Battle Scars • httyd [1]

Three - For the Beaten

Edge can feel the soft tug on her scalp as her mother combs and braids her hair. She's sitting on the floor before the fireplace, her mother perched on a stool behind her.

They are both softly humming a nameless tune, contently enjoying the calm around them.

Edge came home from her forest trip with Hiccup a little while ago, grabbing dinner and settling down to illustrate the cave she had eagerly told her friend about earlier.

Her mother had started doing Edge's hair as she drew, starting the rhythm that they are now both humming. The two are as close as an adoptive mother and daughter can be, neither of them thinking less than family of the other.

"You will be safe, right?" Edge asks, still looking into the flames. The Chief has orchestrated another search for the dragons' nest, and Edge knows what happens to those ships.

Her mother finishes the braid with a sigh, letting it fall into place on her daughter's back. Edge always has a hard time taming the coarse hair on her head, so she has to help her out.

"I will do everything in my power to return to you and your siblings," Edge looks up at her uncertainly, already fearing for her mother's life.

"Safely." The older woman adds, seeing the innocent fear on her daughters face. Edge smiles softly, hugging her mother tightly, hearing the twins stumble down the stairs to do the same. Their father had already left to pack the ships when Edge came home.

As the family finishes their goodbyes, the children watch their mother grab her duffel bag and head out the door. The scenario is not foreign to them- they have done this many times; Their mother leaving last minute to spend as much time with her children as possible; The twins putting their arms around Edge to comfort her; Edge hugging them back tightly, before they all head to bed with heavy hearts.

When the sun rises, Edge has barely slept. The worry eliminating every form of relaxation she might have had during the night.

Thankfully, her brother and sister had stayed up with her, until they no longer could keep their eyes open. They had informed her that dragon training for the teens of the village was to start today.

Edge beams in anticipation, she loves watching the vikings wield weapons. She can barely contain her excitement for when she will be starting training herself. Not because of the beating up dragons part, but because she will learn to swing a sword, wield an axe and carry a shield.

As little kids, her and Hiccup spent many days sitting by the chained top of the arena, watching the- now adult, teens fighting the beasts. Edge had inspected the shiny weapons in fascination. She had told her family about the metal tools, and when she turned eight, her father gifted her a long dagger. It was carefully polished with a leather handle, and Edge holds it terribly dear.

Of course they don't actually know her birthday, but just chose a day when she was little- deciding she had right to celebrate just as much as any other.

So when Edge hears the door slam downstairs, she flips her journal shut, the drawing of the cave resting safely inside. She grabs her leather chest plate, securing it around her torso by pulling the leather straps as she stumbles down and out of her house.

Racing through the village to the arena, greeting the few vikings that stayed behind to keep the village moving. A small woman stops Edge on her path, chuckling merrily to herself as she watches Edge struggle with her leather armour.