Have an open mind.

"Stoic is extremely tense. I believe a few hours in the boiling lava would help relieve this tension" Tristan murmured but did so in an annoyed manner.

They were walking towards the base of the island, following the rest of the riders but they were doing so in a leisurely pace, still trying to catch their breaths after the long hours of running. The sun was slowly sinking towards the sea and the temperature was dropping, something Kayla was happy about. Probably the only thing she was happy about.

"I hate him" she whispered between clenched teeth as she was trying to think about something else other than pushing her thumbs up his eye sockets and not stopping until she reached the end of his skull.

"I cannot understand his behavior" Laer added, pressing his lips together but Kayla ignored his comment.

Her breathing was still uneven and she wasn't sure whether that was due to exercise or anger. She spotted a small rock on their way down and she looked at it, for only a second, before it started trembling. Kayla quickly looked away, hoping no one had noticed, and took in a breath of air, trying to calm herself. The momentary flow of energy in her mind stopped but she quickly sensed a consciousness pressing down on her own.

Kayla… Be careful…, Aiedail cautioned and Kayla annoyed, put her boundaries higher up so that the dragon wouldn't read what she was thinking about. The fact that she could hear her dragon's words meant that the dragons had finished their training as well and were approaching the island.

Although I don't disagree with Stoic-elda's training methods – all you, young riders, at the moment are close to useless - I think he could have been less harsh with you, considering everything that has happened, Aiedail said and Kayla breathed.

Why were you looking into my mind? I thought we had established some boundaries!, she shouted annoyed.

You are my rider. I have a right to know what is happening so that if the need arises I can come help you, the dragon said troubled.

You were too far away to offer any substantial help. If someone attacked us I would have probably died. Or better yet, Stoic would have died. That would actually be kind of nice, she said smiling and suddenly felt the flow of energy in her mind, return.

Alarmed, Kayla stopped and pressed her hands on her temples trying to calm herself and drown Aiedail's voice. This earned her the concerned glances of the riders ahead. Gwen and the handsome elven rider she had noticed before, walked quickly to her side.

"We shall inform Eragon-elda of what occurred today. It is known that you still harbour wounds from your battle against the Shade. Even we, as older riders and I, as elf, had trouble keeping up with Stoic-elda's training" he said pointing at Gwen next to him, who nodded. Kayla did not fail to notice that his eyes had a deep green colour like the forest leaves.

"No. That will not be necessary" she told them and shook her head.

Gwen's brows were pulled together and she spoke. "Are you sure? There is no harm in admitting what is already known. Adrian and I already agreed to speak to Eragon about it"

Your ego wouldn't be able to take that though, would it?, Aiedail said, almost ironically, and Kayla saw the dragons' figures approaching in the distance.

The riders looked up, forgetting for a moment their previous conversation and switching instead, to silent ones with their dragons and for that Kayla was glad.

Tristan's grey-blue dragon, Vertigo landed next to him and let out a satisfied roar when he saw his rider. Findet and Onyx had similar reactions when they saw Rikon and Laer and Kayla watched as each rider greeted their own dragon, pleased and amused expressions on their faces, as they shared their stories.

Aiedail flexed her silver wings and did not look at Kayla. Not that the girl expected her to. A few moments passed before the riders continued their way down the valley and with every step she took she tried to stay away from the bright spot in her mind and her dragon as much as possible.

…..

"Steak?" Tristan inclined and shook the food in front of Vertigo's nose as he jumped from one side to the other.

Riders and dragons had all gathered in the Grand Hall at the base of the island, where they were taking their supper. Eragon had given them a tour of the small city, Glieonard, as soon as they had arrived and had urged them to discover the rest of the island by themselves, another time.

The complexity of the hall as well as that of its surrounding buildings, took Tristan's breath away. There were many buildings in Glieonard and cobbled streets connected them to each other, which were wide enough for at least two dragons to walk abreast. Rooms and doorways in the buildings were also large enough to accommodate dragons of most any size. As a result the base of the dragon rider centre was dotted with buildings of such immense proportions that would make even the dwarves stand in awe. Gardens and fountains were also found throughout Glieonard and Tristan had noticed a few towers soaring high as well. Some riders' halls and holds were present and the young riders had been informed that as soon as they had completed their six years of training, they could relocate to the base of the island, as opposed to staying in their individual dorms, if they so wished. Their dorms weren't far away from Glieonard, maybe twenty minutes of walking at a leisurely pace and less than a few minutes on dragon-back. This was a good thing because the riders had been informed that they would visit the place often, since almost all celebrations, meetings and suppers occurred in the Grand Hall.

Eragon was now sat on a table, alongside the elder riders and masters of training, as well as some elves and dwarves, which Tristan had not noticed the previous day and did not bear the Gedwey Ignasia symbol on their palms. The younger riders were in another table with their dragons by their sides.

The elven dorm leader wrinkled his nose as Tristan took a big bite from the meat.

"What?" he inclined and the rider shook his head.

"Your human manners will change once you enter another living being's consciousness. It's easy for you to eat meat now, but when you experience how the animal feels, how it thinks, how it behaves, your perception will change" he said.

"Doubtful" Rikon replied next to him as he finished his second cut of meat. "Dwarves, humans and Urgals have been eating meat for millennia now. This shall not change"

Tristan nodded and examined what the riders around him were eating. Apart from him and Rikon everybody else seemed to prefer vegetables, grains and nuts and there was a vast array of those.

"Does Stoic eat meat?" he asked the elven rider, who went by the name of Adrian.

"Sometimes" Adrian replied. "But when there is so much else to choose from – all these fruit, nuts and grains you eat are grown on the island – why would you decide to end an animal's life?" he asked.

Because I need to eat, was Vertigo's answer. And meat is my source of energy.

That is indeed the case for us but not for elves, humans, dwarves and urgals, Adrian's dragon - a big, lean creature with a mahogany colour and hazel highlights – said in his deep, throaty voice but Tristan didn't particularly appreciate his and his rider's obnoxious way of talking.

"What about plants? Are they not considered living things?" Tristan replied, raising his eyebrows.

Adrian did the same.

"Plants are living things as well and very complex indeed. But you do not kill a plant, simply collect the fruit it freely gives you" he said and Rikon and Laer joined in the conversation.

Tristan was already getting bored of this talk, however, so he turned his attention elsewhere.

"Will you allow me to heal your wounds? I can lessen the tension on your limbs" Gwen offered to Kayla, who was sitting next to her. "Besides, my responsibility is taking care of the new human riders"

Tristan considered the possibility of injuring himself on purpose so that he could go to Gwen for healing.

Low. Low, even for you, Vertigo said in his mind and chuckled. He blushed and threw a fork at his dragon's direction which only bounced back from his armour-strong scales.

Really?, the dragon asked and almost raised an eyebrow but Tristan stretched his limbs.

It was worth a try, he said and smiled, content.

"You should…."

"Accept…"

"Her help"

Tristan heard the voices and looked at the twin elven girls who spoke to Kayla. They had fair skin and straight, black hair which reached their shoulders. Their eyes had the darkest colour Tristan had seen and when he tried looking directly into them he felt as if he was sinking into an abyss.

They finish each other sentences, Vertigo said.

Not creepy at all, Tristan added just as the two girls started laughing for no apparent reason. A dragon approached them and when it raised its head he almost let out a scream.

"Mighty seven riders!" he said and fell from his chair. Vertigo chuckled in his mind.

Oh, yeah. I forgot to mention that.

Tristan swallowed as he looked at the grey dragon, a colour similar to the mountain's rocks, with the two heads.

Kayla appeared surprised as well.

"I am Maya…"

"And I am May" the girls said but Tristan could not see any differences between them or between the two dragons' heads. They narrowed their eyes at him and he felt as if he was momentarily frozen into place. Then the girls chuckled and he was suddenly able to move again. He quickly looked away.

"Weird" Rikon whispered into his ear and Tristan nodded.

"Weird doesn't even begin to describe it" he replied just as the girls fed the dragon heads small meat pieces, which they had cut in a very precise shape.

Laer pulled the chair from the table and cleared his throat. Tristan looked up to him and smiled.

"Where are you going?" he asked curious but the other rider touched Onyx's nose gently and then turned his attention to him.

"I am heading back to our dorm. Training will start early tomorrow and I want to be fully rested…" he explained but Tristan rose an eyebrow.

"Really?" he asked and shook his head. "I am sure the dorm leaders will tell us when we need to head back to our dorms…" he was saying but the other rider had already exited the building.

Tristan turned his attention back to Gwen. A dark brown curl fell in front of her face as she whispered some words to relax Kayla's muscles and pressed her hands on his sister's thighs.

Your thighs must ache as well. Ask her to heal them for you, Vertigo said and Tristan blushed once again. Nevertheless, he ignored the comment and his dragon went to play with Aiedail's tail. The she-dragon growled, once, warningly and Tristan chuckled as Vertigo walked back to him with his tail down like a scolded puppy.

Suddenly, a ringing noise echoed in the hall and all of their attentions shifted to Eragon, who was touching the edge of his fork on the crystal glass.

"I hope you enjoyed your first day of training today even though it must have been different from what you might have expected. What are the three rules to spotting downdrafts, young riders?" he asked and pointedly looked at the three of them, Tristan, Kayla and Rikon.

Tristan felt as if he was being examined, only he was not prepared. Even though Vertigo had been far away training with the rest of the dragons today - and thus he was not able to speak to him - he had still been able to see some images and sense some of his thoughts. He felt like he knew the answer to Eragon's question and he repeated it to him.

Eragon smiled and nodded.

"Indeed this is true. And which race can run the fastest and which the longest?" he asked looking at Onyx, Aiedail and Vertigo. The dragons appeared perplexed and Eragon shook his head.

"You share a connection with each other and you should make the most of it. Keep an open mind at all times and even when training separately, remember to communicate with each other" he advised.

At that Kayla crossed her arms over her chest.

"You can return to your dorms and rest well, because there is a long day ahead of you tomorrow, with more lessons and training" he said and the young riders started exiting the Grand Hall.

"But I shall need to speak to you, Kayla" he added. Tristan did not doubt that Eragon already knew what had occurred during their training today. He was not sure what to make of the legendary rider yet, but he seemed to be more calm and understanding than Stoic.

He heard Eragon saying to Kayla to meet him afterwards in the library. Tristan rubbed his hand against Vertigo's scales absentmindedly and looked at the dark sky as he followed Gas and Gwen back to the human dorm rooms.

Soon, Vertigo grew bored of walking and rose to the skies.

I am looking forward to the time you will join me there, the dragon said in his mind in a surprisingly warm tone.

Me too.

A/N: I have decided to post a new chapter every Sunday/Monday (I have the weekend which gives me plenty of time to write something :p) .

Next chapter will include Eragon's examination of Kayla's mind and we will find out what he actually did to the eggs and why he did what he did!

Don't forget to leave reviews, they make my day and keep me writing :)!