Adurna

What Happens Under the Willow Tree

Chapter Sixteen-

The days we traveled together quickly began to blur. I couldn't quite place just exactly how long it has been since I was to leave my beloved home in Rakr. Had it been days? Weeks? Months? We could have been journeying across the land for a whole year and I wouldn't have noticed. My mind spun at the time all four of us spent together. My relationship between all of my travelers had deepened quickly to where we knew everything there is to know about the other. We swapped stories every night before we slept until the stories became memories of what we had done. Derikia and I had started flying together. It was the best feeling in the world. I felt as free as he did once we were up in the air and loathed to return to the ground once more.

Eragon and I had continuously begun to walk through the woods to begin our lessons on the history I would need to know, magic, and weapon use. He knew I wasn't fond of having to learn the last one, but he insisted I would need to know how to defend myself. We would spar with discarded branches we found in the woods-much like he was taught by Brom when they were on the run, he once told me. Also, we picked back up on archery skills after a bit of thinking on my part. Though I hated to think this, I knew that I would be killing people in the near future, so I started to apply myself more until I knew everything there was to know. Soon, my muscles became hard and any excess fat had been stripped from my body. Of course the scares food we ate was possibly the reason behind it. Each day we would run ourselves into the dust until the night came and we found ourselves falling asleep while riding in the hidden shadows of the sky. I didn't know why we walked most of the time and only flew when we didn't want to be spotted by towns' people we were nearing. Wouldn't this take longer to reach the Varden? I never voiced my questions, for I welcomed the time alone with Eragon I was given and feared once we reached them I wouldn't be able to speak with him about anything. I have grown close to him and dreaded having to part for even the slimmest of moments.

Each day I find the thoughts of Gran and Marcus becoming fewer and fewer until they only showed up in my mind if I force myself to remember them. Whenever I did this, I knew I had made the right decision in coming away with Eragon. I was planning on leaving when Gran no longer needed me to find my own adventures, but my adventures found me first and I was ripped away from my home before I realized they were my exciting new life. If I was getting over both of them, I was certain they were too.

Besides, I have other things to think about.

When days pass by, I find myself feeling something towards Eragon. I can't place my finger on just what it is, but it's strong. Does he feel these feelings as well? A large part of me hopes he does. In fact, all of me hopes that. I find myself being kept up by the emotions and the questions. Sometimes, when he isn't looking, I watch him curiously. The feelings are stronger when I actually see him and my heart does strange beating patterns while my stomach flips nervously until I'm forced to look away from the beautiful man.

Is this what Marcus meant by love?

                                                                                              OoOoO

Look! I heard Eragon shout to me in my mind. Allowing him enter my thoughts to talk to me wasn't as difficult as it once one. In fact, we did so frequently while riding. We were soaring in early morning sky and all four of us were already sweltering in the extreme heat when he finally called out to me. We've been flying since the sun just began to rise. Derikia was tired from standing watch all night and the heat wasn't helping him.

I glanced over at him to see his hand pointed at something the distance. There was a wicked grin on his face once our eyes connected. I blushed slightly and couldn't help smile a little at his eagerness. Following his finger, I spotted a large opening of the vast forest around it. Looking closer by sticking my head our further from Derikia's neck, I saw a big area of something bright shining back at me. I squinted against it, but couldn't make out what Eragon was talking about.