Eragon slipped into the house in Dras-Leona. He might be able to sneak past Arwen – she'd never know he'd been gone –

"There you are."

He started, and turned around to face the chair he had just walked past. There, seated even straighter than usual, was Arwen.

"Arwen Cloudlight." He bowed stiffly as an elf of a lower rank was expected to when meeting one of a higher rank, though he stopped just short of the protocol height. "I have just returned from - "

"Don't you dare twist the truth, Eragon. You forget, as always, that I have magic." She muttered a phrase quickly that he didn't catch, but he knew exactly what it was; he tried to find his inner magic, as the elders had taught him, but he had never been able to use magic like the others. And so he could do nothing but watch as an image of the Ancient Circle appeared in front of him.

"Eragon, why do you do this? You know no one except the elders are allowed to enter the ancient circle." She spared another glance for the floating phantasm of the circle of power-filled trees, and it vanished.

It all poured out of him in a rush. "I thought if I could go in the Circle, since it's so full of magic, that it would let me use magic, like you and all the other elves do."

"It's not worth the risk! All of your wandering off at night, what Madoran Elflord would say if he knew…"

Eragon winced. Madoran Elflord was a great and noble leader, but he was incredibly strict with his edict that no one leave the city after dark. It was really for their own protection, but still Eragon felt the lack of freedom chafing him.

The reason for the Elflord's edict was quite simple – it was because of the dragons. Dragons and elves had lived in Alagaesia many years, but they did not always remain peaceful. Just the past week Elnath-Sor had been burned in a surprise raid by dragons. In retaliation a group of fighters had been sent to the dragons' nest to destroy all of their eggs, making the dragons even angrier. The problem was that the number of attacks was increasing rapidly, causing many to say that the dragons must be wiped out before the elves' race was eliminated completely. However, the Elflord continued to search for an answer to the problem, refusing to believe that the destruction of an entire species was the only solution.

"Arwen - " Eragon began.

"Enough. Go."

Relieved she hadn't punished him, Eragon moved past her and up to his bedroom, where he slipped into dreams almost immediately, tired out from his wanderings that night.

* * *

When Eragon woke up the next morning and went into the main room, he saw Arwen preparing to leave.

"There you are, Eragon. I have to leave immediately, Thanaline RosesThorn told me that the dragons have attacked and destroyed Prelith-Ga and Madoran Elflord and Kelanth Elflady have called a council." She sounded harried. "Please don't go wandering off today, there are dragons about. I saw a fierce-looking green one fly overhead not 5 minutes ago."

Eragon froze. Prelith-Ga! That was barely half a day's run from Dras-Leona – a short distance for an elf, and even shorter for a dragon in flight.

"Eragon? Your word?"

"Of course, Arwen. I won't go wandering off aimlessly."

"Good." She smiled once, briefly, then left, headed in the direction of Madoran's court hall.

Because elves speak in the ancient language, they cannot lie. However, they have instead learned how to perfect the art of speaking only half of the truth. So while Eragon had said he wouldn't "go wandering off aimlessly," he had no intention of staying near his and Arwen's home. Instead, he headed off almost immediately back to the ancient circle.