Chapter One: A Magical Birthday

   Far away in the humble village of Ironwell, a small girl lived happily. She was the daughter of a baker, and her name was Anna. Her father's bakery was small but well loved by the villagers; most of whom stopped in for an hour or two, sipping tea and eating donuts. The village was a simple one, the villagers in it were even simpler. Most of the boys were named Jack, and several were miller's sons. (For some reason the tiny village of Ironwell had three mills, four beanstalks, eight golden geese, and twelve castles. Yet somehow it still managed to be a little town in the middle of nowhere.) All of this was very familiar to Anna, and she loved it.

   Anna was thoroughly excited about the upcoming week. It was her birthday in six days, and it was said that special things could happen on your birthday if you were a good child. Anna, soon to be ten, had been as good as she could ever have been, at least that is what she had hoped. She couldn't think of anything wrong that she had done, or might have tried to do. There really wasn't much room for her to get into trouble, what with all the Jacks and miller's sons running around stealing, giant slaying, princess saving, horse riding, and brother duping. Anna figured that sooner or later an adventure would find her. She just had to try to be as good as she could. She wondered if this meant she would have to put back the second donut she was thinking about eating.

   Only two days before Anna's birthday, her father, said, with great excitement, "Anna, since it is going to be your birthday, your tenth one at that, I have requested a special guest be present!"

   "Really?" Anna's eyes light up as did her smile. "Is it an elf? Or maybe a fairy? Ooh! Is it my Fairy Godmother?!" She had heard quite a lot about Fairy Godmothers, and she had hoped that hers would come along sooner or later. But the only response she could get out of her father was, "It's a surprise." That and, "Have another muffin dear, your mother made those especially for you." Anna liked muffins and needed no encouraging. Actually, she like almost everything that her mother baked, except for kidney pies. Those tasted terrible.

   The day of her birthday arrived, and Anna was ready. She had been keeping a semi-secret diary (she read it out loud to the cat every night) that kept track of everything good and bad she had done for the past week and a half. She figured that cat didn't mind being read to, especially since she bribed it with belly rubs. But now was the day: her birthday. The tally stood at seventy three good things to three bad things, she was set to go.

   After patting the cat on its fluffy head, she ran down the stairs, only to find the bakery quiet and empty. Her heart fell to the tips of her toes. Everybody must have forgotten about her birthday. In fact, everybody must have forgotten everything because she couldn't even smell the typical morning pastries. She sniffled, and tried very hard not to cry. Just as she was about to turn around to wander back upstairs, bed seemed like the best option, a loud cheer rang through the bakery. Her father and mother piled out through the kitchen door, and there, her friend Cinder, was smiling through dirt smudges. Half the town was there, Anna's heart swelled as she realized that they hadn't forgotten.

   Then, in through the door stepped a very old, and very odd man. His face was wrinkled with many years of age, and his eyes spoke of centuries of knowledge. His beard was a pearly white and it extended past his knees. His cloths were silky blue and had strange patterns that Anna could not understand. In his right hand he held a long gnarled staff, and in his left, a small neatly wrapped package.

   The wizard, (what else could he have been?) stepped into the middle of the room and bent down to hand Anna her present. "Hello dear. I have been told that it is your tenth birthday today." Anna nodded, speechless. The old man continued, "Since ten is a precious number, I have decided to give you a very precious gift."

   "What is it?" Anna's eyes were as big as tea saucers.

   "Open it." Chorused everybody in the room, except for the cat. He looked indignant because he didn't have a saucer of milk.

   Anna peeled off the blue and gold wrapping paper, and as she did so it curled into a tiny paper crane that flew gently around the room. Everybody Oohed and Aahed accordingly. After the paper had completely left the box, Anna could see that what was left was a small red-ish brown box engraved with her name on the top.

   "Oh it's lovely!" She cried with great delight.

    The wizard smiled, sighed slightly, and said, "Why don't you open the box?"

   "Oh..." Anna lifted the tiny latch on the front of the box and cracked the lid open. Inside, laying on a tiny pile of gold, was an itty bitty green dragon. It measured only three inches long and its wingspan was about six. It woke up with a start and let out a magnificent, if tiny, yawn. It gazed at Anna intently, yawned again and then promptly curled back up around the miniature gold coins and closed its eyes.

   Anna's eyes, previously the size of saucers, grew to the size of pie plates. A few people gave her nervous glances, they wondered if her eyes would ever go back to normal.

   "Thank you, ever so much!" Anna chirped. "This is going to be the best birthday ever, I'm sure of it."

   "He is as good a pet you could want," replied the wizard with an indulgant smile. "He can find his own food and, although he won't grow to be much more then he already is, he will guard you with his life." Everybody in the room stared at the wizard.

   "Excuse me?" Anna's father stepped forward, "Isn't this supposed to be a cheery visit?"

   "Why yes it is," The wizard responded. "Unfortunately, times have been changing, and although your daughter is safe in this village, I fear that sooner or later fate will call her away." The atmosphere in the room felt heavy. Everybody felt somehow somber and sad.

   Anna asked meekly, "Have you looked at my future?"

   The wizard paused for a long moment, "Yes. Well part of it anyhow. You will do great things Anna. Just remember that you are called to do what is right." And with that the wizard disappeared. No flash, no smoke, no loud noises. He simply walked out through the front door and away up the road.

   The party guests were stunned, "What just happened?" Asked one of the boys named Jack.

   "I think Anna got a new pet," Anna's mother piped in, "and what ever that old man was talking about won't happen." Then she added quietly to herself, "any time soon."