Istalri was excited, but she tried not to show it because she new her mother, Jeirne would frown upon it. This was something she tried to avoid because it came along with a lot of disapproving glances.

But whether she licked it or not Istalri was excited because today was the day of the choosing of the riders. She had arrived a week ago along with other young elves from the city of Kirtan. They had all come to Ellesmera to see if a dragon would choose them as a rider. The leader of the riders, Eragon had sent a mere five eggs and of those five no elves could be chosen, but his motive were understandable for it was only the first elven choosing so taking it slowly was best.

At the moment she was in a tree house for guests exactly for this purpose. Each floor had it's own young elf in it. She had just woken up and dressed in her finest tunic. Her heart was pounding loudly that she thought she could hear it with the elves increased hearing.

She quickly pulled on her boots, and ate an apple, she wasn't really hungry though. Plus there would be a feast in the honor of the new rider(s), but she new she had better eat something to keep her stomach gnawing on something. She threw the core into the forest and sang to it and a little apple tree sprouted out. Singing had always helped calm her nerves.

The choosing was too take place outside of Tialdari hall. Arya drottning and her green dragon, Firnen were overseeing it. As Istalri walked over to join the line of elves who were to participate in the choosing, she caught sight of Firnen's bright scales curled around a newly sung throne. In it sat the queen Arya, also know as Shadeslayer, dragon-rider, and Argetlam.

The line was so long she doubted she would ever get a chance to even see an egg. Plus there would be speeches and such before the eggs were even placed in the hands of the first elf. The elves next to her, Keil and Serib who were about her age, looked just as restless as she felt. They twiddled their thumbs and tapped their feet. Most people in line were doing something of that sort, they were all excited so it is only to be expected Istalri thought. Their ages, she knew, ranged from 16 to 100. This is still considered young on elves terms, but she knew that the humans thought differently. She herself was 18 which was very, Very young still.

Serib nudged her "Hey, the queen is speaking!"

"What? Oh sorry, " I whisper and turn my attention back to the throne.

Queen Arya was standing and Firnen had lifted his head up.

"Today we all gather here to witness an event that has not taken place for centuries. Eragon Shadeslayer, Kingkiller, and new leader of the Dragon Riders along with his Dragon, Saphira Brightscales, have graciously sent us five dragon eggs. To the many of you this may not seem like much, but it is, for there is only one of them and many of you along with the many of the other races. They will be hard pressed to train you all, so let us be thankful that they have sent us these eggs and grateful that Galbatorix has been killed so that we may once again hold this ceremony!"

The crowd cheered and at least half of the elves sang in celebration. Istalri happily joined in when the elves sang at celebrations she loved how the sound seemed to go on forever. She liked to imagine that it went all the way to the edges of Alagaesia.

After this one several other speeches and words of thanks followed. By the time the Queen started explaining how the choosing would work it was already noon time.

"Now in case you did not know it does take a while for the egg o actually hatch after it has been held by its future rider. So this is how the choosing will work. Each one of you will be able to hold each egg for a minute. If you feel one shake, call over any elf that is helping me to oversee this process. If they confirm this then you will be allowed to take it back to your quarters with you. We will go into more details about this when it occurs. Also we will be repeating this process again and again everyday for this week so that every one will be able to try each egg. Now enough talk…LET THE CHOOSING BEGIN!"

The crowd cheered and sang again as the first egg was passed to the first elf. Once it was a quarter through the next egg was started and so on. The first two never reached her, both were found shaking early on. The third one reached her, a pretty Purple one with bluish veins, but nothing happened when it was with her. The next two were the same, a brown one and a maroon one both reached her and left without a twitch.

That was all five not a single one moved while it was in her minute long care she sighed. There was always tomorrow she thought. Keil took home the purple one, which most likely meant that it would hatch for him, seeing that she hadn't felt it move at all. Two other elves took eggs home and two others hadn't wiggled at all. Istalri decided not to keep her hopes too high, there was a very small chance that she were to get chosen in the first place and now with at least one egg out of the picture, it was even less likely.

The next day she made a point of arriving earlier but it seems that everyone had the same idea and were already there. She craned her neck to see whether there were any riders with dragons joining the Queen and Firnen today. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw there wasn't. Though she knew she would be happy for any elf who got an egg to hatch for them and Keil especially, since she knew him well, she knew it lowered her chances more if some hatched already.

"Unfortunately no eggs hatched tonight," started Arya drottning, "but today is another day. Let the second day of choosing…BEGIN!"

The first egg started it's round. It was the maroon egg. On Serib's turn it wiggled an elf confirmed it. She left then with that elf. The other eggs passed uneventfully. The purple one was last. When it reached her she felt nervous, like it was her last chance, but there was still the rest of the week. She took it gently from the elf before her. It was still, but she knew she still had a minute. Soon, she knew, time was going to run out, but suddenly the egg twitched. She stared at it hopefully. They she felt it shake! She reached out her mind to the nearest overseeing elf. Mine has shook! He quickly located her and place his hand over the egg. As soon as the next tremor ran through the egg he nodded.

"Celia, come here," he called then looking at Istalri he said "Celia shall go with you."

Ok finally done! Nice and long too!enjoy.