I am so sorry for not updating sooner. My graduate classes start back up next week, so I cannot promise regular updates for a while. I will write whenever I can but thank you in advance for sticking with me! As always please leave any comments you have I love to hear what you all think! I hope you enjoy this next chapter!
There was nothing in the world that could compare to the joy Eragon felt as he held Arya and kissed her deeply. He had dreamed of this moment for so long, but the reality of the situation seemed so much better than he could have ever imagined.
Arya finally broke away from Eragon's kiss and stared into his eyes. "I love you so much Eragon."
They both had so much they wanted to tell each other, and they both knew they had so much lost time to make up for. Eragon did not know where to even begin to express what he was feeling, peering into her eyes he saw Arya's love for him. He opened his mouth and whispered back, "I love you too Arya. I have so much I want to tell you, but I don't know where to begin."
"Peace Eragon." Arya reached her hand up to gently caress his cheek all the while staring into his eyes and reveling in the fact that she was finally, after all these years, being held in Eragon's embrace. "I understand what you're feeling, and there is much I wish to tell you too, but all in due time. There is nothing to keep us apart any longer." Arya whispered back to him.
Eragon wondered at Arya's comment. How was it that she was able to promise him time? What changes had occurred in Alagaësia since his departure? When he left Arya was the newly appointed queen of the elves and her sense of duty was so strong that it was rivaled only by Nasuada's. Before he could verbalize any of these thoughts they were interrupted by Murtagh clearing his throat loudly.
"As happy as I am for you two it is becoming slightly awkward for those of us who are left standing here watching." Murtagh stated with a chuckle and an amused smile.
Eragon and Arya broke apart from each other, and Arya took a step back looking slightly embarrassed at begin caught up in such an intimate and personal moment in front of so many people. Eragon on the other hand simply beamed at his brother and chuckled back, "Right you are dear brother." Turning again to face the new riders before him Eragon noticed surprised expressions on the face of Yarvotek and Hundin at the intimacy displayed by the usually stoic and detached teacher while the two females, Orrianna and Alyss, had knowing smiles on their face and did not seem the least bit surprised at the display in front of them. After taking this all in Eragon continued, "forgive me for being so, ah, distracted from my duty." That comment drew another laugh from Murtagh as well as Blödhgram and a smirk from Naya.
Eragon wasn't phased by his friends reactions and continued to smile. Nothing could detract from the joy he felt at this moment. He continued addressing the riders in front of him, "I am sure you are all weary from your journey so allow me to show you all to your quarters. From there we can feast before we all rest for the night."
This announcement seemed to garner many sounds of agreement from those around. "Right then, if you would all follow me I will show you around your new home."
The new riders seemed eager to see their new home, but they hesitated as Eragon had not mentioned anything about their dragons. Seeing their reluctance to leave their dragons pleased Eragon greatly. Even in their excited and weary state they thought about the comfort and safety of their dragons first.
Eragon opened his mind to Saphira and said, they honor their dragons above their own comforts, they are true riders indeed.
Saphira hummed her approval before Eragon once again addressed the assembled riders, "fear not your dragons will be safe from harm, Saphira will show them around the island from above, and they will once again join us when we will all joint together to eat."
Their dragons cared for the newly arrived riders took leave of their dragons and moved forward to where Eragon and Arya stood together. Once all of the riders were ready Eragon turned to Blödhgram and Naya and motioned for them to lead the way. The path down from the bluff was narrow due to the presence of various trees that lined it on either side. Accordingly, Blödhgram and Naya led the way side by side down to the city followed by Murtagh then Eragon and Arya who made their way arm in arm while whispering sweet words to each other and stealing furtive glances and knowing smiles. The new couple was followed by Alyss and Orrianna who both wore smiles and commented quietly about their master's newfound source of happiness, bringing up the rear were Yarvotek and Hundin who made the trek in companionable silence. Eragon and Arya were so caught up in one another they seemed oblivious to backward glances they were receiving from Blödhgram, Naya, and Murtagh.
Seeing Eragon's desires come to fruition made Blödhgram and Naya happy. They had long seen the hurt that Arya's absence had caused him and were glad their friend had now filled that void inside himself. Murtagh made the journey down the bluff in reflective silence, he was happy for his brother Eragon, but he couldn't help the melancholy that seemed to make its way into his heart. This above all other things helped reaffirm his desire to make his way back to the one who would fill the emptiness inside his own heart.
As they reached the base of the bluff and made their way into the clearing and towards the rider's quarters Eragon called for the attention of those present. As they stood Eragon, Murtagh, Blödhgram, and Naya stood in the center of the semicircle of the rider's lodging with their backs to the quarters and the Great Hall beyond. The new arrivals stood facing Eragon and his company with expectant looks on their faces.
Once they had all settled into position Eragon spoke, "look around you. These quarters belong to dragon riders present and future. Each quarter is alike, there is an area to store your personal belongings as well as your dragon's equipment on the first floor. Once you make your way upstairs you will find a study where you will be completing your assigned readings while you remain a student under the tutelage of Arya and myself as well as a bedroom. There is a balcony along one side of the room and an entrance flap to all for your dragons to come and go along the opposite side. The only occupied quarters at this moment belong to Murtagh and myself."
Murtagh pointed his quarters out as the one in the middle of the semicircle directly behind him and Eragon motioned towards his at the far western edge. "There is no assignment of quarters, so the choice is yours. Feel free to modify them to suit your needs. I am sure you all wish to freshen up after your journey, so claim your quarters and meet back here in two hours' time. Your dragons are free to meet you in your quarters now or meet us later in the Hall for our meal." With that being said the riders broke away and headed towards their new homes.
Arya stepped forwards towards Eragon who offered her his arm. They made their way to the western edge of the quarters where Arya would claim the available room immediately next to Eragon's. Alyss and Orrianna fell in behind the new couple where Alyss became Arya's other neighbor and Orrianna claimed the quarter neighboring Alyss. Yarvotek and Hundin made to follow Murtagh where Yarvotek laid claim to the quarter that would make him Murtagh's neighbor on the western side and Hundin claimed to be Murtagh's eastern neighbor. Blödhgram and Naya made their way past Murtagh's room and went to assure the preparations for the welcoming feast were well under way before they continued to their own quarters to prepare themselves for the feast.
Eragon walked Arya to the entrance of her new home, and kissed her once before he said, "once you have yourself settled in come and see me, if you so desire, and we can have a few moments to ourselves to catch up before the feast begins."
Arya smiled back at him and leaned in to whisper in his ear, "the pleasure would be all mine my dearest Eragon."
As Arya pulled her head back around to look into Eragon's eyes once more he reached up and brushed a loose strand of her silky raven hair behind her ear before stroking her angular cheek with the pad of his thumb. He responded, "I'll be looking for you then" in a kind and gentle manner then kissed her quickly but passionately before he moved toward his own quarters to bathe and change.
Arya slipped into her new home and moved up the stairs to take in the simple yet elegant sight of her own bedroom. This had been a perfect day as far as Arya was concerned, and she couldn't wait for the days to come. After spending a moment to take in her surroundings she made her way to the washroom that was attached to bedroom where she took the opportunity to take a must needed bath after the long days of travel. Once she was bathed she dressed herself in a pale blue dress that hung to just below her knees with smoky gray leggings underneath. She decided to forego any sort of footwear preferring to spend the night barefooted.
In the meantime, Eragon watched as Arya made her way into her quarters before he knelt down and placed his hand near the earth below him. He braced himself for the loss of energy he was sure to experience by reaching his consciousness out to touch the stores of energy held within his father's and now his ring Aren. He spoke quietly, "arget," and after a moment he was rewarded with sphere of pure silver slightly larger than his thumb. Satisfied with his venture he pocketed the silver and ascended into his study.
Once there he again produced the ball of silver from his tunic. He sat down at his desk and began softly speaking an incantation that caused the sphere to hollow itself out and form the rough shape of a ring. Satisfied with the rough shape he moved towards the basin that he had filled with water only that morning. Once at the basin he cupped his hands and scooped out a handful of water. Eragon remembered back to one of the conversations he had with Brom all those years ago after they had fled Carvahall. Brom had mentioned that a person could create any substance from simple water if he had enough strength and if he was able to relate that item to that which he wished to create.
Eragon looked at the water in his hand and thought about how water is required for life, and how it brings life to those who drink of it, he then thought about how Arya's arrival seemed to bring him back to life and fill the void inside of him, he then thought about Fírnen and how Fírnen was bonded to Arya, how their lives where tied to one another, finally Eragon called to mind the radiant green color of Arya's life bonded partner and spoke once again in the ancient language all the while calling on the energy reserves within Aren. When he was finished he was astonished at the loss of energy he felt but was satisfied as the water that had been in his hands was replaced with a dozen small, flawless emeralds that matched the color of Fírnen's scales perfectly. Smiling he repeated the process by thinking of the life bringing qualities of the water, then his link with Saphira and how his life was tied to Saphira's, finally he called to mind the beautiful blue color of her scales and spoke the necessary words. Once again, he felt the energy drain out of Aren but was satisfied with the perfect sapphire's that were left behind. Setting aside the sapphires along with the emeralds Eragon took a third and final handful of water and again thought hard about how water brought life to those who drank of it then he thought of Arya and how she brought life back into himself, and how pure a love they shared together, thinking of this purity of love and life together he pictured in his mind a pure white diamond and after a few words a single clear diamond lay resting in his palm.
Eragon returned to his desk where he again took the ring into his hand along with the emeralds, sapphires, and the diamond and he began to sing to them in the ancient language. As he continued his soft singing the ring took on the shape of two individual bands of silver that wrapped around each other. On one on these bands the 12 emeralds that represented Arya and Fírnen embedded themselves in the silver, and on the second band the 12 sapphires that represented Eragon and Saphira also embedded themselves in the silver. The two bands continued to wrap around one another until they met in the center of the ring where the diamond that represented their shared devotion for one another rested and stood slightly taller than any of the individual stones.
As Eragon finished his singing and held the ring up to his eye to inspect the final product of his labor he broke into a wide grin. Seemingly satisfied with his work he retired from the study into his bedroom where he placed the ring on a small table beside his bed before he went into the washroom to bathe and prepare himself for the feast later but more importantly for Arya's arrival to his quarters.
Eragon had just finished bathing himself and had dressed himself in light gray trousers and was preparing to don a forest green shirt when he heard a knock at the door to his bedroom. Smiling to himself at the prospect of seeing his one true love once again he not so calmly called out, "you may enter love."
What Eragon did not expect when he called out this invitation was to find the elf woman Reyvena enter into his room. The smile that seemed to have been attached to Eragon's feature since Arya's arrival vanished as she entered into his bedroom, but Reyvena either seemed not to notice or chose to ignore his change of mood.
As she entered into the room where Eragon stood before her in trousers and bare chested she almost purred as she said, "I see you seemed to have changed your tune since last I visited your quarters my dear."
Eragon bit back the urge to curse his bad luck, here he was standing in his bedroom in only his trousers in the presence of Reyvena all the while he was expecting Arya to come see him at any moment. Eragon scowled slightly and said, "Reyvena I was not expecting you to be here." No sooner had he started to convey his desire for Reyvena to make herself scarce when her eye seemed to catch the glint of the ring sitting on the table next to where he stood.
Reyvena's eyes seemed to grow many times larger as she took in the sight of the ring and cutting off Eragon's next words she said, "Eragon, I would not have expected you to get such a gift for me. It is beautiful," the awe held for the perfectly formed ring obvious in her voice. As she began to move towards the ring Eragon reached down and grasped his gift for Arya and pocketed it before Reyvena had the chance to get ahold of it.
"It is beautiful indeed and meant for one who holds my heart in her hands, but as I have expressed to you in the past you are not that person. I am expecting another, and it would be beneficial for all if you were not here when she arrived. I do not mean to sound harsh Reyvena, but we cannot be."
"Who else could you possibly be expecting, and with such a wonderful gift?" Reyvena said hotly as she began to realize that Eragon had never intended to accept her as she had begun to hope.
Before Eragon could reply to her question a soft knock sounded at the door and Arya entered through the slightly ajar bedroom door. Eragon still stood facing the door and immediately broke into a wide grin once again at seeing Arya before him. Reyvena had been standing with her back to the door and when she turned to look at the person who had so rudely intruded on her private moment with Eragon the irritation that had been present turned into something very near rage.
"You! What are you doing here?" Reyvena all but shouted at Arya.
Arya had only a moment to take in the scene before her. There stood Eragon the man she desired with all her heart, but as he stood there before her she also noticed the shouting presence of Reyvena the woman that had grown up with her in the forests of Ellesméra and was something of a childhood rival of Arya's. She felt so many emotions flood into her at once that for a moment all she could do was stand rooted in place.
"Well dröttning," the last word of which Reyvena said with as much disgust as she could muster, "speak your intentions and leave us!" Reyvena exclaimed with all the malice of her initial outburst.
Eragon who to this point had been similarly shocked into silence seemed to be galvanized into action at this latest outburst that Reyvena aimed at his Arya for he moved with all the grace of an elf to stand between Reyvena and the one that he loved. Once between them Eragon moved to Arya's side and placed an arm around her waist as if to protect and comfort her from the quickly reddening Reyvena. "She is here on my request, and you shall not speak to her in such a manner," Eragon said in a voice barely above a whisper as he tried to keep the anger he felt towards this person who seemed to be threatening Arya's happiness in check. "Now if you would please excuse yourself I wish to be alone with Arya."
Eragon's touch seemed to stir something inside of Arya and she instinctively leaned in closer to Eragon's side which earned her a loving look from Eragon and an even deeper scowl from Reyvena.
The look of compassion on Eragon's face as he reacted to Arya's movement did not go unnoticed by Reyvena, and indeed it seemed to be enough to push her past her limits as she barely chocked out, "her! Of all the people in this world you choose her to give your gift to? You choose her to love? How dare you betray me in such a way!" She did not wait around to hear what either Eragon or Arya had to say in response but rather carried herself past the intertwined form of Eragon and Arya and out of Eragon's quarters in a few swift strides.
After standing as they were for a few more moments Eragon pulled Arya closer to him and whispered, "I'm sorry love. While I had been looking forward to your arrival I did not expect it to be quite this eventful."
"Nor had I" Arya responded as she moved into Eragon's loving embrace and placed her face against his chest. It was at this moment that she realized Eragon's chest was bare. "You seemed to have misplaced your shirt my love."
He gave rise to a brief peel of laughter before he responded, "why yes it seems that I have."
As he began to pull away from Arya to don his shirt she caught his arms in hers. "I was merely stating an observation, I did not mean that you needed to find it at this instance," she said with a shy smile as she looked up into his eyes. While he was not as muscular as his cousin Roran the years Eragon had spent training with Oromis, Brom, and most recently with the elves on the island had added an appreciable degree of muscle to his body, and Arya had to admit she found his lean form attractive.
Eragon's smile widened at Arya's words and he moved his hand to hers and brought it to his lips. After kissing her hand, he said with mock seriousness, "my sincerest apologies love. I won't let such a thing happen again."
"I would hope not" Arya said returning his playful seriousness. "I was slightly taken aback by Reyvena's being here, but did I hear mention of a gift" Arya asked innocently.
"Yes, it seems that with all the activity I forgot about that small detail. I do indeed have a gift to give you if you are willing to accept it."
"Why would I not want to accept a gift from you Eragon. You know you mean the world to me." Arya responded her curiosity now fully aroused.
"I know that elves do not partake in the concept of marriage, but I had always dreamed of giving a traditional token of love to the woman I want to spend my life with. If you do not wish to accept such a token I would not be offended, for I know that elvish customs do not align with human customs when it comes to such matters."
"Eragon. You're babbling. What is it you wish to give to me?"
Reaching into his pocket Eragon extracted the ring that he had formed for Arya and held it out in front of him. "I wish to give you this ring my dear Arya. It is a symbol of my unending love for you for you were the first and only woman I have truly loved, and I promise you I shall never love another for as long as I shall live. You are my person Arya. I love you now and always and I will cherish you above all else in this world."
