Eragon seemed to have patience as he stood and waited for me to make my decision. My first instinct was to unmask his thoughts but his facial expression remained neutral, his eyes though. They did show me something. His cobalt blue eyes showed a kind of pain that I hadn't seen for a long time. He must have lost someone important to him recently, and he was determined to avenge them.

That slight flicker of humanism helped me decide what I was going to do, it helped me decide on whether I was going to have to fight Eragon right then. He must have noticed my change in expression as he held out his hand, "Will you come with us and listen to the stories of my people? If you choose to fight with us I can assure you that we will succeed, end this war and bring peace. I swear on my word as a Dragon Rider that you can trust us."

He smiled as I reached out and grasped his hand firmly. "I must gather my things," I said after a moment of silence. He nodded his head and made a gesture with his hands towards where Mor'ranr and I had set up camp.

Stay with them while I gather our things. I told Mor'ranr, who had managed to stay quiet for quite a while. Mor'ranr nodded his large head in acknowledgement that he heard my thoughts. I trusted him to warn me of anything as I ran back to my little cave and grabbed my silver backpack. I did a final sweep of the cave to make sure I grabbed everything I would need before walking back towards where my dragon stood with his head held high. It looked like Saphira had not moved but Eragon however was closer to Mor'ranr, like they were talking.

As I came up closed to them, Eragon broke his conversation with Mor'ranr and turned to me, "It is not a long flight to where the Varden are camped." He said as I walked over and strapped my bag onto Mor'ranr. I took a deep breath and nodded while getting on my dragon. "I must warn you however," Eragon continued, "The only peaceful dragon and rider these people have meet in centuries is Saphira and I. They will be a hostile until they feel like they can trust you and your dragon."

I shook my shoulders, "I am used to that look, Shadeslayer. In my world trust must be earned, and that includes you and yours." With that, Mor'ranr leapt up into the sky with a mighty roar, shaking the trees now below us. I believe I saw a slight smirk growing on the blue rider's lips as he too leapt into the air on the blue she-dragon.

I grinned right back and motioned for him to take the lead as I had no clue where we were flying. He seemed to be more comfortable as he flew in front of us. I used this time to think, just about what I really got myself into when I accepted this quest. I am on my way…to meet with a bunch of warriors…who are fighting against a dragon….and his magical rider…on the back of my own dragon? Really, what did I get myself into?

~*..*~

We were flying for what felt like hours, (I ended up playing a game of I-Spy with Mor'ranr, and had to explain it to him… he was not good at I-Spy..) I finally noticed something in the plains ahead. Mor'ranr, do you see that? I asked him as I leaned forward even more.

It seems like we have arrived, little one.

They don't look very friendly. I pointed out as Eragon motioned for us to land far away from the mass.

Mor'ranr followed Saphira's lead as she landed in the shelter of a group of trees. Eragon quickly dismounted and ran over to where Mor'ranr and I had landed. He reached his hand, which I accepted very awkwardly as he helped me down. "Like I said before, these people are going to act very hostile. But I figured you might feel better if you come in with some friends."

"Friends?" I asked him as I raised a brow and placed a hand on my hip.

"My cousin and his wife are meeting us here as well as a few other important members of the Varden. They will want to talk to you before you come closer to the people."

Smart, they didn't trust me.

I nodded and leaned up against Mor'ranr's side as we waited for these friends of his to join us. I heard a slight rustle in the bushes near us and my hand quickly went to my sword as I pulled it up and held it front of me in a battle ready position. Mor'ranr wrapped his tail around my body as he crouched and began to bare his teeth. Eragon quickly went over and muttered a few words before he came back out with a young couple and a short man with a gruffy beard.

The woman was the first to notice me as she gripped onto the mans arms and a scared look came on her face. "Oh, Roran! It looks just like-"

"We know Katrina." Eragon interrupted. He sighed and ran his hand through his hair before he turned back to me, "This is my cousin Roran Stronghammer, his wife Katrina and the Dwarf King, Orik." He said motioning to the couple and then the smaller man- I mean dwarf.

"Eragon, I don't know if this is a good idea," the man, Roran spoke in a warning tone. He flashed me a look and then turned back to his cousin. The two started to mumble quietly to themselves.

Seeing that these people were of little danger to me, I put my weapon back in its sheath and placed a hand on Mor'ranr's scaly body to calm him. We had started to speak within our minds when I noticed the stare of Katrina. She had a curious look on her face as I returned her stare. Can I help you with something? I asked her in her mind.

She jumped a little but nothing that was noticed as she quickly recovered herself. Can you hear me? She asked, when I nodded faintly she continued, Why are you here? Who are you? What do you want? She fired questions at me.

My name is Jessamine Celeste. I come from another land, very different compared to your own. My father is Zeus, the King of the Gods, and he sent me on a quest to bring peace to this land. I was gifted by the Magic Goddess, Hecate, with my dragon, Mor'ranr. My only mission here is to bring this land peace. Eragon has managed to convince me to come to meet with his leaders and hear their stories before I decide what I have to do to bring peace.

What will you do if you disagree with us?

I smiled at her, she is smart, asking all the right questions.

I have no plan as of now, if that is the question you ask. But I will tell you this, I am not here to harm the innocent. I am only here to bring peace in whatever way that comes. If I disagree with you, then I will leave, and I won't harm you unless I find you in my way of peace.

She paused, and actually smiled at me. As Eragon, Roran and Orik continued to talk, she let go of Roran's arm and started to walk towards us. The men instantly stopped talking and turned their attention towards us. Mor'ranr unwound his tail from me as he let Katrina walk over to me. I stood still as she stopped right in front of me. She continued to smile as she held out her hand, an invitation.

I grinned as I reached for her hand and gave it a slight squeeze. She started to pull me towards the little cluster of the boys. I easily meet Saphira's gaze as she sat aside and watched with a curious expression. Katrina and I slowly made our way to Eragon and the others as three figures came out of the shadows.

Two of them were females with one male.

I recognized Arya from our first encounter but the other two were unfamiliar. Katrina halted at the sight of the three but quickly smiled once more. "Blödgarm, Nasuada, Arya." She said, greeting each one of them.

Nasuada was a tall skinny woman with mocha colored skin. She was beautiful in an exotic way, and her stance told me she was in charge. With the way she held herself, I couldn't help but be reminded of Reyna from Camp Jupiter. The stance and the look just screamed Daughter of War.

Blödgarm looked slightly like Arya, I assumed he was an elf as well by his look. He had blue fur and eyes like an eagle (which I found kind of ironic with my father). His mouth was full of fangs of which he bared in my direction. I smiled sweetly to him, where he started to look a little confused. I found his mind, like Arya's was carefully protected. I knew I would be able to get past it but it was not the sneaky approach I liked so I decided to refrain from it.

"Eragon, you have not introduced your friend.." Nasuada said in a kind voice. Her eyes continued to dart from me to Mor'ranr and then back to me. Blödgarm on the other case couldn't remove his gave from Mor'ranr's dark form. Mor'ranr seemed to be relaxing a bit, his approach much like Saphira's to a point where the two of them were laying in the sun, like we were all taking a nap and not a war meeting.

It was almost like they were comfortable.

They acted like they were safe around each other.

Like this wasn't going to turn into a battle, it was just a friendly talk.

~*..*~

Hey... sorry guys, I know I haven't done anything with this story in... well a year but I don't like to give up on anything, so no matter what I am going to write this story through. When that will be really depends on you. I know everyone on this site talks about how much reviews matter, and they really do when you are writing. Just hearing that people like something you write is a huge boost in confidence, so please just tell me how you are feeling about this. I hope to be able to post again soon, and thank you so much to anyone who has stuck with this story through everything.