"Gera we have been blessed." Gera in the middle of preparing her mothers Dark Brew froze her breath stilling in her chest, her heart beating a rapid tempo against her rib cage. "Mother?"

          Fransorrow smiled at her oldest daughter. "I' am pregnant, already I'm in the middle of ensuring the embryo well be a girl." Gera laughed with joy and danced around the room her long black skirts twirling around her feet. "Stop that." Fransorrow scolded though her grin was just as large as her daughters. "No Drow should ever show so much emotion it's rude."

          Gera suddenly stilled though it was not her mothers scolding that had caused her sudden melancholy. "Mother it's so late. Zarra's eighteenth birthday is so soon, well the birth be soon enough?" Fransorrow reclined back in her plush chair. "If everything goes well she should be born the morning of his birthday I well not be killing another son."

          Gera would have danced with joy again but another thought intruded into her mind. "But mother," She said weakly. "You have no husband nor lover." Fransorrow stilled her smile slipping from her face replaced with a scowl that promised a beating. "You will not speak like this to your mother. Only because you are my oldest daughter and therefore bound to me instead of one of my sons will I let this slip go, it well never happen again."

          Gera bowed her head and curtsied with trembling knees. "Of course mother." Fransorrow smiled bitterly and reached out grabbing her Dark Brew. Fransorrow took a lady like sip of the thick black drink. "She well be born."

          Gera starred in horror at the child who had come from her mother's womb. "O, Mother! This cant be." Fransorrow stared with disgust at the abomination in Gera's arms. Like a drow the little hair that was on its head was night black the eyes as well were as black as an eclipsing moon thou the eyes of drow usually changed to fluorescent yellow as they got older but unlike the beautiful black skin of the drow the baby was colored in skin as light as parchment.

          "It must be killed." Gera stated holding the baby as far from her body as possible. "No!" Fransorrow screeched. "No," She repeated in a much more controlled voice. "If we kill her we must also kill the brother she is destined to be enslaved to. Zarra is too important for that, he's too skilled with his swords, we need him he, will bring us glory. If we have to stand a little humiliation to go with it then so be it. Maybe the baby will serve to teach Zarra humility."  Gera glared at the baby in her arms then brought her closer to her face to examine her. Gera would swear in later years that, that baby glared right back. As if sensing her older sisters hate the baby reached out a slapped her tiny palm across Gera's face as if showing her defiance and hate before she was even old enough to know what those words meant.

          "Auroran!" Auroran flinched and ducked behind a boulder waiting with out drawing breath as she listened to her brother's footsteps. Auroran wanted to whimper or cry do something to try and relieve the fear inside of her but she new better. Sound would only draw her brother and if he caught her expressing an emotion as strong as fear he would beat her.

            Auroran bolted away from the boulder running with all she was worth for the pond that waited only feet in front of her. She ducked behind a large gathering of duckweed just as her brother rounded the bolder she had been hiding behind.

          Her brother held his two short swords in hand the muted light coming from the sky flashing off his blade's as he swept them out in front of him as if hacking away at brush.

          His long black hair rolled down his back in waves blending in with the dark of the night sky behind him. His black skin slightly highlighted with violet allowed him to move with near invisibility in the night. His clothes were coordinated with the dark so they were near invisible. The only part of his body that was easily seen was his flashing yellow eyes that glowed like a predators.

          "Auroran," He sang in a tilting voice that flowed through the night like wind so you were never really sure you were hearing his voice or a stray breeze. "Auroran come to me my slave." His voice turned hard and commanding. "You will come to me, slave."

          Auroran's eyes widened. How could he do this to her? He had commanded that she run from him. Commanded that no matter what, she was not to let herself be seen unless he found her and now he was giving her a direct order to come to him.

          Auroran shrank further into the reads as Zarra began to circle the pond his yellow eyes moving so fast they created blurs of light across his face. I can't be found. She told her self. The only way out of this is to not be fond then claim I never heard his order.

          A flash of red in the water caught her attention. With the curiosity of a child she shifted slightly so she could look directly into the dark water. An image of herself stared back at her. Her skin was as pale as the sand she walked upon. Her hair was mostly black like the Drow but had rust red strands twining there way through. And her eyes unlike the bone chilling yellow of her brethren were a bright clash of gold, yellow, and green.

          "Why Auroran, I seem to have found you hiding among the weeds with the frogs." Auroran froze staring wide eyed at the image of her brother in the pond as he stood over her, his grin as predatory as the Sandcats that roamed the desert.

          Auroran turned slowly meeting her brothers scathing glare. Zarra's grin turned into a grimace of rage as he raised one of his swords above his head. "You dare to look my in the eye's, slave!" 

          "Zarra, how is Auroran coming along?" Zarra grimaced at his mother's question. "She is not a women mother. I believe something must have gone wrong at birth. She must be a boy born with out his manhood." Fransorrow's scowl deepened, already her daughter was a deep wound, and she didn't want anything to rub salt into the cut.

"Why would you say that Zarra?" Fransorrow's chilly voice was enough to warn him that he must tread carefully. "She is not meek nor obedient. Instead of cowering in a corner while I practice with my weapons she watches with an interest that befits a warrior. When I beat a slave instead of whimpering and fleeing the room she watches me as if to learn how and why I do it. And when I turn to her she makes no move to hide the anger that burns bright in her mutated eyes. I know she is afraid of me, I can see it in her when she doesn't think I'm watching. But if I confront her, threaten her, even when I'm about to strike her she does not flinch away. And through all the beatings and fights she has tolerated she never allows her gaze to waver from mine unless the pain becomes unbearable and she passes out from it."                Zarra collapsed back in his chair is head hanging low. "I'm afraid I have failed mother. She has no obedience!" Fransorrow laid a comforting hand on Zarra's head. "No my son it is not you that has failed. Remember Auroran is not full-blooded drow. Humans have always been a race with more pride then brains."

          Zarra stilled beneath his mothers hand horror struck by what his mother had just revealed to him. Of course his sister was not full-blooded drow that was obvious but what had his mother been doing sleeping with a human?

          Zarra new better then to voice his thoughts, such questions would be an instant death warrant even for him. "I' am sorry for placing such a burden on you. I had no choice. You know as well as I that any male drow warrior not pared with a sister slave is sentenced to death, she was your only hope."

          Zarra said nothing as he sensed his mother was not really talking to him but more talking to herself, as if trying to convince herself she had did the right thing.

          Auroran slipped the small steal blade into her pocket while her brother practiced with his bow, every few seconds a thunk indicating another arrow had hit the target.

          Auroran dared not take more then one, knowing her brother would notice if to many of his weapons went missing. Auroran silently inched away from the cache of weapons so her brother would not see her anywhere near them.

          The sound of arrows hitting straw suddenly stopped. Auroran slowly raised her eyes to her brother. He was looking from his bow to her his brows drawn back in confusion.

          Zarra placed his bow on the ground and approached her with a look that closely resembled pity in his eyes. Seeing an emotion like pity in his eyes scared her more then anything she had ever seen before.

          Zarra came to a stop in front of her his hands placed firmly on his hips. Auroran met his eyes refusing to show the fear that coursed through her veins. Zarra shook his head. "How hard is it to not look your betters in they eye?"

          Auroran gaining confidence from her brother's strange behavior did not remove her eyes from his. "Could you?" she asked with the innocents of a six year old. "I was born a warrior." He chided. "None are considered my better."

          "No" Auroran said seriously. "You were born a man." Zarra's eyes narrowed and Auroran realized that though her brother was in a strange mood she shouldn't chance vexing him too much. "And what do you mean by that?" Auroran swallowed nervously but refused to back down. "As a woman I was birthed for one reason and one reason only. To serve you. There were no other thoughts about my existence, no other options. My sisters, me, even my mother were birthed only to serve the men, the warriors. We were not given a chance to become warriors ourselves. The men, you, your father they were also birthed for one reason and one reason only, to fight. No man is given another choice. You were not born a warrior you were born a man."

          Zarra's eyes narrowed even as a grin grew across his face. "A warrior? Do you want to be a warrior Auroran?" Auroran held her breath as she nodded frightened and thrilled by what her brother asked. "Fine," He hissed his eyes as cold as they had been before this day. He grabbed two swords from the cache and threw one to her.

          Auroran reached out just in time to grip the handle of the sword. Auroran squeaked as the weight of the sword dragged her arm down. "Get that sword up!" Zarra thundered, lightning flashing in his eyes as he brought his sword around with the speed and skill borne of many years practicing under the harshest conditions.

          Auroran was out cold for close to an hour before she begin to stir. If she hadn't been so accustomed to pain the splitting ache between her ears would have made her pass out again. Her brother stood over her his smirk cruel his sword balanced on his shoulder. "Do you still want to be a warrior Auroran?"

          Instead of answering him Auroran grabbed the sword that lay beside her and dragged herself to her feet determinedly swinging the cumbersome object at Zarra. Zarra's eyes briefly twinkled with cruel amusement before he lazily blocked her strike. "You could have just said yes."