Chapter 4: A Sad Goodbye
Jelous is the moon when the sun arises. Or so thought Bluestone as she looked out her bedroom window unto the beautiful dawn. She gave her room one last sweeping glance before shouldering her packs. One was fairly large and held clothes, provisions, and a few possesions of a happier time. The other was small and intricatly woven in a deep red fabrick. This pack held items of power from Azeroth.
With a sigh, Bluestone walked out and into the main room. There was a fire licking at the bricks of the hearth. "You wouldn't leave without saying goodbye, would you?" brom asked from behinde her. She turned and smiled at the old man. "Of course not."
Within his hands Brom held something long and oddly shaped wrapped within purple material. "Here." he said, offering it to her. "It came with a letter addressed to you. I have never opened it and I do beleive it is time for you to receive it." She took the object and stared at Brom. He nodded and with a gentle tug, the whole thing came undone.
Nestled in the folds of the fabric was a staff, but this staff was unlike any that Brom nor Bluestone had ever seen. Its' metal appeared to be made from the hardest yet most delicate golden material. Etched upon the staff was a single pheonix displaying its' wings in a grand fashion, beautiful swirling red flames danced in every direction of the pheonix. The bottom was carved to look like the head of a key, though no key Bluestone had ever seen with teeth on both top and bottom that had jagged and smooth edges. This was not even the grandest peice, for that title went to the crown of the staff. A large emerald with faintly glowing yellow eyes floated as two itricatly carved black rings spun and turned around it. The rings just barely missed the root-like top of the staff as they danced.
"A lost artifact of yor people, perhaps?" Bro masked, eyes still upon the staff. Bluestone only nodded, mouth slightly agape. She gripped the shaft and a ripple of power made her shiver. She held it in both hands, the fabric fluttering to the ground. "I think it suits you." bro msaid smiling. Her eyes filled with tears and she hugged him.
"Thank you." She said. "For everything." Brom squeezed her tight.
Bluestone was the first to break their embrace. "Now," Brom began, "Don't get into too much trouble. I'd hate to have to ride in and save you when I could be having a nice coup of tea right here." She laughed, then stepped away and opened the door. "Do not fret, Brom the Storyteller. For we shall meet again." And with those parting words, she stepped outside and closed the door.
She retreived her horse, Daiendellon, from the small stable beside the house and lead him through the town on the main road. The occasional window banged shut, children ran back into houses, and townsfolk parted in the streets just to watch her go. Only once did Bluestone look back, and only once did Bluestone allow a tear to roll down her face.
She passed by the portion of twoods where she, Ulbrich, Baldor, Eragon, and Roran use to play. Bluestone had been the only girl within the entire village who could play with the boys and beat them. hen she saw the area Brom had taught her everything she knew about Alagaesia and her mysteries, and she turned her head.
Now she, Daiendellon, Snappers changed and shifted into their true forms. What was once a human woman, cat, and horse now became a blood elf, dragonhawk, and purple hawkstrider. Bluestone Sunstrider mounted her steed and he flew through the wood, not heeding the bumps nor trees, for a hawkstrider such as Daiendellon cares not for such trifle things as these.
~ ~ ~
With the speed and endurance of Daiendellon, Bluestone reached Uru'baen within only three weeks. Before coming even within three day's ride of the capitol, she wove their glamour.
Fifteen guards stood on each side of the towering gates. Luckily, it was still chilly outside so when she drew up her hood no one payed a second's notice. She passed throught the gates practically unseen by anyone pther than the few chickens in the cart beside her.
Unfortunate things filled Bluestone's eyes as she wondered the city. Children faugh with stray dogs over semi-warm places to sleep or a scrap of food. The diseased and crippled where shoved aside and into piles of (what she could only hope to be) dirt by those more fortunate. "Why would The Sands send me to a place as horrid as this?" she thought as she rode past a man with one arm and an empty eye-socket.
But this particular type of poverty died down wen the middle class districts arose and all but washed away when Bluestone entered the noble's district, and that is where a new evil took form. This one, she decided, was the evil of beauty and hate, so she rode back to the middle district and found a room at an inn titled "The White Maiden".
Upon entering her room, the first thing Bluestone noticed was the view. The window looked out upon the citadel in the center of the city. It would have been an utterly breathtaking sight if someone else had lived there and not the king. She closed the curtains and sat upon the surprisingly soft bed. It was getting late, and she was so very tired and travel-worn. "Maybe I'll just begin my search in the morning." she said to Snappers, then curled up and soon fell into a deep sleep.
