"Rune, you have to focus!" Trianna snapped when Rune failed to lift the pebble after the first eight tries.

Ellemo watched with unmasked amusement, her arms crossed over her chest.

Rune put her head in her hands. "I am focusing! I just can't do it!"

"I've explained to you how," Trianna said. "Say the words again. Focus on the stone. Envision what you want to do."

"Reisa du stenr," Rune whispered, trying to picture the stone rising into the air. Nothing happened. She gave a shriek of frustration and hit her head against the table.

Ellemo snickered. "Why don't you try to light a flame? Argetlam could do it the first time he tried." She was smiling cruelly.

Rune shook with rage. Didn't they get it? She couldn't use magic! "Brisingr!" she hissed.

The candle didn't light.

"Maybe you just aren't talented enough to use magic," Ellemo said sweetly. "It is an art. One you obviously have no skill at."

Rune was fed up. She launched herself at Ellemo. "Shut your mouth!"

The two girls crashed to the floor, rolling over each other. Rune scratched at Ellemo's face, too far gone to care about the trouble she would get in. Ellemo scrabbled at her hair, but couldn't get it loose from its tight braids to pull on it. Rune hit her.

Ellemo's eyes burned. "Brisingr!" she screamed. Rune's hair caught on fire.

Rune ignored it, digging her knee into Ellemo's gut. The girl grunted in pain.

"Letta!"

Both girls froze, unable to move. Eragon strode towards them. "Blöthr du brisingr."

Rune's auburn tresses stopped burning, but the smell of scorched hair remained. Eragon dragged her upwards. "What is the meaning of this?"

Rune found she was released from the spell, and threw her arms around Eragon, sobbing into his chest. He patted her back comfortingly.

Ellemo picked herself daintily up, ignoring how disheveled she might look with scratch marks on her face and blood running from her nose. "Rune attacked me unprovoked."

Eragon placed his hands on Rune's shoulders, holding her an arm's length away from him. "Is that true?"

Rune was still crying. "She insulted me because I can't use magic."

Shooting a livid gaze at both Ellemo, then Trianna—who was standing there with a smug expression on her face—Eragon cleared his throat. "You should keep better track of your apprentice, Trianna. Such behavior is not to be tolerated."

A hand on Rune's back, Eragon walked purposefully out the door, slamming it behind him.

ooooooooooooooooooooo

"Rune, you have to have better control than that," Eragon said softly, sitting with Rune in the empty field.

Rune cried silently into her hands. Her now-shoulder-length hair was wet with her tears. "You don't understand."

Eragon raised her chin using a single finger. "Rune, I understand more than you could ever believe. But that doesn't change the fact that you know better."

"I…I just lost control," Rune whispered. "I was so angry…"

Rune's eyes widened as she realized what she was saying. Galbatorix's blood ran in her veins. Could his violence, his rage run through her as well? Was she turning into her father?

Eragon gave her an encouraging hug. "Maybe we should try again." He picked up a pebble, setting it in her hand. "Try to lift it. You know the words, right?"

Rune nodded, taking a deep breath. "Reisa du stenr."

The rock didn't move from her hand. She sighed. "Eragon, I've tried a thousand times. Maybe Ellemo is right. This is an art I have no talent at."

Eragon clasped her hand around the pebble. "Never lose faith. I had a difficult time with magic too. I could barely lift a pebble my first try."

"Yes, well it's my tenth try, and I can't lift it."

Eragon smiled understandingly. "Perhaps you should try using different words. Try these: Stenr Reisa!"

Rune tried. Still the rock didn't move.

"I'll talk to Arya,"Eragon offered. "Maybe she can help you."

Rune sighed again. "At this point, I need all the help I can get."

ooooooooooooooooooooo

"It doesn't make sense," Eragon said. "She has elf blood in her. Magic should be at her command."

Arya nodded. "It is in her, that is for certain." The elf princess said nothing else of Rune's birth, not even to Eragon.

Eragon began to pace. "What could hold her back like that?"

"Perhaps she was spelled as a baby," Arya suggested. "Such a spell could resist use of magic her entire life."

Eragon shrugged, shaking his head. "I don't mind that she can't use magic, but she seems to think it makes her less than human."

"If she was spelled, then there is nothing you or I—or even she—can do about it. She must accept that magic may be lost to her forever."

Eragon nodded. "I understand. But I don't want to be the one to tell her."

ooooooooooooooooooooo

Súndavar sat in his room, lounging on the bed. His mind swirled with troublesome thoughts.

There was a light knock on the door.

"Who's there?" the boy asked roughly.

"It's me," said a young, feminine voice. Rune. "May I come in?"

Súndavar didn't respond. He heard the door open anyways. Rune entered the room, squinting in the darkness. She pulled open the curtains, flooding the space with light.

Grumbling, Súndavar turned away from the sunlight. Rune sat down on the bed across from him, cross-legged.

"I haven't seen you lately," she said. "Have you been hiding in here?"

"Why would I need to hide?"

"Have I upset you?"

"How could you have upset me?"

"That's what I'm asking," said Rune.

"Yes," answered Súndavar, not meeting her eyes. "I suppose you have."

"What did I do?"

"You've been charmed by Argetlam. You share his chambers, eat at his table. You…you allow his arms around you."

"Eragon is charming," Rune admitted. "But my heart belongs elsewhere. As for sharing chambers, I now have my own." She took his hands. "Which I'd be willing to share with you, if it would make you happy."

Súndavar looked up into her green eyes. They were open, twinkling. The eyes of a friend.

"I'd sleep beside you," Rune continued. "Like we did in Cithrí." She paused. "But only if you promise there will be no attempts on my maidenhood. I'm not ready to give that to you."

"I'd never steal something so precious," Súndavar answered her, touching her cheek.

Rune got up. "Then I'll see you tonight."

Súndavar nodded, smiling.

Taking a deep breath, Rune sighed. "I suppose I owe you this," she said, pressing her lips lightly to his cheek. "You gave it to me and I never returned it."

She left the room without another word.

oooooooooooooooooooo

Murtagh watched the mirror, staring in horror at the image Galbatorix was projecting. "She…she kissed him."

The king rubbed his temples, eyes closed. "Yes, Murtagh. She did."

"Do you suppose she's…"

"To my knowledge, they aren't lovers. That may change tonight, despite what they said."

"Tonight is the night I am to retrieve her," Murtagh said quietly. "Why did you show me this, milord?"

"To lessen your affection for her. She has forgotten you, moved on. You should do such as well."

"You may command my actions," Murtagh said bravely, "but you cannot command my heart. Rune will always be special to me. Even after you rob her of everything."

Galbatorix spun around, striking Murtagh in the jaw with a strength that surprised the young Rider. "Your tongue is insolent. Be gone!"

Murtagh rubbed his jaw, striding out of the room. "I'm so sorry, Rune," he whispered. "You may have forgotten me, but I'm sorry all the same."

Ancient Language:

Blöthr du brisingr: halt/stop the fire

brisingr: fire

Letta: stop

Reisa du stenr: raise the stone

Stenr Reisa: Raise Stone