Chapter Six
With the mystery of Sareh's powers, somewhat solved, the group became closer. With the time Brom and Saphira had before they had to return to their post they filled their days with Sareh and Sareh's loving family. Saphira endured Radwan and Darius' admiring glances and Brom answered the questions they thought up, surely while they were sleeping. The family was honored to have caught the interest of a Shur'tugal. Well, that their eldest daughter had. Sareh hadn't been sure she had wanted to tell her family about the discovery that she and her companions had made, but somehow, her mother had known she was different. When questioned after supper that first night, Sareh had shared everything with her parents. Now that her family knew and it hadn't changed how they felt about her (Amani had become permanently attached to her leg) Sareh felt a little bit better about this sudden change.
As the days passed, Sareh and Brom spent as much time together as was possible. Earning his keep, Brom helped Sareh's father with the men's chores, waking early in the morning to join Kamran in the fields to work until the noonday sun drove them into the shade of the house to chop wood or the barn to feed the family's livestock. Sareh helped her mother in the house or wherever her mother sent her.
When the two had finished their work, they were given leave to roam the countryside or eat their dinner beside the lake, where everything had begun for them. Sometimes Saphira accompanied them, other times she flew off to the forest to catch her food, giving the two time alone. They talked a great deal about the future, what they hoped to see and somewhat skirting around the issue of how the other would fit into that picture.
Even so, it was obvious the two were in love with one another. When they did eat with the family, one was always watching the other from across the table. When Brom saw Sareh laugh or smile at a sibling's silly antics his face fairly lit the room itself. Sareh seemed so happy, almost joyful when Brom was around, when he wasn't near her Sareh was somewhat withdrawn, more of the quiet person she had been before, when he was at her side she looked as though nothing could go wrong.
They weren't beyond a little lusty looking either. Sareh could often be found just out of eyesight of the fields, admiring Brom when the heat drove him to remove his heavy linen shirt, revealing lean muscles over a tall frame. Caitir had found herself coming to shoo her daughter away more and more often. Brom found himself wanting to kiss Sareh at the most inopportune moments. He knew that he would have a chance to do it at some point when they were alone, but at that very moment her lips looked so undeniably soft or her hair was falling around her face in such a way, or her long neck was exposed enough for a surprise kiss. Unfortunately he saw these things when her mother was less than five feet away, or her father and his hunting bow were within range. Brom's self-control took quite the beating but in the end it made each kiss sweeter and more worth the wait then before.
As for Saphira, she was hoping to make a right out of a wrong and was helping Sareh learn to block out any invasions of the mind from those that had less than harmonious intentions. The sudden attack of thoughts that were not her own were silenced. Now that she was aware of it, it seemed she could hear things more clearly. At the moment, Sareh could hear the thoughts of a dragon and the conversation it was having with its rider. Though one-sided she could hear it clearly.
"They're arguing over something, I'm not sure what, the dragon isn't saying." Sareh said as she sat, cross-legged, her hands folded in her lap and eyes closed.
"You know it's rude to listen in on other people's conversations." Sareh popped one eye open and looked at Saphira who lay in front of her. Her large dragon body curled up in the grass, her head inches from Sareh's feet.
"Well, if you're dragon comrade would kindly stop yelling his thoughts, perhaps I could concentrate on protecting his privacy once more." Saphira laughed, Sareh winced. She understood what Brom had been talking about now. When Saphira's laughter had ended Sareh caught the tail end of a comment made by the dragon in question.
"If the council denied him, then they denied him. They can't keep handing them out as if their sweets." Sareh's eyebrows lifted as she heard this. Denied whom, and what?
"Saphira?"
"Yes?"
"Do you know of a council?"
"Do you mean the Shur'tugal council?"
"I have no idea what I mean, if it's a council then I suppose so."
"There is a group of Riders that meet and make decisions for the whole of the order. Why?"
"They just denied someone something." She could feel Saphira's emotions change, from content and lazy to somewhat concerned.
"That would be Galbatorix." Both Saphira and Sareh caught up in their discussion hadn't noticed his coming. They both jumped, which was quite a sight when watching a dragon the size of about ten elephants nearly leap out of her skin. Sareh pressed a hand to her chest, her heart pumping so fast she could feel it against her hand.
"Speaking of rude… A little warning next time!" Brom sat down beside her, planting a warm kiss on her temple.
"Sorry love." Saphira made a harrumphing noise. Brom gave an exasperated sigh and stroked Saphira's nose, a contented purr was his payment.
"Are all the females in my life now satisfied?" Sareh and Saphira looked at one another and shook their heads.
"No." "No." Brom rolled his eyes and threw his hands up.
"Fine." Sareh poked Brom's arm, bringing him back to the conversation at hand.
"Who is Galbatorix?" Brom and Saphira both grew sad at the mention of the name. Brom after a moment answered,
"He's a Dragon Rider, or at least he was. He and his dragon were patrolling when they were ambushed. His dragon was killed in the attack." Sareh's eyes grew wide with sympathy. She wasn't even a Dragon Rider and the thought of losing Saphira was unbearable. She shook her head,
"That poor man." Brom nodded,
"Yes—He had requested another dragon egg right before Saphira and I left for The Spine." Sareh put a hand to her mouth,
"So that's what they were talking about!" Brom agreed,
"Apparently they've denied his request. Of course their decision wasn't truly that surprising." Sareh gave Brom a puzzled look,
"What do you mean?" Saphira nudged Sareh's foot to draw her attention,
"Well, from what we've heard, his dragon's murder made him go mad. It makes sense that the council wouldn't grant him another egg, especially when they only receive two or three a year." Sareh understood completely now, she felt terrible for the man named Galbatorix. To lose your closest friend and the bond you've forged, she could only imagine. However, as she thought about him, she felt a niggling in the back of her mind, something that told her the something terrible was in the wind. Before she could investigate what she felt Brom had rested his hand on her leg,
"How do you know the council declined his request?"
"I heard another dragon arguing about it. They believed that if the council made the final decision then it's final, they shouldn't be handing out eggs like they're sweets." Saphira breathed a puff of smoke out into the open air.
"Certainly not, and there's no guarantee another would hatch for him. To the hatchlings he already has a dragon. He bears the Gedwëy Ignasia already, what's to keep them from ignoring him?" Brom and Sareh nodded their agreement; it did make sense that the tiny dragons that waited in their eggs for their riders would pay no heed to Galbatorix since he had already had a dragon. The Ancient spell upon them did keep them within their eggs until they sensed their rider. They're disregard for his desire to have another dragon might have sent him even farther over the edge.
"Who was having this argument?" Brom asked as Sareh rubbed Saphira right between the eyes right where she liked it. Sareh shrugged,
"I don't know, I never heard them say their name."
"Can you see who they're looking at?" Sareh had no idea what he was talking about.
"Beg pardon?" Brom didn't know why she didn't know what he was talking about.
"Er, Dragon Riders have the ability to see through their dragon's eyes, maybe you can do the same." Sareh hadn't known of this ability much less if she could do it herself, but the thought was intriguing—to see through a dragon's eyes, how wonderful. She closed her own hazel eyes, allowing her head to tip down towards her legs. Her dark hair, pulling loose from its tie, fell around her face until Brom could no longer see her features. He leaned in, looking to share the Ancient words that would help her.
"Dragon Riders use the words Skulblaka—" Before he had the chance to finish Sareh's head snapped back up, her eyes were no longer her own, they were red, and reptilian, but only for a moment. As her eyes took their normal color, it became apparent that Sareh was shaken by the experience.
"I don't think I'm going to do that again—I'm certain that's something that should be done by a Shur'tugal, not me." Brom was apologetic,
"I didn't think of it that way, I'm sorry." Sareh rubbed a hand over her eyes as though to clear them of vision that wasn't hers.
"It's an incredible experience. I saw as a dragon would, I was able to see things that I couldn't with my own eyes." Brom's attention was brought back to the fact that she had neither used the Ancient words that he did to see through Saphira's eyes, but also that she hadn't appeared to use any of the Ancient Language at all.
"How did you do that, without using Ancient words?" Sareh shook her head, her eyesight was returning to normal but it still felt as though she was looking through distorted glass, the feeling of seeing double occurred as well and it made her feel queasy.
"I just thought to myself that I wanted to see through the dragon's eyes, and I did."
"Incredible, your power must be… What did you see?" Brom asked, the curiosity of who had been discussing council decisions was getting the better of him. Sareh gathered her thoughts and described what she had seen whilst looking through borrowed eyes.
"I saw a man with long dark hair and the strangest blue eyes, I was so focused on seeing him that I couldn't hear what he was saying but he looked a little upset." Brom looked at Saphira and smiled,
"Of course he would be upset, Morzan never agrees with any kind of authority." Saphira rolled her eyes while Sareh gave a questioning glance to Brom.
"Morzan is one of my closest friends, he and I had eggs hatch around the same time and we were both taught by the great Oromis and his dragon Glaedr." Saphira winced at the name Glaedr.
"That dragon is vicious. He had me flying updrafts everyday for months until I did it his way. Now every time I feel the wind pushing my wings up I want to cry." Sareh smiled at Saphira's melodramatic tone. The difficulty of the training the two had had to go through just to get to this point couldn't be denied, but Saphira had a tendency for the dramatics and often times simply made things out to be worse then they truly were.
"You'll have to tell me about this Morzan sometime." Brom nodded and just watched Sareh as she picked at the grass around her. Her power was more intense then he had first thought. He couldn't believe that Saphira's young incompetence had brought all the capabilities that she had to life. If anything Saphira had simply opened one door that led to several others. She had been born with these powers, most likely never to know of them, seeing as she was the daughter of farmers.
It was truly amazing what fate caused.
If Brom had known while he was musing about fate, what it truly had in store, he wouldn't have found it quite as incredible as it seemed. In reality, Brom wasn't the only one amazed by the power Sareh displayed. Morzan and his own dragon were as well, the obvious tug of magic had warned them of Sareh and although they were still loyal to the old order, their fate would seal that of Sareh and all that she loved.
A/N: Short chapter (finally) I know. This is one of those filler chapters that helps explain what happens later on in this story, it seems kind of slow, but I don't think it's too bad and I gives me more time to work on Chapter Seven! R&R Please!
