Tuffnut took Ruffnut's advice and forced himself to arise from his bed. He had realized that Ruffnut had done what she could to speed his chores by straightening the cottage before she left for her training. Tuffnut saw a steaming bowl of porridge Ruffnut had made for him on their kitchen table and he smiled. He finished it quickly and disregarded the plain taste of barley with no sweetener. There wasn't much Ruffnut had learned about cooking over the years, but Tuffnut couldn't deny he was the same. The food was hot and comforting, and he figured that was all that mattered.

As he fed his geese with ground kernels from a pail, he couldn't help feeling slightly envious that Ruffnut had found a source of happiness without him in her apprenticeship. If she focused long enough, she could be well on her way to living an independent life. But what happened to their vow that they were to do everything together, no matter what?

Tuffnut sat cross-legged within the long-necked and white-feathered flock of geese and let them swarm around his palms that balanced a pile of feed. Some of the geese lost their turn at grazing from his hands and honked in frustration. They then piled near the bucket in between his folded legs and ate from it. One baby goose was being squashed by the adults, and Tuffnut lifted her into his hand so she would have her fill.

Tuffnut thought now that those dreams he and Ruffnut had of being inseparable were only childish thoughts. They were older and, miraculously, a bit wiser. They were twins, yet it was logical to think that they still had their own goals. Clearly, Ruffnut had a better idea than he did of what those dreams were.

Later, Tuffnut inspected the coop of chickens his Dad had allowed him to build after he had been convinced Tuffnut wasn't keeping Chicken as another personal pet. Tuffnut opened the gate of the dark, cool coop, and he was met by a flurry of loose feathers. Using a broom, he cornered some feathers to proper places for insulation and cleared out the abundance onto their lawn. He inspected the five nests on each shelf. No one had laid an egg, and Chicken was currently asleep. The single rooster trotted on the ground, pecking at something in the dirt, clearly uninterested by the females. Tuffnut gently tufted Chicken's feathers in greeting on his way out.

Tuffnut finished preparing a cup of mead for his father and placed it on the kitchen table. Everything was done.

Tuffnut first decided to sit at the table and wait for his father to return. In that way, he wouldn't have to hear his name roared all through the house to rouse his attention. Tuffnut could imagine what his father would say at any moment that the door to their house would creak open. His father would start immediately with a long complaint about his patrolling in the shipyards, and then he would investigate if Tuffnut had finished his duties. Of course, there would always be something Tuffnut had forgotten to complete that he was never made aware of. There was no guarantee if Tuffnut would hear demands about why he hadn't yet joined a warrior's auxillary, or why he hadn't yet made arrangements for a dowry on anyone's daughter, since Tuffnut was already a few years too many past sixteen.

Tuffnut left the mug on the table to become cold all on its own, and he wandered out from his front door.

Children were playing on hills in the neighborhood that were dotted with rogue goats or sheep, carefree of the future that lied ahead for them. The children were playing too close to the dirt path that led to the main square of Berk where heavy wheelbarrows, carriages, or plows could travel on. Though, Tuffnut wasn't minding the path either, and expected the shouts for him to keep his boots on the grass. A boy in a helmet too big for his head tripped near Tuffnut, and Tuffnut quickly helped the boy return to his friends. With his silence, Tuffnut denied the childrens' faraway squeals for him to play with them again.

Tuffnut had walked for at least half a mile, and on the way he had found a branch to hold and poke plants with. Before long, he arrived at a familiar cottage, the homely building that he liked to loiter around because it looked much different than the drab shack in which his home had deteriorated. Like the yard from Tuffnut's childhood, the two-story cottage in his sight had a front lawn surrounded by wreaths and hedges of vibrant flowers.

Tuffnut lingered at the wooden pickets in front of the entryway to the Hofferson's home, deciding if he had permission to intrude on them to ask for Astrid. It would be better for him to walk on, he thought, and forget the whole idea that Astrid wanted to hear him complain about how numb he was to everything that existed in the world. He tacked the pickets of wooden boards before her home as he thought. The stick made a cool sound as it scraped Astrid's housegate. Tuffnut pondered on a new idea for a giant instrument made out of descending sizes of wooden boards. He would call it: The Plankity-Thingy.

"What are you doing?" Tuffnut heard Astrid's voice call down from a height above him.

Tuffnut startled. He bent to pick up the stick he had dropped. He lifted his face to see Astrid giving him a strange look from her bedroom window that didn't look reproachful. She looked like she had just woken up. Her hair was unbraided and tussled near her crown. She was adorned in a plain, dark gown, and her lips were curved upwards near her amethyst eyes. Tuffnut had the grace to lower his head from her. He shrugged and said, "I was just leaving."

"It's about time," Astrid called, in jest to all of the noise he was making on her gate. Tuffnut always wore a predictable outfit of dark, spiked boots, a dingy vest, a thick-horned helmet over his mop of long dreads, and two metal-studded arm-guards. It was a comfort to know some things hadn't changed since they all returned to Berk. She hadn't seen him in a long while, but she didn't quite know what to say now that he was a miniature figure from her windowsill that was roaming the perimeter of her front lawn.

"How've y'been?" Tuffnut said.

"Bored." Astrid replied. She straightened her hair and felt less unbridled. "You?"

"More or less." Tuffnut rekindled his sounds on her gate with his stick, but then quickly realized he could awaken her parents. "Your parents home?"

"No," Astrid sighed. "they're at the markets."

Tuffnut continued using his branch as a mallet. "Ruffnut's training to be an underwater basket weaver," Tuffnut said to explain himself for being there alone.

Astrid looked confused, but she wasn't surprised. Mostly all of her friends had moved on in their lives and found something they weren't terrible at. Even Snotlout had taken up scrollkeeping. Astrid hadn't found her meaning yet, and she was bored of mastering weapons.

"Dad's not home yet, but I didn't want to wait up for him," Tuffnut added quietly, with a brief glance to Astrid's eyes.

That still doesn't explain why you're at my house, Astrid thought to herself in humor. She decided go to Tuffnut to find out why.


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