Discliamer: I don't own any original Eragon characters. They belong to CP.

Wingbeats

There once was a girl named Aiedail who lived in a small village near the border of Surda. It was called Melian. Aiedail was one of the few unmarried girls who lived in the town. She was well liked by the older people in the village, especially the mapmaker who she liked to work with, but didn't get along well with the girls her age. She thought they were immature and stupid, and they thought she was stuck-up and spoiled. But aside from that, Aiedail was a normal seventeen year-old girl. That is, until she started hearing them. The wingbeats. In her head. Everywhere she went, there was always the sound of beating wings in her ears. Not just a small sound, like a bird's wings, but the loud, obvious, and irritating sound of a huge monster.

All the people in her village thought she had gone crazy when she asked who was making that annoying noise, and would they please stop. Even the older people who she had been so friendly with, now started whispering behind her back and not letting her in their stores. Only one person didn't think she was crazy: the old mapmaker, but everyone thought he was crazy too.

Aiedail was walking in the woods one day, trying to take her mind off of the wingbeats, when suddenly, she heard a small voice in the back of her mind say

"Aiedail".

She jumped in surprise, and looked around. Nobody was there.

"Hello", she asked tentatively.

"Aiedail", she heard again, "I'm waiting for you!".

And then the wingbeats returned. Funny, she hadn't even noticed that they were gone even though she had been trying to get rid of them for ages. But there was something comforting about that voice, something that made her forget the wingbeats for a while. It reminded her of something she couldn't place. She knew she had heard that voice before, but she didn't know where.

As she was walking home, Aiedail was so preoccupied with the voice, that she tripped over a bottle on the floor. She picked it up, and was about to pour some of the liquid on her hand, when a voice from the trees called,

"No!". The old mapmaker, Davyn, stepped out onto the path. "Don't touch that", he said, "its Sethir oil, oil made from the leaves of the Sethir plant. It will burn away your flesh if you touch it. Galbatorix's servants must have been here. The Empire is one of the only ones with enough money to buy this." He looked at the bottle, "Anyway, it has their symbol on it.?

"Who's symbol? The Empire's? I've never seen it before." asked Aiedail.

"No, the servants of the Empire. They're called the Ra'zac."

"How do you know all of this?" she asked.

"You know my maps?"

"Of course! You have maps of all of Alagasia." she answered.

Davyn smiled and said "all that I have maps of, I have seen for real"

"That's impossible!", exclaimed Aiedail. "You have maps of Ilirea, the Rider's ancient city. And besides, all your maps have perfect detail, you'd have to-"

"-Have drawn them from the air", he finished for her. "How do you know I didn't?"

"Only Riders could be in the air for so long, and unless you're a R-" she broke off as he winked.

"But you can't be!" exclaimed Aiedail, "The Empire killed all the Riders over a century ago!"

"I survived. Me and my student Brom. But now I have two favors to ask you. One is not to tell anyone what you just learnt, I only survived by hiding."

"And the other?" asked Aiedail.

Davyn reached into a pouch he was wearing, and pulled out a large green egg...

"The next favor is to touch this egg" he said.

Aiedail as soon as she saw the egg that this was where the wingbeats were coming from. Firstly, as she got closer, the wingbeats got louder. And secondly, when she touched it, it cracked, and out came a sea green baby dragon flapping its wings.

Every time it flapped, Aiedail heard a magnified flap in her head. She scowled at the dragon,

"Do you think you could stop that now?", she demanded.

The dragon's only reply was to touch it's snout to her right palm.

"Ouch!" Aiedail exclaimed.

There was now a silvery-white mark on her palm. Then finally, the dragon stopped flapping and the noise in her head stopped too.

"Thank you", she said.

She didn't expect the dragon to answer, but in her mind, she heard, again, a voice saying,

"I am sorry to have irritated you with that noise, but I needed to have a way to tell you and Davyn that you were the one I had chosen."

"So what are you going to name her?"

Aiedail started in surprise. She forgot that he was there.

"Her?", she asked.

"I think it's a her. Why don't you ask?" he replied.

"Yes, I'm a girl." the dragon said, sounding amused.

Davyn thought for a moment. "Can you come up with a name for her?" , he asked.

Aiedail paused, then asked the dragon

"How about Seairra?"

"I like it." purred Seairra.

"She is Seairra. Because as soon as I saw her, she reminded me of the sea, and also because she likes it."

"Well then, that's settled", said Davyn, "Now we just have to train you. I will be your master, and you will address me so."

"Yes Master.", said Aiedail, "When do we start?"

He smiled, and said, "Right now"

Please review and tell me what you think! I'll update soon!