Between Waves and Clouds

PART 4 - LOVE AND LOSS

Chapter 25 - Dracong racing

After saying his parents and sister that Frost and him were together, Nuffink had seen the news spread everywhere in the village, faster than an epidemy of eel-flu. Within only one day, everyone knew about it, and mostly everyone reacted the same way. Mostly. If some people were still uncomfortable with the idea of a same-gender couple, all the other vikings took it very well.

All of Nuffink's relatives and friends who had seen him go into depression were glad to hear the last proof they needed to know he had now completely recovered and was moving on. Some girls who had been flustered by Frost's charms were disappointed to learn he had someone, but they didn't say anything when they saw the both together.

The dragon riders were the most excited ones, rejoycing for both of them, though Igvid had not joined the cheers, but Nuffink was too swarmed in his friend's joy to pay attention to it. Gobber was way more happy and excited about it, to the extend he had thrown a party to celebrate in the evening. Frost had not seen Selina there but had not worried about it, because the mermaid had told him she was leaving for a good week trip.

The following days on New Berk were pretty restless. The dragon riders were hard-working, getting prepared and training for the upcoming race, and the more Frost was looking at them, the more he noticed how late he was compared to them. They had been training and flying for years, they had developped numerous technics, skills and figures with their dragons... Still the white-haired boy didn't let himself be discouraged.

He trained too, maybe harder than the others, assuredly longer. He was coming home late and exhausted, and was the first to get up in the morning. Nuffink knew that, if he was doing this to Pouncer, his dragon would hate him. Yet it was not Ruffrunner's case. For all the dragon had been the lazy and grumpy one in the family, he seemed to be just as excited and motivated as his rider. Surely he enjoyed training with his rider and even was the one to drag the boy out of the house in the morning. Though the dragon's excitement didn't hide the growing anxiousness of the boy. Nuffink noticed it and wondered what he could do about it.

So, on the fourth day of training, he offered a training session to Frost, in the forest instead of the Academy, just the two of them, well with their dragons of course. Frost wasn't sure his boyfriend was really talking about training or taking a break, still he accepted and followed him. Both dragons landed in the woods, near a nice river where they could fish something to eat for lunch. They found a nice spot in the grass and sat there. Frost was biting the inside of his cheek with nervousness, he couldn't help but hink about the race.

''Don't worry,'' Nuffink assured ''you have have the same odds of winning as the others.''

''I don't see how ! You guys are all that impressive, you know so much about your dragon and have so much skills while I'm just a rookie.''

''It's not a matter of skills, what matters is knowing your dragon and your opponents. And I can help with that.''

''Won't that be cheating ?''

''No, just upgrading. We riders are used to work together, we know each other and lots of the other's tricks. So you have an advantage on that.''

''Looks more like a drawback for me.''

''I mean no one know what you're capable of.''

''Including me.'' Frost sighed and ran a hand on his face. ''I really appreciate you trying to make me feel better. I needed it.''

The viking moved closer and wrapped an arm around his shoulders. Frost rested his head against his neck and sighed in content, eyes lingering on the landscape.