Ichigo dreamed of the battles he fought. He dreamed of the horror of fighting Kenpachi when he couldn't damage him, of when he was stabbed and left for dead only to be revived by Zangetsu. He dreamed of his fight with Kingfisher when his blade was dull and still he fought, until it used his mother against him. He dreamed of his rescue of Rukia, ending with his near disemboweling. In his fevered dreams Ichigo saw his friends fall from wounds he wasn't there to defend them from. He saw, the inside of his tent.
Eragon had woken him with his mind when he heard Ichigo's thrashing and it was daylight anyway so he spared him from the nightmare that was tormenting him. When Ichigo came out of his tent he looked as though he hadn't slept at all, with dark circles under his eyes and a tired stagger to his step. The part that Eragon noticed most was even though he had felt the fear and pain from Ichigo's dream, Ichigo still had a gleam of determination in his eyes that told Eragon that he would be a deadly person to cross. Eragon asked him about his nightmare saying,
"Ichigo that was quite the bad dream, those battles in your head where against monsters I can't begin to comprehend! At least they were only in your mind." Eragon baited Ichigo with the idea that his reams were fake, thinking so himself. Ichigo had crawled from the tent bare-chested and Eragon saw no scars from his ordeals. He was disturbed when Ichigo let you an emotionless laugh and replied,
"If you saw my dream I will tell you this, they were real." At this Roran, who had come out of his tent as well cut in with,
"What is this about?"
The silence that followed was palpable. When Ichigo spoke he recounted the memories the nightmare had drudged up from his soul. When he finished with the tale of Aizen gutting him the cousins didn't believe him. Eragon was
"I cannot begin to find truth in these words, you have no mark upon you from those ordeals!" At this Ichigo broke, snapping at them with,
"I was healed by a friend who had powers greater than simple healing like you did to my head at the castle! She could rewrite time to make the injury never happen in the first place!" In a lower tone, almost to himself he added, "She was more than a friend..."
When his venting was over he noticed the dragon's worry in his mind. The black reptilian beast had grown overnight. He was the size of Solembum and stood at his knee. Ichigo let the dragon in his mind and found the loneliness he had felt since his arrival slack off of him greatly. He gave Shunpo a light grin that was in stark contrast to his normal scowl. As this happened Eragon went to Saphira and gathered his supplies and motion for Roran to do the same. When Ichigo woke from his reverie he saw that they had started packing he was tempered by the dragons mind and instead of continuing the argument he started packing his gear as well.
When this was done Roran bade them farewell saying, "I need to return to Katrina, I have been away from her for too long and she will miss me." At his words Ichigo felt a pang of the sadness return and his memories brought an Image of Orohime to his minds eye. Eragon and Ichigo started heading northeast out of the clearing in a silence that was mutual. Saphira flew overhead and away from them at a quick pace to scout out any members of Du Gata. Ichigo then mention them to Eragon,
"When the attack happened you said they were the Du Gata, what does that mean?" Eragon then replied with,
"Everyone has enemies Ichigo, I have them in the Dwarves, Urgals, Elves, and Humans alike. You probably have made some from Du Gata for foiling their dragon snatching and in Therinsford for disrupting the peace.
"The group called Du Gata started when, at the end of the war Jeod told you of, we defeated Galbatorix and put Nasuada on the thrown. The Varden had a group of Spell-casters called Du Vangr Gata, The Wandering Path. Their leader Trianna was killed by an assassin not long after for reasons I don't know, although I suspect that it was over her knowledge of sorcery. Without her and with me busy trying to rebuild the Riders the group fell into chaos. One man among them started a cult of sorcery among them, telling them he had found the True Path and they would wander no more. When he was discovered he started a religious mania among his followers and rebelled the group the was sent to stop them. Three of the sorcerers made themselves into Shades more powerful then I had known to previously exist.
"They abandoned the area they had and were thought to be around a place called Helgrind, a place no sane individual would wish themselves. What they are doing up here disturbs me greatly.
With his explanation complete Eragon proceeded to teach Ichigo about the elves and their customs of greeting until Ichigo thought his head would explode from the barley contained knowledge. They stopped at another clearing and set up camp, this time with wards to warn them of an attack.