Tremors of shock rolled down Saphira's body and Eragon jumped up, his hand reaching towards his belt where his sword usually hung. Said sword was currently leaning against his bedpost in his room however, so he crouched, readying to move if an attack followed the unexpected interruption. He stumbled to a knee however as he saw the intangible image of the man he had known as Brom.

A sneer crossed Eragon's face. "Is it not bad enough that you stole his face and lied to me about who you were during the time we travelled together? Now you have to don his face again and come to remind me of the man I never got to know? What is this? Some sick illusion?"

Brom raised his hands and made a calming gesture. "This isn't Harry's doing, well, it is his stone, but he did not bring me here." Brom pointed at the stone in the young man's hand. "That is Harry's resurrection stone. One of the items given to a trio of brothers on his world by Death. It allows the wielder to call back spirits from the dead for a short time. Time that we are currently wasting. Being back here makes me feel like I am in a perpetually chilly, unwelcoming place, but I'm willing to deal with it so that I can see you, face to face. Harry has a memory of me saying a bit more that he is planning to give to you if you calm down some. He is able to call spirits back for a longer amount of time since he is Master of Death, but it still was not all that comfy.

"Listen, son. Eragon. You wonderful, brave, young man. I am so sorry that your mother and I weren't able to be a part of your life; that we were unable to raise you and teach you everything that you needed to know about life. You question who you are supposed to be, what your mother and I would think about what you have done so far, the kind of man you are growing up to be, how you are affected by who we were and I want you to know this; we want you to be the best you can be. Working hard, making mistakes, learning from those same mistakes, finding someone to love and care for, finding friends and family, learning under a mentor and mentoring others the same, and most important of all, leading selflessly. That is what I built my life upon and what your mother began to strive for when she really looked at her life. That is who we were, and while we didn't always make the best choices every single time we did things, we were trying to get the best outcome we could. When it didn't work as well as we wanted, we worked through the problems, did what we could to make the best of them, and moved on down the road, trying to become a better person, for ourselves and those we cared about.

"With that said, I want you to take it easy on Harry. Had it not been for him, you would have known nothing about your mother or me. Yes, he did use my face and name to move around in the world for a long time, but he did not let his own ideas and reactions affect what he did very much. The majority of things you heard from him, learned from him, and saw him do…they were generally things that I would have said or done, eventually at least."

Eragon looked at him for a long moment before nodding slightly. "If you had been in the same position, would you have done what he did?"

Brom rocked back on his heels slightly. "If I had the same abilities as he does?" Brom seemed to weigh the answer in his mind for a few moments before nodding. "Yes." Seeing the young rider's frustration and look of confusion, he moved forward and sat down. "What do you want to hear, son? That this situation is seriously messed up? That parts of what Harry put you through, like him acting like he was me, is unforgivable? Do you want me give you my blessing to hate him and not ever speak to him again? Is that really what you want?"

Eragon looked at Brom for a few moments before lowering his head. Brom scoffed softly. "Most of that, I agree with. But just know, Harry didn't do what he did because he wanted to cause you pain. He didn't do it out of a desire to see my name and image tarnished. He didn't even do it because it was the easiest route. The easier route would have been for him to pack up, walk off and act like he had never met me. He knew, by accepting my task and giving his oath, that he would be putting himself squarely against the man that could cause him a world of hurt. He chose this route, because it would accomplish the most good for you and Alagaesia.

"Really think about what I had said a moment ago, yes, the man you thought you knew as Brom, was not actually me. However, with the way things worked. You would have never known about me. You probably would not have escaped Carvahall, Galbatorix would have captured you and either killed you if you did not chose to serve him, or he would have tortured you and Saphira until you both accepted to be his lap dogs. From there, it would have been a long, long life of serving a madman that only desires to rule peasants. He got you out of the city before the Ra'zac were able to pick up fully on your trail, he was able to give you more of a foundational training than I could have, much past what I probably would have right off the bat, and he pushed you to do better in a way that I may not have been able to. I wouldn't have held your hand by any means, but still…"

Brom sighed and looked off towards the horizon, taking in the view with a wistful look on his face before turning back to his son. "Lastly, the book that he left you, it is a place you can learn from, but the latter portion of it is more or less a memoir of my life, had I written it down, and all the words I had wished to say to you, the joys and sadness of losing you and your mother. I know there is very little that I can say to you to prove that it is truly me, I will say this, as I have longed to be able to since the first time I knew that you had been born."

Brom ghosted forwards and laid a hand on Eragon's shoulder gently he shivered at the ethereal warmth from the ghostly hand. "Eka dunei ono, Eragon Finiarel."

The truth of the words flowed over him and he crumbled to the ground in tears. Once more, warmth flowed into him from his head and he stilled slightly. "Atra esterní ono thelduin. Mor'ranr lífa unin hjarta onr. Nosu ono varda."

As the words ended, the warmth disappeared and Eragon knew that his conversation with his father had come to a close. Saphira opened a wing over him and drew him closer with her tail. He leaned into her side, soaking in the closeness and comfort. Saphira looked at the stone that Harry had given her with a sense of thankfulness. He may have royally messed some things up, but he did right by sending her with the stone.

Harry shook hands with Orik and Oromis, and bowed deeply to Islanzadí and the elves gather around. "I will send word back and keep you updated on the situation in Surda once I arrive and begin working with them and their king."

"Safe travels to you, Harry." Islanzadí said, looking at him with a small amount of trepidation in her countenance.

Harry turned to the door where Arya was waiting for him. "Accompany me to the ward line?" He asked and she nodded with a small smile. She looped her arm through his and the pair walked out of the palace, through the city and into the surrounding woods.

"I have a request of you, Arya. I did not mention it in the palace because of the other viewers, but I would like you to get these to Eragon when he comes asking. I don't know for sure, but I think he will come. I felt Brom's spirit be summoned with the stone so I am guessing that Eragon has spoken with his father. Let his mind rest on everything until he makes the first move. I know I prefer to have time to myself when faced with something like this." Harry chuckled wincingly at the memory of his reaction to Dumbledore's bombshell of a prophecy that had been dropped in his lap right after Sirius' death.

Harry pulled out a sack and let her look inside. She found a pensieve, a vial with a silvery substance in it, and the book that she had seen Harry rescue from Eragon's angry hands. He motioned at a couple more vials and smirked over at her. "However, until he comes asking, you should take a look at these memories. You had asked for me to train you in the magic that I use. These contain some of the lessons I learned that start the foundation of how I view magic and the first building blocks of using my magic. You already use magic without a focus aside from words, so I think you will be able to get the hang of things without a wand. If not, then I will have to figure something up that will work when I get back."

Arya took the sack from Harry and cradled it gently. Harry snickered slightly. "Don't worry about breaking anything in there. You would have to take them out first to break them." She looked at him for a few moments before nodding and moving it so that it was slung over her shoulder. The pair continued on, mostly in silence for the rest of the walk until they reached the edge of the wards.

"Take care of yourself Harry. I want you in one piece when you come back." Arya stated seriously. Harry nodded but she grabbed the front of his shirt and pulled him close. "And you had better be back by the Agaetí Blödhren. Is that clear?"

Harry nodded quicker though he wasn't quite able to continue the seriousness as Arya also lost the fierce look she had been wearing. "Good." She said simply before letting go of his shirt.

Deciding he wasn't finished with the goodbye yet, Harry pulled her in and kissed her deeply, drawing it out, trying to convey his feelings in the intimate action. Once the kiss broke, he placed his forehead to hers. "I'll be back soon. Just have to go deal with this upstart of a king and his little minions trying to take over all of Alagaesia."

His words drew a chuckle from the beautiful elf's lips and he smiled at her. "I'll try to make sure everyone plays nicely until you can get back here and keep everyone in line." Arya said jokingly as Harry began taking steps backwards.

Harry scoffed. "That's always your job, whether I'm here or not."

Arya pouted playfully. "I thought I had done better at hiding that from you."

Harry winked. "You try to hard, love." And with a twist, he was gone.

All around him was in uproar. Lanterns were lit around the city in the dusk, but an eerie feeling permeated the air. People running back and forth, screams tearing through the air, bodies scattered about the ground everywhere. Clanking of metal on metal drew his attention to the side and Harry was finally able to clear his mind from the confusion of apparating. A soldier lumbered around the corner and Harry readied himself to attack, but hesitated when he saw it wasn't the normal armor used by Galbatorix. "You are a soldier of Surda?" Harry yelled over to the man.

The man stopped in his movement and looked at Harry. He glanced around Harry quickly before taking a step back in fear. Harry raised his hands and the man scrambled back further. "Listen I am here to help. Are you a Surdan warrior?"

"How are you even alive?" The man questioned and Harry furrowed his brow. He looked around and saw what had likely caused the man's fear. In a perfect circle, a number of bodies were settled around him. As Harry turned to look, he found a head-sized rock with glowing symbols on it. Cursing softly, he motioned to the rock and vanished it from existence. The oppressive wards that he had only just now noticed fell and he felt the freedom of magic free air.

"Are there others like this in the city?" Harry questioned.

The man nodded, still to fearful to try to learn who Harry was or how he had gotten there. "Take me there, now." Harry commanded forcefully.

The soldier nodded and turned before running back the way he had come. Harry ran after the man and began casting bubbled wards that stretched high over houses and streets, layering their edges over one another to repel any more rocks that might be thrown in from outside the city. There were five other places that the soldier had led him to where the sight was the same, a few bodies towards the inner portion of the circle, but more bodies scattered along the outside, most like from loved ones trying to get in to pull out friends and family from the death wards. Five rings of death. Harry felt sick at the massive number of dead.

There had been many people gathered about each of them, forsaking the small offer of safety from the buildings to look on in horror. There were many calls for him to stop when he approached the wards, but all had fallen silent as he stepped in and destroyed the rocks that were anchoring the wards.

"Are there any others?" Harry asked the soldier that had calmed for the most part and now just lead him to the next as they finished. The man had led him to ten total throughout the city, but thankfully there were only a couple people here and there within those, news having spread quickly enough that it was fatal to walk too close. His guide shook his head in response. "Good. Is there somewhere that I can get access to a tall roof? I can make sure this never happens again."

The man didn't question, or hardly even acknowledge the statement before running off once more. Harry quickly worked through the different wards that he needed to put up. The wards he had been throwing about would work for the short term like he needed, but he needed to put up actual wards over the city. As he climbed through the building the soldier had led him to, Harry settled on three that would offer the best protection. Once for physical objects, one to stop magical objects and a final one to strengthen those two against people that would try to power through the wards.

Once on top of the building, he thrust his hand towards the sky and forced out a massive burst of power. A thick beam of light erupted from his palm and shot into the sky before reaching the apex of its launch and mushroomed out to begin covering the city entirely. Cracks slowly appeared around Harry's feet at the sheer power of magic he was exerting into the sky. Feeling himself tiring slightly, he reached into a pocket and pulled out one of the gems Brom had on his person when he first met the man. Harry was thankful he had followed the thoughts of the man and sequestered away most of his excess magic into various gems during his exile; he had drained himself to almost the point of magical exhaustion many nights, filling up some of the gems for easy access to extra energy when he needed it.

He was almost halfway finished applying the ward when he finally decided that he needed to pull energy from the gem. It was like a breath of fresh air, the magic flowing into his core and washing over the straining portion. He ended up completely depleting the first gem and an entire second one as well by the time the ward was fully in place, but he felt like it was well worth the use.

Dropping his hand, Harry bent over and panted at the immense amount of magic that had flowed through him in so short a time. He looked at the gem in his hand and a thought occurred to him that chilled him to the bone. He needed to talk to Oromis soon.

He was drawn out of his terrifying thoughts by the arrival of soldiers and a poshly dressed man that he had to assume was the king.

"Explain yourself, this instant. What is this magic you have put over my Kingdom? What right do you have? Just who do you think you are? Answer me, now!" The richly dressed man ordered.

Catching his breath, Harry gave a large bow and while most of him really wanted to make a mockery of it, he contained himself. Something didn't feel quite right, however, so Harry altered his appearance slightly and cast a quick charm over the group before him to make them think he had always appeared like this. "I am Evan, your Highness. I assisted the Varden with the attack that Galbatorix and launched on Tronjheim. I have come to offer my support against these soldiers, and magicians apparently. The magic I put over the city will keep the death wards and the rocks they are attacked to from entering your city. The only down side to it is there will likely not be any birds entering or leaving any time soon. I will need to be shown to your gates to place wards there, but they will only turn away people who mean to cause problems here. I would offer to ward the entrances against anything with magic on it from entering, but I doubt any practicing magicians would appreciate it if they had important, enchanted items and walked through them.

The soldier that had been leading him around the city stepped forward. "Forgive me for my interruption, my King, but the man was able to destroy all the rocks and make whatever was causing people to die from them go away. I have also seen three more rock looking projectiles bounce off the wards he put up since we got here."

The king glowered over at the soldier that had spoken up, but the man did not back down. Harry was impressed, though worried. The man had been a right wreck when he had looked at Harry, but know, as he looked at his King, the man he should have been more fearful of; he was as solid as a rock. Pushing aside what that could mean about how people perceived him, Harry stepped forward to draw the attention of the King back to the matter at hand.

"King Orrin. I am here to help you deal with the soldiers that have decided to set up camp outside your walls. If you do not wish for me to do so, say the words, and I will leave your city without argument. I would like some water and food though if you would like my help."

Orrin looked at the men around him and, in Harry's opinion, looked quite foolish. "We neither need, nor desire your assistance, stranger. My men and I have things perfectly in hand. I command you to leave at once, and make your magic go away. We don't want it here."

The soldiers around the King looked at him in disbelief before adjusting themselves and looking forward again. Harry watched the finely dressed man before him for a few moments and flipped through the man's surface thoughts. He kept his face clear as more and more terrible truths came to light. The man had been swayed by Galbatorix, many months prior, through magic, potions and promises: mostly promises. And the man had been asked to let the city fall completely, his death would be faked, and then he would be set up as a new governor, controlling an even larger area of land and people.

Harry nodded slowly. "If that is what you desire, King Orrin. I will leave immediately."

"Take your magic away first!" The man exclaimed forcefully. Harry glanced at the soldiers and saw their countenance fall slightly. Harry nodded. He raised his hand and focused on causing harmless light to erupt from it. Once he was sure the King was watching the light show, he shot a stunner at the man. The guards responded instinctively and pointed their weapons at Harry.

"Look, I'm more than happy to leave, honestly. But I'm not going to take down the wards here for anything. The man you have as your king is not looking out for the best interests of your people. I can revive him right now and make him think that he passed out because of the magical discharge or some such nonsense, but I think you all will be much better off if you put him in a cell and leave him till this is all over with."

The man that had guided him through the city spoke up. "Looking out for our best interests or not, he is our king, and because of that, we must respect him until he is brought down by justice. I will send men to look into his correspondence, but I must ask that you will revive him and leave the city."

Harry looked at the men gathered around the king, impressed. There was a level of honor being shown for the worthless king from these men that some would call foolishness, but it was the true respect that every person needed to show those in charge. Even if they are wrong, there is a level of respect that their position demanded, whether the person was well liked or not. Harry nodded in response. Thinking over the thoughts he had skimmed from the puppet king, Harry looked at the soldier. "Tell your men that they may find the book "Tales of the Forgotten King" to be an interesting read." Harry said with a small wink.

He waved his hand to cast a diagnostic spell, "Your king should wake in another hour. I will be gone by then, but I will say that you need not worry about the soldiers outside your walls. I believe the magical backlash from bringing the wards down are much more brutal to those outside them than the people inside." Harry said, with a widening smirk as more of the men began to smile back at him. Motioning at the stunned lump on the ground, Harry said playfully, "Good luck with the King."

With a flourished bow, Harry turned and popped away, reappearing outside of the main encampment of soldiers sent from Galbatorix. He quickly moved around the large number of soldiers to get a feel for their established foothold. They were tightly grouped together, to the point that they were practically bunking on top of one another.

This he could deal with. Reaching out, he cast a number of whirlwind charms at various places around the edges of the tents and drew them in towards the soldiers. The winds threw up a massive amount of dust, taking visibility away almost completely. He quickly cast a ward that would contain the men inside it and rushed deeper into the camp. Under the cover of the billowing sands, Harry moved through the camp, unimpeded by the blasting wind and sand, he planted a number of runes that would trigger, one after the other, shortly after he set the final one. The runes were ones normally used on toilets and sinks in magical homes to vanish the waste as it got within a certain distance.

He quickly moved through, deeply etching the runes into the now uncovered and beaten-bare ground in the camp with a wave of his hand. Harry felt it was poetic justice, getting rid of the filth and waste that flocked to Galbatorix's side. He had held in depth discussions with Ajihad and learned that most of the missions like this were made up of troops that actually wanted to be there. While Galbatorix was technically able to keep watch through his magicians, most of the ones he pressed into service were saved as the cannon fodder for the beginning of larger engagements. Harry had discovered this after the battle of Tronjheim and had a difficult time accepting the fact that he had likely caused the death of men that had no desire to fight for the King.

Men like this, however, were ones that desired to follow the Black King for power, promises of wealth or whatever other sick, twisted desire they had within them. After the death rocks had done their job, these men would be told to raid the city, doing as they pleased, not just slaughtering the people within the walls. As men ran past him screaming, he sent his awareness out and found that the words from Ajihad rang true in most cases. He had found six men in the entire camp that were only there because they were forced to be. He dropped portkeys onto their person as they went by before continuing with his work.

With the final rune set, Harry forced a little more magic into it than he had the others to trigger it before apparating a safe distance away, where he had dropped of the men that he thought could possibly be redeemed. He watched as more and more portions of the sandstorm vanished suddenly without explanation, only to leave behind the hard, solid ground left behind from the unnatural sandstorm.

Turning to the shocked men who looked a little worse for wear, Harry spread his arms wide. "Well, that was fun, don't you think?" The adrenaline rush finally slowed and with a deep gasp, he crashed to a knee as the full backlash from channeling the massive amount of magic through his body for the wards and then the sandstorm hit him finally.

Panting for breath, Harry steadied himself, and was grateful for the hands that reached out to help him as well. He shook his head. This would likely escalate the war slightly. Such a display of power would bring into question Galbatorix's own strength, something that has not been doubted since he first took power and squashed all rebellion. Surda had been allowed to survive and break away at his sufferance. The Varden had been nothing more than an annoying gnat whose home was not worth the effort to find. Damage control was all that was really required with it, until the egg had been stolen, that is.

Such a display would not go unanswered for long and, if Harry's fears were confirmed, Galbatorix could walk out his front door and make what he just did with the sandstorm look like child's play. Having even fifty Eldunari at his disposal would be a massive amount of power to back him up with. For Galbatorix to be able to work magic and communicate with him from so far away, three to five days of dragon's flight, would mean he had much, much more than just fifty Eldunari stashed away. It probably would make things a little more difficult if the King heard back that this 'Even' had been the one to thwart his advances this time, lending the possibility that there were more outside of Harry and 'Evan' the name Harry had assumed. If he thought there were more that were able to use similar powers, his response might be a bit more extreme and maybe even a bit desperate.

As soon as things were tended to here, he would need to go back and have an in-depth discussion with Oromis. The future of Alagaësia depended on the answers he found from the elder elf.

Eragon continued his training, mostly as he had been, for a little over a week, trying to avoid Harry, and so far he had felt as though he had done surprisingly and exceedingly well since he had not even seen a glimpse of the man. Even the times he had seen Arya, the man was nowhere to be found. No one made mention of it, and there was no awkwardness between he and any of his trainers, thankfully. By the end of the day today however, he felt like he needed to find the man and talk with him. He had mostly spent the days trying to come to grips with things and see things from more than just his perspective but now he just needed to be sure he was centered in his emotions so that he wouldn't blow up at anything. Deciding he was ready, he searched for an hour or two before he gave up and went to Arya to ask her where Harry was.

"Harry has been gone since shortly after the conversation between the two of you. There was an issue in Surda that needed attention. Turns out it was needed more than we had first expected. The king there, Orrin, had been swayed to Galbatorix's side and was about to let the soldiers overrun the 'Kingdom'. Harry arrived in the middle of their opening salvos and was able to do enough damage against the soldiers to take care of things on that front." Arya paused for a second and gave a snort at something but shook it off. "He is in the process of overseeing a power shift from Orrin to one of the advisors that will actually take care of the people there.

"He asked me to pass along the message that Garrow, Roran and Katrina are all doing well and are well settled into life in Surda. Roran and Katrina are to be wed as soon as you are able to arrive for it since Roran says he can't possibly be married without his Dragon Rider of a cousin."

Eragon smiled lightly at that statement before looking to the side. "Well, when he gets back…I…"

Arya smiled and pulled forward the sack that she had been carrying everyday. She had no idea when Eragon would ask her about Harry, but she had decided to carry the sack for as long as she needed to, just to be prepared for whenever the rider asked. "He said you would probably come asking about him. I'll make sure he comes and finds you as soon as he gets back, but he left these with me to give to you."

She passed the sack to him and he took it cautiously before opening it and looking inside. He reached in and pulled out the bowl, vial and the book. The book was held for a few more moments than the rest and it was given some extra glances also. Confusion covered his face at the other two items.

"It is a pensieve and a container that has a memory in it that he had from his talk with Brom." Arya said easily. "The pensieve allows you to watch the memories, and then once you are done, you can put the memories back into the vial."

"Brom mentioned something about that." Eragon took a deep breath. "Thanks." He said after a moment.

"Just a note on using the pensieve, the first time in feels really weird. It's like you're falling and there is nothing you can do about it until you land. I got to watch some memories from Harry that taught me a bit more about magic. I left those in the sack also, at the bottom. Thought you could get some use of them also." Arya said with a friendly smile.

Eragon nodded and turned to go back to his room. Arya watched him go and smiled after him slightly. She hoped the young man would be able to get past Harry's mistake and truly learn from the man.

Harry was ready to bash his head on the table they were seated at.

Politics.

The single word dredged up nightmares and remembered days of terror that he wished he could rinse from his mind for all of eternity, even more so than many battles he had been a part of. Cade, the soldier that had helped him when he had first arrived had been true to his word and the men he had sent to investigate the king found many documents hidden inside the false pages of the book that Harry had mentioned. The King had been found guilty of treason and the public's outcry for his execution was heeded, mostly to appease all those who lost family or friends in the attack that he allowed on the city.

Cade and the captain of the Surdan army, Tamren, were both great assets to keeping some semblance of peace and control over the people in Surda, and did not abuse their power. King Orrin's family had been the ruling family for many, many years. Most of the previous advisors had been removed from their posts over the past few months as the King prepared for the city to fall, so Harry worked to seek them out and try to get them to help him restructure how the independent country was to be run. Three advisors had been killed in the attack, but the rest were more than happy to come back to their jobs.

Even still, there were people seeking more so for more power than to truly help rebuild Surda. Because of this, even with the advisors, it was going to be a long couple of weeks. The only bright spot was that Angela had apparently decided that the true excitement to be found was here in Surda and had offered her company and lilting, twisting words of wisdom on occasion for various issues about the city. Looking around the table of city leaders, he was having a hard time discerning what would really draw her attention here.

He found out three weeks after the destruction of the King's forces outside the walls of Surda. Solembum had appeared inside Harry's room one evening after Harry returned late from a meeting for the economic rebuilding in Surda. The werecat was seated on his bed, cleaning a paw nonchalantly, making no indication he even noticed Harry's entrance. Smiling slightly, Harry flopped down on the bed and jostled the cat enough to earn a hiss for his actions. As an apology, Harry began scratching behind Solembum's ears. A purr slowly made itself apparent from the cat and Harry smirked slightly.

"Your issues already or will soon have issues. Some of your issues will have battles. One of your issues will give answers to other issues. While two of your issues have become problems, they are still your issues and may be resolved and returned; rediscovered. However, your issues are only as strong as you allow them to be, and if they are allowed to, they will overcome their own issues." The were's words rumbled out after a few moments of contented purring.

Without any other interaction or communication, Solembum jumped to the windowsill and slinked out of it without any sound of his passing. Harry, sat, unseeingly, with his gaze locked on the window Solembum had slipped out of and drew his hands up to his face and rubbed it tiredly. Locking the words away with his occlumency, he decided he was too tired to think on it tonight and let himself drift to sleep.

Angela and Solembum were gone the next morning. Harry hardly had time to notice, however, as the city leaders were deep in discussion about who would be taking charge of the city as a whole.

Eragon felt as though his mind was about to shut down. It had been three weeks since Harry had left to take care of things in Surda. The three weeks of learning under Oromis, two of which were spent also watching the various lessons that Harry had left, originally for Arya, had been intense. His lessons with Oromis were fast paced, and it was likely only the foundation he had received from the booklet that Harry had left him that allowed him to keep up. After the first day with Oromis, Harry, Arya, and Orik with the testing of his knowledge and understanding, Oromis decided to ramp up his training, far past what he would have been given as a novice rider.

Outside of those lessons with the old rider and the sparring matches that he was still struggling immensely with, and the memory lessons from Harry, he had also watched the memory of his father so many times that he could quote it word for word and likely mimic the gestures his father made as he talked. There was still hurt and frustration, but learning more and more from Harry's memories, as well as hearing his father explain the reasons that Harry had done what he did, he was coming to realize that he should partly thank Harry for allowing him to at least see his father. Being able to talk to him, spirit or not, was also something he would have never had the chance to do if not for the man.

Speaking of his father's spirit, however, brought the one major worry that he had to the forefront of his mind. He had used the stone a few other times and spoke to Brom with it, as well as his mother, but as of yesterday, the stone was nowhere to be found. He and Saphira had searched almost every moment of their free time, trying to did the lost stone before Harry returned.

Eragon was once more on the hunt this afternoon when Arya found him. After watching him unnoticed for a few seconds as he crawled around on the ground, she cleared her throat. Squashing down a laugh at the rider's startled reaction, she spoke up.

"Lose something?" The elf asked.

Eragon blushed and looked down, "Ummm. Maybe?" He voiced quietly.

Arya's eyes scrunched inwards slightly. "Something important?"

Eragon nervously cleared his throat and spoke wincingly, "Er, I would assume so...?" Once more his tone ended more as a question rather than a statement.

"You don't seem too sure about any of this. What exactly did you lose?" Arya questioned, confusion clear on her face at the young man's strange reactions.

Eragon mumbled something that was too jumbled to discern. She asked him to repeat it and he took a deep breath. "Harry's stone." He said, closing his eyes and facing away slightly. "The one that let me talk to my parents."

He waited in silence for her to blow up on him for loosing the stone. He was shocked from his worry, not by a slap or verbal rebuke, as he had expected, but rather by the elf's laughter. His eyes opened and focused on the elven princess before him with worry in his eyes still at her surprising reaction.

"Don't worry about it. Harry said that it would return to him after a while, part of the magic in the items apparently. Even if you did lose it, or if someone had stolen it from you, he can call it back to him with a thought. It will only work for him, the reason you were able to use it is because he willed you to be able to." Arya explained laughingly.

"Rest easy. Harry won't kill you for you not having it. If I had to guess, it's already back in his possession. Now, for a less serious and life threatening topic than you losing something of Harry's, what do you plan to present for Agaetí Blödhren?" She asked.

Eragon shrugged, letting out a deep sigh of relief that he hadn't actually lost the stone. "I haven't really decided yet. Saphira won't tell me what she is going to make or do yet either."

Arya nodded. "You'll think of something. If it is genuine, it doesn't matter what it is."

"Any idea what Harry is doing?" Eragon asked.

Arya shook her head. "We're not even sure if he will be able to come back in time for it. Or if he does, it might not be for the beginning part when most people present their creations. Last time I talked to him, he thought he was wrapping things up, but there have been more reports coming in that more troops might be heading their way. Hopefully after the rout that Harry visited on his forces this past time, The Black king won't consider sending another force so soon…"

Eragon looked at her in confusion. Arya scoffed for a few seconds. "You mean, you haven't heard the full extent of what Harry did?" At the shake of Eragon's head, she gave a half laugh. "I'm surprised. He wiped out nearly an entire legion of soldiers by himself. Drove himself to the point that he wasn't able to do much for half a week afterwards, but for the time being, Surda is safe from attack." Arya shook her head. "We are still trying to figure out just how he pulled it off. He has mentioned that there are some pieces of magic that require a little less energy to perform than others, but even still, it is completely unheard of for one to be able to wipe out such a large force by themselves. Magic user or not."

Eragon swayed slightly at her words. An entire legion brought down, by just Harry. Surely if he moved forward with an attack on Galbatorix, he would escape unharmed. Arya watched Eragon and could sense the direction his thoughts were heading. "It is because of the loss of life from others that he holds back the most, I would assume. Harry can likely walk away from any encounter he faces…well, it is not a likely, he can walk away from anything he gets into. However, not everyone else can. Harry is also under the impression that Galbatorix is stronger than he is. He demonstrated it with a visual of a rock being hammered by smaller rocks, but I don't know if I agree with him. However, Galbatorix was able to use magic between his palace and Tronjheim, so there must be more than can be seen…"

The pair stayed in silence for a few moments before Arya turned her head toward the gates. A smile grew on her face and she sprinted off in the direction her attention had been drawn. Eragon shook his head slightly. It was safe to assume that Harry had returned, and he still wasn't overly sure how he felt about that.

Harry made his way through the gates of the city and was soon after tackled by a beaming elf. He hugged her to him tightly, relishing in being around her once more. By far, it had been the longest he had been away from her since they first met and he had become increasingly aware of how much he missed her presence when she was gone.

"I'm very happy to see you as well, love. But we have to go and speak with Oromis. Immediately. After that, I need to speak with Eragon." Harry stated seriously.

Arya nodded in agreement. "He has been asking about you. He was also terrified that he had apparently 'lost' your stone."

Harry laughed softly at that and shook his head. "I assume that Saphira forgot to mention that to him? I did tell her that it would fade after a little while, though I did let him keep it longer than I had originally planned to when I felt him call his mother for the first time. Figured he needed to have a little more time with them.."

Arya nodded, "It was probably just the large amount of shock that they were experiencing from seeing the ghost of Brom and Selena." Wrapping her arms around him a bit tighter, she continued. "So not that I mind any, but why are you back so soon? I had thought that you would be in Surda for a while longer." She questioned.

"They seemed to be moving along well on their own." Harry answered easily. "I was mostly there just as a facilitator to the discussions, but they have finally chosen on a leader for the time being that I believe will do a good job. However, what prompted my quick return was a visit from Solembum. He left me with a few words a couple nights ago that I have slowly been able to make sense of, but still has left me with plenty of questions to be answered."

With that, Harry made sure he had a firm hold on Arya and popped the pair away to speak with the old rider about Harry's worrying theories.

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A/N: If you want to hear my argument for Harry powering the wards, I will have that on my profile. Don't like it when authors pad their chapters with AN, which I am ashamed to say that I have done in a manner of speaking, not out of a desire to boost my word count, but because I wanted to explain my thoughts.

Lastly, I apologize for there being so many shifts in perspective. There was a lot going on though that I wanted to capture in this chapter, and didn't want to do time skips in the usual way as that is often more confusing. Hopefully it was not too distracting and hard to follow.

Translations

Eka dunei ono, Eragon Finiarel

I love you, Eragon (honorific of great praise)

Atra esterní ono thelduin. Mor'ranr lífa unin hjarta onr. Nosu ono varda.

May good fortune rule over you. Peace live in your heart. We watch over you.