Disclaimer: I do not own any content from the How to Train Your Dragon movies or spin-offs. I only own this storyline.

This is just to show that Astrid's not as undistracted as she always seems. ;)

Epilogue

The night was temperate for Berk. The moon shimmered on the calm ocean's surface, and the only sounds were the waves sloshing against the land. Astrid lay curled up on her bed, staring through the darkness at the wall. Outside, in her stable, crouched Stormfly, who was slowly drifting off to sleep. Astrid couldn't sleep, though. Really, she probably could sleep, if she would just let herself. But she couldn't let herself. She couldn't make herself. She bit her thumb gently as she gazed at the rough boards.

"I'm so in love with Hiccup," she thought.

Her mind danced around the memory of earlier, when he kissed her, and they held each other, and she became his girlfriend…It was so unreal. It was perfect. She couldn't even believe how perfect it was…..at least, before the twins screwed it up. She had to remember to get Ruff next…

But it was so unreal. Hiccup himself was unreal. How was it even possible for him to exist? She imagined him, talking excitedly, with his little bouncy gesticulations, then she imagined her fingers sliding up into his messy hair. She felt a palpitation and a rush of blood.

"I'm so in love with Hiccup," she thought in wonderment.

Then she caught herself.

"Stop it!" she thought, "Go to sleep!"

Reluctantly, she reached down and pulled up her blanket. She drew it close around herself and closed her eyes. Gradually, her body relaxed, and her breathing slowed, but as the warmth and quiet pressed in around her, her mind started to wander…

She huffed, kicking of the blanket. She knew the cool air might keep her awake, but she figured that'd be better than being distracted all night by something warm. She sighed and put her hands under her cheek.

Outside, the waves washed the bottom of the cliffs and whooshed softly as they whirled around the rocks off the coast. Stormfly had just fallen asleep.

"Oh, calm down!"

Stormfly started and cocked her head, listening intently for several moments, but no more noise came from Astrid's room. Satisfied that nothing was happening to her girl, Stormfly adjusted her wings, laid her head back down on her chest, and closed her eyes. The sea spray hissed softly, accompanied by Astrid's, "Shut up!"

Afterword

Thanks, All for reading! I so appreciate it. All of the comments have been amazing. I have to say one important thing first, though, before I talk about the story.

I wrote 5 chapters of this (about) before I saw Dragons: Race to the Edge. In that show, they're either 18 or 19 (probably the former), so my timeline is messed up. And, undoubtedly, they're going to cover the origin of Inferno, so… Darn canon, coming up before I can finish my story! But, that's how it goes, right?

Now, it's time to talk about the story itself! I want to thank one commenter (but all of you are awesome!), FlashWing13, for letting me know how well I had written Toothless in particular. One major worry I had was making him as animated as everyone else (pun/joke not intended). It was tough because I only know the names of so many animal noises, and that's the only "dialog" he has, besides body language. Did it turn out well? Are there any scenes/moments that I could improve at all?

I have a lot of other short stories to write with Hiccup and Astrid. I could either publish them as a collection of drabbles, or separately. I'll have to wait and see how long they are.

And finally, something fun: What was your favorite part of "Autumn in Berk"?

"The Race" was really fun to write 'cause I thought it was great to come out kicking (or flying). The argument between Hiccup and Snotlout felt good, too, because Hiccup got everything off his chest, and it started the conflict. I also like any time when Hiccup and Gobber can just have a chat in the forge. Really, I like any scene where Hiccup can talk one-on-one with another character, whether the situation is good or bad.

To be honest, my least favorite chapter to write was "Inspiration." It wasn't effortless; it wasn't laid out in my head from the beginning like all the other ones, so I wasn't pumped up to write it. I had to put all the parts together; I wasn't even sure where I was going to put the helmet scene, originally. At the point I was writing chapter 4, I just really wanted to get to "Closure." I do like the way it turned out, though.

For my first fan fic, I couldn't have asked for a better experience. Once again, thank you all so much for the views, comments, favorites, and follows. I wish you all the best! CHEERS!

- EN