Destiny (Volume I: Shur'tugalar)

Chapter Two Part XVI (ED)

"Well, pull out me beard and call me an elf!" exclaimed the satyr. "She actually talked to ye!"

"Is that so surprising?" asked Niom, stretching his arms.

Nodding wildly, Tristan proclaimed, "Ye bet yer bossom it is! Ye must be something special, laddie."

He just smiled and looked back at the stream. "So Wayłoêr...that's what naiads look like? Are they all so young?"

Tristan guffawed, green irises twinkling. "Lad, she's no younging. Wayłoêr is near 'bout as ole as this island."

Niom gaped. "You're joking."

"Nay, I dinnae be fooling this time. Nymphs age veeeerra slowly, so she looks young; she's also a stream naiad - a potamide, if ye will - who are always the youngest."

"I see," he said before letting out a deep sigh and muttering to himself, "What shall I do now?"

The satyr scratched his beard, eyeing Niom. "I assume ye dinnae have a place to stay?" As the young man shook his head, Tristan grinned. "Then ye can stay with me. Come along."

"Oh, wait," Niom said, turning to walk back through the forest. "I forgot something on the beach - I'll be right back."

“Hold up, eh?” Tristan called after him. “Ye shouldnae be there alone at this time o’ day!”

The satyr’s words were lost to the wind as Niom picked up his pace, the mirror following his hurried path beneath the leafy grove. He emerged onto the beach and immediately ran down towards the water, scanning the sandy ground for the dragon egg. Spotting it, he bent down and lifted it up, grunting again at its weight. Just as Niom turned back to the forest, voices sounded from across the ocean.

He glanced back to the sea, looking for the source. The view turned to zoom in on a bunch of rocks that rested in the water near a cliffside to the east. Sitting astride it were several beautiful girls with long, tangled hair, which they combed as they reclined on the rocks and sung. Eragon could only see them from the waist up, and they appeared to be wearing nothing but a pair of large seashells attached to strings that covered their breasts. As the women’s voices reached Niom’s ears, a look of astonishment crossed his face: their voices were ever more otherworldly than the elves, piercingly beautiful and strangely hypnotic.

"Och, what are ye doing?!" Tristan's shout shocked Niom out of his trance, and the viewers along with the young man himself suddenly realized he had walked waist deep into the water. The women turned, startled by the satyr’s voice, and immediately slipped into the ocean. Eragon managed to catch a glimpse of an iridescent blue fin as they slipped beneath the waves.

Tristan pulled Niom out of the water. "Are ye daft?" he asked harshly. "Dinnae ye ken better than to be ensnared by a mermaid's song?"

"Mermaids?" he gasped. "Those girls were mermaids?"

The satyr nodded grimly. "Aye, and their songs have led many a mon to his doom. Shy creatures they are, but with dangerous voices - though not nearly as bad as sirens. Now come along, let's go - " He paused abruptly, eyes widening as he stared at the object in the young man's hands. "Och, where'd ye pick that up?"

"I tripped over it while I was walking out of the water. Isn't it captivating?"

Tristan eyed Niom with a new understanding. "Hmmm..."

"What?" he demanded while a clicking sound started to emerge from the egg.

Both glanced down at it in shock. The sound rose, and a crack ran across the shell. Niom gasped and almost dropped it as the egg started to rock, falling backside first onto the sand while Tristan looked on in amazement. A piece of the shell finally broke off, and a scrabbling sound ensued. Suddenly, a small clawed foot poked through the hole, opening it further so that it could finally emerged.

Niom seemed to stop breathing for a moment as he stared at the baby dragon now resting in his lap. It blinked fog colored eyes, stormy scales glinting in the light of the sun. As it stretched its near-translucent wings, Eragon noted that it was quite larger than Saphira was when she'd first hatched.

Peeping softly, the dragon turned around to faced the young man, head cocked as it examined him. Niom raised a shaking hand and gently touched the dragonet, causing a flash of light to come forth from where his left hand made contact. He clutched it to his chest as the mirror went dark, but not before it view shifted to show his palm as a gedwëy ignasia formed.

____________________________

"So," Nasuada began, her tone unreadable. "Niom became a Dragon Rider."

Her niece nodded, sending curls tumbling into her eyes. She brushed them back and answered aloud, "He did. As soon as Tristan saw, he immediately took my father to Alalëa's ancient elven library, Du Breoal Abr Kvaedheya."

"The House of Scripts," translated Eragon, earning a smile from Nia.

"Living there was a strong mage who'd journeyed also come from Alagaësia herself." She hesitated in her explanation, casting a glance at Arya before adding, "She was the elf who would become my mother...Leafë Dröttningu."

Arya stiffened.

No one spoke until Orrin, frowning, asked, "And who was she?"

"My elder sister," Arya said through clenched teeth, and Eragon went still with surprise; she'd told him she had no siblings. "Leafë left several decades ago when I was younger than Eragon. She disappeared one night without a trace, taking with her many ancient scripts that contained secrets of the Riders. For that betrayal, Islanzadí erased her name from all elven records, and none were permitted to speak it again. It would be as if she had never existed."

Nick scoffed. "I think us triplets are proof that she did."

His eyes locked with the elf's, and it was then that Eragon could truly see the resemblance between the triplets and their aunt. Nicholas and Arya's irises were the exact same shade, and all four had the same color hair. He wondered for a moment if Oromis and Glaedr had taught Saphira and him the information that had been contained in the scrolls Leafë had pilfered, remembering that while battling the shade Varaug, the two elders had seemed to vanish after Galbatorix had wounded Oromis in Murtagh's body. Even the connection to the golden dragon's Eldunarí's was severed.

His musings were interrupted when the conversation began once more as Niaomi said, "Our mother left without a word because she was worried that Islanzadí Dröttning would not allow her to leave without an explanation."

"And there was none she could give?" Arya snapped.

"There was not."