Discalimer: do not own, not making money, also two guys kiss but it is not slashy

A time for everything

Eragon went to carry Oromis to his small hut in the clearing but was stopped by Eressmiss.

It would be better if he were to have someone nearby; frequently after a healing an elf will experience nightmares of a sort. Most frequently to do with regrets. They often wake up disoriented and confused and if there is no one nearby they might accidentally destroy things in their confusion.

I understand Eressmiss, but don't you think that he will be resentful for being changed against his will?

I don't doubt he will, even the elves who frequently seek our assistance on their own when faced with a similar sickness will be resentful.

Eragon decided to take Oromis to the riders' tree house, it was warm and comfortable and he would be nearby when he woke up. He found the climb up slightly more difficult than usual with the elf in his arms but he managed it fine. Arya had taken Orik and Roran with her to the palace to spend the night and he had no idea where Sahkur-rah had gone to, she had flown away shortly after the healing. Eressmiss was taking care of Glaedr and saphira was out hunting. Eragon had finally gotten to the top of the stairs and into the room when Oromissuddenly jerked. Eragon looked down and saw that he was breathing heavy, but his eyes were unfocused, he must have been having a nightmare. Eragon laid him down on the bed and tried to cover him but Oromis suddenly jerked to the side and kicked out with all of his strength. Eragon had jumped out of the way just in time as the kick would have connected with his head otherwise. He retrieved the cover that had been thrown to the floor when he heard Oromis muttering in the ancient language.

"No, go away. This is none of your business." He twisted to his other side and then snapped his head back. "Get out! You have no right to do that. Don't hurt her! She had nothing to do with this. Don't take, don't… Come back to me." He seemed to quiet down now, at least the thrashing had stopped. Eragon went to pull the covers over him and had almost finished when one of his fingers brushed Oromis' shoulder. Before he had a chance to move Oromis grabbed his wrist and had pulled him down. His eyes were opened but unfocused, as if he were still asleep. He whispered to Eragon as he cupped his face.

"You came back La'iddina." Before he could move away Oromis had brought Eragons' head down and kissed him. Eragon stared at the headboard helpless to do anything about what was happening. Finally Oromis let go and lay back down. Eragon thought that he was free to go when he tried to stand up. Apparently Oromis had wrapped an arm around his waist before he fell asleep. Eragon had to wait fifteen minutes before his grip relaxed enough for him to free himself and sleep on the couch a few feet away.

Morning came soon enough as he was awakened by a loud yell and a crash a few feet away. The sun was just peeking over the horizon when Eragon picked himself up off of the floor after he had fallen out from being startled awake from a sound sleep. He turned and saw Oromis standing by the overturned night table the bed coverings on the floor and the lamp raised over his head. His hair was in disarray and he looked as if he had just seen a ghost.

"What is this? What am I doing here?"

"What is the last thing you remember?"

"I was outside my hut making a fairth when I heard you and another dragon flying down. I think I remember the dragon being green and something that looked like a woman with wings. I remember something happening and then I remember…" He let himself trail off as Eragon watched him. He did not elaborate further but Eragon thought his eyes were going unfocused as he tried to remember.

"What else do you remember master Oromis?"

"I must have been dreaming; the person I thought I saw has been dead since the fall of the riders."

"Who is La'iddina master?" Oromis looked startled by the question.

"Why do you ask?" He sounded as if he were suddenly angry

"I just heard you talking in your sleep and you said her name, I didn't mean to offend you. I was just curious."

"It's all right Eragon," he lowered the lamp and straightened the night table. Eragon thought he wasn't going to answer his question when Oromis sighed and sat on the bed. He seemed somewhat deflated, as if he had just shrunk two feet since he woke up that morning.

"La'iddina is, was, one of the dragon riders. She was among the first killed by Galbatorix. She died trying to protect Vrail. We had been together for sometime before that and had been expecting our first child together. She was killed, our child died before he had been born. I didn't learn of it until almost two weeks later when Galbatorix had her body sent to me by one of the forsworn. He dropped it from a great height and it was impossible to recognize her face, they had removed the skin and the fall had destroyed what was left of it. I only knew it was her because it was elf, it had the necklace I had made for her and was pregnant. It also had her birthmark. She had a white one at the base of her neck in the shape of a bird." Oromis stopped talking and stared out the window distantly. As if there were some answers for him there. He didn't seem to notice that Eragon was there watching him with worry. He spoke so softly that Eragon had to strain to hear his words. He did not appear to be talking to anyone but himself as he looked out the window.

"Our kind usually die from grief after one that we truely loved dies. But I had to live; the only reason I had was to teach the next rider and to see the end of Galbatorix. I was looking forward to death, after all this time. Then that blasted dragon and that rider just had to heal me. Why couldn't they have left me to die?"

Eragon felt uneasy with Oromis sitting on the bed with his thoughts going down such a grim path. He couldn't think of anything to do except sit on the bed beside him and wait for him to come back to himself again.

Roran had no idea what to expect when he arrived at the elf woman's home. Needless to say he was awed by all of it. He had heard fantastic stories of how the elves had learned to make their homes out of living trees; he hadn't thought that it was possible until now. He had been received warmly, he thought that it was because of his heroism on the battle field, but he had learned that it was because his cousin was a rider. He didn't know if he should be happy that the elves thought so highly of his cousin, or if he should be jealous because they didn't care to note that he was just as worthy as Eragon of praise in his own right. "Gee, if I had a dragon I'd be worshipped by the elves to." Roran muttered to himself, and then grinned like a madman. He sounded just like a spoiled child. He should be happy for Eragon that these people thought so highly of him. He had heard about a place nearby that had some historical significance and had asked if he might go there. The elves had no problem with him seeing it. He had been instructed on how to call the peculiar breed of horses there and how to treat them. Apparently they were as smart as any elf so Roran decided that treating them with complete respect was in order. He called one; Arya had told him the name for one of the mounts that was nearby. It was a peculiar thing to call a horse but Roran was not about to complain about it to the elves. He asked her to take him to the place of broken eggs. He had heard that it was of significance to the great elf dragon wars that had happened and was curious to see it. It took them two hours at a gallop to get there but Roran was happy to finally see it. He loved climbing and couldn't wait to see how high this peak went. When he got there he was not disappointed by the stories he had been told of its height. If anything the stories had not come close to the truth about what the peak was like to look at. He got off of his mount and began walking around the base, looking for a handhold or a foothold so that he could begin climbing. But he found none. The rock face was completely flawless. He did find an odd looking patch of stone on one of the faces though. He touched it, it moved inward slightly. Intrigued he pushed harder and jumped back in surprise when the stone face slide open to reveal a huge chamber. Roran took a cautious step inside and found the skeleton of a large animal crouched inside. It must have been a dragon by the look of the skull. Roran stepped forward and found that the rib cage was large enough for him to walk through without trouble. What he found was what looked like a small hole in the ground with a large shiny rock in it located close under the skeletons hind leg. It was bright silver and looked as if it would be heavy. Roran stooped to pick it up and found that it was heavier than he had thought it would be. He thought that it must have been stolen treasure from the dwarves of long ago and that the dragon had hidden it with his foot to prevent anyone from stealing it. It must have been what the dwarves thought that the dragons' egg must look like, Roran thought to himself, they have the shape right but the color is wrong and there is no pattern. The egg Eragon had found was blue with a white pattern on it. Roran decided to carry the stone sculpture back and show it to Eragon. He thought his cousin would get a chuckle out of it; of course he'd have to show Orik and see if the dwarves wanted this piece of craftsmanship back. He got back on the Elvin horse and began his ride back to Ellesmera, or at least the place that he had last seen Eragon. He thought that he heard a chirp nearby but he couldn't find any birds.

"I must be going crazy, if I'm hearing non existent birds."

It took a couple of hours and some directions from the large green dragon Eressmiss but he found his cousin and the elf that he had seen last night. They were in the tallest tree house he had ever seen. Roran began climbing the stairs but because of their steepness he found that he had to pause to catch his breath every few feet. Eventually he got to a trap door and found them sitting at a table and talking. Roran couldn't hear what they were talking about but he could tell from their expressions that it was important. Roran was going to wait for a lull in their conversation when he felt the stone give a twitch.

"What the-" Before Roran could finish that thought the stone had moved in his hand again. Roran dropped it with a yell. The stone was not a sculpture but a real dragon egg. "Holy Mother-" He backed away from the still twitching stone as Eragon and the elf both stood up and turned towards his yell. Eragon was the first to see the egg moving around on the floor, the elf was a close second.

Roran moved back from the egg and had just hit the wall when it started to crack; soon whatever was inside had burst open the egg and tumbled out. It was a small dragon and was a metallic silver color, as it sat up to get it's bearings it saw him and walked unsteadily towards him. Roran didn't know what to do, he looked at Eragon and then at the elf. They were staring at the dragon and him in surprise. That was when Roran decided on a course of action and fainted.

Roran came to when he felt some thing cold and wet fall on his face. He woke up sputtering from the unexpected bath that Eragon gave him in the form of an ice cold bucket of water being splashed on his face.

"Gah! What the, oh it's only you Eragon. You would not believe the weird dream I had. I thought that I had just spent the night in an elf village and that I had gone to this place called the place of broken eggs and that I had found this hidden room in the mountain with a large dragon skeleton and this sculpture that looked like an egg, only it wasn't a sculpture it was an egg and then the egg hatched."

"Yeah, Roran, it wasn't a dream."

"Haha Eragon, nice try-" He would have said more except that there was a cheep from the table. Roran looked and there was the tiny silver dragon.

Roran went pale, and looked like he was about to faint again when Eragon grabbed his shoulders and shook him.

"Snap out of it Roran."

"Did you react like this when Saphira hatched?"

"No, Oromis, I didn't. But then again I've always been a bit more adventurous than him."

"Ahh, that's good. You might want to get another bucket of water handy."

Eragon grabbed Roran again just in time to keep him from falling. Eragon couldn't believe it, his cousin who had single handedly evacuated his village was fainting at the sight of a baby dragon, before he had even touched it. Eragon Growled in frustration.

"Fine Roran if that's how you're going to be then." Eragon grabbed his fainted cousins' hand and put it palm down and open in the air over the tiny silver dragon. The little dragon brushed his head against the palm of Rorans hand. There was a jolt of magic and then there was a scar on Rorans palm like the one on his cousins. His cousin woke up looking confused.

"Why is my right arm numb?"

It took a couple more hours for them to explain what had happened to Roran. He took it pretty good, he didn't faint again anyway. But he did become hysterical when he found out that he was a rider.

"No way, I am not a rider! Nice try Eragon but I'm not falling for that joke."

"So how do you explain that scar on your palm?"

"What scar, I don't have a scar. Stop acting like a child Eragon." Roran left through the trap door.

"Gah! Fine Roran! When you get over this I'll be over here looking after your dragon. Flaming hell, you'd think that I'd just announced the end of the world with the way that he's going on." Eragon let out a few more choice oaths before Oromis put a hand on his shoulder.

"Calm yourself Eragon, you know that using those words is not becoming. Your cousin will eventually calm down and look after this little one. Hopefully it will be soon."

"Yeah hopefully it will be." Eragon picked up the tiny dragon and walked over to Saphira who had come in shortly after they had gotten Roran to stop fainting. She began purring to the small dragon that looked up at her with large silver eyes. It snuggled close to her and made a contented purring sound as he cuddled next to her.

"I'd better get him something to eat before he starts gnawing on the furniture."

"That would be a good idea. I'm going to go to the place of broken eggs and see what answers I can glean from this hidden chamber that Roran found. I am surprised that it wasn't discovered before this."

I think that I shall stay here and look after the little one, see if I can get some answers from what he can tell me.

"Was there anything special I should get for the baby dragon Oromis?"

"Yes, we usually gave them eggs and protein rich vegetables."

Saphira made a sound of disgust.

How did they grow eating bird food I'd like to know? Don't worry about the dragon Eragon I'll take him hunting for some real food.

Saphira, please don't be rude.

I'm not I'm just saying what I think.

It's all right Eragon, Saphira knows better than most what young dragons need to eat. You can help me and Glaedr, and that other dragon and her rider should they choose to join us, look for answers at the place of broken eggs.

Eragon walked with Oromis as they went in search of Glaedr. They found him where he had been left outside Oromis' hut. He looked as if he were actually frolicking in mid air. He felt Oromis tense up slightly as he saw him doing a cart wheel in midair and landing on his front legs. He couldn't stand like that for long because of his weak leg before he had to sit down again. Oromis made to step forward but stopped when he saw Eressmiss on the ground nearby helping Glaedr exercise his front leg. Eressmiss looked up and saw them standing nearby. Oromis turned and looked as if he was going to walk away. Eragon didn't know if he should try to stop him. Oromis however didn't leave he just stood there with his back to the two dragons. Eragon heard him in his mind speaking to him.

Eragon could you talk to them for me and tell them what Roran told us? I am not entirely capable of doing so at the moment.

Yes master Oromis.

Eragon approached the two dragons and waited for them to let him tell them what had happened. When he finally did tell them they were both intrigued and couldn't wait to find out more about the chamber that Roran had told them about. Eressmiss called Sahkur-rah with the mysterious connection that they had and told her about it. Eressmiss said that she'd meet them there. Just after Eragon told Oromis what had transpired Eressmiss spoke to him

I see that he is displeased with us, is it just because we healed him without his consent or is there something more to this?

Yes there is more to it but it is not my place to tell. I'm sorry but I can't.

That is understandable. I will give him time to tell me. Would you like to ride on me as Sahkur-rah will meet us there?

Well I-

Oromis interrupted unintentionally before he could answer.

Eragon you can ride with me on Glaedr.

Eragon looked at Eressmiss helplessly. He rolled his eyes and took off.

Don't worry about it Eragon, Eressmiss said lightly as he got onto Glaedrs saddle just in front of Oromis He will come around.

The flight there was full of an uncomfortable silence at least that was how it felt to Eragon. Oromis would talk about some of the places as they passed them but for the most part he was quiet. Eragon felt somewhat uneasy with their close proximity with Oromis pressed against his back. It didn't help that he had both of his arms wrapped around him in order to get a good hold on one of Glaedrs spikes. It was mostly because of that kiss that he felt uncomfortable being so close to him. He knew that it was foolish to feel uncomfortable because Oromis had not been in his right mind and hadn't even known that it was him. The kiss had meant nothing to either of them but still Eragon was uncomfortable.

When they got to their destination Eragon was glad to get back on the ground again. He had never had any problem with flying before but he was still glad to be back on the ground. Eragon saw that both Eressmiss and Sahkur-rah were over at the cliff face inspecting the stone that Roran had discovered. They had the cliff face open and were inspecting the dragons' skeleton. Sahkur-rah was running her hands over the surface and mumbling to in that strange language again. Oromis was walking around the cliff face studying the rock. Eragon didn't know who he should be with, Oromis who was actively avoiding the new rider and her dragon or Eressmiss and Sahkur-rah. He didn't want to hurt Oromis as he was still his teacher but he didn't want to avoid the other two when they could teach so much to them.

Go with him, he needs someone to talk to for the moment. We will teach you what we are doing and how to do it later. Sahkur-rah told him in her calm voice. Eragon was glad that he would not be forced to choose this time. Oromis was like a father to him. He supposed that was why the kiss had him reacting so strangely. He walked beside Oromis for a while in silence before Oromis noticed him there.

"You should be with the others; they apparently will be able to teach you more than I can."

"They can teach me later, right now I'm - well - worried about you."

"Do not neglect your education for my sake. I will be fine. I have been fine by myself for centuries before you were born. I will be fine by myself centuries after you die. Don't worry about me."

"Do not push me away like that Master Oromis, if our situations were reversed do you really think that I would be fine alone?"

"I am not you. If I were then all of Alagaesia would be doomed as I would have to rely on you to teach me."

That had hurt Eragon more than he would have liked to let on. So he fell back a little and let Oromis walk several feet ahead of him. It didn't take long for Eressmiss to tell them that they were done. When he let them know that they were done Oromis walked back to Glaedr and waited for him to get into the saddle in front of him. If he had thought that the journey there had been full of uncomfortable silence, it was nothing in comparison to the journey back.

When they got back Eragon left for the tree house as fast as he could. He really didn't want anyone to see his hurt. When he finally went through the trap door he saw Saphira and the baby dragon were back from their hunting trip. The baby was purring contentedly beside Saphira on the raised dais. Eragon went directly to the study to be by himself for a while. He didn't answer Saphira when she tried to ask what was wrong. He didn't feel like talking about how Oromis had made him feel like a fool so he shut her out. He lost track of time as he sat brooding up there. It was soon night and he went to the bed to sleep. He didn't allow Eressmiss in when he tried to talk to him before he fell asleep. He just didn't want to talk to anyone.