Two days later a young man, no older than fourteen, and a purple toned Murderous Nightmare arrived. The boy looked suspiciously familiar. Iris couldn't put her finger on it. Where had she seen him before?
"Welcome Gustav," Dagur shouted. "I have much to teach you of the Berserker way! Then you'll be able to teach others in Berk our ways!"
"I'm glad to be here Chief Dagur," the boy said eagerly. "Fanghook is too, aren't you?" The dragon growled in agreeance.
"Just, don't destroy everything," Iris said, eyeing the two.
"We won't fair lady," Gustav said brightly.
"Turn that attention elsewhere," Dagur laughed dangerously. He picked the boy up by the back of his vest and carried him off while talking about what they would do.
"If he does that ot any of our children so help me," Iris muttered.
"He wouldn't dare," Ingrid sniffed. "That boy just lacks manners. Your children won't."
"Says you," Lila laughed. "I bet they'll be as wild as Chief Dagur when he was a child!"
"Gods I hope not," Ellie mumbled.
"Come on," Iris said. "Let's go check on the ladies working on the wool. I promised to stop in when I had a moment."
Lately Ingrid, a shorter and properly stout Viking woman, and Lila, a taller but slender Viking, had been sticking with her while she wandered about. She was surprised at first since she only really knew both women from their work on her bridal clothes but it was nice to make some more friends.
Ingrid had dark brown hair that she kept braided in two braids and dark brown eyes. Lila on the other hand had bright blonde hair that she braided in a single braid and typical deep blue eyes. They clashed like night and day on almost everything but both were happy mothers. Lila had three girls while Ingrid had two boys. Their oldest children were about the same age of eight while Lila's youngest was three and middle was seven and Ingrid's second boy was five. Overall, all the children were close in age spectrum.
"It smells like they are dying some wool," Ellie commented as she sniffed the air.
The air smelled like boiling flowers and herbs which were used to dye the wools. They all hung back to watch the group of five women stir a large metal pot each that was full of spun wool yarn. Each had a thick well worn stick that they used to push the yarn into the boiling colored water. Sweat covered their foreheads but they didn't stop working for a second.
"I'm scared to bother them," Iris whispered. "They're so focused."
"I agree," whisper Lila.
"Where did you learn how to whisper?" Ingrid whispered furiously. "You're so loud!"
"I'm loud? You're loud! So shush!"
"You did not just shush me! I shush you."
"WATCH OUT!" someone shouted.
Gustav and a flaming Fanghook barreled by the dying shack. The women shrieked as they dove out of the way of the out of control dragon. Fanghook slammed into the side of the building, causing it to shake. His head rolled about as his eyes were unfocused.
"Put those fires out!" Iris shouted. "Everyone out! Gustav! Get that dragon out of here!"
"Sorry," he yelped.
Vikings ran about throwing buckets of water on the smoldering shack. The women raced out in a panic, dye that had splashed out covering them. Quickly Iris had them get away from the building as the Gronkles and their Riders showed up. Furiously Gem and the others started digging, throwing dirt onto the small flames. Thanks to them and the bucket carrying Vikings the fire was soon out.
"WHAT WAS THAT?" Iris roared, turning her attention on Gustav and a still smoking Fanghook. "How the hell do you crash into a building? Of all the foolish and stupid things to do! You almost ruined weeks of work!"
"I'm sorry," Gustav said quietly. He seemed to shrink under her glare. "We were practicing a move and-"
"Ignored everything he was told not to do," Dagur snapped. Jager landed carrying the angry Berserker chief. "And of all the places you headed you headed into the village! I told you not to."
"Sorry." His words were a whisper.
The defeated look at the boy's face made Iris groan. She rubbed her face, wishing away the feeling of guilt for yelling at him. What he did was completely and utterly stupid. It was no wonder Berk sent him here. However that meant they needed to figure out a way to direct that idiotic energy.
"No more dragon anything today," she grumbled. "For the rest of the day you will be helping these ladies finish dying yarn." The women looked terrified at her words. "And Fanghook will wait for you at the stables with the other dragons. He absolutely will not be anywhere near this building." That seemed to calm them.
"Yes chieftess," Gustav said glumly. He looked at his now focused and defeated looking dragon. "You heard her Fanghook. You have to wait with the other dragons."
Fanghook whined. However Jager gave a growl which the other dragon understood. Slowly he walked off, acting as if he was heading to his execution. Gustav looked the same as he slowly walked to the dying shack.
"Stoick owes us," Iris grumbled.
"I agree," Dagur groaned. "Jager and I have to get back to the other Riders. Hiccup gave me advice of battle formations I was putting them through before this."
"Go," she said. She waved her hands in a shooing motion that made him laugh. "I'll see you later."
It took a few days but Iris got used to the chaotic Berkian being there. She had finally realized why he seemed so familiar, he was Snotlout's biggest fan. No wonder his dragon's name was so similar to another Murderous Nightmare.
He still had a problem with listening but having an angry Iris on his case when he did something stupid seemed to help. Dagur attempted to get him to meditate, something he picked up in prison, but that only caused the boy to fall asleep and make Dagur mad. A couple of the warriors tried to focus his energy on weapons training but after almost cutting off someone's hand by throwing his axe that idea was immediately shelved.
"Enough," Iris snapped. "Gustav. You. The school. Now."
After much talk with Dagur, Rohan, and the other elders Iris finally went forward with her idea of starting a small school. It wasn't much, just a small building where people could hold classes. She gave the most classes from still holding her weaving classes to edible plant instruction to basic storage techniques. Today she was going to wear Gustav out mentally whether it killed her.
Already some kids were inside waiting for her class. Today was supposed to be a class on how to catch rabbits but Iris shelved that for now. Today's class was going to be different.
"Everyone say hello to Gustav," Iris said as she walked to the large sun bleached wooden board she made to write on. "He will be joining us today for a much different class."
"What are we learning today?" a little boy, Trevor, asked. He attended every class she had since she came to Berserk with Dagur.
"Something called math," Iris explained. She took a piece of charcoal and began writing on the wooden board. "Everyone knows their numbers correct?" A unison yes filled the room with Gustav answering quickly after them. "Do you know how one number with another number can make a different number?"
"Yes," one little girl chimed in.
"Can you give me an example then?"
"There are three girls in my family and two boys," the little girl explained. "That makes five people in my family."
"Excellent sweet heart! Who can give me another example?"
"We have five Gronkles," one boy said eagerly. "And six Windstrikers. And the chief and chieftess' two dragons. That makes thirteen dragons!"
"Nicely done adding three different numbers. Now let me introduce you to something called multiplication."
