A shorter chapter, but don't worry, it'll get more interesting later on!
A couple of weeks went by, Konall took the twins back to New Dalur Eldur while Zyrah and Tannr stayed behind. Tannr didn't get to spend much time with Zephyr in prior years, but now that he was older and could handle himself, he was insistent on staying on Berk for longer periods of time.
Hiccup and Astrid absolutely had no objections, they treated Tannr like their own son. It also gave Tannr the opportunity to get to know Laeli better.
The two sparked up a pretty laid back friendship, and Tannr even suggested to teach Laeli how to swordfight.
"I'm very flattered, Tannr. Thank you." She replied.
"Meet mom and I at the training ring tomorrow morning." Laeli mentioned this to Zephyr.
"Tannr and his mother are really the two most skilled swordfighters, you're being taught by the best. If I may ask, what do you already know how to fight with?"
"Well, my dad gave me this." Laeli said, pulling out her father's sharktooth club. Zephyr looked at the club, quite impressed.
"That's interesting! I've never seen shark teeth used this way."
"It's not used like a sword, not really anyway. But my dad and grandpa also taught me some hand to hand combat that's traditional back home."
"Oh that's good!"
The next morning, Laeli headed to the training ring feeling confident in herself. There, Tannr and his mother were waiting for her. Laeli was very curious at how well Zyrah could swordfight even when nearly blind.
Tannr tossed her a small sword and immediately charged her. Yelping, Laeli held up her sword in defense, the sound of metal clanging against metal rang in her ears, causing her to fall back.
"What the heck was that for?!"
"A test." Zyrah replied.
"Seriously?"
"It's to test your instincts, what do you do when being charged at?" Zyrah replied, twirling her sword in her hands with ease, "it's the first test I always do with students back home. I did the same with my two sons and my daughter. It's a technique I actually learned from Astrid." Laeli looked up in interest.
"Really?"
"Oh yes." Something told Laeli that Zyrah was the spontaneous kind of teacher, so she always had to be on her toes, frankly though, she didn't mind, it was someone who she could keep up with. After a couple of hours of training, Zyrah dismissed Tannr and Laeli to go back to the village to relax.
That evening, Hiccup, Astrid, the gang of the original Dragon Riders and their families all gathered at Hiccup and Astrid's house. When Laeli asked what was going on, Nuffink told her that it was to tell Laeli stories from when the Dragon Riders were all young. That sounded cool! Laeli would get to hear how Hiccup met his dragon Toothless, whom Laeli had heard about a few times. Zyrah was of course joining, and Laeli was especially curious to hear what Zyrah had to say.