#wolf's fics

Living in Alagaësia, you always thought you were quite lucky. Your family is able to live comfortably in the capital, Ilirea, and there was an order of dragon riders- can you believe it? Dragons!- that always protected the innocent and kept peace. Sometimes you could see them flying above, or resting on the massive ridge above Ilirea. They could talk just like any normal human, elf or dwarf too!

You were shown the eggs when you were 10, as is customary. But a dragon had never chosen you. It was crushing, really. You have heard stories on how the close connection was something deep and irreplaceable and you would be lying if you said you didn't want the same thing. It was way better than knowing what was coming. 

You sighed as you looked down to your wrist and up to your arm. Everyone has a soulmate, and their first words were described somewhere on a person's body. You were lucky enough to have it somewhere you could always gaze at it, unlucky to know that these words were long, took up most of your arm, and were obviously said in anger or frustration. You didn't even want to read them anymore, because knowing the first interaction with the person you would spend your whole life with was started from anger? It crushed you more than the quiet sound of the egg room when you were brought amongst the highest of the order. 

You didn't have time to think about it, it only depressed you. It wasn't unknown that some soulmates ended up hating or disliking one another. Maybe it was some dwarf you were matched with who disliked humans? You doubt you were lucky enough to be paired with an Elf. They were the most beautiful of Alagaësia. Always perfect, always right. They lived forever, and were the first to form a bond with the dragons, and usually, massive pricks. 

Didn't matter. You had somewhere to be today anyway. You got ready, making sure to choose an attire that covered the angry words upon your arms so nobody would ask questions or give you a look of pity. You had a lot to do today as one of the officials of the city. A few dragon riders will be attending today's council to make sure the new measures for Ilirea will be followed and are fair. It was quite hard to get them to show up as the Riders have stayed on an island off the shore of the spine, and Ilirea was in the middle of Alagaësia, but the leader of the order made it work. You would know who they were once their dragons came into view, but that wouldn't be until noon. 

So, in the meantime you leisurely strolled the city on your way to the council room. It was packed for an early morning, and a few elves were around, mostly guarding the city, but it was more for show than anything else, as Ilirea hadn't been attacked in centuries. Or, at least, that's as much as you knew. Still, regardless, the elves were friendly and acknowledged you as you passed. You noticed a few had their soulmates' words on their face, or an open hand, so that anyone would be able to see them. It was a sign of pride to show off your soulmate's words. 

You had no such pride when your soulmate's anger was burned into your dominant hand and arm. Subconsciously, you fixed the long sleeve hiding said words. It had slipped a bit and was showing the deep, black ink to anyone who passed. It would be an issue if you weren't careful, but you hoped it wouldn't cause too much discomfort to others if it did happen to show more than you were comfortable. 

Eventually you made it to the council Room undisturbed. The room was bright, and an unknown light was illuminating the area. 

Magic

You thought. 

Magic was something only a few were able to do, though most of the dragon riders were able to cast Magic. They could also read your mind if you didn't know how to protect yourself properly. Luckily, those in the council were trained heavily in the subject.

Taking your usual seat at the head of the table, two elves sat to your right, and two humans to the left. The two elves were soulmates, and had met when they ran for office. It was quite the public admiration, and a nice political play if you had to say so yourself. You couldn't blame them for their love though, so you and the other humans powered through their many public displays of affection that made you- and others- turn your head.

"Shall we start on the agenda for today? Or shall we wait for the riders? I wouldn't want to waste their time here more than we already might, so should we organize everything so they can leave in a timely, and effective manner?"

There was a unanimous agreement between you and the other humans, but the elves had other things to say. 

"We wouldn't be wasting their time. This city was our home first. They would be more than welcome to stay as long as they wished."

Eugh. Elves. Always passive aggressive. They always seem to be above others. Not all of them, of course, but enough that it made you avoid them on purpose unless you knew them somehow. Regardless, before you could say anything, the massive floor to ceiling doors burst open, and a silver haired elf with a golden dragon in tow marched to an open seat just across from you. You were about to introduce yourself properly, but a loud, reverberating voice echoed in your head that no doubt belonged to the golden beast in front of you. 

"Please, skip the pleasantries. I will introduce my rider and speak for him on his behalf. You shall only address me in this conversation, and not my rider. That is the only request we have."

The humans next to you seemed taken aback by the dragon's voice. Very rarely do dragons choose to speak with anyone personally, so maybe this rider was mute? It was an odd request, but nothing you couldn't accommodate. You opened your mind up to the dragon, and dragon alone. The other council members did the same as you began to explain the measurements that everyone had agreed on would help Ilirea, and Alagaësia as a whole. It was odd, having a dragon speak to you so openly, but everything was accomplished. 

You were tasked with showing the rider and his dragon-who you learned was named Glaedr- out of the council room and around the city. It was no hard task, but not being able to address the tall, silver haired, and strikingly beautiful elf was a challenge as he walked alongside you. Just as you were about to open the front doors to the building, the silver haired elf beat you to it, opening the doors for you. Just as he had done that, you saw a simple, two letter word inscribed in black on the back of his right hand. 

"Hi?"

Immediately the silver haired elf turned to you, his gray eyes showing nothing but anger. You heard his dragon try to stop what was about to happen, but it was already too late. 

"You think I don't know what I have been given? That the words of my soulmate are so little? That I haven't met a dozen people before saying the same thing?!"

You wanted to say something but you couldn't. Because you knew he still had more to say. 

"You think it a joke do you!?"

That's where it ended. Where you knew it ended. In anger Oromis looked down to your dominant hand, seeing the start of the words on your hand. He gripped your hand, and brought it upwards, probably to make fun of the words your soulmate was supposed to say to you, but when the sleeve fell back and the words kept on going, all the way up to your shoulder, his anger stopped. Of course it would. What kind of words were these? Such a long hateful message meant for the one that is supposed to love you forever? 

As he began inspecting the words more and more, realization, and regret consumed him. You could feel it, even the dragon at his side seemed surprised at such an event. 

This elf in front of you, spoke the words that have haunted you your entire life. 

This elf in front of you, with striking beauty, nothing compared to how you looked, was your soulmate. 

His grip on your wrist was gone, and your hand fell back to your side, the black words hidden once again. You could feel tears form, but you refused to let them fall, mostly because you were unsure if the tears came from happiness, or sadness. A sadness by the fact that on the first meeting of your soulmate was something so unpleasant. 

"Please- you must understand- I didn't- I would never…"

He stumbled over his words, which was kind of cute, really. You had never seen an elf so flustered, or openly angry. The dragon at his side seemed equally stuck for words. You didn't even know the beautiful elf's name either, and now he was on his knees, both your hands in his own, looking at you with such regret and begging for forgiveness that you couldn't really be mad at him. Really, all he had to go off of was such a common and simple word, and who knew how old he was? How he longed for his soulmate to show up, only to be disappointed again, and again, and again. 

"Please, forgive me for my harsh words. It has been- I have lived a long life alone. Please, let me make it up to you, somehow. We could take a walk around Ilirea- well, that's kind of silly isn't it? You must be tired of this city-"

You chuckled as you let a few tears fall from your eyes. How could you ever think he would hate you? He would love you until the end of your days. The golden dragon stepped up at that moment, speaking to the both of you. 

"Would you like to fly?"

The elf looked to his companion, though he didn't let your hands go. He would hold them forever, and that you knew. 

"I would love to fly. Though, I do have one condition."

The elf on his knees before you locked eyes, hopeful. 

"You never told me your name. You let Glaedr speak for you, but your name was never mentioned. I would like to know it."

The elf stayed on his knees, tears falling from his gray eyes now too. 

"Oromis. My name is Oromis."

———————

It's been a few months since an elf from a fairytale and his sentient dragon landed on your doorstep and almost took your entire porch out. Ever since then you've tried your best to get the two adjusted as much as possible. Glaedr was a massive issue, considering that he was about three times the size of a two story house. Thanks to Oromis though, you were able to find a suitable place to keep the dragon while his mind was still able to reach the elf. Whatever that meant. 

Getting on with mundane tasks after stashing a dragon away from prying eyes felt odd, but you still had things to do, but since much of the technology around your house could set everything on fire if not used properly you opted to take Oromis with you wherever you go. You do this under the guise of "cultural enrichment" and he is none the wiser. This was one such day. It was Friday, and you had just gotten off work for the week. You wanted to do something fun, but also not something massive that could put the old elf into shock. That's when you had an amazing idea, a stroke of genius if you will. 

   "Hey Oromis, how do you feel about catching a movie?"

The Elf was sitting across from you on your couch, reading an old gossip magazine that you kept on the coffee table. This piqued his interest though since the last time you took him on a "cultural enriching experience" it had been just to go shopping for food. That of which he was amazed by. "So many things in boxes" he would exclaim, then he went on a massive scientific rant about how the stores kept the frozen food "frozen." It had a lot to do with magic according to him but when you explained that magic didn't exist in this world he shut you up grabbing one of the frozen foods, tossing it in the air, yelling a word that you didn't comprehend but it felt powerful, and then that frozen dinner was suspended in midair. You almost shat yourself, and then almost had a heart attack when people started to stare. 

   "What's a 'movie' exactly?"

You had to think for a moment of a good way to explain it. 

   "It's like reading a book, but live action! In fact some books are so popular they get their own set of movies. They are usually above an hour long, and you sit in these dark rooms and have to be very quiet…."

You went on to explain how a person behaves properly in a theater and then explained the types of themes he could pick from the movies showing this weekend. He seemed okay with the idea, but wasn't exactly sure how the movie was going to be played in such a dark room. In truth you didn't know the specifics of how it all worked, just that it did. He agreed, but it's not like he had a choice really. You didn't trust him not to burn your house down so he was forced to go. He ended up picking a fantasy movie, one with elves in it actually. You were a little worried how he would find his people depicted in this world, but throughout your short months of knowing him, he has been kind, and sort of inspirational. You guess that's kinda what happens if he is really as old as he says he is. (800!)

The movie theater was close enough that you both could walk to it, so that's what you did. However, even with his clothes you bought him he still ended up gathering a lot of attention. You couldn't blame people though. Who wouldn't be attracted to him? He had long, white hair, a smooth face, and beautiful silver eyes. Ugh it was embarrassing knowing that you have fallen so deep for an elf you know so little about. 

You pushed those undoubtedly unrequited feelings aside as you two began to enter the plaza the theater was at. On the way, a nice old looking man was selling bouquets of flowers. He had a few left, so thinking that these flowers would look nice as a centerpiece for your table and not about how you would carry those through the theater and also home, you bought a bouquet. 

You lifted the flowers up to your nose and enjoyed the scent they gave off. It was only after smelling the flowers did you wonder how you would carry these home. You decided to instead hand them out. 

   "Would you like a flower?"

You offered the brightest flower to Oromis, your resident elf. To your surprise he completely stopped dead in his tracks, looked at you with such a serious look in his eyes you wondered how you had somehow offended him. When he got his voice back he politely refused the flower, and you shrugged it off. You offered single flowers to those who you passed by, of which there were more than usual because-again- pretty elf. Eventually, by the time you had bought the tickets and walked inside ready to buy popcorn and any other things Oromis wanted, the flowers were all gone. You both had gotten the food you needed and found the theater playing the movie Oromis wanted to see. You had gotten there a bit early, so as you got to your seats a few previews of other movies were playing. Oromis figured that was the best time to ask something that had been bothering him. 

   "If I may ask before I must shut my mouth for an hour and thirty minutes, why did you hand out those flowers so freely?"

You thought about it for a second and shrugged. 

   "I 'unno, it's just something nice to do, you know? Whose day isn't brightened when someone just hands you a good smelling flower?"

There was a pause as you wondered if you should add the next part. 

   "Plus… if I was given a flower randomly I might just hang on for one more day."

The lights dimmed. The movie started. All you saw was the massive screen. All Oromis saw was you. He has taken what you said to heart, and honestly it hit him harder than he thought it should. He could not get what you said out of his mind, not when the movie was playing, or in his waking dreams. That night he had stayed up late, taking care to not overextend his abilities with magic. When he was satisfied with his creation he plucked it out of the ground and waited for morning. 

Awaking the next morning, you went about your normal business. Until of course Oromis had stopped you in your tracks. His hands were cupped around something, and once he revealed it your breath was taken away. In his hands was the most breathtaking flower you had ever seen. It looked suspended in time, and it's bright coloring was magnificent. You swore it shone like a diamond in the early morning sun. 

  "That's for me?"

It sounded dumb, but you had to ask. Nobody had ever thought to give you something of this much value before. 

   "Of course it Is for you, I did not make this for Glaedr."

He chuckled, but when he saw the genuine disbelief in your eyes he continued. 

   "What you said the other day… It stuck with me. I know you didn't mean it to of course, but still. Growing something like this flower is easy enough, but applying such a deep meaning to it as you have… I thought I might somehow repay my sudden appearance in your life."

He saw your tears spill over your eyes as you accepted the flower. If that's how you reacted to one, he couldn't wait to show you the three hundred and sixty-four more he created. All in different colors of course. 

Galbatorix was scared. The king wasn't so invincible after all. The traps were an issue though, and the child, Elva was able to inform the group of the danger. Saphira offered to fly over, but as soon as she tried Elva had screamed that she wouldn't be fast enough. Next to you, Epona's stump of a tail twitched in agitation. 

   We are wasting time, we need to get through or else the Varden stand no chance of winning! Magic is useless in this cursed city and I'll bet the elves are having a fun time figuring that out. 

Epona had addressed the group, and the spellcasters looked a little unnerved. You studied what you could from the little information given to you. 

   "It kinda sticks out, those things don't they? What if we stuff your swords inside them?" 

In truth, you've only seen such a thing attempted I'm TV shows back home, but now was as good as any to pretend you were an actor in a made up fantasy world. 

   "What do you have in mind?" Oromis asked, keeping a close eye on you in case you got just a little too close to the death scythes. 

   "Your swords. The elven ones. We have enough to stuff in the mechanism if we use the ones that aren't the rider swords." 

Every spellcaster laid their sword down at your feet. You examined the elven swords, and then laid yours down along with them. Blödhgarm, the odd furry looking elf stopped you before you could let go of your sword. 

   "As a rider," He began, "You out of us all need your sword, even if it is just an elven one."

You couldn't really argue with such a nice smelling, intoxicating man so you picked up your sword again. 

   "Get ready, as soon as the swords are in place you must run, all of you."

Using a variation of the teleportation spell Oromis had taught you, the swords swiftly disappeared from the ground, and you heard a nice sort of 'shnk' sound as they went into place with the mechanism. 

   Ready? You asked Epona, as you looked at her and her bright yellow eyes, and then to Oromis and Glaedr. 

   I am as ready as you are. 

You would never get over how sweet Epona's voice sounded, and for a brief moment you thought that if this was the last thing you heard, you were glad it came from her. 

   "Now!" 

The dragons jumped, and opened their wings. The elves shot off likewise and you kept pace with one of the last elves in the group. You could hear the mechanism struggle against the swords as it grinded against the odd material of elvish make. Elva, who was riding on Saphira, screamed. 

   "Faster! Move faster, all of you!"

Oh no. 

Everyone in front of you moved faster and cleared the danger. Only you and one older looking spellcaster remained. You felt time slow as Oromis turned around to see you. He felt so far away. Epona felt so far away. Everything… Felt… so… far… away….

You could see Oromis mouth something, but you could hear no words. Suddenly a kick of adrenaline ran through your body as you heard the swords break. You jumped, and you curled into a ball as your body skidded the last section of the hallway just in time for those death blades to catch the other elf you kept pace with. An odd glow surrounded her body, her wardes, you thought. She was pulled away just in time for them to break. 

You made it. Glaedr and Oromis made it. Eragon and Saphira made it. Epona made it. You were so close to finally facing the king. 

   "Are you okay? Did the blades catch you?"

Oromis had stopped kneeled down to you to make sure you were alright, and helped you to your feet. Epona was also fussing over you too, but you only patted her nose. 

   "I am fine, let's go, we are so close already!"

The other elf whose wards broke looked pale and sick, yet they stood as you and the group made it to the large throne room doors. A lot of ancient drawings were etched into its surface, and you wished that you knew the stories behind it. Just then, as you went to open the main door, another opened, and the spellcasting elves looked hypnotized as they hopelessly marched inside it. No matter what you or Eragon or Arya did, they were completely unfazed as they were taken. Elva was surprised too, since the attack didn't hurt them, she didn't know it would happen. Regardless, you still had top open the door and face the king. With three dragons at your back, a wise elf at your side, and a farm boy who was too thick skulled for his own good, you finally opened the doors. 

Inside was dark, and it took a moment for your eyes to adjust but once they did you were marveled at how massive this room was. You could make out the throne in the middle and waving black curtains behind it, but nothing else. That was when everybody's minds were attacked by hopeless, angry, babbling Eldunarí. Everyone stood motionless as they fought to protect their minds. More than once you would have to curl your mind so that only a fraction of you remained, but a friendly Eldunarí would always come to help fend the other off, resulting in a disgusting circle of attacks. It only got worse when you could feel rather than see Oromis stiffen. If he wasn't careful, an attack would definitely kill him here despite the wards he had in place. To the far side of you, you could see a woman chained to the wall. You assumed she was Nasuada, as Eragon had to confirm she hadn't pledged herself to him. 

   "What a pleasure to finally meet all of you here. Eragon Shadeslayer, Arya Drotinggu. Even you, Oromis. I'm glad you survived so that we could talk… properly about joining my vision for the future of Alagaësia. Relent in your mental attacks and let's have a proper chat."

   "I have not changed my answer since Gil'ead, I will not join you."

   "Not even if I could cure your ailment?"

Silence was the only response. Galbatorix again focused his gaze on the whole of the group. 

The king stood from his throne just as a few candles lit on either side of him showing two children, a boy and a girl who looked very scared.

   Umaroth, stop! There are children here! You pleaded to the Eldunarí, but they continued the mental battle. Glaedr spoke to them, his voice was louder and had more weight than yours. 

   Stop, if only for a moment Umaroth. There are hatchlings in danger!

There was a pause in the voices that overtook your mind. Galbatorix was calling off his Eldunarí.

   You understand what we must do, regardless of the hatchlings' life here. If there is a chance we Eldunarí will not miss it. The mental attacks from both sides ceased, and the king laid one hand on each of the childrens' shoulders holding them in place, and also, probably from running. He was playing the hostage card… and there is nothing you could do. The Eldunarí were right, regardless of these children's lives the fate of Alagaësia mattered more. Just as you came to that conclusion the king turned his attention finally, to you. 

   "And you… I heard of you. A war general, a strategist unlike any of the elves! Think of what you could accomplish for the whole of Alagaësia, if you only side with me." His voice boomed in mock praise, echoing throughout the room.

   "For the longest time your identity was a secret not even my most skilled could figure out. Almost like you appeared out of thin air." 

There was a pause. 

   "But, luck would have it, you revealed yourself to me, as you threw Murtagh off of Thorn. Who knew it would be you who would reveal something you kept so secret?" He smiled. But it wasn't directed at you. 

   "You were smart to hide your name. That, I bet, much to your comfort has not been found." He turned his attention to your partner of mind and soul, who at the moment was rumbling with quiet, fierce growls.  "And there is Epona of course. I knew of only three dragon eggs in existence, and just like you… Weasel, she appeared out of nowhere."

   You are not all knowing as you seem, coward.

Epona was sharing her thoughts with the group and her fierce voice cut through clearly. She hated Galbatorix hiding behind children just as much as you did. 

   "Ah, but I am not the only one who brought a child here today."

Looking over to Elva, she was frozen in place and couldn't speak. That part of Eragon's plan was a failure, too. Nobody could cast spells either, or the mad Eldunarí would attack again. 

    "But my issue lies with The Weasel."

With a flick of his finger, your feet slid across the floor against your will, and you were brought face to face with Galbatorix. Oromis was quick to action, but was overcome with one of his attacks instantly, and by the looks of it he had bitten his tongue. 

   "If you answer me, Weasel, I will heal him. This I will swear even in the ancient language."

Glaedr let out a roar that vibrated the ground, and from behind Galbatorix, leathery curtains shifted, to reveal a black scaled body. Shruikan only growled, but that was all the black dragon needed to drown out Glaedr completely. Galbatorix remained unaffected and continued to speak. 

   "What are the words you spoke when you battled Murtagh?"

   "I don't l- I don't know."

There was a pained sound heard from behind you. You didn't need to look to know who it came from. 

   "I didn't speak words!" You switched to the ancient language now, in a desperate attempt to get him to understand. 

   "I didn't speak any words! The spell was founded on emotions and images! You hear me speak this truth! Heal him!"

The noises from behind you stopped, and you mentally felt for Oromis to make sure he was okay. You felt him connect to you, briefly, but all you could feel was pain. A door opened, revealing Murtagh and Thorn. Murtagh said something about a broken door, but you were more worried about what exactly Murtagh was here for. At the sight of Epona he seemed to stop, and he must have connected the dots and figured out that you were the one who sparta kicked him ten thousand feet in the air. 

   "I would like to see a demonstration, if you don't mind…" 

Your body moved against your will, and then you were facing off against Murtagh, who already had his rider sword drawn. 

   "And… if I refuse to fight Murtagh?"

Nothing was said, but Oromis was already facing another attack, but instead of completely falling like he had done the first time, now he used his sword to keep himself upright. His eyes were locked onto you and his message was clear. 

   Do not do this to save me. There is much more at stake. 

No, you refused to see a future without him in it. You readied your elvish sword

   "Fear not, Oromis, I won't let them kill each other. They are irreplaceable." 

Then, at once Murtagh attacked. 

It was much like before, you keeping your distance as he gained ground. The only difference was that you didn't have an immediate threat of plummeting to the earth. With each clash of swords, the harsh attacks would be felt all the way up your arm. Your sword flew out of your hand, and he slashed your arm open. It healed a few seconds later. 

   "Again." Commanded the king. 

Your swords clashed again, and this time when Murtagh came close enough he spoke to you, briefly, and out of listening rang from the king. 

   "Damn you, if you could have only waited one more day. Just one day. I would have been able to save her."

You had enough strength to push Murtagh away and break the hold his sword had. You looked over to Nasuada who was currently chained down and had been kept here and tortured. He was trying to save her? You let the swords clashed again, shifting from defense to attack. 

   "We had no choice. You must understand this, Murtagh."

   "As much as I understand the need to kick me off of Thorn above the clouds, Weasel. Be ready."

Your swords broke away again, and clashed. You gained ground, and were able to use your magic to have your sword go through Murtagh's body, keeping him unharmed.

   "What an inventive way to create spells. Again."

This time, when the swords clashed, something felt… different… off about Murtagh. 

   Be ready. You told Epona, and the rest. When Murtagh was getting ready to attack, something changed. Instead of attacking you, he turned on Galbatorix, and spoke a… word that left your mind as soon as you heard it. The entire room erupted into action. The Eldunarí from both sides attacked, and you could see Arya hoist the odd elven weapon used to kill dragons. Shruikan began to move, and the dragons jumped to action. Epona helped Saphira and Thorn hold the black dragon down as Glaedr held one of the black dragon's wings in his jaws. Shruikan roared and breathed a white black fire which Arya ran through and plunged the weapon into Shruikan's eye. 

You had moved closer to Eragon and Oromis, but had to rapidly turn your body in order to avoid being slashed by the white, almost clear sword the king used. You were quick enough to block the second strike with your elvish sword but now you were on the floor, fiercely holding off the transparent sword from impaling you. Oromis came to your side instantly, and gold clashed against the clear looking sword. It gave you enough time to get up, but the distant feeling of mad, babbling Eldunarí in your mind kept you almost paralyzed. You could feel an odd pull coming from Eragon, and he had just come up to defend Oromis against Galbatorix. Oromis went down again, using his sword as a crutch as he kneeled, another one of his attacks taking over his body. You were just in time to block one of Galbatorix's swings. You stared down the king, as your swords were locked.

You felt at that moment, the Eldunarí from your side pool energy around Eragon. You didn't know what spell he was casting, but even Epona was helping him. The king's eyes blew wide open as his sword broke away from you, giving you the opportunity to thrust your sword into his gut. He didn't seem fazed though.

   "What- what have you done? What have you done to me!"

   "Make you understand." Responded Eragon. 

The king looked completely distraught, so you grabbed the transparent sword from where he had dropped it. He didn't deserve it, after all. 

   "Be not!" Screamed Galbatorix. 

Several things happened at once. First, Saphira, Epona, and Glaedr were pulled by a force toward you. Second, the attack that had previously affected Oromis had ceased, and he had tackled you to the ground as the both of you were also pulled by the same force toward the door. Third, an Atomic bomb went off. Well, it felt like one, as all you could see was pure white. Your vision was burned, but you could smell smoke and feel rubble fall around you. Your only source of sound was a sharp ringing, but that began to dull as your vision returned to you. Oromis had ended up using his shield to protect the both of you from various debris. It looked like he was speaking, but you couldn't make out what he was saying. Regardless, he pulled you to your feet, and to your astonishment, the transparent looking sword was still in your hands and it felt… right. 

Oromis was pulling you to where Glaedr and Epona lay and it looked like Glaedr had done the same as Oromis had and shielded Epona from the worst of the blast. By now some of your hearing was returning, and Oromis was ready to throw you onto Glaedr when you remembered something vital. 

   "The children! Where are the kids?"

You ripped yourself from his grip, and raced back to the throne room. It was being barely held together and you knew it would fall any moment. You saw Arya bolt into a different room, and Eragon was with Saphira… somewhere. You notice the two children who hadn't moved from their position on the throne steps. They looked dusty and scared but were otherwise unhurt. You approached them slowly, hands outstretched. 

   "Let me help you. Come to me please, and I can help you find your parents."

They seemed to come out of whatever spell kept them still, and ran to you. You held them close to you as Oromis came up from behind you. The children acted scared, and hid themselves from his view. 

   "Don't worry, he won't hurt you. He will help you find your parents."

The room groaned and you shared a concerned look with Oromis. You handed him the boy and Oromis held him close, shielding the boy's head as best he could as you did the same with the girl. The both of you ran out of the building through an opening in the wall. Glaedr and Epona followed as you and Oromis looked around the houses closest to the citadel. The children squirmed in your hands, so you let them go and watched as they raced to a house, where you assumed their parents were. It was confirmed when you saw a man and a woman hug them close, and then look at you. Both you and Oromis bowed your heads toward them, and then continued to your dragons. 

   Thorn and Murtagh are getting away! Said Epona, as she urged you to climb up so she could take off. In the air you could see Eragon and Saphira following Thorn but it didn't look like they were in battle. You looked to Oromis for guidance. 

    "We will follow, but do not engage."

The two of you were flying through the air in seconds, following the red dragon until he landed in the outskirts of Urû'baen, using hills as cover. You and Oromis dismounted, meeting Eragon and Murtagh just as they had finished speaking to each other. Murtagh took a generous distance backward as Oromis came into his view. 

    "I suppose an apology for cutting you with my sword will do no good?" Asked Murtagh. 

   "You did what you had to do, just as I would have killed you given the chance."

There was an uncomfortable pause. 

    "Elves don't tend to hold the longest of grudges. You can be easily forgiven when you choose to take up instruction on becoming a proper rider."

Thorn bowed his head and responded for Murtagh mentally. 

   Thank you Ebithril, but we want to travel the land until we don't wish to cover the grass in blood. 

That didn't sound so friendly to you, but Oromis was unfazed. 

    "We live long lives. Whenever you are ready the option is open."

Murtagh flew off after that. Epona still held anger toward Thorn for attacking Oromis, but you hoped she would eventually let her anger cool. Then, Eragon spoke. 

   "Murtagh… told me something that I think you, ebithril, The Weasel, and the Eldunarí should hear."

Eragon then explained about… the word you heard. He had to speak it three times for you and Oromis to finally understand its meaning. When you did, an uncomfortable sense of power overtook you. This word could change every spell about the ancient language if you let it.  

The next few months were hard, Eragon, Oromis, and you flew around Alagaësia, helping the cities and crushing small rebellions as the new nation was securing its place. Being led by Nasuada you thought it was in good hands. Once Galbatorix was defeated, you immediately remembered the eggs. You hadn't gone to get them just yet, as the three of you had no idea what to do with them. You had the liberty to take Umaroth and the other Eldunarí to Vrael's last resting place, where you had placed his sword down in a sort of memorial. 

   No. Said Umaroth, You keep the sword. It will do well in your hands to clear it's name rather than gather dust here. Take the sword and make it your own. 

You felt more than honored. The sword, which was named Islingr, felt more at home in your hand than the elven sword did.

When everything for Alagaësia could be done from you and Oromis, you both headed to Ellesméra as Eragon still had to serve Nasuada. Valdr chose to stay with you, and you gave the rest of the Eldunarí to Eragon.

When you and Oromis entered Ellesméra, the months that you were gone had left like years, as with the death of Queen Islanzadí left the political state in constant passive aggressive turmoil.

Frustration coated your face as you were sitting in Oromis' hut. The plans and papers on the table were overwhelming you. 

   "Does it really take you all this long to choose a ruler? Why can't you just turn to a democracy and make it somewhat easier?"

Oromis laughed from behind you as he poured you a cup of blueberry tea. You gulped it down and enjoyed the burn. 

    "Usually we vote them in, plus it would take way too long to change our political stances, so a monarch we must be."

He took a seat next to you and sipped his tea way slower, probably also enjoying it more as well. you decided this was the perfect time to branch a subject you both didn't speak about, as much as you should.

"Have you ever thought about using the... word... to erase your issue with magic?"

He stopped drinking and put down his cup.

"I have. And I want you to realize something before we continue this conversation. The spell I used to escape the trap the forsworn put me in Glaedr in is what excellerated my... affliction. That can not be fix because, it is as your people would say... Genetic."

He paused, took a sip, and then continued.

"As for the magic, I am sure that can be fixed with the... word, however I am reluctant. I have learned so much because of what happened, It is difficult to get rid of something that has been at the core of your being for so long."

"Is that a no?"

"It is undecided. But if one day I want it to be fixed, I will ask nobody else but you. Does that answer your question?"

It did, so you reverted back to your previous conversation as if nothing had happened.

   "There is Arya that must be taught as well…." 

You looked to Oromis to see his reaction. He was as calm as ever. 

   "Yes, who was to guess the last dragon egg would hatch for her?"

You kept your eyes on the plans in front of you. With the capture of Ceunon, the elves wanted to make it their territory. You had to fight tooth and nail to keep the city from being completely in the elves' control and instead offered that it should be a mixed city of humans and elves. 

    "And they keep pressuring her to take her mother's position." Continued Oromis. 

Your hands froze. 

   "Of course I am against such a thing, especially because she is so young." He continued. You gave a breath of release. 

   "However…"

You side-eyed him and he laughed. 

   "Just listen. I've been thinking-"

   "Oh I bet you have."

   "That I should take over the position, so Arya can learn to be a dragon rider properly without the duties of a queen holding her down."

You thought it over, but it made you uncomfortable. 

   "You want to be a king?" 

   "No, no dragon rider would ever want such power, but I am old enough and have enough influence to hold it. At least until they can agree on a proper monarch."

You thought about it. Oromis as the elven monarch. 

   "Wouldn't that mean you would need to move away from The Crags of Tal'naeír and into the city?"

That made him stop completely. 

   "It… is a small price to pay for my people's stability."

You could feel how much that hurt him to say, and you couldn't help but laugh.

   "Oh yes, I could see it now: all of the houses coming to you for their problems. A former hermit ruling a magical forest! It's Storybook worthy, Oromis." 

You both had your laugh for a few minutes, but Oromis was serious about this proposal. 

   "I don't suppose…" He began, lifting your hand up to his lips and leaving a small kiss. 

   "I could possibly convince you to agree to this idea?" Another kiss, this time it was placed higher. 

   "Why are you bribing me? I will follow you down whichever path you take for however long I am able."

He looked at you, with a questioning look. Valdr filled your head with an image. You, with a circlet crown, sitting next to Oromis. 

   "Wait! How does this in any way make me a ruler? I'm a human, won't that like, ruffle some feathers?"

You felt Valdr rumble with disapproval. 

   "You are not just a human. You have traveled worlds, learned skills in weeks, created bonds with all creatures of Alagaësia. Above all, you are a dragon rider. If they disrespect you because of what you were born as then they disrespect me, and I will not take that lightly."

You gave a defeated huff. 

   "Your position is only temporary." You clarified. 

   "Well, technically, all rulers' positions are temporary."

You rolled your eyes. 

   "My attitude is rubbing off on you. Fine, run for office, Oromis Thrándurin. Lead the elves into a new, accepted age and all that jazz."

   "There is also… the issue of your… visions."

Eugh, this was not something you wanted to talk about. Each day was a struggle to stay grounded here. You had spoken to Valdr about it, and he thought he had found a way to keep you here but since it was untested he didn't want to make promises. 

   "I'm aware of what they mean Oromis… I just… don't want to leave you know? Nothing is waiting for me back at my home. I- I don't have anything there…"

You were almost hysterical, you didn't want to leave, to abandon your life here would mean to abandon who you were. 

   "You keep fighting them, and I know how much pain they cause. You are not from here that I cannot change. Your only choice is to fall asleep tonight and let Valdr do what he can. Whatever happens, will happen."

   "Could you at least just lay with me? Just so that I can- I don't know- I won't fight it, but I just want you there."

Oromis had agreed without question, and as you finally stopped fighting, you heard a distant melody beginning that was coming from Valdr. It felt like a story, a journey, a plea. You let yourself go then, crying, but feeling complete with Oromis in your arms. 

Whatever happens, will happen. And who else could say they saved an entire continent with a dragon that was bonded to you?

Eragon has left Alagaësia with the Arya and the eggs, and is looking to lead the new rider generation. With Oromis' guidance of course, but it has been a few years since the eggs have left, as well as the dwarves and Urgals being added to the dragon pact. You ran this through your head several times as you traversed the streets of Tierm. 

   It looks so different. Do you think he will remember us? You were mentally speaking with Epona as she waited outside the city. She was too big to hide so she sort of just chilled at the gate. Kids would bet each other on who would be the bravest and touch the mighty dragon. She wouldn't hurt any of the kids, but she did enjoy spooking them with puffs of smoke. Whichever child was brave enough, she would let them climb onto the saddle, and sometimes, if you were gone for long enough, she would speak with them. 

   I don't know if he will remember you, considering you hid yourself for the better part of your stay but I wish you luck. 

With Islingr safely at your back, you stepped inside Otis' bar. You tried to enter quietly, but now that your face was well known, it was kind of difficult. Everybody stared as you took a seat at the bar and waited to be served. The loud talks and arguments that you were able to hear outside were lost. Everything was quiet, and you kind of just wanted to leave and never come back. 

   Do not chicken out now, not after we spent all this time traveling here.

You jumped as the door to the back opened and then closed. 

   "So sorry for the wait, we ran out of-"

Otis stopped short as he made eye contact with you. He was different now, he had a limp and used a walking stick. 

   "To whom do I owe the pleasure of serving the Elven Monarch?"

You cringed. After this you could totally see why the elves stayed in Du Weldenvarden.

   "You knew me, before I was a ruler back when I was just some starving beggar off the street with an odd looking pot."

That jogged his memory. 

   "Weasel?"

You nodded, and shared about how you kept Epona in the pot, how you then hid her in the satchel you stole, and how you and her hunted for food when she was old enough. How you trained with the elves, and how you helped with the siege in Ceunon and Gil'ead. This delighted Otis, who, upon a closer inspection, was older than he looked. He must be close to his end and that made your stomach pool with dread. He wouldn't be the last you would watch age and die. 

   "To think, I had someone that great, serving tables." 

You shared in his laughter. 

   "I wanted to come and thank you personally, when everything cooled down. I won't be able to leave Du Weldenvarden for quite a bit now, but I am glad you were still here. It is nice to share my story with someone who was here from the beginning."

He had given you a drink, 'on the house' and you downed it, out of respect. 

   "Thank you, for visiting my dingy asablishment, I'm sure no other bar will be able to compete with me now." Otis gave a belly laugh, and then you said your goodbyes. Before you completely went out the door you whispered a small blessing, for Otis and his business. 

   May you prosper, for as long as you live, and if you wish, even after your death. 

   Such few blessings you give, and yet you never forgot this bartender. Glaedr's voice filled your head, as his Eldunarí was always with you, along with Valdr, but he was quiet most of the time and preferred to observe. 

You climbed onto Epona, and watched as the kids waved her off. She gave them a loud roar goodbye which made them scatter. It was hard holding back your chuckle. You made it back to Ellesméra, but you still had to get used to… well everything. Walking through, what used to be Islanzadí's house felt odd, as each portrait of the rulers felt alien to you. At the end of the hallway, there was Oromis' portrait. Somehow they had captured each detail perfectly. Your portrait was next to his, but you refused to look at it. You didn't want to know how less perfect you were compared to elves. You made your way to the main chambers, where a long dining table was freshly plated with… vegan options. You still had a hard time adjusting to their diet. Oromis was sitting at the table, both of his hands full. Two tiny bodies were held close to his chest, asleep. 

   "Good you're here. Take one, please. I am starving."

You gently moved one baby from his dominant hand, and watched as he held the other one while he ate. You took a seat next to him and watched as the baby breathed and how it would slightly move in its sleep. Twins, you had twins. They didn't have any defying features about them, they were too small for that. As you held the baby in your hand, you couldn't help but take a deep breath. 

You could smell the fresh air, and you knew you were home.

——————————————

Ah it's over! It's ended! Thank you so much for liking each chapter and I hope the ending was alright. Thank you so much for reading.

You dragged Oromis to the store the next day, excited to bagger him about mood lights and headphones. He was wearing something more modern than his golden suit of armor. A plain white shirt with jeans that fit him way too well for your opinion, but you would never say that out loud. 

Picking up one of the cool lights on display, you let him press the button to change the color and couldn't help but smile as he marveled at the simplicity of your world. He stopped pressing the button when it landed on a cool yellow tone. "Would it be alright if we get these?" You nodded but dragged him away to the headphones section. 

   "We can get anything that's a decent price. I can't get you top of the line, but if you kick off, you'll be able to buy anything you want. Within reason of course." You added the last part hastily.

It was nice taking him out and letting him explore the world, but you felt a pang of sadness that you were so far away from Gleadr that you couldn't speak with him anymore. You'd bet he has a lot to say about the things you were buying. 

Oromis knocked you out of your thoughts when he had reached the end of the table that let him try on headphones, he didn't pick one out. 

   "They don't fit."

   "What?"

   He carefully put the headset he was holding down on the table the way he found it. 

   "None of these fit my ears, the end sticks out and it flattens them to my head. It's alright for a bit, but it will start to be uncomfortable after a while."

You couldn't really tell him you would find a pair that would fit, nobody had pointed ears. You felt really bad when you told him as such, so he just picked one he thought looked nice, one that lit up when it was connected to the computer. You did end up buying the mood lights, but your shitty computer, old mouse and keyboard had to stay. 

Finally getting home with all the things in your hands you were oddly comforted by the feeling of Gleadr entering your mind. You didn't speak to explain what you did throughout the day, you figured it was a lot easier to mentally picture what you did while you were out. He once made a comment on how your mind 'worked like that of a wild dragon' you took that as a compliment. He never stayed in your mind long enough to feel invasive and you always silently thanked him for that. 

Getting everything set up was relatively easy, the mood lights were a little tougher than you expected, but shockingly with Oromis' help the mood lights were put into place. By the end of it all, you were winded.  Oromis, on the other hand, was completely fine and looked at you with concern. 

   "I'll get in shape I promise." You lie to yourself and Oromis caught it instantly, not missing a beat

   "You said that last time I beat you into the ground with my sword." God, sometimes you hated how quickly he caught onto your sarcastic remarks. Ignoring him, you took a moment to look around your room. It looked decent enough for a stream, so you got onto the website that he would be using.

   "Pick a username." He gave you a blank look, and you had forgotten that he was in fact from a world with dragons. You explained how the usernames were used as people's fake names. On stream he would be called his streamer name, and if he became famous enough people would call him that in real life too. He gave his name some serious thought, then his two pointer fingers started to tap and spell out what he wished to be remembered as. He pressed confirm when he was finally okay with the name he chose. 

   "The Mourning Save? That's a pretty catchy name, where did you get it?" He looked really proud of himself, before his eyes went wide. 

  "I- it was supposed to be 'The Mourning Sage' how do you type so quickly with this thing? Can I change it?"

Delighted, you answered his question with an evil grin. 

   "You could, but you'd be breaking the oldest rule of the internet-"

   "You said there were no rules in this digital space!" You felt bad, but he needed to learn the hard way. 

   "They are unspoken. The rule you would be breaking is simple. 'No matter what, everything you film goes on the internet' the same applies to usernames. You mess up? Too bad, you're known as that forever now."

It feels like you're kicking a puppy, but the internet is a no man's land. You mentally apologize to Oromis, but reel back, forgetting he can read actual thoughts and you hope he didn't just hear yours. 

Well, you set everything up for him, so all you needed now was a mask. Something to hide who you were. You had forgotten to get anything while you were out, but you were positive one was lying around from some old Halloween costume deep in the closet, so you told Oromis to give you a moment to find it before you two started the stream. You get up to leave, but he catches your arm before you reach the threshold. 

   "Wait… I don't know how your generations take things such as gifts but…" 

He holds out something that is wrapped in one of your dish towels. You take a step back, a little surprised

   "Uh usually we vigorously tell you to put it away, that we don't deserve such a thing as gifts…" At that, he seemed even more determined for you to take it. 

   "Please, if money is the issue, it costs me nothing. And no I didn't steal it, I made it. Just give it a look?" 

Feeling a little trapped, you take the item and unwrap the dish towel. You could only gasp in shock. In your hand was a beautiful weasel looking mask that would cover the entirety of your face. It was mostly white, but a line connecting and filling in the mouth, nose, and the outline of the two eyes was what looked like a river of gold, forever stuck in a continuous stream. The mask also had rounded ears, but only the tips were gold, and they were connected to the rest of the face by a line that went straight from the eyes, to curve around the cheeks and touch the ears.

 You completely forgot Oromis was in the room, waiting for your answer. 

   "Its- it's beautiful. How- why- this must have cost you something!" 

   "It did, a bit of magic and my energy, and it took about a week to complete, I apologize though, because I found it in the back of the closet. It had dust on it, so I assume you haven't used it recently. I hope that is alright? I hope it's to your liking, since compared to what I've seen from the internet it is a little plain."

You wanted to laugh, to tell him that in terms of looks, you shouldn't trust pictures from Google, but you were too happy. Just by touching this mask you could feel the power that it held. You could only thank him as you put it on. It fit to your face perfectly. 

   "There are some other things the mask can do, but the most important thing is that it stores magic for emergency usage. You'll be able to tell when it runs low because the color drains from the lines, starting from the ears." 

You gave him a strange look. 

   "What could I use magic for? You tried to teach me and I couldn't really grasp it, remember?" You became a little worried that you signed up for something a little more than what you originally thought. Whatever doubts you have, Oromis didn't look the least bit worried. 

   "I feel you should find out the rest of the uses as time goes on, but it is nothing bad I swear, these will only help you."

You nodded and couldn't stop touching the magnificent mask he had just given you. If you ran your fingers across the flowing golden line, it felt like a trickle of water. You couldn't feel it taking your energy, but hopefully that was a good thing. 

   "Shall we start the stream then?" Oromis was ready, wearing his headphones, with the mood lights set to a light yellow. He grabbed the mouse and gave a deep, calming breath. 

And then he started the stream.

Inside a prestigious university called "Vroengard" a history teacher is busy making his plans for the week. He was swamped with tests his students had taken the previous week, the majority of which had yet to be graded. He sat in a simple swivel chair, and was dressed moderately. His hair is what was striking about his features, that is, if you didn't know what he was. His long silver hair drifted in front of his eyes and he fixed it behind his pointed ears. 

Here in Vroengard, species of all kinds come to learn, as long as they can make it in. Among the elves, of which are but a myth now to the normal citizen, there are your normal humans, Urgals, and the ever elusive werecats. The werecats however, are about as rarely seen as the elves. 

Back to our history teacher, we can see that now as the day grows old, so does he. He had finished grading the tests, leaving the week's plans for early tomorrow morning to worry about. Right now he had someplace else to be, someplace that only he and a few… selected others had access.  

Oromis sighed as he headed to his secondary job at the Vroengard University. Living as long as an elf does leaves a lot of room to explore a person's interest. For him, he found World History just as interesting as neuroscience. Grabbing his clear ID tag that read his name and the level of clearance he had, he stepped into a medical facility far away from the main campus. Using his ID card again as he stepped into the elevator, the metal box chugged its way down the shift. Once the elevator made it down to the furthest basement level it screeched to a loud, sudden halt. Oromis waited for the door to open and made his way out, rather quickly. For how old he was you would think he would get used to human inventions, but there are two things he refused to get used to. One, are those metal boxes, those elevators and the other are the flying metal boxes that humans call airplanes, he calls them death machines. When he finally made it into the fifth door down the hallway, and opened the door to his little backyard shed, where two of his apprentices were already working on their respective tasks. 

Well, backyard shed was an understatement. Under his boss, Galbatorix, Oromis was given the highest tech available in his line of work. The only downside? He didn't exactly know just what he was working on. Each day he would receive scans of several different brains. He knew they were the brains of the same species, only because of how the brains acted. He didn't know who these people were, but he knew they were different. They saw color differently, and thought of only preserving themselves. Sometimes the scans and tests would throw him off, because they would show unmistakably human traits, such as anxiety, or some variations of PTSD but most of the time the scans showed what he interpreted as angry, vicious animals. 

   "What do you think of these brain scans Eragon?"

Eragon was Oromis' only human student, alongside another, younger elf that was close to Eragon's name. It takes Oromis a moment to remember the elf is named Arya.

   "It looks like whoever these brain scans belong to is not having a good time." 

Eragon indicated the lighter areas of the brain that indicated stress. Arya was given a different scan, this one with colors that indicated the participants were given some sort of task to figure out. Arya spoke once she figured out what the participants were asked to do. 

   "You see here? The part of the brain that indicates color? It's barely active when they were asked to draw with specific types of crayons. They can only see a few shades of blue at most. What do you think, Oromis-elda?"

Oromis found the elf honorific refreshing to hear, since try as he might, with how the elves have recluse themselves their culture knowledge is slowly dying. With young elves like Arya who venture out Oromis has hope for the future. 

   "I think you are both correct in your observations. I would not want to be in their shoes, yet I have sympathy for them and what they have dealt with. It doesn't look like they are mentally all there."

Arya studied the scans a little more, and then looked up to Oromis, a question forming on her lips.

   "Do you think they are doing something illegal here, Oromis-elda?"

Oh it wasn't a question of if. Orimis knew from his hundred years of study that these scans indicated serious trauma. There was little he could do though, since he was under a strict contract with the new boss, but he was keeping a keen eye out. 

   "You must learn Arya, when to speak your mind and when to keep your thoughts to yourself."

The rest of the night goes without a hitch. His apprentices leave early, since they are still college students and have classes that, in Oromis opinion, are more important than some brain work. When Oromis goes to lock up though, he is met with his boss, waiting for him just outside his workshop. Galbatorix wasn't old by elf standards, but his mind was dangerously smart and agile. 

   "Hello, sir. Is there anything I can help you with before I head home?"

This man may be Oromis boss, but he was still weary around him. He knew where these brain scans were coming from. 

   "If you would come with me Oromis, I have some last minute work that I need a neurologist to help with, and you are the only one here."

Oromis couldn't say no, so he was led down the identical hallways until they stopped at a massive door that looked like it was made out of steel. The door went all the way up to the ceiling and was impossibly wide. Oromis didn't want to know the thing that needed to get through those doors. With a swipe of his boss's card, the doors hissed open and they both stepped inside. 

The inside room was separated into two massive parts, one for the scientists and the other that was separated by a suspiciously thick glass, laid several… bodies. Oromis looked over at his boss, a little worried. 

   "Is… there something wrong with them?" Oromis asked as he drew closer to the glass. There were four bodies… four people beyond the glass. 

   "Nothing that will kill them," clarified Galbatorix, but it did little to ward off Oromis' worries. 

   "I just need you to do a one on one examination with… that one." Galbatorix points to a man, who was curled up on the ground asleep. His hair was cut haphazardly and looked like a mess. The top of his hair was turning white but the lower parts were a healthy, but dimming blonde. Something about looking at the man made him open his eyes, and that startled Oromis, because when he looked into the man's golden reptilian eyes, something clicked. 

Galbatorix opened another door that led to a sort of interrogation room. It was wide and almost as big as Oromis' workshop, and even had various equipment that he knew was meant to hook up to the patients head to watch as the brain reacted to different stimuli. In the middle of the room was a steel table, with chairs welded to the floor. The other chair was welded the same way, but it had a little area that the patient's handcuffs would wrap around, preventing them from escape. 

Oromis took his seat, and the man he had seen before was- for a lack of a better word- dragged in by other people wearing the same uniform Oromis was wearing. Though he doubted these people spent a minute in college with the way they were handling the poor man. They attached his handcuffs to the table, and with an indication from Galbatorix, everyone left the room and the doors locked behind them. The man looked Oromis up and down, finally landing on his ears. 

   "You're… an elf?" Asked the man, Oromis was astonished by the deep gravel-like voice that filled the room. He could be no more than 20 and yet he sounded… old… tired. 

   "That I am, but that is not my name. I'm Oromis, it's nice to meet you… Mr…"

   "I call myself Glaedr." He ended with a loud huff of annoyance, and avoided eye contact. Oromis mentally jotted that down, and began making other lists of Glaedr's mannerisms. 

   "It's nice to meet you, Glaedr. I'm here to examine your brain, and how you react to certain things, is that alright?"

   "It's not like I have a choice." Spat Glaedr. When Oromis sat back, a little hurt, Glaedr softened his posture and regained eye contact, though he noticed Glaedr couldn't keep eye contact for long periods. 

   "I'm sorry, I don't mean to be rude, they just test me all the time. I'm just… tired."

The look Glaedr gave Oromis was gutrenching, and all he wanted to do was comfort the man he knew was suffering. 

   "Don't I know it, I have to work until the crack of dawn and then teach a class for four hours. It does get exhausting, but this will be quick I promise."

Oromis lightened the mood a little, just enough for Glaedr to loosen up just a little bit. Then, when Glaedr was comfortable enough, he started the examination. 

Outside of the interrogation room, Oromis met with his boss to discuss the results of the test. With several scans laid out between the two men, Oromis began to explain what they meant. 

   "The problem you said this man had? It's just ADHD. It's common enough and there is treatment to help people with it, but there is no cure."

His boss looked thoughtful as he also took a look at the results. Oromis took the opportunity to elaborate on the more serious issue he found. 

   "Glaedr also suffers from PTSD, There also might be other things, like anxiety that play into his main illness but with the time you gave me, I was only able to confirm the first two diagnoses."

   "Glaedr?" Questioned Galbatorix. Oromis faltered. He suddenly thinks he wasn't supposed to reveal that piece of information. He looks up at Galbatorix, and they stare at each other for a long while. Galbatorix was the first to look away and get back to the issue at hand. He took the diagnosis seriously, and then bid Oromis goodbye. 

   "Shall I fill out the prescription for his ADHD then? It should be ready by the end of tomorrow if I put it in now."

Galbatorix waved him off. 

   "No no, none of that, he's been perfectly fine without it, no need to change his routine."

Oromis hesitated. He wanted to advocate for Glaedr, but he knew he couldn't go against his boss. He had a bigger mission now, a mission to get all those people out, and as he laid in his bed, his waking dreams were of escape. 

The next day when Oromis history class was over he schemed. He had the highest clearance in the facility, other than Galbatorix that is. Even then he wouldn't be able to get inside the room without Galbatorix's card. He ran over the other people he knew who had high clearance. There was Dr. Tarrant, who if Oromis remembered correctly, worked in behavioral science. There was also Dr. Barst. Oromis had seen him around, a big buff human who used too much pre-workout and was probably on some type of steroid to be as big as he was. He even hit the gym every waking moment. Oromis couldn't recall the man's field of science though. Then it hit him. 

Druza. 

Druza was a human with fiery red hair and a nasty temper. If Oromis remembered correctly Durza was a student at the University that worked directly under Galbatorix, that meant Durza had the same amount of clearance that Galbatorix had. Well, he hoped at least. 

Oromis remembered seeing five people in the room. Five people to sneak out. Five people with horrible mental states that probably wouldn't trust him. 

   "What are you thinking about, professor Oromis?" Asked Eragon, as both his apprentices worked through various jobs given to them. Wait. Eragon. Eragon, the student! Oromis hatched a delicate plan within a second, he had to chorale Eragon into giving him the information he wanted, so he was glad he chose neuroscience as a career path. 

   "I was thinking about the university football game that was coming up. Durza is their star player, correct?"

There was clear distaste shown on Eragon, which told Oromis that those two had crossed paths often, probably enough to get into a few fights. 

   "Yeah, he's the quarterback. Real tough guy, hard to take down in the field."

Hard to take down, huh?

   "Run into him a few times, did you Eragon?" 

Eragon groaned.

   "The guy is the definition of a Jock! He never leaves me alone and takes me down in the parking lot all the time. The dude keeps himself open around the chest though, so I am usually able to get a few punches in."

So Durza was about strength of body rather than mind. Good, he could be taken down if Oromis was very careful. When Eragon had gotten back to the task at hand, Oromis saw Arya staring at him, intrigued. 

Five people, all under the age of 20.

Five people who were college aged. 

Five people who likely hated authority and would not listen to Oromis. 

Two college apprentices and one 800 year old teacher.

The situation was clear, Oromis needed the help of like aged people for this to work, so when their normal work time ended Oromis held them both back and sat them down. 

   "You were right, Arya, Eragon. Those scans… those people need help. I was brought into close proximity to them recently, and they were not kept in… humane condition. I want to help them but my badge and placement will only make them wary of me. They are the same age as you, please I beg you as a teacher, as a person who let this happen, as a person who helped, even as inadvertently as it was. Please, help me save them."

It took very little to convince them to help, and for that Oromis was grateful. He then shared his plan. During the next game, Eragon would sneak into the teams locker room and steal the ID badge that Durza had, then he would meet Oromis inside the elevator to go down to the workshop. Arya, over the next week would keep watch on the various other doctors who had high clearance. Their schedule, their walking paths, their break times, all of it was calculated by Arya. Oromis' job was to make sure his apprentices were given the same amount of work as before, since he realized they could be watched closer than they originally thought. 

The day of the football match came, and the entire university was decorated with the school symbol, a white dragon in flight. Oromis was in the stands watching as the band started to play, indicating the arrival of the home team on the field. That was Eragons first signal, and Oromis waited anxiously as he watched the game start. He was never interested in sports, so he had zero idea what was going on, only that Durza was completely mowing any other football player that attempted to tackle him. That's when Oromis heard the second signal. Two short, high pitched whistles followed by a long pitch. Time to head to the facility. 

Oromis prowled across the campus, his heart beating against his chest, and his long lab coat flowing behind him. When he reached the facility's front doors, someone had opened them already for him. Looking over his shoulder, Dr. Barst was holding the door open for him. 

   "Doctor Thrándurin! It is a pleasure to meet someone like you! The elves are but a myth now, you know?"

He had somewhere to be! Why did this overgrown bull have to stop him now of all times!?

   "Yes yes, my generation likes to stay aloof, I do not agree and neither do the younger elves, of which there are so few."

Stepping into the hallway leading to the elevator, Oromis spots Eragon, who was sitting on a chair reading a beauty magazine. Oromis didn't make eye contact, and Eragon gets up just as nonchalantly and heads to the elevator. Dr. Barst follows them into the elevator as well, and the doors close. The elevator doesn't move and everything goes quiet in the small metal box. Oromis takes initiative and uses his badge to unlock the lower levels. 

   "Do you mind me asking you questions, Dr. Thrándurin?"

Oromis hid his distaste, and simply nodded his head. 

   "Can elves read minds?"

  "Not since before I took my first breath in this world, Dr. Barst." 

   "Ah so they could! Is that why neurology called to you so easily?"

Oromis could feel Eragon began to get antsy, but he refused to look his way, lest they look suspicious. 

   "It could be a reason, but I just enjoy the workings of the mind Dr. Barst. If you excuse me."

The doors open and Oromis and Eragon make their way to the workshop like normal. Arya was waiting inside, and Eragon placed the ID on the desk. 

   "Phase two?" Said Eragon. 

Arya got into position and looked outside the door, when she gave the 'all clear' Oromis stepped out into the empty hallway, heading to the room he was taken to just a week ago. His apprentices would follow behind him in a few minutes. It needed to be spaced out, so Oromis gave them the directions he remembered. Once he came to the massive steel door, he brought out Durza's card and put it against the scanner. A moment passed

Then two. 

The scanner turned green and the door opened, Oromis gave a sigh of relief. The whole plan hinged on the trust Galbatorix gave Durza, and he was glad it paid off. When he stepped inside, a young man was already inside, messing with various equipment. When the person turned around, Oromis froze, and read his name tag. 

Murtagh. That didn't ring any bells, so he must be someone new brought on to the team. 

   "Hello," greeted Murtagh. Oromis responded in kind and quickly added the reason he was here. 

   " I was called to examine a few things here, my students will be joining me shortly, so I hope you don't mind."

Murtagh stopped messing with the equipment, and Oromis took note of how he didn't know how anything worked. Odd. 

   "So late at night?" 

   "Yes, I was called here before, later than ever now to do work here."

Murtagh studied Oromis, and stopped at his ears, like every human he met does. 

   "You're an elf. Well, at least that means you're telling the truth. Go ahead and do what you must."

If only the poor student understood how easily his race bent the truth to fit their needs. Murtagh started again to mess with equipment, probably trying to look busy. Oromis paid him no mind and when Arya and Eragon entered the room Oromis quickly used the card and ushered everyone through the interrogation room, and through there, into the room where Glaedr and the others were kept. 

Five heads popped up.

Five eyes locked on to the intruders. 

Oromis knew the glass was soundproof, so he felt somewhat safe. 

   "This is a jailbreak, please follow us so that we can take you away from here."

Oromis saw Glaedr, and locked eyes with him giving a silent plea out into the air. 

   Please believe me. 

The students did likewise, and eventually comforted four out of the five people to join them. One, a dark skinned young man with ice blue reptilian eyes, seemed avoidant. Understandable, thought Oromis. It's only natural that those who have suffered as they did, do not trust even their own senses. They all looked between each other in a silent conversation. Finally one of them spoke. 

   "We will follow you and your students, elf." Declared Glaedr. Oromis ushered the group back into the interrogation room, and quickly gave them their lab coats, as well as two others he had stolen previously. 

   "Keep your head down, and do not make eye contact. Your eyes are a dead giveaway. Stay close behind me and do as I do. Understand?"

They agreed, but one young man, an olive skinned one with red eyes spoke. 

   "There should be someone else with You, no? His name is uh… Murtagh…"

Oromis almost wanted to laugh. That young man was smart to get as far as he did, lucky too. 

  "Have no fear, he's right outside."

Orimis opened the door to the other room and locked eyes with Murtagh. 

   "You are a fake, you fumble with expensive equipment, and you know nothing. Despite that, I know you want to help. Follow me to the elevator and help your red eyed friend as I am helping mine."

They all shuffle out into the hallway, and when they make it to the elevator, just before it closes, he makes eye contact with Dr. Barst. Barst seems like he was about to call out to Oromis, but once he sees the extra bodies, Barst stops, and then calls out for security. Oromis shuts the doors to the elevator and uses his own key to unlock the buttons. 

   "To the roof." Said Glaedr

   "The roof is a dead end! No, we must make it out the normal way." Retorted Oromis. 

Before he could press the lobby button, Glaedr pressed the highest level, the roof. When Oromis looked back, all the trapped people were looking at each other, communicating in some unknown way. Eragon and Arya looked to Oromis, but he had no answer. When the elevator door opens to the highest level, security is waiting for them. Glaedr and the dark skinned one rush the security with beast-like roars. They clear the way enough to get the roof door open, and everyone makes it out into the open. When they reach the edge of the roof though, they have to stop. Oromis looks to Glaedr, who was pulling out delicate white hairs. 

   "What now?" Asked Oromis. 

   "We need more stress," declared Glaedr.

   "You, what?" 

Just then, the security broke the roof door down, though these security were different. They had horns, and large canines. Urgals, realized Oromis, and with them is Oromis boss, Galbatorix. They were surrounded, and security looked ready to take them down. There was no way Oromis and three college students could take down a whole band of urgals, so everything looked hopeless. Until Glaedr let out another beast-like roar and locked eyes with him. Three others did the same with the students. 

   "Grab on to our necks! Trust me!" 

And then all of them were dragged closer and closer to the edge of the roof. The realization struck Oromis so hard his mind went blank. 

    "I don't want to do this!" Shouted Arya.

   "Son of a bitch!" Followed Eragon, as all of them were dragged off the side and began to plummet to the ground. Four roars echoed, and then right below him, Glaedr grew scales… then four legs, then wings. Four other bodies took the same form, red, blue, red, and Glaedr's golden form. They banked upward, and Oromis felt his stomach lurch. He could hear large nails scrape against the building on the other side of them as Glader barely had enough room to climb into the hair. Once all of them were high enough they turned back to the roof. One of them had not jumped. The dark skinned blue eyed kid looked frozen. 

   "I have raised you! Kept you safe! Do you think the world will welcome things like you?" Screamed Galbatorix. The poor child looked so scared, defeated. Galbatorix took the chance to step forward, slowly. 

   "I care for you, Shruikan, you know I do. I keep you safe, I always did and I always will."

Galbatorix's arms were around Shruikan, in a mock imitation of a hug. 

   Go, spoke something in Oromis' mind. 

   Leave without me. There are still others. Failed experiments, but they have a conscience. I must save them as you have saved me, Glaedr.

Glaedr roared a mournful tone. 

   We will come back. We will save you Shruikan, and the others too. Glaedr's voice echoed in all their minds, and Oromis could see a sad smile etch itself on Shruikan's face. 

   Wind be at your back, friend.

And all the dragons turned and took off. Away from the university, away from the facility,

    You had taken these weeks to integrate Oromis into modern society in the small ways. Watching TV, showing him the internet, how socal media worked, memes, and so on and so forth. You loved his reactions and the way he was always willing to understand rather that criticize, which was something you didn't expect from a man a few thousand years behind the modern workings of the mind. In turn he had also taught you things from his world, things that you didn't take with the grace of the wild itself like Oromis seemed to do. You tried sword fighting, and you got your ass handed to you more times than you can count. You tried feeling the world around you, but you couldn't mentally grasp such a concept so you were stunted before you even began.

   While you didn't gracefully walk around the world like the wind was at your beck and call, you did enjoy learning things from him that he could show you. For one this dude could actually read your mind! How cool was that? You were jealous at first but he promised that when you got enough time off from your job he would take the time to teach you how to read and protect you mind from anything, even him.

   Which brought you to today. You were currently sitting on the couch, on the phone with a close friend of yours. While the conversation was relatively calm, you knew Oromis had the enhanced hearing of an Elf, which you guessed was twice that of your own. That meant that nowhere you went in the place you called home would be out of earshot of this man, or his dragon for that matter.

   "No I just don't have the time to take your spot in the cabin. No I understand that you can't make it and you already paid for your time there, but how am I supposed to find the days off? You think I'm that lucky?"

   You sighed a little irritated at your friends persistent attitude.

   "Come on man." Your friend pleaded. "It's just for a week and like, three days. Someone has to make it or I've wasted money. Could you ask your boss first before you shoot me down so quickly?"

   You wanted this conversation to be over before it even started, so to appease your friend you agreed to ask for the required time off, but before your friend could get too excited you reminded them that this wasn't a solid thing so you would text them tomorrow to know the results. Hanging up the phone was a relief, until you looked up and noticed Oromis infront of you, sitting on the couch... right next to you and you didn't even notice. You jumped out of shock and put a hand on your chest to steady the rapid heart hammering your ribcage.

   "I'm going to put a bell on you so you can never sneak up on me again Oromis."

   "Even if you manage to find something that could fit me," You didn't bother to stop him to say that there was a whole genre of sex around just collars.

   "You could never manage to put it on me."

   Curse him and his amazingly soothing voice. He could put you to sleep reciting the periodic table, but also he was almost always right in something and that tended to irk you more than being kicked into the mud during your sword training.

   "Wouldn't stop me from trying though." You challenged him, and he gave a short laugh.

"No, it really wouldn't. I doubt even Gleadr's flames could stop you if you really wanted something."

   What a nice way to say you were hopelessy stubborn, but compliments were few and far between for you so you took it with a smile.

   "You should take your friend up on their offer for the cabin, I think it would be a nice getaway from this place," He sounded a little concerned, but you wouldn't push on that subject.

   "The air here is thick. It's hard to breathe for me and Gleadr. A week will be long enough for us to get our bearings again and come back here. We still need to find a way home before you get caught with a... dragon." He added air quotes at the end. He still couldn't believe a world exist without Elves, or dragons, or anything other than humans.

   "So I think going to the cabin will be good  and we will be able to look at the problem differently, with a fresh and fog clear mind."

   You were more annoyed with the fact he didn't have the decency to ignore your phone conversation than the fact he was asking you to take the cabin for himself. You were too exhausted to explain to him that sugarcoating was recommended in something like this. You said to him what you said to your friend, that you couldn't get the required time without asking, and your boss was not known to be generous.

   "Let me come along when you request time off."

   His voice was so matter of fact you almost wanted to slam his face into a table. Really hard.

   "Why would I do that Oromis, what's the point in bringing you along?"

   "For moral support," he offered. "I also noticed my face is good for business. Brings in the crowd that's needed, right? I'm sure a sensible person such as your employer could understand an investment such as myself."

   And as with the Elves from your storybooks, Oromis had a very clear 'I am better than you' aura about him. He also, again, wasn't wrong. The man was hot for a lack of a better term he got attention if he wanted it or not. You didn't want him to see where you worked though. You couldn't explain a sort of embarrassment that overtook you at the mere thought. Like the job wouldn't be up to his standards, whatever they may be. But before you could even shoot down his horrendous idea, he seemed to have read your mind and decided that even if you said no, he was going.

Two weeks off. You couldn't believe it! Oromis was very persuasive to your boss, but you were so giddy as you began to pack that you didn't care. Clothes, a bathing suit, and everything else you could think of made it into your luggage. You thought about going tubing, but if you really wanted to you could by things on the way over instead of packing your suitcase needlessly full. You helped Oromis pack too, since the man didn't have any clothes other than the odd getup he appeared before you in. All white, kind of like an angel, but with a sword and that would also kick you into the mud to teach you what happens when you don't block properly. Fun times, really. You had bought him some clothes that he said fit him and that he liked, but you've never actually seen the man wear any of it yet. He favored that white getup way too much. You were going to change that.

   Packing this stuff into your car was a little embarrassing, you could of sworn you heard Oromis laugh at something you must of done but couldn't understand what it was so you just worked faster. Oromis said that Gleadr would fly above the car, since you had to use GPS and didn't understand how to read a map so you couldn't direct where he could wait for you and Oromis to arrive. You made a mental note to learn how to read a map when you got back home, but for now? You were in the car watching as Gleadr was above you, far in the distance like a bird caught in a draft.

   "Do you think Gleadr could outpace this... car?" Oromis startled you, he had been so quiet, listening to the radio. He had gotten attached to an alternative rock station and left it there. He was happy enough to listen to it for the majority of the ride, commenting on how easy things were for humans now.

  "I don't know..." You admitted, but looking behind you, you noticed the road was clear and let the car rev, just for a moment.

   "Wanna find out?" Oromis in turn, grabbed the handle above his head and gave one short nod, as you slammed on the gas and watched as the little outline of a bird became a distant spec behind you.

You had finally made it to the cabin, in first place. Gleadr landed a few minutes after you and Oromis, in an exhausted heap. The cabin was in front of a large lake, big enough for even Gleadr to swim around comfortably. The cabin itself looked a little small, but it was secluded and nobody would be around except you and Oromis. That meant Gleadr could hang out a lot closer to you guys, and that would lead to something interesting you hoped. Stepping inside, and putting the luggage down was a relief. You ended up laying down on the large couch to catch your breath. A distant, horrible thought crossed your mind just then. How many beds did this cabin have?With a look toward Oromis you decided that you would cross that bridge when you came to it. You instead focused on the floor to wall window behind you. It gave a fantastic view of the lake, but right now it was showing Gleadr chugging water, and cleaning his scales. Still a pretty sight, you thought. Oromis had taken to looking through the few rooms the cabin had, and you guessed by this time, he should of settled in and unpacked his luggage. He seemed like the nice orderly type. You on the other hand couldn't wait to get into the lake and cool off, and maybe gloat a little at winning the race.

After fumbling around in the small bathroom to get your bathing suit on, you finally made it to the lake, but first you laid out a towel, with sunscreen, some sunglasses and a large rimmed hat incase it got too hot. Finally jumping into the lake you noticed Gleadr was swimming under you,  fear ran through you thinking he was some type of alligator, until he reassured you with the weird mind link thing he tended to do. It still felt weird to have someone in your mind. It felt like the smallest mistake would show your deepest secrets. Oromis said he would show you how to protect you mind, right? You'll ask him later.

   Just then, Gleadr's head started to appear under you, followed by his deep voice that always startled you.

   Grab on, he said. I wish to show you something.

   Well, who were you to refuse a dragon? Grabbing onto one of his smaller horns, you held your breath as you were taken under the water to the lake floor. Looking above you showed the sun piercing the water and creating sparkles. Below you, the sun showed how much trash, mostly jewelry was at the bottom of this lake. It kind of ruined the vibe. Sorry. You mentally communicated to Gleadr.

   What is it you are sorry for? You did not put this trash here did you? You shook your head no and he continued;

   Do not torture yourself for things out of control, you can only hope to do better than those before you.

   He took you to the surface after that, just in time to see Oromis come out of the Cabin wearing.... was he wearing modern clothing?

He was wearing a tight fitting black short sleeve shirt that had two buttons at the top, with light colored shorts. Ugh everything of his was showing. The two buttons of his shirt were struggling to stay together. He might of gotten a size too small, since he was more lean than buff but it was too late now. His shorts seemed to fit fine, and he even seemed to look taller. Curse Elves and their stupid perfect looks. You suddenly felt self conscious and sank deep into the water. It didn't look like he was going in any time soon  so maybe you'll prune here and shrivel all the way to the bottom. He acknowledged you with a nod of his head and sat down at the towel you had laid out in front of the lake. Oh no you're stuck here.

Gleadr was quick to understand just what was getting at you, and purposely created small waves in a silent attempt to force you to shore. You fought him pretty roughly, spending your time under the water away from the ripple of the waves. But he was waiting for that, and with a swift swing of his tail, causing a large force to push you above the surface and back to shore. Frustrated that you lost the psychological tug-of-war you kicked the sand in the direction of Gleadr, but he was already back under the water. Stomping back to your towel, and to oromis, you began to take the water out of your hair before sitting down.

   "I see you take to losing fairly well." Oromis joked. The man just cracked a joke. You couldn't believe it, and it almost took the pain of losing a water fight with a massive dragon barebale.

   "I think he is just angry he lost the race earlier." You laughed a little and so did Oromis, which basically confirms your assumptions. Sighing as you laid down, letting the sun dry you off.

   "Plan on getting in anytime soon Oromis?"

   "I was enjoying watching you swim. You seemed to be enjoying yourself."

You blushed as your head snapped to him, only to realize he was looking right at you. Oh God this was embarrassing. Trying to break this awkward silence you grabbed the sunglasses and shoved them into his hand.

   "Try these on," you say in a desperate attempt to not seem weird. He puts them on, then takes them off again. You tell him they are called sunglasses and it's pretty self-explanatory from there.

When you're done letting the sun dry you, you head back inside the cabin to put your clothes back on, only to see Oromis right outside the bathroom door. Waiting for you.

  "Can you follow me for a moment? I promise it is worth your while."

   You agree and let him take you from the cabin, into the woods that lay behind the area. Finally you two end up in a small clear area, surrounded by tress you have a moment where you think this man is going to murder you.

   "You said you wanted to know how to protect your mind, I'll teach you now."

   Oh nice, you weren't going to die, you were just going to be tortured. He stood behind you as he gave instructions on how to feel the forest, to focus on something strong, your hand, the emotions you're feeling, anything will do as long as you focus hard enough.

   "Are you ready? I'm going to enter your mind. Slowly at first, but after a while your going to have to fight me off. Are you ready?"

   You could hear a smile in his voice, and you thought about what you should focus on. Since he was going to be in your mind you didn't want to focus on him, so you focused on the smell of the lake. You jumped at the slight touch on your mind. Like a pressure, something seeking entrance. You focused harder on the lake, how it felt on your skin, how cool the water was. It took a moment, but eventually the pressure receded. Then it came back in full force. The lake wasn't enough so you focused on the emotion you felt when you raced Gleadr to the cabin, the excitement, the thrill.  It felt like the pressure and your mind was at a standstill. It was starting to hurt, like a dull spiking pain, but neither one of you were giving in. That was until you noticed something. You could hear his heartbeat, feel his pulse behind you, feel his steady breathing that was no doubt practiced through his long years. It took you a moment to realize that the pressure wasn't even there anymore, it was completely gone. You came back to yourself then, and immediately looked for Oromis.

   "Did- did I do okay?"

   He seemed to come back to himself then, like he was trapped in a daze. You felt a little bad, maybe it was taboo to focus on a single person? Now you felt stupid.

   "You did very well, you're learning a lot faster than I expected. What do you hear now?"

   You listened carefully, trying to go again for the feelings that you felt around you when you focused on Oromis, but all you heard was bird chirping, and he looked disappointed.

   "Would you like me to merge my mind with yours? To understand what I hear?"

   You were shocked. Just having Gleadr in your mind felt invasive enough, to gain entrance to Oromis mind and he to you? You couldn't do that. Too much could slip from you, the way you think about him would become clear and you couldn't handle that.

   "Oromis," you started, "If you enter my mind I promise you will not end up the same man as before you went in."

   He laughed at that and let you continue to listen to the woods, but all you could focus on was his heartbeat. Gosh did he need to be so close?

Finally you two made it back to the cabin, after many hours of sitting quietly in the forest and focusing on nothing but him. You were looking for the bedroom only for your worst fear to be realized.

   There was one bedroom.

   Oromis' stuff is already on one side of the bed, so he had already claimed this room. Curse you and your love for couches.

   "Have a good sleep." You called out as you were heading to the living room to spend the night there.

   "Are we not sharing this room?"

    That made you stop in your tracks.

   "You're alright sharing the bed with me? It doesn't weird you out?"

   "Is it supposed to?"

    You decided that, no it wasn't. And you know what? Spending the night in the same room as him sounded nice. So you left your luggage in the room and got into your pajamas, and it was heaven laying in that bed. He respected his side and you yours. You fell asleep fairly fast, you assume because of all the swimming and listening you did. While you did fall asleep fast, you didn't stay asleep. It was freezing your teeth were chattering and there was no central heating so you just hugged the blankets closer to you trying not to steal the entire thing from Oromis. Until, however, he turned over and pulled your body to his. Your face was met with a very warm chest, and his hands were entangled in your hair. You squeaked, but he shushed you, pulling you closer. Oh God he was really really warm and comfortable.

   "Do you think I never noticed the way you act around me?" He whispered. You kept quiet, your pulse hammering in your ears.

   "Don't feel ashamed, please, not around me."

   Your teeth stopped chattering, but he wasn't done.

   "Just for tonight let me hold you, keep you warm. Just tonight. Tomorrow if you choose that you no longer find me as you did the day before? I will respect your wishes, but just for tonight, let us live in a small fantasy world."

   You couldn't speak, couldn't do much beyond letting your head rest on his chest as he cuddled you through the cold night. If this is what the rest of your life could be like? You never want to leave this fantasy world.

Pressing the stream button was probably the easiest thing to do out of this entire process. I wanted to help out in some way, but I was a fool not to realize everything that went into something that simply looked easy. I can't help but cringe at the memory of going to that massive 'store' that sold internet items. To me, it all looked like useless junk but having to be explained the simple, common, workings of this modern world like a child has humbled me in a way. Gleadr was not so easily taken with this world as I have been though. He very kindly keeps me updated on just how he feels about everything, which is understandable because he cannot be in the direct vicinity of me and must be kept hidden. Our kind host had said something about a "local panic" and "people would hurt your nice dragon." While I seriously doubted any normal human could hurt Glaedr, it simply wasn't safe enough to disagree. The technology is already so advanced, what's to say on how far their weapons have undergone the same thing? 

As I started to play one of the games I had practiced the previous night, I was mentally being slaughtered by an onslaught of a very displeased friend. 

   I cannot believe you had given them such a gift. 'It cost me nothing?' Ha! Your lies are as sharp as your sword!

Well, this was well deserved, but I had already known this the minute I found the mask in their closet. I already knew what kind of protections people have when they project themselves into the entirety of the world. I had done enough research while our host was gone during the day to know how important your identity is online. I had simply downplayed my knowledge. Just a little. But that wasn't what Gleadr was so angry about. 

   I did what I did because it is the least of what they deserve after they offered their home to us for so long. Even after I had almost taken their head off. 

Gleadr's anger felt more pronounced now, but his voice was kept leveled. A sign that this was starting to reach a dangerous point. 

   You know that is not what I mean. That mask took too much from you. They may not be able to see it, they are gone for most of the day to provide for us, and you have hidden it well, but your attacks have been more frequent. You even used the magic in your sword to complete it when your body had given up!

His anger reverberated through my head and made me flinch, causing the character on the screen to jolt, because the little 'mouse' was knocked too hard. That didn't stop the reasonable anger from Gleadr, and he relentlessly continued. 

  You know we do not belong here. You know we both have been seeing more than just visions of Alagaësia. We have stepped in it's grass while also sitting in this same room. Our souls require us to return, I fight off the call because I can feel you want to stay here, but we cannot fight it forever. Each vision is longer and longer, and soon, we will disappear from this world. 

Gleadr, I know, but still I feel we must return the kindness in any way that we are able. I will stay here as long as I can-

YOU SAID TO NOT MOURN YOUR DEATH!

That caused a more noticeable reaction, as I had to lay my head down onto the letters that somehow connected into the device in front of me. 

Peace Glaedr!  

I raced to you, as you were falling, as everything was going wrong, as I felt you slip from me! You said not to mourn! As if I could ever accept that! And then, we were falling into a different world. Into a world that looked safe. Safe enough that I could catch you before we both hit the ground.

The memory always plagued my mind. I was finally coming out of hiding for a hundred years. My first battle was against a new rider, under the king's control. I knew I had to kill him, but I did not know the king would interfere. What a fool I was. My sword and its protection were knocked from my hands as I felt an attack set in. I knew my death was coming so I let myself fall. I removed myself from our bond, severing the connection. I should have died then, I should not be here in this moment. Yet here I am. Alive, breathing, with both my sword and Gleadr. 

Gleadr left it at that, and so did I. There was no more to be said that hasn't been said before. I lifted my head up, to find you, looking a little worried. 

   "Are you okay? I know sitting a little close to the screen can make people dizzy, and sometimes the bright colors only make it worse."

They always seemed consumed by their anxiety, something that I could only understand to a lesser degree, but they always seemed calm in the safety of their home. 

   "Don't worry, it was a little bit of a shock, but it's passed. How far am I into this game?"

They looked at the screen, bit their lip, and stuttered when they explained that in this game, 'mine craft' there wasn't really an end. People play the same world for years. They did say it had an ending though. You had to kill a dragon in some place called 'The End' right now though, we were on the basics, gathering wood to build some place for the night so that we didn't die to various creatures that come out when the sun goes down.

We played that game for a few hours before we switched over to another game, but I couldn't help but look at the viewer count. 2 was on the screen in an ugly red. Well they did say it would not happen overnight. Even though this didn't go as planned, we were both having fun so it wasn't a complete loss. But as we were beginning the next game, which had to do with a set track and a bunch of colorful characters, I noticed that there were a lot of messages popping up. Looking to the side, I was hoping for an explanation from our gracious host, but their eyes were wide as they were frantically scrolling through the device I had learned that everyone had on them. 

   "Okay… uh there is something I forgot to mention that usually doesn't happen but I guess you're lucky enough…" they continued to ramble, but calmed down as I put my hand on their shoulder, getting them to focus.  and then they explained something called 'raiding' and how someone very famous had sent over his fans to watch me play the games. A little 'ding' confirmed it as the donations started to pile on the screen. Finally I was able to help. 

That's how it was for the next few months, it was relatively easy but I kept a rigorous schedule, which some people didn't enjoy. They said I 'sleep too early' but I let those comments fly through the chat, since a lot more are supportive. You, on the other hand, were always in the room making sure I didn't let slip any weird information. I don't mind since you mostly keep quiet unless you want to correct me on a mistake I'm making, or trying to help me figure out a puzzle. You found out the other uses for the mask as we continued streaming together. 

1. It disguised your voice

2.It kept more than your internet identity a secret, it also disguised your body.

If people believe they were talking to a man, then it's a man they will see. The same idea goes for if they think they are speaking to a woman. You found this out during one of the streams when people were arguing on your looks. It was very amusing to watch. 

I have had the unfortunate experience of figuring out this generation is very… openly sexual. I once said aloud about calling my viewers students. 

It's been two months. The innuendos don't stop. Ever. 

One of your favorite things to do happened when anyone ever questioned my ears. Which happened about 3 times each stream. You would, without warning, yank on my ears hard enough that I would be hopelessly pulled off the chair I was sitting in. I would do the same to your rounded ears, which resulted in a few annoying videos that had both of us looking foolish as we tugged as hard as we could at the other's ear. Sometimes people ask about the sword on display above your bed, but I never answer, only showing a few tricks that seem to quiet the curious crowd. One thing I was not prepared for however, was how much people were willing to do to support the people they watch. I made two offhand comments. One about how I couldn't wear headphones for long because my ears made them unbearable, and two, saying the computer I was using was slow. Within the next week both had shown up at your door. Yellow colored headphones that had little dragon wings hanging off the side, probably due to the fact I make a comment every once in a while about dragons without thinking, and a very colorful, very expensive computer. I only knew it was expensive because for about two hours you refused to open it, afraid of somehow causing damage. 

   "You are making more than I am, and you didn't even exist a year ago!" I could only laugh since it seemed I was right. People were hooked on my image. While I don't mind all the obvious crushing fans seem to do, it's a different story when they involve you. More than once harmful rumors had spread about you, who you were, and what kind of relationship we had. I had assumed that saying 'we were simply roommates' would let things go over smoothly. I always seemed to be slapped in the face on how I understood so little of the digital space because that made everything about ten times worse. A lot more people were kind though, sending art and various works depicting both of us. It was nice, really. 

   "Well I did say I would help, and even if the ear pulling is getting a little out of control, it's fun."

You were busy in the other room, while I was looking through the mail that was addressed to my internet name. It's nice to live this life… but the visions of Alagaësia didn't stop, and once I was there for about an hour, convinced my life here was over, but it seems I am not yet ready to return. I fight off the reality slips, and it is getting harder and harder to stay grounded here. Tonight, me and Gleadr have agreed that this would be the time to tell you of them, and tomorrow we would both stop fighting, and be taken back. I could only hope the money I had made would help you for a year at least. 

Making my way to the other room, I take the plate set out for me to eat. Cooking here is a lot easier, from what I understand you can put things on a tray, put them into an oven, which I think is just like a blacksmith's fire, and about an hour later things come out cooked fresh. It really was amazing. Sitting down at the couch, I couldn't help but notice how you were very interested in whatever show was playing. Probably a murder, since I overhear the TV describing horrific crimes. After this show then, I decided. After this show I will tell you everything. 

If you do not tell them now, I will

Ah yes, my lifelong friend, always quick with the threats. Fine.

   "I must speak about something with you."

   "If it's about the stuff online about me, don't worry I already said it doesn't bother me."

We've had that conversation before, but I let it go, and continue on. 

   "Bothering and having an effect on you are different things. But no, this is different. I've… me and Gleadr have.."

Well now your full attention is on me at least. Just get it over with, reset the bone and it will all heal properly. 

   "You know I do not belong in this universe. I've been having visions… more or less about going back there. And they are getting stronger. I fight them off but now? There is no fighting them off. They are too frequent and too difficult. They wind me each time I ground myself back here."

The look on your face caused an unfamiliar pang in my heart. Were you going to cry? How would I handle that? 

   "Well I knew you weren't going to stay here forever. Gleadr can't live in this world comfortably. It was either, you find a way back, or you were forced back. No worries."

Well, that was a deflection if I ever saw one, but I couldn't say anything more as you got up, saying you were tired, and had quickly gone to bed. There was nothing more to say, but it was a relief that I wouldn't just disappear out of nowhere for you. Finally, as I laid down on the couch that I had called a bed for the past months, I let myself go. I stopped fighting. I let the feeling of being in the forest, of being home, overtake me. 

I knew I was home when I could breathe in fresh air.

You didn't want to wake up, or move really. The events of last night made you feel like a useless stupid fool. You trend in something you could barely understand yourself. You were young compared to him. What was your life compared to his? Nothing. If only you could realize your mistake sooner, you could have avoided all this. 

   On the flip side, said your brain, what if he doesn't realize the importance of the image you created?

You laughed to yourself, of course he understood to say that he didn't you would be calling him worse than an idiot. You wanted to go back in time and take back that stupid fairth and destroy it with your own hands. 

   Enough of this brooding! Roared Epona, which startled you so bad you completely fell out of the bed. Your heart was hammering and your face was flush with adrenaline. 

    You will face the day because I say so! Get up and get ready! I want to eat Vanir today. 

Oh, you forgot your daily training with that… What could you even call him? A maggot? A worm? You tried several colorful language choices but none seemed to fit the hatred that soared in you where Vanir was concerned. 

Setting into place your mask, belt, sword and satchel, you hesitated opening the door that led to the main part of the hut. Deciding that if you didn't Epona would drag the meat from your bones with her barbed tongue, you opened the door. 

It was empty, much to your odd satisfaction but a bowl of bread and fruit was placed out for you. Eating quickly, you climbed onto Epona, heading to the field where Eragon and Saphira were already sparring with Vanir. You saw how by the time Eragon was worn, and attacks had captured him for far longer than the lesson itself, Eragon and Vanir used magic against each other. 

You sparred with Vanir as normal, keeping your mouth shut and focusing more on your sword. Your skills have improved, but you were way too cautious. Making the spar longer than it needed to be, and while you could block Vanir's attacks, when he began to bombard you is when you gained bruises and occasionally, some blood was drawn. 

Heading back to the hut was dreaded, but you steeled your nerves and landed with Eragon and Oromis just starting the lesson as you landed. Epona headed off to learn, and you headed off to the gallows. Eragon was already recounting the events of the wordless magic as you took your seat among them. 

   "In Ellesméra," began Eragon "I saw the Queen use magic with just the clap of her hands."

Oromis seemed a little reluctant to explain just how this happened, but according to the unique circumstances he explained how thinking the ancient language is the most important part of the magic. He went on to explain that magic itself was a mystery, which made you laugh because your world had none at all. 

The training continued after that like normal, and to your relief as well as your dismay, Oromis said nothing about your fairth, not when you clashed swords or during your magic duels in which this time, protecting your mind was the most important aspect. Epona kept quiet about the fairth as well, and before you headed to sleep that night Oromis put a hand on your shoulder stopping you before you could enter your hiding place of the dream world. 

   "It has come to my attention that you are unaware of the Blood-oath Celebration. And it is approaching quickly, it is customary that you and Epona create something to show when this Celebration takes place."

You were completely stunned. Your little issue that plagued you was blown away like the wind. It was never an issue at all and you worried for nothing, because he felt nothing. Sealing those useless doubts away you asked,

   "Is it alright to use magic to create?"

   "Small parts, but not in its entirety."

You nodded, and shifted off to Epona's visions, where she was flying among the clouds, spying prey in Ellesméra. 

   Are you going hunting? I want to join you. I miss meat. Epona agreed, and you returned to yourself. 

   "Thank you for telling me, I would have looked like an idiot if I showed up with nothing." You moved toward the door, ready to enjoy a nice meal in a long time. 

   "Is that all you wanted to tell me?" 

He stood there, his eyes  unfocused and far away.

    "You are going hunting with Epona? Still after all your meditation?"

You said yes, and he looked a little shocked.

   "I have felt the animals, but I really do miss meat, and while I understand why elves stray from it I, as Vanir has pointed out each day, am not an elf."

After a careful choice of words you added,

   "I hope it doesn't upset you, ebithril"

It only felt right to use that, since it felt beyond awkward to address him when you had embarrassed the both of you with the mistake you made with the fairth. 

   "Do not" said Oromis. "let needless anxiety fuel needless fears."

And then, he used your name. Not 'weasel' but the name that you used back home. It was such a shock that it stuck you in place, but you gave some form of acknowledgement and briskly walked to Epona, and then your mind was lost as you removed yourself from your own sorrow. You only became aware when Epona dropped a set of deer before you. 

   Cook them for me, I haven't shared a meal with you in ages. It is a missed feeling. 

Using magic, you created a fire, and watched as the meat cooked upon the flame. Here, in the quiet of the forest, and the company of Epona you cried. You cried for the home you lost, for the life you were ripped from, for the friendship you probably lost because you let feelings get the better of you. Epona shared your emotions, and her body shook with each sob that escaped you. When the fit was finally over, you ate the meat you cooked savagely. You fed Epona too, and she enjoyed it, but you didn't want to go back to the hut red eyed and puffy, so you slept there in the comfort of Epona. 

The days continued like normal leading up to whatever the Blood-Oath Celebration entailed, but to distract your mind, you spent most of your free hours - which were dead early in the morning - to creating your gift. It called for you to use magic to hollow the wood, but once that was done, you created holes with tools along the oval shaped instrument. Blowing through the top with select fingers on specific holes created a sweet melody, but it was still off, so you burned that creation with a single word and decided to take a break. Sometimes you would grab a scroll from Oromis' hut and try your hand at reading the ancient language which was a little difficult for you, but the scrolls you always ended up grabbing would be a story about an elf and a human. You would put those back as fast as possible and instead chose to read about the Urgals war history. 

Oromis was mostly busy with some type of illustration or painting, which you assumed were for whatever this Celebration was so you two didn't speak much outside of breakfast and sometimes he would hand you the tea he was drinking. 

It was a nice routine, and it never really strayed. Today you and Eragon were focused on the writing of the ancient language. You were better than him at it, but you assumed that was because of his difficulty with literature in the first place. You were in the middle of writing, when an unbearable amount of anxiety gripped you, and you spilled the ink all over the parchment you were given.

You were looking around, wide eyed as a doe, sending your consciousness outward to sense the danger only to find nothing at all. Your hands shook, and your body followed, hugging yourself to stop the tremors. Oromis eyed you with concern and placed his hands on your shoulders to help keep you still. 

   "What's wrong? What happened?"

You could barely form a coherent thought, and then you gripped your head as you fell out of the chair you sat in. It felt like a boulder was thrown directly at your forehead. Across from you, Eragon was similarly affected, and so was Oromis who clutched his arm in a vice grip. 

   Epona! You yelled out, desperate to reach her. 

   I am returning, calm yourself. 

It made it harder to calm down when Oromis grabbed his sword and made his way outside. You and Eragon followed him as you stood anxiously, with shaking hands. Finally, a golden and white dragon made it into view. Epona was anxiously flying around Glaedr, and the closer they got the more you could see the wound Gleadr had. Eragon ran to Saphira at the suggestion of Oromis, and he was out of sight before you could wish him luck. Epona seemed just as shaken as you, and sought out your comfort, curling her neck around you so that you were pulled close. 

   Saphira and I smashed heads like Urgals in greeting. 

Ah, so that was what you felt. 

   What happened? 

And Epona showed you, rather than spoke of the events. Saphira's advances on Glaedr went on deaf ears, and she attacked him. Epona had sensed the danger before Saphira attacked, and tried to defuse the situation, which led to the injury she sustained. When your anxiety subsided Epona let you go, and you cautiously made your way over to Oromis. 

   "Will he be alright?"

   "It's a mere scratch. What about Epona?"

You shrugged

   "Epona and Saphira butted heads, but nothing more."

The two of you sat close together, closer than you have been recently. Neither of you said much, but it was nice to be in the other's company. Gleadr recovered soon enough, and Epona hung around him, careful to avoid the place he was hit. Everything was calm by the time Oromis told you to grab your sword and start training again. You were doing well with both hands now, and you could call magic faster, and weave more complex spells. The nightly duels were a nice stress relief. In terms of magic, but each night seemed to carry with it an attack for Oromis. This night was no different, and you sat by him during each one, despite him saying he was fine. His muscles were relaxing now, which meant he was coming back to himself. 

   "We could stop doing the night magic duels, you know? I don't like watching this happen."

He laid there, his eyes locked on the many stars of the sky. 

   "It will happen regardless. I enjoy them anyway, it is a passion of mine, using magic."

You laid down next to him, careful to keep your distance. 

   "Could you make a fairth?"

The request caught you completely off guard, and it made you cringe at the thought of the last one you created. 

    "If this is about-"

   "It is, but I want to just confirm something."

   "And if I say no?" 

He turned to you, his grey eyes looked tired and worn. 

   "Then you say no, but you also don't know what I am trying to confirm."

   "I could take a wild guess." You offer, but he doesn't say anything more. Against your better judgment, you start creating the fairth. Rolling the odd thing in your hand, you decide to make it more clear to him what you meant when you created the last fairth. 

You straddled him and felt his body go completely still, his eyes watching your every movement. He didn't move as you touched his face, his body, and his hair, the last of which you enjoyed the most. When the fairth was done, you couldn't look at it, only hand it to Oromis. He admired it and clutched the object gently in his hands. 

   "The Celebration is tomorrow. I will take you to the menoa tree, and you must promise to never leave my side for the duration of the celebration."

Rolling your eyes, you laid down on top of him. 

   "Patience is the first thing I taught you. I hope you keep that in mind."

The day of the Celebration, you rode on Gleadr's back into the capital city. You kept your mask on, and the gift you created was safely tucked into your satchel. 

   "Have you said those nine spells I gave you?" Asked Oromis as you both landed, and were greeted very friendly by various elves, mostly Epona and Gleadr got their attention. 

   "Yes yes I have them, and I'll stay by you, I know the game plan Oromis, how bad can this forest orgy be?"

He rubbed his temples. 

   "It. Is. Not. An. Orgy. It is to celebrate the treaty with the dragons."

   "Magical forest orgy." You retorted. 

Various sort of camps were made around the massive tree that stood at the heart of the forest. You followed Oromis, where the both of you took a seat and watched as the Queen took a ball of light and placed it inside a little nook in the tree. 

After that, you were not very present mentally. At first you stayed by Oromis, but you remember being pulled into a dancing circle, where many of the elves touched your mask. Their laughter and joy echoed in your head, hypnotizing you to dance until your feet couldn't carry you anymore. After watching an elf play a strange instrument he made that let your mind ring and your head feel like shattered glass, you think it's a great idea to pull out your gift. 

Pulling out the wooden instrument you created, the Wooden Ocarina. You played Epona's song, and were surprised that she showed up and hummed along to the music. The elves cheered you on and, enjoying the attention, you played an iconic melody and the wooden Ocarina shifted to a dark blue. Everyone present cheered, and you played until you passed out, your music was still in the air, being sung by the birds and the grass alike. 

You woke up in Oromis' arms, he was cradling you against himself. You pushed him away in a feeble attempt to join the music again. 

   "You didn't stay with me, and look what happened!"

   "M'fine…."

He violently shook you like the idiot you were, and the force was shocking enough to bring you halfway back to reality, but not by much. Fueled by the anger in knowing you could no longer enjoy the music, you lashed out. 

   "You made me make a stupid fairth, twice and you say nothing about them. Why should I stay with you?"

His grey eyes had stars in them which made you laugh as you ran a hand through his hair. 

   "You assume they meant nothing to me?"

You nod, still laughing as you tugged at the roots of his stupidly pretty hair. 

   "I kept them because they showed me how you really felt. I didn't destroy them, but I knew how torn you were about showing them to me so I kept it to myself."

He put two fingers on your lips, and you did the same to his own. 

   "I realize now that was a mistake."

You're not sure what happened or who initiated all you know is he was kissing you, and you enjoyed it. Even surrounded by all the other elves you felt like only the two of you existed. He kissed you everywhere he could touch, your forehead, your hair, your hands. At some point you had lost your mask, and then you could feel the grass touch your bare back, and you realized you had also lost whatever it was you were wearing, but you didn't even care who saw you right now, all you wanted to do was drown in this moment forever.

You could feel his kisses trail down your stomach, onto your thighs, and there was a keen burning sensation each time his mouth connected to your body. Your heart was beating so loud and fast, that it sounded as if it was following the music. 

Then his mouth found the most sensitive part of you, and he licked and sucked the area leaving you in a soundless gasp as you dug your hands in his hair, coaxing him to continue, to never stop. Your legs were over his shoulders, his hands held your thighs in place as you squirmed the more he moved his tongue around. Your gasp became louder and you tried to cover them up but Oromis was quick to catch your hand. 

   I want to hear everything, I want to feel everything from you. I want to share it, let me into your mind, let me share everything that I feel with you. 

You let him into your mind, as fully and completely as you would Epona, and he did the same. The distant music that echoed in Oromis' head almost made you completely lose yourself if it weren't for the constant reminder that his tongue was slowly working you to a climax. The emotion you felt from him almost seemed to enhance the experience, as you felt your body building to release. You could feel him starting to move in quick strokes, and your entire body began to clench, his name coming from your mouth in between the gasps that escaped you. 

   "Oromis…. Oromis…"

You let yourself go, finally able to release just as the music hit a fever pitch. You lay there, exposed, excited, and still you wanted more, but for the moment Oromis held you as close to himself as possible as you let your mind wander into his own enchanting music. 

The rest of the Celebration was much the same with you and Oromis also taking time for yourselves, probably much more than needed but still, you and Oromis watched people present their gifts. Oromis presented his own, which was the illustration you always saw him working on. In your mind's haze it took you a while to realize what exactly it was, but the art looked impressive, and had skills even the most adept human from your time would have trouble to imitate. Epona and Saphira presented their gifts as well, both items were made from stone, but you weren't mentally present enough to understand what was in front of you. 

On the last day, your mind was the clearest as it could be, and you sat with Oromis, as some sort of play was taking place. 

   Pay attention, this is important history of the riders. 

Your minds were still connected, and it was an odd comfort, but still you watched as twin elves danced, finally forming a beautiful white dragon much like Epona which startled you. But they focused more on Eragon, as it touched him and then he fell completely limp. 

   Was that supposed to happen?

You could feel Oromis give you a stupid look, an emotion that said "no, idiot of course not" but you couldn't see what exactly happened to Eragon as he was being carried away by Arya. Before you could even make to follow them, Oromis grabbed your arm and pulled you away. 

    "Something is happening and the Queen requests your presence, put on your mask now." 

You dumbly followed as you realized you hadn't worn your mask for the majority of the Celebration. Oromis lead you into some sort of house, then down hallways of portraits, and finally into a room full of elves with the Queen at the head of the table that was in the middle of the room. 

You, Thief of Tierm, Weasel of Trades, and many more names people had called you, have made it into the war room of the Queen.  

———————————————————