Kenna sat in the meat shed, cutting up the venison into strips and curing it in salt. She then lay the strips on long metal poles which she hung one by one over a fire to be smoked and then stored. She did all of this in silence and ignored Eragon, who sat a few feet away from her working on his own packages of venison.

"Kenna?" He asked finally.

"Yes Eragon?" She asked, not looking up from her work.

"Are you ok?"

She was silent for a long time, the only sound being the crackling fire in front of them. Finally, she said, "I'll be fine when I can leave Carvahall."

He nods and clenched his jaw. "Are you sure you want to leave? Can't you stay here? With us? With me?"

Kenna looked at him and smiled sadly. "Eragon, I...I want to. I really do. I just...I can't. You heard Sloan. He's looking for me. You know my father has always hated me, and I knocked him out with a bottle I didn't even touch. Shattered it on his head. He already thought I was a witch because of my white hair, so I must be one if I can use magic like that. I need to leave before word gets out there's a magician in Carvahall." She sighed heavily and said angrily, "I will never work for the king. Never. I'd sooner use my powers to dethrone him than use them in his service."

"Kenna that's treasonous language. What if someone heard you? Or can hear you?" Eragon said warningly under his breath.

Kenna scoffed. "Don't pretend you have any love for Galbatorix, Eragon. Maybe I'll go and join the Varden. They'd have magicians who can train me to control my magic and then I could use it for a good cause."

Eragon didn't say anything for a long time. "So you really think that you can find the Varden and they'll just welcome you in? We don't even know where they are."

"We'll find them, then." Kenna said determinedly. She stood. "Eragon, you don't know what this could mean. What it could mean for me. I could be free. My family doesn't want me and it's anything but safe for me to be anywhere near the town now. My father will kill me, Eragon. There isn't even a question about it."

Eragon stood and said, "At least wait for winter to end. Wait for spring. The traders will be coming soon. Gather supplies. Food. Weapons. Clothes. Then head out when the weather is warmer."

Kenna nodded. "Very well. I'll wait until spring. But the second the snow melts, Eragon, I am leaving. With or without you."

He clenched his jaw and nodded. But she could see the anguish in his eyes.

******

The traders came and left a week later and Kenna gathered as much supplies as she could think of that she'd need to travel. She returned to the farm before Eragon, Roran, and Garrow so she wouldn't be seen and ended up going through what she purchased.

She had found a new pack to carry her belongings, as well as a new bowstring, arrows, a new pair of sturdy boots, and even found an old book on the history of Alagaësia. She had seen the old town storyteller, Brom, speaking in the town when she went to get her supplies. He was talking about dragons and the legendary Dragon Riders from the past. She had stayed to listen for a few minutes before deciding to leave.

Her mother had told her she could trust him, but she barely knew who he was other than an old man who liked to talk about legends that no longer existed. Funny. Like she'd trust the town's old fanatic.

She picked up the book and looked at the sketch of the map of the country on the first page. She traced her finger along the coast line, starting at Carvahall and tracing down the Spine, and then to Therinsford, Utgard, Yazuac, Daret, and Gil'ead. The Hadarac Desert. And to the far south, the independent country of Surda, and then the Beor Mountains. She found herself staring at the dense mountain range and looked at the dwarven stronghold of Farthen Dur nestled in the middle of the giant mountains.

Fascinated, she then looked up at the far north to the dense forest where the elves were said to live. Du Weldenvarden. She stared at the word for a long time. She shook her head and looked back to the west. There was Dras Leona and then, just to the east of it, Uru'baen, a place she never wanted to step foot in. For some reason the very mention of the city sent chills down her spine.

She turned the page and looked at the table of contents and listed there, was a chapter on what little was known about the Riders. It was only four pages long. She flipped to the section and began to read.

Then, she saw a picture that stopped her dead in her tracks. Sketched in the bottom corner was a depiction of the Stones she and Eragon had found in the woods.

She sucked in a sharp breath and slammed the book shut, dropping it on the bed. She looked to the corner where they had hidden the Stones in a chest filled with blankets and extra clothes to keep them safe.

And hidden. They still hadn't told Garrow or Roran yet.

She swallowed hard, then stepped up closer to the chest, kneeled, and opened the latch, lifting the lid. The light blue Stone with the silver veins sat on the left nestled in one of Eragon's cloaks. On the right nestled in one of her old shirts was the dark midnight blue Stone with the gold veins.

Swallowing hard, she lifted the Stone from the chest and then sat on the bed with it.

No, not a Stone...an egg.

She gently tapped the shell with a knuckle and a hollow dinging sounded from the egg.

Nervous shivers went down her spine as she stood and set the egg on the bed and stared at it.

"Why did you come to me?" She found herself asking it out loud. "I mean, you and that other egg literally appeared in a ball of fire in front of Eragon and I. It must be fate that you're here before me. Or a terrible coincidence." She kneeled in front of it, staring intently at the beautiful midnight blue of it. "Are you a dragon? Really? A real dragon? I wonder if you're a male or female. I don't really know anything about dragons, you know. I'll probably have lots of questions when and if you do hatch."

She rested a hand on its smooth surface and jumped when it moved. Squeak!

She fell back and slid away from the bed in fear. "I didn't think you'd answer me right now!"

She quickly got to her feet. Heart hammering in her throat, she couldn't rip her eyes away from the egg as it began to shake violently and squeak all the louder. A giant crack went through the center.

Cursing, she bolted the door to the room and frantically wondered when Eragon would return. And how in the hell she was going to explain they stumbled upon a pair of real, breathing dragons in the Spine.

The egg began to shake more violently and a small growl came from the egg and the crack widened and a piece fell off as a small snout appeared in the hole. She stood shock still and stared without breathing as the small dragon began to tear open the egg.

Ten minutes later, the creature was sitting on the bed, mucus covering its midnight blue body. Gold spikes went down its neck, back, and tail and there were golden horns on its head. It turned to look at her and licked a bit of the membrane from its nose with a forked tongue. Tiny wings stretched out with gold claws on each one. It wobbled on four legs and stuck it's forked tongue out at her.

Then, it went to step off the bed and let out a surprised squeak as it fell. Without thinking, she reached out and caught it with both hands and a searing, burning pain erupted in her hands and she set the small dragon on the ground and fell back, holding her hands out in front of her and wincing as a silver orb appeared in the center of her left hand and a larger one curling around her her right wrist.

"What the...?" She gasped. She looked at the dragon, who was crawling up onto her lap, tiny claws digging into her thigh.

She felt light headed, but clenched her jaw and shook her head. Her hand and wrist burned, but when she looked at the dragon, all she wanted to do was hold it close. The dragon was about the size of a cat and was licking a little at its wings, the membranes still damp.

She felt lightheaded and fell back, eyes closing and the last thing she saw was the midnight blue dragon standing on her chest and squeaking in alarm.

******

She woke up with a pounding headache. Her mouth was dry and all she could think of was water at that moment. She froze stiff when she heard voices in the house. She looked around frantically and sat up in a rush. Her head spun and there were still silver marks on her hands.

The dragon was still there. Sitting in her lap and now looking up at her curiously. She reached out and touched its head and it nestled its head into her hand, a rumbling sound coming from it that sounded like a cat's purr.

"You need to hide." She said with a cough and picked it up and it nestled into her arms. She didn't want to let it go, but had to clean the mess...

She set the dragon on the dresser and swept up the ruined blanket from the bed and stuffed it into the chest with the other egg and then unlatched the door and sat down quickly on the bed with the book, pulling a few scraps of cloth from a drawer and wrapped a strip around her left hand and the other around her right wrist.

She picked up the book and the dragon seemed to understand and disappeared under the bed.

No sooner had it hid, than the door opened and Eragon entered the room.

"Kenna, you wouldn't believe what I-" he broke off. "Is everything alright? You look pale. You aren't sick, are you?" He asked, eyebrows furrowed in concern.

"No," she rasped. "Just a headache. Can I have some water please? Then come back in here I have to tell you something important."

He nodded and left the room, then came back with water for each of them and closed and latched the door behind him. He gave her the water skin and walked over to the hammock he had fashioned for himself in the corner of the room and pulled off his boots and set them on the floor underneath it. He pulled off his jacket and looked at her and asked,

"So, what is it?"

She took a long drink, then said simply, "The Stones we found in the Spine. They aren't stones."

"Then what else are they?" He asks incredulously.

She jutted her chin at the chest in the corner where she tossed the eggshells. "Look inside."

He stared at her for a moment, then walked over to the chest and opened it and moved aside the blankets. "Where's the midnight one? It's- oh, gods." He looked back at her with a horrified expression. "They're eggs. And...and this one hatched."

She nodded and set her book down and slid off the bed and kneeled on the floor and reached under the bed for the dragon and it crawled out into her arms.

Eragon's eyes widened and he stumbled back a step. "I-Is that...?"

"A dragon, yes. And when it hatched and I touched it, well..." She pulled the strips of cloth from her hand and wrist and showed him the silver markings. "I think the other egg will hatch for you, Eragon. I...think we just became Riders. But I don't know what that means or what will happen next."

He looked at the dragon in her arms curiously and it stared back at him with big blue eyes. He held a hand out to it and the dragon sniffed his hand, then nudged his fingers with its nose.

Eragon smiled despite himself and whispered, "It's so...cute. And so small."

Kenna smiled at him and then nodded towards the chest in the corner. "Yeah. But it'll get bigger. But how quickly, I don't know. The way this one hatched is I was just talking to it. Then, I touched it, and it hatched."

Eragon nodded and walked over to the chest and pulled out the light blue egg with the silver veins and set it on the floor and sat down in front of it. Kenna sat across from him and her little dragon leaned over to sniff the egg and nudged it once.

"Is that your brother or sister?" She asked it. The dragon seemed to wriggle with excitement.

Eragon looked between the egg and the hatched dragon and said, "I think yours is male." The dragon looked at him and seemed to lift its chin.

"Are you a boy?" She found herself asking it. It looked at her and bowed its head and all of a sudden she heard a voice say, Yes.

"Did you say something?" Kenna asks.

"No." Eragon said.

She looked at the dragon. "Did you speak? Just now?"

Yes. Kenna.

She jumped. "He's talking to me in my head. And he said my name."

He went to say something when the lighter blue egg began to move. Squeak!

"Shit." They both said at once.