I am finallydone; this thing has takenforeverto write. Sorry about the long wait for this update, I've been slammed these past few weeks. Hopefully I can have the next chapter up a little quicker. Not much action in this one, but some important spadework for the next few chunks of story. Hope you enjoy!
Corrin woke with a start and had no idea where he was. He was lying on a simple cot in a space filled with sunlight. Arches of smooth grey stone curved from a ceiling high above him to form four archway exits to the square room that he was lying in, intersecting to form four corners, one of which contained the top corner of his cot. The archway which his feet pointed to revealed a presumably identical room next to him, but he could see no details because a soundly sleeping Kiera was curled up inside the confines of the stone arches. The archway to his left opened onto a stretch of grass that led to a green forest, and when he hesitantly got up from his cot, he saw that the archway to his right led out onto a huge courtyard paved in squares of pale grey stone. He relaxed as he recognized the Rider's Court, and memory of the past night drifted back to him.
Kiera's saddlebags, including the one holding most of his earthly possessions, had been hung up on a wooden construct that resembled a coat rack: he opened the correct bag and withdrew a clean shirt, one of his cotton Surdan ones instead of the heavier lamarye. When he turned, pulling the shirt on over his head, he caught sight of a slim mirror hidden in the corner opposite the coat rack and adjacent to his cot. Hesitantly, he approached it, examining his features in the mirror.
It had only been two weeks or so since he last saw himself in the mirror in his room in Ellesmera, but he wondered if the lines of his face were not already altered to be less human. His eyes were the same, a watery green, but he thought the shape might have changed a smidge, and when he pulled his hair away from his ear, there was definitely the beginnings of a point. Lady Arya had long since told him about the changes that human Riders experienced the longer they were bound to their dragons, but they had only become noticeable on him in the last month or two. He stared at his altered ear for a moment more, then let his hair fall back down and turned back to his little "room"; more the sense of an open-sided pavilion, really.
He pulled his boots back on and ducked out into the Court, squinting in the sunlight. He judged it to be the shift between early and mid morning. The faint clash of metal against metal caught his attention, forward and to his left. As his eyes adjusted he realized that Leah and Varog were sparring near another side of the courtyard. He looked up at the mountain, orienting himself, and determined after a moment that he was standing before the south side of the great stone square, and Varog and Leah were dueling by the west face. He broke into a jog to cross the expanse of stone blocks between them.
Thuviel and Galzra did not seem to be in evidence, but there were shadowy figures moving about in the archways behind the two combatants, and as Corrin approached, the smell of fire and food wafted towards him on the breeze. He quickened his steps to a run.
He looped around the two sparring Riders, and recognized Eragon and Murtagh standing side-by-side and watching the swordwork. Further back the black-furred Blodhgarm was leaning against a stone column opposite a silver-haired elf woman. Behind them, he caught sight of a fire with a smallish cauldron balanced over it.
Even as Corrin slowed to a walk, approaching hesitantly, a third elf stuck his silver-haired head out of the archway and looked around with almond eyes until he spotted Corrin. The elf, short for one of his race, ducked between Blodhgarm and the elf woman and trotted over to Corrin, holding a wooden bowl of something hot. The elf touched three fingers of his free hand to his lips in silent greeting and handed the bowl over to Corrin with a smile. "Thank you," Corrin murmured, suddenly hungry.
"You are most welcome," the elf replied easily. "I am Calarel, I do the cooking around here." He might have said more, but there was a loud crash from within the "kitchen", and the elf jumped and darted back into the archway. When he had disappeared, Corrin looked around again. Eragon caught his eye and gestured for the young Rider to join him and Murtagh. Corrin dutifully walked over, spooning up the contents of the bowl, some sort of cooked grain mixed with fruit. Murtagh made a gesture that might have been a greeting, but it was difficult to tell because he was likewise engaged with his own meal.
"So," Corrin asked between bites, "I don't see any of the other dragons around. Where did they disappear to?"
"Thorn's still asleep, the lazy lump," Murtagh grumbled.
Eragon chuckled. "I sent Saphira down to the dock; I like for someone to check on them every week or so to make sure nothing's wrong with them or the Talita."
"The Talita?" Corrin interrupted confusedly.
"The ship that transported all of us here," Eragon explained. "There are seven crew members who stay with it full-time, and they have a little settlement down by the edge of the lake." Corrin nodded, remembering the red light that Kiera had pointed out the past night. "Anyways, she should be back soon. Thuviel and Galzra are probably up the mountain with Shruikan; fortunately, if they meant to get into any mischief, they would have taken their Riders with them."
Even as he said that, Corrin heard metal screeching across metal and an undignified yelp. He looked up in time to watch Leah crash to the paving stones, her legs swept out from under her by the gray broadsword that Varog was holding.
"Leah," Eragon commented dryly, "I would hope you know better than to try brute force against an Urgal by now."
"Yes, Ebrithil," she grumbled, accepting Varog's offered hand to get to her feet.
"Murtagh tells me," Eragon continued conversationally, "that you aren't terrible with the sword yourself, Corrin."
"I, um, I've only been learning in earnest for a few months, so I don't know that much," Corrin stuttered, flustered.
Eragon shrugged. "Everyone has to start somewhere, and if you have any talent at all, you'll be better off than either of them were when I started their training." He punctuated this with a gesture in the direction of Leah and Varog, who were now circling each other in identical low-guard positions. Corrin smiled and nodded.
Eragon and Murtagh continued to make small talk as all three of them watched Leah and Varog spar, until finally Leah ducked under one of Varog's swings to touch her blade to his ribs. "HAH!" she exclaimed gleefully. Varog rolled his eyes and sheathed the gray broadsword in lieu of a response.
"I think that'll be enough for now," Eragon called, "we do still have things to be about this morning. Do either of you know where your dragons are?"
"With Shruikan," the two Riders answered in unison.
"Call them back down, if you would," Eragon requested, and turned back towards the kitchen.
Murtagh raised an eyebrow at Leah. "'Down?" he inquired curiously.
"Shruikan has a clearing higher up the mountain where he sleeps," Leah explained. "Sometimes in good weather Thuviel and Galzra will go up and visit him instead of spending the night down in the Court."
Fascinating. Corrin turned to see Kiera approaching from the direction of their rooms, followed at a slower pace by Thorn. He doesn't prefer to stay down here?
Leah shrugged. "He likes the privacy."
"At any rate," Eragon interrupted, dragging them all back to the matter at hand by main force, "I think we'll spend the morning showing Corrin, Murtagh, Thorn, and Kiera around, and then in the afternoon Saphira and I will run you, Corrin, and your dragon through some tests to ascertain your skill set."
"Yes, Ebrithil," Corrin replied.
Leah frowned. "All due respect, Ebrithil," she said, exchanging a glance with Varog, "but do you really need the two of us and our dragons for that?"
"I do," Eragon assured her. "I hope that you and Varog and your dragons will be able to add in any information I forget to mention as we go. Also," he fixed her with a stern gaze, "I know that if I leave you four alone with nothing to do, you will invariably find some way to get yourselves into trouble."
Leah's frown melted into a grin that had too much wolf in it to be properly sheepish. "Fair enough" she acceded cheerfully. Corrin stifled a grin behind one hand, and the whole group moved to follow Eragon as he began to walk along the row of stone arches.
Thank you as always to everyone who reviews this! It means a ton to me.