I'm not awesome enough to own the Inheritance Cycle. Though I wish I did.

Thoughts over bond

Walking through the camp David dutifully ignored everyone's gaze as he looked for Brom. Ever since he and Murtagh had crashed into the battle on the back of a giant dragon, everyone had looked upon the both of them with varying measures of awe, intrigue, and wariness.

Looking for the old mans tent he called to see if anyone was inside. When David heard a gruff 'enter' he wasted no time pushing aside the flap of the tent. "Afternoon Brom."

When Brom saw who entered his tent he stood up from his cot and gave David a firm hug, which was gladly returned.

After pulling away from the hug, Brom hit David upside the head. "Ow!" David rubbed his head. "What was that for?!"

"For being foolish, and thinking it wise to go to Urû'baen of all places."

David shrugged sheepishly before adopting a serious air. "I need to speak with you. Privately."

Brom raised an eyebrow and gestured around them. "This is a secure place. Whatever you wish to tell me you may do so here."

"I don't doubt that it is," David said, "but I was thinking of somewhere else." He opened the flap again and looked back once more. "Please, come with me."

David waited for Brom outside of the tent, smiling a little when he heard a couple of curses to his name.

When Brom emerged David set off in the direction of his tent, trusting that Brom would follow him. It took a while to get there. He and Murtagh were given tents at the edge of the Varden's camp, allowing space for Aquila to lay out in the fields next to it without worrying about knocking into anything.

Ducking into his tent David told Brom to wait outside while he grabbed something. David took Broms silence as an agreement.

Kneeling beside his cot David reached underneath until his hand came in contact with his bag. It was given to him by Nasuada, and he took it gratefully. Now he no longer needed to use a bag made out of shadows.

Slinging the bag over his shoulder David left his tent to see Brom staring out into the distance with a wistful smile on his face. Turning to see what Brom was looking at David smiled as well.

Sprawled out in the grass was none other than Aquila. The afternoon sun making her aqua scales glitter like thousands of diamonds. Laying a small ways away from Aquila was the sapphire blue body of Saphira. Ever since she has returned from Helgrind with Roran and Katrina she's been occupying her time by talking with Aquila. She has even tried playing with Aquila, but Aquila was never much of the playing type. She immediately snapped at Saphira and whacked her with her tail. When David saw what had taken place over the bond he had started laughing rather uproariously.

Shaking away his thoughts David touched Brom's shoulder as he passed, signaling for him to follow.

Aquila heard their approach and lazily opened her mint green eyes. Knowing what David was about to do Aquila rose from her position until she was standing at her full height. To others she was really quite intimidating. They were only used to Saphira, but Aquila easily towered over her. She's had a recent growth spurt, causing her to be nearly twice Saphira's size.

David was about to climb on when he realized she didn't have a saddle. For him he could use magic to protect his legs, but Brom would most likely prefer a saddle.

Deciding to use Aquila's shadow he shaped them until they formed a black saddle, perfectly molded to her back.

Satisfied, David waisted no time in climbing onto her back. Now that Aquila's shoulders were so wide apart David felt discomfort when trying to sit normally in the saddle, so instead he chose to sit with his legs crossed.

"Are you going to come up here and joint me, or are you going to stay down there?" David looked down and waited for Broms answer. His words must have brought him out of his observation of Aquila, and he climbed into the back of the saddle. Not quite as quick as David was able to, but at least he wasn't as bad as Murtagh.

He absently wondered where the red rider was, and decided to seek him out after his talk with Brom.

With a nod hello to Saphira David tightened his grip on the spike in front of him and mentally told Aquila to take off.

Stretching out her wings, she gave them an experimental flap before raising them as high as they would go. Aquila forced her wings down at the same time she pushed off the ground with her legs.

Whike taking off Brom latched onto David's back so the sudden rush of air wouldn't rip him from the saddle.

As Aquila leveled out Brom's grip on him loosened, and David turned himself around to sit backwards in the saddle.

He was greeted with a glower, courtesy of Brom. "You could have warned me before taking off."

"Sorry. It seems I don't always remember to warn my passengers." David thought back to the battle when Aquila had dove towards the ground and Murtagh berated him for giving no warning.

"Why have you brought me from the private setting of my tent, to the back of your dragon?"

David took a moment to think of how to proceed before bringing the bag into his lap and slowly opening it. He looked at the contents before reaching inside and taking out one of the items. Returning the bag to his back David set the item on the saddle in between them, careful to keep one of his hands on it in case it rolled off.

"Do you know what this is?" David took his eyes off of the object and looked to see Brom was trying to figure out what it could possibly be.

"This is…" Brom hovered his hand over the object, "many years ago I was told by my master what this object was." He looked at David sharply, "I assume you know what this is as well?"

"I do."

Brom grumbled, "Of course you do." He then cleared his throat, "Then I assume you know that this Eldunarí has the conscious of a dragon."

"And that is exactly why I wanted to tell you about this. Galbatorix was the one who gave her to me, and yes it's a she. He wanted me to try and speak with her because apparently he couldn't get through to her, or something." David rolled his eyes but continued, "We–being Murtagh and I–eventually started talking to her, and during this talk she told us her name. I felt it was only right that I introduced her to you."

Holding out the Eldunarí David waited for Brom to take it from him. When he did David sat back against Aquila's neck and watched Brom closely.

He knew Brom had figured out just who the Eldunarí belonged to by the way his breath hitched and his widened eyes became glassy. He released a shaky breath but stayed silent, and David assumed they were talking over their bond.

When Brom hugged Saphira's Eldunarí to his chest David decided it was time to turn back around in the saddle. It was the most privacy he was able to give them.

A little while later David felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked back and said nothing about the tear tracks he could see on the other mans face. "Thank you, David. You don't know how much this possibly means to me."

David smiled. "Don't worry about it." Aquila felt David's push to return to the ground, and started to descend.

As they got closer to the ground Brom broke their silence. "What is going on between you and Arya?"

David choked on air. "What?"

"The day you were captured she became despondent, and didn't talk to many people. Eventually it passed, but when you and Murtagh revealed yourselves to be alive she acted oddly again. But the next day she started avoiding you. I was just interested in knowing why this was."

It was true. Ever since the day Arya had come to his tent he hasn't seen much of her. Whenever they seemed to be close to one another she would either be on the other side of the room, or if they're about to pass each other she would go in another direction. It was really starting to confuse him. "I don't know," David confessed. "Women will always confuse me." Brom gave a hearty laugh of agreement.

Aquila finally landed, and they both slid down her side. Brom tucked Saphira's Eldunarí under his cloak as they wandered into the Varden's camp.

They soon left each others company. Brom going off to his tent, most likely to speak the day away with his Saphira, and David went off to find Murtagh.

It didn't take long to find him. His tent was right behind his and when he walked up he saw Thorn curled up in front of the tents entrance. David smiled down at the young dragon. "Hey, Thorn."

The dragon opened his eyes to see who was speaking to him. When he saw David he lifted his head and gave a happy squeak. Now that he was growing rather rapidly the squeak had a deeper quality to it, no longer sounding so much like the hatchling he still was.

"Is Murtagh in there?"

David felt Thorn trying to reach into his mind and he allowed him in. No.

Thorn was still too young to speak in full sentences but he was still able to communicate. "Do you know where he is?"

Yes.

"Is he with Nasuada?"

Yes.

David shook his head as if to say 'of course'. "Alright. Just wondering where he was." David waved his hand as he walked away. "See you later. Thorn."

He felt the dragons acknowledgement before his presence slipped away.