Yay! This chapter is almost twice as long as the first one. Hopefully it's not boring, yeah? Trying to explain some things. Introduce characters. Having a hard time though.

Chapter 2

Eragon's relief didn't last for long, however.

In front of him, his brother, Rioro, was pacing and talking about…something. Eragon wasn't really paying any attention. He just stood there and stared at the wall.

Rioro noticed and stopped pacing. "Are you listening?"

"Um, what?"

"I said, 'Are you listening?'" Rioro said, annoyed, "Which, the fact that I had to repeat it proves you weren't, by the way…"

"You've only been awake for an hour or so and you've already zoned out twice. Nice," Inelie said in-between mouthfuls of soup.

Rioro looked at her, "Not helping, Inelie…"

"Sorry."

Rhunön, who had come into the room without anyone noticing, giggled.

Eragon sighed, "Is Rhunön going to question me next? Then Karde, maybe?" he said sarcastically.

"Are you hungry, Eragon?" Rioro asked.

"What?"

"Are. You. Hungry."

"Why? How do you go from being agitated to asking me if I'm hungry?"

Rioro shrugged, "We can talk about it later. I'm asking if you're hungry because you might want to eat now."

"Why?" Rhunön asked.

He looked at her with an amused expression. "Eragon and I are going to the castle in a little bit. We won't be able to eat for a while, that's why."

"Oh."

Eragon ignored the younger elf and focused on his brother. "We are? Since when?"

"Since now."

"Why?"

Rioro stared at him. "What is with all the 'whys'?"

Rhunön laughed.

"I need to finish some things," Rioro continued, "and I decided that you're coming with me."

Eragon scowled, "Fine. I'll eat something and go to the castle with you-"

"Good."

"-but I won't like it!"

Rioro walked out of the room as he spoke, "Never said you had to. You eat and what ever else. I'll come find you when we need to go."

"Want some soup, Eragon?"

He jumped. He had completely forgotten Inelie was there.

"Yes, thank you."

She smiled as she got a clean bowl and poured some soup from a small pot into it.

"Here you go," She said as she set it front of the chair closest to him.

Eragon sat down, slowly breathing in the soup's scent. It smelled delicious. There were small pieces of carrot, celery, and herbs floating around in the liquid.

"How's it taste?" Rhunön asked as soon as he had a spoonful.

"Delicious."

Inelie smiled, "Thank you. You can have some too, Rhunön, there's plenty."

"It's a small pot…" Rhunön said doubtfully.

"Enough for several bowls, though."

"Okay, I'll have some. But only because you want me too."

Inelie laughed, "Tis all I ask."

Eragon watched them both the entire time with a smile on his face.

Rhunön sat down across from him with her bowl.

"So, Eragon, if that is your real name-"

He raised an eyebrow.

"-how are you on this fine afternoon?"

"Good, for the most part, I guess. You're not going to ask questions like my brother and Inelie are you?"

"No, just curious."

Silence (excluding the sounds of slurping) filled the room as they ate. Inelie soon became bored and left.

Eragon finished his soup first and, having nothing better to do, watched Rhunön.

He and Rhunön were younger than all of the others in the house, they were the only teenagers, though, being a few years younger than him, Rhunön was the youngest.

She was wearing a, surprisingly, clean light green dress and looked about fifteen with short (stopped at her chin), black messy hair that curled away from her head at the ends and constantly got in her face. She'd already gotten the ends soaked in her soup.

Eragon burst out laughing, causing Rhunön to get more soup on her face that dripped onto her dress.

She glared at him, "What are you laughing at?"

"Do you actually care at all that you're covered in soup?"

"Not really. I'll take a bath later…"

He laughed again.

Eragon walked through the hallways, past many identical doors. He was taking a longer route than normal in order to avoid running into anyone, not that running into someone was easy when only ten people lived in the large house. He just didn't feel particularly lucky today.

He abruptly stopped at one of the doors and opened it. A cool breeze played with his hair as he walked outside and took a deep breath of the fresh air.

Eragon look around. This wasn't exactly where he wanted to come outside. Close enough, he thought.

He was in-between two walls covered in smooth gray stone. The entire outside of the house was covered in it. So was the door he's just come out of. Eragon grabbed a spot in the middle of the door where a lone rock had fallen out and silently closed it.

The door blended in perfectly.

He jogged out from between the walls; turning left he slowed down to a walk.

Eragon shivered as he looked around, no matter how used to it he felt; how normal it seemed in his mind, the beauty of Alalëa always hit him full force.

There were plants everywhere. Every possible color, texture, shape, smell, and even taste (if you wanted to eat them), that anyone could possibly imagine and more.

He stopped at the base of his favorite tree; a cherry blossom tree.

The wonders around him were amazing. Simply gorgeous. Eragon knew that no matter how much he wondered, he would never find the answer to how Nature could make itself so lovely. There was nothing he could do but appreciate it. It sent chills down his spine.

He looked up at his tree (he'd claimed it as his own when was only four, much to the amusement of his brother) and skillfully climbed up to his favorite branch.

This is where he always came when he wanted to think or just plain relax.

Eragon lounged on his branch, listening to the breeze blow through the leaves and petals of the plants around him. He sighed, content.

Across the tops of the trees, he could see rooftops and the castle in the distance.

"Oh, Alalëa, you're so lovely, yet you have such disgusting inhabitants…" he whispered.

"You know, they think we're disgusting too," said a voice below him.

Eragon started and looked down, "What do you mean by that?"

Rhunön was looking up at him. "Just…I'm not sure, but…it can work both ways. What we feel about them is exactly what they feel about us."

"So? They're worse!" Eragon retorted, "I hate the fact that if some random person were to throw a rock at some other random person, they'd be punished, yet if that rock were to hit me instead, other people would join in and then I'd be punished." He stopped, thoroughly irritated. He knew deep inside he was right; Rhunön knew it too.

Rhunön sighed, "I know…I dislike it too-"

Eragon almost immediately felt slightly ashamed. He's forgotten that it was the same for her. She was like him.

"-But I don't want to waste my time hating them…Better to live my life and enjoy it, instead of worrying about what others think, right?"

She looked away towards some small white flowers before returning her gaze to him. There was an emotion in her eyes that wasn't there before.

It was love, Eragon knew, he had seen in her eyes before.

"Uh…" he said softly. He didn't know how to respond to her little speech or the emotion. He never knew how to respond when she did this.

Luckily for him, a voice called Eragon right at that moment. It came from the house.

"That's Rioro. I've got to go. Bye, Rhunön." He said, the words pouring out of his mouth as he scrambled down the tree.

Hurt replaced the love in her eyes. "Um, okay, bye Eragon…"

Eragon sprinted towards the front of the house, almost flying head-first into Rioro's chest as he turned the last corner and skidded to a stop.

He backed away, bent at the waist with his hands on his knees and panted.

"That was very fast," his older brother remarked.

Eragon looked up at him. Rioro was dressed in fine black leggings, a dark green shirt, and a black vest. His black boots were spotless and shiny. His black hair was also shiny, though not quite as much, and covered the very tips of his ears.

Rioro smirked, "Are you ready now that you're covered in sweat?"

"It'll dry as we walk there." At least Rhunön won't be there…

"Sure." With that, Rioro turned around and walked down the road.

Eragon hesitated before running to catch up.

"Why didn't you just go inside while I was walking away?" Rioro asked as soon as Eragon slowed to a walk next to him.

Eragon grinned, "Because you would just come find me and drag me by my toes."

"Very true. How well you know me, little brother."

"What do you have to do at the castle? I thought you don't have to work today?" Eragon glanced at his brother.

"I wouldn't normally, but I missed some important papers yesterday. Some stupid person moved my stuff around."

"So I get to sit around while you do paperwork?"

"Pretty much. You could wander around the castle, but Miss Pretty Princess might not like that."

"Might? She hates me."

Rioro laughed, "That she does. Just stay around my room, okay?"

Eragon sighed, "Fine."

They reached the city and passed multiple houses on their way to the castle.

Eragon unconsciously moved closer to his brother as dozens of elves stopped to give him hostile looks.

Most of them had long black or silver hair and dressed in green clothing. They were so…plain, for some reason.

"Ignore them," Rioro whispered in his ear.

He nodded and focused on the castle. It was closer now.

A few more minutes of walking and they were in front of it.

Eragon stopped, staring at the large doors. He'd been in the castle once before when he was small. He didn't particularly like it very much. He had almost gotten lost and several people, including the princess, had threatened him. The princess herself had followed through with her threats and punched his face seven times. One for each year of being alive.

"Come on, Eragon! Don't just stand there!"

Eragon looked ahead at Rioro, who was standing beyond the doors, waving.

He took a deep breath and walked forward.