"You can't catch me!" I yelled, as my almost-mom chased me around the yard. I giggled, and ran away from her.

I lived in the village of Kuasta in Western Alagaësia. My almost-mom  told me I was left here by my real parents. She said they couldn't take care of me,  but I knew the real reason they abandoned me. They didn't like me, so they threw me away like a piece of trash.

But... I was kind of glad they gave me up...I loved my almost-mom. It was my almost-dad I was worried about. He absolutely despised me, he only wanted me to live with them because I made his wife happy.

I was 13 summers old and pretty tall for my age. I had dirty blonde hair and brown eyes.

I always heard stories in the village of an amazing dragon rider on a sapphire blue dragon. He is said to have single handedly taken down the evil-I-dare-not-speak-his-name-king who had apparently killed for sport. The things people said the evil-I-dare-not-speak-his-name-king did to innocents are horrid and I probably shouldn't go into detail, as not to give you nightmares (it did for me).

Anyways, the miraculous rider was dressed in gold and his dragon was said to have scales stronger than 1,000,000 mules. Do I believe these legends? Of course...NOT!

Anyone who did believe this was crazy. There was no way anyone, not even a rider, could take down a king by themselves. I had heard stories of people's ancestors who had survived or been killed in the battle that had apparently happened. That's just what they are. Stories! How can you believe that some amazing rider was alive when he never came back to, I don't know, at least go to the funeral of the late Queen Nasuada, who had died 2 summers ago! I would never believe the legends unless I saw this mystery rider for myself!

Right now, I was playing with my almost-mom, as she tried to dump freezing water on me. I was faster than most kids my age, so I had no problem evading the liquid she wanted to drench me in. I could jump high too, higher than you might think. I ran to our small house, and jumped to the roof, effortlessly.

Our house was of average size, with three bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen, and a bathroom. (I think they had bathrooms...where else would they keep the chamber pots? :P) I had no brothers or sisters, the extra bedroom was for guests in case we ever had company come over. My room was small with a straw bed in one corner, a dresser in another, and shelves on the walls. On the shelves, I kept small wood carvings I had achieved over the years, whether I got them from the merchants who came, or carved them myself. Most were dragons, but there were a few other ones.

When my almost-mom saw me on the roof of he house, she called up to me.

"That's cheating, Lilli!" She shouted with a smile. I smiled back.

"Can you blame me for not wanting to be soaked from head to toe on a windy day!?" I called down to her. She put the bucket on the ground, and held up her hands in a sign of surrender. When I saw this, I jumped down and gave her a hug.

"Now, now. It's almost time for dinner, and your father gets cranky if we don't show up soon enough. " she smiled at me, and we walked inside the house. Inside, you could smell the soup above the fire, cooking to perfection. The table was set, and my almost-dad was lighting candles. When we entered the room, he glanced up at us with a blank look, then back at the last candle he was lighting.

"Did you jump on the roof again, Lilliana? I heard a thump and you aren't supposed to be doing that anymore." He said,  his expression not changing.

"I did, father. I apologize, I was being chased, and gave in to my instincts." My almost-dad preferred to think that the women should be lady like, never fooling around or doing anything fun.

"Make sure you never do it again!"

"Yes, Father." I heard the soup start to boil, so I grabbed the handle of the pot it was in, and poured soup into each bowl on the table. Then, I hung it back up above the fire. We all sat at the table, my almost-parents across from  each other, and me beside my almost-mom. We grabbed our spoons, and ate our soup.

"How's it going at the market?" Asked my almost-mom.

"Terrible! People refuse to buy our crops just because they don't trust me. How am I not trust worthy?! I told them that, and they just ran to the Thornston's shop and bought food there! I'm telling you, these guys are trying to put us out of business! " almost-dad exclaimed, angrily.

"Now, now, Philip, you know yelling won't make anything better." Almost-mom attempted to sooth him.

"Enough!" Almost-dad yelled, slamming his fist on the table. I flinched, knowing that the anger boiling inside him was enough to start a fight between them. "Yelling at them is the only way to get my point across! If I don't shout, everything that goes in one ear comes out the other! " Almost-mom motioned for me to go to my room. I ran up the stairs and entered the doorway at the end of the hall, closing the door behind me. Almost-mom sent me away everytime a fight broke out between the two. Usually it ended with one sleeping in the guest room. I hated hearing them fight.  I tried to block them out, but sometimes, they yelled so loud. I was afraid that one day it would be too much for almost-mom to handle.

I began to sing to myself. My almost-mom always told me that I had the voice of an angel. She always knew how to make me smile. I heard a door slamming, breaking through my thoughts and I cut off my singing. I ran downstairs, to see almost-dad sitting at the table with his head in his hands. I looked out the window to see my almost-mom running into the forest. I chased after her without thinking, but what I saw when I got farther into the forest scarred me for life.

There, lying on the ground in a pool of blood, was my almost-mom. An arrow protruded from her back, and I could just barely see the rise and fall of her chest. I ran to her side, just in time to see the love in her eyes as she looked at me, right before she died. I broke down sobbing. All the pain and anger I kept welled up inside me from being abandoned rushed into the tears that fell down my face. I couldn't hold myself back any longer. I screamed as loud as I could, not caring who heard, and collapsed to the ground. I had no idea what I would do, my almost-mom was dead, and she was the only one who had ever cared for me!

OK,  Lilliana,  pull yourself together...what would she want you to do? She would want me to not grieve her and to carry on in life. Just not to forget her. She would want me to be forgiving.

I heard a rustle in the bushes behind me. I turned to see an ugly creature with large horns, and a bow and arrow in hand. He gasped when he saw me and my almost-mom sitting there on the grounds. He hesitantly took a step towards me.

"H-human, I am urgralgra. I was only hunting,  it wasn't my intention to...do this." He spoke gruffly, and gestured to my almost-mom. "I am sorry. If you want to kill me for revenge go ahead."

"I don't want to kill you. I f-forgive you. She would want me to. She was only my h-half mom anyways..." the urgalga....whatever. The dude with horns looked shocked.

"Y-you forgive me? You confuse me human. I am Greorre, and I am only 12 summers.  My ushnark is war chief of my tribe, so I learn other languages."

"Hello Greorre, I am Lilliana, and I am 13 summers old. You were only hunting. I can't blame you. But beware, if my half dad finds out that you killed his wife, you might get attacked. C-can we be friends? I have no friends." I guessed that ushnark meant dad in the urgalgr...you know what, I'm just going to call them furries. To continue my earlier thought, I guessed that ushnark meant dad I  the furries' language.

"Ok, let's be...friends." He held out his giant, furry hand. I grabbed it and shook it. That day, I made my first friend.

"I need to go home now, and tell my half dad the...n-news about my half mom. See you around?" I asked him.

"Yes... see you around. Sorry again." And with that, he disappeared into the surrounding forest. I wondered how i could hold my emotions inside and not let people see how I feel. People never seem to know when I am sad, yet I can tell what they felt without a second glance. I didn't know what to do with my almost-moms body. I could bring it back, but I doubted my almost-dad would be okay with that. I decided to bury her.

I dug a hole 6 feet down, and long enough for her body body--- don't ask where I got the shovel. As I lowered her corpse into the grave, I thought about all the good times I had with her. When she chased me around the yard, when we went on hikes, when we hunted (don't judge me!), and when we jumped in the ocean together. I thought of the day she adopted me...

* Flashback*

I was in the orphanage with a bunch of other kids at 10 summers. I was beginning to lose hope that anyone would adopt me, that I'd ever have a family.

Just as I was about to run away, a couple came from the outskirts of the city. They said they were looking for an older girl to help around the house. The orphanage lady, Susanne, had all the girls line up.

The couple went down the line, soon reaching me at the end. The woman immediately smiled brightly.

"Philip, how about this girl? What is your name, sweetie?" She asked with the kindest smile I had ever seen.

"My name is Lilliana and I am 10 summers old." I said, straightening my back, trying to look beautiful, even though I knew I wasn't.

"You are beautiful, darling. We would love it if you would join our little family. What do you say, Sweetheart?" I looked at her and her dazzling smile, I could tell she really wanted me in her home, and I could sense that her heart was pure. I looked past her at the man. I knew when I saw him that he only wanted to please his wife, he didn't really want, me. His heart was dark, and he was not often happy.

I looked back to the pure hearted lady, and smiled. I slowly nodded. She gasped and pulled me into a hug. Right then, I knew I had found my family.

*end of flashback*

I sighed, and covered the grave with the extra dirt. I wrote in the earth with a stick.

Here lies my almost-mom. She was great to me and took me in when I had lost hope. Thank you for everything you've done for me. I love you. R.I.P.

I knew that the rain would probably wash the message away, but I wrote it anyway. I knew I would miss her, but revenge was never the way to go. My almost-dad would disagree most likely. I just hoped he wouldn't do anything stupid.

As I walked back to the house, I thought about what I would say. If I told him straight up, he would probably freak out at me and kick me out of the house. If I left him a note, he would respond nicer...hopefully. Or I could get someone from the city to tell him, however there was a good chance he would take his anger out on them instead. Either way, if he asked how it happened, he would assume I did it, unless I told him the truth.

As I reached the door to our house, I had decided to leave a note. I peeked through the window to see that my almost-dad had left the room at one point while I was gone. I quickly ran to the kitchen to grab some ink, a quill and a parchment. I wrote a letter to my almost-dad, explaining what happened with my almost-mom and that I had left to live somewhere else. I knew he wouldn't want to take care of me anymore, so I grabbed a sack and got a few changes of clothes, food and some other random things I found important. Then, I left, running into the forest. At he edge of the woods, I took one final glance back at my...old house, knowing that I would likely never see it again. And with that, I plunged deep into the forest, leaving everything I knew and loved behind.

How was chapter 1? Did you love it? If so, please click the vote button, and please comment! Criticism is welcome, and if you have any suggestions for good quality eragon fanfics or want me to read yours, be sure to mention it to me! I love ya all!

~pip