Eragon Fan Fiction ❯ Kvistr (Book 1 Of The Wyrda Series) ❯ Chapter 4
[ P - Pre-Teen ]
By: MelissaNichols 
Miscellaneous: Eragon Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Fantasy | Type: Fanfiction Sequel | Uploaded On: 01.03.2015 | Pages: 8 | Words: 9.7K | Visits: 429 | Status: Completed
Miscellaneous: Eragon Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Fantasy | Type: Fanfiction Sequel | Uploaded On: 01.03.2015 | Pages: 8 | Words: 9.7K | Visits: 429 | Status: Completed
Alanna woke up the next morning when she heard Arya calling her name and knockin g on her door. She forced her heartbeat& nbsp;to
speed up and her breathing to&n bsp;deepen as she pulled herself out of her&n bsp;waking dreams.
"Good morning, Arya. I'll be out in a little bit." She called&nbs p;as she stretched and yawned.
" I went& nbsp;back to your uncle's last night to get&n bsp;your stuff. Your clothes are out here.â& euro;
"Yes, ma'am. Thank you." Alanna mo ved her dragon off of her chest, much&nb sp;to his protest, and went to the door. She opened it
and her suitcase wa s indeed there but there was no sign of Arya. Alanna shrugged and grabbed her suitcas e and brought it into
her room. Sh e went through her suitcase and found on e of her many purple shirts and a pair o f animal hide pants. Purple was her
favorite color. She thought she look ed her best when she was wearing a deep purple that complimented her pale skin, purple eyes
and black, waist-length hair.
After she was dressed, she brushed and braided her& nbsp;hair and then made it into a bun by twisting the braid around itself until it
curled on itself, then wrapped the rest of the braid around it. She&nb sp;fastened it in place with a leather b and that was enhanced by a
spell of ;elasticity, and then tied a thick purple rib bon over the band. She did this because& nbsp;she didn't want her hair to get in& nbsp;the way
of training, whatever it m ay be.
After washing her face and h ands, Alanna used mental and physical encoura gements to get her dragon to follow her& nbsp;down the
hall and to the dining&nb sp;room, where she ate with Arya. Her dragon& nbsp;jumped into the seat beside her and ;tried to get onto the table,
but Alanna didn't let him. She reached out t o her dragon's mind and mentally reprimanded him with an impression of displeasure,
and then she accompanied the feeling with&nbs p;the word 'no'. She knew dragons didn't natu rally have control over a language
invo lving words and preferred to use images and i mpressions, so she figured it was best to beg in getting him used to words
immediatel y. She didn't like the first word he&nbs p;knew was one of displeasure, but he'll be&n bsp;learning a lot more words in the coming&n bsp;
months so this was just simply part of his training. Why did&nbs p;that not make her feel better?
After breakfast, Arya, Alanna and her dragon went&n bsp;outside to where Firnen was waiting, alre ady saddled. While Arya climbed
up, Ala nna bent down to scoop up her dragon.&nb sp;Firnen lowered his head to look at th e hatchling, whom was supremely interested
in Firnen. She let them smell each other&n bsp;before Firnen turned away. Jumping as high&nbs p;as she could, Alanna landed on Firnen's
elbow. She jumped again to land on hi s shoulder, and then again to land on&nb sp;his back, between two of his spikes. She sat down and
held tight to her dragon, using her mind to tell him ;to not struggle, while she clamped her legs around Firnen when the huge
dragon suddenly moved.
Try to hold on, Alann a. Firnen suggested and Alanna grabbed th e spike in front of her with one ha nd as Firnen leaned back on his
ha unches and launched himself into the air. She squealed and clung tighter to the spike ;and to her dragon, determined to not le t
him fall.
Once Firnen had risen& nbsp;above the canopy and leveled out, Alanna let her grip on her dragon relax. She didn't remove her arm, but
used&nbs p;just enough tension to keep him in pla ce. Now sure she wouldn't fall, Alanna l et herself look around at the forest passing& nbsp;
below them.
At the Crags, Saphira a nd Firnen landed outside of a hut and&nb sp;the Riders got off. Alanna watched as Eragon&nb sp;and Arya hugged their
dragons before the two dragons flew back into the&nbs p;sky. Alanna set her dragon down and st roked his head.
"Okay, then." Eragon tu rned to his students. "First, we'll all do&nb sp;the Rimgar. Alanna, come to my other side so you can see better."
He ba cked up away from the hut a bit as Arya and Alanna formed a line beside&nb sp;him. Alanna went to the side opposite Arya and
did her best to copy Eragon.&n bsp;It was hard work, but since the Rimgar&nb sp;was meant to tone the body and exerci se the muscles, it was
supposed to ;be hard work. Her muscles burned as they&nbs p;were stretched and tested, but Alanna was d etermined to find out how
much her muscles could take. The Rimgar was another thing&n bsp;her uncle had forbade, believing that alfa-kon a, female elves, should
be weak and&nbs p;helpless so the male elves would feel more powerful.&n bsp;
After an hour of the Rimgar, Arya&nb sp;was sent into the forest to listen. Eragon turned to her and knelt down to Al anna's height.
"Alanna-finiarel, first, congratulations on becoming a Rider. I hope you re alize that it's a title that most don't win and the
respon sibility and honor involved in it."
"I& nbsp;have a pretty good idea, Eragon-elda." < br>
"Good. Now, because you're still so ;new to being a Rider, you're training w ill differ from Arya’s until yo ur dragon hits certain
milestones in his deve lopment. For now, the most important thing fo r him is to learn about language. So,&nb sp;during this hour, I want
you to ;start teaching him about language and words. I have some scrolls you can read off&nb sp;of to help him."
"I'd appreciate tha t.Tthank you, Eragon-finiarel."
"You're welcome.& nbsp;And please, just Eragon will suffice." A lanna started to argue, wanting to point ;out that the finairel was a term
of great honor and praise for a male, that he had earned it and i t was only just that he be recognized wi th it. "I understand the term
and what it means. However, since we're going&nbs p;to be working together until the end o f our days, I consider us equals and&nbs p;so I feel
like words of honor and&nbs p;praise shouldn't be used here. Arya agrees with me and has already told me she wish es you and myself to
not call her& nbsp;Queen or any other title at any tim e. Saphira, however, loves the titles so she'll&nb sp;expect you to use them when you
address her."
"Yes, Eragon. I'll try to restrain myself. Oh, among those scrolls you mentioned, do you have any of exclusive male dragon
names? I thought I sh ould also teach my dragon about names an d get him acquainted with them so he&nbs p;can have a wide range to
choose from when he decides he wants a name as& nbsp;well." She started to curtsy but figured Eragon wouldn't like that either.
Erag on chuckled as he smiled. "I do have suc h a list. I'm surprised by how prepared& nbsp;you are already."
Alanna blushed and&nb sp;looked at her feet sheepishly. "I had ;a lot of time on my hands these last&nb sp;fifteen weeks. I started thinking
about&n bsp;what I would do if I became a R ider."
"Ah! That'd do it. I was mo re curious myself when I was your age. I kept pestering everyone with questions when I had them."
"You say that like you don't anymore."
"For the most part, my curiosity has been satisfied. My bet ters taught me a lot. But it’s also because I don't have a mentor
anymore. Before I was a Rider, I looked to my uncle, my cousin and everyone in Carvahall for answers. When Saphira and I
were tracking the Ra' zac, I looked to Brom. After Brom died a nd I met Oromis, I looked to him. B ut now that Oromis is dead I
have& nbsp;only Saphira and Arya to turn to. Well,& nbsp;and a few others, but for the most part I have to rely on the scrolls Oromi s left."
"Oh. That makes sense. What are the Ra'zac?" She asked, having never he ard of the creatures before. Eragon shuddered ;violently,
a look of repulsion flying a cross his face.
"The Ra'zac were a ;vile race." Eragon explained and then a ;picture of what she assumed to be a&nbs p;Ra'zac appeared in her mind.
"They ha d a bird-like head, body and beak with&n bsp;massive eyes, but their legs were shaped kind of like a horse's rear legs. Instead&nbs p;
of wings, they had arms like ours that were so thin that they lo oked like twigs. They were fast, deceptively& nbsp;strong and had
developed a breath odor that would incapacitate a human. But they&nbs p;didn't eat worms. They ate humans, and ;they preferred to hunt
at night becaus e of the camouflage, when we're most vulnerab le."
" 'We're'? Aren't you an elf?" ;
Eragon chuckled again. "That's difficult to answer. I was born a human, and in ;some ways I still am, but at the Agahet i Blodhren
the dragons of old and Glaedr and Saphira teamed up to give me& nbsp;the physical attributes of an elf. My&nb sp;ears grew pointed, I
obtained the enduranc e and physical strength of an elf and&nb sp;even my face changed. I could detect flaws in materials when I
couldn't befo re, and I could even sense more animals& nbsp;and humans than I could as a human, which meant I had a greater men tal
capacity. But, in some ways, I'm&nb sp;still human. I struggle to hide my em otions, and most of the time I don't wan t to, I can still grow
facial hair which means I have to shave every morni ng, and I don't sleep anymore. I slip&nb sp;into waking dreams just as elves do. So,
I'm a human-elf hybrid, a h alf breed. Not truly one, but not truly& nbsp;the other."
Alanna really had no i dea what to say to all of that, exc ept simply to nod.
"Now, the Ra'zac&nbs p;is a term just for that stage of their life. The Ra'zac are basically just children , though the ones I encountered
were mor e adult in appearance than children. When&nbs p;the Ra'zac are twenty years old, they shed& nbsp;their skin, like a snake would, and ;
break away as a mix of horse and& nbsp;dragon. Now adults, they are called Leth rblaka. They have the body of a horse,&n bsp;but the wings
and paws of a dragon, and they're about the size of an e ight month old dragon." Then another image&nb sp;appeared in her mind that
matched&nb sp;the description Eragon had given her. He&n bsp;compared her size to the Lethrblaka's and ;she shuddered at the height
difference. ;
"What makes them so dangerous is not on ly their sheer strength and size, but th ey're also evil to the bone, which is&nb sp;why they
flourished as Galbatorix's henchmen. He sent two Ra'zac and ;their parents to the Spine to seek out& nbsp;Saphira's egg, which led them
into Carva hall. They wouldn't have found out that I had Saphira's egg unless the fool Sloan&nbs p;hadn't told them that I had brought a& nbsp;
strange stone into his butchery for&nbs p;a trade for meat for the winter. His l ack of restraint led directly to the Ra' zac searching out my
uncle's farm and k illing him to find out where I was. ;At the time, Saphira had spirited me aw ay into the Spine to keep them away ;
from me. The next morning, I convinced her to return to the farm to warn& nbsp;my uncle. I got there too late to&n bsp;save him, but he was
still alive&nb sp;so Saphira and I dragged him into Carvahal l, to the healer Gertrude. I didn't quite&nbs p;make it because I passed out from
blood loss, but I woke up in the blacksmith's house a few days later. Once my legs had scabbed over, Brom&nb sp;and I fled Carvahall
to seek out&nbs p;the Ra'zac and destroy them."
"Sloan? ;The man you sent here under a spell?"&n bsp;
"Yes, that's him. The man hates my cousin and I with a passion. Well, he&nb sp;and I haven't gotten along before, but&nbs p;back then it was
just a mutual d islike. He grew to hate my family after, ;first, my cousin announced his betrothal to& nbsp;Sloan's daughter in front of the
whole village without Sloan's blessing, nor even his&nbs p;knowledge that Roran wanted to pursue Katri na. He came to hate me when I
would n't kill him after I rescued him from th e Ra'zac's den in Helgrind. He felt really&nb sp;guilty for ratting Roran and Katrina out&n bsp;to
the Ra'zac when they came back&n bsp;to apprehend Roran. But I didn't believe& nbsp;I had the responsibility of deciding if& nbsp;he should live or
die, so I u sed his true name to make him swear ;in the ancient language that he would c ome to Ellesmera and stay here, never to
see or talk to Katrina again. If& nbsp;he repented, then he'd get his eyes back . But, if he didn't…wellâ&eur o;¦"
"Get his eyes back?"
"Yes, the Ra'zac had pecked them& nbsp;out of his head before I found him. "
"Gross!"
"Yes, but that's the nature& nbsp;of the Ra'zac. Evil to the core. No w, let's focus on you teaching your dragon ab out words, hmm? I'll get
those scrolls for you. Come on inside. Your dragon, to o." Eragon stood and Alanna followed him ;inside.
The hut was small, circular, with&n bsp;every surface of the walls covered in spa ces for scrolls. In the center of the ro om were three
desks and chairs, each eq uipped with a fresh roll of parchment, a sharpened quill and an inkwell. Alanna sat down at one of the
desks and h er dragon hopped up onto it. She smiled& nbsp;and stroked it hesitantly at first, then more assuredly when she heard the
dragon start to purr.
"I've never seen& nbsp;a dragon being so affectionate." Eragon observed, turning from the wall with some&nbs p;scrolls in hand. He
approached and gave&nbs p;her the scrolls.
"Aren't all dragons like this?"
"Saphira wasn't. Well, probably b ecause I had to spend most of the day&nb sp;making sure my uncle and Roran didn't lear n about her. I
was so sure they'd kill her and I couldn't bear the thought of that, so I hid her in the forest. After my chores were done, I went&nbs p;to
her and stayed there until dark.&nb sp;Even then, she ask for strokes. The m ost she did was lay down against my leg. ;As she got older, I
was the one cuddling against her belly, but that& nbsp;was the extent of it. It must be a personality thing."
"That makes sense." Alanna&nbs p;was still focused on figuring out what ;her dragon liked so she didn't reply as heartedly as she ought
to have.
"Here are the&nb sp;scrolls. I suggest starting right away. That&nb sp;dragon has two languages to learn fluently, the ancient language and the
human languag e. You'd best get going." Eragon subtly order ed as he set the scrolls near Alanna's hand&n bsp;and he walked outside.
Alanna picked ;up one scroll, scanned the contents and ;connected her mind with her dragon's in ;the same way she would with her
b rother. She reached out with her mind to find her dragon’s mental tenure,&nb sp;then she zoned in on it and pressed&n bsp;into its mind.
Normally she would have&nb sp;to gently press against a mental barrier when&n bsp;she wanted to talk with her brother, ;but her dragon didn’t
know&nb sp;about mental barriers yet and so there&nbs p;were no barriers.
The first wor d on the scroll was 'Horse', so she imag ined a picture of the horse and below&nb sp;the animal flashed the word 'Horse'.
She didn't know if the dragon was learn ing, so she moved on to the next wo rd after she repeated it again, the next ;word naming
another animal, and did&n bsp;the same thing. Then, she went back to the horse, and then the second animal before she moved on to the
third& nbsp;and repeated the cycle. In essence, she& nbsp;alternated between the already-named animals once before moving on to the
unknown&nb sp;animal that was next on the scroll.
A fter five words, she put away the scroll and looked the dragon in the eye. Then she tapped his chest and said You,&nb sp;then she
pointed to herself and s aid Alanna, hoping to begin teaching h er dragon about the concept of names and self-identification. She
repeated i t again a few more times until the drago n squeaked as an acknowledgement. Smiling, she&nbs p;stroked the dragon as praise,
then picked&n bsp;up one of the scrolls. Leaving it ro lled up, she held it up and said scroll. After she had repeated it a ;few times, the
dragon squeaked again.
After an hour, Alanna had managed to&nbs p;get the dragon familiar with twenty animals , the words you, scroll, quill, Alanna&nbs p;and chair
for a total of tw enty-five words. It was good progress for&nbs p;the first hour and Alanna was actually look ing forward to working with
the dragon& nbsp;some more.
Eragon and Arya came bac k into the hut as Alanna was rolling up the scroll she held. She smiled as Arya& nbsp;passed her and took her
seat besid e Alanna.
"Okay, then. Alanna, today you ’ll learn about one of the ;most important aspects of a Rider’s training. On your feet." Eragon
resumed ;his mentor voice. Alanna stood and followed& nbsp;her mentor outside. Arya removed her swo rd and scabbard from her hips
and set it aside while Eragon went into the& nbsp;forest and found a couple of thick sticks of about the same length.&nbs p;He came back and
tossed one stick&nbs p;to Alanna and the other to Arya.
"Now, spar. Your opponents of the future&nbs p;won't go easy on you, so don't coddle each other.â€
Alanna nodded. She d idn't like the idea of having to harm&nb sp;her queen, but she understood the necessit y. Stepping back a few
paces, Arya ;and Alanna held up their sticks but they&nbs p;didn't move.
After a period of silence, in which both elves ;were still, a flock of birds flew overhead.& nbsp;Alanna looked up at them. In that i nstant,
Arya leapt forward and swiftly stabbed Alanna with the blunt end of her stick. Alanna cried out in pain and&nbs p;surprise and clamped
a hand on the&nb sp;bruise.
“Pay attention, Alanna.&n bsp;Don’t let down your guard.â ;€ Eragon called to her, circling the&nb sp;two. Alanna nodded and prepared for the
next round. Arya had backed up ;a bit and stood as she had before. The& nbsp;two elves stared each other down, each s canning the other
for obvious weaknesses. Ar ya made the first move this time, and&nb sp;Alanna tried to bring up her stick to block Arya’s attack, but
Arya& nbsp;twisted to the side and whacked her ;in her already-bruised side again, and then& nbsp;she quickly slapped the back of Al anna’s
knees, which sent the&n bsp;younger elf to a kneeling position, wonde ring what had hit her. While Arya went&n bsp;back to where she had
been, Alanna& nbsp;realized she’d have to keep&nbs p;a close eye on Arya and use her s maller stature to add speed. If she coul d get under
Arya’s stick or&nb sp;even get away from Arya, then she had a chance to land a blow. In the&nb sp;background, she heard Eragon giving tips < br> about general swordfighting, but her attentio n was predominately on watching Aryaâ€&trade ;s body for movement.
Arya, once again, initiated round three by dashing forward,&nb sp;her stick tucked close to her side, b ut, this time, Alanna was ready.
Keeping her body relaxed, Alanna judged Arya’s advance and, when she& nbsp;decided Arya was too close to change tac tics but not so
close that Alanna couldn ’t jump away, Alanna ducked her head, tucked in her arms, and raced&nbs p; under the arm that was not
holding&nb sp;the stick. Just as she’d hoped,&n bsp;Alanna made it safely behind Arya†™s back and took the advantage by leapi ng forward to
cover the distance betwee n the two and stabbed Arya in the c enter of her back square between her sho ulders, where her heart
was. Had Alanna been wielding a sword, that would have& nbsp;been a kill. Her objective complete, Ala nna immediately backed off
and let Arya recover from a single interrupted bound.&nbs p;“Very good, Alanna! Use your size to your advantage, and the opponent&acir c;€™s
size against them. And always&nb sp;go for the kill. In a real battle,&nb sp;the opponent won’t spare your&nbs p;life. It’ll be kill or be&nbs p;killed.†Eragon
chimed in, but ;Alanna wasn’t entirely paying atten tion. She registered the guidance but focused on Arya again, knowing her
superior&nb sp;would have already recovered from Alannaâ €™s blow and was ready to dish out ;another lesson.
It was a welcome relief&nbs p;when Eragon called a halt to the sparr ing. Exhausted and hurting, Alanna dropped he r stick and tried to
catch her bre ath. “Come inside." Eragon said ;as he led the way. Arya and Alanna duck ed inside and took a seat. Eragon had&nb sp;
already selected a few scrolls and had&nb sp;set up two piles. He grabbed one scro ll from each and set a scroll in fr ont of each student.
"Alanna, how well& nbsp;can you read and write in the ancie nt language?"
"Fluently."
"Good. Then&n bsp;I want you to read this." He replied as he set the scroll down in front ;of her. She opened it, as Arya already had, and
began reading. It was slow goin g. She hadn't read in three years, the&n bsp;activity having been forbidden by Gerard, ;so she had to
struggle a bit, but she still made good progress. ;She finished two of the three scrolls by&nbs p;the time Eragon said to stop.
Eragon& nbsp;assigned Arya to reading some more scrol ls, but he kneeled down beside Alanna. H e dipped her quill in the ink and w rote
out a character that she didn't re cognize. Eragon explained that she would be&n bsp;learning how to read, write and speak&nbs p;in his
language, and that this was th e first letter of their alphabet.
For the rest of the&n bsp;day, Eragon taught her about the first&nb sp;three letters, had given her a few ex amples that began with one of those
three letters, and explained the grammatical&nbs p;structure of the language. It was so much&n bsp;to take in that Alanna's head was really
pounding by the time Eragon said& nbsp;they could go home, when the sun wa s touching the horizon and the dragons came b ack.
Everyone mounted up, Alanna and her dragon nestled between Saphiraâ€&trad e;s spikes. Before departure, Eragon presented&nbs p;Alanna
with a knapsack with scrolls. "The names of male dragons, all of them used& nbsp;at least once, as well as words you shou ld teach your
dragon. You don't have&nbs p;to give them back right away." He expl ained and Alanna thanked him as she shouldere d the pack. Then
the dragons took o ff and flew back to Ellesmera. During th e flight, Alanna reviewed the words she had&n bsp;introduced to her dragon,
unwilling to&n bsp;risk the safety of the scrolls.
A&n bsp;while later, Saphira landed outside&nb sp;a house sung out of a very old t ree. Eragon explained that this was Alanna&ac irc;€™s new home and
that all&nbs p;of her stuff was inside, waiting to be ;put away.
Suddenly feeling the exhaustion&nb sp;creep upon her muscles, Alanna thanked Era gon and jumped from Saphira's back to her&nbs p;
shoulder, to her elbow and down to&nbs p;the ground. She turned around and opened&nb sp;her arms to her dragon, who jumped and&nbs p;easily
landed into her arms. Smiling, ;she nuzzled him a bit before she set&nb sp;him down. Waving at Eragon and Saphira,&nb sp;Alanna turned and
climbed up the ver y long and very steep staircase.
By&nbs p;the time she got up to the top, A lanna and her dragon were both panting h eavily. Alanna’s legs were shaking a nd the poor
hatchling collapsed as soon as he reached the top step. She chuckled and opened the door and gasped. She&nbs p;was staring at a mini
kitchen with a&n bsp;sink and a small countertop. To the left, there was a massive bowl filled with pillows in the cente r of the room
with a bench sung&nbs p;out of the wall nearest the door. The furthest wall was nonexistent, opening to the elements,&nbs p;and a ledge
extended past the opening.&nbs p;The wall opposite the one with the ben ch was bare and undecorated.
To her left , there was a small staircase that led to the washroom,&n bsp;and beyond that was the bedroom. Further up the staircase,
spiraling around where&nbs p;she figured the heart of the tree used to be, she found a study with plen ty of wall space, and all of it was
already prepared for holding scrolls. There was a desk and chair along the wall&nbs p;and one of the shelves was lined with several
quills, a quill sharpener, and s everal inkbottles. This room also held a ;dragon bed lined with pillows, a nonexistent wall and a
balcony similar to the one on the first level.
Going bac k down to the first floor, Alanna found& nbsp; her dragon already curled up in th e bowl. On the counter, she found a ;cage full
of live rats for the dr agon and a bowl of fruit, and a pla te of salad for Alanna.
Whistling, she& nbsp;roused her dragon. He just looked at her disdainfully and then ignored her. Alanna&nb sp;whistled again and grabbed a
rat by& nbsp;its tail. The squeals it made grabbed &n bsp;her dragon’s attention.
Waving t he rat, she watched as the hatchling came&nbs p;closer. By pointing first to him, and then covering her own eyes, and then
pointing to him again, Alanna tried to&nbs p;tell him to do what I was doing, to&nb sp;close his eyes. He just cocked his head,&n bsp;confused.
Alanna connected their minds and&nbs p;repeated it, connecting her actions with the&nbs p;command Cover your eyes, hoping he'd
understand. Rolling his eyes, he hid his&nbs p;eyes beneath one of his paws.
Good! ;She exclaimed and tossed the rat at ;him. The rat landed on the floor and&nb sp;skittered off, but the dragon took off&nbs p;after it like
the predator he was. Wit hin a few seconds, her hatchling had the ;rat in his belly.
Good. She rep eated and picked up another rat, careful ;not to get bitten. She picked one of&nb sp;the animals he had learned about today
and spoke the name. The dragon cocked his head again, so she repeated it, hold ing the image with the flashing name in& nbsp;their
minds.
After a few times,&nb sp;and his accompanying squeak, Alanna gave h im the rat and fished out another one.&n bsp;When her dragon was
ready for the&n bsp;rat, she gave him the next animal an d she spoke the name a few times be fore she gave him the rat.
By spea king the word Alanna wanted him to learn out loud, she hoped he would figure&nbs p;out that the word and the spoken sound
were the same. She figured this w as the first step to learning how to tal k. Even though she knew dragons couldn't spea k like she
could, with vocal cords, ;he still had to know how to pronounce&n bsp;the words in his mind.
Unfortunately, she didn't get to do this cycle too many&nb sp;times before her dragon's belly was full. Deciding dinner was a good idea
for herself as well, she gra bbed her salad bowl and sat down on ;the bench to eat. Purring, the dragon c limbed up and curled up
next to he r. Alanna chuckled and stroked his neck with one hand, the bowl on the bench&nbs p;and fork in her other hand.
After she finished the bowl, she carefully got up , trying not to disturb the now sleeping dragon. Placing the bowl on the counter ,
she grabbed the bowl of fruit an d went back to the bench. She got a s close to her dragon as she dared without&nb sp;waking him up, and
she kept eating&n bsp;the fruit.
When her belly was full a nd her eyelids were drooping, she went into&n bsp;the washroom and washed.
Now clean and ready for bed, she crawled into her& nbsp;bed and under the covers. Before she&nbs p;fell asleep, though, her dragon jumped
up and curled up against Alanna’s belly. Smiling, she closed her eyes and quick ly fell into her waking dreams.
< br>
speed up and her breathing to&n bsp;deepen as she pulled herself out of her&n bsp;waking dreams.
"Good morning, Arya. I'll be out in a little bit." She called&nbs p;as she stretched and yawned.
" I went& nbsp;back to your uncle's last night to get&n bsp;your stuff. Your clothes are out here.â& euro;
"Yes, ma'am. Thank you." Alanna mo ved her dragon off of her chest, much&nb sp;to his protest, and went to the door. She opened it
and her suitcase wa s indeed there but there was no sign of Arya. Alanna shrugged and grabbed her suitcas e and brought it into
her room. Sh e went through her suitcase and found on e of her many purple shirts and a pair o f animal hide pants. Purple was her
favorite color. She thought she look ed her best when she was wearing a deep purple that complimented her pale skin, purple eyes
and black, waist-length hair.
After she was dressed, she brushed and braided her& nbsp;hair and then made it into a bun by twisting the braid around itself until it
curled on itself, then wrapped the rest of the braid around it. She&nb sp;fastened it in place with a leather b and that was enhanced by a
spell of ;elasticity, and then tied a thick purple rib bon over the band. She did this because& nbsp;she didn't want her hair to get in& nbsp;the way
of training, whatever it m ay be.
After washing her face and h ands, Alanna used mental and physical encoura gements to get her dragon to follow her& nbsp;down the
hall and to the dining&nb sp;room, where she ate with Arya. Her dragon& nbsp;jumped into the seat beside her and ;tried to get onto the table,
but Alanna didn't let him. She reached out t o her dragon's mind and mentally reprimanded him with an impression of displeasure,
and then she accompanied the feeling with&nbs p;the word 'no'. She knew dragons didn't natu rally have control over a language
invo lving words and preferred to use images and i mpressions, so she figured it was best to beg in getting him used to words
immediatel y. She didn't like the first word he&nbs p;knew was one of displeasure, but he'll be&n bsp;learning a lot more words in the coming&n bsp;
months so this was just simply part of his training. Why did&nbs p;that not make her feel better?
After breakfast, Arya, Alanna and her dragon went&n bsp;outside to where Firnen was waiting, alre ady saddled. While Arya climbed
up, Ala nna bent down to scoop up her dragon.&nb sp;Firnen lowered his head to look at th e hatchling, whom was supremely interested
in Firnen. She let them smell each other&n bsp;before Firnen turned away. Jumping as high&nbs p;as she could, Alanna landed on Firnen's
elbow. She jumped again to land on hi s shoulder, and then again to land on&nb sp;his back, between two of his spikes. She sat down and
held tight to her dragon, using her mind to tell him ;to not struggle, while she clamped her legs around Firnen when the huge
dragon suddenly moved.
Try to hold on, Alann a. Firnen suggested and Alanna grabbed th e spike in front of her with one ha nd as Firnen leaned back on his
ha unches and launched himself into the air. She squealed and clung tighter to the spike ;and to her dragon, determined to not le t
him fall.
Once Firnen had risen& nbsp;above the canopy and leveled out, Alanna let her grip on her dragon relax. She didn't remove her arm, but
used&nbs p;just enough tension to keep him in pla ce. Now sure she wouldn't fall, Alanna l et herself look around at the forest passing& nbsp;
below them.
At the Crags, Saphira a nd Firnen landed outside of a hut and&nb sp;the Riders got off. Alanna watched as Eragon&nb sp;and Arya hugged their
dragons before the two dragons flew back into the&nbs p;sky. Alanna set her dragon down and st roked his head.
"Okay, then." Eragon tu rned to his students. "First, we'll all do&nb sp;the Rimgar. Alanna, come to my other side so you can see better."
He ba cked up away from the hut a bit as Arya and Alanna formed a line beside&nb sp;him. Alanna went to the side opposite Arya and
did her best to copy Eragon.&n bsp;It was hard work, but since the Rimgar&nb sp;was meant to tone the body and exerci se the muscles, it was
supposed to ;be hard work. Her muscles burned as they&nbs p;were stretched and tested, but Alanna was d etermined to find out how
much her muscles could take. The Rimgar was another thing&n bsp;her uncle had forbade, believing that alfa-kon a, female elves, should
be weak and&nbs p;helpless so the male elves would feel more powerful.&n bsp;
After an hour of the Rimgar, Arya&nb sp;was sent into the forest to listen. Eragon turned to her and knelt down to Al anna's height.
"Alanna-finiarel, first, congratulations on becoming a Rider. I hope you re alize that it's a title that most don't win and the
respon sibility and honor involved in it."
"I& nbsp;have a pretty good idea, Eragon-elda." < br>
"Good. Now, because you're still so ;new to being a Rider, you're training w ill differ from Arya’s until yo ur dragon hits certain
milestones in his deve lopment. For now, the most important thing fo r him is to learn about language. So,&nb sp;during this hour, I want
you to ;start teaching him about language and words. I have some scrolls you can read off&nb sp;of to help him."
"I'd appreciate tha t.Tthank you, Eragon-finiarel."
"You're welcome.& nbsp;And please, just Eragon will suffice." A lanna started to argue, wanting to point ;out that the finairel was a term
of great honor and praise for a male, that he had earned it and i t was only just that he be recognized wi th it. "I understand the term
and what it means. However, since we're going&nbs p;to be working together until the end o f our days, I consider us equals and&nbs p;so I feel
like words of honor and&nbs p;praise shouldn't be used here. Arya agrees with me and has already told me she wish es you and myself to
not call her& nbsp;Queen or any other title at any tim e. Saphira, however, loves the titles so she'll&nb sp;expect you to use them when you
address her."
"Yes, Eragon. I'll try to restrain myself. Oh, among those scrolls you mentioned, do you have any of exclusive male dragon
names? I thought I sh ould also teach my dragon about names an d get him acquainted with them so he&nbs p;can have a wide range to
choose from when he decides he wants a name as& nbsp;well." She started to curtsy but figured Eragon wouldn't like that either.
Erag on chuckled as he smiled. "I do have suc h a list. I'm surprised by how prepared& nbsp;you are already."
Alanna blushed and&nb sp;looked at her feet sheepishly. "I had ;a lot of time on my hands these last&nb sp;fifteen weeks. I started thinking
about&n bsp;what I would do if I became a R ider."
"Ah! That'd do it. I was mo re curious myself when I was your age. I kept pestering everyone with questions when I had them."
"You say that like you don't anymore."
"For the most part, my curiosity has been satisfied. My bet ters taught me a lot. But it’s also because I don't have a mentor
anymore. Before I was a Rider, I looked to my uncle, my cousin and everyone in Carvahall for answers. When Saphira and I
were tracking the Ra' zac, I looked to Brom. After Brom died a nd I met Oromis, I looked to him. B ut now that Oromis is dead I
have& nbsp;only Saphira and Arya to turn to. Well,& nbsp;and a few others, but for the most part I have to rely on the scrolls Oromi s left."
"Oh. That makes sense. What are the Ra'zac?" She asked, having never he ard of the creatures before. Eragon shuddered ;violently,
a look of repulsion flying a cross his face.
"The Ra'zac were a ;vile race." Eragon explained and then a ;picture of what she assumed to be a&nbs p;Ra'zac appeared in her mind.
"They ha d a bird-like head, body and beak with&n bsp;massive eyes, but their legs were shaped kind of like a horse's rear legs. Instead&nbs p;
of wings, they had arms like ours that were so thin that they lo oked like twigs. They were fast, deceptively& nbsp;strong and had
developed a breath odor that would incapacitate a human. But they&nbs p;didn't eat worms. They ate humans, and ;they preferred to hunt
at night becaus e of the camouflage, when we're most vulnerab le."
" 'We're'? Aren't you an elf?" ;
Eragon chuckled again. "That's difficult to answer. I was born a human, and in ;some ways I still am, but at the Agahet i Blodhren
the dragons of old and Glaedr and Saphira teamed up to give me& nbsp;the physical attributes of an elf. My&nb sp;ears grew pointed, I
obtained the enduranc e and physical strength of an elf and&nb sp;even my face changed. I could detect flaws in materials when I
couldn't befo re, and I could even sense more animals& nbsp;and humans than I could as a human, which meant I had a greater men tal
capacity. But, in some ways, I'm&nb sp;still human. I struggle to hide my em otions, and most of the time I don't wan t to, I can still grow
facial hair which means I have to shave every morni ng, and I don't sleep anymore. I slip&nb sp;into waking dreams just as elves do. So,
I'm a human-elf hybrid, a h alf breed. Not truly one, but not truly& nbsp;the other."
Alanna really had no i dea what to say to all of that, exc ept simply to nod.
"Now, the Ra'zac&nbs p;is a term just for that stage of their life. The Ra'zac are basically just children , though the ones I encountered
were mor e adult in appearance than children. When&nbs p;the Ra'zac are twenty years old, they shed& nbsp;their skin, like a snake would, and ;
break away as a mix of horse and& nbsp;dragon. Now adults, they are called Leth rblaka. They have the body of a horse,&n bsp;but the wings
and paws of a dragon, and they're about the size of an e ight month old dragon." Then another image&nb sp;appeared in her mind that
matched&nb sp;the description Eragon had given her. He&n bsp;compared her size to the Lethrblaka's and ;she shuddered at the height
difference. ;
"What makes them so dangerous is not on ly their sheer strength and size, but th ey're also evil to the bone, which is&nb sp;why they
flourished as Galbatorix's henchmen. He sent two Ra'zac and ;their parents to the Spine to seek out& nbsp;Saphira's egg, which led them
into Carva hall. They wouldn't have found out that I had Saphira's egg unless the fool Sloan&nbs p;hadn't told them that I had brought a& nbsp;
strange stone into his butchery for&nbs p;a trade for meat for the winter. His l ack of restraint led directly to the Ra' zac searching out my
uncle's farm and k illing him to find out where I was. ;At the time, Saphira had spirited me aw ay into the Spine to keep them away ;
from me. The next morning, I convinced her to return to the farm to warn& nbsp;my uncle. I got there too late to&n bsp;save him, but he was
still alive&nb sp;so Saphira and I dragged him into Carvahal l, to the healer Gertrude. I didn't quite&nbs p;make it because I passed out from
blood loss, but I woke up in the blacksmith's house a few days later. Once my legs had scabbed over, Brom&nb sp;and I fled Carvahall
to seek out&nbs p;the Ra'zac and destroy them."
"Sloan? ;The man you sent here under a spell?"&n bsp;
"Yes, that's him. The man hates my cousin and I with a passion. Well, he&nb sp;and I haven't gotten along before, but&nbs p;back then it was
just a mutual d islike. He grew to hate my family after, ;first, my cousin announced his betrothal to& nbsp;Sloan's daughter in front of the
whole village without Sloan's blessing, nor even his&nbs p;knowledge that Roran wanted to pursue Katri na. He came to hate me when I
would n't kill him after I rescued him from th e Ra'zac's den in Helgrind. He felt really&nb sp;guilty for ratting Roran and Katrina out&n bsp;to
the Ra'zac when they came back&n bsp;to apprehend Roran. But I didn't believe& nbsp;I had the responsibility of deciding if& nbsp;he should live or
die, so I u sed his true name to make him swear ;in the ancient language that he would c ome to Ellesmera and stay here, never to
see or talk to Katrina again. If& nbsp;he repented, then he'd get his eyes back . But, if he didn't…wellâ&eur o;¦"
"Get his eyes back?"
"Yes, the Ra'zac had pecked them& nbsp;out of his head before I found him. "
"Gross!"
"Yes, but that's the nature& nbsp;of the Ra'zac. Evil to the core. No w, let's focus on you teaching your dragon ab out words, hmm? I'll get
those scrolls for you. Come on inside. Your dragon, to o." Eragon stood and Alanna followed him ;inside.
The hut was small, circular, with&n bsp;every surface of the walls covered in spa ces for scrolls. In the center of the ro om were three
desks and chairs, each eq uipped with a fresh roll of parchment, a sharpened quill and an inkwell. Alanna sat down at one of the
desks and h er dragon hopped up onto it. She smiled& nbsp;and stroked it hesitantly at first, then more assuredly when she heard the
dragon start to purr.
"I've never seen& nbsp;a dragon being so affectionate." Eragon observed, turning from the wall with some&nbs p;scrolls in hand. He
approached and gave&nbs p;her the scrolls.
"Aren't all dragons like this?"
"Saphira wasn't. Well, probably b ecause I had to spend most of the day&nb sp;making sure my uncle and Roran didn't lear n about her. I
was so sure they'd kill her and I couldn't bear the thought of that, so I hid her in the forest. After my chores were done, I went&nbs p;to
her and stayed there until dark.&nb sp;Even then, she ask for strokes. The m ost she did was lay down against my leg. ;As she got older, I
was the one cuddling against her belly, but that& nbsp;was the extent of it. It must be a personality thing."
"That makes sense." Alanna&nbs p;was still focused on figuring out what ;her dragon liked so she didn't reply as heartedly as she ought
to have.
"Here are the&nb sp;scrolls. I suggest starting right away. That&nb sp;dragon has two languages to learn fluently, the ancient language and the
human languag e. You'd best get going." Eragon subtly order ed as he set the scrolls near Alanna's hand&n bsp;and he walked outside.
Alanna picked ;up one scroll, scanned the contents and ;connected her mind with her dragon's in ;the same way she would with her
b rother. She reached out with her mind to find her dragon’s mental tenure,&nb sp;then she zoned in on it and pressed&n bsp;into its mind.
Normally she would have&nb sp;to gently press against a mental barrier when&n bsp;she wanted to talk with her brother, ;but her dragon didn’t
know&nb sp;about mental barriers yet and so there&nbs p;were no barriers.
The first wor d on the scroll was 'Horse', so she imag ined a picture of the horse and below&nb sp;the animal flashed the word 'Horse'.
She didn't know if the dragon was learn ing, so she moved on to the next wo rd after she repeated it again, the next ;word naming
another animal, and did&n bsp;the same thing. Then, she went back to the horse, and then the second animal before she moved on to the
third& nbsp;and repeated the cycle. In essence, she& nbsp;alternated between the already-named animals once before moving on to the
unknown&nb sp;animal that was next on the scroll.
A fter five words, she put away the scroll and looked the dragon in the eye. Then she tapped his chest and said You,&nb sp;then she
pointed to herself and s aid Alanna, hoping to begin teaching h er dragon about the concept of names and self-identification. She
repeated i t again a few more times until the drago n squeaked as an acknowledgement. Smiling, she&nbs p;stroked the dragon as praise,
then picked&n bsp;up one of the scrolls. Leaving it ro lled up, she held it up and said scroll. After she had repeated it a ;few times, the
dragon squeaked again.
After an hour, Alanna had managed to&nbs p;get the dragon familiar with twenty animals , the words you, scroll, quill, Alanna&nbs p;and chair
for a total of tw enty-five words. It was good progress for&nbs p;the first hour and Alanna was actually look ing forward to working with
the dragon& nbsp;some more.
Eragon and Arya came bac k into the hut as Alanna was rolling up the scroll she held. She smiled as Arya& nbsp;passed her and took her
seat besid e Alanna.
"Okay, then. Alanna, today you ’ll learn about one of the ;most important aspects of a Rider’s training. On your feet." Eragon
resumed ;his mentor voice. Alanna stood and followed& nbsp;her mentor outside. Arya removed her swo rd and scabbard from her hips
and set it aside while Eragon went into the& nbsp;forest and found a couple of thick sticks of about the same length.&nbs p;He came back and
tossed one stick&nbs p;to Alanna and the other to Arya.
"Now, spar. Your opponents of the future&nbs p;won't go easy on you, so don't coddle each other.â€
Alanna nodded. She d idn't like the idea of having to harm&nb sp;her queen, but she understood the necessit y. Stepping back a few
paces, Arya ;and Alanna held up their sticks but they&nbs p;didn't move.
After a period of silence, in which both elves ;were still, a flock of birds flew overhead.& nbsp;Alanna looked up at them. In that i nstant,
Arya leapt forward and swiftly stabbed Alanna with the blunt end of her stick. Alanna cried out in pain and&nbs p;surprise and clamped
a hand on the&nb sp;bruise.
“Pay attention, Alanna.&n bsp;Don’t let down your guard.â ;€ Eragon called to her, circling the&nb sp;two. Alanna nodded and prepared for the
next round. Arya had backed up ;a bit and stood as she had before. The& nbsp;two elves stared each other down, each s canning the other
for obvious weaknesses. Ar ya made the first move this time, and&nb sp;Alanna tried to bring up her stick to block Arya’s attack, but
Arya& nbsp;twisted to the side and whacked her ;in her already-bruised side again, and then& nbsp;she quickly slapped the back of Al anna’s
knees, which sent the&n bsp;younger elf to a kneeling position, wonde ring what had hit her. While Arya went&n bsp;back to where she had
been, Alanna& nbsp;realized she’d have to keep&nbs p;a close eye on Arya and use her s maller stature to add speed. If she coul d get under
Arya’s stick or&nb sp;even get away from Arya, then she had a chance to land a blow. In the&nb sp;background, she heard Eragon giving tips < br> about general swordfighting, but her attentio n was predominately on watching Aryaâ€&trade ;s body for movement.
Arya, once again, initiated round three by dashing forward,&nb sp;her stick tucked close to her side, b ut, this time, Alanna was ready.
Keeping her body relaxed, Alanna judged Arya’s advance and, when she& nbsp;decided Arya was too close to change tac tics but not so
close that Alanna couldn ’t jump away, Alanna ducked her head, tucked in her arms, and raced&nbs p; under the arm that was not
holding&nb sp;the stick. Just as she’d hoped,&n bsp;Alanna made it safely behind Arya†™s back and took the advantage by leapi ng forward to
cover the distance betwee n the two and stabbed Arya in the c enter of her back square between her sho ulders, where her heart
was. Had Alanna been wielding a sword, that would have& nbsp;been a kill. Her objective complete, Ala nna immediately backed off
and let Arya recover from a single interrupted bound.&nbs p;“Very good, Alanna! Use your size to your advantage, and the opponent&acir c;€™s
size against them. And always&nb sp;go for the kill. In a real battle,&nb sp;the opponent won’t spare your&nbs p;life. It’ll be kill or be&nbs p;killed.†Eragon
chimed in, but ;Alanna wasn’t entirely paying atten tion. She registered the guidance but focused on Arya again, knowing her
superior&nb sp;would have already recovered from Alannaâ €™s blow and was ready to dish out ;another lesson.
It was a welcome relief&nbs p;when Eragon called a halt to the sparr ing. Exhausted and hurting, Alanna dropped he r stick and tried to
catch her bre ath. “Come inside." Eragon said ;as he led the way. Arya and Alanna duck ed inside and took a seat. Eragon had&nb sp;
already selected a few scrolls and had&nb sp;set up two piles. He grabbed one scro ll from each and set a scroll in fr ont of each student.
"Alanna, how well& nbsp;can you read and write in the ancie nt language?"
"Fluently."
"Good. Then&n bsp;I want you to read this." He replied as he set the scroll down in front ;of her. She opened it, as Arya already had, and
began reading. It was slow goin g. She hadn't read in three years, the&n bsp;activity having been forbidden by Gerard, ;so she had to
struggle a bit, but she still made good progress. ;She finished two of the three scrolls by&nbs p;the time Eragon said to stop.
Eragon& nbsp;assigned Arya to reading some more scrol ls, but he kneeled down beside Alanna. H e dipped her quill in the ink and w rote
out a character that she didn't re cognize. Eragon explained that she would be&n bsp;learning how to read, write and speak&nbs p;in his
language, and that this was th e first letter of their alphabet.
For the rest of the&n bsp;day, Eragon taught her about the first&nb sp;three letters, had given her a few ex amples that began with one of those
three letters, and explained the grammatical&nbs p;structure of the language. It was so much&n bsp;to take in that Alanna's head was really
pounding by the time Eragon said& nbsp;they could go home, when the sun wa s touching the horizon and the dragons came b ack.
Everyone mounted up, Alanna and her dragon nestled between Saphiraâ€&trad e;s spikes. Before departure, Eragon presented&nbs p;Alanna
with a knapsack with scrolls. "The names of male dragons, all of them used& nbsp;at least once, as well as words you shou ld teach your
dragon. You don't have&nbs p;to give them back right away." He expl ained and Alanna thanked him as she shouldere d the pack. Then
the dragons took o ff and flew back to Ellesmera. During th e flight, Alanna reviewed the words she had&n bsp;introduced to her dragon,
unwilling to&n bsp;risk the safety of the scrolls.
A&n bsp;while later, Saphira landed outside&nb sp;a house sung out of a very old t ree. Eragon explained that this was Alanna&ac irc;€™s new home and
that all&nbs p;of her stuff was inside, waiting to be ;put away.
Suddenly feeling the exhaustion&nb sp;creep upon her muscles, Alanna thanked Era gon and jumped from Saphira's back to her&nbs p;
shoulder, to her elbow and down to&nbs p;the ground. She turned around and opened&nb sp;her arms to her dragon, who jumped and&nbs p;easily
landed into her arms. Smiling, ;she nuzzled him a bit before she set&nb sp;him down. Waving at Eragon and Saphira,&nb sp;Alanna turned and
climbed up the ver y long and very steep staircase.
By&nbs p;the time she got up to the top, A lanna and her dragon were both panting h eavily. Alanna’s legs were shaking a nd the poor
hatchling collapsed as soon as he reached the top step. She chuckled and opened the door and gasped. She&nbs p;was staring at a mini
kitchen with a&n bsp;sink and a small countertop. To the left, there was a massive bowl filled with pillows in the cente r of the room
with a bench sung&nbs p;out of the wall nearest the door. The furthest wall was nonexistent, opening to the elements,&nbs p;and a ledge
extended past the opening.&nbs p;The wall opposite the one with the ben ch was bare and undecorated.
To her left , there was a small staircase that led to the washroom,&n bsp;and beyond that was the bedroom. Further up the staircase,
spiraling around where&nbs p;she figured the heart of the tree used to be, she found a study with plen ty of wall space, and all of it was
already prepared for holding scrolls. There was a desk and chair along the wall&nbs p;and one of the shelves was lined with several
quills, a quill sharpener, and s everal inkbottles. This room also held a ;dragon bed lined with pillows, a nonexistent wall and a
balcony similar to the one on the first level.
Going bac k down to the first floor, Alanna found& nbsp; her dragon already curled up in th e bowl. On the counter, she found a ;cage full
of live rats for the dr agon and a bowl of fruit, and a pla te of salad for Alanna.
Whistling, she& nbsp;roused her dragon. He just looked at her disdainfully and then ignored her. Alanna&nb sp;whistled again and grabbed a
rat by& nbsp;its tail. The squeals it made grabbed &n bsp;her dragon’s attention.
Waving t he rat, she watched as the hatchling came&nbs p;closer. By pointing first to him, and then covering her own eyes, and then
pointing to him again, Alanna tried to&nbs p;tell him to do what I was doing, to&nb sp;close his eyes. He just cocked his head,&n bsp;confused.
Alanna connected their minds and&nbs p;repeated it, connecting her actions with the&nbs p;command Cover your eyes, hoping he'd
understand. Rolling his eyes, he hid his&nbs p;eyes beneath one of his paws.
Good! ;She exclaimed and tossed the rat at ;him. The rat landed on the floor and&nb sp;skittered off, but the dragon took off&nbs p;after it like
the predator he was. Wit hin a few seconds, her hatchling had the ;rat in his belly.
Good. She rep eated and picked up another rat, careful ;not to get bitten. She picked one of&nb sp;the animals he had learned about today
and spoke the name. The dragon cocked his head again, so she repeated it, hold ing the image with the flashing name in& nbsp;their
minds.
After a few times,&nb sp;and his accompanying squeak, Alanna gave h im the rat and fished out another one.&n bsp;When her dragon was
ready for the&n bsp;rat, she gave him the next animal an d she spoke the name a few times be fore she gave him the rat.
By spea king the word Alanna wanted him to learn out loud, she hoped he would figure&nbs p;out that the word and the spoken sound
were the same. She figured this w as the first step to learning how to tal k. Even though she knew dragons couldn't spea k like she
could, with vocal cords, ;he still had to know how to pronounce&n bsp;the words in his mind.
Unfortunately, she didn't get to do this cycle too many&nb sp;times before her dragon's belly was full. Deciding dinner was a good idea
for herself as well, she gra bbed her salad bowl and sat down on ;the bench to eat. Purring, the dragon c limbed up and curled up
next to he r. Alanna chuckled and stroked his neck with one hand, the bowl on the bench&nbs p;and fork in her other hand.
After she finished the bowl, she carefully got up , trying not to disturb the now sleeping dragon. Placing the bowl on the counter ,
she grabbed the bowl of fruit an d went back to the bench. She got a s close to her dragon as she dared without&nb sp;waking him up, and
she kept eating&n bsp;the fruit.
When her belly was full a nd her eyelids were drooping, she went into&n bsp;the washroom and washed.
Now clean and ready for bed, she crawled into her& nbsp;bed and under the covers. Before she&nbs p;fell asleep, though, her dragon jumped
up and curled up against Alanna’s belly. Smiling, she closed her eyes and quick ly fell into her waking dreams.
< br>