Art Credits: Rinmaru Videogame Avatar 2 /
using Doll Divine

Name: Tammu Scaler

Gender: Female

Age: 17*

Origin: Province of the Jeweled Witch, from a village along the Broken Glass Coast

Species: Human, Jewel Witch / Farer

Racial Oddities: *She is actually immortal, or at least has the genetic signs for being very, very long lived

Family: Mother a Jewel Witch, father a 'Farer, which makes her somewhat of an oddity since most Witches choose to have their children spliced or modified; her mother has hidden the results of the genetic testing showing her unusual lifespan and regenerative properties from the full Jewel Witch database, until Tammu is more mature and might handle the 'offers' for splicing and children on her own

Height: 5'1", somewhat shorter than most of either side of her family lines

Weight: under 90 lbs, very petite and lithe, obviously built for being agile, not bulky

Hair: silky platinum blond, straight, not styled but often in a simple ponytail

Eyes: medium blue, not remarkable except that they match the stones that are set in her diadem

Appearance: pale skin like her mother's, with a strong dash of rust-colored freckles over her tall narrow nose, everything about her is upright and narrow, except her smile which if you get one from her is broad and bright; her hands are strong but not calloused from fishing, and she doesn't ever seem to stink of the sea, even if she's been gutting fish all day

Level: 4

Movement: Average, with strong swimming and climbing skills

Bond Site: Lantessama, Sand Wamid and Lake Volludh

Dragondeep Specs

Skills and Profession: even if she has the Jewel Witch title, she is still residing with her father's family down near the sea, and has learned an incredible amount about the fishing industry there. And it's not just book-learning, even if people assume she's merely the accountant for the business, or working the front shop. No, she is out occasionally on the boats themselves, though she's not big enough or strong physically enough to run the rigging, she is very good with navigational skill and making sure that the ship isn't going to crash in storms - the Broken Glass Coast is absolutely accurate for its name, after all... But she's good with weighing the catches, doling out payments, gutting and cleaning large or small fish, securing cargo in the hold, or indeed, throwing a net or casting a line to actively catch those fish. She does have the bonus of being a Jewel Witch's daughter, however, and her raw abilities are definitely aided by her gem-set diadem, and she's learning about how to control her psionics, though she's still rather new at them. Her physical skills have come first, apparently, though she still doesn't understand why.

Psionic Skills: her naturally present ability to manipulate and sense water has become extremely important for the fishery, and as they know she's part Jewel Witch it's clear that she will become more valuable with better control over those psionics. But she has shown a very good dominance over the localized currents, which means their ships and boats move with greater ease, navigating around tight areas or dangerous underwater features as she can feel outcrops, coral reefs, and other dangers to avoid, as well as gently nudge the ship a little here and there to aid the stronger psionics aboard. She can also sense and to a degree manipulate the nearby weather patterns, her particular favorite activity is working with the thick roiling fog that exists every morning and evening in the area, and she can part it like it's a cloth drape, or even draw it thickly around something or some one. Tammu breathes water for up to an hour at a time, coming out coughing but usually with some treasure she's spotted while down below the waves. Her skin heals from any injury quickly but her clothing might take a beating, though it never seems to look dirty or fouled, that's part of her ability to gently take the surrounding vapor and lift out particles like blood or grit, sand, and salt. It's been suggested that she can concentrate on those things for other uses like fixing fine gears, or even for surgery to remove shark teeth or other items from a wound. For that reason she has actively looked into anatomy books, as the Broken Glass Coast has its share of terrible wounds incurred just by walking the beach. It's proven to work with jellyfish stings and anenome shell shards, too! (Well that's what the coast's beaches are made of, so it stands to reason...)

History: When her mother took a trip around the whole coast of the Province of the Jeweled Witch, it wasn't with an eye on catching a mate. She'd had two children already by their complicated and computer-aided selection program, though didn't raise either of them, as they were set up with their talented fathers. But this talented father she found for her naturally-born one... Oh my. Handsome and rugged, nimble and quick minded as well as quite knowledgeable in his field. The Scaler Dock featured some of his prize catches, including exotic silver scaled shark skin and a massive set of jaws and teeth that his grandfather lost an arm to. What a rich history to almost breeze past on that tour! So instead, she remained for a spell. She didn't know the sea aside from traveling on her friend's luxury yacht, but she did know that the passage around this area was dangerous. They went on ahead, and she spent the next year with her beau, watching him work, and tending the dock side of things with his family. They were pleased with how much she could do without instruction - they'd almost hoped she would remain on as a friendly and aggressive haggler for their trades. But shortly after Tammu was born, a sequence of other events happened: Tammu's mother was called home urgently as her own family needed her on hand for some important paperwork. And, sadly, a local young woman had lost her own child in a sudden storm. The unmarried woman on the docks was distraught but still - raised Tammu with the knowledge that now both of them could survive easily. The Jewel Witch visited frequently enough that no one doubted she still loves her daughter, and probably the girl's father, since she did show up once with a gathering of gem-shapers on that yacht. When Tammu was six, she was shown the vast array of colorful stones and gems, rocks, wires and metals, all manner of things that the Jewel Witches were known to use for their diadems.

She reached for the bright, shiny aluminum bar - an unusual choice, but it was a lightweight metal that would suit someone who didn't want to get weighed down by something heavy while they were working. Then her small hands fished out three equally small gemstones: sapphires certainly, but ones with an inner shine like her own eyes. Dark blue on sight, but inside when the light caught the natural flaws, flashes of aqua blue visible. So the gemshapers put themselves to work. Her diadem is simple, layered and slightly embossed metal that has streteched with her own growth into a young adult, with that trio of stones in a small droplet design over her forehead. Like all of her appearance it is pale, overall, and keeps her hair out of her eyes when she's not got it tied back. Tammu has never had to clean this diadem, it's always flawless, even during that weekly fish-cutting! So along with this diadem has come a slow, but strongly growing ability with the sea itself. Not that she wasn't already well suited, but her own expectations began to drive her, rather than merely being a fisher's daughter.

Her stepmother married into the family, her father's older brother realized just how much she cared for a child that wasn't even her own - so as Tammu grew old enough to not rely on her so much, they have their own family now. Tammu didn't feel much like investigating the boys or even the girls, something strange about how her Jewel Witch side simply... all but ignored the idea of becoming a mother? Maybe some day she'll figure that out.

She didn't realize that her birth mother had her tested for things when those gemshapers were around, and to her surprise - to everyone's, really - it was discovered that her genetic structure is marvelously resiliant. Her overall health might seem slight and almost poor, her size is small and lightweight, but ... she had dug her hands into sharp uncut stones and gems, or walked with her mother on the beach with her shoes off and had nothing more to show than a little bit of a stain afterwards: no current open wounds, no cuts or bruises on her hands or feet... Her healing factor was incredibly strong, and one of the life mages nearby remarked how much she'd be of use for long-term genes. Her mother balked at the idea of her daughter having little say in her own destiny, the Farer family she lived with was strong and independent and earned their value. She deserved a chance to make a name for herself first, and then decide whether she was to be 'used' as a donor or mother her own children. That it would be valuable was never in question - immortality did run in some few families, but it did come with costs, and those weren't worth bothering a child or even a teenager for. So Tammu's mother paid quite a bit of money to have that result hidden for the time being, and when Tammu is around 30 it will be officially unsealed. Before then, her mother will definitely be telling her all about it. But the fact that she does still kind of look at Tammu with a faintly odd, slightly sad, slightly yearning look? Tammu has noticed it.

But there's so much more to do on the docks. Tammu enjoys her time with the fishers greatly, it's more the traders who come through regularly leering at her pretty face or making comments about her stunning hair. Not knowing that it's her ability with the navigation tools or the power of her command of water, that makes her who she is.

***

It was a few weeks after her 17th birthday. Tammu got a beautiful and durable sharkskin-sided furlined cowl for those stormy nights on the sea from her grandmother, and a keepsake box from her mother with a note indicating that it was waterproof and wouldn't sink, a perfect place to store things that she wanted to keep close! She immediately put her sextant and a little ring she'd found in it.

The weather had been poor, she could tell that there were large storms looming to the south-east, they might cross the Coast's path but more than likely it would create dangers that open ocean born ships needed to avoid. That often drove them northward to the equally hazardous Broken Glass Coast itself. And true to form, several ships did have to drift narrowly close to their stretch of the coast. Two of them had already sustained damage to their masts, and needed to remain in the protected shipyard. One of them, though, seemed intact and stable. Its crew was still shaken a bit, and needed some amount of distraction to calm their nerves.

It was a good looking ship, with a fascinatingly handsome captain that docked out in the calm portion of their harbor. The crew was wildly varied, they even had a vampire on board? The True Star seemed like it had seen a lot of the world, they had draped flags from numerous ports decorating many areas, somehow remaining intact during the storms. Something drew Tammu to approach it, while their maintenance was being done, and their cargo checked for any damage. A couple of the crew kept looking at her, then staring into space, and then returning their gaze toward the platinum-haired girl. Frequently enough that she finally walked right up to them and stood there waiting for an explanation. Wordless, she just furrowed her brows and glared for a moment or two.

Didn't take long before one of them, a Platypus kin, shrugged her dark, round shoulders and looked toward the brightly orange-red ... what was he? Tammu didn't know 'capybara' was a thing. "Maedine would say yes," she said mysteriously. The orange rodent made one quick glance down toward the hull of their ship and then at the sea nearby.

"Oh, that little shit, he didn't?" Though apparently normally quite chill and relaxed, the way he said those odd words put the platypus on edge.

"They are aren't they?" She said, and another voice chimed in a moment later.

"They did, you know you can't stop them when they're intent..." it was a Dragonkin, who had been investigating the anchor and chains nearby. The ship itself was a bit of a paddle off in the larger part of the harbor, it wasn't a small ship by any means. But the Dragonkin dove both under the water and then sprang into the air, landing with his wedge-shaped wings blowing dangerous particles up from the wooden dock.

"You will want to watch for sharp grit," Tammu said, indicating the shine of the sands nearby, "there's a reason it's called Broken Glass."

The trio of non-humans glanced down and had to trust her assessment. It was clear that the ship either hadn't docked here before, or had done so without these crewmates.

"Tempest said it's sharp, good thing he's armored," the capybara muttered, and then rolled his eyes. "No you cannot. You cannot."

It looked to Tammu that all three of them were having weird one-sided conversations, like they were talking to themselves, rather than each other or even her.

An odder thing was that a sudden spat of rain sprinkled down, though it wasn't connected to the distant storms. It was, Tammu's senses screamed, very nearby and localized. Another weather shaper perhaps? Why would they be making rain? And who was responsible?

The capybara, who briefly introduced himself as Ronen - and the platypus as Irrawella, and the dragonkin as Krizuk - said with some quiet urgency, "you'll want to come aboard, is that okay with them?" He nodded toward the main dock, where a group of locals were tending to goods.

"They can't tell me not to," Tammu said, "why? What's going on? You're all acting quite strange, and I don't even know you." She paused, "who is Maedine, who is Tempest?"

"And Ersth," the dragonkin muttered with what appeared to be a smirk. She wasn't sure: there were very few dragonkin here in their port to know this one's expressions. "That long thing probably brought whoever along..."

They marched Tammu up to their rowboat, one of what looked like six that the ship held. It seemed a little odd, though, since both the capybara and platypus were extremely adept at swimming (she could tell, their hands and feet were webbed) and the dragon kin had already demonstrated his skill. Why would they even need a rowboat? Probably the captain's, wouldn't he miss it, when he and the others on shore needed it?

The spat of rain got on her nerves while they were moving toward the ship, and Tammu focused her powers on it. It felt... strange, like it was somehow resisting her magic? But it abated shortly, she hadn't noticed Ronen's odd glare toward the bottom of the ship.

Several other crewmates were fixing things, coiling ropes and making sure that hatches were secure, the typical things that any ship needed daily. Things that Tammu knew by heart. The motion of this ship was slower than those she'd been on, and higher off the waterline too - it was a cargo ship not a fishing vessel. But it was still just like home to her, already.

"We're ... going to need to show you something, and because the ... well, they have instincts about this sort of thing, we've learned to trust those instincts. They want to see you." Krizuk indicated with both his hand and his wing, that she enter the hold's main portal. She followed Irrawella's lead, Ronen remained outside for a moment longer, and then Krizuk brought up the rear when it was clear no one else was coming.

There was already something strange going on here. The hold - very big for a ship, but since no good vessel on Dragondeep went without a water mage of some kind, they needed no storage room for fresh water - had good walls with many shelves lashed tight with their goods behind netting, all properly labeled, all safe and sound. Her trained eye looked around just to make sure: nothing was out of place, nothing precarious, and definitely no lapses in the netting. Good! That said they took great care with their cargo! But something still seemed a little off.

It was only when the snout of some odd creature poked itself out from between two stacks, when that strange something became apparent.

"Tempest, no," Ronen asserted, but still this ... thing? stepped out with a mixture of cautious sniffing and boldly ignoring of his 'master' Ronen. Scaled, armored? With horns pointing back over its thick neck, and what looked like tall sailfin spines and webbing along its back.

"This is Tempest?" Tammu asked, and with its name spoken that self-same creature gave a triumphant chuffle and snort.

"If you ... well, if you look over that way," Irrawella said, "that's Maedine and Ersth," she tossed her billed face toward a pair of port-holes just barely - no wait, they were actually underneath the water line? Secure windows, larger than typical, and both of them had odd faces in them. Sleeker than Tempest, one beautifully blending with the brightness of the water, and the other a brassy yellowish shade. Both had catfish-like whiskers, and fish-like fins.

"What... I mean, they're almost like dragons, so little, though!" She almost reached over to Tempest to scritch his head like a puppy but it immediately became apparent that he was hardly a dog.

"They are indeed, dragons," another voice came from behind them, and she could almost feel the trio of crewmates stomachs drop. The 'handsome captain', had arrived.

Colart wasn't glaring in anger, but Tammu could clearly detect his ire. He mostly directed it at Krizuk, "Ersth is going to need to be reminded not to do this," he told the dragonkin, who nodded in apology.

"Sir, with all due respect," Tammu said, "do what?"

The group looked at each other, and then at that brassy colored dragon outside.

***

"I will have to at least tell them I'm signing on," Tammu said, "but it's time I should make my own way, mother keeps telling me that too."

Her father had some words - but all of them were encouraging. "We will keep your room safe, I'll send a message to your mother straight away." He seemed so proud, and particularly with the True Star it seemed well placed trust to have his daughter aboard.

She didn't tell him what that crew had explained to her. She didn't introduce him to the other crew - the dragons that a few of that crew had befriended. No, that would be very bad indeed. The True Star would be on its way with the morning winds, and they would be making good time as those winds brought themselves into the sails. While they were working their way westward around the Province, they would be heading north, between the coasts of the Province and the Barony's Cape Redfair. The only gap in Dragondeep's long single continent, the only water passage between north and south oceans.

From there, Colart explained, it would be some ... other waters to cross. It would take some days of travel to reach the Cape itself, and only after they were in the northern ocean, the Nightglimmer Sea, would they be able to reach those other waters. And in that time, they gave more of an education as to why they needed the secrecy, why their dragons were different from those found natively in these waters.

Where they would go once they did reach an odd magically tingling spot... That was Lantessama, a location that several of those dragons seemed to be from. How their dragons came to be on Dragondeep, only those creatures knew. Ersth however was the one 'responsible' for bringing several of his friends from their secluded island home, to the True Star in her home port. They had to explain some amount of anatomy, lifestyle differences - she was marginally aware of the life cycle of the local dragons, but these others grew quickly, matured into intelligent adults within a few years, and had telepathic connections to their sponsors or bonds.

That was so unlike the locals, at least they were small - they would be beyond notice unless they got right up in front of those locals. But they did have a home port of their own, the Never Ending Grotto they called it, and perhaps... it would be her new home too. A life like this, on the sea and with the waters to command (they had eagerly accepted her as another of their important water-shapers!) was certainly something she wanted. Some day she could travel up to see her mother's city too, the freedom that being part of a crew of a cargo and transport system was ... perhaps much more exciting than her life fishing and selling. She'd still wind up fishing and cutting up catches, but it would probably be at the Grotto, for those local folk!

The time spent at Lantessama's bay was quite interesting. There were certainly different people here - but also these 'different' dragons! Such lovely fins, and their cute faces? Hello?

When word got out that the candidates for this watery clutch should remain nearby, of course everyone gathered! It could only mean one thing, right? They were ready to hatch, or surface, or whatever it was that these Nekrats did? There wasn't much time to figure out what applied there - but Tammu decided that she should be closer. No, closer than that. Not looking for the eggs or shells, or to dive too deeply, but to be closer to ...

Her long blond hair floated on the water and as the girl nervously twisted one of it's strands around her fingers, another lock was grabbed and pulled by a seaweed green mouth. The nekrat didn't want to stay hidden for longer and her deep green tail curled around the young woman's legs while her fins created the lift needed to lift her head above the surface. The female nekrat bumped her head against Tammu's chin and told her:

"Why would you need to gut and skin fish? Those are the tasty bits!"

"I'll gladly save them for you, Gahshani." Tammu replied tactfully.

The True Star and the Grotto would be their home for the long term, but for the time being it was time for them to rest up, get fed, and start learning how to be a pair!

***

A few weeks later, as the time had come for the True Star to move on to their next delivery or destination - and to get Tammu and Gashani settled in at the Grotto, Tammu had to bid farewell to those people who had helped them along the way. Trainers and librarians, mostly, people with extensive knowledge of the seaborn dragons, who could offer answers to questions about anatomy, injuries, life cycles. She would grow quickly, have a nice long maturity.

There might be ... potentially... maybe some day offspring at the Grotto - there were other Nekrats and hybrids already there!

"We'll think about that later, my dear," Tammu chuckled. The dragonet was definitely crushing pretty hard for Ersth.

***

"What a lovely color," everyone that met Gashani said, the Grotto inhabitants were quite enamored. She blended in beautifully with that seaweed, true to the name of her shade.

"Don't let it go to your head," Tammu warned. Because that dragon was definitely the type to start expecting praise, so a few lessons in how to be humble might be needed at some point.

***

He gets to go, why can't I?

"There's no 'gets' to!" Tammu exclaimed, flustered. "Ersth doesn't 'get' to go anywhere - he goes because he's a hot headed impulsive dragon!"

Anyone who knew that dragon didn't even need to hear his name... And Gashani was attempting to swim in his flipper-prints. But she also knew the value of their secret lair, their lives here being kept from those big - huge - dragons in the depths of their home's seas.

Though she pouted a little here and there, Gashani did eventually settle into her own routine. Whenever she felt like following the big orange out onto the open ocean, she instead headed him off, taunting him into a race or a prank contest nearer the Grotto. Was she his 'keeper'? Well he certainly was a keeper that's for sure. He could fly (just a bit) and would lump himself up onto the sands or even into the grassy woodland and gaze down at her as she swam in the protected bays or nooks below. They really did have a good thing going here! Why blow it and its secrets for a moment or two of fun?