A/N: Welcome to another chapter of Reunions and Stumbling. I'm having far too much fun writing this story. Thank you again to everyone who reviewed. In response to a question asked by "Anonymous" the previous chapter: This will not be all fluff, even though it will definitely be rife with fun, cute little moments. There is a larger storyline I'm playing into, but it's not very heavy. Also, I'm trying a few different things with formatting, so if it looks weird, that's why.

Arya regains consciousness in a warm bed; there's sunlight streaming between the drawn curtains, illuminating motes of dust in the air. Before she even opens her eyes, she knows something is wrong, something is very wrong. Her mind is silent, in a very uncomfortable way; she can't feel anyone, not even Firnen.

Nothing could have happened to him…right? This is a safe place. He's probably off hunting, or with Saphira. Her thoughts raced, worrying that something may have happened to him.

Her eyes snapped open, the light temporarily blinding her. She saw Eragon, sitting in a chair adjacent to the bed, reading something, worry drawn across his face. Even through her uncharacteristic panic, she felt a twinge of excitement at his presence. Arya tried to sit up, but the throbbing in her head kept her down, she settled for rolling over to more comfortably face Eragon, who had just noticed her movement and was looking toward her.

"How do you feel?" he asked, berating himself mentally for an errant thought of how cute she looked in the morning, even with a lump on her head.

"I'm..." her voice was scratchy and difficult to use, "Where's Firnen? I can't feel him," Worry crept into her voice, regardless of her efforts to the contrary.

"He's fine," Eragon looked a bit confused, "he's just outside".

Sure enough, as he said it, a huge green head appeared in the window, nudging his nose through the drawn curtains to see inside. He had a clearly worried expression which softened a bit upon seeing his partner of mind and soul conscious and aware.

Arya relaxed visibly, she couldn't feel him, but there was still a connection, if intangible, between the dragon and rider, showing love and worry through old eyes. Though she was comforted in knowing Firnen was well, seeing him did serve to worry her further about her own well-being.

"I can't hear you….I feel blind." She said toward her dragon, who was also a bit confused.

Firnen was confused because he was aware of her in all the normal ways, their mental bond felt as strong as ever, and he could hear her thoughts which were currently uncharacteristically discordant, like an orchestra playing a series of 7th chords and melodic accidentals.

Eragon was experiencing a similar confusion, because, like Firnen, he could access her thoughts, but she apparently was unaware of it. That troubled him. Telepathic communication and sense was so centric to her life that he was having trouble guessing how she could live without it.

The elf's face held a terrified worry that Eragon had only seen twice before, once when he was injured in Helgrind, and once when she saw her mother's body. He was gripped by an urge to hold her in an embrace, comfort her; tell her she would be alright. He refrained, however, knowing that the only likely reaction to such attempts at comfort would likely be a swift and painful strike to some vulnerable part of his anatomy. He settled instead for taking her hand in his, holding it softly and looking into her eyes.

He told her, with a gentle voice, "You'll be well. The magic has not flown from you. You are still Arya Shadeslayer, and one of the greatest people of any race I have ever known." She smiled inwardly at his use of her title "Shadeslayer". During their last time together by Az Ragni, "Shadeslayer" had become almost a pet name between the two of them, and he was still the only one who ever used it.

As he touched her hand, a shocked expression took her beautiful features. She could feel, see, and hear again. It was like regaining all her primary senses at once, and in a sense she was. She could suddenly feel Eragon's mind in hers, caringly sending waves of comfort. She could feel Firnen's mind, worrying and trying to console her as well. She could even feel Saphira who had recently returned with a fresh kill to share with her green mate.

Eragon finished speaking. He thought briefly that the wonderment she showed and the calming of her frantic mind was due to his gesture of friendship. He smiled slightly and released her hand. Her face fell, like a poor man who was handed all the world's riches only to have to pay it all back in taxes the following day. He felt her thoughts return to panic. He immediately took her hand again, thinking that it was his touch alone which calmed her.

When their hands touched again, Arya got the confirmation she was hoping for. When Eragon touched her, her mind was free again. He was acting as a relay.

Don't flatter yourself Shadeslayer she thought to him with a wry sort of comedy. His eyes went wide, first in offense, then in understanding. I think something has happened to my telepathic system. I must be touching you for it to work.

She sent a similar thought to Firnen, whose attention was torn quite dramatically between his rider and a large, bloody half of a bovine carcass.

"Can you sit up?" Eragon asked, squeezing her hand supportively, which sent a pleasant tingle down her spine. This was in fact due to the contact alone.

She allowed herself a slight smile as she pulled herself upright, grimacing at the throbbing in her head. Eragon, unknown to her, took much of the pain unto himself.

"As I said, you will be well in time".

"How could you possibly know that?" she asked, a bit indignant.

"Because you are strong, and already appear better than you did mere minutes ago." He shot her an encouraging smile, forcefully stifling the need to grimace at the throbbing ache in his head.

Not yet well enough to engage in an ultimately futile argument, Arya allowed herself to try to believe what he had said.

"Should I have breakfast brought to you?"

He sought out the mind of his longest student, Telaine. He found her outside, having just finished her morning meditation.

Telaine, will you send Yvess with two plates of breakfast to my bedchamber?

Yes, Ebrithil, she will be there shortly.

*Telaine POV* 7 years ago*

Telaine was a petite human girl, in her 17th year when Galdok hatched for her. She had shoulder length fiery hair and large, expressive, amber eyes, accented by a light dusting of freckles across her lightly tanned skin. She was the first new rider who came to Farrah Valley. Even so, she had only come 6 years ago. It had taken over 30 years since the end of the Rider war for the first egg to hatch. People had almost started to lose hope that they ever would. When Galdok came out of his egg, tittering and attacking bugs, it had been late afternoon in Teirm. Telaine had been the next in line to touch the egg when they cut it off for the day. She was left standing at the gate, staring longingly at the glittering golden thing. They were leaving tomorrow, there would be no second chance, and she wanted to touch that egg.

Years of growing up in Teirm had its advantages. She spent most of her years since she could walk exploring the city. When she could run and climb, she would run across the rooftops and felt like she owned the city. As an added benefit, this meant she knew the city incredibly well. As she was standing in the market square, she knew that there was a terribly convenient bunch of bricks protruding from a wall about 200 feet behind her, which would allow her to flit across the rooftops and right into the walled-off space where the egg stood on a raised pedestal, guarded by 2 elves, 2 dwarves, 2 Kull and 2 humans. Thankfully, she knew, if she aimed her jump just right, she would fall in the center of the circular wall, and well out of sight.

She started up the bricks and in no time was on a rooftop overlooking the market square. The girl darted across the rooftops until she was standing just above the open-topped circular wall. In the center, she could see the egg, on its raised pedestal, resting nicely on a purple cushion. What she didn't account for was the elves' hearing and telepathic sense. As she prepared for the jump, she was suddenly face to face with a tall elven warrior, blade drawn, looking terrifyingly calm.

"You need not fear, so long as you go no closer to the egg," He stated.

"I just want to touch it," she reasoned, "what's the harm in letting a hopeful girl lay one finger on it".

"Very little, however it breaks from our custom. It would be chaos if it became common knowledge that one could simply be let in after we close the gates".

"hm…true, true. But, what if I don't tell," she winked conspiratorially, still very unsure if this was ever going to work.

Suddenly there was a clatter in the distance; pobably some idiot thief doing some idiot thing that was going to get him killed. However, it provided a useful distraction. In the femtosecond the guard's eyes were turned, she bolted, jumping into the enclosure and immediately putting her hands on the egg, willing desperately for something to happen.

As soon as she touched the egg, there were swords and axes trained on her as well as an arrow from the other elf.

Last chance I guess she thought before saying, "If it doesn't hatch, then you can kill me. If it does then we all win, right?" She put on her best winning smile.

"We do not wish to kill you," one of the elves said, "only for you to leave".

She paused for another moment, hoping desperately, that maybe something would happen, that the egg would move or shake. Finally, as nothing did, she sighed in defeat and acquiesced. "Fine, I'll leave. But let me know if he comes out, alright?"

"You'll be the first to know," said one of the humans sarcastically as they forcefully ushered her out of the chamber.

As she was thrown onto the street, the sun was about 15 degrees above the horizon, not long left in the day. She sighed and leant against a wall, more than a little angry. She then heard a shout then excited whispering behind her. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw a tiny, golden, winged lizard skittering out of the walled area, under the gate. It opened its wings and awkwardly jumped in the air landing just shy of her leg, flopping in the dirt. She lit up with joy, barely believing her eyes.

The guards were all running toward her, most of their mouths (except the elves' of course) agape in shock. She bent down and scooped the tiny creature, barely the size of a housecat, up in her arms, gasping as her palm lit up silver when the gedwey insignia appeared. She fell in love instantly.

"Come with us please," one of the dwarves stated gruffly. She could see the elf who had originally accosted her grimacing slightly at the irony.

*Eragon/Arya POV* Present Day*

Yvess was an older woman, human, obviously very beautiful in her prime. She had a matronly sort of charm which could make just about anyone smile. When she was told to bring two plates to Master Eragon's chamber, she assumed he was just very hungry, from performing some magic of some sort. She never bothered much with understanding magic, but she knew it made the user very tired and hungry, judging by the students' attitudes after magic lessons. In this situation, one could imagine her surprise upon entering the room and seeing two pairs of elven eyes looking back at her, one of them belonging to a female, no less.

The servant smiled knowingly at both of them before setting the tray of food on a dresser and turning to leave.

Eragon's stomach dropped upon seeing Yvess' expression. Arya heard it in his thoughts and stifled a grin.

"Yvess, I'm not…we weren't" he stammered, feeling for all the world like the 16 year old he was when he first met Arya.

"It's okay, Master Eragon, you have the same right to happiness as anyone else. Quite frankly I'm glad you found yourself a girl, and such a pretty one." She always was a bit motherly to him, even though he was at least 10 years older than her.

Arya was so incredibly amused by this exchange that regardless of her efforts, a light giggle slipped out. The musical laugh made Eragon's heart flutter in an uncomfortably familiar way.

"Thank you for breakfast, Yvess," she said as she stopped laughing, biting her lip to prevent herself collapsing back into fits.

The woman smiled gently and left to return to the kitchens, leaving Eragon looking almost disbelievingly at Arya. Both of them, for just a moment, forgot the problems the new day had brought and reveled in the happiness they had not allowed themselves for so long.

A/N: I know this feels a bit like wrapping up, but don't worry, (cracks knuckles) I'm just getting started. Also, on a side note, I keep envisioning the bit with Telaine in Teirm as taking place in Ba Sing Se. *Telaine sprints down a side street, desperately trying to lose the guards tailing her. She lithely bounds over a merchant's cart and the guards gracelessly smash into it, launching dozens of cabbages into the air and leaving a very distressed old man to retrieve his vegetables.* I hope you enjoyed that. Anyway, yeah, more to come, review, feed the writers.