Chap. 10: The Talk

"Long have I waited to see you, though I had imagined I'd have a body then…"

"Who… Who was that…? Where are they?" Will asked, still looking around.

Halt too was a bit unnerved.

He knew that Will and Willow could speak with the mind, but he had not yet heard Willow speak to him, always having to rely on Will to pass on any messages. It was one thing to have a voice enter his mind at all coming from another body, but this one appeared to have no body. It was rather unnerving. It made him almost believe he'd gone crazy.

He did not show it though. He knew he was not crazy- or at least he knew he was sane. The fact that Will had also heard it too proved as much.

Though, the boy seemed as unnerved as Halt, and it was Will that almost always had a presence in his mind, a presence that was Willow. Perhaps he too was familiar with there being a body that the voice comes from as well?

In fact, that was exactly it. Will found it very odd to have another voice in his head that was not Willow's, but it was much weirder with there not being a body.

He would have suspected that it might have been the dragon standing before them, but it could not be. The voice was masculine, and it was been stated that Saphira was a female.

"I am Glaedr. I was a dragon, and now I am just a mere remnant of one." The voice spoke.

"Glaedr, you're not a remnant-"

"Eragon, I am. I no longer have a true body. I am but a stone with a conscience. The only thing that remains of my former body."

Eragon sighed, but did not argue further.

"Now… Hatchling… What is it I may call you by?"

"My name, Dragon Glaedr, is Willow." Willow answered.

"And may I know the name of your rider?" the voice said, and Will felt that it was addressed to him.

"My name is Will…." He answered out loud, because it felt weird not being able to direct the question at something.

"And am I to assume that the cowl man… are you the boy's father?" Arya asked.

This caught Will totally off guard and he almost stumbled back. Halt, his father?! No way. Will did admit he wanted to prove himself to the old Ranger, but not once had he seen Halt as a father figure. He couldn't imagine what his life might have been like if he'd grown up under the care of Halt. It sent a shiver down his spine.

Halt too found this surprising, but he took it in stride- it wasn't the most extreme thing that had surprised him today, or of late really. It was also a reasonable assumption, something part of him just suspected others to think if they were anywhere but Redmont.

"No, I am his mentor." The ranger said. He pushed back his cowl.

"Brom?!" Eragon said in a high whisper.

Halt looked at the Eragon boy, at the stricken expression on his face. It was obvious he held a remarkable resemblance to this Brom fellow.

"No… I am known as Halt." After he said this, the boy seemed to realize the truth of it, and it looked like it pained him to do so.

"Sorry. You bare a resemblance to a very close friend of mine…" Eragon said.

There was silence for a few minutes. Then Will piped up.

"Um… Halt, could we maybe retire into the cabin? It's getting a bit cold out here….?" It wasn't really that cold yet, but Will thought that it would be more comfortable indoors, and perhaps might take a bit of the heavy atmosphere away.

"You're right." Halt said after some thinking. He felt sure that the people were trustworthy and didn't find any harm in letting them into his home. Though, the dragons could not accompany of course- even Willow was much too big to fit into the door anymore.

"So, what you're saying is that your country is under the rain of an evil man by the name Galbatorix, who is also a dragon rider? And that you hope that Will will help you in your battle against him…?" Halt said, after Arya explained to them what their purpose of being here was.

"Yes, but again, we will not force it. We would like to train him though." Eragon said. "There are many things that come with being a Dragon Rider, things that may seem great and wonderful, but can carry a heavy price."

"I would say it is up to the boy if he wants to risk his life for you. But As for the training, I too think it would be in his best interest- not just for him, but for other people too."

Will nodded, as he was thinking along the same lines. Except for the risking his life part. Never had he imagined that Halt would leave such a decision to him. He wasn't all too sure if he'd be willing. After all, he was no warrior. The Battle Master made that quite clear. But there was also the fact that this was another country entirely. It'd be one thing if the country were close to Araluen (1), and it was possible that the danger there could spread to here. Then it would have been acceptable to fight, because it would be doing so in order to help his country.

But from what Will had heard, Alagaesia was almost half way across the world.

But there was another point to consider…

That country was where Willow had come from. Where she had lived- in an egg, true, but lived nonetheless- for much longer than she had lived here. According to their story, dragon's had been thought to be extinct for more than 20 years, until Saphira had hatched for Eragon. She would have been eligible to give birth to an egg, but she had never even mated. They were quite sure that there were no other dragons aside from the four that they knew of now.

Saphira was the first dragon to have hatched in all those long years, but there had been two other dragon's that were still alive since this other battle that wiped the dragon's out. The first was Glaedr, who had been kept in hiding with his Rider in the land of the elves, as he too was an elf. The second was the dragon the king had.

Then there was the fourth dragon, Thorn, the dragon of a once friend, turned enemy of Eragon.

Saphira was the first female dragon though, and never mated. So Willow's egg had been laid at least 20 years ago.

It boggled his mind that an egg could wait so long to hatch. Dragons were truly amazing.

Which brought to mind something else for Will.

"So if Willow was not conceived recently… then by who…?" he asked. Silence fell over the room.

"She should be finding out the story of her linage right now actually…" Arya said, looking in the direction of the clearing.

The dragon's had stayed there to talk since they could not fit in the cabin, and Saphira could not fit in between the trees without clearing a path. They could still talk with the others, but had only done so on some occasions to clarify things. Other than that, they had stayed to themselves.

"It would be best if Willow told you herself, as it is not our business to say."

"So, I must ask, you both wear the same cloak and carry the same weapon, and I know now that it is because you're are teacher and apprentice, but what exactly are you teaching?" Eragon asked.

Halt had known they might ask at some point and had decided that he would tell them- they had told them their story, after all.

"We are known as Rangers. Spy's if you want to dumb it down. There is one in every fief in our land, and it is our job to keep tabs on the people within that fief."

"So… do you possess any magic? You're apprentice just seemed to have appeared. I've never seen a Dragon Rider with that ability."

Will smirked, as this was a common belief among many in Araluen. To think that people like these two would think so too was amusing. Halt too found it funny, but as usual, was able to keep his face blank.

"No, we possess no magic at all. Actually, I don't believe in magic… Or I used to not believe in it." Halt said. "It is just simply our skill in the craft. We need such skills to do our job, after all."

Arya nodded, though no emotion was on her face, while Eragon just looked in awe at the skills of two humans.

This thought brought to Will another question that had bothered him. "So… I know that elves are real now, but I have to ask… Eragon are you an elf…?"

This brought an odd look to Eragon's face, a look that was almost troubled, but at the same time, acceptance.

"No, I'm not an elf, or at least, was not born one." Eragon said.

"So…. you were turned into one…?"

"No, it's not that either. I'm still not an elf. It's more that I'm taking on the appearance of one."

"Why…?" Will asked.

"It is one of the many things about being a Dragon Rider." Arya said. She knew this brought Eragon a bit of pain, as he was uncomfortable with how he could change so much.

"So… this will happen to me too…?" Will asked.

"Yes. No one knows why exactly, but it has always happened to every Rider- except for Elves, of course." Arya said.

Will nodded, trying to imagine himself looking like an elf.

The rest of the night, Eragon and Arya- with Saphira and Glaedr at times- spent the time talking about different people that had helped them. Will was surprised to find out that Dwarves existed. It made him question silently if fairies, unicorns and many other mythical creatures existed as well.

After five hours of talking, everyone was tired and gone to bed. Will and Halt had their rooms, and had offered for Eragon and Arya to take Will's room while he slept on the floor in Halts room, but the two had declined and took to the clearing. Willow had come back to the window of Will's room and curled up under it, as she did every night now.

That night, Will dreamed of many things. Souring high above the battle field. Fighting other Dragons and their riders. Dreaming of a city of elves, and a city of dwarves.

By morning he could remember nothing of his dreams.

AN: Woot, didn't take me that long this time. ^_^ And let's get another Woot, we're finally on double digits!

Hope to have the next chap. up soon as this one was. Wish me luck!

(1) Also, I would like to apologize, I've not fixed all the misspelled Araluen's as for some reason, I kept seeing it as Aleran. I know, you guys kept tryig to correct it, but as I did in the books, I saw it as Aleran. Don't know why, just my mind must have gotten stuck on that. I now know because my sister corrected me. Again, very sorry, and next time I fix errors, it will be fixed.