It had been over a week since our return to Solstheim Castle. Our lives had become calm, quiet and peaceful.

And yet, I was restless. I had the Staff of Tharn and the gem that could power it. I decided to return to the north of Vvardenfell, to the cave of Dagerloft, and see if this staff could truly bring forth a dragon that I could control. To save time, I changed into a cliffracer, covering the distance in only an hour.

As I drew closer to Vvardenfell's northern-most shores, the weather grew more rainy and overcast.

Finally, I saw the cavern entrance on a small island, and flew down to the door.

I changed back into my very handsome self, and pushed the door open.  I was just hoping there were no new dragons in here that I didn't know about. In my haste, I had neglected to bring any weapons with me.

The inside of the cavern was just as dark and misty as it was the last time I was here.

I took out the Staff of Tharn and surveyed the room, making sure there wasn't anything lurking in the darkness.

No monsters were to be found. The only things in the cave besides myself were the four eggs that I had seen on my earlier trip.

Each egg was a different color, just like the 4 dragons I had fought earlier.

I approached the four eggs cautiously, Staff of Tharn in hand. The eggs felt alive, waiting for something or someone to release them from their slumber.

Only one egg could be hatched. I decided on the green one. I liked green - there was no other reason.

Gently, I took out the special gem that Illwing had given me, and used it's spell to activate the staff.

Suddenly, I felt the knowledge of a new spell, that of a born dragon!

Concentrating on the green dragon egg before me, I cast the Spell of Born Dragon.

An unusual spell, it had a fierce bite to it, aggressive, powerful, not like other spells I had come to know over these many years.

The egg started to glow and sparkle, but then the glow died out. Illwing did mention I might have to cast the spell more than once.

I cast the spell again, and then a third time. Suddenly, the green dragon egg started to light up like a ball of fire. There were showers of sparks everywhere.

The egg gave off a brilliant burst of light. Through the haze of the shell, a small form of a dragon could be seen arching it's neck, trying to break free of it's prison.

Suddenly, the egg exploded, knocking me to the ground.

Everything around me went black.

A few moments later, I felt something nuzzling the back of my neck, pleading with soft whines for attention.

Dazed, I rolled over, stumbling to my feet. Then I heard that sad whine again, from behind me.

It was a baby dragon.  

The spell had worked! I was now the proud owner of a baby dragon.

He stumbled around, learning how to walk, flapping his wings to keep his balance.

"Well, you're a cute little thing, aren't you?" I said, thinking out loud.

I made my way to the entrance, my baby dragon following close behind. Once outside, he sniffed the air apprehensively. It was interesting watching this first look at the new world before him.

We walked around the small island for a few minutes, when suddenly, a mudcrab came over to attack.

I still had the mace that Heart-Fang had given me, and with just one smack, the mudcrab died.

"Food!" cried the baby dragon.

It was a large mudcrab, so I was able to extract several pieces of crabmeat from the dead creature.

"Here, food!" I said, putting the crabmeat in front of the baby dragon.

"Food!" he cried, running over to the crabmeat, taking piece after piece, gobbling it up in just moments.

"Hungry!" he cried, finishing the crabmeat. "Food!!!"

It was apparent that this baby was going to need lots of food. We went from one end of the island to the other, killing every mudcrab we could find, and still, all I could hear was "Hungry!!! Hungry!!!"

Using a levitation spell, I went from one island to the other, my baby dragon gently flying behind me. We found rats, nixhounds, and more mudcrabs, and each one provided a little more food for the hungry baby dragon.

Eventually, we found ourselves in Dagon Fel. I stopped at the inn and bought as much meat as I could get from them, feeding it all to the dragon. The children in the village thought it was pretty cute. The baby dragon, however, snarled, warning them away. I wasn't sure if it was to protect his food, or if he was protecting me from what he thought might be an attack.

It was getting late in the day, so we made our way over to the boat docks. I asked for passage to Solstheim Castle. The look on their faces when I added the fact that I was bringing a baby dragon with me was priceless.