[ooc - PM me if you have any questions. The serpent picture is in her profile ^_^]

Korethil didn't often take ships, but in this case it had been necessary. The raven's wings couldn't carry her as far as she needed to go, nor could the wolf's paws carry her over the land at the speed that she would prefer to travel. The storm that was currently throwing the ship around like a toy reminded the elf why she didn't like ships, she had never been easy at sea since her forms couldn't handle the deep sea.

Then the ship felt like it tilted much too far to the side and when it righted itself again, far too slow for her comfort, Korethil grabbed her backpack and headed to the dead. She thanked the gods that it was waterproofed, though for now it only contained her cloak and a quill and ink for her journal. She'd be most annoyed if that book got soaked through.

Then Korethil turned and saw a monstrous wave rise up to swallow the ship. There was no where to go, they were too far out from land for the raven to fly safe, the wolf couldn't paddle anywhere in the raging waves. So when the wave swept over the ship and started breaking it up, Korethil let the thing take her. She thought it was her time and Shadryn would welcome her into the realm. But as she drowned, the elf could feel her form shifting, rearranging itself into something completely new.

Thanien, as always, had been swimming leisurely through the great ocean that housed the ever-shifting island of his Avatar. His body and scales- made clearly to support smooth swimming- gleamed in the water. By outward appearance he looked very menacing with scales such a deep shade of blue they appeared almost black. His underbelly wasn’t a much lighter color. His eyes were a haunting white-blue with no visible pupil. Sailors sometimes commented that this was a great and merciless seabeast, but they didn’t know the sea dragon. He had bonded with Rei because they had both shared the same gentle heart. It was this bond that kept him as the protector of her home.

The seas had been turbulent with storms the better part of the day, but it had not stopped the mighty sea creature. His speed could not be matched by any other- even the ambitious dolphins that he often enjoyed racing. He rarely stopped for any boats or ships sailing the water, however one craft had caught his attention. It was small- more a dingy than a proper ship- and looked to have capsized in the violent storm. There was no passenger desperately clinging to its bottom, so he began to look elsewhere. It was then that he eyed the peculiar looking serpent, bewildered and half dazed. He knew this was not a natural creature. He urged it along toward the island where it would be safe. As soon as the creature touched land there, he left its side.

Rei often enjoyed spending time near the shores, reading or writing and simply listening to the waves roll up and wash back out. She did not hear the same noises as others. To hear, water quite literally spoke. It had been a talent that took a deal of concentration when she had been a mortal. But now that she was so connected to her element- and really was her element- it took no concentration. As the waves rolled up on shore, she could hear the distinct murmurs of the water spirits. There was always a story to hear.

However this day as she lounged in the sand on the far side of the island, her robes pooled around her and a book in hand, she had mostly been ignoring the sweet sounds in favor of concentrating on the book she held. Since the reappearance of her old master and teacher, she had spent much time researching the ‘pet theory’ he had established about the source of the sun wyrm. Most of her research simply led to dead ends.

As she was turning through the second half of the book and deciding she was hitting yet another dead end, Rei could not ignore the sudden swell in the voices. They were loud and overbearing, trying to speak to her of something important. Tossing the book in the sand, she stood up. Something- or rather someone- had washed ashore on the front side of the island. With half a thought, she vanished.

The Avatar reappeared about ten feet from this strange sea serpent that had come to rest on the damp shoreline. Her piercing, shocking blue eyes eyed the creature curiously as her silvery white hair danced in the breeze. But this thing was not truly a serpent, no. It was an elf. She could sense- and smell- that much. Yet there was an air of bewilderment about the serpent. She had no idea why she was here or how she had happened upon the place. “It is not very often that shifters wash up on my shores. But I can tell even you are surprised to find yourself here.”

The sea serpent vaguely remembered another like it that had helped her to the shore. He was different than she, but he had helped. She lay on the beach, trying to gather her very scattered thoughts. There had been a storm, she could remember that much. And she couldn't remember anything before finding herself in the water and making her way to the shore and slipping out of conscience again.

And waking up on the beach. The serpent couldn't quite coordinate herself enough to get back into the water yet, the body felt strange and ungainly. Like she had just been born. But could that even be right? The serpent was very confused right now, if she had just been born that she should be this size, what was going on here? There was something very unusual going on here...

Then the two legger appeared on the beach and the serpent swung her head to study it, her now that she could get a scent on it. She could tell it was another female. And the serpent felt calmer, and yet something else seeping into her mind. Half memories of a wolf and running through the woods. What's a wolf floated through her mind. Then the two legger spoke and that sparked even more memories, a raven fleeing to the sky, an elf running from a vampire not in fear but in teasing. Little pieces and snippets came back all at once. And that woke up something else within the sea serpent.

Her whole body writhed for a few moments, though she had enough control to move away from the woman so she wouldn't be harmed. The form started to shrink and warp into something new and it was several long moments before any coherent form could be discerned. Once the elf stood before the woman, Korethil looked just as bewildered as the serpent had. "Wha... what? Where am I? The last thing I remember was a storm..." she said in a soft lilt half out loud and half to herself before turning around and seeing the woman. It had taken her a few moments to realize that she was not alone on the beach. Blinking several more times, she added "I'm sorry, but where am I? And how did I even get here?", very puzzled indeed.

Korethil couldn't remember shifting to or from the serpent, her kind very rarely took oceanic forms being forest dwellers. For now, the serpent's memories were shunted away from the elf's conscious thoughts. But Korethil was odd in the first place, so herself doing something new should be somewhat expected. The woman before her was beautiful in a strange way, so Korethil got the impression that she was someone far from ordinary.

The appearance of the Avatar didn’t seem to help solve the confusion that racked the mind of the sea serpent. Rei could see the flickers of fear passing through the aura of the shifter before her. The serpent had moved rapidly and righted her head to look at the woman standing before her. But as soon as the soft words left her lips, something strange happened. Without warning or utterance, the form of the serpent contorted and writhed. It took much longer than normal for the woman to shift into her ‘human’ form. Now an elf stood before her.

Rei half expected the elf to be more composed and more aware of her surroundings. Instead, the elf woman seemed just as bewildered as she had in the form of a serpent. The Avatar extended her magic, letting it seep out and search the mind of the shifter. The mind of the serpent and the mind of her elven form seemed to be completely separated from each other. The elven woman didn’t even seem to remember the last few minutes spent on the beach. “You washed up on my shores here. And this island houses the Shrine of Water. I am its Avatar.”

There was a stir in the ocean behind them, great ripples forming and the waves breaking. The massive head of the sea dragon lifted from the drop off and peered curiously at the shore and the two women standing there. Rei looked up and at her sea dragon companion. “My companion found you adrift in the sea near the wreckage of a boat. Only, you had taken the form of a sea serpent.” The Avatar paused, looking at the woman. “Though it doesn’t seem that you remember what happened.”

Rei summoned a bit of her magic, pulling forth the arcane and creating a blanket in her hands. “I’m not going to hurt you. Come inside, you’re soaked.” With a soft smile, she set the blanket over the woman’s shoulders and placed a guiding arm around her shoulder. She led them away from the shore, across the thriving green grass, passing streams and rivers, and up to the silver doors of the swirled marble shrine. They passed over the bridge that hung over the deep pool, through the altar room, and then into a meeting area. It was full with chairs and couches that were mostly all overcushioned.

“Have a seat anywhere you like. Tell me about yourself and perhaps I can help you understand and control your sea serpent form.” Smiling kindly at the woman, she pulled from the arcane again, summoning forth a teapot and cups this time. Steam wafted slowly from the spout. “Would you like a cup of tea to warm you?” She picked up the pot and poured a cup for both her and the woman. Rei leaned over and handed the cup to her before picking up her own and taking a sip.

Korethil was more than a bit puzzled at the words of the woman before her, but her wits were not so addled as to be unable to comprehend the words being spoken to her. Her slender form started to shiver a bit, ocean water tended to be quite cold, but still Korethil would be polite. "My apologies, Lady Water. It would seem I cannot remember anything for a few hours at least..." Korethil said, her voice trailing off at the sight of the sea dragon. Her guess at the time was based on that the storm had passed, no long were the dark clouds hanging in the sky. Her bronze eyes went wide when the Avatar mentioned she had been a sea serpent when she had washed up and Korethil shook her head slowly. "I was what? But... my kind doesn't take water forms..." the elf said, quite puzzled indeed.

Shaking her head more quickly, trying to warm herself a bit, she smiled a bit at the Avatar as the woman spoke gently. She was grateful to have run across a friendly soul, she needed that very much right now. She murmured a thank you at the blanket draped around her shoulders, just having something dry around her helped. She allowed the Avatar to guide her where she would, the elf wasn't overly concerned with the destination. The Shrine was a beautiful island, Korethil wasn't so dazed as to miss her current environment.

The elf could feel the touch of magic in the air as the Avatar conjured up a warm pot of tea and the smell alone brought a smile to her face. She accepted the cup with a grateful nod and wrapped her hands around it for warmth. After a few moments, she realized she had never introduced herself. "I must have been more dazed than I realized, my apologies if I seem to be rude Avatar. My name is Korethil, I'm a shapeshifter by nature. But never have I heard tales of my kind taking on forms that travel the oceans, hence my confusion" she said, her voice holding a small note of confusion as she tried to puzzle out what had happened to her. "I was in a small boat, headed for Kindor from Mooncrest, the crew sent all the passengers below when a storm blew up rather suddenly and I went out on the deck when the boat tilted much too far for comfort. The last thing I remember... I think I started to drown" Korethil added, rubbing one of her temples. Taking a long sip of the tea, she tried to remember anything else that may have occurred. There was a vague memory of her form contorting in the water, but she had never felt like that before, shifting had always been so very easy on the elf.

“Amnesia comes with drowning, my dear,” she said with a soft smile. “There’s a bit of water in your lungs. I imagine you breathed in some before your form shifted.” Rei lifted her hand and made slow beckoning motions towards herself from the woman’s chest. Slowly, water began to diffuse from the skin of her chest into the air, floating there softly for a minute. It then began to drift slowly towards the Avatar, dancing around her moving hand a moment before merging with her body. “There, you should be able to breathe easier now.”

The elf mentioned that her kind was not adept to take water forms. Rei shifted her magic out to touch upon the aura of the lost woman. She could sense the strong presence of earth within her. There was a long extent of lineage within her blood. Her clan was something deeply connected to the earth. “You are deeply connected to the earth, so is your lineage. I can see why you would be confused. Nevertheless, you have taken a water form. You need to learn to control it as you do your others.”

The woman took the tea and clung to it for its warmth. She introduced herself at Korethil. The shapeshifter bit she had assumed as much from their happenstance meeting. “It is a pleasure to meet you, Korethil, though I wish the circumstances had been better.” The Avatar took her own cup of tea and sipped at it, tasting the soothing content of silverleaf within it. It was an elven blend of tea. Her tastes always seemed to lean towards that of the elves, even in wine. “I am Rei, wolf daughter of Shadryn and blood daughter of Lunar and Rylin- previous deities of this land. My pedigree is pretty complicated.”

Korethil spun her tale of being in a small boat, attempting to travel from Kindor to MoonCrest. A storm had blown in and the crew had ushered them below deck. But the storm had gotten the best of them. Thanien had reported there were only splintered remains in the water. “My companion found only splinters of the ship you were on. I am certain you did begin to drown when your body found this form.” Rei relaxed in her seat and put the cup down on a small table near her seat.

“You already know the art of shifting by nature and because you have been doing it all your life. Now you need to learn to tap into that particular form.” The Avatar felt the girl had enough time to recover now from the shock of the situation. There was no time to waste in channeling the form. It would be best now when it was fresh in her memory. Rei moved to stand and her body buckled forward, her form shifting to rest on four legs, the purest of white fur sprouting from her body. Her face elongated into the maw of a wolf. Her eyes were still the same blue.

“Follow me back to the beach. It is best to try with the thought fresh in your mind.”

Korethil nodded in thanks when she could feel the bit of seawater still in her lungs diffuse, it did feel much better. It didn't surprise her very much when the Avatar was able to very quickly deduce her heritage, perhaps that would help a bit in figuring out exactly what had happened. She smiled a bit at Rei's words about meeting under better circumstances and said "I'm grateful at least to not be dead. So things could be far worse than this". The crew of the ship was most likely drowned and that was sad indeed, and yet there was nothing Korethil could have done to save them. So she wasn't going to dwell on it, that was never a good thing.

It took Korethil a few moments to translate the information into something she could understand and she brightened at the mention of Shadryn. "The Black Wolf is my matron deity, I take it from your words that she gifted you with lycanthropy?" she said, seeing such a thing as a gift and not a curse as many did. Although those who couldn't control it were most likely the ones who would call it a curse. She had heard the names of the deities mentioned and chuckled a little at the complicated lineage, it was things like that which made the world truly interesting. The tea was helping to clear her mind and warm her body a great deal. She nodded at the mention of the boat, it sounded as if there was nothing to be done for the souls who had been lost there. perhaps Korethil would go back and see if any of them needed help in reaching Shadryn's realm.

Korethil's face brightened again at the sight of the Avatar's wolf form, it was quite beautiful. She set the tea cup on the same table before slipping out of her elven form and into her own wolf, black as midnight with bronze eyes. It was pretty obvious that neither of them were ordinary wolves, but the Avatar's island was probably the safest place they could be. She said "Lead on, Lady Water. You're perhaps the best person to help me with this and I very much appreciate your time for this. If I can do something to repay you for your kindness, then please, let me know. I would feel a bit guilty for at least not offering" with a lupine grin. She followed the Avatar to the beach and tried to sort things out in her mind. She could feel the wolf and the raven in her mind as always, but the thought of changing into an ocean dweller was beyond what she had thought possible. Not that she was going to call Lady Water a liar though.

“They could be much worse, yes,” she said softly, her nails clinking softly on the porcelain teacup. “Always a wonderfully optimistic outlook to have.” Rei admired those with such a bright outlook on life and often wished she could maintain the same cheeriness. It was something she could only muster on occasion, as the weight of life and the burden of tragedies that had happened to her weighed heavily on her shoulders. It made her think of her half-drow child resting in her crib. The child would know cheeriness and happiness until she entered the faith of Darkness as a priestess- as her mother had promised the God before she was conceived.

The girl was smart and had easily deduced from what the Avatar said that Shadryn was her lycanthropic mother. Rei smiled and nodded in response. “Yes, you are right. She did gift me with that. I asked it of her as a young woman. I was only a human then- afraid of dying. And I was in love.” A small smile came to her lips at the thought. As a young girl just past her eighteenth year, she had fallen in love with her teacher. The Avatar has been the apprentice of Sadrach since the age of six. He had taught her until the age of eighteen when she left to continue her training on her own.

For a moment she seemed to drift from the conversation. Sadrach had just returned, as he often did. The archmage seemed to vanish and reappear from the world at his own whims. Though at a younger age she had often tried to win his affections when he returned, now she focused on just enjoying his company when he was around. Often times she spent more time playing the part of his apprentice again. No matter their positions, he still knew more than she ever did.

Soon after she had shifted into her wolf form, Rei watched the shapeshifter transform into her own wolf. They looked a star contrast- midnight black against stark and blinding white. “Repayment is needless,” she commented lightly, pawing out of the door and down to the shimmering sands of the beach. The Avatar walked until the ocean half-soaked her legs. “Come along, step into the water. I will force you into your form.”

Blue eyes watched the black wolf maneuver into the ocean. Rei then reached and touched her wet nose to the head of Korethil. Then she waited and watched as the woman’s body contorted and shifted into a peculiar looking sea serpent. Her paw swatted delicately at the serpent’s head, magic tendrils coursing and seeking out her mind to unlock it from the block that was there.

Korethil chuckled a bit and added "I see no sense in dwelling upon those I cannot help or change. I still have my life and that is enough for me". It was an outlook she had adapted under Shadryn, to do otherwise would likely have driven her mad with some of the spirits she had tried to help. Watching the Avatar, there was something troubling her, but Korethil wasn't one to pry in this particular situation. She was after all a guest here.

Korethil couldn't help a chuckle at the mention of being afraid to die. Being changed for love wasn't a new one either. "I've run across quite a few with the same reasons, though a few I know turned to vampirism instead of lycanthropy. My strain is natural, it cannot be passed on except from parent to child" she said with a grin and a faint chuckle, though the conversation made her think back to another. One with Yeagar at their first meeting, with his suggestion what she might reconsider the vampire's embrace should she come to the end of her life or some illness take her. Korethil truthfully didn't know how long she would live, her kind tended to come and go from the world at a moment's notice.

She followed the Avatar back to the beach, silent at the idea of not needing to repay her. Korethil was still grateful and determined that one day she would find a way to return the favor. She took a deep breath before following Rei Isabella into the water and squeezed her eyes shut, waiting for her help. This time she could feel her body shifting and contorting and her own mind being shunted away for a few seconds before Rei's magic slipped through her body. Her kind followed spirit beasts, a sort of protective spirit over all its kin. And if Korethil was going to control the sea serpent for, she would need to find the one above all the others. The wolf has been easy to find, she had many children that she watched over. The raven had been harder, it had been a long time since he had been long without one to watch over. But the sea serpent was one that none of her kind had sought in millenia, that would be tricky indeed.

Korethil's physical form relaxed and sat in the water, while her mind sought out the one she needed. Rei Isabella would be able to see the elf's search if she was watching the elf's thoughts, but Korethil was for the moment oblivious to the Avatar. However, the closeness of intense Water magic from the Avatar seemed to be helping all the more than blind searching. A deep, yet obviously, female voice called out, as though from very far away. "Who calls to me... it's been so very long..." she said and Korethil could see great ocean colored eyes coming towards her in that other place, where the spirits oh her clan's animal totems dwell. Korethil stood still and waited, her bronze eyes widened in surprise. This was something her clan had lost. "Little one, it's been so long since one of the Ithil Hîni has been able to call to me" the huge Serpent said, her eyes studying the ebon scaled serpent standing before her, head bowed in respect. "Elder, you've been lost to us for a long time. We've forgotten you. We've protected the forests for so long, the old ways of traveling the oceans have been forgotten. But I think that's about to change" Korethil said with a small smile after a few moments. The Serpent nodded at the elf's explanation, she didn't seem to be upset or anything, merely sad that some of the ancient ways had been forgotten.

Then she brightened after a moment and said "Little one, you're the first of your kind to travel the oceans in too long. I can smell the Raven's soul on you, but I think he will share. I want you to go out and remind your clan of the forgotten ones, myself, the Turtle and the Snake. You've my blessing little one, so return to your world and remind your people of the lost one" and started to retreat back into her own world. Korethil watched for a few long moments, then pulled herself back into the real world and back to the beach.

The black serpent opened her bronze eyes and smiled. Then closed her eyes again and the form twisted again, but more quickly this time, much more controlled. And when the black wolf stood before the Avatar again, Korethil said "Thank you, your magic called her. The mental block, that was because my kind hasn't traveled the oceans in so long, my body didn't know what to do with the serpent" with a grin. Korethil was sure that she would not have found the Serpent without the Avatar's help and she was most grateful. She stepped out of the water and her form shimmered back into the elf, who sat down on the beach, suddenly looking tired. It was always a bit of a drain learning to take on a new form, but this had gone a bit beyond what was normal. "I think I need to rest" the elf said with a bit of a chuckle.