People called her Girl, or Nobody, or Hush, because she had never made a sound and no one had ever given her a real name. The night the snow fell purple over the peaks, she packed a crust of bread and started climbing. Under the mountain lived the dragon Vesper, who did not hoard gold. She hoarded names, stacked in the dark like cold little coins. The girl wanted just one. Her own.

Warm air breathed out of the cave mouth. The girl stepped inside and saw thousands of names glowing on the walls, each one a tiny silver coin. At the center coiled Vesper, huge and patient. 'A visitor,' the dragon rumbled. 'Most run. You climbed. Tell me your name.' The girl opened her mouth and nothing came out.

Vesper leaned close, smoke curling from her nose. 'No name at all? How unusual.' She plucked a blank silver coin from the wall and held it out. 'Empty. Like you. I could fill it with any name you point to. Choose from my hoard, child, and it is yours.'

The girl walked the glowing walls slowly. She stopped at one warm coin that hummed when she came near. She pointed. Vesper smiled. 'Brave choice. That name belonged to a queen who feared nothing.' The coin lifted off the wall and floated into the girl's chest, sinking in like a swallowed star.

Power filled her at once. The queen's name made her stand tall and unafraid. But when she tried to remember the mountain, the snow, the climb, it was already fading. The borrowed name was eating her old self to make room. With a sharp shake of her head she forced it back up and spat the coin onto the stone. Her memories rushed back, cold and bright. Vesper stared. 'You gave back power for a small, quiet life. Why?' The girl pointed firmly at her own chest. Her life. Hers. And in that moment a brand-new word formed warm in her throat, a name that was finally her own.