SUMMARY: Tuffnut and Astrid go to the trading post on Berk, and make new discoveries together.


CHAPTER 9

Tuffnut and Astrid walked along the docks where numerous, mammoth seaships had plunged their anchors into the underbellies of the village's coast. Homelier canoes of independent merchants also dotted their village's shoreline.

Astrid and Tuffnut bought some cheap snacks of brined jerky and tugged at the meat with their teeth as they surveyed the area.

Astrid spotted someone on the docks. "Hey, I think that's Throk," Astrid pointed out to Tuffnut, gesturing to a faraway figure. Tuffnut squinted and agreed.

Throk had been a soldier of the Defenders Of The Wing tribe, a loyal ally of Astrid's and Tuffnut's during their time on Dragon's Edge. There were only practical items of seafare on Throk's boat, like the sailing ropes Throk was displaying to a small group of merchants.

Throk waved from afar to Astrid. Throk mistook Tuffnut for Ruffnut and called out a promise that they would someday be wed.

"Yup, I'm pretty sure that's him," Tuffnut said, shading his face from view as Astrid cackled. He took Astrid's hand and carted her past Throk's boat.

"Gods. I can't believe that guy's still obsessed with Ruff," Astrid said.

"Dunno why. He's not her type," Tuffnut chuckled with thought. Ruffnut hadn't minded Throk's attention, Tuffnut knew, but there was no chance Throk would stick around longer than a week with his sister if Throk ever found out that she still picked her boogers and ate them.

Many villagers recognized Astrid and Tuffnut and stopped to greet them. Astrid and Tuffnut felt more cheery as more familiar faces made conversation with them and encouraged them to enjoy what the markets had to offer.

Astrid noticed Tuffnut's moodiness had nearly dissolved, and his curiousity at everything potentially-deadly had blossomed again.

Astrid and he spent a while hovering around the shipments of bludgeons and blades. They had nothing to trade to own a new weapon nor did they have the coins, but they enjoyed fantasizing about what a specific weapon could do in damage.

Astrid hadn't known how much Tuffnut knew about the ancient lineage of weaponry, and Tuffnut was surprised that Astrid, too, preferred maces just as much as axes.

One tradeswoman allowed Astrid and Tuffnut to test out the swords she had whetted for sale, and the two put on an exciting spar for the customers in queue. Some laughed in surprise when Tuffnut overhauled Astrid's blade with his own and wrestled her arm in a pin to force her to release her sword.

"Honestly, that was kinda pathetic," Said Tuffnut afterwards. Ruffnut would have never let him win so easily.

Still, it was fun to see what Astrid could do with something other than an axe. And, she wasn't half bad.

"Can you do me a favor and not rub it in anymore?," Astrid complained to him when she and Tuffnut had walked on to explore another section. Her arm ached like an anchor was tugging it as she walked.

Swords were heavier than axes and took strong biceps to handle for long. Astrid just knew Tuffnut had purposely worn her out and waited for the perfect chance to humiliate her. He was secretly more clever than he let on.

Astrid wondered what would have happened if she had let him lead counter attacks on the dragon kidnappers they had faced on Dragon's Edge.

They both observed each other until they met eyes and quickly looked elsewhere.

Salty seaspray hosed Astrid's body as she walked with Tuffnut in search of other acquaintances or attractions that interested them. Astrid smelled the saltiness of the wind and felt its scent clear her mind. Her thoughts were more lucid in fresh air. She thought it would be a good idea from then on to escape from her room and get outside whenever she felt her thoughts of being forgotten by her friends overwhelm her.

Astrid passed her parents but she didn't bring herself or Tuffnut to their attention. They both looked busy making negotiations on a sale. There was no doubt they would ask her to quit dawdling the docks with a lazy Thorston and lend them a hand with the fresh flowers they were selling. Astrid liked the inner peace she felt wandering the sand with Tuffnut, instead, and preferred not to have anyone disturb her from basking in it.

"If it ain't my little cousin," a grated voice called below from the bow of a docked ship. The man's dirty-blonde dreads swooped low from his head when he leaned over the ship's side to eye Tuffnut and a familiar pretty face from Hiccup's pathetic dragon-rescue island, Dragon's Edge. "Who's the new girlie?"

"I am not his girlfriend!" Astrid protested in a high-pitched tone.

Tuffnut called, "didn't you have a cage to stay locked up in for-I dunno-forever?"

"Nope; got bailed again! I served my time. But looks like I made better use of it. You still don't have a trade, do ya?!" Gruffnut called to his cousin.

"I'm working on it!" Tuffnut yelled.

"They pay good money to be a pirate. I'm just sayin'. Maybe you should think about joinin' me. There's always room!"

"No thanks," Tuffnut grumbled. "You've had more practice with stealing."

"I'm jus' lookin' out for you. We're family wether y'like it or not."

"We aren't related anymore," Tuffnut called behind him as he led Astrid away. He refused to forgive Gruffnut for lying to him and attempting to steal his and Ruffnut's dragon for a ransom. Astrid glanced behind her and saw Gruffnut give Tuffnut a look of remorse.

Tuffnut stopped at a booth of colorful pottery, sparkling jewlery, artistic textiles, and paintings on assorted, natural mediums.

"Hello," a heavily beaded woman with draping cloths over her body greeted Tuffnut and Astrid.

Tuffnut sighed in marvel and released a toothy grin as his eyes raced for somewhere to rest on the traveler's display. He gasped when he saw a tiny, clay statue of a mermaid.

"You look like some starving kid in a candyshop," Astrid joked. She leaned closer to the carving in Tuffnut's sight to see what was so special about it. She noticed Tuffnut had a scent like fresh hen eggs and grass.

"Feast your eyes upon it," Tuffnut announced grandly to Astrid. "This is only something you'll see maybe once in a lifetime!" Tuffnut sounded more serious when he explained, "these miniatures come from the other side of the world. The artists of these statues worship marine life and see mermaids as a perfect representation of their theism and matriarchal society! I never thought I would see another one on Berk!"

Astrid's eyebrows hinged at Tuffnut. His eyes were twinkling. "Do you always make this much sense?" She asked him. If only Tuffnut could have maneuvered on Dragon's Edge missions as well as he could blabber about art. It was interesting.

"Where did you find this?!" Tuffnut demanded to the traveler.

"In a ship's slopbucket. Five coins, please."

"Huh," Tuffnut said. He inspected the piece. "How could you sell it for so cheap?! This is worth, like, a bajillion coins- - or an entire treasure chest!"

"A bajillion it shall be, if you are willing to pay the price," the traveler insisted with a snaking grin.

"Five coins is great!" Astrid cut in. She whispered to Tuffnut, "don't you know a good deal when you hear one?"

"Don't worry. I've collected plenty of these already." Tuffnut said. "You should see my room."

"I'll pass," Astrid said with a disgusted scoff. It was typical, a boy filling his space with half-naked fairy tale creatures. She felt like scolding him.

Astrid filed through jewlery as Tuffnut demanded the traveler why another priceless collector's item was not marked-up to a outlandish price no Viking on Berk would ever dream of paying. A lace of mutlishaped bones and teeth from an unknown sea-creature caught her eye.

She touched the yellowed calcium-ores along the lace, one-by-one, feeling some jagged ridges of microscopic teeth against her fingertips. She wondered how it would look around her neck. She smiled at the fantasy, but quickly left the item alone before she looked like she was interested in anything as superficial as a piece of jewlery.

"D'you see something you like?"

Astrid frowned at the teasing in Tuffnut's voice, and she crossed her arms. "No."

"Y'know, you're a really, really bad liar," Tuffnut said, sharing in Astrid's short, admittive laughter.

"That one is expensive," said the traveler.

"How expensive?" Astrid inquired.

"I'll buy it for you, if y'want it." Tuffnut offered.

"How much coins do you have?"

"None 'a your beeswax."

Astrid rolled her eyes. Did Tuffnut think she cared?

Tuffnut asked the traveler if she had a looking glass. The traveler gladly held up the glass as Tuffnut tied the lace of bones around Astrid's neck.

Astrid felt her neck tickle at the careful movements of Tuffnut's fingers. She then smiled hesitantly at her reflection; the necklace was as pretty as she imagined. Eventually, she couldn't quit smiling at herself.

"How much?" Tuffnut asked the traveler.

The necklace had cost all of Tuffnut's remaining coins, but the smile that stuck to Astrid's face long afterwards was priceless. They both retired on the beachshore and watched the sunset. Tuffnut reflected on Gruffnut's unwelcome visit.

"I can never get a break!" Tuffnut sighed. "Everybody wants to know what trade I'm in. But what if I'm not good at anything?"

Astrid huffed gently. She knew what Tuffnut meant about finding his niche in the village. She was getting desperate to find a trade she was good at herself. "It's not completely a bad thing. We have more time to think about what we really want."

Tuffnut felt at ease with her paradigm. But, then again, what did he want out of his new life as an ex-Dragonrider who suddenly had all of these expectations of a nineteen-year-old Viking man of the Hooligan tribe? Tuffnut looked to Astrid.

He wanted Astrid's friendship. More, he wanted more feelings like this. Like how she made him feel when smiled at him right then, with her lids folding in gentle wrinkles around her striking eyes as blue as the ocean. Her necklace he bought her made tiny jingles when its bone pieces clinked together, and her blonde hair floated around her face. Tuffnut saw one golden strand had caught on her lips.

Astrid understood Tuffnut's blank stare back at her as him thinking on what she had said. She suggested with a nervous lump in her throat, "we should do this again."

"Do what?"

Tuffnut was seemingly challenging her to define the quality time they had spent together. Astrid struggled to feel completely confident in her answer, yet she didn't change it. "Clearing our heads, getting outside, not wallowing in self-pity. Hanging out." Astrid hugged her knees. I like talking with you, she wanted to add, but refrained. Her heart started to pound in her ears when Tuffnut stayed quiet.

"It depends," Tuffnut said, shrugging limply. As long as he lived under his Dad's roof, he had chores, and they were non-negotiable.

Astrid waited for Tuffnut to explain himself. It wasn't out of the ordinary for Tuffnut to leave her with more questions than answers. She heard Tuffnut make an unsure but encouraging noise.

"Maybe," Tuffnut offered with his eyes at the sand. Astrid saw he was busy fidgeting with a shy hermit crab.

Astrid turned to the sunset and looked hopeful for what tomorrow would bring.


Words: 1906