Kiara opened her eyes to a small scaly face, with its nose sniffing and prodding her pockets.

"Oh!" she gasped. The little head turned to her and hopping awkwardly to her face, greeted her with a, " hi! Do you have something to eat?"

The voice didn't come from the creature exactly by from a thought placed in her head, like the dragon heart of hearts. As she stared, her eyes scanned the cute little creature. It was a baby dragon, no doubt, with emerald green scales that shimmered in the weak candle light, eyes that gleamed with curiosity, innocence and wonder. This baby dragon must be the one that was in the egg and hatched when she touched it, apparently she was the one that he, for the dragon was male, had been waiting for.

Plucking a piece of eggshell from the top of his head Kiara asked, " Are you hungry? What's your name?" out loud.

As if in response a large rat scurried across the edge of the cavern floor, squealing when the dragon pounced on the rat and continued to play with the poor thing a bit before eating him.

"Not anymore," He answered, "and my name is up to you to choose."

"Me?! Um, well…" "HACK!" and with that the dragon coughed up a small bone, not swallowed right and a puff of smoke that left some ash on his nose and made him sneeze. The two spent a good amount of time laughing and giggling. "Oh Ash!" And with that they both knew that was to be his name. Then as she went to pet Ash's head she noticed a scar of sorts on her palm, a Dewi Insignia, her dragon mark. Now that she noticed, it did seem to tingle uncomfortably.

" No need to worry, the mark is natural and a symbol to your loyalty and love and dedication to your dragon and his safety" thinks the dragon heart of hearts.

Ash gets bigger and there are not going to be enough animals to feed him for long and they need to head out toward bigger game. After packing all the meager food that is left in the mountain and what Kiara has left in her bag, Ash feeds one last time before leaving and eats all he can while still being able to walk. And if worse comes to worse, Kiara made beef Jerky out of some rats and rabbits that will give Ash some protein to make it through the long journey ahead. The DHH (dragon heart of hearts) asks if he came come along, he wants to go out and see what has become of the world since he was "Alive".

The trek through the desert is long and grueling; Ash carries as much as he can to take the weight off Kiara. They ran/ flew in the cool mornings and walked in the searing hot afternoons. They eventually arrived at a small town near the larger town of Furnost. Hiding Ash and DHH under a hidden rock outcropping far from town and used some magic to keep them hidden and prevent anyone from finding or harming them. With that she headed out and found a farm, bought a horse with bags and went back to Ash and DHH. Still small enough to carry, Kiara hid Ash in a large bag on the opposite side of the DHH and rode into town to buy food including fruit, vegetables for her and a couple of chickens for Ash. Then she headed to find a small, hopefully empty Inn or just some place warm to stay the night. Luckily she stumbled upon a deserted old barn that looked as if it had not been visited in years. After putting up a surveillance shield to let her know if anyone approached, Kiara and Ash settled down for a good fulfilling meal, then slept a good long sleep till morning.