Sunflower Smith

Sunflower Smith

Nearly fifteen years ago the newly wed Joshua and Marsha Smith were enjoying a post honeymoon walk through the woodlands near their home town, a small stay town near a popular trade route known as Vesta, when they came upon a strange egg. Thinking the egg might be valuable (and if not delicious) they picked it up and took it home, hoping to have it appraised by one of the passing traders. Neither of them expected the thing to hatch later that night. Less did they expect to see a Lizardfolk girl come pouring out of the shell.

Joshua and Marsha didn't know much about Lizardfolk. The little they heard were hushed whispers of raiding groups, people vanishing in the middle of the night, mindless violence, cannibalism and the like. Its safe to say their first, second and third instinct was to dump the girl back in the woods where they found her. Maybe it was the newborns helplessness, maybe it was a sense of responsibility, maybe it was the fact that the kid was undeniably cute. Regardless Joshua and Marsha didn't abandon the girl. Rather, they raised her. As best they could. They named her, owing to her bright yellow frills, Sunflower.

The town never really took well to Sunflower. Not that she was ever mistreated. More that she was met with a friendly wariness. Sunflower didn't really have any friends growing up either. It would be inaccurate to say that she never had trouble from other children, what with the occasional strange question or nasty name, but none of this ever really bothered Sunflower. Nor did the townsfolk's uncomfortable niceties. Because the woods were right there! And there was her passion.

Nature just spoke to her. In ways no person ever did. The simple rules of the forest always made sense to her. She could hear the story of the moss upon the stone or the leaf that floats down the stream with more ease than she could even speak to her own parents. So that's where she spent the majority of her time. Living and learning and hunting and gathering all within that forest. Overtime the girl learned certain secrets of the forest. The right leaves and berries to quell a fever. The bark and dirt to close a wound. Fungi that boosts the immune system. Plants that rapidly heal broken bones.

She learned the animals also. The way they hunt, the way they move. Eventually she found herself capable of assuming their forms and moving the way they did, which was a power that took some getting used to.

Healing wares are a popular commodity on the trade route that runs by Vesta. To the point that they are often claimed and payed for by the time they even reach the town. Even when they're not they can oft be expensive. So Sunflower found that there was quite the market for her crude but effective healing pastes and concoctions, particularly among the poorer residents and those who reside in the much smaller villages in the nearby area. So that's what she spend her time doing. Providing care to those who need it for a small fee, if of course the recipient can afford to part with anything. She takes great pride in what she does and what she does has earned her a small amount of respect, at least from some.

One day whilst out foraging in the forest Sunflower came upon an unusual scene. A small almost tunnel like opening in the base of a tree, ringed with what looked like burn marks. Upon investigation she discovered the hole to be filled with a strange jelly like creature. She spent several days studying the creature as it slowly devoured its way through the base of that tree. She crafted a small glass and metal box and when the tree finally fell she lured the creature into the box with the help of a dead rat. She called him Gelly.