Chapter 34. On the Practice Fields.
CP owns Eragon.
000
Arya slowly sat up; afraid the dream stare would catch her again. She waited, expecting it to happen, but thankfully it did not. She stood shakily, taking a moment to get her bearings. Looking around, she could find no one on the practice fields. "The Varden are in Surda, and the dwarves are mourning their fallen leader," Arya stated. The wind blew gently, and the crisp air told her spring had just started to appear. She stumbled, almost fell, but gracefully spread her feet before she could lose balance completely.
"What did the images mean?" Arya thought. Were they just random montages, or did they objectify times she had lived in the past? Or were they a foreglimpse into the future? She could not make any sense of what they were, or why she experienced them. Why now? "If this is the price for contacting Lifaen and Narí, then I will gladly do it again."
A shadow passed by her; too big to be anything other than Saphira. She craned her head to see the sapphire dragon with Eragon on her dorsum. He noticed her and angled to land. "How could he not notice me? There is no one else." Arya watched as Saphira hunched down to allow Eragon to dismount; they both came over to her then.
"Arya, what's wrong?" Eragon asked.
"Nothing," she answered.
Wrong, Saphira noted. There is something disturbing you; it is obvious to us who know you well.
"Aye," Eragon added.
"Is it obvious?" she inquired. Saphira bobbed her head. Arya sighed. "I talked to Lifaen and Narí, and it took a lot out of me."
"But they are near Ceris, inside Du Weldenvarden," Eragon said, stunned.
"Exactly," Arya replied. She then tripped and almost fell, causing Eragon to reach out and catch her by her upper body. When he realized what he had done, he cautiously moved away.
He then brought two fingers to his lips. Eragon said, "Atra esterní ono th…"
Arya reached out, grabbed him by the arm and forcibly put her hand over his mouth. "Eragon Shadeslayer, you will never again speak in this manner to me. We are equal in my sight. I once again offer you my friendship, if you will accept it, that is."
"Of course," he stammered. "But why now?" Eragon asked.
"Because I should have done this long ago," Arya responded. Saphira hummed, deep in her throat. "Yes, Lifaen and Narí are inside Du Weldenvarden. To contact them I had to navigate my way through wards of ancient times; which nearly cost me my life." Arya stared at Eragon for a moment, and then seeing he did not understand, she said, "There were two reasons I contacted them. First, you told me of what Islanzadí spoke of; and second, I needed for them to come here so you would not go alone to rescue Katrina."
Eragon's eyes grew wide. "I can see your wanting to contact the elves, considering the message from Queen Islanzadí, but it is not possible to break into Du Weldenvarden, at least so I thought."
"I did and am still here, though barely," Arya said thoughtfully. "Though you should not expect me to use magic other than the basics, anytime soon." Eragon nodded, still in awe at what Arya had done. "Although can you believe Nasuada said I infringed or violated Du Weldenvarden? I mean that forest is my home! Oh, sure I have spent more time among humans and dwarves than I have in Ellesméra, but me going back there with you just cemented in my mind where I belong."
A frustrated Arya shook her head angrily. Eragon reached out softly and touched her on the arm. "I so not consider you to have infringed or violated Du Weldenvarden, but I was there with you, so I have knowledge Nasuada does not."
A wise thing to say, Eragon, Saphira commented, blowing two puffs of smoke out of her nostrils, which drifted forward past their faces before lifting away in the cool breeze.
"Yes, thank you, Eragon," Arya said. Then she started to go back into the dream stare, and stumbled, crying out, "No!"
Eragon caught her, took her by both shoulders, and said, "Arya! Arya!" She snapped out of the dream stare before it captured her completely. "You appeared to go into draumr kópa, until I stopped you. Is that what you've dealt with as a part of your journey into Du Weldenvarden?" he questioned.
"Yes," she answered. "It is nothing, though, I assure you." She straightened up, and Eragon dropped his hands from her shoulders. Arya could see she had not convinced Eragon, but he did not press her on the matter. A grateful Arya started walking again, and watched as Eragon communicated with Saphira.
"I do not know how I will go and find Katrina, if my lack of success in battle is what I have to show for the training I received," Eragon stated sorrowfully. Arya glanced at him, knowing he had changed the subject on purpose.
"Consider the Battle of Farthen Dûr versus the Battle of the Burning Plains," Arya commented. "Why do you think you were successful in the first and unsuccessful in the second?" she asked, as she gestured for Eragon to walk with her. Saphira sashayed behind them; the only noise she made was her tail, slithering along the ground.
"I don't know," Eragon replied. "I guess after training with Oromis I thought I was ready to handle the responsibility, but that proved to be wrong. I am ashamed of myself."
"No, that is not it at all," Arya said. "In the Battle of Farthen Dûr, you did not have to worry about plans for the larger battle, only fighting how and what you knew and saw. In the Battle of the Burning Plains, you tried to take on a role of planning a part of the altercation, and in doing so, you lost the simple art of fighting. No matter how much training you receive, there is something of experience that is essential to planning. That does not mean you are not a leader, it simply means you lead by fighting."
I am to blame too, Saphira said. I am ashamed as well.
"Put away your shame, for it does no good," Arya countered. "You are both young."
Only a hatchling in you sight? Saphira asked, genuinely contrite.
"No! Listen, on the Burning Plains, we won the Battle, but lost King Hrothgar, neither of which lies at your feet. The Red Rider was previously unknown to any of us. If we had known we would have had a different strategy." Eragon started to argue the point, but Arya held up her hand to stop him. "Just as we have won and lost many battles before you came. In fact, we lost more than we won. You both have fought many battles, big and small. However, you have only fought two battles on a large scale that have a significance attached to them."
"In my consideration of your earlier talk, I can't make out what you say about Oromis," Eragon stated. "If I didn't know better, I would say you sided with a human Rider, Brom, against an older, more experienced elven Rider, Oromis."
"No," Arya corrected immediately. "Brom had a style of fighting uniquely his. Oromis also has a style of fighting that is the opposite. Neither is better, you could find faults with both, but in the time since Saphira hatched, you have fought many battles, and in doing so, you have developed a style that is uniquely your own."
"So you are saying we should learn from our successes and our failures, and go on from there?" Eragon questioned.
"Yes," Arya replied. "Just as we all have."
You show wisdom in your years, Saphira commented to Arya. She turned and addressed her Rider, Eragon, she means that we should not feel shame for what we did or did not do, but instead embrace it and learn from it.
"Yes, and be your own Dragon and Rider," Arya said. "Do not hold back or change what you do, either because of your failure or your success in mastering what Oromis taught you. You can integrate those into what you have already accomplished."
"Nay, I don't think so," Eragon stated. "Oromis is wise, and compared to him, I am a fool."
"Do not even think that way!" Arya corrected him fiercely. "Oromis is wise, but not perfect. Did he tell you sound has no control over magic?"
"Yes," Eragon responded.
"He is only partly correct," Arya commented. "Though he is right in saying we utter our spells out loud, he is incorrect in believing certain vibrations in the air, sound, do not have anything to do with magic. Oh, he's right sounds produced at random do not make up magic, but he is wrong in thinking sound does not have anything to do with it at all. Particular patterns of pitch and volume do trigger reactions which allow us to manipulate energy."
"For instance, in the chamber of the Isidar Mithrim, I channeled my magic through sound and thus captured Saphira in a spot. I could not have done the same in a different location. I suppose you have heard the expression if a tree falls in the forest and there is no one around, therefore it does not produce sound because there is no human ear to hear it. However, I submit what we call 'sound' is incomplete if we judge whether we can or cannot pick up vibrations caused. The falling tree causes those vibrations whether any one is there to hear it or not."
"But Murtagh did the same thing without a chamber," Eragon stated, even though she could see he had to agree with her on the basic idea.
"Yes, but he did so with the help of the Vault of Souls!" Arya exclaimed. "There are parts of magic that no one should touch, and yet he did."
"How am I ever supposed to defeat him, then?" Eragon asked.
"By remembering you are not alone!" Arya responded ferociously. "The Varden, the dwarves, and parts of the elven kingdom has long fought Galbatorix, but never have we had a realistic chance of winning, until you came along. Remember, you rescued me from Gil'ead when it was insane to do so, traveled across the Hadarac Desert, entered Farthen Dûr, and won the battle there while slaying a Shade," Arya pointed out. "A feat which would have taken the life of most men. Do not throw away your deeds so lightly."
"But yet you have called Lifaen and Narí to go with me and Roran to rescue Katrina," Eragon stated, his face downcast. "You will not trust me, so how can I trust myself?"
Arya looked at him with compassion in her eyes, reached out and touched his arm "It is not that at all," she responded. "You are free to take Roran and rescue Katrina with Saphira as you have always done. Do not worry about Lifaen and Narí, they will be there to back you up. You said with elven magicians, even Murtagh and his Dragon would not be able to stop you. I am just making sure that is the case. Besides, the Raz'ac are waiting on you, and thus will have one of them, at least, on their steed, Lethrblaka ready to leave when you arrive. Lifaen and Narí will make sure they defeat the foe."
Eragon's eyes shone, and even Saphira lowered her head. They are right to call you Svit-kona, she said.
"Yes, yes, but it is not I who will lead the Varden, the elves or the dwarves to unmitigated victory," Arya commented.
"It has fallen to us, to Saphira and me," Eragon said slowly. "It is our wyrd."
"True, but you will never be alone," Arya said.
"Save for Galbatorix," Eragon stated. Arya dropped her arm off his, and glanced up at him with a curious look on her face. "I know when the time comes I will fight Galbatorix alone."
And I Shruikan, Saphira added. Arya bowed her head.
"Will you come with us to Helgrind?" Eragon asked.
Arya shook her head. "No, I must find the missing elven spellcasters. Even if I do find them, I will continue as the ambassador for the elves, and so it will be my duty to instruct them as to what to do. Although, I hope they are near, for if they make contact before you go, then you can lift the curse off Elva."
"Aye, I would like too," Eragon agreed, the sorrow evident in his voice.
Arya wryly smiled, and deftly changed the subject. "If not, you should know I have joined you in the 'Blockhead' family."
Eragon smiled. "She didn't?" he asked incredulously.
"Yes, she did," Arya answered him, a smile on her face. "At least Solembum did not, so I still have my reputation with him." Eragon had to laugh. "Elva will be fine, as long as you remove the curse immediately when you return."
She will still have the Gedwey Ignasia, Saphira commented.
"Yes, she will," Arya said. "The Gedwey Ignasia changed the curse into a blessing, though not from her perscpective, but from Nasuada's, and therefore the Varden's. No, Elva will never be a normal child. Eventually, she will thank you, despite the curse you spoke, unintentionally, Eragon, but because of the blessing you turned it in to, Saphira." She paused, then added, "That is something I have never heard of before."
Eragon placed two fingers over his lips, and Arya did likewise, recognizing in doing so, he said the highest form of thanksgiving toward her. They walked on for a few minutes, neither one saying anything. Finally, Arya spoke. "I hate to ask, but I must. Your sword, how did it fare?"
"Completely bent," Eragon answered. "The dwarves will have to give me a new one. What of yours? You do not have it, yet here you are on the practice fields."
"I came to this place to be alone," Arya responded.
"No, I am being more specific than that. I mean, how did you come to have it?" Eragon asked. "Do the elves have swords already made, or does each one get a special sword made for them?"
"Mostly, families pass them down," Arya responded. "Of course, now when the elves live such long lives, most of the time they have a sword fashioned for them. Rhunön made mine out of my father's sword, perfectly fit to my height and weight."
"I thought Rhunön had vowed to never make a sword again?" Eragon questioned.
"A Rider's sword," Arya answered.
"Zar'oc is gone, taken by my older brother," Eragon said bitterly. At that moment, Arya had a flash of the white raven, shrieking "Wyrda" in her unwanted dream stare, followed by the blossom that Eragon had given her.
"Eragon, did Blagden speak anything significant to you?" Arya questioned excitedly.
"Why?" he asked, confused.
"Did he say anything to you that was important?"
"Yes, he did, after you left. He told me the name of my father," Eragon answered bitterly.
Arya frowned for a second. "What exactly did he say?" she pushed.
Eragon frowned. He answered, "He said 'Wyrda', then 'By beak and bone, mine blackened bone, sees rocks and crooks, and bloody brooks!' He repeated that a few times, and when I pressed him on it, he then cackled, 'Son and father alike, both as blind as bats.' I asked him who my father was, and he stated, 'While two may share two, and one of two is certainly one, one might be two.' Then at the Battle, I learned his name— Morzan."
Arya stopped, and furled her eyebrows into a V, thinking about Blagden's riddle. Eragon stopped, turned around, and gawked at her. "Murtagh spoke in the ancient language, however he did speak only your mother's name?" she asked.
"Aye," Eragon responded. Saphira grumbled. Arya knew that signaled her interest.
"The meaning of the riddle had to be something different. Or else why would Blagden speak of it at all? Just consider this; he could mean Selena and Morzan may share you and Murtagh, and Selena is the mother of you both, but Morzan might be the parent of the first one, only. The second, you, might have a different father."
Two hatchlings, yet with the same mother but different fathers, Saphira contemplated. It would be true if you came from different nests.
"That would be nice to believe, but I'm through believing in dictums, which have no proof," Eragon obliquely stated.
You did not believe in dragons before I hatched for you, little one, Saphira commented.
"That would make Solembum's prophecy about me finding a weapon under the Menoa Tree plausible, if my father were not Morzan," Eragon commented.
"I would not attach a particular meaning to Solembum's prophecy just yet," Arya said. "Besides, you are not in Ellesméra, so the timing is not yet right." Eragon frowned. Arya continued, "Eragon, I have something in mind for you. Something which you are uniquely qualified to do, but it will take practice." Eragon glanced her way, waiting. "I know you are proficient with a bow and arrow, and I know Queen Islanzadí provided you with an elven bow and arrows. When Lifaen and Narí arrive, you should have them show you how to sing the arrows out of a tree. Meanwhile, you should practice shooting with the bow mounted on Saphira's back."
Eragon and Saphira both registered surprise. "I've never heard of anyone doing that before," Eragon incredulously said.
"Neither have I," Arya responded. "But that does not mean you cannot do it. I have confidence in you."
"If I accomplished it, then I could fire from beyond where the archers on the ground could reach me," Eragon said excitedly. "That would give us a huge advantage."
"Precisely," Arya commented. Eragon considered that for a moment, and then his face went back to brooding. Arya sighed. "You are still having trouble with the shame, are you not?" she inquired.
"Aye, though I believe I've made some headway." Saphira snorted, in obvious disagreement.
"If you believe in Blagden's rhyme, then your shame would cease to exist," Arya pointed out to Eragon. "The guilt will pass with what you accomplish."
Eragon snorted. "What would you know about shame or guilt? You can deal with both instances in the comfort of your own mind," he rudely said. "'The doing is the thing' only applies to me."
"No, you are wrong," Arya stated. "With elves we consider shame in the larger social aspect. If you feel ashamed, the only recourse you have is to do the opposite in relation to the larger society, even if it takes your whole life. I have shame, so therefore the only way I can deal with it is in the larger context of my whole life. For me, that concerns everything I do as ambassador for the elves with the Varden, the dwarves, and now, by extension, humans and dragons. I took the yawe, or bond of trust, as the only way I could make up for my shame."+
"I'm sorry," Eragon quickly said. "I didn't realize."
"No, it is fine," Arya countered. "It is not often that I share my basic reasons for acting a certain way. In fact, in seventy years, I have never shared with anyone other than a few of my own kind— the driving force behind what I do."
"I am honored, then," Eragon pronounced.
Yes, I am as well, Saphira echoed Eragon's words.
"I must leave you now," Arya started to say.
"Wait. There is a reason I looked for you," Eragon said. "The dwarves will elect a new king, and I wanted to know what you…what Queen Islanzadí wishes to have happen?"
"Queen Islanzadí, as well as all the elves, have no say in whom the dwarves say is king," Arya responded. She smiled. "Although, you could mention Orik called me on the subject of fate. For seventy years, I thought one way, yet in an instant, I could see that I was wrong."
"A subtle way of giving a push to Orik?"
"Exactly, though you cannot say that it came from me, only you were there and heard it," Arya responded.
"Which I did," Eragon said thoughtfully. Arya reached out and gently touched his arm. She thought about asking why she had heard Saphira and him on the battlefield, but decided against that course of action now.
"Farewell, Eragon, I will not see you again until after the dwarves choose a new king," Arya softly stated. Eragon bowed his head, and Saphira reached down and touched Arya's shoulder with her snout. Arya bowed, before walking away.
000
I appreciate reviews.
Arya changed her stance, realizing she had been too hard on Eragon. Though the subject of Blagden came up, that is not all related to what she experienced in the dream stares.
+Shame in ancient Egyptian society was defined as being in relation to the broader society. Maat: The Moral Idea in Ancient Egypt, by Maulana Karenga. The relationship is seen in the giving of a small golden statue of the goddess Ma'at, by the Pharoah, Queen, or other higher ranking official. Later, it filtered down into larger society as a whole. The Presentation of Maat: Ritual and Legitimacy in Ancient Egypt, by Emily Teeter, an Egyptologist whose work is published by the famous Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago. Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization.