Author's note: sorry I forgot the italics last time. I'll put them in from now on, I promise.

------------------------

Leila didn't have much strength, but she ran with all her might to the edge of the ship. Knowing what she had to do to lose them, she dove into the unforgiving abyss of the sea.

Feeling the cool water around her once more, she swam weakly to the surface. Apparently, Urgals couldn't swim, because none of them dove in after her. She smiled inside and slowly swam towards a speck of land in the distance.

She found herself on a very large island. Grateful for any land, she collapsed on the sand.

When she awoke, the stars were twinkling overhead. Leila stared at them, and wondered where she was. Strengthened by her long sleep, she wandered aimlessly away from the beach. The light of the last-quarter moon illuminated her path, as she wandered down a gravel road. She continued on this road until dawn, when she decided there was only one place she could be. Only one island vaguely ner Teirm was this huge: Vroengard, Isle of the Dragon Riders.

She kept going along the gravel road, seeing abandoned camps everywhere. Since the rise of Eragon, the carcassues had been removed from the island, but she didn't see anyone anywhere. "HELLO!" She yelled into the distance. "Is anyone there? Can someone help me?"

"Repeat after me" a voice said in her head. She screamed, but the voice came again. "Eka ai fricai!" it commanded her.

"Eka ai fricai!" Leila shouted. As the echoes died, a group of people came out to greet her. Leading them was a young man with plain brown eyes and plain brown hair. "How did you manage to find this isle on your own?"

As she explained, he nodded along, interested. His face narrowed when Leila told him what the Urgal had said. "Halfling? What did he mean by that?" She shrugged her shoulders and continued her story. When she had finished, he nodded and said, "I'm still interested in why he would imply you are half something. So you know your lineage?"

Thinking hard for a few minutes, Leila thought about her mother, the only person she knew who was related to her. Her mother had never said anything to her about her father, and she didn't wonder until she was about eleven years old.

-flashback-

mother, how come I don't have a father? Even Alice has a father and she lives in the street.

You have a father out there somewhere, you just don't know it.

Who is he, mother?

Why don't you go play with Alice and Tom?

Why won't you tell me, mama?

I'll tell you someday.

-end of flashback-

Her mother had broken her promise. She had died a year ago, when Leila was only fifteen, and on her deathbed had said nothing about her father, only to take care of herself.

"My mother's name was Csia Crest. Other than that I don't know."

"Where is your mother now?" Said the leader of the group.

"Sh-she... died..." a solitary tear traipsed down her cheek as she said this. Her shoulders shook but she took a deep breath and stared at the man who had listened patiently to her story.

"Crest, did you say? I know that name!" Leila's attention was diverted to another man, with black hair and eyes the color of the sea. He introduced himself, "My name is Jack, miss, and I once knew a man by the name of Crest. Couldn't quite say he was a man, but..."

Leila shuddered at this. So she was only half human? She only hoped she had no connection. "Now Kale was a great guy, but there was something off about him, if you get my meaning. Before, he was always a happy fun guy, always with a joke. But after he transformed..."

"Transformed?" Leila thought. "What happened?"

A voice echoed in her head again, "Just listen, we'll tell you."

She gasped, and the man with brown eyes laughed. "Shall I tell you now? Although it is rather much of a sob story, would you like the long version or the short version?"

She didn't answer.

"Okay... well I guess that's theshort version, then.Your father, Jiro Crest,was a sorcerer. He was especially powerful,but of course he overestimated himself. Some dark spirit possessed him, and so was born the shade named Kale. Kale wasn't dangerous all the time, though, because every now and then Jiro's spirit tried to resist with all of his strength. While Jiro was occupying his own body, he travelled and searched for the one who could get rid of the spirit. Kale didn't like that, but of course a few potions from some special people with special ingredients... anyway, during his travels, he met a woman South of Teirm named Csia. Of course, he fell madly in love with her, and so on and so forth, and they had you. Once you were born, Kale became so enraged he forcede control and smashed Jiro's potion to bits. Nobody has seen him since."

The one tear on her cheek turned to many, and she fell to racking sobs. She curled up in a ball and fell to sleep, and Jack covered her with a blanket before he headed away.

----------------------in the night---------------

He had been listening closely while Jack and Faolin had explained it to her. They had been preparing a ship for her since she fell asleep, and they had stocked it with all neccesarry provisions and safeguards. Now that he was sure she was related to Kale, he slipped a shiny bright green stone into her vessel. Finally he would get revenge...

--------------------------------------------

When Leila awoke that morning, she saw Faolin sitting next to a dragon. His dragon was a soft baby blue color, and was blowing smoke out of it's nostrils while sleeping.

"Oh, Leila, you're awake," he said. "We have prepared a ship for you to go back to Teirm. If you would like anything before you leave please say so."

"I would like breakfast, please, if it's not too much trouble," she said in a scratchy voice worn out from sobbing. "I would also like a bath, if you could manage."

Faolin laughed. "Of course, I'll get Derlia and she'll show you the way." He left Leila with her thoughts about her father. "Was he really once a sorcerer? Then he was a shade? So that means I'm concieved from the foulest of earth's creatures? I..." Her mental conversation with herself was interrupted by a snort. She turned towards Faolin's dragon and asked it, "what?"

"You seem to have a complicated lineage."

"Yeah. It makes me sad, but I want to forget about it. I wish I could just start a new life, begin all over. Say, how can I talk, or think, to you anyway? I thought only Riders could communicate with dragons."

"Ah, but you are special, I can tell."

Faolin and an elvin woman entered the camp-ish area, And Faolin introduced her as Derlia. She seemed motherly in a way, even if she was a Rider. She led Leila to a hot spring, where she washed clothes while Leila bathed. The water was hot and steamy, very relaxing. When they were done, Derlia led her to a breakfast table, crowded with Riders human & elf, male & female. Set before her was a delicious meal comprised of meat, sweet bread, and cheese with wine. She saw Jack at the other end of the table and smiled. He waved to her, showing his silvery gedwey ignasia.

After breakfast, Leila was put on the ship they had prepared for her. A soft blue dragon flew in the sky above, watching for any danger. There was none.

Once she had reached the beach with the cool white sands, the moon was high in the sky. Faolin departed, and Leila was left to take everything that was left back to her cottage. Among the items she found a single green dragon egg. It was perfectly smooth, and very beautiful. She knew she should give it back, but since she couldn't get in contact with anyone from Vroengard, she put it on a shelf until she saw them again. If she saw them again.