S01: The Witch and the Dog

Life aboard The Hive excited Hephane. Such a colorful cast of crewmates to spy on. Darting between shadows and hidey holes, she spent a lot of her early weeks on the ship following the only other elf on board. Zephyria. Zephy for short. Though she turned up her nose at that name.
 
Zephy had a beautiful set of shinies. Twin chalices. One twinkling with golden beauty. The other brimming with dark malice. Hephane found them enchanting but was warned not to touch them. That only made her eagerness more unquenchable, but the foul energy emanating from the second chalice coupled with what Her Highness uncovered about the prim elf gave Hephane pause. For once.
 
In time, her curiosity about Zephy waned as she learned they had little in common. Zephy was a haughty and immortal high elf born from the World Tree. She was slightly taller than Hephane, but with a lighter build and a pale complexion that comes from years of not doing manual labor of any sort. Hephane was cut from sturdier stock, never shying away from any forge soot in pursuit of her smithcraft. She boasted lavender skin and magenta hair with a metallic sheen to it.
 
"An outward reflection of your love for shinies," her fey brothers and sisters had teased her. That thought always made her smile. Despite being an elf, Hephane's connection to the World Tree was severed long ago. Possibly ages before her birth, by either her parents or her grandparents. But those memories were lost to her now. Everything before Dioma was lost to her.
 
Hephane decided to keep Zephy at a distance. Especially after The Hive sailed to the island of those centaurs who trained her in medicine. She had not been back in many years and the whole place was in ruins. While surveying the rubble, Princess Anaxa deftly spotted some crumbling statues dedicated to the "Great Witch Zephyria." It seemed the dainty elf hid a sinister side. Her magic came from a tainted source of curses and debilitation. Very different from the magic Hephane used to enrich her shiny creations.
 
Her shiny creations. Hephane wished to get back to them. Why was she not at her forge again? She had a stack of armor, weapon, and jewelry plans piling up to craft for her princess. Just no shinies or pretties to back them up...
 
"Rruh-rruff," came a gutteral sound to her lower right. It was Artemis, the satyr's dog.
 
"Pay? Pay for what?" Hephane asked in response. "Pay for shinies?"
 
"Rruh-RRUFF," he said again, stressing the last part. Seeing the elf was still unaware of her surroundings, Artemis nipped at the her sleeve and pointed his nose to the goblin captain addressing the assembled crew.
 
"Thanks, my friend. Must have been daydreaming again," Hephane whispered while giving Artemis a deep scratch on the neck. It all came back to her in an instant. Acting on a tip the first mate picked up at the last port, The Hive followed that lead to the lost Temple of Thoros. While fully submerged during high tide, it could be reached with a small boat during low tide. Rumors also warned that kraken cultists had laid claim to this ancient temple of Undine to perform unholy rituals.
 
"They won't stand a chance against my princess," Hephane thought proudly. The sun glistened brightly off the trident and armor of Princess Anaxa as she boarded the rowboat. But Hephane couldn't help but marvel at her own handiwork on the shield. Bolstered with a protective spell and emblazoned with twin golden snakes mirroring each other on a black field that announced Her Highness as a Serethonian, that shield was Hephane's finest piece to date. "Not with my shinies protecting her."
 
In only a few months serving on The Hive as bosun, her princess quickly rose to become an indispensible asset to Captain Squeelob. She regularly drilled the crew in the famed military tactics of Serethon and shared the captain's appreciation for stealth and reconnaissance. Her Highness also made the crew richer with her uncanny sense for treasure, tasting its presence in the air with just a flick of her tongue.
 
By the time Hephane finished her thoughts, the rowboat carrying the goblin, the satyr, the witch, the werewolf, the half-squid, and her princess was already a fair distance away. A motley crew to be sure.
 
Hephane turned to go below decks and was halfway back to her forge before remembering she was supposed to stay topside while the officers were away. "Must keep watch for any trouble. Must be prepared to act if high tide comes and my princess is not back."
 
But she had a terrible time staying focused on such things, so the elf scampered up to Artemis instead. During her months onboard, Hephane found comfort in his scent. The familiar scent of the fey. Being in his presence brought her back home to Dioma.
 
"Grrr-ruhawr," Hephane said in greeting as she plopped down on all fours before him. "I didn't understand before. Rruh-rroof. What is rroof?"
 
Artemis turned his attention to the elf acting like a dog in amusement and corrected, "Rruh-rruff. RRUFF."
 
Hephane repeated the second sound he made numerous times before Artemis nodded in satisfaction. Then, he went from a lazy, lounging position to an alert, standing position a number of times while the elf guessed what word he was trying to convey.
 
"Attention? Is it attention? Pay attention?!?"
 
Artemis barked excitedly, and Hephane quickly joined him, both of them yipping and howling together happily to the confusion of the nearby crew.
 
It was no easy feat learning the language of the blink dogs. But Artemis was a patient teacher, and Hephane was eager to learn. The elf became obsessed with the satyr's dog shortly after losing interest in Zephy. The way Artemis could teleport short distances made her giddy and reminded her of fun times playing with the pixies of Dioma. So, she made it her mission to learn how to converse with the smart canine.