AN: Right, I know this is really late (or going to be; I actually write the first Author's Note before I start the chapter. I don't know why but I do) but I'm now starting my GCSEs and I'm currently rushing around trying desperately to finish my drama coursework 'cause my final deadline is on Monday and I've got a whole unit of my portfolio to do as well as the end of the first unit. Yes, I procrastinate. Isn't it obvious from my update times?

So yeah, the update schedule's going to be pretty erratic until my GCSE's are over 'cause I'll be really busy finishing stuff but when I've just done an exam and have revised for the next one, I get the urge to write something that isn't particularly serious and this fic is pretty high up on my update list. Actually, I think it's highest… it is.

ALSO, we have builders in so my computer has had to be relocated into my already jam packed full of stuff bedroom and the internet wire (because we're still on the slowest dial-up connection known to humankind) will not reach so I HAVE NO INTERNET! Hopefully, if I wither away and die before I get the internet back, Sadie will upload this for me along with a note at the end of this chapter or as much of it as I get typed before I kick the metaphorical bucket explaining my death due to internet withdrawal.

But anyway, on with the madness!

Disclaimer: I don't own the Inheritance Cycle. I don't want to own Barney. But good news people! I DO own some Easter eggs! … Yum…

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"1157 bottles of beer on the wall!"

Murtagh's eye was twitching so violently Durza wondered if he should tell someone about it because he was worried it might explode and even Durza, as into red things as he was, did not relish the thought of being covered in blood and bits of eyeball. But they passed a heap of carrots and he was distracted. It was a good job he was distracted. Eragon and Arya's song recital shifted up a gear.

Eragon started frantically playing air guitar.

"Eragon, Arya?" Selena asked, "Can we please change the song? It sounds like a stuck record and we have already sung from two thousand bottles of beer."

I wish I had a bottle of beer… Murtagh mused. Or my handy rusty arrow…

"Okay," Eragon agreed chirpily. "I LOVE YOU, YOU LOVE ME!"

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! LEMMEOUTLEMMEOUTLEMMEOUTLEMMEOUT!" Murtagh shrieked, desperately trying to turn the door handle and get out. Finding the door locked, Murtagh vowed to get revenge. It was not a good day to work for a company manufacturing child-proof locks for cars.

Eragon carried on singing, oblivious. "-WE'RE A HAPPY FAMILY!"

"We will be!" Arya squealed, throwing herself at Eragon with as much oomph as her seatbelt would allow and latching onto him.

Eragon smiled and kissed the top of her head.

Murtagh's fingers froze in their desperate clawing of the window. His voice died out mid-protest and his eyes swivelled in their sockets to rest on Eragon. His face rearranged itself from an expression of sheer horror to an expression of sheer disbelief.

"Did you just KISS Arya?" He questioned once he'd finished gaping like a fish.

Eragon nodded. "Why?"

Murtagh spluttered, "But you…how do…I…" He turned to Angela, who was occupying the seat behind him. "How can he do that?"

"Pardon? I was counting mushrooms," the witch stated, gesturing to her handbag. Vrael only knew what else she had in there…

"He… How can he be so annoying and childish then go and do that? It's like they're children one minute and an old married couple the next!" Murtagh ranted pathetically.

"Perhaps Eragon is finally getting a sense of responsibility and can act like a responsible adult at times and the lovable cretin we understand at others," Angela explained, pausing briefly to ponder something. "Either that or Eragon's mental age is fluctuating."

"I suspect the latter," Murtagh commented, relieved that the singing had stopped.

"Ooh! I see the sea!"

"Eragon, that's a billboard," Angela pointed out happily.

"Oh."

"Although… It is a billboard saying we're coming into the park we are staying at," she pointed out. Murtagh immediately wished she hadn't.

"WE'RE HERE! WOOOOOOOOO!"

"Have we parked yet? Have we parked yet?

Have we parked? Have we parked?

Have we nearly parked yet? Have we nearly parked yet?

Can I get out? Can I get out?" (To the tune of Frere Jacques (or however it's spelt) remember.)

Selena answered calmly while Murtagh contemplated tearing his hair out, deciding that it was just not worth sacrificing his good looks, "No, Durza dear, you can't get out of the car while it's still moving. Supernanny says the result would be bad."

Supernanny hasn't had to live with Durza, Murtagh thought dryly.

Thorn, ever helpful to his rider, commented, She hasn't had to put up with you either Mini emo one so don't count your chickens.

Saphira, who had probably breathed a bit too much oxygen or flown through the smog created by a power plant added, because I'll EAT THEM!

"Mum," Eragon called, forgetting his joy at being close to the adventure holiday park. "I think Saphira's high on life again."

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"Hey, Taggy!"

Murtagh blearily opened one eye, not quite sure whether to bother rolling over to see the owner of the annoying voice that woke him. "One," he grumbled. "Don't call me 'Taggy'. Ever. Two, what do want? Why are you bothering me at six O'clock in the morning?"

He felt a familiar weight settle on the end of his bed. Well, more like dive bomb on to his bed. So Eragon was hyper… Murtagh did not like the thought of that.

"We get breakfast at seven and I thought we could tell ghost stories until we can eat!" Eragon explain, cheerily.

"Eragon," Murtagh sighed, giving into the annoyance and rolling over to face him. "You're supposed to tell ghost stories at night."

"I know that," Eragon scoffed. "But we all fell asleep really early so-"

"No, Eragon. You fell asleep really early and I had to carry you to your room," Murtagh corrected, recalling how Eragon had promptly fallen asleep after the family meal, which okay, was late but still, Eragon was not a child any more, not long after they arrived at the adventure holiday park yesterday.

"You're my big brother," Eragon sniffed. "That's what you're for."

"No."

"And you know you love me so-"

"Not at stupid O'clock in the morning, I don't!" Murtagh snapped, shifting his sleepy form away from Eragon's wide awake one.

"Oh, but you know you do!" Eragon protested. "And anyway, we've got canoeing first today. You've got to have eaten an hour before that and it'll be fun so that means you've got to wake up!"

"Mmmpf," Murtagh managed, waving an arm at his brother in dismissal as he buried his face in his pillow.

"But Taaaaagyyyyyyyyyy!" Eragon whined, shaking his shoulder in the most irritating way possible. If there were a billion ways to shake someone's shoulder and there probably were if you counted all the different speeds of shaking and pauses between each shake, Eragon was sure to have picked the most annoying.

Murtagh growled menacingly. "Out!" he snapped.

Eragon sniffed and muttered, "Fine." Murtagh heard his brother's footsteps recede until the stopped, annoyingly, at where he assumed the door was. "'Tag?"

Murtagh hissed. Yes, it was infinitely better than 'Taggy' but it didn't mean he had to like it. His name consisted of two simple syllables; why couldn't Eragon get it right?

"You just admitted you love me," he said proudly.

Murtagh sighed, "Where did you get that idea? All I said was 'Out!'"

Eragon grinned, "I told you you loved me and you said, 'Not at stupid O'clock in the morning, I don't,' which means that you do love me at any other time of the day. You're the best brother ever!"

With that, Eragon skipped out of the room babbling something about breakfast and waffles in his hyperness. Murtagh didn't have the heart to tell him that actually, all he had said was that he didn't love his brother early in the morning and that that didn't mean he loved him at any other time of the day.

Ah well, Murtagh thought. I might as well go and get breakfast. I'm awake now.

He dragged himself out from under the snugly duvet the adventure holiday place had provided, dressed and left the chalet he shared with Eragon in record time and made it to Selena, Morzan, Angela and Islanzadí's chalet without bumping into anyone else to catch the tail end of a conversation Eragon was having with their parents, Arya's mum, Arya and Islanzadí. Well, Eragon was babbling at a speed Murtagh did not enjoy deciphering this early in the morning and everyone else was listening but since when was anything normal in their family?

"-and Taggy was mean to me but it doesn't matter 'cause I know he loves me really 'cause he said-"

"DON'T CALL ME THAT!"

Angela, who was standing in the doorway to her room in a dressing gown embroidered with the words 'Antidisestablishmentarianism! Now that's a rarely used word!' chuckled. "Taggy? Aww! How adorable!"

Murtagh's face was burning.

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AN: This is Sadie. I'm sorry to inform you that the internet deprivation proved too much for ThePurpleRose. This will be the end of-

Just kidding! I lived! Woot! Go me! Now, before you all start flaming me for taking so long to update, I do actually have some bad news for you. Well, some good news and bad news. The good news is that my GCSEs are finally over so I haven't got any work to worry about and SHOULD have more free time, AND I've got BROADBAND now! I've just been basking in the wonder that is not having to wait forever for to load and actually being able to watch videos and look at pictures.

The bad news is that while all that is true, we've still got builders in the house my computer time is extremely limited and my room looks – well, let's just say that I've been told that my room is quite big (by my parents) and that I should have quite a lot of floor space. I have, while my room was a bit (understatement!) cleaner, managed to fit an airbed meant for two people on the floor beside my bed. I now have a path around my bed and that's it 'cause not only have I got my stuff cluttering my room up, I've got everyone else's stuff in here too. I've even sacrificed my writing and drawing space ('cause I work on the floor) and have been doing that in the tiny path around my bed.

But don't worry 'cause I've been writing this fic in a red notebook and had written out the rest of this chapter in there. I bet you're wondering why it's not on here with the first bit. It's simple, in the clutter, I have lost the notebook. And I'm not writing it out again 'cause I know it'll be worse that the original 'cause I'll be bored re-writing it completely. I don't think I'll be able to find it (believe me, I've tried!) until the builders leave and I can look more carefully.

So, you have a decision to make. I feel really guilty for losing the notebook 'cause it's not just this chapter I lost; I worked on the next chapter too. So, my question is this: Would you rather wait until I find the notebook for an update or would you prefer it if I wrote an 'interlude' chapter to fill the gap? If I do an interlude, it will be up much quicker 'cause I feel guilty so I'll start on it right away and it'll be up before a month goes by.

In the rest of this chapter, which I'll now have to post on its own: the group meet Chris, their personal instructor and guide and the activity is canoeing. Arya gets embarrassed by Islanzadí.

Thanks to all my wonderful reviewers and anyone who still cares enough to actually read this and review. I'm sorry! I've had a hell of time since I last updated and not in just a good way…And I'm actually shattered… Phew…

Please review; you'll make my day and I really need feedback.

P.S. I've planned out the end to this fic (the middle's still variable but…) and it will have a sequel. It may be in the form of an epilogue at the end of this or a short sequel. It depends on how popular this fic is. The more popular it is, the longer it'll be. Although, I could probably make the sequel stand on its own if need be… I'm not sure yet...

Wow, that was one long AN!

~ThePurpleRose