, hundreds of concering thoughts swimming in her head. If Hiccup stayed here with his mother, then he would be completely disregarding his responsibility as future chief of Berk━and Yrsa had a jolt of fear thinking he might just take it. This life? With his mother━finding dragons, saving them, living in a world full of them ... it was something he must dream of. Someplace far away from his future. She remembered their conversation at the cliffside: I'm still looking.