Almost an hour later, Nindan sat on one of the chairs in Queen Nasuada's room, the newborn black dragon on his lap, and he still couldn´t believe it. He just walked in to give the Queen a letter, and he ended up to be a Dragon Rider. Dragon Rider by accident...it sounded to strange to Nindan's ears to just accept it. And then, who had ever heard about a black dragon coming out of a white egg? The whole event wasn´t making any sense.

„So", Nasuada had said, after hearing his explanation about the event overcoming the first shock. „That was unexpected. How should we go on, now?"

He hadn´t got what she was meaning.

„I mean – you can´t refuse beeing a Dragon Rider, and I don´t think you want to. It´s an inheritance older than the world, older than any living soul. Now, you have two options: You can raise your dragon here, in peace, where you two surely can only leave the palace for walks until the dragon is too big to be hidden in chests or wagons, or you can take your dragon to Ellesméra, where the elves will look after you and where you can walk through the whole forest without danger; but there, Arya will start to train you immediately, and you will not have any time to get used to your new position as Dragon Rider."

Slowly, Nindan started to understand how important he had become in that short time. „Why should my dragon hide? Galbatorix´ time has passed long ago, his last supporters are defeated. It wouldn´t be dangerous if we–" He suddenly became silent when he remembered Martlans Redbeards´ words: She is still fixed with the idea that someone could be observing the palace.

Obviously, she was.

„There are three principal reasons." Nasuada got silent; she thought of her words for a moment, then she explained: „First, we can never be sure they are defeated. You´ll be the first human Dragon Rider after Eragon, and I think I can tell you that there is an organisation, called the black hand, that wasn´t defeated and kept on working for Galbatorix even after his death. That´s what my men found out so far...they could have spys in Ilirea, too. And they would try everything to kill a young dragon and his rider before they become strong enough to support me and bring peace to the empire...anyway, and that´s the second reason, it is always better to be careful. You and your dragon can make your first public appearence when he´s grown enough to protect himself...and you. And, as the third and last reason, you surely heard about Shruikan, Galbatorix´ huge black dragon?"

Nindans´ heart became cold, as if it were made of ice. Ah, so she noticed, too. How could it be not? She was one of the people who saw Shruikan with their own eyes. „I sometimes heard the Barden sing about him, mylady."

„You noticed how similar Shruikan and your little dragon look?"

„Yes, but–"

„Many of the Varden people are living here, in Ilirea. They heard his roars, they saw his enormous dark figure cancelling the stars, at night, they heard his last scream, and they are still afraid of him. If a dragon who not only is black, but has exactly Shruikans´ ice-blue eyes, made his appearence in the town, not everyone would appreciate it at once...it is better for you and your dragon to keep secret until he´s grown big enough to fight for his rights."

Her arguments were irrefutable. And then, Nindan liked the idea of having peace for some time, time to accept the fact that he was now a Dragon Rider. He bended his head. „Your Majesty."

Nasuada nodded with satisfaction. „Great. Then, I must inform Eragon, Arya, King Orik and the Urgals."

At the word Urgals, Nindan instinctively twitched. He still couldn´t get used to the idea that the Urgals now where a part of Alagaesia – and that they could become Riders. It was definitively new for him. Even if he knew that Eragon had made the right choice...

When Eragon left to the east, one year later one of the eggs hatched, and a new dwarf rider, the young dwarf-woman Shêlda, raised her silver-scaled dragon Aldraun in Farthen Dûr. Another year later, the dragon in the egg that Eragon gave to the Urgals hatched for a young male Urgal named Shildom, and the young female dragon with light yellow-brown scales that remembered Nindan of leaves in the fall, whom Shildom named Runutrek, recently returned from the Land on the other side of the sea, where Eragon trained the two new Riders and their Dragons.

Nindan only heard of Shêlda and Aldraun, but he saw Shildom and Runutrek personally as they arrived at the town. Runutrek was a little bit bigger than Saphira had been when Nindan saw her the last time. Her scales, brown like september leaves, shimmered in the sunlight like rusty gold. She moved with an elegancy that Nindan had never seen on a dragon, only Saphira, maybe, could outclass her. Her Rider, Shildom, had seemed a bit insecure, though. Surely he knew that not everyone in Ilirea was happy with the arrangement; that many of the humans disliked the idea of having Urgals as Dragon Riders.

Nasuada interrupted his thoughts; she left her chair and opened the door. He heard her talk to one of her guards. „Go and bring Trianna here. And if you see Vanir – he may be in the library – tell him to join us, okay? And you, Thramad, could you look for Shildom? Tell him that I want to see him. Urgently. In my room. Thank you." She closed the door again, and Nindan could hear rapid steps at the other side.

And now they sat here, waiting. The guards took a lot of time to find Trianna, Vanir and Shildom, as it seemed. Nindan touched the round sign on his right hand every two minutes, as if he wanted to make sure it was there. It really looked like a normal scar...now, because it stopped shimmering. The dragon had placed himself on Nindans´ lap, where he now was lying. His eyes were closed, and his petal-white eyelids twitched sometimes, as if he were dreaming. Through their connection, Nindan could feel his deep relaxation. The dragon felt safe with him. Somehow, that made Nindans´ heart tremble, stirred. His dragon felt safe with him.

Looking at the white eyelids, Nindan thought about the white egg. „Your Majesty?", he asked carefully.

„Yes, young Rider?"

„Saphira´s egg was blue, wasn´t it? And Saphira was blue, too."

„Of course it was."

„Is a dragon always of the same colour of its egg?"

„Always. Why do you ask?"

„I was wondering..." Nindan hesitated. „My dragon is black, but his egg was..." He indicated the pieces of the egg that were still lying on the floor, behind the table. Petal-white.

Nasuada looked like she was struggle against a thought she didn´t like. „I don´t know. We can ask Eragon, when we contact him. Maybe it´s because his parents were white and black and maybe, white and black dragons don´t match very well...I´m sure that it isn´t of importance."

But she didn´t sound convinced as she said that.

When Trianna, the leader of the magic organisation Du Vrangr Gata, entered the room together with Vanir, the elven ambassador, and with the young Urgal-rider Shildom, the dragon was still sleeping. He opened one of his eyes, blinked and then suddenly climbed Nindans´ shoulder, sniffing loudly, as if he were interested in the newcomers.

They all reacted differently, as they saw the dragon.

Trianna made two steps backwards and gasped for air, her face white like the face of a ghost. Her eyes flew from the dragon to Nindan and then to Nasuada, asking a hundred questions, but she didn´t say a word. Vanir, the – relatively – young elf, stood right where he was before he noticed the dragon, without moving. His eyes were wide and glimmed, and after a few seconds, the approach of a smile appeared on his face. Shildom first didn´t move, then he threw back his head and showed Nindan and his dragon the throat, as Urgals usually do when they want to show their respect for someone.

Nindan twitched again, but this time not because of fear. He felt uncomfortable again. Was he really deserving all this attention?

Finally, Trianna overcame her shock and bowed to Nasuada. „Mylady."

Vanir followed her example, placing his fingertips on his lips and bowing, too. „Atra Esterní ono thelduin, Nasuada svit-kona."

„Un du Evarinya ono varda, Vanir-Vodhr", Nasuada answered in a moderated tone. „As you see, our dragon egg hatched for a Rider. This is Nindan." Nindan felt his heart jump. The Ancient Language...and he, as a Dragon Rider, would learn to speak it. At the moment, it seemed like an inacceptable honor.

Vanirs´ cat-like eyes focused on Nindan. Nindan met his eyes without batting an eyelid. After a time that, for Nindan, felt like hours, Vanir nodded seriously, as if he found in the deepness of Nindans´ eyes something he had been looking for. „He´s made a good choice."

Without knowing exactly why, Nindan felt his cheeks burn. He didn´t know where to look. How can I ever become an honorable Dragon Rider if I can´t even manage how to react when I receive compliments?

„I think so", Nasuada said, carefully. „Nindan chose to stay here until his dragon is big enough to defend himself. Do the elves agree with his choice?"

„Queen Arya will not object, if Nindan chose to stay." Vanir didn´t seem very happy, but he skilfully hid his mood. „But, of course, you will give the young Rider two guards, swortmasters, who are prepared to risk their own life for the dragons´ and his rider's safety."

„Of course", Nasuada answered, and bend her head. „And...Nindan?"

„Mylady?"

„Do you know how to handle a sword?"

What a question. Nindans heart started to beat faster. „Well, I...not really...no."

„Then, I´ll tell Fredric to give your swordfight-lessons", Nasuada said.

Nindan realized that everyone was staring at him. „Thank you", he said hastily.

Nasuada smiled. Then, she turned around and looked at Shildom. „I´m sorry, Shildom, for not paying attention to you until now. How is Runutrek?"

Shildoms´ voice was deep, a very male, very strong, very calm voice. „She enjoyes it to learn something about the humans´ culture. It was the very first trip to Ilirea for her."

„I´m glad that she likes our town", Nasuada answered. „When did you plan to fly back to your home?"

„In a few days. But it seems that, now that there is a new human Dragon Rider, we´re needed here. We´ll take him with us when we return to the Land-over-the-sea, to Eragon."

Nasuada nodded. „Thank you."

„My pleasure."

After a short and very polite conversation with the Urgal-rider, Nasuada glanced at Trianna. „You know what you have to do."

„Eragon, mylady?"

„Eragon", Nasuada confirmed.

Trianna bowed again, then she went to a large crystal mirror that was leaned agsinst the wall. Nasuada, Shildom, Vanir and Nindan, who was balancing the black dragon on his shoulder, followed her.

Nindan tried to calm down, but he wasn´t really succesfull. The dragon, who could feel how nervous his Rider was, hissed quietly, and Nindan caressed his wing. He was going to see Eragon Shadeslayer, Firesword and Kingkiller, maybe he would talk to him. And maybe he would see Saphira again. Once, as Eragon was in Farthen Dûr because of the new dwarf-king, Nindan and Saphira had two little conversations, just because Saphira was bored without her „Partner-of-heart-and-mind", how she referred to Eragon. Nindan was still impressed by her beauty, her wisdom and her power.

Trianna murmured a few words in the Ancient Language, and then she stepped aside.

Nindan looked straight into the window, but what he saw, wasn´t his reflection. It was Eragon. The Dragon Rider seemed to be not one day older than he had been as he left Alagaesia; his brown eyes, maybe, were a bit more cat-like, and now he really looked like an elf. His ears were more pointed, his skin was pale. And he didn´t look surprised. „Nasuada", he said, in a calm voice, and bowed.

„Eragon", she replied.

Then, he glanced at Vanir. „Atra Esterní ono thelduin, Vanir-Vodhr."

„Un du Evarinya ono varda, Eragon Shur´tugal", Vanir said, touching his lips with the fingertips exactly like he did before with Nasuada.

That, Nindan thought, had to be something like the traditional elvens´ greeting.

„Shildom", Eragon said then. Suddenly, a little, warm smile crossed his face. Nindan was surprised, until he remembered that Eragon had spent a long time with Shildom, training him and his dragon. Surely, he felt attatched to the younger Rider. „Saphira really misses Runutrek. How was your flight?"

„We fled right into a storm...nothing special. I´ll come back soon", Shildom promised in his calm, deep voice.

„Eragon", Nasuada took the initiative, „remember the white egg that you gave Shêlda and Aldraun for us?...Here it is." She indicated the dragon on Nindan´s shoulder who was sniffing again in Eragons´ direction, apparently hoping to find his smell somewhere in the air.

Eragons cat-eyes widened, and for a moment he seemed really surprised, then he overcame his shock, blinked and turned his face expression to normal. „I suppose you want me to explain how a black dragon landed in a white egg."

„Exactly."

Eragon nodded, but he didn´t tried to answer her, but set his eyes on Nindan. „What´s your name?"

Strange. Now, Nindan was calm enough to answer him without any sign of nervousness. „I´m Nindan, Son of Ramon."

Eragon nodded again. „Nindan, do you have any idea why your dragons´ egg was white?"

Nindan hesitated. „Nasuada thought that his parents could have been black and white, and that black and white doesn´t fit really well...I´m not sure."

„Interesting theory", Eragon smiled to Nasuada.

She frowned. „I´m not well schooled in dragons and you know it, Eragon."

„Of course not. I just said, it´s an interesting theory. Maybe, Saphira knows something about the topic... Later, I´ll go ask her and the Eld...the others." Suddenly Eragons´ eyes flickered. His and Nasuadas eyes met for a moment, then he turned away from her hastily, as if he feared that someone could notice their secret – or whatever it was.

Which others was he talking about? The eleven elves who followed Eragon to the Land-over-the-sea?

„Nindan", Eragon said now, „Good luck with your dragon. When he – or she – is big enough to carry you on his back, I´ll send you Shêlda or Shildom to lead you through Alagaesia and over the sea, so that you can join me here."

Nindan bowed his head. „Thank you...master."

The word „master" came out of his mouth before he could stop himself.

Eragon looked at him in silence for a while, then he nodded. „I´ll wait, young Rider. You will be a good pupil."

That words made Nindan tremble. He tried to look calm, but he couldn´t stop the smile that took possession of his lips.

On his shoulder, the dragon purred like a cat and his tail caressed Nindan's neck.