A/N: Well, here it is, my first-ever fanfic!  I understand completely that many people who are more experienced might find many faults with it . . . and if you do, please alert me to them!  I wish to grow in my writing and help from more experienced writers would aide me greatly! Thanks!

Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for my original characters (Arianna and Daniel for now); J.R.R. Tolkein gets all the credit. Yay Tolkein!

And now to begin my story . . .

Chapter One: Ripples in the Water

            Dear Diary,

Something very strange happened to me today.  I met – well, actually, just saw a stranger, but there was something different about him.  I guess he just had incredibly smooth features, but he seemed extraordinary to me.  This stranger was sitting outside of Dana's Café after school today.  When I was passing by, he caught my eye and smiled this incredible smile; watching it was like feeling warm cocoa slide down your throat on a cold day.  Then he pointed at his ear and winked at me.  I thought I heard someone call my name, so I looked away for a moment.  When I looked back, he was gone.  Strange, isn't it?  I've never seen him in my life, and yet he seemed oddly familiar in some way.  Hopefully he will be there again next Monday, and I'll introduce myself to him; I'll find out where I know him from.  Well, goodbye for now.

As always,

Arianna

Looking up from her diary, Arianna, felt a warm breeze float through the window. 'Spring will be coming soon,' she thought, as she sniffed the air.

Arianna jumped at a sudden knock on her bedroom door. "Who is it?" she called.

"Ari, it's Daniel," came the response.

She groaned at the interruption.  She loved her brother, a recent high-school graduate, dearly, but she was in one of her 'moods' where she wanted to write and to be left alone.  "Come in, I suppose," she said.

Daniel opened the door and stepped in.  A fair-haired boy of eighteen, he came to a little under six feet tall, towering above Ari and her mother.  Everything about him looked tough, from his broad shoulders to his muscular build.  Only one feature showed the other half of his nature.  Daniel's eyes were the most complex thing about him.  When he was up to something, a sparkle in his green eyes gave him away, but when he was worried or being very kind, his eyes were rippling wells of blue filled with compassion and care.  That was the expression in his eyes at that moment.

"How's it going, sis?"

"It's going," she replied, more coldly than she had meant to.

Daniel frowned.  "Is everything alright?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm okay," she said, trying to sound friendlier.  "I'm just writing, that's all.  But I guess a break would be good."

"Alright," he said, sounding relieved.  "How was your day?"

"It was okay.  Something really weird happened on the way home from school, though."

"Like what?"

Ari explained the episode with the guy at the café.  When she told him the part about pointing at his ear, Daniel had blanched.

"Danny, what's wrong?"

"I don't know.  It sounds like . . . like . . . you should expect something unexpected," he said.

Ari was really confused.  His words were strange, and the look in his eyes scared her.  He looked nervous, almost apprehensive.

"Alright . . . I don't understand, but okay . . ."

"You'll understand soon, I think.  Oh! And you might want this . . ."

Daniel pulled a small, satin bag out of his pocket.  The cloth was sky blue, and the string used to tie it was silver.

Ari took the bag and removed the string carefully.  She reached into the bag and pulled out a necklace made of silver.  The pendant was a flower with a small sapphire in the blossom.  The detail was incredible; it looked as if it would break if she touched it.

"What is it? Who's is it?" Ari asked breathlessly.

"It's a necklace made by a very special silversmith," he answered mysteriously. "And it's yours."

"Mine? I don't remember having anything this beautiful . . ."

"You'll remember it before long," he said.  "Go on, put it on."

Ari clasped the chain around her neck.  Daniel smiled and gave her a hug.  "You know that no matter what happens in your life, I'll still love you and be there for you, right?"

Ari couldn't help smiling.  She knew she had an amazing brother, even if he made no sense or made a big deal out of nothing sometimes.  "Thanks, Danny, I love you, too."

Daniel smiled and walked back out of her bedroom door, closing it softly behind him.

Ari looked down at the pendant around her neck.  Somehow, in the same strange way she had felt when she saw the young man at the café, she recognized the symbol.  Reaching into the depths of her mind, she strove to find it in her recollection.

With a sigh, she gave up.  Arising from her desk-chair, Arianna walked to the full-length mirror that she had had since before she could remember.  Made of a sturdy, but light, polished wood and unblemished glass, it was the most beautiful thing that she owned, except for perhaps the silver jewel she had just received.

Ari glanced at the sixteen-year-old standing before her.  At five-foot-four, she was of average height and of a slim build.  Her limp auburn hair fell at little past her shoulders.  Just like her brother, her eyes were her most extraordinary features.  At that moment, they were a passive blue-green, but when she was extremely happy or excited, they were the bright blue of a dancing fire, and when she was sad or upset they were the green of a dense woodland.

Arianna scanned the deftly carved designs in the wooden frame of the mirror.  Trees of all shapes and sizes, a meadow of wild flowers, and a grand woodland palace were finely sculptured.  As Ari studied the carvings, she found something very very tiny carved into the base of a grand tree on the right of the frame.  Ari gasped as she realized what the tiny symbol was – the same as her silver pendant!

Suddenly, her eyes darted back to the looking-glass itself.  In total confusing, Ari noticed that the glass seemed to ripple slightly, like a pond when someone tossed a pebble into the middle.  Reaching to touch the glass with her hand, she was shocked to find that her hand went right through!  Ari quickly pulled her hand back and stared in awe at the rippling looking-glass before her.  Gradually, her curiosity mastered her fear, and again she reached for the 'glass'.  Her hand went through again, and this time she didn't stop.  Through the glass went an arm, a leg, and finally she leapt through.  She could see colors swirling about her . . . a great flash of light . . . and she knew no more.

A/N: Well, there it is, the first chapter.  Please review and let me know what you think, and no flames pretty please J