A/N: As is the case with most people who have read Inheritance, I am infuriated with the ending! I felt like Paolini was setting up for one thing, then he didn't finish it.
All I did with this is took the last two pages from Inheritance and tweaked them a little. I didn't change the outcome of the story in any way, but I feel like the ending is a lot more satisfying now. Tell me what you think.
"Arya." He looked down the silvery river and then back at Arya, and he gripped the hilt of Brisingr. He was so full of emotion, he trembled. He did not want to leave, but he knew he must. "Stay with me until the first curve in the river."
She hesitated, then nodded. He held out his arm, and she looped hers through his, and together they walked onto the ship and went to stand by the prow.
The elves behind them followed, and once they were all on board, they pulled up the gangplank. Without wind or oars, the ship moved away from the stony shore and began to drift down the long, flat river.
On the beach, Roran stood alone, watching. He threw back his head and uttered a long, aching cry, and the night echoed with the sound of his loss.
For several minutes, Eragon stood next to Arya, and neither spoke as they watched the first curve in the river approach. At last, Eragon turned to her, and he pushed the cowl away from her face so that the could see her eyes.
"Arya," he said, but the elf silenced him by placing three warm, slender fingers on his lips. She dropped her hands to his shoulders and pulled him forward slightly, gently placing her lips against his. Eragon's heart fluttered at the contact, and he kissed her back.
A moment later, Arya broke away, grinning, and raised one hand above her head.
"Farewell, Eragon kingkiller."
Then Fírnen swept down from above and snatched her off the deck of the ship, buffeting Eragon with the gusts of air from his wings.
"Farewell, Arya." He whispered after her as a tear slowly made it's way down his cheek.
Eragon had stood at the prow a long while after his cousin and Arya had disappeared from his sight. He now stood staring over the empty plain, wondering at what strange things they might encounter within its wild reaches. And he pondered the life he and Saphira were to have, A life with the dragons and riders.
Saphira nudged him gently on his shoulder, pulling him out of his revelry. He reached around and began stroking her jaw. A grin spread across Eragon's cheeks as the sapphire dragon began humming deep in her chest. Eragon reached out and touched her mind, but was surprised to find not one, but several presences in the single dragon. He reached out with his mind and felt several tiny, glowing specks of life in Saphira's womb.
"Saphira!" Eragon shouted, "You're pregnant!"
I know, little one, She said, and began rubbing her cheek against his, We are not alone.
A smile crept across Eragon's face.
And the ship sailed onward, gliding serenely down the moonlit river toward the dark lands beyond, and to a new age of the dragon riders.
(A/N: Camera pans up towards stars as the song Paradise by Coldplay starts, followed by the words...)
The End
Alright, so that's how I would have ended it. Please leave a comment as to whether you think it would have been a better ending.