Much ado about meetings
The Talita slowly glided across the serene waters of the Edda River meanwhile overhead, high above the ship, a dragon slowly circled the ship, using periodic updrafts to maintain its altitude. From the prow of the boat you could just see the sparkling blue scales that covered the entirety of the dragon's body, reflecting moonlight from above. If the moonlight reflected in a certain way, you could see that the dragon often turned its head and watched the ship below it float across the water. Then again it could be a trick of the light, for what would cause such a noble creature to often look down upon a small ship, something obviously very dear to it.
On board the ship, some standing in plain view and some hidden away from view, were 31 humanoid sentient beings, and an uncountable amount of enormously beings hidden away. Some tucked away in pockets of space, some resting in specially built holders, while others could be seen resting on deck of the Talita, with some elves laying hands on them. Obviously in attempt to communicate with whatever beings were hidden away inside those enormous stones, that seemed to emit a soft coal like glow, which appeared to flow from the centre of the stone.
One of the elves, if he could be called that, stood apart, at the prow of the ship. Nobody made any move to attempt to approach him, instead preffering to leave him to his thoughts. Upon the wooden planks he stood, watching with heavy eyes the course of the river before him. Many of elves, for they were tall, of a fair build and possesed pointed ears, appeared to be statues, watching with glazed eyes as the landscape passed by. It was only through the slightest hints of body language that they appeared to also be keeping a wary eye out for any harm or trouble that might befall them. Thus the man at the prow of the ship stood for hours deep in thought, lifting his gaze whenever something interesting appeared. He did this with such precision that one would think that he had another set of eyes that nobody else could see.
Many hours had passed since Arya and Firnen had left the elves to their thoughts and by the time any signifigant movement was made on the ship, the moon was already starting to sink towards the horizon. One of the elves, more wolfish in appearance than the others, who was clearly important, started, and after a moments hesitation, slowly went around the ship, asking a select few elves something as he did so. After a few moments it became apparent that the wolfish elf had summoned them to a meeting at the stern of the ship. As he walked up to the bow, his movements became more hesitant; his initial power seemed to quail before the man upon the prow of the ship. Summoning up his courage, the wolfish-in-appearance elf seemed to quickly enquire if the man on the prow would join them for their meeting.
The man obviously thought the matters were of importance, for he slowly took off his hood, turned around to face the wolfish elf and nodded. To an experienced observer it was now made apparent that he was more of a hybrid breed than an actual elf or man. They walked side by side to the stern of the ship, stopping to direct the sentinel-like elves into position, who obeyed them without question, once again showing that they had enormous authority. Once they had dished out their orders they each took a seat upon the table anchored to the wooden planks of the deck below. The man at the head, and the elf on his right hand side. Sitting before them were 10 elves whose nobility and wisdom surpassed that of many men combined. Suddenly the wolfish elf, who possesed a brilliant coat of blue-black fur, started speaking, raising the others from their self-induced thoughtful stupors.
(Perspective Change(Third person to First Person)
Eragon looked around, and saw that many of elves appearance, even though they did not show signs of age easily, showing signs of being subject to the passing of numerous years. He sat at the head of the table, with Yaela on his left and Blodhgarm on the right, not because of his power or his deeds although that certainly did play a part, but because of who he was. He was the first truly free dragon rider to be born in over a century, his strength and knowledge, allowed him to do what others could not, although he was not the strongest in either field by far.
His blend of power and knowledge allowed him to succeed in defeating the evil king Galbatorix, take part in the destruction of two Shades, although this deed was by no means entirely his, and slay the two remaining Razac's and their steeds, the winged Lethrblaka. Even though he had help, it did not diminish the greatness of these accomplishments. In fact, he had slowly started to realise, it demonstrated how good he was at fighting beside people he knew well. He roused himself as Blodhgarm started to speak, taking into account every word. At first they started to discuss what would make a good dragon hold, almost everyone agreed that it would have to be in a mountain range for a number of different reasons, but from there they differed. Many of the elves were of the opinion that they should find an island, like Vroengard, but others said it might take too long and the eggs needed to hatch. At times they consulted with the Eldunari, and once with Saphira, when she offered her opinions, but since the elves were the ones that would be actually building their new home they needed to discuss how they might go about it and what building techniques would be needed for different ideas.
Slowly, the topics drifted, each member having their say, only excusing themselves to do their business. It was just after the sun rose, and the landscape was dotted with numerous hills, small swathes of forest and a few animals that he interrupted their conversation about the amount of buildings needed to be built, in order to raise something that had recently come to mind. "How would the riders find us" he said "if all we do is tell them that we are in a far off land and expect them to find us, that reeks of a disaster in the making." This swiftly prompted a heated debate; it was not until a few minutes that Umaroth interrupted and voicing his thoughts to everyone, he said "Listen to Yaela." Yaela then spoke up for the first time in a while, she proposed that instead of continuing on our journey we should stop at the first good resting place and design a shelter for dragon riders coming our way, which could be maintained by visitors.
As he listened to Yaela speak, he, and many of the other elves he noticed, started to warm up to her proposal. After due consideration, and much communication with the Eldunari, they agreed that they would construct a place that would allow dragon riders to rest along their way. It would provide food, water and safety from whatever perils might fall their way. Noticing that many of the elves were as tired as he was, he instructed them to get some rest before they landed. After he had packed up from the meeting he spent about 10 minutes consulting with the sane Eldunari, and then used the rest of the hour to help out with some of the elves who were trying to make the life of the Eldunari
Calling out to Saphira, he swam to the side of the bank where he stood, waiting for his lifelong companion. As she descended from the stars, he noticed that she was also looking rather tired as well as sad. Although from his tenuous mental connection he shared with her, he noticed that she had mainly used updrafts to sustain her flight. She landed in front of him with a thud, and with a huge sapphire eye, eyed him in a very protective manner. He shivered with excitement as she opened her mind to his, and his to hers. She was pawing the ground excitedly, causing to eragon to slightly stumble as the ground vibrated, she asked "Would you like to fly little one" to which he responded "Of course."
As the hour approached since he had left the Talita, Saphira with her keen eyes, and the sun high up in the sky, had earmarked out a bend in the river about 3 kilometres ahead that had a slow flowing section, which would help ships disembark easily. Closing his eyes, he reached out into the vast void with my mind. Singling out Blodhgarm's mind amongst those of the elves proved easy enough, but resisting the temptation to lose himself in his mind proved much harder. He then quickly informed him of what he saw and remarked that "Saphira and I would like stake out the location, we will see you in a short while." He then ended the conversation, by the time of which, Saphira was in the middle of a full blown dive towards the bend. Extending her wings she came to a sharp stop and glided softly down to the ground. Exhilarated from the dive he loosened the straps which held hime in and jumped down upon the bank, ready to embark on his first building project for the new dragon rider order.
A/N Please review, anything is helpful although constructive criticism. Every chapter I will at least try to answer questions posed in the reviews or questions sent to me through PM's. As of when I updated this, my main plot will be the rebuilding of everything, and the secondary plot line will be the unnamed shadow.
Issues addressed this chapter(feel free to point out anymore):
PoV change
PoV perspective
Edited some spelling mistakes
Lengthened it a bit
Thank you and see you for next time (read the following information only if you want too)
P.S. I will try to be a responsive writer, so feel free to ask any questions, and will credit people for ideas. By the way, some of the idea's I got from some other stories, but I did add my own twist on them. So if they appear a little like anyone's story, I will try to credit them with the idea. I have read a lot of fan fiction so will not remember where I got some of my ideas from. Oh, and please provide a name or a link for the story as otherwise I cannot credit them.
P.P.S. Thank you to Green fire for my first review (and maybe my first follow/favourite) if not, thank you anyway.