Meanwhile, at the Odhinkar longhouse…
Lars had woken up when Primus and Manning left before dawn, and couldn't seem to fall back to sleep. He was envious of his eldest brother and had the highest hopes that someday, he could be as lucky as him to witness Bamburgh Castle in person. Such a feat for such a young Balderklanian was a rarity, if it ever even happened before the clan claimed it over a decade ago.
As he sat up in his bed, thoughts of the training he partook in the other day came to his mind. Lars found himself thinking about the shortcomings of his display. Even though he outshined Soren, there were still some mistakes that he made that he couldn't seem to push aside. His excitement got the better of him when he used the Vættirtol, and this emotional setback was something he suddenly zeroed in on, to the point where he was laughing at himself. First in his mind, but soon enough, he was giggling and shaking his head, entering one of his laughing fits as he realized how careless he was.
Unfortunately, this woke his brother Soren up, who was sleeping in the bed next to him, and after grumbling with discontent he threw his pillow at him.
"Will you shut up? It's way too early for me to deal with your crap!"
Lars subdued immediately, as the emotional pillow slammed him in the face and dropped to the floor. "S-sorry."
"Why are you even awake so early? We're not supposed to tend to the animals for another hour!"
"I dunno. After they left I couldn't-"
"What the hell were you even laughing about? You're a freak, you know that right?"
"I'm not…"
Soren snagged his pillow from the floor and shoved his face into it, trying to fall back asleep with an audible grunt. As he did so, Lars could feel tears forming in his eyes. Before long, he lost his composure and began sobbing quite audibly, which seemed to enrage Soren to the point where he couldn't fall back asleep.
"Oh come on kid, are you freaking serious?"
Lars was red in the face as he bellowed, which in turn woke up their mother, who was on the other side of them. Sigrid got up and began her scolding.
"Soren, what did you do to your brother this time?"
"Nothing!" He exclaimed vigorously, "He woke me up with his weird laughter and then he just started crying!"
Sigrid went to Lars and held him in a big hug. "It's okay honey, shh. Soren, apologize to your brother. Honestly, this early in the morning and you two are already fighting?"
"You're telling me! The kid cries literally every single day! I'm not going to apologize for him waking me up before we have to."
"Well then," she said, "since we're all up, why don't we start the day early? Go and tend to the animals while I tend to the gardens. Lars, you will help me."
Soren was understandably frustrated at this point, leering at Lars with such disdain that he practically cut him with his eyes. Reluctantly, he got dressed, went to the door, and slammed it behind him, shaking the entire longhouse and rattling his youngest brother to the bone.
Lars soon calmed down as he began getting himself dressed. He wiped the tears off his face with his sleeve as he sniffled and went by his mother's side to begin the day's work.
Meanwhile, Soren went to the chicken coop and gave them fresh food and water, practically throwing the seeds at the foul and stomping about with reckless abandon. He grabbed a basket and started collecting their eggs, but due to his frustration, he took one out and threw it at the rooster, making it cry out before it chased him out of the coop.
"Yeah yeah, fuck you!"
He said, not feeling bad about lashing out at the feathered fiend, before he slammed the coop door shut and watched with some semblance of satisfaction as it bashed and flailed to try to peck and scratch him.
Soren put the basket of eggs down and soon brought himself to the barn after he did the dirty deed to the unsuspecting rooster. Mumbling and cursing under his breath all the while, he couldn't seem to shake off his frustration. Soren didn't feel like he was in the wrong, and his mother always seemed to take Lars's side. His annoying and awkward little brother seemed the most spoiled amongst the three of them, which in Soren's eyes, made him that much more of a pathetic pushover. How could such an emotional baby ever live up to the demands of combat? Soren harshly reflected on that while he tended to the cows, goats and pigs.
By the time the sun was higher in the sky and all the chores were done ahead of time, Soren decided to go out into town to clear his head. He had some coin in his pocket to spend, should he decide to find something sugary to eat. On his way down the dirt path from the longhouse, he watched as everyone else was in the middle of tending to their flocks and hardy crops. Somehow, albeit reluctantly, he felt better to have finished his own chores so early despite the circumstances.
Eventually, he bought a jar of honey and began sloppily eating it while he made his way to the training grounds, where the Úlfhéðinn children were doing some aerobic exercises. From a respectful distance, Soren watched them as he suckled the sweet golden glue, as they were under the guidance of a lean, fit trainer, who was scolding those who were beginning to fall behind the group.
He recognized Mads, Gabe, and Emika immediately amongst the group of around 30 children all together, watching them sweat and avoid being scolded by keeping up with the intense demands of their trainer. Apparently, these were warm ups that were done before the use of their Vættirtols came into play, and this was what he was waiting to witness from afar.
While he stood there suckling and slurping, he began to internalize the fact that in a year's time, he'd be participating in such harsh training, which excited him considerably. He had plenty to prove, and wanted to outshine everyone training alongside him. No exceptions. He'd be more potent than Emika, smarter than Mads, have more endurance than Gabe, and most of all, he'd be more mature than Lars.
To witness their training from the sidelines was almost as gratifying as training with Primus behind the back of the Balderklan, as doing so at an age younger than nine was frowned upon. This didn't stop many kids around Soren's age to do so however, as he knew that Gabe trained his younger brothers more than Primus trained Lars and himself. Mad's family was quite keen on not being disobedient against the Balderklan's laws, so his siblings were practically nonexistent and focused on farming. Soren was good friends with them, but whenever it came to the forbidden practice of using Vættirtols at their age, they wouldn't partake in it.
As he ate the honey and watched the older kids shift to their Vættirtol training, which consisted of them going through the step-by-step process of activating their auras, controlling it, and finding partners to spar against. Soren took mental notes from the group to try and utilize once he got the opportunity to do so later when Primus was finished with his business at Bamburgh Castle. To think that his eldest brother was absent to prepare for an actual battle. He knew Gabe was jealous when he overheard Emika talking about it to him from the shift in his tone as the two got ready to spar one another.
This made Soren feel some semblance of satisfaction, to see the egotistical Gabe angry for not being able to live up to the responsibility of a true Odhinkar. When Gabe got yelled at for lashing out by the trainer and to focus on the spar at hand, Soren laughed mockingly at him, which got his attention just as he and Emika gripped forearms to initiate their spar.
Before long, the thirty children began fighting against their opponents, first by engaging in glima, a form of wrestling keenly used by the Úlfheðnar if they could manage it. This was an adaptation adopted only three years ago by their military in an attempt to subdue the Jomsvikings in close quarter combat. Brynjar, the leader of the order, made this transition necessary in order to adapt to their immaculate skill of getting in close fast and performing what was called mikill hjaldr. This disciplined combat style made the Jomsvikings a horror to face even against the Balderklan's immaculate Vættirtols, and Soren knew that Primus might be faced against them using this art of warfare. It made him worry for his eldest brother's safety even behind the front line, but that quickly diminished as he watched Emika and Gabe partake in their glima. If they could do it, why couldn't Primus?
Emika seemed to be struggling against Gabe's endurance and high levels of stamina. With a fluctuation of her aura and shifting her feet, she eventually began fighting back with more gusto. With each push and shove against Gabe, Emika managed to slam a hammer fist into Gabe's face, which made him stagger. With this sudden moment of opportunity, she would sweep him by the feet and grapple him to a hold around his neck and torso, which made Gabe struggle before he reluctantly tapped out to initiate the next portion of the spar.
Mads was flailing wildly as he was easily subdued by his opponent, who was twice his size in muscle and height. As they began their Vættirtol combat, he immediately fired a beam from his hand that struck his opponent in the chest, making them stumble to the ground. Mads would take this opportunity to unleash a bullet hell of red beads from both hands to try and keep him pinned to the ground and unable to rise.
Meanwhile, as Emika was running around Gabe and firing blast after blast of her potent vættir at him, Gabe held his ground with manifested shields around his person. He was holding his ground before he caught an opening and from behind his self made shield wall, he fired a beam that struck her where she was moving to, which almost knocked the breath out of her. As she halted in place, Gabe ran at her and slammed her with one of his floating shields into the dirt, before aiming an extended hand at her that dared her to fight back immediately, lest she be blasted into a crater below her.
Needless to say, Soren was rooting for Emika and Mads, to the point where he'd call out and cheer them on as other younger siblings and parents of the trainees gathered around him. His face was a sticky mess, but that didn't stop him from heckling Gabe as well.
"You got this Emika! Put that bitch in his place! Mads? Do your best I guess."
Gabe leered at the Odhinkar with serious disdain, which distracted him to the point where Emika got up and swiped his arm to the side, shoved her open palm into his face, and unleashed a devastating eruption of magenta vættir point blank, which forced him to stumble backwards. Before he could gather his bearings, she tackled him and forced him to the ground, which after the trainer orbited toward them, he determined the winner and separated them.
Emika was brought to the winners circle before anyone else, while Gabe dragged his feet to the looser circle, all the while snarling and cussing Soren out, which only delighted the young lad that much more.
Meanwhile, Mads ceased fire to conserve some of his stamina, practically begging his opponent to get up and face his wrath. They dusted themself off and let out a vibrant kiap as his orange aura shot out around him like a spiraling tornado. In turn, Mads did the same with his red aura, with wild eyes and a crazy smile on his face. The two would initiate combat, with his opponent making the first strike with a volley of arrow-like projectiles, while Mads immediately began running around like the squirrel boy he was to dodge them, leaping and lashing back with swipes of blade-like slashes from his gauntlet Vættirtol.
Before long, the two would make a gallant display of sparking vættir as the fighters around them did the same. Soren felt goosebumps as he witnessed the kids display a wild frenzy of chiming colors and bellowing chants, almost dropping his honey when Mads was eventually declared the winner of his spar. As more trainees were brought to their respective circles, it boiled down to fifteen winners, who were brought to the winners circle to line up for round two. One extra one was to do more aerobic exercises while they waited for their turn.
Gabe was heinously staring down Soren from the crowd of onlookers, with hate boiling and spilling over as he stood in the looser circle. He was furious that he was distracted, let alone by an Odhinkar, and was determined to confront Soren when the training was done for the day. Soren could tell, and not being one to back down from any confrontation, he'd get himself mentally prepared to put Gabe in his place when the time came, be it with words or via combat. Even though he was only eight, Soren was as hard headed as a battering ram, confident in dealing with any bully. This was something he was renowned for by the Balderklan, and would always walk away with a sense of pride for that fact. Even at his young age, he was known to never back down, even if it meant he would be beaten up or emotionally attacked. It didn't matter. At the end of the day, he was an instigator and never felt humbled by anyone he fought against.
Stubborn pride was Soren's key trait, and when the time came, he would be the one to put Gabe in his place, just as Emika did.