Adurna

The Varden

Sorry I haven't updated in a while. I'm terrible at continuing things like this, but thank you all for reading! Keep leaving your lovely comments and I'll try to be better at updating :)

Chapter Twenty Two-

"She's the new Dragon Rider?" Nasuada asked in confusion. I bit my lip and nodded slightly. Suddenly, I remembered my manners that Gran worked hard on giving me. Pulling my dirt ridden dress in my hands, I curtsied quickly.

"Yes, I'm Chrystal," I said in an unexpected confident voice. She blinked in surprise, and I took the advantage to tilt my chin a bit higher in the air. To my surprise, Nasuada curtsied deeply to me and bowed her head.

"It's wonderful to have you here, Chrystal." She smiled slightly, as if not having the experience at showing joy. I nodded in appreciation, but stayed quite, only relying on Eragon's familiarity with situations like this. There was an awkward silence for a moment. I shifted Eragon an odd look, but he just raised an eyebrow in interest.

Nasuada cleared her throat uncomfortably. "I can see you're exhausted, allow me to show you to your quarters, Chrystal."

I smiled clumsily, before following her out of the massive tent. We walked a little ways down from Nasuada until a smaller tent came into view. My heart jumped at the sight. It was similar to the others surrounding it, though it was further back from the rest. Eragon held the flap open for us and we entered the chamber silently. A sudden flash of light from Eragon's hand had the fire pit in the middle of the room illuminated in a warm glow. I looked around in interest. There wasn't much; a small bed, a trivial chair with a matching footrest, a mirror off to the side, a lone table with a bowl sitting on it, a wooden wardrobe, a few torch holders attached to the rods holding up the tent, and an elegant rug. At the sight of the bed, I nearly collapsed into it and slept the months' worth of traveling and sleeping on the hard ground or on Derikia's uneven back.

"I know it's not much," Nasuada said quickly, twirling a piece of her dark hair between two fingers nervously. "But if I had known you were coming..."

I smiled up at her in understanding. "Thank you, it's perfect."

She nodded stiffly before turning back to the exit. "Oh, and I will send for clean clothes for you in the morning." And with that, she was gone.

Sighing, I allowed my shoulders to sag in exhaustion. Without a word, I made my way to the empty bed and threw myself on to it. I heard Eragon chuckle to himself, but anything else he might have said drifted away.  My eyes closed quickly and I was asleep before I my head hit the fluffy pillows behind me.

OoOoO

I pulled the covers tighter around me as the last of my drowsiness slowly began to drift away. Rolling onto my other side, I realized I was sleeping on a bed. The softness seeped into me as the events of last night came back to me. Sitting up in bed with the help of my elbows, my eyes landed on Eragon.

He sat on the footrest lazily, his elbows resting on his knees while a streaming cup of tea sat in his grasp. My gaze jumped to his face to see his eyes. They were wide awake and amused as they stared into mine. A brilliant smile lit up his whole features. He was beautiful.

"Morning," I mumbled, rubbing my eyes to clear the sleep from them. A huge yawn made it impossible for me to say more. Eragon smiled even wider before strolling casually over to my bed.

"A good one at that." He chuckled to himself, handing me the tea while sitting on the edge on the cot. His hands pushed my crazy curls out of my face as I sipped at the still warm water. Kissing my temple, Eragon moved away, much to my protest. Grabbing his hand and putting the tea on the ground, I hauled him back down on the bed. He pulled me easily onto his lap. I wrapped my legs around his waist, burying my hands into his soft hair. His lips brushed against mine sweetly before completely devouring my own. Greedily, I pushed myself closer against him. In response, Eragon's strong hands lock around my waist tightly.