Tristan and Kayla
20 years later
"Will you leave me alone?" she shouted angrily and slid her hand out of her brother's tight embrace.
"Come on, Kayla, don't be a baby. Fight me as if you were Galbatorix and I Eragon" her brother Tristan shouted and hit her with a wooden sword.
Kayla recoiled in time and slid from the bed's edge to pick up her wooden sword, her eyes turning into slits as she watched her older brother dancing around like an enchanted troll.
"Saphira, my beautiful dragon come rescue me so we can kill Galbatorix!"Tristan bellowed and jumped on top of Daisy, their 4 year old goat.
Daisy let out a beh sound and continued chewing on some grass. Kayla raised an eyebrow at that and nudged her brother slightly with her wooden sword.
Tristan lost his balance and fell from the goat, hitting his head on the wooden floor of the house.
"Ouch" her brother said and rubbed his head with his palm. "You didn't need to do this" he said, annoyed and moved away from her reach.
Kayla put her hands on her waist angrily.
"Look, I have told you before I am not interested. I don't like fighting and I don't like dragons" she said and her long blonde hair flew to the right hand side. She picked up the book she had been reading, a beautiful book telling the stories of the princess Alison and her betrothed prince Elijah as they went on adventures and killed the dragons. She had been on a very interesting chapter, where prince Elijah had just slain another dragon, saving Alison's life and he was about to kiss her, just as her sixteen old year brother had decided that suddenly she had turned into Galbatorix.
"You are just weird. Everyone likes dragons" Tristan said and happily picked out a book which told the stories of the old days as dragons had come to be. His blonde hair, the same colour as hers was falling in his eyes.
"Tristan, you need a haircut. We cant go to the town center like this. How will an egg hatch for you if you are looking like an outlaw?" their mother said as she walked into the room and stopped frozen as she noticed Daisy pooping at the corner of the room.
"What is the goat doing inside the house?" their mother said in a very unsteady tone of voice, just as Daisy behd happily unaware of what was happening.
Tristan raised an eyebrow. "Don't look at me, I have no idea"
"Liar", Kayla said as she held her book closer to her chest. "Tristan decided that Daisy was a dragon so he brought her in the house and then started attacking me with a wooden sword" she said in a dramatic voice.
Their mother, who was tall, blond and slender said nothing and pushed Daisy out of the room. When she came back inside the wrinkles on her forehead were more pronounced.
"I have told you before, that the goats are not allowed in the house. And Tristan how many times have I told you not to attack your little sister?"
"We were play fighting that's all. Once I get my own egg I will go to Brasungr to train with Eragon and other dragon riders and I won't need Kayla for that but for now she is the closest I can get to training", he said smiling happily. What Tristan didn't add was that often he and his friends would go out in the woods with real swords and fight a lot more fiercely, as Kayla had witnessed.
Their mother sighed and cleaned the corner where Daisy had just relieved herself.
"Look I even have a bruise" Kayla said lifting her elbow with a bruise that she had acquired yesterday afternoon when she had knocked herself on the door.
"Ha! You do? I have an even bigger bruise from where you hit me" Tristan said and picked up his shirt to show a bruise that was spreading just under his rib cage.
And there Kayla thought that she had only nudged him.
"It was self-defence" she proclaimed and pulled her tongue out to him. Tristan pulled his shirt down but looked angry.
Lately he looked angry very often. Their mother had said that he was in that growing phase that all boys went through where their body was changing but their mind hadn't really caught up to that.
And indeed Tristan was changing. He was taller than their mother, easily reaching at 6 foot, his shoulders looked broader than a few months ago and his muscles were more pronounced. Kayla remembered how he had looked like, only a year ago, when he still had that tummy flab and his cheeks had been rounder.
Kayla on the other hand, even though she was fifteen years of age had not acquired any womanly characteristics. She was shorter than her brother, maybe by a head, but she was still tall for a girl. She had long skinny arms and long skinny legs. The girls in her village who were the same age as her if not younger had plumper chests and rounder hips. Kayla often found herself being jealous of them or of the characters she read in her stories, because the princesses there were more womanly and beautiful. She still looked like a child.
She sighed annoyed and let the book fall of her lap to the ground. Tristan was still fighting imaginary enemies while their mother had just finished cleaning and had proceeded to prepare the evening meal. She was humming to herself in the kitchen while she plunged the feathers from a chicken but she looked tired. There were dark shadows under her eyes and Kayla had to wonder how she managed to do everything by herself.
Their father had died when she was young, in a hunting accident near the Spine, leaving their mother to care for both of them as they grew up. Until the age of 10 Kayla had never bothered to wonder where the food they ate came from or how she was able to get new clothes. She only knew that their mother had bought them for her.
A year after she started helping out in the library, sorting out the books in a correct manner, making sure all rented books were returned to their shelves and that the library got a minimum wage out of it. Renting a book was not expensive so many people often rented more than one. She and her brother Tristan had been the children that had loved spending their time in the library or with their noses into the books that they brought back to their house.
When Tristan was 11 he had decided to work for a smith in the village. He was getting a minimum wage out of that as well but combined with her small earnings from the wealthy people who often gave her tips for her service and the wage their mother got from working in the sewing machines it was enough for them to have a happy, content life.
However their mother looked extremely tired now and Kayla had to wonder if there was anything else she and her brother could do to help. She hoped that the two days of rest they got for the Brasungr festival would be enough to relieve the pressure from her mother's shoulders.
…...
Tristan threw the wooden sword in the air and caught it immediately. He looked at the sun outside of his window as it was going down and looked forward to when he would meet his friends to train.
The Brasungr festival was only two days, two days of rest for most and two days for children and adults alike to touch the dragon egg's surface and see whether the egg would hatch or not. It was the forth year that Tristan had been allowed to participate in the ceremony as the years before he had been too young and the elves were very particular about the age limits. He remembered in the beginning when the leaders of all races and Eragon had spent many days on deciding the appropriate age of training. They had concluded that 13 years of age were enough as each child had started entering adulthood. The limiting age had been another issue and once again they had decided that 25 was a good enough age as well but older individuals could participate if they so wished.
Elves would carry 10 eggs every year across each town, each village and each corner of Alagaesia where life existed, whether that life was Urgal, dwarf, human or elf.
When the elves arrived at the town, city, periphery or village, the inhabitants had to pause their daily activities for two days, and the empire would provide food supplies and the sort. The poor would feast on meat and the rich would take a break from their tiring jobs. Caravans and Magicians followed the elves and always put on a good show. People had been scared of dragons for long enough and this was the time to remember that dragons were not like Shruikan and to celebrate the peace.
Tristan could not wait. Tomorrow, the first of the two days would begin, and the elves would arrive. He had been given a break from helping the village's smith and he knew all too well what he would use his time for.
"I am going hunting with the guys" he said loud enough so that his mother and sister could hear. Kayla had her nose inside the book she was reading again so he didn't know if she had paid attention.
Their mother however turned to look at him with an expression of worry.
"Don't go too near to the Spine" she warned and Tristan nodded. He could already feel the adrenaline pumping inside his body, demanding it to move, to fight, to train. But he was not stupid or careless enough to go near the Spine.
Even though it was said that Eragon had killed the last of the Lethrblaka, people in Arhan were still afraid of the mountains as peculiar accidents kept happening and the land was not all clear of dangerous creatures.
He kissed his mother on the cheek as he went to exit and only then did a particular memory enter his mind, making him momentarily dazed.
His father had his dark brown hair down, the beard reaching his chest as he put arrows behind his back and held the bow tightly. He was wearing a furry coat and put the hood on top of his head as the wind blew loudly outside of their house.
"I am going hunting with Belor and Orrik. Belor found the trails of a deer yesterday and we think it is still near the forest since the weather has been quite bad for it to move. Hopefully we will have a nice venison stew, like the one your mother makes" his father said and grinned running his large, calloused hand through Tristan's hair.
Tristan stared at the towering figure of his father, who looked so strong and invincible.
"Daddy, daddy will u get me flowers?" a young Kayla asked. She had her hair short and her face was round, her cheeks pink from the heat of the fire crackling in the fireplace.
"Now, now, you know that daddy is only going hunting for a short while…" a younger, less tired version of his mother said but Kayla crossed her hands over her chest and pouted.
"But I want the pretty blue flowers"
Their father let out a loud laugh that made the tables and chairs vibrate.
"I am sure I will be able to find something. Tristan, take care of the girls for me while I am away and next time you better be ready because I am taking you with me" his father promised. Young Tristan had been begging him for days to take him to a hunting trip but the excuse was always the same. He was too young.
"Don't go too near to the spine" their mother whispered and held his father tightly for a moment longer.
His father let out another deep laugh and bent down to kiss their mother on her cheek.
He exited the door, smiling and holding tightly the bow he had made by himself from oak wood.
The same bow that Tristan now held tightly into his own grip as he went into the forest.