Ah, the holidays. Some of the happiest days of the year that people can look forward too. I most certainly cannot wait for our gift exchange this morning, at least amongst the adults. Ryker’s kids, Ralph and Thora, have already opened their gifts before a couple of servants were sent to take them to their playroom with their new toys.
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(Snoggletog morning) (Grimborn castle living room)
“Thought we would never get any peace and quiet,” Agnes says causing Ryker, Viggo, Agatha, Kari, and myself.
“Yes and now onto the older’s gifts, shall we,” my mother says with a grin while she rubs her hands together eagerly.
Jumping up from my seat on the couch, I run over to Agnes, tie a black and red braided bracelet onto her wrist before I run back, and sit down.
Agnes looks at her wrist curiously, before I raise my own wrist, “I thought I should keep your gift kind of simple. It has red like the color of our tribe’s crest and black so it can match any of your outfits. Also…I have the matching bracelet.”
Agnes then looks over to see that for a fact I do have the matching bracelet before she sets down her arm once again and then looks over to Viggo.
As if on cue, Viggo reaches behind his chair and brings out an outfit to which he hands to me. While I inspect the garment, I begin to take notice of how similar in style the outfit is to Viggo’s. With the red dragon scales and the black mesh, chest armor, though there are some differences that make this outfit uniquely mine. Like the top of my shirt is red along with my skirt while my sleeves, armbands, and leggings are black. The little extra details on it are fire designs on my belt buckle, knee guards, and a small sheath that can fit a dagger under one of my arm guards.
I slowly stroke the outfit before looking at Viggo and saying, “I love it!”
Viggo smiles at this and I respond by saying, “I am glad, but I am afraid that I cannot take all of the credit. Agatha and your mother did most of the work.”
“Only because you couldn’t put together an outfit even if your life depended on it Viggo,” Agatha responds between laughs.
“Viggo, you shouldn’t be so modest,” Kari replies, “I may have given you some ideas, while also helping Agatha with the sewing, but it was you who came up with the idea, and therefore the most credit.”
Viggo looks between Agatha and Kari before leaning back into his chair and sighing. I giggle at his expression and he smiles right back at me.
“Ahem,” Ryker says drawing our attention.
We all look at him as he says, “An' haur is mah contribution tae yer gift.”
He hangs me a foldable gronkle iron dagger and I hold it gently in my hand. In the hilt, a single alexandrite gem stands out along with the red leather grip. When the dagger is folded, it is about the length of a regular dagger and when I unfold it I find it to be twice its original length.
Sliding the dagger into the sheath beneath the armguard, I beam, “Fits like a glove.”
Everyone laughs at my joke as I pull out my own gifts to hand out. First, I grab Agatha’s gift and I hand it to her gently. The island healer takes the bag and begins to inspect it.
“It’s a medicine bag,” I tell Agatha, “I made it with lots of pouches so that you can be able to take your healing supplies with you without having to hold them. Along with extra space to hold any ingredients you find while you are out.”
“I love it, Adina,” Agatha says squeezing my hand, “I shall take it with me wherever I go.”
Nodding at her statement, I turn to give Ryker his gift. Holding the swords so that the hilts are facing towards him, Ryker stands up to take the blades. Studying the blades, Ryker begins to swing them around a bit to get a feel for the blades.
“Looks loch these ur gart uir ay dragon-proof metal,” Ryker comments, rubbing his thumb against the dragon hunter crest.
“That is correct,” Kari says, nodding her head, “First time too.”
I smile at my mother, “I drew up the plans and carved in our tribe’s crest but I let my mother have some fun experimenting with new metals.”
Mom and I both look at each other with grins on our faces when Viggo comments, “Quite an intuitive find Kari, perhaps this could be a time for new styles of weapons for our hunters.”
“Yeah 'at woods be a gray’t idea,” Ryker says as he sits back down, having finished ‘playing’ with his new swords.
Almost as soon as Ryker had sat down Agatha excused herself saying that she was going to make all of us some hot cocoa before Agnes jumped up saying that she was going to help. Agnes then lightly touches her husband’s shoulder before they both exit the room.
I turn around to grab the final gift before my mother interrupts, “I would like to go real quick if that is okay with you Adina?”
“Yeah sure,” I say nodding in acknowledgment.
From under her blanket, my mother pulls out a beautiful recurve bow. I take the wood bow and take in the swirling lines that my mother has shown to be a part of our old culture. Upon closer inspection, I see that there are two short pieces of metal sticking out from the grip.
“Hey, mom, what are these?” I ask pointing towards the metal pieces.
“Give it here,” Kari says holding out her hand to take it.
Once I had safely transferred my gift back over to my mother and she pushed down on the metal pieces, causing the bow to collapse in on itself.
“Pushing both of these down at the same time will allow the bow to collapse and all for easier transport,” Kari tells me, “Pulling the limbs of the bow back to standard form will allow you to use it again.”
My mother snaps the bow back into standard form before handing my gift back to me. I mouth thank you to my mother before setting the recurve bow down and grabbing Viggo’s gift.
I grab the wrapped gift for Viggo and hesitantly deposit the gift into his hands. Viggo looks at the present, then towards me, then back at the bow, before slowly unwrapping the present.
“It is a replica of my father’s,” I tell Viggo shuffling my hands nervously.
Viggo continues to look over the sheath with a contemplative look so I continue,
“My mother made it so we could always remember my father. Later she told me it was to be used as a gift to someone I consider to be a father.”
When I say father, Viggo’s gaze snaps back up to mine before responding, “Well then I will cherish this with my life, daughter.”
Upon realizing that Vi had just called me daughter, a smile lit up on my face before I jumped into his lap to give him a hug. Everyone laughed.
As soon as Agatha and Agnes returned to the room, exclaiming that they have hot cocoa, Viggo whispered into my ear, “I love you, Anu.”
“I love you too, dad,” I whisper back before we are both handed our own cups.
We all sit in our chairs, with hot cocoa in our hands and joy buzzing throughout the room. Today is going to be a great day.
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In the sky, I find myself suspended in the air by dragon back. The dragon in question is mainly stone grey with deep blue spines all over its head. My inspection of the creature I find myself riding, is cut short when I hear a nasally voice ordering an attack. I find my arm pointing at the boat beneath us. The dragon and I then begin to dive down to attack. Diving beside me, I see others on the backs of dragons in all shapes and sizes. Focusing on our target, the blood red crest of the Dragon Hunters burns its way into my mind.
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(Late Snoggletog evening)
Pacing quietly outside of Viggo’s office, I berate myself on whether I should go in or not. I should go in because I need to tell him but I do not want to go in because he might be angry and upset.
Taking a deep breath, I slowly but loudly knock on the door. I nervously wait for a response. After a short time, I think that Viggo might not even be in there right now and I can wait until later.
That thought immediately shatters when Viggo’s voice slips through the doors, “You may enter.”
YOU ARE READING
Adina
FanfictionBack to the time of Dragons and Vikings, up in the freezing Norths seas, comes the story of Adina Aurelia. Sprouting from humble beginning, follow along as one so young and innocent becomes a warrior and a seer of tomorrow. Though she has experience...
