Eragon's POV:
The party had been underway for half an hour when Eragon walked in with the Linnëa-staff in his right hand.

Saphira had not been able to enter the room, so she had just flown off with Mor'Khemir and told Eragon that he should try to have a good time.

Eragon spent most of the evening exchanging pleasantries with nobles and other people of importance, but although he constantly seemed to enjoy the company on the outside, he merely wished that they would leave him alone, so that he could spend some time talking with Linnëa.

He could hear Linnëa chuckle in his head and say to him that he really should try and pay attention to the party, as many of them would probably not be alive after the battle.

Eragon only stated, "as you wish", but only half an hour later he sat alone at a table with the Linnëa-staff on his lap and slowly stroked it while enjoying basking in Linnëa' mind.

He was only pulled out from his connection with Linnëa, when Pippin waved a hand in front of him with a worried look on his face.

"Master are you alright?", Pippin asked.

"Yes I am fine, but I think that I might need to retire soon", Eragon answered his worried pupil with a small smile and a voice that sounded like it came from far away.

Eragon could see that Pippin believed him to be drunk, although Eragon had not even touched any drinks that night, so Pippin made a move to help his master out of the chair, but Eragon just wavered his hand at Pippin and told him, "I am fine. I do not need assistance, but have a pleasant evening".

Eragon could feel Pippin following behind him, prepared to help if needed, but not so close that it seemed rude.

Arya's POV(starts in the middle of the party)
Arya was in the middle of the party, with Legolas at her side and his father in front of her. She had quite enjoyed meeting the elves from Middle-Earth. She got the feeling that they had been most happy hearing that Legolas had finally found a mate.

She would now and again catch a look of Eragon, to see how he was doing. She thought that he looked like he was enjoying the party, but when she looked at his eyes; they told her that he was actually getting quite annoyed at the many introductions and meaningless pleasantries.

Amused she chuckled to herself and whispered into Legolas' ear, " I believe that Eragon might snap if people continue to constantly make introductions and other pleasantries to him all night".

"Should we tell my father? Perhaps he could make them stop", Legolas whispered back into her ear.

"Well, either that or we draw attention to ourselves, so they forget about him", she whispered back with a slight joy in her voice.

"You don't mean that we should tell them all now do you?", Legolas said a little louder than he meant to and with nervous eyes watching her.

"Why not they will find out soon", she said looking at him with a smile. Then she did something unexpected, as she took a glass and gently tapped at it to get everyone's attention, while she heaved Legolas and herself up on a small table.

Everyone looked at her and with a mental message she said to Eragon, You might want to use this to disappear out of sight before the nobles return their attention to you.

Eragon sent her a short nod, before she saw him disappear out into a corner.

"Legolas and I have an announcement to make", she said to the assembled crowd. "Legolas and I are to be married the day after tomorrow".

A large applaud came roaring in from the crowd and Legolas and Arya spent the next hour receiving congratulations from all of the assembled.

While receiving the congratulations Arya thought about what she had seen in Eragon's eyes or rather what she had not seen. Despite only seeing his eyes for half a second, she was quite sure that there had not been the same pain in them as there had ever since he had found out about her and Legolas, but she could not be sure and she was afraid to look him in the eyes after having just revealed that she and Legolas where to be married.

She had also spotted something else in the evening which puzzled her even further, she had caught Eragon looking at his wooden staff and chuckled, although no one had said anything funny to him, and what appeared stranger was that Eragon sometimes had a special look in his eyes when he looked at the staff. The look reminded Arya about back before Legolas when he looked at her with that same look, but she quickly chuckled to herself and cast that idea away. After all, Eragon could not be in love with a wooden staff. It must have been her pregnancy playing tricks on her.

Eragon's POV

Eragon had left the party about 3 hours ago and had almost been forced to order Pippin to stop worrying about him and get back to the party. Eragon had in the meantime tried and failed several ways of releasing Linnëa from her prison.

Do not worry such, Linnëa's soft voice said in his head.

I just wish that I could release you, but I fear that I won't make it before the battle, Eragon answered tiredly.

Well, there is one other way, but it will require a large sacrifice on your part, Linnëa said cautiously.