Hello everyone,

My other story just reached one thousand follows and I am beyond the moon. BUT, this story is still my baby. Thanks for all the love and support!

On with the chapter, authors note at the bottom.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

I woke in the same position I was put to sleep in. A quick look around confirmed that Shadowcat was still between my legs, my back still hurts like hell, and Arya was staring at me as if she enjoyed my pain.

"I healed your back enough to be functional, you will have to heal the rest naturally." Arya said not giving me time to wake up from my forced sleep.

I carefully sat up in bed and my back creaked in response. Barely functional. I thought to myself.

Luckily I still had my pants on, but my bare torso stood out as my shirt had been torn up at the whipping. My necklace hung around my neck, simple but elegant, and powerful beyond measure.

"I couldn't get it off." Arya told me, noticing my gaze on it. "I tried."

"It didn't hurt you did it?" I asked knowing the protections that were enchanted into the necklace.

She gave me a confused look. "Was it supposed to?"

I thought for a moment and then shrugged. "They are triggered by intent mostly, mine and the person trying to take it."

Now her confusion deepened. "That is an incredibly complex enchantment. The words…"

I interrupted her deciding that she was worthy of the knowledge. "No words, that's the only way an enchantment like this works."

Confusion morphed into amazement. "That is ...incredible, Roran."

"I had a lot of time to myself in Ellesmera, waiting on you to arrive with Saphira. Must have taken me two hundred tries to get it right." I told her and then added. "And I wasn't even sure I did get it right."

"You did." She said standing up and reaching towards it before stopping. "Roran, none of us have asked because we have felt the power in there but…"

I waited for her to continue but was unsure of where she was going with the statement.

"...well, during the battles, you reach out to the dying soldiers and you take their energy ...how can you possibly.."

Ahh now I get it. I thought.

"It's a …horrible feeling isn't it?" I asked.

She only nodded at that, not meeting my eyes as she played with my necklace. Pine drifted into my nose again and I realized how close she was, both in proximity and relationship wise.

We have grown close over the time we have known each other.

"I have had nightmares for a long time. I am cursed with ...knowledge." I told her trying to give her some context and explain the REAL enchantments on that necklace that she held.

She looked up and we locked eyes. "It got to be unbearable while I was in Ellesmera, so I thought of a solution." I told her and looked down to the very thing she was holding.

Her hand dropped the piece of jewelry as if stung and her eyes landed on it again. "You let that have influence over your mind?"

I held my hands up in surrender. "It's not as simple as that. The mind is our most powerful tool as magicians, it can also be our worst enemy. Somehow I succeeded in making it protect my mind from itself ...it's hard to explain."

"Then don't." She told me and I realized what she meant.

I reached out and brushed the surface of her mind, she let me inside, instantly. I did what she asked and didn't use words. Instead I showed her the thought process when I enchanted the piece of jewelry. I showed her how I wanted to keep my mind, I wanted it to progress 'normally', but I also didn't want to be plagued with nightmares and other debilitating thoughts.

Then I showed her how I threw in other enchantments like 'only people I allow, may affect me with magic, and can remove the necklace from my person.'

It was all very obscure and abstract magic.

True magic. She told me as our mind untangled.

I opened my eyes, not knowing that I had closed them, and realized she was standing much closer, our bodies almost touching. My hand almost reached out to pull her closer but I stopped myself, unwilling to cross that particular line.

Her eyes told me she didn't realize she had moved forward either, but she didn't back away.

"I think the enchantments change as my mind does. I decide to let natural things like doubt and regret affect me, but I don't want it to go too far, so it keeps my mind straight. I also don't want it affecting 'me', so it doesn't ...there is no way to explain it without being contradictory." I concluded.

"I understand, completely." She answered in a breathy voice, her eyes darting to my mouth.

Fuck it. I thought and my hand moved forward…

...only to be interrupted.

"Oh, were we interrupting something?" I heard Angela's playful tone sound out from the opening of Arya's tent.

Both of our heads whipped her direction but neither of us jumped away. Instead Arya made completely natural movements to create distance without seeming as if we'd been caught.

"I think we did." I heard from behind Angela as Elva peeked her head in the tent.

Angela didn't acknowledge it anymore. "Well have a seat and let me look." She told me and I momentarily forgot she was as advanced in healing as anyone in this world.

I grabbed a chair in the corner of the tent and turned it around so that I was sitting with my back in the open air and my chest on the back of the seat. I expect to feel a prodding from her, maybe a few spells, or an ointment.

Instead I felt a small hand slap right in the middle of my back.

I groaned as manly as possible while trying to take the pain but it hurt, a lot.

"Elva!" Angela cried scandalously while also trying to hide her snickers at the situation.

I heard little footsteps walking around to the front of the chair where I could see her. Once she got close, she held up a bloody hand and her eyes narrowed.

The pain was still there when I spoke. "That wasn't very nice." I gritted out.

She just smiled and wiped her hand on her dress, her pure white dress that I had made for her.

She's mad at me. My brilliant mind supplied, as if I didn't already know.

"Next time, don't send me away." Elva told me with an innocent smile.

I actually felt anger at that. "Let's get something straight. You are my responsibility and you are a child. You will obey me, period." I put my best imitation of my fathers 'serious' voice on. I was pissed.

She was not cowed at all. "I am not a child!" She screamed back.

"Yes you are!"

"And I'm not yours. I am nobody's!" She cried out and I noticed a single crocodile tear falling down her face. That must have hit a nerve.

"You are Eragon's responsibility, but since I have found him lacking in this department, you are mine! As his next of kin, you fall to me, and you will obey me!" I stood up and towered over her.

Once again, she wasn't cowed and puffed her chest out and was about to argue when I interrupted her.

"You say another word, and I will spank you." I told her bending down to eye level.

Her mouth dropped open in shock and I couldn't help but be pleased with the reaction.

She knows I don't make idle threats.

Her mouth closed and her lips started to tremble. Oh no, don't cry.

My heart broke as she started to cry, something I don't think I had ever seen her do. I picked her up immediately and somewhere in the back of my mind, something told me to let her cry it out, don't let her manipulate you with tears. She latched onto me and her hands wrapped around me as her head went to my neck.

I rocked her as she cried it out and it was an ugly cry moment. I looked around the room and found Shadowcat in Angela's lap, falling apart to her hands massaging her body. Angela's hands were busy but her eyes were on me, and if looks could kill…

Fuck, Angela's mad at me. My mind told me.

Arya was just watching the interaction with a smile that pitied me as she buckled her sword onto her waist.

Elva's cries slowly became sobs and then just short little hiccups.

"Do you know why I sent you away?" I asked her.

She nodded against my neck. "To protect me." She got out between her hiccups. "But I could have helped!"

"No, love. A battlefield will always be your weakness, there is too much death and suffering. Your blessing would truly be a curse there." I told her truthfully.

"It's always a curse." She mumbled.

"It will be what you make it, little one." I said feeling a little wise and imitating Shadowcat as best I could.

I sat her down then and had to peel her off of me. She whined a bit when I did and then gave me another look of death with her puffy red eyes. I reached my hand down and held it out for her to take.

"Now, we have meetings and I need a shirt." I said as Elva grabbed my hand and Angela stood up before responding.

"No, please, go shirtless."

I walked into my tent to find it occupied by all of the important people in my life. That was saying something because it was packed, and there was a dragon laying outside of it listening in.

I spoke before anyone noticed me. "I wonder Hrothgar, why do your guards feel it important to search a shirtless man before he can enter his own tent?"

The room hushed as all conversations were stopped to look at me.

"Ha!" Hrothgar boomed at the joke, ignoring the stares on us. "Anyone who looks like that…" He said pointing at my naked chest. "...is a threat to any man."

That got a couple of laughs from everyone in the room.

It's not even that impressive. I told myself as I looked down.

"Yes, well sorry that I am late…" I paused with a thought. "...by a day. There were some complications."

A snort sounded off from Eragon's throat.

"Now, anything I need to know?" I asked to the room.

"The elves have taken Ceunon, with few casualties." Brom spoke up from his and Carn's corner of the room.

"Good, anything else?" I asked.

"There has been zero fighting amongst our people, Stronghammer." Nar Garzhvog spoke up using my title.

I didn't bother correcting him, knowing the name would follow me everywhere. I nodded and walked over to my chest where I kept all of my clothes. I picked Elva up and sat her on the bed, where she sat criss-cross applesauce.

I grabbed a shirt and was about to put it on when Garzhvog spoke up.

"NO!"

The room turned to him and I stopped putting the shirt on. "Why?" I asked.

"You must wear it, for all to see, or my people will think you weak." He answered.

Angela's laughter rang throughout the room at the proclamation and I felt betrayed because I knew that she knew that particular piece of information.

"This is too good." She said between her snorts and soon the rest of the room joined her in laughter.

I threw the shirt back down in defeat and even noticed Elva snickering, I narrowed my eyes at her betrayal.

"Ok ...Anything else?" I asked the room.

"Oh yes." I heard from the front of the tent. It was a voice that was I was very familiar with and I had to bite back a groan.

Nasuada herself stepped through the opening in my tent, garbed in so much jewelry that it was obnoxious. A gold crown rested upon her head.

Neither of those observations is what drew my eye, though. Instead it was the bandages covering her forearms.

Trial of Long Knives. My mind told me and at the same time I was berating myself for not seeing this sooner. I completely forgot about it, and her, in the days after the battle.

Next my eyes searched the room for a specific person and soon I found him. King Orrin met my eyes and gave me a wide smile confirming my suspicions.

Orrin told her of the meeting. An obvious move on the chess board. I thought as the repercussions landed in place. Fuck, already?

"Nasuada, congratulations on your victory." I sounded out, acting as if I knew she was coming.

To her credit, she took it on the chin. "And to yours, Stronghammer." She replied and I wasn't sure if it was because of the battle or the whippings.

There was a moment of silence where I waited for her to continue and she just stared at me. "I admit, you have me at a disadvantage. Let me be plain, what do you want?"

A hand appeared in my vision and I traced it's source back to Vanir. He was holding my dagger in his hand.

I took it and nodded my appreciation towards my friend as I strapped it on my belt, it dangled on my butt since I couldn't put it on my lower back.

"My people want to join the cause, for a price." She said looking around the room.

"What is your price?" I asked.

"The Hadarac, once this is all done."

Bullshit… I thought knowing that wasn't it. No one wants the Hadarac. What does she really want?

"Ok, you can have it ...if you front half of all of the Varden's costs." I said, knowing that it would take a significant weight off of my back.

"Please, we can not afford that. Twenty-five." She countered.

She's negotiating, that means she isn't completely against the cause. If she would have agreed immediately I would know she was in contact with Galbatorix. I reasoned with myself before I responded.

"Forty-five, everyone here knows the tribes wealth is much more than they show, and they show a lot. No doubt you've got yourself a gold mine somewhere in that forsaken desert." I retorted to her.

Her face betrayed nothing and I was a bit disappointed, I wanted to know if it was true.

"Thirty-five."

I knew she wanted forty, she'd already decided on it. "Alright, forty it is and the Hadarac desert is yours, once this is all done."

"Alright, my people will set up camp with the Varden. I expect to be included in all financial decisions."

"Of course, you'll have a report delivered to you by tomorrow." I told her and waved my hand in dismissal.

She surprisingly didn't take offense, she obeyed.

Once she left I was suddenly aware of all of the eyes on me in the room.

"Now, we need to discuss where to go from here." I spoke openly. "We have won two major battles. I think it's obvious that we move forward, but to where?"

"Feinster." Hrothgar spoke out confidently.

"Agreed." Brom said. "But we must cover our backs, we must also take Aroughs."

"Aye, I thought the same. Arough's is not big enough, or important enough, to warrant the entire army." I paused mind already made up on who would lead the expedition.

"Vanir." I spoke up and the elf in question stepped forward with a swagger that wasn't there a year ago. "I need that city. Choose who you want with you, within reason, and they will accompany you."

I turned to Hrothgar and Garzhvog. "May I borrow some soldiers for this expedition?" I asked them plainly.

"Of course, Stronghammer. I will pick them myself." Garzhvog answered.

A nod was all I got from Hrothgar, he seemed to be studying Vanir intently, gauging if he was worthy of leading dwarves into battle.

The dwarf-elf rivalry runs deep. My mind supplied watching the interaction.

Vanir held his gaze calmly without flinching. After an intense staring contest, Hrothgar grunted. "He'll do."

I vaguely remembered him testing me the same way the first time I met him. Seems like so long ago.

"Good, if we're all in agreement, then the rest of us move for Feinster."

Nods all around the room. "Fantastic, everyone out." I spoke to the room and then turned to Hrothgar. "Stay? We have much to discuss."

He nodded and I'm sure he already knew what it was about. "Eragon? Brom? Arya?" All three nods.

"Vanir." I said turning to my best friend. "We'll talk after."

"Ok, I'm taking Carn." He said as he walked out of the tent. I vaguely heard a 'what' from outside the tent.

I made my way over to the only wineskin I kept in the tent and picked it up. Been a while since I had a drink. I thought to myself realizing I only ever really drank water.

I took a long swallow and held it out to the group of people still in the tent. Hrothgar was the first to accept it surprisingly, I wondered if it was a safe thing for him to do, considering it might be poisoned.

Hrothgar took a long swig and handed it off to Brom, who did the same and passed it to Eragon. He looked at it for a moment before taking it and taking a light swallow, nothing like the two old men before him. He made a face that spoke of his distaste.

"Ha! Not everyday you get to drink with such company." Hrothgar stated out in the open. "A princess, two Riders, two kings, a blessed child, and quite possibly the oldest woman on the planet."

I laughed as I looked around to decipher the titles, sure enough Angela, who I assumed he meant as the oldest woman, and Elva were still in the room. Angela sat on my bed beside the child, running her hands through her hair while Elva slept on her lap.

Angela didn't react to the barb towards her, instead her laugh rang out in the tent and I followed her. The wineskin had found its way into Arya's hands and I was surprised to see her take a swig immediately before walking over to Angela who also shrugged and took a bigger pull than even Hrothgar, finishing off the wineskin. Elva stayed asleep.

Glad I didn't want any more. I grumbled to myself poutily. I saw Eragon eyeing Elva sleeping and I could see the pity in his eyes. It pissed me off.

"I asked you all to stay because of Nasuada. I don't know what to do about her." I told them all.

No one answered for a while and I could tell they didn't either. We all knew the easiest answer, 'make her disappear', but I refused to consider that avenue yet.

"And did I make a good decision with allowing them in?"

"We need all the help we can get." Brom grumbled. "And she was doing well, before ...everything."

"Aye. There is no easy answer, you could have done worse." Hrothgar said giving his two cents.

"She represents clans that value wealth over almost everything else. You made sure that the costs they will have to cover will sow unease amongst them. No doubt they will be upset with having to part with that much wealth." Arya said from my side. "And the Hadarac is not worth much, all things considered."

I turned to Eragon, and waited for his input. He didn't disappoint. "I don't much care for the Hadarac or the price they will pay. It's obvious to me that she has other motives, that is what I worry about."

"My thoughts exactly." I agreed. "Orrin is in on it."

"I'm not sure about that." Hrothgar said. "To back her would be foolish, considering your allies and the mens loyalty."

"It's more likely that he is playing a long game." Brom said. "Sitting on the fence, showing support for both sides until opportunity arises."

"He loves his crown more than anything. I am a threat that he cannot afford and at the same time a threat he cannot remove on his own." I spoke my thoughts aloud.

"That is a dangerous place for an enemy to be in, Roran." Angela spoke up from behind us.

"I know."

Hrothgar stood up from my chair then. "Well, nothing to lose sleep over. And these old bones need their rest." He said moving towards the door.

"I find we agree more and more, nowadays, Hrothgar." Brom spoke as he followed the old king outside with Eragon hot on his heels.

Vanir walked inside. "Done?" He asked.

"Aye, we're finishing up."

"Come on, you must have been tired." Angela said, to no one really, scooping up Elva, who was still dead asleep.

Angela walked passed me holding her and stopped. "Oh, I forgot. If you ever spank this baby without her deserving it, I will castrate you." She told me with a look that promised the threat.

I gulped in fear. "Good!" Angela said switching her tone completely and continuing out the door.

"Is she joking?" Vanir asked as we watched her leave.

"I don't think so." Arya said with a laugh as she followed the old witch outside.

Vanir and I were left alone, unless you counted the cat lounging around in my bed, on the warm spot Elva left.

When did you get here? I asked Shadowcat.

I have been in this exact spot the whole time. Shadowcat lied to me while cleaning herself with her tongue.

"How are you feeling?" Vanir asked and for the first time since I left Arya's tent, I was reminded of my back.

"It hurts, now that I think about it." I answered truthfully.

"You are an idiot. A fucking good leader, but an idiot. A trait most humans share." He said and the english curse word sounded weird on his tongue.

"Even Trianna?" I joked.

He blushed slightly. "I said most humans, not all." And that told me everything I needed to know about that situation.

"I assume you're taking her then?"

"Yes, and a few others."

"Good. I'll make it easy for you." I began. "Aroughs has canals that flow through the city, they are it's biggest weakness. Put battering rams on the river and you can crush the walls." I told him using the same tactic the original Roran used in the books.

He thought for a moment before answering. "Hmm, I was just planning on bringing the wall down with magic, but maybe I can combine the ideas for something truly fantastic? I can't let your legend outgrow my own after all." He commented.

Too late. Shadowcat sounded out in our minds.

I laughed as Vanir pouted.

"Now leave, I am going to sleep for a week."

A/N: Chapter done.

I never really liked how Elva was portrayed in the books, although I love her character. I am trying to remedy this by way of the dad/daughter dynamic between her and Roran. I admit I do not have a daughter so if this is completely unrealistic, I apologize. But I do enjoy writing it.

Uh oh, Roran/Arya? And Nasuada making a comeback, so soon? What are her motives?

Let's talk in the reviews!