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 pointed at the dragon's coins, then made a giving motion, then a taking motion. A trade. Vesper laughed, a sound like rocks tumbling. 'You want to bargain? Fine. Win me a name I do not already have, and I will give you any name you wish.'

The girl thought hard, then drew a shape in the dust that no name had ever taken before. The dragon breathed warmth over it, and slowly a brand-new name took form, one that had never existed in the world. It settled onto a fresh coin, bright gold instead of cold silver. 'You won,' Vesper said, amazed. 'You made a name I could not steal.' She nudged the gold coin into the girl's hands. 'Yours. The only one of its kind.'