Preparations
Arya was having a practice match with Vanir and Lord Dathedr. They were quite a distance away from the camp so none could see their match. Then trio's blades were flying everywhere. Arya wanted a tune up match before she faced her mother. Heading into the match Arya was the slight favorite to win the small tournament. Her mother was a close second. After that people debated over Eragon and Vanir. The last time any elf had seen Eragon spar was when he easily handled Vanir. However, Vanir had improved since then. Before her her banishment, Arya could take on two of any elf except for her mother. It was the only way she would be challenged, and even then she usually one.
She parried a blow from Lord Dathedr on her left and sidestepped a strike from Vanir. She then thrusted at Vanir, but the blow was blocked by Lord Dathedr. She then feinted at Vanir again but really thrusted at Lord Dathedr. Dathedr blocked the blow with his blade as Vanir attempted a counter thrust, but Arya withdrew her sword in time to block the blow. The three elves then broke contact. Vanir and Lord Dathedr then spaced themselves so that they were on each side of Arya.
As she fought, Arya could not help but think about what her mother had said about love, and about Eragon. Her feelings of confusion were overpowering everything. It was the most feeling she had ever felt since the death of Faolin. The same questions were replaying through her head all the time.
Why have I can I be so open around Eragon? She thought this as she parried a blow from Vanir and then ducked to dodge a horizontal slash from Lord Dathedr. She quickly rolled away from the fray. In the heat of the battle Vanir and Lord Dathedr fought each other for a moment before they realized Arya was not inbetween them. She had already reasserted her footing and was ready for the assault.
Her thoughts then went to when they were flying towards Gil'ead and their conversation, and how she had meditated. She had been unable to meditate based off her feelings for Faolin. Why is it that I was able to use my time with Eragon at the campfire as something to calm me while I could not use Faolin's memory. That was my favorite memory! The day Faolin and I kissed was the happiest day of my life. So why couldn't I use it as a basis of my meditation?!Vanir and Lord Dathedr then charged at her. She did a front flip over them to gain a positional advantage. However, she had a lapse of concentration and did not land the flip and stumbled a little. Her two opponents tried to capitalize, but she rolled backwards into a back handspring to regroup.
I let him sleep as a thank you for the golden lily, and for comforting me in Feinster at Oromis' death, but then why did I decide to comfort him when he was looking at Brom's tomb. Was it because I saw a distraught good friend, and it was not just to get even? She did a half circle slash at Vanir and Lord Dathedr, striking both of them with one slash of her sword and causing the two of them to put up defences. If it had been a normal duel she would have attempted to kick them. As it was there was no kicking allowed in the funeral games so she did not. She put as much force as she could behind a slash at Lord Dathedr while his footing was off to send him backwards and so she could face Vanir one on one. It worked and He was sent back ten feet, Arya had about five to ten seconds before the elven lord reentered the fray.
She focused on Vanir, releasing vicious combinations which she would not have done in a two on one. She would slash downwards, then back upwards, did a spinning slash, and then finish it with a flurry of thrusts at Vanir. However, as she was executing the final part of the combination she stumbled slightly and needed to gather herself as Lord Dathedr was reentering the sparring match. I have felt so much calmer when I am around him. I have felt more comfortable around him. Do I love him I know not, is he Faolin, he is not. Will he mean as much as Faolin once meant to me? She let the question of her mind float in the wind as she blocked another few blows half heartedly from the two elves, still distracted by her own thoughts.
How can I even think like that?! Faolin was my mate! Eragon is not! As she thought this she swung her sword. She was not gripping it well however and it flew out of her hands. Lord Dathedr and Vanir frowned, and sheathed their swords rather than end the match. She looked at them. Lord Dathedr looked at her.
"Your form is fine, but your distracted by something. Vanir and I noticed it. There were several times where we thought the match could have conceivably ended but you made a small mistake which you usually did not make. You'll need to clear your mind if you wish to best your mother Arya svit-kona." Vanir nodded in agreement with what the lord said and the two of them began to return to the camp. They had spent about thirty minutes sparring. Arya still had a little less than an hour before she needed to return to the sparring grounds.
She retrieved her sword from the ground, and then walked into the tranquil forest which was nearby. The forest was her friend, she felt. It was her refuge. Her only place she could go to feel at peace. Her only activity which could keep her at peace, no matter the situation was to climb up to the tallest branches, and just do nothing. It was an activity she had not done in a time. The last time she had found time to do was in Ellesmera atop the mightiest tree in Alagaesia, the Menoa Tree.
She walked about randomly among the trees until she found the tallest one and went to one of the branches. She sat up there, and tried to clear her mind, confident that she could. She let the breeze blow in her hair as she closed her eyes, letting the silence of nature calm her. She took several long, deep breaths.
She only achieved partial success. As she was meditating, she remembered how the last time she had done what she had been doing, was the night she accepted Saphira's egg and had a fight with her mother, and had hidden herself in the Menoa Tree to sort her thoughts. She thought about how Faolin had found her in the tree and had brought her down.
She wanted to remain in the tree, where her troubles could not find her, just like how they could not find her when she had accepted the egg against her mother's will. She had went to the trees whenever the felt pain in her heart and mind. The first time she had done it by herself was late at night, when her mother had yelled at her the night her father died. She had been atop a branch several times with her father, atop his shoulder. And then she had spent a few times there with Faolin.
The feeling she had when she was in the trees was so calming and peaceful for her. Sometimes when she was in a tree she did not want to come down from it and she would need someone to remind her she was still in the world of the living and needd to go down. Her father had done it, as had Faolin, but he was going to bring her back from her isolation now? The two men she had loved most were dead.
Suddenly, she opened her eyes. She thought she saw Eragon in the tree with her and jumped up. She blinked for a moment and he vanished. She blinked again. She was seeing things. Suddenly she realized that Eragon was in her mind. He had been trying to contact her and had sent her an image of himself to show it was him.
Arya, the sparring matches are about to begin, we need you. Tell my mother I shall be there in a moment.