Sowa

Sowa did not find their companion in any stream or pond within The Heart of the Forest. It simply arrived one dawn, its pale tentacles wrapped around Sowa's head as if it had grown there. The other forest dwellers, with their easy songs and full bellies, give them a wide berth. They see Sowa practicing with their katana, the creature's limbs coiling and uncoiling in perfect sync with each precise slash, its skin shifting color with Sowa’s intense focus. Sowa never speaks of it, offering only a deep, unnerving silence when asked. They seem to be listening to something only the two of them can hear. Is the creature a guide from a drowned realm, or is Sowa merely a vessel for a mind far older and stranger than their own?