New Legacy

Ch.18

“Ee~! I made a friend on my own!” I cheered for the fifth time in the privacy of the Dragonhold. Nobody came up here unless it was to freshen the water trough and make sure the hay beds were thick enough. I was now in my normal tunic sans trousers, laying in one of the said beds as I wriggled and cheerfully looked up at the night sky with fogs of my breath being illuminated by the full moon.

It was never not full, so I had to wonder about that for a brief moment before the joy of my newfound friendship with Nasuada made me squeal again. I may have made friends with the others in the group, but we were less friends than family by this point. No, this thing with Nasuada was new and different. I haven’t had a genuine friendship formed out of simple enjoyment of another’s company in...ages.

This both saddened me, reminding me why Peppy died when I did, as well as cheered me up for finding someone I could just be me around! I know this for fact because the past few hours up until now had been spent in Nasuada’s rooms, just talking about things. Boys for instance. She preferred wiry and athletic boys like Eragon and Murtagh, while I preferred beefier hunks-.

“Mum!” Peppy cheered when he burst into the Dragonhold and pounced on me in a hug. Ew! He’s half naked and all stinky~!

“Blech! Why do you stink so bad?!” I demanded after I pushed him off of me and ignored his nude bottom half in favor of plugging my sensitive nostrils with my fingers. “Go take a bath first!”

“Sorry mum.” Peppy whined and scampered back to the stairs just in time for his minders to storm up and then promptly give chase again.

“Eugh. I love my boy, but he’s so…” I had no nice way to put it, so I wasn’t going to. Instead I stripped out of my now disgustingly musky and grungy tunic and tossed it over towards the laundry hamper before transforming into my birth form. Saphira and I still sleep up here in our birth forms so we continue to grow. We may have reached sexual maturity, but dragons grow for an unknown length of time. The longer we grow, the better our odds against Shruikan.

Thank gosh that our anthro forms do not grow further past sexual maturity. I don’t want to be a giantess in both forms. It’s convenient to be the same size as my friends and family. However, that said, I don’t like these hay beds. The wargs tried, they did, but I prefer either well-formed smooth stone to curl around or soil I can sink into. Better yet, thick grass. One of the best things during our risky journey across the fields of the empire was sleeping in the tall grass.

“Where the fuck am I?” An Elk who was somehow suddenly standing naked in the Dragonhold groaned while she rubbed her chest. “Where’s Suzi?”

“Oh dear, are you okay?” I asked out of instinctive concern, only for a purple dragon egg to drop on her noggin and knock her out! Oh no! More people from my world! “Roran!”

“How? Well, both you and Peppy...someone is pulling people from your world. I’m on my way up with Eragon and several guards to retrieve them.” Roran replied and I worriedly gathered the unconscious cow and the egg with my tail to protectively cover them from the cold with my right wing, creating a tent of my warm flesh for them.

“H-hello?! Can you hear me?!” Came the frantic thought-voice of the already mature mind in the egg. How surreal. I too was in that situation. From this perspective...she’s so small and precious. “I’m not small! I’m fun-size!” Oo~ someone was a shorty in their previous life. “Shorty?! Why I’ll-uh, previous life?” She meekly asked fearfully and I sent small packets of my knowledge regarding her situation to her. “Guh~! Ugh...ow...I’m just...gonna take a nap…”

I would apologize, but it’s better that she get some rest. Shame that she isn’t male. I’m feeling that core-deep yearning again. Until Thorn and Firnen hatch, I won’t be able to fulfill this desire to have a clutch of hatchlings of my own. “Shimmer.” I looked away from the surface of my wing to see Roran with several wargs in full armor and two griffins with a stretcher.

“The elk has suffered a rather strong bonk on the head from the purple dragon egg falling on her crown. One of you retrieve Arya Svit-kona. This situation changes things and I must ensure the future I have foreseen is not grievously altered due to it.”

“How can they change so much?” A warg questioned curiously, so I rolled my eyes at him since he clearly missed what I said, so I opened my wing. “Oh.”

“The egg appeared with her. It is clear they are intended to be partners. This changes the dynamic, I must speak with Arya.” If she does not take Firnen’s egg, he won’t hatch for her, leaving Thorn as the sole male dragon until one of the eggs hidden in the Vault hatches a male.

“I’m here!” Arya arrived alongside Brom and a few ponies, griffins and hippogriffs. Aside from Arya, they all had some measure of dishevelment or even food or drink staining their clothes. “We sensed an immense spike of magic activity that was similar to the spell I sent Saphira’s egg away with.” Arya looked at the two beings I was curled around and her eyes sharpened.

“As much as I am willing to play the role of living tent, it is perhaps best if they are taken below to someplace secure.” I stressed and the wargs swiftly moved the lithe and fit elk cow with her modern T-shirt and jeans tight on her clearly much-taller frame onto the stretcher while Brom gently took the purple egg into his arms to follow the cow as she was carried down the stairs. “Arya, you and I need to talk in private.”

“Perhaps you should explain some of what is going on for the benefit of security?” One of the Varden mages, a hippogriff, snippily ‘suggested’ and I snorted smoke.

“No. Because even if you did know, it wouldn’t help you. Begone.” They remained. “I said Begone THOT!” The weight and volume of my mental shout along with my audible roar sent the lot of them scurrying for safety downstairs, leaving me with Arya. “Arya. Listen closely. You are to be a Rider. One of the eggs with Sombra, the green one, will hatch for you. It is how things should go and you will need to be close to those around you to change you enough that he will do so.”

“Close? I am already quite close with the lot of you. You saved me, taught me things I did not know. I consider you and the others I have traveled with my friends, at least as much as the elks I had made the annual journey between here and Du Weldenvarden for decades.” Arya spoke into my mind, clearly understanding that our conversation was truly private.

“Yet you still treat us as barely more than acquaintances.” I lowered my head to her and nuzzled my snout against her modest chest and she pulled away. “Arya. If you cannot learn to allow others into your heart. You will suffer the same loneliness as your mother.”

“Do not speak of my mother as if you know her.” Arya snarled, her features dangerous, but I did not fear her. If she struck me, she risked far too much. If she is my friend, she wouldn’t dare.

“Queen Islanzadi, widow. She closed her heart to all, even you when your father Evandar passed at the hands of Sombra, which she worsened by banishing you from her presence when you chose to support the Varden 70 years ago. She is erratic, judgemental, feared and most of all, alone. It is this fate you are destined if you cannot change the person you are now for the better.” I looked directly into her eyes and opened my mind, my memories of our time together at the forefront, even the embarrassing ones along with all that I knew of her future.

Arya delved into my mind and I let her. I didn’t even flinch at how she bulldozed through my thoughts about her, both innocent and lewd along with the full gamut. When she was done, Arya politely avoided trying to probe the rest of my memories and closed her eyes for a moment. “So you really think that I am a cold person? That I do not treat those I care for with affection?”

“I do not think so, I’ve witnessed it to be so.” Which Arya saw from my perspective and thoughts now. She had to understand that whatever feelings she thought she was broadcasting, she wasn’t. “Arya. I care for you. You are a friend, practically family to me. I do not want you to miss out on happiness because of the really fucked-up priorities of your people’s society.”

“Which is cold and detached almost as a rule.” Arya nodded in understanding. She had never lived in close proximity to other races before to the point of being able to see how they interacted past passing exchanges. Sure, she had traveled among them, but she always acted as an elk and had elks with her. “I do not know how to proceed. I already trust and care for you all more than anyone besides my mother once-upon-a-time.”

“Perhaps you should pursue Love, perhaps you should open yourself to others even if you don’t seek Love. Either way, I will support you.” I moved my snout closer and this time she did not back away when I nuzzled her modest bust. “Aw, no hug?”

“Don’t push it.” Arya leered into my eyes and I laughed before I pulled away. “Thank you for the insight and the warning. Good night.” She turned to leave, but I moved my head to block her.

“That elk is not of your people. She is like me, the same for the dragon in the egg. They were both brought here by an unknown entity or force. I warn you about this because the politics will demand that she represent your people in the Riders. She will need guidance and protection from corruption from the people who would seek to turn her to their cause.” At my words, Arya nodded and then briskly sprinted from the Dragonhold with the signature speed and agility of the elks.

Now then, it’s been an exciting evening, I’m going to sleep.

🥚

“Mum, new people from our world!” Peppy exclaimed when he saw me the next day. I chuckled at him, though I was worried since he rushed me while he was completely naked. I guess he didn’t mind running about without clothes on, mind you he never needed them before outside of those cute doggy sweaters I put on him for the fall and winter. His minders trailing after him with basic clothes was fairly amusing too.

“Yes dear, they are from our world. How could you tell?” I questioned him and let him pounce on my side, allowing him to hug and nuzzle as much of his body on me as he could. Normally I’d be flustered by this, but Peppy just...he wasn’t viable. Not to me. He was my boy, my little buddy, my pet.

“They smell like old home!” Peppy’s words caused me to heave out a sigh at the confirmation that my former apartment was apparently either a dimensional focal point or some entity was just using it as a spot to poach people and other living things into this world for whatever reason.

“Thank you for the confirmation, Peppy. Now, be a good boy and let the nice wargs get you dressed and on with your day.” I pushed him towards his minders and he whined, but obeyed and let them dress him before they guided him back downstairs. Were he not so useful, he’d have been executed or imprisoned for madness or something I’m sure. “Peppy will stay with me once this war is over.” I had little hope that he’d find a partner either. He was treated differently.

“I see the little mongrel is still attached to you like a barnacle, sister.” Saphira commented in amusement and I leered at my sister in disapproval.

“He is my boy. He may be special in the head, but I love him anyway.” I nodded in affirmation and then we both stood and stretched like cats. “Mm, so, what is on today’s agenda?”

“I’m leaving today, remember?” Saphira asked sadly and I wilted. Right. The feast wasn’t just to celebrate our victory over the yaks and Sombra’s strongest servants, it was also a farewell party for Eragon and his entourage. Orik would be going with them too. I haven’t made any warg friends besides him…

“Right...can we just lay together like when we were stuck in that treehouse for the winter?” I requested sadly and Saphira shifted on her claws uneasily.

“Actually...I was hoping we could…” Saphira wiggled her tail and suddenly my body got hot.

“O-oh...I won’t say no to that.” I wiggled my own tail and approached my adopted sibling saucily.

🥚

“I swear. I won’t be able to get used to you two doing that.” Eragon grumbled when we approached the caravan preparing to leave through the tunnels leading north to Tarnag. “Remember that you’re Roran and I’s other halves. You two being so...lewd is like I’m…”

“Get over it, Little One. You need to grow up and see that intimacy isn’t something to fear. Besides, remember that while I am your other half, I am still my own person.” Saphira harshly chided her Rider, who winced at the tone his dragon had taken with him.

“Yes, Eragon, they have needs separate from your own.” Brom chided him and Eragon nodded in shame. “Shimmer. I leave you here. Support the Varden and the Wargs however you can, but be wary. Dûrgrimst Az Sweldn rak Anhûin will attempt to murder you and Roran. Without me around, I’m afraid the only barrier between you two and those misguided fools will be the guards of the Dûrgrimst Ingeitum.”

“I have no fear of those morons. Even when they bring cursed blades to steal our lives, we will not falter.” Besides, it is mostly Roran they would go after. Not even cursed blades can promise to penetrate the stone-hard scales of a dragon. I’ve already warned him about them and he’s been working on wards and enchantments to wear on his person to guard against such treachery. Also...when I figure out how. I’ll give Roran my Eldunari. I never want to leave him, even if it means being trapped like an egg again should I perish.

“I just wish I didn’t have to say goodbye to Roran in his workshop. I’d rather have seen him here.” Eragon commented sadly. I could understand his feelings, but at least he’d had the foresight to visit Roran in his workshop, which in its current stage, needed him around at least in the mornings to make sure his apprentices learned how to make the new tools and devices they sought to build.

“Roran wishes he were here too, Eragon.” I lowered my head and nuzzled the grounded pegasus in the chest. “Learn and recover well, Eragon. You will grow much in your time among the elks, but do not let their fatalistic and grim view of life tarnish the person you are. Also, never give up meat just because you can sense their rudimentary thoughts. There is a difference between sentience and self-awareness.” I stressed to the young stallion and he nodded.

“Don’t worry. I’ll keep his head on straight. Arya and I will also guard our sudden new charges.” Brom stated and I nodded gratefully before Saphira leaned against my side and nuzzled along my neck, causing me to shiver, especially when she twisted our tails together and I had to fight the pleasurable tingling shooting through me.

“We will meet again, sister.” Saphira rubbed her snout against mine in our equivalent of a kiss in these forms and I crooned happily before she hesitantly moved away with a blushing Eragon climbing onto her saddle.

I watched them depart down the tunnel to Tarnag with sadness and I even sent a keening call down it, which Saphira responded in kind. I sat there for what felt like hours, but might have only been minutes before I found the strength to get up and climb the stairs up to the Dragonhold, my heart too heavy to leave the ground right now.

🥚

Life for the next few weeks fell into a routine.

I would wake up and exercise in my anthro form under tutelage from Jossick, one of Hrothgar’s most veteran soldiers. Then I would fly about the lower regions of the nearby mountains to hunt for my biggest meal of the day since the wargs couldn’t keep up with a dragon’s hearty diet. After that I would wash up, dress up, then spend most of the day until evening with Nasuada. My evenings were spent having dinner with Roran and Katrina with our friends joining in.

Roran meanwhile spent almost the entirety of his days working in his workshop, teaching wargs new techniques and how to build new tools. I wasn’t nearly as mechanically gifted as Roran. He already had the mind for it, I just gave him the information he needed to work from.

However, one day, my simple and fulfilling yet sometimes boring routine was interrupted by Nasuada bringing me to perhaps one of the most beloved and confusing characters from the canon. “Oo~! You already know that toads are frogs!” Actually, they’re both the same-. “You acknowledge it!” Okay? “Nasuada dear, you should have brought her sooner!”

Angela, the zebra shamaness, was even more overwhelming in person than she was in the books. The unnaturally beautiful yet frumpy zebra mare had a wild mane that seemed as likely to be a bird nest as it was to be a fashion statement. She wore both too much, yet too little, letting her body both be obscured and flaunted as if she didn’t know which way to go.

Her eyes also gleamed with eternal mischief and her knowing grin made her seem both playful yet malevolent. “Sister, please be calm.” Another zebra mare huffed. She wore dzilla neck rings around her neck that unlike tradition, didn’t push her shoulders down to lengthen her neck. She also wore similar bangles on her wrists and ankles. She dressed much more blatantly openly with merely a leather brassier and skirt, letting her muscular and sexy body be on display.

“Don’t mind Zecora, we’re not actually sisters.” Angla chuckled with a familiar pat on the other mare’s shoulder, causing her to roll her aqua green eyes and slap Angela’s wandering hand from touching her impressive mohawk. “We’re as related as you are to Saphira.”

“So, you’re members of a sorority or coven?” I asked for confirmation and the two nodded. “I see, that would explain your incredible lifespan and uncanny ability to be where interesting things are happening.”

“She is as aware of things as you said, Angela. She may well be worth following in her exploits.” Zecora looked me over and I felt a bit uneasy. I couldn’t tell if she was checking me out, or doing some weird magic thing. “Hm, she brims with untapped potential.”

“Careful, Zecora. Someday you’ll unleash the potential of someone who can’t handle it, then what will you do?” Angela playfully booped Zecora on the nose and she scrunched her face instinctively. Ponies and zebras do that? I could’ve been booping my friends this whole time!

“I told you they were quite the characters.” Nasuada smiled at me and I nodded in agreement. Also, I was suddenly realizing I was in a room with three beautiful zebra mares and it’s usually warm in here for some reason.

“Hm, perhaps she should leave. We’re working with various alchemical ingredients here that may not agree with those of reptilian nature. I will be seeing you soon enough however, miss Shimmer.” Zecora shooed us out and Angela cackled as if some great joke was just said. What did I miss?

“I am now genuinely confused.” I muttered and walked alongside Nasuada.

“I wanted you to meet them before things got hectic again.” Nasuada said and I looked at her in perplexity. “We are vacating Farthen Dur and many of Hrothgar’s troops will be joining us.” Oh!

“We’re going to Surda?” Diane had left for Surda weeks ago, shortly after Eragon, Brom and Arya had begun their travel to Du Weldenvarden.

“Yes, so pack your bags Shimmer. It is time for war.” Nasuada stated and I sighed.