My dad once told me "Give a man to fish, and you'll feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you'll feed him for life." This saying was very much true for our family. Even though we had to wake up drastically early when the sun wasn't even up, we sold the freshest fish in all of Berk. With all of the money we saved up, we bought better quality weapons such as spears and even a sword; which my father always wore around his waist when he went out.
No matter what happened, my dad always had time to train me. He didn't want to mess around the weapons so we just used spear shafts instead of bladed ones.
"Do you want me to hurt you?" He asked "Your stance is all wrong, bend your knees more and loosen up your arms. You can't fight when you're stiff as a board." He explained.
Doing as he instructed I sighed "Dad, why are we doing this? Aren't we fighting dragons, not people?"
"Listen, Arne, you have to learn to walk before you can run. Before learning to fight a dragon with Gobber, you need to learn how to fight against a person."
The arena was full of burn and scorch marks, it was the day after a Viking was initiated. The fight was amazing, the candidate dodged left and right, this way and that way. Dodge rolling the dragon's tail strikes and blocking the Monstrous Nightmare's flames. She was actually quite elegant in fighting, almost as if she was dancing around it. Her long brown braid never got in her way, and then she tossed the net, muzzling the nightmare's jaw, and delivered a sword to its softer underbelly. Signe was as beautiful as she was smart, a prodigy in the village, she was even my own age. Astrid was pretty cool too but I saw Hiccup giving her certain looks so I did the honorable thing and let him do his best.
"Focus Arne!" My dad thrust the wooden pole into my stomach, temporarily knocking the wind out of me.
"Frode, don't you think you're being a bit too harsh with the lad?" Asked Gobber "He has so many bruises from your training that it looks like he lost a fight with an octopus."
"I appreciate your concern Gobber" My dad looked at him "But I want to prepare my son to be the very best he can be. If he can't block my attacks, then how do you think he'll fare against a dragon?"
"It's okay Mr. Gobber-" I breathed in "I'm fifteen years old, I should already know this so my dad's trying to train me harder."
"Exactly." My dad confirmed, "Though compared to other birds, eagles do take the longest to get out of the nest, I suppose you're living up to your name's sake."
"Well, if you're okay with it, I suppose I can't stop you. Though, I'm sure you'll do great in dragon training one day." Complemented Gobber.
I nodded and turned back to my teacher. By the end of the day, I was aching all over my body but I managed to get a few hits off and I then realized that we never used shields. "Dad, I just noticed. Why don't ever use protection when training?"
"If you mean shields, it's because that you may turn too dependent on those things. Shields are great, but I believe that if you can learn to fight without a shield, you will become a better fighter, and by the time you're good with a spear, you'll be even better with a shield."
After about ten minutes of walking, my dad took a sniff and a hearty sigh "Smells like your mother's making salmon stew."
"My favorite." We said together.
"Thyra, we're home." My dad opened the door with his large, well-built arm.
"Welcome back, dinner's almost ready." My mom notified from the firepit.
While she was finishing up, we started to set the table and a few minutes later, my mom began to put on the stew. The smell of the fish wafted into my nose, almost as if begging me to take and eat, combined with the aroma of the fresh herbs, I was going to go crazy if I didn't eat it soon. Once we were set, I began to devour it like a starving wolf.
"Slow down Arne, it's not going anywhere." My mother smiled.
Remembering what I was, I cleared my throat and ate at a regular pace. The atmosphere was calming, the crackling firepit, my mom and dad chatting with each other, the only thing that would make it more calming would be a dog begging at my side.
"Didn't Valka give you this recipe? This tastes different to how you usually prepare it." My dad asked.
"She did, however, when I tried it, I thought that I would go to Valhalla after the second bite. In the memory of her, I decided to modify it and make it taste a bit better."
"That's right… This day marks the fifteenth year that she was taken by that dragon… the chief mourned for months after that event."
The table sobered, no longer was it calming. It just felt awkward talking about the chief's wife.
"You think that's why Stoick fights so hard? So that doesn't happen to anyone else?" I asked.
"That's definitely one reason," My dad answered, cleaning some stew off of his short scraggly red beard.
I finished my first bowl and went for a second helping.
"Don't eat too much, dear." My mom warned.
"Oh, let the boy eat. He needs all the energy he can get for training, he may not look like Hiccup but he could still use some meat on his bones."
I'm right here, dad. I thought., thought it was true. While I wasn't as skinny as Hiccup, I wasn't as strong or as well built as my dad or much less Stoick.
"Don't listen to your father Arne, you look perfectly fine." My mother encouraged.
My dad chuckled "I'm just teasing him a bit. Trying to lighten up the mood a bit."
Soon after, I washed up and got ready for bed. As soon as my head hit my pillow, I heard the roar of a dragon. I immediately shot up and saw my parents already arming themselves.
"Go back to bed, son. We'll handle this." My dad stated.
"But dad, I can help. Just give me a spear and I can fight along with you."
"You will Arne, just not yet."
They continued to put on their armor and when they finished, they headed towards the door.
"Just please stay inside, we'll be back in the morning." Were my mother's words before they left.
I woke up the next morning to the sun shining in my face through small gaps in the wood.
This is weird… they usually wake me up much earlier than this…! Once again, I shot up and ran straight out of the door with my clothes from the day before. I shouted to my parents, but I received my answer. I felt tears about to break out but I held them in until I found Stoick.
"Chief!- Do you know where my parents are?"
Stoick looked at me with a heartbroken look and looked away. I then looked down to see two bodies covered by a white sheet blotted with crimson red. With a trembling and hesitant hand, I reached to the area where their faces were outlined and saw them. Both had scorch marks on their faces, my once strong and wise father, my mother who always tried to keep both of our spirits up after a dragon raid, they both laid dead.
I pitifully sunk to my knees and shouted at the sky with anger and sadness, tears uncontrollably flowing.
Don't leave me! What will I do without you!?