As Eragon looked over the tattered mess that was Nikhole, he smiled, and offered her his hand. He was glad to see a truly familiar face again. With Arya's rejection looming over his head, he was fast to welcome another lady into his life. Though, he did push the thoughts of what lay beneath the sheet that covered Nikhole from his mind, and far from Saphira's. He honestly thought his dragon needed no more reason to torment him with the thoughts of a teenaged male coming to terms with the sensuality around him in every thing. Now, did he? But as he looked at his dear friend, he couldn't help but notice that something was different about her. Other than the fact that she had grown older, and was road weary. He'd been told that she'd spent the entire journey on foot, and Angela herself had tended to Nikhole's wounds. He was thankful for that, Angela would be repaid kindly later on.
"Nikhole...what...wh--...How did you know I was here?" Eragon asked, as he looked at her, examining the marring that travel had left on her. It was a horrid thing to see one that you had been close to long ago troubled. And he would not delve into her mind, as he knew he easily could.
"I had no idea you would be here." She said after a long pause, speach seemed to be difficult for her at the moment. And he didn't blame her a bit. She must still be recovering from her journey. But he needed another answer from her.
"What brought you here, to Surda? The last I knew, you were traveling home with the merchants, and going to find your mother again." This time, Nikhole's response came quite fluidly, and easily.
"I am a woman on a mission. I wasn't going to let anything stop me. Even my own death." She told him, quitely. It was at that point that Eragon dismissed everyone from the room.
"A mission? Of what sorts?" This question brought a bewildered look to Nikole's face, as if she had lost something very important to herself, and to everyone around her. And Eragon knew not, but she had. Nikhole had lost the stone she'd been intrusted to protect.
"Oh by the false king." She muttered under her breath. She looked around, and it seemed she could not find what she was missing.
"The stars are not shining on me today. Eragon, have you seen a large velvet bag? Or a large green stone with fimly veins running through it. It was...is very important, and I need find it quickly." Nikhole said, much more at ease to speak with the guards and people gone. Eragon was instantly reminded of when he found Saphira's egg in the spine, and how it had looked. But, for all he knew the last egg still remained with the false king, with the egg breaker, with the oathe breaker. He practically spit on the name.
"No one went through your possesions. It should be on the book case, over there." And with those words, Eragon pointed over to a book case on the wall. Nikhole, awkwardly aware of Eragon's eyes on her, clutched the sheet she was using as shift, and made her way to the case he had pointed at. It was there that she found the sould posession she cared about. The stone lying in the bag. She took the bag over to her previous seat, and showed it to Eragon.
"Open it, I've been afraid to touch the stone it's self." Said Nikhole, as she offered the bag to him. Eragon, cautiously, took the bag from her, on his guard for the contents could be anything. As he looked with in, his eyes went wide, and his face pale.
"Where did you get this?" He asked, eagerly, and almost accusingly, causing Nikhole to shrink back.
"Je...a man I knew and respected in Teirm gave it to me, and told me to go to Surda, and find the one that they call Argetlam. I've been traveling nonstop since then. And I was eager to escape the Empire, and our false king's reign." Nikhole answered, as she looked down. Eragon looked back at her, and raised an eye-brow. He knew all about this...stone, as she called it. That much was evident to anyone in the room. But alas, it was only the two of them, and Nikhole would not challenge him for answers in her current state.
"You called this a stone?" His voice was softer, more soothing this time. And the change was well met.
"Yes, isn't that what it is?" She asked, feeling slightly stupid. Obviously it wasn't a stone, if he was asking her if that was what she had called it. Eragon smiled at her, and then simply stood up.
"Yes, and no. It is...alive. You've heard the legend of the Riders, haven't you?" Nikhole nodded, and sense relief in Eragon. "Good, that will save me hours of time of explanation. That…stone, as you say it is, is actually a Dragon's egg. The last egg we know of in existence."
"The last egg in existence? And I was responsible for it?" Nikhole questioned, utterly bewildered by the recent turn of events. The responsibility she had, the events she had just molded with so much as just the journey she had just made. The utter weight of it all had just crashed down upon her. Eragon seemed to sense the change in her, and gave her a smile. A smile that made her aware of how different this Eragon was to the Eragon she knew from her childhood. He looked more elf than human, and dressed in finery fit to rival that of a king. While she, the daughter of a noble, found her self clad in only a bed linen.
"Do you know where I could get some clothing? I don't have anything to trade wi-" She was cut off in mid-sentence by Eragon.
"As my guest, you will not pay for anything. I will make Nasuda aware of this. You will be given a room near me. Since I fear that there is much I must tell you." Eragon smiled to her, and paused for a moment before looking towards Nikhole once more. "Clothing for you is on it's way."
This confused Nikhole beyond all of her reason. How had he sent for clothes? He hadn't moved…The conundrum made it nigh impossible for her to sit still.
"And as far as this 'Argetlam' person you seek, he, that is I, am before you. Argetlam means 'shining palm' in the language of Elves, more commonly known as the Ancient Language." Eragon explained. Again his explanation was met with confusion. He smiled to Nikhole, and stood up. There was a knock on the door, and a handmaid with clothes, and boots was in the doorway.
"Take these and dress, I'll find you are supper. You may roam as you will until then." Said Eragon as he passed the bundle to Nikhole, and left her with that. With his disappearance, she felt a huge flood of emotion wash over her. Why had she been trusted with the egg of the last dragon? What would have happened if she had lost the egg? Or worse, if she had broken it? All these despairing thoughts and more ran through her head as she dressed in clothes that Eragon had given to her.
After she dressed, Nikhole sighed and looked around her temporary quarters. What was she supposed to do until Eragon came to fetch her at mealtime? The most shocking part of the day had not been that she had been the courier to the last egg in existence, but that Argetlam was her childhood friend, Eragon. That, in and of it's self, was enough to confuse her for a lifetime. How had a farmer's child like Eragon metamorphosized into a fair folk look alike wearing finery that rivaled a king's? Everything else, everything concerning her position, could wait. She needed to figure this out.
And so she pondered this…this riddle for some long while. Time slipped by with no meaning to her as she paced the length of the room numerous times. She sat. She wandered about the room, and she was dazed. And finally, when she thought she could come up with no more solutions than hair brained, impossible schemes, she opened the door, and went into the hall way. With two steps she almost ran straight into Eragon.
"Excuse me, I should have been watching where I was going." Nikhole apologized; out of embarrassment she smiled at him, and hoped he would accept her apology.
"Ney, excuse me, I should have been more careful myself. I was just coming to fetch you for supper. Do you wish to accompany me to our feast?" Eragon inquired, Nikhole smiled and nodded in acceptance. "The clothes fit you will." And with that, the two of them left towards the feasting hall.
Author's note: Pitiful chapter, I do know this! But, I promise the next one will be better! Especially if you guys will review it for me! R & R! And, shameless advertising is great too!