Brooke: *To the tune of Thrift Shop* I need to shop for pants, only got ten dollars in my backpack! I-I'm a hunting, looking for my brother, this shopping trip is awful!

Rebecca: She was waiting since chapter 12 to sing that for you guys

Brooke: IT WAS WORTH THE WAIT!

"This is the moment, tonight is the night we'll fight 'til it's over. So we'll put our hands up like the ceiling can't hold us," -Macklemore & Ryan Lewis

Ellie didn't exactly enjoy claiming lives, but it was hers or theirs and in her position, we would all arrive upon the same conclusion. Just when she felt her strength draining from the hours of brutal work, she felt her reservoirs replenish, whether by Eragon or Meg was a toss up.

Since showing her vast knowledge of magic, Meg was seldom allowed to leave Nasuada's side as a last ditch effort in case things go wrong. Though, Meg did not need to use energy to fuel her magic, so when she could, she would supply her friends with energy to lessen their chances of losing a limb.

From her position, Meg could see everything in Belatona and knew that the Varden's victory was close at hand, though not without losses of their own. Saphira was wounded—a lance through her chest—but it was nothing that couldn't be healed. Eragon, Ellie and Blodhgarm were there and she could supply them with energy to complete the spell from a far. The trio of two-legs then studied the thing that had some how managed to pierce through the armor of a dragon. She turned her attention elsewhere, noting that she would ask Ellie about it later.

Now, her eyes rested upon Brooke, Rebecca and Roran. Baldor had been wounded earlier and was taken out of the battle; Brooke had been informed through the link Meg had set up so that they could communicate, though it had only been used for that instant because there were other magicians who could attempt to break into their thoughts.

Currently, that trio was by a rather shaky wall. No one seemed to know where Sarah was.

Look out! Ellie's mind shout was heeded by Roran and the cousins, but all the same it came too late. The wall collapsed, leaving them and four men under the rubble.

"My Lady?" Meg asked Nasuada, flinching from her crack in self control.

"Get down there and recover them fast." she ordered; Brooke and Rebecca had become her friends, too.

Though her speed was unparalleled, Ellie was closer and had reached the wall first, digging through rubble until her hands bled. For a fleeting moment that seemed to last a century, her mind believed what her heart could not and they—Ellie, Meg and Sarah—thought the cousins dead when they heard a raspy voice say, "Well, we put our hands up and the ceiling still couldn't hold us."

And another voice replied, "Shut up, Macklemore."

"Over here!" Meg cried and with the help of those who were searching for the cousins, Roran and the other men, gathered around a thick stone slab and pushed with all their might, revealing all those who were searched for.

"Lord Bradburn is still at large, Eragon," Blodhgarm said. "I understand your position, but finding him is still a priority."

"Go ahead, Eragon," Ellie said. "Meg, Sarah and I'll make sure they get to safety." He nodded and ran forward.

Roran was able to walk with some assistance provided by Sarah while Meg was pretty sure that Brooke had broken her leg and Rebecca had at least fractured her ankle. Such meant that Ellie and Meg got to carry the cousins to the infirmary where they were tended to by the Varden's magicians.

A horn sounded while they were at the infirmary. They looked to Meg for an explanation, though when she opened her mouth to reply, someone else shouted, "Werecats! Werecats are arriving!"

"Excuse me," Meg said. "I should go to Nasuada in the Lord's hall. Sarah, you should come as well."

"Agreed."

"Does that mean we won?" Brooke questioned. Ellie smiled but rolled her eyes, deciding that werecats were currently better company than the cousins.

"Do you suppose you could convince them to join our ranks?" Nasuada whispered to Sarah as the doors opened to reveal the werecats lead by their King, Grimr.

"I don't know whether to take that as a compliment or an insult."

"Decide soon," Meg whispered. "It could decide the war."

It turns out that Sarah did not even need to speak at all; the werecats came of their free will to fight Galbatorix, though the King's interest was perked by her, needless to say, as well as The Heartless Lady who stood, ever watchful in the in the corner of the room where she could see and hear everything.

After the meeting, the werecats seemed to vanish altogether—not that the girls minded.

"I'm going to see Eragon," Ellie said, making for the door. "See you in a bit?" Meg nodded, stroking Sarah who was curled up in her arms. Since she found that Meg's scar had disappeared, Ellie held a lot less hostility to her and they had turned back into the best friends they had been back home.

"Where shall we go, Sarah?" Meg asked as she stepped outside. "Nasuada is being lenient with my whereabouts since she can contact me through the link."

Sarah purred, "Let's find Stream and Becs. They'd hate being cooped up in a healing ward."

"Knowing them, they probably escaped."

"Lady Meg!" Baldor was running towards them, his face dotted with perspiration. "It's mother, she has started to give birth."

Meg dropped Sarah and took off in the direction of the tents for the villagers of Carvahall. Sarah let out a yelp and a growl before running as well, a glare trained firmly on Meg's back.

The girls sat on the ground, a thin blanket wrapped around their shoulders—the only one long enough to contain them all. Roran sat on a barrel, lost in thought and occasionally smiling at his wife. Eragon sat on a log, staring blankly into the fire while Baldor and his brother paced nervously. Solembum was nowhere to be seen.

Elain's screams made everyone wince uncomfortably.

"Arya's in there," Brooke whispered. "She could practically give birth for Elain. What's the problem?"

"Child birth is a strict tradition," Meg explained. "I do not believe Gertrude would allow it."

"Well, Gertrude can-"

"Hush, Brooke," Ellie muttered. "Meddling with this is like meddling with our Thanksgiving tradition."

"No one meddles with that!"

"Precisely, now, SHH!"

They waited for hours until the sun past behind the horizon. Jarsha, a messenger boy, approached the girls. "Lady Nasuada requests the presence of Lady Meg in the Lord's Hall immediately."

"Thank you, Jarsha." Meg said, placing a hand on his shoulder to silently tell him that she would walk back with him. "Let me know the moment something happens, you hear?"

They chuckled and bid her goodbye like children in a classroom.

With Jarsha by her side, they arrived at the Hall in record time only to have Meg cover her mouth to hide a smile.

"What?" Nasuada demanded. "Is something out of place?" She turned to her side, examining her dress.

"No!" She replied with a choked laugh. "You're flustered! I never thought I'd see such a sight."

"Oh, hush up!"

"Jeez, forgive me, my Lady, I did not mean to receive your wrath. Now, why is it that you called me here in the middle of my friend's future sister-in-law's birth?"

"It's Orrin!"

Meg was surprised by Nasuada's sudden lack of control. "Oh," Then, realization dawned upon her. "You love him!"

"I don't know if I do!" She exclaimed. "I've never felt this way before. I can't get him out of my head and I don't know what to do! Oh, Meg, please help me!"

"You think that The Heartless Lady would be able to help you with matters of love?"

"I know you remember those things if nothing else. How did you confess your love for," She hesitated, questioning whether this was still a smart idea. "For Murtagh."

For a long while, Meg remained silent, then a sad smile spread across her face and she chuckled. "It was because of Ellie, Sarah, Eragon and Saphira. We were foes at first, Murtagh and I. We could not stand each other; it slowly grew into something quite different, though.

"The gang set us up and threatened Murtagh to make a move by ditching us and taking the horses in the Hadarac desert. He gave me a flower and said such poetic things...but at first, I didn't believe him. He told me that he wanted to take advantage of the time he had with me and we kissed.

"It was then that I told him when the others went to the Varden, I would follow him instead."

"But that did not happen." Nasuada said, regretting her choice of asking Meg for advice more and more.

"No, it didn't," She agreed quietly. "And I can't stop thinking that if it did, we would not be in this mess now."

Nasuada interrupted the shroud of silence, "Since there's little to no chance of that happening, how do I get him out of my head?"

"Fight for him."

"What?"

"Think," Meg insisted. "If you lose, you have no chance of having him. But if you win..."

Meg! Elain gave birth, but the child has a cat lip. Eragon's going to try and fix it but he doesn't know squat about taking care of kids, so I'm here too. Ellie said through the link, successfully startling Meg to death.

I'll be there in a second.

"Might I take leave?" She asked Nasuada, who was pondering her previous words. "Elain has given birth."

"Yes, of course. I shall, as you say, see you soon."

Nasuada did not understand why Meg laughed at that.