Though Inkotah is, technically, the clan's carpenter, most dragons consider him as Ista's other artist. Despite the drudgery that he considers his daily task, he found a measure of joy in it early on. The support beams and structures used by the excavation and construction crews required a very specific strength and size of wood. Anything less, and the tunnel would cave in.
Instead of just disposing of the unsuitable wood, however, he discovered that, with a little patience, he could cut it with his claw. Much of the wood that came to him in storms, washed into the central cavern of the lair by the tide, could never be dried out. No one much cared what happened to that.
So, in the quiet moments, he began to learn to whittle. Easy shapes at first: fish, a turtle shell, the lay of the lair. Then, as his confidence and skill grew, he began to make scenes out of it. A guardian, standing rampant atop a great tree; Cor's dextrous form, surrounded by dolphins as he rode the waves. The Lightweaver, as he imagined her, holding a pearlcatcher aloft, while at her feet an Emperor bared it's teeth. That one, he kept hidden in the back of his workshop.
Before long, his clanmates began to commission him. Birds, more fish, portraits and signs. He enjoyed it. He even started to work with Sobarynik, on especially quiet days, to make wooden frames for toys. He liked the big, awkward imperial. Ryn reminded him a lot of his own early days in the clan, so he often found himself going out of his way to make the shy dragon feel welcome. And, he felt, they worked rather well together, too.
