Ruling over the Spine (Eragon)

[xX_NOT_OKAY_Xx]

Caelyn smirked. The room she stood in was quite nice, and now that she had taken power from the nobles, it was hers. It had taken a while to get on the nobles' good side, and some required a bit of convincing. In only a few weeks she had been able to break the more stubborn nobles. Many weren't very proficient with magic, so it was rather easy to turn them into her unwitting servants. After a while, the nobles could no longer oppose her. The citizens knew of her oaths, and she used that to mislead them into supporting her.

A thought crossed Caelyn's mind. What comes next? It was rather boring to sit around waiting for Nasuada to die, and her oaths prevented most ideas she had. The specific wording she used was, "I will not kill Nasuada. I will not sabotage the Varden. I will not attempt to break Nasuada's mind. I will not let Galbatorix know of the Varden's plans. I will not injure Nasuada." Most of the oaths were specific to the Varden, but those regarding Nasuada were fairly narrow in terms of flexibility.

An underling of hers strode into the circular room and handed her a message. She waved him off and began to examine it.

Lady Caelyn-
The militia is growing. Soon we will have enough soldiers to raid small cities. Your command is our duty. Soon we shall reform the province under your rule.
-General Agaab

Burning the message so as to preserve the army's secrecy, Caelyn couldn't help but smile. If Agaab was correct, she'd soon have complete power over the province.

[Quetzal]

Eragon and Saphira had been in a constant busy state since taking up their positions on Nasuada's Council. Together they ran the realm, and as such it was his business knowing all that went on. It had hardly escaped the Council's notice when power began shifting in the Spine province. Shifts of power occurred continuously as the nobles struggled amongst themselves, wealth shifting and risks taken. Those were all expected and largely ignored save retaining the knowledge when making dealings with the area. However, this was on a much larger scale. Someone he had been aware of as a member of the Varden had risen steadily and in a matter of weeks and months, and not due to any workings of the Council's. Highly suspicious. With such a connection to the Spine, he felt obliged to be the one to investigate.

"Be careful. We clearly don't know as much about her as we thought. I'm sure she had to swear oaths to the Varden before she could be trusted, too," Saphira warned Eragon. She was standing by the gates to the large house as Eragon approached the front door, being too large to fit inside. Should any trouble arise the building's future was of no consequence compared to her Rider's safety. The dragon was more than capable of breaking through the walls to get him out for a quick escape.

A butler answered the door. Eragon simply raised his palm to show his gedwey ignasia and said "I am Eragon and I need to see Caelyn," opting to ignore his typical epithet of 'shadeslayer' given whose house he stood in. He was led through without any questions, the butler's eyes flickering to him whenever he thought he wasn't looking. This he was used to. After all, he was something of a legend by now. The butler introduced him to the Shade he recognised from the ranks of the Varden and scurried off to continue his duties, leaving them alone together.

Eragon smiled at Caelyn, but there was more curiosity than warmth in his look. He needed answers. Lies would not do. "Hello, Caelyn, I believe we met a few times among the Varden. Eragon," he offered his hand to shake, "and Saphira's outside, I'm afraid she wouldn't fit in here. If you feel someone trying to speak to you mentally, that will be her."

Sure enough, a moment later Saphira made contact with Caelyn's mind. She was watching the whole affair through Eragon's eyes but saw no reason not to be a part of the discussion. "Pleased to see you again," she would say if permitted. She did not try and force her way in, expecting the Shade to allow her the simple level of communication which did not allow her to see anything more than what Caelyn wished to say to her.

"Now, I think you can guess why we're here. You've done rather well for yourself, haven't you? And so quickly, too..." Eragon looked at her carefully, wanting to ease into the topic so he could judge how best to deal with this without anyone having to lose their tempers.

[xX_NOT_OKAY_Xx]

Caelyn was a bit surprised and flustered from the moment Eragon walked in. She remembered meeting him while serving the Varden. Back then however, he wasn't a practical legend, and he didn't have the Eldunari. The butler soon left, leaving them alone.

He offered his hand and she shook it. She had an idea of why they were there, and stalling with pleasantries seemed like a smart idea. "Hello Eragon. I wasn't expecting you." Just as he said, she felt mental contact with Saphira within seconds. Caelyn let the contact through. "Pleased to see you also, Brightscales."

She still wanted to know why they were there. That was quickly answered. Perhaps she had taken power too quickly. She cursed herself for being so reckless. Eragon was smarter than she thought and it showed. Hopefully he wouldn't notice that she was only telling him half the truth. "Yes, I've been doing quite well. I was a bit bored just rebuilding, and the people knew of my oaths, so I gradually worked my way up to power. Is it wrong that I wish to participate in the government?" Caelyn fake-smiled and gestured to chair. "I can already see this being a long discussion. Please seat yourself." This was going to be a long day. 

[Quetzal]

Eragon took the offered seat, pleased she wasn't trying to hide behind false small talk. She was still dodging the answer of how specifically she got into power, but that would come out in time. It showed so far that she wanted to appear as if she had nothing to hide while in fact having some secrets hidden from him. He watched her face carefully, though was unsure how Shades might react differently. Spirits worked differently to human minds, so he assumed they must show emotion differently even when possessing another body. That may make them better at lying. He was not sure, having never had a normal discussion with a Shade before. In his experience on the rare occasion he even saw a Shade it was for violent purposes.

"Nothing, in fact we think more people ought to take an interest in how their country is run," Saphira replied truthfully. Once a poor farmer himself, Eragon had not forgotten what life was like for the overwhelming majority of people in Alagaesia and thought their voices were worth hearing.

"However, what we are worried about is how you got to that power. It hasn't been so gradual, has it? Short of rebellion and revolution, it usually takes years for anyone to climb the great distance you have. For a Shade too it must have been especially hard. Tell me, how did you first step into politics, and why did people accept you as a leader? It's been hard enough persuading humans to get along with elves, dwarves, urgals and the like, let alone Shades." Eragon was genuinely curious as well as needing answers. Plus he might learn a thing or two about how the different races might get along if Caelyn had actually risen to power by legitimate means after all.

[xX_NOT_OKAY_Xx]

(The purple dialogue is said in the ancient language)

Caelyn slouched back in her chair, hoping that Eragon would see it as a sign of her being comfortable with the subject. She thought about his questions for a second, not sure how to answer. It seemed as though the Rider had his mind set on finding out the truth, but she wasn't certain if he was strong enough to take the truth forcefully. Plus, she didn't feel much like fighting a Rider.

Settling on telling half of the truth, Caelyn pieced together a fairly vague explanation in the ancient language. "I admit, I did take power quite quickly. It wasn't very gradual at all, I agree. To be honest, I was surprised too." That was true, she hadn't expected to come into power so quickly. "To answer your questions, I stepped into politics soon after the war was over. However, back then it was mainly just helping the citizens of Carvahall. I only just recently started trying to convince the nobles to let me into politics." That was also true, as she never specified how the convincing was done. "The people accepted me as a leader because I pass laws to help diminish crime and help the people. Also, they know of my oaths to Nasuada. I can't kill her and take the throne, so they know that I have good intentions for the province." Just because someone thinks they know something doesn't mean it's true, so she was able to get that bit out too. "Does that answer your questions?"

[Quetzal]

The use of the Ancient Language took Eragon by surprise. He had been expecting Caelyn to weasel her way through the common tongue, but this was a much bolder move. He listened as carefully as he could to her wording, seeking loopholes she might have found. She was clever, there was no doubt about that. This was a tricky one he had to be careful with. If she really was telling the truth, he had to stay on good terms with her to keep her happy to serve and negotiate with Nasuada. If she was lying, he had to find that out. Perhaps it would be best not to make her aware of what he learned if he did conclude she was lying, or at least hiding something.

He nodded to answer her, still processing her words. No use making a response too quickly. This did not fit with the description of Shades in his head. Helping people? Shades only helped themselves. There had to be another agenda here. Then again he should not be too quick to judge for he had once had the same opinion of urgals. "I understand a Shade wanting power. But why to help people?" if that really was exclusively how she rose to power, he was glad she had picked that over violent methods. "I think I shall have a chat with these other nobles too. Seem well meaning as you take more and more power, then turn? Is that it? I don't understand your motivation here." He frowned. Saphira could not puzzle together what Caelyn's end goal might be either. Gaining more power, obviously, but why? What did she want to do with it? Surely she couldn't just want to help people; she was still a Shade!

[xX_NOT_OKAY_Xx]

(I think this would be an alright last post for Caelyn. Perhaps Eragon could close the thread. She's definitely not coming clean any time soon.)

(Again, the Ancient Language is in purple)

Caelyn was extremely glad that her using the Ancient Language messed with Eragon. It definitely bothered him a quite bit, as far as she could see. She found it rather amusing, actually, to see Eragon Shadeslayer so confused when confronted by a Shade using the Ancient Language for a purpose other than to blow him up.

She decided to confuse him a bit more before leaving. This was, after all, unscheduled. She decided to seem completely in agreement to his talking to the nobles. They wouldn't be able to tell him anything, anyways. All would tell 'the truth' to him, that she was a good ruler with no hidden intentions. Most took a bit of convincing through her actions, but even the ones whose minds were untouched would trust her. "Look, Eragon, I'm very sorry that you don't trust me. I have the best of intentions for this province, and I would be fine if you went to chat with the Nobles. I suggest you go and speak to them as soon as possible, actually. I have some things to attend to, and since you just barged in my home, I have no guilt whatsoever in asking you to leave."

She strode over to open the door. Her use of the ancient language was much more extreme this time. She was sorry that she couldn't trick Eragon by using trust to her advantage. Her intentions were the best in her mind, and she did in fact have some meetings that were actually scheduled ahead of time. Of course, her explanation was vague and all  of this remained unspoken. Hopefully, Eragon would be even more surprised by this usage of the Ancient Language.

[Quetzal]

Eragon nodded to the rest of her Ancient Language, still looking for ways she could not be telling the whole truth. It gave him some ease that she was speaking in the Ancient Language, but he was still not entirely convinced by her intentions, particularly given how she had not fully answered the question of her suspiciously quick rise to power. He was sure avoiding speaking of it in detail indicated some foul play at work. Perhaps the nobles had been put under some kind of oath or spell, though that would require tremendous effort. At least she had said she had the best intentions for the province. She obviously meant it, so maybe this wouldn't end so badly after all. He's just have to keep an eye on her. Giving a curt bow, he left the room. "I'm afraid it's hard to trust anyone in politics. Thank you for co-operating, I hope that we can continue to do so smoothly to keep peace in the Spine. It's been a pleasure meeting you," he said sincerely before he left.

Guards escorted him back to Saphira. He walked alongside the dragon, wanting to stretch his legs and having other things to do in the area - just one meeting was rarely worth a long journey from Uru'baen. "I still think there were some unlawful dealings in her rise to power," Saphira said simply.

"As do I, but we can't do anything without proof. She said she had the best intentions for the province in the Ancient Language. However she got here she must be doing good to the people," Eragon tried to look on the bright side. There was nothing they could do now except watch her closely, come down harder should Nasuada or anyone else suspect anything more. Such an uncertain outcome frustrated the young Rider.

"Yes, but what's her idea of good intentions?" The thought made Eragon frown, frustration mounting. He said nothing.

-- thread end --