Disclaimer: Don't own Eldest

Here's another chapter! I'm on a roll tonight!

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The next morning was filled with a thin silence accompanied by a white fog that hung right above the streets of Furnost. Alycie and Elian were awakened by Magelyne, feeling as though they had not slept at all. They woke up soon enough once they reached the ground floor, however. Two packs had been filled with loaves of bread, strips of dried meat, and several flasks of water as well as a few poultices for minor cuts. Alycie could not thank Ferros's mother enough. The twins, Rane and Kale, were already in the stable, hitching the wagon up to both horses using the crude rein extensions Alycie had added on the previous night. She picked up the two packs and headed through the back door into the stable to stow them away in the wagon, grabbing a blanket as she went to cover the wagon, and her and Elian, with.

Magelyne and Elian were left alone in the apothecary.

"Thank you for this," said Elian, feeling the pressure to speak. "You're endangering your own life and the lives of your nephews for the sake of ours. We're grateful."

"It's no problem. Anything we can do to help the cause that Ferros left home for is worth it," said Magelyne in reply. Elian spoke the question that had burned at the back of his mind since the previous night.

"Was he here long?" asked Elian. Magelyne looked puzzled. "Ferros's...father?"

"No, not long at all. At least it didn't feel long at all," said Magelyne. "He came in around springtime and started offering to fix different things around the apothecary. He was sweet, but exotic. He left the week before I found I was pregnant with Ferros." She looked at Elian. "He was from the Hadarac, like you. The first time he walked in here, he tried to pay me in beetles. I heard the same happened in Petrøvya, did it not?" Elian smiled fleetingly.

"It is our currency, in the desert," he said. "Did he say what tribe he was from?"

"The Falen," said Magelyne. She didn't seem surprised to see Elian's wide-eyed look of realization or his gasp. "You are Falen too, aren't you?"

"Yes," said Elian, looking at her. "Was his name--"

"Cadis?" finished Ferros's mother. Elian nodded. She smiled. "You look like him. You know, right before he left he told me he felt guilty for leaving what he'd left in the Hadarac. I guessed that he had a family. You really do look so much like him..." She held a hand up to Elian's face and caressed it gently. He saw her forehead crease in worry as she gulped and asked another question. "How...how is he?" Elian lifted his hands to her hand that caressed his face and he lowered it, looking solemn. Magelyne nodded in understanding, looking at the floor. "I see. I don't need to know why. He was back where he belonged." She turned and walked behind a counter. "Looks like my Ferros has a half brother," she said, smiling at Elian. He could see her eyes shimmer slightly, as if cased in liquid.

The back door opened and Alycie strode in, her voice a whisper.

"It's all ready. The streets are completely empty, too. You were right, Magelyne, this timing is perfect. Come on, Elian." She walked to Ferros's mother and gave her a tight hug. "Thank you so much for your help."

"It was nothing," said Magelyne, smiling at Alycie. "Anything to help the allies of the Varden. Now don't get caught once you get out or I'll give you worse than those soldier torture artists ever will." Alycie smirked and walked back to the stable door. Elian crossed to Magelyne and hugged her as well, muttering another thank you. As he pulled away, however, he planted a short but meaningful kiss on her cheek, his eyes catching hers for half a second before he turned on his heel and followed Alycie through the door. Magelyne smiled, looking after them. "Be victorious, son..." she whispered to herself.

Rane and Kale, though sleepy, were doing a wonderful job of acting as if this were a normal, out-of-city delivery. Though it probably was because of their tired state. Elian and Alycie lay curled on their sides underneath several sheets and blankets covering the wagon. The two packs stood between them to hold the fabrics up so that two human shapes wouldn't be visible beneath them.

The wagon was stopped at the gate to the city by a burly soldier who had obviously been assigned to take the place of the one that Alycie had sent marching into the plains. He scrutinized the wagon for a long time before he began to fire off questions to the two half-conscious wagon drivers.

"Where are you headed?" he demanded.

"Melian," replied Kale.

"And what're you bringing?"

"Black beetles' eyes," said Rane, rubbing his eyes.

"Why all the blankets? Afraid the beetles will get cold?" asked the soldier jokingly.

"No, you twit, the beetles' eyes lose their luster and effectiveness if they're left out in the sun for too long," snapped Kale. Apparently, Kale was not a morning person.

"Don't be rude, boy, you'll end up in nasty places," said the soldier.

"Don't be so cheery in the morning then," growled Kale. Rane quickly intervened.

"Can we go, sir? My brother isn't one of the best people this early, but Auntie wanted us to get an early start," he said. The soldier waved them on with a look of utter annoyance and Elian and Alycie could breathe easily again.

They didn't remove the blankets until they were a good five miles away from Furnost. It was another five before Elian and Alycie hopped off. As they unloaded the two packs from the back of the wagon, Alycie noticed another two stuffed away in the corners.

"What are those for?" she asked. Rane glanced back.

"Oh, well Auntie figured that since we've said we're going to Melian, we should actually go to Melian. It's a good four days drive and she didn't want us running out of food or fighting." He looked ahead at Fiddlewisk and Umbar. "'S going to be awful hard to get to Melian in four days without a horse, though." Alycie saw his point. They'd forgotten to bring a method of transport along for the twins, in order to get them back. Alycie looked at Umbar, then at Fiddlewisk. She unhitched Umber at the front and handed his reins to Elian, looking up at the twins.

"Keep Fiddlewisk," she said. The twins looked surprised.

"Don't you need him to run with?" asked Kale.

"We can make it to Urû'baen with one horse. We'll pick up another when we get there. It's not so far of a ride." The twins both thanked her and recovered the wagon with the blanket. As Alycie lifted herself up onto Umbar behind Elian, however, the twins called to her.

"Is it true we have the Rider?" asked Rane. Alycie smiled.

"Yes we do," she said. The twins looked equally awed.

"Have you seen him?" asked Kale, his mouth hanging open.

"Yes I have," said Alycie.

"Is...Is he everything they say he is?" asked Rane. Both twins looked very eager for her answer. Alycie smiled.

"And more," she said. She raised her hand in a wave of farewell as Elian dug his heels into Umbar's sides, setting the horse off at a run as the twins watched them with wonder written on both of their faces.

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