Chapter Three

A/N: I will never understand why I can't get these chapters written before 2 in the morning, but here they are nonetheless. The next two chapters is where the story gets interesting though so please, continue reading and I hope you're interest doesn't turn into flaming rage. :0D

Brom woke to a pleasant smell, the sun shining in through the windows across his blanketed legs. His nose detected porridge, quite the delicacy for a dragon rider that could only carry the bare essentials while traveling. A hint of cinnamon had him out of bed and preparing for the day. He made his way into the offset kitchen, where Sareh's mother was bent over the hearth, stirring the beginnings of breakfast. She saw Brom come round the corner and smiled.

"Good morning lad. Sleep well?" Brom smiled back and nodded.

"Very well, thank you for allowing me to stay in your home." Caitir waved his thanks away.

"Sareh has a way of—knowing when someone has good within them. I would trust her instincts anytime." Brom lifted his shoulders in thanks anyway.

"I appreciate your kindness nonetheless. Is there anything I can do to help?" Caitir looked up from her stirring and then around, she took note that the woodpile had shrunk.

"Well, if any of you would like toast, I suppose I'll need to keep the fire going. If you would be a dear—" Brom raised his hands in understanding.

"Say no more my dear lady, I shall fetch more wood." Caitir laughed at his "chivalrous" tone.

"Thank you my dear." As he turned to go, Brom hesitated, thinking of what he wanted to say. Then he turned back to Sareh's mother, the woman was already watching him from her post at the hearth. She smiled at Brom and nodded.

"I'll save you the trouble of asking. You may take Sareh out for the day, her father and I will manage. Just be warned, that if anything was to happen to Sareh—her father will hunt you down and make it so no little Brom's will see the beauty of Alagaësía." Brom took this warning to heart.

"I assure you, my intentions have never been purer." Caitir chuckled and shooed him towards the door.

"One can only hope, now, wood please, the rest of the family will be down soon and if their breakfast isn't finished I'll have no choice but to tell them it was your fault. Hunger will leave them unable to hold back." Brom left the house smiling and took a moment to inhale the sweet country air. If he hadn't become a dragon rider, Brom could see himself living off the land and breathing the sweet, clean air on a daily basis. He turned to head to the woodpile he had helped chop and stack yesterday, nearly tripping over a form just outside of the door.

It was Sareh. She was sitting cross-legged on the ground, surrounded by sewing things, and on her lap was a board with a small stuffed rabbit that Sareh was jabbing at with a strange needle. She was startled as Brom sidestepped her.

"Brom! You startled me." Brom crossed his arms over his chest and looked at her with stern eyes.

"Didn't your mother ever tell you never to sit where people could trip over you?" Sareh smiled up at him.

"Actually it was my mother who sent me out here. Apparently I'm useless when it comes to cooking." Brom gave a snort and then focused his attention on the rabbit that was being jabbed mercilessly with a vicious looking needle.

"May I ask what the rabbit did to warrant such abuse?" Sareh looked puzzled for a moment until it dawned on her what he was saying.

"Oh, this is for Amani. My father tells stories to her when she has trouble sleeping, and her favorite is about Manoush the rabbit. His garden will not grow carrots so he must hop from land to land looking for some to bring back home; he is turned away by all manner of creature until he meets a dragon that carries him to a land that grows nothing but the most delicious carrots of all." Brom hadn't realized until Saphira spoke to him that she had been listening to their conversation.

"Any dragon in their right mind would have eaten this Manoush and forgotten about a land filled with disgusting vegetables."

Brom closed his eyes and explained to Saphira that one; it was rude to listen in on another's conversation and two that it was a child's bedtime story so the likeliness of it being realistic was slim.

"What I'll never understand about you humans," Saphira countered, "is why you lie to your children." Brom shook his head and looked back to Sareh who was now jabbing at the rabbit's paw, her needle going through it and into the board protecting her lap. He squatted next to her and watched her.

"What exactly are you doing?" Sareh continued down the arm of the rabbit while answering.

"I'm using a needle with special barbs on it to make the wool I'm using soft. Right now it's very scratchy and not comfortable on the skin. I don't want it to make Amani itch when it should help put her to sleep."

"Ah." Brom replied, standing and stretching, preparing to go to the woodpile, knowing Sareh's mother was waiting for wood. As he moved to go the needle slipped through the wool of the rabbit and straight into Sareh's finger. She yelped and shook the hurt finger as if throwing the pain off. Brom immediately knelt beside her once more. He took her hand gently and rubbed the stung digit until the discomfort on Sareh's face melted away.

"Better?" Brom asked as he finished ministering his aid.

"Much—thank you." Sareh replied, enjoying the feeling of Brom's touch but keeping that fact to herself. She expected Brom to let go once he had helped make her feel better, but was more than stunned as he pulled her hand to his mouth and kissed her fingers. He watched her as he did so, seeing her surprise, as he let go he stood and said softly.

"Aim for the board next time." By then Sareh was in such a state of shock she didn't really hear him.

Had that really just happened?

She watched him as he passed by with an armload of wood for her mother. He caught her gaze as he made his way into the house and smiled as she looked away with a blush on her face. He had wanted to be sure that she felt somewhat the same as he did before he made an even bigger fool out of himself. Now that he had proof that she did, Brom was confident enough to continue pursuing her.

Sareh finished the stuffed rabbit and headed inside where the family was gathering for breakfast. Her mother was pulling the last of the toast off of the toasting iron over the fire and Amani was setting bowls out on the old table their father had made before any of them were born. Brom was sitting at the table, her twin brothers Radwan and Darius pelting him with questions they had been prevented from asking the night before.

"What's it like being a rider?"

"Does the dragon really choose you?"

"What duties do you have?"

"Do you meet a lot of women?" A swift smack across the back of the head from their mother told the twins to mind their manners. Brom, a bit overwhelmed with questions, attempted to answer them as satisfactorily as possible.

"Being a rider is incredible. You get to go places many can't, and flying of course, is a thrill all its own. Yes the dragon does choose it's rider, it can wait forever if it doesn't sense a rider it wants, thank you," he said to Caitir as she set a mug of water next to his bowl.

"My dragon and I are currently on leave for a few days, we've been patrolling along The Spine for anything out of the ordinary." Kamran looked at Brom from over the top of his mug that he had jus raised to his lips. He lowered it,

"Out of the ordinary?" Brom nodded,

" Signs of raised armies, unusual uses of magic, beasts that may seem abnormal." The family watched him the only ones who didn't seem worried were the twins. The looks on their faces were that of jealousy and desire. Both wished to be riders and knew the painful truth that it wouldn't happen. Brom realized he had inadvertently caused them to worry. Yes, there was some unrest within the dragon riders and the council but it didn't appear to be peace threatening.

"I didn't intend to make you worry friends, it's a normal duty, many riders do it during their service." The family wasn't very assured, in Carvahall they were very near to The Spine, if something was coming out of it that shouldn't be they wanted to know. However, it didn't prevent the continuation of breakfast. Everyone dug into porridge with toast that had some of the most delicious jam Brom had ever tasted. If there was one thing he was going to miss when he and Saphira began their patrol again it would be good food. He looked at Sareh from across the table; she had given Manoush the rabbit to Amani who was now trying to feed it a piece of her toast.

Well, not just food.