“Hey,” she said softly “You need a real name now, don’t you?” In answer, she got a sleepy sort of mental nod, and then the wyrm actually did nod, remembering that he was outside the egg now and could do things like that. He was pleasantly surprised, though still sleepy. Aise giggled and continued “Well, what sort of name would you like?”

     A good one. Well of course a good one, silly, she thought at him. She thought a moment. “I don’t think any of our names would work very well, since they were made for human babies, not dragon babies.” her logic seemed sound, so the little wyrm agreed. “Hmm, how about...” she paused a moment to search her memory “Souna?” she asked, remembering the word uncle J had taught her for ‘sea,’ which she wanted to see someday, and thought the wyrm looked like what she’d been told of it.

     But no, that sounded like a girl’s name. Besides, it was too close to the name of the skiff. Well okay, how about... “Shaushanau?” That was the word for ‘song’. The wyrm shook his head again. “Hmm...” this was a tricky busyness. “Zeffi?” Aislin peered at him and watched him pause for a moment of half-awake consideration, then finally that one was discarded too. That’s okay, there was still one name left that Aislin was saving for last. And it seemed that the wyrm knew it, because he waited patiently.

     “How about Okushiyovi?” That was the word uncle J had used for the dragon flys, he said it meant ‘little dragon.’ Aislin thought it was as close to perfect as she could get, and after a moment’s thought, the wyrm did too. “My little Oku...” Aise said, and he purred.

     Meanwhile, the little dragon fly had been watching the whole scene with interest. It had squeaked when the egg flew apart and hidden behind it’s thick rope perch until the excitement had died down a bit. It only peeked out again once everything had been quiet for a while. What had happened to the wobbling rock? Oh well, there was someone new on the floaty-island, and it needed to find out if it was a friend or a run-away-from.

     It climbed down the rope to the deck, then waddled over to Aislin and the newly hatched wyrm, peering up at both. It knew that the big one was a friend, since it hadn’t tried to eat it yet, but the new thing looked sharp and dangerous. The dragon fly approached cautiously, jumping every time the new thing moved.

     Aislin looked down when she felt a slight tugging and weight on her knee, and giggled.

     “Oh, you want to meet the new guy, huh?” she said, carefully scooping up the little black dragon fly and bringing him up to Oku’s eye-level. “See?”

     Oku was just as curious about the dragon fly as it was about him, and opened an eye to gaze at it. They both leaned in to sniff eachother, and Oku send Aislin a sleepy query. *Breakfast?*

     At first Aislin was so surprised that she didn’t answer, then “No silly, friend! Not breakfast.”

     *Oh,* apparently Oku was getting better with his mind speaking the more he used it, though he still didn’t know many words. *Food soon?*

     Aise giggled and patted his side “Any time you want,” she said, setting down the dragon fly so that he could re-find his perch, then realized that she didn’t know what Oku’s kind of dragon ate. Dragon flys ate nectar, and she had heard that the great big adult dragons ate meat, but what about baby dragons? Did they drink milk, like kittens and other animals? Since she couldn’t read the book she’d found with his egg, she didn’t have the slightest clue.

     Oku was listening all through that thought process, and afterward he shrugged. He didn’t know what he wanted to eat either. Oh dear.

     “Well,” Aise said as the sky lightened more “How about we take a nap first? I’m sleepy, and I’m sure you are too,” she giggled when Oku yawned broadly in response “Alright, lets do that. We’re safe here, and mother and father shouldn’t be looking for me until at least lunch time...” but Oku was already asleep. Aislin smiled and yawned herself, curling up around the spiky ball that was Oku, careful not to accidentally poke herself again.

     Aislin was the first to wake, several hours later. She moved carefully so that she wouldn’t wake the still sleeping Oku, and blinked at the light. It was about noon, she could tell from the length of the shadows outside the lean-to that the Ssounaa’ouna was moored in. The little girl stretched, and then giggled softly when she noticed that sometime during the day the little dragon fly had joined them and was now curled up atop Oku’s head.

     He’d be hungry too, she thought as she moved out of the skiff, trying her hardest not to rock it too much as she disembarked. After one last look back over her shoulder, she darted out of the shed and ran towards home as fast as her little legs could carry her. She didn’t want to leave Oku alone too long.

     As soon as she crested the final hill, she saw mother just coming outside to call her in for lunch. Perfect timing!