Hello all, this is my first attempt at a fanfic, to that end I'm open to all types of criticism positive or negative. It should be pointed out that I'm British so I use British English.

In relation to this story, it has been an idea in my head for a while and the inheritance cycle books have always been my favourite books, Eragon will appear to be acting differently but that will be explained later on in the story.

I hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: I do not own, nor claim ownership of the people, places, names or anything else in this story.

Arya gazed over the training field at the young rider as he was being tested in his abilities with magic by the bald twins, she was inspecting her 'saviour' for a lack of better words.

The elf's reasoning for this hidden inspection of the rider was dual purposed, on one hand Arya wanted to see what a rider's true powers were; she had rarely witnessed Brom's abilities and desired to know what a rider could do at full strength. The other reasoning was more personal, the rider held a debt over her life and Arya needed to know if he was fit and ready to travel to the Elven kingdom and fight.

It was clear that there was something wrong with the rider Arya had reasoned. As he raised his glowing hand to levitate the pebble in the twin's palm his entire body tensed, his shoulders were hunched as if the act of lifting the pebble was some impossible task. Yet after a second the pebble rose from the bald man's hand effortlessly.

'What could be wrong with him?' Arya wondered as she continued to watch the spectacle, Her eyes taking in the details of his face, the black bags under his eyes and pale skin were not healthy in the slightest.

As soon as she had noticed these details, an entity pierced itself into her mind, as she struggled to push the creature out of her mind, it spoke.

'Peace elf I mean you no harm, I am Saphira the dragon, my rider was the one who saved you from Gilead'.

Arya stopped her attempt to push the dragon out of her mind immediately, she didn't want to raise the ire of a dragoness.

'What can I do for you O Great Dragon?' Arya spoke through the mental connection, awed by the magnitude of the presence in her mind

'As much as it pains me to admit I require your help Arya, my rider needs help' the dragoness responded.

What troubles him Saphira? The Elf questioned.

'Eragon has lived a short life, but during this time he has experienced things that disgust me, I am ashamed that I had not found him sooner, he is a broken man and I fear he will break soon' Saphira uttered.

'Tell me what happened Saphira, I cannot aid Eragon if I do not know the specifics' Arya demanded, becoming more concerned with each passing moment.

'I cannot Elf' Saphira answered, her distressed emotions leaking through the connection, 'Eragon made me promise not to tell anyone of what occurred before my hatching and I cannot betray his trust, please you must help him, even if you must force out the answers from his mind' the dragon was now mentally pleading with Arya, her raw emotions were almost suffocating Arya.

Arya pondered for a second, she knew aiding Eragon wasn't negotiable, he was the last hope for finishing the accursed war with the Empire, but if she pushed him too far, questioned too much he could become hateful towards her, maybe the Varden and the Elves too and they could lose him, push him into Galbatorix's hands.

'Why me?' Arya started 'why bring this knowledge to me, you could have told Ajihad, or his human friend he travelled with, both are human they would understand him more than I' Arya concluded.

'Ajihad would use this knowledge for his own gain, he may have twisted my rider to his service, make him lose his freedom and Murtagh is useless while he is locked away' Saphira growled mentally, 'And, I do not trust him'.

'You though, little elf, owe my Rider and myself we saved your life, you are duty bound to help Eragon, if you do not honour the debt, I would be in the right to take your life' the Blue dragon finished.

'There is no need to blackmail me dragon I would have aided him regardless' Arya shot back coldly, 'Though I doubt I can do much, Elves are more different to humans than you may think'.

'Regardless, thank you Arya, my rider is my only reason for existing in this world' the dragoness confessed, 'all I wish is for him to live in peace, and away from those damned memories' .

Arya was sympathetic towards Eragon's plight, if he was too distracted by whatever was troubling him he would never be able to focus on training, she was also curious about what trauma the rider could have gone through to cause a dragon to plead for aid.

Before she could ask Saphira on how to approach Eragon on the topic, her eyes floated back to Eragon's testing, one of the twins had drawn a silver ring. Arya strained to hear what the twin had spoken but she had guessed what the purpose of the ring was and strode towards the group.' Summoning the essence of silver, idiots, trying to kill him just for their own gain' Arya concluded.

'Stop' Arya spoke clearly as she closed in on the trio, Eragon shuddering and turning to see who had spoken. Arya however was focussed on the twins, who squirmed under her blazing gaze. Her next words were spoken softly yet with as much menace as her previous statement, 'Shame! Shame to ask of him what only a master can do. Shame that you use such methods. Shame that you told Ajihad you didn't know of Eragon's abilities, he is competent. Now leave!'

Arya then pointed her hand at the ring 'Arget' she exclaimed thunderously, a ghostly replica of the silver emerged, the only difference being the ghost ring seeming brighter and more pure. At the appearance of the ring the twins scuttled away, their robes flying in all directions. As the ghost ring disappeared, Arya surveyed the surroundings, Orik and Fredric were moving closer, worried about what could occur next, whilst Saphira was eyeing Arya, curious in her next action.

Arya finally settled her gaze on Eragon, his guarded expression that he held earlier with the twins was seemingly renewed, his eyes showing his true emotions, he was scared. Arya frowned, why would the rider be scared of her, while she was carrying a sword she wasn't here to kill him.

The elf concluded she would question him later and would finish the rest of his testing, she walked away from Eragon and into the heart of the training field the surrounding soldiers all awed by her presence, as she turned to face the rider she had assumed that had followed her, her assumption being wrong, Eragon was fixed to the same spot he had been standing in. Arya sighed again; this wasn't going to be easy.

"Come Rider, I claim the right of trial by arms" she all but yelled at him, drawing her thin sword. Eragon responded by sighing, drawing his crimson blade and walking towards her, the surrounding soldiers forming an ever tightening ring around them.

Both warriors guarded their blades and assumed their respective forms, Arya taking a looser form with her thin sword by side, while Eragon took a defensive form, placing himself sideways and holding his sword in a two handed grip.

Arya launched forward, slicing and striking at the rider with Eragon blocking every strike, Arya gave him no reprieve to retaliate, 'come on', Arya through 'strike back at me!'. Yet Eragon persisted with his guard, not wavering. As the one sided battle dragged on the she-elf was becoming angered by the lack of aggression from Eragon. 'This is all the last free rider can muster, a good defence' Arya had angrily concluded.

She decided to end the duel now, having believed she had seen it all. Arya thrusted forward with both hands on her sword, aiming for Eragon's right hand, hoping to nick his hand and draw blood to end it. Eragon had other plans, hopping sideways from the lunge, grabbing her outstretched hands and kicking her legs out, the result was instantaneous as Arya's face became acquainted with the ground. Arya turned over she saw the tip of Eragon's sword, pointed at her neck, Arya had lost a fight to a boy who hadn't swung his sword.

'Do you yield?' Eragon spoke for the first time, his voice monotone, matching his bored expression. Arya nodded and Eragon withdrew his weapon, sheathing it in the process, he then struck his hand out to help her up, Arya smacked the offer away, standing on her own and sheathing her own blade.

'You pass it would seem' she uttered to him, dismayed by her loss of skill and anger of Eragon's seemingly lack of aggression being her undoing. Eragon's face remained neutral, surprising considering most humans would be celebrating beating an elf in a duel.

Fredric emerged and began to clap his hand onto Eragon's back, to which Eragon moved away from, Fredric not noticing exclaimed 'That was amazing, your swordsmanship was incredible, I could hardly keep up with them'. Arya however noticed Eragon's reluctance to be touched by the quartermaster.

Orik quickly joined the conversation 'Aye that was a good duel, nay thing I've ever seen an elf lose to a human, you should be proud Argetlam'.

Eragon smiled slightly, 'I doubt that counts as a duel, I remained on the defence for most of it, Arya would have gotten through my guard soon with how quickly she was striking me' he responded.

'I best talk to him, learn how much training he truly has and what troubles him' Arya thought as she wandered away from the dispersing soldiers, she turned to face Eragon and met his eyes, motioning to him to follow her, he turned towards Saphira and met her eyes, both seemed to be in a trance until her snout created smoke while he chuckled and began to follow the waiting elf. Arya hoped that she could get answers out of the human rider who had managed to puzzle her and worry her.

Author's note

Well that's the first chapter done, I will try to get the next chapter out within a week, Bye