The Grey Chronicles (Eragon fanfic) Book 1: Emergence

Chapter 16: The Dagshelgr Invocation

A.N: This chapter starts with a dream. This and possible flashbacks to the dream are in bolded italics.

~

Jesse's dreamscape was the Deep, an empty expanse of such dark blue that only the open ocean could muster and maintain. She floated weightlessly within this singular space, knowing that this was the interior of her mind and somehow unaffected by that knowledge.

Like her experience in Du Weldenvarden, the sailor could feel exactly where certain parts of her mind were. Down below was the hidden knowledge of her body, where it kept her lungs pumping and her heart beating. Above was the surface, where her conscious, everyday thoughts resided. Around her and slightly below the surf were her memories and the ever-present eddies of her personality. She felt that if she remained here long enough, her true name might reveal itself to her.

The girl did not know why she was in this place, but sensed an interloper trying to break into her private space. The surface water was beginning to stir violently against the intrusion, though her surroundings were still. She did not like it, and she acted on her decisions.

With the peculiar mental strength she had known ever since she came, the young sailor pushed the unknown presence away from her mind. The pressure exerted grew heavier as she pushed, but her heritage made her patient and stubborn. She would never give up; this was her territory, and like Hell would she allow anyone else have a say-so about it.

For some reason Jesse could not name, the pressure suddenly ceased, and her mind was enveloped by a comforting feeling. It did not crush her, nor did it did not disturb her boundaries. It simply stayed there, offering whatever peace of mind it could possibly offer.

It remained until the sailor's descent to the lightless oblivion below the ocean.

~

The sailor was delighted the next day by the canoes provided: they seemed to be made from birch-bark melded together so wonderfully so as to create the perfect light-weight vessel. She noticed that Eragon was pleased as well, though he watched his dragon enter the waters of the Gaena River. Once more, Jesse was tempted to swim with her.

You can, if you want, Saphira suggested. They will be unable to object if I invite you.

And yet I had not anticipated this particular predicament or I would have brought extra clothes, her young friend replied. How like her. The large reptile simply snorted and submerged.

The next couple of days were spent in some bliss. The water had tempted her long enough that she would leave the camp at night to skinny-dip and perhaps practice a few strokes. Lifaen and Nari did not speak to her about it, though it was obvious they knew what she had been doing by the small glances she sometimes caught them sneaking.They also sang compliments to Saphira whenever she was in hearing range, something that seemed to annoy everyone else who wasn't an elf. Miss Arya did not seem to mind it despite her uneasiness with the others. Perhaps her time without Du Weldenvarden made her less comfortable among her own kind. She did say they were a lot less direct and insisted on courtesy as the highest social virtue.

To give herself a chance to think further on it as well as take advantage of the rest for her arms that Nari allowed for the time being, Jesse worked on the puzzle ring.

It was a bit more complicated than she thought, but it was finished by the time they neared Silthrim. As their canoes headed into Ardwen Lake, the sailor breathed in the mixed scents of water and forest happily. An unknown elf glided past them in his own canoe, murmuring "Kvetha Fricai," as he went.

Unfortunately for the girl's planned conversation with Saphira, she had been persuaded into hiding during the day and catching up at night like she had done in the Empire. Both she and Eragon were reluctant, the grey-eyed girl could see, but they understood the importance of this.

It did not quite settle well with them, but they bore it.

That night was a little bad considering all the mosquitoes around. Jesse, unused to the sheer amount of little bodies after her blood, was greatly relieved when Arya cast a protective spell so they could eat in relative comfort. She now wore the completed puzzle ring on the opposite ring-finger to her Claddaugh, and the Rider gazed at it enviously. The girl grinned sympathetically; he mustn't have solved his quite yet.

They set down on bedding made of fallen pine needles, surprisingly soft and comfortable. Arya looked quite guarded as she looked around, and the other two elves were tense as well.

For her part, Jesse wondered more if the attempted invasion of her mind would happen again. Saphira was still far away, and she wasn't even sure if the dragon could help. The sailor looked forward to reaching Ellesméra, where she could finally know what on Earth was happening.

She fell into another deep sleep, then seemed to jerk awake mere seconds later.

Her senses seemed to be more focused on the forest than ever, and the forest was alive and sounding like it. Its denizens scampered, calling for each other in a cacophony of sound. Jesse wanted to block her ears, but her body no longer listened to her. Only the Song, from many voices like a heavenly choir of nature, controlled it now.

Jesse stood, opening her mouth as she did so, and sang a wild fearless melody that reverberated through the night. Arya, Lifaen and Nari, even Orik and Eragon, stopped what they were doing and listened as if in a trance. She did not take notice of them -her eyes were closed and her focus on the song -even when Saphira rejoined them, her eyes sparkling with emotion.

Arya tried to stop the girl from singing, as well as Nari, but their path was obstructed by the dragon's large tail. This is what must be done.

"Why does she do this, Bjartskular?" Lifaen asked. He, too, was concerned.

An ancient magic runs through her, was the response, the Old Magic that shaped this land. That which runs through your veins is old and wild, yes, but the magic she is bound to is the magic that formed my kind, always was and is and will be. Jesse is doing tribute for all the generations past, those who were unable to do right by their natural duty. In the past, her people would have sung the land into further prosperity, but they knew the price of trying to bind it with words. It cost them greatly, and they had no chioce but to leave or fade in the land they once knew.

The elves' eyes widened, and they gazed upon the sailor in awe. "She is of They? The people humans called the Grey Folk?" Arya said in a small voice.

Their descendant. She is the culmination of the magic they passed down in hopes of returning to who they once had been. Jesse O'Connor is the last of them in Alagaesia.

Jesse paid no attention to this conversation, her mind was bonded to Du Weldenvarden still. Another presence joined her mental invocation, and the girl knew that it was a strange consciousness, a protector of the forest.

All through the night, Eragon, Orik, and Saphira watched over the young sailor, who sang the song of the wolves though none knew why it was so. She stopped as soon as the Dagshelgr did, and collapsed once more upon her bedroll. Reverently, Lifaen and Nari gently covered her with a blanket to keep her warm in the slightly chilly air. The dwarf sat by Jesse, ready to question her once she awoke and had a good breakfast.

She was going to need it, with all the talking she'd have to do.