"Is Saphira quite alright? And who is Oromis?"
Nasuada practically jumped off of her seat.
"How do you know about Oromis, Trianna? And Saphira is standing right outside, of course she is okay!" Her heart was racing. Had Trianna been eavesdropping while Eragon had explained his visions to her and Arya; was she not to be trusted?
Surprised at the hostility of Nasuada's tone, Trianna didn't waste any time in explaining the recent events, "We, meaning most of the spell casters, picked up a very loud disturbance in someone's consciousness. I could tell it was Eragon's mind we were touching, but I'm guessing it wasn't Eragon's thoughts we were seeing. What's going on Nasuada?"
Understanding softened Nasuada's features. Obviously when Glaedr had been at the height of his distress, Eragon's consciousness had projected itself onto others with the ability to touch it.
"Trianna, you have my permission to relay the information I am about to give you to anyone who inquires about it, on the one condition that you do not ask me about this again, or go searching for further explanations."
Trianna nodded, and waited silently for Nasuada to explain everything. Instead, Nasuada said only as much as Trianna and the rest of the Varden needed to know, leaving out the Edulnari at all costs. Trianna's sharp mind noticed the gaps in her explanation, but didn't bother to point them out; Nasuada obviously had her reasons for not explaining why Eragon was experiencing the emotions of a faraway dragon.
At the end of her meager explanation, Nasuada paused as if she was going to say more, but stopped herself. Instead it was Trianna who spoke next, thanking the queen for her explanation. Again it seemed that Nasuada wanted to say something more, but instead she just said, "we begin our march to Belatona in two days, we must prepare."
When Trianna left the tent, Nasuada sighed for what seemed like the tenth time that day. In a matter of hours the entire Varden would know about Glaedr and Oromis' existence and untimely death. Although she knew it was inevitable, Nasuada wished the Varden could have had just one day to celebrate their victory in Feinster, before having their spirits crushed yet again.
But that was not the only thing tugging on her nerves, it bothered Nasuada that a significant portion of the Varden had known about Glaedr and Oromis before she had. It was bad enough that her flesh wounds didn't allow her to fight, but now she found her lack of mind touching abilities leaving her knowing less than everyone else. Maybe there wasn't anything she could do about her fighting for now, but Nasuada decided that it was about time she learned how to touch other people's consciousness. All that remained to be decided was who was to be her teacher. She had considered asking Trianna, but she was not sure she trusted her enough to let her into close contact with her mind. No, the only two people she trusted enough were Arya and Eragon.
As she was thinking, Arya walked into the tent. She sat down beside Nasuada, looking just as exhausted as Nasuada felt.
"So you told the Varden about Glaedr."
Nasuada raised an eyebrow. This behavior was fairly uncharacteristic of Arya. Although Nasuada considered her a trusted companion; the two of them had never exactly had candid chats late in the evening. She didn't feel like objecting however, and replied, "Yes I did. They were going to find out sooner or later."
They sat in friendly silence for a while, each of them with their own thoughts, enjoying each other's company and the few blissful moments of peace between battles. Then Nasuada broke the silence.
"This may not be the best time, but I think I should learn how to touch other people's consciousnesses."
It was Arya's turn to raise an eyebrow as she asked quizzically, "Why?"
Nasuada hesitated, "If Eragon, or anyone for that matter, has another … episode, I would like to know about it at the same time as my spell casters."
Arya didn't seem to see urgency for it, but she shrugged her shoulders anyway and said, "Sure, Eragon or I can teach you. Do you have a preference?"
"Of course not!" said Nasuada a little too enthusiastically, but Arya didn't seem to notice, instead she continued,
"I suggest you get these lessons out of the way before we begin our march to Belatona. That gives us two days. Of course, we will all be rather busy, so it's probably best if you split your lessons between Eragon and me."
Nasuada smiled in agreement. At times Arya's matter-of-fact attitude made life so much simpler, and she was truly grateful to have a friend who didn't ask that many questions. Arya stood up and walked out of the tent just as unobtrusively as she had come in.
Just before she left, she turned around and said, "Your first lesson tomorrow will be in here, before breakfast, with Eragon. I will arrange it. Good night my lady."
"Good night," replied Nasuada, grinning a little bit too much at the prospect of a one on one lesson with Eragon. Luckily, Arya was already gone.