Miss Astrid! What's that?
What do you think it is, Denby?
It's an egg.
Very good, Havelock. What kind of egg is it?
A giant egg!
Giants don't hatch from eggs, stupid. It's a dragon egg.
Very good, Havelock; how'd you know?
Just hit me is all. Where did you get it?
Ingegerd gave her to me.
How do you know it's a girl? Blue's a boy's color!
Because Ingegerd said so.
But who is Ingegerd?
A very powerful woman.
What will you name her?
I haven't given that much thought. Do you have a suggestion?
Bjornita!
What?!
I've always liked that name...
I say you name her Dahlia.
That's a sissy name!
And Bjornita was better?
Yes --
Boys! Please! I have the perfect name for her: Gunnhild.
Nay, Miss Astrid! 'Tis too potent a name!
Give her a complex, you will!
Well, I've made up my mind. What say you we get on with Kerr. Where did we leave the poor chap?
Lady Idony just gave him the quest...
Ah, yes, Idony. Poor girl. Too vain for her own good she is. Well, I say about a week has passed and Kerr is all set to depart on his quest, eh?
Indeed.
Aye.
Very good, then...
The day was young and a bit chilled when Kerr set out into the east. He reasoned that if he headed to the east, he would be able to catch the moon as it rose. So onward he walked, trying to reach the end of the horizon as soon as possible and return to Lady Idony with the moon's silver. Around sunset, he still had not reached the end of the world to catch the moon. Instead, he found a woman.
She was not exactly a pretty woman. She was tall and thin with scraggilly bronze hair and brown eyes. She was clad in furs and long, warm boots, and she carried with her a bow, arrows, a longsword, and countless knives. She stood in Kerr's path. "I've been watching you for some time," she said. "If you want to please your lady and get the moon's silver, you must find the Horn Resounding. I know the way if you care to take it, but it is a long journey and perillous, too. Will you come?"
Kerr was not at all pleased by this woman's appearance to the area. "Who are you!? No, hold. I care not. You are not Lady Idony and thusly you are of no use to me. Begone!"
"Since you asked, my name is Rona. I've seen your Idony. She is not all you see in her."
"Indeed. She's more."
"More vain than you'd ever know, you mean."
"Begone, Frailty. I seek only pleasing my lady Idony."
"My, aren't we dense. My name is Rona. RONA. R-O-N-A, Rona!"
"Begone!" He snapped his fingers and she was transported to the doorstep of Lady Idony.
Kerr continued along the road. By the middle of the night, he reached a bridge. Near the bridge was a young man who was fighting three goblins. Two goblins lay dead nearby, but the man was loosing pitifully. He killed two of the three, but the a foot of the remaning goblin twisted his head with a sickening --
What by Odin was that!?
M-Miss Astrid?
The egg! It hatches!
So it does...
Background by Julianne's Background Textures.