Eragon POV

. . .

When I entered Nasuada's tent I was surprised to see Roran there too. Nasuada nodded to me, and then to Roran "You may go", he bowed and left.

I bowed to her, "My Lady."

"Eragon, I expected you last night."

"I am sorry, we got caught in the storm and could not return earlier today because… well, we ran into some issues." I looked at Percy, Annabeth, Thalia, and Nico, who were standing behind me.

"I see," she said thoughtfully. "Might you do introductions?"

"Of course, My Lady," I turned to face the others as Saphira stuck her great head into the tent.

"Angela came and got Arya, she said she'll fix her right up"

Nasuada nodded to Saphira then looked to me to proceed.

"This is Percy Jackson, Son of Poseidon," said person bowed, "Annabeth, Daughter of Athena. Thalia, Daughter of Zeus. Nico di Angelo, Son of Hades." After they all finished their bows I continued. "And this is Nasuada, Daughter of Ajihad and great leader of the Varden."

"Pleasure to meet you," Nasuada said and bowed her head to them. "If you do not mind me asking, I have the feeling those names meant something, what do they mean? And what are you doing here?"

"We'll tell you who the names are later, but for now we'll just tell you that we're here to help you fight the Empire," Annabeth said stepping forward.

"How are you supposed to help? You are hardly out of your childhood, if any of you tries to join the army you would be sent back to your mothers." Nasuada said skeptically.

Annabeth looked at the others, then back at Nasuada. "We all have our own special talents," she paused, "we've been through a war. We've seen things no one should have to see." She took a shaky breath, the others were looking at their feet, Percy stepped forward and took Annabeth's hand and said, "We can help, we know how it feels to be grossly outnumbered. We can all fight, and win. We were sent here for a reason, we will fulfill that reason with or without your permission." The others nodded in agreement.

Nasuada answered after a minute, "then you will fight under my command," she paused, "But as a requirement to join the Varden at least one of you will need you mind searched."

They all looked at each other, after a moment of quick deliberation Annabeth stepped forward, "at your own risk."

Nasuada nodded, "Eragon, would you mind?"

"Not at all," I stepped in front of the four, "who do you want me to do?"

Annabeth automatically stepped forward "Me."

"Annabeth don't," Percy said stepping forward and grabbing her hand.

Annabeth smiled, "what's special about Athena?" she tapped her forehead. "It's fine, besides, you guys would probably give him nightmares."

"And you wouldn't?" Thalia asked. Annabeth rolled her eyes and nodded at me.

"This will hurt," I warned, "but I'll try to be gentle." I placed my hand on her forehead and reached my mind to hers. "Relax…" I whispered. She took a deep breath and I slipped into her mind.

Her mind was oddly organized, not crazy like most humans. I easily found her storage of memories and dove in. I stayed away from her childhood memories and only searched her recent ones. Her memories were confusing; I did my best to understand anything at all. There were buildings as tall as the sky, giant flying metal tubes.

But what was even stranger is the people, Half horse half humans, half goat half humans, centaurs and satyrs. Huge beings that emanated power. There seemed to be a war connected to the beings, and a person named Luke, a strong sense of betrayal was connected to him. Happy memories were connected to Percy and Thalia.

I didn't dig far, learning that they were good people, and extremely loyal, also that they were not merely mortals.

I pulled out of her mind with a slight gasp, we both stumbled back a few feet. Annabeth rubbed her head mumbling, 'That was weird'.

I turned to Nasuada who was watching and waiting, "We just gained ourselves a valuable ally." I looked back at the four, "Your called demigods?"

"Yes," answered Thalia, "It means half mortal, half god."

"Is that how you have your powers?"

"Yah, in our world my dad is Lord of the Sky, Percy's dad is Lord of the Seas, Nico's dad is Lord of the…" she trailed off, looking uncertainly at Nico.

"Dead," Nico finished, "My powers are connected to the dead. In our world I am the Ghost King." He watched me for a reaction. I was thinking that it explained the skeleton army in the war Annabeth the others were in.

"What about Annabeth?" I said looking at her.

"My mother is the goddess of Wisdom and Battle. I don't really have a power but I'm smarter than these goofs." Thalia flicked her on the back of the head.

"So you basically have mind power?" I asked

"I guess you could call it that."

"So you all can fight, yes?" Nasuada put in before we could go on. They all nodded. "I will put you under someone's command," she held up her hand to stop their protests, "Until I can clearly see that you are capable of taking care of yourselves. I would prefer to keep you powers a secret until further notice. So please, please be careful." She looked at each of them, "Can you fight separate?"

"Yes," Annabeth answered, "But we prefer to be together, even if it's only pairs."

"All right then I will send you your assignments later, for know, you need armor." She looked at me expectantly.

"You are dismissed."

"Yes my lady."