Nearly everyone in the village had visited Faris, leaving words of encouragement, good jobs on his bravery, and so on. Apparently, the story that went down was that Faris had overheard Anya sneak into the house, he didn't make it in time to stop her murder of Venka's parents, but when she attacked Venka, he had attacked her, and distracted her quickly enough to help Anya escape. They ran into the forest, Anya hot on their heels, the bear had attacked Anya, who had used her magic to slay it, but not before it mauled her, giving Venka enough time to overwhelm her with a surprise spell, which led to her comatose state. Faris had been attacked by Anya a few times in order to distract her, which is why he was so injured, but Anya had meant to kidnap Venka, which is why she was relatively unharmed.

Again, that was the apparent story going around. The second story going around was that there had been a real Anya who was a real State Mage, that this Anya was an imposter who killed her and assumed her identity. That was the story the State Mages had when they came in droves to the town to investigate what had happened. As soon as they found the tattoo of a gnarled black hand at the base of her spine, they came to the conclusion that the Black Hand must have somehow intercepted the real Anya's mission, interrogated her, and killed her. What a State Mage was supposed to do if they found someone was attempt to tutor them in magic until they cast their first spell, then they would take the child to Ilrea, which had previously been called Uru'baen under the shadow of Galbatorix's rule. There that child would be admitted into the State Mages as an apprentice, choose a guild of focus, then take the oath of service to the council before being taught the compiled knowledge of all the State Mages. That was why the State Mages that came to his room told him that he had done a great thing helping them stop the imposter, and that his family would be rewarded. They couldn't believe a Mage who swore an oath of Fealty to the kingdom would betray them.

Faris wondered how they even had such information. Angela wouldn't risk tipping them off on her location.

"Even if we have similar a similar enemy, this time Nasuada wants my fealty, she doesn't trust me enough, and it would look weak to those other mages if she had a magician as powerful as I working with her without needing to swear fealty. Those idiots look at my appearance and consider me the average human girl, when they'd all more than likely give the correct respect to an Elf half my age humph!"

He found out later it had been Venka, who had taken to visiting his room every once in a while, in the first few weeks they couldn't get time alone due to constant visits either from villagers or from the State Mages, who urged Venka to leave with them to Ilrea for her training. Eventually the visits slowed down when Venka stated that she would go with them, on one condition. They seemed upset at first at it, but agreed. Both of them lamented on not being "that good at healing magic", and that they would send for their best expert. Faris was now alone with Venka, this had been the first time they had been alone together for any extended period of time. For an hour now, Venka had looked down at her hands, while Faris looked on at the ceiling.

"When I woke up, I thought it was all a dream, that my teacher Anya was actually nice and kind instead of a monster. My home was still around, and my mom and dad…."

She swallowed heavily for a bit, holding back the tears. Faris looked at her now, unable to know what expression to make with his face. Luckily, she still wasn't looking at him.

"That hope shattered when I saw your injuries." She breathed out a heavy sigh. "I wanted to be mad at you, I wanted to blame you for what happened, but that was stupid. Do you know what Anya told me? She told me she wasn't mad at you for putting me in danger, but that I had shown weakness, that with my magic, I should have dominated you, as my place as a magic user, that those with magic should naturally stand on top, and walk all over the weak and less fortunate."

Faris looked away, preparing for the worst.

"And then I realized what I did to you, Anya had put me on this pedestal, and I felt I deserved it, so I ignored the fact she didn't help the other children, and I was angry and jealous of you for earning their admiration, I didn't think to realize it was because they liked you, I wanted it all for me, if I continued like that…" Her voice grew high pitched as she held back from crying. "I would have turned into her."

"No! You wouldn't" Faris turned around fiercely. "You wouldn't have, you're much kinder, braver, and stronger than her! The fact you didn't try to hurt me!"

"But I could have, couldn't I? Those balls of water, those were the same ones I launched at you, they tore through wood and stone like a knife into bread, if I had shot it at any of the kids, they would have died, you, you took on my ire, not only because of the other children, but also to concentrate all my upsetness at you, so that I wouldn't accidentally hurt anyone."

She hugged herself, as if cold, despite it being the middle of the day in summer.

"Whenever I think about everything that happened, I just wanna smash the world, just, hit it until there's nothing left, but whenever I remember you, I-I…" She stutters a bit. "I feel calm, like, like you're an anchor or something, keeping me from losing it."

Faris' face grew hot. "I… I"

"I agreed to go to Ilrea with them. I'll become a State Mage, if only to…."

If only to run away from all of this. Faris thought sadly.

"Please, I can't leave on my own, I won't, I'll be alone there, and even if they say they'll protect and help me, I can't trust them, I'll never really trust them. But I can't stay here and put the villagers in danger. I, I need your help! Please!"

"About time!" A voice yelled out, bursting into the room. Faris and Venka looked in shock as Solembum and Elva burst in, Elva had her same bored expression, not at all matching her boisterous tone.

"Elva?! Solembum?!" Faris sputtered in surprise.

Elva interrupted him from saying anything else. "Before you say anything, go with her, this poor girl needs you, if you say no, she'll go down a really dark path." She looks up a bit. "I almost went down the path she may take, and if Angela hadn't saved me…."

"Elva, I"

"Look, I didn't just come to explain pleasantries, your parents have left the village."

What? Faris thought, heart sinking.

"They aren't in danger, they are with Angela, getting ready to do something about the Black Hand. Your mother was loath to leave, but loath to let them get away with hurting 'her baby boy' frankly, I'm a little jealous."

Faris' face turned an even deeper shade red.

"Anyways, the mage from Ilrea is coming, I can feel his annoyance, I'll leave you two alone before he arrives."

Faris felt this was too convenient. "But wait this is all happening_"

"Too quickly?" Elva finished his sentence with a smirk, "welcome to the real world". She looked at him coolly for a bit before a light smile touched her face, "I think I prefer you being a bit more contemplative than questioning everything, that didn't suit your personality. I'll leave you two love birds alone, to finish your 'private' conversation." She let out a genuine laugh, the first one Faris had heard, but he was too busy wishing he could dig a hole to the center of the earth, and bury himself there.

Venka wasn't any better, her face becoming equally beet red as she yelled after Elva. "W-wait what! No, I don't like him! You-your crazy! Faris, tell her! She turned to look at him, his face was already beet red as he looked into her eyes, which had widened like a deer caught in headlights. She ran over and punched him in the shoulder. "Shut up!" she screamed, hitting him again.

"I didn't even say anything!" Faris yelled indignantly trying to block her third punch. He eventually managed to grab her hands, with her trying to struggle indignantly to get him to let go and resume her barrage.

"Let me go so I can pummel you!"

Faris through his punch sealed eye looked at Venka with a mix of sadness and respect, she clung to every moment to keep her from thinking about her grief. Elva had likely said what she did to distract them both from the moment. He was annoyed with the outcome but smiled to himself. He had always wanted a little sibling, but it looked like Elva had been the one looking out for him. Of course, he was comforting Venka, but he didn't have to give in to her. Eventually their struggle devolved into exhausted grunts, which were interrupted when the two State Mages followed by a third new one entered the room.

"Well, I see we came in on a lover's quarrel men, might as well leave them alone." The new mage said with a sly grin.

Venka began to sputter even more. "But wait! No! He! I! Argh!"

"Look, I'm sure you would love some quality time with him, but I need to heal him, could you kindly stop straddling my patient?"

Venka scrambled off in a huff and fled the room in embarrassment, Faris certainly wished he had the strength to flee as well, but the entire ordeal left his already weakened body extremely exhausted.

The man walked over and took out a green gemstone, likely an emerald, and began chanting an incantation. There was a mix of the ancient language, dwarven language, and common tongue mixed in, relief immediately filled Faris' mind as his aches, burns, bruises, and broken bones began to heal.

"Take it easy for a few days, and you should be right as rain. Then we can go."

"Go?" Faris looked a bit confused.

"Didn't you hear? The little girl said she'd leave, but only if you come with, this pissed off a lot of the higher ups, but Queen Nasuada and Countess Trianna gave their approval. I was available so they called me."

He leaned in a bit closer to say quietly. "That girl of yours has magical power as high or even higher than an elf's. If I didn't feel it myself when I entered the room, I wouldn't have believed the two Investigator's claims. We cannot let her fall into the Black Hand's well, hands." He smiled a bit as his joke before continuing with "So we have to do our best to let her come here comfortably, the stuffy higher ups don't like the idea of a newbie making any demands, as most newcomers come empty handed, and we don't normally allow non-magic users into our training halls, especially children, but we've made an exception for her, and for you and your brave actions." He turned to his men. "Let the girl in."

Venka entered the room, traces of the blush remained, but her face was determined, and a little scared.

"As agreed, your friend is healed, so we leave tonight, I want to be back in Ilrea soon missy."

"My name is Venka." Venka replied defiantly.

"Oh, my apologies lady Venka, we leave tonight." As he turned to leave, he looked again at Faris. "Prepare yourself, you'll have to learn quickly if you want to survive this world."

(Hey Hey Hey! Thanks so much for everyone who's been following the story so far. It's time I feel to respond to the reviews I got. The first two were reviews all the way back in July, from a user by the name Blue Dragon's Rider and a guest named Mars. I've got to apologize to both of you for taking so long in making new chapters! I had a mix of writer's block and family life that got in the way of posting any new chapters, and I hope to remedy that. As for the questions. A Guest named Sullenwhitedevil posted two reviews with several questions, I will now post those questions (I changed up the wording a bit) along with my answers, which I will show case in bold.)

Q: Will Faris become a rider?

A: I don't fully have plans for him to become a rider in the near future, such an event would likely take him out of Alagaesia in order to be trained by Eragon and Saphira, right now I want to keep the story within Alagaesia for now, though who knows. I would like to explore a bit of what Eragon is doing outside the known lands but I want to keep that story hidden for now. If you would like to know though, its been 15 years since the end of the Rider War. And so far, there have only been 5 new riders, two human, one elven, one dwarven, and a Kull. If you remember in the last book Eragon edited the bond to include dwarves and Urgals in the mix.

Q: When Faris gets sick from borrowing energy to fuel magic is it similar to Eragon's reason, being empathy, or is it because of his body's ability to hold energy.

A: A bit of both actually, Faris has spent so much time communicating with nature and wildlife its almost as important to him as humans. That's why when he and Venka were first attacked by the bear instead of using a spell like Jierda (break) to rip out the creature's brain stem and kill it easily. He went the longer route of giving it reason to not consider them as easy targets. When predators feel they are expending too much energy trying to catch prey, they tend to give up. This is in Chapter 7 (I named it Chapter 6 but the sight calls it chapter 7). I put great emphasis on this, if you remember, the reason Elva became so warped and twisted is because she felt the pain and suffering of those around her, likely experiencing their fears before they died as well. Children are biologically more empathetic than adults on average, so such a technique where Faris knowingly kills creatures, in a way almost but not quite as personal as if he murdered his family. Which also shows how desperate he was when he used the remaining energy from the dying bear to fuel his last spell against Anya.

Q: Will he meet those two Elven twins?

A: You must be psychic or something man! I do plan on them meeting within the next 10 or so chapters.

Q: (this is paraphrasing for simplicity) Love Triangles?

A: My view on love Triangles is… mixed, I understand that there can be nuances to it. The issue is just how inherently cliché and dishonest and slimy it can make all characters involved. Though at the same time it's stupid to assume its not possible in real life for multiple people to like the same person, heck that happens in life all the time, especially to kids and teens. Faris did not have anything close to a romantic life when he was back on earth, so such feelings of someone liking him and him liking them back are somewhat foreign to him. I'd rather avoid a complicated love triangle, if anything several vague love tetrahedrons will be okay, cause that's how life is.

Q: Does Venka have a rival for vying affection from Faris?

A: No more spoilers lol.

That concludes my question answer segment, thanks again to Sullenwhitedevil for these questions. And thank you to mars and Blue Dragon's Rider for your early words of encouragement. Now, if anyone has any more questions post a review, when my next chapter comes out (Probably in a few days) I'll make sure to answer it. Alright then, Atra du evarínya ono varda, dear readers. And Atra esterní ono thelduin!

Till next time… Peace!