Chapter 1

Passing of the Torch, Part 1

Dear Isanja – just as her grandmother before her – was now forever eighteen and had equally grown to be one of the most beautiful women in the entire coven... perhaps not as equally beautiful as Rosalie, but certainly as dazzling as her mother, Renesmee.

Isanja's hair was perfectly strait, layered, and flowed down just above her waist; and within her brown was a noticeable rustic tinge, something she had inherited from Edward. And with her radiant emerald eyes – another trait she had inherited from Edward – Isanja appeared more human than any of her family, and was able to easily enchant all of those around her with her gift of happiness.
But from her brief childhood, Isanja still bared a small faint bite mark on her right arm from where her brother accidently bit her; the bite burned a few degrees lower than the rest of her body, and it could be said that it was certain that the mark would probably remain there for the rest of her life.

Isanja's POV

"...But just remember that, even though we will make many mistakes, a least you can say that 'I tried' and 'I will continue to try harder'. Because at the end of the day it is all that any of us can do, as long as you give and commit with all that you are, then we can do anything we set our minds to."

A round of applause came from the crowd, as I walked across the stage to accept my diploma; feeling rather ridiculous as I was wearing this bright yellow graduation robe and feeling the sense of pride that I had, smiling down at my family it felt good to know that this chapter in my life was finally over – for now at least. I knew that graduating for the first time would probably be the best I would ever experience; as I looked on with my brother in front of me, I stretched out my aura of happiness as he embraced me as we were handed our diplomas.

Outside we met up at the car where Dad was waiting for us – unfortunately Grandma and Grandpa Cullen (Bella and Edward), nor could the rest of the family be there; for most of their graduating class mates were watching their children graduate, and the Cullens were now temporarily in England. And only Dad was there because Mum had been seen more than enough times to be recognised by the town folk, and so she had to stay behind at home (The Cullen's House).

But at least we had great-grandpa, Charlie, to be there for us... and his new wife, Sue. Our cover story was that we were Bella's much younger cousins; Mum and Dad had pretty much remained invisible to the town and had been occupying the Cullen's residence for the past six years, and Charlie and Sue were seen as our primary care-takers – but to Charlie, since Sue knew of our real family ties, we were Dad's (Ambrogio's) cousins – and so Carlos and I referred to him as Uncle Charlie.

"Congrats, Kiddos." Said Grandpa, his hair now a forming pepper grey.

I replied, "Thanks, Uncle Charlie." And gently I wrapped my arms around him, and the new Sue Swan, née Clearwater.

"Yes, we're so proud of you." Added Sue, as she hugged me and my brother.

"Thanks, Auntie Sue." Whispered Carlos.

Carlos and I embraced Father, he was so happy for both of us.

But finally now the next chapter in our lives was soon to begin; university was going to be easy, I planned to follow in our adopted great-grandfather's footsteps. I was going on to learn in the practise of Medicine, as well as Law; I wanted to use my aura of happiness as an advantage for, like Carlisle, bringing joy to others brought me true contentment.

Though being forever trapped at eighteen had its burdens; I knew I never could be a fully qualified doctor, for I appeared too young. But perhaps, hopefully, I would able to become a nurse. That way I could at least assist Carlisle in his practices; besides he promised to take me on as his apprentice.

For the rest of the day we remained out in the woods, near the Cullen's residence; Jacob and his pack came around to see us, unfortunately his kind too were forced to remain out in the woods where nobody could see them – because Jacob and his pack hadn't aged enough either.

But those on Sam's pack had changed; they were all physically older, though not by much and some had even had children – two of which I already knew, and had been around since Mum's youth. Sam and, the much older, Emily had their seventeen-year-old daughter, Emma; and Paul and, Jacob's sister, Rachael had their fifteen-year-old son called Isaac. And now within Jacob's pack, fortunately for Quil, Claire had been old enough to date for some time, and the two now had a pair of two-year-old twin boys, Quil Ateara VI and Levi.

But not much had changed for Leah, though she was so much happier now since she was completely over Sam; and even though Jacob had imprinted on my mother, he and Leah were beginning to become quite close, and as for Seth, well, he was the only one that hadn't change one bit.

At least the tribe was growing and hopefully would have some new wolves in the pack; though it wasn't looking that would happen any time soon – since the threat of vampires was gone from the town.

My family hunted and played with the Quileute wolves for the whole afternoon; Jacob admitted often that he did in fact miss the Cullen family, and he spent most of his time with Mum and me... though Father seemed at little frustrated over Jacob's thoughts. But was rather fond of Jacob myself; I suppose it was the warmth and beating heart but things looked better when he and Leah were together – they just seemed so perfect for each other.

Somehow I think it was Embry that tried to get me alone with Seth but dear Carlos was never too far from my side; as even Isaac began hitting on me.

We spend the next three days with Charlie, even though he was not fully aware of the existence of vampires and hybrids; he had pretty much figured out the truth. Sue was kind enough to make dinner for us, she didn't mind as she had to do it for Charlie every night; and Carlos, Mum, Dad, and I forcefully downed our food to appear more human.

I loved spending time with Great-Granddad, but all the while I truly felt sorry for him; we were told all of the stories of Bella and Edward – how they met, what happened in Italy, how Mum came to be, and even about Grandfather, Aro, and how Mum and Dad came together. And I felt sorry for Charlie because he was always being left behind, but regardless I knew he loved us dearly; there were so many times when I just wanted to tell him everything, explain things to him, just to take the burden off his mind. But I just couldn't.

That night, since school was now over; we began packing for our trip up north to Alaska to visit the Denali Coven, as well as Grandma and Grandpa Cullen – who were staying with them since Bella had refused to leave Jacob or Charlie.

The next day, we said our goodbyes to Jacob and his pack before Charlie and Sue drove us to the airport.

"Okay, see you next time kids." Said Charlie,

"Love you, Grandpa." Replied Mum.

"I wish you guys would visit more often. Promise, Ness, you'll come back soon."

"We promise. Charlie." Came Father.

Carlos and I hugged Charlie desperately before boarding the plane. And when we landed in Denali, the area was covered in the new season of summer; Father drove us out of the town, Healy, and we came to a big classy stone and timer house. Outside on the porch were Kate, Tanya, and Garrett talking to Edward and Bella.

"Grandma! Grandpa!" we called.

Edward and Bella saw us and ran as fast as they could to us.

"Nessie! Carlos!" came Bella,

"Hello Gino, Isanja." Came Edward.

We hugged our seventeen and eighteen-year-old grandparents, it was comforting to smell the scent of honey and freesias again.

"How have you been?" asked Edward, "And congratulations on graduating, I wish we could have been there for the first time; Isanja your speech was incredible."

I looked at Father; both had the same expressions on their faces – the sort of expression they had when they were exchanging memories. As we were talking, Father placed our things upstairs in our rooms.

"Things couldn't be better, Grandpa." Edward knew I wasn't lying after I showed him what we did that afternoon in the woods.

I was so happy I filled my surroundings with my peaceful aura; though it was rather impossible to have made anybody any happier.