Finn's Character Profile: Talisman

If asked, Finn couldn't accurately tell what had possessed him towards keeping something fragile and preserving it. Yet he did keep something that held no value aside from the sentimentality he assigned to it. The idea wasn't even an original one. Rather, he had been intrigued by the wares of one of the local wilderness witches he knew set up shop and sold rare ingredients for cheap. She had been polite with his fawning and had answered his questions when he had finally noticed she had an assortment of jewelry that didn't look like it was made from anything resembling a precious metal or stone.

Rather, the items she had were made of bone! Specifically, animal bones from those she came across while she was walking through the woods but bone nonetheless. It had sparked a ghost of an idea within Finn's mind. Bones were delicate, as he knew from his experience with Pandora, and they broke very easily if you didn't properly prepare them for making jewelry. When he tossed out his query - what all would make good jewelry - the witch beamed at him in a way only someone looking to spread their name could manage. She gladly told him that she could make rings or necklaces from anything that had once housed or been part of a living creature, because of the magic she used to preserve them. A favorite was bones because they had more uses in spellwork than just looking cool.

Finn shyly inquired if she could, perhaps, make something from a piece of a dragon egg. The witch had been excited before but she became downright ecstatic when he mentioned the material he would like to have her make something from. He even had the piece of eggshell on his person, wrapped delicately in enchanted silk to keep it protected, and she had marveled over the pebbled surface through the silk. It was dark in color, with thin lines that looked like what you saw when you glimpsed cracking lava rock with molten slag beneath. She eyed the young man with renewed interest, understanding without him saying anything that this egg had birthed a creature important to him. He was, obviously, a draconic human and it wouldn't have been abnormal for him to have befriended a dragon himself.

Almost on cue, a dark shape soared above them and Finn waved his arms at the fire-bright stare aimed his way. Pandora makes an appearance, her feathered wings and scalloped tail distinct even to the villagers. There was nothing to tempt her into the village market so she flapped her great wings once, twice, and was gone.

Seeing the creature, the evidence of the bond, the woman declares she can make a necklace of the shell and he should come back within a fortnight for the finished product. The payment was not needed, she insisted, because the chance to work with such an important material was more than enough. Few could claim to be able to imbue dragon eggs with anything, so she could use it for business.

It became an item Finn is not often seen without. A fragment of dragon egg attached to a thin cord of wyvern leather, enchanted so it wouldn't break or get lost, became a permanent feature of Finn's attire. Had Pandora been so inclined, he might have gotten an amulet with some of her blood instead but the uses for dragon blood were far more nefarious than a shell. Better to not tempt thieves because of sentimentality. It helped that Pandora had shoved her large head against his chest, inhaled the faded scent of her eggshell, and been a pleased mass for the next month.