Authoress' note: Welcome back. We left off with Vivite passing out. Now she is waking up...
________________________
I wake up to a cool sensation on my face, while I can feel warmth enveloping the rest of my body. My brain pulls itself out of the fog of unconsciousness, and registers the feel of crisp, yet soft sheets against my hands and feet. To assess my situation further, I keep my eyes closed and as still as I can. Two voices are talking to each other. One male, one female. The female voice sound soothing, like a mother's voice.
"I hope she wakes up," the male voice says.
"She will, Aston. She has a pulse, and she still breathes. With her injuries, I can't say I'm surprised she has slept a week. Her body needs time to rest," answers to female.
"But, Silver, what if she just...stops? I don't want that to happen to anyone else..." the now defined Aston replies.
"She won't," Silver begins. "Her breathing has just deepened." A gentle hand takes my wrist. "And her pulse grows stronger now."
I decide now that it should be time to officially wake up. I slowly open my eyes. THe woman from the street with the silver hair, who I suppose is Silver, is leaning over me. I turn my head to see Aston, a boy who looks about my age with white-streaked, dark purple hair, and hazel eyes. White hair...with color....
I return my gaze to Silver, and then break contact with her and sit up. I am still in my jeans and tunic.
"Slowly, my dear. We don't want you falling over when you stand up. Give the blood time to get to your head," Silver says to me, gently. She turns to Aston. "Go find Malay, and tell her to come here."
As Aston leaves, Silver looks to me again. "Could you tell me your name, dear?"
"Vivite," I say in a groggy voice. I clear my throat. "You're Silver, and that was Aston..."
"Yes,"Silver replies. "Aston is getting Malay. You'll be sharing a room with her. She's a sweet girl; you should get along fine."
Just then, the door opens, and a girl, who I guess is Malay, slips in. She has slanting, bright green eyes, and dark blue hair that falls in sheets down her back to her mid-thigh.
"Malay, this is Vivite. Vivite, Malay," Silver introduces. "Vivite, Malay, Aston, and I are like you. The others are like you. Well, except for Bissy, my friend and cook." Silver gets up and walks out of the room, after whispering something to Malay.
Malay comes over to the bed I'm in. "Come on, let's see if you can stand up." She helps me get my balance, then she leads me down the hall to an oak door with Malay painted on it in dark blue. "I'll add your name, too. Is your hair changing yet?"
Seli'une have different stages in growth. Each stage is marked by the color of your hair. When you are a child, which is from the time you are born to when you turn sixteen (give or take a few weeks), your hair will be pure white in color. When you turn sixteen, your hair begins to turn a new shade, usually something crazy and vibrant, like purple, bright red, or green. This also signals that your abilities as Seli'une have finished developing. Then, when you get on your last yea or so of life, your hair starts to fade back into white. On the day you die, every strand of hair will be as white as the day you were born, and not a day before.
"I'm not sure. I haven't washed my hair in six years," I reply, a twinge of sadness evident in my tone.
"Well, we should get you washed up then. Silver said she got a trunk for you while you were sleeping, and it has some necessities in it. I have to report to her what color your hair is, though, so she can embellish your name on the lid."
I find, at the foot of the spare bed, a brown leather trunk, about as tall as my knee and long as a leg. The width is, again, calf-length. I open the vaulted lid to see two tunics, underclothes, a pair of jeans, a pair of leggings, a bar of soap, a hairbrush, and a bath robe. I take the soap, the brush, and the robe, and follow Malay to the bathroom.
The doorframe has a nail sticking out of it with a key on it.
"This is how we know if the bathroom is vacant or not. If the key is there, you're good. If it's gone, you have to wait. Go ahead, and don't forget to lock the door." Malay nudges me inside after I take the key, and shuts the door.
I lock it, and then put my robe, brush, soap, and towel on the counter. I use the restroom (which is in a smaller room inside the bathroom) and draw the bathwater. When the tub is full, I strip and get in. After grabbing the soap, I dunk my head under numerous times, then lather my hair with the soap. When I am confident my body and hair is clean, I drain the tub and get out. I set the soap on the counter, and dry myself off with the towel. After getting my robe on, I run the brush through my hair a few times to get the tangles out, gather my clothes, towel, (dry) soap, and brush, and then I leave the bathroom and place the key back onto the nail
When I get out, Malay is still waiting for me. We walk back to our room together, and then lock it when we get inside so that no one interrupts while I'm changing. I open my trunk and get out a set of underwear, the new pair of jeans, and one of the new tunics. I put my clothing on, and then I go to stand in front of the mirror so I can see my hair.
My hair. No longer is it white or dirty brown, but it must have been turning colors while I was out for a week. It is now hot pink with white underneath, and my hair has grown to mid-back length.
Malay comes up behind me and starts to comb through my hair with her fingers.
"Hot pink, huh? Well, we can work with that. Just don't wear and bright colors, unless you want to draw every eye, including the eye of the government... But don't worry about that. What you have on now is fine. I would suggest darker or duller colors. Grays, blacks, browns, dull oranges, maybe brick red, possibly something like light green and blue...
"You know what? Let's go meet everyone else. It's about noon, so I would imagine everyone is in the kitchen eating."
Malay tossed me black leather flats, and then led me downstairs to the kitchen.
________________________
Well, that seems like a good place to stop. Next up, Vivite gets to meet everyone, and so do you, my fluffy friends.
~I
No comments:
Post a Comment