Eyarr and I both woke shortly after the sun rose. It warmed up a bit compared to yesterday, the chill wasn't as sharp and painful to breathe in.
Eyarr grabbed his daggers and a short sword. I grabbed my daggers as well, and my clubs. We intended to start with the daggers first, and then move up from there. I picked my daggers up, holding them so the guard was above my thumb and the pommel below. I put the other dagger in the same position. When Eyarr came over, he was decidedly shirtless. And I noticed something on his chest that wasn't there previously.
A tattoo. On his left pectoral. It was a variety of lines crisscrossed over each other. I raised an eyebrow and couldn't help but stare. He noticed my expression, glancing at his chest briefly. He shrugged and got into a defensive stance with his daggers.
"A story for another time."
"You didn't have that tattoo when we left New Berk."
"I know. I'll tell you about it at the right time." He cut off the conversation there. Moving on, I noted the way he held his daggers was different from mine. And visually different, too. Mine was a simple straight design. His were curved at the tips and were jagged on the edge of the blade. It was intended to inflict more damage and was to be used carefully. The pommel rested above his thumb, so the blade pointed downwards. I mimicked his stance, shifting my feet according to the balance of my weight. My fingers flexed around the hilt of the daggers.
He then rushed forward, aiming his daggers toward my abdomen. Instinctively, I sucked in my stomach, bending backward slightly, swiftly avoiding his first attack. I listened to him move around me, I heard him come up behind me to my back right. I swirled around, holding my elbow to his chest and my dagger now facing down.
We swiftly dodged each other's attacks for hours. Taking breaks here and there, giving advice and tips.
Despite how exhausting it was, it was a lot of fun. This was way better than our first spar, and it was nice having someone of equal skill and like-mindedness. He thought the same way as I.
"You're way too fast for me!" He laughed after I pinned him down, my foot on his chest, holding one of my clubs at him. I laughed, too, lifting my foot off and holding my hand out to pull him up. He smirked at me, and I realized I gave him an advantage. He kicked his leg out, catching me as I fell forward, flipping me over, and soon I was the one on the ground. He leaned his head forward, close to mine, I could almost feel the breath escape his nose.
"You happy?" I said, making a face at him.
"Quite." He replied. He pulled me up and let me gain my breath back.
"You know, it's nice having an equal sparring partner," I said, twirling one of my clubs around.
"I agree. I would guess it's been a while for both of us." I nodded my head, putting my club down and stretching.
"To be fair, we're not fighting to be cocky." He commented, and I laughed, thinking about the first one.
When we picked it back up a few days later, it was a similar routine as we got used to each other's techniques and types of attacks.
We continued doing this whenever the weather was really bad or too cold to go out, and I soon could feel my body regaining its strength and focus with all the sparring. I started feeling more like myself. And Eyarr proved to be a different sort of challenge, as I was used to sparring with my sister or father.
One night, after a long evening of sparring, we sat in front of the fire, eating the smoked fish I had prepared prior. I knew how to smoke fish based on my observations on New Berk, but it was the first time I'd attempted it by myself. And much to my surprise, it turned out well!
"For my first time smoking fish, I must say I did a damn good job!" I boasted. Eyarr chuckled.
"I have to agree! This is really good."
"I should start trying to cook other meals."
"I know you told me women on your island didn't cook. Why not learn on New Berk?" I paused.
"Uhhhh… well. I didn't exactly have the best people to teach me…" I replied sheepishly. He raised an eyebrow.
"What do you mean?"
"Well, Chieftess Astrid isn't here to whoop my ass, so… she's a terrible cook. And so is Chief Hiccup's mother, Valka. I've heard cooking horror stories."
"Oh. What about Chief Hiccup and his kids?"
"Hiccup and Zephyr are the only ones allowed to cook. Nuffink doesn't bother." Eyarr busted out laughing.
"Now that's a good reason to go back." I couldn't help but giggle.
"Yeah, I would guess so. The only other person allowed to cook is Gobber."
"And remind me who he is again?"
"The village blacksmith. He's been friends with the Haddocks for decades, well before Chief Hiccup was even born. He has a witty sense of humor, but occasionally he's exceptionally clever. He even offered to teach me how to make weapons if needed."
I soon found myself sharing my experience living on New Berk, and how it changed me. I told him how fast I became fluent in Norse.
"Well, it definitely shows. You speak it so well that when you were talking with Maui, you transitioned to your native language very smoothly." I blushed.
"From months of studying and hard work," I replied.
"If it's okay with you…" he began, I glanced up, "Could you teach me something in your language?" I was shocked.
"What? How come?" He shrugged.
"Out of interest. I know you haven't spoken it much… but I'd still like to learn, in case you want to talk to someone but not in Norse. Andddddd also because you sound breathtaking when you speak it." I blushed even harder.
"Eyarr, you're giving me way too much credit."
"No, I'm serious!" I sighed.
"Alright, we can start with something easy.."
"I don't mind a challenge!" I just chuckled.
"You say that now." I nodded slowly, thinking of something to teach him. Then it hit me.
"Fa'afetai mo le avea ma a'u uo." I gave him a cheeky grin, my hope was that one day when he became better at my language, he would realize what I'd said.
Eyarr's interest piqued even more as if he could almost understand my words. So for the next few hours, I taught him pronunciation. We found it quite fun!
"You have to fluctuate your voice like this, and put your tongue in this position to make that sound." He said it was weird for him, but I assured him it was just as weird for me to learn Norse.
"We'll work on your pronunciation later. But uh… do you know other languages?" I asked him. He nodded.
"They're very old languages, I know a bit of Latin, which the people far south of here on the mainland speak, variations of it, but they speak it. And then I'm more fluent in Gaelic, which'll be useful when we go see the Celts, as that is what they speak."
"How did you learn these languages?" He shrugged.
"From listening to other people, and getting my hands on books that provided some insight on how to speak it. But mostly through listening. It's been quite handy when talking to other foreign travelers."
"I can imagine. When I was growing up, my parents exposed me to different dialects and variations of our language, that way, on my own voyage, I could communicate. I don't know if I'll get to speak to anyone else like me except for Maui in our language. But… I'm slowly accepting that reality."
"Well… like I said, if you ever want anyone else, the offer still stands." I smiled at him.
"That genuinely means a lot. I'm touched you have such an interest in my background." He opened his mouth to say something, and I heard something, but he quickly caught himself.
"Ah, well, y'know… if we're still going to be close when we get back to New Berk, I think it's the respectable thing to do. I imagine the Haddocks have some skill in speaking your language?" I shrugged.
"Sort of, mostly Zephyr and I. Since she's like a sister to me, she was the best one to talk to."
The moon was past its highest point in the sky by the time the fire died down, and we got ready for bed. And I soon found myself enjoying the sound of the icy wind outside.