Will and Addiane ran into a problem almost immediately.

When they walked over to Nyriem and Addiane began to show Will how to get up into the saddle, he laid his hand on Nyriem's side. 

A bright spark shot between the dragon and the Ranger, then he stumbled backwards and collapsed heavily to the ground.

"Will!" Addiane's shout alerted the others as she dropped to her knees next to him, raising her hand to his face instinctively to check if he was breathing. He was, so she quickly rolled him flat on his back, frowning worriedly at his face.

He'd gone extremely pale, and was shaking slightly, but even as Addiane inspected him, the quakes died down. His skin was cold to the touch when she laid her hand on his forehead like she'd seen her adoptive mother do to people sometimes when checking for illness.

"What happened?" Halt was the first over to them, with Gilan and the two Senior Riders right behind him. He laid his fingertips on Will's neck, looking extremely worried. 

"I don't know! He just collapsed!" Addiane looked frantically up at Eragon and Murtagh.

"I could use a spell to wake him, but I don't know if it would cause harm or not. I think it would be better if we got him into Roran's house and let him sleep it off...." Eragon suggested slowly. He looked at Nyriem, who was watching the proceedings with mild interest, then back at Will. "Would you like to carry him or should I?"

"Gilan can do it." Halt shook his head immediately.

Gilan picked Will up carefully, supporting his friend's head on his shoulder. "Lead the way."

Addiane chewed her lip worriedly as the three walked off, Eragon leading the way. Murtagh stayed with her.

Once Halt was out of earshot, she whirled on her dragon.

'What did you do?'

"I don't know."

'Well you had better figure it out. That was dangerous, and it's never happened before!'

"It was just dragon magic. I didn't do it on purpose."

'That doesn't matter, Nyriem, you hurt him! He was shaking, his entire body was cold, something was seriously wrong. You need to try and figure out what you did-

"Do you think he died?"

"Nyriem!" She snapped sharply.

Several people jumped at her outburst. Addiane glared up at him, crossing her arms.

Nyriem finally huffed and laid his head on the ground. "I'll apologize to him once he is conscious and moving again."

'You'd better.' Addiane rubbed a hand over her face and turned, walking off.

"Am I missing something?" Murtagh followed her.

"There was a spark. Like Nyriem... harnessed lightning or some strange thing. I have no clue what happened."

"Huh... well dragons are prone to strange accidental bouts of magic, maybe it was something along those lines."

Addiane chewed her lip worriedly. "Why would he hurt Will though? With the magic they still have to have some sort of purpose, and all Will did was touch his side."

"Good point." Murtagh ran a hand through his hair. "We could go see if anything's going on inside the house."

She was about to reply, but Addiane saw Gilan shuffling out of the house. He looked worried, but hopefully the fact that he was confident enough to leave the building meant that Will wasn't on death's door quite yet.

"Is he okay?" She ran over to him, skidding to a stop and wringing her hands nervously. She felt incredibly responsible, even though she really wasn't.

Gilan rubbed the back of his neck. "We're not sure. Eragon says he is running a fever of some sort, but it seems like he's got a hunch as to what happened."

"Alright, well I'm going to go in and see if there's anything I can do." Addiane sighed. "I feel a little at fault... I'm so sorry."

"What even happened?"

"I think Nyriem shocked him. He didn't mean to, I'm sure, but dragons have no control when they have bursts of magic. It could have done anything but he would have been unable to stop it regardless." She left out what Nyriem had said about him. Dragons could be incredibly insensitive sometimes.

Gilan sighed and shook his head, cursing under his breath. "Of all things... it's always Will too."

"I'm sure he'll be okay." Addiane promised him quietly.

He nodded absentmindedly and began to walk off, fiddling with what looked like a small strip of leather that was attached around his wrist. When he got closer to the group of sailors, they began to badger him with questions, but he shook his head and took a seat on a log off to the side.

Addiane took a deep breath and went inside, looking for where they'd taken the youngest Ranger.

She found him in one of the spare rooms upstairs. Eragon was murmuring spells under his breath, one hand laid on Will's chest as the short man laid on one of the beds in the room. Halt sat on the other, hands fiddling absentmindedly.

Addiane sat down quietly by Halt as he stared at the other two. "Is he okay?"

"Your mentor seems to think so. He's trying to lower the fever."

She nodded, wringing her own hands. "I'm sorry."

"If you couldn't have prevented it, don't apologize." Halt said, not taking his eyes off of the boy. "Just pray that he makes it out of this."

Addiane bit her tongue. Now was not the time to bring up her general distrust of deity worship.

It seemed like they sat there in silence for hours. Eragon altered between small spells to hopefully pull down the fever and gently sponging Will's head with a wet cloth. Eventually someone called Halt's name downstairs and he grudgingly left the room after Addiane and Eragon promised him that the boy would be okay.

"I need to take a break, I'm going to pass out." Eragon finally said. "Would you sit by him?"

He looked like he was about to drop. The spells were little, yes, but when they all piled up on top of each other, they could take their toll on a person.

Addiane nodded immediately. "Of course."

Eragon stood slowly and shuffled out, and she took the seat he'd been in next to Will's bed.

His fever seemed to have gone down quite a bit and he was sleeping peacefully, which was good. Addiane checked his breathing and his pulse again, then sat quietly and waited. She checked his head occasionally in case he was warm again, but nothing changed for almost two hours.

Murtagh came in at one point and offered to take her place. Addiane shook her head stubbornly and waved him off. She heard him sigh and walk out. She shifted in her seat and undid her braid, running her fingers through her hair before beginning to re-weave it into a tighter design and refastening the scrap of fabric at the end of it.

The sun had nearly gone down before Will finally stirred. Addiane's head popped up and she felt another surge of guilt as she realized that she'd been dozing while she sat there.

He groaned and opened his eyes slowly, squinting. "What happened?"

"If I'm being completely honest, I don't really know." Addiane frowned, wincing a little bit at his voice. The man sounded like he'd swallowed a bucket of dry sand. "I think it had something to do with accidental magic from Nyriem... how are you feeling?"

"Cold. Is that strange?" He tilted his head and looked over at her.

"You had a fever." She shrugged. "Anything else?"

"My head hurts." Will shifted himself slowly into a half-propped up position, bringing his hand up to touch his head. "Oooow."

Addiane smiled sympathetically, then something caught her eye that made her freeze, eyes wide.

She managed to keep her shock hidden, carefully picking up the glass of water that Eragon had brought up for when Will was finally conscious.

"Here, drink this. Slowly."

Will took the drink with surprisingly steady hands, cupping it close and sipping slowly. He shook his head, chuckling a little. "It's strange that I can barely get this down... you'd never think that being unconscious would parch you."

"Never..." Addiane chuckled quietly, then stood. "I'm going to go get Eragon... stay here, okay? I know you probably can't do much, but you know. Stay here."

"Yes Mum." He quipped, making no effort to move from the bed. In fact, it seemed like he sank down into the pillows a little more.

Addiane kept herself walking calmly until she reached the stairs of the house, then she bolted down to the kitchen.

"Hello, Addiane. Can I help you with anything?" Katrina was in the kitchen.

"Do you know where Eragon is?"

"I believe he is out by the group of newcomers, but if he's not there you could probably try the pub."

Addiane nodded and dashed out the back door.

Eragon was not by the men, but Addiane let Gilan and Halt know Will was awake. As they made their way towards the house, she turned and ran into the village, dodging a few people who were wandering around the town.

"Whoa, Add, where are you off to?"

Addiane skidded to a stop, panting. "Hi... Kath...."

Her brother chuckled. "Wow, you're really running. Looking for someone?"

She nodded and he glanced around. "Let me guess... Murtagh?"

"Sort of...."

"Ah. Eragon. He was showing Grefray some sword moves, since he knows more than I do."

"Would he still be there?" Addiane could finally stand straight.

"Maybe." Kath shrugged. "I don't really know, sorry."

"That's fine, thanks. I gotta go."

"Go ahead."

Addiane headed in the direction of the traveling market. People were starting to pack their wares up, but Kath and Grefray's stall was still fairly full and completely unpacked. Addiane could hear swords clanging behind it and she raced around the corner.

Eragon cursed loudly as he spun on instinct and nearly took her head off. "Addiane! What are you doing?"

"Will's awake."

"Oh. Oh, good. Is he alright?"

"I think so but Eragon-"

"What happened to Will?" Grefray asked curiously.

"He got shocked." Addiane waved him off. "Eragon-"

"Shocked? By what?"

"It doesn't matter, Grefray, I've got to tell Eragon something important!"

Grefray huffed in annoyance, but walked off, inspecting his sword blade.

Eragon looked at Addiane, raising his eyebrows expectantly.

"His palm. He's got a gedwëy ignasia."

Her mentor looked shocked.

"He... he what?"

Addiane nodded. "I saw it, clearly. Hard to miss, really, his entire palm is silver."

"I need to see this. Sorry, Grefray, I promise I'll come back and show you what I was planning on teaching you."

Grefray nodded, looking a bit annoyed, but Addiane ignored it. He would get over his irritation.

She and Eragon walked briskly back through the town to Roran's house. Ismira was playing out in the front with Roran watching her absentmindedly. Addiane smiled a little as the tiny girl leapt up onto her father's lap with a yell, startling him. He laughed and tousled her hair.

Murtagh was coming down the stairs, eyes wide. "Eragon, Will has-"

"I know, Addiane told me. I need to see it." Eragon shook his head and brushed past his brother, going up the stairs. Murtagh and Addiane glanced at each other, then followed him quickly.

Will looked much better when they walked into the room. Halt and Gilan were sitting with him, Halt in the chair and Gilan perching on the other bed.

Eragon walked right over to the bed and took both of Will's hands, holding him by the wrists and showing everyone in the room his palms.

His left hand had a bright silver mark on the palm. Eragon made a quiet noise of disbelief, letting go of him and stepping away.

"I've been wondering about that." Will said, frowning at his hand. "What is it?"

Eragon unwound the cloth on his hand. He had trained the other Riders early on to cover their gedwëy ignasias when they went out in public, because there were still some supporters of the Evil King out there and one never know if the people they talked to were friendly towards Riders.

Addiane tugged at her own cloth as Eragon exposed his own silver palm. She held her hand out next to his, and Murtagh held his on the other side.

"That's impossible. I don't understand." Eragon shook his head.

"I didn't know dragons could do that..." Murtagh's voice was nearly at a whisper.

"What does this mean?"

Will looked between the three of them, bewildered. "Well? What is it?"

"It's a gedwëy ignasia," Addiane finally said. "The mark of a Dragon Rider."

"What?"