A/N: Important message down the bottom
The meeting with Eragon had gone better than she had hoped, it had been fun, enjoyable and most of all, she had got everything she needed out of it. Better than having to report back to her people that she had failed. No, she thought, that would not be good. It was a pity, actually, looking back on it, they hadn't chatted for longer. There was something deeply comforting about talking to a fellow rider. Even Firnen's joy was satisfied when he was able to see Saphira for a tiny glimpse. The happiness of her dragon echoed through her mind. It was a pity, though, that the elves hadn't invented a way to communicate using minds through scrying mirrors.
Not for the first time, she wandered what it would be like to be a human rider. Riders are supposed to be strong, yet a human rider could easily be matched by Elves, and indeed Kull. She was able to easily defeat Eragon when he first became a rider, although she supposed that with time, Human riders would have gained strength. Brom being a perfect example, when he was at his prime, he was an exemplary swordsman, matched by only a select few. Coupled with the fact that humans didn't have endless free time and didn't grow up with the Ancient Language, she thought that the Elves had it relatively well off.
"I'm so glad you're my partner" she said, voicing her thoughts of compassion to Firnen.
"And I yours" he replied, a hint of sadness echoing through his voice.
"What is it" she asked, waiting with baited breath.
"I wonder how things would have turned out if Hefring stole my egg instead of Saphira's. I wonder if I would have done as good as job."
"I'm sure you would have" she said, kindly, or maybe sweetly, she didn't know what she sounded more like.
"I love being with you, little-two-legged-pointy-ear, but I just wish I had hatched sooner, a hundred years is a long wait, even if you're not fully conscious and independent."
She remained silent, Firnen had never addressed this topic, and she doubted that he would take it happily if she interrupted him. Then again, most people wouldn't, especially when discussing a topic of such significance.
"I feel as if the years of waiting dimmed my ability to properly behave like a dragon. My ferocity is nothing compared to Saphira's, and by all accounts, she is much more the dragon."
"I would take you anyway you came" she replied, putting as much positive emotion into her thoughts as she could. Her efforts were met, thankfully, by success, with Firnen feeling a lot better. "Look at Eragon, he has to be the least bloodthirsty person I have ever met, and yet Saphira chose him. Our relationship has to be balanced, as much as it pains me to use this as an example, for fear of being, a bit … strange, I shall. I, in an honest assessment of myself, find myself to be more ferocious than Eragon, yet our partnership is balanced, because your personality compensates for it. We are made for each other, and if one of us was slightly different, while the other stayed the same, it would upset the bond that we have."
"Thank you, pointy-ears. I realise I am being a little too emotional, but you really are the best" he said, making a humming noise.
She acknowledged it as she walked over to wake Rhunon and Silvari, who were sleeping in the opposite corners of the room, their backs leaning up against those gigantic trees the elves must have sung. Silvari awoke after a light tapping on the shoulder, while Rhunon took a shake to get her moving, and even then she was still slow.
Still grumbling, Rhunon followed the two of them out of the settlement and into the fresh spring air. The sky was a beautiful, crystal blue, and she had no doubt that if Saphira was here, and was flying far enough away, she would blend in perfectly with the sky. There were no clouds in the sky and she could feel the warmth of the sun spreading throughout her body, sending her an exhilarating rush of energy she could barely contain. Firnen swooped down from where he was playfully flying in the sky. Before he did though, she could see him chasing his own tail. For the amusement of both of them, she thought.
She laughed a crystal clear sound that echoed on the grassy plains dotted with flowers. Firnen was being very silly, but she couldn't help but smile. After he had landed, and the ground had stopped vibrating, she attached his saddle, careful to secure the three Eldunari in some of the saddlebags. In the others, she placed some food, mainly berries, that Rhunon had gathered, and the scrolls that Eragon had sent her. After patting him on the jaw, and eliciting a pleased sound from him, she motioned for Rhunon and Silvari to climb up his leg, which he held out, and afterwards, did so herself.
Everything in order, they grabbed on hard to the wooden edges of the saddle as Firnen took off, quickly leaving the settlement, and the rolling plains behind. This time, it was a lot shorter trip back to Du Weldenvarden, and they reached it just before nightfall. Settling down in Nadindel for the night, in some specialty royalty quarters, they soon fell quickly asleep.
(Time Change)
When they woke up in the morning, she felt refreshed and energetic, although the prospect of finishing off the rest of the spells daunted her a little. They still had a week to go, she thought sadly. Then, it would all be done. The only hard decision that awaited her for the spells was to choose the guardian. She would need to consult with Gilderien about what a suitable choice was, but apart from that, the decision, and the blame, would rest squarely on her shoulders.
Taking into account that Firnen was still probably sleepy, she directed them to a short flight to the forest edge. Where she would have to spend a few hours discussing the spell requirements with the local advisor, and then replicating a copy of the parchment Eragon gave her. Battles be damned, she thought, politics was much more tiring.
(PoV Change)
Eragon had one last sweeping look around the settlement built inside the cliff, and then to took his leave, exiting not through the stairwell, but through the gangway roughly hewn into the rock that extended right out to the cliff edge. Taking a running start, he jumped off the end, clearing the slight raised mound at the end of the walkway. Saphira, having known what he was about to attempt, flew slowly by, in time for him to catch one of the large spikes on her bag, and swing him onto her back. Their move accomplished, she slowly flapped her wings harder and rose above the face of the cliff.
While she was doing this, and indeed when she was heading towards the Talita, he made his way up to the saddle, using the spikes between him and the saddle as foot and hand holds. The elves had already cast off, and were making steady progress up the river. By means of the wind, which had suddenly reversed direction a few hours ago, to their complete suprise, and also four elves steadily rowing, he was sure that they were making good progress, and it wouldn't be too long before they caught sight of a suitable place. Then again, as Arya always said, he was determined to find the deepest patch of quicksand and get him stuck in it. So it would be no wonder if they came across any complications Plus, the mainstay of Saphira's thoughts towards him, was that he was a magnet for trouble and couldn't be trusted to do it solo.
"Isn't that right, Saphira" he asked, trying to appear as innocent as he possibly could. No need to say that he utterly failed in that regard. She regarded him for a moment, curiosity evident in her thoughts, and then responded.
"Why, I'd say so" she responded, an air of playfulness about her. This time he tried to feign mock hurt, and was a little more successful, although this only exacerbated her amusement.
"How could you say that" he answered, as if horrified, putting a stress on every syllable. She smiled smugly, not bothering to answer him, and once more they lapsed into thoughtful silence. After circling around the ship a few times, she dropped him off, quite literally in fact. As he was tumbling through the air, he reached the familiar pocket of magic and broke the barrier in his mind. As the sensation of energy flooded through him, he thought of slowing down, concentrating very hard on it. After a split second, he stopped tumbling and was now standing straight up, albeit in the middle of the air.
Gradually, he released his hold on the magic until he eventually landed lightly on the stern of the Talita, which was moving now daintily through the water. Straightening up, and recovering from the brief lapse in his strength, he strode over to Blodhgarm, whom he addressed like an old friend.
"Aah, Blodhgarm, I was wondering if you have need of me, or am I free to do as I want."
"No, we elves have already done everything, while you were … watching the view." By the way he lingered on the past few words he knew that Blodhgarm knew that he was actually modifying the spells placed on the settlement.
"Aye … the view. If that is the case then I am going to start something that I was going to start a few weeks ago."
"What, may I ask, is going to demand your attention?"
"I am going to modify my armour somewhat."
To this Blodhgarm just nodded, before turning his gaze back to the horizon. Taking this as a dismissal as well as a sign of approval, he walked over to the compartments at the back of his ship, hauling out his armour. After finding a suitable workplace, he then fetched some tools, taking care to ensure that he wouldn't have to go back for a second round.
Gathering up the pieces of armour, he then sorted and laid them out so he could see what he was doing. Whispering a few words in the ancient language, he made a hole in the armour, just large enough to fit a bolt through. Sighing, he took off his jacket; it was going take a lot of energy to finish his project, he thought, as he started to work.
(Time Change)
After an hour of working he had finally made the armour plates fit on the metal bands he had fashioned. Inserting his arms through the metal band, he pushed it up until it was a few centimetres from his shoulder. He then took the second metal band, which was a bit smaller, and inserted his arm through that. Once again making sure that the metal band went up his arm as far as possible.
Focusing on the arm plate of the armour attaching to the metal bands that he wore, it wasn't long before one of the greaves of armour came flying through the air. It slammed down onto the metal bands, and once it had, bolts set in the metal arm bands locked it in place. He breathed a sigh of relief, he wouldn't have expected it to turn out so well. The armour had flown perfectly through the air, and it had attached itself to his arm perfectly. There was no need to repeat the motions, it would only get better as he used it more and more often.
If there was ever a situation that called for him to be dressed in his armour in a split second, this would be the thing to use. He made a mental note, once he finished the project, to always keep the armour in Saphira's saddlebag. A weapon like this could not afford to go unused in the most desperate of circumstances. Thanking whatever Gods were above, he turned back to the rest of the suit armour with a grin on his face.
(PoV Change)
Roran sighed; it had taken them a long time to finish their quadrant of Carvahall. It was not helped by the unnatural, un-seasonal heat that had enveloped their small portion of the Spine. He couldn't wait until it turned back to normal spring weather. This was especially since they would be starting some of the harder parts of the town to build.
Three quarters of the town had been completed, and the dirt moat that encircled the town had been finished just the day before. Their work, however, had just begun. They had to build an inner wall, then all the shops in the outer area. And to top that all, they had to construct another outer wall, and a moat to that.
Planning had been completed, although they still didn't know where to get plentiful supplies of stone. Nasuada had yet to contact them about this. Although, according to some of the rumours brought over by the traders, there was a host of dwarves coming to help them. Personally, he thought that this was unlikely, as the Dwarves were about the furthest you could be from Carvahall. Not to mention the fact that it would be prohibitely expensive to send a bunch of Dwarves all the way over here to design a few fortifications. He had yet to see an occasion where a dwarf wouldn't use common sense. In that regard, he thought, they were much like the elves.
He wondered if Arya had had contact with Eragon, as distant as she might seem, he had to admit that it might be a tad cold for her to completely abandon Eragon once he left for good. She did seem to like him, if it all that playful banter indicated what he thought it meant. Then again, elves were very hard to decipher, and so very unlike the other races that inhabited Alagaesia. As Eragon once told him, it is more important what they do not say, rather than what they do say. All of this, of course, had left his head confused and aching, for elves didn't say much.
"Feeling all right" asked Katrina, who was gently nursing Ismira to sleep.
"Fine, I'm just tired."
"Anything else" she asked suspiciously. He sighed, there was no point keeping secrets from her. She knew him better than anyone else did, probably even himself. So instead, he told her of what he was worried about.
"Do you reckon Eragon will be going well? I mean he's not the most thoughtful planet to wander this land, and he does seem to able to get himself into the worst possible situation without even trying. Or maybe that's just an act" he added, as an afterthought.
"Nonsense" she replied, "You know Saphira well enough to know that she won't let anything bad happen to him. In fact, she's probably already ordered to have him tied down to the deck and made it impossible to move, as just a precautionary measure."
"Probably" he agreed, in fact that seemed so in character that he began to laugh. His merriment increased as his mind conjured up an image of Eragon lying strapped to the deck of Talita with a cautious Saphira looking sternly down at him.
"I just hope that he contacts me soon, it would be great to speak to him. Being cousin and all, you would have thought that he might attempt to contact me at least once."
"He will" she assured him, "you know he will. He's just probably a little busy at the moment.'
"I'm worrying too much, aren't I."
"No more than you are expected to. You have known him for your whole life" she said, planting a kiss on his forehead, "it would be weird if you didn't."
"Ok, for a moment I thought that my wife was going to tell me that I worry too much, that I ought to smile more."
She just brushed away a loose strand of hair from his forehead, and then turned back to Ismira, who by now was well and truly asleep. He put his arm around her and gazed down at their baby boy, who had rolled over and was now sucking his thumb.
"She's beautiful, isn't she?"
She just nodded her head in agreement, and by the way she was staring hard at the crib, he could tell that she was thinking of something else.
"How long was it since Galbatorix died" she asked unexpectedly.
"Around eight months" he replied, after a moment's hesitation, "why?"
"I don't know, it just feels so much longer than that, and I thought Ismira's birthday must be coming up, but it isn't for a while. Silly me" she whispered.
"Don't feel too bad. The other day, when the sun shined for the first time in a month, I woke up and thought it was summer already" he said.
"Shh" she hushed, as Ismira turned over once again, a copper locket of hair falling down and slightly covering the entrance to her mouth. With every breath that she took, and exhaled, the locket of hair moved. Katrina reached down and took the lonely strand and tucked it behind their beautiful daughter's ear.
It was then that he realised, how much he had enjoyed raising a family, he was so lucky, and Katrina must have been thinking the same thing for they turned at the same time to face each other. She held out her arms, and he burrowed his face in her hair. It was a perfect moment, and he wished it could go on forever, but sadly all things come to pass, whether good or bad, and he recognised that this an in-the-moment experience. So he made the most out of it, and tried to remember that he was here in the same room, with the two people he loved most of all.
A/N: Dear readers,
Let us get down to business. First and foremost,
1. I am going away for about a month, so there will be no updates. I barely managed to submit this chapter.
2. Sorry for the length of this chapter, I was rushed for time.
3. I made a reference to the Dark Knight, did anyone catch it?
4. Please review
Thanks for all the support, especially Greenfire, Harlequin K and someone else. (If I didn't mention you, don't feel sad, I appreciate your support, I am just a little busy at the moment.)
I was going to say something else, but forgot what I was going to say, so goodbye for now!
WiseBeyondYears