iii. The Frode Family

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━━ chapter threethe frode family

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━━ chapter three
the frode family

✿✼:*゚:༅。.。༅:*・゚゚・⭑

━━The evening was spent in the dining hall. The group of young dragon fighters━save Hiccup because he was off Thor knows where━sat together with Gobber at one of the centre tables, enjoying dinner as they discussed their time at the arena today. Valkyrie played with her soup, making the lines of leaves with her spoon before she'd eat some. The light was dim, flickering with the fire of lit torches sided along the walls.

"Where did Astrid go wrong in the ring today?"

Astrid looked at the water in her horn-cup, "I mistimed my somersault dive," she said easily. "It was sloppy. It threw off my reverse tumble."

"Yeah," scoffed Ruffnut, "we noticed."

"No! No!" Snotlout was quick to assure Astrid, "you were great. That was so Astrid." She rolled her eyes at him, her fingers tightening around her drink as if contemplating whether to throw it at him or not.

"She's right," said Gobber. "You have to be tough on yourselves, but that was not where I was aiming, Astrid," he picked up the chicken leg with his hook and took a bite. "Valkyrie, how about you tell me where you went wrong in the ring today, and perhaps it can help both of you understand."

Valkyrie stopped playing with her food to arch a brow. She had a feeling she knew exactly what Gobber was aiming, but she didn't want to admit it, and she was sure Astrid would scoff it away if she admitted it, too. Still, Valkyrie gritted her teeth and answered, "We focused on our own agenda instead of focusing on the dragon."

"Correct!" Gobber pointed the chicken leg at her. "You may call this a competition, but in the real world, in the world of killed or be killed, you're not fighting one another to reach the top, and if you do, you'll both end up dead. You gotta focus on yourself just as much as having each other's back. That's a real warrior's motto."

Valkyrie and Astrid shared a glance from where they sat next to each other. Now out of the ring, they were best friends again. It was how they worked. Whenever there was a competition, it was every friend for themselves. But Valkyrie didn't think that was the same for fighting dragons outside the ring. That wasn't a competition to Astrid, was it? Or to Valkyrie? They would have each other's backs when it came to it, surely. Valkyrie wouldn't let a dragon kill Astrid ...

Until she realised that she could have caused Astrid to die in the ring today by the Gronckle from her own selfishness, and the same went for Astrid to her, too.

(That definitely gave the two of them something to think about. To themselves, obviously. Not in front of anyone else, because that required showcase of emotion, which Valkyrie does not do in public).

𝐕𝐀𝐋𝐊𝐘𝐑𝐈𝐄,          how to train your dragon ¹Where stories live. Discover now