Chapter XV: Secrets

Eragon and Ilia continued to practise. It took over their combat training almost entirely, until it was only one day a week that was left for that. On her day off she was training; she and Luan were working together to become stronger. She was making rapid progress, and it was difficult not to let the praise from Eragon get to her head.

They were nearing the time when the six rider and dragon pairs were set to return, and Ilia could feel the tension from Eragon. It was subtle, but she was spending enough time with him these days to know that it was affecting him. He looked like he wasn't sleeping very much, and while they hadn't had any overt attempts on their defences there were reports of the decay within sight of the outpost. Eragon had worked so hard to build everything here; he couldn't let it fall to ruin.

"None of this is your fault, you know," Ilia said softly to him. He looked up, at her, his blue eyes tightening as she handed him a hot cup of tea. It was a ritual of their training sessions now, but he'd clearly forgotten. Ilia had gone and made it herself. She'd also snagged some warm pastries from the kitchen; she hadn't seen him at breakfast.

Eragon took the mug but ignored the pastry.

"You look awful, by the way. You're not fooling anyone," she told him.

This caused him to crack a small smile. "I wasn't trying," he answered.

Ilia shrugged. "You try out there," she said, jerking her head towards the door.

"But not with you."

His gaze was so intense for a moment that Ilia felt her cheeks burning. She had to avert her eyes, and she was glad for the mug in her hands. "You're not fooling Maria either. She knows you're not eating and she insisted I make sure you do."

There were a few beats of silence before Eragon reached for the pastry and decided to take a bite. Perhaps he did need to take better care of himself.

"I've been thinking about our next stage of training," he told her, chewing the pastry thoughtfully. It seemed to have given him a renewed sense of momentary vigour.

Ilia lifted her gaze again but said nothing, instead just taking a sip of her tea.

"You've improved, and I want to see just how much. Today Saphira and I will come at you and Luan with everything we have. We will see how you hold," he told her.

This wasn't what she had been expecting, but she was fairly confident in her skill. She and Luan had done a lot of practising in their spare time. A light smirk touched her lips. "Are you sure you're up for that? You seem too worn out," she teased him.

Eragon's eyes flashed and he finished the pastry. "I could be asleep and you wouldn't last."

Ilia snorted. "That only happens in your dreams."

The man made a sound of disagreement, but said nothing more.

He waited until her tea was finished. Saphira and Luan were outside, but there was no need for them to leave the room. The sound of light rain made a pleasant sound on the top of the roof, light thunder echoing somewhere in the distance.

"As we've been practising, I want you to protect one thing. One secret that you don't want me to know about. It doesn't have to be anything significant; just a silly fact, even. I will attempt to break your defences, much like we did on the day that you arrived. I want you to fight back," he explained.

Ilia nodded. "Okay. I'm ready when you are."

For the first few moments not much happened. Neither magician seemed stressed or strained, and Ilia even looked like her mind had wandered. She was dwelling on the sound of the rain outside when she felt a soft, probing presence. For now she let him wander with her, gently guiding him towards her thoughts of the weather. It was her first technique; a distraction. Initially Eragon felt drawn into it, but as she drew him down strange paths of winding rivers and vast oceans he pressed for more.

The mental battle was silent, and to start with neither of them exuded much pressure. Occasionally Ilia would probe back, but it was largely a decoy as she sought to keep him away from whatever it was she was protecting. Eragon found himself vastly curious as to what it was she might try to hide from him; they had spent a lot of time with each other over the last little while. That was normal for a teacher and student, but he had come to look forward to these visits.

As that particular thought swept over her Ilia faltered a moment, but decided that it too was a distraction on his part and harshly steered him towards something else. Eragon had latched on however and brought her mind back to those thoughts, and he knew he'd found what she was protecting when he was suddenly met with a wall. Ilia's eyes locked with his in a show of solidarity, and she focused intently to keep him out. She stood strong, and he needed Saphira to help him. Even here she held her ground on her own for longer than he had anticipated, but eventually it was too much and Luan had to step in.

The combined power of Ilia and Luan was enough to make Eragon swell with pride; they really had been practising. She really was a far cry from the woman she had been when she'd come here. The brokenness she'd worn so proudly as a badge was now something that she used to make herself better. How much he'd had to do with that he didn't know, but Eragon thought he could take some credit.

Luan bolstered the defenses of Ilia's mind, and only in the one, specific area that Eragon could not touch. While he was proud it soon became frustrating; now it was a competition. She was his student and he couldn't let her win.

It became very clear that Eragon was not going to win this with brute strength. Her resolve was iron and her defences were stronger; she had done some hard work. He wasn't ready to give up however, and began a different tactic. He began to barrage her with all sorts of distractions of his own, coming at her on all sides. Saphira helped, though she prodded Luan in a way to make him shake his support for just a moment; that was all Eragon needed.

How long the battle lasted for was difficult to say, but all parties were entirely engaged. Both Eragon and Ilia were now drenched with sweat, teeth gritted and hands clenched into fists as they fought the other back. It was a stalemate and Ilia decided it was time to change it; she was going to attack. This wasn't going to end until one of them gave out.

Pressing her wall outwards she hoped to overwhelm him that way. It was a tactic that Eragon hadn't seen before and initially it knocked him back, but decades together had given him and Saphira an advantage. They were even more in-tune than just together; the dragon anticipated his move and she swiftly took to the offence to give Eragon enough time to recover and retaliate. It was something that Ilia hadn't expected, and the shock of it cracked the wall enough that she felt it shatter, her secret laid bare.

At first, Eragon was pleased with his victory. She had come a very long way and he was going to say something about it potentially being quite different from facing whatever it was and they would practise with Luan's heart of hearts, but the shock on Ilia's face stopped him. It was then that he realised just what it was he had discovered.

She had feelings for him.

Ilia's mouth hung open, and when Eragon looked just as stunned she stood, pushing herself away from the table. "It seems we still have work to do," she told him, then turned towards the door.

It took a few seconds for Eragon to respond. She already had the door open before he was on his feet. "Ilia, wait," he said, stumbling over a chair and lurching towards her. If she weren't so embarrassed, Ilia probably would have teased him about it.

"Don't go, that was…that was incredible. I…we could…" he stuttered; he didn't know what they could do. The revelation was so out of the blue that he wasn't sure how he should respond.

Despite everything, a soft smile crossed Ilia's face. "It's okay, Eragon. You said it could be a silly fact, and that's all it was. You need your rest, and I need time to think," she told him. Her cheeks were red and heated, and all she wanted to do was get out of there.

Eragon knew he needed to say something. He needed to say something important and intelligent but neither of those things came to mind. Instead he nodded, and when she turned to leave he watched her a moment before closing the door. Things had just gotten a lot more complicated.

Ilia stepped out into the rain and walked passed Luan and out towards the beach. She did love it out there, surprisingly, and once she was there she turned her face towards the sky and let the rain cool her cheeks. She said nothing for a long while, and Luan curled himself around her. He didn't shield her from the rain however; she didn't seem to want that. Eventually Ilia relaxed against him, turning her face towards his scales.

'I feel a little lighter, actually,' she told him.

Ilia could feel the smile from Luan. 'I think you handled that rather well.'

There was a soft sound from the woman, though she wasn't sure if she agreed with him. 'I do feel a little sad though.'

'Why?'

'Because it's over now. He'll train with me, but not as much. He'll be more closed off again, more guarded.'

Luan thought on that and then decided that she had a point. He had been over this a hundred thousand times with the girl, and there was no point in going over it again. Eragon hadn't spoken much about his feelings for anyone, and was especially guarded about his past with the elf queen.

All Ilia really wanted to do was go flying, but that was too dangerous. They could go out onto the ocean she supposed, but she didn't want to take the chance that something could go wrong. It was early but she was tired anyways, and she knew that Luan was as well. Regardless of how their training session had ended she was proud of their effort.

'Now, at least, I won't have any more distractions,' she pointed out, to which Luan also agreed to. As much as she had told him she wasn't thinking about Eragon, he knew that her mind often wandered to him.

'And I'm hardly the first, I can imagine. He's very handsome.'

To this, Luan snorted. 'He isn't my type.'

This earned a genuine laugh from the girl, who turned and threw her arms around his neck. "What would I do without you, Luan?" she asked him aloud.

The dragon snorted a flame, but then turned his nose to press against her body. At least, regardless of what happened around them, they would have each other. They stood there for a short time; it was still raining and Ilia's clothes were starting to soak through. He nudged her onto his back where she climbed up; while they couldn't fly far he could at least take her back to her room. It wasn't quite dinner time, but he knew she wouldn't want to go to that. Not tonight. Tonight would be for thinking and for resting, and tomorrow Ilia would carry on as if none of this had ever happened.

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