"I don't know what to do about it." Eragon finally admitted.

They'd gathered in the kitchen. Will was no worse for the wear, other than being a little shaken and confused.

"Well it's not possible, right? Dragons only pick one Rider." Roran frowned.

The three Riders all looked at Will, who just placed his hand palm-up on the table. 

"Well if he's a Rider, we'll have to train him." Eragon sighed, shaking his head.

"Hang on, do I get a say in that?"

"Not really, you have to be trained. Rider magic is very fickle and if you don't know how to use it you could hurt a lot of people." Murtagh looked at Will. "You have to be trained for the safety of those around you."

Will and the other two Rangers exchanged glances.

"There's not a way you can... undo it?"

Eragon paused. "I'm... not sure. There might be, but it would be very complicated... I'll have to talk to some people."

Addiane and Murtagh exchanged glances. They knew what that meant.

"Until then... Addiane. Take him out by Nyriem and see if you can get him acquainted. Properly."

She stopped herself from rolling her eyes. "Yes sir."

Will and Addiane went outside, looking for Nyriem. He wasn't with the others, and he wasn't at the traveling market either. Starting to get frustrated, Addiane reached out with her mind.

"He's that way." Will said suddenly, pointing to their left. Addiane raised her eyebrows and extended her consciousness in the direction he pointed.

"Good job. Did you sense him?"

"He... he spoke to me." Will's face was scrunched up in confusion. "Is that normal?"

"Yes. That's the bond between a Rider and their dragon."

When they found Nyriem, he was looking thoroughly un-amused. A large, fluffy animal was pouncing back and forth in front of him, making a large 'kloof' sound.

"That's Hal's dog!" Will exclaimed, running forward. "Kloof! C'mere, girl!"

The furry beast whipped around and bowed forward, her huge fluffy tail sweeping back and forth.

Addiane snorted. "That's not a dog, that's a bear."

Kloof bounced forward and leapt up to put her massive paws on Will's shoulders, nearly knocking him to the ground. 

Nyriem let out a ferocious growl, surprising Will and Addiane. Kloof dropped to the ground and turned back around to stare the big dragon down.

"Well, he's certainly bonded to you properly." She finally smiled. "He's very protective of his Rider... Riders."

Will watched Nyriem as he shifted and stretched forward, laying his head on the ground in front of them.

"It's really strange hearing him in my head," He said after a moment. 

Addiane snorted. "At least you can hear words right away. When I bonded with him he had only just hatched and he couldn't speak yet. I usually just got images or impressions of feelings, and that was it."

"Sounds like talking to Tug."

"Who's Tug?" She asked curiously. 

"Oh, uh, he's my horse." He rubbed the back of his neck, smiling a little sheepishly. "None of us would ever admit it to each other, I think, but all Rangers have a very special bond with our horses and it feels like they talk to us."

Addiane nodded. From the way he explained it, it seemed like these horses were very close to Rangers.

"Well as long as we're out here, and Eragon wants us to bond, we could always go for that flight you suggested." Will glanced at her.

She nodded, looking up at Nyriem. 

"I don't know why you're looking for my approval, I chose him didn't I?"

"You did. Which I'd still like to know the reasoning behind." Addiane raised her eyebrows. She guessed based off of Will's lack of confused reactions that he had heard Nyriem's comment.

The dragon puffed out a breath, sort of the creature version of a shrug. "It just felt right."

"That's sort of comforting, but I still don't get why it had to happen." Will mumbled. 

Nyriem grunted and stood, shaking himself.

"Hang on, lets get Kloof back to the others before we do this." Will whistled, getting the big dog's attention. "C'mon, Kloof, lets go find Hal!"

Kloof's ears shot up and she barked excitedly. Will grinned and patted his thighs.

"I'll make sure Nyriem's saddle is ready to go while you do that." Addiane looked up at her dragon. She wanted a moment alone with him.

Will walked off, the big black and white animal loping alongside him and sniffing things in their path with happy gusto.

Addiane turned to look at Nyriem. "Okay, what did you do?"

He blinked at her.

"Nyriem, I know you had a reason for doing that. I really want to know it because frankly I'm a little hurt. It feels like you decided I wasn't good enough."

"How could you think that, Small-Foot!" Nyriem's head shot up and he snorted indignantly. "It has nothing to do with that!"

"Then what was it? You're could seriously injure him, especially since they'll have to leave and go very far away once we've gotten this whole situation finished up."

"It's- it has to-" Nyriem made a loud growling noise of frustration. "I cannot explain it. But I know that it is a necessary movement for what we face and it will sort itself out in the end."

Addiane crossed her arms, chewing her lip. "I don't want you to use him as a playing piece and then toss him aside at the end, it would be unfair to him. Especially knowing how close Riders get to their dragons."

Nyriem didn't say anything, shaking himself and then closing his eyes. Addiane walked over to him, beginning to check the straps of the saddle.

"Murtagh suggested I put this on." She turned to look at Will as he returned.

"Yes. Flight leathers are very helpful when up that high in the air, they keep heat in and fight off any windburn or frostbite. It gets cold and it can be very painful." Addiane shifted her cloak so he could see hers. "You've got traditional ones, I've made my own."

"Fancy." Will chuckled and looked up at Nyriem. "Okay, explain this again? How do I get up there?"

Addiane chuckled and grabbed the side of the saddle, using Nyriem's haunch to haul herself up into the seat. "It's similar to mounting a horse."

"Yes, if the horse was as big as my house." Will snorted. He reached up to grab the same spot that Addiane had, then pulled himself up as well. There was a bit of shuffling and struggling, but eventually Will was sitting behind Addiane on Nyriem's back.

"This is... very strange."

"You'll get used to it." Addiane chuckled. "My first ride was crazy, and Eragon nearly died on his."

"You're not helping..." Will muttered, hugging Addiane's waist as Nyriem stood up. "Gorlog's beard-"

"Who is Gorlog? I keep hearing your friends say that."

"He's a Skandian god that they usually invoke as curses or exclamations. Very helpful, you can invoke basically every part of him."

Addiane shook her head. "That's very strange."

"It is, but we've gotten used to it." Will chuckled.

"Ready to go?" Addiane glanced over her shoulder at him.

"I think so. How fast does-"

Nyriem shot into the air and Will screamed, clutching onto Addiane tightly.

"Nyriem, don't be a bully!"

He spiraled, making Will scream again, then his wings popped open and he leveled off.

"Are you okay?" Addiane asked Will.

"Terrified- but other than that I'm fine!"

She laughed. "You'll get used to it, I promise."

Nyriem looped in lazy circles up over the Spine, letting Will get used to the feeling of flying. 

"Okay, I can see why you love this. It's amazing! I can see everything!"

Addiane laughed, then nudged Nyriem to turn back towards the town.

She helped Will hop down first, then unstrapped herself and climbed to the ground as well.

"So that's how this works now? We can't always be riding at the same time, especially during a fight."

"See, that's sort of a good thing though." Addiane shook her head. "In this fight, we're going to be going up against someone that only I can counteract properly, but having someone fighting with Nyriem would still be beneficial. That... that might have something to do with the whole reason he picked another Rider."

They both turned to look at Nyriem, who made a show of cleaning a spot between his claws. Addiane rolled her eyes and turned away, tugging Will with her. "If you truly do want to remove your magic after our battles, I'm sure Eragon will figure out something that can take it from you."

"I think I'll save my decision until after I've learned some magic to see whether or not I can use it for my missions and such." Will shook his head. "I try to keep people safe and if this magic ability can help me further that cause."

"And that's fine. But don't hesitate to ask for it to be removed, okay?" She smiled at him.

Will nodded, rolling his shoulders a little. "I will."

-----

Addiane looked up at the huge castle she was standing in front of. Something about it was familiar to her, and she wanted to know why.

The doors opened on their own and she walked into the main hallway.

Everything was dusty and covered in cobwebs. Each footstep on the old woven carpet sent particles flying into the air in small clouds.

Addiane looked up at the massive portraits as she walked past them. Dark hair, dark eyes, stony expressions.

"Why are we here?"

She spun, her hand dropping to where her sword should be on instinct.

Murtagh chuckled a little, holding his hands up. "Easy. Just me."

"Are we... are we having the same dream?"

"It would seem so. I wasn't sure at first, but you clearly know this is a dream as well as I do."

Addiane nodded and looked around again. "Do you know where we are right now?"

"Yes. And I'm not sure why we're here."

"What is this place... is that you?" She looked up at one of the portraits. The boy couldn't have been more than eight or nine.

"It is. This is the castle where I grew up, my father's home... there's something more to this. We're supposed to find something."

"But what?"

"Well if we're going up against Srerrafe, I would guess that we have to go look for something of hers."

Addiane raised her eyebrows. "Okay. Where do we go?"

Murtagh gestured for her to follow, walking up the main staircase. 

"What do you think when you come back here?" Addiane asked him quietly as they wandered along one of the hallways. She could see how tense he was.

"I don't like it." Murtagh admitted, shrugging. "But knowing that it's only a dream makes it better."

"It really would be a beautiful place... if it wasn't so disgusting and dusty."

"It was truly a magnificent structure back when there were people to take care of it." Murtagh nodded, then paused as they walked past a room with an open door.

"What's that?"

"The family tree. Morzan insisted on keeping it completely accurate at all times, but I wonder if... let's take a look."

The lanterns that hung in the room flickered to life. Addiane blinked, trying to get her eyes to adjust.

"It's still accurate. My family... even Eragon is on here. How did I never notice that?"

Addiane ran her hand along the tapestry gently, following random lines of names down to the last family member. "Is this... enchanted?"

Murtagh paused. "It might be, actually. I never considered that, but there are people on here that are younger than me... from other parts of the family. Here, Bonnua, she can't have been born more than a few months ago. Morzan is long dead and the castle is clearly very empty, who would be around to sew in new faces and names?"

Addiane smiled, touching the fabric in another place. "There's twins here, Pilcaar and Noas. They're maybe a year or two old, based on the dates...."

"Hang on... there's another name connected to Morzan." Murtagh shifted over, tapping his finger on his father's name and following the golden stitched line along to the other name.

He raised his eyebrows in surprise and stepped back. "That's... oh wow... Addiane, come look."

Addiane stepped up to look at the spot he had been touching.

Her eyes popped open and she scrambled out of the bed, darting for the door.

Murtagh met her halfway between the rooms they had been in, eyes still wide. Addiane skidded to a stop, not knowing what to say.

He grinned.