Chapter 10

Eragon walked out of the dimly-lit room, striding towards the small hallway not ten feet in front of him. Slowly turning the corner, he saw the shelves lined with rows of faintly glowing Eldunari. Eragon walked over to one of the slightly larger Eldunari, and laid his hand upon it. He extended to his consciousness towards the old soul; only to feel anger, hatred, and a mix of tangled emotions. Eragon stood there for over a half hour, trying to soothe the elder dragon's twisted mind. Eragon rose after feeling that he had slightly alleviated some of the creature's confusion and anger.

Silently walking past the shelves and shelves of dragon's who the elves have yet to return to a normal state of mind, Eragon silently cursed Galbatorix in his mind for twisting the elders as he had.

After Valdr's warning, Eragon had spent most of his free time in the past month helping the elves with the Eldunari whose minds had yet to return to their previous state. Mostly it was for the reason that he wanted to see if any of the other older Eldunari had anything to say about the vision Valdr had given him. So far, the most helpful advice was from Umaroth, telling him to take what the great dragon had said very seriously. A part inside his heart knew that even though most of his intentions were noble, he also found spending time with the elder dragons helped him take his time off the fact that Arya had never written him back.

Even though he knew the outcome, Eragon always felt the tiny glimmer of hope creep into his stomach every time he entered his room; hoping he'd see a small floating boat there, waiting for him.

For the past month, Eragon had spent most of his time with the elves constructing most of the buildings on Dras-abr Moi. With magic and the work of thirty elves, a dragon, and a rider, the city was complete. A grand hall, a huge library, a council chamber, along with a huge dragon hold were all finished. The only thing left was the dragons and riders themselves.

Saphira had spent the past month taking care of the two hatchlings, Volos, the fiery orange dragon, and a young female who had hatched a week after Volos. Saphira had named the small silvery-blue dragoness Vaeyndr. The dragon was tiny compared to Volos, but yet what she lacked in strength and size, she made up for in intelligence and speed. Their rivalry was a fierce one; both younglings constantly tried to out-perform one another.

Eragon chuckled to himself, remembering how Vaeyndr had brought Saphira a rabbit that she had hunted by herself, proud of her accomplishment. Not an hour later, Volos had returned to the nest with a young buck clamped in his jaws, making sure to rub his accomplishment in his hatch mate's face.

Sadly, with the young dragons taking up a lot of Saphira's time, she and Eragon didn't see each other as often; but they remained in each other's minds 24/7, feeling every emotion and experience through one another.

With the completion of Dras-abr Moi, Eragon found that he had tons of free time on his hands. Mostly he devoted it to reading and writing scrolls, as well as practicing magic, or sparring against some of the elves. With the abundance of trees and nature on the island, the elves were as happy as clams. Eragon often stumbled upon them singing and dancing in the forest.

Not only had Eragon found companionship with the elves, but he had struck up an unexpected friendship with the werecat Jonah. Their conversations were often based on dragons and the history of Alagaesia. Eragon discovered that Jonah had come from an old royal bloodline of werecats; long before they had elected Grimrr Halfpaw as their spokes-cat. Jonah's family had retained a lasting friendship with an older dragon named Luarv. During a conversation in the late afternoon, he learned that the older pale red dragon had once saved Jonah's great-great-great-great-great-great-grandfather from being attacked by a Shrrg. While Luarv's body had passed into the void hundreds of years prior, the wild dragon's Eldunari remained safe; kept with the other Eldunari in the Vault of Souls for over a hundred years.

Saphira, I am going to go back to the house… I will come see you and the hatchlings tomorrow morning, if you don't mind. I'm quite tired today.

Truthfully, Eragon knew that was a lie. His motives behind returning to the tree house were that of curiosity and hope; maybe Arya had written to him. Eragon knew that Saphira could see through his words, but yet she let it slide anyways. She understood that this was a fragile subject with her Rider, so she allowed him to go with no questions asked.

Good night Little One, we will see you tomorrow. Eragon felt her hum through their connection.

Good night Saphira. Say hello to Volos and Vaeyndr for me.

The morning seemed to arrive quickly for Eragon. He awoke to a pair of yellow eyes staring at him from the side of his bed. The first few times this occurred, Eragon nearly jumped out of his skin. Now after many encounters, it seemed to be an almost regular activity for the pair.

Good morning Shadeslayer.

Jonah, I'm not even out of bed yet. How long have you been waiting there for?

Give or take a few minutes, but I'd say about a half hour. I have a remarkable amount of patience. It's a skill well worth learning Shadeslayer.

I'm plenty patient. Eragon said, an edge creeping into his voice. He really wasn't in the mood to be chastised this early in the morning.

Not as patient as I am. The cat wandered out the room, feeling a tad smug; his tail making tiny flicks in the air, almost as if he was almost about to pounce on his prey.

Waiting for something, Jonah? You seem a tad… Eragon searched for the proper word to describe how Jonah was acting. Playful wasn't the word; nor was excited, or tense. On edge. The words seemed to be most appropriate for the situation.

Well Shadeslayer, if you seemed to have paid more attention for the past few days instead of holing yourself up in with the Elder ones, for a bit more personal reasons that you'd like to admit, you'd realize that something has disturbed the peace on this island. The werecats tail flicked in an almost violent manner, and he strode out of the room.

Eragon could hear the werecat pad down the stairs, and for a moment the footsteps paused. You will see what I mean.

Jonah's words washed over Eragon as if he'd had a bucket of ice water poured on him. A bud of anger blossomed within him, instantaneously he reached out to Saphira. Eragon could feel that she was still half asleep, so he gently prodded her consciousness. Saphira, are you awake?

I am now. Your kerfuffle with the werecat awoke me.

Saphira felt Eragon pause on the other side of their connection, and she knew that he was waiting for an answer regarding Jonah.

Little One, you shouldn't take this the wrong way, but you know what the werecat's words had a grain of truth to them. When was the last time you sat, cleared your mind, and listened to the things around you? I understand that you've been busy building Dras abr Moi, and I also believe that the werecat might've crossed the line slightly, but you must accept that his point struck to be true.

Fine. The anger in Eragon boiled over, and he shut his mind off from Saphira. He walked out of the house with his composure kept, but didn't greet any of the elves as he passed them by. All he did was walk, and simmer in anger, wondering why Jonah's observation had aggravated him to this point. Even more so, Eragon began to worry as to what the werecat meant by 'something has disturbed the peace'. Eragon walked for nearly twenty minutes until he came upon a spot that he'd visited many times during the early days of being settled on Dras abr Moi. It was a shallow clearing on the top of a cliff that overlooked the sandy beach and vast ocean. The direction it faced pointed towards his old home. As Eragon stepped out to look over the ocean, Eragon saw and understood exactly what Jonah had meant.

Just to make sure his assumptions were correct, Eragon extended his consciousness and listened to the whispers of the life forces around him. Sure enough, his suspicions were proved to be correct, and he yelled out in happiness, and rejoined his mind yet again to his partner of mind and heart.

All around him, the land whispered something, and it reminded him of his lessons from what seemed like another life time ago. The land whispered of the arrival of a Rider.

Sure enough, Eragon could see two dots on the horizon. One a fairly larger dot with a greenish hue, and one smaller dragon that seemed to dip in and out of reality, blending in with the background. Eragon assumed that the white egg had hatched.

Already overflowing with excitement, another thought hit Eragon's mind. I'll get to see Arya. Even with the distance between them, Eragon could've sworn he had heard Saphira's roar.

OH HEY GUYS. IM SOSOSOOSOS SORRY FOR DROPPING OFF THE FACE OF THE EARTH. I really am D: But exams were just… ughh… But vacation was super nice :D Now that exams are officially over… I'm baaackkk! And here is my longest chapter yet, just for you guys! ^^ From now on, I'll probably update once a week. (It also depends on what life throws at me, but whatever) Remember to review, (it makes me really really happy. Actually.)