29. Discovery

Eragon's skin darkened as the days passed, since he and Arya were constantly unclothed under the brightness of the summer sun. The tan line he had jokingly pointed out the first morning was gone within a few days, for his skin tanned more easily and deeply than Arya's, though he noticed that her fair, honey-colored skin also took on a deeper, healthy glow.

One evening, after being gone nine days on their honeymoon, he asked, "And how long shall we carry on in this manner, my love? Not a care in the world, thoughts only for each other?"

"Forever?" Arya hopefully replied.

Eragon grinned. "If only it were possible."

"I suppose we could head back tomorrow," Arya finally said with unmistakable reluctance. "We can still find comfort in one another's arms in the city, just not all day every day."

"Perhaps a little tempering of this endless passion will be good," Eragon said. "I fear the novelty will wear off and you will grow tired of me."

"Never," Arya denied. "But I see the wisdom in your words nonetheless."

-:-:-

Arya drifted off to sleep in his arms as she had every night since coming to the Isle, content and joyful. Her waking dreams had been as full of Eragon as had her wakeful moments. And though she sometimes still experienced a recurrence of her frequent nightmare during their separation, it always ended well when she awoke and found his hands—and the rest of his body—touching her on every possible surface.

After a few hours of sleep, something fleeting and faint in Arya's dreams startled her, but she couldn't quite grasp it, though she unconsciously moved one hand over her abdomen. Then her eyes snapped open and she tried to recall why. What had she been dreaming about?

An insistent twinge within her body demanded her attention, but she couldn't identify it. It wasn't the ache of longing she felt for Eragon. No, this was something different, but what was it? Arya focused on the feeble pang and tried to locate it, finding that it originated in her lower abdomen near where she imagined her womb was. She then noticed the placement of her hand and froze as the impossible thought occurred to her.

Arya anxiously extended her awareness, mentally reaching toward that area of her body in search of anything different. Then she gasped as she recognized a bright spark of life within her womb. It cannot be! she thought, stunned.

"Eragon!" she hissed under her breath. "Wake up!"

Since their waking dreams were not as deep as normal sleep, Eragon was immediately alert, and he tightened his arms protectively around her. "What is it, Arya?" he asked in concern. "Are you well?"

"I hardly know," Arya breathed. Sensing his confusion, she instructed, "Here, feel with your mind." She placed his hand where hers had been.

She opened her mind to his so she could feel his searching effort. When Eragon arrived at the area she indicated, he likewise froze. It feels like a . . .

Life, she finished. A new life. A child! And then because she couldn't resist, Arya joyfully repeated, "Our child!" and threw her arms around his neck.

-:-:-

Eragon was dumbstruck. He fixed his mind on the speck of energy within Arya's body, which was undeniably alive—as brilliant and blinding as any tiny insect he had ever studied, though many times smaller and brighter even than that. Finally he asked, "Is it possible? When did you discover this?"

"Just now when I woke you. I felt it come to life the moment I searched for it. No, now that I think about it, it was already alive and developing, but I only noticed it then because it was burrowing into my womb and becoming a part of me, so it can safely grow until it is ready to be born." Tears of joy streamed down Arya's face, and she laughed through them. "We're going to have a baby, Eragon! So soon you have fulfilled one of my dearest wishes."

Eragon could feel Arya's total fascination with the tiny life inside of her, and he shared her awe as they felt it grow and develop so infinitesimally, though it was unquestionably changing.

Eragon smiled as Arya gushed, Every moment brings me closer to the one where I will get to cradle our child in my arms.

Eragon couldn't help but allow Arya's joy to shape his initial disbelief into cautious amazement. "But how is it possible so soon? We have only been married just over a week! Did you notice the changes within your body that would have been necessary for this to take place?"

Arya wonderingly shook her head. "I was so preoccupied being with you, my husband. I was already experiencing so many new sensations, new aches and pleasures. I hardly would have noticed a fluid different from yours, as abundantly as it has been inside of me since our marriage. These changes must have begun the moment of our first union for this to be happening now. It takes at least a week for the fertilized egg to journey to the womb, developing all the while until it is ready to join the mother's body for the rest of its growth."

Eragon furrowed his brow, trying to make sense of it. "And to think we were so recently concerned this might never be. Now we have proven that an elf and a human truly can conceive a child. Already we have overcome the impossible and emerged victorious. We're unstoppable."

Arya laughed and suddenly exclaimed, "Angela's gift! Do you think it's possible she could have known? But how? There is more to her than meets the eye. Did you not sense that she was hinting at something terribly important when she gave us those baby clothes?"

"Aye," Eragon agreed, remembering that exact feeling. "But I couldn't possibly guess at what." After a moment of basking in Arya's pure joy, he said, "Well, congratulations, my love. I'm so happy for you, for us, I can hardly think of an expression befitting it."

Arya smiled at him and it was so breathtakingly happy, it transformed her. She looked divine. "Thank you, Eragon," she breathed. "I am seeing that there is more to the power of faith than I have ever before believed. It could not be coincidence that we were brought together or that this new life was just the result of lucky chance. No, that could not be."

The conviction of her words strengthened Eragon's. "It seems the power of practiced faith truly is great enough to produce miracles," he observed, and Arya nodded her fervent agreement. "And I think we may have just discovered the one thing with the power to take your focus and desire off of me long enough for us to return to the city," he playfully added.

Arya guiltily glanced up from her womb.

"That is as it should be, Arya," Eragon reassured. "I've had my fair share of your tender love this week. Our child deserves your attention and love as much as I."

"No, not quite as much, for you have given me this gift, my darling," Arya whispered. "You'll always hold first place in my heart, but it seems my capacity to love has only swelled, taking nothing away from my love for you and increasing immeasurably at the same time."

Eragon smiled at that image and thought he could feel something of the swelling she described. A tender affection began blossoming inside of him for this tiny life that he had helped create. It subtracted nothing from his love for Arya but instead seemed only to augment it.

Eragon pulled her against his chest, and she nestled there contentedly, though her hands and her thoughts never left her abdomen, which Eragon felt with their minds touching. When they had drifted off to sleep a few hours earlier, Arya didn't think it possible that her joy could be any fuller, but she saw that she had been wrong. Her joy now upon discovering that she would be one of the honored few elves to bear a child was so immense that Arya felt she might burst. Eragon smiled at her thoughts and added his mental agreement. Keeping their minds linked, they marveled at their creation for many hours, and Eragon wondered if the awe of their discovery would keep sleep from finding them again before morning arrived.