Volka grabbed Hiccup's chin, examining him carefully, then comparing the location and size of the wound, and instantly became teary-eyed.
She even stared at the legendary young man in front of her with some disbelief, and couldn't help but murmur softly, "Hiccup~ Hiccup~"
A name strange enough to scare away monsters, a name Volka would never forget in her life.
As she spoke softly, Volka kept backing away, just as she did in her dreams; every time she reached out to touch and embrace, the figure she had missed for 20 years would always turn into dust and dissipate.
"Mother! I'm hungry!" Hiccup deliberately brought up a topic, attempting to bridge the distance.
Night Fury had lived with Hiccup for such a long time that, although he still couldn't speak Dragon Language, he could roughly understand Human Language.
When he heard the word 'hungry,' he immediately perked up, stretching his long, black neck, his emerald-like eyes wide, his black pupils constantly dilating, and his tongue lolling out.
He looked at Hiccup with a joyful expression, and his wildly waving front paws seemed to indicate what and how much he wanted to eat today.
Since he couldn't speak yet, he could only use his paws to gesture the size and shape of the food.
However, Hiccup completely ignored Night Fury. Night Fury gestured for a long time, but only attracted Cloudjumper's attention.
Cloudjumper, with his horned head tilted, looked at Night Fury as if he were an idiot, and even extended his paw to pat Night Fury's head, attempting to make Night Fury sober up!
After Volka took a few steps back, she seemed to have made a decision, and lunged forward in one swift motion, pulling Hiccup tightly into her embrace.
This time, Hiccup's figure did not vanish into dust; he was truly and tangibly in her arms. Feeling the warmth emanating from within her embrace, Volka shed unspeakable tears.
These tears contained too many emotions, after all, 20 years of separation, the heartbreak of which no one could truly understand, and in those 20 years, she had passed Berk Island countless times without being able to go in and see her son.
Every time she fought an enemy, her son's image filled her mind, and she was afraid that the Dragon Hunter she encountered would be from Berk Island, afraid that she would become an enemy to her own son.
Complex emotions burst forth at this moment. Volka's tears poured out like a breaking dam, utterly uncontrollable.
Hiccup's hand paused in mid-air, unsure of what to say.
Volka pushed Hiccup in front of her to look at him, then once again pulled Hiccup into her embrace and wept bitterly, though this time she wanted to hold him tightly but dared not.
Especially seeing her son's emaciated figure, she dared not use too much force.
Twenty years of heartache and grievances seemed to find their answer at this moment.
Volka wanted to say something, but the words caught in her throat, unsure how to begin, so she could only look at Hiccup, crying and laughing.
"Oh my gosh~ Oh my gosh~"
Hiccup had a faint smile on his lips as he looked at his mother, whom he had never met before.
He knew his mother was very emotional at the moment, so he looked at Volka with a serious expression and said, "Twenty years have passed! Stoick, that big brute, is still as stubborn as ever! He hasn't changed at all! I'm truly fed up!"
"Now that I have Mother to back me up! If that big brute of a father still dares to be so stubborn, we'll deal with him together!"
"Pfft~ Hahaha!" Volka couldn't help but burst out laughing.
Because Hiccup's serious expression, as he reprimanded Stoick, looked exactly like Stoick to Volka.
And in her mind, she had already begun to recall bits and pieces of their past life together, a smile she couldn't hide gracing her lips.
At this moment, Hiccup knew clearly that he absolutely must not act as if he knew everything; he had to wait for his mother to tell him little by little.
Otherwise, if he were to say there was a Dragon King here, and it was an ice-breathing Dragon, and that there were countless old, weak, and sick Dragons in the Dragon Nest...
The tiny bit of trust that had just been established would instantly collapse. At that point, only Stoick could prove his identity.
Volka looked at Hiccup with doting affection, wiping away the tears from her cheeks, and said with a smile, "Your father is just that stubborn!"
"Back then, your grandfather told him to headbutt a rock, and he really did smash the rock with his head!"
"Before, when I told him to go fishing, he always stubbornly said he had to be Chief and had no time to fish. No one could persuade him..."
At this moment, Volka seemed to have her memory fragments ignited, speaking in disjointed sentences, saying whatever came to mind.
Suddenly, she stopped talking about the past and instead continuously rubbed Hiccup's hair, caressing his cheek, and said, "You were only this big back then, no, you were this big! You couldn't even speak yet!"
"And yet, I cruelly left you and your father, without ever hearing you call me 'Mom'!"
As she spoke, Volka's tears once again welled up uncontrollably, and then she held Hiccup tightly in her arms, afraid he would disappear before her eyes.
"Mother! I've always been here!" Hiccup said softly.
Volka suddenly pushed Hiccup away in a hurried panic, then glanced at Night Fury beside them, and looked at Hiccup, saying, "It's this late, you must be hungry!"
"But how could your father, being so stubborn, agree to let you adopt a Dragon, and a Night Fury at that? The Night Fury Knight that pirates and nobles talk about, that wouldn't be you, would it?"
"Both from Berk Island, and both have a Night Fury. As far as I know, this might be the last Night Fury!"
Volka once again became incoherent. She was simply too excited, and there were too many unanswered questions in her heart.
For 20 years, how many days and nights had she yearned to return to Hiccup's side, to care for him, to accompany him.
Hiccup didn't know how to answer, but before he could, Volka continued to ask, "How did you learn to train Dragons? And what was that fireball just now?"
"Oh! My goodness! I'm going crazy! I have too many questions! My child, you don't mind, do you?"
Then Volka carefully pinched Hiccup's face and said, "Child! Have you been well these past 20 years?"
Hiccup performed a perfect backflip, landing steadily, then patted his armor and said, "My body is great, I eat everything with relish! But I don't eat as much as my big brute of a father!"
"And Mother, you don't know, Father always comes over to my place for free meals, eats more than I do, and then makes me do the dishes!"
This time, it was Hiccup's turn to begin narrating the changes on Berk Island over the past twenty years, speaking in disjointed sentences...