Disclaimer: I only own Riley and her family, everything else is Paolini's.

"I hope you get enough for your family, Eragon. It's getter colder every day; soon it'll be snowing."

"Don't worry. I'll get them. You sure you don't want to come with me? You'd be a lot of help."

"No, I shouldn't. My mother needs help with her garden."

"Well, I'll see you then, Riley." He picked up his sack and headed toward the Spines.

It was early morning, and Riley turned back on to the road to head home. She had stopped by so early in order drop off some special herbs for Eragon if he needed it when he went hunting. She was glad she made it on time. It was going to be a boring couple of days without him. She wished she could have said yes but her mother didn't really like her going into the Spine. But sometimes she did anyway. Riley wasn't afraid like the other people in the village.

She quickly made it back to Carvahall. It was still early and not many people were out and about yet. She spotted her little house on the end with its withered cozy look. She loved her house. Her mother had bought it pretty cheap 10 years ago when they came to Carvahall and her mother and brother had fixed it up with the help of some of the villagers. Riley made it to the front porch just as her mother opened the door.

"Oh, Riley, there you are. We need to get the plants in for winter. They'll be frost tomorrow morning. There are the shovels. I'll be setting up inside." Her mother gave her a quick smile and went back in. Riley grabbed one of the small shovels and went to the back of the house. She sighed. This was going to take a while. It's not that it was extremely hard work. It was just that there weren't many plants that could with stand the cold weather. There had to be at least over a hundred plants growing. All of them different shapes, colors and sizes. Some of them were used for healing, eating, or even drinking. Others could be used for cleaners and glue. Every plant here had a purpose. And Riley knew everything about each one. It was a knowledge that was very valuable in these places and one that not many had. It made her feel better and she set to work with that in mind.

At about midday her mother called her in to take a break and eat some dinner. There were only five rooms, including the wash room, in the two-story house and to get to the kitchen she passed through the 'extra room' which was always filled with even more plants. During winter there were greens all over the house. But that had never bothered her like some of the few people from the village who had been in her house. It reminded her of another place, where she used to live. But she didn't want to think about that. Not now. It made her sad most of the time.

Her mother had set up the table for two already. For dinner there was steaming hot veggie stew and freshly baked bread. Her mother came in and they both sat down to eat.

"Thank you for helping. You're always so good at getting it done quickly, Cori too. I wish he wasn't away so much." Her mother said with longing in her eyes, "I worry for him whenever he's gone. It's dangerous out there."

"I know mother. But he'll be fine. He's tough enough. Besides he should be home in a month or two. The time'll go by fast. You'll see." Riley blew on her soup to cool it down. They didn't really say too much more over dinner, just talked about the village and other things going on at that time. After they ate, she went back out to finish with the plants. The night came quickly and soon Riley went to sleep. The next few days were pretty much eventless. She helped her mother every day and brought herbs to the town healer, Gertrude. On her way back, she had to pass the butcher's. She heard raised voices and slowed down to see if she could hear what the argument was about.

"... won't deal with anything you bring back from those damned mountains! Take your sorcerer's stone elsewhere." Well that's obviously Sloan the butcher.

The other voice said, "You refuse to sell to me!"

"Yes! Unless you pay with coins. Go before I make you!"

Riley hadn't noticed, but the smith, Horst, was behind her along with Sloan's daughter, Katrina, and he suddenly slammed open the door and they walked inside. Riley knew who the person was that was arguing with Sloan. It was Eragon of course, the only person that really ticked off Sloan. She caught a glimpse of him as the door was closing. He had his arm around a round blue thing. She had no idea what it was but it had this strange effect on her, like she had seen it somewhere before. It gave her chills. No wonder Sloan was so fiercely refusing it.

Riley debated about going in to see him. In the end she decided not to. It was crowded with so many in there already and there wasn't too much of a good atmosphere in that moment. She would just go see him the next day. It was getting dark and her mother promised to have something for her tonight. Riley had a pretty good idea of what it was, probably one of her mother's books. Once, when she was little, Riley went into her mother's room and took some of the books. She would stay in her room and read them until she fell asleep. But when she woke up they weren't on her lap anymore and she had seen that they were put back on her mother's shelf. Her mother hadn't got mad but she would always tell her that she just wasn't ready for them yet. She was right. Most of the parts Riley had no idea what they meant. But for some books, their content was easier to understand.

Riley entered her room and found that her mother had left a book on the table beside her bed.

So she was right. But this book was different. It was small in size but thick in volume, and rather worn. She picked it up and sat on her bed. The faded blue leather was soft to the touch and had a warm feeling to it. There was no title on the cover. She opened to the first page and read "The Magic of a Lifetime" scribbled under another heading. Hmm. She had known there were such things as magic and spells. It was common where she had been born. But since they had moved here, she had forgotten almost everything concerning magic. Her family never discussed the past and magical things. Not since... Well her father died.

Riley flipped through the first couple of pages and saw that every inch of it was filled neatly with small delicate writing. The thing was, it wasn't in the usual writing she saw. But she knew what it was. The ancient language. She recognized the form of most of the words, but their meaning was clouded as she tried to remember. Riley concentrated on one word at a time until she read through the first page. It was harder to know and get a feel for the whole passage after she read. She had to reread the first page again just to understand it fluidly. What she could get out of it was that whoever had this journal was given it from their mentor and instructed to write in it every day, from what they did that day to their thoughts and what they learned at the end of the day.

Because of the strain to clear the meaning out of the scriptures, Riley decided to skim the rest of the pages, studying random passages. She found that aside from being a journal, it also was filled with various spells. It fascinated her. As it became too dark to read, Riley lit her lamp.

The door creaked open and her mother came in to see that her daughter was fast asleep on her bed; the book lying open in her hand and the lamp still glowing slightly. She smiled and moved the book to the table and pulled the blanket up over. As she passed through the doorway she whispered a word and her daughter's room went dark.