Authors notice: Hi there FF the name's Lioness! I would like to welcome you to a story with a inheritance cycle, modern world twist. All characters from Christopher Paolini's work are his, and I shall merely play with them in this fan fiction for entertainment purposes and creative growth. This is a fic about heart, love, and long suffering that will break the boundaries of normalcy.

I promise to always give you the best I can.

-Lioness

Shades of Green

Chapter one: Breaking Normality

Marian Cullen and Garrow Hayes first met in Ireland on the streets of Dublin at a time when neither or was the embodiment of prepared. Garrow was a young man of good natured humility, who spent his days working his father's farm and his nights spending his dime on whatever the land needed. There was never a thing he desired for himself, never a complaint against his person or character; all who knew him adored him for the heart he had, and all wept for the sacrifices he had made for the betterment of his father's beloved land.

It was said that there wasn't a thing in the world that Garrow Hayes wouldn't do for his father, not a thing that could ever detour him from his determination to please the old man. Until one day, while Garrow was away trading sheep's wool in the market place, Garrow's father suffered a stroke and passed away in the wee hours of the morning.

Devastated by the loss, the young man fell into a pit of self loathing. He worked the land day and night without rest. Nothing and no one could offer him refuge, for he was a man who had spent his entire life caring after his father, only to fail him when it mattered most.

Months pasted and still he worked without end, forcing the plow into the dirt from sun till moon. Eventually some of the neighboring lads of the village interceded and took him into the city to drink away his sorrows. Garrow, having never been the type to tilt back a pint, promptly refused when he learned of their intentions and swiftly pursued the door, cursing their names and calling them worse than swine. He accidently bumped into a woman at the door on his way out, and both fell to the ground in his haste to leave.

With every means in the world to teach the lad who had blocked his exit a lesson, Garrow lifted his fist only to freeze when something softer then silk swiped across his cheek with a resounding slap. Startled, he opened his eyes to see that he was on top of a highly enraged woman swarming in curls, whose brown eyes bore a warning of murder.

"Not if you'd like to keep that hand you don't!" The woman spat, and promptly pushed him off. In amazement, Garrow went without complaint. She was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen.

Stumbling over an apology, he quickly tried to set things right with her only to receive a wicked left hook that knocked him a little sideways.

"That's to remember me by!" She growled and swiftly stomped her way through the bewildered crowd for a spot at the bar.

Garrow's good eye followed her departure and for the first time since his father's death, he smiled a genuine smile. Rising to his feet, he joined the woman at the bar who would eventually become his bride. The two married after just weeks of their first encounter and lived for a time on his Father's land.

The spark returned to Garrow's eyes as did his determination to protect her family, Marian Cullen. They were the talk of his small village for many years, and all wanted to see if Garrow's sons would take after him or his wife. Eventually, the couple tried their hand at children but failed to conceive.

Marian grew silent and refused to speak to anyone for many months during their first few years of trying, and Garrow's heart ached to make her happy again. He searched everywhere for a doctor who could help them to conceive but Ireland had not yet received the type of technology to do such a thing.

In their desperation, Marian and Garrow Hayes left home to travel to America, where Marian had heard of doctors with the means to help them. They underwent the surgeries and requirements but alas…it was for was not, for Marian, as fate would have it, turned out to be of the few women who were born without the ability to create life.

The newly weds had left their homeland for an answer that didn't exist for them…

Until one day their doctor called to report a baby that had been left in the care of the hospital with no record. He was only days old, and was suffering from severe malnourishment and anxiety pains due to the loss of his mother. They just couldn't resist. Marian threatened to hi-tail it to the hospital to see the poor lad. When they arrived and saw the abandoned child connected to tubes for feeding and breathing, their hearts went out to him.

The Hayes took in the child and named him Eragon. Garrow paid for everything the boy would need to survive his first few months of life and the new addition to the family eventually recuperated after many days of respite care and adorning from his new parents. Despite the good start, Eragon's doctors quickly took notice of the fact that Eragon was unable to open his eyes and he was declared blind at 8 months. Marian and Garrow were deeply devastated by the news but still took it upon themselves to care for the child, no mater the expense it would require for his care.

They settled down with little Eragon in New York City, working for a friend of Garrow's father who managed a boxing gym in the Bronx. Marian set up shop cooking under the success of their business and took care of their beloved child who eventually opened his eyes over the course of three years. He had a uniquely shade of brown that melted the hearts of all who came to the gym and when the doctors saw him, surprised everyone further when they declared that he was partial to the color green. From then on, anyone who came to train at The Irish Clover agreed that the Hayes clan broke every definition of normalcy, beginning with their baby boy who only saw the color green.

* And so begins the start of what will hopefully be an enjoyment to many:).

-Lioness