The image in the mirror's dissolved to mist before it parted to reveal the clearing. Most of the attendees were seated at the table, though few touched their plates. It was a very subdued gathering now that the five guests of honor had departed, especially since they'd left in such a sorrowful manner.

Leafë paced at the head of the table while her husband sat in the chair and watched. "Where are they?" she asked the obviously rhetorical question. "Why do they argue so? And what is Nia hiding from us?"

"Be calm, my love, before you worry yourself to death," Niom chided gently, snatching her hand and pulling so that she landed in his lap. "They've gotten into fights before, and they've always worked it out."

"But this seems to stem from a much deeper issue," Leafë replied, resting her head on his. "I've never seen Nate explode like that."

"It will all be resolved, Princess," Wayłoêr liquid voice arose. She stepped into view, smoothing out her dress so that it now resembled a pond. "Niaomi understands what she must do."

The elf grimaced slightly. "Why do you call me that? I've told you many times that my title has been revoked."

"Royal blood flows through your veins," the naiad countered. "Once a royal, always a royal."

Laughing roughly, Leafë replied, "Go inform my mother of that." Niom's arm tightened around his wife, and she gave him a weak smile.

Suddenly, a clamor was heard. The five teenagers burst through, excited grins on their faces. "Far, Far, Far!" Nate crowed, running to his father and jumping up and down excitedly. "Guess what, Far? Guess what, Far? Guess what?!"

Niom's face was almost comical in its complete bafflement. "Uh - "

"We're going to be Riders, Far!" Nicholas shouted, cutting him off. "All of us!"

Leafë's eyes widened as her husband choked out the word, "What?"

Nia smiled brightly, but her eyes were still worried. "I looked for the path and found it. I know where to go to find our eggs, but I have to warn you that - "

"Isn't it great?" Rosaminda obliviously interrupted. "Marvelous? Stupendous? Extraordinary?"

She would have continued if her twin hadn't patted her arm and said with a grin, "I'm sure they understand, Rose."

"Not really," Niom muttered with a frown. "Riders? All of you? How - "

"Nia's seen it!" Nathan interjected, still bouncing in excitement. "She had a vision where all of us were holding baby dragons!"

His mother raised an eyebrow in a perfect arch. "Really? I thought your visions were of a different Rider, Nia."

Niaomi waved her hand in embarrassment. "That's not important right now. I have to warn you guys - Far in particular - that something might happen here. Something dangerous."

"Here?" Tristan boomed. "On Alalëa? Now how'd ye come up with somethin' crazy like that, eh?"

"It's not crazy," she huffed, folding her arms. "It's true, and we all may very well be in danger."

Błathr stepped forward. How? The island's barriers are strong enough to keep out a storm or anything else that may harm its inhabitants - what could break through them?

"That's exactly what I'm afraid of," Nia informed the unicorn grimly before turning to her parents. "So please, come with us?"

"Is that wise, young one?" Wayłoêr asked, cocking her head as if to observe the girl from another angle. "Are you certain that your fear is not clouding your judgement?"

"I'm positive that this is the smartest decision to make," she replied fiercely. "So, Mor, Far - will you come?"

Niom looked at his wife, who sighed once before giving a terse nod. "Alright, Nia. We'll come. But first, can we know where we're going?"

She laughed and only told him, "Just know that I wouldn't dress warmly, because where we're going is more than hot enough."

____________________________

Niom stared before looking at his daughter and raising an eyebrow. "Really?"

The five kids and their parents were standing on the lip of  Mt. Istalri. A gentle waft of smoke spiralled around them, lifting their hair upwards. The heat of the lava that boiled hundreds of yards below was still evident through the sweat on their brows. Niaomi was smiling mischievously.

"Yes, really. There's a cave a little bit above the lava line directly beneath us. That's where we have to go."

Rose shook her head in disbelief, throwing her golden strands into disarray. "You're crazy. Just plum crazy. How in the name of Hephaestus are we supposed to withstand the heat long enough to get down there in the first place?"

I believe this is where I come in, Flair said as she gently alighted onto Nia's shoulder. The rest of the bondmates were nowhere to be seen; Eragon assumed they could not accompany the humans on this venture.

"That's right. Flair and I will keep the heat at bay as we descend."

Nate grinned at that. "So I assume it's up to the rest of us to control the descent?" His sister nodded, and he rubbed his hands in preparation. "Sweet; let's do this!"

He closed his eyes and held out both hands, palms facing upwards as he muttered under his breath. All except Niaomi and Flair followed suit, scrunching their foreheads in conversation. Everyone's hair lifted upwards even higher in a sudden breeze, as if a wind was blowing up from the ground to the sky. Shirts began to flap, and then, accompanied the rustling of their garments, a whoosh was heard as all seven members steadily rose from the ground.

They hovered, moving into place above the volcano's opening before slowly beginning their descent. As the group sunk lower into the bowel of the volcano, Flair began flying around them in lazy circles, a sheath of fire glimmering behind her. Nia reach out to the flames, delving her fingertips inside the red-yellow expulsion of heat and light. With concentrated and precise movements, she drew the fiery curtain around her entire family, encasing them in a burning sphere.

Flair continued to crisscross the shield of fire, fueling it with her own flaming feathers. Her black irises glinted gold as they reflected the lava, which drew nearer and nearer as they slowly floated down. The molten rock churned, small spouts of magma shooting upwards before it returned to the rolling depths within Mt. Istalri's basin. Walls blackened by previous eruptions rose to form the inner sides of the volcano, rough and lumpy.

Finally, only two feet above the pool of liquid heat below, Niaomi touched Nathan's hand and their controlled fall immediately halted as he and the others stopped speaking. They slowly rotated one hundred and eighty degrees until the wall nearest to them came into vision. Directly in front of them gaped the cave's entrance, a roughly carved structure that mirrored the one in Nia's drawings despite the fact that it was not underwater.

Eragon was curious; not wanting to break the quiet that had fallen upon the others, he turned to Saphira for an answer. How is it that the entrance has not been obscured from past eruptions?

She was amused. This "entrance" leads to an unknown hold filled with dragon eggs, no doubt protected not only by this natural defense but magical ones as well.

The pointed tips of his ears turned red as he realized he'd overlooked the obvious cause of the anomaly. I knew that.

No, you did not, Saphira said, shifting her head and making her scales scrape together with a sharp sound. Ignoring the quick glances from dragons and persons that this action brought, she continued, But you do now.

Eragon resisted the urge to roll his eyes as the mirror showed Niaomi and her family drifting towards the cave; Saphira already knew what he had intended to do. Focusing his attention back to the reminiscence and ignoring his dragon's smug attitude, he watched as the group tried to float into the cavern. Only five succeeded.

"Nia," the silver-haired elf called out in a confused voice. "Something's wrong."

Nia twisted her neck around to look behind her as she and the other four kids drifted into the opening, narrowly passing in between the spire of rock jutting from above and below. Niom and Leafë had come to a halt right before entering, their faces shocked and strained as they tried to combat whatever force was driving them away.

"Stop," the girl commanded, and everyone quieted, causing them to still. The bubble of fire had waned around the kids as they drew closer to the cave, since Flair to could not pass, before finally flickering out as they entered. Their parents and the phoenix levitated on one side of the stalagmite-stalactite studded gap while the kids were drifting to the ground on the other.

Once the five landed, Niaomi turned around and strode towards her parents. Before she'd gotten within a foot of the cave's mouth, some invisible but very tangible force stopped her. Hard.

"Ow!" she shouted, reeling backwards and clutching her nose. Blinking her eyes to clear the tears of pain that had sprung up, the girl gently pushed at the barrier, though it seemed like she was pushing on air. Like before, she was stopped before it got anywhere.

"There must be a magical force barring us from entering...and you from leaving," Niom said gravely. "I fear the only way for you all to escape is to continue through the cavern - without us."