AN: I apologize for not updating before now. I had to go on vacation, and when I say had I mean had. I didn't want to. Anyways here it is.

Departure

The following morning Arya, along with her love Eragon, went for a walk outside of Ellesmera. As they walked she caught sidelong glances

from Eragon. He was the one that finally broke the silence. "So what are you going to do about Kroger?" Arya took a deep breath and held back

tears. She hated crying but what he had done was a nearly unbearable weight to deal with. "I am going to teach K'eray. With any luck we'll get

attacked on the road and Kroger will die as a result." Eragon rapped an arm around her slender waist and said, "I've never known you to be so

vicious to another." Arya felt comforted by his hand. It made her fell like if anything were to happen to her Eragon would be right beside her,

protecting her. She rested her head on his shoulder. "He is a sole exception. You know what he did. And it is bordering on unforgivable." Eragon

lightly kissed her forehead. "Sort of like what I did?" Arya lifted her emerald eyes to the canopy of trees. "No. Not like what you did. Unlike with

you, Kroger did it of his own free will. No one forced him to. He swore no oath in the Ancient Language to do it. And you did it but once. He did it

nigh on seven hundred times." Eragon stopped and smelled the air. "Kroger." The two immediately let go of each other and walked several feet

away from one another. They had decided prior to that point to keep their relationship hidden from all but the queen and K'eray. The queen

because she would not have anything hidden from her, and K'eray because she would find out eventually. Kroger jumped out of a tree and

spotted the pair of them walking away from him. He ran over to them and Arya's arm went rigid. "Eragon may I have a moment with Arya,

alone?" Eragon looked at him as if he Kroger had insinuated that Arya had been naked seconds before. He closed his eyes and slowly drew

Brisingr. "What is the purpose of this sudden desire to speak with her?" Kroger bridled at his response. "Do I not have the right to speak with

my own apprentice, O Mighty Rider of Dragons?" He said it as an insult but not in a way that Eragon could challenge. Eragon snarled and then

smiled and said, "Alright. If you want to talk to her I would like to speck with Oromis and Glaedr before we depart." All the while he was saying

this he was also putting up massively powerful wards around Arya. To her he whispered in his thoughts, "You need to get used to having him

around." Arya mentally nodded and said back, "If he makes a move on me, promise me you'll be there to stop it." She sensed that Eragon had the

urge to kiss her forehead, one of his favorite ways of comforting her, but with Kroger there he did not dare. I promise. Eragon crouched and then

leapt twenty feet into the air and onto a branch. He jumped again in the direction of Oromis's mountain home.

A warm hand landed on Arya's arm, but it stung like dry ice. "Arya, you know I am sorry, right?" Arya turned her head to the being that looked so

much like Faolin, yet was so far from him. Arya's words, when they came, were long and dragged out. "Why should I forgive you? All that I every

was, all I every wanted to be, you destroyed it with your lust!" Kroger withdrew his hand, and said, "Because I'm sorry for all that. 50 years in

the forest, living in a cave, foraging for every scrap of food, having to live in the harsh elements, it changed me. I am no longer the cruel elf that

forced himself onto you when you were a child. I'm sorry. Can't you see that?" Arya jerked as he intertwined his fingers with hers. She tried to

pull away, but her body was frozen by his gaze. Arya took a deep breath. "Why? Why should I forgive you for the nightmare that you made my

life?" He still held her hand but she didn't mind because her arm was already numb. "Because it is what a queen would do." Arya snarled and

then stopped. He was right. He must be because the queen had forgiven him. She looked into the eyes that she hated and said, "Very well. I do

not forgive, nor will I. But I will lay the matter to rest for a latter date." Kroger relaxed and said, "Does that mean that you're starting to forgive

me?" Rage filled her. "NO!" She turned around and tried to pull her arm free, but he held on tightly. He suddenly pulled and twisted which left

Arya, in a fraction of a second, in Kroger's arms. Before she could do anything he leaned down and kissed her on her check. Impulsively she

twisted in his grip and punched him on the side of his head.

He landed several feet away and looked as though he had just awoken. He looked at Arya and then said, "How did I get here?" Arya stopped as

he spoke the words that seemed to mean that he had no clue as to what he had done. Slowly she entered his mind and confirmed that he had

just woken up when she hit him. She took a deep breath and thought about what to do. Queen. Act like a queen. Alright, he kissed you but he

didn't mean to. His thoughts confirm that. On those grounds I guess it is proper to let it pass. She reached that conclusion with disgust. Reluctantly

she offered a hand and said, "You were asleep in that tree, and you just now fell out of it. I was walking near by and saw you. And now here we

are." When he took it, Arya had a nearly unbearable urge to let go and push him away with a spell. She didn't but hosted him up. From the far

side of the pathway they were on there came the sound of rattling trees, along with the burst of sudden fire. Eragon walked out with his flaming

sword in his hand. Kroger looked with interest at Eragon's sword. Eragon walked forward and said, "What happened? The wards I set were

triggered." Arya spoke to him quickly in his mind. Eragon straightened and Brisingr stopped shoting fire. "I saw something like a bear behind

you. It looked like it was about to attack." Kroger looked slightly confused. He looked behind him and then looked back at Eragon. There was

some hidden emotion in his eyes. "Well thank you for scaring it off." He offered Arya a hand, as if expecting her to take it and for them to walk off

together. Arya's upper lip lifted in what looked like a dragon's snarl. Then she said, "Come on Eragon. Let's go get K'eray and then we'll go."

Kroger looked slightly hurt and then hid his emotions. With Eragon, Arya walked away from the horrible nightmare that Kroger embodied.

K'eray was sitting in the common room of Tialdari Hall. As Arya approached her she say that she cupped a small mirror in her hand and was

talking to it. She's scrying. Arya was surprised that the elf could do that, let alone with the talking addition. Most elf children weren't even taught

that until the age of at least fifteen. When K'eray saw her she suddenly looked back at the mirror and said frantically, "We'll I have to go. I'll

contact you as soon as possible." She placed her first three fingers on her lips and then put them on the mirror. Then she looked at Arya with

her guarded blue eyes. "Hello Arya." It was the kind of greeting one gave when they had just barely escaped being seen doing something they

shouldn't. Her arms were rigid and she had a complete lack of emotion on her face. She's good at consoling her thoughts. "Who were you just

talking to?" K'eray looked at her in faked confusion. "What? What are you talking about? Nobody's really up yet." Arya smiled at her apprentice

who was clearly hiding something. "Come on, you can tell me. I'm one of the cool mentors." K'eray looked at her with a small amount of hope.

"You won't tell anyone?" Arya sat down in the chair beside K'eray. "Promise on my elven blood." For an elf to swear on elven blood was the

strongest oath an elf could make. It meant that if they failed to do what they said in that oath, they may as well not even be elven. K'eray

opened her mouth and then closed it. She closed her eyes too for a moment then looked at Arya. "I'm sorry, I can't tell you. We promised each

other it would be a secret. I can't break the first promise I every made to him…" She slapped her hand over her mouth as the last word went out

of her mouth.

Arya looked at her pupil, categorizing her features, and trying to read her body language to see if she could tell what she was hiding.

"So it's a him, is it?" K'eray shook her head and kept her hand on her mouth. Arya shrugged and said, "We'll if you can't tell me I'll have to reach

into your mind." K'eray's eyes widened and she moved her hand and said, "No wait don't!" Her shoulders sagged and she looked up at her

mentor. "Please don't make me tell you. I care about him, and if I break the first promise I every made to him he won't care about me." K'eray

couldn't have made it clearer if she had shouted it to the heavens. She's in love? She was happy for her apprentice but something worried her.

With how? Her first horrific thought made her shiver. Oh please don't let it be Kroger. No, no don't tell her that. She would wonder why you thought of

him. "Alright, but I have a few conditions. I won't make you tell me, or take the information from you. But I want two things in return." K'eray

nodded her head and said, "Alright. What are those two things?" Arya smiled. The more she talked the more K'eray gave away. It was already

clear that she would do just about anything for this individual, whoever he was. "First I want you to promise me that you won't let whoever this

is get in the way of my instructing you." K'eray nodded her head again and said, "Consider it done." Arya smiled at her continuing to give

information unknowingly. "Second I want you to tell me what you promised him you wouldn't say." K'eray thought more on that one. Finally she

said, "Alright. We promised each other that we wouldn't tell anyone about our relationship." Seeming to forget that she had promised she

looked at Arya with sparkling eyes. "He's so amazing. He is an elf, but he's younger then me. But not by much. I'd say no more

then a couple of years. He makes me feel so weird, but it's a good kind of weird. I like it." Arya smiled and laid a hand on her apprentice. "That

will do. You can contact him whenever you like, but again, promise me that you won't let thought of him distract you." K'eray nodded and Arya

lifted her hand. She laid it on K'eray's back and pushed lightly. "Go on. Get packed. We're going to leave shortly." K'eray jumped off, running to

her room to pack. Arya took a long sigh and saw a shift on movement to her right. Sitting on a stick that protruded into the room from a tree, sat

Blagden the raven.

He cocked his head from side to side and then cackled, as if laughing. "Wyrda." Arya lowered her head to the white raven. "Blagden. I would

stay but I must go and prepare to leave." She stood and began to walk away, when she heard Blagden speak again. "You wonder about the

werecat's riddle, do you not?" She turned and looked at the raven. "Yes. Did you have a future vision about it?" Blagden cackled and lifted one

leg. He coughed and recited, 'When one burns one with fire, the ones burned are hurt. They hurt for a long time, but then the pains die, and they

think themselves safe. But Beware for the carrier of the Flames Of Pain is relentless and he is on the Ever Lasting Horizon of Time and he sees you and

he seeks to burn you again. The Carrier of the Fire goes but soon, oh so soon, he will return and you will burn once more. Soon will be a choice that will

lower the bridge of your castle and allow the Carrier of Flames to enter. He will stay and you will burn with his Flames of Pain. Behold for the Carrier of

the Flames of Pain, he is here.'" The bird flew off cackling. Arya looked to her left and right and horror gripped her when she saw Eragon holding

up Brisingr which burned with fire. It can't be.

End of Book 2. Book 3 is called Seduction. And yes I will have it up soon.

Hahahaha! Bet you didn't see that coming. :-)