I do not own the Inheritance Cycle.

Here is where reading some of those side stories would help to give context

Edited 1/30/22 - Please let me know your thoughts throughout the story, I'd love to hear for you :)

Enjoy,


A Friend

After that night Ailis (as Rose decided to continue calling her) was gentler with Rose, but once the truth was let out, it couldn't be put back. Rose rebuffed her attempts at conversation, and for the next two days as they continued to ride through the plains in silence. In that silence Rose kept a careful count of the towns they passed, perhaps the only things she kept count of during those days, becoming more and more apprehensive.

With the shock of what Ailis had told her wearing away, Rose found herself almost completely inattentive, thinking more than observing what was around her. The more her mind strayed, the more she thought of Tornac. Memories of him looming before her mind; an afternoon gathering blueberries; evenings in a grand, glowing room playing lays and talking; a fright from a fall; smuggled desserts; earfuls of sterns words; and moments of comforts and hurts. She would wipe her eyes then, after she thought of these things, and look around at the endless plains, the sun glared off the shining lake and she blinked, having wiping her eyes once more. The flatlands stretched away before and behind her, the huge range of the Spine completely gone from sight, the only sign, Rose felt, that meant they had traveled any distance at all.

But with that moment would only last a second as Rose couldn't still her mind for long by looking at the landscape, and her doubts and fears surfaced and spread out before her. She was angry, a blinding ire that often left her breathless, at Ailis. For well over six months the woman had conversed with her, formed an amity with her knowing what she knew, who she was, and never once saying a thing about it. Sure, Ailis had told her things, things that if Rose had been sensible she would have paid closer attention to she might have been able to peace it all together, but that hardly mattered: the words were not said. Rose supposed that it was because Ailis knew how she felt towards her mother, the childhood resentment of abandonment, and perhaps that was why. But, and this kept coming to the front of her mind in a nagging manner, her mother was dead.

Selena had died years ago having disappeared for a time during her duty of being the Black Hand, and later she returned to Morzan's castle wounded then passed into the Void. The King himself had announced Selena's death. And word of this woman, who claimed to be Selena, had never reached Rose's nor the King's ears; he who had many spies in the Varden and elsewhere. It was inconceivable to think that this was not so, that Selena was not died, and that all those years she had in fact been alive. And it could not be so, for if it was: why had Rose been cast off to Urû'baen? Why hadn't her mother, if Ailis was indeed Selena, come sooner? And why, come at all?

Soon her thoughts paddled back and forth, trouncing her mind until it was sore as if it were beaten. And Thorn certainly didn't help her swirling thoughts any. You have the same eyes, he said one evening, after looking between them for a very long time. Its easy to see when you know. Rose had then grumbled at him that their eye color was different but the dragon simply blinked at her. The color makes no difference to me, I see differently than you. You have a likeness to her that cannot be denied. I think that if her words are true, I would not be surprised.

Selena is dead, Rose told him. She had died in Morzan's castle. I was there to witness it.

You were hardly more than a hatchling. It's not likely you remember your mother dying at such a young age, he said, playfully swatting her in the rump with his tail. I remember very little of when I first hatched. I know only what you know and have told me, and I'm a dragon, my memory is better than that of a two-legged.

She glared at him without humor, and pushed his tail away. You're not being amusing, Thorn.

I am not trying to be.

Rose could have continued to argue with him, and a part of her wanted to, but she decided against it and sat down. Looking up at the moon which was now at full, burning brightly in the chilled night, throwing shadows over the sedges, through the withies, Rose shivered. Feelings she thought were dead rose up and distorted until they were unrecognizable, turning strange faces towards her, and a terrible desolation seized her heart. She lay on her back shivering with cold, unable to take any comfort in her body or mind.

She woke when it was still dark from troubled dreams that she did not remember. There had been no frost but she was drenched in a freezing, heavy dew, and the grey of the world seemed bleak and empty. She looked up at the sky, judging the day; wafts of auburn clouds rode the sky above, and orders of waterfowl squabbled as they fought the airstream, fragmenting the clear, endless blue. With an unhappy sigh, she sat up.

"A good morning to you, Rose," said Ailis, looking away from the cooking pot. "Did you sleep well?"

Rose narrowed her eyes and bit her lip, then sighed. "Well enough, I suppose," she said. "And you?"

"Quite decently," Ailis said, pouring water from the pot into their waterskins. When she finished she stood up and wiped her damp hands on her tunic. "Rose, there is something we need to discuss."
Ailis paused, waiting for Rose to speak. Rose said nothing. How could Ailis truly expect for Rose to want to hear more that she had to say? When she was still reeling from when Ailis had last spoke those words? Surely she understood that it was too early in the day for this.

The woman sighed, and pulled back her loose hair from her face. "It would be so much easier if you would talk to me," she complained with an annoyed huff. "Its no matter I suppose, you only have to listen."

Rose shifted on the ground, suddenly uncomfortable on the rough grass, and felt Thorn mindtouch her. He didn't open his eyes, though he was not asleep, and his tail began to swish. Listen to what she has to say, he said. No harm can come from it.

She simply looked at him and turned away. "Do tell me, then."

Ailis looked conflicted for a moment, then, as she moved the pot further from the fire with a long rodding stick, she began to talk. "I know you are having a difficultly believing what I had told you, and that you'll have a harder time still with what I'm about to say," she said slowly. "However, there are a number of things you need to know, and I'm going to direct once more, there is no time to be otherwise." She paused again, looking down as she tossed the stick into the brush, her face pale. "Three years after your birth I discovered I was with child once again, and I knew that I could not allow Morzan to discover this also, not after what he did to you." She paused, and looked up, studying the branches above. "I couldn't take you with me, and that was torturous knowledge, but I decided that when I returned I would find a way to take you from Gresyni Castle, as Morzan liked to call his estate.
"And so I traveled to the town I grew up in and for a time I lived with my brother, wishing all the while that I brought you also. He and wife were very kind to have let me stay, we hadn't left before on good terms. Months passed and after the boy, your brother, came into the world, I left him there and returned to Gresyni but you were not there. So I left with a friend to the Varden, and didn't return.
Here's the problem, Rose, while I was in Teirm, I heard from a reliable source that my son is traveling to Dras-Leona, and this is why we travel in such haste. It's my hopes that we won't have go into Dras-Leona, and that we'll reach him beforehand."

Rose looked at her doubtingly, the rest of her body wouldn't move. "Ailis," she said. "You cannot expect me to believe the least of this."

"I do expect you to," said Ailis, her eyes flashing. "It's the truth, Rose. Do you want evidence of some sort?"

Rose rubbed her eyes, in attempt to clean the sleep from them, and looked at Ailis in tired seriousness. Yes, Rose thought, verification to her statements would be quite nice.

Ailis made an exasperated sound and stood up, looking around as if she were trying to think. "What is that you expect me to say," she said at last, "or do that will prove to you that I am speaking the truth? I've tried so hard to be truthful with you."

Cold anger washed through her, pushing away her better judgment, and Rose stood up also, glaring at the woman. "If you had spoken the truth in the beginning perhaps, I could believe you," said she, her voice calmer than what she felt it should be. "But you lied, and that's unforgivable. The truth is; I don't know who you are, whether you're Ailis or Selena, I don't know. How am I to know? And now you tell me I have a brother, one who grew up in a peaceful town with your brother's family? That's he's traveling the country, for reasons only the gods know? It's too much to believe, and I wish to hear no more of it!"

Rose turned away from Ailis, and tended to Starshine and Shadowless, refusing to speak another word to the woman. After a time Ailis stopped in her attempts to communicate with her and so the remainder of that day passed disconsolately. They passed five towns and two hamlets, Rose noticed this and little more.

The next day began no better than the one before it. The weather had turned, and now a shroud of silver clouds sheeted over the blue of the sky, though the clouds held no rain only bleakness, and a chilling wind drove inland from Leona Lake. It was the driving wind that woke Rose well before dawn, and she slowly got up, being mindful not to wake Ailis. Rose tried to comb through her hair, but it was so tangled after days of sleeping on the open that she almost broke her comb, and she gave up. At last, she stood up, finding no other reason to procrastinate, and began to saddle Shadowless, avoiding the woman's sleeping form. Thorn woke up when she mindtouched him, and looked at her grumpily. There better be a decent reason as to why you woke me, he said in his testiest of grumbling voices.

Rose tightened her grip on Shadowless' reigns, as she searched through her bags. You're supposed to be keeping watch, said she chidingly, pulling out a carving of a wooden deer, a child's toys that was missing one of its alters and the other stood crookedly on its chipped head. No matter, nothing came and attacked us. I need for you to follow me, keep quiet and unseen. I don't want to wake Ailis. Thorn entered her consciousness, and she flinched as the feeble inner shields of her mind were breeched and for a moment she felt his concern, as he searched her mind over, finding her motive. It's only a brief time, I won't be able to stay. I only wish to take care of something, she'll hardly notice.

Thorn stood in sudden understanding. I will wait until you are on the road, he said with heavy reluctance. Then I'll follow.

Rose nodded and led Shadowless to the road, then leapt onto his back and forced him into a gallop. They stuck to the main road for little more than an hour before it forked off into a different road, this one gravel, and she slowed Shadowless to a slow trot. The closer she came to the turrets of Waelcombe Castle the more she began to feel nervous.

The castle was set on a green hill, that only grew bigger and bigger as she neared it, its muted brown stone walls thrust proudly and gracefully into the skies throwing back the sunlight. It watchfully stood high over the small garrison town of Bwryn, tall and noble against the common drab of feeble wood and mud walls and splintered wood tiled roofs. As she passed though the waking town, she kept herself veiled by her hood, her hair kept away from her face by her boy's cap- out of caution, she told herself but it was also out of shyness. Had she of been properly clothed and a warning sent ahead, she might not feel so nervous.

She arrived at the gates to Waelcombe by midmorning. The piece of land that spread out before her was completely free of snow, and she dismounted the horse and fingered the toy, wondering what she ought to do next. Above her loomed a huge gate, as high as three men, and made of thick black steel and thick oak. She looked around, knowing that the door were locked, and saw a bronze bell hanging high above, with a thin metal chain dangling down from its tongue. She pulled, and the bell clanged, making her jump.

A shutter from high above the gate opened and a man looked out. "Who goes there?" he shouted. "And what business to yeh bring?"

"My name is Willow," answered Rose. "And I bring urgent news for Ilbert of the House of Siriol!"

"He isn't taking no callings, miss!"

Rose looked up puzzled, and then shook herself. "Can you bring something to him, then?" she said. "It is very important that he gets this message."

The window banged shut in answer.

Rose reached into her jerkin and pulled out a pouch, once used for berries, with a piece of parchment and a pen in it. She pulled out the paper and wrote hastily, her words squishing together: Ilbert- I must speak with you. There is a small hill a block to the north of here across from the baker's shop, I'll wait there until noon. Please, come.

Then she stuffed the note and the wooden deer inside that sack, and closed it with a knot. She waited for a time, until the gate opened and a man peeked around the corner. The man looked at her, muttering to himself that sounded like a curse, and held out his hand. Rose held the bag over his palm. "Ilbert needs to receive this, it comes from the capital Urû'baen," she said forcefully shoving the small sack into his dry, peeling hand. "Do make sure he receives it." The man grumbled once more and walked off, sending the lock home behind him. Rose doubted the message would be sent to Ilbert, right away at least.

She waited for what seemed an age, before Ilbert came, and at first she did not recognize him, nor did he her. When he had rode up on a chestnut colored stallion, it took her a moment to realize that it was him, the only thing that allowed her to do so was the mass of untamed curls that framed his face, giving him a waggish appearance. He had grown a hand's span taller than she, and his face was harder than it was the last time they had met. He had caught her staring then, and she stood up as he studied her. A sudden look of recognition dawned on his face, and bounced off the chestnut and walked towards her briskly. He looked her over and bowed his head in greeting. "Rosie! Well, met!" he said, in a voice deeper than she remembered it being. "I didn't think I'd ever see you."

She smiled at him weakly, and returned his greeting. "Well met, indeed, Ilbert," she said, dipping down in a quick curtsy, glancing around at the people milling about the streets. "Do you know of a place where we can speak in private?"

Ilbert nodded, his curls bouncing around his face. "Follow me."

He led her through the streets of Bwryn, past a bakery and mill, a butcher's shop and the small stalls of the local market. As he led her, Rose watched him, he moved so different than what he did when they were children playing in the gardens and inside the castle, no longer with the awkward gracefulness of youth.

He was perhaps, besides Tornac, the closest friend Rose had had in her childhood, and one of few people she trusted completely still. Ilbert had left Urû'baen to live with his aunt and uncle years before due to his poor health and since then he and Rose had met only once- they had exchanged letters but those were rather unreliable and irregular things. Though they hadn't seen each other in well over two years, walking down the street with him now felt no different than wandering the halls with him those years before, but it was strange, him being taller than her.

"Where is Tornac?" Ilbert asked as they walked, past a young man and his wife who was heavy with child. "I thought if anyone would come here with you, it'd be him."

"Tornac is dead," said Rose, in a straightforward manner, looking at her hands. "He passed into the Void a week or so ago. He was shot by an arrow."

Ilbert stopped and turned and looked at her grimly, before looking down. "That's very hard news," he said quietly before continuing forward at a notable slower pace.

"It is."

"Have you been traveling alone, then?" he said. "The thoroughfares are no place for a lone woman."

Rose looked up at him and made a face, causing him to smile in return. "I have not," she said. "I've been traveling with a companion."

"Is this companion the one who taught you wear a sword at your hip?"

Rose looked down at it, she had forgotten that it was there. "No," she told him. "That was Tornac."

Ilbert smiled sadly. "I should have been able to guess as much. That old man always wanted to teach you to defend yourself. Well, I'm glad he got the chance to do so." He stopped at a gate, wide and tall enough to fit two horses abreast through, and pulled a short brass key out. Then he unlocked the gate and held it open for her.

She walked through the entranceway, pulling Shadowless behind her, and looked inside the small lit chamber of that belonged to the walls of the city. There wasn't much to see only damp brick walls, routes of green rotting through them, and lit touches. "No one will hear us here?"

"No. No one ever uses this passage but its kept lit incase the need arises." Ilbert guided his horse through and shut the door behind him. He looked at her, and Rose saw unhidden shock in them. "So, tell me, what bought you here, dressed like a clandestine?"

Rose took off her hood, and boy's cap, and looked up the ceiling that was hidden in shadow. Suddenly she realized that she wanted to tell Ilbert about all that happened, and at the same moment she knew she could not. She looked at his face, it wasn't as pale as she remembered it being. "Many things," she said finally, and then she began to tell him about Ailis, what had passed in the capital and how they had left, and lastly her adventures. She said nothing though about Thorn, or the dragon eggs, the Varden, and very little about Dunion- only that he had assisted her and what she thought of him, nor did she mention her time in Haven Cove, nothing that could betray them to the Empire.

When she was done, Ilbert looked at her, his face the pale shade she always recalled it being throughout their childhood. He swallowed. "By the gods," he said weakly. "All this time you've been out there, truly out there, haven't you? I'm surprised you weren't killed." He leaned onto the belly of his horse. "Its almost ironic to think, though, that the King wished for you travel as his assassin and you run from that, only to travel about with an assassin."

Rose looked at him, her hands clenched. "There is nothing that proves that Ailis is who she says she is."

"It seems to equal up to me," Ilbert said, rubbing the horse's neck absently. The horse shook itself and nickered at the dimness around them. "Your mother was skilled almost beyond compare, because of what Morzan taught and did to her, and this woman seems to be as well." He paused for a moment, and then his hazel eyes lit up. "You have a portrait of Morzan and Selena, do you not? Haven't you thought to think on that, since you cannot return to your chambers? Does the woman painted and this Ailis look similar?"

Rose started and looked at him. She had shoved the painting to the back of her wardrobe years ago, and covered it with a thin sheet, so that she wouldn't have look at their frozen faces anymore, doing so was too painful. But as she thought about it, loathing Ilbert for bringing it up all the while, she realized that there were similarities to the woman called Ailis and the woman that was painted. Looking at him, she shook her head. "No," she said. Lying to him didn't sit easy with her, making her feel very warm in that chilled room. "There are not any similarities."

"You'll stay here, then," he said with a tone of finality. "My uncle has many spare rooms, he'd be happy to accommodate you. You can stay here in a place where you belong, sheltered as you should be. The King wouldn't have to know for a time, and with you knowing what you do, he'd forgive you someday."

Rose closed her eyes as a wave of unease rushed through her. She wanted to stay here and talk to Ilbert as she once had, walk through the streets without a care for those beside herself and her needs, to walk through the halls in fine clothing, and eat warm meals each night but… "I cannot," she said after a time, thinking of Thorn. "It's no longer safe for me to stay in one place."

"I don't like to think of you traveling, so young and without protection, over wide and dangerous lands," he said, looking away. "Nowhere cannot be less safe than here." He stopped and looked up at her, his hand falling to his side.

"I think that nowhere is the safest place for me, for now perhaps," said Rose, rubbing her hands together. "I'm not unprotected, Ilbert, I know how to defend myself and I doubt anyone will surprise us again."

"You're a woman, and I mean no offense when I say this," he said looking at the warning look she gave him, "traveling alone with another woman. There are bandits on the road, you cannot be sure that you can hold your own against them. More than that, even I could see that you were no boy under that hood, a few may not question it but many others will. Doing what you're speaking of is not in your place."

"The King wished for me travel alone," she said, allowing him to get a rise out of her. "What difference does it make with me traveling with another woman, without his blessing? I cannot stay nor will I stay, and I did not come here to argue with you. I'll have plenty of people to argue with when I return."

Ilbert looked at her questioningly, but subsided, looking disappointed. "Why did you come here then?"

"I have a favor to ask of you." She touched the dark mane on Shadowless, running her fingers through it. "I need you care for Shadowless, we can no longer continue to travel with him. More than that I want him to be safe from harm," Rose said. "Tornac would have wished for you to have him."

"And you?" he said gently, still looking down. "Don't you think he would have wanted you keep Shadowless?"

Rose shook her head. "I have a horse."

"I have many."

"He's safer here," she said.

Ilbert frowned at her. "As are you," he stated. "The offer I made you last time we saw each other shan't expire. I'd like you to call this place home."

"Don't bicker with me," she said, pressing her face into Shadowless' flank, not able to look at him. Her face grew hot. "No more arguing about that, remember that agreement. There's to be no more of it."

"I remember," he said. "I just don't like it." Ilbert sighed. "You wish for me to care for the horse, and allow you to leave?"

Rose nodded and glanced at him briefly before hiding her face once more. "Yes."

There was a long electric silence, in which neither of them looked at each other.

"So be it," he said, at last, sounding very unhappy. "In the least tell me that you will not return to this Ailis on foot, that you have a way back by other means."

"I do."

"Will you at least join me to sup?" he ask, "Or are you needed elsewhere?"

She shifted on her feet and turned to him, her back resting against stallion. "I shouldn't delay." As good as it was see Ilbert again, as tempting at it was to stay and not leave, she knew she had to because of Thorn and Ailis, and Tornac; he certainly wouldn't wish for her to stay. She found that though she did want to, very much so, the thought of never seeing Thorn again was worse than the thought of leaving Ilbert, and if she didn't leave now she might not be able to force herself to do so later.

"Allow me to ride with you to where ever you're supposed to go, then," he said.

Rose agreed, was happy to agree to that and they left the city quickly. Ilbert talked along the way of news from the capital, not all it was pleasing to hear though she was shocked to hear that the King had announced her died, under the warmth of escaping sun. It reminded her of her childhood, she hadn't felt this free in ages, just chatting about nothing, until she knew she couldn't continue and she mindtouched with Thorn, stopping Shadowless at the bottom of a large hill just off the road. She hopped off the horse, and rubbed his neck before kissing his peach colored snout in a goodbye. "Do take care of him," she said, feeling quite ill, quite suddenly.

Ilbert merely looked away at the landscape. "I said I would," he said. "I don't see this ride of yours."

"He won't come until you leave."

He raised an eyebrow. "No?"

She shook her head. "No."

Ilbert jumped down from his horse, and embraced stood for a long moment, until she pushed him away. She handed him the reigns to Shadowless, and looked up at him. "I do not like this," he said in truth. "You leaving doesn't sit well with me."

"Nor me," she said, stepping away from him. "But I must go, as must you."

Ilbert nodded, fingering the leather reigns. He studied her for a long moment, as if he thought he would never see her again. "May the gods guide you," he said, causing her to smile.

"Farewell, Ilbert," was all she said, before pulling her hand from his, and walking away. "Be mindful if you return to Urû'baen."

Ilbert raised and eyebrow, puzzled. "Be mindful, yourself," he said. "If you ever change your mind, you are welcome here."

She smiled and shook her head softly. "Farewell," she said again, looking away from him towards the sky. He gave her a last brief embrace and then they wordlessly broke apart and he got on his horse. Rose watched as he rode away. Moments later, Thorn landed close to her. Are you hurt? he asked.

Rose shook her head and wiped at her eyes. Not in the way you speak of. Allowing someone you love to leave is perhaps one of the hardest things in life, she said. Harder still when you know they do not wish to go. Thorn pounded his tail and the ground not far from her feet, and she startled looking at him in irritation. You're a nuisance, though you know that don't you? She sighed, looking at him from the corner of her eyes. Let's go, then shall we?

When Rose returned to the site of camp, late that afternoon, she saw that Ailis was sitting there by the fire, cutting into a piece of wood with a knife. She looked up when Thorn landed, and glared at Rose accusingly. "It's your intention, I think," she said, looking ready to strangle her, "to worry me to my death. Where's Shadowless?"

Rose patted Thorn on the neck, and jumped down from the crook near his neck. "He is safe." She walked towards Ailis, a sour taste in her mouth. "I took him to a friend of mine as we are not in the need of three horses," she sat down close to Ailis and looked at her, her resolve hardening.

During her ride back with Thorn, they had talked about many things, he had even flown back taking a longer route so they could talk for a longer time, and he had convinced her to hear what the woman had to say. To save her judgments until then, this reminded her of words Tornac had spoken, warnings not to let her anger get her out of sorts. It was so very childish of her, to allow her emotions to get the best of her. When she promised to listen to Ailis without interruption or words of indignation, Thorn landed, and now he nudged her with his snout as he lay near her, causing her to sigh.

"If you are willing to, I would like to hear about what happened in your past," she said, her eyes hard. "It has been impertinent of me not to ask earlier. I would like to apologize for that."

Ailis looked at her in moment of shock but nodded. "We have lost too much time," she said as she stood. "I'll tell you as we ride."