Laugardagur

Steam billowed up in a mighty swirl to encompass her body.   Hot water lapped up her sides as she lowered herself into the large, wood-sided bath.  Goosebumps blossomed over her exposed skin, running up her navel and ribs and shoulders, trying to escape the inevitable fate of submergence.

Astrid's hiss at the contrasting temperatures soon released into a sigh.  It had been long—too long—since she last bathed.  Over a week, at least.  But she could be excused given the past week and a half of life changing events.

She looked forward to this forever.  She was stiff, sore, and not from training but from stagnancy.  From worrying, hunched over in a chair, pacing wood floors...helpless—useless—any time his fever spiked...

All that had passed.  The Gyðja confirmed they were in the clear.  No infection would set, he would not fall into a permanent sleep, and Astrid could leave that household without feeling it would be the last time she would see him breathing.

The young woman leaned her head back, focusing on the gentle waves of her bath massaging her neck.  She needed this—not just the cleansing but the relaxation after having her entire world turned upside down by one brave, stupid boy...

"Budge up, fatty."

Astrid shrieked, lurching forward and covering her arms over her chest in a knee-jerk reaction.  Before she could fully turn around, hot water slapped the side of her face as someone dropped into the tub besides her.  Her heart calmed nearly as quickly as it startled when a blonde head broke through the surface.

"Ruffnut!" Astrid barked. "You scared me!  What are you doing here?"

The strands of Ruffnut's hair were so long that the floating ends created a pool of yellow around her body.  Ruffnut pulled a waterlogged forelock from her eyes and grinned.

"I heard you got to use the chief's bathhouse.  There's no way I'm giving up an opportunity to use this."

Astrid pursed her lips.  She supposed she couldn't fault her friend for jumping on the opportunity—literally.  Not that there was anything wrong with the lower-level bathhouses, but this one was a bit nicer, the water a bit cleaner.  The privacy was the biggest perk of all.

Besides, it was her own fault for getting caught off guard.  Unlike her hygiene, that was inexcusable.

"Alright," she sighed.  It wasn't like she would shove the girl out now.  She went back to her resting pose against the tub's edge, letting her eyes flutter closed. "I guess this means you're done for the day on the front?"

Ruffnut had been spending most of her time in construction to accommodate their new...residents.

"Yep," Ruffnut stuck a pinky in her ear and fished out some wax.   "You won't believe what they're doing to the barns for those Nadders."

Astrid decided to humor her. "What?"

"They kept climbing on the rafters, but their fat heads are obviously too much weight for the wood to handle—no offence—and they kept breaking.  So now we're building these crazy level things on each side...well I can't really explain it, you'll have to see it for yourself.  It's actually kind of cool looking.  Some of them I could probably even jump off of...

"Say...aren't you going to wash your hair?"

Only the bottom ends of Astrid's hair had darkened with the bathwater; she had yet to full submerge herself.

"Leave my hair alone Ruff..." Astrid deadpanned without opening her eyes.  "I'll wash it when I—Ruff—chgh—!"

Water filled her mouth, and the unexpected event of having her naked friend jump on top of her was enough for her to swallow some into her lungs.  Astrid bobbed back up into the air as she threw the girl off her, her mouth open and sputtering, her hair plastered to her face.

"Ruff—!"

Before she even bothered rubbing the water from her eyes, Astrid whirled around and swung a punch right to the girl's shoulder.  It did nothing to cease Ruffnut's obnoxious laughter, but Astrid got satisfaction from the faint 'ow' hidden within the giggles.

"That wasn't funny," Astrid grumbled.  A couple, lingering coughs wracked her body as she shook her hair out.

"Oh pipe down." Ruffnut ordered, she moved through their bath behind Astrid and pulled the girl down by her shoulders until Astrid knelt in the center of the tub.

"Do you have to—?" Astrid started to complain, but Ruffnut gave a fistful of her hair a firm tug.

"Yes, it's already wet.  Just let it happen."

Astrid released a long-suffering sigh, maintaining the appearance of irritation.  In truth, the rather liked the feel of someone playing with her hair, but it was one of those things she preferred to keep to herself.

Ruffnut loved hair.  She loved to play with hair, braid hair, wash hair—even cut hair.  And it wasn't a secret, girly habit either; everyone in the village knew of Ruffnut's love for hair.

Of course, if anyone made fun of her for it, they'd likely be missing their hair the next morning.

"So how are things on the upper level?" Ruffnut asked.  She raked her fingers through the darker roots, her nails gently scraping Astrid's scalp, driving the young shield maiden back into a state of relaxation.

"Good, good," Astrid mumbled, some of that worry returning as she thought back to the chief's house. "He should wake any day now..."

She bit her bottom lip.  They weren't quite through the woods yet.  She had been so relieved at hearing he would make it that she forgot about facing his reaction.  She'd seen plenty of men recover from horrific battles, defying fatal wounds and certain death…only to lose their minds.  What Hiccup did...what he lost, what he almost lost...

She didn't want to see another great man fall apart.  Seeing it happen to her father was hard enough.  If it happened again...

"He's fine," Ruffnut automatically stated.  Perhaps they had been friends so long that even silences spoke for them.

"You didn't see it..." Astrid whispered hoarsely.  Great, now she was getting upset.  Some bath this turned out to be.

"Neither did you," Ruffnut replied.

This was true.  Anytime Hiccup's leg was to be exposed she would be sent away, asked to wait outside or to keep Toothless occupied.  But she'd seen the bandages—spotted with blood, sometimes bleeding through so bad they appeared black.  She'd heard his unconscious cries...

"He'll be fine," Ruffnut assured once more.  Astrid could feel the weight of her hair lifted from her neck as Ruffnut gathered it up, and she imagined this was the feeling of her worries leaving her.

She sighed, and hugged her arms around her middle.

"Things are going to be so different now..."

They'd be looking to Hiccup for direction now.  So many people were anxious for him to wake up, and not just because he was the chief's son, or because they actually gave a damn about him...

"'Course," Ruffnut agreed in her usual, gruff voice with surprising tender fingers to tread her mane. "The dragons are everywhere now, and not in the 'Imma' eat your food' way.  This whole situation is completely messed up."

"I didn't mean with the village."  Those nails grazed Astrid's hairline, tickling the skin before her ear as fingers repeatedly smoothed back the finest wisps of hair, defiant even to the influence of water. "I mean...well, I do mean with the village.  But Hiccup's going to be making the decisions—or his dad will at least listen to him.  We have to rely on him."  Astrid gave a false laugh, as if trying to find the situation humorous. "Did you ever imagine it would come to this?  Hiccup?  He saved us and then he..."

Almost died for them.

Ruffnut didn't laugh with her.  She continued to fiddle with the hair.

"Yeah, he turned into something, didn't he?" It wasn't a question to be answered so Astrid focused on the sensations to her head, suddenly feeling uncomfortable.  Then she heard what she had been dreading: "You're really going after him, aren't you?"

Astrid remained silent for a beat longer.

"Yeah," she finally exhaled.  And again, stronger, "Yeah.  I really am."

The fingers in her hair left, but Astrid didn't turn around, unexpectedly feeling like she couldn't look at her friend.  She waited for Ruffnut to say something, but only the sound of water sloshing against flesh and wood answered her.

"Look..." Astrid began. "I know...I know you were looking at him...even before all...all this." Her hand waved towards the walls, where beyond lie the transformation of a village. "I swear, Ruff, I didn't mean for anything to happen, but—"

"I guess it'll be for the best," Ruffnut interrupted.  Startled, Astrid twisted.  Just in time to see the very ends of her hair slip from Ruffnut's lax fingers.  Ruffnut scrunched up her nose, not knowing how to express herself in a moment of sincerity.

"Ruff?"

"I mean...we need him." Their entire world had changed at Hiccup's direction.  Not even the chief knew where to go from here.  Ruffnut met Astrid's eyes. "But he'll need you.  We owe him that much, at least."

For some reason, Astrid found Ruffnut's unusually profound insight and permission more touching than she predicted.  A smile broke across her face, and she moved forward through the water to pull the other girl into an unresisting hug.  They hadn't hugged since before their play-dates turned into spars, before Astrid realized Ruffnut couldn't keep up with her in training.

"And I'll need you," Astrid whispered, before laying a chaste kiss to Ruffnut's cheek.

They'd get through this transformation into adulthood, this integration of dragons; they'd survive the end of a war, and they'd survive boys.  They would support each other in anyway they could because, on Berk, everyone was family.

"...Still can't get your hair up?"

"Nope."