Neona Starroge

Neona Starroge
Created by	Doe
Information
Gender	Female
Occupation	Drin
Affiliation	The Grey Tower
Nationality	Seanchan

Neona Starroge is a Seanchan Drin of the Grey Tower.

Description

Neona is not a tall girl, slightly over 5'2" (159 cm), but there are girls that are smaller than her. She has womanly curves but her body is still slim. Her body is springy strong, which makes her much stronger than she looks, and it gives lightness to her moves. Living with wolves has raised not only her strength but also her agility, speed and endurance above that of most women and untrained men. Her bone structure is delicate which gives her a cute and harmless expression constantly displayed upon her neat body. She has a quite long neck, straight nose; high cheekbones and her feminine lips are alluring. Her straight, medium brown hair reaches down to her lumbar region. Her eyebrows are slightly darker than her hair and they curve only slightly at the ends. Her thick and dark eyelashes frame her golden, cat-like eyes and she has one earring in both of her ears. Her Seanchan accent is soft, almost singing.

Neona does not like to show her teeth when she smiles, because wolves show theirs only when they are aggressive; something Neona also does. Thus, she looks more serious than she actually is. Deep within she is playful but if she smiles, she is merely displaying a disarming look and she is probably thinking of attacking. She does not forgive or forget easily if she thinks that someone has wronged her or a person whom she thinks belongs to her 'pack'. She can let her revenge brew for along time before unleashing it. Neona goes her own way; if she is motivated enough she doesn't care what other people think. She is not talkative and prefers to be quiet; yet if necessary, she can be loud. She usually looks sweet and serious, but her golden eyes are most often the ones found on a predator. Because Neona is wolfkin she is very seldom far from her brownish wolfsister Misty Meadow.

Neona: Forest Shadow; The shadow under a tree where a rabbit could hide. Wolfsister: Misty Meadow; A misty meadow where it is dew and the fur gets wet, but where it is good to run.

Biography

It was resting time and Neona - or Forest Shadow as the wolves called her - was sleeping and dreaming. Around her many wolves were sleeping - they were her wolf pack, her family nowadays.

Eight-year-old Neona hurried as she went to see her mother. She wanted to tell her how well she had done on the exam, which her private teacher had made her take. At the door of her mother's bedroom however, she heard some hushed quarrelling from inside. Quietly she opened the door slightly and peeped in. Her mother was too busy arguing with a man to notice anything. Hesitantly Neona started to chew on the nail of her right little finger which was painted green like was appropriate for Members of the Blood. Because Neona and her mother were low ranked among the Blood they could not even shave their hair at all; which made her mother irritated. This did not seem to be the cause for the argument, though. It did take a while before Neona understood what was going on. The man her mother was quarrelling with was a slave. She could not understand why her mother was allowing a slave to talk to her the way he did. She opened her mouth to remind that arrogant slave of his place, but then she heard her own name being mentioned and decided not to say anything and listen a little more. "Neona is also my daughter, isn't she? Don't even try to deny it, Aisah. Her eyes are like my little sisters; cat-like and as green!" the slave man exclaimed. "Fine. She is also your daughter. Do you know what will happen if Seekers of Truth will find that out? I and Neona will be killed, or become slaves at the least! Do you want that to be the fate of your own daughter, Arol?" Aisah yelled angrily. Shocked Neona closed the door and run to her own room.

Neona frowned and moved slightly because something, a smell, disturbed her. Not enough, though, to wake her up. She yawned slightly and shifted to the side, and the fragment of a smell passed by unnoticed.

Now thirteen-year-old Neona was sitting opposite her father, whom she called Arol, and ate her breakfast. It was strange that she called a slave by his name, but it would have been too dangerous to call him 'father'. Neona had understood the danger as soon as she had recovered from the shock. She had decided that she wanted to have this father near her, even if he was not at all the person she had always thought him to be. Again, Arol was telling her about his little sister. It was not the first time and most likely would not be the last. This 'little Lia', like Arol called her, was like Damane but she did not have a Sul'dam and was probably already named Aes Sedai, which was odd to Neona. How did those people dare letting channeling women go free? Neona knew that Arol thought it would be better if Seanchanin Damane would not have Sul'dams either. He seemed to think that the prospect of Sul'dam and Damane was wrong.

While listening to the familiar story about the aunt Neona had never met, and probably never would, she drifted into her own thoughts. She could remember her dreams again, which she had experienced during many nights. Wolves called out to her in her dreams. They greeted her and said that she was one of the rare two legged wolves or something like that; as far as Neona could tell. They wanted her to come to play with them and Neona went, or at least part of her went. Every morning it was harder and harder to leave the wolves.

Neona gave a start and returned to listening to her father again when she heard something new. "Remember Ona," Arol said "if you can't stay here with me and your mother, Aisah, anymore, you can always go to the Grey Tower. Lia is there and she will take care of you. I'm sure of it." Neona could only blink. She could not ever imagine that someone like Damane would or even could take care of her. Suddenly Arol bent down to look deep into Neona's eyes. He even turned Neona's breakfast over and it fell to the floor. "What's wrong with your eyes, Ona? They're not that green anymore." Before Neona had time to answer anything, her mother rushed in and told her it was time to go. Their pleasure trip to the forest would start soon.

Neona awoke partly, but in a half-sleep, she still dreamed and did not notice what had almost woken her up. She only turned to her other side and licked her lips before falling fully asleep again.

Neona had been in the forest with her mother for more than a week, accompanied by a dozen of their guards and servants. She had glanced in the mirror and noticed how her eyes had started to shine with a golden tone. And that was not the only thing that had changed. Her senses were sharper and she could also hear the wolves in her dreams more clearly. Her hearing was so good now that she could hear what the servants were talking about on the other side of the camp from her own tent. She used her hearing often, and once she overheard a pair of servants talking. They were discussing how, about two weeks before the trip, a man had been executed. Apparently he had been a servant of the Dark One. His eyes had turned yellow and he had been talking to wolves and everything; he had been mad. Shortly thereafter Neona heard the same servant who had told the story say something that would change Neona's life forever. Apparently the servant had noticed that Neona's eyes had started to change colour ­ towards yellow. Together the servants decided to go and tell someone who could judge Neona, and if they too would see yellow in her eyes.

Scared, Neona just stood still and listened. She knew that she wasn't serving the Dark One but she also knew that no-one else would believe her if her eyes would continue turning golden. She curled up in her bed waiting for the night, feeling confused and afraid. She knew that she could not stay if she wanted to live, she had to do something.

When the night came, Neona snuck into the forest. She had taken a dagger, water and some food with her. It took several days for Neona to find a wolf pack, or actually, the pack found her. There was also an old golden-eyed man with them. The wolves and the man, Selinor, fed the starving young wolfkin and then, when Neona felt better, Selinor started to teach her the ways of the wolves. The summer and fall was a great time for Neona but in the winter Selinor died. It was a huge loss for her, but with the help of the wolves she got over it. She saw how cubs were born and how they grew up. She did her best to help and little by little she learnt. After awhile she felt like she completely belonged in the pack. She was not sure when her fourteenth or fifteenth naming day went by but that did not bother her any longer.

Suddenly Neona felt a wet nose on her neck and heard furious whining around her. She was fully awake at once, and she looked around, sniffing nervously. She could smell smoke, and she leapt to her feet in one agile move.

"The forest is burning. Hurry up, Forest Shadow, we need to go or we will burn with it." The same young female wolf, Misty Meadow, who had woken her up told her. Neona quickly followed Misty Meadow into a dash

"But how? The first snow has already come. How did the fire begin?" Neona asked while she ran.

"The two-legs started it. Can't your hear them?" Misty Meadow answered. Neona blinked and pressed her lips together. She could hear the laughing of men now when Misty Meadow had mentioned it.

Neona and Misty Meadow had been the last ones to leave the resting place and suddenly they noticed how the conflagration prevented them from following the other members of the pack to safety. They had to find some other way to escape the fire. They both knew that they would have to prioritize, first getting to safety by getting out from the fire; then they could worry about finding the rest of the pack.

Career History

• Drin