Sahek

Saekh, the Saurian No One Has Ever Fooled

Temperament

Saekh is a vahéran, a saurian from the equatorial marshes of the South, of a nearly extinct species that the peoples there revere as a guardian spirit rather than a beast. A vahéran bonds with only one being in its life, and that bond is empathic: it does not pass through words, but through shared states, alarm, hunger, mistrust, calm. Norah no longer always knows which feelings are his own, and every day he feels closer to his beast than to his own kin. Ellisara brought it back to soothe him. Without knowing it, she gave him the one bond she does not control.

Handling him

No one but Norah leads him, and his very name, a sound the beast made in its first days, is one only Norah can pronounce correctly. Approach him calmly and hide nothing, for he reads what you feel far better than what you say. He tolerates Morthelia, respects Viktor, and growls low whenever Ellisara comes near.

Rewards

Saekh is cold, always. He was born in the damp heat of the marshes and now lives in a house of the dead, who warm nothing. He hunts alone and prefers live prey. But what he seeks first are heated stones, a corner by the fire, a patch of sunlight. There, he stretches out and closes his eyes. It is the one warmth Norah cannot give him.

At the table

Within minutes, he can grow from the size of a heavy lizard draped over Norah's shoulder to that of a warhorse, with jaws that crush armor steel. He senses hostility before it shows itself, and his reactions warn the group long before Norah understands. When he freezes, jaws half open, eyes fixed on someone everyone believes to be a friend, it is wise to look where he is looking.