Whitefire23: Hey guys, here is a new story, and I hope you like!

Jess: Forgetting something?

Whitefire23: Um…Am I?

Jess:hits me upside the head:

Whitefire23: OW! Fine, I was just joking! Jess is my wonderful beta, so if there are any mistakes blame her. Thanks, Jess!

Jess: I know. You love me, don't deny it.

Whitefire23: Care to do the disclaimer?

Jess: I suppose…. Whitefire23 does not own anything from the Inheritance series or anything related to it. The plot of this story and the outside characters are hers. Enjoy!

I never had what you would call a "normal" family. Right, I know what you're thinking: 'There is no such thing as a normal family'. True, I had a mother and a father, and I was an only child. But we were… different. No, maybe different isn't the right word. Still, something made us unlike the other families I knew.

I never really noticed the difference until one of my friends had pointed it out to me. I never thought about it until then… No, I guess I just never noticed it enough to care.

When I was young, we lived in the country, but our house was close enough to the town to go and trade and get necessary supplies. Even though we lived far away, there were still other children around who were my age. One of them was Eal.

We were both sitting outside that day, my friend Eal and I, rolling around on the giant open fields around my house. I would consider him my best friend. Practically inseparable, we saw each other almost every day of the year, and even spent a few nights at each other's house if our parents allowed us. Eal and I did almost everything together and trusted each other completely, sharing our innermost (and outermost) secrets and feelings with one another. We even almost had each other down to a science, and sometimes we scared our parents when we completed each other's thoughts.

Eal and I had been playing all day, running back and forth through the wide fields and trees that surrounded my house. When we got bored with that we scrambled around the river – which really wasn't big enough to be a river, but too big to be a stream – and searched for stones or shells or anything interesting.

We found a beautiful pebble that day, white and polished like a gem so that the sun bounced off of it and shimmered brightly, shedding light on everything around it. Oddly enough, the pebble was deep under the clear water, so we both took the honor of diving straight in – fully clothed, of course.

Panting, Eal fell on the tall grass, and I soon followed suit, but in a more graceful manner. Dripping wet, he put his hands behind his head and closed his eyes. I scooted over next to him, lying down and rolling our newly discovered treasure between my fingers. I loved how the two of us could just sit in silence and not feel the need to talk to one another, something I could barely even do with my parents.

"Hey Nïme," said the russet-haired as boy turned to me, not bothering to wipe the plastered pieces of hair from his eyes.

"Hmm…" I responded, lost in thought, watching the blue sky turn into a hazy pink and purple, blurring the distant horizon line.

"Why do your parents look so different? You dad doesn't have pointed ears but your mom does. And so do you."

That startled me. I turned to face him, my lilac eyes meeting his bright jade ones. "I don't… I don't know…" We both became quiet again and I subconsciously ran my fingers over the points of my ears, thinking about Eal's question. His ears weren't pointed either. Sometimes I did wonder as I stared at the mirror why the tips of my ears curled up into an elegant point, but I figured it would go away, or maybe it was just a growing thing.

"I mean, my mom and dad both have the same ears. But not only that, yours just seem… I dunno… Not the same." Right… My mother had the same pointed ears as I, but hers were more prominent, more noticeable than mine. I remember her covering them whenever we rode into town, and how she tied a hair band around my head to hide them. I would protest, but it was either wearing the head band or no going to the market. You can guess which one I chose.

"Hmm…"

I walked home that night, the earlier conversation not forgotten. During dinner, I sat picking at my food, not really paying attention to my parents. It was my favorite too, fried apples and cherry bread, no meat. We never ate meat, come to think of it. I know my mother had always hated it and I had learned to not like it either, but sometimes I saw my father eating a piece of chicken with his friends or a small hunk of steak, though never at our house or around my mother.

The table had become quiet around me, but my mother noticed that I hadn't eaten much, which was very abnormal for me. I would normally eat practically anything put in front of me, but I did have my limitations, such as artichokes. Anything except those… I even had a nightmare about that once… don't ask.

"Is there something wrong Nïme? You're not eating at all."

I thought for a minute about what I had heard earlier, and decided to just ask.

"Why are you two so different? You and dad?" I asked.

"What? Honey, where did you come up with that idea?" My dad responded, unsuccessfully trying to keep the shock out of his voice.

"Eal and I were playing today and he said you guys were different. He asked why you didn't have pointed ears, dad, and mom did. And why I have them too." I silently stabbed the food on my plate, with a little more vigor than I meant to.

My mom let out an exasperated sigh. "Nïme, our father and I love you very much, and no matter what anybody says to you, nothing can take away our love from you. We may be appear different, but we are the same inside."

"But…" They had really not answered my question. I hate it when adults think they can avoid a question because "children" might not understand it. I mean, it's like they think we're stupid or anything…

"Later, honey. Now, who wants to help clean dishes?" My father stood up, taking his dishes with him.

"Ew, not me!" I protested.

"Well, I guess that means no dessert! It's blueberry cake, too!" Whoa, he hit the mark.

"WHAT? Wait, I wanna do the dishes!" I jumped up, dashing over to the sink while I hastily took my mother's dishes too and put copious amounts of soap on the porcelain.

Later that night, I lay in bed with Eal's question still racing about my head now that I had time to think about it. I tried to get to sleep, but whenever I closed my eyes the same thing echoed in my head. 'Yours just seem… I dunno… not the same'. I finally gave up on falling asleep and walked over to the window, clear glass facing out towards an open stretch of tall grass.

I leaned on the rail, taking in the moonlight that was unusually bright and clear. The stars all shone out, not a single cloud breaking the black sky that was speckled with tiny white dust. I opened the window, letting the cool breeze filter in, the smell of rain drifting into my room.

A soft knock came on the door, and a hand lightly gripped the edge.

"Nïme, are you still awake?" A whisper traveled through the door. A head peered through the opening followed by length of long silver hair and sapphire eyes. I had always loved those eyes. No one else's eyes had ever been that color of blue. I could always tell how my mother felt through her eyes; like they were her emotional center. Whenever I looked into them, I felt warm and secure – they were comforting when I felt down, and never scolding. They always had a certain joy about them, too…

I heard a creak and turned around to see her sitting on the foot of the bed, looking in my direction. She twiddled some of the wrinkles around in her fingers; only to eventually straighten the sheets back out to play with more wrinkles.

"It seems Eal has gotten you to think about many things. Is that what bothers you?"

I walked over to her and she cradled me in her lap. I put my head against her, and listened to the calming flutter of her heart. Wrapping her arms around me she told me, "It is true that your father and I are different. You see, Nïme, I am an elf. I was born in Ellesmera a long time ago, back even when the elves fought the dragons, yes." She smiled at the shocked look on my face.

"But that was really long ago! That's gotta be over a thousand years!" I was stunned at the news of my mother being over a thousand years old. To me, she didn't look a day over thirty. And Eal though his father was old!

She smiled and continued to run her fingers through my hair, brushing back some of my silver hair that fell in my face, hair that was identical to hers. "Your father, on the other hand, is a human. He came from another land far from here, but a small town just like ours. And do not tell anyone of this, but…" My mother lowered her voice even more. "Your father was once a dragon rider."

"Whoa! Really! Why didn't he ever tell me before? And where is his dragon?" Was she kidding me? A rider? A real Rider?

She let out another sigh, though this one sounded more sad than anything else. "That is a story left for another time, not the middle of the night. But, I just want you to know how much your father and I love you, no matter that both of us are different."

Putting two and two together, I came to a strange conclusion. "So if you're an elf and dad's a human, what am I? I'm like… A nothing. I don't belong anywhere."

"No, you are not nothing! Nothing could not have this long silver hair, or your beautiful lavender eyes, or parents who loved them with all of their hearts…" I couldn't take it any longer. The wind was cool and calming, and mixed with my mother's heart beat against my ear, it was intoxicating. The warm bliss of sleep closed around me, but I heard one thing before sweet darkness totally consumed me, "And you will always be my daughter, my Nïme"

So that explained a lot… or did it? I still didn't understand, but I tried my best. I accepted who I was and eventually forgot about the whole matter. A few years went by with no problem, Eal and I only becoming closer friends still. My life was once again peaceful, quiet, calm. Just like things should be. That is, until the men showed up, and changed our lives forever.

Whitefire23: Yay, cliffies!

Jess:throbbing temple:

Whitefire23: Hey, I'm not paying you in gummi worms for looking at my already correct grammar…

Jess: True… but this was bad.

Whitefire23:grumble: Anyway, hope you like the chapter and sorry it was short, because all first chapters are short. Or at least mine are.

Jess: That was a fragment. Go fix it.