SUMMARY: Tuffnut gets his first job working for Gobber, and finds his niche in Berk alongside Astrid.
CHAPTER 11
Tuffnut didn't respond to Ruffnut, but dropped his head at his window.
After leaving the room briefly, Ruffnut invited Tuffnut to sit near her so she could press a warm, wet rag to his injured cheek.
"I dunno why Dad's like this," Ruffnut confessed. She was more confused on why her dad was always overly harsh with her brother and not herself. Both of them remained quiet about their feelings about their dad. It helped them to forget how hurt they felt on the inside.
Tuffnut felt the steam of the heated cloth numb the throbbing on his face.
Ruffnut offered him a genuine, tiny grin before she quietly shared, "So, you're gonna hate me, but I talked to Gobber..."
"I'll find my own thing!" Tuffnut insisted. "Stay out of it."
"But he needs an extra hand to make dragon-saddles. He's up to give you a second chance."
Stating the obvious, Tuffnut said with a hopeless chuckle, "I sucked at that job on my first day."
Ruffnut shrugged. "I sucked at underwater basket weaving-at first! No one starts off being good at everything. Just think about Hiccup. He used t'be a total loser." Ruffnut smiled while she remembered seeing Hiccup being tattooed with black chalk on his forehead on his coronation day. Ruffnut had realized then that she had a thing for brunettes.
Tuffnut looked thoughtful as Ruffnut reapplied her rag to his skin.
Ruffnut looked at how Tuffnut's cheek was healing. There was a good sign of progress. The bruise was a lighter tint than before. "Promise me you'll see Gobber soon?" Ruffnut said in conclusion.
Tuffnut sighed. It was damaging to his pride to know Ruffnut had asked Gobber to reconsider him, but somewhere inside, he was thankful she had. "Whatever."
Ruffnut pocketed her rag in the wooden bowl on her lap and asked Tuffnut, "why be with Astrid anyway?" Ruffnut had felt similar uncertainty when she had found them together on Dragon's Edge, talking like they weren't the same two people who had avoided each other on the island except when there were important errands to do.
There was no reason for Tuffnut to be hit for meeting with Astrid yesterday at the market, but Ruffnut had to admit to herself that their sudden friendship was unusual.
"'Cause you weren't there," Tuffnut said. He didn't say that he felt incredibly isolated ever since Ruffnut had gotten more involved in her training. He expected Ruffnut to give him the look that she gave him then, one that knew he wasn't saying everything. Tuffnut continued reluctantly, "and...she doesn't judge me, for being me. Not anymore."
"I don't trust her," Ruffnut blurted suddenly.
Tuffnut waited in puzzlement for her to explain.
"The only reason she's with you is because she's lonely. Once she finds some new friends, I don't think she'll stick around long." Ruffnut blinked sadly. "At least, that's what happened to me."
"You're wrong," Tuffnut replied softly after a moment. He hoped he was right.
Ruffnut moved on from the subject. "Gobber wants you there at dawn tomorrow. Don't make me look bad," Ruffnut said as she gave Tuffnut a light punch on the arm. She stood with her supplies. "I'll be back with some salve."
Tuffnut watched Ruffnut leave. He remembered how much fun he and Astrid had the day before when they dueled with swords at the market. Astrid had laughed with him like she had the time of her life. Was Astrid only using him as a distraction from her own lonliness, only to leave him when she found better friends to be with? Tuffnut reminisced on Astrid's smile after he had bought her a bone-necklace at the market and laced it around her neck. The more he thought about yesterday, the more foolish he felt about the flutters in his heart that resurfaced with every memory. Working for Gobber the next day would do him good to forget about her.
Tuffnut became more relieved as the afternoon went by in Gobber's smithy. The job of curing the yakhides for saddle-leather was getting less annoyingly-complicated by the minute.
The banging hammers, the sounds of blazing fire from the coalpens, and the constant hisses of water in pails that cooled iron into shape filled the den. Somehow Gobber was able to run the entire smithy himself like a well-oiled machine. Tuffnut was advised to only help him with the customers if he was called, and to stay on prep-work for future inventory.
Gobber had yelled at Tuffnut less than when he first started a while back learning how to do the task. It was maybe because Ruffnut had told him to be more gentle with him the second time around.
The procedure wasn't so bad. All Tuffnut had to do was keep from retching at the smell of drying guts as he used a scalpel to rake leftover innards from the yakhide that was stretched out on an upright panel of wood before him.
"Put yer back into it!" Gobber yodeled from somewhere in the smithy.
Tuffnut grumbled to himself, but made a little more effort. Gobber came to inspect his work, and then he patted Tuffnut on the back. He then left to return a newly sharpened axe to a customer.
Tuffnut finally smiled when Gobber left his side. It felt good to be appreciated for doing something right for once.
Gobber called to Tuffnut, "y'think you can see about the lass?! I'll be back!"
Tuffnut saw Gobber leave, most likely to follow the call of Mother Nature. Tuffnut did his best to clear his apron of grey fat and grustle, and then he approached the window of the smithy.
He started in surprise when he saw Astrid turn around to face him. She had a plain burlap dress with an apron full of grassstains. Her hair was tied in a high bun, but some hairs had fallen down and looked damp with sweat.
"Oh, hi," Astrid said innocently. "You work here now?"
"I think," Tuffnut shrugged. It had been a full morning and he hadn't been fired yet.
"That's awesome. Phlegma let me study with her, since the Hoffersons know all about flowers. She's, you know, the botanist? Across the street?"
"I know?" Tuffnut said with a smirk. Everyone knew that.
"Yeah, I know! That you knew." Astrid said, looking aside from him at the window and feeling like an idiot. She hadn't prepared what she would say when she saw Tuffnut again. Since when did she have to prepare, anyway?
"So..." Tuffnut drawled after a short while. "...whaddya y'need?"
Astrid lifted her axe to the wooden sill of the service window. "I think... this needs to be sharpened?"
"Looks sharp enough to me." Tuffnut judged. "Don't try it out on me or anything."
Astrid laughed lightly. She rested her arms before her axe handle on the ledge and came somewhat closer to Tuffnut so the next villager in line to be serviced wouldn't overhear her.
"Well, I actually just came to say..." Astrid began quietly. She paused in her invitation for him to join her for her lunch break. She scrutinized his face, and then she tapped her cheek meaningfully.
"Gods. Don'tcha just hate mosquitoes?" Tuffnut said in empathy to her itch.
"No-" Astrid said. "-you have something...on your face?"
Tuffnut curiously felt his cheek and shuddered when his fingers pressed into something chunky and slimy. He wiped it away and rubbed his hand on his apron. "It's just yak guts. The fat yaks are the worst."
"Not that." Astrid said. She hesitated, and then touched his face to inspect the discoloration she was eyeing. Her thumb felt a faint bruise on his cheek. Astrid withdrew when Tuffnut quickly released himself.
"It's nothing, just...another burn." Tuffnut said lowly, sounding different to Astrid somehow.
Astrid had seen fire burns plenty of times, and his mark looked only vaguely like them. She made a notion to speak, but she was cut off when a man behind her complained her service was taking too long.
Astrid gave Snoutlout's dad a sour look. She turned again to her front. "When are you on break?" Astrid asked Tuffnut hopefully.
"Gobber doesn't believe in breaks."
"Well, Phlegma does," Astrid chuckled. She bent her eyes to her axehandle as she finally asked, "wanna get lunch?"
Tuffnut's heart picked up speed, though he didn't know why. It felt funny to hear those words come out of a girl's mouth, one that wasn't Ruffnut.
Tuffnut looked at the long line of villagers beyond the service window. One Viking crossed her arms. He looked again at Astrid, who leaned patiently on the sill, looking very much available, and the slightest bit coy. Tuffnut's stomach grumbled as he debated what to do next.
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