A/N: Here's another chapter.
Enjoy it.
Also, sorry for any and all spelling/grammar mistakes.

Story:

Chapter 12: Day after Day

Morning came with a splash of colors as light filtered into our room and the bauble Oromis gave me chimed. After bathing and eating, seeing that I still had a little time, I decided to unpack the stuff from my bag, since it seemed that we would be staying here a while.

Sitting upon the bed I didn't use, I pulled my bag onto my lap and opened it up. First I took out the dark violet wool blanket that I had bought while in Dras Leona. In ways I sort of missed using it. Promptly unrolling it, I placed it on the bed in luau of the blankets I had taken from it. Next I took out the silver water canister that I had also gotten at Dras Leona. I strapped it to my belt, deciding that it would be handy to keep with me. What clothes I had with me I took out and placed in neat piles on the floor, deciding to wash them when I returned later this evening.

Last but not least, I pulled out the two gifts Dylan had given me, what seemed like ages ago. The beautiful blue lily was still in perfect shape, as pretty and dazzling as when he first gave it to me. I placed it upon the side of the bedside table, admiring its beauty for a few moments. Then I grabbed the dark flute he had given me, and held it to my lips, almost tempted to play it. I hadn't played it since the first time, when Murtagh attacked.

I slowly laid the flute next to the lily, resolved to play it again when I had some free time. It would be a waste to not play it. After I was done unpacking, I placed my bag under the bed, giving it more of a feeling of home, and headed out of the tree house and to its base where an elf was waiting for me. As soon as Nyte touched the ground the elf led us away without a word.

We wove through the trees of the forest until we came to a large field where the sounds of metal on metal could be heard. There were areas for different types of practice and fighting, from swordplay, hand to hand, and archery. Eragon and Saphira had also arrived at the training grounds, and I was about to go up and greet them when another elf led Eragon out onto the field, sword in hand.

I stood and watched as they began their duel, not quite sure what I should do, since I had yet to get a blade of my own. The duel between Eragon and the unknown elf seemed bitter and hostile, as well as rather intense. I turned to where my guide had been to ask who the elf was only to find that he had disappeared.

"It didn't take him long to vanish. He didn't even say anything. What am I supposed to do now?" I looked up at Nyte as I spoke to him, and patted the side of his neck.

"You could always find someone to ask, or…" Nyte nudge the top of my head and nodded to my left, "Or maybe he knows what it is that you are supposed to do."

A smile, and a faint line of shock, crossed my face as I realized that Jak was making his way through the training grounds and to where I stood. In either hand he held a delicately made elvin sword. "What are you-" Before I could finish asking he tossed one of the swords at me and I caught it with my left hand.

"I am going to be your sparring partner and your teacher when it comes to swordsmanship." Jak grinned as he beckoned me to follow him out onto the training grounds. "Other than he who is sparring with Eragon, I am the best at swordsmanship here. Oromis instructed me to be your partner. He figures that I would be the best one for training you. That sword is a gift from the elves, it is of the highest quality and has magic induced in it. It is yours to keep, Kyra."

I looked at the sword in my hand and smiled, "So you'll be my sparring partner every morning? I get to see you every day?"

"Yes. Until I leave for the Varden, that is. When that time comes I have been given the right to choose who you're new partner will be. Until then, though, I will train you to be the best. Beware, I won't go easy on you at all, and by now I have recovered my full strength. This will be far different than our previous spars. You may be strong, but you still have a lot to learn. Come, protect your sword and face me in battle!"

I grinned, unsheathed my sword and protected the edge, and turned to face Jak in a ready stance. The sword was somewhat heavy compared to using Zar'roc the day before, and was definitely heavier than the sticks and wooden swords I had used in the past. Although the length of the sword and the handle fit me perfectly, with just enough room to grab on with both hands if I needed to, but not so much that I had to use both. Jak had obviously paid attention to my fighting style and picked out a rather appropriate sword for me.

We circled each other once, twice, three times before either of us made a move. As the tension built up I noticed that some of the onlookers from Eragon's match had come over to watch Jak and I. A small bead of sweat ran down the side of my face, and just then Jak side stepped and leaped to my right side, aiming his sword towards my ribs. It took all my strength and speed to just barely parry the blow.

Without giving me time to react or attack back, Jak spun around to attack my other side, using the movement from our previous blow to quicken his pace. This time I couldn't respond fast enough to deflect the entire blow as I felt the tip of Jak's sword slam against my ribs. As the duel went on there were plenty of times where I could barely parry, or not at all. Many times I ended up on the ground, disarmed, with Jak's sword pointing to me. Every time this happened he would help me back up and give me tips.

Even while we were dueling Jak constantly gave me tips and pointers; how to dodge certain movements, read an opponent's oncoming attacks, fix my form, better blocking positions, new attacks, and so much more. By the end of the hour I was tired and sore, and had not landed a single blow on Jak. He was definitely a lot stronger, faster, and better than when I had first sparred him. I also felt like I had improved, even just a little. It was also a fun way to spend the first hour of one's morning.

As we stopped for the day and took drinks from our respective water canisters Saphira's voice, clear as day, rang through our heads, "Dead." Jak and I, amongst many other elves, turned our heads towards Saphira and Eragon. Saphira had pinned down the elf Eragon had been sparring with and had one of her large talons pointed at his neck.

Many elves gasped while others quickly moved away. Saphira looked and sounded angry, and I wondered if the elf had somehow angered her. "He," Nyte's voice wafted into my head, "Was disgracing Eragon and being rather rude while they were sparring."

The rest of the elves dispersed as Saphira let the elf up and walked away, Eragon in tow. He leapt onto her back without a word and she jumped off the ground and into the air. As she flew away, Jak patted me on the back and said, "Nice work today. I enjoyed our match. You have a long ways to go, but you show ample improvement." He paused and looked at Saphira's shape in the distance, "She sure is a feisty one, that Saphira."

Nyte made a weird sound in the back of his throat that made it seem as though he was chuckling to himself, "That is because we dragons will do anything to help or protect our riders. We will not tolerate that sort of foolish behavior, even from you oh so mighty elves."

His words almost sounded sarcastic and mocking at the end. I smiled to myself and replied back, "And we riders will do anything to keep our feisty little dragons in line, and help them anyway we can."

"Little?" Nyte swung his head over mine and let out a small roar, "It is you who are little, not us."

Jak and I stared at each other before bursting out laughing, "Very true, Nyte. You are bigger than us, and shall continue to get bigger. I look forward to seeing the day when you are big enough to breathe fire!" Jak grinned and patted Nyte's side.

"That will indeed be a wondrous day," I smiled and then moved to get on Nyte's back, "We must not keep Masters Oromis and Glaedr waiting any longer." At that we said our farewells and then headed off to Oromis's glade to continue the days training.

Our days fell into a simple routine after that. Early every morning I would get up, bathe, eat, and then head to the training grounds. There Jak and I would spend an hour sparring, and then we would head over to Oromis and Glaedr. From there we would spend most of the day training. After that we would head back to our tree house, and on the flight there Nyte and I would discuss all that we had learned in great detail.

Every other evening I would go to Jak and Dylan's garden, often with scrolls to study tucked under my arms. Those days Nyte would either spend resting or out hunting, and sometimes occasionally finding an elf to chat with. Every time I went to the garden Dylan was there, and we would spend our time catching up with one another, and just chatting for fun. Dylan would often help me go through the scrolls I brought with me, happy that he was able to help. Some evenings, very rarely, Jak would show up at the garden. When Jak did show up, we'd set aside my scrolls and the three of us would spend the evening chatting and having fun, often exploring the various parts of their garden.

The evenings that I didn't go to the garden were spent with Nyte. He and I would either stay in the tree house where I could study while sitting next to his side, or occasionally go flying together over Ellesméra and parts of Du Weldenvarden. Often we would sit quietly, just enjoying each other's presence and letting our thoughts, emotions, and beings mix and mingle. Occasionally I would spend those evenings practicing playing the flute Dylan had given me, at first just making noise, and then using scrolls to learn actual songs. Nyte was the only one that got to hear me play, though.

Very rarely Jak and Dylan would come and invite Nyte and me on small tours of Ellesméra. Little at a time they would familiarize parts of Ellesméra with us, until we knew our way around most, if not all, of the great elf city. We could find our way from out Tree house to the training grounds, the Menoa tree, the hut where the blacksmith elf, Rhunön, lived, the Tidari halls, where Queen Islanzadí lived, and many other places without out getting lost. The more time we spent in Ellesméra, the more at home and at peace we felt, even though we knew it would be short lived.

Training with Oromis and Glaedr was advancing quite well, though. It wasn't long before I could hear no more and become one with the animals and insects in my small clearing. After that, I no longer had to go to my clearing, while Eragon still had to go every day. During the hour where I didn't have to meditate Oromis tried to teach me more of the basics of just about everything to catch me up with Eragon.

Oromis was happy that I had completed the meditation training so quickly since it gave him more time to teach me other things, for I had far less training and knowledge than Eragon. It didn't take long, though, for me to catch up within the knowledge of the Ancient Language. I, too, and Nyte, had to start using the Ancient language all the time, no matter who we were talking to. At first this proved to be a difficult task but as the days went by it became easier, and more natural to me.

There were times that I would chance upon new words on my own, without anyone or anything telling me it. Oromis said that it was because I was part elf, and elves by nature know the Ancient Language. It made me happy to know that I could so easily learn it.

Throughout our days training we learned many things. We studied the past of the riders, elves, dwarves, humans, and all of Alagaësia in general. We learned all aspects of the Ancient Language, from reading, writing, and speaking it. Strengthening our physical bodies by performing the Rimgar and other arduous tasks was a daily part of our lessons as well. There were also times that Eragon and I would go with Glaedr and Saphira and Nyte would stay with Oromis, or we would all go flying together. All different aspects of magic were included in our daily lessons as well, of course.

Eragon excelled in the magical aspects more so than myself. Often times it was hard for him, because of his back, but it was also hard for me, because of the wound on my arm. More often than not Oromis would just have me sit and watch as Eragon completed some of the tasks. He pushed Eragon harder with the magic because if he was pushed too far his back would cause a fit of pain, and then in a short while he'd be able to get up and try again, but if I was pushed too far I would slip into that awful dream state for days or longer, which we couldn't risk.

Some of the smaller tasks that required less energy I was able to perform. When I could perform the magical tasks the quality of my work was outstanding, according to Oromis. Better than some full blood elves, too. The more and more I used the smaller amounts of magic, the easier it was to use my magic without slipping away.

The magic we learned was far and in-between. Moving objects without touching them, restraining each other from moving, creating things, manipulating ourselves and other animals were common practices in our daily training. As well as learning how best to build up the barriers in our minds, and breaking into others' minds.

Though one of my favorite magical things we learned was how to capture an image with magic – making a fairth. Oromis gave us slates and sat us a ways outside his hut, and instructed us with what to do. I surveyed the area time and time again, but I couldn't find anything that I wanted to place upon the surface of the tablet.

Eragon on the other hand quickly picked something and made a brilliant picture focused around a leaf, with its details very pronounced, but the rest of the picture slightly blurry. Oromis gave him another tablet, and it was then that I got an idea, "Master, do I have to chose something that I can see right now?"

"Do you mean to make an image of something from your memory? If so, I'd advise against it, for often times the pictures become askew from what they would originally be. If you have complete concentration and a great memory, with practice, you may be able to do it, but not for your first try."

"I do not wish to take from my memory, Master. I just wish to use something that I myself am not seeing." I paused, wondering if I should just explain what I meant or not.

"Very well. You can try this once, but if it does not work I wish for you to choose something you see, here, in this glade." Oromis smiled and nodded towards me.

"Yes Master." I promptly closed my eyes and studied the scene that flowed into my mind. I took in every detail, every aspect of what I saw, and burned it into my mind's eye. Satisfied, I whispered the words that would place the image onto the tablet.

When I had finished I opened my eyes to see the scene, exactly how I had seen it, placed on the tablet. The picture was breathtaking, and not a single detail was missed. Proud, I offered up the tablet to Oromis's outstretched hand. He grasped it and fixed his eyes on the image. Awe and aspiration filled his gaze and voice as he spoke, "Very nicely done, Kyra. Not only did you grasp every detail and aspect of this lesson well, but to use such a unique method. It makes me ashamed to have not thought of such a thing before. Would you like to see, Eragon?"

Eragon nodded, and took my tablet from Oromis when he offered it. His eyes bulged as he looked over the image and handed it back to me saying, "How did you do this? It's brilliant."

I smiled, "All I did was look through Nyte's eyes, and placed what he saw, and how he saw it." Eragon leaned over to look at the image again, and I let my eyes drift to it as well. Placed upon the tablets surface was a scene that Nyte had seen just moments before. He was resting on a rock by a small creek, in the middle of the forest.

The image depicted what was in front of him; Glaedr was across the creek to the right, his wings tucked against his sides, the tip of his right foreleg and tail were resting in the cool, sparkling water, and a small tuft of smoke drifted out of the side of his mouth. Most of his body was out of the image for how huge his bulk was and how far off to the side of Nyte's vision he had been. Behind and to the side of Glaedr were thick, tall, trees that reached up into the sky. On the left of Glaedr was a huge clearing, with many different wild flowers dotting the surface of the ground, and trees could be seen in the far off distance.

In the left side of the clearing and a short distance away was Saphira. She was in mid flight, just about to land, hanging there in the air. Her wings were outstretched and her body slightly slanted towards Glaedr. All of her scales sparkled as the sunlight glinted off of them and the air swirled around her.

The picture itself was especially intense, with every detail pronounced more than if a person had been the one standing there, and everything had a slight violet hue, for it was seen through Nyte's very eyes. The picture was breathtaking and beautiful, and it made me very happy. "I am honored, little flower, that you decided to use what I saw for making a fairth."

Nyte's voice flitted into my head and then left just as quickly as he turned his attention back to what Glaedr was teaching him. Looking back up at Oromis I saw him staring at my fairth with a particular intensity. "Master, if it is not too humble of a picture, I would like to give this to you as a gift."

For a moment a look of surprise passed over Oromis, and he almost rejected the gift, but then thought better of it and happily took it from me. "I am very grateful, Kyra. This picture is unique, and the way Glaedr and Saphira are depicted is something that I would never be able to recreate even if I wanted to. It is nice to see my own dragon in such a brilliant new way. This is a very wonderful gift, from both you and Nyte."

It was then that we noticed the approach of two people. The elf princess Arya, followed by a short little man that I guessed was a dwarf walked up and greeted us. After some banter with Oromis and Eragon the dwarf, who was the first dwarf I had ever seen, came up and introduced himself to me, "The names Orik, it's a pleasure to meet you. It sure warmed my heart to hear that another dragon ride has appeared!"

"I am Kyra and it is nice to meet you, too, Orik." I smiled at him as we shook hands. I learned that he was also part of the Varden, and that he had been sent by the Varden as well as the dwarf king to watch over Eragon's training. He seemed nice enough as it was.

Orik and Arya then settled to watch Eragon create his fairth, to satisfy Orik's needs to watch him train. A few moments later Eragon had created a new fairth, and passed it to Oromis. After a moment of examining it he then passed it to Arya. A moment later she seemed to become extremely angry and smashed the fairth on the ground before stalking off. It turned out that Eragon had made a fairth of Arya, and it was then that I learned of Eragon's infatuation with Arya.

After that Arya never again came to Oromis's while we were training. Extremely rarely Orik would show up for a few moments, and then leave again. I did notice, however, that he showed up at the training grounds every morning to watch Eragon. As the days dragged by I realized that Eragon's condition was rapidly worsening.

Not only did he seem rather upset over the incident with Arya, but physically he was getting worse and worse. It turned so that as he walked there was a slight slump to his posture, and he shuffled his feet. His fits of pain were happening more and more often, and after one particularly bad one during the Rimgar he refused to try it again. Oromis bolstered him with kind, strong, words and he got up again, but I could tell that it was tearing him apart to do so.

It wasn't just Eragon that was having a hard time with things, either. Saphira also seemed to be having problems paying attention and behaving properly while training with Glaedr and Nyte. Things got especially bad on one afternoon in particular. Eragon, Oromis, and myself were sitting inside of Oromis's hut, when we all felt sudden jabs of pain that were not our own.

Glaedr was the first one back, wounded in a few places. He sat by the river licking his wounds, not allowing anyone near him for a while. Eventually Oromis was able to approach him and tend to his wounds, but he still refused to explain what had happened.

Worried, Eragon, at Oromis's approval, called a horse from the forest and sped off to wherever Saphira was. As soon as he was gone Nyte appeared in the sky and landed before me, a huge slash in his right wing. The sight of his torn wing and his blood dripping to the ground sent my stomach lurching.

"What happened?" I cried, while carefully moving my fingers along his wounded wing, slowing but surely healing it bit by bit.

Nyte grunted and winced with the pain, "Saphira attacked Glaedr…and I got caught in the middle. I don't even know if my wound was inflicted by Saphira or Glaedr, for everything is but a blur."

Surprise filled me as Nyte spoke, "Why…why would Saphira attack Glaedr? What would provoke her to do such a thing…?" I looked at Nyte while I continued to heal his wing, making sure to go slow enough that I would not trigger a lapse with my arm, "It saddens me to see you hurt like this. I'm sorry I wasn't able to protect you."

"Don't be sorry, little flower. It is not your fault, so do not burden yourself with this. Even now you are healing me, which is much more than I could have asked for. Thank you. As for Saphira…Well, she was upset by the fact that Glaedr only treats her as his pupil, nothing more. When she had first seen him she had felt that they would become mates, and together they would save our race. She became overly infatuated with him, and it hurt her to realize that he did not wish to mate with her. She then lashed out and attacked him."

I patted his side as I finished healing his wing, "Done. I sort of feel bad for Saphira…but that is still no excuse to lash out and attack her teacher. Glaedr is old and battle worn. Who knows, before Galbatorix caused the fall of the rides he may have had a mate. Mating with Saphira would be wrong on so many levels for him. I do not blame him for treating her as such. You might want to be careful, though, Nyte. You have grown a bit since we have gotten here, and now that she can no longer set her sights on Glaedr, Saphira very well may set her sights on you."

Sure enough, within a few days Saphira had begun paying more and more attention to Nyte, and trying to get him to play with her. She kept pestering him to the point where Nyte flipped out on her.

After gathering at Oromis's in the morning, before the dragons took off, Saphira had bit the end of Nyte's tail and tried to drag him. He sunk his claws into the ground, yanked his tail from her mouth, whipped his head around and roared at her with all the intensity he could muster.

"Leave me alone!" He shouted, his voice crashing into our minds like the waves from a storm on rocks. The intensity of his anger made everyone, including Oromis and Glaedr, take a step back.

"What is wrong with you? You need to calm down and quit bugging me. Focus on training. Focus on what Glaedr and Oromis are trying so hard to teach us. Saphira, you are a mighty dragon, you are strong, wise, and beautiful, but you need to realize when you are going too far! You should have learned that after what happened with Glaedr!" Nyte ranted a little more before Saphira growled softly.

"Is it so wrong for me to want to become close with you, so that we can save our race, after living so much of my life thinking that our race was doomed?" Saphira's voice was soft and quite, and paled in comparison to Nyte's angry rant.

"To save our race? You pester me day in and day out, and even attacked Glaedr under the confines of saving our race? You are foolish! That is not how our race should be saved. Even if we were to eventually mate and make hatchlings, it would mean nothing if Galbatorix is still in power. How we can save our race is to train hard now, defeat Galbatorix, and save the eggs he still has!" Nyte roared again, and then paced away, "Maybe you will find a mate amongst that egg…But I will never mate with you as long as you are like this."

It took a few days to mend the relationship between Nyte and Saphira after that. Nyte's words seemed to have affected Saphira though, for she later apologized to both Glaedr and Nyte and seemed to focus on her training with extreme intensity.

At one point after Saphira and Nyte's blowout, Eragon and I decided to sit down and have a chat. First Eragon told me of his story; how he was a simple farmer living in Carvahall when he found Saphira's egg, how the Ra'zac had come and killed his Uncle, how he had left with the old storyteller Brom, and he told of his time traveling across Alagaësia, meeting Murtagh, joining the Varden and all it entailed, and coming to Ellesméra. In turn I told him my story, leaving out just a few details, like my weird dreams, which I still had yet to tell Oromis about, and a few other things I'd just rather keep to myself. I had a feeling he kept a few things from me as well, though it was no big deal.

Getting to know one another helped forge a friendship between Eragon and me, instead of just a mutual rivalry and kinship between students and fellow dragon riders. We got to know each fairly well and even started spending a day or two here and there together during our free time. Though Eragon still seemed rather depressed and upset and in pain, and sometimes it was better for me to just leave him alone.

As the days went by everything started to blur and mix together. Sparring with Jak every morning was hard work on my body, and training with Oromis got more and more intense every day, and the only thing that kept me together was my free evenings afterwards. Even if I had to study, spending some relaxing time with Dylan, Nyte, and occasionally Eragon, Jak or even Orik, was my saving grace. I could read over the scrolls Oromis gave me at whatever pace I wanted and still enjoy the company of others.

More than a month had passed since I had first arrived in Ellesméra, and slowly but surely I realized that more and more elves were pouring into the city. Not only were there far more elves, but everything had a more festive feeling to it. Decorations were put up everywhere and the elves sang to the plants and trees more than ever.

Upon asking Dylan and Jak about it, they revealed to me that it was in preparation for the upcoming Agaetí Blödhren, the Blood-Oath Celebration honoring the pact between the elves and dragons. They also told me how even I was expected to bring something to the celebration, which got me panicking. I had only a few days to come up with an art work to rival that of the elves.

End of Chapter 12! ((Up Next: Chapter 13: The Spice of Life))

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