Kai's hands smarted from healing Suoh as she lay on the provided bed; she could see the tent wall move in the dull breeze and heard Eragon and his cousin talking in the tent next to hers. From the brief things she caught she learned about Eragon's trip into becoming a Rider, very fascinating story.

Suoh was already out in a light sleep. She could tell he was still aware of his surroundings but resting his aching body as well, almost just what she was doing.

The next tents conversation turned to the bearded mans girlfriend, Kai tuned out and focused on recent events, she might had well while she had the time.

I've been pulled into a war… today I saw three dragons when not months ago I only believed that there was one left. I'm covered in dry blood and its pulling my hair. At the thought she scratched her head trying to relieve the pulling, dry brown clumps fell out. Disgusted she swung her legs over the edge of the bed and pulled her hair loose from its tie.

Kai roughly scrubbed her scalp and shook her head free of the blood. Bringing her hairs tips to her face she observed the red tint to her once silver hair, then her thoughts went to her hair. How did she get silver hair? Wasn't she too young for that? But it wasn't the color seen on old heads; it was actually silver, just like Suoh's eyes.

Bored she tossed her hair back and tied it up again pushing her bangs out of her eyes. She had nothing with her, when they left she dropped everything she grabbed when she got on Suoh. All she had was her bloodied sword and trusted dagger.

A few hours later when she was cleaning her sword a male's voice outside her tent called for her softly, so not to not disturb Suoh, though she knew he was already awake.

"You can come in." Kai answered blankly and looking up as the tent flap moved back. Two men entered, one was the Rider, Eragon, and the other was the man who goggled at Suoh, he was the one who called for her. "Can I help you?" she asked sheathing her cleaned sword.

The tent wasn't very big so they stood crouched over until she offered them seats on folded stools in the corner.

"You don't remember me." The man stated, the Rider looked at him oddly, he probably didn't know what the man came to talk to Kai about.

"Should I?" she asked curiously and giving him her full attention. Kai ha met many people during her life.

"Last we met I was much younger…. Yet you look exactly the same." He puzzled. He watched her oddly as the Rider held in his questions and Kai leaned forward on her "bed" to study the man's face.

"You're older." She finally said softly. She recalled his face, though then it was less ridden with worry and wrinkles. "Now I know why you're here, but you? What troubles you?" Kai said to Eragon. The man looked surprised for her to easily drop their realization.

Eragon was silent for a while starring into her odd eyes then he finally said "I have questions of my own."

"You need rest." Kai told him firmly, she was surprised to see him even walking. "You need to regain your strength, and your Lady said we would discuss matters in the morning." She added furrowing her eyebrows; it confused her why he was there.

Eragon sighed seeing the truth in her words, but that was the first thing that came to mind when she asked him why he was there, in truth he just wanted to see her up close, another Rider, two in one day for him actually. He really did have questions but they could wait till that morning.

"I see." Kai said as he made no move to leave, then she turned her attention to the tall man in front of her.

"We always knew you were different, from the way you fight, how you travel. Just I never expected this." The man spoke in an amazed voice.

"Yes I surprise myself sometimes." Kai said slowly, she wasn't following him very well; all she knew was that he deeply resembled a young man she had met in a city near the sea. She had accompanied him and his hook nosed friend in retrieving a dragon egg for the Varden, she remembered it clearly because it had been of the few things she had done to help along the rebellion.

"Wow." The man breathed. His eye caught Eragon looking puzzled and he quickly looked from Eragon to Kai happily. "You should really thank her Eragon, without her we would have never rescued Saphira." He said cheerfully.

"You-?" Eragon cut himself off and nearly drowned in his own thoughts. If he remembered correctly, it was years ago when Brom and Jeod retrieved Saphira's egg. How old was this girl? She barely looked as old as him.

You're disturbing my sleep. Suoh's sleep ridden voice cut across her mind and she lightly laughed catching Eragon's attention.

"For Suoh's sake, I believe we all should rest, especially you." She said to Eragon. "I wonder how you can even sit up." Kai said standing as they left. As Eragon shuffled to his tent on the other side Kai saw the blue dragons head resting on the ground, Kai lightly nodded in greeting to the beast and she received a soothing hum in response. Kai then pulled herself back into her tent and settled for a real rest, a deep sleep called her and she went willingly.

Kai ignored the thousands of footsteps disturbing her sleep, she just wanted to recuperate, and then she would think about getting out of her warm cot. Even in her less then half awake state she could tell there was a large bit of distance between the awake and moving Varden soldiers and her tent with the huge slumbering White Dragon.

About two feet away from her tent wall she could hear the soft deep breaths of Eragon the Rider and supposed Shade slayer, then on the other side of his the blue dragons deep breaths resembling Suoh's, Kai remembered the dragons name being Saphira.

Rolling over to face the wall of her tent she pushed away her thoughts and ignored the morning noises and slipped into a light sleep. Her joints weren't bothering her anymore; given enough time any injury on her would disappear without a scare, it'd always been that way so she saw nothing different about it.

Later that morning Kai was awoken as Suoh silently rose from the ground and she saw his shadow stretch, he arched his back like a cat and stretched his tail and neck out then curled his long tail back towards his body and brushed the tent with his wing to rouse her out of her cot.

The Rider is waking and the Varden leader is wishing to start her meeting soon. Suoh's masculine voice flitted across her morning weary mind.

I'm up. She thought slowly and swung her legs out of the cot and placed her feet on the ground and sat on the cot still slightly under the warm covers, it had been a while since she had a bed-resembling place to sleep. Like Suoh had said she heard the Rider rise from his cot and heard the blue dragons yawn and felt the earth move slightly as she rose from the ground. Kai found it odd that while Suoh was larger he accomplished to move silently when he needed to, but she just figured that the other dragon didn't find it necessary to be silent on a camp full of allies.

Kai eyed her black shirt draped across a small stool; it was dried with blood, but other wise in good shape. Standing she lifted the shirt and shook it and observed clumps of blood falling off the stiff shirt. Kai scowled and crumpled it hopping to remover more of the brown clumps.

Her clothes being black, Kai was the only one to know that they were filthy and had blood dried in between its small fibers. Leaving the tent she gazed at Suoh and smiled at him noticing the dried blood all over him as well, they needed a bath very badly.

"Morning Suoh." Kai told him placing her hand on his snout; he nuzzled her cheek with his nose.

Dreary morning. He replied. I was told where we are to meet with their leader. He added standing from his sitting position. Turning Kai saw Eragon healing some of Saphira's wounds, they both were covered in the dry blood as well but she felt their energy had returned to them. Catching the blue eyes of the dragon Kai smiled and greeted her then with a nudge from Suoh's snout she walked in their direction.

Kai glanced back at the White Dragon and he told her that was the direction they were to go in.

"Saphira says hello as well." Eragon said for Saphira. The boy had both hands over a deep wound that had closed during the night but was still causing her to bleed internally; he lightly sweated over the task and had complete concentration as he mumbled the necessary words. His breath barely deepened as the wound closed and Saphira was then only covered in dry blood and in no danger.

"Are you heading towards Nasuada's tent?" Eragon asked watching Kai look at Saphira.

"Yes we're going now." Kai responded looking over at Eragon. "Suoh would like to know if you would want to join us." She added.

Looking to Saphira then nodding Eragon agreed and they walked to the large tent.

Inside the ground was carpeted. In an elevated chair sat Nasuada with the elf Arya next to her and another woman was there, Kai could tell she had abilities in magic.

As Kai and Eragon entered the tent Saphira and Suoh had to settle with only poking their heads into the entrance as their bodies were too big for the tent.

Nasuada gave them a quick greeting then motioned for the guards to go outside and dismissed the other woman, the woman didn't look to happy to be dismissed and tried to protest saying that she might need her there, Nasuada said she had Eragon and ended her argument and the woman left glaring at the carpet and briefly at Kai. The two dragons moved from the tent again as the woman left. Kai could smell fear radiate off her from passing the dragons, it mixed with the guards as they had to stand next to the dragons.

"First I believe you should be subjected to having Eragon search your mind." Nasuada said, Kai stayed silent and starred levelly at Nasuada. "Then your dragon's as well." She added with little pause.

"I cannot speak for Suoh, but you should be asking if Eragon..." Kai said nodding to the Rider next to her. "…wishes to sort through the horrors of my long life." What she said obviously wasn't what Nasuada or anyone in the room was expecting. Kai watched as the elf thought over her words and Nasuada processed what she said. Eragon was at her side and she couldn't see his face.

"If it settles where your loyalties lie, I will." Eragon said in a stoic voice, he hid it well but Kai could tell her words had startled something in him. Searching her mind would answer the many questions Eragon had, but what could she had meant when she said the horrors of her life?

"I hold loyalty to very few." Kai said to them. "But I will not betray you." She said. "Suoh has agreed to a mind search." She added still looking at Nasuada.

"You both have agreed and Eragon has agreed to perform the process." The woman announced. Kai heard Eragon take a deep breath and he turned to her, he was at least six inches taller then her. Kai tilted her head back to stare him in the face.

Eragon's chocolate brown eyes met Kai's golden green and he raised his hand to her head, closing his eyes images of the girl in front of him played across his mind. Kai let him see everything; she closed her eyes and observed everything he saw.

It was a bright day and Kai was a young girl of seven or so looking from a tree line to a large flat plane covered in tall grass and yellow flowers, her large green eyes watched as a huge red dragon flew lowly over the plane and caused the trees and grass to pull towards it in its direction. Kai never remembered when that happened, but Eragon had pulled it from her mind so it must have happened.

Eragon passes thousands of memories she always had silver hair he noticed as he went through more until she was of an older age; it was like decades had passed.

She felt him gently pull at a certain memory; it was in a small town she was a lot older, looking around sixteen. She had the same sword she held then at her waist. She was crouched on the slanted roof of a building slowly sliding down the shingles trying to see into the ally below. At the edge she clung to the shingles trying to slow and stay on the roof. Leaning over she gazed down into the ally dozens of feet below her. Still slowly she slid down the angled roof; she was running out of room, below the stench of urgals rose, the memory of the smell drifted across Eragon and Kai's nose. In the memory she was barely still clinging to the roof, running out of room, she pushed off and landed silently on the roof across the ally.

A shrill screech echoed behind Kai in the memory and she ran low over the roofs toward the sound, more cries were following and yelling was echoing off the houses and building walls. Sliding off the roofs she fell into an ally to see the people of the town being slaughtered by the never ending line of urgals. Eragon watched as Kai in the memory glared at the urgals and pulled her sword free. She committed a massacre of the urgals. He pulled away from the memory as the sent of death reached his nose from the memory.

He found another of her approaching another town, the people were already dead there, she weaved through the streets and checked for life.

Eragon watched as she found a crying child, a little girl clutching her bleeding arm and crying for the dead woman next to her, slowly Kai approached the child and kneeled in front of her, with a sad face Kai reached for the frightened child and placed her hand over the girls arm and as the girl tried to move away the wound was already healed, she didn't say a word but the wound healed.

Kai just stood and left the child in the dead city.

Eragon finally found what he was looking for. She had parted with Brom and Jeod, her memory started after she retrieved the blue egg. Brom and Jeod had left and it was up to her to escape with the egg. He saw Kai launch off a red clad mans shoulder and clutch the edge of a tall stone wall with one hand as the other tightly held Saphira's egg. She pulled up the wall and fell the other side, her landing faltered and she landed on her butt. Tiredly she forced her self up and dodged through the town around the massive castle.

It was her, it was Kai that actually got the egg, Brom and Jeod had planned everything, but Kai had carried it out. She rescued Saphira.

Sifting through Kais feelings and random thoughts, Eragon pulled out with a new feeling towards Kai.

When Eragon opened his eyes Kai was looking up at him. His stomach churned uncomfortably as she watched him.

"Thank you." Eragon said lowly then stepped away when he realized how close he was to her.

"Well?" Nasuada pressed when Eragon stayed silent looking at the floor.

"She hid nothing, is not in anyway with The Empire and has aided the Varden before." He said still watching the floor. Kai observed as Nasuada glanced surprised at her for a moment.

"How?" The woman asked disbelieving.

"Kai was the one to retrieve Saphira's egg." Eragon said looking up at Nasuada and Arya. Nasuada audibly gasped and Arya stared hard at Kai with shocked eyes.

"What of Brom? Wasn't he the one to give us the egg?" Nasuada asked Kai directly. She wanted to hear it from Kai.

"The hook nosed man and his friend planned out how to get into the castle and figured out where the egg was held. After aiding your friend Brom in a fight, he took the risk of involving me in his plan. Both explained the plan and joined me as far as they could into the Kings castle and held off the people as long as they could. Eventually they couldn't keep it up and had to get out while they could, I was left to find my own means of escaping with the one egg I managed to get a hold of." Kai told them truthfully, and then she continued. "Brom understood my small existence and agreed to not mention me."

The room was silent and Kai felt the female dragon connecting to her mind.

Thank you deeply Kai for leading me to Eragon and my destiny. Her words were so heart filled that Kai turned to the dragons head and smiled.

"I would do it again if I had to." Kai told her then turned back to the others with a blank face again.

"Why show your self now? Why when you wished not to be known then?" Nasuada asked ignoring the words spoken to Saphira.

"The words of a Shade convinced me that it was time to choose a side, I only wished to stay unknown so I wouldn't be pulled into this war, but his words told me that I had failed. The Empire had found me, they have something planned for me and I wish to make it clear that I will not join them." Kai said.

"Arya, what do you have to say?" Nasuada asked.

The elf was silent for a while but met Kai's gaze.

"I believe your words." She said simply. "You have lived many years Kai, I understand." Kai nodded, the elf was old as well, she would understand how the past faded when you became so old, Kai didn't know how old she was anymore, such had faded with her childhood memories, with her family, if she ever had one.

"Are you elf?" Nasuada asked desperate to figure out the young woman. Kai didn't look like an elf, but her hair was an odd color along with her eyes, she had a subtle beauty about her. At first glance, even covered in blood, the girl was beautiful, but even around her beauty she could tell Kai was dangerous. Nasuada had seen how Kai fought; she moved nothing like an elf, her movements blurred as she traveled faster then her eyes could see. She could kill a man with a single kick to the head, her sword moved through men. Nasuada had watched men fall in two pieces and Kai continue through the battle without slowing, she received only a single scratch, a single scratch. Her features were the only human resembling thing about her, elves were taller, hand pointed ears and long smoothed faces. She doubted she was elf at all.

"I couldn't tell you." Kai said truthfully.

"Where did you find a dragon egg not in the Empires possession?" Nasuada asked as it pushed on her mind and pulled out any other thoughts.

"I didn't." Kai answered simply.

"Then-"

"You should ask Suoh, maybe he would remember." Kai said, everyone looked confused but with a nod from Nasuada, Eragon moved to the white head poking through the tent flap.

Review please.

-BS