She had fallen asleep with the tome on her chest, moonlight filtering through the open window, her dreams filled with the dragons she so adored. The tower she had claimed as her own rose above the darkened, sleeping Keep where the only evidence of life were the patrolling Greycloaks.

Mala'Reigh wasn't sure what exactly had awakened her; the shadow that passed across the light, her father's cat jumping up and running off with a startled cry or the strange sound she wasn't even sure she had heard.

Dropping a glowstone into her lantern and speaking the arcane words to illuminate it, she crept down the cold iron circular stair.

The half-elf felt more then saw a presence at the bottom of the stairs, and she peered into the darkness. Seeing and hearing nothing else, she chided herself.

Perhaps father is right. You spend far too much time fantasizing about dragons who would most rightly eat you if you came upon them, then you do in proper study!

Then she turned around...
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With thanks to:

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