"So let me get this straight. You are a time-traveling alien from another world," Nasuada repeated wearily.
"Yep, that pretty much sums me up," the Doctor agreed.
"Will all of you stop and listen to what you're saying!" Orik huffed. "This whole thing is utterly preposterous!"
"Oi! It's not like you can talk, shorty. In fact, I'd say, based purely on my first impressions, you lot seem to be the cast of some Tolkienesque fantasy novel. We've got some unexplained humans, an elf, a dwarf, some big, horned monstery thing, and even a ... Oh wow! Is that a dragon?"
The Doctor quite literally bounded over to the corner where Saphira sat, poised and dignified.
"You are beautiful!" the Doctor ejaculated.
This spiel was met by a host of blank stares from all sides, with the exception of Saphira who shuffled her wings in feigned modesty.
'What's with this guy?' Eragon asked Saphira.
'I don't know. I've never seen anyone like him. If it weren't so ridiculous, I'd almost be inclined to believe his story.'
'Agreed,' thought Eragon, glancing over at the Doctor who was now shining a very bright green light at the horns of an extremely bemused Nar Garzhvog.
'He almost makes Angela look normal.'
Eragon chuckled quietly, 'Now that's a sentence I never thought I'd hear. Speaking of Angela, where is she? Imagine how annoyed she'll be once she finds out what she's missed.'
'I'll see if I can find her.' Saphira opened her mind and cast a mental probe around until she alighted on the quirky yet mysterious mind of the herbalist. After fruitlessly bashing against Angela's sturdy mental barriers for several minutes, the dragon was reluctantly allowed in.
'This had better be good, dragon,' a crabby voice greeted her, 'Or I shall pluck out your scales one by one and turn them into a rather lovely pair of shoes.'
'We've had a rather peculiar man interrupt the meeting. I think you might like him.'
'Oh very well, I'll be there soon. Make sure nothing too exciting happens before I get there.'
Within five minutes there was a loud four-beat knock at the door, coupled with a yell of, "Open up in there or I'll kick it down myself!"
Eragon hastened to open the door for the curly-haired woman who promptly strode into the room. As her gaze fell on the Doctor she placed her hands firmly on her hips.
"And what time do you call this?" she asked him sternly.