Chapter Five
By an unspoken agreement, the exchange with the strangers was left unspoken in the following weeks, though not forgotten. It still worried Eragon in thinking about it, as he was sure it did Garrow and Roran. He worked all the harder to distract himself.
Several weeks after the encounter, Roran returned with news from a day at Carvahall, Eragon having stayed home, (he still loathed their sympathy).
"I've been offered a job as an apprentice at the mill in Therinsford," Roran stated bluntly at the dinner table that night. Eragon had been told earlier, and Roran had expressed his worries of Garrow's reaction. Eragon new Roran would chiefly take the job to earn money for a possible life with Katrina, a village woman he fancied.
Garrow simply nodded his acknowledgment. "When will you be leaving?"
Roran was astonished. "You'll let me go?"
"Why would I not? My son won't always be living in my house, now will he? You'll need a farm of your own if you're ever to have a wife beside you," Garrow responded, and Eragon knew Roran was blushing by the end.
"Well then, I suppose I should leave as soon as possible. How does two days time sound?"
So it was that two days later, Roran had packed his belongings and was ready to make the trek to Therinsford.
At the door, Roran smiled sheepishly at his father and cousin, eager to be on his way.
"Take my blessing with you, my son," Garrow said, and Roran saw Eragon's slight jealousy. With the final goodbyes said, Roran took of into the southwest, Garrow watching him until he was no more than a dot on the horizon. Eragon turned away from the door, and his thoughts turned to himself. Roran was already courting a woman, but Eragon didn't feel as if he'd ever be able to do so himself. It was true, Roran was two years older than himself, but Eragon had trouble picturing himself with anyone, wether now or two years more. The villagers still pitied him. No one would take me for a husband, Eragon reminisced bitterly. They would think me useless. At this Eragon sighed. Even if plenty woman had been available, Eragon wasn't sure he wanted to be wed so soon. Although he despised when others thought him young and incompetent, he didn't feel like a man, and he was having trouble admitting this to himself.
Eragon imagined Roran would be gone for at least a year, and realized for the first time that his Uncle would be his only company until then. He realized that for the moment, what he needed was someone to confer to. He had always longed to tussle with the other boys of the village, but the one time he had approached, they had turned him away without a second thought. Roran had been his only friend, he had always been there since Eragon's birth, but now he left, and he felt strangely betrayed. What am I thinking? I should be happy for him. Eragon new that even if Roran returned from Therinsford within the year, he would soon move away and build his own home. Grimly, Eragon slouched on his rough mattress and grasped the cool stone. A smile broke across his face as he felt strangely complete. Eragon pondered not why this was, for he had no idea in the slightest; only that he was content with the stone in his arms.