D.H. A.N.: Thanks to Fallingwithstyle for reviewing both my pieces. Here's Chapter One. Enjoy!

Chapter One: The Bond

Mhera was woken by the sounds of faint shouts, the voices belonging to her brother and father. Oh great they're arguing again, I don't know how much more of this I can stand. She sat up on the bed, twiddling her fingers as she did so. How could they argue so much, without thinking of how it would affect the innocence of their home? The two of them were like oil and water. Keimo and his father quarreled over sometimes -frivolous things. The arguments were often brutal. Fortunately, Odion apparently had the sense to take Mhera out of the room when an argument came. A sound of a door slamming across the hallway met her ears. Mhera wanted to speak with her brother, but she reasoned after he was arguing wasn't a good time. The two shared everything about themselves with each other, beyond what they would share with any others. Mhera was shaken out of her thoughts by the doorknob's turning. Someone entered with quiet steps and snuck up behind her.

Gentle hands pushed themselves onto her shoulder, "I've snuck up on you yet again, and I can see why you spend most of your time here. Quiet, quaint, but that is of your own desire, of your own design, isn't that right, my sister?" "These arguments, why do they anger you so?" Mhera inserted herself into the conversation.

"He will never understand me. I have a reason, but it should not matter to you. " He came from behind her to her front, looking into her eyes for the first time since their encounter. His emerald eyes showed a plan that caused Mhera to be very wary of anything he would say to her. Mhera was silent as he began his plight for his sister's sympathetic ear. "I have to get out of here, and I have a way to do so."

Mhera rolled her eyes, for she had heard these idle claims of escape before.Keimo reacted just the way one would have expected. "Don't look at me like that. I actually have something here." He waved an envelope in front of her nose. It had been opened already, and the contents re-stuffed hastily.

"What is different about this attempt, all I see is an envelope, with something inside. If I am to believe your story, you're going to have to give some proof. Keimo, use your head for something other than arguing. A mysterious letter just happens to fall on your lap, and you're going to take in its possible offer? Think about this for two minutes." "I've thought about this for much longer than two minutes, dear sister." Keimo's eyes seemed to reflect his present undesirable disposition. "Hello? Am I getting through that thick head of yours? This has "Bad idea" written all over it. Are you so stubborn that you cannot see that?" Mhera asked irately. Keimo did not answer her question.

"Keimo, please, you're ten years old, I'm five. Our difference in age is not a good reason to not listen to me, but it could be yours, and I respect that. But please listen. You have your whole life ahead of you. Don't do this. Might I also remind you that I'm horrible at keeping a secret?" "You keep your own secrets pretty well, I want to share a secret of mine. I'm going to take this offer up. I'm leaving tomorrow." "Please, Keimo do not test me, I will tell Father, and he won't let you go." "I know you won't tell him. Because you don't even know where I'm going." Keimo sighed.

"If you're done, you may leave." Mhera stated anxiously. "No, not yet. I have to put myself at ease, as well as ensure that I have your complete trust." Keimo said. Mhera gave a relenting sigh, as she knew she couldn't persuade him to change his mind. "Alright, what have you got?"

"All in good time, Mhera. First we shall see if you are trustworthy," Keimo said mischievously. Of course I'm trustworthy, what has brought you to doubt that?" Mhera asked, hands clenched inside the pockets of her white robe. Her father's temper was beginning to make itself evident, much to her dismay, as Mhera attempted to keep it under control. Keimo removed a piece of paper from one of the drawers in which Mhera kept items of the like nature. Being something of a composer, Keimo wrote a poem that would become much more to one of its readers, who was in the room with him. The paper read:

Bond of blood

Oath of silence

One Secret

Two heirs

Mysteries, which will be revealed in time with the bond of blood and oath of silence, until the two heirs meet again.

"So, are we clear? If not, I have no reason to be speaking to you further." He waited for her answer, an eyebrow expertly arched. He was impatient, as he did not want to waste his time waiting for her to finally answer, but he knew the decision would not come easy. No decision like this would be easy to make, especially for his sister, who had never lived outside of their honestly quite comfortable abode, and faced anything of this nature.

Mhera hesitated before answering. "Keimo I'm just not sure. What will our father say?" Keimo smirked with "I don't consider him my father any longer, he may still be yours, but that is your foolish choice, then." A remark Mhera found a little off color for him.

Mhera then began reading the contract placed before her. "Give me the pen." She commanded Keimo with a tinge of guilt. She consented to signing the contract that felt like she was signing her young life away. " Now, you shall see why it is called the bond of blood." As a response to his own question, he drew his dagger across one of his fingers, and pressed it against the paper. He then gave the blade to Mhera. She just stared at it. It was beautiful, with its silver blade, and emerald imbedded in the handle. She duplicated the maneuver with great accuracy. "You're sure you won't get caught?" Mhera asked hesitantly. He answered her, "He won't be able to keep up with me, so therefore, won't catch me." Knowing her brother's response could be very unexpected, due to her doubting response, she waited for him to move.

He stepped purposefully towards her, anger in his eyes, an emotion that had its place in him; Mhera had never seen it, as he had never used it on her. His green eyes blazed with fury, and at the same time froze Mhera where she stood. His words were like ice. "You don't think I can do it. You think I am a worthless dreamer. You're just like him!" "Keimo… I-" Mhera started apologetically. "I don't care about your useless attempt to apologize!" Keimo then stormed out of her room. As his footsteps echoed through the hallway, Mhera wept in solitude. She then saw something that would be kept with her for a long while, something that would hold a place in several areas of her life, and her's alone. But for now, it was only a dagger Keimo had forgotten on her desk.

A voice entered her thoughts; one that she knew would provide her solace "Why do you weep, my Mheralo?" "Father?" she asked hesitantly. A hand placed itself on her shoulder, another found its way onto her cheek. His voice was somewhat cold, but that was just naturally his tone "Yes, please, tell me what troubles you, Mheralo. Don't be afraid. I have to ask you something. What is your brother planning? I know you share a special bond with him. And I also speak with you." He smiled, although he was still behind her, so Mhera could not see it. "It seems that you are the mediator between us, although you should know it is of no use. You remind me so much of your mother. You're beautiful, no matter what anyone says." He then said something completely off topic from his monologue "I was thinking about going out tonight, and I was wondering if you would grace me with your company. It will get your mind off what troubles you." He then came in front of her. He took the somewhat disregarded chair that was beside his daughter's bed. His amethyst eyes almost narrowed. "Not answering me will get you nowhere, Mheralo. I shouldn't have brought your brother into this. He has obviously betrayed you." Mhera had summoned up her power of speech to aid her after that statement. "You are so callous, do you not see that it is you who has driven him to this insanity? You! No one else is to blame but you and he. I have been the only one he was able to confide in. I was the only one who would listen to him. No one else would listen. I can't handle anymore of this." She winced as he stood from the chair, as if she had been struck.

His voice almost wavered, yet it held its strength, as if he knew this statement was to come from his daughter's lips eventually. Why has she suffered so silently? She has right to be upset; I've never seen her so distraught, of course I haven't spent too much time around her. I've had no reason to. He almost squinted his eyes in sorrow. He really was to blame for her misery. "I have listened to him, but all he speaks of is this nonsense." "Nonsense? Is that what you think it is? Father, it's so much more than that. He has a dream of a better life, something beyond these walls. Don't tell me that you haven't done the same thing. You two are somewhat alike."

The father cringed at his daughter's words, and how true they rang. He had, but yet, he had chosen to return to his past, a past that to this very day was always behind him, jeering over his shoulder.

The daughter saw her father cringe. Her last words held a bitter sting to them that she hadn't meant them to possess. Her next words held remorse that was meant to be there. "Father, I am sorry. I did not mean for those words to be so effective." Her father took her hand gently "No, you're right, you possess no need to apologize to me." The subject changed itself abruptly, as the pair got the same odd look on their faces. "You still haven't answered my first question, Mheralo. Are you going or not?" Mhera smiled her signature smile, answering her father as she did so "Of course, just let me-" Her sentence was cut short as Odion ducked into the room. " I'm sorry, sir, but we have a situation that requires your immediate attention."

"Can it not wait, Odion?" He was speaking through some sort of mind communication. "No, sir, it requires your immediate attention." Odion said using the same method of communication. All Mhera saw was her father giving the messenger a hard look that could freeze one where they stood. The only way she knew that look was because she had been on the receiving end of that hard gaze many times before. Mhera, unlike her father, saw that the messenger meant what he said about the matter being urgent, although, as to what the matter was, the young watcher had no idea.

"Father, he speaks the truth about this matter being urgent. Please don't be so hard on him." Mhera cringed as his frosty glare was now focused on her, his eyes asking her "If you know that, perhaps you can tell me to what this matter pertains?" He arched his eyebrow to finish his inquiry. Her voice quivered as she answered his question in a revered whisper, "As to what the matter pertains to, I know nothing more." Her father only nodded in silent approval, leaving the room with his messenger close behind. Mhera started to pace about her bedroom, racking her brain as to, One: how did she know the messenger was speaking the truth, and, Two: what gave her the nerve to speak in a manner of that which she had just spoken to her father? Neither question was easy to answer, but one would be answered with a surprising prospect.

DH: That's the First Chapter. Hope you liked it. Next Chapter: Mhera's father remembers how her name came to be, and the horrible tragedy that the joyous occasion brought with it in Chapter Two: The Eyes Have It. R&R please. I can't do this without you.