Chapter 8: First Dawn with Star
---
The furnace room felt larger now, though nothing had moved except the three of them. Embers glowed low. Morning light crept through cracks in the stone ceiling and brushed tiny motes of ash into soft gold.
Zephyr sat cross-legged on the warm bricks, cradling the newborn dragonling. Fenna sat close, her cloak drawn tight around her knees. For a full minute they said nothing, afraid that words might break the small miracle curled between them.
The dragonling was black as midnight, speckled like a clear sky, it slept against Zephyr's chest. Its wings, no bigger than a sparrow's, rose and fell with each gentle breath. Every few seconds a soft hum rumbled in its throat, as if it dreamed of far-off clouds and bright stars.
Fenna looked up. "Does he... have a name?"
Zephyr smiled at the tiny snout tucked under his collar. "He should." He thought of the silver in its eyes, the violet shimmer on its shell, and the way light seemed to follow it like a friend. "Star," he whispered. "Because he was born of night and light together."
"Star," she repeated, tasting the word. Her smile widened. "Hello, little Star."
Star purr once, half-awake, as though he liked the sound.
Zephyr stroked the hatchling's sleek head and felt the fresh weight of his vow. The world had mocked him. Now the world must not see him until he is ready.
"I need to keep him hidden," he said. "The academy cannot know he's a dragonling."
Fenna nodded. "We must make a lie. Let's call him a Hollowback Hatchkin, a ruin-scout beast. Harmless, too rare to study, too weak to steal."