𝐁𝐋𝐀𝐙𝐄 𝐎𝐅 𝐆𝐋𝐎𝐑𝐘 ( 𝐬𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐥𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐣𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐧 )

Chapter Three

        The following morning, Sage said goodbye to her father at the docks. She embraced him tightly, silently prayed for his safe return and then watched him get onto one of the five boats that left Berk, taking most of their strongest warriors with them. Stoick was included, as well as the parents of nearly all the other teens. She didn't focus on that though, instead standing there with Tryggr, wondering if the gods would be so cruel to take her dad from her after everything else she had already lost. She didn't have long to dwell on that possibility before her uncle was throwing his arm around her shoulders and then all but forcing his spear into her hand as he did.

"Come on, little bird, you're going to be late." He said in a voice that was far too joyous considering they just watched his brother quite possibly go towards his death.

Sage frowned, looking up at him. "What are you talking about? Late for what? And why do I have your spear?"

"Don't act like you don't nick it, little bird." He grinned, all but forcing her along as they left the docks. "And you're off to dragon training!"

Her eyes widened. "W-What? But Dad would-"

"Never let you?" He finished, still nudging her closer to the arena. "Yeah, that's why he doesn't know."

She stopped, forcing him to pause with her. "Seriously?"

Sage had no idea if she was scared or excited.

"You said you wanted to learn, poppet." She hated it when he called her that; he did it just to piss her off. "Gobber is willing to teach you."

"You wanna get back at Dad for leaving you behind, don't you?" She smirked and Tryggr mirrored it. "I don't even care! I'll take it!"

"Use this wisely." He tapped his knuckles against her skull before he took his own helmet off his head and placed it on hers. "You'll be needing that."

Sage didn't even care that the thing was too big, instead she was grinning widely before pushing past him, the spear in her hand. "I won't let you down Uncle Tryggr!"

"I know!" He called after her, wondering if it was possible to be proud when she hadn't even done anything yet.

The arena looked no different now than it did yesterday, except she felt different, because now she was meant to be there, not sneaking around and trying not to get caught. The dragon training pit, as Tryggr had once called it, was circular and made of the hardest stone, created to withstand even the greatest of battles, intended for dragon killing and fighting. They used the arena for handling lots of things, including the annual Thawfest games that she was rarely allowed to even attend, and it felt quite intimidating now that she knew she was going to join generations of Berk in dragon training. Many of the best and strongest vikings did their training here, they fought here, and she knew she could be as strong as they were, if only she didn't feel like she was invading on sacred ground, like she wasn't supposed to be here. The arena somehow looked bigger than it did before, and she had the crushing weight on her shoulders when she saw that the other teens were already present and had turned when she started to approach. She didn't blame them━━━she suddenly felt like this was the worst mistake she could ever make. The spear felt like it was much heavier than she knew it actually was, and most certainly didn't help.

"What is she doing here?" She heard Tuffnut not even bother to whisper, and to her surprise, he received a swift elbow to the chest by Astrid.

"Who cares?" Snotlout scoffed, rolling his eyes as he did. "We all know who's gonna ace the training━━━the Snotman! Isn't that right, Astrid?" He flashed her a flirty smile, earning a hit that put the elbow Tuffnut took to shame.