For Alagaesia: 59. Peace and Happiness

The puny-dotted-deer was cunning enough to keep running under huge trees. No animal had ever defied her attempt to hunt this long. It wasn't that the deer was smart, it was just that never before had she been hampered by an extremely slow-to-fly companion.

Arya-bonded-little-green-dragon had insisted upon following her to hunt. According to Arya, he was tired of eating Saphira's catch. So much gratitude for helping with fresh meat in his young days. She, Saphira, had been forced to eat stored and old meat when she was little as she didn't have any dragon around to help. The only food she got was stolen meat from uncle-of-Eragon's stocks.

Arya had been another nuisance. The elven princess had come up to Saphira right before they were to begin their trip and had asked to keep her dragon safe. When Saphira said that she would keep the little fellow out of trouble, Arya asked to keep an eye out for him always. And when Saphira accepted that she would do so, Arya had insisted upon Saphira flying and being with him always. And when Saphira had accepted that Arya had wanted Saphira to not lead her dragon out of Arya's mental reach. When Saphira pointed out that such a place would be too close to Ellesmera and hence unsuitable to hunt, Arya had backed down on her decision to let her dragon go with Saphira.

Saphira had been furious. 'How dare she not trust me?', she had thought. It took Eragon's intervention to secure a deal. Eragon explained to her why Arya was so nervous about letting her dragon out of her sight and mental reach – as if she didn't know those things already. The problem was Arya's lack of trust in her abilities, Saphira argued.

'No, Saphira. It is the problem of Arya not yet being comfortable with ridership and hence feeling insecure', her rider had chided. 'Can't you see that?', he had asked. Eragon had then proposed that since his and Saphira's link was stronger and was capable of extending to much longer distances than Arya's link with her dragon, he would keep in contact with Saphira and inform Arya of all the developments. Arya had still been reluctant, but her dragon had been adamant and she had budged at long last.

Saphira was proud. Eragon had come a long way from being a farm-boy. He truly deserved the mantle of leadership of the dragon-riders.

Arya-bonded-dragon sent her an image of a deer grazing in low bushes.

‘Yes, it is called a deer’, Saphira said absent-mindedly, her concentration committed completely to the deer running below.

An indignant feeling oozed from the little dragon’s mind and he impressed the same image in her mind again.

‘I said that it is called deer. If you keep disturbing me, then we won’t get food today.’, Saphira said irritated at the little dragon’s constant questions.

Arya-bonded-dragon snorted. And dived down towards the ground.

‘Little one wait. Come back!!’, Saphira cried in his mind and for good measure added an image of him flying close to her with her message. But the little dragon ignored her and kept diving downward, a dangerous thing to do because it was only ten days since he had hatched and his wings weren’t strong enough to decelerate his fall.

Cursing the audacity of the little green dragon, Saphira flew down following the green dragon, all the while trying hard to ignore Eragon’s panic that seeped through their mental link.

Before she could do anything, the green dragon reached the ground. He landed awkwardly having failed to spread open his wings at the right time. Thankfully, he wasn’t hurt.

Saphira landed right beside him, a few seconds after he reached the ground and began to chide him. He didn’t seem to realize his mistake yet, as he tried to pounce away from Saphira. Angry beyond reasoning, Saphira pounced on the little dragon pinning him down to the ground. He tried to push her away, but she held strong. Yet again, he sent the image of a deer running scared through low bushes. ‘What do you want with that? Yes, that’s a deer and it is food. You just lost us one with your gimmicks.’, Saphira said annoyed at the green dragon’s continued obsession with a deer-in-bushes that made them lose a deer-under-trees.

She heard a rustling noise just ahead of them. Having been caught unawares, she hastily looked in the direction of the sound only to find a deer scrambling away from the area which incidentally was filled with bushes.

‘Huh?’, Saphira thought. ‘Ow!! So that’s why…’, she realized and lifted her leg from the snorting-smoke-out-green dragon’s back. He threw her a nasty look and pounced after the deer.

Saphira embarrassed and feeling foolish closed her mind to Eragon who was laughing aloud in her mind and mocking her. The little green dragon tried his best to get to the deer before it escaped, but he was too slow for the graceful animal.

‘You are not yet grown enough to hunt down a deer little one.’, Saphira said in the green dragon’s mind and set off after the deer herself. It didn’t take long for her to sink her talons into the neck of the poor animal and tear its head away from its body.

Arya-bonded-dragon looked on in amazement at her. She knew it would look impressive to the young fellow, what with all her felinity and eye-catching moves against a graceful-in-its-own-way deer.

Saphira gave a large share of the deer-meat to the little dragon in appreciation of his spotting it. Having eaten to his heart’s content, the green dragon stretched his wings and yawned, his tiredness showing.

‘Stay here and rest.’, Saphira said to the little dragon in both the ancient language and the language-of-smell-touch-taste-sound-and-vision that the dragons understood inherently. It was an idea that Eragon had given: speaking to the green dragon in two languages simultaneously of which he understood one. According to Eragon, it would help the little dragon learn words faster.

The green dragon sent back his acceptance and lay down on the ground to rest.

Saphira flew back into the sky, this time at her own speed and hunted down two deers in a matter of minutes. She came back to find the little dragon fast asleep. She waited a few minutes to wake the little dragon for she knew how tired he would be, especially since she, even with all her experience and strength, felt tired.

Looking at the green dragon gave her a lot of pleasure and hope. He was the one who was going to save the race of the dragons from extinction. He was going to be great; one who would be remembered for the ages to come. And she would be the one training him. She tried hard not to day-dream about the handsome dragon, he would become in a year. Eragon's non-stop ridicules didn't help either. She liked the feeling of being alone with Arya-bonded-dragon, her only friend from her own race.

'He will soon grow-up Eragon.', Saphira said. Somehow, that thought was not pleasant. It reminded that one day the happy dragon sleeping near her would have to go to war.

'We need a way at least to keep these memories intact. The war is taking over our life and in a few years all we will know and remember is war.', Eragon lamented.

'Aye, that be true.', Saphira agreed, 'But what have we to realise such a dream?'

'We could make fairths. Maybe that would remind us of our youth. We have already lost a lot of it.', Eragon replied.

Saphira felt enthusiastic. She remembered how Eragon had been captivated by Brom's fairth of his mother and also how Arya reacted to a fairth of her by Eragon. The fairth of Illeria by Oromis that helped a great deal in finalising the plan to rescue Eragon also spread its tentacles in Saphira's mind. 'That is a great idea, little one. It would give us time to reflect on our past and also help us forget the miseries awaiting us outside Du Weldenvarden. And it would keep our youth from fading away with the passing of time.', she said.

Bubbling with excitement, Saphira woke the little dragon up. He was quite grumpy and annoyed with her for it. 'Keep this engrained in your mind Eragon. You will have to reproduce this memory on a slate for me. He looks so cute.', Saphira said to Eragon and virtually pulled the little dragon along with her to Ellesmera.

Arya ran up to her dragon as soon as he landed in Ellesmera and her dragon responded by pushing his head into Arya's inviting arms.

'This one too, Eragon.', Saphira said in the back of Eragon's mind.

'Oh, please calm down Saphira. We have a lot of time to do all we want. The winter is only just beginning to lay its blanket of white across Alagaesia.', Eragon replied just as enthusiastically. Saphira could say that the parter-of-her-mind-and-hearts was just as excited by the prospect of living their young days once again, if only in memories.

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And so the dragon rider set out to relive the moments of his young days along with his dragon. The following days were spent in a state of heavenly peace with Eragon relaxing in his tree-house in Ellesmera and recreating the day on which he got Saphira’s egg, the moment when Saphira hatched, the times during which Saphira was a secret and every one of such happy and carefree times.

Arya and her dragon spent almost all of their time together and it was obviously clear that their bond was getting stronger with each passing hour. Eragon and Saphira visited them often at Arya’s home in Tialdari Hall. While the little green dragon was growing spectacularly, he still wasn’t capable of speaking. That made them put off the actual training of Arya and her dragon as dragon and rider for it would be of no particular use to try to converse with the two of them as a pair.

Eragon contacted Roran, Nasuada and Katrina as often as he could. Roran was enthusiastic about Teirm’s transformation and strategic position. His cousin seemed to have left the administration of the city to Lord Risthart except for the military control. It was a good decision seeing as the people of Teirm had always lived happily under Risthart’s rule and taking his power away completely would only anger the men. Eragon was satisfied to hear that Queen Islanzadi had sent Lord Dathedr to help Roran. It was a gesture of complete support to and trust in the Varden on the part of the elven queen.

Eragon was also happy to have a master diplomat in Dathedr with Roran. He only hoped that Dathedr wouldn’t try to dominate Roran. Such an act would undermine the credibility of the elves in the eyes of the men of Varden. They trusted and respected Roran. Seeing him dominated – not that Roran would allow himself to be dominated – would shatter the slowly growing trust of the men of Varden in the elves. And that trust was absolutely necessary if the alliance were to defeat Galbatorix.

Roran, it seemed, was now more important to the Varden’s prospects than even Eragon and Saphira seeing as the Stronghammer was the one who gelled the Urgals, elves and humans together. It was true that Eragon was respected by each of the races, but Roran was someone whom the humans and Urgals could relate to while Eragon – although a part of the human race – was now a mystery to them. Whether he liked it or not, he was now understood better by the elves than by the other races.

Katrina was beginning to miss Roran and Eragon had taken care to get his cousins to talk to each other at least once-a-day. He had even asked the elves to assign one of their people to help Katrina contact Roran. Beside that major blot, Katrina’s life in Silthrim was an immensely satisfying affair. Eragon wished to bring his cousin-sister to Ellemera so that he could personally take care of her but her father, Sloan’s presence in Ellesmera prevented it.

Nasuada had been strangely troubled. But she didn’t want to talk of her problem to him. Eragon suspected that the council of elders may be behind Nasuada’s grim-expression. Eragon felt guilty about leaving Nasuada to fend for herself. He knew how tough the council of elders could make the life of a ruler but then he also knew that there wasn’t a ruler who could stave off their idiocy better than Nasuada. His presence, if anything, would only escalate the tension. But for all the satisfying developments, he couldn’t shake off a hunch that Nasuada and Roran were hiding something substantial from him. He only hoped that the leaders of the Varden were holding back the information for a positive reason. Or maybe his hunch was completely baseless and might even have born out of his own guiltiness about having to hide Arya becoming a dragon rider.

He restrained from contacting the Queen for fear of having to deal with speaking about Arya. While Roran, Nasuada and Katrina enquired about the elven princess’s health, none of them even guessed his speaking-part-of-the-truth. But with the Queen it would be much different. The Queen would focus on her daughter’s well-being so much so that it would be impossible to hide the truth from her.

So Eragon left Arya to contact her mother. It was quite amusing to see Arya struggle to skirt around the truth and speak to her mother and Queen as if she were still the same Arya, the princess of Ellesmera and the ambassador of the Queen.

Eragon narrated the secret tales of the riders to Arya. He was surprised to hear that she vaguely knew many of those tales.

“How? These are knowledge known only to the riders. How did you know of them?”, he asked in amazement.

He doubted that Oromis would have divulged those tales to Arya. They were meant exclusively for the riders.

“Eragon, you forget that I am royalty.”, Arya simply said. Her tone was one of stating and was devoid of emotion. If anything, she sounded a little embarrassed.

“Oh?”, Eragon said, but didn’t ask anything more. Secrets of the monarchy were meant only for royalty – he couldn’t and shouldn’t interfere in it. But this particular knowledge was an eye-opener. It showed how much trust the elves invested in their monarchs.

Arya too didn’t elaborate on her short explanation. But the moment of silence stretched long and became one of those uncomfortable ones in which the pair had found themselves repeatedly over the months. It had been non-existent ever since Arya’s dragon had hatched.

Their eyes met and stayed connected, both of them unable to sever the contact. It was moments like these that made Eragon’s life a heaven and hell simultaneously. The thing that made it even worse was the indeterminate reason for such occurrences. For Eragon, it only served to remind his pain at Arya’s rejection of his advances. He knew why he was uncomfortable in such circumstances but why Arya should eye him uncomfortably escaped him always. And it did now too, when he thought he knew more about Arya than any living person.

With a few unintelligible words, they finished the learning session. Arya smiled slightly at him as she went out of the library of Tialdari hall where they had been having the conversation. And that one little gesture from the elven princess was enough to turn hell into heaven. Eragon was baffled at the power the elf had over his emotions. Only Saphira could surpass Arya in those terms and Saphira was basically an extension to his own mind (though he never will understand Saphira in full – she being a dragon).

‘Oh, yes little one, you are such a dim wit and you will never be able to understand a great being like me.’, Saphira commented smugly.

‘Ah, yes Saphira, I suppose you are right. After all everybody is a dim wit when compared to a dragon.’, Eragon said.

‘And you will do well to remember that always, two-leg.’, Saphira said jokingly.

‘What of your lessons with Arya’s dragon?’, Eragon asked remembering that Saphira had not kept him informed about the day’s happenings.

‘It is not for you to know, little one. Dragon-lore is the only thing I will have to keep from you. Unfortunately for you, that is what I have been teaching him today.’

‘You can do that without talking?’, Eragon asked.

‘Hah, Eragon. Our knowledge is not bound to your language. We have our own language to convey them.’, Saphira replied, ‘These are not knowledge that we got after the union with elves and humans. These things I am teaching him are age old traditions that have been passed down from time immemorial; from the times when dragons were the only inhabitants of Alagaesia; when Alagaesia didn’t have even a name.’

‘Hmmm…’, Eragon sighed. In his mind he felt a strong wave of pity to the race of the dragons. ‘Such a crisis to such a race.’, he thought privately.

‘Saphira?’, he called.

‘I will be able to concentrate better if you don’t distract me, little one.’, Saphira replied.

‘Saphira, I don’t know if anybody has asked this of you. But allow me to ask.’, Eragon said hesitatingly.

‘Eragon, what is it?’, Saphira asked comfortingly. She opened her mind to him completely and sent feelings of warmth through their connection, encouraging him to ask her whatever he wished.

‘Will you, on behalf of the dragons, forgive the humans and the elves for what we did to your race?’, Eragon asked.

Saphira’s mind turned tumultuous. A thousand feelings raged through it making it impossible for Eragon to understand. He had known that Saphira and all dragons in general harboured deep feelings about that particular topic. He had noticed how Glaedr and Saphira would go silent when the elves bemoaned their failings with regard to the dragons.

A long while later, Saphira’s mind calmed down. She said in a clear voice, ‘It is not just the humans and elves who were responsible for our downfall, Eragon. The thirteen dragons of the Wyrdfell that were well versed in the dragon-lore unlike Thorn and Shruikan played a big role in our downfall. And we have punished them by stripping them off their names. There is nothing to forgive. Going forward, if and when we defeat the dark king, we have to make sure that the sentient beings of Alagaesia live by established rules that will avoid such disasters.’

Her mind, although she had voiced her views on the matter, was still vulnerable to breaking down. Not many times before had Eragon seen Saphira in such a state. She was strong; much stronger than himself.

‘I am coming to you, little one.’, Saphira said.

Eragon had known Saphira would be affected by his words. The tragedy of her race was a hard subject to her. But he did not foresee Saphira being affected as she was. If he had known he wouldn’t have brought it up. It was just that the question had been residing in his mind for a long time. He needed a solution for it. The wrath of the dragons was not good at all. When the dragons once again, start to roam freely in the land, they should not harbour feelings of hatred towards the elves and humans and as one of the only two remaining sane creature from the human and elven races who was close enough with the dragons to ask for their forgiveness, Eragon took it upon himself to ask for the dragon’s mercy. In a way, it was like the role played by the first Eragon. Eragon sighed. He wasn’t capable of filling the place of that elf; not by a long shot.

‘You are, Eragon. Believe me, you are as capable as anybody who has lived in this world.’, Saphira said. Her mind was a strange place to be at that moment. She was calm, but her insides were still fuming in a range of emotions.

‘Ever ready to defend me, aren’t you?’, he asked her affectionately. She didn’t reply. She cut her connection with him saying, ‘Give me some time.’ Eragon wasn’t overly worried as he knew that she was flying towards him right that instant.

Eragon walked out of the library, crossed the vast halls of the Tialdari hall and reached the entrance of the elven palace. Soon enough, he could hear dragon wing-beats signalling the arrival of Saphira and Arya’s dragon.

He was alerted to Arya’s presence by his side by her distinct style of walking that he had somehow familiarised and her fragrance of pine cones and morning dew. As much as he tried to avoid viewing Arya in the way he shouldn’t, he was only half successful.

He faced her and noticed the bright smile that lightened up her face at the sight of the two dragons. The genuine happiness in Arya’s face made him want to keep her that way for all her life – protected in the elven forest, away from the hardships of the world outside. At that moment, he empathised with Islanzadi and the Queen’s anger at her daughter’s choice.

Saphira flew straight down towards him and picked him up in her talons, being careful not to hurt him, and flew back up into the sky.

‘Saphira? What?’, Eragon asked. She didn’t reply. But the state of her mind was all he needed to see why she acted that strangely. She was in no state to face anybody other than himself. Even Arya’s presence felt uncomfortable to her at that moment.

Eragon caught a glimpse of Arya and her dragon watching the funny scene of him being kidnapped by his own dragon before Saphira flew above the trees hiding the pair’s frames from his view.

‘I am really sorry to have brought that up, Saphira’, he said.

‘There is nothing to forgive Eragon. It had to be addressed at some stage. What better time than when we are in Ellesmera?’, she replied.

His presence seemed to have calmed her down. Her raging emotions were slowly subsiding to be replaced by a calm acceptance. Saphira flew straight to their tree-house and dropped Eragon in through her window.

‘Make a fairth for me, Eragon.’, she said.

‘Fine let us start today with Arya’s dragon. He has grown a great deal, don’t you think? It has just been twenty days since he hatched and he already stands up at my elbow. I am pretty sure, you took atleast a month to grow to that size.’, Eragon said.

‘Well, he gets to share all my catches, unlike me. I had to live on your dried and limited meat.’, Saphira said sarcastically. Although her tone was sarcastic, Eragon could sense the thrill in Saphira’s mind at the pace of growth of the young dragon.

‘And Eragon. Today you will have to draw me Brom as you saw him in your childhood.’, Saphira ordered.

Eragon was pulled into the world of his father telling him stories about the valour and greatness of dragon riders of the old. But at no time was his father telling those stories to him specifically. It was always a nght-time story for the kids of the village. And Eragon was just one among the kids. Brom was just a story-teller to him in those memories. He focussed on Brom as he cast the spell to bring his father’s image on the slate. ‘Father’, he thought. ‘Brom, my father.’

Author's Note:

Another of those chapters that took a lifetime to complete. I was so busy with my work and used up my free time by indulging in all sorts of activities except writing the story. Hope you will all forgive me.