Back to School Contest submission.

Blonde was golden and beautiful. Brown was warm.

Black was boring. Purple was cold.

Blonde was right. Purple was wrong.

Angela the Herbalist is left to teach Elva, a magical and rebellious child with black hair and purple eyes, cursed by the great Dragon Rider Eragon. Furious with Eragon’s ignorance, Angela decides to take Elva into her own tutelage, hoping to help the child in ways that no one else can. Guided by memories of her own tutelage under the elusive hermit Tenga, Angela hopes to help Elva endure her horrible curse and teach her how special and unique she truly is.

Elva, abandoned into the care of an old woman without family, is taken to Angela the Herbalist. The spunky, blonde woman annoys the young girl beyond all patience. As the pain of those around her wears her nerves thin, Elva hates herself for the strange anomaly that she is, despising the wary and fearful glances from the people of the Varden. No one will ever accept her for who she truly is, she feels certain.

Can a pair of such opposites ever cooperate and get along? Can a friendship be formed? Can one learn from someone so completely opposite?

Now Completed.