So I'm back with another chapter. This was a lot of fun to write and I'm hoping that you all like it. Thank you all to everyone who has reviewed and put this story on their alerts and favourites, it makes me very happy. So I hope you enjoy this offering from me and I'll try and get another one up soon.
Flashes
Chapter 9
It had been a week since Eragon had seen Murtagh. He had tried to get in contact with him each, day and must have left about ten voicemail messages. These messages had started off sympathetically, but as the week had progressed and he had received no word from Murtagh he had started to get irate.
"Listen, I'm doing my best here, I've told you that I understand why you're upset but the fact you won't even call and talk to me about this is quite frankly starting to piss me off. So look I'll just stop calling you and when you finally stop sulking and decide you want to talk just give me a call."
With a heavy sigh Eragon chucked his phone back on his desk with perhaps a little too much force.
"What did the phone ever do to you?" Orik grinned at Eragon from the other side of the desk.
"Nothing." Eragon leant back in his chair and glared at the phone again.
"You ready for lunch?"
"Yeah, let me go and see if Saphira wants anything." Standing up Eragon stretched, feeling a crick in his neck, crossing the floor he knocked softly on Saphira's office door.
"Come in." Eragon popped his head round the door.
"Do you want anything for lunch, Orik and I are going down now." Saphira checked her watch and shook her head.
"No, I've got a meeting with Ajihad, Arya and the other department heads. I'm sure they'll be sandwiches there."
"Ok, only if you're sure."
"Thanks Eragon." Saphira smiled and began gathering all the papers that were strewn across her desk. Closing the door Eragon went back towards Orik.
"Right let's go."
They met Arya on her way out of the lift.
"Arya." Orik greeted her.
"Orik." She nodded. "Eragon." She glanced at him briefly. They had not had much contact since the previous Saturday night, Eragon was supposed to be working with her primarily on administration, but during the week it seemed that whenever he went to her office she was either out or too busy to work with him. Eragon was starting to think that she was avoiding him, but could think of no reason which would cause her to.
His mind kept returning to Saturday night and the way that Arya had clammed up as soon as they had all say down at the table. He knew that Arya was wary around new people but she was never outright rude. Eragon looked at her as they stood almost awkwardly outside the lift, the weekend at Saphira and Eragon's had done her good. She had come into work on the Monday morning looking more refreshed and less tired. But it seemed that she had obviously been burning the candle at both ends, judging by the bags that had reappeared under her eyes.
"Do you want anything from the canteen?" Eragon found himself asking. Arya looked surprised as if the thought of food hadn't crossed her mind.
"No, I'm fine thanks." She replied after a moment. Eragon had expected this reply and nodded.
"Well, I'm just going to lunch now, if you need me this afternoon I'll be here."
"Thanks. I might need your help later on a couple of things." Arya was already leaving.
"Tell me about Empire." Orik looked up from his plate at Eragon's words, surprised etched on his face.
"What?"
"I want to know more about Empire." Eragon repeated. "I know what it is, but I don't really know anymore than the basics." Orik was silent for a moment.
"Alright." Putting his knife and fork down he leant forward.
"Empire was, until about 25 years ago a relatively small company. It only dealt nationally, never in other countries, most of its profits came from hardware and metal..." Orik's face darkened. "...but then came Galbatorix." The name was slightly familiar to Eragon.
"Isn't he the CEO?" Orik nodded.
"He was on the board, and didn't agree with the direction the company was going. He was all for expansion, but the board wanted to stay where there were, there was even talk of downsizing a couple of departments, including the one Galbatorix was in charge of. He thought they'd all gone soft, so he took matters into his own hands."
"What did he do?"
"He initiated a takeover; he used blackmail, threats and deception to gain control of the board and stockholders and then appointed himself the CEO. There was suspicion that he had been planning the take over for years before his disagreement with the board because in the weeks running up to the changes many members of the board experienced serious financial difficulties which led to them having no choice but to resign when Galbatorix took power. As a result Galbatorix was free to appoint his own new 13 members of the board." Orik paused to take a swig of his juice. "One of these of course was Morzan."
"So what happened next?" Eragon asked.
"Well, within two years Empire had expanded internationally. It branched out into weapons, technology and anything else that was likely to turn a profit. Galbatorix was ruthless, buying up all the small companies that had anything he wanted, ships, trains, planes, goods, even executives who could help Empire expand further, all the bought out. Some legally, others...not so." Orik took a bite of his lunch allowing Eragon to process what he had been told.
"So, then what?"
"Empire quickly became the biggest company in the city and one of the biggest in the world. Mostly because there were no other companies who could compete with it, save my company and Varden."
"Did they ever try and buy you out?"
"Yes, it was one of the main reasons that we decided on the merger, not only where there major benefits to both companies, it offered us security. Galbatorix had been putting on us for a while and we knew that we wouldn't be able to resist for much longer. Varden is the only company that can match Empire so we met with Ajihad and agreed on a merger.
"Are the stories about what Empire doe true? All those accusations that have been made."
"Nothing has ever been definitively proven. But there are people who have tried to investigate Galbatorix and have had 'accidents' that prevent them from carrying on. Galbatorix is not a man to trifle with."
Eragon leant back in his chair and exhaled heavily.
"Wow." Was all he could say. Orik nodded his agreement.
"Yeah, it has been a worrying time with Empire sniffing around." He looked around and leant forward again. "I'll let you in on a little secret, if Ajihad hadn't convinced your board of directors to agree to a merger we might not have survived. Empire were more interested in getting rid of us than just pulling our assets and merging the company within Empire."
"Sounds like we saved your skin there." Eragon joked.
"Yes." Orik allowed a smile.
It was five minutes later that Eragon felt his phone ringing. Fishing it out of his pocket he was surprised to see Roran's name flashing up on the screen. Since Eragon had moved away from home he had only spoken to Roran a handful of times. His cousin had always seemed to be out whenever Eragon had called home.
Pressing the call button Eragon raised the phone to his ear.
"Hello?"
"Eragon! How are you?"
"I'm fine, how are you, is everything ok?"
"Yes everything is fine."
"Good, how is Garrow?"
"Garrow's fine. Listen I have some news for you."
"Oh, what is it?"
"Well, next week, I'm going to be in the city for a meeting. Katrina's coming with me, so we were thinking we'd come and visit you." Eragon found himself grinning widely. When he had announced that he was moving into the city Roran had protested more vehemently than Garrow had and when he had dropped Eragon off he had seemed very sceptical about the whole set up. The fact that he seemed excited to visit Eragon was a step forward in the right direction.
"That's fantastic, how long will you be here for?"
"Three, maybe four days." Roran replied after a moment's thought. "The meeting's on Tuesday so we'd be looking to come on the Monday and perhaps go home on the Thursday."
"Well that's great. Where are you staying?"
"We're looking into hotels..." Roran got no further before Eragon cut him off.
"No way! Hotels are really expensive, you can come stay with me."
"Are you sure? Saphira won't mind?"
"Of course not." Eragon snorted. "She loves company."
"Well only if you're sure, it would certainly save us some money."
"Well that's settled then." Eragon smiled. "Look I'm just at lunch now, can I talk to Saphira and call you back later?"
"Yeah sure, I'll speak to you later."
As Eragon hung up the phone he couldn't help the grin that was still plastered to his face.
"Who was that?" Orik asked.
"Roran, my cousin. He's coming to visit next week." Orik nodded.
"That'll be nice. I take it you're close?"
"Yes. Roran is more like a brother to me, my Uncle Garrow, his father, brought me up and treated me like a son."
"What happened to your parents, if you don't mind my asking?" Eragon thought for a moment.
"I don't know who my father is. My mother was too young to have me, she fell pregnant and Garrow was there to help and when it got too much for her so he took me in and raised me."
"Wow, that must have been tough." Orik said sympathetically. Eragon shrugged.
"Not really, I had a good upbringing and a loving family. Yes it would have been nice to have seen my mum more often and known who my dad was but I wasn't hard done by." He said simply.
Eragon made it back to the office just as Saphira and Arya were coming back from their meeting.
"That was a long lunch." Saphira scolded him playfully with a wink. Eragon just rolled his eyes and followed them into Saphira's office.
"How was the meeting?" he asked leaning against the door and slipping his hands into his pockets.
"Frustrating." Arya answered to Eragon's surprise. "There was a lot of talk but not much was actually being said."
"It was mostly Sloan talking." Saphira said. "I say talking, what I mean is bitching."
"About what?"
"Budget cuts." Arya replied. "He's not happy that a lot of money is being put into this merger, where we can actually make some profit. Whereas all his department is good for is the odd bacon sandwich." Saphira laughed.
"Saphira, I've got some news." Eragon decided to tell her before she got too distracted.
"Yeah what?" Saphira asked as she settled down into her chair.
"Roran and Katrina are going to be in the city next week, is it ok if they stay with us?"
"Of course." Saphira grinned. "How long will they be in town for?"
"Monday through Thursday."
"Oh, oh, oh! We should have a dinner party." Saphira said excitedly. "I haven't had a good dinner party in ages."
"That would be a nice idea." Eragon agreed.
"You'll come won't you Arya?"
"I guess so. Who are Roran and Katrina though?" Arya replied crossing her arms across her chest.
"Roran is my cousin, Katrina is his girlfriend."
"So it's settled. We can ask Orik, and Nasuada." Saphira was beaming, she was never happier than when she was planning social events. Eragon caught Arya's eye as she gave a smirk, it seemed that Arya found great amusement watching Saphira when she got this excited.
Eragon ran the idea of a dinner party past Roran when he called him after he had finished work.
"It sounds like a great idea. Katrina's very excited." Roran told him."
"Good, Saphira is incredibly excited about the whole thing." Roran laughed.
"That I can believe."
Eragon talked to his cousin for a few minutes longer before hanging up. Walking from his room to his living room he shot an apologetic smile to the person who was sat on the sofa.
"Sorry about that."
"It's ok." Emily smiled and shifted up so he could sit next to her.
"I'm glad you were able to pop over."
"Yeah I've got an hour to kill; I've got a seminar by a guest lecturer in a bit and your flat is quite near the venue."
"Oh I see how it is." Eragon laughed. "You're only here because of the convenience." Emily grinned.
"Course I am. I just wanted somewhere to rest my feet. Wasn't really fussed as to whether or not I saw you." She winked at him which caused him to laugh. Whatever he had been about to say next was cut off by the sound of the front door opening and Saphira's voice calling out a greeting.
"In here." Eragon called back. Saphira appeared in the doorway, a smile breaking out on her face when she saw Emily on the sofa.
"Emily! What a pleasure to see you again."
"It's nice to see you too Saphira." Eragon stood up.
"I didn't realise you'd be home this early, I haven't made dinner yet."
"It's ok, I'll whip something up. I'm not that hungry anyway." Saphira slung her jacket over the back of the chair and headed into the kitchen, humming softly. Eragon leant back against the sofa as Emily's phone beeped. Pulling it out of her pocket she looked at the screen for a few seconds.
"Hey, I have to go now, my friend's waiting a couple of streets away." She said and Eragon was very pleased to hear a hint of regret in her voice.
"Oh ok." Standing up he showed her to the front door. "Oh, before I forget, we're having a little dinner party next week, do you fancy it?" he asked, almost feeling a little nervous. He was relieved to see Emily break out in a big smile.
"I'd love to. Text me with the details." Leaning forward she gently kissed his cheek. "I'll see you soon."
"Yeah, enjoy your seminar."
Waving one last time Eragon closed the door to find Saphira watching him from the doorway to the living room, a sandwich in her hand.
"That looked cosy." She smirked. "Is she coming to the dinner party." Eragon nodded. "Great. Do you want a sandwich?"
The weekend passed very slowly for Eragon, part of this was down to the excitement for Roran's arrival, and the rest of was down to spending most of it by himself. Saphira, Arya and Orik were called into meetings all weekend that didn't need Eragon, Emily had work and Murtagh still hadn't called him back. So Eragon took the opportunity to catch up on some reading. He had been reading business books, trying to get a grasp of the basics so that Saphira and Arya had to teach him less, and he would become more productive.
By Sunday evening Eragon was going out of his mind. Roran and Katrina were due early the next morning so Eragon had secured the morning off work so he could be around to meet them. He was cooking dinner when he heard Saphira come in.
"How was it?" he asked as she slouched into the kitchen and accepted the bottle of beer he held out to her gratefully.
"Hell." She replied shortly. "Sloan kept us there an hour and a half longer than we needed to be; I think Arya was on the verge of beating him."
"I can imagine." Eragon shook his head. Sloan had steered clear of Eragon since Saphira had chewed him out in his first week at Varden, but he had still run into the man a few times, it was not difficult to imagine hitting the man, and Arya had a shorter fuse with men than most.
"Well dinner's almost ready, so you can just go and sit down and I'll bring it through." Saphira gave him a grateful smile, and retreated into the living room.
"What time does Roran and Katrina's train get in tomorrow?" Saphira asked when Eragon handed her dinner a few minutes later.
"Half 9. I'll meet them at the station; it is ok if I bring them into the office in the afternoon?"
"Yeah it won't be a problem." Saphira smiled.
"Good." Eragon grinned. "What day were you planning on having the dinner party?"
Wednesday." Saphira was shovelling her food down and mumbled her answer around a mouthful of food.
"Sounds good." Eragon took a swig of his beer and slumped down on the sofa.
"So who's coming?"
"Arya, Orik, and Nasuada I think." Saphira mused.
Finishing off her food she stood up and stretched.
"Right I'm beat. I'm gonna head to bed. Are you ok to wash up?" Eragon nodded.
"Sure thing, you go ahead. I'll see you tomorrow afternoon." Saphira gave him one last smile before she picked up her bag and left the room yawning.
The next morning had already left for work by the rime Eragon had woken up. Yawning he made his way into the kitchen and pulled open the fridge. As he ate his breakfast he gave the flat the quick once over. Whilst Roran and Katrina were staying, they would be sleeping in his room and he would be back on the sofa.
Happy that the flat was clean enough he glanced at the clock and realised he had half an hour before he had to leave. Wolfing down the rest of his breakfast he made a beeline for the shower.
It turned out that Eragon needn't have rushed, Roran and Katrina's train was forty minutes late and he ended up hanging around on the platform. There was a chill in the air and Eragon regretted not wearing a thicker jacket, stuffing his hands in his pockets he exhaled heavily, watching his breath cloud out in front of him.
Finally he heard the tannoy announce the arrival of Roran and Katrina's train. The carriages pulled slowly up to the platform, Eragon craned his head, looking for his cousins tell tale sandy hair. Catching sight of it emerging from a carriage further down the platform, Eragon grinned as he saw Roran turn to help Katrina down from the train. Raising his hand he waved to get their attention, when Roran noticed him his face broke into a wide grin and he waved, pulling Katrina along as he started towards his cousin.
"Eragon!"
"Roran!" Eragon reached his cousin and pulled him into a tight hug. "It's good to see you." Roran pulled back and looked at him.
"And you cousin!" letting go he allowed Katrina to step up and wrap her arms around him.
"Eragon it's been too long." She said softly when they pulled apart.
"I know. How have you been?" he asked. Katrina and Roran had been together for just over 2 years. Katrina was soft spoken and almost the complete opposite of Roran. She was perfect for him and Eragon could not be happier for his cousin.
"I've been fine." We've missed you!" Katrina laughed.
"I've missed you guys too. Can I take your bags?" without waiting for an answer Eragon plucked the bag from Roran and gestured towards the exit. "Shall we."
"So what's the plan?" Roran asked as they sat down for lunch. Eragon had taken them to the flat to drop off their bags and they were now in a small restaurant a few streets away from Varden.
"Well, I'll take you into the office this afternoon and introduce you to everyone. Tomorrow you have your meeting, I'll entertain Katrina and then on Wednesday we have the dinner party."
"Sounds good." Roran smiled pulling a menu towards him.
"Who will be at this dinner party?" Katrina asked.
"Just a few people from work, and a friend of mine, Emily." At this Roran looked up, a twinkle in his eye.
"A 'friend' or a 'friend'" on the second 'friend' Roran waggled his eyebrow suggestively.
"Oh it's not like that." Eragon said. "We've been on a couple of dates." At his words both Katrina and Roran grinned in synch.
"Ohhhhh." They said together, Eragon rolled his eyes.
"It's not that big a deal."
"Yes it is." Roran was still grinning. "My baby cousin is finally growing up!"
"You patronising git!" Eragon laughed as their waiter came over. "Now we can stop talking about e and concentrate on our food?"
It was nearly 2 o'clock by the time Eragon, Roran and Katrina arrived at Varden. Eragon led them through the lobby and to the elevator, as it took them up his floor he checked his phone. There was a message from Saphira telling him to hurry up and one from Emily, telling him her schedule for Wednesday so he could sort out what time she should arrive for the dinner party.
The lift reached Eragon's floor and the doors pinged open. When Eragon stepped out of the doors he was surprised to see far more people than usual were in the office. Orik was there, Arya, Nasuada and of course Saphira. What surprised Eragon was to see Ajihad as well and his heart dropped a little when he caught sight of Sloan. Turning back to his cousin and Katrina he smiled.
"Looks like someone set up a little welcoming party."
Motioning for Roran and Katrina to wait by the lift Eragon stepped forward. Sloan as usual did not look happy; his face was even redder than usual. Ajihad seemed to be working as a middle man, because Arya and Saphira looked ready to explode. As Eragon drew nearer he could hear Arya's ranting.
"...underhand, unfair and deceitful!"
"Arya." Ajihad laid a hand on her should in an obvious bid to keep her calm.
"You're a piece of work." Saphira growled at Sloan. "You're not a team player, hell you don't even work well in your own department!"
"My department is a forgotten one!" Sloan retorted. "We have a smaller budget, less man power and no support from the board!" Ajihad sighed.
"We've been through this before Sloan! Your department, like all the others in this company, have the full backing of the board."
"Then why is my department constantly being pissed on whenever it comes to annual funding?"
"Watch your language Sloan." Ajihad warned. "You know full well that each department gets the appropriate funding depending on needs and generated profit."
"But we never get enough!"
"You're meat shipping Sloan!" Arya suddenly exploded. "Your profit margins are the lowest in the company and you have one of the smallest departments. We are in the middle of the largest merger in this company's history and instead of helping like everyone else is; you're stalling and making it harder for everyone to do their jobs!" she took a step forward and Eragon saw the flash of anger in her eyes. Even Sloan seemed to heed the warning and shut his mouth.
Ajihad stepped in between his two department heads.
"I think we all need to calm down. Sloan, go back down to your office, I will meet you down there presently." Sloan didn't look at Ajihad, he was still glaring at Arya, who in turn was staring stonily back at him. Saphira was leaning against her office door, her expression mirrored Arya's. Sloan finally relented and turning around began to walk away. As he reached Eragon his eyes narrowed.
"What are you looking at boy?" he snarled.
"Nothing." Eragon replied.
"Then get out of my way." Sloan slammed past him, bumping his shoulder into him as he did so. Out of the corner of his eye Eragon saw both Saphira and Arya started towards him, but Sloan was already in the lift and the doors were closing.
Ajihad spent the next couple of minutes apologising to Arya, Eragon and Saphira. During the exchange between Sloan and Arya both Orik and Nasuada had remained silent. Ajihad left after his apologies as he didn't want to leave Sloan alone to fester in his anger for too long. When he had left, attention was finally able to turn to Eragon's guests.
"It's nice to see you again." Saphira grinned, brushing past his outstretched hand she pulled him into a hug, much to Roran's surprise. When she finally released him she turned her attention to Katrina.
"And you must be Katrina." Katrina nodded and seemed to brace herself for the hug that was coming her way. true to form Saphira gave her a back breaking hug.
After Saphira had put Katrina down Eragon introduced them to the rest of the people gathered in the room.
"This is Arya, she's Saphira's partner as head of this department. That's Nasuada, she's Ajihad's daughter and over here is Orik, he's our main liaison in the merger. Everyone this is my cousin Roran and his girlfriend Katrina." Roran shook Arya, Nasuada and Orik's hand whilst Katrina offered a smile and preferred to stay back.
"It's nice to meet you guys!" Nasuada said, "Unfortunately I have to go, but I will see you all at the dinner party on Wednesday." With one last smile Nasuada left.
During the introductions Arya had been very quiet, it seemed that she was still angry over what had happened with Sloan. Saphira was still babbling away with Roran and Katrina, which gave Eragon the chance to talk to Arya.
"So what happened with Sloan back there?" he asked. Arya sighed and rubbed one of her temples.
"He was just being Sloan, but I guess today it just got to me more. He was being so childish and I guess I snapped."
"I can see why." Eragon noted.
"There's just something about him that I can't stand!"
"His personality?" Eragon suggested. Arya laughed.
"That would be it." They stood in silence for a moment watching Saphira as she bombarded Roran and Katrina with questions.
"So Saphira and Roran seem to be hitting it off." Arya said with a smile.
"What you mean is Saphira is talking and not letting Roran get a word in edgeways." Eragon laughed.
"That's Saphira all over, she was the same the first time I met her."
"Come to think of it she was the same the first time I met her as well." Eragon smiled as he fondly remembered his and Saphira's first meeting. She had been just as chatty than as she was now, over a decade later.
Finally Saphira stopped talking and waved Eragon over.
"I have to get back to work. But if you wanna show Roran and Arya around I'll try and finish early tonight and we can all go for a drink."
"Sounds like a plan."
"Will you join us Arya?" Saphira asked her partner.
"No, seeing as half the team is either skiving or leaving early someone has to do some work." She smirked raising an eyebrow. Saphira stuck her tongue out, causing Arya's eyebrow to arch up further.
"Right, shall we go?"
Orik accompanied them on their tour round the building.
"Don't you have work to be doing?" Eragon asked him halfway through the tour. Orik shrugged.
"Probably. But I'm waiting on some paperwork so until I have it I can't really do anything."
"How convenient."
"Did you hear back from Murtagh?" Orik asked five minutes later. Eragon shook his head.
"No, I've given up leaving messages; he can contact me when he's finished sulking."
"Who's Murtagh?" Roran asked.
"A friend of mine. He's a delivery guy."
"And he's sulking because?"
"We had a bit of a disagreement." Roran knew his cousin well enough to not press the subject further, so instead he decided to change the subject.
"So Saphira is very friendly."
"Yes, and she's very excited that you're here."
"I loved her." Katrina said with a grin. "I don't think I've ever met anyone like her."
"She's one of a kind." Eragon said fondly.
The tour of the offices was finished within the hour, and then they were back outside Saphira's office. Eragon noticed that Roran didn't look completely comfortable.
"Are you ok?" he asked laying a hand on his cousins shoulder.
"I'm fine, I'm just not used to being enclosed by so many buildings." Eragon nodded in sympathy. He had felt the same way when he had first arrived, he was more used to the wide open spaces of the countryside. Only now was he starting to feel truly at ease in the city between the buildings.
It was that moment that Saphira appeared him her office.
"How was the tour?"
"As fun as office building tours can be." Eragon smiled. Saphira rolled her eyes.
"Well, I'm bored of work so I'm done for the day. Who's buying the first round?"
Wednesday came around all too soon for Eragon, he had forgotten how much he loved being around his cousin. They had been inseparable growing up, but in their teenage years had drifted apart somewhat. In the two days that Roran had spent in the city Eragon found they seemed to be finding the closeness they had shared as boys again. He had also spent a lot of time with Katrina, when Roran had been out at his meeting.
When Roran had first started seeing Katrina, Eragon had been at an age where he had not been interested in monogamous relationship, so when Roran had brought Katrina to the house Eragon had often opted to stay out of their way, not wanting to see their shows of affection. But now he was older Eragon found himself enjoying the company oh his cousin's girlfriend.
It was Wednesday evening and Eragon and Saphira had just gotten in from work. He'd had to let Roran and Katrina fend for themselves during the day as he and Saphira had had a big meeting with Ajihad at Varden.
With a loud yawn Eragon dropped his bag down by the sofa before throwing himself down.
"Long day?" Roran asked, Eragon nodded.
"You have no idea!" he groaned.
"Don't get too comfortable." Saphira called from the hallway. "People are coming in half an hour, be ready to get in the shower soon."
"Yes mother." Eragon called back exasperatedly, prompting a chuckle from Roran.
" Did you have a good day?" Eragon asked a couple of minutes later.
"Yes, Katrina and I did some sightseeing, did some shopping and had a nice meal."
"That's good." Eragon yawned again.
"You sure you're going to be able to stay awake this evening?"
"I'll be fine once I've had a shower." Eragon nodded.
Saphira all but pushed him into the shower twenty minutes later. Stepping under the jet he sighed and allowed his tense muscles to relax. The meeting with Ajihad had put him on edge as the CEO had outlined exactly how much they had left to do and how little time was left. On top of that he was also worried about Murtagh, who still hadn't called him back. Trying not to let these thoughts preoccupy his mind and ruin his evening he forced himself to relax and enjoy the water.
Arya checked her watch and raising a hand rapped on the door. She was right on time, as usual. Arya wasn't one to mess around with being fashionably late, when she was given a time she arrived at that time. She could hear voices behind the door; one of them was clearly Saphira's. Suddenly the door was wrenched open and Arya found herself staring at Eragon's very bare, very wet chest. He had obviously just got out of the shower. Arya found herself speechless, not a regular occurrence. Clothed in only a pair of jeans, he had a towel resting round his neck. Arya licked her lips and forced the words out of her mouth.
"Sorry, am I early?" she asked, trying not to let her voice crack.
"No." Eragon shook his head. "You're right on time, I'm just running a little late." Standing back he gestured into the hallway.
"Come on in." Arya made her way into the flat, trying to look anywhere but at Eragon, if he noticed her discomfort he didn't say anything. Showing her into the living room he let her take a seat.
"Can I get you a drink?" Arya nodded, keeping her eyes down.
"Yes, some wine would be great." Eragon nodded and disappeared into the kitchen. Arya could hear him rifling around.
Hearing movement at the door Arya looked up and saw Katrina coming into the room.
"Hey." She offered the other woman a smile.
"Hi, it's Arya isn't it?" Katrina moved into the room and sat down in the chair next to the sofa.
"Yes." Arya felt her phone buzz in her pocket. "Excuse me." Pulling it out of her pocket she quickly read over the message. It was from Claire, one of the few friends that she actually enjoyed speaking to after the death of Fäolin. Quickly composing a reply Arya put her phone away and turned her attention back to Katrina just as Eragon reappeared with a glass of wine, he handed it to her with a smile.
"If you'll excuse me ladies. I should probably go and get dressed." Eragon said a moment later. With on last smile he left the room, leaving Arya and Katrina alone.
"So how long have you worked with Saphira?" Katrina asked after they had been sat in silence for a few moments.
"Just over a year and a half." Arya replied. "What do you do?"
"I'm a solicitor." Arya was surprised by Katrina's answer. She had expected the woman to say that she didn't do anything, but it seemed that she had judged the woman on sight alone, something she reminded herself not to do again.
"Wow that's impressive." She smiled. "Is that how you met Roran through your work?" Katrina shook her head.
"No, we met in a bar."
"How long have you been together?"
"Just over two years." Katrina had a soft smile on her face that Arya recognised as one she used to wear when she thought of Fäolin.
Arya found Katrina surprisingly easy to talk to over the next twenty minutes. Saphira flitted in and out checking on the food she had getting ready in the kitchen. Presently Eragon came back into the room with Roran, although they didn't have any chance to sit down before Saphira had roped them into helping the kitchen.
"I only wish Roran was this well trained back home." Katrina sighed as she watched her boyfriend scurry around.
"Well Saphira tends to be able to wrap anyone round her little finger. She certainly has Eragon there." Arya smiled.
"Well they've always been like that according to Roran." Katrina replied.
"Really?"
"Yeah, ever since they've known each other, they've just clicked Roran said. He often comments that they're more like brother and sister than just friends." Arya smiled, she herself had seen just how close they were. When they were at work they were more often than not laughing and joking and they were always looking out for each other. Arya sometimes found herself feeling a little envious of their relationship.
It was at that moment that a knock on the door pulled Arya from her thoughts.
"I'll get it." Arya stood up and swiftly crossed to the front door. Expecting it to be Orik or Nasuada she opened the door with a greeting on her lips.
Which died as soon as she saw Emily on the doorstep.
"Hey." Emily grinned. "Arya right?" Arya nodded.
"Yeah, come on in." Stepping back she allowed the younger woman into the flat. Following her into the living room she sat back down in her seat. Eragon must have heard the voices in the hallway as he reappeared from the kitchen, when he saw Emily a grin split his face.
"Emily!" stepping up he kissed her on the cheek and pulled her into a hug. "I'm so glad you made it." Throwing an arm around her shoulder he turned to Katrina and Roran who were now sat side by side on the sofa.
"Emily, this is my cousin Roran, and that's Katrina, his girlfriend." Emily smiled and reached forward to shake their hands, both Roran and Katrina wore identical grins on their faces.
"Emily, it's so nice to meet you." Roran said as they all sat down. Emily looked to Eragon, her smile wavering slightly, obviously a little unnerved by the smiles she was getting.
"So what do you do for a living?" Katrina asked as Saphira handed out some drinks.
"I'm training to be a lawyer." Emily replied, Katrina looked impressed.
"Wow, that's pretty amazing."
"Yeah. So what do you two do?"
"I'm a solicitor and Roran works on his father's farm." Emily smiled and took a sip of her wine.
Just as a silence was threatening to descend on the room there was a knock at the front door.
"Can someone get that?" Saphira called from the kitchen. Eragon stood up and crossed the room and out to the front door.
"Hey!" he greeted Orik and Nasuada with a grin. "You're late!"
"Sorry, we stopped off to get a present for our wonderful hosts." Orik brandished the bottle of wine. Eragon took it from him and let them through.
"Well in that case all is forgiven!" he shook Orik's hand and gave Nasuada a hug.
"Guys I'm so glad you made it!" Saphira rushed forward to hug Nasuada and Orik as soon as they entered the living room. "Dinner will be ready soon; can I get you all a drink?"
"Yes, a drink would be fantastic." Orik beamed as Nasuada nodded. Saphira disappeared back into the kitchen. Orik was shaking Roran's hand and Nasuada was speaking to Arya when Saphira came back in with the drinks.
"Right here we are." She said handing them out. "Now that we're all here I'd like to thank you all for coming..." she meant to carry on but a loud beeping from the kitchen caused her to gasp and dash back into the kitchen.
"Do you need any help?" Arya called out as they heard Saphira clattering about.
"No no," Saphira's voice came back, a little frantic. "I'm fine, you guys just chat amongst yourselves for a minute." They all chuckled as the frantic clattering and odd cursing continued.
"When do you guys head home?" Orik asked Roran and Katrina.
"Tomorrow." Katrina replied. "I wish we could stay longer, but I need to get back to work."
"Well I hope you'll come and stay again." Nasuada said with a smile.
"We would very much like too."
"Aha! Success!" Saphira yelled from the kitchen.
It was a bit of a struggle to get all seven of them round Saphira's small dining room table. Eragon found himself in between Emily and Saphira with Arya opposite him.
"It all smells amazing." Katrina said as Saphira brought out the first course, setting the large pot of soup down Saphira grinned.
"Thank you. I can make no promises that it'll taste as good as it smells though."
"I'm sure it will." Ever polite Katrina was the first to get a bowl of soup.
The first course passed with relatively little conversation, other than praise for Saphira's cooking.
"This is very good." Arya commented, she looked almost surprised.
"I'm glad you think so." Saphira was looking down at her food so she didn't catch Arya's expression. Eragon did however and had to hide a smile in his food.
"I'm going to have to come over for dinner more often if I'm going to be fed like this." Orik smiled as Saphira placed the main course in front of him.
"I don't get fed like this often!" Eragon said as he helped give people their food.
"You make it sound like I never feed you!" Saphira grumbled as she settled down in her seat.
"I often have to beg, or make it myself." Eragon replied with a grin.
"Hush little one." Saphira chided him, which caused Eragon to blush and everyone at the table to laugh.
It didn't take long for talk to turn to business and what was happening at Varden.
"Have you seen Sloan since your little...alteration the other day?" Nasuada asked Arya and Saphira.
"Briefly." Arya responded. "I was going to see Ajihad and he was waiting outside, luckily he had the good sense to leave before we had to talk."
"Well you got off lightly, he tried to corner me in the office and almost ripped me a new one. I had to shout at him and threaten to get Ajihad involved again before he would leave!"
"Was that the man who was doing all that shouting the other day?" Katrina asked.
"Yes, that's Sloan." As they were talking Emily leant in closer to Eragon so that she could whisper in his ear.
"Who's Sloan?"
"He's one of the department heads at work, he doesn't quite see eye to eye with either Saphira or Arya."
"Oh." Emily looked round the table, as Nasuada and Orik were trading war stories of times that they had clashed with Sloan.
"It was the first time I'd ever been in the building in an official capacity." Nasuada was saying, "My dad had set me loose and told me to go around and get myself acquainted with some of the higher ups. One of these just happened to be Sloan, and I think I caught him on a bad day."
"Every day for Sloan is a bad day." Arya said as she pushed her plate away from her. "I don't think I've ever seen the man smile, or say a nice word to anyone."
"I realised that soon enough. When I went up to introduce myself he tried to put me to work before I could even tell him who I actually was."
"He did the same sort of thing to me on my second day." Eragon joined the conversation. "But he knew exactly who I was." Orik shook his head.
"I don't think I've spoken to him more than a couple of times, and he's always been reasonably respectful to me. Maybe it's because insulting a senior board on an important merger is a sure fire way to lose your job."
"I think Ajihad lets him getting away with being rude at work because it's essentially harmless. No one takes Sloan seriously, not even in the people who are in his department." Saphira said as she sipped her wine.
During dessert talk turned to things other than work, Eragon found himself talking to Emily about her training, and soon Orik had joined in as well. At his own company Orik had taken a lot of interest in the legal department so he had a very basic understanding on what some of Emily was saying, which was a lot more than Eragon understood. Across the table Nasuada, Katrina and Arya seemed to be in a deep conversation and next to him Saphira appeared to be telling Roran jokes; at least he guessed they were jokes from the way his cousin was laughing.
Eragon soon found himself becoming distanced from the conversation between Orik and Emily and allowed his attention to wander. Looking up he found his eyes locking with Arya's across the table. There was an emotion swirling in her eyes that made it impossible for him to look away, one that he could not seem to identify. Arya blinked once, which broke her hold over him and he cast his gaze away, feeling a little unsettled and almost embarrassed about what had just happened. When he looked back up again Arya was deep in conversation with Nasuada and was no longer looking at him. Eragon carried on watching her for a few seconds, as she talked and gestured with small motions with her hands. Sensing he was watching her she glanced back at him briefly, her eyes looked hard, but as their gazes met again her expression seemed to soften slightly and a tiny smile tugged at the corner of her mouth. Almost as soon as it was there it had gone and she had looked back at Nasuada.
"Saphira, that meal was amazing!" Orik grasped her hand as he and Nasuada stood in the hallway. "Thank you once again."
"You're very welcome." Saphira was laughing and clapped him on the back. "Come back any time!" Orik shook Eragon's hands and waved goodbye to Emily, Arya, Roran and Katrina who were all in the living room. "Goodbye all!" Nasuada and Saphira shared one last hug before she showed them out of the door. Closing it after them she came back into the living room.
"Right that's two down, now I just have to get rid of the rest of you!" Eragon rolled his eyes and started to gather up the empty bottles that were on the table.
"I should really be going too." Emily said a few minutes later, checking her watch.
"Really?" Eragon looked up, "Can you not stay any longer?"
"I wish I could, but I have an early seminar tomorrow and I still have a bunch of prep work to do for it."
"Oh ok." Eragon placed the beer bottles in the kitchen and picked up her coat from one of the chairs.
"Well I was really glad you could come."
"Me too. I had a great time." Emily grinned.
"So do you want to meet up sometime next week?"
"Maybe yeah, I'll have to check my schedule but I'll let you know." Emily kissed the corner of his mouth quickly and shrugged her coat on.
"That's cool. Travel safe." Closing the door he walked back into the living room to find Roran and Katrina grinning at him again.
"Sooooooooo." Roran winked standing up and nudging Eragon in the ribs. "She seems nice, you did well there cousin."
"Yeah she's lovely, and you two are so cute together!" Katrina added on. Eragon found himself blushing again and playfully pushed his cousin away.
"Cut it out guys, you terrified her earlier."
"We're family. That's what we do." Roran laughed. "It's my job as your older 'brother' to make you and any new girlfriend you have an incredibly uncomfortable experience." At Roran's words Eragon saw Arya stand up and walk into the kitchen.
"First of all, she's not my girlfriend; we've just been hanging out. And secondly I never did anything like that with you when you first started seeing Katrina."
"That's because I'm the older one and so it's my job not yours to make situations uncomfortable." Eragon scowled and punched Roran on the shoulder.
Arya left half an hour later, saying that she needed to be up early from work. Saphira had tried to convince her to stay but when Arya had pointed out that Roran and Katrina were staying in Eragon's bedroom it would not be fair to make Eragon sleep on the floor. Saphira had relented and showed Arya to the door after she had said her goodbyes.
After closing the door Saphira came back to the door yawning loudly.
"I think I'm gonna turn in guys I'm shattered."
"Yeah think we're going to head to bed now as well." Roran replied as Katrina nodded sleepily in agreement.
"You gonna be ok in here?" Eragon nodded.
"Yeah sure, I'll see you guys in the morning."
As they all left the room Eragon fell back against the sofa sighing heavily. After a moment of staring at the ceiling he got up and retrieved his blankets from the corner of the room. Moulding the blankets and pillows into something that vaguely resembled a bed he sighed again. After he had gotten ready for bed he slipped under his blankets and lay in the dark staring up at the ceiling again. When he closed his eyes he could see Arya's piercing stare, watching him over the table. He couldn't get it out of his mind. Squeezing his eyes shut he took a few deep breaths in an attempt to clear his mind before he slipped off into a fitful sleep.