((I'm writing a book, and this is the prologue to it. I will add the chapters later.))
Prologue
The leaping flames of the fire cast eerie shadows on the palace wall. A young woman paced back and forth, a gold stone resting in her arms. With a sigh, she sat down in the armchair in front of the hearth and glanced at the portrait above it.
"Oh, Kevram, what would you do in my place right now?" she murmured to the picture of her late husband.
A knock sounded on the giant wooden doors, and Meya, her handmaid, came in. She was carting a teaset. Meya filled the kettle with water and hung it over the fire.
"Meya," the woman said hesitantly, "the Council wants me to destroy the egg. But dragons are too precious." Her voice became higher as she went on. "I'm not sure what to do," she whispered. "What do you think?"
Meya considered this for a moment, then sat down beside her. "If I were you, Lady Kari," she said slowly, "I would put two Blessings on the egg. One to protect it from the Council, the other for it to hatch when the right Legend comes along."
Kari closed her eyes thoughtfully. The flames popped and crackled in the silence. She opened them again. "You're right, Meya," she said, standing up. "Thank you."
Meya beamed. "My pleasure, Lady Kari," she said cheerfully. "Any time." Then she left the room.
Kari watched the dark wooden door for a long moment. Finally, she got up and lifted the portrait from the wall. Behind it, there lay a pouch of Blessings, the last that anybody had been able to find in a century. Kari got two of the small rings out of it and lay them on the shimmering gold egg. "One for protection," she murmured, tapping the first ring, "and two for the Legend," she said, tapping the other. She put the egg in a pouch that hung from her waist and left the room.
The small dark figure that had been hiding in the shadows leaped out the window onto the soft grass below.
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