Arya stared at the tiny dragon before her who looked up at her with its intelligent eyes, a confused expression on its face. "What do we do with it?" Zyana asked in a small voice behind her sister. Arya shook herself out of her reverie and turned to her sister. "Get Nasuada. She needs to know about this and she will know what to do next." Zyana ran to the door and quickly sent one of the guards to get the Varden leader, then returned and stood beside her sister.
The young dragon walked over to them awkwardly, stumbling as it tried to put one foot in front of the other. Arya smiled at it and instinctively reached out a hand to steady it. As she did so, the green dragon before her cocked it's head slightly and looked up at her in confusion, tripping and falling over with a small squeak escaping its amall jaws. With it's bright, intelligent green eyes it looked up at her innocently, and seeing her smile widen, it walked slowly towards her and nestled against her legs.
"Well, I think it's obvious who the rider is." Eragon said sarcastically with a small grin. Arya looked at him quickly and said, "Don't be silly Eragon. I'm not the rider, we still need to find him or her."
He rolled his eyes as he admired the tiny dragon at her feet. "The dragon's not fooling anyone. It has chosen you."
She looked at him hardly and, to prove her point, she reached down to her feet and ran her fingers over the dragon's smooth scales, causing a low hum to emit from the bottom of it's throat. It turned it's head until it found Arya's palm and touched it's head to it.
A searing pain ran up and down her arm, and she screamed out and clutched her hand to her chest. Zyana yelped and glared at the dragon who looked up at Arya apologetically. Eragon grabbed hold of Arya's arm and steadied her as she wobbled slightly and sat her on her bed.
At that moment, Nasuada entered the tent hurriedly after hearing the elf yell out, and her eyes widened at the scene in front of her. "It hatched! This is indeed excellent news! Arya." She turned and looked towards the elf who was still clutching her wrist. Arya looked up. "Nasuada. What... I..." She stammered slowly, and released her hand and looked at the mark that had been left on her palm. A gedwey ignasia.
"I'm the rider." She said to herself in disbelief. The green dragon before her hummed contentedly and rubbed against Arya's legs before jumping into her lap. Arya smiled and placed her hands around it and hugged it close. "I'm actually a rider?" Eragon beamed at her and placed an arm around her shoulders, revealing his own gedwey ignasia. "You are. I told you the dragon wasn't fooling anyone. This is truly amazing!" He exclaimed happily.
Zyana went up to her sister and hugged her close. "Oh, Arya. It is absolutely adorable, and it's all yours!" Arya frowned slightly. "What's wrong?" She asked innocently.
"I wonder if it is male or female. I don't like to call it 'it'." Arya said, not taking her eyes off the dragon who was now playing with a loose strand of her hair. Eragon got up and left the tent, then returned soon after with Saphira and Thorn. "Saphira will tell you if it is male or female." He said proudly, allowing her to poke her large blue head through the tent. She took a long look at the hatchling who studied her with great interest. The pair looked as though they were communicating, and for a while nothing but silence covered the room. Saphira was the first to move.
It is a male! She projected her thoughts to all in range, not hiding the extreme happiness in her tone. Arya raised an eyebrow at Eragon and gave him a quizzical look, but he just shrugged his shoulders and turned back to his dragon. She withdrew her head and roared loudly, making the more curious people of the Varden move away hurriedly. Thorn poked his head through the door next and looked at the green hatchling in Arya's arms. They touched snouts and Thorn withdrew his large red head and rejoined Saphira.
"A male." Arya said still watching her dragon. "Well, my little dragon hatchling, I'll bet your hungry." The hatchling raised it's head, suddenly alert at the mention of food. Arya smiled proudly down on him and stood, moving him onto her shoulders. "Looks like we best get you some food then."
She left the tent with Eragon, Zyana, Murtagh and Nasuada close behind, and began to walk in the direction of the kitchen area. The people of the Varden watched with amazement and avid curiosity at the sight of the baby dragon curled around Arya's shoulders, but he didn't seem to notice, being too busy playing with the loose strands of Arya's hair that fell into his face.
When they entered the tent, they were greeted warmly by the chef who immediately collected the finest meat and handed it to Arya. She took the young dragon off her shoulders and placed him on the ground giving him the meat, which disappeared within seconds. When he was finished, he looked up at Arya hopefully for more, and she couldn't resist but to oblige. After finishing another load of meat, his stomach was bulging. He rubbed against Arya's legs and she picked him up once again and placed him on her shoulders. He hummed softly and nestled deeper into her hair, hiding him from any onlookers.
Arya smiled at him and thanked the cook before exiting. Nasuada stopped her with an apologetic look. "Arya, I know that the dragon just hatched, and you will want to spend some time to get to know him, but I need to host a meeting immediately to discuss..." She trailed off as she saw the spectators trying to listen in. "Strategies."
Arya nodded, sighing inwardly. "Yes, my lady." She replied. "I will be there as soon as I can." Nasuada nodded, pleased, and headed off towards her own tent. Arya sighed loudly rousing the emerald dragon curled around her. "I guess that we have plenty of time for that later, though, don't we?"
The hatchling replied by playfully biting the bottom of her ear, making his rider chuckle. Eragon came and stood beside her. "Did Nasuada speak to you about the meeting?" Arya turned to him, only then guiltily remembering his presence. She turned and saw Murtagh and Zyana lost in conversation and nodded her head. "Yes. Will you be attending as well?"
"Of course." Eragon smiled. "We'll walk there together." Nodding, she followed him slowly in the direction of Nasuada's tent, a small smile on her lips.
"Thank you for coming." Nasuada said happily. "I really do appreciate it. Now let the meeting begin. Arya, congratulations on your new dragon. He is perfect, and couldn't have hatched at a better time." She said to Arya who beamed in response. "However, now that he has hatched, we must decide what the plan of action will be for the other egg. I can't imagine passing it through the Varden, that would still be too dangerous, but we need to find it's rider."
Murtagh, Zyana, Eragon and Arya all nodded systematically in agreement. "But if we can't pass it through the Varden, how then, will we manage this?" Murtagh asked. Nasuada placed her forehead in her hand and rubbed her temples. "I do not know, but we do need to think of something."
"What if we disguise it slightly, and temporarily get rid of its glow?" Zyana asked.
"That could work, but we'd have to use some strong magic to alter it that much." Nasuada replied.
"That shouldn't be a problem. It would only be for the amount of time it is being passed through the Varden, and Murtagh, Eragon and I could take turns at doing it, and if we get too tired, draw energy off one another." Nasuada nodded, seemingly pleased.
"It is a sound plan, but will you be able to do that every day until the egg hatches?"
"It won't be a problem at all. We can pull it off." Zyana said exchanging a smile with Murtagh. Nasuada nodded her agreement. "Very well, but we will wait for a few more days before bringing it out. Do you all agree?" Everyone nodded and Nasuada smiled.
"Very good. You may go now and I will see you later." Arya stood and left, with the others close behind. Eragon caught up to her and walked her to her tent.
"Do you know what you will name him?" He asked. Arya's eyes widened, and she shook her head. "No. To tell you the truth, I had forgotten about that until now." Eragon smiled. "That's ok. It took me a while to name Saphira."
Arya looked at the young dragon who had fallen asleep on her shoulders and smiled. "I will think about a name, but it has to be perfect." Eragon nodded in agreement. "I will leave you alone then. You need some time to bond." He smiled at her warmly before getting onto Saphira and flying off into the bright blue sky.
Arya smiled after them, looking forward to when she could fly with her dragon. She frowned again and entered her tent. She took him off her shoulders and laid him in her lap, running her fingers over his tiny emerald scales. She ran through a list of names that she had remembered from the old tales of dragon riders and counted them on her fingers. "Cadon, Arandor, Nasaletto, Infernom, Naranefel."
She looked at her dragon, but none of these names fit. Frowning, she thought that maybe she could try to match a name to it's colour like Saphira. "How about Emeralfel, Emress, Emralid." She ran through a list of others but none seemed to fit. Shaking her head, she looked at the hatchling curled in her lap. At that moment, she had so many emotions running through her, she didn't know what was coming over her.
"Ilian." she muttered quietly into the silence. Happiness. The dragon in her lap woke quickly and looked up at her confusedly. Arya returned the gaze before saying it again. He hummed slightly, and Arya felt a slight brush against her consciosness before he nestled further into her clothes.
"Ilian. You are Ilian. My happiness."
Zyana had decided to walk with Murtagh while they had some free time and they took the opportunity to discuss the new arrival.
"I wonder what she is going to name him." Zyana said excitedly. Murtagh nodded.
"I wonder too, but no doubt it will be fitting. What I really can't wait for though, is bringing down this maniac that the empire calls a king. Just think, in the next few years, we could be rid of him and Alagaesia will be free forever!" Zyana smiled and laughed loudly.
"Indeed it will be absolutely wonderful! We just have to wait for the hatchling to become stronger, then we can wipe the evil smirk off his old face." Murtagh pictured the look on Galbatorix's face when he found out about the missing eggs and the possibilities that they may have hatched for the Varden and chuckled to himself.
They reached the nearby lake and sat down on its edge, looking out over the calm water. Zyana closed her eyes contentedly at the sun beating down on her face and Murtagh smiled at her as she did. Realising he was staring, he turned his head away from her in an attempt to hide the rising colour in his cheeks.
They sat basking in the sun in silence for some time until they heard a dragon landing behind them. They both turned and saw Thorn standing there, with a slight smirk on his face. Zyana smiled back at him and Murtagh leaped to his feet and hid behind Zyana. "Murtagh. What are you...?"
"That look always means trouble for me. Don't let him near me Zyana." he said looking at his dragon. Zyana laughed.
"Oh, and how am I meant to stop this almighty dragon?" she asked mockingly earning a glare from Murtagh when Thorn hummed. "You really shouldn't give the oversized lizard compliments Zyana. They go straight to his head and its big enough already." Thorn puffed smoke out of his nostrils.
Excuse me child? Oversized lizard? Big head? Oh, I'm sorry, but you will have to pay for that! Thorn said projecting his thoughts to Zyana as well. Zyana laughed as Thorn took off and pulled his rider from behind her and took him out into the lake.
"What are you doing Thorn? Zyana! Don't just stand there! Help me!" He yelled both with his mind and aloud.
I'm Teaching you a lesson. Zyana won't be able to help, so don't even try. Thorn replied smiling. When they were far enough over the water, Thorn dropped him into the cool water before diving in himself. Murtagh coughed as he swallowed some water and glared at his dragon.
What was that for? I was having a good time with Zyana.
Thorn chuckled. Oh, I know. But it got boring just watching you admire her, so I thought you needed to think about something else. Murtagh glared again.
I was not admiring her. We were talking.
Thorn rolled his eyes. Oh really? Judging by the colour I saw in your cheeks you weren't just talking.
Murtagh felt his cheeks burn red again and was glad Zyana could neither see nor hear what was going on. Thorn chuckled again and figuring he had suffered enough punishment for one day, bade him get onto his back and he would take him back to where Zyana stood. Murtagh sighed with relief and obliged, grateful to get out of the water.
Once he was securely on Thorn's back, he took to the air, the wind brushing his face, chilling him slightly. They landed still dripping next to a smiling Zyana who took one look at Murtagh and began laughing hysterically at the sight of him.
Murtagh glared at her half heartedly and joined in, his deep laughter complimenting her feminine one. Once they calmed themselves, Zyana and Murtagh decided they would walk to camp rather than ride on Thorn, who flew away grudgingly, saying he was going hunting anyway. Murtagh shook his head at his dragon and the pair walked back to camp laughing the whole way.
When they arrived, Zyana bid Murtagh go change into some dry clothes and departed in the direction of Arya's tent.
"Knock, knock. Are you decent Arya?" Zyana asked. "Yes. Come in Zyana." came Arya's cheerful voice from the other side. Zyana entered and found Arya's dragon sleeping soundly in her lap. She smiled and sat down beside her sister.
"He really is precious. You are so absolutely blessed to have him." Arya smiled.
"He is isn't he?"
"Have you named him yet?" Zyana asked eagerly. She saw the smile on her sister's face widen. "Actually, I have. His name is Ilian."
Zyana smiled. "Happiness. It is very fitting." Ilian woke and yawned widely, showing rows of short, sharp teeth and looked up at Zyana, recognition apparent. He moved into her lap and licked her hand playfully when she scratched his scales.
"I think he likes you." Arya stated. "I'm glad. I would be very upset if he didn't." Zyana chuckled.
"Where are you keeping the other egg?" she asked Arya. Ilian distracted, Arya rose and walked over to her dresser and pulled out the bag that contained it. The egg's glow had grown so much that the bag itself was illuminated with a bright purple light.
"I wonder why it's doing that." Arya mused.
"It might have something to do with its emotions," Zyana guessed. "When I first spoke to it the glow intensified slightly as if it knew it was going to be free." Arya shrugged. "Maybe. But it might be something more." She handed the egg to Zyana who held it in her arms protectively, Ilian sniffing at it curiously.
She ran her fingers over its smooth surface and watched mesmerised as the glow pulsated. Thinking she couldn't wait for the egg to hatch to see what powers it held, she sat it down in front of her and began practicing some spells that would disguise the glow. She practiced for some time until she had found a spell that had almost hid the glow altogether. Seemingly satisfied with her efforts, she let her hold on the egg reduce until the magic faded altogether. She look at the egg alarmed, for the glow had now completely vanished.
"Oh, no. Arya, what have I done?" Arya examined the egg and shook her head, bewilderment written all over her features.
"I don't know, but we must not panic. It could just be the eggs reaction to the magic, this might is what may happen when magic is used on it." Zyana shook her head. "No, it's not. I've done something to it. I can't believe I could be so daft!"
Arya picked up the egg and held it close. "Don't worry Zyana, we will figure this out, everything will be fi..." she stopped midsentence, hearing a faint clicking noise.
Zyana's worried expression haltered after hearing the noise as well.
"Was that you?" She asked, but Arya just shook her head.
"It came from the egg." Both girls exchanged glances as the noise sounded once again.