Even Now

A/N: Helloooooo ~ This is a gift fic for my lovely SumaSusaki who wanted me to write more make out sessions and has been begging me to write an Eragon/Arya fic for literally years. Don't expect too much from this. It was mostly just written for fun. ;) Also, there's a reference to my longer Murtagh/Nasuada fic, Pömnuria Hjarta er Medh Ono, with the name Eragon uses for the place he's raising the dragon eggs at. Check out that fic to hear more about the Skulblaka Nidum and the wild dragons that hatched from those eggs. Thanks!

It wasn't by chance that Eragon found himself back in the deep forests of Ellesméra. It had all been carefully planned out since he heard of the awakening of a new Rider in Alagaësia: his planned trip back to see Ronan and Katrina, his carrying of the new egg that would take the place of the newly hatched one, and his meeting with the new Rider. His trip to see Arya had been just another event in his timeline. But what he hadn't expected was after everything was said and done, to be caught up in Arya's presence all over again and swept away with a single glance of her eyes and a gentle invitation for him to come with her. She beckoned him with a single wave of her slight hand, and he followed as her white skirts swept down and out of the elven palace.

She was just as powerful and beautiful as he remembered her, except more so. She moved with the confidence of a queen that didn't exist when he knew her as a princess, with her shoulders back but relaxed and her smile light on her face. She greeted her subjects softly as she passed them, the elves bowing respectfully in her wake. She was a queen both in stature and in mind, and one to truly be revered. He was so enamored by her presence that he could do nothing more than just follow along behind her.

It had been years since he had been so caught up in his feelings for her. He remembered her fondly, even as he spent nearly five years with the eggs and young dragons in the Skulblanka Nidum, but there was something incredibly different about being around her again. She was intoxicating, and everything he felt when he was young came rushing back to him like a tidal wave. He felt overwhelmed and yet somehow, more mature than once before. His childish admiration for her was nothing compared to the respect and devotion he held for her now.

"I wish to hear stories about your young dragons," Arya said to him as they walked down the stone pathway through the giant trees of Ellesméra. She was leading him somewhere, but there seemed to be an aimlessness to her barefoot steps. Like, she couldn't bring herself to stay in one place long enough to speak with him. He kept catching the smile that remained on her lips and the short, lingering glances she would give him. It made his heart swell. "You will tell me about them, right?"

"Of course," he said quickly. Too quickly. He swallowed and adjusted his words. "I wouldn't keep that knowledge from a fellow Rider."

She paused for a moment and turned to look at him. Her green eyes shone bright in the moonlight. His stomach dropped a little when he saw the sadness in them.

"Am I not your friend as well?" she asked.

You are so much more than that to me, he thought. "Of course."

She let her eyes linger for a moment before she started forward again. He thought she might ask another question, or continue the conversation, but the questioning ended there. She traveled in a thoughtful, pensive silence for a while and Eragon wondered if he had made his thoughts too loud. He had a tendency to be so open around her. It was almost second nature for him to let his guard down when she was near him.

They walked only a few paces longer before a gentle rain began to fall upon their heads. Eragon looked up in surprise, since the moon was still high in the sky, but he couldn't see the rain clouds that carried the soft rainfall. When he looked back at Arya, he could see her smiling again.

"We're almost there," she told him.

"Where exactly are we going?" he asked.

"To a place that's special to me."

They walked for only a few paces more before Arya stepped up to a curtain of vines. She didn't hesitate to shift them aside and allow Eragon to enter. He took a careful step into the area and paused. The heart of the Skulblaka Nidum, where he raised the young dragons deep in the Eastern Mountains, was by far the most amazing place he had ever seen, but this came close. It was nothing more than a lagoon nestled deep within the shrouds of the giant trees, but it was just perfectly settled so that the moonlight fell upon its surface lightly and glistened like stars. A thin waterfall fell from high above them through the trees to crate soft ripples along its surface along with the tiny pockmarks made from the gentle rain.

"Nobody else knows about this place," she told him softly. "Except Firnen, of course."

She didn't hesitate to step into the water, letting it soak into the edges of her white, gossamer dress. She walked until she was knee deep in the water before she closed her eyes and let her head tilt back. In the light of the moon, her slightly damp hair shimmered like silver, and her skirts floated on the surface like the reflection of the moon itself. She was a vision of pure, ethereal grace and Eragon nearly felt his heart stop. She turned to look at him, her green eyes lit again with that soft, heart-wrenching smile. "I wanted to share this place with you."

Eragon struggled to come up with a response. His head felt muddled, and he was afraid that if he spoke, he might make a fool of himself and ruin whatever moment they were having. He swallowed thickly, over the lump he had in his throat and tried to calm his heartbeat. "Why?"

Her smile fell a little and she turned to face him a little better. "Because, when I found this place nearly a year ago, I finally felt like I found a piece of me that was missing. A small place of peace to truly be myself," she said. "And who better to share it with than the one person who already knows my true self?"

He felt a shiver race down his spine at her words. They held so many meanings. So many implications that he just couldn't wrap his mind around it. He closed his eyes to it all and let it wash over him.

"Arya," he said softly. "Can I share something with you?"

Her smile was slow and knowing. "Are you not doing so already?"

He opened his eyes slowly and finally allowed the feelings he was trying to keep at bay flow over the space between them. All the memories he had of her beauty, all her smiles, all her laughs, even the rare moments when she cried. He passed on the way his heart rose with every timber and tone of her voice, and the way his heart clenched when she hurt. He felt her mind as clearly as he seemed to feel his own, and he laid everything out for her to have.

He watched as her soft smile slowly fell and her shoulders fell with it. Her expression grew nostalgic and somewhat sad. He wanted to feel embarrassed about how much he truly felt for her, but he couldn't bring himself to do so. She was everything to him, and always had been. There was nothing for him to be embarrassed about.

Arya took a step towards him and her expression shifted slightly to one of a subtler nature. "Even now? After all this time?"

Her voice was nothing more than a whisper, but he heard it just as clear as if she had shouted it. He gave her a rueful smile and gave her a response that was just as quiet as her question, but every bit as emotionally charged.

"I don't think I ever stopped loving you."

She took a deep breath, filling her lungs with the emotion she was trying to make sense of, and her eyes shimmered. Her eyes had always been the window to her soul and far more truthful than she ever wanted to admit to, and he watched as her emotion shifted. When she released her breath, she lowered her head for just a moment before she looked up again, and when their eyes met, Eragon felt the shift between them.

His heart started to beat faster as she looked at him and all at once he could see everything she had wanted to say. He didn't even realize he was moving until the warm water began to soak through his trousers above his boots. He stood before her, looking down into her expressive green eyes and let himself be lost in her. He didn't want to dream, to believe that this could be real, but she was intoxicating, and he just couldn't resist.

"May I kiss you?"

Arya didn't respond, instead choosing to let her eyes slide closed. Her chin lifted ever so slightly, and he could see the curve of her lips, moist and full. Her chest moved just slightly with her breathing in anticipation and he shivered. Slowly, he lifted his hands to lightly trace her bare arms with the tips of his fingers. Her skin was soft, softer than he'd ever imagined, and she shivered in the wake of his touch. His hands settled gently along her shoulders and he took one hand to tuck just gently along the edge of her jaw and into the fringe of her unbound hair. He lifted her head just ever so slightly and leaned in to capture those enrapturing lips with his own.

The kiss was nothing more than a gentle caress of their lips, but everything inside Eragon exploded into technicolor. His heart nearly felt like it would stop inside his chest and render him unconscious. He pulled away, if only to gather himself and gauge her reaction. Her eyes remained closed and her lips just ever so slightly puckered. She looked so vulnerable and kissable in that moment, he wanted to groan. Slowly, her eyes fanned open, just barely and she looked up at him through lidded eyes, and for the first time, he saw that desire in her that he always dreamed about. He wasted no time capturing her lips a second time.

He held nothing back that time, allowing his hands to curl into her soft, beautiful hair just to pull her closer to him. He wanted to feel everything from her, every brush of her lips, every gasp against his mouth, the flush of her skin as he pulled the emotions straight out of her. And she met him with the same intensity. Arya had never been the type to allow men to walk over her and Eragon was no exception. She quickly took control of the kiss, laying warm, open-mouthed kisses against his mouth until he met her in like. At the fist slip of her tongue, he shivered all the way down to his toes.

She pulled herself closer so he could wrap his arms around her and pull her flush against him. She hummed into the kiss and gently raked her fingernails along the back of his neck. He felt like he was going to burn from the inside out, just from the tantalizing way her fingers touched him and the way her mouth moved with his. He wanted to share that feeling with her in every sense of the word.

Tentatively, he reached out with his mind just like he had before, but shared just feelings. The feelings that he felt for her in that moment. The feelings she evoked in him. It was a rush of warmed that he passed on, and one that he felt rush at him in return. But she wasn't bouncing back his own feelings. She was sending him her own. The same warm burst of sunshine at the sight of him. Every smile and laugh that he made. The strength he carried when he was with Saphira and the determination he held as a leader and Rider. But most of all, He felt her love for him. He felt every tantalizing drop of it and every year that she kept that feeling deep within herself for the sake of everyone else. She had loved him for years. For much longer than he would ever allow himself to dream, and the revelation was almost more intense than the moment they shared in that moment.

Suddenly overwhelmed, Eragon let the kiss come to an end. He pulled away from her just barely, enough so that he could see the puff in her lips and the redness their rough kiss brought out against her white skin. She looked up at him in hesitant confusion, and suddenly, her face grew blurry. Her tight hold on him relaxed just slightly and he reached up to embarrassingly wipe the sudden tears from his cheeks.

"Oh, ástar, what's wrong?" she asked softly.

"Nothing," he said softly. He gave her a smile, that he felt reflected all the way down in his heart. "I'm just incredibly happy."

Her returning smile was slow, and she reached up to gently kiss his eyelids. "As am I."