Chapter Text
It was an unusually cool and cloudy night for midsummer, the scent of impending rain thick in the air. It had been unseasonably rainy all week. It could be because they had wandered so far north as their ship meandered up the Edda River. Or so Dí thought, anyway.
The young knurla was seated on the prow of the ship, a skinny delicate thing called... blast, she couldn't remember the strange elvish name. I bet that will be the hardest part of all this, she thought glumly. Learning elvish. I've barely gotten used to this human language, now I'm expected to learn a whole new one?
The ancient language will come quicker than you think.
The strange voice that echoed in her head still startled her sometimes, and she still found it hard to acquaint the deep baritone she heard with the physical body of he whom the voice belonged to. Squinting upwards, she strained to catch sight of the thought's origin. You were gone a while.
Ingolfr and I were looking for something to chase. We found a rabbit. Dí blinked when she received a scrap of memory not her own, of a flash of scales and the squeal of a dying animal, then the sensation of licking blood off of talons she did not have.
Where are you?
Instead of words, she again received a vision from another's eyes: this time an image of the top of her head, and the rest of the ship as seen from a bird's eye view. Or, Dí thought, a dragon's eye view. She craned her neck to peer directly upwards and caught a glimpse of sand-colored scales, circling a hundred feet above the ship. Where is Ingolfr?
I don't know. Scarcely a second after he thought it, there was an explosion of noise next to the ship as a scaly shape burst through the surface of the river and landed on the deck a few feet from Dí, showering her with cold water and causing her to shriek in surprise.
"BEROAN!" she roared, out loud and in her mind. Then, just with her thoughts, You tricked me!
No I didn't! her dragon protested. I had no idea he was going to do that.
Dí settled for glaring furiously at the hatchling who was still shaking drops of water off his sky-blue scales. "What in Gûntera's name possessed you to do that?" she demanded.
Ingolfr, for that was the hatchling's name, met her gaze coolly and said nothing. It was considered rude to talk to someone else's dragon with your mind without asking first, Dí had learned, but that also meant that you had to wait for them to reach out to you. After a moment, the alien mind brushed hers. She received no words, simply a wave of emotions: amusement, mostly, with a bit of an apologetic tone. Then he turned away and took off with a few flaps of his white wings.
Frustrated, the dwarf closed her eyes and concentrated. She cast her mind out as she'd been learning to do recently and felt tentatively around the boat for the person she was seeking. First she encountered the minds of the two elves who were escorting them, and she could tell that they noticed her fumbling presence. Then she found the one she was looking for. Can I talk to you? she projected towards him, recognizing that he had put up barriers at the first touch of her mind. After a moment,
Yes.
She only had to wait a minute before the one she sought joined her abovedeck. Dí observed him as he neared her, still as fascinated (though she'd never admit it) with his differences as she was the day they'd met.
Walking towards her was a young elf, slight of stature and with the same regal bearing as every other elf she'd met. (So far, that number was three.) His flaxen hair swung as he ducked under ropes, free of its usual braids, and he wore a simple green tunic and trousers. He tended to go barefoot everywhere, and Dí was beginning to doubt he even owned a pair of boots.
"What may I help you with?" he asked. The musical nature of his voice and his lilting accent were understandable now, but she'd had a hard time with it during the first few weeks of their journey.
Dí gestured to herself exaggeratedly, and squeezed her wet hair so it dripped onto the deck for emphasis. "This is your hatchling's doing," she said with a scowl.
"Ah." He paused, and his blue gaze unfocused momentarily while he talked to the young dragon in question. Then, "Well, you'll not hear it from him, but I apologize."
"Hmph." She crossed her arms and turned back to the prow, watching the water part on either side of her as they cut through the waves. It was soothing to observe, perhaps the only balm on an otherwise confusing and stressful journey so far.
There was a long silence, but Dí could sense that the elf hadn't moved.
"Yaela says we will reach our destination any minute now."
"Does she now," Dí grunted. She carefully kept her tone and expression disinterested, but secretly she felt a thrill of excitement at that thought. She was sick and tired of being stuck on a boat.
"I'm sure you're tired of being stuck on the water."
The dwarf turned her head to glare at him. "Are you listening to my thoughts, Lelan?"
Lelan held up his hands defensively. "No."
"Good," she snapped. "I don't need nosy elves poking around in mine head."
She could tell he was irritated, and secretly reveled in it. Their elven escorts were centuries old, and were as unflappable as stone, but she'd been told that Lelan was considered quite young. He'd seen only two decades, which would make him mature by human standards, but was apparently barely past childhood for elves. Which makes him no older or wiser than I am, she thought smugly.
Dí felt a wash of amusement from Beroan through their bond when he overheard that thought. You're right, but remind me again how many years you've seen?
More than you, you overgrown lizard.
A long silence ensued, and Dí noticed that the cursed elf was still standing behind her. "Am I being monitored, or do you insist on staring at the back of my head for pleasure?"
"Neither. I am simply thinking."
I will not humor him on this, she insisted to her dragon.
Beroan gave the mental equivalent of a shrug. Whatever you say. But you could make more of an effort to be friends with him.
And why would I want to be friends with a prickly elf?
Because you two are meant to be friends. Because in a few short days, you will be stuck on an island with no one but that prickly elf, an Urgal, and Eragon Shadeslayer.
And a dozen other elves.
Yes, but you will spend years training with him. A pause. Well, do what you will, but I like Ingolfr and I have decided to be his friend.
Dí scowled. ... Very well. I'll stop snapping at him. But you tell Ingolfr to quit involving me when he decides to take a bath.
I will try.
Resigned, the dwarf turned herself around to face Lelan, to find that he was patiently perched on a beam.
"What are you waiting for?" she asked.
Lelan smiled. "For you to call me Lee, and not Lelan, as my friends do."
"When did you get it into your head that I am your friend?"
"Perhaps I'm simply optimistic."
She rolled her eyes. "Hmph. That I believe."
He searched her gaze. "I'm nervous too, you know."
Dí, take this moment to remember what you promised me not thirty seconds ago and try not to snap, Beroan told her sharply. He had sensed the words 'I'm not nervous, unlike you sensitive elves' on the tip of her tongue. She cursed him silently but took a breath and reconsidered her words.
"I... am simply cautious."
Lelan barked out a laugh that was so full of joy it startled her. "Caution is wise! We are embarking on a journey none have ever taken."
Dí raised a skeptical eyebrow. "Not quite. One has already beat us to our destination, two years ago if I remember correctly."
The elf nodded and sighed. "Aye, we have one peer awaiting our arrival. But you are the first dvergar Rider in the history of Alagaësia. You are a pioneer."
"What does that make you? Excess weight on our journey?"
Another laugh. A smile tugged at Dí's lips - something about the way Lelan felt things so much more ferociously than his kin was infectious. Sometimes she thought she could almost see a glow about him, light that shone from underneath his skin. She had asked Yaela about it once and had been told that elven children were full of more intense magic than adults.
"Well, I shall tell Shadeslayer upon our arrival that he has no need of yet another elven Rider!" he crowed. "Ingolfr and I shall take to the sky and remove from your journey our excess weight." He cocked his head to the side, clearly listening to a witty retort from his dragon, for he laughed at nothing. She retorted,
"Now then, you wouldn't leave me all on mine lonesome with naught but an Urgal and stuffy old elves for company."
"And Eragon Shadeslayer."
"Aye, and the Kingkiller himself."
Lelan appraised her with a twinkle in his eye. "I suppose you're right. However, I for one am quite excited to meet the first Urgal Rider. I have heard she is ferocious."
"Mm."
"It is curious, is it not? The first dwarf and the first Urgal, both female Riders."
Dí paused. "I had not thought about it that much." She looked at him. "Have you thought about the fact that you are the first male Rider of our generation?"
He frowned. "How do you mean?"
"Eragon is a full Rider, though he's barely a decade older than you. That makes him a different generation. Besides, the last three eggs have hatched for females all. Fírnen, then Verea, now Beroan." She winked. "Are you sure Ingolfr chose the right Rider?"
He feigned hurt, clasping a hand to his chest. "You wound me, my lady. Ingolfr?"
Now that I think about it, perhaps I should have hatched for your older sister. Ingolfr projected his thoughts to all of them, laughter dancing in his mind.
"Ai!" Lelan cried.
Dí doubled over laughing, not even pausing when Beroan smugly asked her to admit he was right in insisting they could be friends. I never said we couldn't be friends, she begrudgingly told him.
Mm.
All of a sudden, Yaela and their other escort Caladh joined them on deck. The former bounded over to them, more excited than Dí had ever seen her. "We are close!" she announced.
Lelan's grin was so wide his face looked to be splitting in half, whereas Dí just felt somewhat queasy.
"How do you know?" the young knurla asked.
Her dragon answered the question for her. Beroan tucked his wings in and dived for the ship, and now she could see in their full glory his glittering scales, the color of sand. Against the cloudy backdrop, the rusty orange undertone of his hide was all the more vibrant, while his wings were the same pale yellow as the sun when light shone through them. He let out a long, trumpeting sound and pulled up just before the water, shooting forward across the waves to alight upon the railing. Look up! he crowed. Look to the east!
Dí looked up and to the east, but cursed that her eyes were so inferior to the elves', for they had begun to cry out at something she could not see. Beroan sensed her frustration and shared what he had spotted.
Approaching quickly from the northeastern horizon was a speck that dived out of the clouds, and materialized as it came closer into the form of a yearling dragon, twice the size of their boat. Her scales were an inky blue-black, the color of the night sky, and as she grew close enough they could see veins of silver accents throughout her body. And astride her back was a small figure that, as they drew closer, was unmistakeable. The creature was lean and tall, with strong shoulders and greyish skin. From her head they could see two small protrusions: her horns.
Yaela greeted the Rider with her thoughts, then turned to her two awestruck charges. "Lord Lelan, Lady Dí, you are about to meet your sole classmate: that is Nesnes of the Urgals, astride her partner Verea."
Verea is much bigger than you, Dí thought to Beroan.
He snorted. Give me a year or two, I'll outstrip her yet.
Lelan simply gazed upwards with a faint smile. After a moment, Dí asked him what was going on in his 'flighty elvish mind'.
"Ah, nothing of importance," he said lightly. "And you, my lady?"
"I'm thinking about how quickly I shall tire of people calling me a lady."
"Ah. Dí, then?"
"Perfect."
Yaela relayed to them that Nesnes would escort them the last few leagues from the air, and that Eragon and Saphira would greet them at the base of Argetfell, for they'd warded the crater so completely that they needed to be escorted in.
Somehow Dí and Lelan ended up leaning against the same railing, their hatchlings balancing on either side of them, eyes trained on the horizon for a glimpse of legendary blue scales.
"Lee?"
He stifled a grin. "Yes?"
"Alright, you bastard, I'm nervous."
"Aha. I thought as much."
They waited in companionable silence the rest of the way.