Seli'une (Extra Information)

I have decided that it would benefit everyone to have some background information about the setting and population.  So I have made this for my benefit, and everyone else's.  So I hope you find this helpful!

The world:

The country that the humans and the Seli'une live in is called K'kyri.  The Che'tigro live in the country of Vargo'iu.  

K'kyri is a temperate climate region, with some tundra climate up in the northern territory.  The northern, western, and part of the southern border is the Sarfinsch mountain range.  The eastern border is the cool North Sea.  The other part of the southern border is the Gara'ia River.  It feeds out the the North Sea.  K'kyri has many deciduous forests that end in a large plain by southern border.  

Vargo'iu is a desert/grasslands region.  The northern border is the Sarfinsch mountain range and the Gara'ia River.  The northern territory is grassland, which extends out along the foothills of the mountains, and the Che'tigro have made all of the grasslands their territory.  The western and southern borders are wherever the inhospitable territory is.  The eastern border is the North Sea.  When the grassland ends south of the mountains, a desert continues as the rest of the territory.

The people:

There are three main humanoid races.  The humans, the Seli'une, and the Che'tigro.

The Seli'une is a mostly human species.  The only difference between them and humans is their hair, eyes, and their power to absorb energy and nutrients from people, animals, or plants, alive or dead.  When a Seli'une is born, they have white hair, which turns a vibrant color at age sixteen.  Their power also develops around age ten.  The eyes of a Seli'une may be a regular color, or a color such as purple or orange or yellow.  About half of the Seli'une race consists of the subspecies, Metaliac.  These Seli'une have a metal-toned hair color, and are named after the metal their hair symbolizes.  Their hair generally  begins to turn from white at age ten, and their powers begin developing at age five.  These Seli'une are generally more skilled with their ability and have a greater capacity for energy.

The Che'tigro are a feline-like species.  Their white or black skin is striped either orange or blue,  and they are completely carnivorous.  They can eat vegetation, but Che'tigro get hardly any nutrition from it.  They can also eat raw meat.  The Che'tigro are equipped with sharp claws and teeth, much like a tiger.  Their black hair most likely has stripe or spot patterns of the same color as the stripes on their skin.  The race is nomadic, going where the prey goes, much  like the early nomadic humans.  However, they claim territory as their own, and don't venture far from their own territory.  They expand their territory by either claiming it as theirs, or taking it by force, much like an empire.  The Che'tigro live in three clans that travel together, but the clans band together when they must fight for more territory.  The orange-striped, the blue-striped, and then the multi-color-striped.  The eyes are much like those of a cat, with oval pupils, and reflective lenses.

Seli'une (Chapter Three)

Authoress' Note:  Hi.  Sorry if you got hooked and now feel like throwing stuff at me.  It's okay, I know how you feel (Uglies and the rest...if you haven't read them they are amazing).  But it could be worse, right?
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I quickly follow her, not wanting to get lost, and we come to a large, warm room.  The kitchen.  It has brick oven, many cupboards, a large pantry, a fridge, a stove, and the many other things Kitchens would normally have.  A pleasantly plump lady with mousy brown hair in a bun is standing at the counter, kneading dough for bread, maybe.  At the two tables are four other girls, and five guys.  And Silver.  

Malay goes over to the table where the girls are, except for Silver and a younger girl, and sits down.  She motions for me to sit too, so I take a seat next to her.  
"Okay, so this is Alezanda, Xiane, and Fione.  Wirilan is with Silver.  The guys are Aston, Jesan, Kesen, Drewan, and Tovis.  Drewan is my older brother.  We're all friends, almost like siblings."

Alezanda is a tall, dark-skinned teenager with electric blue hair that reaches her shoulders.  Xiane has bright purple eyes, short, spiky red hair, and a kind smile.  Fione has soft brown eyes, and curly, moss green hair.  She has a spattering of freckles across her nose.  I look over and I see the younger girl, Wirilan.  She has light blue eyes and white hair still.  I recognize Aston, and then there is a guy with orange hair, a guy who looks like Malay, and a guy with lime green, shaggy hair.  Another boy who looks a couple years younger than me has white hair.

I take a croissant from the basket on the table and I spread some of the honey on it.  Malay is eating hers, as are the other girls.  I take a bite and find that there is a chocolate middle of the croissants.  and the honey tastes like there is cinnamon mixed into it.  I finish mine, and then I wait for everyone to finish their second or third croissant.

"How come you didn't take a second one?" asks Alezanda, glancing at me.

"I'm not used to such good food this early.  Up until...whenever Silver brought me here, I lived on the streets, stealing a bit or two when I could.  Mostly I stayed hungry.  I've had to go a couple days on a roll and an apple."

The other girls give me a quick, sympathetic look.  I'm glad it was quick.  I don't really enjoy being pitied, or when people try to be overly sympathetic.  Fione smiles at me.

"Well, you'll get used to it soon.  But beware of supper.  That's always the biggest meal, and sometimes I'm stuffed before my second helping," she says, and I smile back.

"So...how did you guys get to Silver?" I ask, after a few minutes of silence.  By now, the girls at our table are pretty much finished eating.

Alezanda looks over at the other table.  "Let's go to my room to talk about this."

I follow them as they make their way out of the kitchen.  We come to the hallway where the room I share with Malay is.  Alezanda and Xiane open their door (I assume they share the room, because the door is painted in red and electric blue stripes) and we sit on the beds.

"My father worked in the military.  When I was born, he was away fighting directly with the Che'tigro. My mother freaked out, and hid me in my family's house.  Luckily, I was born with a twin brother, who was a regular, normal human.  Whenever my father would come for visits, which were about twice a year, he would always be out with my father, pretending like he was an only child.  My mother always told him that it was very important not to tell my father that he had a sister, because it was a surprise for him.  I remember he would always ask when the surprise would happen, and my mother always answered that after a few more visits, he would know.  

When we were twelve, my brother finally slipped up.  He said that I was hiding as your surprise.  I don't remember why, but he said it.  My father grew angry, and stormed through the house until he found me, cowering in a closet.  He saw my white hair and tossed my out on the street.  Silver  saw me get thrown out, and came to take me away.  I've lived with her ever since.

I used to ask her why I was a Seli'une, and no one else in my family was.  Two years ago, on my sixteenth birthday, she told me.  My mother was a Seli'une.  She was a Metaliac Seli'une.  Like Silver, her hair was a metallic color, gold.  Her name was actually Gold, but she always went by a pseudonym," finishes Alezanda.  That would make her eighteen.

"I suppose I'll go next," says Xiane.  "I really don't remember much, but I get nightmares about white rooms and screaming.  I usually wake up screaming and having a panic attack.  Silver told me that when I was sixteen, and my hair had turned, the government came for me.  Apparently, my parents had spilled that I was a Seli'une.  She came and rescued me from becoming a weapon of mass destruction against my will.  I guess I just blocked it from memory.  That was only a year ago."  Xiane was seventeen.

"Me now.  When my brother was born, my parents were worried that he would be taken away.  When I was born, they decided that they would move to a place that the government couldn't reach them.  They moved into the mountains just outside the border of K'kyri.  We lived life regularly for fifteen years.  Then my brother turned sixteen, and my hair was starting to turn colors.  For a week, we lasted, and then my parents were so paranoid that they sent us off on our horses to go farther into the mountains.  

We rode away up the mountain and found an abandoned stone house that we lived in until I turned sixteen.  I started getting dreams about the river next to the house.  They would always follow the river down to the lake next to Silver's estate.  I told Drewan, and he said that he was getting the same dreams.  We decided to follow the river, and we came here, traveling by night on our horses.  I haven't heard from or seen my parents since they sent us into the mountains, and our horses are still in the stables.  Maraya is Drewan's and mine is Tonyi," Malay states. 

"Can you teach me to ride?" I ask.  Malay nods.

"My turn," Fione says.  She takes a deep breath, and begins her tale.  "When I was born, my family was in an area of K'kyri where the acceptance of Seli'une was the lowest it could possibly be.  I was beaten by my mother, my two older brothers, and my four older sisters.  My father was a Metaliac Seli'une.  He was Bronze.  Anyway, I was the first Seli'une child, and when the midwives saw my white hair, they dropped me to the ground and started beating my father.  The only reason he didn't die is that another of the midwives was a Metaliac Seli'une named Copper.  She gave him energy, and when the midwives went away, she grabbed me from where I had been dropped and healed me.  My mother refused to care for me as a baby, so Copper took care of me until I could do enough for myself. Then my mother took me back.  My father was in hiding with Copper.  

My mother refused to give me more than one meal a day, and my brothers and sisters abused me and made me do their chores, along with my chores, which was about double what they had together.  When I was nine, I ran away.  I had lived with my family for four years.  I went to Copper's house, and I lived there with my father.  When I didn't get any metallic streaks at age ten, like a Metaliac Seli'une, my father and Copper freaked out.  Copper made the journey with me to here, and I've been here ever since." 

Fione's story was the worst to hear.  It makes me admire Fione even more, that she lived through what she did at such a young age.  I admire all of them.  My story is about as bad as Alezanda's only, but I still dread it.

Xiane looks at me.  "What about you?"

I look down at my lap, and the memories I had pushed away for six years start to come back.
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Authoress' Note:
Heehee.  Another cliff hanger.  Sorry!  

FYI:  K'kyri is the country/land that this takes place in.  The Che'tigro live in a different country/land, but I'm not sure what to call it.  Any ideas?  Please leave them in the comments!

~I