Tears of the Wronged
An Inheritance Fanfic
Note: based after Brisingr
Three: The Only One
Keridyn didn't really remember the last time she had had a bath.
Arya smiled slightly. "It may have been a century Keri, but I can tell you, you aren't getting out of this."
Keridyn's one grey dark eye went slightly wide.
"Alright, let's get rid of those rags." Nasuada said, reaching for her makeshift eye patch.
She inevitably regretted it as she revealed Keridyn's empty eye socket.
"Sorry."
"It's alright. It honestly doesn't bother me being half blind." Keridyn laughed slightly. "My mother used to tell me that I had the strangest eyes."
"Alright enough, once you're clean and dressed, we can go see how we'll take care of you." Arya told her. "No mercy, off with it."
"You never were easy on me, cousin." Keridyn remarked.
"Cousin?" Nasauda asked as she caught it.
Keridyn looked at her. "My mother was the sister of Queen Islanzadi. That makes Arya and I cousins."
"And not too friendly when it comes to fights." Arya said with a smile. "When I learned Keri was half human I sought her out and fought her, though she was only four she was quite skilled. Now, off with those rags before I rip it off your back."
Keridyn smiled as she obeyed.
Both the other women gasped at the scars on Keridyn's flesh. There was hardly a spot where it hadn't been destroyed.
"Keridyn…he did this?" Nasauda asked.
She nodded. "With my own sword, Evarinya."
Keridyn finished undressing and then stepped into the tub. After she had washed and dressed in the new clothes she put the new handkerchief around her eye.
"Better." Arya remarked.
Indeed, Keridyn looked nothing like when she had come in; her face was clean and she wore new clothes of tan and white.
Her tan pants fit well, and her white shirt and tunic accented her one dark grey eye well.
Suddenly, one of the guards announced that Eragon wished to enter.
"You can let him in, we're done now." Nasauda said.
When Eragon did enter, he was speechless. But quickly composed himself. "Keridyn, if I may ask, what was the name of your sword?"
Keridyn looked at him strangely. "Evarinya, why?"
Eragon produced a silver sword and sheath from behind him, shining like a mirror. "The soldiers raided the armory. They thought it was just a magnificent sword, but I can tell Rhunön's work when I see it."
Keridyn looked at it with a distant gaze. "Back in my own hands, huh? Rhunön had a hard time making that. The jewel in the hilt is a diamond I mined myself, the purest thing she'd ever seen." Keridyn said as she took it from Eragon. "The belt is even still here." She noticed as she strapped it around her waist.
With the sword around her, Keridyn seemed to become more of herself, with a possible regret lifted.
"I wish Vrael could have seen you like this." Arya said suddenly. "He would have been proud of you."
Keridyn snapped back as though she had been daydreaming. "Yes, he would have. But he couldn't, so let us not dwell on it."
Eragon looked at the two.
"They're cousins Eragon." Nasauda whispered into his ear.
He looked at her suddenly. "Cousins?"
Keridyn laughed. "Come now Eragon, is it that surprising? All elves are related somehow. My mother was Queen Islanzadi's sister. Arya is my cousin."
"Come now, Keridyn Drottingu, you are more than my cousin." Arya told her. "Now that I know you are alive, you are the heir to the elven throne."
"What?" Keridyn asked shocked. "You renounced your title?"
"Not entirely, I am the ambassador of the elves here in the Varden, it would not do if I had to rule as well." Arya told her. "Besides, I would still call you that even if I had not."
"Arya." Keridyn cautioned.
"Do not fret, I shall tell no secret of yours." Arya told her. "Now, how to tell the people that there was an old Rider found in Lorana's dungeon?"
"Slowly," Nasauda told them. "They had enough of a shock when they heard there was another dragon and Rider for a short time before. We shall have to tell them slowly, so they do not get the wrong ideas."
"Another dragon and Rider?" Keridyn asked.
"Oromis and Glaedr were alive, hiding in Ellesmera." Arya told her. "But they met Murtagh in battle."
"A battle that was short lived obviously." Keridyn told her. "Idiots." She said as she walked outside.
"Keridyn-" Nasauda called.
"Don't." Arya said as they tried to go after her. "She needs some time, Oromis was her teacher, too. All she needs is time and to be alone."
"It sounds like you two were close." Nasauda remarked, voicing Eragon's thoughts.
"We were, a long time ago." Arya told them.
* * *
"Dammit!" Keridyn yelled when she got to the shore of the sea. There, she paces. "You've taken everything from me now! Are you happy, are you happy now!?" She yells at the waves.
"Yelling will do you no good." Elva says from behind her.
Keridyn turns around. "You understand and yet I haven't told you. You understand that he's taken everything, everything from me! My mother, my dragon, my life, everything!" Keridyn sat in the sand. "Everything that ever mattered to me." She cries.
Elva walks over to her and puts her hand on her shoulder. "He hasn't taken your duty, your courage, or your life." She tells her. "He's cruel, but he hasn't taken what matters most. You have your life, you can do something with it, or you can mope like this and not do anything. But it would be against everything you believe."
Keridyn sighed and began laughing. "Everything I believe…" She mused. "What do I believe?"
* * *
"Welcome back you two." Nasauda said as Keridyn and Elva entered the pavilion again. "Keridyn I'm-"
"It's alright." Keridyn interrupted. "I thought they were dead a long time ago. That they were alive must mean that Eragon was taught by them. They were good teachers, I shall miss them."
"Alright, then the matter of making you known." Nasauda began.
"Before you do that, I would like to tell you a story." Keridyn told them as she sat in a chair. "The ending is the present, but it is the beginning and the middle that will shock and undoubtedly surprise you all, and, except for Elva and Arya, explain why I alone am still alive."
Eragon, I'm finished with the soldiers, would you mind introducing me.
I'll ask her. "Keridyn, there is someone who wants to meet you." Eragon told her.
She smiled, "Your dragon, undoubtedly."
Saphira slowly snaked her head inside the pavilion. Her azure eyes looking at Keridyn carefully.
Keridyn smiled at Saphira with a sad face. "Atra nosu waíse friai."
Gladly. Saphira thought so all could hear. I heard you were going to tell a story, I would like to hear it as well.
"Well, as the dragon wishes." Keridyn said with a smile. "Though I warn you, you may hate me when it is over."
They all looked at her a bit strangely.
"When I was seven, Faloreon hatched for me, and in the presence of Vrael, I became the youngest Rider in all of history…"
* * * * * * * * * *
Yes it does end there ~ melonkitty.
Evarinya- stars
Atra nosu waíse friai- Let us be friends
