The Grey Chronicles (Eragon fanfic) Book 1: Emergence

Chapter 6: I'm Going Where Now?

Quickly scrambling to her feet once Arya and Saphira landed, Jesse went to check on her friend's injuries.

She wasn't really good with first aid, but she knew by the severity of the wound on his back that it was serious. She looked up at the elf as she too kneeled to see how he was. Saphira was humming concernedly for her Rider.

"We have to get him to Angela," the girl said, and Arya nodded.

"I will stay with him," the elf replied, and Jesse ran out into the plain where the Urgals were being beaten back into the tunnels. It was easy to find her mentor (who else had green armor?) and get her to Eragon, and only then did the young sailor allow herself to worry in earnest. She could only hope he would take the news calmly.

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"Ooooooow!"

"Oh hush, you!" Angela scolded the girl as she straightened up her nose. Jesse pursed her lips to keep from crying out, but it was hard considering how hard her head was pounding from the pain. She tried to breathe through her nose, sighing in relief when it didn't feel like it had a rock smashed into it.

Eragon was unconscious still, with a brooding boy sitting beside his bed. Despite the fact that he looked intimidating to the young sailor, she had a feeling that he was kind, if rough around the edges.

"Do you think he'll be okay?" Jesse asked him gently.

He looked at her suspiciously, but answered, "I hope so." The girl smiled at him reassuringly. "So do I. Otherwise, I'm not sure how we'll get through this." His expression softened at the 'we', and he gave her a small smile back.

Solembum hopped up onto her lap, and Jesse stroked his fur for comfort.

You are exhausted, he told her. Sleep, and lick your wounds.

"My tongue is not as long as yours, Master Cat," she retorted, but stood up anyway. She turned to the boy. "The name's Jesse," she said.

"Murtagh." The sailor smiled.

She went to Angela's quarters, where an extra pallet lay in wait. Sluggishly, the girl stripped off her armor, and slightly grimaced at the terrible state of her clothes. Laying her head on the pillow, her last thought was to ask the witch where she could bathe before her exhaustion overtook her senses.

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The girl was awakened the next day by her stomach, singularly insistent in its demands. Groggily, Jesse stumbled out of the blanket and went to the table, where a bowl of soup along with bread sat beside a note:

I'll be with Eragon again if you need me. There is a bath just around the corner; clothes in the white bundle.

The sailor didn't need a name to know who wrote it.

She immediately guzzled up the delicious soup, dipping the tough bread occasionally so she didn't have to chew as much. Then, stretching out the last kinks in her muscles, Jesse picked up the white bundle with soap and went to bathe.

The tunnel to the spring was low, but she didn't really mind once she got herself into the water. It was perfectly warm, making her release a sigh of pleasure.

Jesse took her timme, soaking away all of the hurts and bruises she had sutained. Then, taking the soap, she scrubbed herself all over until her skin was as red as a lobster's. Once more, she submerged herself to get clean.

That particular task done, the sailor changed into a fresh white shirt and a pair of breeches. Angela had also included boots, which she put on immediately.

Once she had made herself presentable, the girl ran to the dragonkeep, where Saphira watched over her Rider with silent ferocity. Giving the blue dragon a small touch on the nose to greet her, she crouched down to see how the boy was doing. She couldn't tell, but it was a good thing when he had more color in his face, right?

Arya stood by the entrance, not wanting to be at his bedside for some strange reason. Jesse looked at the beautiful elf for a moment, then turned her attention back to Eragon.

"Jesse." The woman beckoned to her, leading her off from the cave.

"What is it, Arya? Did we encounter another complication?" Arya shook her head, seemingly bemused by the girl's use of vocabulary. "Not that. However, can you tell me what you know about Ellesmera?"

Jesse only knew what Angela had told her: that it was one of seven great elf cities in the forest of Du Weldenvarden, and the capital of the magical nation.

The raven-haired woman nodded. "Good enough." The sailor cocked her head in confusion.

"Jesse, I have recieved a message from the elves that I am to take you to Ellesmera along with Eragon when he goes for training. I do not know why, but they insisted."

"Who are they?" the girl asked.

"That, I cannot tell you. You might wish to pack, however; this training will take a while, and you might as well learn alongside him, if only in scholarly knowledge and the ancient language." Jesse understood. It made sense that she wouldn't tell her everything; after all, there were some things that just needed secrecy. The girl would find out when she got there.

At the moment, however, she needed to get her stuff ready. Those knives and sai weren't going to pack themselves. She also had to find Solembum; there was something she needed to ask him.