Coraline

Description:
Coraline is a curious dragon, she asks many questions and remembers almost all information she has learned, rarely writing it down unless asked. If she can't get a clear answer to something, she moves on without fuss and may plan to return for clarity on a later date. She has a great liking for aquatic plants and scarab beetles, both as meals and objects of inquiry.
She is easily upset or angered by the mistreatment of artifacts and sentimentally valued items, both her own and others'.
She has a gift for painting plants, and making paint from plants, but she only does so in journals and sketchbooks in order to record them.

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return by 19/11

Coraline had been wandering through the wood in search of new plant species to investigate when she first came upon a confused looking tundra.
"Hello? Are you lost?" Coraline enquired.
"Hmm? What? Oh. No. I was supposed to be fetching something for my friend, but I can't quite recall what it is. I think I'd been given a picture but I think I must have misplaced it," the tundra replied. He shrugged. "No matter. I've not seen you before. It's not usual to see others in these woods. I don't smell others here often." The tundra paused. "Why are you here?"
"I research. I explore. I gather knowledge," Coraline replied, presenting her research notebooks to the tundra.
"If it's knowledge you want, you should speak to Deadwing. You can usually find him in his...I forget what he calls it, but it's some gloomy cave. Over there. Follow the path. I need to go... my plants..." The tundra trailed off, then perked up. "Wait, take these. I've been cultivating these particular plants for a while and they are exquisite. Freshly harvested today. Enjoy them." The tundra fumbled in his basket and took out a bundle of plants, handing them over to the pearlcatcher. "I have to go now..." With that, the tundra turned and left.
Coraline packed the bundle of plants into her back and decided she may as well investigate Deadwing, whoever that was, so she headed down the path the tundra had pointed out.

The cave was...unremarkable to look at. But the feeling, the feeling it invoked made Coraline uneasy. It wasn't an evil atmosphere but there was something that just didn't feel quite right. The pearlcatcher hesitated about going inside, but her inquisitive nature pushed her forwards. When she set foot inside, something changed. Nothing intense, nothing overwhelming, rather something so subtle that most dragons would probably miss it. Like a shift in reality, ever so slightly. Coraline shuddered, but pressed on further into the cave until she came across a larger space, filled with artifacts of magic and mystery, and science, that dismissed any reservations she had about stepping foot in the strange place. And then the dragon stepped out from a shadow.
The dragon was covered in feathers and bones that should surely crash together with any movement, yet no sound occurred.
"Coraline." A soft voice, with a normality that was unnerving in the circumstances.
Coraline frowned. "How did you-"
"I listen. To everyone. To everything. I know you have many questions, but I think, in your case, it is best to find our the answers yourself." The strange pearlcatcher, Deadwing, stepped closer to Coraline. "You have a lot of adventures ahead of you. You should take this. It helps." Deadwing passed Coraline an object wrapped in cloth.
"Helps with what?" Coraline asked, bewildered and uneasy.
Deadwing smiled. "You have to leave, now. I have other visitors soon. You don't want to be here when they arrive."

And then Coraline was outside the cave. She had no memory of leaving, but left she had. Her next destination awaited.