Chapter 1 A House in the Desert

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I do not own Touhou or the Inheritance Cycle

Eragon! Saphira mentally called out to Eragon as they traversed the Hadraic Desert.

Yes? Eragon responded back, What is it?

A mile south, and there is a lake. I suggest that we stop there for a while, Saphira suggested.

Eragon smiled. Finally, some good luck!

"Murtagh!" Eragon said, still on the horse, "Saphira found a lake in the desert!"

He didn't necessary wanted to admit it, but he was tired. Tired from pumping out water from the bottom of the desert. Finding a lake was somewhat like a blessing that, despite what was going on his life, with Brom's death and all, was much needed.

Murtagh seemed to be wary. "Are you sure?" He asked, "Lakes in the desert is so rare that the desert tribes would hide it or protect it. Is there any tribes nearby?"

I only see one house, nothing else. Saphira stated, And it is , um, about the size of your uncle's house in Carvahall if I were to estimate.

Eragon grimaced. "It may be a trap."

"Even so," Murtagh looked at Eragon, "It seemed definitely worth it to rest there for a while. Our horses need rest, and nearby the lake there would definitely be some animals worth catching."

The person living there seemed to have a variety of crops also. Saphira noted, We could restock on resources there. Maybe we could find some extra bedding for Arya too.

"Alright." Eragon made the final decision, "Let's go."

The house that Saphira had noted was barely considered as a house. It was essentially sticks and a lot of leather knitted together, making it seem more like a tent. But, as Saphira reasoned, in the desert having a house like this would definitely be better than having a normal house; an ordinary person would be cooked alive.

There seemed to be a variety of crops that was growing all around the house, but, to Eragon's much surprise, he barely recognize half of these plants. So, after much debating, Eragon made a decision to ask the owner about which crops are poisonous and which are not.

So, Saphira was flying out of sight but close enough to intervene when need to, and Eragon and Murtagh were going to talk to the owner as if they were traveling the desert.

"Are you ready?" Murtagh asked, anticipating a situation where they need to draw their weapons if need be.

Eragon nodded nervously. They needed fresh food so that they could get to the Varden, and this house seemed to be the best stopping point in the middle of the Hadarac desert.

Murtagh took in a deep breath and knocked heavily on the door.

Immediately there was some violent cursing inside the house, and it stopped for thirty seconds, making both Eragon and Murtagh to sweat drop. And the door opened, surprising both Murtagh and Eragon.

"What?" A little girl with white hair and red eyes looked at Eragon and Murtagh with crossed arms, "You were disturbing my afternoon nap."

The little girl in question had hair that dropped down to her sides, white, silver hair. She was wearing a white shirt with baggy red pants, with red suspenders keeping her pants up. The thing that was disconcerting though, was her red eyes.

In all his life time Eragon had not seen red eyes. Yet, this girl in front of them, had them. And those red eyes made Eragon afraid!

Murtagh was also affected by those red eyes. "Eragon!" Murtagh shouted as he drew out his sword and thrusted towards the girl.

Eragon clumsily drew Zar'roc also and was about to join Murtagh in attacking the person when he stopped.

Little one, what happened? Saphira asked, sensing Eragon's surprise.

She, she just grabbed Murtagh's sword! Eragon responded, seeing in front of him Murtagh pressing down all his weight into slashing the girl in half while the girl had her palms on the blade's side and applying just enough pressure to stop it from cutting her.

"Oi! Oi!" The girl shouted out loud, "Would you please stop trying to kill me? I didn't do anything wrong!"

After a second of tense silence, Murtagh withdrew his sword and put it back into his sheath.

"I'm sorry." Murtagh apologized, "This was my first time seeing…."

"Red eyes?" The girl finished Murtagh's sentence, making Murtagh nod, "It's alright. You're not the only one who tried to chop me in half due to my eyes. So, what is your business?"

Eragon quickly let loose a sigh of relief. It seemed that the girl was not hostile to them at all, even though Murtagh did try and kill her. "My name is Evan." Eragon lied, "He is Martin. We would, um, buy some of the crops so that we could travel southward."

The girl shrugged her shoulders. "Okay?" The girl looked at them both, "Um, how should I phrase it? You want to go south to the Varden."

Murtagh and Eragon quickly looked at each other. She deducted it too fast. Murtagh said, alarmingly, You might have to use magic on her to make her forget it.

Too risky. Eragon responded, You saw how fast she caught your blade. I doubt that I could use magic and bind her before she do anything to me.

"Come on in." The girl said, opening the door wider and walking back into her room, "It's a bit disorganized, but make yourself home."

Murtagh first stepped into the house, and Eragon followed. In the main room there was bed with hurriedly thrown off covers on the floor, and to the side were a bunch of farming equipment. It seemed that her job was a farmer in the desert, though much was to be asked on how she managed to acquire a lake without the desert tribes attacking her.

There were two chairs filled with clothes, in which the girl quickly moved the clothes off the wooden chairs and dusted them a couple of times with a cloth. After dusting the chairs, the girl walked over to a separate room and the noise of boiling water was heard.

When Eragon detected there was no traps whatsoever that might have been imbued into the chairs and they both sat down, the girl returned from what he presumed was the kitchen with a tray with hot water and little bags of leaves.

"Oh, I'm stupid." The girl stated, putting down the tray on the ground, "I'll drag a table over."

The girl than walked back into the kitchen, where a bunch of crashing noises were heard, and more profanities muttered. After a minute, the girl returned holding a small table that could barely hold the tray on the ground.

After putting the table down and the tray down on the table, the girl proceeded to pour hot water into three little cups and place the bags of leaves into the water, making the water immediately dark.

Eragon took a whiff at the smell. Tea, he realized. He muttered underneath his breath some Ancient Words just to make sure that there was no poison, which there were no poison. Thus, he drank the tea. And quickly regretted it.

"Hot!" Eragon spat out the tea onto the ground, making both Murtagh and the girl frown. The drink scalded his tongue.

"Sorry." The girl said, "I like my drinks hot."

"Come on, Evan." Murtagh stated, "It can't be that – HOT!"

Murtagh did the same exact thing as Eragon did, drinking the tea only to realize how hot it was. The girl frowned even more.

"Shouldn't be that hot." The girl said, pouring more water into the third cup and drank the tea as it was. "See?"

Both Murtagh and Eragon looked at the girl amazed. She drank a scalding drink without blinking. She must have had a strong heat tolerance.

"Well, anyway," The girl opened up the conservation, "You probably just ran out of food and need about two days' worth of rations, am I right?"

Murtagh frowned. "It'll take at least a week to get out of the desert on horseback."

"But you do have a dragon, right?" The girl dropped, making both Murtagh and Eragon to start sweating.

Saphira, by any chance did she see you? Eragon quickly asked.

You are insulting me. I won't be spotted by a human who was still sleeping. Saphira responded, offended. Try bluffing.

"Um, a dragon?" Eragon tried to play dumb, "What are you talking about –"

"Only an idiot in a desert would wear such thick fingerless gloves in the middle of a fucking desert." The girl retorted, "Either that or you have Gedwëy ignasia, the mark of a dragon rider, on your hand. Seriously, are you truly a fucking idiot?"

Both Murtagh and Eragon stood up and pointed their swords at the girl's neck, who wasn't fazed at all. "Are you-"

"Galbatorix's minion? Please you don't have anything to fear from me." The girl sighed heavily, "I'm just warning you next time. Either you wear heavy clothes, or you find some lighter gloves."

Murtagh still held his sword to the girl's neck. "Eragon." Murtagh said, making Eragon nod. They had to get rid of the girl's memories; even if she was telling the truth, there was still a possibility that the Empire could force the memories out of her and tell them where they were going. So –

Eragon slammed into a mental wall. It was probably the toughest mental wall he met so far, even tougher than Arya's! He tried to pry deeper and attack the girl, but, unlike Brom's trickery who gave up some ground for a massive counter attack, or Arya's tactic of overwhelming the enemy with brute force, the wall didn't. Move. An inch. Mentally.

"That's fucking rude." The girl commented, still talking even as his life was in danger, "Now, would you please remove the sword from my neck? Eka weohnata neiat haina ono."

Eragon blinked. I will not hurt you. "It's alright." He stated to Murtagh, "She just swore in the ancient language that she wouldn't hurt us."

Murtagh blinked, and withdrew his sword. "Better." The girl responded, "Now, true names please? Oh sorry, I mean actual names names, not your true names."

"Eragon." Eragon stated. Was she some sort of magician, knowing true names?

"Murtagh." Murtagh said, making the girl's eyebrow rise and back down.

"Alright, my name is Mokou." The white haired girl said, "You guys must be tired from traversing the desert; you could call your dragon over. He or she could play in the lake outside, I don't really mind."

Saphira? Eragon mentally queried, Do you want to come?

It seems that earning the trust of this…girl seem to be absolutely vital. Saphira stated, It would be most wise if I revealed myself to her.

There was some sort of, buzzing noise on the other side of the mental link. It took a moment for Eragon to properly identify it. You just want to play with the water, am I right?

I haven't taken a bath for quite some time. Yes, playing around with the water sounds interesting. Saphira guiltly confessed, However, first I have to drop off Arya at your house.

"Saphira is coming around." Eragon stated, "She's coming with an important package, so, um, can I truly trust you that you would not berserk if you see it?"

Mokou's eyebrow rose. "If it's anything less than an elf, I'm sure I could take the surprise."

"Well, it's an elf."

She blinked a couple of times. "What the mother fucking hell is an elf-" Mokou started, and then shook her head. "Well, never mind that. Take her inside. I have no prejudices against elves."

Eragon sighed a breath of relief when Mokou spun to Murtagh. "And why is the son of –" Mokou started, Murtagh showing signs of panicking.

"Please! Do not discuss this!" He shouted, and Mokou blinked again.

"I see." Mokou responded, "Is there anything else? Like, for example, you have an Urgal and a Dwarf in your party?"

Eragon was quite confused. "An Urgal and a dwarf?"

"Oh never mind." Mokou shook her head, "So, regarding the elf in subject how did you manage to get an Elf? Did you go to that, that Forsworned Damned Du Wuldenvarden? "

It seems that this girl had some bad experiences regarding elves. Saphira lightly chuckles, Want to ask why?

Eragon looked at Mokou, who was off on a tantrum about cursing the Elve's home. And poke that sleeping dragon? Rather not. However, despite how much she hated the elves she's still willing to help us, which includes the elf. So, it couldn't be that bad, right?

True, little one. Saphira mentally withdrew from the conservation.

"And that why," Mokou started reeling up from her rant, "Whenever you see an Elf offer you a drink do not take it.. Phew, I think I made my point. But, how did an elf accompany you all the way here? It's not like you're an elf, Eragon."

"We found her imprisoned in Gil'ead." Eragon said truthfully, "She was poisoned by Skilna Bragh-"

"Eh? That fucking nasty thing?" Mokou interrupted, showing a face of disgust, "Sorry, go on."

"As stated," Eragon continued, "A shade called Durza captured her and place her inside Gil'ead, where he also captured me and put me inside there. There, Murtagh saved me and the elf, where we managed to escape. Durza tried to pursue us, but Murtagh shot him in the head with an arrow."

Mokou grimaced. "That wouldn't kill him." Mokou said, grimly, "Shades could only die when their heart is pierced, making it so fucking annoying to kill -"

"Damnit." Murtagh swore, "I thought that would kill him."

"I know it from bitter experience." Mokou scratched her head, "I did burn three alive at the same time, and they just came back, stronger and angrier. And trust me, you do not want to make them angry. Because they get damn angry."

"You fought Shades before?" Eragon asked, making Mokou nod.

"Back when Alagesia was young, I fought with so many with them that I fucking lost count." Mokou revealed, making Eragon's eyebrow twich.

Back when Alagesia was young? Alright, there was something suspicious about that, big time.

Little one, ask her how old she is. Saphira prodded Eragon onwards.

"How old are you, Mokou?" Eragon asked, making the girl shrug her shoulders.

"Lost count." Mokou revealed, making Murtagh look at her in a whole new perspective, "Anyways, I presume that you guys are looking for Tunivor's Nector to heal her? Oh, that's why you're going South, not North. Okay, well, that's quite simple."

"What is simple?" Murtagh asked.

"I have a bottle of it somewhere in my kitchen." Mokou revealed, "Just, um, have your dragon set down the elf right outside the house while I'll find it."

"I thought that you can't bottle Tunivor's Nector." Murtagh asked as he and Eragon brought in Arya from outside.

Mokou looked at the elf and whistled. "She looks much better than a normal tortured Shade victim."

"I tried my best to heal her." Eragon shrugged, "She still bears some injuries…"

"Well, kid, you did a fucking great job." Mokou smiled brilliantly, making Eragon blush, "Now, to answer your question, Murtagh, it's possible to bottle it. A doctor showed me how to bottle medicine and store it in safe conditions, so outside that's what half my crops are devoted to. They are medicine crops that I harvest and bottle."

Thank god we had the foresight to ask. Eragon mentally said, Otherwise, Murtagh and I be poisoned big time.

Meh, a little stomachache wouldn't be that harmful.

I don't think a little could cover the severity of swallowing crops meant for medicine. Eragon grimaced, sending Saphira picture of what happened when he swallowed some of Uncle Garrow's crops. Wasn't the best idea he had.

He was hungry at that time!

Saphira did not comment at all about his mistake.

"Now," Mokou pulled out a small vial, "To administer this to Arya."

With that, Mokou drank half vial, making both Eragon and Murtagh look at her like she's insane.

"What are you doing?" Eragon asked when Mokou leaned over Arya and pinched her nose.

And Mokou's lips covered Arya's with a wet sound.

In other words, a kiss.

All of Eragon's male instincts rose up at the arousing scene, so he carefully made sure that he did not telepathically convey his, um, natural instincts to Saphira and looked away.

"Alright," Mokou said after taking a breath depth, "That was half of it. Now, the rest."

Squelch.

"Eragon, do you know of this method at your village?" Murtagh asked as he and Eragon had their backs to the elf and Mokou.

"I'm not a doctor." Eragon said, "I don't know what the hell Mokou is doing!"

"Administering the nector through the mouth. I'm done." Both Eragon and Murtagh looked at Mokou, who just simply stared back. "What, did you think that she was in any shape to drink the necter? You have to bloody administer it mouth to mouth! Do they teach you anything in primary school – apparently not."

Murtagh… Eragon mentally stated.

Eragon….

You know I'm getting pretty tired of hearing her insults. Eragon confessed.

What a coincidence. Same here.

The white haired girl sigh. "Let me explain to you about the concept of mouth-to-mouth medicine giving. I'm no Eirin, so please do not scold me for this being as professional as a dumb dragon."

Hey! Saphira called out, I take offense to that. Dragons are smarter than humans.

Mokou looked at the direction of Saphira. Do I really fucking care?

There was no response, and Mokou resumed her lecture. "In giving a comatose person medicine, their mouth is unresponsive, meaning that you can't simply give the person medicine. You have to force the medicine down her throat, so I had to kiss her and force her tongue aside for the medicine to pour down. To increase the effectiveness of the rate in which the medicine goes down, you have to block the nose; otherwise, it is possible for the person to live with just breathing through the nose. Once you block that pathway for oxygen to come, that person would be forced to breath through the mouth and thus, drink the medicine. This works on both comatose and awake patients, for this process is natural – you guys aren't fucking listening, aren't you."

Murtagh was rubbing his head while Eragon was massaging his forehead.

"Yeah, I don't get it." Murtagh admitted, "Lost you after pushing the tongue aside."

"I'm a simple farm boy, I don't know much about first aid procedures." Eragon said, Saphira, do you understand?

Hmmm, Mokou, could you not use magic to administer the medicine without mouth to mouth contact?

Mokou frowned. "Well, you have to be a fucking grandmaster at magic or you want to kill the victim in one of the most idiotic ways possible. It is possible to do so, but you have to find a way to push the tongue aside; otherwise, that tongue would block the passage of the medicine in. And, if you move the tongue too far the to the side, it'll snap off and death by choking through the tongue's happens in about thirty seconds, so, yeah, not generally fucking good idea."

I see.

"I'm not too sure, but I heard from my master in terms of medicine that it is possible to administer the medicine through the ass."

Eragon winced. "That's got to sound a bit, painful."

"All that truly mattered for medicine to take effect was that it must access the digestive system in anyway possible." Mokou explained, "And for every exit there exist an entrance; thus, where –"

"Alright, you made your point clear." Murtagh interrupted, "So, when is the elf going to wake up?"

Mokou looked at the sleeping elf. "Well, normally she won't wake up for quite some time." Mokou frowned, "But I can accelerate the waking process by quite a bit. I fucking hate this though, I'm going to give her a mild wake-up call."

Eragon felt a conscience brushing his. "Whoops, wrong one." Mokou shook her head, and Eragon shivered. She was going to wake her up by attacking Arya's mind?

"Are you sure that it is a good idea?" Eragon warned, "She almost destroyed my mind."

"Oh don't worry." Mokou smiled, "I may be brain dead for some time, but it is considered near impossible for my mind to be destroyed."

With that, Eragon felt Mokou's mind mentally assaulting Arya's. And, Eragon could feel a wave of mental attacks crushing onto Mokou.

"Ouch ouch ouch!" Mokou shouted, and Eragon could feel that Mokou's mind was still pressing on with the attack, ignoring the elf's brutal attacks. "Wake the damn up already!"

Eragon help her! Saphira called out, and Eragon could only agree. Mokou was doing everything free of cost so far, so it was kind of rude if he let her die just like that.

Eragon's mind reached out and almost, almost got immediately destroyed by the warfare that Mokou and Arya was waging. Both of them were out for blood. Previously, Arya focused on seizing all of Eragon's memories, so the mental pressure wasn't that strong. But now, since Mokou seemed adept in breaking down defenses, Arya could only respond by attacking Mokou in force.

For a moment, Eragon's defenses nearly crumpled, but Saphira melded with his and survived the onslaught of attacks from Arya. He then reached out to Mokou.

And Mokou made a fatal mistake. She looked at Eragon and asked "What the hell are you doing?"

Arya took that moment to crush Mokou's mind, when Mokou stopped all her attacks to ask that vital question.

Mokou stood still for a moment, and collapsed onto the floor, which prompted Murtagh to rush over to her and check her pulse. "It's faint!" Murtagh said, "It seemed that the elf didn't kill her outright."

"Ugh." The female elf lying on the ground groaned, "My brain."

Eragon rushed over to Arya. "Are you alright?"

"Eragon? Are we at the Varden?"

Eragon shook his head. "We're still at the Hadrac Desert, where we found Tunivor's Nector to treat you."

Arya coughed a couple of times. "In the desert? Oathbreaker, you better find a better excuse than that. There's no way in which Fricai Anglat grow in harsh conditions like that."

Arya opened her eyes and Eragon was awestrucked by her beautiful green eyes. So, pretty.

Oh, a human falling in love with an elf? Saphira snickered, You must not truly care who your mate is.

Saphira! Eragon neither confirmed nor denied Saphira's statement, making her snicker even more.

"MOTHER FUCKER!" Mokou sat up and slammed her head into Murtagh, who was still checking if Mokou was alright, "ARYA, THAT HURTS LIKE SLAMMING A FUCKING ! !$* INTO *)(! # AND THAN ($%^!& AND !%$^ #* AND &%$(#!"

Arya looked curiously at both Mokou who was still cursing, and Murtagh, who was rolling on the floor in pain. "Fujiwara no Mokou?" Arya asked.

"Who the fuck else could it be?" Mokou answered frankly, "I'm flattered that you still remember my name."

"Barzul." Arya muttered, "I'm indebted to the great forest burner."

Mokou visibly winced. "You guys still haven't forgiven me yet? It's been ninety years since that…unfortunate incident happened."

"You almost burnt down Ellesmera." Arya pointed out.

"Hey! It was fucking princess's fault. She kicked me in the ass."

"Still, you answered back with too much force, slamming her into the Menoa tree. And then proceeded to try and burn down the Menoa tree." Arya dryly remarked, making Mokou look to the side.

"Um, I'm sorry?" Mokou apologized, "When I will be forgiven?"

"Never, as long as one of those present at the incident still lives." Arya said in an altogether serious tone.

Eragon! Mokou visited Ellesmera; this means that she must have existed before Galbotorix ruled! Saphira remarked.

It seems so. She's not an elf, she doesn't have pointed ears. Maybe she's like Angela? Eragon mused.

Hmm, most likely. But, since Arya was speaking to her in such a friendly way, I think we could fully trust her.

Friendly? Eragon could only mention as Arya continued to berate Mokou for burning down some trees.

Well, they haven't tried to kill each other yet.

That soon changed when Arya grabbed Eragon's sword with lightning quick speed and tried to decapitate Mokou, who grabbed Zar'roc's blade quickly and started sweating.

"Hey, that'll actually hurt!" Mokou said, keeping all her attention on the blade that was nearing her neck.

"Not like it's going to be permanent!" Arya responded, her eyes blazing. "You'll live!"

"Well, like any ordinary person I hate pain!" Mokou responded, "If you want anything to take out your anger on, take it out on Kaguya! She's the fucking masochist, not me."

Saphira roared outside as Murtagh and Eragon looked at each other, not too sure how to respond. Everyone, shut it!

Arya immediately withdrew her sword. "Of course, if it's your command." Arya respectfully said.

"Well, I don't really fucking care about your command, dragon." Mokou stated back, flipping the third finger to the direction where Saphira was.

Eragon felt a growing sense of anger on Saphira's end. Do you really want me to burn down your house? Saphira asked.

Mokou smirked. "Well, try and fucking do it."

Don't tempt me….

"By the way, this house is especially warded against fire. There's no fucking way you can try and burn down this."

May I? Saphira respectfully asked Arya and Eragon.

"Don't even try." Arya muttered, "The elves in the past had tried to break past the wards Mokou had against fire, and it didn't work."

Eragon was stunned. Mokou had something that not even the elves could break magically wise? How, how was that possible?

Than may I crush her house? Saphira pleasantly asked, which made Mokou start sweating.

"I'll shut up now." Mokou said.

Good. Saphira felt satisfied she found a way to silence Mokou, Now, Arya said Fujiwara no Mokou. Are we suppose to call you Fujiwara?

"No." Mokou said, "In the place I was born it is custom to have the last name first. Thus, my name is actually Mokou Fujiwara."

Place you were born?

Mokou sighed. "I was born west." Mokou pointed, "So far west that it'll take a two hundred year for a fully grown dragon flying there nonstop, maybe three hundred."

Um, how old are you Mokou? Saphira asked.

"I told you, I fucking lost count." Mokou frowned, "Now, anything else?"

Yes. Why are you helping us?

Mokou scratched her cheek. "Well," Mokou looked at them, "I made a promise while back to help a dragon rider free from the empire in any way, shape or form. I owed a favor to him, after he saved me from being captured by a shade."

Who is the person you made a promise with?

"Brom." Mokou said, making Eragon look at her surprise.

"You knew Brom?" Eragon asked.

"Yeah, we were enemies for quite some time." Mokou frowned, "Quite some time…"

So, what happened that made you become buddies?

"Meh, he matured." Mokou responded, "He stopped hunting me, and we shared some beer when we met each other. So, how did you know Brom?"

"He…was my mentor." Eragon looked at the ground, "He saved me when the Ra'zac attacked, but died in return."

Mokou's eyebrow rose. "You mean that old man died?" She asked, "Wow, I'm quite sorry for your loss."

For a couple of moments there was silence to honor Brom, and Mokou started talking again. "Since this is Brom's last wish for me, I'll help you get to the Varden free of charge. Arya, from the previous way you moved to try and kill me, I presumed that you're in running shape?"

Arya nodded. "It seemed that Tunivor's Nector worked very fast on me." She said, "I believe that you administered Doctor Eirin's version of it?"

"Yup." Mokou said, "So, how about this; you guys spend a day resting here while I gather all my stuff, and tomorrow we'll start moving to the Varden. Will that be fine?"

"Um," Eragon decided to bring up a point, "We only have two horses and a dragon; I don't think there is any way for you to come along unless you and Arya want to ride the dragon together…"

"Don't worry about me." Arya said, smiling, "I'm sure that I could keep up with the pace of a horse."

"And you especially don't have to worry about me." Mokou smiled, "I'm pretty sure I can outrace your dragon ."

What, outrace me? Saphira asked, There's no way-

"It's possible." Arya said, interrupting Saphira's remark, "Some of my acquaintances had seen Mokou outrace dragons, and the dragons get very indigent at this. They said that dragons kept on flying round and round Ellesméra until the elves got dizzy and made a rule for Mokou not to fly above the city. They almost created a hurricane."

A hurricane? Saphire inquired, How fast was she going?

"I'm not too sure, I didn't see her fly." Arya responded, "That's what I heard from rumors about Mokou."

"Eragon," Mokou looked at him, "I presumed you do know some tips about harvesting crops?"

Eragon nodded. He was a farm boy after all – he knows how to harvest crops. "Good. Help me than," Mokou ordered, "Arya still needs her rest, so you could take my bed to sleep. Murtagh, I presume that you don't want to go to the Varden?"

Murtagh nodded, and Arya looked at him very pointedly. "Murtagh?" She asked, "Why is one of the sons of –"

"He doesn't want to reveal his identity." Mokou pointed at him, "But, you do know that when you go back to the empire they'll hunt you down like there's no tomorrow, right?"

Murtagh grimaced. "I'll be hunt down wherever I go." Murtagh responded, "I don't think that I could be trusted at the Varden."

"I'll be though." Mokou stated bluntly, "When we get to the Varden, I'll talk to the head and give you equal freedom among the Varden. Suspicious won't die though, but at least they can't openly discriminate you."

"You have that much power?" Murtagh asked, shocked.

"Save the Varden couple of times, especially when it was created." Mokou frowned, "I daresay that Brom and I were the ones who created the Varden. If the leader object, well, I'll burn down the organization."

I don't think that she's joking. Eragon whispered to Saphira.

She's not joking. Sahpira concurred, She will actually burn down the Varden.

"You are willing to do that for me?" Murtagh asked, and Mokou frowned.

"Well, you did save Eragon over here." Mokou responded, "So, I feel obligated to pay it back."

"Than I very well may accept that offer." He smiled, "Alright, I'll go to the Varden."

"Alright." Mokou said, "Um, you could help me clean up the whole house. Whenever you see a vial of medicine lying around, put it inside a bag and lavel it medicine. Anything not related to clothes or medicine or food, put them aside so I could burn it later. I'll show the horses where they could feed, Saphira can scout around the land just to make sure that no one was actively chasing you guys, and I presumed that's everyone?"

Everyone nodded.

"Alright, let's get to work. Eragon, after me."

17 hours later

Eragon and Mokou were once again on the field, doing something he never expected to do again; farming. A Dragon Rider farming, huh, that sounds kind of ironic.

It was kind of soothing, having to do something so familiar. The dirt between his fingernails, his sweat dripping down, a shovel in his hand, this was the life he had before becoming a dragon rider.

Eragon was learning a lot from Mokou both yesterday and today. Mokou, in that short period of time, tutored him how to make medicine, how to instantly farm crops using magic, and how to properly harvest crops and have the full value.

After teaching Eragon how to efficiently pick up every particle of wheat and how to pull out carrots and onions without breaking the stem off, Mokou than asked for Saphira and apparently hunted in the desert (since, unlike what Murtagh guessed, there was no animals coming to the pond for a drink).

He did not know what animal that Mokou showed Saphira to catch, but when night time came around his dragon was completely satisfied.

And, it was than the feast began.

It was strictly a vegetarian meal, and for Arya it was a simple bowl of salad. But, the various ways that Mokou cooked the vegeterians, it was enough to fill up Murtagh and Eragon. He never knew that you could use flour, sugar, and salt to make something called batter, and from there into onion rings. It was…heavenly.

He would have it every day if not that Mokou warned it was extremely unhealthy, and should be eaten sparingly, like the rest of the food on the table in which she called as junk food.

After dinner, Mokou told Eragon to rest, saying that he has a long day tomorrow, and moved on to Murtagh, who was recently napping. Throughout the whole night, as Saphira recalled in her light slumber, Mokou taught Murtagh how to properly make and store the medicine, and some cooking techniques as well.

When morning came, Mokou woke up Eragon and they kept on farming, which Mokou had probably estimated was about three hours left before all the crops are harvested and they could move. That reminds him….

"Mokou, did you have any sleep last night?" Eragon made small talk.

"I don't need sleep." Mokou waved off as she pulled out an onion from the ground, "I have my own ways of keeping awake."

"Are you sure?" Eragon asked, "I mean, we're going to have a long-"

Eragon! I see Durza coming with at least a company of Urgals!

"What?" Eragon looked at the direction where Saphira was flying. "Durza is coming with a company of Urgals!"

"Damnit." Mokou snarled as she looked at the amount of crops still in the ground. They harvested quite a bit of crops, but not all. "We'll have to abandon the rest. Eragon, get back to the house and grab anything you need. You and Saphira too. Tell everyone to run."

Eragon nodded. "Alright." Eragon said, conveying Mokou's orders to Saphira.

What about her? Saphira asked.

"What about you?"

"I'll delay them." Mokou growled, "How far are they?"

How long will it take for them to reach us? Eragon asked.

Judging from the rate they are going, um, they will reach us in about four hours. Saphira guessed, I can get to you in an hour, so it's going to cut it close.

"Urgals run extremely fast." Mokou frowned, "I definitely have to stay behind to delay them."

"Are you sure?" Eragon asked, "You're up against a shade."

"Meh, it'll be tricky but I'm sure I could survive. I survived fighting three Shades at one time, I'm sure I could survive one, no matter how long he lived so far." Mokou boasted confidentially, "Arya will take you to the Varden, and tell whoever the leader of the Varden is that Murtagh was trusted by the Phoenix. Do you understand?"

"Yes!" Eragon nodded.

"Now go!" Mokou roared, and Eragon ran back inside his house.

Four Hours Later (Mokou's POV)

"Okay, now when is the damn shade coming around?" Mokou said, pouring oil all over her house.

It pains her to burn down the house, but it has to be done. She removed all the fire wards and made sure that all her clothes and non-perishable food stuff was safely hidden away underneath the house itself, where there was a solid stone structure underneath the hot sand.

When Mokou heard that the Shade was coming, she was completely torn between fleeing with Eragon or getting herself captured.

Over the past few months she saw lumbering herds of Urgals walk across part of the desert, making her extremely suspicious of what the mad king will do. She was suspecting that the Urgals were going to attack one of the Dwarven Cities, so knowing where the enemy was would truly be a boon.

After hearing Eragon's complete story about their encounter with Durza, Mokou had confirmed that Durza will be there in that assault, thus when she heard that Durza was coming she made a plan to be captured. And since they were chasing after the Rider, she was sure that Durza wouldn't go back to Uru'bean with her in tow; he'll drag her to the Urgal's assaulting stage and then attack a city than go back to Uru'bean.

Which, works just fine. All she had to do is show a bit of defiance, get captured by the Shade, and see how events go on from there.

Will be interesting.

"Is anyone in this house?" Mokou's head snapped up.

"About damn time." Mokou simply smiled, "Well, the door is unlatched, so come in."

There was a moment's hesitation, and Mokou felt the Shade try and prod his way into Mokou's mind. She just kept thinking about much she wanted to kill Kaguya when she was super annoying, and that Shade's assault was repelled, much to his annoyance.

It was at that moment in which a seven feet lumbering Urgal knocked down her door, and ran inside with a club. More Urgals followed after him, not noticing the smile Mokou had on her face.

"Well, see you in hell." Mokou's hand ignited, "BRISINGR!"

And the whole house caught on fire.

Author's Note

This is a new story that I'm starting up, it'll be an interesting one, for sure. It'll be a series of one shots that will be strung together to create a coherent story line, but as stated this is a series of one shots.

I found out that writing long, elaborate stories is definitely not my style, but rather just events that occur. So, this is my plan; there is going to be three different routes my story is going to take, and it'll proceed down all three routes.

Sounds complicated? It is complicated.

There will be a survey on my profile on which route this story will go down on. One will be following Eragon's interactions with other youkais, mainly Mokou. The second one will follow what is happening in Uru'bean. And the final one will be chasing after Roran's view point.

Confused? Alright, depending on how the voters vote I will write a one shot from each route. But, the first route (Eragon) will most likely only have two more after this, and both Uru'bean and Roran's route will have two one shots. These one shots will all occur before the Battle of the Burning Plains. The survey will determine which one shot I shall write and publish, the next survey will determine what one shot I'll write, and so on.

Maybe complicated, but it's much better than writing one continuous story.

So, thoughts about this story. I got this when I was sick (was sick often, couldn't write stories) when I thought hey, why aren't there any crossover between Touhou and the Inheritance Cycle? Should be interesting to try and write one. Originally, the immortals were the only ones here in Alagaesia, but it soon evolved into a bunch of Youkais moving here and living there. This story will have a lot of Touhou overpowered because, well, they are overpowered. They control entities, which is obviously something that you don't see in most stories.

Mokou was the obvious first choice for who else would be found in a freaking desert? And of course, she's my favorite Touhou character. More of Mokou's true extent of her powers will be known later, but I'm not really going to give it away.

Now, changes I made. I made it so that Arya gave Eragon the vision where to go before they crossed the desert, the reason being is that I don't like how Eragon and Murtagh crossed the mountains and got lucky. When I saw the map of Alagaesia, the Varden could be even situated near Surda, thus making Eragon's trip fruitless. Thus, I made it so that they decided to go straight to Farthen Dur instead of skirting around the Beor Mountains, midway realizing they didn't have enough food to get there and running into Mokou.

I realized I had been rambling on and on, so sorry. I'm putting a hold on other stories (again) because I need to recover from a cold. So, once again, sorry. Hope that you like this new idea.

Leave a review, drop some ideas for I may use them. Favorite and like to support my new original story!