Prologue

"Uncle Garrow! I've finished the chores!" An eight year old old boy with rich brown hair and warm brown eyes trotted up to the elder man with a bright smile. The man turned and raised a brow at the young lad as he bounced up and down on the balls of his feet. Roran, a full two summers ahead in age to make him ten, shoots a small grin at his cousin as the brunette fidgets in place.

"Alright boy, but what has you in such a rush?" Eragon stills a moment before looking away.

"it isn't any of your business-." "He wants to see Heather." Roran's voice drawls from the right and made Eragon's face flush slightly. "Ooh? Valka's girl, eh?" Garrow's tone takes a teasing edge to it as he sees his nephew's pinking cheeks. "I don't understand why you like her so much, Eragon," Roran says as he drops a bucket of water next to his father. "She's tiny, even for a girl, she's always spending time in Horst's forge, she talks about leaving and traveling! Girls should stay at home so their men can take care of them!"

Eragon glared at his cousin with angry brown eyes and an indignant pout. "Heather's strong! She can pick up Horst's hammer without a problem, and even sharpened Sloan's knife for him and he actually smiled at her when she showed him the edge!" Garrow barked a laugh. "Well if she can crack even Sloan, there's no telling what she'll do with her life when she puts her mind to it. Very well, boy- off you go!"

Eragon beamed and scampered away, leaving his cousin and uncle to watch him with amused expressions.

Heather was a tiny little thing at birth- the runt of Carvahall. When Gertrude helped Valka with the birth the girl was born without a wail to announce her arrival. Valka shut down any suggestions of leaving the baby in the Spine- "She'll be the strongest Shield Maiden to grace Alagaësia- you'll see." Was what she said. But even then she was known as the village runt and embarrassment. Her best and only friend was Eragon, a boy about a half-year older than her with a heart too big for himself alone.

The girl was sitting in a clearing in the forest with her young black stallion, Toothless, rolling around in the fresh spring grass. She was sketching in her journal pictures from dreams she'd been having: clouds as far as the eye can see, a castle with two dragons sitting on the walls, a sunset from what it could look like in the clouds… but while she was drawing, she remembered her mother's worried eyes; Valka packed two bags and said they were leaving Carvahall tomorrow to travel to an important place, an island.

Heather had to tell Eragon goodbye today.

The sound of feet approaching her had Heather looking up, and shining chocolate brown eyes met sad emerald greens.

"Hi, Heather!"

"Hi Eragon…"

Heather closed her journal and tucked it away into her satchel, standing and patting down her trousers before looking at her best friend.

"What were you doing? I saw Toothless rolling in the grass but you were just sitting here." Eragon's question made Heather sadder, and he picked up on it. "Hey, what's wrong?"

"Mamma and I are leaving tomorrow morning," Heather said softly. Eragon's blood ran cold- his best friend was leaving?

"We have to go to-to an important place… today is my last day with you." Eragon's eyes flickered with what seemed like hundreds of questions before he sighed and flopped on his back. "…Will you come back?"

"I don't know… but wither way, I want to make today count!" Eragon blinked as Heather stood in the way of the sun. She bent over, her long auburn hair in a braid and catching the sunlight to make it glow like spun copper. Eragon blushed slightly when she smiled at him. "Come on!" She bent over and gripped his hand in hers, dragging him up and onto Toothless' bare back. "T-Heather?!"

"We're gonna do the things we wanna before I leave!"

Gripping Toothless' mane and kicking her heels into his back, the teenage horse reared before taking off through the clearing and into the Spine, Eragon yelping and gripping Heather's waist tightly as she whooped with glee.

=›◊‹=

Their last day came and went much too fast for their liking. Before they knew it Heather and Eragon were parting ways for the evening, and for a long long time. "Heather, wait…" grabbing her wrist, the eight year old boy had two halves of a stone, both on separate chords, behind his back. Rocking back and forth on his heels, Eragon flushed a brilliant red when he offered one half of the stone to his best friend. Heather gasped, taking the polished piece of rock gently. "Eragon, it's beautiful!"

The stone was a deep blue, almost black in color if you were looking at it without any direct sunlight. However, there were bands of white ringing the halved piece in a breathtaking array of nature's hard work. Heather's green eyes widened when she noticed the chord and the other half in Eragon's other hand. "It's so we'll always be together!" Eragon blurted out, fidgeting restlessly as he took the girl's half and looped it over her head. it settled snugly in the hollow of her neck and the boy adjusted the chord so that it wouldn't choke her as much. Heather giggled before gently taking his own half and mimicking his actions. She reached out and pulled the stone a tad lower on both her neck and his before clipping them together, making a perfect whole rounded stone.

The tiny girl threw her arms around his neck, standing on her tippy toes to do so. "I love it, Eragon! thank you!" the boy smiled before embracing the tiny girl in response. "I'm going to miss you, Heather…" Eragon said when he hugged her back. Heather pulled back just enough to give him a kiss on the cheek, sending the poor boy's mind into a frenzy before it went blank. "I'll miss you too, Eragon… remember to eat properly, and never give up on a hunt! OH! And keep your arrows sharp! Make sure to help out a lot, and be nice to Sloan even if he isn't to you!" with a brilliant smile and one last hug, Heather turned and mounted Toothless alongside her mother's copper and grey stallion, Cloudjumper, and waved one last farewell as the two females rode off through Carvahall's gates.

Eragon waved goodbye with Garrow and Roran at his sides. "D'you think I'll ever see her again?" he asked softly to his uncle. Garrow hummed as he put a hand on his nephew's shoulder and patted him reassuringly. "If how much she enjoyed playing with you and being around you is anything to go by," the man mused. "Then I think she'll find a way to fly if that's what it took to get to you again, lad."

Little did they know, though, that what Garrow said was a premonition in and of itself.

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