The doctor was speeding around the TARDIS' console like usual, when he saw one of the red warning buttons begin to blink and beep.
He didn't give it much thought, since he had just lost another companion of his, and was still in mourning.
He was number 11 now, he knew that. "After so many times of letting go", he thought wryly to himself, "I should be used to it."
But this had been one of his rare male companions, a really good friend, and they had ventured around in time and space for all of 7 years.
He rarely spent that much time with his mortal companions, but he hadn't seemed to be able to let him go this time.
As he fell deeper into his thoughts about Michael, (and wasn't that as normal a name as they came), he didn't notice the first beeping sounds coming from the big, round warning device, that normally indicated that something was very wrong with the TARDIS.
He awoke slowly, to an aching head and a shaky vision. After slowly getting up, he found himself still in the main control room of the TARDIS, but flung out to the sides, and under some of the machinery.
Nothing was being flung about from the gravitational forces of falling anymore, so it looked like the TARDIS had found a place to crash-land while he had been unconscious.
He walked unsteadily to the console, and mentally asked her what had happened. In answer, he received a bunch of mental static, and a feeling of 'go away', and 'im busy'.
He frowned, and rapped sharply on the console, just once. She might be busy, but she knew as well as him, that he could often help, and there was no need to be rude.
She immediately sent a slower stream of 'im sorry', diagnostics-easy but slooooow', and 'go out-enjoy yourself-safe here', together with a small burst of information about where exactly she had crash-landed them. Ah… it seemed she knew of his sorrow over Micael, and wanted him to go have fun, while she did the boring work.
Well… how could he refuse an offer like that. He told her so, with a small 'thank you'-pat to her console, and then went to put on clothes that fit the time, before he headed out.
The first thing that he registered was trees. Not normal, everyday trees, like they would have been on earth, but huge, towering things, reaching the size of two to three story houses. They looked like variations of fir trees, but sized up by a whole lot.
It figured. According to the small burst of knowledge from TARDIS, they were currently located in a mountain ranges labeled 'The Beors', which were known for their megaflora and -fauna. He hadn't expected this level of size though… He resolved to do his best not to meet any of the predator around here.
But…
Where and how would he go about finding any interesting people around. I wouldn't be very fun to just wander aimlessly under the big trees.
In another place, and a slightly different time, Eragon was confused, angry and also slightly scared.
He was, after all, arguing with a weird mix between a lizard and a mechanical person, who was, at the same time, the container for the eldunari Umaroth, one of the eldest of his kind, and the guardian of the remaining dragon eggs.
He meant what he was saying though. He knew how many eggs had been in the pocket space when they had left Nasuda to her newly claimed throne, and taken off for Tronjheim, and now that they had arrived, there was one less egg.
He had gotten about halfway back out the mountain, when Umaroth had woken up, and asked him to stop, and simply let it be.
Which got them to now. Where he was trying to talk a stubborn (and more importantly, cryptic) dragon-soul into telling him where the lost egg was, why Eragon had to let it be, and how it had just fallen out of the pocket space in the first place.
He was getting nowhere fast, when Saphira decided to intervene, firmly but gently reminding him to breathe and relax, and at the same time, sending an enquiring though-tendril towards Umaroth, asking him, "could you not simply tell him, Umaroth-elda? I have found that reason works best on my little one, dragon-secret or no."
Umaroth let out a long mental sigh, thinking it over, while Eragon was busy being annoyed that Saphira somehow knew what was going on, and hadn't already told him…
"Very well, Saphira-finiarel, but" and here he switched over to Eragon "you must swear an oath in the ancient language, not to reveal this to anyone, before given permission by someone of dragonkind."
Eragon was surprised. He hadn't expected a secret big enough for oaths to be needed, but he was willing nonetheless, his trust in Saphira unending, and in Umaroth, only a little less.
When the oath was sworn, and the magic had settled, Eragon turned expectantly to the dragon by his side, curiosity plain to see on his face, mixed with a stubborn determination. He wanted to know why he wasn't allowed to go get the dragon egg back.
He expected Umaroth to be the one to tell him the secret, but to his surprise, Saphira was the one to start. " You know of course, how we dragons have the ancestral memories, to help us, even when we are only just out of our eggs?". Yes, of course, what did that have to do with – "patience, Eragon-finiarel" he heard Umaroth rumble in the back of his mind, and promptly shut up.
"sorry", he mumbled, embarrassed like a fourteen-year-old again.
"you will be sorry, and I will continue, beloved. All is well" Saphira said, smugly.
She did continue though, telling him, "sometimes, when a dragon is very lucky, those ancestral memories will guide them even in their egg. This is what happened to me, and to the missing egg. You did not know this before, but though it was the eldunari that altered the spell so I could be transported to the Spine, it was me, in my egg, who informed them of where precisely I would need to be sent, so you could get my egg."
Eragon was amazed, but also confused. He understood that this might traditionally have been a secret, in the past, like a well-worn habit, not something you thought about telling people, but what was the need for all the secrecy? It seemed like I should be a celebrated, well known thing.
Saphira heard his unasked questing, and continued, "It is a unique ability some dragons have, to sense, and know, where their egg would need to be, to meet their rider. But it is also a terrible danger. When an infant dragon, still in its shell, uses this ability, its mind reaches out, and it has no way of knowing whom it reached, and no defenses or barriers for malicious mind magics. That is why it is a secret. With the knowledge of it sworn to secrecy, no one who would do such a thing, knows that it is even possible."
Eragon nodded. He understood.
"I understand, and I will leave it where it has decided to stay. I would like to know where it is though, if im allowed, Umaroth-elda?", he asked. In answer, Umaroth showed him a mental picture of the woods, clearly in the Beors judging by the huge trees, with a dragons egg laying on the edges of a clearing, in a little nest of roots from one of the younger trees.
Eragon remembered the place. They had stopped there for a time, to rest Saphira's wings, and to get some water from a creek nearby.
The doctor found himself wandering aimlessly anyway. It had occurred to him that meeting some of the wildlife might be fun after all, so long as the stuck to his 'no predators' rule, and so he had set out on search of animal trails to follow. He had ended up next to a small creek and had decided to follow it.
Now he was on the edges of a small clearing, and staying very still and quiet, so as to not spook the small (well rather large, really) herd of deer grazing there.
He had just found the perfect hiding spot, with lots of visibility, when a sudden sound made him stumble and put his foot in a previously unseen hole.
He fell as long as he was, scared the herd away, and quite suddenly found himself face-to…well rock?, with a very pretty, shimmering stone, as large as both of his hands, if not larger, and giving off a faintly glowing aura.
So he did as any other person in his position would do (not). He took his foot out the hole, dusted himself off, sat down, and picked the stone up, so he could take a closer look at it.
Not five seconds passed, before he got a (very rude) ping in the back of his mind, and a warning that the TARDIS was coming to him right now, and they were getting off this stupid planet.
He was then moderately amused, as she materialized around him, muttering about 'stupid huge goats' and 'who is gonna fix my doooooors'. Evidently, some local fauna had taken exception to her, and decided to move her, one way or another.
Oh well. At least he had something mildly interesting to tide him over while she grumbled. And no matter how mad, he knew she would always lead him home safely.