This one is honestly a bit of a filler, but I couldn't just leave you guys hanging like that! I had a dream about this chapter last night, so I got up and went straight for the computer baby! In record time, this chapter happened in 43 minutes! *rabid fans screaming and climbing all over each other to get the opportunity to throw their underclothes at me* (But don't really throw anything at me please, because after the tomato incident, I'm a bit sensitive to objects flying at my face.) Speaking of which...

SHAME ON YOU, READERS! I achieved 1,000 hits on this story yesterday... but I only got 3 reviews! Don't you love me? Anyone? Or even hate me? Because I'd like to know that too... *sobs desperately* Didn't I say that I didn't even care what you said in the review? As long as you left one? WHAT DO YOU PEOPLE HAVE AGAINST SUPERIOR TACO MEAT? Now, I want AT LEAST seven reviews for this chapter, if you please, and by chapter seven, I'd like to have an overall 50! (pretty please?) When I get muchos reviews, SimplySupreme is made muchos happy. And when SimplySupreme is muchos happy, not only does she make delicious bakery items for everyone, she tends to be kinder to her protagonists... (I feel mean, indirectly threatening poor little Arya, but I'M DESPERATE, GUYS!)

Someone was touching her hair. This was her first thought. But, as her scrambled mind began to collect itself again, Arya noted that the contact wasn't hostile. It was, if anything, rather tender.

Her eyes flew open, and immediately she regretted it, as a fantastic pain burst behind her eyes. With a groan, Arya squeezed her eyes tightly closed once more and curled herself into as small a ball as possible, tucking her head away beneath her arms, feeling simply dreadful.

"Look! She's awake!"

"Hush Little One, for while she's awake, she's obviously in pain. Allow her a moment to gather herself."

"Saphira, you know I didn't mean to…"

"I know."

Arya listened quietly. Pain… yes. She was most definitely in pain. But it wasn't as painful as it should be. A memory of an explosion drifted across her eyelids, and she shuddered inwardly, squeezing impossibly tighter into herself, feeling with relief that her skin was no longer burned and her ears no longer bleeding.

Her eyes grew damp. It had hurt.

"Eragon…" she whispered, knowing it was indeed he who had spoken and stroked her hair. "What…"

Ever so gently, the man took her thin, pale hand and folded it within his larger, rougher ones. Either his hands were very warm, or hers were very, very cold. She suspected the latter. "Arya," Eragon said, his voice as soft as he could make it, "Do you recall what happened? Anything?"

The elf cracked her eyelids and, slower this time, eased them open. The rider stood above her, concern and compassion chasing each other across his features, and Saphira had one massive, azure eye pressed against the open window. She looked up at Eragon through her hair with the greenest of optical spheres. "I remember… this morning… with Saphira. She was sad." Arya was frowning in concentration, knowing what she said would be important to determining if she had lost memory, and nearly missed the look that the rider shot his dragon. Clearly, this was news to him. "And… you… you invited me to dinner. I didn't want to go, but… but…" she didn't finish this train of thought. "Then we… we were flying. We flew out and above Feinster and saw… farmers. Their minds weren't their own, and they attacked. I was thinking about… about what you had told me, so long ago… Then… then… all of you were talking and I… I remember sending Blodhgarm away to tend to the injured… and… a man stood up. He wasn't dead, Eragon! How could I have let that happen?" Her eyes brimmed with moisture and humiliation. "He wasn't dead and… He… was going to kill you… so I… I…" Arya found herself quite unable to finish this either, and feeling quite childlike, she scrubbed at her eyes furiously, ashamed that Eragon had to see her in this fragile state.

"Oh, Arya…" the man murmured, his wavy, honey-brown hair falling from behind his pointed ears as he bowed his head over their locked hands. So much like an elf. Arya thought. But I suppose without any poor qualities that might entail. "Why? Why did you do it?" he begged of her, eyes shining. "You haven't the slightest idea of what it took to spare you from the void! By all rights, you should be dead."

"So should you."

And there was really nothing more to say. Arya simply lay there, clutching at Eragon's hands as a lifeline to the world of the living as they simply watched one another, emerald meeting earthy brown; she, terribly weak from her injuries and he weak as well from healing them.

With a sudden noise of joy, Nasuada burst into what Arya now recognized as a small, private room of the healing center, upgraded from a massive tent to a massive building near the center of Feinster. "Arya! You're alive! I wasn't at all certain that you would live to tell the tale of you heroism." Came her upbeat comment as she moved to the elf's bedside. "But that wouldn't be fitting now, would it? A woman who can slay a shade a casualty of a mere assassin? Not Arya."

Said heroine smiled thinly, and rasped, "It will take more than a puny human to rid you of me Nasuada."

The Varden's leader laughed. "I missed you too!" A shout from outside caught her attention, and she sighed. "Sadly, I must depart, though I am certainly thankful you regained consciousness coinciding with my stop, even though it certainly took you long enough! But if it is any comfort, I believe the other elves will be arriving shortly." Nasuada smiled wanly one last time, and then swept from the room, her skirts making a gentle, hushed noise as they brushed across the floor.

Arya turned an anxious face to Eragon, releasing his hands and attempting to push herself upright. "It took me long enough?" she repeated indignantly. "Eragon, for what expanse of time was I out?"

"I did the best I was capable of at the time, Arya, I swear!" the man pleaded with her, eyes willing her to understand, "You had one of the worst concussions that I've ever seen, and most of your other bones were badly broken. I left your side only to eat and sleep!"

The elf's icy stare halted his ramblings.

"Three days." Eragon admitted. "I could have healed you in a few hours at most… but I didn't think you'd approve of my using the energy in Aren, and I hadn't stored a sizable amount in my other sources at all. I needed to sleep, as did you."

An awkward silence permeated the tiny, plainly decorated room. Finally, Arya squeaked, "Thank you, Eragon, for saving my life."

The man's face melted into a kind smile. Arya liked that about him. Without fail, he always found something to smile about. "I should say the same to you, Arya Svit-kona." He told her.

"I suppose we Shadeslayers are bound to each other in more than blood. I've lost track of the times we've saved one another." This was ironic, as Arya had never favored acquiring such close bonds with another living creature, but knowing what she now shared with Eragon, the elf didn't know if she would want to trade it for her freedom, were the exchange offered. In all honesty, she wasn't quite sure of anything any longer. She had been sure of Faolin, but he was long dead.

Eragon gently pressed Arya back into her pillows with one hand, a strong indication for her to rest. "You gave me an honest fright there, Arya." He whispered as he handed her a small flask of water to drink, his eyes seeming suspiciously wet. "I was scared witless."

Replying to Travis Jameson...
Dude, I so would! Unfortunately, I have no idea how to use thees and thous in a grammatically correct way... One day I'll find out... One day...

Replying to Katherine...
Of course you did! Who doesn't like cookies and banana bread? Or Slavonic Dances No. 8? (Its a good song. A happy song of joy. It reminds me of me, dancing around the kitchen making Rachel Ray recipes while tossing confetti into the air in a highly whimsical manner.) As for Arya's feelings... hehehehehe... I feel like a demonic pet owner starving you, the dog, and then holding a big, beautiful filet mignon in front of your desperate face, but not letting you have it!

Replying to Ickweaverabc...
Rock on! There SO needs to be double Caesi's! (Am I psychic or WHAT?) I'm gonna start naming the other elves, and it would be BEYOND stalker if they were the same/similar again! :P