Just to make things clear, I do not own graceling. The ideas belong to Kristin Cashore, but the characters were purely invented by me. Thank you!

The day of the discovery...

Lunael glanced at the sky thoughtlessly. It was blue, it was speckled with white. Her parents sat with her, anxiously coaxing her and crying. She was four years old, and her parents were very protective. They had always boasted to their friends that they would never have a graced child, it simply would never happen.

That changed today.

Lunael, their third child, had clear, strong blue eyes up to date. When she woke up this morning, one of her eyes was less blue than the other. It was a light, misty grey. Her light and curly brown hair fell over her new eyes, and when she woke up and noticed this, Lunael giggled. She didn't care about being mistreated and different. She lived in a huge mansion with caring parents, thats all she really loved or cared about. Not the coloring of her eyes.

Now, Lunael sat with her parents, who fought and disputed on what to do. Little Luna sat and stared around.

"Why are you fighting over my eyes?" The girl asked plainly, and her parents replied lamely.

The next day, Luna's eyes were fully settled. One was a deep, dark blue, the other was much lighter, no longer misty but now a silky, oily silver. Luna's eyes had transitioned quickly.

The day again after this, soldiers came into Luna's house. Her parents being landlords, her eyes were quickly discovered and she would be taken. That is what happened. Luna was taken, and she stayed calm despite it all. In her head, she was screaming and thrashing, wishing to be free. Luna was being taken away forever.

Today

Luna lay on her bed, lying in a solitary room away from people. The only person she ever saw was Laieda, the kind maid who brought her food. Luna was stuck here. She was 16, and her grace had not yet showed itself. She was one of the rare gracelings to emerge so late, and in turn, she was extremely sick, all the time. It would never get better, and many predicted that the only hope would be if she discovered her graceling. It was true, this had happened to a few others like her.

While Luna slept, she thought of the sky, the moon, the oceans. She wanted to be fierce and cunning. She remembered her family, since she was a late bloomer, and she had heard of her sister. Luna's sister was her role model. She was born a year after Luna was taken, and she was also strangely a graceling. Luna's sister, Brisha, was now eleven. Even at this young age, Brisha was talented. She was graced with wishing, and her grace had been put to use. She wished for anything, food, water, money, and it always came. One time the king wanted a diamond jewel, and the next month, he received one from an old friend. Brisha's talent was amazing, but if she used it to much, misfortune came to her and the people whom she wished for. So she didn't use it often, but it was still handy.

Laying on her bed, frightened by noises outside, Luna lay paralyzed. She was trapped in a mysterious place, as she had been before. A dream. In her vision, or dream, Luna was lying on a beach. Water lapped her feet, and a figure appeared in the water. She was beautiful, a girl with long, blond hair. It flowed behind her, trailing into the salty liquid. The girl's eyes were not normal, too. She had a bright pink eye and a navy one. She was graced. Luna looked at her.

"Who are you? What do you want?" She demanded the woman, who kept moving closer. Luna couldn't move from her spot on the beach.

"I am a graceling, like you. I have come to bring you grave news," the woman said in a clear, woeful voice. "Your sister, she is not graced with wishing. The king has just discovered this, and he wishes to use her for better uses now. You know how this will go," the woman sighed. Luna's jaw froze. She was the only one who was friends with her sister, and knew her sister's real grace. It was indeed not wishing. It was a deep and dark grace, one that no one wanted to know. Now the word was out, and Brisha would be used.

Luna snapped out of her dream. She sat up, her legs aching. Her fever began to rise, but she tore at the bedsheets. Luna opened the door to her bedroom, feeling sick and worried. She stumbled through the castle corridors. Then one turned, and she bumped straight into her sister.

"Brisha! There you are!" Luna shouted, louder than she should have. Tears streamed from her sister's eyes, which glittered yellow and green. "I'm frightened, Luna, I'm frightened," she cried out. Luna heard shouts and a muffled, "she went that way," and Luna guided Brisha to her room. Once they were inside, Luna locked the door. She opened her closet door, and then fell inside. Luna felt worse than she had ever. Brisha followed her in, and hid under something. Luna stood up, and brushed herself off.

"Why are they after you? Do they know your full grace?" Luna muttered anxiously.

"Yes, they know what I can do. I can... I mean, they know I can... torture a man with the sight of my bare eyes. I did it, by accident, to the king. I looked at him and he looked at me, and then he slumped over... Dead..." Brisha gasped, tears streaming from her eyes. Luna's face turned pale. This was worse than she thought. The king had died from her grace? He was dead? And now they were after her.

Luna shut the closet door quickly. She fell into her bed, and pulled the covers over her head. She pretended to sleep.

Soldiers banged on her door. "Let us in! We search for a runaway graceling!" They screamed while pounding on the door. Luna stumbled from bed, and opened the door. Several soldiers streamed in. "Your sister," they muttered, a grim smile on their face. "she killed the king. We'll give her, and you, a slow, painful death when we find her, in here," one soldier muttered. One opened the closet door with a bang. He lifted up a blanket, and revealed Brisha. She screamed and punched him, and then stared him in the eye angrily. Luna looked away. He fell to the ground, clutching his arm and cursing. The next man shut his eyes and tackled her.. Several other guards took Luna by the arms, dragging her through the door and hallways. Luna suddenly felt worried for her sister, and she felt exhausted from the little running and searching she had done the whole day. Luna let unconsciousness sweep her away.

Author's mini-note:

Thank you for reading chapter 1! Hope you enjoy, and thank you, again!

Suggestions open!