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 wrote one more thing: YOU LONELY? Vesper recoiled as if struck. In all her centuries of hoarding the names of others, no one had ever asked about hers. Slowly the dragon nodded, and a single warm tear hissed against the cold stone floor.
What happens next?
1 ways forwardThe girl reached up and gently touched the dragon's huge snout. She pointed at the bright coin Vesper had buried, the dragon's own name, then back at Vesper: wear it, don't hide it. Trembling, Vesper took her name back into herself and felt like somebody again. Then she carved a fresh coin for the girl and pressed it to her heart. The two walked out together, and neither was ever called Nobody again.