JOHANNA

I. Here Before

Johanna's past is largely mysterious, as the extent and lasting effects of her curse are unknown, but she grew up constantly on and around the sea, and ties her childhood experiences to both local Whidbey Island culture and traditional selkie folklore.

In one story she claims to be the daughter of a commercial fisherman and a trapped selkie (Sealmother), and spent her childhood unaware of her connection to the water or the curse binding her mother to land. Regardless she grew up a happy child and learned various seafaring skills from her father and weaving from her mother.

At age nine, Johanna discovered the confiscated sealskin, and returned it. Sealmother, with her power back, cast a spell to make her husband forget about the existence of his wife and daughter, and requested that Johanna come with her back to Argentinean waters. Johanna refused, wanting to stay, feeling that the Salish Sea was her real home. Sealmother gave her a magic shawl, wished her well and left for Argentina.

Johanna spent the next few years drifting from town to town along the northwest coast. She would live and work under the table until locals got suspicious, and at the first sign of trouble would return to the water and move again.

In Spring 2013, at age twelve, she grew bored of the cycle, and arrived in a remote town in southern Puget Sound. Here, she was taken in by the mayor Anita. Her shawl was confiscated out of suspicion, but Johanna was willing to sacrifice the sea for a loving home.

Here she learned to better sustain herself on land, including learning how to hunt.

II. Memory Dredge (2014-2018)

[??? This is a missing piece.]

III. Karmic Dream Sequence (2018-2021)

In 2019, more or less a year after Casey had appeared on the island, Johanna washes ashore. Much like Casey's amnesia, Johanna is unable to talk about her past. She develops a calm, distant and stoic persona, and keeps her emotional distance from Casey as best she can even after they have become close. She rarely speaks. When she does, she often asks strange and thoughtful questions paired with a blank stare. They become closer over learning their "curses" are not entirely different, and further work through the mystery of the island...

On the island, Johanna spends a lot of time swimming, fishing and knitting. She hunts while Casey prefers to forage. She often disappears at night, sometimes for days at a time, and always returns as if nothing has happened.