In those days, I was quite wild. I searched for adventure in everything. and more than once, I looked for fights. I find it sad that other people made excuses for me, even when I refused to give one for myself. I was often convinced I was right, such as in the time I tried to rob a Legion fort and got caught. Then, I got out of trouble because of my 'horrible childhood'. Looking back, it wasn't so horrible until the deaths started happening.

-Selenil Vendas

"Sh!" A ten- year-old Sel ordered his sister as he put his finger over his lips. "You don't want us to get caught again, do you?"

Vysi put on a pouty face and shook her head 'no'.

"Stay here." he whispered, handing Vysi a piece of bread.

They were hidden in a storage closet in Fort Buckmoth eating some bread that was stored in the crates. They often went there when they got hungry, and had only been caught once. That hadn't been pretty; their mother was less than happy to say the least.

Sel wanted more than bread this time though; he wanted some gold; hat way his family could have more than two changes of clothing each. Besides, why pass up an opportunity for adventure?

He sneaked out the door of the storage room and made his way up the stairs; he was disappointed in the fact that the corridor was lighted. He peered under the closed door to the next room, the soldiers were drinking and lagughing loudly. Sel even thought he heard a song somewhere in the choas of noise. Smiling, he made his way into what he had found out days before was the Fort commander's quarters. He opened the door, now confident that he would have no trouble. He stood straight up and opened the door. To his dismay, the commander wasn't one to drink.

"Hey! Who the hell are you?"

Sel stood there wide-eyed for a moment before finally taking off down the hallway. Unfortunately for him, the commander did too.

---
It's short, but hey, it's really late here.

Yay! Another chapter......nice Danny, really I like it. It´s so good to read about Sel..I feel as I know the "silly dunmer" quite well by now..since spending well over one huge RP together with him.....

Oh! Thought I commented on the first chapter of Sel's Life, but I guess not.

So, this is more of a flash-forward, right? (Just want to make sure, because I get confuzzled easily. )

Anyway, I'm really liking the story so far, and I wish you could continue it when you can. Good job!
(Tee hee, silly Dunmer!)

*gasp* MerGirl is alive???

Cake time!

Anyways, yes, it was about an eight year flashforward there. Sel went from toddler to ten year-old.

"Come back little brat!" the captain roared, and it only made Sel run harder; he didn't want to leave Vysi in the storage rom, but he didn't see a way to get to her.

He turned another corner, running as fast as his legs would take him. The ten year-old's speed didn't help though, seeing as the Captain was a trained military soldier with much longer legs.

Sel waved his arms and legs when the Captian picked him up by the collar of his shirt.

"What were you doing?" he asked as he began the interrogation.

"Looking for my mom." he answered; sometimes that worked, sometimes not.

"What would your mom be doing here?" the Captain asked, already knowing the answer.

"Uhhh...she is umm...the cook." he answered as the thought slowly came to him.

"Our cook is an imperial." the Captain answered as he gave the small dunmer a fierce shake.

"We're adopted!" he blurted as he pretended to cry. "Stop hurting me!"

the Captain felt bad and put the boy down, and somehow missed the 'we' in Sel's statement.

"Here, I'll take you to her."

Sel nodded, giving the Captain a pitiful face and a sniffle.

When they reached the hot, aromatic kitchens, the kindly cook was confused until Sel gave her a sly wink, hoping that she would catch on and play along. Then the kindly woman acted as if she knew the boy, and explained to the Captin that she tried to keep the boy out of the fort as much as possible, but she couldn't find anyone to watch him today. Once the captain left, the cook began an interrogation of her own, one that Sel actually enjoyed; It involved a cookie and some comberry juice.

"So what are you doing in here?" she asked in a sympathetic voice.

"We were hungry, so we came in to eat." he answered honestly.

"We?" she asked, noting what the Captin did not.

"Me and my sister; she's still in the storage room." Sel answered with a mouthful of cookie.

The cook went and retrieved Vysi, leaving Sel eating contentedly with his cookie and juice.

------
another short one, but that's how they will all be until I get a long break from school.

Short is okay; it was a great update. I'm glad the cook decided to play along.

Ahh lovely...He´s a clever little boy....and yet so compassionate....I just love this story..please Danny.....more!

Awww.... Short and sweet.

That's what I love about Sel--he's so tricky.
Please update when you can.

I bet you forgot about this story.

Don't lie. I even forgot and I'm the author.

---

"I sent one of the maids here to go find your mother." the cook informed Sel.

Sel shrugged as if it didn't matter, but he did in fact care. There would probably be a month or two without any visits to the city and a lot of chores around the house. For such a small place, it needed a lot of work.

Sel had hoped that the cok had been trying to scare him, but it turned out that she was telling the truth. His mother walked in the door, and it was obvious from her facial expression as well as her fast pace that she was angry.

She carried Vysi in one arm, and used the other to drag her son forcefully by the ear. With a small apology to the cook, she marched her children outside without even seeing the knowing smile the cook gave.

The walk home was silent except for Sel's complaints about how uncomfortable he was, and those Vaila calmly ignored except to pull harder every time a new protest was given. Soon, Sel became silent and tried to ignore the pain in his ear. At least the pain in his stomach was gone...

"What were you thinking?" Valia screamed at him.

Sel looked around before realizing that they were already inside. The hut was small and obviously that of a poor family, but it had a cozy feel to it that could make a king feel at home if his throne would fit. The fire was still burning; obviously Vaila had left it unattended when she was alerted of her son's antics.

"What were you thinking?" Valia demanded again.

Sel thought of some way out, and he thought he saw it playing on the floor; Vysi. "Sis was hungry, we didn't have anymore food."

"We have some trama roots growing in the garden!" Vysi shouted back, the anger still in her voice.

Sel frowned. Vysi was no longer a good excuse.

When Sel hesitated to answer, his mother continued the lecture. "No matter how hungry you are, it is no excuse for stealing. How would you feel if you stole someone's food, and they starved because of it?"

Sel looked down and shuffled his feet.

Valia sighedl this conversation was often repeated, and it was getting old.

"Just go to bed; I'll put you to work planting a garden since you're so hungry."

Sel obeyed, and was soon asleep.

The next morning, while Sel was planting ash yams and more of the hated trama roots, Valia made a trip to Ald'Rhun to work and to enroll Sel in the school provided by House Redoran.

----

More will come later. Hopefully not too much later.

I will admit, I had forgotten. But thanks to the marvel of reply notification, I was reminded as soon as you posted. Thanks for another great update. Mom sure gave him a hard time, but I guess that's how all mothers would (should?) react. And now he's going to go to school. That should be quite problematic; your italicized text at the beginning of the chapter says he spent this part of his life looking for adventure and fights. Since we haven't seen any fights so far, I can only assume that they will start at school. I wonder if he'll still have an ear attached if his mother continues to discipline him the way she did this time.

Oh no ......I´ll never forget a story I´m following!...(though I bet you forgot mine by now since I haven´t had time to update for a looong time! )

Now why do I recognise the scenery you described?......hmm yeah...I´m a mother as well....AND I once was a kid..... believe it or not!

Well described......as usual...so I´ll be waiting for more......rest assure of that!

It's familiar to me as well. My ear was usually the one being pulled.

Whoa! Didn't notice this tidbit of update!
Good job and please update more when you can.

Wow, the fanfiction section has really grown, hasn't it?

Great update, I like the comment made by the character in the first post.

Thanks MerGirl and Kiln; by bumping this thread up, you reminded me about the update i wrote!

----

Sel opened the door and walked into the building called 'Under Skar'. He stood on a long, suspended bridge, looking down. As he brought his head up, he saw that his own bridge connected to many others, and that there was a scary-looking guard looking at him.

"Are you lost, kid?" the guard asked, not unkindly.

"Umm, I'm trying to go to school. Where do I go?"

"Here, I'll take you there myself." the guard replied, holding out his hand. Sel imagined that the guard might be smiling, but he couldn't exactly see through the helmet.

As they walked, the guard started talking about how lucky he was to be going to school; especially a Redoran one. He even said that Master Sarethi himself.

None of it really interested Sel, but he was polite; this was, after all, the first guard that had ever acknowledged him without yelling curses and chasing him.

"Right through these doors; from here you'll be told where to go."

With that, the guard went back to his normal patrol.

After waving good-bye to the guard, Sel swallowed hard and walked through the door. A dunmer woman sat behind a desk, and before greeting him, looked in a large book on the desk.

"Hmm...you must be Selenil, correct?"

"Sel." the young dunmer corrected.

The woman ignored him and told him where to go from there. WHen Sel asked if she would take him, she merely ignored him. When he asked again, she told him to go away.

Sel followed her directions while stomping his feet in anger. He found his classroom, and looked at his new classmates. There were children of all different races, and there was his teacher, teaching them all how to read.

Sel stood in the doorway, unsure of what to do.

When he finally noticed his new student, the teacher smiled. "You must be Selenil."

"Sel." he tried correcting again.

"Alright then, Sel. Have a seat inbetween Aril and Retin there." he said, pointing to where he should go.

Sel sat down on a rather comfortable mat beside a breton girl he guessed to be Aril, and a dunmer boy about his age who was Retin.

"I am Master Sarethi, but you can call me Athyn." his teacher continued when he had sat down.

Sel nodded and after he got a few papers and instructions on what they were doing, he got to work. For about ten seconds. He got extremely bored and began staring into space and immersed himself into a daydream.

When he came back to the real world, he found himself with an interesting book in front of him; it had pictures of a battle on it, so he began listening to what Athyn had to say.

Sel found that it was about Lord Nerevar, and the young dunmer found that he wanted a flaming sword like the legendary hero.

"So I want you to memorize all of those false incarnates I told you about."

Sel took the list of the people, and the only one he could remember was Peakstar; that name made him want to laugh. Who names their child Peakstar?

Before he knew it, class was over, and he was back on the rope bridge. He waved at who he thought was the guard that had helped him, but when the guard said something about brats, Sel guessed that it wasn't the same one.

Sel was outside again, and found that he didn't want to go home; not just yet. So he looked around, lingering for quite awhile at the blacksmith shop.

If I could afford a sword, I would practice all day and be as good as Nerevar. he thought, but he couldn't afford it. After searching his pockets, he only found an old piece of bread that he had been saving and a few rocks that he used in his sling. (Before his mother took it away for hitting travellers.)

With a sigh, Sel made the long walk to the outskirts of Ald'ruhn where his mother was no doubt worried sick or ready to kill him. She was unpredictable like that.

Heey! I liked this update! Imagine Athyn Sarethi as a teacher! Awesome...sheer awesome.

Danny, please keep this going.....it´s really a very good story and you know how I feel about Sel.....

Another great insight into the life of a kid. Even as an adult, I have found it hard to concentrate in class (I think it was actually easier when I was a kid). This makes it very easy to identify with Sel's distractedness. I feel like you're planning to use the story of Nerevar to shape Sel's entire education; I can't wait to see how that turns out.

WOW, I didnt read this story before now, and I'l tell you one thing, it is AWSOME. Keep up the good work.

Here you are.

-------

The next few weeks atschool passed without any events to speak of. Sel began getting annoyed at Retin though; he was always taking Sel's things without asking. One day he even stole Sel's lunch.

Sel tried his best to be good for his mother, so that she wouldn't be disappointed or angry, but this Retin made it hard, and since Sel made it obvious that he wasn't doing anything, it seemed to make Retin think that he had free reign to do what he wanted. Sel got tired of being thought of as a 'sissy'.

It was break time again, and the students sat on the floor of the main hall of the Sarethi Manor, eating lunch yet again. Sel and Retin had been assigned as partners, since they sat beside each other, and Retin seemed to want to follow him around; probably for more food.

Sel ate beside Aril, the breton girl that sat on the other side of him with the red hair that almost hurt everyone's eyes.

Aril smiled when he sat down, and that unnerved him a little, but she was nice, so he didn't think too much of it. They had barely even started a conversation before Retin sat down beside Sel. Sel would have sighed, but didn't. This situation seemed all too familiar. It wouldn't happen again, Sel decided.

When Retin's little hand came to swipe his bread, Sel dropped his bread and grabbed the other dunmer's arm and twisted it violently.

"Don't touch my stuff anymore!" Sel shouted, drawing the attention of the adults around them. They seemed more interested in seeing what would happen than stopping what was inevitable.

Retin freed his arm with a grimace of pain--his arm wasn't exactly placed in a comfortable position--and swung at Sel. Sel felt the blood flowing from his nose, but didn't care. Sel charged Retin, and they tumbled on the ground for a minute or two when Master Athyn came in and quickly broke the fight.

"What are you two doing?" Master Sarethi asked with a tone of authority. "Fighting will not be tolerated in my house, and certainly not among my students."

Sel and Retin both looked at the ground shamefully, and Athyn put them both in opposite corners of the main hall that served as a dining room for the students, and even in the classroom they were separated.

When Sel got home, his mother had already recieved the news. She didn't tend to his bloody nose or his bruised body at first, she didn't even seem to notice them. In fact, she added to them after another long lecture on behaving. Sel stopped trying to explain to his mother; she would not have understood.

The next day at school, Athyn put the two together again, but neither one would speak to the other, or even acknowledged the other's existance. Over the next few weeks, the two often got in fights over everything, and really, nothing at all.

Soon, they were assinged new partners, and kept totally separate. Almost every day, Sel went home to recieve punishment from his mother, and it became hard to sit down. Sel's new partner was actually Aril, and she no longer gave him that smile; he actually got the idea that she was scared of him.

He and Aril didn't talk much either, it was almost the same as being with Retin after their first fight. After awhile, she finally did speak up.

"I liked it better when you were nice." she said when they were supposed to be working on some arithmatic.

When she saw that Sel wasn't going to reply, she continued. "Why do you always try to beat up Retin?"

"He stole my food." Sel protested weakly.

"So how are you any different if you hurt him all the time? That's worse than stealing someone's food."

Sel was about to say, 'Unless you're starving.' but he didn't. He was tired of all the sympathy he got from everyone. but as he thought about it, Aril was right; he had been the one to start every fight, and Retin just defended himself, and often won the fights.

Just because he admitted that she was right to himself, though, didn't mean that he would admit it to anyone else.

"I've never been mean to you, so why do you even care? Why can't you just mind your own business?" Sel asked, suddenly regretting his words and the tone that went along with them.

Aril began working on her arithmatic. She didn't even need to say that he had just done what he said he hadn't.

Ayyye Danny......I like this....hehe you really describe the life of a student....jeez it´s so amusing. I do feel sympathy for Sel....despite he can be a pain in the ..you know what!


Pleease please write more about my favourite dunmer huh?

have a

This story sure brings back a lot of childhood memories. Keep up the great work.

GOOD GOOD GOOD give us more. Well I shall be patient. GIVE US MORE NOW OR I'L KILL MYSEl (Ahem, I mean good work. sorry for my angry words earlyer in this post. clap clap

wow. I actually found time to update it in a reasonable time frame. Give me hugs! NOW!

------

Sel was still Aril's study-partner, but they might as well worked alone. Sel was too ashamed, and Aril was too mad to speak.

Day after day, Sel and Retin fought, despite Athyn's efforts to separate them. It was getting to the point where Sel might have to be kicked out of the school.

The last fight Sel had with Retin at school was when he was sent home.

"He took my stuff all the time!" Sel told his mother when she asked why he was kicked out of school.

"When was the last time he took something?" His mother asked forcefully, her hands resting on her hips, but ready to go grab a belt at a moment's notice.

When Sel thought about it, he hadn't taken anything since the very first fight. "Yesterday." Sel lied, not exactly thinking it through.

"Then why did you get in a fight today?"

If Sel knew any curse words, he would have used all of them; his mother was the only one he couldn't outsmart, despite his cleverness.

"Because...uh...um...uh..." Sel continued with his uh's and um's before finally giving up. "Can I just go get the belt?"

"That would be best." his mother replied.

While Sel was getting the belt, there was a knock at the door. Looking up, Sel thanked whatever god might have been up there. At least his pain would be delayed.

Peering around the corner, he saw that it was Athyn Sarethi, his teacher and councillor of House Redoran.

He didn't get to overhear much, because his mother had told him to go outside for a moment while they talked. (If he had stayed anywhere inside the house, he would have overheard due to its small size.) The only thing he had heard was something about Athyn noticing that he was interested in something or another. Sel picked up some small rocks and began throwing them, watching them throw up dust where they landed.

About a half-hour later, Athyn walked outside and knelt down so that his eyes were level with Sel's.

"Your mother and I talked, and you're allowed back in school."

Sel was old enough to know that there was a condition or twelve. "Really?" he pretended to sound excited.

Athyn nodded. "You can come baack and I'm going to have one of my guards teach you how to use a sword."

This time he really was excited. "Really?"

Athyn nodded again. "But if I do this, you can't get in any more fights, and you have to do well in your studies." Athyn held out his hand. "Deal?"

Sel was apprehensive at first; no more fights and doing well in studies? His longing for some sort of adventure with a sword overcame his fear of school, and he soon found his small hand in Athyn's.

"Well, I'll see you tomorrow." Athyn said, messing Sel's hair.

Sel nodded, a huge grin on his face.

JAHOOOOO, more more more, I'm addicted to this story. Finally Sel is going to teach the way of the sword.

Great; that's exactly what we need: some kid who likes to start fights learning to use deadly weapons. Watch out Ald'ruhn; here comes Sel!!!

Thanks for another great update. I'm looking forward to seeing how this weapon training will change Sel's behavior in school.

(please accept these in lieu of hugs - no emoticon for those)

It's a change from the story I "grew up" with but as long as it continues to be very deep and sudden I'll read it.

I´ll give you a bunch of hugs ........gladly! I´m happy to see you continue your story....ahh it´s nice to see my dear Athyn as a teacher, you really makes him "real" to me ......go on Danny....mooooore please!

*triumphant music* Yeah, I don't know why it's playing either.

--------

"Ow!" Sel exclaimed after standing up. He was knocked over time after time; Dralen was not one to go easy on someone, even if it was someone as young as Sel. He was at his fourth or fifth day of training, and it wasn't going so well in his point of view. All he seemed to gain was bruises and scrapes.

"You aren't as strong as me. You can never hope to overpower me; you're going to have to use your size to your advantage."

Sel sighed; Dralen said that every day, and he stilll didn't know what that meant. All swordsmen were strong, right?

"Yes, sir." Sel replied, and charged back in, his small wooden sword leading the way.

Dralen easily blocked, and hit Sel over the head with his own, much larger wooden sword. Sel fell on the groun again, blinking a few times to gather his senses and hopefully rid himself of the stars he was seeing.

Dralen blinked a few times too; most children his age would be crying after that blow. In fact, he remembered having much older students crying after weaker blows.

"Come on. we'll take a break." Dralen said, suddenly regretting having hit the boy so hard.

"One more try?" Sel asked.

Dralen smiled. This boy never ceased to amaze him.

"Do you even understand what I'm saying when I say use your size to your advantage?"

Sel answered with an honest and blunt, "No."

Dralen chuckled. "And that would be why you charge me head-on all the time. You have a smaller body, and that makes you hard for me to hit. You need to be darting in and out of my reach, scoring minor hits until you tire me out. Use your head for something other than my target, boy."

Sel nodded. He put on a grim expression and charged again, this time darting to the left at the last minute, trying to fool Dralen. Dralen wasn't fooled, but by Sel could gather from his teacher's smile that he was getting the point. He darted away once more to the left before attacking Dralen's side. Dralen easily blocked, but his smile got much wider.

Sel continued using that same tactic, but he often acked away when he knew for sure that he couldn't hit his teacher. This time, he attacked head-on, but instead of eing whakced on the head, he dodged to the side, and swung is sword hopefully at Dralen's side.

Sel's hope faded as Dralen's sword doubled back to intercept his own, and went into a nasty counterattack that left him in the position that he had gotten used to; lying on his back.

"Very good. You lasted much longer that time."

"About ten seconds." Sel replied gloomily.

"You, a ten year-old. lasted ten seconds against House Redoran's trainer on your fourth lesson."

Sel smiled; the man had a point.

-------
enjoy.

Very nice. It's good to see Sel learning something and staying out of trouble. I had thought he'd be able to figure out the size advantage thing, but I guess he's not used to thinking in that way.

Great Danny!.....I enjoy your story a lot! You have a very nice, humouristic way of writing...which pleases me a lot

I want more Sel!!!! ya hear me?

Yes finally, I have been waiting in patience, now it was nice to see sel learning something usefull ( I have a feeling he is ging to make use of what he learnt later).

As always, a great update filled with qualiti writing and some humor in it. Keep up the good work danny. We need more my precioussss.

Okay, man, I'm cutting you off.

-------

"Why is he here?" Sel demanded, when Retin joined him and Dralen in the practice field.

"He is part of House Redoran, and has more right than you to be here." Dralen replied, annoyed by Sel's attitude. "If you don't like it, you can stop training under me."

Sel bowed his head and mumbled something to the effect of 'I'm sorry'.

"Good." Dralen replied, as if he could hear Sel's words. "Now get ready, I want you two to fight."

Sel pulled out his wooden, padded sword and stood in the center of the practice area, leaning on its hilt as he waited for his foe.

When Retin joined him, they immediately went at it, and the fight was fairly even. Whenever Sel thought he had gained a hit, Retin's sword was always there to block his own. When Retin smiled in satisfaction at a sure and accurate swing, he found himself hitting the air where Sel had once been.

Dralen wouldn't let them stop. Apparently, he wanted them both to forget their feud and do whatever was needed to do end their stupidity.

They fought for over an hour, neither of themm gaining the upper hand. They were both bruised in several places, but no more or less than the other.

"Truce?" Retin asked during a small break in the fighting.

"No." Sel replied, charging back in.

After several more similar conversations, Sel finally began one of them.

"Truce?" Sel asked, breathing heavily.

"Finally." Retin answered, immediately sitting down, no less tired than Sel.

Over the weeks, Retin and Sel were sparring partners, and they soon forgot their small quarrel and were soon the best of friends. Sel learned that Retin was a distant relative of Bolvyn Venim, a councillor in House Redoran, which was why he was also learning swordsmanship. He had to. Redorans were always fighters, and the nobles were supposed to be the best.

------

End of chapter 2.

Thanks for another great update. It was good to see Sel and Retin find a way to end their feud. I hope that their relationship (now more good than bad) will continue to be a central feature of this story.

Oops...a relative of Bolvyn Venim..?? Now we´re talkin´.....this is getting more and more exciting, i must say....so don´t let us wait too long....huh?

So sorry, Dantrag. I did not mean anything unusual with that last post of mine, all I tryed to say is that it is so great what you are writing, that I expressed that we needed more in a rather stupid way.

Hope you will forgive me, as I love this story alot, and I swear by Azura that a post similar to that one I wrote earlyer, wont happen again.

You know I was kidding, right...? I was making a joke about your enthusiasm (which is appreciated)