They gathered around in a circle. Nasuada on a high-backed chair. Angela standing to her right. King Orrin on her left. On the other side of the room, Queen Islanzadi and Oromis appeared through a large scrying mirror. Arya stood next to the mirrors, wondering what was so important that the scrying wards around Du Weldenvarden had been lifted for this. Orik entered the tent as well, along with Saphira's head.
"So, what's the deal here," asked Nasuada impatiently. She was what Eragon had to say which demanded such an assembly.
"Well, it all started when I ate this curious blue-colored mushroom which Angela gave me," Eragon looked at Angela meaningfully.
"That wasn't meant for human consumption!" she exclaimed. "To tell the truth, this is all your fault."
"Say what you must and stop wasting our time", Islanzadi suggested, in a regal but annoyed voice.
"Well," continued Eragon, "it soon became apparent that this mushroom granted the eater the power of common sense."
"So you admit you didn't have any before," said Nasuada dryly.
"That would explain a lot," commented Arya. "Like how you ran off into the Empire after that episode in Helgrind for no good reason."
"Let's just pretend that never happened", suggested Eragon weakly.
"I don't see where we're going with this," said Orrin. "Why should I care about your common sense?"
"Of course," agreed Eragon. "What I have to say is that my newfound common sense has allowed me to realize two things. First, that we have literally no chance of winning against Galbatorix -"
"But we know that already!" Orrin interjected.
"- and second, that we could actually have a good chance of winning against Galbatorix if we tried out a few fantastic ideas I came up with when I was high on mushrooms in Angela's tent this morning", concluded Eragon.
Orrin spluttered, as if Eragon had gone mad, which was not unlikely. Oromis was attentively listening though. Maybe Eragon did have some good ideas. Oromis had done some "experimentation" back when he was a young elf, and still kept an open mind.
"Go ahead, Eragon", he encouraged. Eragon unfolded a sheet of paper on which he had scribbled some notes to himself and began explaining his plans.
"Well I talked to this strange hermit back when I was running across the empire", said Eragon.
"Tenga." Angela said flatly. Eragon nodded in acknowledgement of the name.
"He was talking about a name that Galbatorix was searching for, the Name of Names."
"Sorry, what's this name again?" asked Nasuada.
"By process of elimination, I determined that it was probably something like a true name for the Ancient Language, which lets anyone who knows the name control magic itself."
"If Galbatorix learns the name, he will become nigh undefeatable", said Islanzadi. "This makes it even more essential that we do not delay. We cannot underestimate the power of the Name."
"It's true that the Name of Names is immensely powerful," said Eragon, "which is why I've decided to figure out the name myself, before Galbatorix finds it."
Oromis gagged on his tea.
"I think you underestimate the magnitude of this task", Arya said gently. "You do not even know your own true name, and the search for the Name of Name is vastly more difficult. Many have found their own names, yet none have found the Name."
"Just hear what I have to say," protested Eragon. "When you discover your true name, you know you've found it because you can feel it. You know with absolute conviction that it is your true name, correct?"
Oromis nodded.
"Well, we can expect something similar to happen if I say the Name. I will know that I've found it." continued Eragon. "Now what if we ordered every soldier in the army to start pronouncing random sounds, until we figured out the name?"
"A good idea", Oromis admitted. It was one of very few ideas which had not crossed his mind in the past few decades. "But it won't work for many reasons. First, it's not enough just to say the words. You need the intent behind the words - you need to know what you are searching for."
"No problem", Eragon shot back, "I'll just use magic to force everyone to have the correct intent to find the Name. If Galbatorix can make soldiers feel no pain, this shouldn't be beyond me."
"That's abhorrent", said Nasuada. "To coerce the minds of people into searching for this Name. I don't pretend to completely understand how you intend this to work, but if you do this, will you be any better than Galbatorix?"
Eragon sighed. "I understand that it might be morally questionable. On the other hand, if we always maintain the moral high-ground, then Galbatorix is going to win. We have no choice here. Besides, if this really bothers you so much, I am sure there is a suitable spell which will erase any moral qualms you may have."
Nasuada shrieked internally at the thought of such a spell, and shook her head.
"I am going to lay out how everything will work", said Eragon. "We will create a dedicated division of about one thousand Searchers, and I will cast the appropriate spells, after consulting with Oromis and Glaedr. These spells will force each Searcher to think random thoughts and pronounce random sounds, until the Name is found. In order to optimize our search speed, I will also cast a spell to make people's mouths move at one thousand times normal speed, and the same for their minds. This will take a large amount of energy, but I believe we can do it by taking captives of the Empire and draining them of energy. Cruel, admittedly, but necessary."
Arya nearly cracked a smile at the thought of a human mouth moving a thousand times regular speed. She frowned at the thought of harvesting captives for their energy, but perhaps Eragon was right about morals. She reflected for a second, then changed her mind. Eragon was definitely wrong about morals. She was over a hundred years old, and therefore, had thought about morality for much longer than he had. There was no way he could be correct.
"Galbatorix has planted many spies among your armies", Islanzadi said. "If they are among your searchers, and one of them finds the Name, Galbatorix will know about it immediately"
"Even if you make sure none of the Searchers are spies," Nasuada said, "a spy could steal the Name from their minds as soon as they discovered it, correct?"
"You are correct of course," said Eragon. "This is why I will also need to encrypt the minds of every Searcher, to prevent anyone from stealing information"
"What do you mean by encrypting a mind", asked Orik.
"The Varden regularly encrypts messages it sends to officers," said Eragon. "It stands to reason that thoughts can be encrypted too. When we want to send encrypted messages, we need someone to encrypt and decrypt the messages. However, to encrypt thoughts, there needs to be a spell doing the decryption and encryption automatically so that the user of the brain doesn't go into a coma from not being able to process anything."
"And how exactly does such a spell work?", asked Islanzadi.
"Ah... " Eragon started. "I was kind of hoping we had some experts on mathematics and neuroscience here so I could figure that all out. Anyone here?"
Silence.
Then King Orrin spoke up, sounding slightly nervous. "I may have some experience in those areas."
"Excellent. We will start studying brain encryption tomorrow at dawn", announced Eragon, as if everything was settled, "and if all goes well, I should have the Name of Names by the end of next week. Galbatorix won't know what hit him"
"Your brain encryption idea is quite clever", admitted Nasuada. "If you can pull it off, we will be able to share information freely, without risking it falling into the wrong hands. Imagine if any enemy magician breaks into the mind of one of our generals, only to find that what's contained inside is incomprehensible and undecodable to him."
"I agree", said Orik, "and I'm beginning to think that all we need to do to win this war is to force-feed Eragon more mushrooms."