Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters or places. They belong to Christopher Paolini

A/N: Please review! I need to know how you like the story!

Dawn came far too early for Eragon. The rapids and the long paddle, not to mention almost getting shot, had made him weary. Arya gently shook him awake. "Eragon, it is time to continue. We must reach Hedarth by tonight. We need more supplies."

Eragon was confused. Why would it take so long to travel to a place where Saphira had said was only a half-day's paddle? Kela looked as if she understood, her sharp eyes taking in everything.

"We have to go into Hedarth disguised. You cannot be made known and I was there two days ago," she explained. "In order to make ourselves inconspicuous, it takes time."

"Will you be coming, Arya?" Eragon asked.

"No, an elf is far too conspicuous, even if Kela concealed my ears. You and Kela will be able to get supplies without me. I will stay with Saphira," she assured Eragon.

Eragon nodded, stuffed the rest of his breakfast in his mouth and headed down to the river to wash his face and arms. The water was still icy, fed by mountain streams and by snowmelt, for winter was drawing to a close.

They all packed their bags and dragged the boats to the river bank. Eragon was curious about Kela's boat that she had called a kiya, or something like that. Animal hides were stretched across a wooden frame and sealed with pitch. The canoe was fashioned the same way, but the hides of Kela's boat stretched over the top, leaving a hole where she now sat, paddling with her curious two bladed paddle. A carved wooden rim marked the opening of the hides.

"What is your boat called again?" he asked, paddling in the front of the boat once Arya had pushed off the banks.

"A kayak," she answered, once more trailing into silence. Eragon slightly frowned. She didn't sound like she couldn't stand him. Rather, she seemed very shy, but her eyes were not the eyes of a scared person. They were open and almost daring, much like Arya's even though the color was completely off.

Arya once more took up Kela's slack. "It is a boat commonly used by the Ryvlans. They have taught the elves how to use kayaks and canoes, although it is rumored that an elf actually made the first one."

"Did not!" Kela challenged, jokingly. Arya simply smiled.

"Anyway, they can be easily maneuvered through rapids and it does not matter if water crashed over the boat. Usually, they wear a skirt to keep the water out of the cockpit, what the opening is called," Arya explained.

How could a skirt keep out the wet? he wondered. True, Kela was wearing a dress, but he didn't know how that would keep out water.

Kela once again seemed to sense his confusion. "I'm not wearing one right now. It goes around your waist and seals onto this wooden rim," she explained, but still timidly. Eragon simply nodded.

"You can roll over in kayaks as well." Arya continued his explanation. Some of the elves are terrified of being underwater, under a boat, so they choose not to use kayaks. It's called a roll, sometimes a Ryvlan roll." (A/N: had to change the name of an 'Eskimo Roll')

"Is it difficult to learn?" he asked.

"Kayaking or a Ryvlan roll?

"Both, I guess."

"Men seem to have a harder time staying upright in a kayak when they first begin, because our bodies balance at different points. If you get a kayak that has a broader bottom, that is no issue. A roll takes practice, to do it well and efficiently. It doesn't take as long as learning to fight, however." Eragon nodded at Arya's explanation.

Arya seemed very willing to explain things. She had not been so talkative before. Perhaps Kela had this influence on her. He relayed that thought to Saphira.

I wouldn't be surprised, she admitted. Arya and Kela seem to know each other very well.

Eragon sent his agreement back to her and continued to paddle.

xxxx

It was soon midday, and Saphira had taken shelter in one of the clearings in the dense forest. The village of Hedarth was very close. They pulled over to shore. Kela looked at him critically with her hands on her hips. She sighed as she looked at his dark hair. "None of my dyes will cover that dark of hair," she admitted. Eragon didn't like the sound of dying his hair.

"You dye your hair?" he asked. Her hair seemed to have too many different shades for the color to be fake.

"Only temporarily. Brown comes out after you wash it a couple of times, depending on how dark, and red will wash out almost immediately. Black comes out after a week or so."

Kela handed Eragon a worn woven jacket and motioned for him to put it on, along with a knit scarf that she produced out of her pack. Luckily, Kela was tall enough for the jacket to fit. It must have been huge on her slight frame, however. The scarf was wool and slightly itchy.

"People around hear raise sheep, even though the weather is a little questionable," she explained when Eragon looked at the scarf uncertainly. Reaching once more into her pack, Kela dug out a small set of neutral and pinkish paints. "Close your eyes," she requested. Eragon felt a light tickling over his cheeks and under his eyes. Kela also had a large brush that she swept his entire face with, brushing on a slightly yellow tinge.

"I'm done." Kela offered him a mirror. A stranger looked back at him, at least twenty, years old, although a few more years could have been added onto that. He looked worn and tired, like a man on the trail with no experience.

"You need a scar or something," she decided.

"No! No scars, I have enough of those." Eragon fingered his back, feeling for the bump spanning from his shoulder to hip. Kela simply nodded, and didn't seem concerned at his outburst. Calm, he asked, "Why do you have a mirror? It's fairly expensive to take in the woods."

"I need it to disguise myself," she explained. She quickly put the mirror to work, painting her face so it looked tan rather than her almost unnatural paleness. She did not age herself, but she looked very different. Her eyes were still bright. The brown stared out at him. Eragon was thankful that her eyes were a common color. They would be far too startling if they had been blue or green.

Putting away the paints, Kela quickly dyed her hair a dark brown, the same as Eragon's hair. She then smeared a paste into it that took her clouds of wavy hair and made them hang stick straight. Kela was hardly recognizable. She looked like many of the women in Carvahall, with a large brown apron over her undyed dress. She had discarded her traditional overdress, claiming that no one in Hedarth ever wore such a thing.

Arya, who had been setting up camp, came over to them. "You must go by other names while in Hedarth."

"I'll go by Evan," Eragon quickly suggested, fighting back the twinge of sorrow as he remembered who had though of his alias.

"And I'll be your sister, Sara."

"What? Who ever said we were siblings?" he questioned.

"What will people think if we are a man and a girl traveling together? I could be your wife if you prefer." was Kela's offer.

"No, sister's fine."

Kela simply smiled.