It looked like both a harmless pinecone and an ominous grenade. It was my dragon egg, of course. I’d always known I’d get one, because the great dragon, Valimay, dreamed with me a hundred dreams of promise. My dragon and I would be able to fight off shadows in the valley of death and fear no evil. We’d be able to land at the top of the Mountain of Glory and know the meaning of triumph. I would learn to shout in dragon tongue, and it would learn to think in human language.

I loved my dreams with Valimay, who had given me an egg. I had started to dream of flying with the baby dragon, Valimay’s breath lifting us up as we laughed. Then, we’d sink back down on a sigh and eat mana that fell gently around us. I felt a warm energy envelop me as I drifted out of sleep. Her magic.

Then, I hard a loud noise, a sharp crack and a ring like crystal being tapped. I looked over at my dragon egg. It was shattered. There was a baby dragon, blue as the ocean and as bright as a jewel. Its big, golden eyes stared at me as it sat, unmoving.

“Hello, Telindrum.” I spoke his name the way Valimay told me to, with a whisper and a growl. He looked pleased. He liked his name when he heard it like that. It reminded him of his mother, whose voice sounded like the wind became sentient.

“You’ll stay with me a little while, and then you’ll fly me to Valimay’s volcano.” I hastily fed him some raw hamburger.

Two years. I had two years to get over my fear of heights. I had to remember my dreams.