Disclaimer: The usual, guys. I don't own Eragon or any related gunk. If only…

CHAPTER III - THE RE-UNION

Murtagh held the door open for me, and I walked through it under his arm, catching a whiff of his cologne as I did so. God… he smelt like pure man.

"Uhh.. Right.. Erm, okay." Snap out of it! Stop stuttering, idiot. Great. My brain was back in action. Shut it, you. You haven't seen fit to intervene so far, so why start now? ...Shush.

" Err… okay. Right, I'll get your bags."

"Don't be stupid, there's tons here. Here, you take these four, I'll get the rest."

I took the bags from him, and watched him silently as he crouched down (no bending over for this graceful creature) and hoisted 5 knapsacks onto his back, held another 2 in his hand and dragged a 3 foot suitcase along behind him.

"Right. After you, kiddo." Kiddo?? I'd known him 40 minutes, and he already had a nickname for me??

I made my way down the hallway, looking back sneakily every few minutes to reassure myself that he really was there. I can't believe I actually have a brother!! Yeah, well, look where you're walking. Mind that door!!! It was too late. Despite what my brain was telling me, I walked straight into a glass door. In fairness, it was a very clean glass door.

I heard Murtagh running up behind me.

"Dude, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine. You'd be surprised the amount of times that's happened to me."

"Yeah, I'll bet. Right, let's get you up."

Just then, with me lying down, being cradled my Murtagh, our mother came round the corner of the corridor. Her face lit up immediately as she saw Murtagh and me, but particularly Murtagh. Don't get me wrong, no jealousy there.

She came rushing down the corridor. The smart woman saw the door and pushed it open, but carried on running. She reached us and bowled into Murtagh, hugging the life out of him, and you could physically hear the air being knocked out of him when she made impact.

"Murtagh…. Oh, my lovely Tag…. The last time I saw you.. you were only yea high." She gestured somewhere towards her ankles. "Oh, thank God that horrid man is gone for good." I saw Murtagh stiffen at the mention of his father.

"Err. Mum, let's not talk about him now. Let's just Tag home and settled in."

"Of course, you're right, Eragon. Come on boys." She led us out of the building, smiling all the time. She unlocked the car using the remote and pressed the button to open the boot.

"A woman's dream." She stated proudly. Murtagh and I dumped all his gear in the boot and climbed into the back seats.

"Ready to see your new home, Tag?" I said, using the nickname Selena had used.

"Ready as I'll ever be!" he said with mock-seriousness. Selena started the engine, and drove us back to the house.