Lost One

Chapter 1

Eragon had been missing now for 12 years. I still remembered the day he left me...I missed him so much I wanted to cry. I threw myself into ruling, trying to distract myself from the burning hurt inside me. Was I not good enough for him? That question tormented me in the days following his disappearance. My subjects thought of me as an ice queen, and only my dragon Firnen knew better. Arya...your subjects have made you something..he rumbled, the grating tones wrapping around me.

Firnen was my only solace, my anchor to sanity now. I locked all the memories away, to reappear at a later time. Mounting Firnen, I unconsciously touched the necklace Eragon had given me. A glass ball encircling a bouquet of flowers; a blue lily he had given me, a golden lily from the spirits, a black morning glory from Faolin's plant, some grass from Du Weldenvarden..it was a unique object, hung on a black ribbon.

We took flight as I heard the singing of an elven woman, Fada, who was one of our great singers. She sung the great ballad of how Eragon killed Galbatorix. I shouldn't even have been thinking of him. He left me...I touched my necklace again, squeezing it tight. No, it was time I took it off. I heard the mutters, the whispers of how I still mourned for him, he who had been lost so many years ago. The Lost One.

Firnen grazed the ground as I leapt off his back. "Arya Drottning. Atra esterni' ono thelduin." Blodhgarm said as the werecat Maud bowed. "Atra du evarinya ono varda." I replied, the words familiar to my tongue. Maud leapt; in midair she transformed into a stunning cat. The cat walked to a lump covered by a curtain and whipped it off.

I was speechless. It was the same beautiful sculpture Saphira had made for her first Agaeti Blodhren. "Look," Blodhgarm whispered, pointing to the left side of the sculpture. I kneeled down, not caring if my clothes got dirty. Squinting to make out the words, I asked, "Where…" They were gone.

I traced my hand over it and found something engraved. To Arya, my love, my everything, From Eragon. I burst into tears. Firnen shook the ground with the impact of his landing from the sky and asked, What is wrong? I whispered, "He never showed me this. And if I was his everything, then why did he leave me?" Firnen replied, I do not understand the ways of humans. But he obviously must have loved you very much. I wished it were true.

Because if I was his everything, he would have known I would miss him everyday, yearn to feel his hand on mine on last time. Tears coursed down my cheeks. Why did you leave me, Eragon?