Author's Note: Too much dragon cuddling for you guys? Don't worry, there's more.
Eragon leaned against the stone, pebbles falling at his disturbance. He turned his head to Arya.
"So- what has been about in Alagaesia?"
Arya sighed, as if she had been hoping he wouldn't bring it up.
"The whole of Alagaesia has started to notice something strange; it started with you and Murtagh, and now it's spread to the rest of the population."
Eragon frowned. What was she talking about?
"We looked at the records, we looked at traveling journals, trading laws, history books. No one has left Alagaesia, or even mentioned leaving Alagaesia for the past century, ever since Galbatorix's reign began. The leaders of the races have asked around, and no one had ever seriously considered leaving. Until about two months ago. Suddenly every traveler, every entrepreneur, every thrill seeking adventurer has been boarding ships to leave Alagaesia- and that's not all. Merchant ships have been arriving at our shores, claiming that Alagaesia had just shown up on their maps. We were thinking that Galbatorix had cast a spell to prevent anyone from leaving or entering Alagaesia, but why would he do that? He shouldn't even have had the capability to have done that at the time. Our leading theory is that someone very powerful, or a powerful group, cast the spell over Alagaesia to contain Galbatorix when he began the massacre. Perhaps to protect the dragons in the rest of the world, if there are any?"
"Wow we are going to have to talk more about that later.. You mentioned Murtagh left Alagaesia? I thought he was just exploring the wilds."
"He sent a letter to Nasuada, and while she wouldn't disclose the details, she said that he and Thorn were running into civilization more frequently than they wanted to. They wanted to leave Alagaesia and get away from everything. They went to the far north, over Svellvöl, which actually had appeared on some of our maps with some other areas outside of Alagaesia. He left just before the storms over the sea formed."
"Which makes you the only Rider in Alagaesia."
"But now, you're not too far from here. This is quite fortunate, because you could be needed soon. We've heard that some kingdoms have seen the appearance of Alagaesia as a land grab. We've seen scouts and small groups of soldiers, they've been poking at our defenses. We cannot afford another war- it would destroy us. Nasuada has been able to hold them off with relative ease, and Alagaesia has not shown any of its true power as of yet. But if we don't send them running back with terror, then they will gain confidence. There is a fleet of ships approaching the east coast, about five days out. We have been planning to scare the life out of them with our magicians, Fírnen, and I; but with you and Saphira joining, that would be a lot easier. If you will, of course."
"Of course. Saphira cannot fight, or even fly very far, as we've seen with her spontaneous nap, so I will wait for the Eldunarí to be at full power and make a show myself. When is this occurring?"
"We were planning on tomorrow, but if you and the Eldunarí need to recover, we can set it back."
"We will be fine, the Eldunarí's energy is being rationed, not spent. The power it took to create the door was only the energy they allotted for excavating, there is a larger special use store and three emergency stores. Not to mention Aren and the jewel in Brisngo, both of which are fully charged with help from the Eldunarí, they had an extra store in their daily budget just to fill the various gems of mine and the elves. The Eldunarí will be ready by tomorrow."
Arya raised an eyebrow.
"Brisngo? Is that what you've been calling it?"
Eragon laughed at the naturality of the word.
"Yes, although there is a chance that it still hears its name in there and lights up. I still haven't figured out how to avoid it turning on, but I noticed something else interesting about it, actually. When it's activated, any spell that I could cast with its name I can cast at a whim, wordlessly. Of course, I can do this normally, but it's as if fire magic becomes another part of my body- it isn't distracted by any stray thought like normal magic. I can almost feel what fire feels, and move it like it is a limb; in addition, it requires much less energy than normal. It sounds strange, but I think that my sword is linked to fire itself, not simply its name."
Arya looked at him, thoughtful.
"That is intriguing."
"Enough about technicalities for now- how have you and Fírnen been?"
Arya smiled sadly, looking into space.
"I've been.. surviving? Perhaps that is the only way to put it. The politics of Alagaesia and Ellesméra flared up with the revelations of late- I have had so much to deal with, I don't get much time to myself and Fírnen. He, however, was completely changed when Saphira left… He started thinking about everything that could possibly go wrong- the ship sinking in the middle of the ocean, storms, more people like Galbatorix out in the unknown, etcetera. The thoughts grew and festered, he hasn't been able to truly rest in months; he only gets good sleep when he passes out from exhaustion or I use magic on him. Although I wish with all of my being that I could help him through it, I simply do not have the time to take and fully help him through it. Our little talks here and there are not helping much, I would need several consecutive, queen-free weeks to make any lasting changes."
Eragon frowned sadly. The dragon had been so full of energy the last time he had seen him. That energy being extinguished.. it seemed unthinkable. In addition, he still didn't know much about how she had been herself, but he trusted her response.
"I'm sorry about that. Hopefully Saphira being here helps both of them- She's been deeply affected too, but I can't tell how much of it is from her pregnancy. She's been comforting me, ignoring herself all the time she's alone; I don't think all of her sleeping is from pregnancy. However, seeing as the ground underneath our water bed had been transmuted to emerald and jade, she hasn't been entirely successful at ignoring her feelings."
"You've tried to help her out of it?"
"I- I couldn't bring myself to do it. She didn't want to heal, not then. If I brought it up, she shut down; I bring up Fírnen, and she spends a week in deeper misery. I was going to wait for her to lay her egg to try, she needs to be out of that phase before she can care for hatchlings with her full attention, and she was pretty much unreachable in her current state. I'm not sure what would have happened if I hadn't created the door; she could have stayed mourning for years if I failed to reach her."
Arya paused, a sad expression still on her face.
"It sounds like Saphira will recover now that she's with Fírnen; but I am not sure about him. His worries began extending to other people about three months ago. Mostly me.. he comes with me to the courtroom on most days and clears it for traps and hiding assassins; he then sits there for the rest of the day guarding me. His thoughts before he fell asleep with Saphira were mostly worries about Saphira, the egg inside of her, and his ability to help her raise them. What was Saphira thinking about?"
Eragon nodded, understanding the implication but deciding to respond in case she did not mean the question rhetorically.
"She was happy, happier than she's been since we discovered her pregnancy. Fírnen didn't stop worrying, but Saphira stopped hurting."
"Yes. And I'm not trying to downplay the effects of you coming here; Fírnen had been hurting just as much as Saphira."
She gave him a small smile.
"And I was hurting as much as he was. I am beyond joyed with you two being here."
Eragon smiled back at her.
"I share your sentiment. And you know, Saphira isn't going to allow her mate to worry about her any longer; she'll flame his ears until he stops."
Arya laughed, and her expression brightened considerably.
"That is true."
Eragon had meant his statement seriously, if Saphira felt that anything Fírnen was doing was detrimental, she would personally see to it that he stops. There was a pause where neither of them spoke, only thought. Soon, Arya interrupted the silence.
"How long does Saphira usually nap for? I am going to throw a feast for your return and creation of the door, you know."
"She'll probably be ready to fly the rest of the way here after an hour or two, but we'll have to wait until tonight or tomorrow for her to be fully refreshed and ready for a feast."
"Since she'll probably fall asleep while digesting, let us aim to make the feast the last meal for today, when the moon reaches where the sun is now."
"That sounds wonderful, and it also sounds like we have twelve hours to spend. I do, at least; your duties as the queen come first."
"You being here solves so many problems that I can put my work on hold with good conscience. However, it appears neither of us will be able to avoid the staircase, so come with me."
She began walking along the outside of the cliff, appearing to be heading to walk around it. As they turned the corner into the valley separating the palace and the hut, another massive structure came into view, built into the cliff face. This place was more obviously a palace, it had doors more than a hundred feet high that were open wide, revealing an extravagant great hall inside.
"The structure is inside the entire cliff? This is much bigger than I expected."
"There are public corridors down here, and a staircase through the center leads to the private corridors. My courtroom is here so that I don't have to travel to the previous courtroom. The other palace is out of use now, but will still be needed when the next monarch takes over, assuming they aren't also a Rider."
"What will become of this palace then?"
"While there is no need to plan that far, I can assume it will be abandoned until it is needed again or inhabited by an especially important Rider."
"Well then, myself and most of those I know best are all having new homes built for us. Roran and his hall, Nasuada rebuilding Ilirea after Galbatorix blew himself up, me in Skulutan, and you with this palace."
"An interesting pattern. Come now."
They had arrived at the doorway, and the hall stood before them. The walls were full of beautiful murals and artwork, which again amazed him at the speed it had been completed. To his surprise, he found himself and Saphira several times in the artwork, and realized it was a recreation of the mural of history he had seen his first time in Ellesméra. There were seventeen elves in the room, as Eragon's sharpened mind had already counted; except for the guards at the end of the hall, all of them were studying the mural. When Eragon and Arya entered, all of them kneeled to Arya. They then noticed Eragon in his Rider's garb, and several gave quiet, whispering exclamations of surprise. Arya spread her arms to the elves.
"Eragon Kingkiller and Saphira Wyrmfighter have returned to us! Eragon has established a magical mode of transport between Ellesméra and the City of Riders, and the Riders of now and the future no longer must cross the ocean to travel to and from!"
The elves murmured to each other as Arya's announcement ended, and they stole glances at Eragon. They walked through the hall into the courtroom, which had a vaulted ceiling, ash and oak ribs, and a throne made of polished ash. An elf whom Eragon recognized as one of the Elders, Kollör, sat on one of the two smaller thrones to either side of Arya's, and exchanged greetings with Arya, then Eragon.
"I heard your speech, Dröttning. There are a few that are requesting your presence specifically, but they may wait, of course. How much time should the Council prepare to serve in the court?"
"Thank you for your proaction. Today and tomorrow will be sufficient."
"It will be done."
Eragon followed Arya to a doorway behind her throne, but she stopped him before he walked through.
"I need to authorize you, I don't need you decimating the wards here like you did to the ones on the door. These took months of labor to build this strong. Leyfa Eragon vatha." (Allow Eragon passage.)
There was a resonant humming sound that told of strong magic, and Eragon stepped through the doorway with the queen. The magic surrounding him in the staircase made his bones buzz uncomfortably and all of his hair stand on end as if he were under water. Ayra seemed immune, and she smiled at his appearance.
"You may as well hover up the staircase, with the way you're looking. It seems like you still don't have the same magical resistance as an elf."
"I spend half of my day cuddling with a dragon, I feel like I should be doing better than this."
He shook his head, and his hair floated around his head in a ghostlike fashion. Arya laughed at him and started up the stairs. They were the same steep steps that were on the Rider's house he had stayed in earlier, and Eragon was once again grateful for his enhanced body. They were also built for one person, so he had to walk behind the elf for the entire time it took to scale the cliff, and he found it difficult to keep up with her pace without running.
They spoke as they walked, and Eragon watched as Arya lit up dramatically whenever she spoke about Fírnen.
"He's been lighting everything on fire that he can ever since he got control over it. He'll take dead twigs and logs inside and watch them burn while he thinks. He says that his green fire makes the branches look more alive, with moving leaves and such."
"Saphira is less obsessed with her fire, but she'll incinerate anything that even slightly annoys her. Animals, trees in her way, and me, if she's angry enough. She knows my wards will hold against it."
"Speaking of anger issues, I'm trying to get Fírnen to be more tolerant of our servants.. He tries to play with them, yet he still knows it scares the life out of them. He likes it, for whatever reason."
"Your dragon is truly spoiled. I can only hope Saphira won't get too used to the royal treatment here."
"She initiated the salvation of Alagaësia by hatching for you, and she fought a dragon several centuries older than herself; not to mention dealing with all of your shenanigans in-between. She deserves some royal treatment."
"No argument there. Hey, I need royal treatment too. I wonder if I can handle Saphira and Fírnen's cuddling enough to still sleep with her."
"I wouldn't risk it. Just because they can't mate while she's pregnant doesn't mean they're safe to sleep around. I have guest quarters, however."
"That would be nice, thank you. There are guest quarters in Skulutan too, if you ever want to visit."
"I might do that. It's strange, having you so close now. I began to foster the idea I had lost you, you know? There had been no feasible way for us to be with each other, we each have our own eternal duties."
"But now we can. My duties don't take up every day, I can take breaks frequently. When the political chaos dies down, you probably will be able to take breaks too. Thank you for taking today and tomorrow off, by the way. I know that's not an easy thing to do in this time."
"Those are just my court duties I am taking off, I still must deal with Vanir and Hrauna, and I must update Queen Nasuada about the door and that you will be joining us to scare off the invaders."
"Speaking of the door, I'm going to make a forum of doors in the Hadarac Desert, a place to go anywhere in Alagaesia. It wouldn't be good to put an open-access door near Ellesméra, but what about the edge of Du Weldenvarden? Would that compromise the safety of the cities within at all?"
"Du Weldenvarden is the guarding forest, it is our protection. It doesn't matter if people can get to it easier, it still protects. So no, it will not be a problem."
"Good. I can make another protected door to there from Ellesméra, and then we will be able to travel easily. How about I can set up the first part of the forum on the day after we scare away the invaders? The doors don't take much energy by themselves, only about half of the lifeforce of an average human."
"If you want to; I don't have a preference, just go while I'm in the court."
Eragon smiled, but it went unseen by Arya.
"Will do."
Saphira nipped at Fírnen, whose wing was covering her and preventing her from standing. She knew she could have slid out from underneath it, or moved it herself, but she didn't feel like giving the effort. Her mate woke himself at her insistence and bumped his snout to hers in greeting. He shared some thoughts of contentment with her, and she shared her own with him.
The sky was darkening and it was approaching nightfall; Saphira wanted to get back to Eragon and see if he was mates with Arya yet. She felt he would have shared it with her already if he was, but she wanted to see for herself. Fírnen pulled his wing back from her, and they both stood. He inquired if she had enough energy to finish the flight to his den, and she replied positively. She was feeling refreshed, that had been the best nap that she had experienced for quite some time.
Saphira took off vertically, proving she had the energy to do so, and Fírnen followed her through the air as she flew towards the Crags of Tel'naeír. They flew without direct comment, but their minds connected and shared information about the air as they hit buffets and altered currents behind them with their wings. It allowed them to fly as one, efficiently and as a unit.
They reached the Crags, and Saphira inquired curiously about the new structure on it. Fírnen shared with her information about its layout and construction in turn, allowing her to fully understand it.
We must put a water nest in it. Mine is very comfortable.
Fírnen cocked his head while flying, messing up his airflow and causing him to swoop a little bit before he corrected it. He communicated his concerns about a water nest, none of which she paid heed to, and tried to convince her that his current nest, a wood platform enchanted to be soft and malleable, was just fine. She reluctantly agreed with him, for if she were under normal circumstances, she would be sleeping on the ground or in a nest cushioned with only leaves and twigs. She did not find it important to argue about which comfortable nest she would sleep in, it felt too picky for even her to be upset about.
While she flew, she felt Eragon contact her and impart that there was a feast being held in three hours. She archived the information in her mind and followed her mate to his den, landing on the outcrop there and sitting upright on his nest after walking to the center of it. She knew that if she lay down that she would get too tired to stand back up.
She then began contemplating their options for activities. They could not mate or playfight, for fear of harming their egg, and those were their two most favored occupations, aside from simply being together and conversing. She went for the last option.
So, do you want to have a heavy conversation or a light one?
How heavy is heavy?
Pretty heavy.
How about heavy? Then we can diffuse it with a light one.
Good idea. So, are we going to bind our egg to a Rider?
Fírnen nodded slowly.
That is, indeed, heavy. My thoughts have always leaned toward yes, but what are yours?
I don't know. I love Eragon, I couldn't imagine life without him, but if we bind our egg we won't be the only ones raising our hatchling. I also don't know if I want our hatchling to be bound to duty; unable to make a choice on whether they want to be a part of the Rider Order. What if they don't want to fight? What if they want to be free?
I believe that having a Rider outweighs the obligations that come with it. Besides, not all Riders are fighters; I've read about it. Some Riders were spell weavers, some were healers, some were even architects. It depends on the Rider our hatchling chooses for themselves. They choose someone who will fight, and they fight. They choose someone who will not fight, and they do not fight. The spell gives them the choice of which Rider they want and who they want to be in light of that. Take me, for example. I have not fought, but I have made just as great an impact by assisting Pine in reforming the law.
Well, I suppose that's true.
Besides, what would a wild dragon do? Being free doesn't really sound fun, in any sense. Especially when there are no other wild dragons. Being a part of the Order may be restrictive, but life without a goal sounds worse. My decision would be to bind the egg, but you are the mother.
I… I think I agree with you.
She nuzzled him.
See? This is why I asked you. You are already a good father.
Fírnen hummed and lay down, Saphira joining him on the cushioned nest.
How about that light conversation?
Well, I was wondering what we should name our hatchling.
Fírnen extended a wing over her.
Well, I have a couple of ideas for that.
The feast was held in Arya's great hall, and Eragon had a strange sense of nostalgia as watched the elves converse quietly in the unfamiliar hall. The extravagant plant-based food wasn't anything new, but the spices were a luxury to Eragon. They hadn't yet set up spice gardens in Skulutan, focusing mainly on sustenance farming, and Eragon had grown tired of the same bland meals every day.
The food was mainly what brought memories back, he realized, and the only other thing that truly pulled at his emotions was seeing Saphira and Fírnen resting together by one of the several fireplaces on the edges of the room. It reminded him of the feast before he had left for Skulutan, one of the most emotionally taxing memories that Eragon had.
He pushed the memory away and spoke with the elves around him. They asked about Skulutan, mostly, as well as him and Saphira's health. He freely shared the information that she was pregnant; he knew that the elves would not allow it to go beyond the borders of Ellesméra.
Arya sat on the other end of the long table as he did. Them both being highly important attendees, they were reserved the seats, but it meant that they weren't together during the feast. Not that they had any lack of companionship after the day they had. They had spent the day talking about every subject they could think of, sparring, and even formulating spells. Saphira and Fírnen had a very similar day, he knew; they had spent the entire day talking about their egg and hatchling. They had theorized on what color it might be, the gender of the hatchling, and even who the hatchling would be bonded to.
It amazed him at how in-depth the two dragons had delved into every single possibility, and the fact that they had spent three hours on one conversation topic.
The conversations around him reminded him about the discovery of land outside Alagaesia, and his thoughts drifted to Murtagh and Thorn. How were they doing?