"So, who is this guy again?" Ronan couldn't help but ask the older teenager with a raised brow, both Riders were currently in one of the smaller caves barely able for a five month dragon to live in on one of the smaller mountains that were considered to be Du Fells Nágoröth

"I can hear you, you know?" Sloan spat in Ronan and Eragon's location.

Even though Eragon had healed all of his wounds, both internal and external, Sloan still had the air of a sick man. Compared to the old Sloan Eragon knew, this Sloan was a stick and looked as though he couldn't lift anything besides his own weight. It was pitiful to say the least, had Sloan not been Sloan of course.

"My uncle in law." Eragon explained to his student. "Sloan Aldenson, former butcher and resident of Carvahall."

"Is he trustworthy?" Ronan asked suspiciously, something about the man made the youngest of the Riders uncomfortable and his hand itching towards his weapon. Perhaps it was the fact that he was a wildcard, Ronan knew nothing of this man other than that he was somehow related to Eragon, Eragon didn't like him, and that Eragon knew his True Name.

He couldn't help but wonder what it was, the simple fact of Eragon now having absolute control of anyone, even this man who set his teeth on edge, was rather odd. It deeply disturbed the teenager that a simple set of words in the Ancient Language could bind you more than any oaths of fealty or loyalty.

"He is now." Eragon said as he was right. As long as Sloan's True Name didn't change, then the former butcher would have to do what he said and wouldn't tell anyone, and if there was the slightest of chances that his Name did change, he had still sworn oaths in the Ancient Language. Sloan wasn't going anywhere or betraying anyone ever again.

"Curse you, son of none!" Sloan spat, had the butcher had his eyes he would have been glaring at him. "Leaving me in this hole while you pranced around playing Rider."

"I am a Rider, Sloan." Eragon reminded the upset butcher. He was surprisingly keeping his emotions in check, perhaps because he was used to Sloan belittling him since he was just a boy.

Sloan slumped against the smooth sandstone, "What do you want, Eragon?"

Eragon raised a brow when Sloan said his name without any spite or some hidden meaning, just with weary resignation. "I want to give you your second chance, Sloan."

Sloan pffted, "And what would that be, hmm?" The former butcher and now blind man asked with no small amount of acid lacing his tone, "What could I possibly do to redeem myself, as you so put it? Shall I go find Horst and offer him a free flank steak the next time I run into him? Shall I offer Birgit my condolences of dear Quimby's fate at the hands of those, those flesh eaters!?" Sloan spat out as he remembered the Ra'zac, what they did to him and others before him.

Ronan clapped Eragon on the back, "You got this, Eragon-elda. Good luck." With that the young man gave his mentor a quick thumbs up before leaving the cave that had become Sloan's temporal home.

Damn it, Ronan. Eragon thought with a scowl as he saw his treacherous student leave him alone with a bitter and angry Sloan. Next time we do sword fighting lessons I'm not holding back! Maybe I'll forget to place Gëuloth du knífr on Undbitr, accidently of course…

"You won't be seeing Horst or Birgit for a long, long time, Sloan." Eragon said with no small amount of venom in his tone, Sloan had betrayed them in the end, even though he had known them for decades. What was it that Oromis used to always tell him during their lessons?

Forgive, but don't forget.

For a brief second Sloan's face seemed to turn saddened, his harden features turning soft as he pondered on what he was going to say next. "Horst, Birgit, Morn, Gertrude, Fisk, Gedric… Are they alive? Did they make it?" Sloan asked softly, so soft that if Eragon didn't have the enhanced hearing of an elf he would have missed it.

For a moment Eragon felt true sympathy for the crippled man in front of him. It was obvious that deep down Sloan regretted his deed of killing Bryd and betraying his people, had his love for Katrina not been so strong Eragon was sure he wouldn't have done it. But like his Name said, pain comes from love as does desperation.

"Aye, they made it." Eragon knew he couldn't lie to the blind man in front of him. Despite all that had happened, Sloan did still care for his former friends of Carvahall.

Sloan's entire posture seemed to slacken almost as much as he had when he learned of Katrina's wellbeing. "Good, I'm glad to hear they made it to safety." He whispered to himself, not knowing that despite Eragon's human features he was no longer completely human and was now an elf human hybrid that could hear the heart beat of a mouse several feet away with no trouble at all.

"I want to give you an offer, your second chance." Eragon continued not telling Sloan he had heard him, he'd rather not have his ears be blown off by Sloan's yelling of personal privacy and damned hunter's turned Rider hearing things he shouldn't.

"And that is?"

"Join me," Eragon offered with utmost seriousness. "I have your oaths of fealty as well as your True Name, but I would like to have you actually want to help me, not forced to help me. You may not know this, but I'm considered a…" Eragon trailed off wondering exactly what he was. "A rebel."

A rebel who used to be with an army of rebels but was betrayed by said rebels so now I'm my own type rebel with my band of rebels who are rebelling against the Empire and somewhat the Varden who are the army of rebels… wow that didn't give me a headache. Damn, Ronan must be rubbing off on me, Eragon decided wearily as he rubbed his temple in a vain attempt to stop the headache.

"So we're in Surda, with the Varden." Sloan decided, not knowing about the Varden betraying the man standing in front of him.

"No. We're in Du Fells Nágoröth to be exact." Eragon told the former butcher.

"Du Felly what?"

Eragon sighed, suddenly remembering that Sloan nor any residents of Carvahall knew any of the Ancient Language or that it even existed seeing as he himself had never been informed of the Language that all knew deep down in their instincts.

"The Hadarac Desert. Right in the middle to be exact."

"Oh. Explains why it's so damned hot in here."

Eragon sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. "Second chances, offers. Something that'll change your life!" Eragon exclaimed as they tried to get back on track with their earlier conversation.

Once when he realized he had Sloan's full attention again, he continued. "You can join me and the others. You may be a human and are thus not able to be the strongest nor the fastest of us. Since Ronan and I are Riders we have abilities mere humans do not have nor would be able to have…. I also had a bit of a growth spurt during my time with the elves," Eragon said as he grimaced ever so slightly as he remembered the pain of the transformation that the long dead dragons had placed upon him during the Agaetí Blödhren. "But you are a good fighter, from the memories I managed to see through Roran's memories-"

"In case you've forgotten, oh mighty dragon Rider," Sloan interrupted the Rider, sarcasm evident in his tone. "I'm blind."

"That can easily be fixed."

Sloan jerked backwards as though he had been smacked by Saphira's tail. His mouth widened to near impossible size, his breathe suddenly becoming ragged as the older man tried, and failed, to calm his heartbeat and breathe slowly. Small droplets of fluid (his ruined eyes and tear ducts only allowing the man the smallest of tears), found their way to the surface and were nestled against the man's ruined skin, where it had been the personal treat to the beaks of a species now dead and gone for what Eragon hoped to be forever.

"H-How?" Sloan's chocked gasp came from the man's barreled chest, his long and thick fingers turning stark white as they gripped his knees as hard as Sloan could managed.

"Magic." Eragon told the man simply, Sloan shifted ever so slightly. The word magic forming on his pale lips, but no sound came from them, as though the mere word was taboo. Like the Spine was to the butcher, magic seemed to be the same to the once simple countryman.

"That's right, Sloan. I could heal your eyes, from the cornea to the iris to the pupil, from your eyelashes to your eyelids. It is possible with the right words and enough energy… I can make you see." Eragon told the crippled man, his voice telling no lies.

With magic anything was possible as long as one knew and followed the laws of it.

Sloan's fingertips tenderly touched the ruined and somewhat rotten flesh that had once held his eyes, now mere tatters of dying and decaying flesh. His arms as a whole seemed to be shaking, whether in joy of the thought of being able to see the world again, to see its colors and beauty, to see Katrina just one more time… It nearly made the broken man weep right then and there.

"Why are you doing this?" Sloan managed to say through chocked sobs. His tattered eye sockets somehow managed to lock into Eragon's brown eyes, despite no gaze Eragon felt as though Sloan was staring right at him. "I've done so much harm in my life, far more than I've done good. I'm a broken man, Eragon." Sloan whispered as he gestured towards his ruined eyes and then to his body. And while the scars, cuts, and bruises given to the man by the deadly Ra'zac were things of the past, Sloan would remember each cut, each hit, each nibble as their sharp beaks bit into his tender skin as easily as his cleaver would through warm butter.

"I've done so many bad things, most of which to you and your family… You were the one family in Carvahall that had never lost a family member in the Spine. Everyone had at least once lost a member, but your family," Sloan shook his head, "Not one… It was the reason why I loathed you. Jealous of the protection that had been placed upon your family, wishing it had been on my family instead." Sloan admitted as though he was telling Eragon his greatest fear. Shame seemed to leak off the man as he told Eragon why he had treated him so.

"Sloan…" Eragon was shocked. This was the reason why Sloan had hated Garrow, Ronan, and himself. He was jealous of their so called protection, as though some deity had deemed them worthy of its protection while damning his wife to her tragic fate.

"I won't apologize for that, Eragon." Sloan said with the trademark stubbornness of someone born in Carvahall. "Perhaps because I don't know how to. But I want to know one thing, why forgive me at all?" The blind man asked bluntly. "Why not just slay me and be done with it, hmm? It'll be much easier than carrying me around, keeping an eye one me, making sure I don't try to make things worse for you behind your back. Surely a part of you wishes for redemption, for my past mistreatment of you as a boy… So tell me, why?"

"Because I am no longer the Eragon you once knew." Eragon said softly as he stared at one of the few remainders of his simple and uncomplicated past. "I am no longer the simple farm boy hunting in the Spine hoping to sell some meat to feed his family. I would've traded the biggest buck in the world to get rid of all my family issues I have going if I could." Eragon closed his eyes as he tried to figure out on what to say next. "I've changed too much, seen too much, known too much, to simply be as I were a mere year ago. I've fought in battles that will be remembered for generations, spilt enough blood to fill Leona Lake, seen wonders of great civilizations that humans have spoken of as though they were fairytales, and I've been betrayed by those I thought close to my heart."

Sloan stayed silent, listening as he realized that this really was no longer the Eragon that he had seen grow from a bawling babe to a stubborn boy reaching manhood. He was different. Whether for good or for worse, Sloan honestly did not know.

"I could never go back to the things were before all this happened. I've changed too much, Sloan…" Eragon sighed as he brushed his brown locks out of his eyes. "But despite the evils I've seen, I have seen the good." The young Rider admitted. "I can tell when there is good in people, and while it has been hidden by years of pain and suffering, of hatred and anger. I can still see that you have a chance of redemption for your past misdeeds, a second chance."

Eragon stood up and turned his back on Sloan, who was silently mulling over Eragon's answer with a slight frown of puzzlement. "I won't force you to do anything if I can help it, I'm no king like Galbatorix or Orrin. Merely a man of equal footing, looking to find a way to end this bloody war and usher in an era of peace. An era where fear doesn't exist. Where hate doesn't fester and grow. An era of the new Dragon Riders." Eragon walked over to the small crevice that acted as the entrance to Sloan's cave, he stopped and looked over his shoulder to Sloan. "I'll come back to heal your sight… and to know your answer."

With that said and done Eragon strode out of the cave, leaving Sloan alone with only his thoughts for company and comfort.

Eragon found Ronan on top of the mountain they had made as their temporary home, he was leaning against Bjartkoü's forearm and was currently chatting with Arya. The young Rider was eagerly grilling the amused elf on everything about Du Weldenvarden and, to Eragon's horror, Eragon's past experiences that often ended badly for the then young Rider.

Once he heard Ronan ask about Eragon's love life and his infatuation with the elf he was talking to Eragon snapped. He strode up and whacked his student upside the head.

"Oww, Eragon-elda. What was that for?!" Ronan cried as he clutched his head in pain.

"You know what that was for!" Eragon rebutted with a scowl as he crossed his arms while looking down on his student, annoyance burning in his brown orbs.

"So I may have ditched you," Ronan conceded but looking very annoyed of his mentor and master as he rubbed a rising bump forming on the crown of his head.

"Yes, you did." Eragon growled out, seeing as Ronan had completely abandoned him to face an angry Sloan alone with no back up in case Sloan had somehow magically made a blade from the rock and try to dissect the brown-haired Rider like he would a chicken. "Do you have an explanation?" Eragon demanded, knowing full well his student didn't.

"Uhmm… I'm not a people person?" Ronan said weakly.

Eragon turned his attention to Bjartkoü, who was watching the affair with amusement gleaming in his brilliant eyes. Eragon locked his eyes with Bjartkoü's, dark brown against glowing gold. "Bjartkoü I completely understand if the only reason you hatched for your idiot of a Rider was merely to get out of your egg." Eragon informed the dragon somberly, as though he shared Bjartkoü's sympathies for being the other half of Ronan's heart and soul.

Bjartkoü's lip curled, showing off ivory teeth bigger and longer than his arm, amusement burning in his eyes that not even the greatest of gold could hope to compare to. Smoke puffed out of his nostrils as a deep rumbling vibrated through the mountaintop as the great white dragon chuckled.

Perhaps, Eragon-elda, Bjartkoü rumbled out, his deep voice heavy with amusement.

Ronan looked up at the great dragon, his mouth open in shock. He stared at his other half of his heart and soul with wide hazel eyes, "You're joking right?" Ronan asked, wondering if his best friend was actually indeed joking.

"….."

"….."

"…Bjartkoü?"

"…"

Ronan was looking wide-eyed at the single golden eye the size of a dinner plate, Bjartkoü's eye was half open as he stared at his best friend, his tail moving with barely concealed amusement as his Rider was gaping at the giant reptile like a fish out of water. On a whim Bjartkoü puffed a cloud of smoke that descended upon Ronan, who immediately started to hack at the fumes.

Once Ronan managed to wave away the noxious fumes he glared at the older Rider and mentor, "Great. You've just completely ruined the sacred Rider-dragon bound, Master Eragon." Ronan looked away, fake tears forming as he tried to look sad, "Well, you've completely ruined everything." The former blacksmith decided as he went into a thinking pose, his chin pressed against his knuckles as he inspected the landscape.

Eragon locked gazes with Arya and rolled his eyes. Eragon didn't need any type of mental connection to the love of his life as though to merely say this happens all the time.

Arya had been watching the trade off of barbs with barely concealed humor. She resisted a small chortle as she saw Bjartkoü ignoring his Rider's protests on why exactly Bjartkoü had hatched for the then blacksmith apprentice after being in his white egg for nigh a hundred years.

"Calm down," she told the two human teenagers, who immediately stopped their taunting and focused their attention to the older elven princess. Arya quirked a small smirk as she looked at Eragon, who shifted uncomfortably as though realizing something was about to happen that he wouldn't like. "Ronan," she told the broad teenager, "I don't think I've ever told you the tale of when Master Eragon accidently walked into a bear den during his stay in Du Weldenvarden, needless to say the tale involves him running throughout the entire forest and Ellesméra with an angry mother bear roaring after him, it didn't take long before a clan of badgers chased after him as well when he nearly barreled into him."

Eragon groaned, "What do badgers have against me?" He wondered aloud as he thought of all the times the angry animal had given chase to him, it wasn't like he was trying to anger them for Gûntera's sake!

"Maybe next time Bjartkoü and I journey to the Beor Mountains instead of bringing home a pack of Shrrg I'll bring home a clan of badgers, maybe I'll find some as big as an Urzhad." He chuckled thinking of the giant bear that could grow to the size of a house.

Eragon scowled at his student, "Keep saying that and I will not hesitate on using so many complex spells on you, you will probably take the form of a slug."

"Oh yeah? Well I-"

Suddenly the two young Riders were suddenly thrown on the ground as a powerful gust of wind made them knocked them down. The source of the gale was none other Saphira whose mighty form landed on the peak, her wings held high and ready to blast the two Riders back into the worn sandstone if they so much as moved.

If you two are done doing your human male bonding, however stupid it is. I think we've had enough of your taunts and jeering. The great dragoness declared, turning her head to the side to look both teenage Riders' with one great blue eye easily twice as big as Bjartkoü's and the size of a common wooden round shield.

Whatever annoyed protests the mentor and student wanted to say were quickly cut off when Saphira glared at them. Finally the two abashed men lowered their gazes until they found great interest in the worn and gritty sandstone.

Will you two act as men your age? Will you act like a Rider? Saphira demanded while Bjartkoü watched from afar, his golden eyes gleaming in amusement as he watched Saphira scold their other half of soul and heart as though they were misbehaving hatchlings who wished to sneak out of the nest and eye of their protective parents and explore.

"Yes Saphira." The two Riders mumbled, their eyes refusing to meet the great sapphire blue of the dragoness.

Saphira hummed in approval. Good. The older dragoness then strode over to her fellow dragon accidently, or perhaps not, having her tail lightly whack both humans of the head.

Bjartkoü suddenly felt the gaze of Arya on him, he turned around and looked at her. The color of springtime and the color of melted gold meeting.

Does this really happen all the time? The future Queen of the elves asked the great dragon laying near her.

Bjartkoü huffed in annoyance, smoke curling around his nostrils. You have no idea, little elf. No idea.

Ancient Language

Du Fells Nágoröth – The central mountains in the Hadarac Desert, as well as the ancestral home of the wild dragons before the Fall.

Gëuloth du knífr - Dull the knife

Agaetí Blödhren – Blood Oath Celebration

Du Weldenvarden – The Guarding Forest

For those also wondering why Sloan is a bit of a jerk to Eragon. He has been his whole life, just because he shows up with a dragon doesn't mean that he'll like him. Not only did he separate him from Katrina but he also made him swear oaths, don't worry Sloan will change his tune. Why else would I have him in here without any redemption and actually wanting to help Eragon. Also since CP said that Sloan hated all of Eragon's family, I felt like that would be the reason why he hated them, he was jealous.