Home-Bound: Broken Ties

7 - The Cove

I don't think there are any cuts in this chapter. It's literally 2,600 words of pure words. Enjoy~

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Hiccup found Luneah easily later in the day. She was in the cove, up on one of the largest boulders and throwing small stones in the pond to watch the ripples dance across the surface. When she ran out of pebbles, Midnight would bound up, carrying more in between her teeth so saliva wouldn't get on the stones. Athena, Sunset, and Lavender were nowhere to be found. Hiccup assumed they were either hunting for fish or lurking around the edge of the village, keeping a close eye on their riders.

As she continued to toss the stones, Hiccup began to undo the belts and latches that held his armor together, discarding of the scale steel armor with a huff. He dusted off his shirt and adjusted his sleeves, walking over to one of the tents and pulling a more suitable pair of pants out from his pack. The pants he wore under the armor were much too thin to provide any warmth. He pulled the new pair of pants over his old ones and then put his scale necklace back on. Hiccup was strictly against wearing the necklaces under the armor. They could get caught in something and would either injure one of them or the chain could break. He adjusted it so the largest scale rested right on the center of his chest.

Hiccup walked up to his wife, easily pulling himself up on the bounder next to his wife and wrapping a hand around her waist. She still had her breastplate on, but had discarded her thigh guards and thick scaled pants for the comfort of black knitted pants.

"This was my safe spot, back before I left Berk. Did I tell you that? Toothless would hide in that cave over there," He pointed to a small rock overhang in the corner.

Luneah smiled, following the line of his his hand to the direction of the outcropping. "It's certainly a very relaxing place. I'm not surprised it became your favorite place to go."

Hiccup nuzzled apologetically into her shoulder, a gesture that was unsurprisingly dragon-like in its execution. "I'm sorry you had to see our argument earlier. I know you don't like to see us fighting... even more so now that you have to manage your stress with the babies and all..."

Luneah sighed, placing a hand on her stomach and rubbing in small, slow circles. "We have to tell your mom, you know. We haven't seen her in a few weeks. As soon as we finish our mission here, we have to go back to the King's ice cave. I miss all the dragons there."

"I do, too. But we'll have to do it as soon as possible. Pretty soon, you won't be able to fly."

Luneah huffed and aggressively threw another pebble into the pond, this one skipping a few times from the force. "Don't remind me."

Midnight, sensing her rider's distress, paused in her play-fight with Toothless and crooned at Luneah. The Chieftess waved the dragon off with a simple gesture and Midnight returned to her game. The two dragons slinked around and pounced on each other like house cats, swatting with their paws and crooning whenever one lost. Luneah watched with a loving look on her face.

Hiccup nudged into her side. "You have that look again..."

"What look?"

"The look you always get when you're thinking."

"...it's just..." She let out a frustrated groan and threw her head back. "I don't know! I don't know if I get this feeling because my gut is telling me something, or if the hormones are just making me uneasy. For once in my life, I have no clue what to do and it's so—"

She cut her own rant off, taking a deep breath. "I'm sorry. I can't handle this, and I'm taking out all my frustrations on you."

"No... it's okay, that's what I'm here for. It's better to talk to me than do something rash."