Lifaen and Edan skidded to a halt in front of Galbatorix's rooms. The doors weren't buckling, but they could smell, faintly the scent of burnt wood. Whatever enchantments held the door were slowly breaking. The elf and Rider looked at each other. Edan gathered strength from Kilana and Lifaen gathered magic from the surrounding area, the servants and guests, careful not to draw from Florina and Kuldra. Together, they sent magic blasts at the door. After a minute, the door exploded, knocking the two men back. Lifaen recovered quickly and ran into the room where Florina was slowly getting to her feet. She looked at him.

"Lifaen? What are you doing here?" She asked. She sounded like herself again. But there was also a chance that it was a trick to kill him.

"I came here for you, Love. I came to save you before the blood magic destroyed your mind."

"How do I know you're not another illusion?" She said in a shaking voice. "I've already lost Kuldra to an illusion, I can't lose you as well."

"I'm not an illusion, Love." Lifaen said as he took several steps closer. She let him, but she was guarded. He didn't blame her. From her talk, he could guess that she was the version of herself that was fighting the blood magic.

"She knows who she is." Kuldra broke into his thoughts. "She knows that she is the Golden Rider and the leader of this new generation of Riders. But the world around her keeps changing. Help her, Lifaen. She cannot hear me because of the illusion that I am dead."

"How?"

"Before we were both lost to the blood magic, I tried to get her to remember a rose, the rose you have given her for the past two centuries. I know you have the one from the Agaetí Blödhren. Give it to her and hopefully it will restore her mind."

Lifaen took the rose from his pocket. He had hidden it there after Florina had left, forgetting it after her fit had passed. She took a step back from him and kept moving back until she was against the bed.

"I am real, Love." Lifaen said in the ancient language, hoping that he would be able to get through to her using that. "This is not going to harm you." He bit his lip as he saw that she was reaching for her sword. "Reach into my mind and see if I am lying or an illusion." She froze. He lowered the barriers around his mind so she could search. After a few minutes, he felt her mind brush against his and then enter it. He was enveloped by her fear and worry, but he could sense her love for the world and her people and for Kuldra. He could also hear the faint strands of dragon magic that made her mind similar to his own. She retreated back behind her barriers and looked at him.

Florina took a deep breath, her mind spinning. She knew that a mind could not be faked by a spell. She had told that to Nasuada when she had been a prisoner in the castle during the war. Even if it was possible, an elf's mind would be the most difficult to recreate because of the fay strands that made them unique. She looked at the rose. She knew it. She had lost the last one in the castle during one of her escape attempts. She knew the rose in his hand. She could feel the dragon magic on it. It was hers, the one she wore to the Agaetí Blödhren so long ago. She had hidden it in her tree house in the elven capital. She looked at the elf, at her husband. He was real. His mind was his own. She ran into his arms and began crying in relief to feel him, solid against her. He was there. He had found her. But holding him confused her mind even more.

She felt him place the flower in her hair and she was bombarded with memories that were her own, she knew them as her own. She remembered Caleb and Emily. Her travels with Brom and Eragon. Fighting against Murtagh several times to escape a castle. She remembered fighting Murtagh after Oromis fell and replacing Naegling with her sword. Forcing Kuldra to leave. The war was over. Galbatorix was dead. Eragon was training new Riders. And she was mated to the one she loved and who loved her. The first one to never fear her because of her eyes.

"Brave One?" She heard Kuldra venture. Florina smiled.

"I am me, again, Kuldra. It is good to know that you are alive and well." Florina looked at her husband and saw the worry leave it. "Lifaen," she said. "How did you find me?"

"It wasn't that hard." He said.

"What do you mean?"

"Some time after Murtagh kidnapped you, you flew upon Ilirea and took the throne from Nadara. She's alive and so is her son. You became queen and made it your sole responsibility to protect your people and so you started another Rider war by invading the elves."

"I'm in Ilirea?" Florina asked. "I'm not in some castle in the north?"

"No, you've been here for years now, ruling. The Empire has flourished under your rule, but you are immortal and we both know what happened the last time an immortal was on the throne."

"Yes," she said. "We do. Where is Murtagh?"

"Outside, Ma'am." Edan said from the door and the two looked at him. "He and others flew out against Delinnëa and the Riders from Vroengard."

"Delinnëa's here?" Florina cried. "Edan, free whatever prisoners are in the dungeons. Lifaen, find a weapon to defend yourself."

"I will find him one, Golden Rider. You get outside." Edan said and pulled Lifaen from the suite and Florina ran to the dragon hold above, each step bringing back memories.


Delinnëa looked at her uncle and noticed that he was not scared of her. Why would he be? He was older than her, had more experience in being a Rider than she did. But he was the only one. The others had gone from looking ready for a fight to confused about the situation. It gave the young Rider hope that things would work out the way they needed them to. Hope that her father was making a path through the blood magic to her mother, to the Golden Rider.

"You should let me handle Murtagh, Delinnëa." Arya tried again from her left. The half-elf didn't look at the elf queen. She had been trying for hours to get her to stand down so she could keep a promise made to her mother. It wasn't going to happen. Delinnëa didn't answer and Evaríyna surged forward at the same time Thorn did. None of the other Riders moved as the two leaders engaged in the clash of metal and dragon roars.

"Remember, do not kill our brothers and sisters." Garrow called to the rest. "It is not their fault that they and the Golden Rider were bound to Galbatorix's will at the end of the war." He adjusted himself in Dwerva's saddle. "Maim, but not severely. Keep them from interfering-"

"STOP!" A voice boomed over the two fighting Riders. They didn't stop but everyone else looked towards Ilirea. A gold dragon was flying from the city with six Riders and their dragons behind her. Arya recognized Alia and her cousin, Naridan, and Riflen. She also saw Edan and Sila, the two pairs from Surda. "I did not call for this fight to happen." Florina snarled and Arya saw the woman whom had become her friend over the long years. She was back. Delinnëa had been right. "Stand down and get back to Ilirea. Stay in the camp below. I will not have you all scaring the citizens of the city." Arya smirked and turned her back on the fighting as Garrow sounded their retreat.


"Give up, Girl." She heard Murtagh sneer as they got closer. "You won't save your mother. Once I've gotten rid of you and your father, she will be back under the control of the blood magic and she will be the queen that this empire needs." Florina saw the blood and wounds on her daughter and the little injuries on her brother. His next words were cut off as Kuldra rammed into Thorn, putting the two of them between the two fighters.

"Don't you ever touch my daughter again." Florina growled at him.

"Majesty, I wasn't expecting you to be out here what with your declining mental health."

"You've done enough, Murtagh and I refuse to let you harm my family any more than you already have."

"But I am your family, Majesty." Florina's eyes narrowed as she recognized his ploy to get the blood magic to work again. She smirked at his frown. She refused to let the blood magic affect her again.

"You are no family of mine, Traitor." The word hung in the air as they looked at each other. "Nëa, go back to the camp and get cleaned up." Florina told her daughter. "I will handle this."

"Are you sure you can do this, Brave One? What if he pulls you back under the blood magic?"

"He won't. I won't let it happen. I know what is important to me and who my father is."

"Majesty, stop this foolishness and allow me to fight this girl. Go back to the castle and rest. Your father would want you to look your best when you see your people in victory. You are a queen after all."

"No!" Florina snapped. "I am not the daughter of the Black King. I am not the queen of this Empire. I am the daughter of Caleb and Emily of Kuasta. I am a blacksmith taught by my father as I grew. I became a Rider because of his find in a cove we loved to swim in. He died in the war, trying to get help for my mother who was forced to betray us. I am the Golden Rider of Alagaësia and I will not be swayed by your blood-soaked silver tongue." Kuldra surged forward with a blast of fire and their fight began.


I know someone had suggested that I have Eragon and Florina fight, but he is bound by the fact that he could never return to Alagaesia again and so I have the elder two of the three siblings fighting it out. Thanks for reading and please review.