The rains lasted for several days. Varying from a light drizzle to raging storms. Making everyone fairly grumpy. A few braved the wet weather to keep crops from flooding, and herds from washing away. But most mumbled and grumbled inside the great hall as they waited for it to pass.

Which it did.

The clouds parted in the night, letting the sun rise fully to reach all of Berk in its warm embrace. Their planned festivities were pushed back another day as the locals worked to clean up the mess the downpours had left, with the help of dragons and harnesses. Pulling wagons of debris, righting fallen trees, hefting lumber to houses that needed patchwork. Everybody was busy.

Nati followed Fena everywhere, along with several other children, as she told them some of her adventures and how she had run into ghosts before. She didn't mind if the children bothered her while the others set up for the coming festival. They were quite surprised to find out that Fena had never celebrated Thor's-day Thursday before and went on to explain their favorite events.

Some liked the wrestling, while others preferred the hatched throwing. Some were anxious to show the patterns they weaved all by themselves this year, and some just hoped to catch the biggest fish. They were also quite excited to show off their costumes they'd been working hard on. A few of the children were old enough to train their own dragons, and they made costumes of the dragon they were hoping to train.

"Could I see them?" Fena urged, curious of their creations. "I'd like to see which one's you've picked." The children happily bounded off, nearly knocking Valka over in their haste as she strode up to the healers mangled tent.

"Do you need a hand?" She stiffled a laugh as Fena slid in the mud, landing on her backside.

"I may need ten." Grunting as Valka helped her back on her feet. "The posts aren't damaged, but the pegs came loose and jumbled everything up." They set to work on righting posts. A struggle though it was since the ground was still fairly soft, leaving the spikes too loose to actually keep the ropes tight and watching the posts fall several times.

"I really should build a house at some point."

"I can understand the hesitation." Valka hummed.

Fena cast a glance to her father's shield resting against the platform supports that kept her "home" from being washed away by lifting it off the ground. Should she really think of building a home here? She would certainly need something stronger and more reliable for the winter at least. But what about in the spring? Would she stay?

"Miss Fena! Miss Fena!" She was drawn out of her daze by the children's call as they came racing down the pathway. Their costumes were a little crude, having made them themselves with little parental help.

"My goodness, this is quite a sight." Fena studied the line up. "I see--one, two, three deadly naders, one monstrous nightmare, and a gronkle. Why so many naders, I wonder?"

"Astrid rides a nader," One little girl said giddily. "Stormfly. They're so cool." The other little naders chimed in agreement.

"Ah, I thought that might be why." A bit of Astrid admiration in the young girls. "She is quite extraordinary. I can see why you'd look up to her. What about Stormfly? What's your favourite thing about naders?"

"They have spikes on their tails," Another girl beamed. "Stormfly does this spin attack type thing, that sends lose spikes flying to pin down enemies." She spun about, trying to mimic the attack with the makeshift tail she had attached to her belt. Nearly wiping out on the mud.

"And they can shoot out sparks for a fire attack. Like the kind of sparks you see fly when the smith's hammer hits hot metal. Only its a lot hotter and more dangerous."

"That is quite impressive. What about you? What do you like most about the monstrous nightmare?"

"They can set themselves on fire!" The young lad spread his arms with a flourish and a loud fwoosh.

"Ah, yes. It's hard to forget that." Fena muttered to herself. "And what about the gronkle?"

"I just think they're cool." The last little boy shied, not very comfortable with the spotlight attention. She'd seen him trail beside Fishlegs from time to time, as Fishlegs seemed to take on a tutoring roll for many of the children on Berk. He was on more of the quieter side, it made sense for him to look up more to the stout viking for his gentle and nurturing nature and could be the reason why he favored the gronkle so.

"Those are all wonderful choices, I'm sure you'll do well in training them." Valka smiled. "And the outfits look beautiful. You've all done such great work on bringing them to life. But what are you planning to do once your dragons are fully trained?"

"We're gunna be great fighters, like Astrid! Going on epic raids and defending our home." The girls eyes shining behind their nader masks.

"I'm not very good at fighting. But maybe I could forge the swords with gronkle-iron. Or build sturdier homes-"

"-Boring! I'm going to be at the front of the action, defending Berk from invaders by blowing up their armadas!" The young boy enthused. "Speeding over the waters, chasing down every last boat, leaving nothing but smoldering debris. For no ship could outrun me and my nightmare!"

"Eret's ship could." Nati scoffed. "He said it's so fast that only Toothless could keep pace with it."

"My dad says that sailors tell tall tales, and that you can't really trust what they say."

"Sailor's and warriors alike do have a habit of over embellishing their adventures." Fena's eyes light up as a wonderful idea crossed her mind. "Why don't we put it to a test. Eret claims to be one of the greatest trappers around. But I bet you all could trap him pretty easily." Just a harmless prank that the children seemed to be on board with. "Nati, could bring Eret over here. Tell him I need help righting my tent, right away."

It was risky sending Nati to fetch him, she wasn't the best at keeping secrets but he seemed to have a sweet spot for her and would most likely come at her calling. Fena didn't even need to say the word as the children went off to find a hiding place. The little gronkle boy was unsure of what he should do, not comfortable with pranks but not wanting to be left out of the game. One little nader decided for him, grabbing his hand she dragged him to the hiding spot and waited for the trapper to arrive while the two women tried to look less suspicious.

It wasn't long before the two turned the corner, Nati pulling Eret firmly by the hand. Fena noticed his arm was no longer held in a sling and was about to ask how he was doing as he gawked at her abode.

"She wasn't kidding when she said your place was a state." Fena puffed at his remark, even if it was true.

A shrill war cry broke through the calm as the little nightmare raced out from behind the mangled tent and flung himself through the air, grappling around Erets neck. The girls were not overly impressed with the impromptu distraction, having something a little more elegant in mind for their attack, but took the opening to advance on the warrior as he tried to keep his balance. They clung to his legs as another tugged at his arm, pulling him down to ground when he slipped on the slick earth, careful enough as to not crush his "attackers".

Eret was pinned to the ground, with one child holding down one limb each as the little nightmare boy sat proudly atop his chest.

"Ha ha! We trapped the trapper!" He roared with Eret playing along, crying out in defeat.

"Never in my life have I been outmatched. But today, I admit defeat. You've bested me." The children beamed with pride, having taken down the self proclaimed "greatest trapper alive", be it true or not.

"Your getting slow, Eret." Nati peered down at him, his lips thinning at the comment, trying not to take it to heart. He wasn't sure if they knew he was faking or not, but didn't want to spoil their fun if it boosted their confidence.

"All right, that's enough, now. Leave him be." Valka shooed when they refused to let Eret back up on his feet. "There's still plenty of work to be done before tomorrow. Go see what you can help with." Picking the boy off Eret's chest to set him off down the path with the others. Following slowly to make sure they did as they were told, leaving the two to themselves.

"You seem quite pleased with yourself, I'm guessing this was your idea." Eret saw the mischief dancing in her eyes as he got up off his knees. "And putting poor Nati up to it as well, shameful." Her lips pursed, smuggly contemplating the mud on his face.

"You're right, your eyes really are the colour of mud." So that's how this was going to be. To jab at each other until someone folded. A rather childish game, but he couldn't resist.

If it was war she wanted, then it was war she'd get.

He wiped that smug look of her face with both hands, the dirt on his palms smeering over her cheeks and nose and brow and chin. He stepped back to see her gape in shock.

"Now your face looks like mud." He chided with an impish grin, dusting off his hands on his muddied trousers.

"You're such a child." She huffed, trying to wipe the mud from her mouth with the back of her hand.

"You started it."

She gave him a hard shove only to be caught by the arm and brought down to ground with him. He laughed at Fena's hair sticking out at odd angles, clinging to her muddied cheeks. Fully invested in the moment she scooped up a handful of mud, but he caught her wrist before she could dump it on his head to make things even. They grappled on the ground, each one trying to keep the upper hand, not minding if they were now covered in mud from head to toe or receiving odd looks from passersby. Fena managed to hold him down, pinning his hands on the ground while straddling his waist, breathing heavily.

"And I can still finish it." She beamed. "Just like when we were kids."

"It does bring back old memories, true. But I've grown a lot since then." She was a light weight, which made it quite easy for him to buck her off and catching her by surprise as he twisted about. She stared up at him, stunned at how quickly he'd managed to pin her beneath him. "I'm a lot stronger than you, now."

He was right. She couldn't argue him on that front, and even though she'd dealt the first blow she felt herself smiling at her defeat. She was glad to have found her old friend again.

"Fine. You win. A cheap shot, but an effective one." She mocked. There was something in her tone, in her eyes that drew him in and before she could blink he had closed the distance to place a firm kiss on her lips. He felt her body tense a moment before she seemed to relax. Just one thing was bugging him about it. Breaking the brief kiss, he almost missed seeing her eyes flutter open as he spit a mouthful of dirt off to the distance.

"I taste more mud than anything." Running his tongue over his teeth. Fena shook her head, releasing a shaky breath.

"I wonder why." She rolled her eyes. He had rubbed dirt in her face quite literally, she wasn't sure what he expected. But it wasn't what came next.

"Worth it."

He kissed her again. Fena melted into it, moving her lips with his earning a smirk from him, taking it as a sign to keep going. Releasing her hands he shifted his weight, placing his forearms near her head to lightly tangle his fingers in her hair. His hips pressing firmly against hers, effectively pinning her to the ground beneath him. He was riding off a high, until she groaned in discomfort and pushed against his chest. He backed off to see her face contort in pain, breathing sharply.

"What?" He bit back the slight annoyance he felt, very much wanting to continue but the better part of him didn't want to force it if she wasn't comfortable. He wanted them both to enjoy it.

"Well, to start, there's something sharp jabbing into my back." She wriggled an arm awkwardly underneath her and pulled out one the spikes from her tent poles. "Second, what are you thinking? This isn't exactly private, there are children roaming about out here. This is far from appropriate."

"There is a place we could go to clean up thats a little more private." He winked at her. Fena shoved him off, disgust written on her face.

"Not a chance." She wrapped her arms around herself, suddenly quite aware how her clothes were clinging to her, not hiding much.

"Now you're shy." He chuckled at her actions, until her cold sneer snapped him back to his senses. He paled. "Oh gods. I'm sorry. You're right. I didn't mean anything by it, I just wasn't really thinking clearly."

Her shoulders sagged as her look softened. Admittedly, if that peg hadn't been wedged under her back, she can't say she would have stopped it. She was also lost in the moment, and couldn't fault him for not thinking clearly. But the shy comment struck her in a way that hurt.

"That's not to say it wasn't pleasant. I didn't really mind much of it. But I'm also not going to be the one to satisfy you just because you're feeling restless. If that's all you need then go find yourself a whore, because it won't be--"

"--Good gods, no." His face screwed, sitting back to give them both more space. True, they had seen several couples race off to more private spaces for some intimate moments after being cooped up for several days. But that was not what was crossing his mind. "That's not what I meant by it at all. That's not--I just got carried away by the moment and wasn't really thinking it through. I'm sorry, I didn't mean it that way."

Eret struggled to find the right words, not really knowing how to express what was going through his mind. He was thrilled to have his old friend back, and maybe something about the reunion made him lose control. He just wanted to be close to her.

"Okay." Fena could see the tension on his face as he struggled with it, she tried to change the subject in hopes he wouldn't feel too badly of his actions. Even though it wasn't the outcome they were thinking of, she had started the whole thing. Maybe she shouldn't have called him over. "I could still use the extra hands to try and fix this jumbled mess, but I understand if you want to go about your own thing."

Fena offered her hand to help him up, she wasn't surprised when he refused. His brow knitting in frustration as he rose to his feet, turning away.

"I think I need to cool off." Fena watched him leave dejected, cursing as his feet slipped on occasion but stayed upright as he made his way towards the docks. Passing Valka and Gobber on his way, while they came to stand by Fena. Valka had gone to fetch the smithy to see if he could offer any help.

"I take it the home building didn't go to well?" Gobber looked between the mess of a tent and the mud covered healer, he could only guess what had transpired in the time it took for Valka to find him and bring him here.

"We could try to figure this out if you wanted to go clean up a bit." Valka offered.

"Sure, that would be great." Fena sighed trying not to sound too off-putting. There was a lot going through her mind that she wouldn't mind a moment to herself. "Thank you."

"Take your time, dear." Fena made her way up the path, getting some strange looks from a few locals but she didn't notice. Stopping at the crossroad to look at the path leading to the docks, thinking. She wanted to make sure everything was alright, but decided against it. She didn't want to push him further and with a heavy breath she headed in the opposite direction, trying fervently to straighten out her own thoughts.