Once a decade, a community of these beings comes together to bring a new member into being. This female is 3 years old. She's never met her parents--she will not meet them for many years to come. She is a juvenile, coming into her powers. When a birth is imminent, the adults gather to work their magic and create a shell; while they do that, the father pours all his power into shaping a pearl, and the mother bears the child. The child's magic is bound to the pearl, and he or she will spend their first night alive curled around the precious jewel, shell closed around them. This girl is not yet old enough to leave her protective home for more than a few minutes, but her fishy familiar can bring her anything she needs, and she is mature enough to work her species' magic over her area of ocean. Drawing on the pearl, her anchor to a specific place and world, she cares for the creatures nearby. The free-swimming, non-magical fish-folk who live nearby reward her special efforts with jewelry and gifts, approaching her only when there is need. This girl shown below is a particularly powerful representative of her kind, and is old enough to show her powers, but not so old that she is lost to the vision of normal creatures, as all adults of her kind are.
Feedback--on the avi and the story? redface
