This is just a random fanfic, but it's not a oneshot. I will add new chapters whenever I feel up to it, but they will follow no particular plot, just some ideas that randomly pop up in my head. Enjoy!

Peace. What did that word mean to him?

Eragon was peaceful whenever he was with his friends, with his dragon Saphira, and above all—when he was enjoying the company of Arya. Peace meant to him his safety and the safety of his friends, their calm and comforting presence. They never let him down when he needed help, when he asked for it. All his fears and worries seemed pointless and small, when he had someone with whom to share his problems. They offered him a helping hand, and when he took it, all his problems seemed to solve themselves. It was all he needed.

Peace meant the feeling of safety and righteousness.

And how did he understand the word love?

The word love had many meanings and many layers to him. There was brethren love, how he felt about Roran, there was friendship again, and there was Arya. The name of the elven princess was a description enough of the third kind of love for him. Whenever he said or heard her name, he felt his stomach do several back flips at the uncomfortable, and yet so attractive thought of her. He quickly associated it with his definition for peace, because he was peaceful and calm when he was with her, just standing in her presence and listening to her angelic voice, or breathing deeply her smell of juniper. Even when she rejected him, he still couldn't hide or suppress the way he felt about her, and despite feeling a little guilty about that, he liked it. He wondered how he had survived a day without her, in the time he still hadn't known about her.

He missed his old life however, even when he hadn't had Saphira or Arya for his friends. The old, peaceful days when he was doing the monotonous housework, weeding the crops, or just sparring all day with Roran and swimming in the Anora river. But after Saphira hatched for him, he knew, although he wanted to deny that feeling at the time, that his life would never be the same again. He had to find new kinds of peace, of love and friendship, as his old bonds had to be severed.

No one from Carvahall would recognize me now. I've changed a lot.

Yes, he had changed a lot during those two years he had spent away from his old home, and if Angela's prediction turned out to be true, he would never even return to Alagaesia once the war with Galbatorix was over. He only hoped he would travel with his friends to wherever he was going next, for now he believed those were the bonds he needed.

He hoped that, one day, he would be worthy for Arya's love.

Suddenly a shadow fell on him and when he looked up, he saw Saphira landing next to him. She flung her enormous wings beside her body and looked him in the eye.

What are you doing, little one?

Just thinking, he answered her.

About what?

About things.

You can't fool me. I saw thoughts about Arya flicker through your mind.

Yes, I was thinking about her too.

Saphira laughed. Okay. Jump on my back, she pointed with her snout at the saddle.

Where to?

Oh, just to fly around. And perhaps find Arya. She winked at him. He laughed.

New dawn shone in Ellesmera.