The Dragon Who Hoarded Names
fantasyEveryoneInstead of trying to speak again, the girl picked up a sharp stone and scratched one word into the cave floor: WHY. Vesper blinked, surprised. 'Why do I hoard names? Because a name is the truest thing a person owns. Hold enough of them, and you hold a piece of everyone.'
The girl scratched another word: SHARE. She did not want to take a name from the hoard. She wanted Vesper to GIVE one freely, the way a friend gives a gift. The dragon had never once been asked for kindness instead of a trade, and it stunned her.
What happens next?
1 ways forwardVesper had never given anything away. It hurt, like opening a hand cramped shut for a thousand years. But she breathed out a soft new name and laid it in the girl's palms like a warm egg. 'A gift,' she said, the word strange on her tongue. 'Freely. The first I have ever given.' The girl smiled, and the dragon smiled back.