A fitting place for a storyteller

Eragon stood back and admired their progress, together with the help of the Eldunari, he and the elves had created the first room. It possessed a certain elegance in its design, that only the buildings found in Ellesmera could hope match. Though the room's layabout was quite simple and plain, it took much strength and singing to grow the four trees that stood in every corner of the room. They towered over the rest of the room, their lower canopies forming the ceiling, yet despite these towering beasts, there was easily enough room for Saphira to walk around the room. According to Blodhgarm, the seeds the trees had been grown from were the seeds of giant oak trees and would grow a lot higher than they were at the moment, potentially allowing Saphira, if they ever returned, when she was a lot bigger, to still enter the room.

Behind him was the entrance to the room, which faced out on the river where the Talita lay anchored. It was wide enough to allow Saphira to pass through unhindered. Yet it was small enough that the spells and door that would have to be constructed, and in the case of the door installed, would be able to do their job without using an unnecessary amount of Energy, which was otherwise in short supply. It was brilliant timing, for they had just finished the spells about an hour ago and now the weather was truly testing the design of the room.

Outside, in the cold and miserable weather, rain lashed the room and forks of lightning lit up the sky every few seconds. He shivered collectively with Saphira as they were reminded, by the familiar sound of crashing and echoing thunder, of their flight too Vroengard for the first time. That had definitely been a mistake, looking back on it now, but there was no point in worrying about it now. What is done is done, and no amount of reflection can change it, he thought sadly. It was partly because of this that he was truly thankful that he was safe and warm inside. A combination of the canopy provided by the tree's and the spells placed and designed by the Elves ensured that not even the slightest drop of moisture could enter through the ceiling, or indeed for that matter through the walls. That was, once they had been constructed.

Once they had finished singing the trees into shape, they had moved onto the walls, by which time there was only a slight drizzle going on outside, and they were eager to finish the walls before the rain started thundering down again. It was here where they had run into some major problems; nobody had any idea what the walls should have been made of. They neither had the time or the energy to make the trees into actual rooms, and for a room this big the task of doing so, even if they did have enough time and energy, was ill suited to them.

Despite their enormous collective strength and wisdom, it took them the better part of an hour to discover and put into practice a solution to their problems. The debate had only truly started though, when he had suggested that the wall should be made of dirt, and bushes be grown to hide the dirt, that everyone broke the silence by voicing their thoughts and concerns.

This continued on for some minutes until they decided that they would cover the dirt with stones, and then grow the bushes around them. So in reality, it was sort of like a stone wall, except covered in bushes. They had also, when building the wall, realised that there would not be enough time to build the wall up all the way to the leafy green ceiling. So they decided to leave the top of the wall uncovered by stones, but rather covered instead by bushes. There were was a layer of dirt sandwiched between the 2 sides of the stone wall, which allowed them to put a row of bushes on top of the wall, with the roots spreading their way down the middle of the wall.

While they were doing this, two elves went out towards the river and created a channel with magic, which would bring fresh water to the settlement, both to provide water to the trees in times of drought and to provide drinking water to any inhabitants of there settlements. In an act of unwarranted thoughtfulness, they also created some spells to siphon any unwanted things out of the river water, whether it be dirt or poison or a whole manner of other things. In the corner furthest from the entrance, they dug a hole in the ground which would serve as a drinking place for dragons stopping by, and next to it, a small basin of water a meter off the ground for their respective rider. After everyone had finished their respective jobs, they created a small armoury; a supply cupboard, a toilet for the riders and an equipment cupboard, each of these were sung into each of the four trees.

That took him back to the present, many of the elves were looking a little bit shaken, but he was not about to allow that to get in the way of his overall design. He separated the elves into four groups and instructed them to build one room each, in a square array, with a hallway big enough to accommodate a dragon between them. Then he and Saphira, along with Glaedr's wisdom and memories, started to construct the first test of the riders.

(Time Change)

By the time they had finished their efforts, it was night again and Eragon was shaking with exhaustion, relief came over as Umaroth fed him a tendril of energy. His muscles rejuvenated and his head slightly clearer, Eragon started to thank him, but Umaroth interrupted him before he could finish. He stated simply, onerously impressing on him the seriousness of his thoughts, "It is a pleasure, King-killer. Think nothing of it, now let us see what you have constructed, and if you have put our energy to good use."

Eragon opened his mind, allowing the numerous Eldunari to see what he saw. In front of him was a large stone statue of Brom, with all his likeness, and standing next to him was his dragon Saphira, reconstructed from Glaedr's memories. But instead of stone for eyes, there were brilliant gems, taken from some of the stores on the boat. He had fashioned enchantments to derive energy from the tree's in order to keep the place in order, and offer stores of energy to passing riders.

He marvelled at how the elves had found a way around every problem they encountered. He had seen much greater displays of magic, but the things that impressed him the most were the everyday uses of magic to accomplish problems that most humans could not even get their heads around. Even he, with his superior faculties granted by the transformation at the Agaeti Blodhren ceremony and the numerous pieces of wisdom the Eldunari had pressed upon him, had trouble considering many of the ways the elves worded their more complex spells. It made him marvel at how skilled the Elves must have been in their prime, back when they had the knowledge to create the Dauthdaert's. The most interesting piece of magic he had learnt about in his training so far was the way the elves understood how Silvari the Enchantress fashioned Cuaroc, rudimentary as their knowledge was compared to the actual maker.

Cuaroc was, in his view and he would not waver in this, the physical manifestation of Elven ingenuity and dedications. The elves would see through projects that most humans would drop after a few hours. To draw power from the Eldunari, Silvari apparently had to spend hours on end, intoning incantations to funnel the energy from the source, which was the heart of hearts, to the muscle like ligaments that Rhunon had helped shape. Eragon himself had seen the number of silver-like wires in Cuaroc, and was surprised that Silvari had not given up, for even with almost unlimited spare time it was a mighty project. There must have been a few hundred wires, and the project must have taken the better half of two years, at the very least a year.

Regaining control of his body for a fraction of a second he spoke in the ancient language "Argetlam, Bjartskular, mor'amr gata" and Brom and Saphira started to contort to form a cave big enough to hold a dragon. The pedestal forming the floor of the cave, to which Umaroth remarked, in a controlled voice, "Pretty, but I fail to see the point of this." Regaining control of his body for the second time, he took a small rock from the ground and used the spell of instant teleportation.

After he finished saying the words of the spell, there was a noticeable decrease in his strength, and he swayed for a moment before recovering himself. The rock itself disappeared from his palm in a flash of brilliant bluish-light, soundlessly. Umaroth and the other Eldunari watched, through his eyes, as the rock which he had previously held, began to reform in the chamber, which the statue of Brom and Saphira formed, soundlessly. It was then that Valdr voiced his opinions by saying "I am astounded at this, thing- contraption you have built."

He nervously fidgeted as Valdr took his time to construct his next sentence, thinking that he was about to disciplined for wasting energy, which was probably why he was startled when Valdr started praising him. "Never has an elf," he remarked, "rider or dragon thought of this, you should be proud of what you accomplished today, this will ensure that things sent to here do not go awry, even in the worst of circumstances." He then withdrew from his mind slightly as they toured what the elves had accomplished, two bedrooms for the riders and their dragons, a dining and kitchen area and finally, a room dedicated to activities that used the mind.

The last room they toured contained two desks, a small library, complete with bookshelf's waiting to be filled, a bathtub tucked away in the corner, inside one of the trees, a normal scrying mirror and in the centre of the room stood another stone pedestal. This stone pedestal however, far from having a statue perched on top of it, instead had gems ringing the edges. This caused Saphira, who was helping the elves build a stone wall around their settlement, and partly connected to Eragon's mind, roar out in anger. "What are you thinking", her words reverberating in his head with stunning force.

"I have seen your memories of your time in the circle-of-hell Dras Leona, I know what this is, how could you do this when you yourself have experienced this thousand-needle pain, explain yourself."

It took a moment for him to gather his thoughts, while he was doing this; he noticed through his tenuous link to Saphira's mind that many of the elves had rushed to her side. Except for Blodhgarm and Yaela that is, who he thought were observing their mental conversation. Brushing that trivial detail aside, he calmly explained to Saphira that "This is not designed, and cannot even be used, to imprison someone to be tortured" to which Saphira responded with a mental version of a snort.

"Rather it offers someone to experience scrying in 3D, once you are done with constructing the outside wall I will show it to you in action."

He waited for a few minutes, until Saphira contacted him, "Little one, I am ready; I hope for your sake that this works as you say it will."

Not bothering to reply but keeping their mental link open, he stepped onto the pedestal, acutely aware of how closely everyone was studying his actions and spoke the words for a variant of scrying, his magic reaching out through the hundreds of leagues that separated him from Nasuada's scrying room.

(Change of POV)

Murtagh slowly trundled up the hill with a bunch of firewood; all around him were the signs of an unusually harsh winter, snow was piled up in mounds to the side of the track, the few trees that could be seen had no leaves and worst of all was the ever present blanket of clouds that kept the sun from shedding all but the dimmest light on the surrounding scenery. As he reached the top of the hill, he stopped as he realized two things. Firstly, the sun was already beginning to set, winter days up in the north were short, and secondly, much more worryingly, was that Thorn was nowhere to be seen.

It was then at that moment an unusually large snow mound nearby, next to the castle foundations, exploded, sending snow everywhere with enough force to knock him down, if it had not been for his wards. "Surprise" said Thorn, as Murtagh slowly picked up the firewood he had dropped in surprise.

"You need to be more aware of your surroundings" continued Thorn

"One does not simply go walking around places with their eyes closed and expect to come to no harm, otherwise how would you recognise the time to swoop down and abduct Nasuada."

"Thorn" said Murtagh warningly, but Thorn continued unabated "How do you think Eragon would have killed ol' King Galby, if all the eyes he had were for Arya."

Murtagh, seized by annoyance, harshly responded "If Eragon had any eyes, he would have noticed from day one that the only reason Arya even started to like him was through his bumbling heroics and never ending determination. Combined with his obvious foolishness and his tendency to make the situation as dangerous as possible, it made him very attractive in the eyes of women who fear nothing. And for the last time he is not King Galby."

Thorn, realising that he had gone too far, did not deign to respond, which only furthered Murtagh's temper. With conversation effectively killed, they continued onto the temporary home in silence. The temporary home was set in the cave, which they were using until their castle was finished.

As he waited for the water to heat up, he admired the way the few remaining rays of sun light up the base of the castle. When they had first arrived here a month ago, winter was in full swing, blizzards daily, high winds and no sun. While they were flying through the mountains, they spotted a cave, and after killing its permanent resident, a shrrg, they waited out a rather persistent blizzard.

As they waited out the blizzard they had decided that this would be as good as any spot they were likely to find in the next few days, and so began their preparations to build a majestic, albeit reclusive, castle. This included furnishing the cave to make it liveable, removing the bones of dead animals from the Shrrg's den and drawing into the rock, as they had no paper, their plans. It was once that this was done and the weather was finally starting to calm down, that they decided to rest. For Murtagh, and Thorn as well, they thought it was well deserved, but fate had a way of making life miserable. For when they were sharing dream-space, they had a premonition.

The sky was a bright blue, below them were the clouds, or they were until Thorn started to plummet, apparently not of his own volition. As they rapidly approached the ground Thorn slowed down, the result of yet another unforeseen spell. Ahead of them were two stone statues of dwarves, guarding a tunnel into a cliff, which was surrounded by mountains on most sides. The statues were each as big as two houses stacked on top of each other and they possessed an uncanny familiarity, one, as a result of the hazy mental state he was in ,he could not truly pick out. That was not the odd bit, as Thorn touched the ground; the eyes of the dwarf statues sparkled, for they were made of gems, and lit up. The statues came alive as they stepped forward and took up arms, two large stone hammers on which they were holding in a heroic pose. The ground shuddered as the statues advanced upon them. Then as they were only a hundred metres away, something large blotted out the sun and made a furious roar that not even Shruikan could hope to match.

Murtagh, after seeing this had awoke with a shock, the image of the two dwarven statues advancing upon him, burned in his mind. Thorn, beside him, seemed utterly confounded as well; it was not until a few minutes that they started to discuss what had happened. As the days lengthened, they continued to brood upon this, but gradually they came to the conclusion that there was no point fretting, whatever come would come and there was nought they could do for now, short of killing themselves, to stop it.

After having relived the past few weeks in agonising detail, the water was now well and truly boiling. He grabbed a piece of meat he had frozen in ice, which was lying beside his side, and which was also slowly melting into a pool of ice-cold water. He recoiled as the cold got too his hands. He melted the majority of the remaining ice with a quick spell muttered under his breath, and tossed the still frozen solid meat, into the boiling water. The boiling water in the pot-like contraption he had made immediately subsided, cooled by the frozen chunk of meat he had chucked in, without a seconds thought for the drop in temperature.

After about 20 minutes, by which time the sun had well and truly set, and the last remaining rays of the suns life giving warmth had disappeared, giving away to the cold and darkness of a brutal winter night, the meat was tender and cooked. He murmured a few words, and the meat rose out of the water, boiling water dripping off it as it did. He grabbed a circular stone plate he had fashioned from the ground and placed the meat on it, leaving it to cool for a few minutes.

After a few minutes of anticipation he could wait no longer, it was good that this was so because the meat was just starting to go below optimal temperature, and he started to tear into the meat, but not before he added some herbs. The juices from the meat dribbled down the front of his neck, tickling him and eventually causing him to choke. After a recovering from a minor spate of coughs and finishing the rest of the meat off, he wiped his face and neck with the back of his arm. After drinking the boiling water to replenish his hydration levels, he cleaned up the surrounding area and retreated to the back of the cave, where Thorn was already resting. Just before he curled up beneath Thorn's wing, he saw a flash of lightning, and a few seconds later he heard the distant sound of the accompanying thunder.

A/N Hello readers, I hope you are having a good day and here is the next chapter in my Post-Inheritance story. Please review, guests can review as well, there is a space down the bottom for reviews. I would like some feedback in how you think I should continue this story.

This chapter was revised as of 2/11/13. The way I structure dates is DD/MM/YY, not like fan-fiction which I think structures it MM/DD/YY, which I think is just silly. This is a 2nd draft, and I will do one more later when I have almost finished this story. There will be a few mistakes obviously, but hopefully not as many

P.S. I will explain things in later chapters that I did not include here, for example the statue of Brom and Saphira will have more to it than just serving as a teleportation platform. It has something to do with a test for the riders and a possible lead for future stories.