After Inheritance: The Unwritten Sequel

Queen of The Elves

After a moment of this staring, Eragon broke the silence with, “Atra esterní ono thelduin,” while twisting his hand and touching his two fingers two his lips in the traditional elven greeting.

Arya smiled at him before she replied, “Mor’ranr lífa unin hjarta onr.”

“Un du everínya ono varda,” Eragon finished before asking her “How are you on this fine day Arya Drötting? Looking as beautiful as ever I see.” 

Arya found herself blushing and she scolded herself mentally, Quit being foolish Arya! You are the Queen of the Elves, so say something that merits someone of your position. “I am well Eragon, and how might you be? It has been a while since we last spoke.”

“I am pretty good, now that I am talking to you of course,” Eragon replied.

This time not missing a beat she said, “When will your current trainees graduate from their Rider training? I understand that you and the other, older riders with you are currently schooling six riders along with their dragons.”

“The group that is undergoing their training right now should graduate by this coming spring, only a few months away. That is when we will send out the six new eggs to all of the races in order to try and find Riders for the unborn dragons. So you should send the ambassador back then to pick up the new batch of eggs and return any unhatched ones,” Eragon then paused as if he were talking to someone in his mind. That someone, Arya assumed, could only be Saphira.

I really have no clue what to talk about with him, for I know how he feels of me. He might try and voice his affection for me even more than he already has, and maybe I should respond a little less harshly this time. No, I cannot, for my duty is first to my people, as it should be as I am Queen of the Elves. However, I cannot tell of my own feelings even at this time, I do not know if I have feelings for him. In any case, I did promise him when he left that if he felt the same way in twenty or so years that we might have a chance. But I think that I shall wait on that, for now at least.

Looking a tad bit sheepish, as if he was unsure of what he was about to say, Eragon seemed to have ended his mental conversation and decided to continue his and Arya’s conversation through the mirror. “So Arya Drötting, how have affairs been faring in Ellesméra since we last talked. Is there anything particularly new or exciting that you would share with me,” he asked her.

Wanting to make him feel less awkward asking the question and using her formal name, Arya replied, “Eragon, you don’t need to call me that, we are friends. There is no need for formal titles between us. But, to answer your question, things in Ellesméra are currently going well. Not counting of course the many hour long council meetings to determine simple, ridiculous things such as whether or not to extend our city out on our Western border, or our Eastern one.”

“Sounds amazing Arya Drött-, I mean Arya,” he managed to say, only tripping slightly over her formal title before continuing, “Saphira wants me to ask you how Fírnen is doing, as she cannot speak directly to him as you and I can communicate.”

Wanting to make a slight joke, and to keep Eragon on his toes, Arya replied, “Eragon are you implying that we share the same sort of relationship that our dragons do?” She asked him with a hint of a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth. 

“No! I mean, erm, no not at all, I was just asking on behalf of Saphira,” Eragon quickly said.

Well then, if he wants to have small talk then it’s small talk he’ll get. “Fírnen is doing just fine, he is out hunting currently or I think that he would delight in seeing Saphira again though. Maybe the next time we talk, we can give Saphira and Fírnen a chance to talk directly to each other, like we are currently doing.”

“I’d really enjoy that! So I’ll talk to you again in the near future, hopefully in the next two weeks or so.”

I don’t know what I should say! Probably something that would actually make him want to talk again. “I’d love that too Eragon,” Arya told him as she smiled.

Eragon seemed to freeze for a moment, stopping all of his movements before telling her, “Well then, good bye Arya.”

“Good bye Era-,” Arya tried to say to him, but the image conversation had already ended. Barzûl, Arya mentally swore, I wish that he wouldn’t always end our conversations so abruptly, it makes them even more awkward. But wait, what did he say about the time when the eggs needed to be returned, is it really only a few months away? In that case, I am really glad that I sent Raëta on her journey now, so that those eggs have as much of a chance to hatch as they can. However I wonder if I could ever make the trip out there to see Eragon again, maybe the eggs could be my excuse, Arya wondered, stirring a mix of emotions within her. Ah well, no sense in worrying about that now, it is a few months away after all. The entire kingdom could be at war in that short of an amount of time, she thought with a finality. Striding out of the mirror room and into her sleeping quarters to rest for the sliver of the day that was left to her, before she would again have to resume her official duties.