AN: I combined 2 chapters once again to make a long one, since I won't be able to update until...Friday. Ooo, I hate my mom sometimes.

soul-wraith: Yes, people probably don't use the phrase "Is she hitting on me?" in Alagaesia, but it was the first thing that popped to mind. Thank you for the great review, I would love it if Christopher read it, but unfortunately, I don't think he has the time with Eldest's release so close. I'm glad you liked it.

Chapter 4

Suicide

Eragon awoke to a small ray of light shining through the green lace curtains that hung over the window. He became immediately aware of how sore his feet were. He remembered all those steps he had climbed and grimaced. Then he remembered Arya watching him as he drifted into a land only his mind could create.

He sat up and let his feet dangle over the side of the bed. He rubbed his face with his hands and yawned. When his eyes reopened, he saw Arya standing in the doorway, staring at him. Her arms were folded over her chest and she was wearing a long, green silk dress and a necklace with a lone emerald. Her hair was curly, though not really, really curly, and she was smiling.

"Good morning, Shadeslayer. How did you sleep?" Her voice was absolutely mesmerizing.

"Fine, thanks." He knew he wasn't wearing a shirt, but he wasn't aware of the effect that was having on the elf standing before him.

"I came to tell you that breakfast is ready." Eragon nodded and watched as she left the doorway and disappeared into the hallway. He pulled on a thin tunic that was practically see-through and set off for the kitchen.

Arya was sitting at the table, with a plate of food in front of her. Another plate was on the table, and Eragon sat down in the chair beside it. He immediately started eating it, for he was very hungry. They talked quietly while eating and didn't notice Aiedail walk into the room.

"Good morning, Aiedail." Eragon looked up and what he saw stunned him. Aiedail was wearing a dress, and she looked gorgeous in it. The dress was simple, just plain lavender silk, and was off a basic design, but gods! She looked stunning. Her ebony hair was loose and fell down to her mid back. The necklace was clearly visible with the dresses low neckline.

"Morning." He barely managed to whisper it. He lifted the fork and put the food in his mouth, chewing it slowly.

"Morning." Aiedail sounded very sad. Her eyes reflected it, too. They were mournful. She took a glass and filled it with water. Then she walked through a door that led outside. Eragon watched as she walked to the end of a thick branch and sat down on the end. She put her head in between her knees and shook. She was crying.

Eragon found himself getting up from the table and out the very same door. He had a harder time getting out onto the branch, but managed pretty well for a human. He sat down next to her and put his wrists on his knees.

"Hey, are you alright?" He was really worried. Eragon had never seen an elf cry, so up until now, he had thought they had hearts of steel.

"I'm fine." She lifted her head up and a single tear was running down her cheek. They hadn't known each other long, not even a day, but he felt the need to make sure she was alright. They had a bond that had formed so fast, neither of them could stop it. Maybe it happened while she was holding the sword to his throat.

"It doesn't look like that to me." He put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer him. "I understand if you don't want to talk about it, but I want to hear it." She scoffed.

"Why would you care, I'm just your girlfriend's sister."

"Girlfriend! Arya's not my girlfriend." She remained quiet. "You know what. You don't have to talk. I'll do all the talking, enough for both of us. Now, how about I start with where I grew up."

Eragon told her about how his mother had left him with his aunt and uncle, and how Garrow had been killed by the Ra'zac. He told her about finding Saphira's egg, Brom dying, and finding the Varden. It took nearly an hour, but he got it all out.

"And now I'm here, sitting on this branch with probably the most intriguing elf I'll ever have the privilege of meeting." They sat there for another five minutes, in silence. Then, Aiedail broke it.

"You know, my parents are dead. They died looking for Arya after she disappeared." She took a deep breath. "And you know what the worst thing is? Arya doesn't even care! She hasn't visited their grave, even shed a single tear, and she knew them for a hell of a lot longer than I did. I doubt she even loved them."

"Of course she did. People just deal with loss differently. It's the way we are." Aiedail nodded and stared out through the leaves of the tree. Then she turned her head and her deep blue eyes locked with Eragon's. Then she smiled.

"You know, young Shur'tugal, you are far wiser than anyone I've ever met." Then her face saddened. "Well, except Brom. But he lives on in you. I see it."

"Why don't you call me Eragon? I like that a lot better." She giggled and shook her head.

"Sure, whatever. It doesn't matter to me. You're still the same scruffy thug I found in the forest."

"Scruffy thug!" Eragon shoved her shoulder playfully, laughing.

"Hey, Eragon! You're going to be late for your lessons!" Arya shouted from behind them.

"Yeah, I'm coming!" He got up, then helped Aiedail up. Together, they walked back into the tree-home.

Later on in the day, Eragon was training vigorously in sword fighting and was told someone else would train him in the Ancient Language. They wouldn't tell him who it was, just that it was someone he knew.

Who do you think it will be, little one. Saphira was communicating him on his way to the clearing.

I think it may be Arya. She's been all over me since we got here, maybe it was so that we would become close enough to where I wouldn't treat her like a teacher. Anyways, the clearing is about 450 feet from where I am, so land in the nearest opening there. I'll see you when I find it. He felt her land with a thump and felt surprise wash over him.

I hope you find it soon. You might be surprised with who your teacher is. /She broke the mental connection before he could ask her who it was.

He frantically stumbled through the dense forest until he saw some light coming from ahead. Then it became more defined and he could make out grass, a woman, and Saphira. So it is Arya.

However, the closer he got, the more the elf didn't resemble Arya. The closer he got, the more it looked like…Aiedail. He broke through the last of the trees and felt the sunlight wash over his body.

"If you were any later, I fear I might have fallen asleep. Really, for a Rider, you sure do walk slowly." Her brilliant blue eyes were gleaming and her dark hair was in a bun. She was wearing traditional training clothes, the black leather.

"Cute. So, where do we start?"

She lifted one carefully sculpted eyebrow. "Well, let's find out your knowledge of the language. I'll put you through some tests and see how you do and with how much difficulty. After that, I'll teach you some new words and show you what they do."

The next hour went by quick enough. It was nothing like the test the Twins had given him. She made him perform complicated tasks with a stone, like making designs and whatnot. In the end, he was sweaty and tired. He went to sit down by Saphira, but Aiedail stopped him.

"Whoa, what do you think you're doing?"

"Resting."

"Oh no, you don't, tough guy. I've got to teach you something too." Eragon groaned loudly in protest and Aiedail giggled. It made his heart fill with joy. He managed to force himself up and walk to the center of the clearing.

"Why are you doing this to me? Why can't I just rest for five minutes?"

"You can't rest."

"But why are you doing this?" She gave him a sly smile and put her mouth up to his ear.

"Wiol pomnuria ilian." She whispered it to him and he had never been so turned on. When she pulled away, Eragon could hardly keep from racing up to grab hold of her and devour her mouth with his. Unfortunately, his teenage hormones grabbed hold of him and he failed his one attempt to control himself.

Eragon grabbed her elbow, swung her around into his arms, and passionately kissed her.

Eragon, she's an elf, not to mention the Queen's neice. Don't do this.

He pulled away grudgingly and took a step away from her. That's right. She was an elf. He watched her as she stood there, confused.

"I…I'm sorry. I don't know what I was doing." Aiedail looked hurt by his comment and furthered the distance between them.

"Of course. I'm so silly sometimes, thinking that someone has actually fallen in love with me and then they turn around and tell me it's over." She was choking back tears, not wanting to break down in front of him. He opened his mouth to tell her it was him, not her, but she cut him off.

"No, no. Really, I'll be fine. No one could ever love me, and now I realize it to be true." Then she ran off into the forest.

"Aiedail!" He called for her to come back, but if she could even hear him, she ignored him.

Eragon…

Shut up. His words were poison to Saphira and she was immediately taken aback. He had never been so nasty to her. She watched as Eragon bounded into the forest after the cursed elf-woman, and then she sat there, alone. Just like when she was a hatchling.

Aiedail awoke in bed to an absence of weight beside. She looked up and saw a handsome elf sitting in a chair in the corner, watching her with his elbows on his knees. She desperately looked into his eyes, searching for an answer to quench her curiosity. All she saw was emptiness.

"What's wrong, Nimial?" He just stared at her. He was scaring her. "You're scaring me." Her voice was quivering. She propped herself up on her elbow. Aiedail had never seen him like this, not in the quick six months that she had fallen in love with him.

"Aiedail…"He stopped himself and took a deep breath. "We're too different." He was breaking up with her.

"But that's why we're so perfect." Tears were forming in her eyes, but she held them back.

"You're only 58. I'm 250. It'll never work. I'm sorry." Nimial got up from his seat and walked towards the bed. After placing a soft kiss on her forehead, he strode to the door, only pausing briefly before opening it.

"I love you, Nimial, please! I beg you, don't leave me like this!" Tears were flowing freely now, for she had no desire to hold them back.

"I'm sorry, Aiedail, but I have to. I have to end it now." He shut the door as he left.

Today's events brought back memories that had long been forgotten. Aiedail ran through the forest with such grace, bounding around trees and other obstacles. She became aware of Eragon calling her name, but she no longer wished to hear a sorry for not being able to love her. She had heard too many of them in her lifetime. No, never again. She would end it tonight. Never again would she hear a sorry.

100 years after that terrible morning, Aiedail had found another to give her love to. He was handsome, gifted, and more importantly, had a great personality. His name was Ilion. It had been 1 year to the day since they first met, and now they were going to the Hvitr Ball. Ilion had been acting a little funny lately, distancing himself, but Aiedail had paid no attention to it. She had found a beautiful dress to wear and knew that he would be stunned that she was actually wearing a dress. Now all she had to do was wait for him to come pick her up.

She probably waited for thirty minutes before she heard him knock. Aiedail ran to the door and flung it open. There stood Ilion, not dressed in his tuxedo, fidgeting with his hands. He b never /b fidgeted with his hands.

"Aiedail, I need to break this off." Aiedail stood there, stunned.

"Why?" They had a great relationship, why would they need to end it.

"I'm sorry, I should have told you from the beginning, but I can't love you. Goodbye." Ilion walked away and she shut the door. She sank down on the floor with her back against the door and cried.

Aiedail ran to another clearing and stopped. She pulled her necklace off and set it on a rock. She picked up another rock and held it above the beautiful pendant.

Since Ilion, she had her fair share of lovers, though she hadn't truly loved any of them as she had Ilion and Nimial. Now she was seeing Faolin. She loved him more than she could possibly say, and as far as she knew, he loved her that way too. At that moment, he was escorting Arya as she transported the dragon egg. But they had been missing for a few days now, and all Aiedail could do was hope and pray to the gods.

She was sitting on a trunk in the forest when she heard the soft pitter-patter of feet behind her. Aiedail turned around, hoping it would be her beloved Faolin, and saw a lean boy. Trying not to act disappointed, she smiled shyly.

"Some scouts found Faolin and Glenwing, but not Arya."

Her heart nearly leapt out of her chest. They had found Faolin. "Where is he?" She tried not to sound desperate, but to no avail.

"In the infirmary. Glenwing is dead and Faolin is barely alive, but the healers are working on him right now."

Aiedail took off in the direction of the infirmary before the boy even finished his sentence.

She burst through the doors despite the warnings from the healers. The Queen, some soldiers, and Faolin's family stood over the bed, where Faolin lay with a white blanket over his head. The Queen turned around and walked up to a shocked Aiedail. She put her hands on Aiedail's shoulders and looked her square in the eye.

"I'm so sorry, they did all they could do."

"No…" She whispered it as if it would wake Faolin up if she spoke too loud. She didn't want to believe it, but deep in her heart, something told her it was true. Then thoughts of Arya jumped into her mind. What if her sister was dead too? How would she go on? She didn't know how much more loss she could take.

But Faolin wasn't like Eragon. It was different. She knew she couldn't go on without him, and she didn't plan on it either. No, she had had enough of rejections, more than she cared to have, but as she held the rock over the pendant, a small voice, weak but still existent, told her to put the stone down and live.

You don't want to do this. Put the stone down and continue on with your life. It said.

She wanted to listen to it, but she still held the stone high in the air, in a plunging position. Then she threw the stone down towards the pendant and everything went black.

Eragon desperately ran through the forest, calling out Aiedail's name, begging for her to not do anything hasty.

"Aiedail! Aiedail! Where are you?" He screamed at the top of his lungs as he slowed to a stop at the edge of a clearing. He saw Aiedail holding a rock over her necklace, which was laying neatly on a rock in front of her. Then, out of nowhere, she plunged the rock down on the pendant and collapsed limply on the soft green grass.

"Aiedail!" He ran towards her, though his body begged for him to stop. He held her in his arms and felt her neck for a pulse. Eragon felt a faint throbbing under his two fingers and mentally contacted Saphira.

Saphira! Come here now, Aiedail's hurt. He sent her a mental picture of the clearing and soon he felt her land behind him. He gentily picked up the untouched pendant and ran over to his dragon's side.

After situating Aiedail in the saddle, he climbed on behind her and told Saphira to take off. Aiedail's life was in his hands, and he had been the one to hurt her. He held the necklace in his hand, grasping the saddle with the other. He would arrive in Ellesmera by nightfall, though not in time to make the Queen's dinner.

Saphira landed with a loud thump in front of the palace as the Izlanzadi walked out to greet them. Noticing her unconscious niece, she quickened her pace to run. She turned to one of her guards and said something, and then the guard sprinted off in the direction of the infirmary, the other following her to Saphira's side.

Eragon slid of her back, and then started to untie the straps from Aiedail's legs. He put his arm under her knees and set her softly on the ground. He put his ear over her mouth and felt a slight breath. It was small and almost nonexistent, but at least it was there. Just as the Queen reached her side, Eragon looked up to see a group of 15 healers rushing towards them. The Queen looked down upon her niece's face, then to where her necklace should be and panic struck her.

"Where is the Mithrandil?" Noticing his confused expression, she grabbed his shoulder. "Where is her necklace?"

Eragon opened up his hand to reveal the small pendant. The Queen hastily grabbed it and put it around her niece's neck. The crystal shone with a tiny light and the color started returning to Aiedail's face. Her breathe regulated itself and she was no longer cold. The crystal stopped glowing and Aiedail's eyes flickered open, revealing her beautiful blue eyes. She looked straight into Eragon's eyes, then fainted again.

"We will take her now." One of the healers motioned for the two in the back to bring the stretcher. Once she was loaded on it, they carried her away in the moonlight.

"Eragon, tell me everything." Izlanzadi motioned him inside her palace and they disappeared inside.

Eragon told her about how he had entered the clearing and she was holding a rock above the pendant, then threw it on the pendant, and how she had collapsed. In fact, he told her everything except how he had captured her in a fiery kiss and then pulled away because Saphira told him it was wrong. He felt that it was an unnecessary detail, at least for the moment being. The Queen looked upset about Aiedail's suicidal thoughts. She sat there, on her throne, for a minute, pondering as to why her niece would do such a heinous act.

"Excuse, your highness, if it wouldn't be too bold, what exactly is a Mithrandil?" He had remembered that that was what she had called Aiedail's necklace.

"The Mithrandil is our most beloved star. Mithrandil means 'the Giver of Life'."

"So then, why does Aiedail carry it around on a chain?"

"She doesn't carry it, she carries its power. You see, when she was born, she was very frail and sick. She was going to die, so I had eight of the diamonds from the Mithrandil Shrine be put into silver in the shape of the star. We put it on her neck, and she immediately began to get better, though with a cost. If the necklace ever shatters, she will die. It also gives her a certain amount of power that no elf or mortal will ever again be able to harness. Now, since our dinner plans are utterly ruined, why don't you tell me about Brom. He was a dear friend of the elves, and it saddens me to hear that he has fallen."

Eragon told her about all the events leading up to his death, every last one. It was a long, tiring tale, and it left him short of breath. At the end, a healer walked into the throne room.

"Aiedail can see any visitors now. She is still unconscious, but she is stable." Eragon could hardly hide is excitement.

"She's going to live?"

"Yes." He rushed over to the female healer and grabbed her in a tight hug, then darted through the doors in the direction of the infirmary.

He stood in front of her door, pondering on what to do.

Just go in already, little one. Saphira's melodic voice rang through his head.

I doubt she wants to see me, Saphira, especially since I made her like this.

But you didn't put her in that bed, I did. I should have kept quiet. He felt guilt come from the link.

I'm sorry, Saphira. I didn't mean to be so harsh earlier. I was just upset.

You have no reason to be sorry. It is I that should be apologizing. I guess I just let my fears get to me.

You were afraid? Eragon was shocked. Saphira had never been scared of anything.

Yes. I was afraid that with Aiedail in the picture, you would forget all about me. I guess my biggest fear is loneliness.

Now Eragon felt guilty. All those times he had ignored her back in Carvahall, then they had always been together in Tronjheim and while crossing the Hadarac Desert, now he was beginning to ignore her because of his feelings.

I am sorry for making Aiedail believe you didn't love her, I know you do. Next time, I will keep my jaws shut.

Thank you, Saphira. That's means a lot to me.Then he added something to the end of it. And next time, I will try to talk to you more often.

As he broke the link, he felt her joy wash over him. Eragon took a deep breath and opened the door. Aiedail was lying in the bed, but she was wide-awake.

"Hey, you're awake!" Then he remembered the incident in the clearing and his happiness subsided. "Uh, about the clearing."

"Don't worry, Saphira told me what happen. I'm sorry I didn't let you explain. I just…had enough." She looked out the window at a chipmunk eating a walnut.

"What do you mean 'had enough'? Had enough of what?" Eragon was confused by what she had said.

"Rejection." She said flatly.

"Oh."

With nothing left to say, they just sat there in silence for the next few minutes. Aiedail seemed to be pondering something in her head while she fingered the Mithrandil on her neck. Then she bit her bottom lip indecisively.

"What are you thinking about?" His voice broke her concentration.

"Oh, just recent events." She was lying he could tell, but now was not the time to bring it up. "You know, between having flashbacks all day and trying to recover, I'm exhausted. I'll see you in the morning."

"Good night." He nodded and shut the door on his way out.

On his way back to Aiedail's home, Arya caught up with him. She slowed to a walk beside him and put her arm in his.

"So, what have you been up to today?" She seemed rather perky.

"Aren't you a little happy? I mean, your sister just tried to commit suicide. Aren't you worried? Have you even seen her?" He ripped his arm from hers and turned to face her.

"Look, I have my own way of dealing with things. No, the truth is I haven't seen her yet, but I'm going to first thing in the morning." She sounded hurt almost.

"Damn it, Arya. Your sister is suicidal, and you're sitting here prancing around as if we've finally achieved world peace. What is your problem?" He was whispering to try to contain his anger.

"What's my problem? What's my problem! My problem is your acting like you love her!"

"I do love her!" He yelled this time. Arya was immediately taken aback by not only his tone but by what he said.

He loves her. She thought with a twisted realization.

Eragon shook his head and waved his hand in the air as if to swat away a fly, then turned and ran the rest of the way home.

Sleep did not come easily for either of them that night. Eragon tossed and turned thinking about what he had said.

"I do love her!"

Did he really love her? The more he thought about it, the more he believed it. That's why he had kissed her. Not because he was turned on by what she had said, but because he had been wanting to from the moment she held that sword up to his throat and demanded to know his name.

Arya was having trouble for a different reason. Deep down, she had known he loved her sister, but to hear it from his own lips was different. His beautiful lips. She sighed and rolled over to face the door. She loved him, and all she asked for was to be loved in return. She had been told something wise once, by a Rider. She remembered his words clearly.

"The greatest thing you'll ever learn is just to love and be loved in return."

That's all she wanted. Unconditional love. It sounded like a dream. A dream that would now never come true.

AN: Okay, that was really, really long. I gave you a lot to think about. I used some LOTR and some stuff from a movie called Moulin Rouge. Review and tell me what you think. I know some of it was confusing, but it's only because I combined like, 4 chapters. LOL.