Unanswered Questions of Magic

"Ebrithilar, I need your council." Eragon asked. The Eldunari rolled in their thoughts, as if rousing from sleep. "We are aware of what happened to Lady Holo not long ago. Saphira has already contacted us even before she contacted you. She sought our help to shield the bond of the new pair. We were present for the fracturing of her mind."

"Saphira? Why didn't you tell me that?" Saphira was deliberate in her response. "I didn't feel it was necessary at the time. She only needed help. Help she sought from her mate. Also, there were parts concerning Dragons alone I wished to speak to the Ebrithilar about. Parts concerning the bond known only to us. Please understand that I only wish to help that poor woman and not simply keep you in the dark."

Eragon wasn't happy about it, but he conceded that Saphira was in the right. The Dragon's Bond with the races comes almost entirely from Dragons. It's only right that certain parts of its implementation and upkeep are stored solely in the minds of Dragons. "But I still wish you had at least told me you talked to them already."

The Eldunari stirred in thought. "If you're quite done with this useless talk of 'should haves' and 'wishes,' could we get the meat of the matter? We have already concluded that something in the bond goes wrong when Lady Holo transforms. But somehow, it repairs itself when she transforms back to her human… should we say Elf now that ancestry has been established? Anyway, when she transforms back into her two legs form, her bond with Brimisi is restored in its entirety." Eragon and Saphira shared a private laugh with each other over the Eldunari getting flustered over such a trivial designation.

Eragon was the first to respond. "That part is obvious. What we don't know is why. It was my guess that because of her rapid transformation and mental shift, it put enormous strain on their bond, causing it to snap." The Eldunari thought for a moment. "No. Snap isn't quite right. While it deteriorated, yes, it didn't disappear entirely. In fact, both the magical and physical connections were still completely intact. However, their mental bond had but a single thread's connection remaining."

Both Eragon and Saphira recoiled from that revelation. "But what does this mean Ebrithilar?" Saphira asked earnestly. "Say that you remove a part of someone's body. The mind so clearly remembers that segment that it can still cause the person to feel pain in the missing part. And they clearly feel it as if the segment wasn't missing at all, as in, it is not simply felt at the base of the former attachment. It is as if the soul of the missing segment still feels what the physical body cannot. Therefore, it is oft referred to as phantom pains." Eragon and Saphira seemed surprised by this, but both knew people who experienced this, and therefore kept calm.

"However, should you cut of the mind's ability to feel such pain, as with the Laughing Dead that Galbatorix created during the war, it is as if the connection to the body itself has vanished. The mind can no longer feel the body, and thus, the person can no longer sense it either. It was a marvel that they could even retain their ability to control their own limbs enough to fight. No doubt, many humans died before Galbatorix's awful plan came to be as we knew it."

Eragon and Saphira exchanged thoughts between themselves for a while in light of this new way of thinking. "So what you're saying is that whatever caused this is completely mental? That whatever is happening mentally is strong enough to override one of the great magics?" Eragon was almost frantic as he questioned.

The Eldunaris' minds seemed heavy as they replied. "In a word, yes. We know not how it has happened. The oldest of us that are present still have yet to rouse from their ancient musings and give anything more than power to our conundrum. We shall continue on Lady Holo's behalf to awaken them from slumber and gain an answer. In the meantime, train her as you would any other Rider." With that, the presence of the Eldunari faded from the pair's minds.

"Well Saphira, what should we do?" Saphira was confident, yet unsure, with her answer. "Exactly as instructed. We train the new pair."

Lawrence and Holo were still worried about the new development, but were oddly reassured by Brimisi. Over the past few days, she had taken to language at a wildly fast rate. She kept telling them not to worry over such small things. Even with such a small vocabulary, Brimisi had a way with words.

But nonetheless, Holo was still pained over her decision to never transform again unless it was necessary, despite Brimisi's insistence on the exact opposite. "I told you Holo, we have to try more with the wolf form. Just get used to it! Eventually, it will be like everything else. This is who you are, Holo!" But she was a stubborn wolf. Holo wouldn't listen because she didn't want to lose her bond with Brimisi for even a single moment unless she had to. It was too painful for her.

"Don't you have training with Eragon and Saphira soon? We should eat lunch and get you both to the mountains soon." Holo nodded and got to making some porridge with apples and goat's milk. She had taken to eating more comforting foods lately in her sadness. "We've made some progress in magic, but it seems I am not very good. I was phenomenally quick at picking up the basics, he said, but after that, I can still only manage the most rudimentary spells. And even those are very weak versions of what they should be at that. He actually said earlier that he wanted to talk to me about that today, as he thinks he may have an answer to this."

Lawrence tried to bring some levity to the situation. "Now that's something I didn't expect to hear. You, Holo the Wisewolf not good at something as soon as you get your hands on it? How shocking. I'd have sooner expected you to shave your own tail in frustration than see this." Holo was unamused at his teasing. "Eragon and Saphira will find the cause of this soon. Everything about this seems unusual to them. And every time we see them, tis as if they had yet another conversation with people we do not know about that they won't acknowledge. But it seems that when they do, they have more information on my situation they could not grasp before. Whoever, or whatever they are speaking to, seems to be quite wise. I can only hope that they understand enough about me to fix all this."

After lunch, Holo and Brimisi parted out of the back of the bathhouse, as Brimisi was now large enough to rival medium sized dogs, and made for the mountains. When they finally made it to Eragon and Saphira, Brimisi replied first. "Hello masters. Did you find anything more about Holo and magic?"

Eragon and Saphira shared a glance. "We actually need to examine your mind Holo to conclude our findings. Do you mind." Holo simply shook her had and stepped forward, but towards Saphira to do the concluding. Holo didn't understand why Brimisi didn't like Eragon, but it had started coloring her own views of the man, and she had since begun going to Saphira for anything invasive.

Once Saphira finished her examination, her eyes went wide. "Eragon, it's exactly as we thought! She has immense power and affinity for magic inside of her." Holo seemed confused. "Then why can I not use this power? Am I just not using it properly?" Saphira was kind and gentle in her response. "I do not wish to upset you, but while the magic runs strongly through you, it appears as if you can access it from two different places. And one is clearly stronger than the other."

"Let me guess. Holo is better in wolf form than human form. I am right, right?" Brimisi said in a very annoyed fashion. Saphira simply nodded her head while keeping one glittering blue eye on the pair. "With your approval, would you perhaps try our training today in wolf form? I feel it would best put this to rest. If I am not mistaken, Brimisi wishes this as well?"

"Yes, she does. And if you are asking Saphira, I will concede. But only for a bit, not the whole training. I do not like how it feels to be separated from her like that. Tis as if my whole being is ripped in two." Eragon interjected, much to Brimisi's displeasure. "While I wish that wasn't the case for you, that is exactly how being separated from your Dragon should feel. Eventually you will learn to separate your consciousnesses on your own as part of your training, in the case of one dying and the other living. It is the only way to prevent total madness. By using this inconvenient circumstance to our advantage, we can better prepare you for such a thing by desensitizing you to its effects."

"It almost sounds as if you want to downplay the special characteristics of the bond we share by making its separation trivial." Holo said accusingly. Brimisi growled in agreement with Holo. Saphira growled a warning at both in the junior pair. "I understand you both are not happy with my Eragon about something you will not tell us. But do not think I will tolerate this poor treatment of him. After all, he is still the leader of the Dragon Riders until someone better suited for the role appears. And as such, you will show respect or else I will decide for him to end your training. Am I clear?" Surprisingly, Saphira was rather kind as she said this, while retaining all the force and authority as befitting her position. She seemed to know and understand that there was a valid reason for these feelings. But she still wouldn't accept such open contempt for her partner. Brimisi and Holo saw her words for what they were and apologized.

Holo took to her wolf form for the first time in almost a week and began her training in agony. She hated being separated from Brimisi in this manner, but knew it was necessary as soon as she began casting spells in this form. From the first cast, she was far stronger than Eragon and Saphira imagined. She was told to levitate a rock in her paw, but it shot so high, so fast, that it literally killed a bird that happened to be flying above at that moment. After fine tuning it, she was able to control this new power quite easily and was able to start on far stronger spells.

"Well, if anything, this only further proves that she is of Elven heritage. I would even venture to say that Holo is strong enough to cast some of the lower grade Elven spells. Albeit only in her wolf form. At this, Holo transformed back into her human form. "I do not wish to continue any longer in that form. Tis… To painful."

Brimisi flooded her mind with extreme force. She seemed to be searching for something. Just as Holo was about to ask what she was looking for, Holo felt a rush of power entering into Brimisi from Holo herself. "I have accessed the flow of magic from your wolf form. Use me to try casting the same spell from earlier." Holo was confused, but did as her Dragon asked. Saphira entered the pair's minds to watch over the proceedings.

While it worked, it didn't go exactly as Brimisi had hoped. "Sadly, it seems too much energy is lost in the transfer, and Holo uses about twice the power for half the original effect. She has essentially a quarter of the strength for the amount of power used. While clearly superior to her using magic alone in her human form, this seems to come with the considerable risk of depleting Holo very quickly. I would recommend this in extreme situations. Eragon and I came up with a solution last night however."

Eragon took over where Saphira left off when he was mentioned. "Yes, we have here a ring with a silver diamond imbedded inside of it. We have already imbued it as well with considerable energy. I recommend you add to it when you can. We will also show you how today. When in this form, cast spells with the power inside of this ring. But should you run out when more power is still needed, you will need to transform into your wolf form to gain more power. At which point, you will have essentially a second ocean of power reservoir."

Holo smiled at the gift, but it was tinged with… something else. Saphira responded to this. "You seem to be happy for the gift, but you wish that it was your own power, correct?" Holo looked deeply into her shimmering blue eye. "How can you see so clearly into me? Are you not younger than my mate?" She said the last part somewhat impishly.

"True. I am young by almost every race's standards at only about twenty-one years of age. But both of us know with certainty that age and wisdom do not flow at the same rates. Our choices for partners prove this time and time again with their foolishness. Perhaps it was our own foolishness for choosing them." Holo giggled in her response. "No. We need to have all of our wisdom tempered with foolishness. Lest we grow complacent in our wisdom and lose it. A drop of foolishness from them keeps us on our toes and brings joy to our hearts."

"If you two are done laughing at the people you claim to care most about, we have training to get back to." Eragon said, annoyed.

At the conclusion of training, Eragon and Saphira decided that the only progress to be made in magic would have to be in Holo's wolf form. Otherwise, they would only have between three and four spells a day if Brimisi acted as Holo's conduit. Especially with Holo's spells consuming four times the energy for the power level that was produced in that manner. Holo didn't like this conclusion at all, since it was decided that Holo would have to proceed with her training solely in her wolf form from now on.

Even Brimisi made her promise to not run from this training. She almost had Saphira teach Holo the words to promise in the Ancient Language. But Holo unwillingly conceded defeat on the matter as long as Brimisi was as close to being wholly crammed inside of her mind as possible during the whole of training, save for the occasions where that would be difficult. As Brimisi made that promise, Holo finally agreed. Eragon seemed relieved while Saphira seemed concerned.