Du Weldenvarden, Ellesmera

„I hate you and you know that very well. I don't see why I should go with you rather than stay here, where I am at least a little bit respected. I may have forgiven you, but the hate that dwells in my heart is something you cannot erase so easily." The new rider said angrily, stared at Eragon with a clearly furious expression. Her dark, violet eyes pierced right into the riders soul, but Eragon didn't let his dislike of the situation out in a growl like he first intended to do. He sighed, supported his chin with his hand, looked at the girl who had grown into a young woman in such a short period it was just inhuman. But he knew that this was not her fault. No, it was his lone fault.

"Look, Elva…", Eragon replied gently. "I know you hate me and you have every right to do so, but don't let that cloud your judgment of me. You know I did everything I could to redo the curse… and you didn't want me to revoke it completely." A brief moment of silence followed that, but Eragon wasn't finished. Not yet. He knew he wouldn't decline to teach her, but… there was one thing that wasn't clear to the young rider. He turned to Arya, as well as Elva. "Apart from that… Arya, what is the meaning of this? She is a rider like us; why don't you teach her as we agreed?"

"Eragon, I cannot teach this kid.", the queen of elves replied, apparently a bit tired. "You know that as well as me. She did not let anything come through to her – you are the only one that forced her to show at least a little respect. I hoped you could take her with you – especially because she is your creation. I am quite sure you can teach her the things I was not able to." Arya clenched her teeth. It seemed hard for her to admit that she wasn't able to do something Eragon might do. She started to take her leave, smiled slightly. "I swear, I will never call you again for something this trivial, Eragon Shadeslayer, but I think it is your wyrda to take her as your scholar." Then she simply left the scenery, without any other words.

Eragon growled. There were times he asked himself why he fell in love with this selfish queen. After thinking about the whole issue, he turned to Elva, who glared at him, apparently not pleased. "Well, Elva. What do you want to do now?"

"I don't know.", she answered flatly as she patted her dragon. Her eyes and the dragons scales where about the same color. Coincidence? "I wanted to stay here and learn about her, me and everything that has to do with the riders. I never intended to go with you… but do I have a choice?"

Eragon didn't reply for quite a long time. But then, a little smile appeared on his face. He understood that Elva would do anything for her dragon – as he would do anything for Saphira. She wanted to learn about her, and simply be with her. But she was too dangerous to let her roam freely in Alagäsia… it was not just that she was now a dragon rider. Elvas ability to look onto the very soul of everyone not able to defend themselves properly was something that needed guidance. The girl would have to learn that she could not simply use her ability to get what she wanted. "No, you don't have a choice… you took the risk by testing out if the dragon would hatch for you, and now you are a dragon rider – even if you never really intended to be one. You will come with me, and I will teach you everything I know…" But he stayed thoughtful, not sure if he had convinced her. "What is her name, Elva?"

"I called her Evarínya. No, she did call herself like that… she said that she wanted to be like the stars at the nights' sky… lifting the darkness piece by piece from my soul." A sarcastic smile appeared on Elva's pretty features. "Isn't that just wonderful and sweet?"

Eragon sighed. She was full of sorrow and bitterness, even now that a dragon hatched for her – and a beautiful one also. The young rider could only hope to be able to lighten her burden. "See, Elva. Don't be like that… I know you love her. Let me say it like that… I won't force you to come with me. But be aware that I will give my absolutely best to teach you everything I know – and I can't let you do as you please. You are now responsible not only for yourself, but for your dragon too… and for Alagäsia."

"Do your best like when you cursed me?" The grown-up girl sighed. "It's hard for me not to hate you, but… in some way; you made it possible for Evarínya to hatch with me. I am deeply grateful for that, Eragon Shadeslayer, but do not expect me to worship you just because of that. You made me into something the people hate; I am just one or two years old in your terms, but already wiser than some of the oldest humans. I grew into a young woman because my body needed to catch up with my mind… but everyone despises me. Oh yes, they like me when they need my help but… after that, I'm just a cursed kid."

Eragon shook his head, getting a headache. "I know that, am terribly sorry and if I could, I would reverse everything. You could live a normal life like everyone – but even with the name of the old language, I can't do such a thing." He walked to her, realized how much she had grown. Not only her face, but the body, too: She was almost as beautiful as Arya, but her beauty had yet to unfold. The only thing that was… not commonly good-looking about her were her eyes, who sparkled in this dark violet.

"Only almost?", Elva replied to his thoughts with a slightly amused smile. "Oh, that hurts, Shadeslayer. You don't like your own creation then?" She spread her arms, letting him look at her well-formed body. "I'm sad."

"Be quiet.", he murmured, slapped her head gently. "You are a human and a fine one too, but not my creation. And don't look in my head without my permission. I think I'm going to rest now, I have not slept for two days now, just because of you."

"Ouch." Elva couldn't hold back a giggle. "That hurt. Alright, Master Eragon... I wish you a good night." It sounded honest, and she even smiled broadly.

"Thanks..?" He was a bit taken aback. He wasn't prepared for Elva to be nice to him, even in the slightest. But her smile was beautiful, and while she first seemed even more filled with bitterness and things, the Elva he was seeing now was cheerful and happy. Eragon was puzzled – and quickly walked away, not sure how he should feel about it. The only thing Saphira said in that matter later, as he crawled into his bed, was not fit to lift his bewilderment.

'You know, Eragon, the heart of a woman is not an easy thing to understand.', she told him. 'There is an awfully thin line between hate and love, and in every second, things can take a course you never thought they would have. Elva has grown, but she is not complete yet. I cannot tell you what will happen in the next weeks, month, or years… but you have to be careful with her, Eragon. You are the one who can break or heal her from her sadness, from the injury she took from your blessing, that is what I am feeling right know. The little hatchling is not strong enough yet to even sense me when I am observing her thoughts… The violet one is happy that her rider has found a formidable instructor and she likes you. Does that cheer you up?'

Eragon threw away his shirt, his pants followed, and then he snuggled up in his blanket. He was so tired he could not even think of a clear answer. "Well…", he managed to say. "A little bit, maybe. You should greet your fellow dragon lady tomorrow… she will be happy, I think. But isn't it crazy how Elva has grown? I hope she won't age any further… not with this speed. Right now, she looks like she is about my age, but she's not even three years old."

'It certainly is strange.' Saphira sighed mentally. 'But be careful around her. Her body and her mind have grown to an age that fits yours. She kind of IS your age now, only that she lived not as long as you. But her mind can't be all grown-up, so do not handle her too rough.'

The young rider sighed. "I'm going to sleep now… it's too confusing." Eragon felt his head even spinning because of his tiredness. Before he could even lay down, he went in his sleep-mode. It was the first time this state was nearly a real human's sleep.

Next morning

Dawn was coming; Eragon was slowly waking up, blinked a few time, yawned. It appeared to be a really wonderful morning – but there was something bothering him. A little alarm bell ringed in his head as he felt someone slip out of his sleeping room. That was unusual – he was so tired even his elf-senses didn't warn him that someone came into his room? The intruder was so quick he couldn't catch a glimpse of him or her, so Eragon tried to pin down the one with his mind – but he couldn't find anyone suspicious… well, there was one mind, but always when he tried to catch it, he slipped off it, it was like trying to catch a fish with bare hands.

'Good morning, Saphira. Who was in my room up until now and why didn't you warn me?'
'Good morning, little one. It is a simple answer you ask for: you were in no danger.'

'So you know there was someone? Who was it?'

Eragon didn't like the idea of someone watching him while sleeping. It was kind of creepy to think that someone knew his sleeping face while he himself didn't know how he was looking when he slept.

'I cannot give you this information.' The young rider insisted, but Saphira appeared to try out how it would be to be a dwarf, not telling him anything what she did not want to. Just like the stoneheads knows as dwarfs.

"Barzûl!" He couldn't restrain himself, clicked with his tongue. He noticed that his clothes were folded and a light breakfast was standing right next to the door. Maybe just some random elf that brought Eragon, the Shur'tugal, his breakfast? No… if that would be the case, Saphira had told him who that mysterious person was. 'You will not tell me who that was, are you sure, oh greatest of all creatures on earth, oh you, the most beautiful, respected and strongest dragon?', he asked curious if she would show vulnerability when he praised her. And his calculations were not completely wrong, as he noticed. Saphira purred.

'It was someone you know, but I will not tell you anything that goes farther than that.'

'At least I know that…' The young rider sighed. 'Go hunt you something… we will not stay much longer. We won't hasten like on our way here, but I won't treat her with special care… well, not in the physical sense.'

Saphira send him a gentle wave of love, but he felt that there was slight amusement intermixed with the other feelings. Without any delay, the blue dragon arose in the direction of the sky, ready for her hunt. But as always, she had to comment his phrase. 'I think Elva would tell you she'd like it if you did not treat specially in the physical sense. Your feelings are too exposed her, she can feel things you think about even you do not even know about. Be careful, she could try getting you down.'

That was when she turned, flew away, leaving Eragon with the duty to say goodbye to Arya. Oh, now he did understand why Saphira flew away without bugging him too much – Fírnen. "You little sneaky lizard.", he murmured amused to himself, smiled and took his meal and ate it in… well, it felt like no time. It was not enough, and he felt that he was too hungry to be satisfied with just few vegetables. Was this how Elva felt the whole time? He knew she was devouring food like a whole army in war. After he finished his meal, the rider jumped out of his tree house, landing safe, grinning. At least his tiredness was gone – but was replaced with unappeasable hunger. He rushed to get to Arya, not only to tell her goodbye, but to ask for food, too. The young man made large footsteps, opening the door to the throne room, seeing that Arya sat on her throne – with Elva right before her. As he barged in, Elva seemed to flinch and straightened up.

"… Yes, I will go with him. But I don't want to spend my whole life with him.", she ended her sentence with audible sarcasm, and Eragon felt betrayed. Was he that bad?

He cleared his throat. "Good morning, Elva, Queen Arya. I'm happy to see you too well."

"That's a matter of opinion…", the young girl with the purple eyes murmured, while Arya smiled.

"Eragon!" Arya appeared to be happy to see him, while he didn't really know how to react. They were clearly speaking about him, and as happy he was to notice her speaking about him, Elva was a different matter. If there was anything positive in this situation, then that Arya already knew everything about him – Elva could not tell her something about him she did not already knew. He revealed his true name to her as she did with him. "I'm glad you came. Elva was waiting for you. Did you sleep well?"

"I certainly did. But someone slipped in my room while I was sleeping. Arya, I can't tell you who that was, but I always felt safe in Du Weldenvarden. Can you tell me why such a thing could happen?" Eragon didn't know what was going on with him, but he felt slight pleasure in bringing his host in this displeasing situation.

"I… I don't know. We will search for the one…" The queen seemed a bit confused as if she didn't think Eragon – the little boy from Carvahall - was speaking with her like this. But he was the leader of the riders now, and Arya was one of them. Sometimes, even a elf as old as her needed some 'guidance'.

Elva chuckled, went past him and touched him slightly, grinning evil. "You feel it too, right? It feels good… to bring people in situations like this. They will obey without you pushing yourself too much. I'll see you later… Evarínya and I will wait for you in the courtyard. We will be prepared to leave, so be a bit less slow."Then she was gone, leaving him not only confused but a bit distressed. She was right. Did she affect him in any way so he would confront Arya? No way. He sighed while asking himself what he should do now.

"Yes, Elva, I'll see you later." Then he turned to the Queen. "I think that's going to be a tough one. I now know why you called me, but this is your only gift coupon you get from me…" Eragon grinned, but then smiled a normal smile. "So, do you have some food?"

A/N: Hey guys, I wanted to upload this yesterday but stupid fanfiction didnt want me to log in...

I wanted to ask you for a favour: Could any1 of you send me a normal sentence from Eragon, Saphira, and Elva in the original books? I've only read the german ones so its hard to think of a pattern of speak for them... kind of.

And another question: Do we need a 'main villain' or something like that? I don't think so - the training of Elva will take enough time. I'm not quite sure 'bout that.

Yes.. and enjoy :D