So unlucky thirteen…I wonder who it's going to be bad for…probably the Varden agents who are going to get tortured. Okay I lied, I'm not very good at torture so I took that out it's not even implied anymore. Well, at least that is my guess.

Please read, review and enjoy.

Ch.13 Colors

"I never expected them to actually fall for that." Aveline turned to Taliesin, the man was a complete moron but for the Varden to fall for the cheap bait he had set meant that they were either idiots within compare or incredibly desperate. And now it was time to find out. As she had been ordered "not to go after the Varden agents." She had to wait in a room while Taliesin brought the men to her. It still made her laugh how thinking literally could make most spells useless. She sat in a chair in the corner of the dungeon, it had once been a holding cell for the city guards but it hadn't been used in years. The law under Galbatorix had become stricter, those that broke the law were punished severely, of course they had to actually be caught first and no one was actually looking. Still as her mother had always said.

"It was your own duty to protect yourself no one else's. Life is not a fairy tale there is no shining knight to save you." She was right, though the thought of handsome knight did appeal to her. Sitting in the darkness she thumbed her new flower for the day. A red rose, it seemed right but the color was wrong which was odd, the color red was her favorite color. Wasn't it? She heard muffled voices echoing through the dank cell looking toward the door she placed her hood over her head casting her identity into darkness and shadow. Taliesin brought in the captives, each with his head covered by a sack, aided by two men that Aveline took little notice of. Each one set upon a chair, with a nod from Aveline the men and Taliesin removed the bag revealing the face of each of the agents. Looking at them Aveline believed full heartedly that the Varden was desperate. They sent a sickly mousy man, a boy, and the last one at least seemed a bit more experienced, yet it was obvious he was a farmer turned soldier. Each agent turned their attention to her.

"Well, I suppose it's time I introduce myself." Each of the men seemed to recognize something in her voice. "I am Aveline. And I will be your jailer, your torturer and your best friend. Now we can do things the easy way or we can do this the hard way, it's your choice…well not really, it's actually my choice." She looked to the agents they appeared confused. Subtly she reached her mind out to the boy. Instantly her mind was met with a strong block. Trying to dig through the boy's mind was next to impossible every time she moved forward she was redirected to the image of a rather large woman with a wrinkled face, graying hair but a warm smile; the boy's mother. That was going nowhere and if the boy's defenses were so skilled than the others' would be even more formidable but any fort could be weakened.

"To put this simply I am a curious girl and when my curiosity is satisfied than I am very friendly, otherwise…" She lead off knowing that each of their minds would finish her sentence and then imagine her "unfriendly side". "So tell me what this heirloom is."

Under his breath one of the men began to speak the ancient language. Aveline smirked and let him finish. "Done?" She asked him. "This cell prevents the use of magic. A spell of our king's own creation, quite marvelous no? Of course I know the counter spell so it does not prevent me from doing what I wish. Kveykva." Spoken like a dear poem the spell activated. Between her palms lighting arced casting a bluish light. The light revealed her face under the hood. As the men looked upon her face surprise colored there very being.

"Nerezza?" The boy spoke.

"Salud (A/N God bless you; you know like he sneezed). Letta." The lightning disappeared from existence.

"Nerezza what are you doing here?" The boy began to question quickly. "We've been looking for you ever since that evil rider took you. We traveled all the way here to bring you back." The boys smiled happily as if…he was reuniting with a friend.

"You are horribly mistaken." Quickly so very quickly she was losing her nerve; she hated children. "I am Aveline daughter of Marelda and Tomas, a former gypsy until I entered the king's service." As she spoke it was like she was trying to convince herself not the boy.

"No you are not you are Nerezza, my friend. Eragon found you; you are the guardian, the Last of the Grey Folk." His hopeful tone of voice was getting to her.

"Shut up Cedric!" She shouted. His golden eyes lit up.

"See you remember me!" Swiftly her thoughts moved trying to evade the doubt that was increasing upon her. "Concentrate on your task!" She shouted at herself mentally. She could use this mistaken identity to her advantage.

"Fine, if I am who you say I am then let me see your memories of me." The boys nodded his head vigorously. Out of the corner of her eye she could see the other men shocked and trying to cue to the boy to be quiet and compose himself. But Cedric had already opened his mind to her. Immediately her mind was swamped with memories…of her. It had to be impossible there she was with the child standing, crouching beside a building as he forced a vase to break. The girl it was her – no! It must have been someone else she had never met this boy before. Suddenly the vision changed her and Cedric were in a clearing surrounded by men. Through Cedric's mind she could feel the man's dirt covered hand and smell his grimy skin. But through his eyes she saw Nerezza, her eyes turned white and a spot on her right thigh began to glow white hot, she could make out the shape of a star. It was too much. "Enough!" She shouted, bolting for the door she left the men before another word could be said. Slamming the heavy wooden door behind her she gently touched her right thigh where her "birthmark" was located. Aveline tried to remove the memories from her mind but to no avail. They were "real" memories the vividness had forced all of her memories of her parents and past to pale. The sounds, the sights, the smells, the feelings, what that boy had showed her was genuine And that she could not doubt. Feeling desperate she began to walk out of the jail, but something out of the corner of her eye stopped her. She turned to see a table with the belongings of the captives. In the middle of the table lay a purple rose. It wasn't a real flower like the one that was one her belt but it seemed real and the petals they were made from what looked maybe like stone but how could that be? They were much too thin to be made from stone.

"Mistress Aveline!" Taliesin cut her inspection short before she could actually touch the rose. The glare on Aveline's face told Taliesin that he needed to hurry and explain himself. "Master Murtagh is asking for you." The mention of Murtagh returned some of her 'old' self.

"I better not keep him waiting than." She replaced the hood over her face and started to leave but before she did she turned back to Taliesin. "I am not finished with them yet so…no torture. If I learn that they were hurt in my absence than I will have to show you how ineffective your methods of torture are and how effective mine are. On you" With that she left.

Back in the cell

Roran fought with the ropes that had his hands tied. "Well I think this has ended in the worst possibility."

"Angela is still out there." Carn reminded him.

"Yes," Roran acknowledged unhappily. "And why is it that we listened to her and let Cedric do all the talking again?"

\/\/\/

Aveline lay in Murtagh's bed, he always was a powerful distraction. But now that the 'distraction' was over something was bothering her and it was not the Varden agents. It was him he was acting strange. He sat up and this only furthered her suspicions the way he moved, it lacked his normal swagger. "What is wrong?" She asked. "And don't tell me nothing." She kissed his bare shoulder. Murtagh didn't speak he rose from the bed and began to dress. Aveline felt the sting of rejection. Then one of her mother's sayings came to mind. "If he breaks your heart you break his manhood." Then she felt that doubt that had been plaguing her full force. Murtagh left the room without a word.

"Blood and damnation*!" She swore. Removing herself from her bed Aveline began to locate her clothes and dressed. Just as she began to contemplate what to set on fire Murtagh returned.

"Oh, you're still here." He sounded surprised. She was about to yell at him when he presented her with a flower. "I wanted to give you this." It was a red lily…and it seemed familiar. The petals were a stunning blood red, and the anthers and stamen were crafted from onyx but the petals- "I used some of Thorn's old scales so this flower will most definitely never wilt." She looked at the flower and though it was the most beautiful and meaningful gift she had ever received but all she could think about was the purple rose she had seen. It was Dragon scales. Composing herself she looked up at Murtagh.

"It is just like the one I had when we first met." She smiled and fresh tears bean to gather in her eyes. In her mind she already knew that this would be the last time she would see Murtagh as anything else a friend, a lover. After this… "Thank you." She kissed him and placed the flower in her hair. "How do I look?"

"Beautiful." The tears began to fall. Murtagh wiped them away. "What is wrong?"

"You know perfectly well what is wrong." She answered. She was surprised that her answer meant more than she had thought. "No one had ever given me something so wonderful." She hugged him one last time. "I have to go show it off." She walked quickly out the door and didn't stop until she arrived at the stables. Grabbing four horses she continued her trek. With one last detour at the Empire armory she left for her destination.

/\/\/\

"Mistress Aveline," Taliesin began. "I wasn't expecting you back today. My, what a pretty flower you have."

"Thank you Taliesin. But I need to see our prisoners one more time." The man was much too trusting. He grabbed the key to the cell door and walked with her. He unlocked the door and without batting an eyelash she took her dagger and stabbed Taliesin in the back. He fell to the floor. Stepping over his body Aveline cut the chords wrapped around each man's legs and hands. "We need to leave, now!"

"Nerezza I knew you would come back." Cedric spoke happily. She rolled her eyes.

"Apparently, I am this Nerezza but," Looking at the men she decided to shorten the explanation. "My memories have been locked away and I don't remember my time with you."

"Again?" Roran asked.

"Again?" Aveline questioned. "Never mind fill me in on the way out of here. By the way I can get us past all the guards just suit up in the armor I brought and they'll just think you're my body guards." She looked over Carn with a critical glare. "Well, you two will pass as body guards anyway." She gestured to Roran and Cedric.

I know Murtagh is all OC at the end but it was too cute not put in.

Okay don't worry this is still a EragonXOC fic, Murtagh is….I watched the movie okay? I was like oOOOHh! And I just had to do it. I mean come one Bad Boy, it had to come up sooner or later. Anyway in order to meet my deadline a lot of this story is going to be hastened. There will be like one plot point per chapter maybe two. It might not be pretty. Originally I would have written chapter's in-between to make it more realistic and easier to get but that's not the case.

I also wanted to explore the Grey folk culture more but….PSYCHE! I have those written out already.

So next chapter will be from Eragon's POV, but a lot of stuff is going to be let out.

Also "Blood and Damnation" Where is it from? First person to answer this right will get a prize.