SYRAI

Syrai sat in front of the desk in his room. A lantern was throwing light on a half-full sheet of paper over which Syrai's pen was poised. He reread the last verse he had written, changed a word, swapped the sentences around and then crossed all four lines out. Why couldn't he concentrate? That was a silly question; he knew exactly why he was unfocused.

Are mother and father missing me? what are they doing now? Do they want me back?

Lightning crashed outside, turning the room white.

They should have let Lillyan stay! They should have!

Thunder rumbled.

Lillyan is…wait, LILLYAN!

He finally seemed to take in the storm outside and raced out of his room and down the corridor.

When he burst through Lillyan's door she was already curled in a ball beneath her desk. Her head was tightly pressed against her noise and she was rocking back and forth whimpering.

"Syrai, Syrai…Syrai…Syrai? Syrai…Syrai" she was muttering. Back and forth.

Make it go away! "Syrai…Syrai? Syrai! Syrai? Syrai? Syrai…"

LILLYAN

Syrai. She wanted Syrai to come. Syrai made the thunderstorms go away. He always let them disappear.

The door slammed open. He was there. Syrai. Syrai was there. Was Syrai there? Syrai was there. She could feel him, putting his hands over her ears. He was singing loudly. She didn't know what he was singing, but it was soothing, the lightning was gone, the thunder was gone.

Can't they change it? She whispered, why don't they change the weather?

She felt Syrai smile, it's hard to change the weather, it takes a lot of energy…and it'd be pointless.

He did not stop singing. Then he paused. I wrote that, he told her.

It's beautiful.

He leant against her shoulder. Will you sing me something? You're the talented singer.

Lillyan flicked her finger at him in annoyance.

Thunder grumbled. She put her head against her knees again. Syrai sung. He sung and he sung, haunting melodies, ancient love songs, stories, poems…

When the storm finally ended it was evening and both of them had fallen into their trance-like states.

BLODGHARM

Blodgharm stepped into the room. The young rider and her acquaintance had not appeared at dinner, so he had been ordered to bring them food. Ordered. The elf scowled at himself in the mirror, slowly lifted his eyebrows until they were normal and then twisted his lips so that they were in a sort of half-smile. Then he continued into the room and found Lillyan with her head in Syrai's lap and Syrai with his head on Lillyan's shoulder.

Blodgharm coughed and the both sat up, blinking at the sudden change of light.

Blodgharm greeted them, they greeted him back "I have brought your dinner,"

He set the tray down in front of them, bade them farewell and turned to leave.

Could you wait? The girl spoke to him suddenly.

Blodgharm turned to her and waited, making it clear that he did not quite understand what she expected.

Would you mind answering some questions?

The boy lifted the tray and put it on the table, setting out both his and Lillyan's plates and glasses and pushing both chairs towards the table in such a manner that they could speak to the elf in between eating their meal. The old elf nodded slowly and sat cross-legged on the floor.

Why do you work for Eragon?

"he is the king…" Blodgharm answered unwillingly. Questions about him? That had not been what he expected-or wanted.

Lillyan sat down on the chair and shook her head.

Both children ate in silence. Blodgharm did not speak, but made no attempts to leave either. When they were finished, they both turned to him and waited.

"It's a long story," he warned no reaction. "Do you know what happened on the day Saphira was taken?"

"I do," Syrai paused and looked from Lillyan to Blodgharm, "Nasuada was about to attack Belatona when he appeared in the distance, a faraway blur of red. He was fast, unnaturally fast, and strong, he was powerful. Eragon awaited him a little while away from the camp with his twelve guards and Arya, if I'm not mistaken; you were one of them… 'Blodgharm' yes I'm sure of it" Blodgharm nodded "Then there was a battle, dragon against dragon and rider against rider…that's all I know,"

Blodgharm nodded once more. "Then he disappeared. With a blink of an eye Eragon vanished and nobody had a clue what had happened, or what spell could have caused it. Saphira went livid, she thought he was dead and Murtagh was closest. She attacked him, ripping at his arms and legs. She almost made him limbless. Then both dragons vanished as well and Murtagh fell to the ground. No one noticed who else was missing until later…"

"You?" Syrai cried excitedly.

Blodgharm looked at his hands and nodded.

"What happened to you?" Syrai wondered

How did you escape?

Blodgharm looked at the ceiling and without saying anything, pulled off his tunic.

His skin was covered in red marks, scars, black shapes where his skin had been burned.

"It happened almost a hundred years ago, but they still won't go,"

Lillyan gingerly traced a long red line that went all the way around his stomach. Blodgharm winced at several places.

Lillyan's hand withdrew.

"That's not the worst of it," Blodgharm told her, "but the…err…location of the injuries are in somewhat…"

Syrai looked away. And Lillyan put her hand out so that the elf would stop talking.

"Eragon rescued me. I can't remember how. I was lying on a bed dying and then I was thrown over someone shoulder, that's all I remember. They don't trust me though. They think Galbatorix might have found my true name and made me swear I would kill Eragon or something of the likes. I earn my keep here by helping."

But surely after a hundred years…

Blodgharm looked at the ground, "I know," he said "I know." He stood up "now I must go, sleep well. Oh, and Eragon has asked for you to join him in the gardens in the morning, I shall escort you there. He wants you to train better than he had the chance to."

LILLYAN

Lillyan put her book aside and watched Eloi scramble up the bedpost to sit by her.

You are sad. He flapped his wing for balance and ended up hanging upside down by his tail which was caught in Lillyan's blanket. She pulled him onto the bed and stroked him.

I'm finding myself disliking my own grandfather.

Eloi thoughtfully relived the memory.

He may have had his reasons, he replied stiffly.

Lillyan shook her head and hugged the little dragon despites his struggling.