[From Inheritance]: He debated whether to say anything on the subject, but he could not let it go. After gathering up his courage, he said, "Arya, what is to become of us?"

She hesitated, but he could see that his meaning was clear to her. Choosing her words with care, she said, "I don't know…. Once, as you know, I would have said, 'nothing,' but….Again, you are still young, and humans often changed their minds. In ten years, or even five, you may no longer feel as you do now.

"My feelings won't change," he said with utter certainty.

She searched his face for a long, tense while. Then he saw a change in her eyes, and she said, "If they don't, then…perhaps in time…." She put a hand on the side of his jaw. "You cannot ask more of me now. I do not want to make a mistake with you, Eragon. You are too important for that, both to me to the whole of Alagaësia."

He tried to smile, but it came out more as a grimace. "But…we don't have time," he said, his voice choked. He felt sick to his stomach.

Arya's brow furrowed, and she lowered her hand. "What do you mean?"

He stared at the ground, trying to think how to tell her. In the end, he just said it as simply as he could. He explained the difficulty he and Saphira had had in finding a safe place for the eggs and the Eldurnarí, and then he explained Nasuada's plan to form a group of magicians to keep watch over every human spellcaster.

He spent several minutes talking, and concluded by saying, "So Saphira and I have decided that the only thing we can do is leave Alagaësia and raise the dragons elsewhere, far away from other people. It's what's best for us, for the dragons, for the Riders, and all the other races of Alagaësia."

"But the Eldurnarí—" said Arya, appearing shocked.

"The Eldurnarí can't stay either. They would never be safe, not even in Ellesméra. As long as they remain in this land, there will be those who will try to steal them or use them to further their own designs. No, we need a place like Vroengard, a place where no one can find the dragons to hurt them and where the younglings and the wild dragons cannot hurt anyone themselves." Eragon tried to smile again, but gave it up as hopeless. "That is why I said we have no time. Saphira and I intend to leave as soon as we can, and if you stay…I do not know if we will ever see each other again."

Arya's face appeared troubled, and she kept glancing down at the fairth that she held gently in her hand. The couple times she tried to speak, she found that she could not, so she gave up the action for the moment. She dove deep within herself and tried to find some logic that would keep Eragon here, with her.

Eragon bounced his weight from foot to foot, and he appeared shamed, like he had committed the most unfortunate crime. His cheeks blazed red, and he kept glancing up at the sky, as if he expected Saphira to return at any moment.

Arya mentally gnashed her teeth together in frustration, and refrained from smashing the fairth against the caked ground. She could not, for the life of her, think of an alternative other than what Eragon had decided. Using her mind's eye, she traveled through several of the scrolls that she had read during her training. One in particular was brought to mind. It talked about a long lost outcrop of land that floated in the clouds above Ellesméra, kept aloft by the magic of old. But what was it called?

She voiced her opinion to Eragon, and a glimmer of hope flashed across his face. "If we could find this place, then it would be even better than leaving Alagaësia! And the only way to get there would be by—"

"—Dragon-back," Arya finished, with a triumphed smile split across her face. A sliver of longing passed through Eragon's face, unnoticed by Arya, and he grinned sheepishly.

"Sorry," he muttered, trailing his foot through the dirt, "Saphira isn't exactly quiet in her feelings." Eragon's face upheld the uttermost embarrassment, and Arya's lips split apart in a fit of laughter. The pearly laugh caused several birds to burst into song from miles around, and Arya bounced into Eragon's arms, no thought on the consequence the gesture would bring.

He returned the gesture, if not a bit hesitantly, and they remained in that pose for several minutes before Arya stepped back, growing serious.

[From Inheritance]:

"Eragon, if you are willing, I would like to tell you my true name."

Her offer left him dumbstruck. He nodded, overwhelmed, and, with great difficulty, managed to say, "I would be honored to hear it."

Arya stepped forward and placed her lips close to his ear, and in a barely audible whisper she told him her name. As she spoke, the name rang within his mind, and with it came a rush of understanding. Some of the name he knew already, but there were many parts that surprised him, parts that he realized must have been difficult for Arya to share.

Then Arya stepped back and waited for his response, her expression studiously blank.

Her name raised numerous questions for Eragon, but he knew that it was not the time to ask them. Rather, he needed to reassure Arya that he did not think any less highly of her because of what he had learned. Nor did he. If anything, her name had increased his regard, for it had shown him the true extent of her selflessness and her devotion to duty. He knew that if he reacted badly to her name – or even said the wrong thing without intending to – he could destroy their friendship.

He met Arya's gaze full-on and said, also in the ancient language, "Your name…you name is a good name. You should be proud of who you are. Thank you for sharing it with me. I am glad to call you my friend, and I promise I will always keep your name safe… Will you, now, hear mine?"

She nodded. "I will. And I promise to remember and protect it for so long as it remains yours."

Eragon pressed forward, and, doing the same as Arya had done, pressed his lips to her ear and breathed his true name into it. Arya's brows pressed high upon her forehead as she learned new things about Eragon. She did not realize the kindness and wisdom that Eragon's true name had just revealed to her.

When he stepped back, Arya let out a long breath and stayed quiet for a while to collect her thoughts.

[From Inheritance]: "You have a good name as well, Eragon," she said in a low voice. "However, I do not think it is the name you had when you left Palancar Valley.

"No."

"Nor do I think it is the name you bore during your time in Ellesméra. You've grown much since we first met."

"I've had to."

She nodded. "You are still young, but you are no longer a child."

"No. That I am not."

Arya inhaled deeply, her nostrils flaring. The revealing of their true names had created a bond between them, and it was drawing her towards Eragon more forcibly than it had been before, when she had managed to keep her urges subdued.

"So, you will stay?" Arya made sure to keep all feeling from her tone, and she looked at Eragon with a guarded expression. She did not want her feelings influencing what Eragon's decision was. It was too important to be decided on such a small emotion.

Several emotions passed through Eragon's face, and then were poorly concealed, especially now that Arya knew Eragon as well as he knew himself. "Aye. For now, I will stay. We will find this 'floating land', and if it proves to be suitable, then we will not have to leave Alagaësia."

Arya was so happy that she was beside herself, and she did something that she had not intended; she pressed her lips to Eragon's softly, in a sign of happiness for his decision.

Eragon's first initial reaction was that of surprise, but a moment later he returned the kiss, pouring all the pent up love he had felt for her over the course of his journey pour into that one kiss. His lips were cracked and wind-beaten, but Arya paid no mind to it. She was at ease with her decision.

"You cannot expect me to lower my guard all at one moment, but in time, I will learn to love again," Arya murmured after they separated, and she pressed her fingers lightly to Eragon's cheek. "But all in time…" she trailed off, stroking his cheek and then turning back and walking towards Ilirea, her walk more relaxed than it had been before Galbatorix had been slain.

"Come, Eragon. Leave Saphira and Fírnen be. They will return to us when they see fit. We must bear the news to Nasuada and then rest before our journey to Ellesméra. I do not need to return just yet." Arya smiled softly at Eragon when he fell in step with her, and they padded towards the newly captured city together, as two Riders.