Words of the Night

I.

Katrina and Arya have a talk.

"Arya, Lady Arya, wait for me, please!"

Arya stared at Katrina, the woman who made Roran crazy enough to travel with an entire village through half Alagaesia.

She tried to asses her according to the human standards. She was pretty, but not overly beautiful. Her lips were pink, but not as shapely as Arya's. She had nice eyes, very round. She looked like a child still, even though her body has long since developed to a young woman's one. Her honey coloured hair was the feature Arya liked the most, but saw it as the most usual one.

All in all, Arya found Katrina pretty, but averagely so. It was probably her determination that encited Roran. Who knows? The human race is a complicated one, and even after years spent with then, Arya wouldn't be able to understand many if their customs and doings.

Now, Katrina was also the woman who defended her from the Carvahall's women, who were convinced Arya meant harm to the child that was about to be born.

The elf knew there was no point in explaining that children were sacred, and she would never harm one. The human folk was always superstitious and she learned the hard way that there was no belief in good when other races got involved.

Katrina managed to convince the women to let her use at least some basic spells to relieve Elain's pain, but the poor woman was still suffering.

It made Arya angry. How can they put their pride and superstitions before a life of a human, and life of a child? She knew, as much as anybody else in the tent and outside of it, that the mother and child were both on the brink of death. She wouldn't let either of them die, and she did cast a few spells to help ease the baby out, but she was too proud to attempt anything behind the others' backs.

Katrina was nothing more than a child in Arya's eyes, but still a smarter one than many others older than her, who would put a child's life after their pride.

This all flashed in Arya's head as Roran's wife started catching up to her. She was very slow, even for a human, but Arya chalked it up to the exhaustion and pregnancy, both of which the young woman tried to desperately hide.

"Lady..."

"Please, call me just my name. I need not any of your titles," Arya cut her off with her characteristic cold bite. Katrina didn't seem too affected, she just nodded and mumbled an apology.

"I would like to have a talk with you," she said and although her voice was brave, her face showed the fear of unknown. Arya grinned bitterly as she realised that she was the unknown.

She divided to follow the customs of humans for once and uttered an invitation to her tent.

As they walked in, Arya casted a quick spell to prepare tea and a bowl of blueberries for both of them. She remembered that Katrina couldn't see much in the dark, so she lit a lamp on the floor next to her bed. "Take a seat," she waved her hand in the vague direction of a cushion that Katrina slowly took and she sat down across the little table from her.

"What do you want to enquire?" She asked, and offered the blueberries and tea to Katrina. She hesitated, but then accepted bravely, and Arya couldn't help a small smile at the fact that the woman wasn't as afraid as she thought.

"I wanted to thank you for helping with the baby... I... You probably saved their lives. Thank you so much for that."

Arya frowned. "Your thanks is welcome, but rest assured I could have had the baby out in half an hour. However, that is now pointless. The child is safe and the mother is too."

Katrina visibly shivered at Arya's cold frown, but decided to be brave and took another sip of the delicious tea. "They both owe you, you and Eragon, with their lives. I don't know what drove you to help, but they will forever be thankful and the little girl will grow up with your blessing."

Arya couldn't help but laugh. "You are talking like I were a beast, an animal. I help where help is needed, regardless of the race or beliefs of others. And furthermore, the elves value children a lot. The small bundle born today, just as the one you are carrying right now, would be celebrated and honoured for years to come."

Katrina's face contorted into one of shock and fear and the elf hid a smile behind her cup. "How do you know? I didn't think it was that obvious."

This time, Arya laughed out loud. Her laugh amazed Katrina, just like the rest of the elf. She couldn't help but drown in that laugh, even though it was short. "It's not hard to see, when you know how to look. Besides, my race is much more sensitive to such things."

The tent was quiet for a while, but Arya in her amusement didn't mind much. That is, until Katrina broke the silence with an unexpected question.

"Arya, do you have children?"

The elf's face was hard again for a second, before she forced her muscles to relax. "No, I don't."

"Oh. Why not? You seem like you are in the best years to do so," Katrina said, and immediately reddened when she realised what left her mouth.

Arya, however, only started laughing. "Dear human, I don't believe you know what you're saying. Not only I'm a hundred years old, which is pretty young, I also wouldn't wish to have children in such hard times."

"A-a hundred... That's... So long... You must have lived through so much... Didn't you think about getting married and starting a family?" Katrina took a blueberry and ate it delicately. A little bit of dark red sauce stayed on her lip, which she discretely wiped away.

Arya tried hard not to think about Fäolin, even though it didn't cause as much pain as it used to. "Elves don't get married. We find mates. Rarely we manage to live the eternity of our immortal lives with one mate. It takes years to find one, and many more years to decide that the biggest gift of love there is, a child, should be given. As I've said, children are very sacred."

"B-but I though you and Eragon..." Katrina's cheeks got redder and she looked at the ground, her almost empty cup squeezed tightly in her hands from embarrassment. She missed the dark expression that passed Arya's face, but she felt the tone in her words.

"There is nothing but friendship between Eragon and I. I understand that while some of our actions might seem as courting to you humans, it's just a mere sing of friendship for us elves. Eragon and Saphira saved my life and I will be forever thankful, and I will help them any way I can simply because they need and deserve it, but that's all."

Katrina nodded and emptied her cup, only then Arya noticed that her own was empty as well. The younger woman stood up and hesitantly bowed to the elf. "Thank you for making time for me, Arya. I will now take my leave. It was a pleasure talking to you."

"You too, Katrina. May the starts watch over you," Katrina only uttered a goodbye and left the tent with a smile. Arya scolded herself a bit for showing so much of herself to the woman, but then she sighed. What's done is done and it can't be changed. She could burn it out of Katrina's head, but what good would that serve?

Arya put out the light and layed down on her bed, too exhausted to do much more that a few hygiene spells. As she descended into a state similar to sleep, she thought about the feeling of holding the baby. It only happened for a moment, when Gertrude rushed to stitch Elain up and thrusted the baby into the hands of the closest person, which happened to be Arya. A woman, probably Calitha, took the baby almost immediately, with a look of absolute fear and disgust, but the feeling of the warm bundle settling against her chest would follow Arya for a long time.

Again, she became even more convinced of children being the biggest gifts there were.

That's it for now. I might take requests, so feel free to drop them here if you have any.