The soft grinding sound of sand moving alerted Talim that she was not alone. She had been resting against a large rock, listening to the crackling of the fire and waiting for her dragon to return from its flight. Her heart skipped a few beats and Talim tried to fake sleep so whoever was approaching would be caught off guard. The footsteps came closer and she shifted in her "sleep" conveniently placing her hand right next to a hidden dagger. Keeping her eyelids cracked, Talim slid her dagger silently out of its sheath and in one fluid motion, sprang up and pressed it against her attacker's throat.

"Stop! I mean you no harm!" the figure said, their voice suggesting that they were male.

Talim grunted and shifted his face so she could see it in the fire light. He was a bistered small man, but looked powerful. It was the type of power that only emancipates from one who knows a skill to its limits. She blinked, sheathed her dagger and sat down, patting the sand next to her.

The man cautiously claimed the spot next to her and a chilling unknowing silence filled the few feet between them. Finally, Talim split the silence with the usual meet-and-greet phrases, "Sorry 'bout that. My name's Talim. I'm from Urû'baen."

"Hi. Don't worry about it. I'm Trevor, and from Daret." He replied.

"Wow, Daret, that's a ways away."

"Everything is far away when you're in the middle of a desert."

Talim laughed nervously, "Yeah, I guess. So what's your skill?"

Trevor looked at her curiously, "Excuse me?"

"Uh," Talim was confused, what didn't he understand about that? Everyone with a skill knew about the sort of aura that surrounds another. "The thing that you are really good at... that gives you a more powerful presence?"

"Oh, well, I'm skilled in archery, I once worked for the king!" He claimed, obviously proud, "Well, when he was a good king," Trevor finished, his voice wavering.

"Well, please continue wherever you were going, and may you find good fortune," Talim finished, obviously bored with talking.

"Wait! Umm, do you know where we are? I'm kind of lost..."

Talim sighed, "Well, there's an oasis about a day's walk north of here."

"Thank you, you see I'm lost." Talim shook Trevor's hand and started to put out her fire when she noticed that he hadn't left. She looked over towards him her face clearly saying, "What now?"

"Well, I was wondering if, well, if you were going that way that maybe we might be able to travel together...?" He asked, his voice trailing off. Talim blinked, this man was so weird! There must be some other reason for him wanting to travel with her! If on she could somehow find out. Maybe there is a way, maybe she could do the same thing with Durza!

Talim closed her eyes, pretending to think about his proposal. She imagined her thoughts tracing the path between their minds. She cut through his defenses like they were paper, Trevor probably didn't even notice. She encountered a wisp of a presence other than Trevor's there, but Talim ignored it. Surprisingly, he just was afraid of the Urgals traveling across the desert. Talim stifled a laugh and started to withdraw her consciousness when she came upon that other mind. It also reeked of power, a power similar to her own... dragon power!

"I will be happy to accompany you to the oasis," Talim answered, quickly reaching out to her dragon and explaining the situation (in mere feelings this proved to be fairly challenging.) Traveling with Trevor would mean that she couldn't see her dragon until they reached the oasis, but Talim would do anything to find out why Eragon's presence lingered in Trevor's mind.

Talim was wicked bored. All Trevor could do was babble on and on about his achievements fighting in the king's private archer guard. Which, according to him, was practically fighting side by side with Galbatorix.

"So," Talim interrupted, desperate to get him off topic, "have you ever met anyone named Eragon?" Trevor shook his head and started to list people named Evan and Erik, but Talim didn't care about them.

She pretended that she did. "I see, well have you ever met anyone with a silver burn on their hand?" Again, a no, accompanied with a long and boring discussion of all sorts of nasty burns he had seen. Again, Talim didn't care.

"Hmmm, interesting," she answered, though it wasn't. "By any chance have you seen anyone in this desert who was wearing gloves even though it is so hot?" Talim seriously doubted this, but it was worth a try.

"No," Trevor began, "I haven't seen anyone but you in this blasted desert..." Talim tuned him out. So much for finding out about Eragon... She was wishing that she had left Trevor to fend for himself when something caught her ears, "...Yes, he was a curious fellow, when we gave him the gloves he put them on deliberately so we couldn't see his palms. How strange is that?"

"Very, what did he say his name was?" Talim cut in, suddenly interested.

"He didn't, but I followed him and his old companion out of town, I was tired so I didn't follow them very far, but the last thing I heard was the old man ask the teenage boy if he used his powers at all while they were in my town."

"Did they say where they were going?"

"Yes, actually, Dras-Leona, but this was a few months ago."

Talim sighed, if only she knew better where Eragon was, anything was better than "to the east". She suddenly remembered her mother's locket. It had helped her once, it could help her again! During their break for lunch she asked the locket where Eragon was. (In the old language, of course.) She wasn't sure it would work but the text, "Look up" had been changed to, "Fěngrad". How great was this locket?

It was around 2 pm when the oasis was in sight and Trevor bade Talim good bye, with the answer to her most recent question, "Fěngrad? Oh that's on the âz ragni river, just around the big bend." Finally Talim was able to call her dragon back.

The dragon was truly happy to see her again and happily greeted her with a, "Talim!" via mind connection. After talking to her dragon for an hour, a new word appeared in the dragon's consciousness. "Briam!"

"No, that's a boy's name, I'm Talim," she corrected, utterly bewildered at the dragon's word.

"Briam!"

"Oh, are you talking about the dragon Briam?"

"No."

"...Then who is Briam?"

"Me."

And thus, the dynamic team of Talim and Briam was born.

I know, cheesy last sentence, but I couldn't help it. I've always wanted to day that. Ok, here's my dilemma. Eldest is coming out tomorrow. YAY! But, what should I do about this fic? I will put out at least one more chapter where Talim and Eragon meet, because I've wanted to do that for a while now, but I had to build up to it. So, if you guys wish for me to continue, despite the fact that it won't be true to the latest of the Inheritance Trilogy, than I will. It is up to you, my great reviewers to tell me what I should do!

This chapter is dedicated to blondevil and the elemental goddess.

Lil KaWaIi AzN PrInCeSs: No prob. I can't wait 'til tomorrow!

animelover 4.0: "it's slowly losing it's flare though..." do you mean my story, or slowness? AHHH! What can I do to fix my story? Help!

The elemental goddess: good call on Murtagh and Talim, we'll have to c! (wink) Eragon's father has always been a mystery to me, so maybe I decided to give him a father, just not a very desirable one... but a father none the less.. About Talim's dragon's name... well, I couldn't decide a suitable name, (that's why it too me so long to get this one out) so I just used one of them from the book... I still don't like it, so if you don't please tell me what to switch it to! I decided to not have Talim meet her father when he went to Furnost, but his business there will have future meaning... or well, I plan to make it have meaning... Galbatorix knew that Talim was there because the servants told him. They notice everything, and they are very quiet about it, because that's their job! Lol...well, kinda!

Mistress of eternal night: SORRY! I didn't get this one out for so long because I couldn't think of a suitable name for her dragon! I know that's a lame excuse, but if I'm gonna have to type it almost every time I wish to talk about her dragon the name has to be a good one! See ya!

Blondevil: Yup! I didn't think so either, that is the reason I was prepared to give to any reviewer who questioned it! Lol. C ya!