Hello everyone!
First of all, I would like to thank you for all the reviews. I'm also glad that there are people who both favorite and follow my story!
Next, I must say that this is one of my better chapters, despite how long it took me to write it. But of course, that is for you to judge.
And third, some information about my story. In the next two chapters or so, I'm probably going to skip quite a lot, because if I don't, this book will soon have about 100 chapters. So I'll try to describe what I think is the most important, and leave the other things for the moment. Maybe there's someone else out there who thinks that what I've skipped is REALLY important, but ... well, this is how I'm writing.
And now, I shall stop writing a whole chapter about just my thoughts, and go on to the actual story. Here it comes!
Chapter 9: Consequences beyond control
It was with a heavy feeling that Arya returned to Farthen Dûr late that evening, to tell the rest of the Varden what had happened in the darkness of the tunnels. Like she had expected, neither of them made any effort to conceal their grief. Eragon met her gaze a moment longer than any of the others, and he wore the same pleading expression he had done earlier. But they got no opportunity to speak with so many others around.
Arya went to bed as soon as she could, to fall into an exhausted sleep, in which all that had happened today drifted through her mind. Once again, she saw Ajihad, lying dead in front of the opening to the tunnel, saw Murtagh's and the twins clothes, scattered along the edge of that chasm, and Eragon with that pleading look in his eyes. And the pictures would not leave her, however hard she struggled to push them away.
When morning came, she was as exhausted as the night before, and she stayed in bed for much longer than she knew she should do, with only sad and bitter thoughts for company. When she finally got up and left the room, she found the atmosphere among the Varden as dark as her dreams. The word of Ajihad's death had passed around even faster than news usually did, and shock seemed to be filling the entire mountain.
Arya wandered alone through the corridors, without the slightest idea what to do. No one seemed to be wanting her, and all she wanted to do was disappear. Her thoughts were slow and tired. She wondered where Eragon and Saphira might be. How were they handling the loss? Suddenly, Arya wished Saphira was here, to comfort her as well as she was probably conforting Eragon right now. But no. Saphira was Eragon's dragon, not Arya's. And although Arya had been longing to be a Dragon Rider ever since she was little, she knew she was not going to become one.
But, said a small voice, somewhere in the back of her mind. If the two other dragon eggs are freed from Galbatorix ... So what? she retorted, as if she was really speaking with a person and not just with herself. Even if someone does manage to steal the two remaining eggs, there are hundreds, thousands, of people who are likely to become their Rider. Not me! So I'd better just stop daydreaming and do something.
"So there you are, Arya!"
Startled, Arya turned to see Angela walking just beside her. I am not wary enough, she thought. I cannot remain in my own thoughts like this. If that had been an enemy, I would have been dead by now.
"What?" said Arya, in an attempt to sound indifferent and matter-of-fact, more than confused and frightened.
"I was just wondering where you might be", Angela replied, her face showing more sympathy than her usual pleasure. "I must say I'm surprised to find you this easily."
"Then, where did you think I would be?" Arya could not help asking.
"Well, I don't know. Outside Farthen Dûr, I suppose. I got the impression that you tried to escape the tunnels as often s you could."
"I do", Arya confirmed. "But right now ... I don't know ..."
For a moment, Angela just looked at her in silence, as if trying to decide what to say. It was impossible to read the herbalist's expression, as it always had been. Arya could never decide what to think of Angela. One moment, she was cheerful and eager to talk about anything, and then, all of a sudden, she could seem more like an old lady - quiet and thoughtful. And she knew so much more than Arya would ever have expected her to, even though she had so little power over magic.
"I heard you were the one who tried to follow the Urgals yesterday", Angela said finally, when the silence between them had lasted almost too long. "And I know they escaped you."
Arya grimaced as she replied:
"I do not understand it! I've been reliving it over and over again, and it just does not make sense! The Urgals were no magicians, and all Durza's spells were broken when the spirits within him fled. Were they not?"
"They were", Angela confirmed. "But you mustn't forget that Durza was not acting on his own initiative. All his orders came, probably, from Galbatorix."
"So ...", Arya began, irritated with herself for not realizing what Angela had jus pointed out. "Those Urgals could as well have been acting on Galbatorix's orders?"
"That seems logical enough", said Angela. "Does it not?"
"Well, yes", Arya admitted. "It does, of course. I just ... did not think like that."
"No, I can see that", Angela said, her usual cheerful expression returning.
Arya was just going to say that she could manage very well without Angela's comments, when she heard running footsteps behind her. It was the same boy who had called for her when the Urgals attacked Farthen Dûr, and he looked just as urgent and out of breath as he had done then. Following him was Nasuada, dressed in black and with an air of vulnerability that Arya had never seen about her before.
"Lady Arya", the boy said. "Jörmundur wants you to come to his study. The Council of Elders wants to speak with you and Nasuada."
"The Council of Elders?" Arya repeated, a sudden cold sensation rising within her. "I'm coming."
As she turned to walk away together with Nasuada and the boy, she noticed Angela's troubled expression, and she understood it. All the Council wanted was gain power themselves, she knew. So what did they want her?
The members of the council were sitting around the table when Arya and Nasuada entered the room, but they were not alone. With them were, to arya's surprise, Eragon and Saphira. Both of them were wearing the same troubled and thoughtful expression, mingled with what might be anxiety, though it was hard to tell.
As Jörmundur helped Nasuada to a chair at the table, Arya noticed Eragon trying to do the same for her. But she remained where she was, constantly aware of the tention that seemed to be filling the room. It was just as powerful as the shock among the rest of the Varden, and Arya got the feeling that these two feelings were, somehow, connected to each other.
Jörmundur greeted Arya briefly, then turned to Nasuada and, in short words, expressed his and the council's sympathy for her. However, it was clear that they had something else in mind as well.
The moment this thought occurred to Arya, she felt another mind, gently brushing against her consciousness. She turned towards it with a mixture of surprise and happiness within her.
- Saphira? she asked.
- Yes, said the dragon. There is something I need to tell you, Arya. The Council of Elders summoned us here before you, to discuss who would succeed Ajihad as leader of the Varden.
The cold feeling inside Arya intensified. This was exactly what she had feared, and she realized suddenly that she should not have wasted so much time this morning. She should have gone straight here to try and discover what was happening.
- They have decided that it shall be Nasuada, Saphira went on. However, that is not all. The council wants us, or Eragon, to swear fealty to the Varden, so that they can control both him and Nasuada. He promised not to say anything about this to anyone else, but I did not. That is why I was the one who told you, and not Eragon.
Horror-struck, Arya listened as Jörmundur and the others in the council explained their reasons, more or less forcing Nasuada to accept. But still, the last thing Saphira had told Arya worried her the most. Eragon had agreed to swear fealty to the Varden, allowing himself too to be controlled by the Council of Elders? But why? How could he have been so foolish? And Saphira s well! Arya knew of course that the dragon was not old, but even so ...
- Meet me in the library as soon as you can, Arya said to Saphira, who agreed and then withdrew her mind.
With short, but clear words, Nasuada accepted her position, and Arya saw the council's triumphant looks. Each member spoke briefly to Nasuada, before one of the men turned to Arya.
"Will the elves find this agreeable?" he demanded, causing Arya to raise an eyebrow in irritation.
"I cannot speak for my queen", she said. "But I find nothing objectionable to it. Nasuada has my blessing."
Everyone in the room, except perhaps for Eragon and Saphira, beamed.
Soon, the Council of Elders left the room, Arya following them. However, she heard clearly what Nasuada said to Eragon:
"Eragon, will you please stay?"
The members of the council looked alarmed, and Arya shared their feelings. But she showed nothing of it, and simply swept from the room. If Nasuada wanted to talk to Eragon alone, Arya could find no reason not to allow it. Nor had she got the right.
Several anxious minutes dragged by. Arya sat alone at one of the tables in the library, staring at the door. When Eragon and Saphira finally entered the large room, feelings of impatience and anger had joined the anxiety, and she fixed her eyes upon Eragon as he sat down.
And then, when Arya finally was unable to control herself any longer, the words exploded out of her.
"What have you done?" she burst out, clearly startling Eragon. "What have you promised the Varden? What have you done?"
As Arya said the last words, she even reached out for Eragon's mind, so that he would not be able to escape her question. Fear flashed across his face.
"We only did what we had to do", he said, a tone of defence in his voice. "I'm ignorant of elves' customs, so if our actions upset you, I apologize. There's no need to be angry."
"Fool!" shouted Arya. "You know nothing about me!"
And then, she explained, with fury still filling both her voice and her mind, about the seven decades she had spent with the Varden. She told Eragon about how she had carried Saphira's egg between Farthen Dûr and Du Weldenvarden for fifteen years, and how Brom had been helping her.
When she had finished, Eragon said:
"We only accepted the Council's demands because we knew we had to. But we have sworn fealty to Nasuada, not the Varden. So she's the only one who can control us, not the council. That was the only thing we could do!"
In the silence following his words, Arya felt the shame rising inside her. Of course, it had never been her intention to shout at Eragon like that, and she knew how impolite, and even frightening, she had been.
Leaning back and studying Eragon's face, Arya said quietly:
"Your position is not what I would have hoped, but better than I had thought. I was impolite. Saphira and you understand more than I thought. Your compromise will be accepted by the elves, though you must never forget your debt to us for Saphira."
"I never will", Eragon promised, and she could tell he meant what he said.
They stayed where they were for several minutes, before Eragon said:
"You have been gone for such a long time. Do you miss Ellesméra? Or did you live elsewhere?"
Arya looked away as she answered, unwilling to meet his eyes. It was clear that Eragon wanted to learn more about her, and a part of her wanted to tell him. But she knew that he must not know too much about her until they reached Ellesméra. Then, the knowledge would be inevitable.
"Ellesméra was, and always shall be, my home", Arya said, still in the same, quiet tone. "I have not lived in my family's house since I left, when the walls and windows were draped with spring's first flowers. The times I have visited the forest since then have been too short to be counted as more than vanishing memories, by our measures."
"It must be hard to live among all these dwarves and humans, without any of your kind", Eragon said slowly.
It was a while before Arya could think of anything to say. She did not want to speak about anything this emotional. Not with someone she had not known for more than a week's time. Of course, Saphira was there as well, but she was still eager to change the subject.
"You speak of humans as if you weren't one", she said finally, which made Eragon frown slightly.
"Maybe ...", he began. "Maybe I am something else. A mixture of two races. Saphira lives inside me as much as I live in her. We share feelings, senses and thoughts, even to the point when we are more one mind than two."
His words caused the longing to be a Dragon Rider, which Arya had been suppressing ever since the morning, to intensify. She looked at Saphira, and was suddenly glad that the dragon could not read her thoughts.
"That is how it should be", she said to Eragon. "A pact more ancient than you can imagine links you. You won't fully understand what it means to be a Dragon Rider until your training is completed. But that must wait until after the funeral. In the meantime, may the stars watch over you."
And with that, Arya got up from her chair and left the library, her mind full of all that had happened, even though the day had hardly begun.
