SUMMARY: Ruffnut reflects on her progress, and gets an unexpected visitor.
CHAPTER 15
Ruffnut stretched on a bank in a secluded part of Berk's archipelago while the break of her underwater basket weaving class commenced. She looked happily on the expanse of the gently-tossing lake far below her while she hugged her knees to her chest on a high cliff above the view of the ground.
A feeling nagged at her. She felt like everything was changing much faster than she wanted them to. She liked feeling accomplished at doing great in her new trade. Accomplishment felt like there was a burning flame of glory inside her that ignited her bones and let her walk taller. Yet, it was a lonely feeling without Tuffnut being involved. Feeling proud of herself, and not just of herself and Tuffnut, would take some getting used to. For nearly two decades she and Tuffnut had been the Twins, a package deal, like yin and yang, feet and toejam, yakbutter and bread, like her dragon Belch and bad breath.
The more that their days on Dragon's Edge with Hiccup and their friends became a memory of last winter, the more that Ruffnut felt she was being severed from her identity with her brother and becoming an individual. Would people accept her as herself, with her own talents and dreams and beliefs, and not only Tuffnut's sister-in-crime?
Ruffnut rested her chin on her knees, listening to her classmates lauging below. She had learned to make friends with her classmates, after they had gotten used to her being seen without Tuffnut.
All the years Ruffnut had ignored bonding people her age in favor of setting pranks on them or finding mayhem to explore with Tuffnut seemed wasted. Her classmates were accepting of her and always complimented her on her surprisingly high rankings in the underwater basket weaving arts.
Her classmates also weren't estranged from her like Ruffnut thought they'd be. Many girls were friendly and chatted with her often. Boys in the village did too, and some of them were overly nice with their attention, which Ruffnut found confusing. The girls she had befriended had nicely let Ruffnut know when she had been flirted with, since Ruffnut was clueless every time. And every time, Ruffnut was left dumbfounded and wouldn't accept to herself that anyone saw her as pretty and graceful as the other girls in the class.
Now that she sat by herself for the time being, she realized that her father had never told her how to take a compliment, or how to feel she was more than his daughter to follow everything he told her to do, things like keeping their livestock well enough for market. Her mother hadn't cared enough to stay alive to show her how to become a woman of her own, and Ruffnut was left to depend on her own observance of other women and sort out her feelings alone. She resented both of her parents for their own failures to raise her, but then thought if there was anyone to truly blame.
Ruffnut blinked wistfully into the comforting resting place her forearms made over her knees as hot sunlight prickled her neck.
Then, Ruffnut heard footsteps approaching her from behind, and with them came a dorky, boyish voice that chuckled: "Hey! I'd thought you'd be here. Mind if I join?"
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