Berk came over the horizon near the end of the next day, the waves beneath us sparkling from the sunlight. I'd nearly fallen asleep a few times, and pitched forward to the point where I nearly fell off Shriek once or twice. A sense of anxiety began to overtake me at the thought of how long we'd been away. I kept looking from my husband, to the dragons and back to the island.

"Reign?"

I looked back from the island to see Hiccup and Toothless beside me, the former studying my facial expressions intently.

"You have that look on your face," he observed. I scoffed at him and looked away, despite my doubts.

"No I don't."

"Reign, I know you." I could feel his gaze burning through me, forcing me to talk. I sighed and rolled my eyes, then turned around to stare at his green eyes.

"I feel bad about how often we leave— how often I leave. I feel like a bad mom sometimes, leaving Eret to do my job." Hiccup's eyes went wide, and he reached out to grab my hand.

"Hey, you are definitely not a bad mom. You just sometimes have to go out and save dragons— which is really cool, when you think about it. So Eret sometimes has to babysit. You're there the majority of the time." I sighed as he leaned forward and planted a kiss on my forehead.

We finally approached land, finding it buzzing with dragon and human life alike. Sure, things were getting a little overcrowded, but the dragons didn't have many other places to go once we rescued them.

"This is Berk." I turned my head to see Hiccup talking to the herd of dragons, giving his usual speech. "Your new home away from home. A stunning, one-stop, all-expense paid dream destination."

"Stop doing that," I scolded. "You make it more dramatic every time."

"So, settle in and let your worries melt away. The service here soars, the cuisine is fiery."

"What did I say about puns?" He made a face at me, causing us both to laugh.

"And the locals are as colorful as you get. Any run of the mill paradise boasts beaches and sunshine. Well, not us. We've got something no one else can touch. We, my friend, have dragons. Lots and lots of dragons."

"Maybe too many."

We landed alongside all the new dragons, and as we hopped off, Hiccup pulled me against his chest. I rested one hand on his black-scale armor, while the other wrapped around his waist.

"Gang, meet our latest Berkians." The large Crimson Goregutter roared, and villagers began to approach with large amounts of fish, feeding the malnourished creatures.

"Welcome to paradise, mate."

"Well, aren't you a beauty."

"Aw, you're welcome. You're welcome." I turned my head to see Snotlout marching around with pomp and circumstance, placing his helmet on another kid's head. "I took on, like, a hundred trappers. A thousand trappers."

"With burning undies," Ruff mocked with a cackle.

"My thick, full beard almost caught on fire." Tuffnut stroked the bit of his hair he'd tied in front of his chin to make it look like a beard.

"Ugh, just... Just stop."

"So, uh, Hiccup's mom, any notes on my bone-crushing assault, or was it pretty much perfect?" I nearly choked on my breath as the words escaped Snotlout's mouth.

"Oh, it was..." Valka searched for the right word for a moment, one that wouldn't blatantly insult Snotlout. "Indescribable. And please, call me Valka. It has been a year."

"First-name basis." Slightly disgusted, I decided now would maybe be a good time to bow out and take care of my other business.

"I think the real hero of the day was Toothless." I scoffed at my husband. "Isn't that right, bud? What would we do without you, O king of dragons? What would we do?"

"Well, we could train a lot harder, for one," I piped up, attempting to bring everyone back to the issue at hand. "That was pretty sloppy."

I watched as Snotlout and the twins' expressions twisted up into confused snarls, as though they couldn't see a single flaw in what we'd done.

"Reign, uh. Reign has a point," Val chimed in. "Perhaps you all rely a little bit too much on your dragons and not enough on one another."

Well, I hadn't expected her to say that.

"See? That's exactly what I was saying. Listen up, guys." Of course, everyone just ignored Snotlout, only eliciting a few eye rolls and nothing more. Still riding his high, Snotlout backed up toward Hiccup, wearing a big smirk on his face. "Yeah, your mom's super-impressed with me. I'm like the son she's always wanted."

"Shut up, Snotlout," I growled, sending him scattering with a single glare. "What a muttonhead."

I was about to suggest to Hiccup that the two of us head home, when Fishlegs suddenly cried out for the baby Gronckle he carried around in his armor pouch. I looked in their direction just in time to see Fishmeat scramble out across the grass to the Crimson Goregutter. Surprisingly, the large dragon didn't try to scare off the baby, but what actually happened was far worse: the two dragons began to jump around, but their carelessness caused the larger of the two to knock straight into a dragon perch. It fell unceremoniously, destroying buildings and other perches in a domino effect until the last one fell into the water.

Hiccup and I grimaced as we watched, preparing for at least one person to start yelling.

"What good is having the King of Dragons around if he can't keep the order?" Sure enough, the understandable frustration came from Gobber.

"Hey, bud, do you wanna do something here?" Hiccup prompted Toothless, causing him to run over to the two dragons and start roaring at them in a scolding manner. That one was going to be a real pain to clean up. "And where do you suppose we put these ones?"

"Eh, we'll make room," Hiccup dismissed, ever the optimist.

Out of nowhere, Gobber screamed and swung his arm out, decking Hiccup right in the stomach.

"You brought back a Hobgobbler," he quivered. "They're a bad omen. We're cursed."

"Nonsense," Valka laughed, making her way over to the small dragon to pick it up. "What harm could he do? No injuries. They're all a little shaken-up, but otherwise healthy. Now, who's hungry?"

That was our cue. I tapped Hiccup and nodded in the direction of our hut, then the both of us turned and headed up to our home. Complete silence wrapped around Hiccup and I as I opened the door, something rare around the hut these days. Before heading into the nursery, the two of us quickly dashed into our room to pull off our armor; not only was it irritating and heavy, but we'd probably scare our unsuspecting babysitter if we walked in looking like a dragon-human hybrid. After each of us hung the armor back up, I opened the connecting door and smiled. Eret had somehow managed to stay awake this time, waiting for our return.

"Welcome back, you two," he greeted with a smile, standing up. "How'd the mission go?" I chuckled.

"Things could have gone a little smoother, but we still rescued all the dragons, so that's what matters," I answered quietly.

I smiled down at the two little girls swaddled up in their cribs, messy locks of reddish-brown hair starting to grow out and fall in front of their faces. They barely stirred as I reached down to grab Kerrigan, who looked ready to start kicking even in her sleep, while Hiccup gently picked up Alith and held her as close to his chest as possible.

"They were perfect little angels while you were gone," Eret gushed. "Slept the whole time."

"Are you kidding me? Hiccup and I have to get up at least four times a night in order to get them to sleep." I shook my head and smiled as I looked at my little girls... the newest parts of my everything. "I guess they're just night owls." I glanced at them a moment longer before addressing Eret.

"Thank you again," Hiccup smiled. "We really do owe you."

"Anything for the chief and chieftess." I flinched a bit, somehow still not used to that title

"I should probably get to the Great Hall. I asked Hiccup to grab me some dinner while I came back for these two." Before I walked out, I turned to look back at him. "Are you going to come eat?" He shook his head.

"I'll do it later. I have to go on a quick patrol."

Hiccup and I nodded before heading back down the hill toward the Great Hall. The both of us dodged between dragon and Viking as we made my way toward the center of the hall, where the food awaited us. I thought we'd be able to just get our dinner and sit down, but, unfortunately, Gobber caught up with the two of us, still heated from what happened earlier.

"You can't keep bringing dragons back here," he insisted, picking up right where he'd left off. "You're just asking for trouble." Hiccup and I kept our grips on our daughters firm as we dodged both dragons and Berkians. "Those trappers are getting closer by the day."

"We can handle them," Hiccup assured Gobber. "We have the alpha. Isn't that right, bud?" Toothless perked up his ear plates as he walked behind us, almost offering Hiccup a smile. "Gobber, relax. We did it. The world's first dragon-Viking utopia. We made the dream a reality."

"Your dream, maybe," Gobber scoffed. "Mine's less crowded and a bit more— " He screamed as a Hobgobbler popped out of the stew cauldron. "—sanitary."

I could agree with him on that one.

"Gobber, you're not fooling anybody," Hiccup dismissed. "I know you love them."

I thought once we sat down, we'd be able to just relax for a bit, but that, as usual, wasn't the case. Gobber knocked a few people out of the way as Hiccup and I sat next to each other. He handed me a bowl and smiled at me, kissing my cheek before reaching his arm around my shoulders and leaning his chin against one to look down at the daughter I was holding. Kerrigan had woken up, and was looking around, as though confused where she was. Hiccup reached one of his fingers down, and after staring at him for a moment, she reached up and grasped it with her tiny hand.

"You're supposed to be the generation that leads us into the future," Gobber scolded.

Tuff suddenly hocked some of his food right at Snotlout.

"Ha ha! Food fight!" I shook my head at the chaos, and allowed Hiccup to take the twins so I could eat.

"Ugh! Thor help us. Time to stop worrying about the problems out there, and start sorting out the ones right here." Gobber grabbed onto the both of us, and I immediately tried to shove him off, concerned about my daughters.

"Okay, okay, I'll think about it," Hiccup sighed.

"Hang up those saddles and settle down with your kids. Maybe even have a little boy."

The entire table went silent as Hiccup and I stared at each other, horrified as the rest of the table went silent.

"He went there," Tuff whispered.

"Can she even control that?" Astrid huffed.

"Start ruling like a proper royal couple, and acting like the parents you are!" Gobber turned to me.

"Talk to him, please. You're the only one with any sense around here. With you wearing the pants, there's still hope." Disgusted, I pushed away from Gobber's grasp and went to grab my daughters before starting to head out, not wanting to be around this any longer.

"Wow, Gobber... Not awkward at all."

The moment I was outside the Great Hall, I collapsed onto the ground and sighed, looking down at my little girls. I loved them more than anything, but I wasn't ready for another yet. The fact people wanted that to happen already... when our girls weren't even one years old yet.

"Reign? You okay?" I looked up as Astrid sat down beside me. I didn't say anything at first, just looking down at Alith and Kerrigan.

"I love them to death, but... I'm not ready for another kid yet. And I need people to understand that." I sighed.

"Don't let Gobber make your decisions for you. You and Hiccup can have another kid when you're ready, if you even want one." Snotlout, Fishlegs, and the twins emerged from the Great Hall, and Astrid pushed herself up to follow behind them.