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"One moment ten thousand years; ten thousand years one moment."-Buddha
Magpie raced through the forest on Cloudspeed, her avquid, she was back for the first time in...lifetimes it dawned on her. Six years had passed for her before she was allowed to return home. Magpie had been a traveler, sent by the wind god Rhuk to protect the souls of the strong in worlds far beyond hers. But now, after years of work and traveling, she was home; and the first thing she had to do was see an old friend.
She knew she was tripping all the alarms and wards the Elves had placed amongst the trees, but that was part of her plan, the only way to signal the person she most desired to meet again. She pulled her wings closer to her body and hunched down as Cloudspeed ducked under a low hanging branch. Magpie tugged sharply on the reins and veered her feathered mount to the left, leaping over a small brook and continuing onwards. At last she heard a roar and felt someone pressing against her mind.
"No my dear I'm afraid you'll have to meet me on the ground if you want to talk." she shot back before skidding out into a clearing.
Cloudspeed whinnied and stamped his scaly paws on the ground. It was mere moments before Magpie heard the wing beats signaling her friend's arrival. She looked up at the sky, shielding her eyes against the golden glare that soon blocked out the sun. She smirked as Glaedr landed and his rider dismounted. But her smirk turned to a gasp of horror as she saw that the great golden dragon was missing his left leg.
"Glaedr! Oromis! What-?" she gasped, dismounting as fast as she could and running towards them, her talons sinking into the mossy ground.
Oromis turned to face her, wearing a grim expression.
"Magpie…I truly didn't think I'd ever see you again." he said. "So much has happened since you disappeared."
"Mere moments are days in the ebb and flow of time. You have spent six years in service, but in your homeworld six seconds, six days, six centuries may have passed already. Be prepared hatchling." Rhuk's voiced echoed in her brain.
"How long was I gone?" Magpie asked tentatively.
Oromis shook his head and walked back over to Glaedr.
"Not here, you'll need to sit down for the tales we have to tell."
Magpie looked up at Glaedr, who only blinked one of his molten gold orbs at her before unfurling his wings and leaping to the air. With a heavy sigh she tromped back over to Cloudspeed and raced off after them.
At the Crags of Tel'naeír…
"I do hope he hurries back, every second we sit here is a second wasted." Eragon thought worriedly.
"Someone being able to pass through the forest like that is as good a reason as any to rush off; I hope it isn't any of Galbatorix's men." Saphira replied.
Eragon frowned, hoping with all his heart it wasn't. Oromis had taken off in a hurry, just barely throwing a saddle onto Glaedr's back before taking off after the mysterious intruder had tripped just about every alarm in the forest.
A few more tense moments passed before Glaedr landed with a great thump. Oromis slid off his back and undid the saddle straps before taking back his seat at the table, he seemed haggard.
"Master! Master what-?" Eragon began.
"Give her a moment." Oromis said.
Then, crashing through the trees, came the strangest women Eragon had ever seen, riding the strangest horse he had ever seen.
The woman looked human, although her features we slightly angular like an elf, but her most startling feature was the two grey and black wings sprouting from her back; and instead of feet she had talons and feathers like some sort of bird of prey, on each of her ankles was a plain brass bracelet, it didn't seem to be magical. The horse was covered in white feathers and instead of hooves had strange feet like some sort of strange mix between reptile and bird, scaled with three stubby toes.
"Alright Oromis you are going to tell me just what in the blazes is going on or else I'll-!" she shouted.
"Please my dear, calm yourself, why don't you take a seat and say hello to my students."
"My dear?" Eragon and Saphira thought in unison.
The bird woman scowled and looked at Eragon and Saphira critically.
"Hmpf, greetings to you, I am Magpie, a Feather from the Far Eastern land of Uran. That," she pointed to the horse, "is Cloudspeed, my Avquid."
"Uh, greetings Magpie, I'm Eragon and this is Saphira." Eragon said, faltering a little if only because he was so taken aback by Magpie's curtness.
"You elves and your formalities, it's a wonder you get anything done. Good thing whatever God watches you gave you long-life." Magpie huffed, taking a seat, "I've said hello so tell me what in the blue blazes happened to you!"
Oromis sighed before beginning to explain to his long absent friend what had been happening in the near past century, with Glaedr chiming in every once in a while when the elf forgot something. When he was done, Magpie had no change in expression. She calmly sat forward and breathed,
"I should kill you right where you stand."
Eragon and Saphira moved to defend their masters but Oromis held up a hand.
"And why is that my dear?" he asked.
"For getting yourself into this mess!" Magpie barked.
"I can do a great many things Magpie but seeing the future certainly is not one of them!" Oromis countered.
It was the first time Eragon had seen his master get even close to flustered.
"You are…you have…I should have…Glaedr is missing a leg!" Magpie burst out.
I have three more. The great golden dragon snorted.
Magpie looked around, clearly frustrated.
"Fine then, I'll be sleeping on your floor tonight." she said.
"This is something non-negotiable, am I correct?" Oromis replied with his usual cool.
"Yes." Magpie hissed, her feathers rustling.
"Very well then. Why don't you follow me inside, I have a soup that needs tending to."
Magpie clacked her dexterous talons together before following her old friend inside the hut. She had known Oromis long enough to know that asking her to help him was code for 'we need to talk privately'; either that or he considered her more a family member than a guest but Magpie dismissed that thought immediately.
Once inside the hut she rounded on him.
"I know what you have!" she nearly shouted.
Oromis simply cocked an elegant eyebrow and continued stirring the pot.
"Oh don't bloody ignore me! I know why you have those tremors." Magpie continued.
That caused Oromis to pause.
"Glaedr said it wasn't something done to you by those fiends, it was something you had in you all along correct? But it hadn't manifested itself until you cast that spell and overtaxed yourself."
"Magpie what are you getting at?" Oromis said, and Magpie could hear traces of anger in his voice, his mask of cool was cracking like so much thin ice.
"In other worlds they call it 'Epilepsy', and it causes such seizures when pushing one's self beyond his limits. I..." she hung her head, her wavy brown hair obscuring her face, "Medicine, they have medicine on other worlds that helps this, that stops the tremors…I should have brought some."
To her surprise and anger Oromis chuckled.
"My dear Magpie, how in the world, or 'worlds' in this case, could you have possibly have had the foresight to bring medicine for a condition you didn't know I had until just a few moments ago? Really, are all Feathers so ridiculously guilty for the world?"
Magpie huffed and fluffed her feathers, she felt like smacking him upside the head.
Guilt is not an uncommon thing for Travelers to experience when they return home, especially if they have been to a world more advanced than the one they came from.
