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Summary
Hiccup, growing up in Berk.
i.
Astrid is eight years old when Valhallarama, the fiercest warrior of the tribe and wife to the chief, dies. The dragons attack, and Valhallarama fights well, but by the next day word has spread through the village that her wound has gone bad.
The day after she dies, just before sunset, Valhallarama is put in a boat with her favorite axe and her shield and set out to sea. Stoick the Vast follows her into the shallows with a torch, and sets the boat alight before the tide pulls it out of his reach. He stands there for a long moment, a massive black shape against the bright fire, and then turns around to return to shore.
Astrid can see from her position in the crowd that Hiccup is crying, steadily but silently. She hears someone behind her murmur that he's being brave, in an approving voice, but he doesn't look brave. Just so sad that he can't even speak.
But by now Astrid has gone to enough funerals – including those for her own parents – to realize that to the tribe, any child mourning their parent is either brave or fierce, depending on how loudly they cry.
Afterwards, when the tribe returns to the Mead Hall for a feast in Valhallarama's honor (or as much of a feast as they can fit in before the dragons attack), Stoick nevertheless sits Hiccup down at the
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