Ch. 16- A Bouquet of Flowers

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"Star! Wake up! Wake up! Come on! Wake up!" Blade laughed.

"What is it?" I asked, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes.

"Its morning. Duh. And I want to go flying."

"Ugh, couldn't it wait?"

"No, I want to go flying now."

"Okay. Go get ready."

"Yes!" he shouted, running out of the room.

I laughed before quickly getting myself and Emerald ready, along with breakfast. It wasn't easy to do quickly, but I did, and soon we were high above the ground, enjoying the wind that you could only feel while flying on a dragon.

We did nothing other than fly around in a general direction until noon.

"Star, I'm hungry," whined Blade.

"Okay. Okay. Em, time to get some food. Plasma blast!"

Emerald shot a plasma blast into the ocean and some fish came flying up. Emerald caught some in her mouth and we landed on a nearby island- making sure there wasn't any Vikings on it first- and ate our lunch.

"We eat a lot of the same things," Blade said, staring at his fish, which was half eaten.

"We do," I agreed, realizing that he was right. Fish, chicken, sheep, and yak was all our meat ever was. Anything we could grow here in Berk was our vegetables and fruits, which was mostly cabbage and onions. Well, we still traded, but dad made sure Berk could be self sufficient in case of a crisis.

We finished lunch and headed back to Berk, it taking us four hours to find recognizable islands before another three hours of getting there.

"Great. It's almost dark! Mom will kill us if we're late again!" Blade whined, jumping off Emerald as we landed.

"Then stop whining and go get dressed. Go! Go! Go!" I yelled, before taking Emerald's gear off and getting changed myself.

I met Blade outside, him watching the sun going down impatiently. "Hurry, Star," he said, starting to run out of the cove when he saw me. "Hurry!"

I said a quick goodbye to Emerald before running after him.

I was greeted by dad calling our names out. "Starfire! Blade! Star! Blade! Star- oh there y'all are. Where have you two been?"

"With Emerald," I answered, hands on my knees as I panted.

"Okay. Dinner's ready. Hurry and wash up. Everyone else is waiting."

"Okay, daddy," Blade said before running inside. I followed him, quickly.

"Star?" dad asked, during dinner.

"Yes, daddy?" I said, using my voice to make me sound younger.

"Do you know anyone named Secret?"

Duh. That's me, dad. "Yes. She's Emerald's sister," I smiled. "Have you met her?" I asked, knowing the answer.

"Yes. She rides a night fury. I didn't know Emerald had three brothers and a sister."

"Yeah. Her brothers are the best. Especially her younger one," I said, smiling at Blade, who giggled. I kept my answer short and the truth. I believed my brothers were amazing, the best a sister could have.

"They are awesome," Blade agreed.

"You know them?"

"Yeah. I know Emerald- obviously-, Secret, her little brother, her baby brother, and her older brother. Although I don't see her baby brother often."

"What about her older brother?" mom asked.

He shrugged, "What's not to say about him?" Everyone left it at that.

"How was your day, Bard?" I asked.

"Good. Flew around with my friends. By the way, some boy named Tyson brought you something. Said he knew you."

"Ty? What'd he bring me?" I asked, eagerly.

"Settle down, Star," mom chuckled. Dad frowned at my reaction to Ty.

"Starfire," he warned, "you're to young for boys."

"Hiccup!" mom said, a bit loud.

"It's true, Astrid!"

"You just don't want to give her 'the talk.'"

"No, I do not."

"What's 'the talk'" I asked.

"Something horrible," Bard frowned.

"How bad is it?"

"The worst, most disgusting thing imaginable," he shuddered.

"Yes. Don't ever do it, kids," dad smiled.

"You've done it at least three times," Bard said, shaking his head.

"Okay. New topic! Bard, what did Tyson bring?" mom asked.

Bard got up and brought me back a bouquet of flowers.

"Aw! How sweet of him. After dinner we'll put it in some water," mom said, cheerfully. The rest of dinner went by uneventful.

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"I don't want her to grow up, Astrid!" I heard dad say later that night. They were in their room, and I was just getting a cup of water when I overheard them and put my back to the wall next to their door.

"I know you don't, sweetheart. I don't want any of them to, but they will sooner or later. We can't stop that."

"I wish we could," he grumbled.

"But you can't," I said, out loud. I covered my mouth with my hand when I realized I said that and felt strong arms pick me up.

"Looks like we've got an eaves dropper, Astrid," dad said, playfully, laying me on their bed.

"Hmm. What shall we do with her?" mom joked.

I giggled. Waiting to see what would happen, knowing I wasn't in any real trouble.

"I think we should TICKLE HER!" dad said, tickling me as I screamed and laughed.

"Stop! Stop!" I cried, squirming. "Please, stop!"

"Well, since you said please," he trailed off and stopped tickling me. I sat up and caught my breath as they sat down next to me. When my breathing was almost normal, I jumped on dad and tried to tickle him. I don't know how well I was doing, but he was laughing, his back on the bed and me sitting on him.

"Do I win, daddy?" I asked when I stopped.

He sat up and gathered me in his arms. "Nope. I win because I got a lovely wife, a beautiful daughter, and three healthy, loving sons. I have my beautiful, happy family."

Mom and I smiled at his response.

"Thanks so sweet, Hiccup."

"I agree with mommy."

"Thanks, girls. Now," he picked me up as he stood up, "time for bed, baby girl." I smiled at his nickname for me. I loved it. He doesn't use it for me as much as he used to though.

"Don't stop calling me that," I whispered, my arms around his neck and head on his shoulder as he carried me to my room.

"What?"

"You haven't been calling me that lately, and I like it when you call me that. Don't stop, please."

He chuckled, "I won't, baby girl. I won't." He laid me down on my bed, put the blanket over me, and set a kiss on my forehead. "Goodnight, baby girl. Sleep tight."

"Goodnight, daddy. Sleep tight. See you in the morning." I said as I closed my eyes. It wasn't long before sleep came to me.

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