Eragon and Arya sat around a fire, the stars looking down at them. Eragon stared into the fire, unaware that Arya was staring at him. He was thinking about being king, and if he would change. If I do change, will it be for the better or worse? he thought.
Arya desperately wanted to start a conversation, but she couldn't think of anything to say. They both just sat there, silent, until Arya asked, "Did you know that wild dragons can end up choosing a rider?"
"I have heard of it being thought of, but never done…at least until Shrrg. Since it had never been done I thought it impossible, yet after hatching Shrrg took Orik as a rider. Weren't there enchantments or something to keep a dwarf from becoming a rider?"
"Well, they were kept out of the blood-pact, so a dragon couldn't choose a dwarf. Unless of course the dragon did what Shrrg did and chose a rider after he hatched," Arya answered his question, the question he asked every time this conversation came up.
Eragon was wandering why she brought up the topic again, they had discussed this before when Orik first became a Rider, why was she asking him now?
Arya scooted closer to Eragon, who didn't notice for he had gone back into his own mind to think. "Eragon, is the dream still bothering you?"
It was a while before he responded, "The dream is one of many pieces of a puzzle."
Going with the metaphor, Arya responded, "And what do those pieces fit together to say?"
Again there was a silence before he answered. "I…don't want to be king."
Arya was speechless, she knew that he was nervous about it, but not to the point where he didn't want to do it. She got herself together in order to say, "You won't be a tyrant, Eragon, I know you won't. You aren't the kind of person to be taken over by evil thoughts."
"Arya, its not just that…I just don't have the deire to be a king. Do you really have the desire to be queen?"
"…No."
"And if you could be a normal person would you be?"
"Well, to be honest…yes."
"Then why not be that. We can still be relatively normal. Lets run away from here, we can be happy anywhere we go."
This suggestion shocked Arya, "Do you really not want to be king so badly that you would suggest that?"
"Arya, if I have to be, than I will be a king, but all I really want is to be happy with you by my side, and I don't think that we can be happy if we're both being torn away from each other by the duties we could avoid."
Here he was, telling her everything he had been thinking about since leaving Farthen Dur, and yet he no matter how well he knew her, he couldn't tell what she thought about it.
"Eragon…I'm willing to go anywhere with you, but where will we go?"
It was a simple question, but it was difficult to answer. Where would they go?
After a while of thinking he said, "We can go to Vroengard."
"No, that would probably be the first place they'd look for us. They would send another Rider there to look," Arya quickly pointed out the flaw in his plan.
"I just need time to think about it."
"Eragon, it is late, and we can not think when we are tired. We can figure it out tomorrow. Besides, we have plenty of time, before we left I convinced Islanzadi to let us be free for a while, to enjoy being together."
"Really?"
"Aye, we have years to think about this, so for now, let us sleep and be happy," she finished and kissed him, pushing him to the ground and covering them both with a blanket.
He slept better that night, being comforted by the fact that they had years until he had t become king, and he and Arya could figure out a plan before then.
After waking up, they packed and took off to the east, in the direction of Uru'baen. They sat in a comfortable silence for most of the way here, every now and then talking to each other and their dragons about random things, such as riddles.
Finally arriving as the sun was setting, they walked in the castle previously owned by Galbatorix. Immediately two guards came running out on the roof of the tower they were landing on.
After telling the two guards who they were, they escorted them to a large hall, leaving Saphira and Eridor on the roof to rest. In the middle of the hall sat a large round table, at it sat Nasuada and Orrin, both of them talking to each other. Seeming to notice their visitors, they turned towards Eragon and Arya.
"Ah, Eragon, Arya, how are you two doing?" Nasuada asked.
"Good," they both said in unison.
"Why, may I ask, are you two here?" Orrin questioned.
"Oh, just visiting. We thought we should see how you are doing," Eragon answered.
"Well we are doing great, never better. Now, we should hold a-," Nasuada was cut off by Arya.
"Please, don't say celebration."
"What is wrong?" Orrin asked.
"Well, we have been to several celebrations in the past week. You could say we are tiring of them," Eragon informed him.
"Oh, well then we should let you rest. At least stay here for the night, We're sure you must be tired," Orrin said.
"We will be happy to," Arya said.
The two guards from earlier came and escorted them to their room, apparently he had already assumed that they were together. They settled under the covers and quickly fell asleep.