A MAGICAL ENCOUNTER

“It’s simple,” her father explained. “You walk through the forest, find an empty tree, and choose it. That will be your home until you marry. Then you’ll go and live in your husband’s tree.”

It did not seem so simple to Skyblue. Choosing the tree where she would wake each morning was an important adventure. Far more important, she thought, than choosing the stones she would later fill it with.

All the other young dragons her age had already found trees. In the village, it was customary to celebrate their moves together, and the preparations were complete. They were waiting only for Skyblue.

“What can be so difficult?” the grown-ups wondered.

They said it with the stern expression one learned on growing up.

“With so many empty trees…”

“It’s the name, of course.”