I only own Ellie, Meg, Rebecca, Brooke and Sarah. Enjoy :D
"You'll come back when we call you, no need to say goodbye," -Regina Spektor
Eragon lead the whispering trio to a small house. There was a man, a year or two older than Eragon who was chopping wood in front of it. "Who do we have here, little cousin?" He asked, taking several pieces of wood in his arms and joining them, walking beside Rebecca.
"These are my friends," Eragon replied stiffly, as though conversation between him and his cousin was uncomfortable. "Ellie, Sarah, and Rebecca."
"Pleasure to meet you, I'm Roran." He smiled at Rebecca who blushed and looked at her feet.
"Evening boys," An elderly man called from the house. "And girls. I was unaware that we would be having company."
"Forgive me, Uncle, they're spontaneous guests looking for a warm place to stay." Eragon said calmly. After introductions (and a rather brief explanation) was given, Garrow was quite welcome of the trio.
"We have no money to pay for our stay, Sir." Ellie explained. "But we would gladly help clean or work in the field to cover our expenses."
"Your help is greatly appreciated. Roran and Eragon can show you what needs to be finished before tomorrow."
Soon enough, the girls were put to work pulling out the plants that would not regrow in the next harvest.
"Great job, Ellie." Sarah muttered. "We get tossed into another world and you already have us working."
"Sarah, if you don't like me, go sit down with the rest of the jerks waiting for me to care."
Rebecca snorted and returned to her work. Sarah growled, scooped up a modest amount of mud and hurled it at the unsuspecting girl who now had mud rolling down her cheek.
Calmly, she used both of her hands to pull a mound of mud from the ground and threw it at Sarah, who dodged it just in time. The ball, instead, hit Ellie who was knocked over from the impact.
"WHAT THE HECK?!"
Rebecca and Sarah fled for cover of the trees, hiding from their mud-drenched friend as she searched for them relentlessly.
Ellie heard the faint sound of rustling and turned to see the leaves of a hedge shake. "You two are so dead." She growled menacingly, pulling back the branches to find something completely different from her friends.
Eragon and Roran had been dealing with a firewood issue when they heard the scream. "Ellie!" They heard Sarah call before twin screams from the other two followed the first.
"Ellie!" Eragon cried, running to them, mentally scolding himself for being so stupid.
"Rebecca!" Roran's call was distant and a glance told Eragon that he had, for the first time, out run his cousin.
Ellie, Rebecca and Sarah were clinging to each other, staring at the dragon as it watched them menacingly. They heard Roran and Eragon's calls (which would have earned a glare from Sarah if she hadn't been utterly terrified.)
"Eragon, stay away!" Ellie warned, but he came right up to the creature and stroked her spine, soothing it.
"They're friends, Saphira. Don't hurt them."
Roran's thunderous feet signaled his quick approach. Eragon hid the dragon as fast as possible and just as Roran entered the clearing, the tip o the tail slipped into the brush.
"What's wrong?" He asked, placing a hand on Rebecca's shoulder to calm the quivering girl.
Eragon shook his head, his eyes pleading for them to tell him anything but the truth. "I was looking for them," Ellie said. "And a snake slithered across my foot. Sarah's terrified of snakes, so when they came to see what happened, they freaked out."
Eragon mouthed a 'thank you' while Roran still looked skeptical. "Is that why you're all covered in mud?"
Rebecca laughed, which seemed to reassure and distract him. "No, that, I'm afraid, is another story and entirely our own faults."
He did not question them further after that, and they all returned to the house. When the girls were certain Garrow and Roran were asleep, they went with Eragon back to the forest to confront the dragon
"This is Saphira." He explained. "She is my dragon." The rest of the night was spent with questions and answers between them until they came back to the house early the next morning to find Roran packing.
"Where are you going?" Rebecca asked.
"I have been offered a job in Therinsford. That's where I plan on going and staying for a few months." He replied. "Will you four come with me to see me off?" He was looking at Rebecca. He was asking her more than anyone.
"Yes," She replied upon getting the approval nod from both Ellie and Eragon. "Yes, we will."
Roran, Rebecca, and Sarah were speaking when Ellie noticed a man standing by a smithy, watching them intently. "Eragon," She murmured, so the others id not hear her. "The blacksmith, who is he?"
He looked over and smiled at the man, nodding his good morning. "That's Horst. He's nothing to be worried about." His brows furrowed when Horst gestured for him to come over.
Despite his protests, Ellie followed Eragon to the smith. "Well, what's this, lad?" He asked with a smile. "Aren't you a little young to be courting?"
"What?" They asked in unison and began to explain, in bits and pieces, that she was his third cousin's brother's wife's step-niece's half-sister.
"Alright, I didn't mean to intrude." He interrupted. "Now, boy, do you remember that little fight you had with Sloan?"
Ellie pretended to be preoccupied admiring the metal work, though she overheard every word. She recalled the blue stone from Eragon's explanation the previous night and was particularly startled with the news regarding the strange men looking for the stone—Saphira's egg.
When Horst finished, Eragon and Ellie walked back to Roran. "I'm going to look for them, the men looking for the stone." Eragon whispered. "Will you come with me?"
"Count me in."
Eragon clasped his cousin's arm and bade him farewell. "You won't stay?" Roran asked, his expression broken.
"I still have chores to complete and there is nothing for me here. I wish you luck and I will see you soon."
"Why don't you guys go ahead, I'll catch up." Rebecca said with a smile that they could not turn down. As they left, Sarah and Ellie snickered silently while Roran preached to their swooning friend about why they did not have to say goodbye. 'I'll come back when you call me.' Sarah mouthed, mocking in a Romeo position while Ellie pretended to be Juliet, and earned more than one confused look from bystanders.
As they walked to the outskirts of the village, Sarah sighed, "We're not going back to the farm, are we?"
Eragon looked startled. "How'd you..."
"Call it woman's intuition."
"Woman? Since when are you mature enough to be a woman?"
"Shut up!"
Sarah didn't complain when they crept around the shadows, even if she didn't know what they were looking for.
"Wait," Eragon whispered and they halted, though Sarah had bumped into Ellie and stepped on her foot when she stopped abruptly.
They remained silent, listening to the conversation between who Eragon had explained as Sloan and two others which Ellie assumed were the men hunting the stone.
When the rather frightening conversation ended, the three peered around the corner to see two tall, but hunched men covered completely by black cloaks and garments. The men froze and turned seemingly searching for something. They became paralyzed by fear and watched as the men stalked towards the frozen trio. "Eragon!" They jumped at the sound of his name, but turned to find it was Brom, the storyteller. "I heard you were in town and thought that, perhaps, you might have remembered the name of the trader."
While Eragon stammered a reply, Ellie stole a glance behind to see that the men had left. She sighed and participated in the pleasant conversation until Sarah brought the nonchalant farewell and they started for the road to the little house.
They stood by the barn, wondering what to do next. Saphira was there, too, and they told her what had happened.
She must not have enjoyed something because she immediately tore a tree out of the earth and cast it aside like it was a twig.
Eragon climbed onto her back to try and sooth her, however, Saphira stood upon her hind legs and took off into the air. "Eragon!" Ellie cried, reaching up to try and grab his extended hand, but falling short.
"Ellie!"
Unsure as to what they should do, Ellie and Sarah went back to Carvahall where they found Rebecca and help from Horst and his family. There, they remained until Eragon returned with a dying Garrow three days later.