Hiccup and Astrid: around 30 years old; Zephyr: 7 years old; Nuffink: 4 years old
Zephyr skipped down the path leading from the Meade Hall, having just left her mother and Uncle Snotlout to finish their defense strategy plans for the next day before heading home. She had been charged with finding Nuffink and bringing him home as well to help prepare dinner. She always loved cooking with her brother. Mommy wasn't the best, but Zephyr was quickly learning how to correct the mistakes Mommy made before they got too... Interesting.
She shivered as the smell of Yaknog drifted into her nose from somewhere deep in her subconscious. She wasn't good enough yet to fix that, uh... Mostly liquid... Substance... But maybe one day soon. Hopefully. For the sake of the whole village. Zephyr pondered for a moment. Maybe she could at least improve it to make it bearable for now. Maybe if they added-
"-a simple sentence, just one!"
"Seriously, he's four years old and the son of the smartest man in New Berk. You'd think he could handle speaking."
That didn't sound good. Zephyr ducked behind a wood stack to listen closer.
"Just one. One little sentence. Correctly," the second voice continued. They sounded like older boys.
The only noise that followed was the wind whistling between the huts.
The first boy laughed. "There's kids younger than him that have been speaking better since they were two!"
"Me's only four!"
Zephyr's face flared with anger at Nuffink's desperate cry. That's what she was afraid of. She jumped out from behind the wood and approached the boys, not paying any mind to the fact that they were easily twice her size.
"Excuse me," she said loudly, hands on her hips. "Can I help you?"
The second boy snorted. "Get out of here, princess."
"Leave him alone," she demanded.
The boy leaned over with his hands on his knees in front of Zephyr's face.
Big mistake.
"And what exactly do you think you're going to do about it if I don't, pipsqueak?"
Bigger mistake.
"Lasse, they're the Chief's kids, let it go," the first boy said nervously."
Lasse didn't seem to hear him. "Cry to your daddy? Make your mommy throw an axe at me?" He sneered. "You know I'm right. You know your useless little brother here is broken."
That's it!
Zephyr shifted her weight to her right foot and threw a strong roundhouse kick with her left in one fluid motion, just like her mother had taught her, making contact with Lasse's crotch easily. And just for good measure, when he bowed his head in pain, she smacked both of his ears with flat hands like her father had shown her. He stumbled backwards, falling on his backside and looking around bewildered.
Zephyr stood over him, straddling his chest between her feet, and leaned down to grab the ties of his tunic. "Tell him you're sorry," she growled.
His face flared red in anger and his brows crushed together before he spat in her face.
Zephyr pulled back in shock, taking his tunic ties in her fist with her. She wiped the spit away and slowly turned back to him.
He was too busy smirking to catch the movement of her first pulling back before she snapped it forward with a force most six year old girls could only dream of mustering. A sickeningly sweet crunch crackled from the bridge of Lasse's nose as the force snapped his head back. Blood began dripping from his nostrils by the time the back of his head bounced off the ground.
Zephyr leaned down until her face was inches from his. "Do me a favor, 'lass,'" she spit, imitating Uncle Gobber's thick accent on the last word, "and leave before I decide to make you bleed more." She lifted her leg to step around him, but had another thought. Pressing her foot into his chest, she added, "And mess with my brother again, I'll be sure to leave you with more than a broken nose."
He squeaked unintentionally as she lifted her foot off his chest and tried to cover the noise by deeply clearing his throat. His friend helped pull him off the ground and away from the siblings. Zephyr faintly heard the other boy say, "I warned you, dumbass."
Zephyr smirked a proud smile at their backs before turning to her brother. But her face fell at the sight of tears in his eyes. He sniffed and looked at the ground.
She slowly closed the distance between them and squeezed his shoulders. "Don't listen to them, Nuffy," she comforted. "They're just bored. And bullies." Nuffink let his sister wrap him in her arms, but said nothing. She tamed the wild locks of his hair with her fingers and squeezed him in a tighter embrace. "They don't get to see how special you are, and that's their problem."
Nuffink nodded his head and half-heartedly pushed away from his sister, scrubbing tears away from his eyes. He trudged home followed closely behind by Zephyr. She wasn't sure what to say to him, so the walk home was an unusually quiet one.
Astrid noticed the difference the minute her children walked through the door. Nuffink had pushed passed the wood with his shoulder, falling over the threshold, and immediately dragged himself up the stairs. Zephyr entered hesitantly behind him.
Astrid raised a concerned eyebrow. "Zephyr, is everything okay?"
Zephyr watched the stairs with a worried glance as she walked to her mother's side. "Um..." she started, but stopped herself. She wrapped her arms around Astrid's legs and laid her head on her belly, fairly swollen with a new baby.
"What's going on? Is Nuffink hurt?" Astrid asked, worried now.
"No, Momma," Zephyr said. She thought for a minute. "Well... His feelings might be," she added sheepishly.
"What happened?"
"Two mean older boys made fun of him 'cause he doesn't talk right," Zephyr said acidly.
Astrid sighed. She and Hiccup had worried something like that would happen. She lifted Zephyr up to sit her on the table she was using to cut vegetables. "Is that why he's sad?"
Zephyr nodded, but seemed distracted by a thought. "Momma, does Nuffink not talk right?"
Astrid opened her mouth to answer, but turned her focus to the vegetables suddenly, ashamed by the thought she had. She quickly adjusted her sentence in her head. "Sometimes he says things a little more out of order than most people would say it. But he's still young. Everyone has trouble learning how to talk when they're little."
Zephyr folded her hands in her lap, looking at the floor. "But Nuffink is taking longer than most people, isn't he?"
Astrid's brows pinched together. "Is that what the older boys said?"
Zephyr nodded, which Astrid caught out of the corner of her eye.
Astrid sighed. "Yes, he is." She chuckled to herself. "It seems like everything the poor kid manages to do early, he learns something else much later than most do." Zephyr considered her mother's words carefully as Astrid sighed. "I should go check on him."
"Wait, Momma, no," Zephyr said, grabbing Astrid's arm in both of her hands. "Can I talk to him first?"
Astrid looked at her daughter carefully, weighing the pros and cons in her head. She sighed again. "Are you sure?"
She nodded. "Please, Momma."
Giving her daughter one more glance-over, she took a deep breath. "Alright," she said, lifting her daughter off the table and on her feet.
Zephyr smiled and hugged her mother's waist tightly. "Thank you, Momma!" said, followed by a giggle with the baby in her mother's tummy kicked her cheek. She kissed the spot the kick had come from and bounded up the stairs.
Taking a deep breath and settling herself before entering, she pushed open the door and peaked in.
Nuffink was laying in his bed, curled in a ball with his back to the door. "Nuff?" she carefully asked.
The ball tightened.
Zephyr chewed her cheek as she entered, thinking carefully about what to say. "Do you want to talk about it?"
"Useless," Nuffink muttered, but too low for Zephyr to make it out.
"What?" she asked, standing next to his bed.
"Useless!" Nuffink repeated louder this time,
Zephyr sighed, fighting back tears. "You're not useless, Nuffink. Those mean boys, they just... They just don't understand."
"Useless..." Nuffink squeaked, more tears adding to the pool soaking his pillow.
Zephyr bit her lip as she thought over the words her mother had just told her. It seems like everything the poor kid manages to do early, he learns something else much later than most do.
"Well, you're a really good finder," she started. "You can always find my boots when I can't. And you helped Daddy find that tool that does the cranky thing."
She noticed his head start to lift off his pillow and in her direction, but he stopped himself. But at least that meant she had his attention.
"And you run faster than any other kids," she continued, more confident in her words. "Even the older ones."
Nuffink turned his head now to look at his sister. "More?" he squeaked.
Zephyr smiled and sat on his bed. "Yeah, there's more. You're really strong, too. You beat me every time we wrestle. And you don't cry when you get hurt like all the other kids do! That means you're really tough."
He sat up and wiped his nose on his shirt sleeve, nodding. "Guess so."
Zephyr pulled him into a tight hug. "You just didn't learn to talk as fast as everyone else because you were too busy getting better at all the other stuff than them. You'll get better, just like they might get better at fighting and finding and running. You just... Thought those things were more important." Zephyr smiled. "That's my favorite thing about you. That makes you special and different. And I love that about you."
Nuffink sniffed loudly as he leaned into his sister's embrace. "Love sissy too." He thought for a moment, and then added, "but how's I gotta get better if no one teach me?"
"I'll teach you," Zephyr offered. "I promise."
Nuffink pulled away to meet her eyes. "Always?"
"Always."
He smiled brightly. "Love sissy," he said, hugging her tightly and enthusiastically.
Zephyr giggled and hugged him back. "I love you too, but try 'I love you, sissy' next time."
Nuffink pulled back again, somehow smiling brighter than the moment before. "I love you, sissy."
Zephyr's heart swelled with pride. She reached out with both hands to wipe the tear stains off his cheeks. "I love you too, bubby." She stood up and offered a hand. "Now let's go help Momma make dinner before she starts making weird changes to the recipe."
Nuffink giggled and raced out of the door instead of taking her hand.
"Not fair!" Zephyr cried playfully before sprinting after him. Flying down the stairs, she found him giggling in the sitting room. She wasted no time bounding after him and tackling him to the ground.
"I win, I win!" Nuffink chanted, trying to escape Zephyr's attempts of tickling him.
"You always win races!" Zephyr laughed, never letting up.
Astrid, hearing and watching the commotion, walked over to investigate closer. "Now what is all this about, children?"
"I win races!" Nuffink said, escaping Zephyr's grasp and running to the kitchen.
Astrid laughed. "Well maybe you two can race to see who can set up the fire pit faster." As Zephyr walked by, Astrid touched her shoulder and whispered, "Is everything okay?"
Zephyr nodded with a smile. "He's all better now."
Astrid leaned over to kiss the top of her head. "That's my girl."
Hiccup returned home not long after, finding his children giggling over vegetables and bread and soup broth while his wife worked to start a fire.
"What's so funny?" He asked his children with a smile.
"This potato looks like a sheep!" Zephyr explained, holding up the root vegetable.
"Does it, now?" Hiccup asked, chuckling himself now as he walked behind them to kiss their heads and ruffle their hair. "Have you two been good for Momma today?"
"Yes, Daddy," Zephyr said as she measured out the vegetables that were already chopped.
Hiccup reached Astrid just as the fire truly crackled to life. She started to try to pull herself off the floor, but couldn't quite find her center of balance. Hiccup lifted her up and swiftly pulled her into an almost sideways embrace, kissing her and placing a hand on her rounded belly.
"Well, hello to you too," Astrid said breathlessly after they broke apart.
Nuffink and Zephyr started giggling again as they watched their parents.
Hiccup raised his eyebrows at the pair. "Why don't you two set the table," he said with a chuckle.
The children climbed off the stools they were standing on to gather plates and spoons while Hiccup hung a finished stew over the fire to warm. Astrid tossed a loaf of bread to him when he was done and added the chopped vegetables to the new broth for tomorrow's lunch.
"So, did anything interesting happen today?" Hiccup asked, carefully warming the bread over the fire.
"Zephyr broke a boy!" Nuffink cried excitedly.
Zephyr's eyes went wide. "No I didn't!"
"His privates!"
"Nuffink!"
"And nose!"
Zephyr smacked her face with her hand and sighed. "He was mean to Nuffink!"
Astrid and Hiccup shared a wide-eyed look. "How old was this boy, exactly?" Astrid asked carefully.
"Eighteen!"
"No, Nuff, he wasn't that old. I don't know! Maybe twelve?" Zephyr blushed bright red.
Astrid and Hiccup's jaws dropped as they looked at her. "Wait, so... Was he bigger than you?" Hiccup asked quickly. Suddenly, he was hit in the shoulder by an onion that was thrown from his wife's direction. He winced but otherwise ignored the attack.
"Well, yeah," Zephyr said under her breath.
"His was huge!"
"His what?!" Astrid asked, appalled.
"His body," Zephyr sighed. "Nuffink, try 'he was huge' next time."
"Wha...? Ohhhh..." Nuffink said, staring off into space as if having an epiphany.
"Okay, but... How huge?" Hiccup asked. He was hit in the head, this time by a carrot. "Astrid!"
"I don't know, like... This tall?" Zephyr said, attempting to show with her hand how tall Lasse was. She found herself stretching on her tiptoes and still not quite reaching his height above her.
Astrid looked like she was about to throw a potato at Hiccup this time, but froze, seeing Zephyr's example. "Wait, really?"
Zephyr nodded, embarrassment written all over her face.
"And you really broke his nose? And his... You know?" Astrid clarified.
She nodded again.
Hiccup sniffed, wiping a tear from his eye. "Oh my Thor, I'm so proud."
Astrid placed a hand on her hip, throwing the potato up and catching it a few times in her other hand and nodding pridefully. "That's my girl!"
Zephyr and Nuffink shared a look before shrugging and bursting out in laughter.
Goodness gracious it feels good to write again! I'll have another chapter here shortly with more Zephyr/Nuffink bonding, so see you soon!