AN: I do not own any characters. They all belong to Christopher Paolini's Inheritance Cycle.

Chapter 2: A Loss

I am not ready.

I don't want to grow up and I never will. To grow up means I must lose my playing time with Ismira. But I have already lost Ismira. She has chosen to become a lady at thirteen and I feel the pressure as well. The adventures, the stories, they'll all be gone. I can never hope that I can regain my childhood but I cling to it, only because my childhood is sacred and I'll never forget it. It has been four years since the traders have come and Galbatorix still has not attacked. But our village is still tense in the case that Galbatorix does make a surprise visit. It seems as though Galbatorix did not want to occupy the land where the mad King Palancar once reigned. After about three years of not hearing any word on attacks, the traders seemed to have put aside their anger towards us and came back to trade with us once again.

Family life is still normal. Garrow is now sixteen and learning from our father how to fight with a sword. I have to admit that Garrow is very good with a sword. But I can bet that I could beat Garrow. I have had far more practice than he and I have grown into my wooden sword. Although I now have more responsibilities than I can wish for, I still manage to squeeze in some sword practice. The only thing in my way now is the full-length dress my mother forces upon me. But I can still learn. While I mend my family's clothes, I watch my father teach Garrow some swordplay and I learn some sequences. Although Garrow has the potential to be a soldier, he must stay at home and care for my parents and me. Perhaps I can become a soldier. But I know that there is no use praying for something I can never have.

"Selena, come with me!" My head turns a bit and I see Ismira running towards the house. Before I could comprehend her expression, she is already through the door and in the room. "Selena, you must see this," Ismira said. Her expression radiates with happiness but I don't understand. It is the wrong time for traders and even if there were traders, we could not listen to their stories anymore. Those were reserved for children and men. Instead, we "women" were to talk about our latest patchwork or how our husbands (if we had any) were doing, or if we were young girls, we had talk about who was desirable and who was not. I did not wish to be any part of this pettiness and when the traders came last year, I merely stayed in the house.

Ismira tugged me out of the house and into our meadow where we found…Sloan. I have no resentment towards Sloan but I had always thought of him as dark and shady. He was a year older than Garrow and I could not understand what he was doing here.

"Selena, I hope that you can be happy for me." My confused expression must have been what pressed her to continue. "Sloan and I have been meeting up with each other." While her face flooded with a bright crimson, mine was flushed of all color. I could feel my expression change from confusion to shock and that was what threw Ismira off. Sloan was expressionless.

"Bu…But…Ismira?" I couldn't help not feeling happy for Ismira. If she had chosen someone else, someone I believed could make her happy and feel content, then I would have felt happy. But this was Sloan. Ismira was no longer red because she was blushing but red because she was angry. "I thought you would understand, Selena. How can you not feel happy for me?" I became silent. I didn't want to tell Ismira the truth that I thought she could do so much better. I only watched Ismira's face drop. She was not angry with me anymore. Instead, she was disappointed. "I thought you would support me, even if you didn't like Sloan. You're my friend. Friends are supposed to be happy for each other no matter what happens. But I guess our friendship was not strong enough for us. Good-bye, Selena. I hope you can find the one person who can make you feel happy as well." And with that, she left with Sloan, hand-in-hand. And I, I only watched her leave.

Note: Please, please review. And sorry for the long wait but I have been swamped…by rain and homework. Don't ask. I hope I can write the next chapter really soon and I'm already formulating what happens next…but no spoilers.