Darkness shrouded most of the room where she lay. She could faintly hear heavy footsteps. Then a firm hand rested her shoulder. The grip was strong, but not painful. It gave a light squeeze as she finish waking up. Flinching slightly, she turned and smiled at who she saw.

"Daddy." She said, almost falling into his arms. He held her head against his chest, stroking her bronze hair nervously, "What's wrong?" She pushed away to look him in the eye.

"Sweetheart, you know how much I love you, but you must leave…" he answered solemnly. There was a sad, serious look in his eyes.

"Why?" she asked, almost breaking into tears.

"You know well why." He gave a silent gesture to her ears. In response, she reached up to them, feeling their pointed ends.

"Why does that matter? Why am I any different then you? Your ears are pointed too!" she exclaimed as hysteria began to take her.

"Sweetheart," He answered, trying to keep a clam tone. "your ears and my ears are pointed for totally different reasons…"

"What are you saying?" her tone getting louder and more violent with every word. "Are you not the man who raised me? Are you not my father?" she looked at him in shear anger.

Murtagh was silent. He bit his lower lip hard under her stare.

"It can't be true!" She screamed at him. Tears fell she her eyes as continued. "You are my father, right?"

"I'm afraid, my dearest Aiedail, the answer is nay. I may have raised you, but you hail from the forest of the elves." In that moment of the sour revelation, her whole world fell apart. It was like all she had ever known, all she had ever been, had just been swept away, like worthless manure. She felt as though she had just been carried out to a sea of questions instead of the shallow pool she had once waded in. And in that moment, all she wanted to do and all she did, was cry. And all he wanted to do and all he did was hold her close.

"It'll be alright, my morning star." He said calmly, his own tears merging with hers.

"No, it won't. How can you even say that? You lied to me, about everything! Tell me the truth! Who are my parents!" she replied.

"Okay, Aiedail. I know not of whom your real parents are. I found you on the back of that of a green wyvern in Du Weldenvarden many a month ago. Yes, you are different. An elf, in fact. No, not everyone has dragon. There are only four left in fact: Thorn is mine, Shruikan is Galbatorix's, one is not hatched, and the final you've never seen. She is a sapphire blue and belongs to my brother. Yes, I am forced to serve Galbatorix. Yes, we are at war. No, we are not on the right side. I cannot be. But you, my morning star, you can be. It is not safe here any more for you I am afraid. But you can leave."

"Where would I go? What would I do?" she asked, perplexed at all his revelations.

"Go to Surda. Go to the Beors. Go to Du Weldenvarden. Anywhere but here. For you shalt be accepted better at anyone of these places, I expect…"He answered, tears welding up in his eyes. As they fell, the melded with hers. For a moment, the only sound was the sobs of the two. Finally, she welded up some courage to speak.

"But I can't leave you. Will I ever see you again?" she whispered softly.

"Aiedail, my sweet Aiedail. Part of me hopes the answer is nay, and part of me is still hoping yes. If I do, I shall hope it shall be under the right circumstances." He said gently

"Father, I will not go." She said defiantly as two tears fell from her eyes.

There came a rustle in the hall and indiscernible shouts. "I must go. Know then, my little one, this may be regardless the last I see you. For they are coming." His eyes wandered frantically to the door.

"Who?" she asked.

But instead of a straight answer, all she got was, " They cared not when you were younger. But now, they are enraged." Glancing back, he said, "I must go." He turned to leave, but looked back one, last, desperatle time and vowed, " Eka ulonw opiuts ono ianga."

As the door shut, she cried, "I love you." And with that, without a reply, he left, leaving her confused and alone in the dark.

As she finished remembering what had taken place only shortly before the attack on her room, she wished she could forget. Forget the thousands of times she called him father. Forget all the "I love yous" exchanged between the two. Forget all she had known and start a new. Or at least forget she was an elf. Then maybe, just maybe, it would all be fine.

She tried desperately, but no matter how she tried, she was still in the same old dank room and still hated and mobbed by humans. She still didn't know who she truly was. And most importantly, she still did not have a family.

Suddenly, there came a soft knock. She turned to go back through the passage, but she did so too late. Before she could slip into the dank passage, the door opened, flooding the once dark room with the fresh, silver light of the moon. A long shadow appeared. With its face shadowed, she could not make out who, or what, owned the giant shadow. The made it rather menacing to the scared Elven girl. She moved and it obviously saw her.

With no chance of escape, she gathered up her courage and turned and moved to the center of the room to face her opponent. Surprisingly, there was only one. Her features were highlighted.

Puzzled, the figure moved slowly towards her, features still shadowed. As her eyes began to adjust, she could make out some of its, no his, features. His skin was a dark, tanned brown and he dawned a black robe. Everything about him screamed he didn't want to be noticed. Then he took another few strides and set her into shock.

Standing in front of her, in the dark, rich room connecting to a guest room in the black palace of Kurmoshkow in the center of Uru'baen in the center of Alagaesia, stood Murtagh.