A/N
I'm looking for a beta! Please send me a PM.
give and take
by brainworm
1. He saves her.
There are too many soldiers. A flash of light blinds everyone momentarily, and it is almost as if the world stops. Men freeze with swords in their hands – then bodies collapse. He yells out, and men rally to their captain. He runs towards the light.
In the middle of the fallen, there is a woman kneeling, propped up by one hand.
He stands over her and bats the swords away. She summons all her energy to stand again.
They fight back to back. Until, parted by a sea of enemies again, she looks at him quickly. Her eyes are very green.
2. He gives her what she wants.
They shake hands, and the soldier leaves. He hears the tent flap closing behind him.
Sighing with exhaustion, he turns around to the survey the rest of the tent, and realises he is is not alone. The elf woman from the battlefield stands there with her arms crossed, watching him intently.
Clean from grime, he traces his eyes over her fair and smooth countenance. Two pointed ears gently break the fall of black hair. She is dressed neatly in a green linen shirt and thick riding pants.
She stalks closer, takes his hands, and slides them against her skin. He crowds her against a sturdy wall, she holds him tightly, and he fits their hips and mouths together.
3. She takes what she needs.
She comes with the darkness. This woman of spare words and sharp sword. Slips into his bed and kisses the back of his neck.
Lets him scrape his teeth over the sharp ridge of her hipbone, lets him sink deep into her strong body; she arches into his hands, and pants hard against his collar but never cries out.
After, she dresses quietly, touches his cheek and slips out without looking back.
They don't greet each other during the day.
4. She saves him.
"My name is Arya," She tells him again and again to keep him awake.
She holds him tightly in front of her as they gallop away from the burning remains of the garrison behind them. He cannot believe she is so powerful. He cannot believe she would come all this way to rescue one man left behind.
He had assumed thirty-one hard years was enough living and fighting. She doesn't agree.
They ride without stopping for two days. She takes him to her room, lays him in her bed and smoothes her glowing hand across his scarred body. She sits beside him every night, staring silently into a cup of tea, as he recovers.
5. They break the rules.
She watches him.
He feels her presence when he greets his family at village festivities; when he does his duty and looks in on the welfare of non-fighting citizens; when he goes to look at the books in the city library in wonder on his days off.
One day, he finds her observing him whilst he leads his men in drills on the training field. She crooks a finger at him, and he approaches warily. It is still day time. The rules of their game does not permit this.
"Come with me," She tells him.
He follows obediently. Over the vast lands of Alagaesia, into many cities and villages, into the stone halls of the dwarves and the moving grains of the desert. All in search of something or someone misplaced.
They spend the evenings relating stories of war and youthful misdemeanors, until laughing and exhausted, they lay back against the earth, curling up together to watch the fading sun.
6. The cycle begins.
The werecats, the smallest of creatures fighting in the Varden's name, brings it back to them.
He wakes up suddenly one night, sitting up with a jerk. Her hand slides off his chest. She leans up to kiss his shoulder, sleepily resting her face in his neck and breathing him in.
There is a noise, and on the ground next to him, a small blue dragon stares at them.
Later, they stand together on a hill outside the city, watching the creature play in the grass.
"Come with me," He asks her. She does.
A/N
Once upon a time, I wrote for this fandom under a different penname - I used to be around when authors like Aeronnen and SimplySupreme were still updating (ah weren't those the days). Crazy that after a decade I'm back, but since Book 5 hasn't been released, I have been unable to shake the unfinished Arya / Eragon love story. I'm planning to finally get it out of my system with my upcoming fics.
I'm not one to hold chapters hostage, but it would be nice to know if there's anyone still around - let me know by way of a review or PM! Don't forget - I'm looking for a beta!