what is fear?

Eragon took one last look at Blödhgarm and lowered his head, softly saying the ancient words, ''Atra esterni ono thelduin.'' Blödhgarm's fangs lit up in a beastly smile, ''tra du evarínya ono varda,'' the beautiful wolf-man answered. His heart started beating faster, as they shared their traditional greeting, it reminded him of so many things. Arya, Ellesméra's new Queen. His excitement was quickly replaced by sorrow, and he could feel Saphira's mind press gently against his. ''Little one,'' her strong voice rang clear in his head, connecting them as one. He pressed back, and said the last sentence, to his friend, ''Un atra mor'ranr lifa unin hjarta onr.'' Saphira raised her head to the sky and roared as her own goodbye. Fire sprouted from behind her impressive teeth and left a slight warmth around them. Blödhgarm took a step back as Eragon crawled into Saphira's travel saddle. His body melted into every fold of the leather beneath him, he let out a long sigh and grabbed one of the blue spikes in front of him. Eragon raised his hand, ''I hope to see you soon, brother.'' The wolf-man nodded, ''not too soon though, brother-who-is-human.''

As the two-legged said goodbye, Saphira was shaking with impatience. Her tail was whipping from side to side, as a cat. Her wing's craved the long flight from Vroengard to Du Weldenvarden, it had been too long since she and Eragon had gone flying that far. She felt like a hatchling getting ready for its very first flight, for its very first hunt. She could feel Eragon settling in on her back, putting in his human-paws into the straps of her saddle. She turned her head, catching a glimpse of Eragon's face, letting out a snort. You're taking too long, hurry up. Eragon had just tightened the straps when Saphira turned around and leaped over the mountain edge, they plunged into the dark ocean, piercing the water and scaring away anything that might have been near Saphira. Her strong wings dominated the air flow and manipulated it to raise them rapidly. They broke through the clouds meeting several flocks of birds, which did everything they could to avoid Saphira's wings. She roared again, filled with bliss and happiness. This was what she was made for, the sky.

***

Zhoron took a step back to admire his work, he had sung a beautiful bow, from the pine trees of Ellesméra. He had sung it around crushed red rose petals, so the veins of the wood were slowly extracting the red color of the petals. He brought the bow up to his small nose, the hint of rose was a nice addition to the deadly weapon. He grabbed his knife and started to make delicate swirls and flowers into the wood. He could easily have done this with magic, but he enjoyed the concentration and the calm attitude it brought to work a knife into the wood. His slender fingers casually maneuvered the knife, his almond but cat-like eyes inspecting every crevice of the wood. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Maud, the female werecat, hop in through the open window. He smiled, ''Hello Maud.'' Maud meowed and found a place to lay down, staring intently at Zhoron, ''Is that for Allana?'' she clawed at Zhoron's mind. He nodded, ''It is. She has been asking for a bow for many years now, I thought that it was about time for her to get her own.'' Maud's eyes found the bow, '' Last I saw her she was in Arya Dröttning's halls, singing flowers from the walls with the birds.'' Zhoron thanked her and closed off his mind.

//Hope this is okay! *The lines mean "May good fortune rule over you, may the stars watch over you, and may peace live in your heart."//

(I hope this is okay! x.x)

Trekking through the Crags of Tel'naeír was a difficult task on foot, at least in Esyae's opinion. With the hood of her cloak up and Naegling sheathed at her side, she focused on the task at hand: heading to her father's hut. Before her father's death, she had only been in this area a few times when she was younger, as her father felt it was safer if they kept their distance. Not many were even aware of their relationship to one another. At least she'd felt relatively safe in Ellesméra, but such a feeling meant nothing when it came with the loss of her father. Pausing in her steps, she pulled her hood down and glanced around, ensuring that she had not yet lost her way - what a shame that would be - before she continued. Eventually, when she came upon the hut, she breathed a sigh of relief. While she was not all too familiar with it, she felt the need to spend some time there in hopes of giving herself time to process everything. Although it'd been a while since her father's death, it was still somewhat hard to accept, even though she knew it to be true - the proof being the very sword at her side. She'd managed to find it with pure luck and, while a part of her felt that it belonged here, in her father's hut, she also did not want to give up the only thing she had left of him so soon. Moving closer to the hut, she paused for a moment, as if anticipating some dreadful overwhelming fear or loss, before she entered.

---

Being a Queen was sometimes more difficult than Arya had expected. Of course, she took the duty seriously and understood that there were matters that could not be avoided. For the most part, though, she was more focused on upholding the people's faith in her. With her having only been recently crowned, she was well aware of the questions it would raise and of the curiosity and confusion it might cause, but she felt that, so far, she was holding her own. It wasn't like sword-fighting or fighting in wars. Politics were involved and so were so many other things that differed so much from what she'd grown to be used to lately. All she wanted right now was to go for a ride on Fírnen and get a breath of fresh air, possibly allow herself to just... relax for a moment or so, because, as a Queen, she felt as though she was always tense, expecting the next awful war or terrible meeting to ensue. For now, things were calm, though, and she hoped that, during her reign, she may be able to keep the peace for as long as possible. That may be a foolish dream, she was sure, but it mattered not. It would either come to pass or it wouldn't; there was no knowing for certain until it was time. Glancing around, she wandered the halls, only for her eyes to drop on Allana. She watched as the young girl sung flowers from the walls, but she did not interrupt, or give any sign of her presence. This was calm and she felt like she needed it more in that moment than she cared to openly admit - because admitting it aloud made it seem all the more real.

Although Arya would not admit her stress aloud, Fírnen could sense it, as was expected. He watched his Rider idly, pausing in his steps next to her before he moved to sit down and attempted to relax, though he was eager to wander around. He wanted to explore; he wanted to allow his curiosity to draw him to new places, but he knew he could not go far without his Rider, lest she end up in danger and in need of his help. So, for now, he allowed himself to relax with the knowledge that she was there and, while being cooped up inside was not his favorite thing, he would deal with it for her sake. "You seem content," his mind pried at hers and he only huffed in amusement when she shot him a look. "I am at peace," her voice slipped into his mind and Fírnen was fairly pleased to hear it. It was the first that she'd seemed relatively relaxed since being crowned and it eased Fírnen's mind quite a bit, he could admit. With a small nod, he followed her gaze, watching the girl, Allana, while she worked her magic. Part of him wanted to announce their presence and see how she would react - perhaps she would be interested in having fun? - but he could tell that Arya merely wanted to watch for now and he held no intentions of interrupting that.

The water beneath Eragon and Saphira turned into ground, his sharp eyes found multiple creatures in the forests below. A pack of Urgal was hunting, the thuds of their massive feet as they worked their way through the dense nature were somewhat soothing for Eragon. Saphira's wings added to the melody of the thudding, never in his wildest dreams would he have thought he'd end up as a Dragon Rider, that he would end up flying across landscapes like these. They flew over Therinsford, thus entering the Palancar Valley heading to Carvahall which was once his home. He made Saphira sink, remembering that there was no use in hiding his presence, plus he wanted a certain someone to catch word of his appearance in the sky. The scattered houses of Therinsford looked just the same, he recognized the stable where he and Brom had bought Snowfire and Cadoc. A smile grew on his lips, but it was a sad smile. It was a smile of longing; longing for the old story teller to whack him in his side with a wooden sword as they trained. He made a note to himself to return to his father's grave, it had been too long. They finally reached Carvahall, it looked the same, but it didn't have a feeling of home anymore. It was like a familiar stranger, he avoided the ruins of his uncle's house. The house he had grown up in, the house where Saphira hatched right before his eyes, choosing him as her Rider. He laid a hand on her scales, rubbing her neck as a small thank you. She changed his life, and he was happy she did. They reached Ceunon, the Elven sieged city on the borders of Du Weldenvarden, he wasn't far away now.

Saphira was quiet during the flight, she didn't want to disturb Eragon's thoughts. She merely listened to his mind, sharing the images of what she saw with her eyes. She noticed the two-legged scatter in the cities they flew over, some looked up and awe, some ran into their house's as if they were getting attacked. She didn't pay close attention to the ruins that Eragon mourned, she was focused on getting through the magical barrier which surrounded Du Weldenvarden. As the space between them and the barrier got smaller, the air started to get crisp, and she could feel the magic recognize them and welcome them into the Elver forest. She roared as loud as her lungs let her, letting everything and everyone know the mightiest dragon alive, had returned.

***

Followed by the werecat Maud Zhoron stepped into Arya's halls, he greeted the random man or woman who passed him, lightly letting his index and middle finger meet his lips. The bow he had crafted hung snug around his chest, it didn't look right on him but he didn't care. He heard a lot of snickering from the passing elves, but it only made him happier. He didn't mind that people were laughing at him, he knew he looked odd. The pale bow with a red tint didn't really go with his black hair and dark skin, not to mention the fur which stood out the most. Most would say he looked similar to his close friend Blödhgarm, the only thing differentiating them was their color. Where his friend was a dark blue, he was a dark brown, almost black. Where Blödhgarm was more wolf, Zhoron was more man, although they shared the musky smell, the fangs and of course the thick fur. He watched as Maud transformed into a child, a dagger by her side and a mysterious aura around her. He admired her, and though she was fierce, she was a caring creature. He turned a corner with her and stood face to face with Fírnen and Arya. He bowed to the green dragon, putting his fingers to his lips, directing the gesture at Arya as well. Maud on the other hand, ran directly over to the male dragon and started purring as her human form jumped up on him, crawling all over him. ''Arya, what a pleasure to see you,'' he said and walked closer to his Queen. He tapped Allana on her shoulder, letting the elver girl know of his presence. ''You have company it seems'' he said and nodded in the direction of Arya and the dragon. The girls eyes widened as she saw Arya and Fïrnen, ''Dröttning, how long have you been standing there? Why didn't you let your presence be known?'' She lowered her head, pausing the growth of the flowers, that she had been singing life into. She hugged Zhoron and quickly grabbed the bow, dragging it off of him. ''For me?'' she asked and Zhoron nodded, ''for you.''

@ momentai.