Rune was fast asleep when a mighty roar hit his ears. He sprang out from his bed immediately, grabbing his axe and ready for combat. But then as his eyes scanned his room, he remembered that he was back at home and not on Dragon's Edge. Sandstorm let out a yawn in the corner of his room as he finally awakened. His wake was far more peaceful than his rider's.
"Good morning to you too"
Sandstorm smacked his lips a couple times and blinked his eyes slowly as the golden rays of sun light filtered into his room through the window. Rune dropped is axe at the side of his bed and rubbed his palms on his face. Sandstorm shook his head from left to right before giving a joyful chirp and panting as he was ready to go.
"Alright, alright, I'll get dressed. I haven't seen you this eager in a while"
Rune took a tunic to put over himself when the roof rattled under the weight of a Monstrous Nightmare landing on it.
"That's going to take some getting used to" he remarked.
Sandstorm ran ahead of him down the stairs as the dining was already set. Wout, Diana and Virgil were already halfway through their breakfast when he arrived. Sandstorm rubbed his head against Wout and Diana's legs as they scratched his head lightly. He gave Virgil's seat a gentle bump with his head, completing his morning greeting as he rushed outside to meet Hothead.
"I see everyone had an early start to their day. How'd you sleep Virgil?"
"I'd say it was okay. The Terrible Terrors really did a number on that room but I managed to make it work" he answered.
"Don't worry, I'll have it sorted by the evening. Rasmus, Erik and Elena are coming by later. They can help clear it out and make it more hospitable" Diana said.
"Who are Rasmus, Erik and Elena?" Rune asked, taking a seat at the table.
"They're a group of kids that come to help us out on the ranch. They're also riders in training so this kind of helps them get more familiar with dragons" Wout explained.
"Sounds interesting. The Ranch has interns" He said casually as he got his utensils ready to eat.
"I was thinking of showing Virgil around. Take him sightseeing, like the great hall, the training arena and such" Rune spoke while chewing food in his mouth.
"That's good" Diana commented.
"But don't worry; we will help out before we leave. I will not allow you guys to stress out while I'm around" Rune assured.
Wout nodded his head and smiled, it was good to have Rune back. The boys cleared the table and the dishes before heading out into the ranch and the farm to help out. They helped wrangle terrible terrors, Shovel poop from across the ranch, refill the feeding stations and help two young men choose their first dragons. All in a day's work for the dragons riders. The farm wasn't left alone, Groncles and Deadly Nadders had to be chased off the cabbage patch, Sheep were led to their pasture and the fence for the goat enclosure had to be fixed. By the time the boys were done, they were almost too exhausted to go out.
Under the cool shade of a tree, Rune and Virgil rested their backs on the trunk of the tree with their dragons by their sides. The breeze was cool, helping them escape the heat from the sun from the clear sky above. The position of the tree gave them a good view of the farm and the ranch, watching how the two sides worked in harmony together and all the animals at ease.
"Man, I'm tired. All that work has drained me" Rune sighed as his fingers gently stroked Sandstorm's head. The brown dragon was fast asleep.
"Tell me about it. My back is killing me, and my feet are sore from all the running around" Virgil added, rubbing lower back.
"It's been so long, I've almost forgotten what life was like on the farm. It feels almost nostalgic"
"The whole experience is new to me. My family has always been about combat. I've never experienced what life would be like on the farm. It's certainly different from battling all the time"
"I guess you're from a warrior family then?"
"Yeah. War, King's guard, Royal guard, Island defense, anything that has to do with battle, my family is there. Each generation trains to be better than the previous ones"
"I guess that kind of mounts some type of pressure on you huh"
"Well kind off. We were trained to harness that pressure and use it to raise our levels, to be the best and surpass our fathers. That's what drove me to archery, to become the greatest archer in my family"
"Respect" Rune said nodding his head. "Well I don't know if I'd be able to give you a well-rounded tour but I know two places that I can take you to"
"No problem. We still have at least a day or two before we leave"
"Yeah, tomorrow should be better. Come on Sandstorm. Let's go"
The Sand Wraith huffed not being the happiest when having his naps cut short.
The two Vikings took to the sky as Rune led Virgil to the blacksmith's shop. As always, it was as busy as ever, Vikings waited outside in lines as they awaited their saddles to be made and matters to be attended to. Toothless sat at the entrance to the shop from the side, the King of Dragons looked unimpressed sitting down next to the shop all day. Hiccup and Gobber were hard at work and didn't even notice when the two arrived.
"What is this place?" Virgil asked.
"This is Gobber's shop. He's the blacksmith of Berk. He builds saddles with Hiccup as well as work on Dragon teeth. It's really something" Rune explained.
Virgil nodded as they came in to land. As soon as they landed, Toothless had a look of excitement on his face. Sandstorm and Hothead ran off to meet the King as the three of them exchanged pleasantries. Virgil followed Rune into the shop looking at the machinery in the shop, noting how efficiently the two worked.
"Good afternoon Hiccup. I see you guys are hard at work as always" Rune said.
"Rune" Hiccup said shooting his eyes up at him, catching a glance of him and Virgil as his eyes returned to the leather that was being cut. "What brings you here? You wanna help your old mentor out? I know Gobber and I could use some help around here"
"Not really. Well, I actually wanted to borrow some of your notes regarding the first vertical stabilizer you used on your flight suit. Forde and I designed one and I struggled with stability when I tested it out" Rune explained.
"You made a flight suit?" Hiccup said with some sense of surprise. He pulled a lever to stop the saw from cutting through the leather.
"Hey Berserker boy" Gobber called Virgil's attention. "Could you pass that paint brush for me?"
"Sure thing"
"Thank you. Now I'll need that glue over there on the table and that can of lacquer next to Grump. Speaking of Grump, Light the forge would ya! I don't have to remind ya all the time to keep it alight"
Virgil had unknowingly become Gobber's assistant by that single action of his.
"Well yes. I saw a few of your plan before we left and I decided to make one of my own" Rune answered, following Hiccup through the shop as he moved to another machine in the shop.
"I mean building one off memory alone is quite impressive"
"What can I say, I learned from the best" He said shrugging his shoulders.
In reality, he had studied his suit in his past life. He studied the look, the materials, every detail of it. YouTube videos debating whether or not the design would work under the influence of real physics and what it would take to build one in the real world.
"The plans you seek should be somewhere around. I've moved on to a sleeker, more efficient design. You know your way around my work table don't you?"
"I do, I do"
"Wait a minute, where's Virgil" Rune said. He looked around and spotted the long haired teen wearing a brown leather apron, helping Gobber hold a saddle in place as he applied the finishing touches.
"Virgil, hoe did you-"
"Don't ask me how. All I know was that I was helping him get stuff and I somehow ended up wearing this apron and began working on this saddle"
Rune shook his head and laughed as he went over to Hiccup's table. He went through his plans, carefully arranged on the side of his desk. Filtering through the almost infinite amount of papers, he finally got out sheets on his first flight suit design. Rune studied the notes, memorizing the key components and how they assembled. If only he had his phone, he would've taken a picture of it to study more at home.
Rune got out his little notepad and scribbled down all the important bits. He was going to need them when he got back to Dragon's Edge. The sun had gone down and the sky had turned orange. The line of Vikings outside of the shop had seemingly vanished and all roads led home.
"I think I've gotten all I need" Rune said finally getting his head out of the plans he had buried it in. "Wait, it's that late already?" he said seeing the sky.
"You tell me. I got sucked into this whole thing that I forgot I don't even live here" Virgil said taking off the apron.
"Well I did appreciate the extra hand. Feel free to come back anytime" Gobber said patting Virgil on the shoulder.
"Did you get what you were looking for?" Hiccup asked.
"I did. The mechanics and design, I took them all down. Forde and I can work with it when we get back"
"Well that's good. Your creativity and ingenuity are growing"
The four of them walked out as Gobber and Hiccup closed for the day. Sandstorm, Hothead and Toothless arrived.
"I wonder what you three have been up to. Hope you didn't get into too much trouble" rune said holding his dragon by the head.
Sandstorm gave him a smug look causing him to doubt his dragon more.
"How long are you guys staying?" Hiccup asked.
"I don't know. We might still be here for a day or two. We can't afford to stay away too long, hunters need to be raided" Rune answered.
"I understand. You do your part in stopping them from out that and we'll do our part from over here" Hiccup said. "Just don't be strangers okay?"
"You got it"
The four split up and went their separate ways. Rune and Virgil didn't head home but instead to Forde's place. Rune wanted to tell him what he had accomplished today, plus Virgil would get to see some things around the island. By the time they arrived bar, Vyra, Forde, Sten and Thyra were already there. The four of them had a table to themselves with cups of wine already poured.
"Well look who Odin dragged in" Sten said as he spotted the two.
"Rune, Virgil, over here" Thyra called while waving.
"Guys. We weren't expecting the whole group to be here" Rune said as they walked over.
"Well it seems fate has brought us together once more" Forde said. "What brings you to the bar? Craving a little liquor I presume?" he teased.
"Nah. More of work" Rune said as he got his notepad. He placed it before Forde as he went through the details.
"I see. Are these the plans for the vertical fin?"
"You know it"
"Rune!" Vyra yelled as she ran over and hugged him tightly.
"Sup V?"
The others scooted over making space for Rune and Virgil to sit down. Vyra had her hand locked around Rune's from the moment they sat down together.
"Once we get back to Dragon's Edge we can make it work" Forde said.
"How are you enjoying your time on Berk Virgil?" Thyra asked.
"Is Rune treating you right?" Sten quickly added.
"Berk is fine. Rune has been more than hospitable throughout my stay in his home. I'm quite frankly enjoying myself"
"That's good to know. I thought I'd have to educate Rune here on a bit of hospitality" Sten said rubbing his fist against his palm.
"Okay" Rune said nervously.
"So Rune, what have you been up to?" Vyra asked.
"Nothing much. Just helping my parents around and stuff. Nothing out of the ordinary" he answered.
"Why don't we go out tomorrow? See some sights, maybe meet each other's parents?" she asked.
Rune gave a worried smile and chuckle. She was pushing things a bit too quickly. First it was marriage and now meeting parents? That was too fast for him, he didn't feel ready yet. Forde spotted this and decided to intervene.
"You know what, let's have a little toast. This little reunion can't go unmarked" He suggested.
"That sounds like a good idea" Thyra said eagerly. "Let me grab a few cups for Rune and Virgil"
"There would be no need Thyra, I was actually thinking of asking Rune to help me out" He said.
"Oh" her voice carrying some sadness.
"Why do you need Rune? He's sitting comfortably next to me. You can ask Thyra or your brother?" Vyra said sharply.
"It's okay. It'll be quick" Rune said already standing up.
Rune pulled away from her grasp and went along with Forde.
"Thanks man. I owe you one"
"Don't mention it. It can be like that sometimes. As long as you set clear boundaries and stuff I'm sure you'll be fine. But then again, what do I know" he said casually.
And so Rune survived to live another day. For now.