Hey readers! Just letting you all know, I got a giant bamboo splinter in my hand, and I just removed it (ouch) so this chapter will probably take a while typing and putting up. I apologize for the pace on this one and… well… Read and review!
Disclaimer: Oh, disclaimers… Can I have Arya already? Please?
Saphira roared, clawing at the floor. It didn't scratch, but it made a horrible sound. Arya covered her ears.
"Bhronnë… You hatched." Arya breathed. Her hand was hovering on her stomach.
Yes. I did. Bhronnë thought in Arya's mind. And I can use sarcasm.
Arya smiled at that. She reached forward to touch him, knowing that if she were marked a Rider she would feel intense pain. She patted his head. The emerald dragon purred.
Nothing happened. The small male creature poked Arya with his nose, and still nothing happened. I cannot mark you, elf. He called for Saphira, but then made a loud, baby-dragon squeak, cursing his foolishness. She cannot come up here. Let me ride on your shoulder down the staircase.
Arya knelt by the desk, feeling Bhronnë clamber clumsily onto her shoulder. She stood, and the baby dragon almost dug his claws into the elf's shoulder due to imbalance. Pardon me, He said in an embarrassed tone. I seem to not have developed coordination yet. Arya smiled. She reached the bottom of the stairs, and Saphira was staring wide-eyed at the handsome dragon.
Did he mark you? Saphira demanded.
As Arya opened her mouth, Bhronnë started to speak. Saphira… I am incapable of marking the one who hatched me.
Ah… Saphira began to curse, and Arya took a step back from the irritated dragon. Saphira turned around and belched a blue inferno out the treehouse, thankfully not catching anything on fire. When she faced the two again, they were wide-eyed, even golden-eyed Bhronnë.
This is not good. Glaedr warned me of this….
"WHAT?! How did you know about the egg and not tell anyone, Saphira?!" It was Arya's turn to curse. When she was finished, she murmured, "Excuse me. Continue?"
Saphira looked unsure, as if she shouldn't reveal anything at all about her father's encounter. Well, I went to Glaedr's grave, and I passed out. He had brought me the void for a few minutes so he could explain everything I was confused about. Such as him, The tip of Saphira's tail poked Bhronnë, and he had told me how this little one may not be able to hatch. She stopped speaking for a moment. HE also revealed his identity as Bhronnë and my father.
Arya nodded. "I suspected as much. But why can't he claim a Rider?"
Bhronnë squeaked urgently, and hopped nimbly off of Arya's shoulder. The two looked at him, suspicious. I think… I think I was born a wild dragon. Why I hatched for you Arya, I do not know… Everyone could see and idea spark into the emerald dragon's eye. I should not be able to communicate like this either! Unless… Unless my Rider is….
Arya gasped. She pulled up her shirt, exposing her belly. A golden eye looked up to the pale skin, and tapped her gently with a claw. The force was enough to knock Arya off of her feet and across the room. She was breathing heavily. Lifting up her shirt once more, what she saw wasn't plain skin: A gedwëy ignasia symbol had appeared right below her belly button.
"I do not know what this means." Arya said, standing up and walking over to the small dragon. She felt an ownership to him now, although what the magnificent creature had done might have harmed her child. "All other Dragon Riders were marked upon the palm." She left her shirt up a bit, so that the two dragons in the room could still see the gedwëy ignasia.
Nor do I, Saphira said, but I have a feeling it has to do with both you and the child, Arya.
Bhronnë's eyes lit up in agreement. Arya was skeptical, but nodded. "Maybe…"
All of a sudden the elf felt a dragging weariness in a section of her mind unknown to her. "Bhronnë, are you tired?" The dragon had the look in his eye, and nodded.
Arya bent down to pick him up, and Eragon strode into the room. His eyes were lit with anger until he noticed the little emerald dragon. "So, you got a mark, then? Hold up your palms." The male elf said gently. Arya held up her palms, and snickered.
"You won't find it there." She looked down then back up, quickly, as if hinting where to find it. She lifted her shirt more, and showed the gedwëy ignasia.
Eragon gasped. "I know this from my studies with Oromis…" He trailed off, fingering Arya's Rider symbol and then standing straight again, looking her straight in the eye. "Arya… this has only happened once before in history…"
She put her hand on her hip. "Are you going to tell me about it?"
He cleared his throat, noticing the dragons were watching. "I swore to Oromis not to mention this to anyone, even if this situation were to happen to me. I wish I could, but it was a binding oath that lasts until the-"Eragon made a choking motion, going to grasp his neck.
Arya held onto him until the fit subsided. She looked at him curiously. "I guess that's what happens when someone tries to break an oath formed in the ancient language. I've never seen it happen before." She smiled, and Eragon stood up, dazed.
"I guess I'll have to wait to tell you." He kissed Arya on the cheek.
"I'm guessing until the baby is born." Eragon pulled back his face and looked at Arya, stunned. He nodded.
"Yes. That's what I couldn't say." They snickered in each other's arms.
Bhronnë whined from the floor. He was begging to be picked up. Arya sighed. "Fine, you little squirt." Her response was playful. She bent down and lifted the small dragon, noticing that evening hadn't even close to have come yet. She walked into the bathroom, setting the exhausted baby dragon in a shallow basin used for washing. He curled up and was silent. His breathing soon evened. She smiled at her dragon. Well, not quite mine. She thought.
Upon returning to the main room of the treehouse, Arya noticed that Eragon's eyes were once again filled with anger. She went up to him, and pulled him backwards to sit on the bed. She sat down next to him. "What's wrong, Eragon?"She asked slowly.
He chuckled blackly. "Only the fact that everyone knew you were pregnant before you did. That meeting I went to today, they interrogated me upon my arrival, asking how long I was going to keep our child a secret. And after they had squeezed the information out of me, in the ancient language by the way, they told me that there were messengers on the way to every elven outpost, spreading the news that their new queen is with child. They even sent a lone messenger to the Varden. "
Instead of hissing savagely, like Arya wanted to, she sighed. "I knew they'd find out. I figure you read that note set with our breakfast?" Eragon nodded. "Well, then who else wouldn't have noticed? They would have found out anyways… It is better to not keep a secret from my elves if they are to trust me as they did my mother." Arya paused, then looked down to her knees. "I must visit Faolin's grave. I haven't done so in a month."
When Eragon offered to take her, she refused his company. "I must go alone." And she left it at that. Eragon was confused, and Saphira had blocked him from her mind at this moment. Were they hiding something from him? Arya turned to look at Saphira as she walked to her bedroom, and stopped. Her eyes widened, and Eragon could tell she was confused as he felt her giving a response. Then all connection with the two subsided and he was alone in his mind. The females stared at each other for minutes upon minutes, and Eragon thought his head would explode. Finally, Saphira and Arya nodded in agreement. She continued her path to her room and the elf came back with shoes on her feet.
"Eragon, Saphira would like me to ride her to Faolin's grave. Do you approve?"
Hastily, he nodded. He would let his dragon and Arya bond for a while. "Let me saddle her." So, Eragon stood and began buckling the saddle into place on Saphira's back. Before lifting Arya up, he changed his expression to a serious one. He looked the beautiful female straight in the eye. "I guess we are mates now, are we not?"
Arya was stunned by the question. Her mouth hung open. Then she closed her eyes and pulled his face to hers, kissing Eragon passionately. He kissed her back. Arya felt her hands move to Eragon's waist, but it didn't matter. She was kissing him better than he had ever felt her before. She silently broke the contact. "That, Rider, is you answer."
Eragon smirked at the lightness he felt in his body with her acceptance. "You've been holding back on me, Arya Dröttningu." He pulled her into an embrace, and kissed her lightly on the lips. "I will see you later. Do not forget about the dinner in the palace tonight. There is a ball afterwards, you know. Formal."
Arya had forgotten the social event. She nodded, and was lifted onto Saphira. As they were leaving, Eragon leaped onto Saphira's tail. She looked back, surprised. Just take me to Lady Islanzadí's tombstone. Saphira grudgingly agreed, relaying the information to Arya, who was looking back at Eragon with amazement. He yelled into the wind, "Try to flick me off, Saphira!" Saphira nodded; this was one of her favorite games to play with Eragon. She swooped down, an acrobatic in air, and Arya smiled with delight, trying to see if Eragon was to be flung off of Saphira.
He laughed with glee as Saphira landed. "You aren't ever going to succeed in removing me from there. I wasn't even holding on most of the time!"
"Which is good for swordsmanship, Little One." Saphira spoke this through her mouth and Eragon's eyes widened. She continued to speak through her maw. "Glaedr taught me." She shrugged her huge shoulders. Her voice was so beautiful, it could send a human into tears, Arya commented in Eragon's mind. He didn't take his eyes off of Saphira, but nodded all the same. The graceful dragon pushed off the ground and flew off towards Arya's destination.
We'll pick you up on the way back, Saphira called to him. Eragon agreed and knelt before Islanzadí's grave. He asked for forgiveness from her, and told her about the child. Her just talked, a one-person conversation, for a few hours kneeling before the dirt where the last queen lay. When Arya and Saphira picked him up, he felt relieved just being able to pour his thoughts into the magics of the dead, and Arya seemed relieved also. She and Saphira didn't share anything about their time at Faolin's grave, and he didn't share his time with Islanzadí. It was just an unspoken commitment.
Eragon and Arya first checked on their new dragon, and he was still sleeping. They went to their rooms and dressed for the ball, Eragon in a black suit and Arya in a form-fitting emerald dress that matched her dragon's color. A small bump was eminent on her abdomen, but she wasn't worried about showing it anymore. She then walked into the bathroom again and picked up her dragon. He opened one eye drowsily and commented, I like you dress. She smiled, and put the baby dragon next to Saphira who had curled up in her bed. Saphira would guard this dragon for her life, and she placed a wing over him, falling asleep.
Eragon took Arya's hand. "May I, my mate and queen?" He kissed her hand.
She nodded. "With my pleasure, my mate and vassal."
Eragon swept Arya off her feet and carried her bridal style down the staircase, both of them giggling all the way down. At the foot of the stairs, he set Arya on her feet and kissed her strongly, grasping her hand.
"And here we go," He murmured, grasping her hand and opening the door to walk out into the evening air.
A good length chapter for once, and it just happens to be when my hand is injured. Oh well. Please review this chapter, when I read it over it sounded like the best one I've done so far. Uh… that's it I guess. Review, people! (I am not beyond begging) And thanks for reading! The next chapter will most likely be up tomorrow!