A Time to Start Anew [Quetzal]

[Capricorn]

Auduriel was relieved when Eragon took her to find a place for the tent. She knew that there really wasn't a reason for him not to, but all the same, she had been somewhat worried about that for whatever reason. That happened a lot.

The elf considered her options for the tent. It wasn't a life-or-death decision at all. The tent was only going to be temporary anyways, so it wasn't important at all. However, it would be the first place that the hatchling would rest in any sort of shelter that would last more than a night. The bag had been a sleeping place, sure, but it wasn't even close to permanent. A tent was better, for sure, and Auduriel felt an urge to make sure that it was a place worthy of the hatchling's first shelter.

She liked the idea of a tent better than that of a house. Her mother's manor had always been rather cold. It was lifeless, dull, not comfortable at all. Her home in Ellesmera had been comfortable, sure- certainly more warm, more alive. But it was more open, for lack of a better term, and Auduriel had always felt uncomfortable out in the open. That feeling of open water, or of leaving your mind exposed and knowing that somebody is reading it. It didn't feel safe. But a tent could be both alive and safe. She could make it those things.

Her eyes caught an open space between two tents. She liked it- not quite out in the open, but also not too far from other people. Safety in numbers and all. "I like this spot." She announced to Eragon. "I can help fetch the pitching. Maybe I can get some blankets, too. I'll probably run into the city for those- they're a luxury, after all, and I'd hate to take from the Varden's things when I'm perfectly capable of getting something myself. I brought one, anyways. Do you know a place where I can buy one? Or, you know, if I could get some nice fabric or yarn, I could probably make myself blankets. With magic, of course. I doubt I'll need much more energy today. Be prepared for anything, of course, but I have spare energy in my sword. I like to donate to it whenever possible. It's come in very handy sometimes..."

She looked somewhat embarrassed as she ending her rambling- she hadn't meant to go on like that. Auduriel didn't really need blankets that badly- she simply got cold easily. The hatchling was warm, sure, and the one she had was of fine quality, but the blankets acted as a comforting tool, too. The elf had simply always felt more comfortable with the weight of blankets above her. The best human blankets would probably be made of cheaper materials, but they'd still be warm and heavy. The nicer one could work alone if needed, however, so warmth wasn't a very big deal.

The hatchling was very interested in Saphira's memories. She touched her Rider's mind, to refresh her image of Eragon in the present day. The look of war was something that she understood, vaguely. She saw that look absent from Saphira's memory of Eragon, but was unable to identify what caused that look. Auduriel had it, too, and the hatchling hadn't been able to find any memories of Auduriel without that look. At least, any that she could identify as her Rider.

The hatchling contemplated inquiring about this. She decided against it. She'd learn eventually, she noted to herself. She would, whether it came naturally through time or she had to ask. In the meantime, it was time to play. Youth didn't last forever- it was a vague concept that the hatchling had. It was prominent in her Rider's mind. Maybe that wasn't true, though. She was unsure of Saphira's age, and there was a sense of distance to the older dragon's memories.

The black dragon playfully circled the older blue one, inspecting Saphira closely. The mature dragon's scales were beautiful in the sunlight, she noted once more. The hatchling was deciding on what to do. She'd love a play fight, but Saphira was simply too big. If only there was another hatchling around her age. Perhaps there was, but probably not around here. The little black dragon had already met another of her species- another of her age was perhaps too much to ask for.

Finally, the young dragon realized that she couldn't think of anything fun to play with the older dragon. She sent another mental message, with three feelings- one expressing her desire to play with Saphira, one expressing her frustration at being unable to find one to play, and then one indicating that this too was a question. Perhaps the adult dragon would be able to think of something.

((Yay! Happy muse. Probably hard to reply to, though...))

[Quetzal]

Blankets weren't high on Eragon's list of priorities, but seeing she was embarrassed by her rambling he made no comment about the length of her response. "Great, the guys will be glad to have help. I can lend a hand with pitching, too," it was good Auduriel was willing to pitch her own tents. Some Riders and knights came to them expecting to be treated like lords, but in this camp people simply didn't have time for that. Those stuck-up highborns ended up disappointed and resented by the common soldiers. Auduriel look set to fit in better than that. "We have plenty of blankets, but if you'd rather use your own you're welcome to. Same goes for cooking utensils, food, water, pillows and the like. We have all the basics whenever you need them."

He looked about for the nearest sign of life. There were sounds coming off to his left, but some minor lord was over there and he doubted he would help pitch a tent for a stranger. Leading Auduriel further out, it didn't take long before he spied a small group of soldiers laughing and joking together. "Good day!" He called out to them in greeting. They smiled and nodded respectfully, but quietened when he did not go away. They realised he meant to talk to them. "This here is Auduriel, the newest Rider to join the Varden. Would any of you be so kind as to help us in pitching her tent?"

The group hesitated. The soldiers had been growing bored waiting for battle, but that didn't mean they were willing to work for some lucky elf with a dragon. After a strained silence one stepped forward. "All right, then," he mumbled. One soldier then nudged another, muttering something under his breath that made the whole group burst out laughing. The soldier who'd been nudged turned bright red and glared at the mutterer. "Fine, fine, I'll help," he said irritably. The man who'd nudged him grinned. "If Derran is going, I'll go too," his words seemed to amuse the other soldiers.

Eragon smiled once the three had stepped forward. That should be enough to carry everything, pitch the tent and set up everything inside. "Thank you. Come on, let's go get everything we need," he led the way to the nearest supply tent. They were dotted about here and there throughout the camp, making sure everyone had access to what they needed. They were guarded, but it was surprising how honest people were with taking only what they needed so that there would be enough to go around. There had been a few incidents of stealing. It was hard to track down those who stole so only a few were caught and punished (although it was only a light punishment, they needed their men as strong as possible). Those who stole found punishment enough in their sudden lack of friends; close to a battle, a soldier needed as many friends as they could get. "What are your names?" Eragon asked the trio they'd recruited. He tried to remember the names of everyone he'd met, but he met so many people it was hard. Many soldiers liked it when he remembered their names, so it annoyed him he hadn't managed to do that for the group.

"My name is Derran, sir," the man who'd been nudged earlier couldn't quite manage to look Eragon in the eyes, developing a sudden interest in the Rider's shoulders, "This is Wilf," he nodded to the man who'd stepped forward first, "and Reidro," by which he meant the joker. Reidro was still smiling. He seemed the most confident of the three. Derran and Wilf looked more uncomfortable to be in the presence of Riders, unsure whether to walk with them or behind. Eragon speaking to them meant they were walking with him, but didn't look to confident with that.

The hatchling was thinking more, Saphira could tell. It was hard to grow so quickly, to have to learn about the world so fast. Dragons were expected to be fierce and wise creatures. Being young and playful was hard when you were expected to best others and be equal to your Rider. Saphira had first had the problem that Eragon had thought her a dumb animal until she'd spoken properly, then had the problem that the Varden wanted her to behave like an experienced dragon. Being fully grown at six months of age was difficult to manage for an intelligent creature. It helped that a lot of the knowledge could be taken from a Rider, but there was still so much to learn it was overwhelming. Sometimes all a hatchling wanted to do was play, and even then much was to be learned through playing at battles or flying.

Saphira was far too large to play-fight with the hatchling. Unfortunately there were no other hatchlings around. That went for all Alagaesia, as far as Saphira was aware. Grazael had been the Varden's youngest dragon, if she recalled correctly, but with him dead that would make Aryln holder of that title, although technically he and his Rider were not fully committed to the Varden's cause, simply helping with the fighting in an effort to help the country. Arlyn was seven or eight months old now, fully grown albeit small. Far too big for the hatchling to play with. Unless the Empire had more dragons up their sleeves, the hatchling wouldn't find any other dragon less than a few months older than her.

That might be the sad truth, but the hatchling could still have fun while she was young and playful. Saphira had an idea. She sent the hatchling an agreement to playing, then a question accompanied by the image of the day-old dragon flying. She wanted to know if the hatchling could fly yet.

[Capricorn]

Auduriel simply nodded and followed Eragon. Did they really need more than two people to pitch a tent? At the very most, it would take longer with two people, she assumed. She'd never actually tried to pitch a tent before, so she decided to simply remain silent and see if she was wrong. She never expected herself to be, but she'd hate to embarrass herself. She'd been acting nice to Eragon because this was supposed to be professional, and she wanted to keep that going.

Once they found some soldiers, the elf continued to remain silent, watching the exchange. Clearly, Eragon was well-respected. With good reason- leaders were respected, Riders were respected, and to the best of Auduriel's knowledge, Eragon was the leader of the Varden's Riders. She supposed that maybe she should have kneeled to him or thanked him for his time or something when she first met him, but she didn't really care.

When the three soldiers were laughing, Auduriel was far less than pleased. She expressed this by glaring at the trio, her gaze switching between all three of them- especially Darren and Reidro. She followed the three men to the supply tent. For a moment, she wondered about what they thought of helping an elven woman. Had the three soldiers ever really spoken to an elf? She certainly wasn't an epitome of her race, and wondered what kinds of stereotypes they may begin to subscribe to. She still couldn't bring herself to care.

The hatchling was curious about Saphira's response. She was pleased about the agreement, but the image of flight interested her. Could she fly? The little black dragon hadn't actually tried yet- most of her life had been spent either in that enchanted bag or at a camp for the night. She hadn't really gotten a chance. She, in response, took a running start and beat her wings a few short times, jumping after the first wing beat.

She landed on the ground, her claws digging into the soil. The hatchling had just barely stopped herself from falling completely. She was somewhat disappointed- she had been half-expecting that she would. The little dragon's wings weren't folded against her sides, so she inspected them. They were a bit too small, although they were still strong- perhaps as strong as her legs. She'd just have to wait until they grew larger.

[Quetzal]

While it would only take Eragon and Auduriel to pitch the tent, there were supplies that needed carrying. The supply tent was far away enough for him to prefer enlisting the help of others to carry things rather than take several trips. Auduriel would need the basics for now; food, water (surprisingly large quantities were needed, and water was heavier than it looked), cooking equipment, bedding, and so on. She and him could carry the tent, hammers and tent hooks, but it would take more people to carry everything else and get that set up. The guard at the supply tent nodded to him before ticking a box on a soldier's ration card. The soldier hurried off clutching two bags of food to last him the week. The ration cards were simple enough to understand even for the soldiers who couldn't read. A box was checked off each week to show whether or not they'd received their weekly supplies. If they wanted anything extra, they would have to buy it themselves, but they were given ample provision to get by.

The tent was crammed with stuff. It had clearly been organised with great care once, but that had swiftly been undone as people rummaged to get what they needed. Everything was still in a vague order, but the piles had fallen down a few times and been awkwardly shoved aside to clear space. All the basic supplies were in the tent. Eragon didn't know what Auduriel already had, so after asking Derran, Wilf and Reidro to gather together food and water, turned to ask. "What did you bring with you? We'll gladly provide anything you don't have. No need to feel bad about taking things, we have plenty to go around and it's the least we can do for people willing to fight for us," he remembered how she'd been about the blankets and was worried she might take less than she needed out of concern others might want them.

Saphira made a rumbling chuckle when the hatchling tumbled down. Flying took a long time to get used to. Wings took time to grow and strengthen, and it was far more difficult to coordinate all the intricate shifts of weight, wings and tail to fly than to walk or run. The hatchling would get it eventually. She sent her a memory of herself trying to fly to chase the birds in the wooded area Eragon had first kept her. It had been frustrating, but eventually after spending a lot of time working them her wings strengthened to the point they could support her in the air. In fact, dragons were too large to fly, technically - magic helped keep them in the air, so she supposed the connection to magic had to deepen as well.

Maybe the hatchling would be able to use those wings to glide, if not fly? Saphira suggested it to her. It might help her get used to flying for when her wings were strong enough. Should she jump from a height - not so high as to cause injury should she fall, of course - she could glide down to the ground. It was easier to fly when jumping from something, too, as you didn't have to work to get up in the air to start with.

[Capricorn]

Auduriel glanced around the tent, trying to figure out what order it was in. She quickly realized that it had clearly been moved around a lot, but must have once been neat. The elf tapped her nails on a nearby table, glancing at its supplies. Some extra clothes, most clearly made for human men. They wouldn't fit her, but she could probably get a tailor to sew her some if she needed. Auduriel doubted that she'd need to- she preferred to wear her armor, and she had brought a spare shirt and pair of pants, just in case. Perhaps it'd be unusual for a human woman to wear them, but she wasn't a human, was she now?

The elf turned her head to glance at Eragon as he asked his question. She tilted her head, making a mental checklist of what she had. "Hmm, well... I've eaten most of the rations I packed for the trip here. I have one blanket, and a spare set of clothes. I have a pillow, too, but that's for the dragon to use. Can't carry too much on a horse's back, my apologies."

The hatchling suddenly wanted to continue her pitiful attempts to fly. She wanted to strengthen her wings, to be able to take to the skies soon. The idea of gliding was a great one, and she noted to herself that she should try it someetimes. The hatchling jumped once more, anyways. Her left foreleg bent as she "landed"- if you could call it that- a second time. With a yelp, the dragon attempted to raise herself up to stand again, but was unable to without letting out a sound of pain between a mewl and yelp.

She glanced up at Saphira, unsure of what to do next. The hatchling's leg hurt badly, but she couldn't tell what sort of injury it was. She'd done too much, too soon. Laying awkwardly on the grass, her legs splayed, she inspected the injury. It was invisible underneath her scales, but it hurt far worse than anything else that she'd ever felt in her short life- which wasn't really saying much. She sent the pain that she was feeling to Saphira, for only a moment- the hatchling didn't want to send too much of it.

[Quetzal]

"No worries." Eragon ran through a list of the things a person could need. "You three, we're looking for bedding, something to cook with, cutlery, and clothes as well as the food, water and tent," he informed the trio he'd recruited before hunting through the piles of stuff himself. There were weapons in here too, but all of them had seen better days. Standard-issue swords with notches, splintered shields and dented armour had been left here in case people wanted to take them and work them back to better condition. Most soldiers had their weapons and armour forged new by one of the Varden's many smiths. Some brought their own weapons. Riders often brought magnificent Rider's blades, and the common folk brought family swords and bows mostly. It was odd how so many Riders just randomly found Rider blades around, now he thought about it. You'd think a commoner would be just as likely to find one if it had been hidden.

Eventually a pile of all the basics Auduriel was likely to need had been gathered. To one side lay the tent, canvas and ground sheet folded neatly alongside the tent poles, pegs and a wooden mallet to hit them into the ground with. There was a generous sack of food, the typical weekly rations for a soldier, with a couple of wooden containers lined with a waterproof skin and filled with water. A large pot had been filled with a kettle, a mixing spoon, a bowl, a plate, and a knife, fork and spoon. The blankets, bedroll and pillow were in a messy heap with the clothes. Eragon had thought it best to give her another blanket in case the hatchling got cold. The clothes were mostly men's. Loose tops had been chosen so they wouldn't be uncomfortably tight across the chest, and they'd hoped she wouldn't mind wearing trousers. They had managed to find a skirt. "I'm afraid we don't get many women fighting. There are tailors in Dras-Leona who can adjust these or get you completely new clothes," Eragon apologised for the lack of clothing.

They had everything Auduriel needed now, so it was time to move on to pitching the tent. "OK, I'll carry the tent. Wilf, you take the water. Derran, take the food, Reidro the cooking stuff, and Auduriel, the clothing and bedding," he swiftly divided up the load between everyone. Wilf complained about how heavy the water was until Reidro made fun of him. The pile of bedding and clothing was large, but light. Eragon tucked the canvas and ground sheet under one arm and held onto the pegs, poles and mallet, careful not to let the poles hit anything.

Once they reached the spot Auduriel had chosen, Wilf, Derran and Reidro set down what they had been carrying, Reidro rather heavily to the pots made an almighty clanging. "I think the two of us are enough to pitch the tent. You can go back to what you were doing. Thank you so much for your time," Eragon thanked the three men politely and they went off, Reidro babbling loudly about how the Varden had so many Riders now the Empire would wet themselves at the sight of all those dragons. Eragon ignored him. At least he was confident and supportive of their Riders. "Right, let's get to work." He spread out the ground sheet and began pushing tent poles through the loops that had been worked into the canvas for them.

It made Saphira happy to watch the hatchling. That happiness faded when she saw the hatchling's leg bend as she landed awkwardly. At first it didn't look like much, and she simply made a note to teach her now to land properly, but then it became apparent that the hatchling was hurt more than she thought. The pain she sent over made the older dragon concerned she'd done something serious. What could she do? A nice example of a dragon's unpredictable magic would be welcomed right now, but unpredictable as ever simply wanting to use it did nothing. She lowered her head to the ground to examine the leg closely. There was no visible injury, a good sign, so it probably wasn't broken. Mostly likely she'd sprained it, maybe torn or pulled a muscle. They were all very painful, but would heal with time. It couldn't hurt to get it seen by someone, though.

Saphira showed the hatchling a healer, introducing the idea that there were people in the Varden who could find out what was wrong and mend it. Most of them only helped people, but some only helped animals. Mostly they worked with horses and farm animals the Varden kept for food, but they also tended to the dogs and messenger birds, and the best ones had experience with dragons. Saphira had let one examine her once - from the outside only, of course - so he might learn better how a dragon worked in case one of the dragons was injured in a battle. This wasn't an emergency, but she contacted him now all the same. A few minutes later, he was hurrying across the clearing towards the hatchling. He slowly got closer to her, Saphira letting her know he would help, and bent down to look at her leg. Seeing there was nothing visibly wrong, to find a better diagnosis he had no choice but to feel it, which would no doubt hurt. A lot.

[Capricorn]

Auduriel was genuinely surprised about all the clothes that she'd need. She supposed that they were intended for more casual situations, instead of her spare clothes or her armor. In Ellesmera, she had always worn her armor, but she'd likely have less time to clean it. Better to save her armor for when she may actually need it, she guessed. She'd been in a Varden camp before, before the Siege of Dras-Leona, but that was only for a night and she had stayed mainly with other elves.

She carried the things to the tent and stopped, placing her bedding and clothing on the ground. She moved most of the supplies off to the side with her feet and looked at Eragon. She had a vague idea about how this was supposed to work, but she supposed that Eragon should probably instruct her about how to do it. She wouldn't want the tent caving in during the night and falling on the new Rider and dragon. "Any specific instructions on how to do this?" She asked.

The hatchling immediately retaliated as the healer put his hands on her leg. She kicked at him with her hind legs, little claws raking at his shirt. Saphira's explanation had helped her reaction, for a time, but she still didn't like being touched, especially when it caused pain. She began to forcibly relax herself, first taking her hind legs and digging their claws into the ground. She began to breathe slowly, more steadily, relaxing herself despite the pain. She still wanted to kick at him.

[Quetzal]

Eragon wrestled with the tent pole. It was harder to force it into place than it looked. "Not really, we just have to thread the tent poles through these loops. Once that's done, the tent has to be fixed to the ground by hammering the pegs through these other loops," he indicated the row of reinforced circles along the bottom of the canvas. After a moment more forcing the tent pole into shape, he thought to make conversation. Anything too personal wouldn't be right since he didn't know Auduriel well enough to know what she was comfortable telling, but something else couldn't hurt. "How's Ellesmera doing these days? I get news, of course, but it's all from kings and generals rather than normal people living there." That was, assuming Auduriel had been a normal person before becoming a Rider. He couldn't tell. Arya and Blodgharm were his main sources for elven news. Brenton could supply some too, but his was more uncertain what with him being their king. He didn't know what was being said among the general elven population regarding their king's madness, or even if they'd figured that out yet.

The healer took the kick. He'd expected it and got worse from dogs and horses. He was grateful Saphira was there to let the hatchling know what was going on. Dragons could know that while something hurt, it would make them better. Dogs and horses never managed to grasp that, even when spellcasters tried to communicate with them. His shirt was scratched, but her claws didn't draw blood.

Gently as he could, he felt the bone and muscle. How tightly the hatchling's claws dug into the ground and how heavy her breathing was was a good indicator of where the source of the pain was. Saphira's eyes were on him the whole time. She trusted him, clearly, but she still felt protective over the injured days-old dragon. She couldn't let anyone hurt her more. Finally, the man stood up and stepped back from the hatchling. "The muscle is a little out of place, and you've torn it. It should move back and heal on its own, and there's not a lot I can do. I can try shifting it into place if you want, but it would be a lot of unnecessary pain for something it should do on its own," he explained.

"How long will it take to heal?" Saphira asked.

"I don't know for certain, I don't really know how long dragons take to heal. I'd guess at a couple of weeks. I'd avoid putting much weight on it for the next few days, but after that carry on as normal, just go easy on it if it starts hurting again. It might swell, so put ice on it if that happens. You could get a Rider to heal it with magic, but I don't want to get a magic-using healer to risk it; we don't know enough about dragons and I don't want to just make things worse." He was certainly very cautious about all this. Saphira supposed people in charge of the health of soldiers and the animals they relied on had to be. Medicine was a careful business, and dragons were precious creatures. She wished he could do more to help, but didn't want a healer messing up the poor hatchling's leg further. It was all too easy for one of them to make a slip over the pronunciation of a word.

[Capricorn]

Auduriel proceeded to assist in threading the tent loops through the canvas, starting away from Eragon. She nodded, before thinking about his question. "Empty." She replied. "It's so... Empty. Most of us had already gone off to war- the only reason I remained there was because I didn't want to remain in this city until we decide to march on Uru'baen. I decided that my skills would be better honed and trained in Ellesmera rather than here. I'm sure it's a lot emptier now, with the battle coming and everything, but I'm assuming it's similar."

She paused, thinking. "If it's the recent gossip you're looking for, I don't know much about it. I'm not one for gossip or rumors or anything like that." Auduriel really was a horrible person to ask about this, she noted, but he wouldn't have had any way of knowing that. "I'm never really going to be able to be a normal citizen of Ellesmera again now that the dragon has hatched for me, am I? I suppose it probably won't be as big of a change as it is for most humans- particularly those from villages or who lived on the streets- but I'm assuming that it'll still be a big change."

The hatchling looked around, and attempted to stand up again, but was unable to because of the pain shooting up her leg. Nobody had told her not to try and put any weight on it, and so she kept attempting to stand up. After another failed attempt, her wings joined in the effort to stand up, beating them to try and balance herself and provide the force needed to stay upright. She still found herself unable to, and curled up like a cat, glancing up at Saphira and the healer.

[Quetzal]

The image of Ellesmera being empty was a strange one to Eragon. When he'd been there it had always been vibrant, full of life and song. The elves with their long lifetimes devoted far more time to recreational activities than humans did. Elf settlements were more full of relaxed citizens laughing, playing, talking, drinking, or learning than human towns. Being able to sing plants to life had its advantages, and they bought a lot of food from human farmers. Dense forest was hardly suitable to farming the plants elves ate. "Ellesmera must be like a ghost," he said, clearly still finding it hard to imagine. In human towns the women remained with the elderly, sick and children, but the elves had far less prejudice against women fighting. Eragon was glad for it - female elves fought just as well as their male counterparts, as he well knew from sparring with Arya, and the Varden had need of every armed person it could find.

"No, you're not." Eragon wouldn't lie to Auduriel. She would never be 'normal' again. "A lot of Riders seek the shelter of Ellesmera to train so they're more used to Riders there, but all the same you'll be treated differently. A Rider is a public figure. We have to try and make peace and safety where we can, which this war will hopefully bring. The more you do to help people, the more well known you become, and the more differently people treat you. It's annoying and you'll have to be careful people you befriend actually care about you and not that mark on your palm, but it's not all bad. Unless you commit some terrible crime, which I doubt you will, people will treat you with respect and hospitality." It was strange how being chosen by a dragon could make the highest lord bow to a low peasant. That was what had happened to him, anyway. Almost everyone who supported the Varden seemed to like him and treat him with respect, even kings, and a few years ago he'd just been a farm boy.

"If you don't want to be recognised, of course, there are ways you can learn to hide being a Rider. It's no good if you're living there permanently, but if you're just visiting somewhere no one need know who you are. Wear simple clothes, cover your gedwey ignasia with a pair of gloves, keep your dragon from prying eyes, and no one will treat you any differently to a normal traveler. You might have to cast some temporary spell to make your ears rounded like a human's, though." He started hammering a peg into the ground. It was odd how people would stop to talk to him when he was dressed in fine clothing and made no attempt to hide who he was, but if he walked through the town in casual clothing no one gave him a second look.

The man shook his head when the hatchling tried to stand. "No, you need to rest. Don't- don't put weight... Saphira, can you help her understand?" he gave up trying to talk to the hatchling and turned to the mature dragon instead. She nodded.

The poor little thing curled up in pain. Saphira's heart went out to her. She gave her what she hoped was a comforting nuzzle, humming softly in sympathy. She sent an image of the hatchling standing on the injured leg along with the idea that this would cause her pain. After that she conveyed a sense of a week or so passing with a feeling of the pain going away. Next she asked a question; an image of Auduriel using magic on the injured leg to make the pain go away. Could Auduriel heal her? She added Eragon to the image. Eragon might be able to help, too. Would she want to try seeing if one or both of the two Riders could heal her?

[Capricorn]

Auduriel finished her loop, and simply nodded to Eragon's comment about Ellesmera. "It's strange." She said simply, listening to Eragon's comment.

He was honest, she noted. She hadn't needed his lecture to know what he was saying. Still, it kind of stung her. Sure, she'd asked for it, but a part of her had wanted him to lie to her. It would be much easier if she just had something that she could cling onto, to use to be able to lie to herself. She knew that she couldn't, that eventually she'd have to shatter that illusion and go out into the real world even if Eragon had lied, but she didn't care. Even some more time would be nice.

This was replaced with a sudden anger at herself. She was a fool, for ever thinking that she'd be normal. She was a daughter of one of the Forsworn- she hadn't been born in the same situation that a normal elf would've been, and she wasn't raised like a normal elf would've been. Sure, she had tried, but she was a fool to think that it would ever work. Her past- not even her past, really, the unfortunate circumstances in which she was born- would have always caught up to her. She was angry at herself for being upset about being a Rider- that was a good thing, it wasn't as bad as having been executed or exiled from Ellesmera or something like that.

A part of herself knew that that wouldn't have happened, either, but Auduriel wasn't thinking quite logically at that moment. She was upset, but she wouldn't let Eragon see that. Instead, she forced an indifferent look on her face, and, opting not to remain silent, said, "I'll get used to it, I suppose." She couldn't bring herself to say anything more, and began to hammer a peg into the ground further away from Eragon.

The hatchling listened to Saphira, and proceeded to send a positive response to the blue dragon. She wanted to see if either of the Riders could heal it. It was a minor wound- not that she'd know that. Her dramatic reaction was the result of a limited exposure to pain, although it was unlikely that the healer would be able to tell.

[Quetzal]

Eragon could see that Auduriel had known the answer to her question. None the less, it was probably for the best that he went and told her straight about what her life would be like from now on. People had a habit of clinging to any hope that they might be different, things would work out for them, it wouldn't be like it was for everyone else. It was a difficult thing to accept the truth when the truth was unwanted.

"Yes, I think you will. However long that takes," it depended on the person, but Riders all had to adapt to their new status and responsibility in different ways. New power was exciting until you realised just how different your life would be. "Your dragon wouldn't have hatched for you if you didn't have it in you to be a good Rider." That much was true. No Riders he met failed to stabilise their lives after a short while. It might take a lot of getting used to, more so for some people than others, but they would all manage to cope and deal with the change. However Auduriel was feeling now, in time she would learn how to make the most of it, develop her own methods and preferances of fulfilling what was expected of a Rider.

Saphira let the healer know she was touching his mind so her speech wouldn't surprise him. "You may take your leave. On the hatchling's behalf, thank you very much for your help. You've been generous to give us your time. Have a nice day," she dismissed him gently. He'd done everything she'd expected him to, she thought as he hurried off to carry on his other duties. She would have been very surprised if he'd refused to help a dragon who asked for assistance. Surprised, and angry. Humans should know to take care of such magnificent creatures as dragons. It wasn't often they needed help.

With the healer gone, she let the hatchling know she was asking Auduriel and Eragon to come back before brushing her Rider's mind with her own. She had no need to ask permission to contact him, but it was nice to let him know she was there. "Are you nearly done? The hatchling needs help. She tried to fly, but fell. It's only a minor injury, but you should still come and heal her," she showed him what had happened, the leg with no visible problems but causing clear pain.

Eragon frowned as he hammered in the last peg. "We'll be right there," he replied mentally. "Saphira's just spoke to me. She says your hatchling fell. Don't worry, there's nothing serious, but she says she should go back to help all the same. No one will steal your things here, let's go," he said, setting off to walk the short distance back to the dragons in their clearing.