i need nothing to travel the sea
She’d always been a bit of a wanderer. Tendrils of her mother’s spirit, woven in the layers of blood and bone that composed her body, often encouraged her to explore the unknown. There would always be a time where new haunts turn into normal haunts which turn into boring haunts. Hiding behind a new rock formation while hunting was wonderful the first time, but after the tenth time, it became mind-numbing.
The discovery of the way the ocean floor curved up toward the surface was intriguing, yet circumstances had always turned Rivuline away from that trail when her amber eyes wandered in that direction. The first time she felt the call of exploration had been while hunting with a slender blue shark. They were hot on the trail of a blacktip reef shark, both kelpie and blue shark winding expertly along the seabed where a colorful array of corals provided corners for their prey to hide among. Rivuline would have almost caught the prey if it hadn’t been for the sudden rise in the ocean floor. A wall of rock and sand rose out from among the coral reefs, decorated in patterns of turquoise and pale light from the sun shining from above the water’s surface. While both sharks were able to easily pivot away from the wall, Rivuline was not built like a shark. A sudden ascent brought her away from danger, but straight into the face of curiosity. The scent of fresh prey had initiated her hunger to overtake her wanderlust, but that wouldn’t be the last time Rivuline would contemplate raising her head above the ocean’s surface.
But as the cold-water months began to arrive, the prey and predators who didn’t appreciate the chill began their exodus toward the warmer waters. While Rivuline would normally follow them, her slender form turned toward the peculiar slope of sand and stone. Powerful ocean-wings guided her up the mountain with ease (a sea-bred form of her mother’s own ascent of Tephra’s rocky-faced mountain). Eventually, the water became so shallow she would have to taste fresh air.
Her first inhale felt thin and bitter in her lungs. While seawater was thick and bubbly in her chest, true air tasted like sharp pine and landed softly into her chest. It almost tickled as she exhaled, slivers of wind whispering a silly greeting against her throat. A strangeness coated Rivuline’s skin as she stood shoulder-deep in waves beginning to narrow into a river. As the kelpie began to walk further out of the ocean, she began to feel more like a stranger. This was not her home, this one of air and tree (though it had been once). The long dreads of her mane dripped with water, while tangles of seaweed and particles of sand wove between their colored strands. As the water dried on her skin, the powerful fins at her sides faded into the muscle and bone of her body. Yet the dorsal fin on her spine remained, flared upward to portray her emotions of discomfort mingling with inquisitiveness.
The river led between trees and grass. The plants were foreign to her, tall and bending in the winter winds, and she shied away with a threatening snort as they dipped and shook. Rivuline kept her feet in the friendly water of the river, allowing its path to guide her deeper into the strange land. Memories, hazy as morning fog, danced on the corners of her mind but the turquoise tobiano wasn’t able to pull them closer to her. They lingered there, taunting her with their knowledge and leaving her with a sense of nostalgia.
Eventually, the river split into three different tongues. Slender legs guided her down the path to the far right, leading her toward an open expanse of land where the stream became so narrow the kelpie could no longer follow it. Her first step onto land brought determination to her bones. She was a powerful hunter of the sea. Whatever this strange land with waving plants and bone-chilling winds gave her, she could at least rely on that.
Okay, so my first post with her & my first post in a long time! Anyone's open to talking with her; I'm still trying to feel out her character