Burk

The next morning I woke early due to nerves and excitement and I've been inside a full moon cycle (a month) and for most of it I was unconscious and burdens with a fever and a nasty infection from my leg. Ebbe had left after we all ate to go work with most of the men in the armory and Thora said that she would send some lunch for him and some outher later on, this village was bigger then burk and nearly a town so they have put measures to protect people hideing guards and such something that burk needs not of. Thora has bought a new dress for me in the market and washed my hair, braiding it in intricate ways that I begged her to teach me later on. Soon the time was upon us I was wearing ( pictures below off dress and hair)

Staff in hand and my scars in sight, I take a deep calming breath rubbing the scale necklace on my collar for strength, I stand by the door waiting for Thora to get done getting ready as well. Since she as a healer she had errands to do and since I was a healer as well though for dragons that doesn't mean I can't heal a villager either,  so I wanted to come with her as a helper then I can get used to the village as well without being completely lost though I will most likely wander off later on in the day.

When we stepped out of the door the sun seemed to welcome me by shining onto my face the warmth was welcomed and a smile graced my face, I could see most of the younger men look at me because though I was old enough to be their many times grandmother they didn't know that. I could see people and feel their gaze on me as Thora and I walked to where she needed to go, it was at a slower pace as my leg wasn't fully healed and I limped though my staff helped with keeping a steady footing. We made it to a hut closer to the center of the village when Thora turned to me.

" do you mind waiting out here? It shouldn't take long I just need to check up on the elder inside and she doesn't take well to strangers Alayah."

" of corse this is your village and your the healer there's no reason for me to be inside unless you require my help I will be nearby somewhere "

" ok just try not to get lost or hurt again I'm not going to heal you again if you do"

Laughing I wave her off and tell her I'll be fine as she leaves me, looking around for something interesting I soon hear children's voices nearby, quickly closeting that that was my best option I follow the voices down the road I was quite surprised that nobody spoke to me or called out yet but I can't complain, soon I see a group of children watching a group of young men fight with swords and shields, a crew of young ladies near as well. With a smirk at them clearly showing off to the girls and the girls clearly interested. I crouch down to speak with one of the young boys watching.

" hello there child, what do you think of the fight?"

The boy looks at me and his eyes widen,"Your the dragon lady!"

Laughing at the boy I rustle his hair." well yes I guess I am in a way child, now what do you think of the fight? Care to say who will win?"He furiously nods before turning back to the fight." the really tall one that's my brother, his names Olaf, I'm Gilli by the way, the short one is my brothers friend he isn't very good but Olaf says he's still learning, his names snorri, and then there's the other three the one with the beard is Hord the one with the big belly his names Borstig and then there's That really throng one his names Toki, I want Olaf to win but i don't really care who wins."

" ah and why exactly are they fighting each outher? Besides to impress the young maidens?"

" oh they allways do this, it's for practice and to get stronger my brother says and they like doing it I guess. Olaf says he rather be prepared for invaders that way he can be a hero"

I look back at the fight and see some improvements that can be made for all the men ugh if I was healed I could train with them but alas I'm not, I see it's now only against Olaf and Toki at this point the outhers being thrown out of the fight, I can see the young girls practitioner fainting over the men I nearly laugh I hope I wasn't that bad when I was that young. Looking back down at Gilli I ask,

" I don't suppose you could introduce me to them, I only know about two outhers in the village and I guess I should meet some more before I go home"

" really?! I can introduce you to them! That's awesome miss dragon lady!"

" call me Alayah child" I say with a laugh.Straightening up back to my full height I go back to watch the fight, it was quite a close one Toki winning in the end.

Change POVBefore the fight ends one of the boys on the sidelines finally see the woman on the sidelines by the children and quickly hit the nearest one causing him to look as well and soon all three were looking at the beauty, they didn't know who she was at that moment thinking that one of the younger girls had finally grown, and they all start to talk in excitement.

" look at that woman hord, I've never seen one like that in the village."" yeah right snorri you can't even talk to a woman, I bet this is the closest your going to get to her, you can't even talk to a girl"" oh like you can talk hord, the only woman you've both been close too is yer mothers while I have a charm with the lady's"

Borstig says as he waves over to the group of girls with a smile, makeing some smile and wave back.

" just hope she's not after Toki or Olaf, all the young lady's are after them ever since Olaf had his growth in the spring and Toki's dad made him work in the smiths with him."

All the boys agree with hord on that one, when the fight ended in yet another draw Olaf and Toki joined the group and they quickly pointed out the woman again to them who was talking to Olaf's brother Gilli, they all were hopeing to talk to the woman but what they didn't expect was Gilli to take her hand and lead her over to them. Cause if a panic to go through the group who tried to act calm and like they were focused on something else.

Change POV backAfter the fight I asked if Gilli would show me around the village a bit afterwards and if he was lucky I would use the money that Thora gave me to get him a reward at the market. He agreed heartedly before grabbing my hand and tugging, I remembered need him to go slow because I had hurt my leg and he stopped tugging to hard.

Once we were upon the group all eyes were on me and they all stood up to introduce themselves I had my head turned looking at Gilli as he spoke.

" Olaf! This is the dragon lady everyone's talking about! She's really nice and saw you guys fighting like 'wham! Bam! Ca-shing! Clang!' And she said she wanting to meet you because she's new and wanted me to introduce her to you! Isn't that awesome!"

I look at the men and they look taken aback at the scar on my face seeing it for the first time, it was quite big and three thick jagged marks stretching from my jaw up to my ear a chunk or two missing from the top of my ear on my left side of my face, Olaf clears his throat and looks away as the others follow too quickly finding something else interesting.

" well then good job Gilli, though it's quite rude to call such a woman the dragon lady and not even mention her real name, sorry about him my names Olaf as you've heard from my brother"

" don't worry I don't mind being called the dragon lady, it's not much different from the title I had at home, that was quite a fight out there."

he nods before one of the lads clear their throat behind him reminding him that they were there.

" oh yeah, these men are my friends there's Borstig, Hord, Snorri, and Toki who almost won against me"

" it was a tie Olaf you didn't win, it's nice to meet you but Olaf failed to ask what your name is"

" oh, my name is alayah, and it's quite nice to meet you all"

" and you as well Alayah, so any thoughts on the fight with all of us? We didn't scare you did we?"

" snorri was it? No your fight didn't scare me if anything it was almost dull not to offend, If I wasn't injured I would've joined against all of you to make it more interesting if I didn't fear Thora's wrath that is"

"Dull? What do you mean dull?"

" well Hord, in my village we have... different ways of fighting due to my Cheif, and we still fight like you boys do but it's quite fast paced and even sometimes we have different weapons, though a sword and axe will always be favored you boys still have quite a bit of work to do before you fight me even you Olaf and Toki,"

"Wha-"

Borstig was cut off by someone shouting my name, turning quickly and gripping my staff ready to fight I see Thora running up to me relaxing a bit I wait untill she gets to me out of breath.

" hello Thora are you all right?"

" do you know how long I've been looking for you? I leave you for a moment and your gone! You could've fallen into a-a well or something!"

I give a hearty laugh at that comment placing my hand on her shoulder,

" relax Thora I'm not some child to be fretted over, if anything I'm older then you, I was just watching these boys have a practice fight and I wanted to meet them afterwards, I'm not dim enough to fall into a wall unintentionally dear"

She huffs before straightening up and looking at the boys greeting them briefly,

" well then, do you mind bringing Ebbe his lunch, one of the woman went into labor and he needs to eat, would one of you boys mind taking her to the armory?"

" do you need help with the labor? I am a healer also Thora."

" no no, I have help allready I just need you to deliver Ebbe his lunch for me please."

"Of corse I will, now go shoo a child in the womb waits for nobody"

She smiled handing me the meal wrapped in cloth, before taking off to the woman in labor. Turning back to the boys I go to ask who will take me to the armory before they are all shouting their offers over each other, then arguing with each other on who will take me nearly throwing punches Like a bunch of children fighting over a toy. I look down at Gilli smiling and hold my hand out in a unspoken question. He smiled and grabs my hand before leading me in the opposite direction Thora left us leaving the fighting boys alone until they notice I'm gone.

Thanks PansInACoat  for giveing me some motivation and the likes the whole time I was writing this 😁 ~ anonymouse.