Redemption - Fourth Wing

55. Silver waterfall

Chex's Pov
Dusk was softening the edges of the sky, and Tina promptly dozed off after dinner.
So, restless, I got airborne, and kept a low altitude until my ears caught the ripples of water and I followed the sound until my eyes snatched on a silver water falling off a cliff.
The wind was breezy, and the peering starlight caught on my dragon scales, shifting between gold and silver; my tail tip brushed the soft leaves of the trees as I landed.
"Saphira told me I'd find you here," said a smooth voice, "And a dragon's insticts are always right."
I whipped my head left, and saw Eragon sitting down on the edge of the cliff, his legs dangling. His hair was tousled, and I glimpsed his half-Elvish ears, which reminded me of Aifos', and I lowered my eyes.
"It was Aifos' favourite spot, this one."
The horizon was easily seen from up here, and so were the stars at night, and the steadiness of the waterfall could soften up their thoughts.
-Did they sing?- I asked.
"Yes."
We fell quiet, then I muttered, perhaps to myself, -Sgaeyl would've incinerated you on a whim.-
"Would she?"
-Where I come from, no other human but its bonded may talk to a dragon.-
A quick grin, "You're in Vaeta, now."
-I know.-
Wind rushed past his hair, and we both raised our eyes and a shadow fell on us. Drops of water glimmered on sapphire scales and sharp spikes, and Saphira took her place behind her bonded.
I was as tall as her, now, but I lowered my gaze in deference still. She stretched out her snout and sniffed the profile of my jaw and my rounded snout, -I hope the winds were favourable, Kuldruskul.-
-They were,- I answered, -But I ran into a Nirwhal, and Elsie and Tina saved me.-
She tilted her head to Eragon and blew a hot breath on the back of his neck, -And Little One here has dared mock a dragon's curiosity.-
His cheeks grew crimson, and he said, -But it is a peculiar interest! You said so yourself!-
Her eyes crinkled, -You'd best mind your tone. Oromis taught you better.-
He twisted his lips and glared at her, and he seemed suddenly so young, perhaps even younger than Aifos, that my heart ached.
Saphira sighed, then swung her gaze on me, -You accomplished a feat only wild dragons of old might've boasted of. Your lonely flight will be sung by Elves, should you be in want of vanity.-
I bared my teeth at her, -None but Aifos will sing for me!-
-I respect your decision.-
"Why are you here?"
Eragon's voice was soft, but laced with enough authority to have me struggling. I'd taken off to Vaeta naive of anything but my mate's tragedy, and now I didn't know if I should come clean, or half hide in shadows of a secret which wasn't mine, but so terribly close.
Ronny's stern eyes flashed in my mind, and I got suddenly shy, and pulled my wings back, -I was told of the fact that my blood is Saphira's very own.-
Saphira's tail twitched, and surprise rippled through both their faces exactly in the same way that I wanted to blind myself.
Must everything remind me of Aifos?
-Who told you so?-
I narrowed my eyes at the older dragon, -A relative of mine. She's dead now, but she was truthful. Belgabad is our shared relative. I flew over his bones while I was flying back to Navarre.-
From the unflinching way her gaze met mine, I understood I'd just given myself away. Her voice was stern, of the Elder of her Den of multi-coloured dragons, -Then why are you here, if you are already aware of your ancestry?-
I remembered she was the first dragon to have hatched during the Mad King's tyranny, had been the last female of her kind for years, and I was just a dragon in love.
So, I closed my eyes and hunched my back, -It's about Aifos. I... They told me they'd die. I want to know how to save them. Please, tell me how to save them.-
Eragon asked, gently as if I were just a feathertail, "How do you know?"
-Their Name of Names,- I ground out, -It's its fault. If only I can change it/-
Eragon and Saphira sought out each other's eyes, then the blue dragon shook her head in a rather serpertine manner, -You can't. It's unlawful.-
What?
Rage coursed through me, because I hadn't flown miles of ocean and skies just to be discarded like a naive hatchling. I'd Slept, and made love, and fought.
I was a dragon as mature as any of them.
-No,- I snapped, -We are dragons. We do not answer to any laws of men.-
-Last time it was decided to act upon such a self-assurance,- growled Saphira, -Our race of Skulblaka and Shur'tugals got nearly extinct, and blood painted the skies red. I will not let such a mistake unfold again.-
Aifos' life would never be a mistake, and now I knew why they'd left this place behind. Because how could they stay, when they were as free as any dragon, and yet the Alagaesyan race was so haunted by the past it refused to take what was its own for the taking?
I hauled myself on my feet, and my claws gripped on the grass, and I watched Saphira's slower, heavier movements; she was broader than me, and older.
Nevertheless, I dropped my head in defiance, -The Mad King did it for the crown. I do it for love.-
It was all so terribly simple and easy, like flying. Why couldn't they see it as clearly as I did?
A mind which had defied death got stirred awake at my words, and gold flashed at my mind's brush with it. The mind was so intense I staggered and my back claw skidded on the edge of the cliff when I lost balance, and my swordtail thumped too near Eragon's flank.
-No,- said the freshly awakened mind, and both Eragon and Saphira cast their eyes down, and no matter how sharply I squinted my own, I couldn't find the dragon.
And yet he was old, and must be as large as Tairn, if not more.
Slowly, I re-assested my balance, and the dragon spoke again, -You are wrong, little dragonet.-
My voice was sharp, -Who are you?-
-I am Glaedr,- the dragon answered, -Oromis' bonded, and the last dragon of the Ancient Order to have surrendered himself and his partner to a noble death.-
-Well,- I said, my chin held high, -My name's Chex, and I am Aifos' mate and Ronny's bonded. Iridescent blood surges with your Alagaesyan breed in my veins, and my fire burns hotter than any of yours.-
-So the wind told my Heart companions and I,- he said.
I stilled myself, and remembered Ronny's teaching, -Heart companions? As in... Heart of Hearts? You are an Eldunarí?-
-Your chosen taught you well,- mused Glaedr, -For you are right.-
My first instinct was to reach out to them and tell them, but I remembered they were far from me, and my wings skidded the void where water fell.
-Glaedr Elda,- murmured Saphira, -We all apologise terribly for our lack of behaviour,- and Eragon went on, "We'll speak in hushed tones, should you require it."
-Nonsense,- chuffed the old Eldunari, -I've been following your conversation for quite a while, but it hasn't been interesting enough until now.-
A pause, then, -Oromis was seated on the Council when it refused Galbatorix's plea of another egg. We were already centuries old, and sure of our bond. He was young, and alone, and he upheavaled the Ancient Order for love, albeit twisted and sick.-
Ronny's haunted eyes flashed in my mind, and I knew I would do the same for him, and for Aifos.
It was why I was here.
I shook my head, once, twice, and my scales shifted to a darker shade of gold, -No, no! You don't get it. I am a mated dragon, and Galbatorix was a man.-
-He was one of the strongest Shur'tugal there had ever been in his generation.-
All lies.
So much fear.
I whipped my eyes to Saphira, and growled, -So I was told the same about Eragon. Tell me, Blue, if his Name showed you he was bound to fall in Galbatorix's madness, would you be a dragon and save him, or would you cower like a feathertail?-
Silence fell, and it was as heavy as storm clouds poised to strike with Violet's lightning. My breathing was laboured, and my wings were tight, and Saphira's sigh was slow, -So be it. We're Ebrithils of the New Order, and as such we are to remain here in the Academy. But Tina and Elsie will show you the way to Vroen'Gard.-
-And you will learn tales of the past, little dragonet,- said Glaedr, but I didn't understand: Vroen'Gard was ruins, Ronny had bled and slashed there.
Why go towards cracked marble, when I only wanted to give life back to my mate? Half my soul?
-I have already flown past it,- I hissed, but Eragon said, "Then you'll walk through it like Saphira and I did during the Varden's Rebellion."
A beat, and his eyes met mine, and their brown was lighter than Aifos, and more angularly shaped, "Saphira and I learnt our Name of Names there. Perhaps you will find answers to your questions, just like we did."
I looked to the ocean I'd sailed, and my muscles were sore. I wondered if Aifos was on Ronny's back, if they were smiling up at him and instictively looking for my eyes.
I was just a dragon in love, and every fight drained from me.
-Fine,- I whispered, -Show me the way.-