Having reached the top of the netting, Jasmine, known to her crewmates as "Tigerlily", found herself a seat as she waited for the boatswain's next call. While she missed walking around in her own fur and scales, she was finally free from being a "useless" daughter only fit for political marriage and raising children. She doubted her mother felt anything but relief to have this half-breed albatross off her neck, and her "father" would adjust his plans without missing a beat - after all, you don't get to be a rajah of an entire cube without having backup plans upon backup plans.
Forcefully putting those thoughts aside, Jasmine took a deep breath, gazing out across the endless expanse of the sea as the wind started to pick up, catching her hair in its pull. Soon, she would have to get back to the hard work of guiding the ship's sails, but for this moment, resting between the sea below and the sky above, she was free.


To escape her "family" and their servants among the cubes of Acheron, the half-dragon rakshasa Jasmine was forced to jump into an unstable portal, which deposited her onto the Prime Material plane. With little to her name but what she had brought with her, she found herself stranded on an unknown world, not far from what appeared to be a port town.
To try to avoid suspicion from her inhuman appearance, she assumed the shape of a human woman, similar in looks to her true self, and ventured forth to find a meal and a bed.
The following series of events opened her eyes to just how much she had taken the luxury of her parents' position and status for granted - she was no longer a daughter of the rajah here, but just another nearly-penniless wanderer.
Her ability to fight, however, caught the eye of the first mate of the pirate ship Fate's Razor, a minotaur who went by the name of Kaz. He offered her a berth onboard their ship, provided she was willing to work for it. With no better prospects ahead of her, she accepted, introducing herself as Tigerlily.
Among the pirates she found that she was free to finally be whomever she wanted to be, rather than conform to the expectations of a rakshasan noble's spawn. It was all her former naztharune lover had ever said about living out from under the thumb of Rakshasan society, even if it came at the cost of having to actually work herself. While she continued to keep her true appearance hidden behind her human guise, she made friends among the crew, learned how to help operate the vessel, and even picked up a knack for paired scimitars when it came time to fight hand-to-hand.
Even after she left the sea behind, the salty smell of an ocean breeze would always remind her of this first taste of freedom, unburdened by the expectations of others.

Art is by  Jocarra!