Sinnis

it was nellie that found it first. the skydancer was hunting far from the kurite sanctuary, in the darkest recesses of the leviathan trench. it's not her specialty, but food has been scarce ever since the bounty, so they've had to go further afield than ever. she was paired with usmi, but when they split up he'd taken the lantern, leaving her in total darkness. nellie's learnt to navigate in this environment - her eyesight is keen from being born down here, and she knows to watch for the bioluminescent glints of her prey. that strange shimmer of pink-orange sunset in the distance, though - that's not something she knows. (never even seen the sky).

she stayed stock still, her claws anchoring her to a jagged outcropping, the rest of her rippling in the current, as the thing got closer. it looked like it could be a wildclaw, from the picture's nellie's seen, but the bones floating serenely among its smattering of stars are wrong. those aren't from a dragon.

nellie was praying as it reached her, as she had taken to doing in stressful situations. the wildclaw-thing regarded her curiously. as she got to the part in the formula about the holy purity of mala, the thing snorted - an unexpectedly dragonlike sound - and said: "are they really still on about that?"

there began a strange friendship. nellie has kept her outings a secret, and sinnis has not revealed itself to any of the other kurites. every day at six bells they meet in the shadow of a colossal shipwreck from the second age, one that sinnis claims to remember sailing upon. nellie's not sure if it's joking.

it isn't, of course. it is a mishmash of bones from a thousand lives, collected ever since its awakening in the catacombs of the starfall isles, and it remembers something of each of them. its favourite of these was a philosopher searching for the secret to eternal life; an endless source of amusement considering its new state. if nellie knew a little more about the dragons she worships, she might begin to put the puzzle together, but blind faith is second nature to her, and sinnis doesn't seem to be revealing anything any time soon. so it continues.