Kaye hummed to herself as she went about her chores. Working in an Inn wasn't exactly the most fun place in the world, there were four times as many people to cook for and that meant four times as many dishes. But Kaye didn't really mind, in a way it was better, the more people they had the more stories she could hear. Her parents didn't really like her listening to the stories the travelers told, but their wasn't much they could do. Kaye was the exact opposite of her parents, both in look and in personality. Where her parents both had thin brown hair, pale skin, and dull brown eyes, Kaye had long, thick black hair, dark skin from her explorations of the countryside, and sparkling green eyes. where her parents loved large parties and festivals Kaye much preferred the company of their dog, Lorena, in touring the forests surrounding the Inn. Where her parents hated the travelers' far fetched stories, Kaye loved them. After Kaye had finished scrubbing the floors of the kitchen she stood up to inspect her handiwork.
"Kaye!" called her mother from the sittingconference room.
"Comin' Ma!" Kaye called back, she glanced at the floor one last time before hurrying to find her mother.
"Yes?" she said when she got to the room. Her mother looked up.
"There you are!" she said looking quite frazzled. "This gentleman here wants to pay his boarding fee with this." She pointed to a large egg in the center of the coffee table. Kaye's heart skipped a beat, a dragon egg! A real dragon egg! One hadn't been found in half a century at least! She turned to the man to ask where he got it but changed her mind when she saw his face. He had long, greasy black hair that hung limply about his face and piercing black eyes that seemed to stare straight through her, seeing her deepest, darkest secrets. Kaye suppressed a shudder. But the thing that scared her most wasn't his eyes, but his face itself, which was covered in purple scar tissue. His voice sounded just as ugly as his face looked, it was raspy and sounded for all the world like carriage wheels on gravel.
"Why did you bring this," he paused as if thinking of the right word, "Girl, to inspect the value of my egg?" Kaye's mother flushed but her voice held a hint of pride,
"Kaye is quite good at determining the value of...shall we say, Unusual Artifacts." He turned back to Kaye
"Tell me then, what kind of egg is it?" Kaye looked back at the egg, its silver shell seemed to glint in the light of the lamp.
"A Grand Dragon, one of the largest seen in a while, almost ready to hatch."
He nodded, "Interesting you should be able tell all that from so far away." He turned again to her mother "I believe your daughter has something of a talent." For a moment she looked about to burst with pride, but the moment didn't last long for she soon recovered herself and said,
"Now Kaye, is it a good deal?" Kaye didn't trust herself to speak she was so excited, so she just nodded.
"Very well, we will take the egg in return for your room and board." Said her mother briskly. He nodded and swept out of the room without a word or even so much as a grunt.
"Take the egg to your room Kaye." said her mother, her usual efficient tone back.
"Yes Ma." Kaye replied, her mother bustled out of the room, leaving Kaye alone with the silver egg. Kaye slowly reached out and touched it, she was surprised to find it was warm and vibrated softly under her touch. She smiled and carefully picked it up, it was lighter than she thought it would be, only as heavy as the butter bucket when it was full. She slowly carried it to the stairs, trying not to drop it for fear of hurting the baby dragon inside.
"Hey! What's that?!" asked her friend Thrinka, as she passed the kitchen. Thrinka usually worked with Kaye as waitress, but today she was helping the cook.
"A dragon egg!" Kaye replied, not even trying to hide the pride in her voice. She took it the rest of the way to her room, hiding it beside the fireplace under her bed covers, before going downstairs to finish her chores.
When she got back that night she checked the egg, it was still there. There was a knock on the door,

"Kaye! Let me in! I wanna see the egg!" said Thrinka who was bouncing slightly when Kaye opened the door.
"Come in! Hurry! If Ma catches you Thrinka, we're history!" she walked in and sat on Kaye's bed while Kaye shut and locked the large wooden door.

"So where is it?!" she said as soon as it was shut. Kaye silently walked over and picked up the egg from its hiding place beside the fireplace. She set it on the bed and unwrapped the blankets from around it. Thrinka gasped, the egg was glowing in the dim light of the candle flame she was holding.
"It's even prettier now than it was when I first saw it!" she whispered. Kaye had to agree, the egg looked brilliant, like a star fallen to earth.
"You'd better go Thrinka. You can see it again tomorrow." Kaye whispered.
"Can I touch it first?" she whispered back.
"Sure, but hurry!" Thrinka reached out and touched the egg.
"It's cold." she sounded disappointed. Kaye touched the egg again, there it was, the warm thrum of the baby dragon.
"No it's not!" Kaye frowned in puzzlement.
"I better go." said Thrinka still looking disappointed.
"Ok, see you tomorrow." She just nodded and padded out of the room, carrying the little light emitting from the candle with her. Kaye carefully set the egg back by the fireplace and crawled into her bed.
"Night egg." she murmured before drifting to sleep.

Kaye awoke later that night, to a large cracking sound. She sat up! Quickly, crawling out of bed to check on the egg. She slowly pulled the blankets away from the it and almost screamed, the egg had a huge crack running down the side of its silver surface. There was a faint scraping sound and her shock turned to amazement as a small claw poked out from the shell, then came another, and finally, after what seemed like hours of waiting, the shell cracked open all the way, revealing a little silver dragon about the size of the family's dog, Lorena.

"Hello little one!" Kaye whispered, reaching out to stroke the dragon. It seemed to purr louder with each stroke of her fingers.

"What shall I call you?" Kaye whispered, more to herself than the creature crawling into her lap. The dragon let out a squawk as it fell out of her lap, its' wings opened and Kaye had to lean back to avoid being hit by them. They were huge! Each wing was nearly four feet long. The dragon finally managed to climb back into her lap where it lay down and sat purring for a minute before getting up, turning around and sitting down again. She, for Kaye had determined that the dragon was in fact a she, did this several times before finally laying down and going to sleep. Kaye smiled as she watched the little silver dragon. Silveranarael. The word floated across Kaye's mind like a passing shadow, but Kaye immediately knew that it was the little dragon's name. She quietly said the word,

"Silveranarael." The word rolled off her tongue as easily as her own name. Kaye smiled, Silveranarael, the word came again, this time it was followed by a light, lilting giggle. Silveranarael! It took Kaye a minute to figure out the voice came from Silveranarael herself. The little dragon giggled again, call me Silver!