| Jekkal yawns a bit and settles down for a small snooze
on the south beach, figuring you won't get into too much trouble here. You notice a
strange turtle in the surf, and beckon it to you. Then it comes closer and you realize
that this is no calm turtle at all. You doubt you could even call him a turtle.
"Hello, traveller." The creature calls with a gravelly, scoured voice, yet his speech is very good. "Who are you, sunburnt one?" "I am not sunburnt!" You say, and then proceed to tell him your name as you discover you are sunburnt. You run into the water, trying to cool down. "May name is Sha'karet. A Tarasque." "What's a Tarasque?" You ask. "A Tarasque is the term for any feline/reptilian crossbreed. Like myself, for instance." "And you're a foreign species like Jekkal is?" "A foreign species means that they've been here for less than 5,000 years. By then, most animal species and crossbreeds, like the Tarasque, had settled into their niche of the world. Ours was here, in the Inner Sea. The rest of my clan— the Sash'ka'rata, or Sunlit Waters clan— is out by the coral reef. The Oka'tana, or Warm Sands clan, is on the other side of the island. I must warn you, not all Tarasque look like I do. Some may look very similar. Others very different." |
