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I am cold. Which is odd since I am surrounded by fire. i know i am in shock. buti cant seem to care. my side hurts and i know i should be concerned by it. butim not. my home is gone. my parents are dead. and it is all my fault.

No i didnt set the fire. and i didnt butcher my parents. but it is still my fault. i should have protected them somehow. i should have given up or distracted them. instead i did as my father told me and hidden in the grass. our grass is only a few inches tall but being a mouse at the time it was enough. you see i am ashapeshifter, or a changeling if you prefer that term. and im the reason that myparents and home are gone now.

i had been sitting in the grass for almost a full day now. the fire had spread from the house and half the field was gone. the only part of me that is warm is my side. but that is the burning heat of a injury. i am so scared to move. i feelthat if i just stay where i am i can pretend nothing that happened today was real. That i didnt tell my greatest secret to a boy who i thought loved me.

Jason had been my friend since i moved into the village with my parents. i was mad at my dad at the time because i didnt understand why we had to move all the time. i knew what i was but i didnt see that it mattered. no one ever realy talked of the changelings in polite conversation and my parents wouldnt speak of themmuch. they didnt know much anyway. they were a mystery to both of us. my fatherwas always reminding me to never speak of what i was or what i can do. i listen

ed because i was a good girl. i didnt disobey my father. to me he knew everything.

to blow off steam i decided to explore. i went walking down a road at random andfound a bakery by the scent coming from the door. i stopped for a moment to enjoy it and look at the desplay in the window before moving on. i found that it was a moderatley sized village, bigger than what we usualy lived at. the buildingswere made of stone foundations with wooden siding and roofs from the nearby forest. i found a glassmaker, a butcher, a weaver, a furniture maker, a blacksmith,and a small farmers market that looked like it got a lot busier at some point based on all the empty well worn tables.

i got some lookes as i walked around, i was pritty used to it with my lighter sk

in and dirty blond hair. it was an oddity since mose poeple had dark brown or black hair, and dark tan skin. it was starting to get late, so i decided i would have to go back to the new house soon if i didnt want to get in trouble. i mightbe mad at father but he was still my father and i loved him. so with a sigh i turned back and started home.

i had reached the edge of the village and got quite a fright when i saw a boy noolder than myself trying to ride a big war horse. probably his fathers, didnt he know that war horses didnt allow any but thair owner to ride them? i suppose not since it was running straight towords me with the boy trying to get it to stop. i sighed and resighened myself to being late before i stepped into his path and snorted and the horse nickering softly in a polite request that he stop for amoment. i ignored the screaming of the boy to get out of the way. i have found

politeness works the best for war horses. the horse stopped just short of running me over and hoofed the ground in frustation before asking me to politeley getthis boy-who-is-not-his-master off of him. i nickered back with a yes before looking up at the boy who seemed to be trying to find out why his horse had stoppedand where i was. he couldnt see me because of how big the horse was and how short i am. i steped off the path and looked up at the boy before saying "Are you stupid?" he jumped in surprise before i grabbed his foot and pulled him topplingoff the horse. "what were you thinking?" then the boy gave the biggest grin i had ever seen and said "i did it!"

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i looked at him stupidley for a moment before he started talking between laughs."i told leon i could ride him!" "he didnt believe me! now he has to do all thechores for a month!" at this point i as compleatley lost. "leon?" i asked. "oh!leon is my older brother. he told me that if i could ride maja over there he would do my chores for a month!" he said smuggley pointing at the big black horse now grazing. "thanks for stopping him for me, my name is Jason. my dad is a farmer over there." he pointed in the direction i was walking. "what is your name?" iwas surprised that he had told me so much. didnt he notice how different i was?"im kira" i said finaly. "he grinned one of his huge grins. "well kira, would mind keeping this to your self? my dad would beat me senceless if he found out irode maja. " he walked over and grabbed the lead attached to maja. "you must bethe family that just moved in a little down the road from me. "stop by some time!" with that he walked off and left me standing in the road wondering if all boys were so odd or if this was a special case.